Unity Church and Spiritual Center – October 27
I don’t know when I first heard the word Evil.
I cant remember if it was at Temple , and hearing something about these 2 naked( I don’t think I knew what naked meant) people, one who ate an apple from some tree.
My uncle Hershey used to grab my cheek and shake it, Calling me Debbie the Dybbuk.. which means Devil. Yet that wasn’t evil.
1966, I was 10 years old, and I remember feeling fear when people talked about an evil man named Richard Speck, that he murdered 8 nurses. They hadn’t caught him yet, and I remember being full of fear, that he might hide outside. What if he was outside , what if he was between our houses, what if he was outside my bedroom window. I made myself look.
That may have been the first time, that I remember equating evil and fear. I had been fear filled , in other situations, not doing right by my parents… getting lost or more correctly, worried that my parents were lost.
This was different.. I was having a full body experience connecting fear and evil.
About 35 years And I have this dream. Its about a man, who is bald, with a big belly. Maybe 5’8. He is wearing a royal blue t shirt, black belt and white pants. I thought it odd, the combination of blue over white, divided by a black belt. He was in my house and I I didn’t want him there. He said “ I am fear and you invited me.”
That may have been the first time I understood the difference between Fear and Evil.
What about evil?
Unity does not deny the appearance of evil. We teach that evil does not exist as a force or power in the world. That which is called evil is merely the obstruction of the one power which is God or Spirit. The obstruction of Spirit’s expression always occurs in the mind through the holding of false beliefs. According to Unity, the only presence acting in the universe is God, which is always good. Evil is merely the way that we withhold our expression and experience of that good, by accepting false beliefs in our minds.
What about heaven and hell?
Unity believes that heaven and hell are states of consciousness in Mind. We experience heaven when we are in harmony with the life that surrounds us. Hell is a state of mind that we experience when we don’t understand why something unpleasant is happening to us. We can choose to create our own heaven or hell on earth through the choices we make in every moment.
Definition of evil
eviler or eviller; evilest or evillest
1a: morally reprehensible :sinful, wicked
• an evil impulse
b: arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct
• a person of evil reputation
2a archaic :inferior
b: causing discomfort or repulsion :offensive
• an evil odor
c: disagreeable
• woke late and in an evil temper
3a: causing harm :pernicious
• the evil institution of slavery
b: marked by misfortune :unlucky
1991 Dr John Weldon from Ankerberg Theological Seminary labeled these religions as EVIL
- Jehovah’s Witnesses. Who are the Jehovah’s Witnesses? They are witnesses of Jehovah God of the Bible. They call themselves Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses.
- What about the Mormons? Their official name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Unity School of Christianity.
- Christian Science claims to be the true science of Christian belief.
- The Way International, founded by Victor Paul Wierwille, models its name after Jesus Christ who is the way and the truth and the life.
- The religion of Armstrongism calls itself The World Wide Church of God.
And we can go on down the line with many other groups. They claim to be Christian by the very name they give themselves.
Watchman Fellowship is an independent Christian research and apologetics ministry focusing on new religious movements, cults, the occult and the New Age.
New Age
New Age is a recent and developing belief system in North America encompassing thousands of autonomous (and sometime contradictory) beliefs, organizations, and events. Generally the New Age borrows its theology from pantheistic Eastern religions and its practices from 19th century Western occultism. The term “New Age” is used herein as an umbrella term to describe organizations which seem to exhibit one or more of the following beliefs: (1) All is one, all reality is part of the whole; (2) Everything is God and God is everything; (3) Man is God or a part of God; (4) Man never dies, but continues to live through reincarnation; (5) Man can create his own reality and/or values through transformed consciousness or altered states of consciousness. Research material and Profile are available.
Prominent American psychiatrist M. Scott Peck on the other hand, describes evil as “militant ignorance”.[8] The original Judeo-Christian concept of “sin” is as a process that leads us to “miss the mark” and fall short of perfection. Peck argues that while most people are conscious of this at least on some level, those that are evil actively and militantly refuse this consciousness. Peck characterizes evil as a malignant type of self-righteousness which results in a projection of evil onto selected specific innocent victims (often children or other people in relatively powerless positions). Peck considers those he calls evil to be attempting to escape and hide from their own conscience (through self deception) and views this as being quite distinct from the apparent absence of conscience evident in sociopaths.
According to Peck, an evil person[8][9]:
- Is consistently self-deceiving, with the intent of avoiding guilt and maintaining a self-image of perfection
- Deceives others as a consequence of their own self-deception
- Projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets, scapegoating others while appearing normal with everyone else (“their insensitivity toward him was selective”) [10]
- Commonly hates with the pretense of love, for the purposes of self-deception as much as deception of others
- Abuses political (emotional) power (“the imposition of one’s will upon others by overt or covert coercion”) [11]
- Maintains a high level of respectability and lies incessantly in order to do so
- Is consistent in his or her sins. Evil persons are characterized not so much by the magnitude of their sins, but by their consistency (of destructiveness)
- Is unable to think from the viewpoint of their victim
- Has a covert intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury
He also considers certain institutions may be evil, as his discussion of the My Lai Massacre and its attempted coverup illustrate. By this definition, acts of criminal and state terrorism would also be considered evil.
I asked a friend…what is evil?
Vicki (Reiki Master and Medium) Now…I was in basement doing a session with several people showing them the workings of the flashlight and spirit box. A very rough deep male voice, called me a slut. I left, but again hours later went back. Same voice says sternly “say my name”. Again and again. “say my name bitch”, with a lighter voice in background basically taunting me to say his name. I never did. I did however pull out of my pocket a mini-rosery Bishop Long had just blessed and given me. And the male made a huff and groan sound, but never talked again. A female came through and said, “I am here protecting you. Alpha omega. This is a evil place” at that point..I felt totally drained with a massive headache, and left. Went outside, grounded, prayed. My headache lasted till Monday. Just felt so drained.“
Vicki continued about her response to another ‘evil’ moment.
“At the time this happened… I was saying we are all love and light here, no one is without light. It mocked me and laughed”
I had a similar experience. A young man came to my home and said he was inhabited by an evil spirit. This is what I said.
“I question what evil is. I think it’s a catch all word for “lack of light and absence of love” I said to this young man,’ I don’t doubt what you felt was real and the voices you heard were too loud. It is sickening to be around that much ‘absence of light and love.’ You are really love and light. I asked the young man, “What if you were to fill the absence of love aka evil, with love? What if you said to that evil voice, your name is Love.”
I heard 3 months later, from the young man. “The evil spirit hasn’t spoken since.”
Evil is like that. It disappears when the light is shown on it.
I believe that is what lack of love, lack of light, smells like and behaves like bacteria. Bacteria grows in in warm, dark, and moist places.
So what 3 things create evil..
Absence of Love in its highest sense ( warm), absence of light( dark), and a host for fear.( moist)
I know I have several contributing factors to evil in this world. I have resentments and then I become a host for fear.
I feed fear with my own resentments. I contribute to evil , by making disparaging comments about politicians, I withhold my love for them. I don’t have to admire them, I am aiming to not feed the anger that surrounds them.
I went back to therapy this week, to shine a light on some dark places in my life.
People who admit there is darkness in their life, and seek help to shine a light on their darkness and uncover fears, are the strongest people I know.
So this Season, as we see little goblins and ghouls, we celebrate our dead, we change the clocks and darkness sets in a little earlier, I invite you to shine your own light a little more, be fearless and examine what evil is, look it straight in the eye and say” I love you.”