The Divine Lorraine Hotel, Philadelphia, PA.
"By His Works ye shall know HIM." This Biblical quotation is proof in itself of the Reality of GOD really being here on earth again in the FATHERSHIP Degree of expression in the Holy Body of FATHER DIVINE! The very Works of Righteousness being established continually day by day by the Great Creator of all shall be as an open book in which are contained Deeds and Actions of unselfishness, Love, Kindness, Mercy and Tender Compassion, to be read freely by one and all who will read it with the true Light of GOD-given Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding.
(The foregoing statements are those of the transcriber, after which FATHER speaks as follows:)
PEACE EVERYONE! Good Health, Good Will and a Good Appetite for everyone! Good Manners, Good Behavior, all Success and all Prosperity! These and all other Blessings to you I bring, that you might be One with Him whom you say I AM!
At this instance I have arisen to say, we have in our midst visiting friends as usual. I could just repeat or reiterate the Message as read, including the invitation as was given to our visiting friends to speak if they care to. Move volitionally as we do, or if you do not care to move volitionally as we do, they may give us their names, addresses and professions and we will gladly introduce them according to custom. I thank you.
(Mr. Fred Johnson promptly rose from his seat at the banquet table and addressed FATHER and the assembly as follows:)
"I would feel most ungrateful if I did not say, Thank You for the hospitality that was shown to my friend from the land of the midnight sun and the hospitality that was shown to myself when I came here to inquire where we could see FATHER DIVINE. A brother wished us PEACE -- GOD knows we need PEACE! When he explained where I might find HIM in the BODY, I said, How do you get there?' He said, I will take you there.'
"Well, I thought that was wonderful. Here a total stranger, he would take me where I wanted to go; and then he went to Madison Avenue and met his Brother Lamb, and he was most cordial to us when I explained about my friend coming from so far away and the mission that he was here for; that he was asked to write to the land of the midnight sun, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Then the religious and secular papers finally got hold of him and said, We want you to write and tell us about FATHER DIVINE', and so they sent him to me.
"I have been here several times and he came to ask me about FATHER DIVINE and His Work. I said, The best thing I know is to go there direct. If the papers told you to get firsthand information, the best thing is to go there direct. I will take you.' And so here we are.
"Thank you for the wonderful meal we were permitted to enjoy. I felt so at home when I came, I even gave my coat to a fellow I never saw before, and I know I will get it back."
(Pastor Alf Wathne, of Norway, rose at this time to extend his greetings and appreciation as follows:)
"FATHER, and my different friends: I have traveled a long time and a long way to come and attend this banquet; in fact, I have traveled three thousand and three hundred miles across the Atlantic Ocean, and I landed in New York just a week ago and I sent word to my friend, Fred Johnson, that before I go back again to Norway, you must take me up to see FATHER DIVINE and His followers,' and he was happy to do it. I will say with him that I have very much enjoyed the meal and all the kindness and the loving people here in this hall and the other places we have already visited.
"I thank you all for your kindness and love to me, who comes to you as a stranger, and when I do write back to the papers of Norway and go back, I probably will tell some of the impressions I have received in New York and I will take with me this happy evening. I certainly have enjoyed the stay with you and I have felt that you are glad because the LORD has made you free, and I am sure that if this Spirit that is prevailing among you could prevail among the people of the United States and all of the cities of this sinful world, we would have a new world and a new heaven. Now pray that the Kingdom of GOD will come.
"I live in a small country far up north. At present there is no midnight sun. In fact, above the Polar Circle the people live in practically continuous darkness for three months in the year, but the good LORD gives it back to them in the summertime, so they have three months of everlasting sunshine day and night. The LORD is good -- praised be His Name!
"We really belong to a peace loving nation. Norway and Sweden lie close together, face to face. They have been at peace with one another since eighteen fourteen, and when we in nineteen hundred and five disrupted the union and there was reason for war, these peace loving people said, We shall not have war; we will meet together as brothers and talk the matter over'; and they settled the dispute without making warfare one against the other; and as a matter of fact we have now the Crown Princess -- a Swedish Princess. She is married to the Crown Prince of Norway, and they will arrive in New York the eighteenth of April. So if you want to greet them, go down to the dock and bid them a hearty welcome and ask them to come up and see how you have it in the Kingdom. I am sure they will enjoy the supper and the banquet with you.
"So I thank You again for the hospitality and I pray that the great LORD and MASTER may bless you all. Thank YOU, FATHER, and thank you, brothers and sisters."
(As Pastor Wathne resumed his seat, the Spirit brought forth the song recorded below, at the conclusion of which FATHER delivered a dynamic Message.)
'FATHER'S Love is stirring up the nations,
FATHER'S Love is stirring up the nations,
FATHER'S Love is stirring up the nations,
Praise His Name, Praise His Name, Praise, His Name.'
PEACE EVERYONE! At this instance I would like to say, as I afore said, we have visiting friends with us and I AM not just speaking of the two gentlemen who lastly spoke, whilst we enjoyed their speeches and always do enjoy all visiting friends, especially when they are Peacemakers and Peace Endorsers and Peace Encouragers; for this is just what we have and it has become to be known here in the United States of America and elsewhere, but especially in New York City.
You can see from the abstract expression of this PEACE that I AM stressing, it is well worth considering, for it has brought Peace out of confusion and brought abundance where there was scarcity, and given victory over all depressions, over all lacks and wants and limitations, and has saved the City's government more than thirty million dollars -- this being an issue to be considered, if you wish to consider it -- by lifting every believer from the Welfare.
This is not mentioning the thousands and thousands of dollars weekly, My Followers are paying in old bills in the act of repaying the old bills to the credit debtors they owe. Now we are not mentioning in this thirty some million dollars we have saved the City government, of what they have saved in morals and in the act of bringing about an abolition to vice and crime in their communities. We are not mentioning those points for consideration in the summation of not less than thirty odd millions of dollars the City government has been saved by My Activities here! But aside from all of this, just think of the masses as they stand in this dining room and in other assemblies equivalently the same, free from vice and from crime, free from sin and debauchery of every kind!
Not one of My real Followers would smoke a cigarette! Much less than smoke a cigar, they would not even so much as smoke a cigarette! They would not drink any sort of intoxicating liquor nor wine nor beer! They will not tolerate being influenced by something that can control them and cause them to do things they do not desire to do, saving that of My Spirit in them! My Spirit will cause them to continue to do the things they did not desire to do and do the things they would not do if it was not for My Spirit, My Presence and My Mission! But what is that they will do? They will come to a Throne of Grace! They confess their sins before men and forsake them and GOD has Mercy and Compassion on them because they have forsaken their sins by confession! Aren't you glad! Not only so, but all of My True and Faithful Followers, they live free from mortality's version according to the flesh. If they are True and Faithful, they deny themselves!
Jesus said: "Except a man deny himself, he cannot be My Disciple!" Well, you know some hobbies of men are most destructive. Those hobbies are the things they should deny themselves of, because they deny themselves of those things the same as the most of the religious people do. At the time of Lent they deny themselves of the things or whatsoever it may be that they like most. Well, we have Lent three hundred and sixty-five days a year! We make it a Living Reality -- no longer something to be accomplished or done at some special time, as we know GOD is the same today, yesterday and forever; hence GOD requests you to be the same as near as possible! Aren't you glad! Then we have Lent three hundred and sixty-five days to the year and every once in a while, three hundred and sixty-six days.
These things that tend to attract our Mind and our Attention, our Love and our Devotion, our Ideas and our Opinions in a different direction saving to the Fundamental, why, we deny ourselves of those things that CHRIST might Rule on the throne of our mind, in our business, profession, labor and trade and in all of our activities as LORD of lords and as KING of kings! Aren't you glad! By this CHRIST has been selected and elected and enthroned on the throne of the minds of millions and has brought them into subjection to this Fundamental whereby they are willing to live exactly according to His Teaching. Now that is what it is all about.
The nations of the earth are stirred because of this great unfoldment! It is merely the contagious Presence of GOD on earth among men contagionizing all humanity, and it shall eventually contagionize each and every one of them! They all shall be contagionized with this Spirit of Mine, with this Idea and with the Consciousness of GOD's Presence -- that is, if they live on the face of the earth and enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven!
Hence, we shall have a Righteous Government, for what said David concerning the mystery?
'Righteousness and Judgment are the habitation of His Throne. The earth saw and trembled!'
Can you not see the nations of the earth today are trembling at the recognition
or even the slightest consideration of My Actual Presence as GOD among them?
That is why they are sending from all parts of the world to find out something
about the One of Whom you declare to be GOD, because whilst tabernacling here
in this City and throughout the Country since having made MYSELF known to the
children of men, I AM doing just as I please! It will cause them to want to know
what is the matter -- what is it going on? To hear of Someone doing as he or
she pleases, it is something to consider! How is it? I do as I please because
I AM pleased to do nothing less than which is just and right among men and to
establish the Kingdom of GOD among them! That is what I AM talking about I AM
pleased to do! I AM pleased to control the nations universally and bring them
all into subjection to the CHRIST Consciousness as exemplified in CHRIST JESUS,
the Sample and the Example for the people: that is what I AM pleased to do!
Then as you heard the little composition:
'We thank Thee for bringing the Kingdom on the material plane!'
You could not enjoy the Kingdom of GOD in some mythological heaven far above
the sky; you can only enjoy the reality of things right down here on the material
plane. You may suppositionally and superstitiously imagine something as heaven
in some mythological world of expression, but when you bring the heaven to the
earth plane according to the Prayer of Jesus which He taught you to pray -- the
Prayer you all have prayed, there and then you can see the Reality of GOD'S Kingdom
coming to the earth plane and it is a Blessing to the children of men! It is
not in reality a Blessing to them if they are not conscious of GOD'S Presence!
Through misconception and misunderstanding, men have been preaching and teaching the Gospel apparently, but having not observed the mystery -- a good many of them have not, I mean to say. I AM not saying that all of them have not observed the mystery, but a good many of the leaders and the teachers of the people have not observed the mystery of the coming of JESUS.
And His Name shall be called Immanuel, being interpreted GOD is with us!'
Until the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST is preached from that angle of expression, it
is a matter of impossibility for GOD to work effectively among this people. But
when men are convinced once and forever that GOD is with them in Reality and
has become to be a Living Factor, then and there the Spirit of GOD'S Presence
will work automatically and will adjust matters satisfactorily. Aren't you glad!
That is why things are adjusted satisfactorily for ME without My reason to ask!
The very Presence of GOD with the conscious conviction and the realization of
the same will adjust matters satisfactorily for all mankind when they recognize
His Actual Presence and stress it in their DEEDS and in their ACTIONS!
'. . . His Name shall be called Immanuel, being interpreted GOD is with us!'
That is exactly what the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST is! It is the conscious conviction
of His Name being Immanuel and the interpretation of it is a Living Reality, "GOD
is with us!"
Aren't you glad!
It cost the Life of Jesus and it cost the sacrifice of the life of others to bring this to fruition in the conscious mentality of humanity, but I have brought it to fruition so convincing until all humanity shall eventually see there is a Reality in GOD'S Actual Presence and in the acts of His doings among the people.
This is not a supposition; it is the conscious conviction and the realization of millions, and the answer of every problem is put forth into expression in the said same expression: GOD is Actually Present! This answers every problem!
Now I AM convincing My Followers by the millions and millions and millions; yea, even hundreds of millions now, that GOD is Actually Present when HE is Personally absent! This is the Keynote to the mystery when I can convince My People distinctly GOD is Actually Present once and forever throughout all eternity! Then, when I can bring to their conscious conviction and realization, GOD is Present when HE is Personally absent, the Ever-presence of GOD is a Living Reality and made Real, Tangible and Practical -- there and then they have the Victory over every difficulty, over ever trial, over every tribulation and over all disasters and all adverse and undesirable conditions that will ever come hereafter!
As it is on My immediate Staff and under My Personal Jurisdiction in this private dining room, so shall it be universally, for the Mouth of GOD has declared it! Aren't you glad! We shall not be discouraged until we shall have it universally even as I have it here under My Personal Jurisdiction where I AM Personally officiating! Aren't you glad!
Now would you not rather have the whole universe in Peace and in Union as I have it under My Personal Jurisdiction, than to have it in wars, race riots and confusion and under the threat of war universally as it has been? Is not this a Sample? Is not this an Example? Now taste of the Sample and observe this Example! Copy after the fashion I AM showing you daily politically, socially, intellectually, morally, inspirationally, and from every angle expressible, even industrially! Aren't you glad!
Copy after the fashion I AM showing the nation and you as a people universally will have victory over every difficulty, over all trials and tribulations, and the Kingdom of GOD will be universally hastened until all can observe it distinctly, even as My Followers do here with ME!
We shall have a Righteous Government! I shall not be discouraged until I shall affect with this great spiritual contagion of this spiritual awakening, each and every nation, each and every language, each and every tongue and every people, even as I have it here with ME Personally! As with this audience, so with all nations universally; for I have declared and I re declare the same:
'As with an individual, so with a nation; and as with an organization, so with all nations universally; for GOD will bring them all together!'
Aren't you glad! As well as India, Africa and a great part of Australia -- no
doubt, Sweden and Norway will also be represented; for they shall come to the
recognition of GOD'S Actual Presence, the Mission of CHRIST by the Name Immanuel,
being interpreted GOD is with us! GOD shall be with all of the people universally
even as HE is here in America! If there is a question in the minds of the general
public in other countries, that they might get, as was requested, first-hand
information -- inquire in this community and in other communities where I AM
represented -- where I AM functioning and have access among the people. It will
tell you as a Sample and as an Example, as a percent of a percent of a percent
of a fraction of a grain of what can be done universally; for if it can be done
for an individual person, it can be accomplished by and with the whole nation.
As with a nation, so with all nations universally, and all shall recognize GOD'S
Actual Presence internationally and shall come into the universality of GOD'S
Love and GOD'S Mercy and all will be partakers of His Actual Presence and live
it forever and forever.
Live in this recognition and build upon this foundation, for it is a foundation that cannot be shaken. It gives victory over depressions; gives victory over wars and race riots and confusion; gives victory over every undesirable existing or would-be past existing condition. It is the Master of Omnipotency and the Controller of your destiny. Things cannot prevent nor hinder the access of this grace wherein I stand, for it is GOD in the presence of the children of men and man.
I have declared for you as one among you, none shall hinder the access of this grace wherein I Stand, for GOD Himself is the Author and the Finisher of all things! I know there are critics at times who look upon the insignificant appearance of My Presence, but the more insignificant the better, for
'Man's extremity is GOD'S opportunity!'
Therefore, the more extremiated I can be as a Person, the more expressive will
I be for your Savior and in His Unfoldment of His Majesty among this people.
Can you not see the mystery?
When you are extremiated completely, GOD alone is in evidence, but when you are partially in evidence and represented, it is a matter of impossibility for GOD to be in evidence completely, for you are partially in evidence and taking a part of the evidence yourself as an individual.
Truly might have I said through the Body called Jesus:
When they shall persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My Name's sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.'
The more you are extremiated through persecution, molested and embarrassed as
an individual, the more expressive will be your Savior, for you are not in evidence
nor in expression to hinder nor to diminish His Expression. Aren't you glad!
Upon this Foundation if you will stand and can and will work cancellation on yourselves as the children of men, until you shall have cancellated yourselves as individuals universally to the lowest term, then and there GOD will come on the scene and will be seen and understood and observed; for you will be out of the way as persons.
Oh, it is a privilege to live in such a recognition! If I had not come extremiated as a Person, I would extremiate Myself by working cancellation on Myself as a Person to the lowest terms, that I might no longer be heard nor seen, that GOD might be understood and be seen and heard where man has once been.
By this we shall a Righteous Government! Even the government of our present political machinery shall be converted into Righteousness, Truth and Justice; for GOD Himself from this angle of expression shall have full control of it -- I mean in politics universally -- GOD Himself from this angle of expression, will have full control of it! Now, tell them I said it!
Truly might have David said,
'The LORD reigneth.'
GOD is reigning on the minds of the children of men and HE is dethroning everything
else before Him! Aren't you glad! HE shall rule and super-rule all of the nations
of the earth by the power of His Spirit and by the breath of His Mouth!
What said the prophet in the revelationic prediction concerning the mystery?
'Out of His Mouth goeth a two-edged sword . . .'
Can you not see the words that are spoken without wavering, without fear;
and Jesus said all things are possible; even the mountains will be removed if
you will request them to?
Doubts and fears are removed out of the hearts and lives of men. Vice and crime and sin and debauchery of every kind, I remove out of them. I speak, "PEACE on earth and GOOD WILL to men," and I bring these qualities and expressions, with all of the attributes and the characteristics of your Savior, into actuality. I establish them among men and they shall see GOD on earth Personified, that of which HE has spoken into consideration. Aren't you glad!
Every positive assertion that is made by an individual can be brought into actuality and GOD can materialize it if you speak it with the spirit of sincerity. The materialization of that which has been spoken is a living reality, for I speak these words into the conscious consideration of the people while they consciously think harmoniously with ME, and bring into actuality and into materiality the reality of that which I have spoken.
Now, "PEACE on earth and GOOD WILL to men," and all desirable expressions and attributes I AM materializing for them, that GOD might be a Living Reality and have access, tangibly manifested on earth among the children of men. Aren't you glad! You can enjoy PEACE when it is tangibilated! You can enjoy PEACE when it is reincarnated! You can enjoy PEACE when it is re-personified, and you can realize the Presence of your GOD when GOD is Personified!
But you cannot realize the Presence of GOD until you realize the Personification of His Presence! You may suppositionally and superstitiously imagine GOD'S Presence, but you cannot bring it into your conscious recognition and realization until you can observe the materialization and the Personification of His Majesty!
When you observe the Personification of His Majesty, then it is brought into your conscious recognition and realization of His Majesty and of His Presence, of His LOVE and of His Mercy being a Living Reality with you then, henceforth and forever! I thank you.
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