A NEGRO GOD

 

 

By D. M. PANTON

 

 

We pass on the most startling fact concerning an Antichrist now in the world that we have ever encountered in our life.

 

 

A Vicar (personally known to the Editor) has a very attractive daughter who professed conversion in the Keswick Convention at the age of fifteen, and who for seven years gave satisfactory evidence of having been born again: the great-granddaughter of one of the greatest students of prophecy in the nineteenth century.  For five years now she has worshipped a Negro God – ‘Father Divine’ - and says she has never been so happy in her life.  Her father is heartbroken.  Even more astounding, it was the wife of a Methodist Minister (personally known to the Editor), himself a spiritualist, who won the girl to the worship of Father Divine.  It is reported that Father Divine has more than 50,000,000 worshippers throughout the world.

 

 

Godhead

 

 

The tragedy and the fearful danger which this case reveals makes it wise for us to study this Antichrist.  First, we have Father Divine’s claim to the Godhead.  (1) “I am unfolding the mystery of my actual supernatural, omnipotent, and omniscient presence.  Be conscious of God; not only the Son, but God Himself.”*  (2) “As God, I am universal.  There is no comparison with any mortal man on the face of the earth.”  (3)  “The body of God: that is what I am talking about.  God Himself (not someone else) shall be with them and be their God; no longer something just imaginary, but a living reality.  I am doing away with the first imaginary heaven now, that was not a heaven in reality.  From your imagination I have brought you into the recognization and realization of the personification of your God.  The word is made flesh and dwells among you.” (4) “‘The first Adam was of the earth, earthy, and the second Adam was the Lord from heaven.’  So it was a greater unfoldment of my Deity in the second than in the first one: I reproduced the perfect expression of God.” (5) “Many people ask me, when did I begin my work?  As a Deity, God is without the beginning of days, and without the end of life.” (6) “My spirit is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.  One and all can see and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God Almighty is here personified.”

 

* All the quotations in this article are taken from the official organ of the sect, The New Day, dated January 3rd and January 10th 1948.  Two lengthy interviews between Father Divine and the Vicar’s daughter are recorded in these issues.

 

 

Worship

 

 

The response of his worshippers could not be more explicit.  A Mr. Joy, a Baptist minister, says:-  “Thank you, Father, God Almighty.”  One of his staff says:-  “Born into the Royal Household of God, we become subject to His holy attributes, characteristics and disposition, and reproduce the virtues of God Almighty.  As we imbibe his healing words, we become a new creature, for truly his words are Spirit and Life.  For thy mercy to the children of men, Almighty God, we humbly thank thee”.  His wife, Mrs. Divine, says:- “It is such a blessing to be in this holy, beautiful atmosphere, where we can worship you in the beauty of holiness.  O God, our Father, we do thank you for coming and bringing your holy body and transmitting to us all your beautiful attributes. He has united us together from all parts of the world, from all nations, languages, tongues, and people from all religions.”

 

 

Salvation

 

 

It inevitably follows that Father Divine claims to be the sole giver of salvation.  (1) “God in the midst of you is mighty to save.  But convincing you God is actually present is the great essential and the only hope of your redemption.” (2) “Lots of people are convinced that my doctrine is right, and it is the only hope of their salvation as well as the salvation of others.” (3) As one of those addressing him said:- “I ask you, Father, to cleanse me and make me realize, make me know, that you are my Creator, my God, and my salvation.”

 

 

World-Rule

 

 

So also Father Divine’s aim is to establish a universal kingdom.  “We shall have a Righteous Government and none shall lack in God’s abundance, and God shall reign, for this truly is Christ’s administration” - his own government – “in the name of the Lord of lords and King of kings.”  So he says again:- “We shall have a righteous government from shore to shore and from land to land: all the kindreds of the earth shall be united together, and there shall be no division among them.”  So once more:- “I am going to have a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle, and as it is right here under my personal jurisdiction so shall it be all over this wide extended plane, and all humanity shall live in joy, peace, and contentment.”  So a desire which the Antichrist will alone be able to fulfil - a world-religion, with all men worshipping him (Rev. 13:  8) - is already the dream of Father Divine.

 

 

Origin

 

 

Not a great deal seems known of the history of Father Divine.  This negro’s name is George Baker, and in 1899 he was a Sunday School teacher in a Baptist chapel, which was visited by an evangelist named Samuel Morris.  This evangelist was thrown out of the Church because he taught that his body was God’s body and that therefore he was God, on the ground that “ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you”.  Baker accepted this doctrine, toured the South among the negroes as an evangelist, and later settled in Harlem, New York, where his sect grew steadily.  Today he drives in the most famous British make of luxury car, owns his own monoplane, and carries about vast sums of money in cash wherever he goes.  On one occasion, says The New York Times, he was ordered to appear in the Children’s Court, New York City, by Judge Panken.  “One of Father Divine’s followers had abandoned her home and family; the case came to court, and Father Divine became involved.  Judge Panken lost no time.  ‘Are you God?’ he demanded.  The Court had intimated that an affirmative answer would involve a contempt charge, and Divine knew a negative answer would cause him to lose caste with his followers.  Divine asked his lawyer, and then told the judge he refused to answer.  Judge Panken said something about a ‘contempt’ citation and asked the question again. This time his lawyer advised him to answer, and this is what he said:- ‘No, I am not God, but millions of people think I am and I’d like them to believe it.’”

 

 

Our Peril

 

 

There is one extremely important fact, a fact, which we need to bear carefully in mind, that is revealed in Father Divine.  Our Lord said:- “There shall arise false christs and false prophets” (Matt. 24: 24): that is, christs;- either a returned Christ, or a fresh Christ; but pure falsehoods.  Father Divine says that our Lord ascended into heaven, but has returned to earth, and that he (Father Divine) is Christ.  Exactly so our Lord foretold:- “Many shall come in my name, saying, I AM the Christ; and shall lead many astray” (Matt. 24: 5). So Father Divine says:- “Other planets could have been blessed and redeemed before I condescended to descend to this planet and prepare me a body in the body called Mary in the name of Jesus.”  Throughout Father Divine claims to teach what Christ taught.  “As you know, I preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”  In the words of Mrs. Divine:- “The Blessed Babe was born in Bethlehem, and wise men travelled from afar to see this beautiful Babe: how wonderful it is that we are blessed, above all the earth to be here with that same Babe!”  Yet it is a total abandonment of the Christian Faith as the Bible reveals it.  “I am liberating millions from the bondage of human preconceptions, and from the false versions and systems of men, giving them a new mental and spiritual birth of freedom under God.”  So our Lord warned:- “There shall arise false christs; so as to lead astray, if possible, EVEN THE ELECT” (Matt. 24: 24.)  All believers are in danger.

 

 

A Universal Religion

 

 

A recent writer (Thomas F. Cooke) has revealed how in Mahatma Gandhi were the religious deceits which will probably be the attractions to win the world to Antichrist.   He says (Guardian, Mar. 5, 1948):- “Mahatma Gandhi has gathered up all that is highest in all the teachings of the religions of the world - Christianity included - and woven them together into a humanistic pantheistic system based on soul force.  Whereas in the past Christianity has had to meet a large variety of irreconcilable religions, each of comparatively low moral and ethical standards, in the future Christianity will have to face a united religious system of equal moral and ethical status and having as its head Mahatma Gandhi, as the incarnation of the Father, who has offered himself, with Guru Baba Nanak, Mohammed, Jesus of Nazareth, Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius, Krishna Vishnu as great teachers, or even incarnations of the Christ, each bringing in the highest of their messages to mankind.” Thus will be brought into shape a universal religion, which will fool the votaries of all creeds, and which will enthrone the Antichrist on the altar of the world.

 

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