FATHER DIVINE at the Airport
Bridgeport, Connecticut, was stirred once more by the Presence of FATHER DIVINE, on Sunday, April 15th; but on this occasion it was not a public meeting that called the attention of the people, it was the Presence of FATHER Personally, and part of His staff, at the airport with His big red Bellanca 12-passenger Airbus.
Wherever FATHER is, there the people gather, whether it is in a public meeting, a store, or a gasoline station, and so it was at the Bridgeport Airport on Sunday. Being at the airport for several hours waiting for the plane to be serviced, FATHER drew the people in until all parking space was taken up, and many sightseeing flights were made in the planes at the airport for that purpose, while such a number tried to crowd into the hangar to see FATHER'S big plane that the doors had to be closed until the work was completed. But as the plane was brought out of the hangar, its sides bearing the message: "Peace to the World at Large -- FATHER DIVINE'S Peace Mission to all Mankind," hundreds crowded around it, and many had the privilege of getting inside to look it over.
It was a day filled with sunshine, with not a trace of a cloud in the sky, for FATHER had made it to order and it was perfect. During Saturday afternoon and evening there had been heavy rain and the weatherman had said there would be no change and that Sunday would be the same. But thousands of FATHER'S Children were asking HIM to make Sunday a clear day, as they were having a great street parade in Brooklyn, New York. As in every case, without exception, when such a public demonstration has taken place, the weather was perfect, and FATHER made it so by changing rain to sunshine, allowing the rain to start again after midnight Sunday, and come down all Monday.
In the meantime, however, while more than ten thousand of His followers paraded in Brooklyn, FATHER Personally, and His party, were at the Bridgeport field. Included in the party was Mr. Walter C. Lanyon, widely known as an international lecturer and writer of many books, having carried FATHER'S Message in his lectures in Europe for several years. Now having come from London to visit FATHER Personally, he took advantage to the opportunity to ask FATHER various questions, which FATHER answered at intervals, as recorded below, while some of those of the airport stood by to listen.
While waiting for His plane, FATHER spoke of the thousands that were expecting HIM in Brooklyn, where the parade was to take place, and also of the great quantity of correspondence and other unfinished work HE had waiting for His Personal attention.
FATHER continued, speaking as follows:
"Of course I know I AM functioning without the Person, or without the conscious activity, but since My Person and the conscious mentality are One, they are not contented unless they are functioning as One. See? That is the idea. So long as a person lives in a selfish state of consciousness, seeing things as Spirit and not as Body and Mind, they naturally can be contented to know that the Spirit is performing its duty -- and so it is -- but there are other material expressions I bring Myself into, to free others.
"Of course, as I say, I don't need to write anything; don't need to publish anything; I don't need to do any of those things. My Spirit is sufficient in reality, in the high light of My Understanding, but owing to circumstances and according to conditions at this particular juncture, there are hundreds of people looking for something, and I have condescended to allow Myself to be responsible to some degree, for them to receive something from a literary point of view.
"There , as I have these, and the different correspondents, I should agree to partially answer the hundreds of letters I received last week, and letters going out. I have quite a number written. I think I have quite a large mailbag of foreign mail to go out in the office there now, that I haven't got at for a couple of days, and a large quantity of first class mail -- letters. We have them written but we have not proofread them, etc.. So it gives a little work to do. Of course when I come up to Bridgeport Saturdays, week-ends -- I usually work on Saturdays. When I come to Bridgeport, it is for the purpose of doing that kind of work, and having everything clear. I have made it a custom to try to answer foreign letters, for at least two years. I did discontinue answering local letters."
Question from Mr. Lanyon: FATHER, the mail from England got quite heavy, didn't it?
FATHER: Yes, it did, and also from Australia. You see there is Harmony Center there, and quite a number of them. So I try to answer the foreign letters. Then there is a Center in New Zealand, you see, that is farther.
Mr. Lanyon: Well YOU said it would encircle the world, and so it has, FATHER. YOU said in Sayville that YOU had not done anything yet to what YOU would do, and when I came to Sayville that was the only visible Kingdom. Now they are just springing up all over the world, and at the Table the other night YOU said, "I haven't done anything yet to what I AM going to do."
FATHER: Yes, it is increasing and multiplying by leaps and bounds through every seeming opposition. The only thing is, the unfoldment is so great you cannot take care of it, apparently.
Mr. Lanyon: FATHER, may I ask YOU, if it is right -- Your Reply to the London Daily Express when they telephoned YOU -- since it will be published in the paper over there?
FATHER: They wanted to know when I planned to make a trip. That is what they called ME for. I was here in Bridgeport, and after they called the New York Headquarters they thought we were here and so they called over here, and they wanted to know when I was going to London and that way, etc.. I told them I had not made any My Personal plans at that particular time. Of course Colonel Julian had passed some remarks about carrying the message. He had partially advertised it because he spoke of it and I think it is in some of the papers, don't you know. He was going to carry MY Message to all parts of the world. You see there is another plane -- the same type of plane -- but it is not for passengers, it is a flight plane. It is the one that broke the record. It is a Bellanca plane the same as ours, and of course he says he is going, and I suppose that was why they thought especially it was ME, because he said he was going to carry My Message.
Mr. Lanyon: FATHER, when one has a desire for a position -- I was asked in New York just the other day -- when a person has a desire for a position, and they are seemingly very much in need of it, what should they do? I told them to declare the Allness of GOD and then relax their conscious mentality and let the Power work through them. Is that what YOU would say?
FATHER: Well yes, it is true. I consider declaring the Allness of GOD is essential, and the nothingness of matter, and also to refuse to allow the mortal version of things to function in the consciousness, you see. The characteristics of CHRIST are the nature of CHRIST, and the nature means the name, and if one lives in the CHRIST Consciousness, allowing the characteristics of the CHRIST to function in them, CHRIST alone is seen and heard from that individual, both by GOD and man, and hence CHRIST's prayers are always heard and answered. That is the great significance. It is essential for the people to observe the CHRIST Consciousness; get away from the human version, or the mortal version of things, and live in the Consciousness of GOD -- not just merely saying it, as you said the other day -- saying My Name. Just saying "FATHER", it amounts to nothing. I tell them that, though some of them seem to think they can just say "Thank YOU FATHER. Thank YOU FATHER" as a formula. So often they go off in those thoughts. It is all right, to quicken your consciousness to this recognition, you see, that your conscious mentality might be convinced and convicted to believe it, as you said, but unless a change of mind takes place in the system, it will profit nothing.
So it is that the characteristics of CHRIST must be lived and expressed in an individual for that individual to be an expression of the CHRIST in the sight of GOD. And if that individual develops the CHRIST characteristics, whatsoever the characteristics of the CHRIST desire, it is not a person nor persons, it is the CHRIST praying the FATHER, and whatsoever He asks, it is done unto Him. That is My view. But just to say it, wouldn't profit anything unless you produce the characteristics. That is why I say so often, a person must deny himself as a person, and recognize the Impersonal Life, that Life that was in Jesus. It was personated, or personified, whichever, in the Body called Jesus, and it is made real in the person when it is reproduced in the individual and the individual develops these characteristics. Whenever a prayer or desire goes forth from the sincere heart and mind that produces these characteristics in itself, whatsoever it desires is heard and answered, for it is not discerned as being for a person but it is discerned as being the CHRIST.
'In My Name ye shall cast out d-v-ls'
-- in My Nature -- and
'Whatsoever I ask the FATHER, HE always doeth it'
-- HE answers Me --
'HE has always heard My prayer,'
said He. So the same Spirit is speaking today, speaking in each and every individual when he shall develop these characteristics.
So that is the great thought. The characteristics of CHRIST, in My version, should be brought to fruition in the consciousness of the individual, and the person himself should be the manifestor of the CHRIST Consciousness, and the CHRIST Characteristics, Disposition, Ways, Deeds and Actions, Ideas and Opinions. When this shall have been accomplished in the individual as I say, in My version there is nothing impossible. But of course so long as they live in mortal consciousness, thinking they must especially say the word -- just saying "I thank YOU FATHER," or something of that sort, it profits nothing.
Mr. Lanyon: FATHER, that seems to be the most difficult thing to break people from. They all want to know what do YOU say, etc..
FATHER: I have striven to get that away from them, that they might know it is not by what they say as a person in words, but it is the consciousness of the Truth and the very Nature of the CHRIST that will give victory over adversities -- the very Nature itself, by being expressed by Characteristics and by Nature, which is by Name, in reality. Oh it is Wonderful! Oh that man could but learn that the time has truly come, GOD shall have been developed in him, and they will see and know as they are known, and they will see, as they have been seen.
(As FATHER and His party listened to a radio broadcast coming in over the receiver in the waiting room, one of the broadcasters mentioned the perfect weather and remarked upon how unusual it is not to see a trace of cloud in the sky. Referring to this, FATHER said:)
"It is such a wonderful expression. Yesterday I was telling the manager here that we looked forward for a beautiful day today, and that he did not have to worry. He said himself, he thought that I could break the weather, and I said, you will not have to worry -- tomorrow we will have a parade and we will have a beautiful day -- although they announced it over the radio that it would be rainy yesterday and today and there would be no change. I told him today would be a good day. So you can plainly see, it is just wonderful! It is Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful! And there is nothing can stop this Truth. There are not enough powers, or cross current minds, or oppositions in the mortal consciousness, to prohibit it, for they are controlled by the great Universal Mind Substance, and the cross current minds of mortality, they have been harnessed and they are brought into subjection, and I will use them at My Own good pleasure. Even this little holdup here today, is a blessing. Some may think it is a disappointment of failure, but it is a blessing. It is Wonderful! Such a beautiful day!"
Mr. Lanyon: FATHER, it isn't any hold up really. YOU will just fly over at the right time. That is what Your Mission was.
FATHER: "Absolutely -- and I AM working here in the minds of these, more effectively, by bringing My Activities here Personally, than I would if I had gone early.
"Now just think of it -- the message that goes forth in that paper -- (referring to the World Echo, from which a message had just been read) and the price was five cents in the city, before, and ten cents out of the city, the same as the Chicago Defender. But when I got ready to contribute to it I said it would be three cents in the city, five cents out of the city, and in far countries, six cents instead of ten or fifteen cents. You see, I cut the prices of each copy, and yet giving this message -- giving this message free, and yet the regular commercial paper cut the prices at least forty percent, or more -- practically fifty percent. It is indeed Wonderful!
"But as I said in reference to the ship, My thought is not at ME as a Person, neither at any other person or individual as a person, but My thought is at this message; conveying this message to the universe:
'Peace on earth, good will to men,'
-- the biblical quotation, but according to the transposed version of this dispensation, and of My especial Personal Mission: "Peace to the World at Large," as it says on the plane, "FATHER DIVINE'S Mission to all Mankind." It is Wonderful! And the great consolation is, if for any cause I AM not at a place Personally, I AM undisturbed, for I AM perfectly happy and I AM perfectly satisfied. I know I AM there in reality without the Person. Where the mortal mind would think the Personal Body must be there -- if it falls in line for any cause or for any purpose that the Body does not appear, Its not appearing is for the glory of the Son -- not for the displeasure, or a failure, but for the glory of the Son, for which I came. It is indeed Wonderful!"
(Looking out of the window and seeing the rush of business that the fine day and His Presence had brought to the airport, and considering the length of time HE had been waiting for His plane to be made ready, FATHER said:)
"I don't want it to be here like it was in Sayville. I went down to the beach in Sayville, and said I caused them to get the mackerel. That was not just a story, it was a fact. When I told them I caused them to get the mackerel and I wanted to buy some because I caused them to get them, and they were calling the fish markets and did not want to serve ME, he said: "Don't tell me that! I have been fishing down at this wharf forty years and we have never caught any mackerel in the fall here for forty years. It has only been two or three, caught by some means." And I said, "Well that is what I AM talking about," and that just stirred him up. So here, I thought, I didn't want to cause anyone to doubt, but it is a fact, we have beautiful weather here today and they are having nice flying, and I know the cause of it. I know the cause of it all. The cosmic forces of nature, they will obey. They work in perfect harmony as I explained where Jesus as a Person made it plain what GOD could and would do through man as a sample and as an example to come. He spoke to the rolling seas, and the seas, the cosmic forces of nature they obeyed. The winds and the waves, they became calmed; and it is for every person to be the same, you see -- as I AM.
'The works that I do, shall you do, and greater works than these shall ye do.'
It is indeed Wonderful! Everything works in perfect harmony -- perfect accord. It is a Wonderful place to be. You can hardly see, even as he said over the radio, you hardly ever see a day that you don't see some bits of cloud. It is indeed Wonderful!"
Mr. Lanyon: FATHER, will YOU tell us something about changing the disposition? YOU said something once in one of Your lectures, that certain conditions of the body cannot be changed until the conditions of the disposition are changed, and I know a man who has been wearing very thick glasses for years and has had all kinds of treatments but he has not been healed. I told him a change would have to be made in his disposition before he could be healed. Is that right?
"FATHER: Well that is true; your disposition and your characteristics are made manifest in your physical system. The body, and the bodily conditions, are but the outward expression of the condition of the mind within. Hence, if a person expresses mentally and spiritually undesirable and negative characteristics, they will produce it in the system. So it is essential for a person to relax the conscious mentality, that they might be transformed by the renewing of the mind. When the person is transformed, I mean changed in his characteristics apparently, and in his disposition, naturally the conditions of his physical system or physical bodily form will be changed, for after all, that which is observed is only the materialization of spiritual things, or the mentality materialized.
"So it is a great thought to see where we must think positive thoughts, and live in a positive state of expression consciously, and bring it into our conscious realization or recognition. We will produce the positive results in our physical system, and we will manifest health and happiness herein. Your sight, if it has been dim, it will become to be clear. When your mind becomes clear, it causes your physical sight to be clear, as an outward expression of your mind. Your mind -- your mentality -- expresses through your physical system, and your mentality has many members, the same as your body. Therefore each and all of your mental members will express perfectly, when they are subject to positive thinking and perfect thinking; and when they function harmoniously and perfectly, they will also produce a perfect state of expression in your physical system. That is the mystery concerning the sight of your eyes. It is true, the changing of your disposition or characteristics, and your general world of thinking -- your mentality being completely changed -- it changes your physical system and you become to be the personification of the desirable expression, and the desirable you personify, even as GOD materialized HIMSELF. It is indeed Wonderful!
"Just think of it!
'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with GOD, and the Word WAS GOD, and the Word was made flesh.'
GOD materialized HIMSELF, you see, and as GOD materialized HIMSELF, it was a pre-evidence of the actual materialization of all good things. Hence we are bringing into materialization and into outer expression, from the invisible realm and from the spiritual plane, the desirable blessings; bringing them down on the material plane, and we are materializing them. Oh that man could but observe the great significance of the recognition of the actual materialization of all things! When they come to this place in consciousness, they too, as well as you, become to be the personifiers of such recognition and such conviction. It is indeed Wonderful!
"Now you are living in a perfect state of consciousness. I bring into materialization every desirable blessing; for all things that were spiritual, they can and will eventually be materially manifested, the same as it was in the beginning when GOD created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was void and without form; and it was void because it was without form. See? It had not been brought into materialization, you see, and it was unobservable. Therefore it WAS void and without form. It was essential to be brought into materialization for it to become practical and profitable.
Now we are living in a harmonious state of consciousness -- in a harmonious state of consciousness, which is heaven. From the heavens, all things were created, don't you see; or from harmony -- from these harmonious states of expression and love. In the conscious recognition of the same, we bring in consciousness the desirable blessing, the desirable aim, and we also materialize them for the common good of men. The half has never been told, and yet I will still be telling it, and yet it will not be told in fifty years from now. I haven't said a word yet, to what I will say. In all of My talk, in all of My instruction, is nothing revealed yet, to that will be revealed; and yet there is nothing hid that shall not be revealed. Just to be in this state of consciousness -- in the atmosphere of such a state of consciousness, it changes your physical feelings -- your senses and feelings -- the same as it changes your mental condition. It is indeed Wonderful!"
Mr. Lanyon: Yes, it does, FATHER -- it works both ways -- it comes from the inside out and from the outside in, doesn't it?
FATHER: "It is according to the original composition that was given by one of the representatives: "It won't be long before the world knows . . ."Something more than that of mortal to command, for it will be manifested universally the same as it is right here where I AM. You lose all sense of separateness and separation. You lose all sense of limitation, you lose all sense of lacks, wants, adverse and undesirable conditions. You lose that state of consciousness in the Presence of GOD; in the Presence of this Recognition. You are in the Presence of GOD wheresoever you are. You always have been in the Presence of GOD. GOD has been present from your earliest existence. You were not conscious of it -- you see -- that is the only difference. But when you become to be conscious of GOD'S Presence, the consciousness of GOD'S Presence dispels all negation from your systems and in your consciousness, and causes all adverse and undesirable conditions to be eradicated from your systems. And you don't have to take a thought what you are going to say. GOD'S Omniscience is so illuminating it is lighting up your misunderstanding, it is inspiring you with knowledge, wisdom and understanding, so you can speak without a thought of what you are going to say. And that is the authority, to speak as one having the Spirit, the Spirit of GOD. It is Wonderful! That is your authority. You get your inspiration, and you get your permission, you get your information, and therefore it is permissible for you to speak by the inspiration of the Spirit, for
'Where the Spirit of GOD is, there is liberty,'
and therefore it is authority. You speak as one having the Spirit, in short.
"Oh that all mankind could and would but learn the great significance of living in this recognition. We will bring heaven to the earth immediately, when this shall have been accomplished in the consciousness of the people, and we will not look for another. All of those things that were in your imaginary heaven, through your preconceived ideas and opinions, have been brought down to earth on the material plane where we are now functioning, and we bring them into outer expression by materializing them and causing ourselves as individuals, to become to be the personification of each and every desirable blessing. Oh it is such a wonderful blessing!"
At this point Mr. Gray, another one of the party, addressed FATHER as follows:
The great thing that always mystified me, FATHER, was the Celestial City. It looked like a man would be better off dead than alive. I wondered to myself what would be his conveyance; what would carry him there? Would he have wings or go on an airplane? -- or what would it be?
FATHER: "It is such a privilege to know, these Infinite Characteristics and Qualities of the INFINITE ONE, they have Power in themselves to descend to us, and we as persons, humanly speaking, haven't the power in ourselves, in our finite wisdom and understanding to reach them; but they have the Power within themselves as being Infinite, to reach the finite. Therefore, it is the place to live -- in this recognition -- to know GOD will lift you. HE will bring these things to you, and you don't have to try to get to them. That is the beauty of it; to know within yourselves GOD will bring all of these desirable attributes and blessings to you, because in your finite limited degree, it would be a matter of impossibility for you to go to the Infinite One; but the Infinite One has Power within HIMSELF to come to you, and so HE came. The prayer you have been taught to pray through all of your churches and Sunday schools, and religions, from earliest existence:
'Pray ye: Our FATHER, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth," --
let Thy Kingdom come on earth, and Thy will be done. Do you not see, it must first come spiritually and mentally before it is materially manifested? And we as physical beings, are supposed to be the personifiers of these identical Infinite Qualities as they come to us and we dial in on them. I thank you!"
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