Testimony of Carolyn Poole
Christian Science was my whole life. I was a third-generationmember of a branch church, the Mother Church in Boston, and wasClass taught. I fully practiced Christian Science by reading mylesson each day, by not going to doctors or taking medicine, andby serving on various committees. The latter included presidingas president of the Executive Board. I thought we had the truth(that God is Mind and all is mental). I believed that Jesus washuman man who demonstrated the Christ Truth just as you and I canwhen we become as spiritually advanced as he was. Jesus was notthe same as the Christ. He was the Way-Shower. I did not know myreligion was called a cult; that it was not considered Christian.In 1969 I went alone to hear Billy Graham in the Anaheim Stadium.I was curious about him because he was famous. I do not know whathe said or why I did what I did, but I went forward and receivedprayer. After I sat back down, an evil presence came to me. Ittold me I would be dead before the night was over. I nearlypanicked. I asked God to forgive me for my being there and forbeing disloyal to Christian Science. The evil thing left me, andI blamed it all on Billy Graham. After that I forgot the wholeaffair. Since my religion was supposed to be based on the Bible,I tried to read the Bible and understand it, but I found much ofit too difficult. Then in 1975, it occurred to me to have a Biblestudy under a guide. I proposed this to my church, but nothingcame of it.
At this time I had reached the age of being a grandmother, yet Ihad never been invited to a Bible study. So I was surprised whentwo women, whom I did not know, knocked on my door and invited meto a home study with the Christian Women's Club. I later learnedthat God had prompted these two women separately to godoor-to-door in my block. I was the only one to accept. Aftermany months of study, I started seeing verses in my Bible which Ihad read and yet had never really been aware of. My conception ofGod and His plan for man began to change. It began to dawn on methat Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, founder and leader of ChristianScience, had taken the place of Jesus for the people in herreligion. In the church manual she had said she was the only oneto be called Leader. In Matthew 23:10 (NAS), Jesus said He wasthe only one to be called Leader. I was faced with two peopletelling me that he or she was to be my only leader. ChristianScience taught that Christian Science was the Revelation; thatMrs. Eddy was the Revelator; and that we cannot know theRevelation unless we know the Revelator. Since the Revelation wasthe truth about God, we had to go through Mrs. Eddy to know God.In other words Mrs. Eddy was the way to God. For the first time Isaw that Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life:no man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John 14:6). SoMrs. Eddy and Jesus both claimed to be the way to God.
One day in Bible study I had a real experience with God's Word.It was my turn to quote words which I knew as a ChristianScientist. I told the group that Jesus had asked His discipleswho men said He was. They had answered, "Some say you areJohn the Baptist; some Elias; and others Jeremias." ButJesus asked, "Whom say ye I that am?" Peter answered,"Thou art the Christ." Jesus answered, "Flesh andblood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father"(Matthew 16:13-17). After the women left, those words keptringing in my mind. It was as though Jesus were asking mepersonally, "Whom say ye that I am?" He seemed verystern about it. It became clear that Mrs. Eddy had said that Heis not Christ, and that Jesus said He is Christ. Jesus was askingme did I believe her or Him? At first I didn't know. I cried. Ithreshed it about in my mind. I came to the decision that if Hecould do the miracles He did, He certainly should know who He is.So I believed that Jesus is Christ.
Christian Science says man is perfect and sinless. When he dies,only his belief of matter dies. He is spiritual and he goes ondoing whatever he was doing, as death is an illusion. Since allis mind, hell and heaven are only states of mind. The Bible saysall men are sinners (Romans 3:23). They cannot come to Godwithout an atonement (Romans 5:11). This was accomplished by theblood sacrifice of animals in the Old Testament. At the time ofthe Passover, Jesus, who is called the Lamb, became the perfectand final blood sacrifice for the atonement of man's sins. TheBible says in Hebrews 9:27, "And it is appointed unto menonce to die, but after this the judgment." So death is real,and sinful man has to go before God at the judgment seat. He willbe judged for his sins and cast into eternal damnation unless heaccepts Jesus as the atonement for his sins. Those who believe onJesus become the Bride of Jesus and spend eternity in Heaven withHim. I realized that, from our human viewpoint, Mrs. Eddy'sreasoning sounded more beautiful and at times more logical thanthe Bible's statement of God's plan for man, but there were manyerrors in her teachings.
First, she was not qualified to refute the Bible and deny Jesus'message. She was not of virgin birth. Jesus was. Also, when shedied her body stayed in the grave. She didn't come back.Therefore, she can't really testify as to what goes on afterdeath because she had not been there when she wrote the book, Scienceand Health with Key to the Scriptures. Jesus had been beyondthe grave and had come back, so He knew what is there to reporton. Second, she said she based Christian Science on the Bible.The first tenet says, "As adherents of Truth, we take theinspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternalLife" (Church Manual, 89th Edition). Yet ChristianScience conflicts with the Bible. So if the Bible is right thenChristian Science is wrong. But if the Bible is wrong, thenChristian Science still is wrong because it allegedly is based onsomething that is wrong. Third, Mrs. Eddy said that she based herteachings on revelation, reason, and demonstration. Herrevelation is Christian Science, which seems to be neitherChristian nor scientific. She didn't demonstrate very muchbecause she didn't overcome death. As for her reasoning, Isaiah55:9 says, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, soare My (God's) ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts thanyour thoughts." I would not want to gamble my future ineternity on one woman's reasoning.
The Holy Spirit revealed to me through God's own Book to man, theBible, that the Bible says Jesus the is God, come in the flesh.John 1:1,14 proclaims, "In the beginning was the Word, andthe Word was with God, and the Word was God....And the Word wasmade flesh, and dwelt among us..." Thomas put his hand inJesus' side and called Jesus "My Lord and My God."Jesus agreed with that. Then I read in the Bible that, in the endtimes, false prophets would deny that Jesus is the Christ andwould claim that they are the Christ. I saw that Mrs. Eddy haddenied that Jesus is Christ and that she had put herself in Hisplace as being the only Leader and the only way to God. So Mrs.Eddy was a false prophet. All people who cling to the falseprophet will end up in the hell Jesus told about where there willbe wailing and gnashing of teeth. All people who believe on Jesusand become born again will end up in heaven with Him where therewill be joy, beauty, and no more tears (Revelation 21:4).
I have chosen Jesus as my Lord and my God. I will confess Him tomen. I pray that the Holy Spirit will use this brief testimony toshow someone involved in the mind sciences, whether it beChristian Science, Religious Science, Divine Science, Unity, orone of the others, that Jesus is God come in the flesh, and thatif we do not believe on Him we will not spend eternity with God,but rather we will be cast into outer darkness. I resigned fromthe Christian Science church. Now I belong to a group of otherex-Christian Scientists who are also born-again Christians. Wehave a ministry named "Christian Way." Our primary goalis to share the salvation message with those in the mindsciences.
Carolyn Poole has since died. We are thankful for the work she did to help others leave this deadly cult and look forward to tohers picking up where she left off. CAIC.