FATHER DIVINE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 113, 9 November 1937, Page 8

FATHER DIVINE

HIS LIFE IN "HEAVEN"

A "HOT GOSPELLER"

America is the. greatest hotbed for fanatical beliefs, whose adherents seem to lose all sense of reason, crazily devoting themselves to weird rites and ceremonies instituted by some "hot gospeller" who exercises hypnotical sway over them. The most amazing is that of Father Divine, writes E. K. Yarman in the "Adelaide Chronicle when describing the man whose "Heaven" is reported by cable to have been destroyed by fire. Four years ago his name wa, unknown. Today he has fifteen kingdoms" or "heavens" in New Yor^ alone, with others scattered over the country. Father Divide and his angels talk-of the cult having a following of twenty millions. ■ Astonishing scenes are witnessed during his preaching, and he makes triumphal progresses through Harlem, the negro district. Hundreds await his approach. Suddenly a fat negress will shout "I love him." Laughing hoarsely, she yells again, "I love him." She is joined by others, all screaming, I love him." They will shout and yell at each other, finally strusglmg and shrieking in each others' faces the Others "murmur ceaselessly while awaiting his coming, "He's sweet," or "Father Divine is so sweet, so sweet. Constantly repeating the same phrases, some are seized with kinds of fits and fall quivering to the ground, but recovering, they begin the same monotonous chant. / ' " A "DIVINE LEADER." Men and women, many of them singularly/ robed, prance and reel and writhe with fanatical zeal, and all of them declare their leader is divine. His power over women seems unlimited, although celibacy is one of his tenets. . As far his divinity, here is what he said about it in the witness-box once: "No, I'm not God, but. millions of people think I am, and I'd like them to believe it." This is what he teaches his disciples about his divinity: "If I am the intutor tutoring from within you, and if you are governed by your highest intuition, and if your highest intuition is me, then I am God to you." He loves making up enormously long words, and this is the kind of polysyllabic stuff he preaches: "There are those of you who recognise me personally as the Infinite. Why is it? It is because that which I have represented to you you find it to be the fundamental,' you find it to be the principle, you find it to be the personifiable, you find it to be realisable, you find it to be tangibleatable, and you find it to be tangibleated." One of iris favourite songs begins with his yelling'out, "One million blessings," next, "One billion blessings," finishing up with "Septedecillions of blessings." ~■..-. There is not the slightest doubt that the most astonishing things happen wherever he goes. His first kingdom was iii Long Island, where he began to gather white and negro disciples round him. The crowds which gathered and the scenes of fanaticism brought the authorities upon his track and he was prosecuted for maintaining a public nuisance. • But his followers were undismayed. Protest meetings were staged against his arrest, and at one of them a speaker asserted if Father Divine was sentenced he would himself; sentence the Judge to death. THE MESSIAH'S REVENGE. The result of his trial was that he was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and a fine of £100. Strangely enough, only three days later the Judge who had committed him to gaol died. The cause was heart disease, but the messiah's disciples persisted he had taken his revenge. Eventually the verdict was reversed by the Brooklyn Supreme Court, and. the result was the negro enjoyed tremendously increased prestige. , •■ . Undoubtedly his audacity helps nun to carry off many of his claims.. A minister once asked him who his father and mother were. He replied, "Who is God's father, can you tell me? You are a minister, maybe you can tell me. Well, if you can tell me who is God's father, and who is His Mother, 1 may talk to you some about it." In his kingdoms and at "Heaven," his headquarters, photographs .of Father Divine line the walls, and the services are marked by scenes which would shock the ordinary ecclesiastic. Prayer is unknown, the one and only motif being praise of the master. Standing only about four and a half feet tall, He employs every art .practically to hypnotise, his congregation. When worked up, he literally goes mad, composing involved sentences, which become little more than gibberish. Hyperbole is one of his favourite devices. RETURNS CHEQUES. Father Divine is mysterious enough, but nothing so mysterious as the financial side of his cult. No collections are taken, and he even returns cheques sent to him by his admirers., On the other hand, it is said, he has induced followers to surrender their property to him. Father Divine always pays cash—and his transactions are pretty extensive. He is reputed to have a fortune of. £350,000, runs a Rolls Royce, and keeps a fleet of cars for his secretariat. He has also purchased an aeroplane. Not so long ago he bought a 500-acre farm and a £5000 hotel, and leases a five-storey factory. Perhaps some of his income comes from his kingdoms, which are clean and sanitary. Hundreds pay about £1 a week for board and lodging. Meals are served at lOd. He also runs a grocery store, outfitting shop, and beauty parlour. Liquor and tobacco are taboo, but FatheV Divine has a flourishing trade in soft drinks. A magazine recordin;: the progress of the cult har an enormous circulation. There is this mncli to be said about Father Divine—even if these undertakings do pay. he is nut mercenary, for he gives away no end of food to his disciples who need it. Money does not seem to worry him. It is recorded on one occasion his bail was fixed at £100. Father Divim; produced a huge roll of notes, stripped off a 500-dollar bill, and offered it. Seeing this, the Judge remarked if cash was so plentiful the bail might as well be £200. Unperturbed, the Messiah casually stripped off another 500-dollar note and walked away. Last April, after his return from Milford. Connecticut, where he hH himself when the police sought him on a charge of feloniously assaulting Harry Green, a white contractor, Father Divine was the cause of rejoicing in "Heaven." "Heaven," a fivostorey brownstone house known'to thts Post Office as 20, West 115 th Street, New York City, held an extension, a sort of training school for Father Divine's angels. This consists of a row of seven four-storey buildings leased by Father Divine's Angel Number One. who called herself "Faithful Mary" and who conducted them as rooming houses for the "children" of the cult. A few weeks ago, however, Mary, whose real name is Viola Wilson, lett •Father Divine and started a rival movement, beginning her campaign with a book entitled "'God.' He's Juil a Natural Man."