Woodmont, The Mount of the House of the LORD
'Then Solomon began to build the House of the LORD in Mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.'......'
Then the LORD began to build the House of the LORD in Philadelphia in Woodmont; where the LORD appeared in the signing of the Declaration of Independence and at the drafting of the Constitution and its Amendments
There is a Mansion in Gladwyne, a suburb of Philadelphia, which was designed by William Price in 1892 with infinite Love, Intricacy and Precision, and is the principal reason that Woodmont was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Secretary of the Interior on August 5, 1998. Architects and Preservationists from everywhere visit this Mansion to muse over its exciting originality, study its technical perfection, marvel at its faultless craftsmanship and ponder over its unearthly beauty.
Woodmont has a Title befitting its Character: THE MOUNT OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. It is situated on the Main Line, 16 miles west of Philadelphia, on the highest point in Montgomery County, on a ledge of rock overlooking the Schuylkill River. The Mansion was built just before the turn of the Century on 500 acres of land, by Alan Wood, Jr., founder of the Alan Wood Steel Mill across the river in Conshohocken.
Three years after it was completed, he sold it to his nephew, Richard Wood, who in turn sold it to J. Hector McNeal in 1929, at which time the property was subdivided, leaving the Manor House and five other buildings on a seventy three acre Estate.
Mrs. McNeal, after her husband passed, did not feel comfortable living alone in a thirty two room House. She expressed a wish that it would come into the hands of FATHER DIVINE'S followers. In 1952, after it had suffered from years of neglect, no one was interested in purchasing it, and it was scheduled to be demolished. However, it came to the attention of the followers, who bought it for a nominal sum.
Today however, Woodmont is priceless, because it can not be duplicated at any price. It is treasured in Lower Merion Township because the Estate preserves its seventy three acres as open space a dwindling commodity in these days of ruthless developers. The Magnificence of The Mount Of The House of The LORD defies description. It is one of the finer American homes that was built in the Victorian Period around 1890.
Historic Preservationists wonder at the present condition of the 100 year old Manor House, its Centennial being celebrated in 1992. The Victorian Society of America presented its 1994 Historic Preservation Award to Woodmont, and highly complimented its owner, Palace Mission Church, for its faithful stewardship of the property since 1952.
There is a profound reason for this building falling into the hands of FATHER DIVINE'S followers, and for receiving such loving care. The reason is that it is the fulfilling of a Scriptural Prophecy. For an understanding of this Prophecy, FATHER DIVINE gave an Office Talk to His Staff on June 24, 1953, in His Office Study at Circle Mission Church in Philadelphia, during which the Mystery of the Prophecy, hid for these hundreds of years, was revealed.
At the beginning of FATHER'S Talk, MOTHER DIVINE read Second Chronicles 3:1
'Then Solomon began to build the House of the LORD in Mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.'
After the reading, FATHER spoke as follows:
'Then Solomon began to build the House of the LORD at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. Then the LORD began to build the House of the LORD in Philadelphia in Woodmont; where the LORD appeared at the signing of the Declaration of Independence and at the drafting of the Constitution and its Amendments; where the people proclaimed Liberty throughout all the Land, and the Pilgrim Fathers came in the name of the Quakers and made Philadelphia, through the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the drafting of the Constitution and its Amendments the 'City of Brotherly Love.'
'And the LORD came and made it in the latter days . . . confirming the City of Brotherly Love and the Cradle of Democracy, making it the 'Country Seat of the World!' And hence, HE starts to build the Temple of GOD. Not at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, but at the NEW JERUSALEM, better known as Philadelphia, at Woodmont. . . .
'How I happened to stress this so vividly is because I opened the Bible at random, and without any premeditation or pre-consideration, it came pointed out Second Chronicles, third chapter and first verse. . . . I brought out by interpretation the Mystery of the repetition of History, showing quite definitely by inspiration and by interpretation, that as it was with the building of the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, so it is in the rebuilding of the Temple of the LORD in Philadelphia, or at Philadelphia in Woodmont.
'So the Scripture is now being fulfilled in your hearing. It is quite vividly depicted, and it can be seen and observed, as this is the Crowning Day! . . . But the Cradle of Democracy and the City of Brotherly Love has been crowned as the 'Country Seat of the World;' and all Nations shall flow unto it! And many shall say:
'Let us go up to the House of the LORD, that HE might teach us of His Ways.'
'What says it concerning the Mystery of the House of the LORD?'
MOTHER DIVINE then read the Prophecy as given in Isaiah 2:2-3.
2: And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3: And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his path MOTHER DIVINE at the Divine Tracy Hotels; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
New Day, September 13, 1986, pp.4-5
Thus, it is obvious that the Manor House at Woodmont has great Spiritual Significance, having been predicted 2700 years ago!
FATHER DIVINE has been recognized to be the Person of the Impersonal Almighty GOD! In ancient days, GOD was recognized as a cloud by day and as fire by night as HE led the children of Israel through the wilderness of tribulation to the Promised land. Today, GOD has a Body, and HE is recognized to be Jesus, the Son of GOD come again in the Fathership Degree.
How wonderful that Mankind is privileged to have GOD with them in a Bodily Form, dealing in the affairs of men, and executing Righteousness, Justice and Truth in the Land! FATHER DIVINE took a Stand for the Reality of the Kingdom of GOD on earth among men. HE awakened the hearts and minds of the children of men into the Resurrection of the CHRIST Nature and Characteristics within them, that will free them from the bondage of sin and corruption and give them Eternal Life in their bodies with Victory over sickness and death!
Today, GOD has a Body. Therefore, because GOD has a Body, it is fitting that HE should have a House in which to dwell. It is fitting also that His House is located in the United States of America, where the Moral Law was legalized in the Constitution of our Democratic Republic in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.
The Mount Of The House Of The LORD not only represents a Standard of material Beauty and Elegance for people to visualize, but it represents the highest Spiritual Truth on the earth plane for the Redemption of Mankind. It is incumbent upon the citizens of the world to realize that the Blessings of GOD are for them by obeying the Laws of GOD and by bringing their bodies into subjection to these Laws.
The materializing of the Spiritual and the Spiritualizing of the material has been made a Reality in Woodmont! As people think of FATHER and MOTHER DIVINE, and focus their attention on The Mountain Of The House Of The LORD, they will be lifted into the Blessed Woodmont Consciousness, and revel in their Glorious Liberty as children of GOD!
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