Possible Sunday School Topics–m Ancient & Modern…
for the lesson on Ancient and Modern Necromancy, alias Mesmerism and Hypnotism, Denounced for Sunday May 29, 2022
By Tom and Amy Evans, former staff members and big fans of CedarS
Your students may want to talk about the recent tragic events in Ulvade, Texas. Be prepared to discuss how to break a cycle of hatred and anger. Take a moment to think for yourself about the power of Love. Look at what Paul says about the spiritual “weapons of our warfare” in the Responsive Reading.
PSST for Golden Text and Responsive Reading
The Golden Text this week is not one verse, but two verses from two different sections of Isaiah put together. Read it one more time and consider why the Bible lesson committee put the Golden Text together this way. What is “the veil that is spread over all nations”?
What does Paul mean in II Cor 10:4, 5? How do spiritual weapons pull down strongholds? How does one bring thought into captivity?
P.S.S.T. for Section 1 – Choose God
What are some “false prophets” that are mentioned in Citation B1? How does Citation B2 tie into the Golden Text? What is the setting of Citation B3? Who is talking (Moses) to whom (children of Israel)? What is about to happen (crossing of the Jordan River into Israel)? Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads? How do you ensure that you “choose life”? It may come as no surprise that citations in the lesson are found in the chapter Animal Magnetism Unmasked. What may be more of a surprise is that the chapter is only eight pages long, and 5 citations in the lesson are from it. What is significant about this short chapter? Discuss Mary Baker Eddy’s definition/explanation of animal magnetism in Citation S2. Why is it important to understand something that “has not one quality of Truth”? How are you “choos[ing] good as the reality” (Citation S3)? How is this similar to Moses’ direction in Citation B3?
P.S.S.T. for Section 2 – Decisions and Divine Rights
In Citation B4 (Joel 3:14) what is the “valley of decision?” Why would the author of Joel describe it as a valley, rather than a mountain top? Why did he choose a physical place at all? Have you ever been in a valley of decision? Why does the author of Proverbs in Citation B5 describe an armed man as someone who is in want? Does a robber or a terrorist lack something?
Do you notice a theme in section 2? Citations S4, S5, S6, and S7 lay out a warning while citations S8, S9, and S10 give us direction for how to uncover evil and recognize our rights.
“Your decisions will master you…”
“…is the human mind or or the divine Mind which is influencing one” ?
“Lulled by stupefying illusions…”
“Animal magnetism…”
Look at Citation S10 in Science and Health. What does inalienable mean? What are the rights described in this paragraph from Science and Health?
P.S.S.T. for Section 3 – Stand porter
Who was Nehemiah (Citations B9 and B10)? What is significant about Nehemiah’s experience? Why do you think he writes so much about the king? Was it important that the king supported the building of the wall (yes!)? Consider what was happening in Citation B10. Much of the wall was complete and then the conspiring of the enemy began. Do you ever feel like when you’ve done good work, challenges start to crop up? How do you address that? What did Nehemiah do? How was Nehemiah’s experience similar to what Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Citation S13, stating that “it will be seen why the author of this book has been so unjustly persecuted and belied by wolves in sheep’s clothing” (S&H 104:5)? Consider the slander and threats Nehemiah faced. Why is it so important to “Stand porter at the door of thought” (Citation S14)?
P.S.S.T. for Section 4 – Building a strong defense
How does the Bible lesson committee help us to apply Nehemiah’s work building the wall without distraction to focusing our thought and overcoming mental malpractice? See Neh 6:2,3. What is mental malpractice? Does it have any real power? Do we need to be afraid of mental malpractice? In Citation S17 why do we need to ensure “virtue and truth build a strong defense”? How do Christian Scientists serve as a law to themselves “that mental malpractice cannot harm [them]” (Citation S18)?
P.S.S.T. for Section 5 – Have a clean heart
How does Citation B18 counter Citation B16? Jesus describes the things that defile or detract us from “a clean heart” (Citation B14), but Paul shares the “fruit of the Spirit” (Citation B18). Describe how and where you have experienced or witnessed “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance”. What is the benefit of having these qualities at the forefront of your thought? What does Mary Baker Eddy say about this (see Citation S20)? Look at Citations S22 and S23. Let these citations add to the explanation/definition that Mary Baker Eddy gave of animal magnetism in Citation S2 from section 1. Notice in Citation S24 that the same thoughts and actions that Jesus described in Citation B16 “yield to spirituality”. How does that enable us to rise above these temptations?
P.S.S.T. for Section 6 – Authority and Power
Read Citation S29 with your class and then read Citation B20 where Jesus heals the demon possessed man. Describe what you might pray with or how you think Jesus may have prayed during this interaction.
How does Mary Baker Eddy describe Christ in Citation S26?
P.S.S.T. for Section 7 – Confident completion and freedom
Compare the accuser cast down in Citation B22 with the destruction of “the veil that is spread over all nations” in the Golden Text from Isaiah 25:7. In Citation S31 how does the fact that” The kingdom of God is within you” enable spiritual consciousness?
