(Editor’s note: This article was originally on the Libertynet website.)
But “HE Was in the World and the World Knew HIM Not.”
FATHER DIVINE
“Blessed Are The Pure in Heart”
FATHER DIVINE’S Sermon given at
Sons of Italy Hall, Inwood, L.I., N.Y.,
Monday, July 18, 1932 A.D.F.D.
PEACE! I was just thinking of the blessedness of those of you that are pure in heart. It is written,
“Blessed are the pure in heart.”
There is something they will see. For this cause we can rejoice, and when we see something, we become to be like unto that which we gaze upon or visualize. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, and again I say, blessed are those of you that will subjugate yourselves to the CHRIST Consciousness and bring your bodies into subjection to same entirely, and will live an evangelical life, having substantiated faith, and unshaken confidence.
Again I say, “Blessed are ye” that have faith to believe that you could be healed; and so it was and so it is. I say again, “Blessed are you” that are radical enough to be willing to make a sacrifice to that end that you might receive the blessings for which CHRIST died and for which I came. Therefore you are rejoicing because you also have been persecuted or criticized for My great Name’s sake, says the LORD. I AM rejoicing because great is one’s reward in Heaven when men shall persecute you and say all manner of evil against you for My Name’s sake.
In that way all can rejoice together, for all have travailed and groaned in pain together till now. You have been waiting for the adoptionship, to be recognized by the Almighty and to recognize GOD as your FATHER, and that GOD may adopt you or rebirth you manifested as His Son, and there is no other one. You have been waiting for the adoption, to wit, for the redemption of the body to the manifestation of the Sons of GOD. Blessed are you that have come to this place in consciousness, who know that you are in and among the number that have manifested the Son of GOD. Having manifested the Son of GOD, you have come to this conscious realization that GOD is your FATHER and there is no other; no mother, no father, not sister nor brother. But realize this and believe thou this, for he that believeth, to him shall the abundance of the fullness of all good things be imputed.
That is why we can never find a place too small or too large, that we cannot fill. It is because we visualize the abundance of the fulness of the consciousness of good. We are conscious that GOD is here and now, and wheresoever you may be, for
“HE was in the world and the world knew Him not.”
Do you realize that you have been walking and talking in GOD, and GOD has been walking and talking in you all the way along? But you did not know it. You had an idea that GOD was in your imaginations. You saw GOD some place far beyond the blue ether, as it is supposed to be — and that is nothing and nowhere, and everywhere where there is nothing. Now many may say to you that you must die and go far beyond the sky to meet your GOD, and that has been, and still is being taught by many. But we are conscious that here and now, and here and there and everywhere, is your GOD. I say, suppose you would take for your consideration your radio as a sketch of a reflection of this great Truth from that standpoint of view. You can tune in with your radio and you can prove to yourselves conclusively, that the message that you will hear in and through your radio, the music is in the air. You can convince yourselves conclusively that the message that has been broadcast somewhere in New York City, in California, or any other place, that message is here and is there and everywhere.
That will go, and will stay, and will stand, and will move, to prove to you conclusively that the Word of GOD has always been with you. But you did not tune in on this Principle to receive the same. And you did not have a radio, did you? If you don’t happen to have a radio, you will not get any music in your home, will you? But if you have a radio installed in your home, why you can get the music direct from the broadcasting station.
GOD is your great Broadcaster of HIMSELF. GOD broadcasted Himself nineteen hundred years ago, and not only then but HE transmitted Himself four thousand and four years B.J., better known as B.C. GOD transmitted Himself and prepared Himself a Body, and HE spoke through the Body as being called man. It was GOD all the time. There has not been anything else but GOD that could speak and move, for it is written,
“In Him we live and move and have our being.”
Then again I further say that in Him you live and move and have your being as well as we, as a universal body. Then individually, in you GOD lives and moves and has His Being. That is where GOD has been all the time. It is wonderful! That is where GOD has been all the time.
But we realize that a great theatrical or movie producer, he must be qualified to produce pictures to satisfy the desire of the public. GOD is qualified to produce and reproduce His Picture in Words, in Deeds and in Actions, in Characteristics, in Qualities of every kind. GOD is qualified to produce His Picture in His most precious and desirable Attributes, His Qualities and all of His Characteristics.
GOD desires that these qualities be produced and brought to the highest expression of Himself here and now. But it can only be done by your subjugating yourselves to the CHRIST Consciousness as did Jesus, the Great Love Master. And Jesus, the great Love Master, He subjugated Himself to the Will of GOD that the Will of GOD might be done in Him as it was in the invisible realm of His Majesty. In the spirit of meekness in a body, a body of simplicity, a body that was supposed to have been humiliated after the manner of His birth and after the manner of His upbringing.
And the depressions and oppressions that He had to go through, this body was somewhat humiliated and yet with that and with all of that, this same CHRIST produced and brought forth to the world, the perfect idea, the perfect picture, the perfect ideal of life and set it forth by recognizing Himself to be one with GOD by first making Himself one with all mankind. You cannot be one with GOD, dear ones, until you come to this place in consciousness that you are one with your fellowman. How can you as an individual be superior to your fellow brother and be one with GOD?
There are those of you of the human race who think after the manner of your professions, classifications, specialties, racial pride, political prejudice and racial prejudice, etc., think the classifications of yourselves, nationalism, etc., and races and colors and creeds that it will make you better than your fellow brother. But I wish to say unto you that you cannot produce the CHRIST Life in the world until you become to be one with your fellow brother that you may be one with GOD. GOD condescends to impute Himself into man.
It is a great condescension for GOD to impute Himself unto men, but GOD so loved the world that HE desired to save the world through and by imputing Himself unto man. That would be the ways and means that HE would come to the world and redeem the world from the chaotic condition, yea, even at this present time. And while HE came in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin, to condemn sin in the flesh, HE came in you to produce and reproduce the identical CHRIST Consciousness, Principle, characteristics, nature, and all of His Qualities that HE had and was the expresser of in the body called Jesus. That is the way HE came to save the world. That is the way HE has saved you. Therefore, we can and do declare unto the world conclusively, that as with your radio, so with the CHRIST in the world.
I know there are many, it is true, that have declared ME as an individual, to be GOD. It is Wonderful! But I have not left one stone unturned. I have not left for you, a cause for stumbling. I have set before you an open door, that everyone may realize that they have the same right as I, to bring forth the CHRIST to the convincement of the souls of the children of men that GOD is in you and GOD is in them. This can be done by each one of you and by your living an evangelical life. If you will live an evangelical life, exactly, I say, according to the Life and Teachings of CHRIST as recorded be Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, letting this mind be in you that was also in Him, you can say to that man or that woman here that think they were or are sick, to go in peace and sin no more, and they can walk in the light.
CHRIST, the great Love Master, said so plainly even unto all those He sent out to
“Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.”
He did not say that of yourselves you can do anything, but He said,
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”
He said,
“These signs shall follow them that believe. In My Name they shall cast out d-v-ls, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”
I thank you.