The Crusader’s Self Discipline
A True Crusader
Carries the Shield of Righteousness,
And wields the flaming Sword of Justice
And his Armor is Truth.
A True Crusader Is the Spirit of Youth;
For he knows no defeat or oppression.
Every seeming failure to him is a Victory won,
And his Work is his FATHER’s Mission.
– Father Divine
We Are The
C – Christians, the
R – Real Crusaders through True Brotherhood, of the
U – United
S – States of
A – America, for
D – Democracy,
E – Equity,
R – Righteousness, and
S – Salvation of Spirit, Body and Mind – For All!
Preamble
We, Father Divine’s Crusaders – Knowing that Father Divine is the One True and Living God, and Having a Conscious Conviction, Recognition and Realization of the FATHERHOOD of God and of the Universal Brotherhood of Man, Do hereby UNITE in our resolve to:
Build and maintain a Fraternal Brotherhood which is on record as an active, effective, integral member of Father Divine’s Inter-National, Inter-Racial, Inter-Denominational, Universal Peace Mission Movement, the Objectives of this Brotherhood being to:
1. Promote Unity among men throughout the world by achieving Perfect Unity among the Crusaders, through Evangelical Living and thinking together in the Fellowship of Spirit, Body and Mind;
2. Discover Abilities and Aptitudes in ourselves, and to stimulate, guide and use these Abilities and Aptitudes in the service of and for the benefit of all men, and to increase and extend these Abilities and Aptitudes to ever Higher Levels;
3. Formulate, in accord with FATHER’S Mind and Spirit, a Dynamic, Constructive Program of planned activities which, through Creation and Recreation, will consecrate and concentrate, during every moment of every day throughout Eternity, the Minds and Attention of all the Crusaders, their Love and Devotion, Ideas and Opinions, to and on the Fundamental – God, Father Divine;
4. Declare to the world through these activities, by Living accordingly as True Sons of God in every Thought, Word and Deed, the teaching of Father Divine – HIS Holiness, HIS Beauty, HIS Truth, Life and Love;
And do hereby establish this, THE CRUSADER’S SELF-DISCIPLINE, as the Code of Father Divine’s Crusaders.
The Crusader’s Declaration
Concerning God
1. I know deep down in my heart that Father Divine is God-that HE is the Personification of God in a Bodily Form.
2. I believe in and accept as Divinely inspired, the King James Version of the Old and the New Testaments of the Holy Bible, and I embrace it as my Rule Book of Life.
3. I believe that Father Divine fulfills the Scriptural Prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ for the Christian World and the Coming of the Messiah for the Jewish World. 4. I believe in the FATHERHOOD of God and in the Brotherhood of man.
5. I believe in the Sacred, Holy, Spiritual Marriage of Father Divine, Who is our Father-Mother-God, to HIS Spotless Virgin Bride, MOTHER DIVINE, Who before the World was, Was Predestined to be, and now is the Symbol of the Church without Spot or Wrinkle.
6. I believe that the Marriage of Father Divine to MOTHER DIVINE was predestined to be; that it is the Marriage of the LAMB and the BRIDE; and that it Symbolizes the Marriage of Christ to the Church, the Union of God and Man, and the Fusion of Heaven and Earth.
7. I believe that Father Divine is my Real FATHER and that MOTHER DIVINE is my Real MOTHER and that I never had another.
8. I believe in the Actual Ever Presence and Omni-Presence of God and also in HIS Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnilucence.
9. I believe that the Spirit of the Consciousness of the Presence of God is the Source of all Supply and that it always has and always will, as it does, Satisfy every Good Desire.
10. I believe that all things are possible with God and that HE will keep me in the Secret Place of the Most High if I TRUST him Wholeheartedly and make a Wide-Open Sacrifice.
11. I believe that I was with God before the World was; that I, in this physical body, will inherit Eternal Life; and that this physical body will never die if I live the Life of Christ and keep the Faith according to the Teachings of Father Divine.
12. I believe in the Life and Teachings of Jesus, the Christ, as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and especially as set forth in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as given in the 5th, 6th and 7th Chapters of Matthew.
Concerning Country
13. I believe that America was Predestined to be the Birthplace of the Kingdom of God on Earth.
14. I believe in the official documents of the United States of America-the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with its Bill of Rights and Amendments-that they were Divinely inspired and that they take their places with the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible as instruments of the synonymous teachings of Democracy, Brotherhood, Americanism, Christianity and True Judaism.
15. I believe in the Flag of the United States of America and hereby Pledge my Allegiance to it and to the Republic for which it stands.
16. I believe that the Symbols of the Flag of the Free-Liberty, Unity, Freedom, Equity and Justice-shall be seen in every Land, as well as “Old Glory” itself, as concrete evidence of the True Significance of the Flag of the United States of America.
Concerning Man
17. I believe that all men are created by God and come before him equal to and independent of each other in HIS Sight.
18. I believe that all men are endowed by their Maker and Creator with not only equal, but the same inalienable Rights, such as the Rights to Life, Liberty and the Reality of Happiness and such as the Freedom of Religious Worship, the Freedom of expression, the Freedom to assemble peacefully, the Freedom from want and the Freedom from fear.
19. I believe, further, that every man has the Right to live where he chooses, work where he is qualified, attend the school of his own choice, ride on any train, bus, trolley, taxi, boat or airplane, and use any public facility, such as hotels, restaurants, depots, parks, playgrounds, gymnasiums, swimming pools, golf courses, concert halls, museums, cultural exhibits and lectures-without respect to his so-called race, creed, color or nationality.
20. I believe that every man has the Responsibility, not only to claim and use these above mentioned Rights and Freedoms for himself, but also the Responsibility to accord these Rights and Freedoms to his fellow man and to protect his fellow man from being denied of them.
21. I believe that every man has the Responsibility to be completely independent, to support himself, to owe no man, neither to give or take gifts, tips or bribes, or to accept anything which he has not earned or paid for.
22. I believe that every man has as his Birth-right the Freedom and Liberty to stand alone, to live his own Life, to think, speak and act according to his own Highest Intuition and Volition, to recognize no master other than his God as revealed to him from within and therefore, to be Free from all ties and bonds of personalities, including those of friends, so-called mother, father, sister, brother, so-called husband, wife, son, daughter and other so-called kin.
Therefore, We, the Inter-National, Inter-Racial, Inter-Denominational Youth of Father Divine’S Universal Peace Mission Movement- Believe that it is our Reasonable Service to our God, to our Country, to our Church, to our fellow man and to ourselves, by living to the letter Daily, Lives of Virtue, Purity, Virginity and Holiness to present our bodies as Living Sacrifices in fulfillment of our official Religious and Political Documents.
The Crusader’s Spirit, Mind, Aim And Purpose
Conscerning God
1. The True Crusader shall love the LORD Our God, Father Divine, with or without a Body, with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, and shall forever obey, cherish and respect him above all else.
2. The True Crusader shall read and study the HOLY BIBLE and THE NEW DAY regularly, conscientiously and persistently with reverence and understanding, so that he may know the Word of God.
3. The True Crusader, as stated by FATHER, shall live exactly according to the Rosebuds’ “Sweets’ Endeavors” and exactly according to the “Sweets’ Commandments,” and exactly according to the Lily-Buds’ Creeds.
Concerning Man
4. The True Crusader shall love his neighbor as himself, be courteous to him, meet him with a smile and greet him with a kind word.
5. The True Crusader shall not fight his neighbor for any cause, no matter what his so-called race, creed, color or nationality.
6. The True Crusader shall not ridicule, condemn, discriminate against or persecute his neighbor for any cause.
7. The True Crusader shall live an unselfish life of service to all his neighbors, a life of giving rather than getting. 8. The True Crusader shall unify himself in Spirit, Mind, Aim and Purpose with all his neighbors allover the world.
Concerning Himself
9. The True Crusader shall live a righteous, useful, consecrated Life which is devoted to Holiness, Purity, Honesty, Love, Faith and Humility through self-denial and Thanksgiving and Praise.
10. The True Crusader shall be truthful and honest down to the smallest detail.
11. The True Crusader shall possess sufficient knowledge and competence to fulfill, to the satisfaction of all concerned, his obligations to his employer, his neighbor, his Church, his Country, his God and himself. He will be ambitious, industrious, intelligent and persistent.
12. The True Crusader shall be temperate and self-controlled in all things.
13. The True Crusader shall not exalt himself or indulge his ego.
14. The True Crusader shall owe no man. He will pay all his debts; he will pay cash on the spot and will not purchase on credit or the installment plan.
15. The True Crusader shall neither give or take gifts, tips, or bribes for the slightest cause, no matter how insignificant the matter may seem.
16. The True Crusader shall be completely independent and shall support himself in every way. He will not beg, borrow or steal. He will not accept vacation pay, social security benefits, pensions, insurance benefits or legacies-or anything which he has not earned or paid for, value for value.
17. The True Crusader shall not tempt God by insuring his life, his friends or relatives or his possessions.
18. The True Crusader shall not mistrust God by using material remedies, such as medicines, preparations, artificial supports and medical or surgical treatment, except as provided in the Church Discipline.
19. The True Crusader shall never engage in unnecessary conversation or sit correspondingly with the opposite sex.
20. The True Crusader shall not smoke, he shall not express vulgarity, profanity, obscenity or blasphemy; he shall not imbibe intoxicating liquors or drugs; he shall not gamble, wager nor patronize lotteries; and he shall not indulge in any lustful, sensual appetite either with himself or with the opposite sex.
21. The True Crusader shall not indulge in vicious gossip, destructive criticism or Godless chatter, nor shall he waste time through idleness or unseemly behavior, that he may be pleasing and desirable in the sight of God.
22. The True Crusader shall not attend, indulge in or harmonize with any form of amusement, entertainment, recreation, contest, exhibit, concert or program which does not express and portray the Evangelical Life which Jesus set before us.
Concerning Church
23. The True Crusader shall attend Praise Meetings, Righteous Government Meetings and Holy Communion Banquets regularly, conscientiously and persistently and shall in every way uphold his church as his Higher Leading bids.
Concerning country
24. The True Crusader shall be a self-respecting, law-abiding citizen of his community, state, nation and world, and shall shoulder the responsibilities of citizenship so that he may earn the benefits of that citizenship.
Finally, Again Concerning God
25. The True Crusader shall be true to his Real Self by being one with his SAVIOR, God, Father Divine, Who is without the beginning of days and the end of Life, the Author and the Finisher-so that he shall be one with his neighbor and so that all the People will be One, whereby nothing good will be restrained from them.
The Crusader’s Pledge
Steps to Salvation –
What is required of me
If I am to work out my Salvation.
Concerning God
1. DESIRE. I must want Salvation. I must be willing and sincere.
2. REVERENCE. I must recognize and realize the Actual Ever Presence and Omni Presence of God in an Impersonal Form-and also recognize and realize HIS Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnilucence. I must have a Conscious Conviction of the FATHERHOOD of God to all peoples.
3. FAITH AND TRUST. I must have implicit Faith, unshaken Confidence and utter Trust in God-and this by hearing only, rather than by seeing.
4. THANKS AND PRAISE. I must continually give Thanks and offer Praise to our Father- Mother-God for all our Blessings.
5. VISION AND UNDERSTANDING. I must recognize and realize as a Truth/that the Word has been made Flesh. I must recognize and realize the Personified Presence of God in the Bodily Form of Father Divine.
6. WISDOM. I must seek Spiritual Discernment that I may know the right from the wrong – the good from the bad.
Concerning Man
7. LOVE. I must Love and forgive everyone on the earth. I must have a conviction of the Universal Brotherhood of Man-of our One World and our One World Wide Family. I must dedicate my Life to unselfish service of everyone in the world.
8. HONESTY AND JUSTICE. I must be absolutely honest and just with myself and with everyone, in thought, word and deed.
9. CONFESSION AND SELF-DENIAL. I must confess every act of wrong-doing, wrong- speaking and wrong-thinking. I must deny every mortal, sinful thought, word and deed of self in every detail. I must give up all and live in willing obedience and complete surrender of Spirit, Body and Mind to the will of God.
10. RELAXATION. I must relax my conscious mentality whenever it is negative, so that the Spirit can have a free access within to reveal to me the thoughts, words and deeds which will rightly solve all my problems automatically.
11. VIRGINITY AND PURITY. I must live so that every thought, word and deed is virgin pure in its righteousness.
12. HUMILITY. I must be humble, patient, meek and sweet in every thought, word and deed.
13. EXPECTANCY. I must possess a seeking attitude-forever watching, listening and praying. I must live in the inspiration of breathless expectancy.
14. WORK. I must labor, but with wisdom and competence. Not only must my heart and mind be occupied with my FATHER’S Business, but my hands, as well, must be full and devotedly serving.
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