FATHER DIVINE in the Office
Peace Everybody! I know you are happy and I AM happy to see you happy. The time is well expired as usual. I usually wait until it is quite late before I get here. First of all I want to say that I AM not out for what the mortal mind would call "having a good time" but I AM out serving; I AM out doing service where I AM when I AM not here in Person. I was serving a banquet, you see, and I left a number of MY students to serve the last table. Of course, I give out more mysteries there, they say, and give better lectures there, and more at the banquet table than I do at the public meetings. So I just want you to know that when you do not see ME in Person I AM absent for the purpose of serving somewhere else. I AM always in the service; I AM never idle. It is Wonderful!
As I often say, and as I said tonight when I left the last table to be served, I said: "I feel as though I must go Personally; but I AM there anyway and I do not have to go to the hall for I AM there also; but as there are many there," I said, "who desire to see ME in Person, I think I will go."
Being away so long — and I usually stay away considerably — I give all of the lecturers and preachers and testifiers a chance to testify. Everybody has not the same calling. Every person is not so foolish and radical as some of MY immediate followers. There are those here that feel that even though sometimes I want to hear them talk, when I come around I try to push them out; still they feel they want to hear ME talk.
You know it is that way; the person that would do anything, that is the one that is not appreciated much. Sometimes the one that would not do anything might be the one that would be appreciated. Sometimes the one that is called for the place, like Jonah, they might try to go around it, all the way around; they would not do what GOD told them to do. Then on the other hand, there are many running around trying to do what GOD told them not to do. GOD told Jonah to go and preach, but Jonah did not want to do it. Jeremiah said that many run that are not called. It is Wonderful! Sometimes those that are called do not want to do what GOD wants them to do, and sometimes those that are not called want to do what GOD does not want them to do. Sometimes there are many that want to tell GOD what they have done for Him. It is Wonderful! Or, in other words, I say, tell us what they have done for GOD; but, "meek and lowly is the way."
Now I try to hold up as much as I can so that I may give everybody a chance to talk. It is nearly eleven o'clock and we all, I feel, could have been and I might say should have been home or on our way home. I desire to close the meeting around ten o'clock; not because I have to but because I want to. It is Wonderful! But as a rule, when everybody testifies, and not even everybody but only a few testify, especially when they testify so long, and then a few preachers give a few sermons, then the Preacher that you all say you want to hear, does not have much time to talk. It is Wonderful!
However, it is alright in a way, because I said some time ago,"From henceforth I will preach Christ in words, but more so in deeds and in actions and I will put MY Spirit in them and cause them to walk in MY Statutes." I had begun long since,yea, even long before that motto, to put MY Spirit in them and cause them to walk in MY Statutes. If I do not say anything in words I will speak more in actions. Any tongue can speak in words. I will not speak in words from a Personal standpoint, not a percent of what I will endeavor to speak in actions and deeds. It is Wonderful! So then I do rejoice to be here and rejoice because I know the work is going on. We rejoice because We have the witness within Ourselves and everyone else can bear ME witness. ("yes FATHER!" came from the audience.) It is Wonderful! We all can rejoice and be exceeding glad.
Now you can bear ME witness in all of my actions I have tried to avoid anything like speculation or graft or anything of that kind. I do not have to ask any man for a penny; because you all — there are many of you say I AM GOD. ("Yes, FATHER we know YOU are GOD!" the hearers exclaimed.) Because you said that I will not, nor have I asked any man for a penny. It is Wonderful! I do not want your word to fall down on you. It is Wonderful! I want to prove to the world that your words are true! (Thunderous applause and shouting of "Thank YOU, FATHER!") Therefore , I do not ask any man for a penny and I have a-full and a-plenty. Because you said — (the audience finished the sentence — "You are GOD, FATHER, we know You are GOD," and so forth.) Then I know that GOD always has a-full and a-plenty. Then I must verify your testimony in actions or in transactions. It is Wonderful!
In deeds and in truth I act just as though it is true, whether it is true — ("It is true, FATHER, it is true! shouted the listeners.) But if a few thousand dollars or a few million dollars could entice ME, it would not be true. It is Wonderful! A few million dollars could not bribe ME; not because of what you might call MY immediate finances, but because of the Ever Presence of GOD Almighty. It is Wonderful! And knowing that GOD, in reality, is the Consciousness of His Presence, which is the source of all supply, therefore as the last speaker said, (one desiring to return a tip someone gave them) why, of course I said, "Return the money!" And all of MY coworkers, students and friends and those that have MY Spirit, will delight and glory in doing even as I have done. For when Christ rises in you, He brings forth in you the same Mind and the very same attributes into expression that He brought into His Personal manifestation nineteen hundred year ago. It is Wonderful!
"It is written,' says He, that "My House shall be a House of Prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves."
It is Wonderful! and He said,
"Tear down this temple and in three days I will raise it up again."
It is Wonderful! Nevertheless, He said He spoke concerning the Temple of His Body — when Christ rose up in Jesus, I AM talking about; and He will rise up in you as in the Body of Jesus, He rose up there and overturned the tables of the money changers, the foundation of speculation there and the understanding thereof, and drove out all that sold pigeons and doves. He drove out every speculating spirit out of His Consciousness and every spirit of graft out of His Consciousness. He drove them all out of Himself, for that Temple was made, or born, humanly speaking, out of the Jewish flesh, which flesh was conceived by the spirit of graft and speculation. !t is Wonderful! Humanly speaking, I say, it was so.
You know the Jews are the greatest speculators in the world; but Jesus, or Christ, was not a Jew any more than you are any special nationality. Humanly speaking, the Jews are great speculators and humanly speaking it was handed down from their fore-ancestors to be great speculators and grafters. It is Wonderful! And that would have been in Jesus system if He had been a Jew. He was supposedly born of the Jewish lineage and the Christ had to rise up in Jesus, and turn over and cast out all of those characteristics, that He might reign as Christ the King, over all graft and over all speculation. When He rises in you, and in any of you, He will be the same as He was in the Body called Jesus. It is Wonderful!
Then drive out of yourselves all those understandings of speculation or graft and chicanery, and He will rise in you and overturn the foundation of all that and you will be just as I AM. It is Wonderful! You will not have a mind nor an understanding for speculation or graft for you will cast those characteristics out of yourself.
That is why I do not indulge in, nor endorse MY students and immediate followers that claim to have MY Spirit, in any speculating or any grafting scheme. It is Wonderful! If Christ went into the Body called Jesus and drove all of the Jewish ambition and characteristics of speculation and so forth out of Him, how much more will He do for you,"Oh, ye of little faith." Get understanding! Get understanding! It is Wonderful!
Those that desire to walk with ME, Those that desire to live in the Spirit of MY Consciousness, you do not have any desire for graft or speculation or anything like that. It is Wonderful! You would rather go and do something that is practical, for you will read in Ezekiel, the eighteenth chapter,
"What mean ye that ye use this proverb, concerning the land of Israel saying, the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's' teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord GOD ye shall not have an occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. For if you have not eaten upon the mountains, neither have lifted up your eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, if you have not spoiled your neighbors wife, if you have not come near to a mensterous woman . . . . but have kept MY Statutes . . . . and have not taken increase or usury"
I AM telling you the way to live forever —
"And if you have walked in MY Statutes"
And have not lent yourself to any of the abominations of the house of Israel
"You shall surely live,"
Says the Lord GOD Almighty. It is Wonderful!
"The soul that sinneth it shall die."
Therefore, if you see your fathers' errors and turn from them and will live a purified life and will fulfill all of these requirements and walk in MY Statutes, you shall surely live, says the Lord GOD Almighty.
Then I said:
"I will preach Christ in words but more so in deeds and actions and I will put MY Spirit in you and cause you to walk in MY Statutes."
That is what I meant when I said to read the 18th Chapter of Ezekiel and it will tell you how to inherit eternal life, even before Christ in the name of Jesus came — the time that was called B. C., it is B. J. although better known as B. C. Even back there He made it known through Ezekiel the prophet, and you can read it for yourself and it will give you some sketch of a reflection of a percent of the significance of this Truth that I AM conveying to you. I will put MY Spirit in you and cause you to walk in MY Statutes. It is Wonderful! Then again I say to many of you that are seeking and looking on every side wherein you think you can get into the graft game for increase and usury, "FWatch your step", dear ones: I say "Watch your step!"
If I did not have the ways and means, and did not have the faith to trust GOD wholeheartedly, I would take MY Hands and MY physical strength and would put Myself into a physical action to bring into reality, the desired means to meet MY demands. It is Wonderful! Now that is what I would do. Paul preached the Gospel three and a half years and lived in his own house. Now why is it that some of you cannot consider that GOD can make a way for you by you being physically fit, and qualify you physically to put yourselves into some actual practical service; service that will be both beneficial to man and GOD, by you putting yourself into some physical action? Make yourselves useful and GOD, through your action, will do what will make you physically fit. It is Wonderful!
Now these thoughts are far from those that you may have thought I would speak from tonight. It is Wonderful! I do not take any thought what I will say. I speak spontaneously: I move by MY Own Intuition and speak by MY Own volunteer volition, and that is the way for you to do to bring Christ to fruition in your lives. It is Wonderful! Then you will express the highest and you will learn to move by your own volunteer volition and be governed by your Highest Intuition, and you will deny yourselves from your personal mortal human versions, and bring forth the Christ to fruition in your lives. It is Wonderful!
You know you are bound to bring forth the Christ in your lives, by living an evangelical life, being self denied, consecrated, sacrificing and concentrating on the Christ Life that was in the body called Jesus. You can produce and reproduce the same expression that was brought forth in the manifestation nineteen hundred years ago. It is Wonderful! For this cause I stand here to convey to you the thought of GOD'S Mystery to you.
Allow the Christ to rise in you as He arose in the body called Jesus. That was the Temple He was speaking about and the grafting speculating spirit, which the Jewish speculating spirit typifies in the whole world, that spirit was cast out of Jesus when the Christ rose in Him and turned out those principles, those speculating characteristics and cast them out of Him and He rose up and manifested the Son of GOD. Then and there and here and now He was no more a Jew, for He was the Christ and GOD made Him both Christ and Lord to the Glory of GOD, and on the third day He raised that Body up.
Because Jesus was a Jew, those grafting and speculating spirits, those characteristics. were the things that crucified the Body.
"Tear down this body and in three days I will raise it up again."
and I say unto you that since He has come again, for years the Body would not touch a penny of money. It is Wonderful! And I do not ask any man for a penny. It is Wonderful!
Just as the last speaker said, those few hundred dollars that you were willing to give to carry to Philadelphia to hire a hall, why, we did not need it! I will make a way where there is no way and I can open doors no man can shut. It is Wonderful! And shut doors that no man can open. And if you need to carry any money to rent a hall, the church was the one to do it. I did not want you to do it. It is Wonderful! If you were willing to pay your fare there in the bus and so forth, why then that was collecting a lot of money to spend to get there anyway, to get what you have right here. I AM not here to put you into any more ecclesiastical bondage; IAM here to free you! It is Wonderful! That you might be free as I AM free. Free from every limitation and from every want and free from every lack, that you may enjoy the Abundance of the Fullness Of All Good Things even as I do, by trusting in this Infinite Name.
Through MY cooperation with the bus company why, they brought the fare down to avery low figure and We do appreciate that, and that is why we answered by turning out so many busses to the request, because they did bring it down according to MY request. The proprietor says that at any time he will cooperate with ME and bring the price down to whatsoever I say. Therefore if a man will stand with Me, I will stand whit him, or with any person in any walk of life or business or what not. It is Wonderful! That is why if you stand for the right you do not need to fret nor worry. A very small margin of profit on a large number is better than to get a large sum on something small. It is Wonderful!
As I told MY students: look at Mr. Ford for an example. Years back if he made a dollar on a car, that was all he wanted to make; and because he did not try to make two or three thousand dollars, like some of them, he is a billionaire. It is Wonderful! And some of the others have gone bankrupt and many of the car manufacturers are dead. When you help those in need you are helping the Christ indeed and when you make more, you are willing to lend to the Lord. Giving to the poor is lending to the Lord, and as a sample and example it is impossible to lose. It is Wonderful! So trust much and be willing to sacrifice much for righteousness sake and you will get an hundred times more. They put on twelve bus loads going out from here to Philadelphia and ten from Newark and two from Orange, not mentioning the hundreds in their private cars from other states and cities around. It is Wonderful!
Then I say, does not that look like the general public and MY immediate followers especially, have great faith in ME? Does it not look like we will prove to the world and bring them to Christ to cause them to sacrifice and deny themselves and live an evangelical life? It is Wonderful! For this cause I came into the world as a sample and an example for others to copy and to lead you into all success and all prosperity.
As to the proprietor of the buss company, his eyes were opened the other day, and I AM sure that he will now realize that the smaller the profit he gets from the individual, the more he will gain, the same as Woolworth and the same as Ford. It is Wonderful! And every other business man will realize that the less you make on a sale, or anything like that, the better it is for you, because your sales are increased and multiplied by as many more each and every day. It is Wonderful! That is the Eternal Life of Christ to usward; not merely being willing to sing and shout and thinking about going to Heaven away off some place. Make Life Eternal here and now, that all may enjoy the abundance of the fullness of all good things for which Christ died, and for which Christ came to bring unto you and manifest unto you the Abundance of the Fullness of the Consciousness of Good, that you may realize that no space is vacant of the fullness thereof. For this cause I continue to say, and I set forth the sample and the example — So freely as you receive, so freely give; and so freely as you give so freely will you receive. It is a matter of impossibility to lose by giving. You will gain an hundredfold more in this present time and in the world to come Life Everlasting,
Now I want you to know what I mean by the world to come. I do not mean the world that will come down out of the sky, but I actually mean the spiritual state of consciousness, which is the world that is to come unto you, into your material state of consciousness, that you might recognize life in the spiritual realm of things, and not with the material conception of things.
We can rest because we know we are not after taking your money. I said I wanted that money given back to you, because Philadelphia belongs to GOD as well as New York. Therefore when you were willing to hire a hall over there, I wanted you to keep it for your own use to pay your rent and pay your bills. Be honest and responsible, competent and trustworthy and owe no man. GOD will make a way where there is no way. You do not have to owe any man.
Maybe you would not have enough money to pay the rent and if I pressed on you to do so (hire a hall) like the mortal mind would do, you would be willing to give ME money for something like that, and then you would not have the money to pay your rent. That is not MY kind of religion. My kind of religion, that which is called religion, is to owe no man; buy nothing on installments. Plain living and be honest and trustworthy.
One of MY students testified yesterday how the mortal mind, which is the d-v-l, told her mind to take ten cents out of the lady's box where she is working. The box contained a lot of pennies and she said it told her to take ten pennies and buy herself some buns, but when I spoke to her in spirit (applause of appreciation) she does not want to do it anymore; she does not want that mind any more; she has dropped that mind. In the days of old when GOD spoke sometimes in your mind it sounded like thunder, and it will shake your whole body as the thunder shakes the earth. It is Wonderful! She does not want to take the ladies pennies any more, and I do not have to be there in Person. It is Wonderful!
You are under the protection of the Law of the Spirit of Life that is in Christ Jesus, that is in GOD your Heavenly Father. It has made you free from the Law of Sin and Death and now obey this Law and you will be blessed. It is Wonderful! But if you do not obey this Law you will be cursed. Owe no man! Now if I were sleeping at a place and there were a million dollars in pennies right underneath the bed, if I would take one penny, in the sight of GOD it would be the same as if I had stolen a thousand or a hundred thousand dollars. It is written:
"He that would steal an egg would steal an ox."
It is Wonderful! I say:
"He that would steal an apple would steal an elephant."
It is Wonderful!
Therefore be honest in your system, in your consciousness, in your being and you will not steal one penny's worth and neither will you steal one hundred million dollars, if it was all at your disposal and you knew you could get away with it. Then if you will live this kind of life GOD will abundantly bless you and prosper you so that you would not lack nor want for anything; so you will absolutely understand, even as I AM. Now I do not have to say, "Do not do those things." but every one that has MY Spirit will act as I have taught you in ME. It is Wonderful! And you will live as I have commanded you in ME. It is Wonderful! For I have put MY Spirit in you. You have MY Spirit and you will walk in MY Statutes. It is Wonderful! Upon this foundation you will not have to falter nor fear; you will not have to worry or care about what comes or what goes, because GOD will be with you and will be your refuge and your strength. It is Wonderful!
Now in regards to the newspapers, I want you to know that I AM not encouraging nor asking anyone that is a representative of Mine, to sell MY Own newspapers nor any other newspapers. It is Wonderful! I AM not asking you to do it; anyone that is a representative of Mine. I want you to be pure even as He is pure. The Bible says:
"He that has this hope in him purifies himself even as He is pure"
And Jesus the Great Love Master said:
"Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is Perfect,"
And that is what I want to be to you. If you have MY Spirit you do not have to sell newspapers. Those that are to do that, they can do it if it is their business; those that are not claiming to be in MY Spirit. We do not have to get into the graft game. It is Wonderful!
Then again, as I said, someone testified the other day how they were blessed; someone gave them money. I said: "What did they give you money for? I said, "When someone offers ME Money I refuse to take it." Why did Jesus say , "follow ME.? It is Wonderful! Then He said,
"The birds of the air have nests, the foxes have fox holes; but the Son of Man has not where to lay His Head."
And then He said,
"Follow ME."
He said that because He wants you to learn how to trust Him. He wants you to learn how to trust the True and Living GOD, and then GOD will make a way for you. It is Wonderful! Now I do not think there is anything great — a party received a letter the other day; someone had sent them a check for five dollars, a young man who claimed to believe in ME, and he was so glad. I said, "What did thy send you, an offer of a position? and he said, "No it was five dollars." And I said, "That is not so much to be appreciated as if they had sent you a position!" It is Wonderful! "So that you can be self supporting, so that you can be, humanly speaking, a reliable and competent and desirable citizen." It is Wonderful! "That you will not be going around depending on what someone gives you." It is Wonderful!
Now these are hard sayings to the mortal mind, but I do not want a whole lot of bums around here. We are not encouraging it and really we will not have it. It is Wonderful! Because there is many a person today could have a position if they desired one enough to get it; but as long as someone will hand them over a dollar, then they will come around and hang around until someone else will give them a dollar. It is Wonderful!
Now I say, if you do not desire to be a slothful and undesirable servant in the sight of GOD and in the sight of man, always try to be more profitable than your expenses would be for the maintenance of yourself. Every man and every girl and every boy, wheresoever you may be, if the expenses of maintaining yourself would be twenty dollars a week, if you do not work and earn more than twenty dollars a week you are still unprofitable. I don't care if you say someone is giving it to you. If you are not more profitable and of more service than twenty dollars each week and it takes twenty dollars to keep you, you are unprofitable.
Now I AM telling you this to stir up your pure minds, for I do not want to see you weighed in the balances and found wanting. Be an unprofitable servant, and the reaper will some day come and say,
"You slothful and unprofitable servant, depart from Me; I know you not!"
Now I say that for your own good. It is Wonderful! I say that for your own good. It is Wonderful! If to maintain yourself as you are living, if it takes ten dollars, twenty dollars, or whatsoever it takes a week, if you do not earn more than that, you are still unprofitable and if you earn only just that amount, you are still unprofitable.
I want to stir up your pure minds to put your talents to the exchange and not be like the man that buried his talent in the earth. It is Wonderful!
I want you to become practical and I want you to become profitable servants of GOD and of man and you will also be desirable in the midst of the congregation of the people and none will desire to have you out of their presence and away from among the midst of them. Take these thoughts in and you will find they will do you better and of more good than anything else can do you just now.
I have often said and testified to the world, that there, are many wealthy men, who, when they retire, they will soon die. As soon as they become to be unprofitable they die and also when somebody else will take their wealth and be unprofitable with it' The slothful and unprofitable servants are called off the scene of action. What good is it for them to be there if they encumber the land? You know that Jesus did not talk about the actual fig tree. He said to cut it down and the servant said to dig around it this year and see if it would not bring forth fruit. From henceforth you will be actually profitable to a man and will be perfected by the Almighty to be real self sustaining citizens.
Now in conclusion I will say, as I said yesterday in reference to being law-abiding citizens; you have been taught to be law abiding citizens and you have been law abiding citizens, but now and from henceforth you will make preparation to be law-making citizens, for you are qualified to make the laws that we will be governed by and govern the people according to the laws of the Spirit of Life in C Christ Jesus.
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