FATHER DIVINE in His office
at the Circle Mission Church.
From a small balcony, the triumphant notes of a trumpet rang out joyfully over the heads of the people in the Auditorium of the New York Headquarters of FATHER DIVINE on Sunday evening, December 24th. It was Christmas Eve outside, according to the mortal versions of men, and up and down the streets of the City it was the time of carol singing and gaily lighted Christmas trees; but what should have been the spirit of Peace on earth had proved a period of so-called depression and unrest. Inside the Auditorium, and under the jurisdiction of FATHER, however, though there were no carol singers, none singing from the books, and no natural Christmas trees, the spirit of Peace filled the air as the great Assembly as a unit, took up the notes of the trumpet and sang, "You are in another day, Praise GOD! you are in another day." And truly it was another day. It was one eternal Christmas Day to those who rejoiced in the Presence of GOD Who had taken on a Bodily Form and revealed HIMSELF to them as FATHER DIVINE. Healed of every sickness, freed from every care, with not even a thought to worry them, there was gladness in the air, and their hearts were filled with merriness, for GOD HIMSELF was there.
So it was a merry, merry throng that sang and shouted and danced and made a joyful noise unto the LORD, until FATHER appeared in Person about nine-thirty P.M., after serving a great Banquet in the Banquet Hall downstairs, where HE had been held for hours by the Love of those assembled there, to whom HE had poured out abundantly of His treasures of material and spiritual food.
Upon entering the Auditorium FATHER was greeted with the great burst of Praise and many demonstrations of Love, to which HE responded after a time, as follows:
PEACE EVERYONE! Here you are and there I AM again, and yet it is one eternal expression of the Ever-presence of the Majesty and the Love and the Mercy of the Almighty. You as individuals and as an individual, are expressions and the real manifestation of GOD'S Presence. This is a mystery that man cannot understand, yet the time has truly come that it is being made manifest in the midst of the children of men and they can see and daily express this Mighty Love; in short, GOD'S Presence in the midst of them. For this cause we are rejoicing and we are showing to the world collectively, yea, even universally, this is not just about the beginning of Christmas with us, but this one Eternal Christmas Day has been given birth in the hearts and minds of those of you that have brought your bodies into subjection and are willing to live Evangelical.
You can see the people around about this time of the year, saying and speaking of Merry Christmas; but it has long since been said according to the Word,
'A merry heart doeth good like a medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones.'
I have brought the children of this people the merriness that causes you to be
'trees of the field,'
and you are clapping your hands. It is indeed Wonderful! This merriness fills
and thrills your hearts with joy, and it has given you Peace that the world cannot
destroy, a Peace that transcends all human understanding, a Peace that is actually
stirring up the Nations, a Peace that mankind has been seeking. But it is a Peace
that they could not find without this Fundamental Principle! >
For this cause we are all rejoicing; not because it is that time of the Year that is commonly known as Christmas time, but because it is CHRIST Mass in your hearts and in your minds. This is not merely Low Mass, but this is CHRIST'S High Mass. It is a great international, infinite Mass Meeting going on where the Children of His People are assembled, here and there and practically everywhere, where their hearts are filled with merriness of this great Christmastide. It is Wonderful! It is not a Christmas tide after the similitude of men, but it is this tide that is sweeping the earth as a great flood tide of water and wind. It has filled and thrilled your hearts with joy. It is causing you to recognize this Ever presence, and it causes your physical bodies to express this merriness, and it is not limited to the twenty-fifth of December, but it is One Eternal Christmas Day, for this merriness has caused you to be Christmas Trees.
I have caused the inhabitants of the earth, those that will bring their bodies into subjection to this Life that I AM teaching, each and every individual to become a Christmas tree. Then I heard one say and I heard one sing, "He made me a living tree. He made me the tree that I wanted to be -- He has made me a living tree." Not a tree that is cut off from the root, but a Tree that is found in the House of King David; a tree that is flowing with the joy of GOD'S Presence; a tree that surpasses all human understanding; a tree that dries up your tears -- A Tree that gives you health and happiness. It is indeed Wonderful! Verifying that which John said,
'And He showed me a pure river of Water of Life, proceeding out of the Throne and out of the Lamb, and on either side of the River was the Tree of Life . . . and the Leaves were good for the healing of the Nations.'
Aren't you glad that I made you a Living Tree? ("Yes, FATHER," came the mighty response.) Each of you can claim this rightful inheritance as it has been given, that you might come into possession of your rightful inheritance, this "Living Treeship Degree", that you as individuals can manifestedly be one Eternal Living Christmas Tree. All symbols and imaginations have been brought into actuality and into materialization, and YOU as individuals will eventually manifest it, and YOU will come to your rightful inheritance, to be a real possessor of the Ever-Presence which is expressing the great CHRIST Mass.
We do not wait until the twenty-fourth of December, nor the twenty-fifth of December, to express this great CHRIST Mass, but we are having CHRIST Mass every day. We are not having Low Mass, nor High Mass after the similitude of men, but we are having the High Mass which is the CHRIST Mass -- not the mass for the dead, but for the Living. And I heard you say in verification of this assertion,
'I know He has risen for he has risen in my soul.'
'I KNOW that my Redeemer Liveth, for He liveth in my soul.'
Through this recognition and through this churning process that is going on in
your systems, it has created an expression of merriness and you as individuals
are a Merry Christmas.
Isn't it a glorious privilege to be in reality, the Living Merry Christmas? This day I put forth unto all the world, and recreate and establish in the lands of our countries collectively, the great recognition of GOD'S Presence as the real and true and only Christmas Day. I AM broadcasting this Message of GOD'S Omniscience, which is in reality Divine Intelligence, through the conscious recognition and realization of GOD'S Presence, and of bringing our bodies into subjection to same, that you might recognize this great Immaculate Christmas Day.
Then I heard one sing, and I heard them say, "Take the Name of your FATHER with you, Child of Joy, of Health and Love. It will in joy and comfort keep you. Take this Name whithersoever you go." I did not say and I did not hear them say, "Take the Name of Jesus with you, child of sorrow and of woe." If that were an expression in you today, I could not verify that you are expressing merriness, the true and Living Christmas Day. But to the contrary I say,
'Take the Name of your FATHER with you, - Child of Joy, and Peace and Love; - It will in joy and comfort keep you; - Take this Name whithersoever you go.'
With this merriness of the heart, you will find you will have this One Eternal Christmas Day, for you as individuals and as an individual will be a Living Tree, for GOD has in reality, here and now, made you what you wanted to be. HE has made you a Living Tree. Now aren't you glad? ("So glad, FATHER," echoed and re-echoed.)
I need not say more at this particular juncture, since you all so enthusiastically believe it. From henceforth, now and forever, you will live it and eventually you will universally be it and others will see it and all will be the same, the full manifestation of the Reality of GOD'S Immaculate Name brought into materialization, expressing this merriness as One Eternal Christmas Day. Now aren't you glad I came? (For answer, the whole Congregation rose to its feet with hands stretched forth and a shout.) It is indeed Wonderful!
'How good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.'
I have brought you into this great at-one- ment, that you might enjoy this "precious
ointment." That your hearts might be filled with and charged up with this
infinite current of merriness, and you will be, not as a material or natural
Christmas tree, electrified; but you will in reality be "Spiritualified;" for
GOD Spiritualizes material things and materializes Spiritual things that the
two may be one. In that way, the Kingdom has truly come and the Will is now being
done on Earth among men, and you can plainly see it. This mighty Kingdom! This
Kingdom of Peace! This Kingdom of Love, and the Spirit of My Presence that has
in reality charged you up!
You have a merry heart, no more a broken spirit. The merriness of My Presence has recreated in you that expression of GOD'S Infinite Love that transcends human imagination and causes you to be charged with such a magnetic current of Infinite Love, and the time that has been shall be no more. Now aren't you glad? ("So glad, LORD," resounded.) This mighty Love! This mighty Joy! This mighty Peace, and this confidence you have in ME! No man taketh it away from you! ("Praise Your Holy Name, FATHER," came the shout.) Visualize and gaze upon this Principle of Whom you say I AM. Through your vividly and enthusiastically visualizing that which you say I AM your are materializing and bringing forth into your experiences the identical same.
For this cause we are rejoicing, for we know this is in reality the Keys to the Kingdom, and the world can do you no harm. We KNOW it! By vividly and enthusiastically visualizing the Perfect Picture, you have brought it forth into your experiences. You have brought it into materialization because you consciously realize it, and here and now you are expressing perfect health and perfect Peace. Isn't it Wonderful! ("So Wonderful, LORD," was the response.) We will have it just this way all over the world and none will lack in GOD'S Abundance, for there is a-full and a-plenty for all that will live in this recognition. Be not dismayed, for GOD is with you, and GOD is not a God afar off. For your Salvation, for your protection, for your help, for your aid and for your strength, the great significance is to come to this recognition that GOD is ever with you; not in the same land far away, but ever a present help in every need. It is indeed Wonderful!
Oh, that mankind will see this, and visualize it vividly enough to produce it in their experiences collectively and individually, that they too, as well as you, might enjoy this mighty Presence of GOD.
You are visualizing vividly, stressfully, and gladly, the Presence of the Majesty and Love and Mercy of the Almighty.
If it is not God you are observing, if you visualize it To BE God to YOU it IS GOD, and it will do for you what GOD would do. Take these thoughts into consideration. Live in the recognition of the great significance of visualizing vividly the thing you desire to produce and bring to fruition in your experiences. Through your visualizing the Perfect Picture, the thing you gaze upon vividly you tend to materialize and bring forth in your experiences.
I have presented the CHRIST to the children of this people, that you might stressfully and enthusiastically visualize and gaze upon the Perfect Picture, that you might produce it and bring it forth in your experiences, and that you as individuals may be the manifesters of the identical Principle that I AM advocating. You can BE and WILL be if you will but live Evangelically. For as you think in your heart, so ARE YOU! Thinking it will materialize it. You are creators of the thing you are; visible materializers of the thing that you vividly and enthusiastically or stressfully think. For this cause we will cause you continually to observe the perfect, the pure, the positive, the true, and I will continue to produce it in the hearts and lives of the people collectively, and
'The Knowledge of GOD shall cover the earth as the waters, the mighty deep.'
Those that have visualized GOD vividly enough, you will be changed from mortal to immortality. You will be changed from the mortal expression of your human or preconceived experiences, and you as individuals will become Angelic expressions of GOD'S Presence as you materially manifest it in your experiences.
Take these thoughts into consideration and live in this recognition always from henceforth, now and forever. Remember, I have made you a Living Tree -- and
'the trees of the fields shall clap their hands.'
("Yes, FATHER," came the thunderous applause.) You have become a Living
Tree and that is this merry heart and a heart and a body the same. Therefore
you are in reality forever expressing this High Christmas or CHRIST Mass. You
are holding CHRIST'S Mass in your heart, in your mind and in your works and in
your ways daily. You do not have to wait until the twenty-fifth of December to
recognize a Christmas day; for you as an individual, truly have become a Living
Tree, and this Living Tree is the true Christmas Tree. With this Light of Understanding,
of Whom you say I AM, this true CHRIST Mass, going on in your hearts henceforth,
now and forever, you will not have an occasion to fret nor worry, for you can
tell it to the Nation, you are enjoying the Blessings of the Almighty and His
Ever-Presence with you, that causes your hearts to be merry, and the merriness
expresses in your physical system, in the beautiful joy and expressions of Love
manifested in your bodily forms, for you have become a Living Christmas Tree.
I thank you.
SONG
(Tune: "FATHER, I'll keep YOU In My Mind.")
'HE made me the tree that I wanted to be, HE made me a living tree.'
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