"With this Recognition I Have Given You the Keys to the Kingdom.

"CHRIST Is Married To HIS Church." --- FATHER DIVINE

Our FATHER'S Sermon, During a Review of the First Anniversary of The Marriage Feast of The Lamb,
Given Whilst at The Holy Communion Table of the
Unity Mission Church, Home And Training School, Inc., of Pennsylvania., 907 N. 4lst Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
Tuesday Evening and Wednesday Morning May 6 and 7, 1947 A.D., 2 F.D., Time: 2:00 A.M.

 


Hilltop House, The Mount of the House of the LORD

Hilltop House.

 

What a glorious evening it was! GOD ALMIGHTY! We also had the priceless privilege of hearing an Office Talk, which incidentally is published for your edification in this issue of The New Day, but which was given May the tenth, l946 A.D.F.D. It had at that time been published in part only, as the time was not ripe for the full mystery to be revealed. However, tonight we all heard its glorious, soul stirring Message and it was this Sacred Office Talk given concerning the Holy Marriage of the LAMB and the BRIDE, which served to prompt our Beloved Bridegroom to arise and volitionally deliver this perfectly beautiful Sermon! Without further ado, read it, Beloved Ones, and realize the glorious Heritage you have now through the universalizing of our LORD'S Holy Marriage!

Thank YOU, O Most Gracious And Condescending King of The Universe!

The foregoing statements are those of the transcriber, after which FATHER Speaks as follows:

PEACE, EVERYONE: Good Health, Good Will, a Good Appetite; Good Manners, Good Behavior, All Success and All Prosperity; Life, Liberty and the Reality of Happiness; All Wisdom, All Knowledge, and All Understanding; for these and all other Blessings, we have them!

At this instance I have arisen to verify that which you heard proof read. It was the proof reading of the Message a part of My Office Staff heard as an Office Study Interview I gave them but it was not time for it to be revealed then! Can you not see the mystery? ("Yes, FATHER Dear!" exclaimed the adoring congregation.) For this cause I did not release it until after the mystery was revealed, and not even until now, the very Message I gave!

For this cause we do rejoice and we are happy to say, on April twenty ninth, nineteen hundred and forty seven, we did celebrate the First Anniversary of the MARRIAGE of GOD to the Church as being termed by interpretation the MARRIAGE of the LAMB to His SPOTLESS BRIDE, of whom you all admire! (Loud applause signified the mass approval of the assembly.)

If you retrace your thoughts back and read the Scripture just a little, you will remember CHRIST was to be married to His CHURCH. ("Yes, GOD ALMIGHTY!" verified the congregation.)

In all of our Holy Catholic Churches as well as those of our Protestant Christian Churches, they all have long looked for the Marriage of the Lamb to the Church, the Redeemer and the Savior of the World! You have heard it from your infancy until now: CHRIST is married to the CHURCH! It was a prediction that would be actually fulfilled in these last days; but it was stressed over and over again by the children of men wheresoever the Christian Church was represented!

 

CHRIST Is Married To HIS Church

Therefore, we do Rejoice, and we are Glad to say, truly, CHRIST IS NOW MARRIED TO HIS CHURCH! And this does not necessarily mean sectarianism, it does not mean an "ism" at all, but ALL of the Church. That is in all of the organizations and in all of the United Bodies of the Church Universally! those of the Holy Catholic Church and those of the Protestant Church and all Real Christians under Christendom all who will live Evangelically, Soberly, Righteously and Godly; they are all in this Number with which I AM United and they too as well as you, shall be Blessed by MY Presence Eternally!

For this cause, when Jesus went upon the Mount of Transfiguration and was there transfigured in the sight of those of the limited few disciples, HE spoke to one and said,

'Whom say the people I AM?'

And the answer came from one saying,

'Some say that THOU art Moses, some say that THOU art Elisha and some say that THOU art a prophet that has been arisen from the dead.'

But Jesus said,

'Whom say ye that I AM?

He quickly responded, saying,

'I say that THOU art the CHRIST, The Son of the Living GOD!

Jesus, upon the Conviction of the disciple and upon His positive assertion in making His declaration known, said,

'Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, Peter (or Simon, whichever) but My FATHER which is in Heaven.'

Can you not see the Mystery? ("Yes LORD," responded the assembly volitionally. And then HE said,

'Upon this Rock I shall build My Church, and the very gates of (you know what) shall not prevail against it!'

 

The Key To The Kingdom Of GOD

Nothing can prevail against your Conviction of GOD'S Actual Presence and your conscientious Conviction of CHRIST being GOD and GOD being CHRIST! Such a Conviction is the Key to the Kingdom of GOD! for what said HE concerning Simon at the time there and then? HE said,

'I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven; whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shalt be bound in Heaven!'

For this cause we do rejoice to present to you the Spotless, Virgin Bride Personified! Such a Conviction was the thing of and to which I Married! Can you not see the mystery? ("Truly LORD," came the eager answer in the affirmative.) It was a repetition of History! When Peter or Simon said,

'I say that THOU art the CHRIST, the Son of the Living GOD!'

Jesus said,

'Upon this Rock I shall build my Church!'

and

'I give you the Keys to the Kingdom.'

Can you not see the mystery? ("Yes, GOD ALMIGHTY!" came the quick response.)

MRS. DIVINE as an infant heard of ME had not seen ME and did not see ME until SHE was just about of age; I mean, did not see ME Personally; but SHE declared as Peter did concerning the CHRIST,

'I know that YOU are GOD!'

That is the Conviction and the Assertion I Married, but it was Personified in a Spotless, Virgin Bride! Can you not see the mystery? (Yes, FATHER Dear!" affirmed the assembly.)

Then the Church was exemplified in the Spotless, Virgin Bride as an evidence of what I shall do universally for SHE, the Spotless, Virgin Bride as was exemplified I shall Universalize the same VIRTUE and HOLINESS and HONESTY and COMPETENCE and TRUTH, and shall Universalize the very same Assertion and Conviction of you!

 

Married To The Truth

That Belief and that Conviction, yea, that Knowledge of the TRUTH concerning ME, as a Person, was IT of which I Married but it was Personified in a Spotless, Virgin Bride! (Loud applause resounded from the entire assembly.)

Mr. John Backie of Vancouver, Canada came here just a couple of months ago, or a little more had been following ME for eleven years, but had never seen me Personally, and when he came he said, "I came because of this one thing because I want to say to you, I know YOU are GOD!"

To Mr. John Backie I was married the same as this one in the likeness of a woman (referring to MRS. DIVINE)! Aren't you glad! ("So glad!" came back the answer.) but not by the legal system of marriage for the purpose of being called man and wife, but as an abstract expression, bringing into the Unity of the Spirit, of Mind, of Aim and of Purpose each and every other one that has that same Conviction! And with the words of Jesus I could say to everyone with such a Conviction,

'I give you the Keys to the Kingdom!'

I gave MRS. DIVINE the Keys of the Kingdom, yea, without a penny of American money! And without trying to necessarily use a letter of the English alphabet, I have given HER all Wisdom, all Knowledge and Understanding! I have given HER the Keys to the Kingdom! I have given HER all riches such as the World cannot afford, and no man can refute it nor dispute it, because I have given HER the Keys to the hidden Treasures of GOD! And yet we, neither of us, claim a penny of the American money! Aren't you glad! ("So glad, GOD ALMIGHTY!" exclaimed the entire congregation in unison).

 

The Keys To All Things

'The Earth is the LORD'S and the fullness thereof.'

And in My Marriage to HER I gave HER the Keys to all Life, Liberty, Success and Prosperity and everything else that is necessary!

'Peter, I give you the Keys to the Kingdom!'

Remember that!

And whatsoever thou shalt not whomsoever thou shalt or whosoever thou shalt bind on earth, but

'Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven!'

I have loosed the Abundance of the Fullness of the Consciousness of Good for the sustenance of our bodies and for the sustenance of our souls, and none need lack in GOD'S abundance, because GOD is the Source of all Supply! Aren't you glad! ("Truly glad, LORD!" cried the joyous assembly.) That is what it is all about!

Then I say, this is the Review of the First Anniversary of the Marriage of the LAMB! I say it is a Review, for we are going through the process of reviewing the First Anniversary Marriage Supper of the LAMB over and over again until all can get a chance to see it in these borders! We did have a Preview of it, and had Previews of it, but now we are having Reviews to review what happened! A good many were not there at the Palace Mission Church and Home, Incorporated, of New Jersey, at the First Anniversary Marriage Supper of the LAMB. For this cause you are here as an abstract expression of the repetition and the Review of that of which others experienced! Aren't you glad! ("So glad, FATHER Dear!" exclaimed the enthusiastic multitude.)

 

To Show Men How To Live

Then I say to the True: those who are United, they are Married! Then I say, live in this Recognition, for it was not for self indulgence nor sex indulgence; it was not for lust and passion, to satisfy the imagination of the human mind; but it was to propagate VIRTUE, HONESTY, COMPETENCE and TRUTH in the Land and to show all Mankind how they should live and be in this present World! Aren't you glad! ("Oh, so glad, LORD!" exclaimed the congregation adoringly.)

Now it is BEAUTIFUL, isn't it? ("Oh, yes!" came the immediate response.) With such a Recognition I have given you the Keys of the Kingdom!

Some fanatics and ignorants have even said that "FATHER has so much wealth, and then HE turns around and marries HER and gives HER all of His Wealth!" If I did, there would be nothing else!

"The Earth is the LORD'S and the Fullness thereof," and yet I do not claim a penny! Why should you try to usurp authority over GOD'S Inheritance selfishly for a selfish purpose? but use what GOD allowed you to use unselfishly, and unbiasedly, and you will never lack or want, for there is a-full and aplenty in GOD'S Abundance!

That is what this is all about! We are just having some Reviews of that which happened, to let you see and know, you shall live in the Abundant Life and not in lacks and wants and limitations, if you recognize GOD as Peter did on the Mount of Transfiguration!

Mr. Backie said, long before he saw ME Personally, "I KNOW HE IS GOD!" Through such a Conviction he became an inventor! He has at his finger tips Wealth untold from a Monetary point of view, because he believes in ME! Became associated with an inventor!

Such a Belief will Solve your every problem and will adjust matters satisfactorily for you; for I say, "I KNOW THAT YOU ARE GOD! And when MRS. DIVINE said it and knew it in Her Heart to ME she was Married before we joined in the Legal Matrimony! before I had met HER Personally!" Aren't you glad! ("So glad, GOD ALMIGHTY!" responded one and all of the Faithful.) Therefore, since that time the World has learned a little something; but there is still much to be revealed! And as it was in that Message, the Office Talk proof read a little while ago, where I said through the mouth of the Apostle,

'It is written: man shall leave father and mother and be joined unto his wife."
'This is a great mystery," he said. "Nevertheless, I speak concerning CHRIST and the Church!'

He was not talking about matter from the beginning! GOD through the Apostle was talking about just what I fulfilled! talking about CHRIST and the Church! And man as it is written,

'Will a man rob GOD?'

Man went out to rob GOD!

'
'I say, ye all have robbed ME!'

GOD was not talking about matter, self indulgence and racism and the propagation of races, creeds and colors or any such abomination. HE was talking about HIMSELF and His Church! It plainly says it! Man ran as fast as he could I mean, Mankind ran as fast as they could to try to rob GOD!

'Know ye not that your bodies are the Temples of the Living GOD, and GOD has said, 'I will walk in them and dwell in them!''

The Holy Catholic Church, as a sample and as an example, has brought out Spotless Virgins in the nuns! You never read of a Sister of the Catholic Church marrying, have you? or going out living in vice and crime, have you? or drinking liquor and getting drunk and carousing around! You have never heard of a Catholic Sister doing it, have you? ("No! No! FATHER Dear," exclaimed the entire congregation.) Well, from that Conviction and Version, I brought out these millions and millions of Spotless Virgins, even as My Companion! I thank you.


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