Our Father’s sermon given at the holy communion table Circle Mission Church Home and Training School of Pennsylvania at 764-772 Broad street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening, May 2, 1950 at 6:05 p.m.
(SONG)
I know YOU are GOD, I know YOU are GOD,
I Know, I know YOU are GOD!
Down in this heart. I know YOU are GOD,
I know, I know YOU are GOD!
YOU healed this body, and changed this mind,
That’s why I know YOU are GOD!
Down in this heart, I know YOU are GOD.
I know, I know YOU are GOD!
(Father speaks as follows:)
PEACE, EVERYONE! GOOD HEALTH, GOOD WILL and a GOOD APPETITE! GOOD MANNERS, GOOD BEHAVIOUR, ALL SUCCESS and ALL PROSPERITY! LIFE,LIBERTYand the REALITY of HAPPINESS! ALL WISDON, ALL KNOWLEDGE and ALL UNDERSTANDING, and the KNOWLEDGE that gives LIFE ETERNAL, for
“It is eternal Life,” CHRIST declared,
to know THEE, said he “the only true
GOD, and JESUS CHRIST Whom THOU
hast sent.”
It is a privilege to realize GOD is in the midst of you and you know, you know you have declared and millions of others the universe over, I heard them say and I heard you sing,
“I KNOW YOU ARE GOD!”
“It is Eternal Life to know THEE,” said he, “THE
ONLY TRUE GOD and JESUS CHRIST Whom
THOU has sent.”
It is a privilege to line in such a recognition, and under such a conviction you will have Peace and Rest with blessed assurance and you can say as you have sung, I KNOW YOU ARE GOD! IT IS A BLESSING TO BELIEVE, BUT UTUSLIFE ETERNAL TO KNOW GOD ARIGHT! Aren’t you glad! (“So glad, LORD!” exclaimed the masses.) You first hear and then believe, and after you believe and learn of HIM and find out WHO HE IS, why then, you KNOW HIM as HE IS! And to KNOW GOD ARIGHT IS LIFE ETERNAL!
To believe externally, in other words, mentally, it is a blessing to believe, but it is LIFE ETERNAL to KNOW, but just to believe theoretically and intellectually and even scientifically, it is not sufficient! When you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, just like you get something you have committed to memory and have reiterated it by heart! “I know this or that by heart and not just by the head!” It is a part of you and you are a part of it as you live it and express it when it is in the heart! By believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth, thou shalt be saved! If you just believe in your head and not in your heart, you may not be saved, but keep on believing, believing and believing until you can get it in the heart, believing sincerely and then learn of ME, as I said,
“Take MY yoke upon you and learn of
ME, for MY yoke is easy and MY bur-
den is light and thou shalt find rest for
thy soul.”
To learn of ME is to learn of ME internally, mentally and spiritually. To lean of ME effectively is to believe sincerely, spiritually and mentally until you get it in the heart and when the BELIEF is sustained in the heart and you are unshaken in confidence, HE THAT BELIEVETH IN HIS HEART AND CONFESSETH WITH HIS MOUTH, HE SHALL BE SAVED!
That thought is well worth considering; it is the KEYNOTE to Salvation to give you the Victory over every difficulty, over all trials, over all tribulations, for it works from the heart of man to the HEART of GOD, and back to the heart of man again. And then when it’s awakened in your heart in reality, it is no longer just imaginary; to you it is a living reality, for truly, I AM making your imaginations your conscious recognition and realization! I AM causing that which was a supposition to be the TRUTH materialized and thence personified. When it is personified and you become to be the personification of your religious conviction, it is not longer a supposition, but you are living epistles seen and read by men, of your religious convictions!
Believing Is Not Sufficient
So it is a privilege to live in such a recognition. And the thought that was conveyed as little while ago, I thought to say, believing is not sufficient! Just to believe theoretically or intellectually or just to believe historically after the manner of men, but to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth is the great essential! Aren’t you glad!
MAKE YOUR CONVISION A REALITY BY YOU BECOMING TO BE THE PERSONIFICATION OF YOUR CONVICTION AND MAKE YOURSELVES, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, LIVING EPISTLES OF YOUR RELIGIOUS CONVICTION SEEN AND READ BY MEN! MAKE IT SO CONSOLIDATED WITHOUT AND WITHIN UNTIL YOU AND OTHERS CAN SEE AND READ YOU AS A LIVING EPISTLE! NO LONGER MERELY AS A WRITTEN EPISTLE, BUT AS THE FIRST EPISTLE OF WHATSOEVER YOU ARE AND OF WHOMSOEVER YOU MAY BE! BE YOUR EPISTLE , FOR IT IS WRITTEN”
“YE ARE THE TEMPLES OF THE
LIVING GOD. GOD HAS SAID I WILL
WALK IN THEM AND DWELL IN THEM.”
So then, when you are expressing and manifesting your GOD in deeds and in actions and in you actions and in your daily transactions, you become to be the living epistle of that which you have been convicted into; in other words, converted into that belief, and that belief is you, and you are in the belief, for they two are one!
Think of living the invisible and making it visible! The Spirit and the Mind, they are personified for they are personifiable. I say, the Spirit and the Mind, they are personified for they are personifiable! The WORD as a voice that is as a sound that goes out from you is materializable, reproducible and personifiable! It can be personified! That’s wonderful, for the WORD was made FLESH, made a reality, and by the reality we are living, and by this conviction we move and have our being!
What You Think
Then you are what you think! As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he! If you think positive thoughts, you will become to be positive in words and in deeds. If you think negative thoughts and idle thoughts you will become to be negative and idle and unprofitable and good for nothing in words and deeds; and when you are the personification of such negative and idlesome thoughts and deeds, your bodies become to be the outward expression of your mental and spiritual conception, thereby become to be corruptible and defiled by the beguilation of mortality’s version and no longer free from the curse! See the Mystery! For in Adam all die but so shall in JESUS CHRIST all be made alive!
The thoughts and the minds of men become to be flesh and they become to be personified, for they are personifiable! Therefore, it is your privilege to produce the perfect if you wish to, by thinking perfectly; by thinking democratically; by thinking evangelically; by thinking brotherly, you become to be the personification of these constructive thoughts you have been thinking, for you are building yourself up in that which you have been thinking, for they are constructive!
The CONSTRUCTION WORK IS GOING ON IN YOUR BODIES NOW! THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE! BUILDING YOU UP CONSTRUCIVELY OR BUILDING YOU UP DESTRUCTIVELY! BUILDING YOURSELVES UP IN THE MOST HOLY FAITH, PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT; KEEPING YOURSELVES UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD, YOU ARE PARTAKERS OF ME! YOU ARE REINCARNATIONS OF ME; REPRODUCERS AND REPERSONIFIERS AND REALIZERS OF THAT WHICH YOU HAVE ONCE MERELY SURMISED BECAUSE THAT HAS BEEN MATERIALIZED, REPRODUCED AND PERSONIFIED IN THE GREAT CONSTRUCTION WORK OF HUMANITY! BUILD YOURSELVES UP! I SAY, BUILD YOURSELVES UP — WHATSOEVER YOU DESIRE TO BE!
Telling You “I AM GOD”
Those who are critics of ME, they themselves declare criticly things that are constructive instructive concerning ME! “Oh, HE is around eighty!” I would like to see one of them around eighty feel and look as I do! Those who say it and think it and convey it, they are saying, I AM GOD! For no man can look and feel and do as I do at the age of eighty! Aren’t you glad!
(“So glad!” shouted the adoring assembly.) If I AM EIGHTY, WHY THEN, THAT IS TELLING YOU THAT I AM GOD; Can you not see the Mystery?
These thoughts are very explicit and you all can plainly see it. Aren’t you glad! (“Yes, GOD ALMIGHTY! So glad!”) If I was a man born in the South as an African slave’s son — they tell you that and tell it to the worked through the press — such false and slanderous and libelous sayings; yet in those false and libelous and prejudiced sayings they are telling you I AM GOD! Show ME any man, bring him from far and near, anywhere on the earth plane, that is, a man as you claim I AM and as you claim I have been, and then see him raise himself up to the standard of perfection, expressing perfection in every field of activity and manifesting supremacy from every single angle expressible and demonstrating the mastery over all of the adverse and undesirable conditions of the world, then they are telling you I AM GOD! They are telling you better than I would tell you! Aren’t your glad! (“So glad LORD!” shouted the enthusiastic assembly.)
A LETTER HE NEVER KNEW! ABSOLUTELY ILLITERATE AND CAME FROM THE SLUMS! — GOD IS THE ONLY ONE CAN DO SUCH AS THEY SAY I HAVE DONE! AREN’T YOU GLAD! (“So glad!” should the amalgamated assembly in one voice.)
Then I say live in this recognition, for EVERY CRITCISIM IS A BOOST! EVERY ACCUSATION IS ALSO THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE IN EXPRESSION! Can you not see the Mystery? So tell all of the critics their criticism is praising ME! I have further declared:
“The wrath of man shall praise THEE!”
In other words I declared it through the writer:
“The WRATH OF MAN SHALL PRAISE THEE!
ALL OF THE WRATH AND PREJUDICES AND BIGOTRY OF MEN IN OPPOSITION TO ME, THEY ARE PRASING ME! THEY ARE HONORING ME! THEY ARE DEPICTING MY DEITY EXPLICITY SO OTHERS CAN SEE IT PERFECTLY, FOR NONE BUT GOD CAN DO AND BE AS THEY SAY I HAVE BEEN AND NOW AM! Aren’t you glad! (“So glad! So glad!” shouted the masses.) Aren’t you glad, I say? (“Oh, so glad, LORD!” again came the enthusiastic shout.) GOD IS THE ONLY ONE CAN MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING! Can you not see the Mystery?
The foolishness of GOD is wiser than men, and the weakness of GOD is stronger than men! Can you not see the Mystery? So when they try to criticize ME and lowrate ME in the hearing of MY believers, MY believers are intelligent by inspiration and by MY CULTURE I have given them, to know when they are doing that, they are honoring ME and depicting ME more explicitly and declaring ME the DEITY! It is written again:
“Where is the wise and where are the
scribed? Has not GOD chosen the dumb
things of this world to confound the
wise? The things that are naught, to
bring to naught the things that are?”
That is why you are convinced of MY DEITY, because GOD does such things as those! Can you not see the Mystery? GOD HAS CHOSEN THE DUMB THINGS OF THIS WORLD TO CONFOUND THE WISE, AND THE THINGS THAT ARE NAUGHT TO BRING TO NAUGHT THE THINGS THAT ARE!
Therefore, rejoice and be glad for I have the Salvation of all mankind! And it is not just for those of you as being termed MY FOLLOWERS alone; that is why one writer declared;
“HE CAME AS THE POOREST AMONG
MEN, YET MAKING MANY RICH!”
AND HE IS THE GOD OF THE WHOLE ROUND WORLD! EVERYBODY SHOULD BE GLAD FATHER DIVINE IS HERE! FOR I AM BREAKING DOWN EVERY IDOL! I AM CASTING OUT EVERY FOE! I AM WASHING YOU AND I AM MAKING YOU WHITER THAN SNOW!
The Lord Is At Hand
Then I say, rejoice in the LORD always, and again I say, rejoice! Let your moderation be made known to all men, the LORD is at hand! Not so far away! RIGHT HERE!
Then live in this recognition and build upon this foundation, and the more wrathful men get and the more critical they are, the more the actions and deeds will praise the LORD! It is a wonderful thought! Just think of it! Anyone would say that I AM eighty or nearly eighty, well, from that viewpoint, as I said, MOTHER in the first body did say, when she was married it was in eighteen eighty-two! You could count that for yourself if you wish to! Aren’t you glad! (“So glad!” came the thunderous shout.) But whether or not, if they say those things critically and accusingly for the purpose of lowration and distortion, just what they desire to come to ME will come to them! Can you not see the Mystery? For they do say things at times, thinking that will destroy your faith in ME and cause you to go back in sin and vice and crime; but I AM GOD FOR YOU FOR THE REDEMPTION OF MANKIND! See? That is why I AM GOD for you, to stop you from committing sin and vice and crime of every kind! To free you from prejudice, division and strife and selfishness, and all sorts of debauchery, to re-create within you a renewed spirit and an upright heart! THAT IS WHAT I AM GOD FOR YOU FOR, AND TO FREE OTHERS FROM UNDERSIRABLE CONDITIONS! THAT IS WHAT IT IS FOR, FOR IT IS WRITTEN IN THE SCRIPTURE, YEA, THE GOSPEL OF JESUS, AS BEING TERMED THE GOSPEL OF THE APOSTLES, SAINTS MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN.
“In MY NAME you shall cast out ‘other fellows;. . .” better known by the religions, the d-v-l-s! Therefore, if I, in the NAME of GOD, do cast out “other fellows” and save you from sickness, sorrow, pain and death and master the economic situation for your salvation, and curb vice and crime on every hand, THEN I DO IT IN GOD’S NAME! YOU SHOULD BE GLAD I AM! I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING YET TO WHAT I WILL DO!
I SHALL PROVE TO THE WORLD CONCLUSIVELY ONCE AND FOREVER, I WILL CAST OUT “OTHER FELLOWS” OF EVERY DESCRIPTION; ALL SORTS OF AILMENTS COMPLAINTS; ALL SORTS OF SICKNESS AND DISEASES; ALL SORTS OF UNDESIRABLE CONDITIONS, FOR GOD IS PANACEA FOR EVERY ILL, FOR EVERY AILMENT AND FOR EVERY COMPLAINT, AND EVEN A PLASTER FOR EVERY CUT!
I thank you.
Father Divine