Breaking the Smoking Habit

Interview Granted By FATHER DIVINE In His Private Office Study, The Circle Mission Church,
Home and Training School Inc., 764-772 S. Broad Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania April 26, 1952 A.D.F.D. Time: 7:55 A M.



FATHER DIVINE

FATHER DIVINE.

 

Miss Smith: Peace FATHER.

FATHER: Peace. What might be your name, please ?

Miss Smith: B. L. Smith is the name, FATHER, and I have come to get a blessing from YOU, to ask YOUR forgiveness, because I have broken the rules in one of YOUR Hotels. I was smoking and I was caught at it and I was told to come here to get YOUR blessing and YOUR forgiveness.

FATHER: It would profit little or nothing if you confess it unless you forsake it. For your own sake, it would be advantageous to forsake it. Not for the good of the Hotel, the management or the owners, but it would be advantageous for yourself if you could and would forsake it; not only under the jurisdiction but everywhere, because there are some habits that are not crimes- I do not say that that is a crime, but some habits that are not advantageous, not constructive and because of the custom or habit, people are led erroneously on many occasions. I do not say you have been or you do; but many young women, especially those who smoke cigarettes, have smoked reefers or something of that sort, not knowing they were doing it until afterwards. So, if a person will abstain from those things that are not advantageous, not profitable, that lead in a way where it is possible for them to get a hold of something that would be detrimental, it would clear the way for them and prevent them from running into anything that would be detrimental- similar to that.

Miss Smith: Well FATHER, this is what I want to ask YOU; what can I do to break this habit? Because a cigarette to me is like a stimulant to stimulate my nerves and I have got into the habit, and I was told if I tried and had faith and really earnestly desired to stop, I would automatically stop smoking.

FATHER: Well, you will, you could and you can and will if you conscientiously and sincerely desire to be freed from it; for there are those of MY followers, young and old, a good many who were habitual drunkards, habitual smokers, even habitual gangsters of the worst type, have come to ME and have been healed completely. Have you been at the Hotel long?

Miss Smith: No, I have been here about a month.

FATHER: Well, anyway, there are some right here in this connection who were gamblers and drunkards. We have some who were prostitutes and the like, ill-famed persons of practically every type, but when they made up their minds to live a better life and made a complete self-denial of those things and trusted in MY NAME, they were healed mentally and spiritually of the condition. They have been privileged to live that way for the last twenty years- morally.

Miss Smith: It is wonderful!

FATHER: And that is where MY following have been successful and prosperous economically. In other words financially, and have unlimited purchasing power. They have unlimited purchasing power cooperatively, for they are the true and the faithful of MY following, for they are true and honest and they make the sacrifice of everything that is undesirable. They make the sacrifice for Righteousness' sake, and by so doing, it is advantageous to and for them. Some have as afore said, they have been habitual drunkards, and abstaining from those things that were not absolutely healthful for the physical well-being, they have made themselves successful and prosperous because they have saved thousands and thousands of dollars where others have spent it on such as you see.

Miss Smith: I understand.

FATHER: It was conservatively estimated in New York once that among MY following, those of whom had been converted to MY Teaching had saved one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year in cosmetics. Naturally the cosmetic association did not receive it! They (MY followers) have it! Then they wonder why MY followers can have so much money. And people say, "Where does FATHER DIVINE get so much money?" These properties that are commonly considered or called MINE, they do not belong to ME, and yet the owners who buy these properties do not buy anything on credit, neither on the installment plan, and they will not buy a hotel or any property on a mortgage. They pay cash and owe no man.

Miss Smith: It is Wonderful! It is really Wonderful!

FATHER: Now this could be your portion. You will no doubt, young woman, whether married or single, it does not make any difference; even if you have a husband that is subject to some of those habits, it would not be detrimental to you to abstain from them. It would not be detrimental to him, for you would be more mentally and spiritually and even physically fit to be a companion to him- if being a companion in the way of a companionship may be considered, for that which you would spend for something unnecessary could be advantageous to you and your family. So it is a blessing to observe what can be saved by just living according to MY Modest Code. A person does not have to be necessarily religious or spiritually a follower; I might say organizationally a follower, for with ME, matters not what religion you may be affiliated with, so long as you live according to MY Modest Code, I can make you successful and prosperous economically and socially and I can make you the head and not the tail, as said the Scriptures. The Bible says,

'If you love me and keep my Commandments, I will bless your going out and I will bless your coming in. I will bless you in your storehouses and in your baskets and I will bless you in the fruit of your land and in the fruit of your cattle and I will bless you in whatsoever you doeth, and I will make you the head and not the tail.'


How marvelous it would be if others, not being followers of MINE, but religious, would follow ME through the Modest system and through the Moral system; they could be independent and would be able to live in peaceful and quiet resting places. I have broken that line of demarcation. I have brought an end to localization. MY followers, matters not what complexion they may be, they are not bound by localities or vicinities. I hear some people say:" Over, in the so-and-so section, or in such and such section." We are not bound to such as that because we do not represent any such things as that. We do not represent divisibility but we represent Unity, Brotherhood and Democracy as synonymous.

Then if all will, live accordingly, all will eventually be successful and prosperous and will bring an end to division and strife and uprisings and confusion, race riots and warfare and bloodshed and everything. I thank you.

Miss Smith: Well I thank YOU, FATHER. I thank YOU for YOUR blessings and if and when I shall get over this, I would like to come back and talk to YOU again. FATHER: Okay. I will be glad to hear from you. Okay. Peace. Miss Smith: Peace, FATHER

 


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