March 12, 1956 A.D.F.D.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
Some of FATHER and MOTHER DIVINE'S Crusaders at the
The Mount of the House of the Lord
March 12, 1956 A.D.F.D.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I am making this statement, not in Father Divine's defense, for He needs no defense, but, in rebuttal to the statements of some disgruntled, malicious individuals who, because of their own weaknesses, were unable to live a Christ like life although they had previously accepted it as the way they desired to live. They now express these same weaknesses of character in their deliberate, vicious lies for the gain of filthy lucre and to appease their hateful minds. They return spiteful slander for the only True Good they ever knew.
I have been a follower of the Teachings of Father Divine since early in 1941, a few - months after I graduated from a mid-western high school as an honor roll student. I had no religious background, but was full of the idealism of youth and in contacting the Peace Mission Movement and Father Divine I found the full expression of all these ideals. Since then I spent three years in the United States Navy Medical Corps. It was here that I was able to see much of the nature and characteristics, and of the demoralization that a life of lust and passion and sexual indulgence develops in human beings. For over a year I was in charge of the medical records office of the Navy Medical Department at Coco Solo, Canal Zone, Republic of Panama, and was in a perfect position to observe the symptoms and effects of the worst types of sinful living. I was honorably discharged as Pharmacist Mate 2nd Class in 1946.
I have given this bit of my past record that you might know that I could not be fooled or hoodwinked into believing that a virtuous life existed where it didn't. It was only the Life and, Teachings as set and exemplified by Father Divine that kept me from the life I observed while in the Service, although I lived in the midst of the worst of it. I know absolutely and beyond the slightest thought of a doubt, that Father Divine lives, teaches and demands each and every one of His true followers to live a virtuous, holy, pure, chaste life.
I have voluntarily, and without monetary compensation, been Father Divine's Personal chauffeur for over seven years and have had many other duties that keep me in close personal contact with Him and Mother Divine and the rest of His personal staff and have never seen the least reflection of carnality in any respect from anyone, including all of His 'Rosebuds and Crusaders. Quite to the contrary, if at any time anyone shows by their words, deeds and actions, a tendency in the wrong direction, Father and Mother Divine make an all-out effort to bring the erring one back on the right path. In some cases when this seems almost impossible and the individual refuses to live according to the Modest Code as set forth by Father Divine or according to the Peace Mission Creeds, they are advised to cease their activities as Rosebuds, Crusaders or Lily Buds until they decide to act accordingly. When necessary some are even advised to remove themselves from among those who are living evangelically. Father Divine stands alone in all the world as the ONLY ONE Who can cause the masses of people, universally, to live a strict Christ Life, free from human indulgence and all of the lust and passions that carnality and mortality glory in.
If I did not know these things to be true, I would not have spent the prime years of my life, as the average person takes them to be, as a devout follower of Father Divine.
Furthermore, there are hundreds of young men known as Crusaders of Father Divine, who are loving, adoring, worshiping and obeying Him wholeheartedly, who are living chaste lives, who would not be fooled if what the slanderers said was true. They know, as well as millions of others, that Father Divine lives and teaches the highest form of Christian life. Every true follower must live so that every thought, word, and deed is virgin pure in its righteousness." This is from the Crusaders' Self Discipline which is a part of the inspirational Creeds that we, the followers of Father Divine, have put on record as our code of living. It is possible to go on for hours and pages, but I feel that these few lines are adequate testimony as to the way I feel about Father Divine in regards to this matter.
Sincerely,
(signed) Philip Life
764 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, 46, Pa.
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