Father Divine’s message given at the banquet table at 20 West 115th St. New York, NY on Monday January 15, 1934 at 1:22 p.m.
The following song was sung by FATHER just before HE spoke:
“Faith is the Victory that overcomes,
That overcomes that overcomes,
Faith is the Victory that overcomes,
That overcomes the world.
You in ME and I in you,
I in you, I in you,
You in ME and I in you,
That overcomes the world.
Faith is the Victory that overcomes,
That overcomes, that overcomes,
Faith is the Victory that overcomes,
That overcomes the world.
It teaches and tells you what to do,
What to do, what to do,
It teaches and tells you what to do,
That overcomes the world.
There are no more doubts and no more fears,
No more fears, no more fears,
There are no more doubts and no more fears,
That overcomes the world.”
Good Health and Good Appetite, Good Will to one and all; the Peace and Love of GOD be multiplied, for this is the purpose for which I came.
That little song I brought forth for consideration: “Faith is the victory that overcomes, or this is the victory that overcomes the world, even your faith.” GOD it is Who condescendingly came in the name of faith for the children of men. Had HE come in the name of GOD, they would not have accepted of HIM. That is why your testimonies — to those of MY followers I AM speaking — are barring thousands of people from the Kingdom of GOD, and prohibiting them from entering into this Rest and into this LOVE. For the Name of GOD has become to be a stumbling block, instead of a stepping stone to them, or those who stumble at the Word. For this cause you are barring many a person from the Kingdom of GOD, who will not accept of the message by faith and not by sight. Then I say, “Faith is the victory that overcomes, yea, this is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith.”
Remember, faith is not seen, or is not seeing. “Faith is the substance of the thing to hope for, it is the evidence of things not seen.” Then you are asking for Faith. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of GOD.” Believe the message that you have heard, and through your belief you will receive faith, and through your faith you will become the Sons of GOD, and through your becoming to be the Sons of GOD you will KNOW GOD, and not before. It is indeed Wonderful!
No Man has Seen GOD
It has long since been said and recorded and verified: “No man has seen GOD at any time, but the only begotten of the FATHER, HE has declared HIM.” That was true at that particular time. You had not seen and airplane nineteen hundred years ago; but faith being the substance of the things hoped for the evidence of things not seen, through this conscious conviction and recognition mentally and spiritually it was brought into observation, and now we have airplanes. But however, it was also said,
“No man knoweth the FATHER but the
Son, and no man knoweth the Son but
the FATHER, saving he to whom HE
will reveal it.”
You cannot know GOD until you become to be a part of GOD. You cannot know GOD until you become to be the Son of GOD.
“No man can say that Jesus is Lord Except by the Holy Ghost.”
How can you in your mortal mind expect to know GOD, when I spoke to you in the other body calling Nicodemus and said: “You must be born again”? The same Spirit is speaking today. When you, Nicodemus, was in another body. GOD spoke to you then and said: “You must be born again.” Therefore, you must be born out of that Adamic state of consciousness; out of the theories and doctrines of men, out of their versions that have been handed down through them, through and by all of their seminaries and colleges and theories and doctrines. You must be born out of that version and out of all of them, and recognize HIM, that liveth forever without and within. Then and there, you can see the Kingdom of GOD. It is indeed Wonderful!
Then I say, remember, you cannot expect to come and observe GOD with your mortal-versionated preconceived ideas and opinions. A greater than all of the theories and doctrines of men is here. (“Right here!” sanctioned the throng.) Therefore, each and every individual desiring to learn more, if you hear of anyone inquiring or asking for ME, or inquiring after ME, or asking for ME, tell him I say first deny himself. You cannot see GOD through the eyes of matter; you must see GOD by and through the eye of Spirit, for if your eye be single, your whole body is full of light; but if you are looking to see GOD through the eye of matter and of materiality, it is a matter of impossibility. Remember, “They that worship GOD must worship GOD in spirit and in truth.” The Spirit is the revealer of the secrets and of the mysteries. But with your mortal theories and doctrine of men, with all of your human studies of psychologies and metaphysics, it is a matter of impossibility to discern the Christ Consciousness.
Has it not long since been said: “These things are hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes.”? Through all of the seminaries of our civilization, from the beginning of Christendom up until this present time, you could not find the reality of GOD until you found HIM hid in the hearts and minds of men. HE will come to them through revelation, or through “re-veal-ation.”
GOD’S Ways Past Finding Out
Trying to fathom GOD out; you will lose your mind! It is indeed Wonderful! You will lose your mind, I say, trying to fathom GOD out, when it has long since been said: “GOD’S ways are past finding out,” and this Love that surpasses all human understanding. Then how dare you to try to understand GOD? You shall not understand! I will not allow you to understand! When you learn one thing, I will hide in another. It is indeed Wonderful! When you find ME at one place, behold I will be in another. That is the mystery of the Omniscience of GOD. GOD’S Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding transcends all human imagination: it goes into infinitude, the end you cannot vision. You cannot even imagine it. Therefore, we have created an atmosphere of the Spirit of the Consciousness of the Presence of GOD, and a negative thought or an adverse idea or opinion cannot hinder it in the least. It only will perplex itself and make itself unhappy, trying to find out GOD.
GOD’S understanding and GOD’S Love and GOD’S Wisdom, these Qualities and Attributes of HIM are past finding out. It is indeed Wonderful! If a person can find out how I can bring you all together, yea, even you unbelievers, and make you stand and hear MY Message — now who can do it?
Take these thoughts to consideration, and through this consideration, jest reason it out for yourselves: Who can control your minds? Who is it who has dominion over the mind of the people collectively? Who is it who has dominion over the cosmic forces of nature? Who is it that the hand of nature obeys and the very vegetation will come at HIS Command? It is indeed Wonderful! Who is it that can cause green grass to grow in the sand? (“YOU, LORD!” came the shout.) Then I say, WHO CAN HINDER ME?
I have not done anything yet to what I will do! Through every opposition, through every conflict and adverse and undesirable condition I put forth a greater expression of MY Presence in Majesty. The Spirit of the Presence of GOD is sufficient, through your conscious recognition. Through you as individuals bringing your bodies into subjection and willingly living evangelically, you become to be the living temple of GOD; not only living temples of GOD but you become to be living epistles, seen and read of men.” That is what it is all about!
All Powers Work In Harmony with this Principle
For this cause we are rejoicing. We are unfolding more and more of this beautiful flower, although the bud may have had a bitter taste but the flower is growing sweeter and sweeter daily. The winds and the waves, they obey. You know they work in perfect harmony with ME. And other powers that be apparently, in and under the name of the cosmic forces of nature, etc., they work in perfect accord; therefore, yea even the jungle law will obey. It is indeed Wonderful! As I was saying the other day, the snake charmer will catch a snake and will bring the snake in his or her hands, and the snake is harmless. Jesus the great Love Master said: “You shall take up serpents and they shall not hurt you.”
The powers that be, functioning in unrighteousness through the different debaucherated states of expression, through vice and crime of every kind; when they are brought into subjection to the Christ Jesus’ Mind, they can be used to the Glory of GOD. Then I say, be wise as a serpent; be harmless as a dove, and yet be as bold as a lion. The lion through kindness and love is controlled. The Spirit of MY Presence and the Presence of MY Spirit that prevails over the universe, it is bringing into subjection all adverse powers apparently, and causing them to be willingly subjected to the Christ Consciousness. Therefore, the underworld and all of the fields of life that have heretofore disbelieved the Christ, have come into subjection to this Principle, of which is the Christ put forth into expression, and that is the great mystery; the power of every adverse expression that has been brought into subjection, as did Benjamin Franklin with the lightning. It is indeed Wonderful! The cosmic forces of nature — those that seem to have been destructive forces — have been brought into subjection by the great universal Mind Substance scientifically expressed in man, as science and as invention have brought those things into outer expression; and GOD is expressing HIMSELF in the parable of electricity and through inventions, how HE can bring the power of wickedness into subjection to HIM and cause them to serve and obey HIS command. It is indeed Wonderful!
For this cause we are rejoicing; we can see every knee bowing and every tongue confessing. We can see every heart believing and every mind recognizing, and each and everybody coming together as one man at Jerusalem! Then I say it is Wonderful! Living in this recognition you need not falter nor fear, fret nor worry; if GOD is for you, who can be against you? Greater is HE that is within you than all they that are against us!
Transformed Through this Recognition
The Spirit of GOD’S Presence transmits HIS Omniscience and also reincarnates same, with all of HIS Majesty, Love and tender Compassion. GOD in you is the Expresser, Producer and Manifestor of these qualities that will satisfy your every desire, and as the speaker said a little while ago, as he saw it to be: “There is not a father, nor a parent; there is not a mother; there is not a sister; there is not a brother,” he said, “like our FATHER DIVINE.” It is indeed Wonderful! Through such a recognition — even though in mortal consciousness it may not be true to those of you that did not believe — but through such a recognition it has given him the victory over his sickness and over his diseases. (“Yes!” this particular brother rejoicingly shouted.) Just listen at the voice of the speaker, and singer, how it was with him a few years ago: he could not speak loud and strong as he can now! It is indeed Wonderful! But truly might you recognize it, because it is very discernible.
Those who were supposed to have been old, their voices trembling; their voices are changed, their bodies are changed, their minds are changed. They are transformed by the renewing of their minds, and you can hear it in their physical voices as they speak! It is indeed Wonderful! Oh that man could but learn the great significance of observing the Perfect Picture — visualizing and gazing upon perfection rather than imperfection! You visualize negativeness or negation; you produce it and bring it forth in your consciousness and materially manifest it in your systems, causing your physical bodies to be sickly and diseased and limited in different limitations. But through the recognition, by living evangelically, the very Spirit of GOD’S Presence will produce and bring into your system and into outer expression the condition of the mind that you are functioning in.
Child in Likeness of Lion
I have often said; if the women who looked upon the lion, had seen a beautiful little angel, and had she believed it as vividly as she did through fright or fear — stressfully as she did whichever — she would not have produced the likeness of the lion, if she had not seen it to have been a lion. The mental conception was the mystery of the physical birth and expression. It was not a physical conception of the likeness of the lion; it was a mental conception of the likeness of the lion. As she stressfully gazed upon the lion, she produced it and brought it forth to fruition in her experiences, and her first-born child after that time was in the likeness of a lion. It is indeed Wonderful!
Oh that man could discern the great significance and visualize perfection and desirableness, the positive, the true; and not visualize negation, imperfection and the negative, for these things you will produce in your experiences mentally and physically if you visualize and gaze upon them! Oh that you could observe these Truths and refuse to visualize and gaze upon the negative; refuse to be a pessimist; believe in optimism and visualize the future as the perfect and not the imperfect! Visualize that which you desire to materialize; make a mental conception in your realization, or in your conviction, and you will bring into materialization or outer expression the thing you are visualizing vividly.
Then I say, the women whose son was in the likeness of a lion, it was said that she saw the lion with fear and fright, and stressfully gazing upon the lion, she brought forth the likeness of the lion in her first-born child. That does not mean to say it was actually true that she did see a lion, but to this woman it was true. I AM trying to open up the way for those of you who might be critics and unbelievers and agnostics and infidels, that you might believe and visualize the Perfect Picture and produce it in your experiences, rather than the negative.
I AM desiring to sow the seeds in this generation, the kind of fruit I AM desiring to reap in the next generation. It is indeed Wonderful! In the next twenty years you will be visualizing the Perfection of GOD on earth among men! I sow the seeds of optimism instead of pessimism, and establish the positive in a few of the people, and lift it up as a Standard for them, that they might gaze upon it; and if they see ME to be GOD, nothing less than the fruits of the same will be brought to fruition in their experiences. That is why we can say in reality: “Faith is the victory that overcomes the word — this is the victory that overcomes; even your faith.” And “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Gazing upon the likeness of the lion vividly and stressfully, fearfully or lovingly, it would produce in the nature of the woman the likeness of the lion, and would cause her child — her son — to be in the likeness of the lion because she visualized the lion vividly and stressfully, and believed it was a lion. It is indeed Wonderful!
I have called your attention to the parable of the mystery of that psychological and physical psychological Truth, that you might see and observe the mystery of gazing upon the Perfect Picture that you might see the mystery of those who have visualized ME. They have produced and brought into their experiences health and happiness, success and prosperity and every desirable blessing. These things come forth by the recognition of GOD’S Presence, through and by them being consciously convicted and visualizing enthusiastically GOD in the Body, they are convinced; and if they are convinced that I AM GOD, if I would be the d-v-l, if I AM producing and bringing to fruition in their experiences the GOD-given Qualities, who can hinder ME! Then why try to hinder ME? If you as Christians and as psychologists, and as any and all of the religions could not bring into materialization the Christ Consciousness and Qualities, why envy ME because I have brought it to fruition in your experiences?
A Blessing and a Cursing set Before You
Some say: “Why is it HE allows them to call HIM GOD?” Why is it I allow you to call ME the d-v-l? It is indeed Wonderful! I set before you a blessing and a cursing. You can visualize ME to be GOD, or the d-v-l, but remember, by visualizing ME to be the d-v-l it is a CURSING.
Do you not see the condition of the people who have been visualizing the d-v-l? It is indeed Wonderful! Then I do allow them to cal ME GOD. I also allow you to call ME the d-v-l, and I allow others to call ME an infidel. I allow others to call ME an ill-famed person. It is indeed Wonderful! I allow them to call ME whatsoever they will produce in their experience. It is indeed Wonderful! But mankind is coming to this place in consciousness they are realizing, for they do see the great significance of recognizing GOD and gazing upon perfection rather than imperfection. Gazing upon imperfection you produce and bring into materialization imperfection in your systems, of sickness and diseases and all adverse and undesirable conditions. But through your recognition and vividly gazing upon the Perfect Picture, the Fundamental, of which you say I AM — it is indeed Wonderful — you have dialed in on the Qualities of same, and now you are producing it and bringing it forth into your experiences; the Characteristics of the Christ, and His blessings that go with them. Oh it is indeed Wonderful!
Now remember, with or without a Body the Spirit of MY Presence and the Presence of MY Spirit is going forth conquering and to conquer. It has the victory in every issues of life. I do not have to get the victory, I have the victory! (applause) It is indeed Wonderful! GOD is the Victory, in the name of faith, transmitted to man. It is imparted to them to dial in on same and produce it in their experiences in every issue, and they too will have the victory!
Take these thoughts to consideration, Living in this recognition you will join in the joy of giving and producing the Perfect Picture, the positive, the pure, the incorruptible and the undefiled, rather than the unprofitable and the negative and the impure, for such has been the destination of reincarnations of you in your past experiences.
Mortal Mind Desires to See a “Magicianic” Performance
Take these thoughts to consideration, live continually in these Truths, and if you desire faith, faith will come by hearing and not be sight. Stop trying to see something; stop trying to hear something. Stop fulfilling that mortal-minded degree of expression, as being termed in the religious world as the d-v-l. Now a mystery I speak at this particular juncture. I say, now a mystery I speak at this particular juncture. The mortal mind degree of expression, as being termed the d-v-l in the world of religion, came to Jesus and said: “If thou be the Son of GOD, command these stones by made bread.” The mortal mind degree of expression that has risen up in the metaphysical world and the metaphysicians, to come to seek and to see if I will make some bread out of nothing, the same as that mortal mind degree of expression as being termed the d-v-l in the world of religion, said to Jesus when He was here on earth in that Body: “Command these stones to be made bread.” Do you not see the mortal mind degree of expression that has risen up in the world of religion, seeking ME and desiring ME to make some “magicianic” performance or expression to appease the mortal conception of their mortal minds? I do not have to make any mortal-minded “magicianic” expression to appease the mortal conception of the mortal versions of men, of which is termed in the religious world the d-v-l. Now you read the Bible according to the way it came to Jesus. It is indeed Wonderful! That same mind came to Jesus and said: “If thou be the Son of GOD, command these stones to be made bread.” They are coming from far and near seeking to see ME make some ‘magicianic’ expression and demonstration to appease the mortal concept of their human fancies and pleasures, because many of them desire to get something for nothing. That is why they want to come to ME to learn. They think I will teach them some ‘magicianic’ expression. It is indeed Wonderful! And then they can go out and get something for nothing! But I will not teach you any ‘magicianic’ expressions.
If you want to be blessed; live in this recognition, and live according to the Life and the Teaching of Christ. Then and there, you will produce it in your lives; you will be blessed and successful and prosperous and you will not need to see ‘magicianic’ expressions!
Take these thoughts to consideration. Live in this recognition. Put off the ‘old man’ with all of his deeds — the old mind — preconceived ideas and opinions, and live in this recognition. Give GOD your whole heart, soul and mind and body. Now do not say it unless you mean it! And if you will give GOD your whole heart, soul, mind and body, and will live evangelically wholeheartedly, you will be abundantly blessed; you will have success and prosperity and you will have the victory over all adversities and over your so-called adversaries, for they are your friends! It is indeed wonderful!
Now remember, from henceforth, I hope each and every one of you will tell your friends who are seeking ME to teach them ‘magicianic’ expressions, and gifts and talents, etc. — as they are called — I AM not a teacher of such. It is indeed Wonderful! As a party said to ME the other day, “Why I am living at such and such a place,” and said, “I wrote my sister or my wife,” or something like that, “to send me some money or send me some help,” or words to that effect, “and I did not get any answer, and I would like to make a telephone call: some long distant call.” And they said they wanted someone to give them the telephone call or words to that effect. I told this party, if you get a job and go to work, and not look for your sister or your wife to support you, that will be an expression; and they said why they wanted to get enough money to call them, so they could send them some money — or something like that — a healthy man!
Now people are going from place to place seeking to learn how to be magicians and other voodoo workers, to keep from working, to keep from earning an honest living. Lots of people are that way. But I AM here to tell you; if you live the Life of Christ you can be abundantly blessed, you can be successful, you can be healthy and you can be happy; and MY Spirit will go before you and get you a job.
There are thousands of people who still have that in their mind: they want to get something for nothing. They hardly think about getting a position. They think about keeping from getting one. Now all of MY believers know within themselves, through their faith in ME, MY Spirit has healed them; and they have faith to believe that the Spirit of Christ in them, with them — and in this Body — will save them from the grave. If it will do all of those things, it will also give you a good job! It will cause you to be independent and not be a pauper and neither a progger. But live in this recognition and the Spirit will be with you henceforth, now and forever. I thank you!