The cult of Christian Science was founded by a woman named Mary Baker Eddy born Mary Ann Morse Baker in New Hampshire in 1821-1910. As a child, she was frequently ill and highly emotional. She is said to have been "domineering, quarrelsome, and extremely self centered." At age 22, she married George Glover. He died seven months later. She subsequently married Dr. Daniel Patterson, but that marriage failed in divorce. Perhaps her experience with him taught her to despise the practice of medicine later in life.

       In 1862, while suffering from an illness, she visited a man named Phineas Quimby. He taught a system of healing dealing with the mind. He taught that the mind had the power to heal the body. He exerted a significant influence on her thinking regarding spiritual matters.

       In 1866, she fell and was seriously injured and was not expected to recover. She read Matt. 9:2 ("And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee") and experienced a miraculous cure.

       It was this experience that convinced her of the truth of Christian Science. Her beliefs may have been exalted now in her mind, since she was healed while believing them. There is a lesson to be learned here. The Lord sees your faith when he heals you, and not your belief system. When he heals you of any physical problem, he is not signaling his approval of your theology.

       She first published "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" in 1875, when she was 54. She claimed it was the final revelation of God to mankind and asserted that her work was inspired of God. The word "Key" in the title of her book is in reference to her being the woman of Revelation 12; that she is the key to unlocking the Bible which she called a dark book.

       She claimed the Bible had many mistakes and that her writings provided the "Key" spoken of in Revelation 3:7.

       She married Asa Eddy in 1877.

       In 1879, four years after the first publication of Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy and some of her students organized the church of Christ (Scientist) in Boston Massachusetts. Of course, like all cults, it claimed to be the restoration of the original New Testament Church.

       In 1881 she opened a metaphysical college and charged $300 for 12 healing lessons.

       The Church was reorganized in 1892, and the Church Manual was first issued in 1895 which provided the structure for church government and missions. She died in 1910, a millionaire.

       The following doctrines are referenced out of the primary Christian Science work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

God is Universal Principle, S&H 331:18-19

God cannot indwell a person, S&H 336:19-20

Jesus was not the Christ, S&H 333:3-15; 334:3

"Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself declared..." S&H 361:12-13

Jesus did not reflect the fullness of God, S&H 336:20-21

Jesus did not die, S&H 45:32-46:3

The Holy Spirit is divine science, S&H 331:31

There is no devil, S&H 469:13-17

There is no sin, S&H 447:24

Evil and good are not real, S&H, 330:25-27; 470:9-14

Matter, sin, and sickness are not real, but only illusions," S&H 335:7-15; 447:27-29

       The Christian Science cult provides reading rooms in the cities where visitors can come in and read from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and others. It is a very subtle and quiet approach to recruiting and apparently it works. They are still in business.