I GREET YOU ALL IN THE GREETING WORDS OF PEACE:
 

AS SALAAM ALAIKUM.

I want to say that I am very happy and honored to have this opportunity to be here in Phoenix, Arizona tonight. And I want to thank all who made this evening possible. To Brother Jabril Muhammad and the Believers in Mosque No. 32, here in Phoenix; to all of the friends and well-wishers; to the Chicano and American Indian Brothers and Sisters who welcomed me here; to the distinguished pastors; to the members of the Black religious community; I am very, grateful --- to the staff of the Plaza Symphony Hall; to the Police Chief and all of those who helped to make this evening a peaceful evening; we thank you from depths of our heart. Thank you, very very much.

I would also like to thank Minister Don and Sister Tynetta Muhammad and all of those who spoke kindly of me and welcomed me to this beautiful city. I am very honored to come here. I am very honored to choose such a city in which to live and do the work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Mixed feelings and controversy surrounded the Honorable Elijah Muhammad when he first moved to Phoenix. Likewise, those mixed feelings surround Brother Farrakhan in my coming into this area. These mixed feelings of apprehension and fear and love and hope come because the man and his message is understood by many in the Black community, but misunderstood and purposely misrepresented by those in other communities and this is what creates such controversy around myself -- my person --- and the message that I represent. But, I am so grateful to Almighty God that all of you are here tonight to listen for yourselves; to make a judgement for yourselves. I think that is the most intelligent posture that we should hold.

If, in a court of law, a man is considered innocent until he is proved guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, then I would hope that you would save judgement of Brother Farrakhan until you have heard what I have to say. And, of course, those of you who have heard me on many occasions, you are listening to a man, who like yourselves hopefully is constantly growing, constantly evolving.

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There is a song that they sing in the Christian church, "God Is Not Through With Me Yet". So, you have to be careful how you judge something that is on the move. In fact, the only time that you can judge a thing is when God puts a period to their life and their testament is finished. Then you can adequately judge. But, while the Testator is still writing His Testament, be careful what you say; you might have to retract your words.

I have chose for my subject: "SELF-IMPROVEMENT: THE BASIS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT." Now, there are many, many developers who buy land and develop that land into communities, towns and cities; placing on this land magnificent structures costing hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars.

This activity of land development is going on in Phoenix and in cities around the country, and, indeed, around the Earth. However, to those who spend those hundreds of millions and billions of dollars building structures: unless we build people; unless the human potential of people is developed; then man, in his underdeveloped state, will ultimately destroy the cities that he has built because of revolution and war.

So, the Scripture is right in teaching, 'What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?' What would it profit us to build magnificent structures, beautiful buildings, magnificent bridges, built with magnificent technology and the soul of those human beings are wretched and deprived and underdeveloped and rotting from within? How does one lose one's soul? What is so important about the soul, or the essence of our being, that if we lose it, we lose everything?

There is a verse in this Book, the Qur'an, that says that on the Day of Judgement that if a man owned all of the wealth that is in the Earth, he would ransom it to keep himself from the chastisement of God. Well, what is it about the chastisement of God that is so great and what is it about the wealth that people abundantly seek that is so little, that you would give it all away just to save your life in a time of trouble? This is why I have chosen the subject, "SELF-IMPROVEMENT: THE BASIS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT." Because it is the improvement of each of us as human beings that is lacking in the world, and because instead of human beings improving, they are degenerating. Then there is no hope for the nations, for they are all on a path of self-destruction.

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It is written in the Holy Qur'an, which is the Book of Scripture for the Muslims, that Allah created man to face difficulties. God has brought us all onto the Earth to face one difficulty after another and it is the facing of these difficulties and the overcoming of these difficulties that helps us to improve our character and improve ourselves.
Now, the key word is 'to face' a difficulty. 'To face' a difficulty means to look at it; to assess it; to summon the total strength or our being to oppose it; to overcome it; to have a determined, persevering, courageous spirit to overcome the difficulty. There is no difficulty that man is faced with that man does not have the ability to overcome, if he will summon the strength of his being against that obstacle in the pathway of his progress.

But, how many of us turn our backs on difficulties? Whenever the difficulty comes, we turn away from it; try to find an easy road out of a difficult situation. I am talking to all of us. How many of you, when a difficult situation arises in your life, summon the strength of your being to stand resolutely and firmly in the face of that difficulty to overcome it? Or, do you turn away?

Brothers and Sisters, each time we turn away from the struggle to overcome difficulty, there then is deterioration of character and there is destruction of the Will --- and the Will that is within you is God's gift. It is His Essence that He gives to man and anything that deteriorates your Will destroys your ability to cope with the problems of life. Struggle is ordained.

Struggle is ordained by God. God is not a vicious God. He is a Loving, a Beneficent and Merciful God, but He ordains struggle. Because without struggle, you cannot bring out of yourself that which God has deposited within you. It is something that has to be brought out and it is a struggle overcoming difficulties that manifest your own gifts and your own sublime qualities.

Struggle is ordained, but the Qur'an teaches that 'after difficulty comes ease.' God gives you difficulty then He gives you ease. It is like a blacksmith, if you will, who is shaping a piece of steel. He puts it in the fire then he beats it and he cools it. This is the way God forges men and women of character. He does not forge you into great men and women without the fire, the water and the beating. These are the difficulties of life; we must face them; we must overcome them. All Praise is due to Allah.

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Look at the little bird. See how it pecks its way out of the egg --- the shell. It struggles to come forward. Then, that bird struggles to get its balance and it struggles to fly. But, when it flies, it's gone. God has ordained struggle. Look at the caterpillar, how it struggles to get out of the cocoon and look at human life as it struggles to come forth from the womb.

Coming to birth is painful. It's painful to the mother, but if the baby could tell you what it just came through, the baby would have a story to tell; for ofttimes, when the baby comes forth, its head is pained, there are bruises on the shoulder, because birth is painful. Likewise, you cannot go to new levels of consciousness, new levels of awareness, new levels of power and development without pain; and if you shrink from pain and won't face the pain and face the difficulties, you will never evolve to the people that Almighty God intends for you to be.

This Book, the Holy Qur'an, teaches that man is created complete, yet incomplete. How is man complete, yet incomplete? There are stages of evolutionary development. We start, as the Qur'an teaches (and biologists will bear witness), from a cloudy drop of water called sperm, mixed with ovum. Then we evolve into a clot, then into an embryo, then into a fetus, then we come forward --- complete, yet incomplete. You are today complete, yet incomplete.

Human life has a pre-determined goal. The pre-determined goal of all human life is not to walk the streets of Phoenix with dope, no hope, no direction, no guidance. The pre-determined --- now listen to this --- I didn't say 'determined', but, 'pre-determined'. Before you came into existence, there was a goal set for your life and that goal for your life is written in the Bible and in the Qur'an: that goal is to make that life meet with its Source; its Creator.

This Qur'an says that many of you deny meeting with God. Some of you think that the only way you meet with God is that you have to die physically, and they say 'I am sending you' or 'You are going to meet your Maker.' No, no, no, no, no, that is the wrong way to understand Scripture, Brothers and Sisters.

Did you think that when you meet with God it's going to be a sit down --- 'How ya' doin', God! Glad to meet ya. Sure nice. I been thinkin' about you. 'Been prayin, now I get a chance to see you, talk to you.' This is not a meeting. To 'meet with' means to 'join' the essence of your being to the Essence of The Originator of all of this life. To 'meet with', to 'join with', that is the pre-determined goal of human life.

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Look at you, male and female. You have a pre-determined nature that makes you gravitate towards one another. You just can't help yourself. If you make yourself other than that, that's what you did. Nature has given you a goal to meet one another. I'll get off of that. But that's all truth. We all have problems and those who have that problem, I hope you will listen carefully; and all other problems. Listen carefully to what Brother Farrakhan says to you tonight from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and think about it, and I'll guarantee you that you will come away from here with a different perspective on your life tonight.

Now look. As we move towards union---male and female---or move towards union---people with people---this union brings joy and peace in a measure. When you marry, that doesn't mean you are united, that means your intention to unite has been sanctified in the presence of witnesses. You have intended to come together as one. But, it takes years of struggle to overcome the problems that keep male and female, which are made by God to be together as one, it takes years of struggle to become one. But, when you become one, there is joy and peace in that union.

I heard my Chicano brother say that the Mexicans and Blacks should no longer be divided; the Native Americans, the Mexicans, the Blacks, should no longer be divided. But I will say this: Humanity should no longer be divided. It is joy and peace when people can unite. But Indians and Mexicans and Blacks can never become a united people without a struggle.

We must struggle to overcome the difficulties imposed by our desire to be united. There are always attending difficulties. But how do you deal with it? Do you run away from it, or do you face it with the resolve that our unity is more important than the things that keep us divided with one another?

Now Brothers and Sisters, the greatest goal of all life is to meet with, or to form a perfect union with, Almighty God Allah. When there is a perfect union with God and when we become one with our Creator, then the Attributes of God come right across our own personality and character, so that we become one with the Source of life, so that when you see the person, you are actually looking at God.

Wait, now I don't want to throw you off. I want you to follow this carefully. If you can become one with the Creator, join with Him in a perfect union, which is a great struggle, then His Attributes, His own unique Personality, will impress Itself upon you and His own being will come across your being, so that you die, He lives, in you---through you. When they see you, they see Him, for you are in Him and He is in you. Is that clear? Are you alright?

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This is what is meant in the Scriptures by the 'transfiguration' of Jesus of the Mount. It didn't take place in the valley; it never does. You have to go up in the Mount. Why? Because to climb a mountain tests your will, test you heart, test you endurance, tests all the fibers of your being. So, when you reach the summit---not the summit of a mountain---but the summit of life's struggle when you become one with your Creator. Then you can absolutely have His figure come across you.

This is why Jesus is so important in the New Testament. His life, according to the Qur'an, is a 'perfect example'. We need to understand why the life of Jesus is a 'perfect example'. I will touch that in a minute. We are talking on "SELF-IMPROVEMENT: THE BASIS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT".

Now, all Muslims who are present, we have a ritual in Islam that is called 'Hajj' or 'Pilgrimage', where once in a lifetime every Muslim is to make a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca, in Arabia. I have been blessed to make that wonderful pilgrimage. But, when I made that pilgrimage, it was clear to me that the pilgrimage was nothing more than a sign of another journey; the journey of the sperm to its goal, which is to meet in Mecca, but to meet with that which Mecca represents, that which the Ka'bah represents.

When we get to Mecca, we say, 'labaika Allah-umma labaika' 'Here I am O Allah, in Your august Presence.' When you are in the Presence of God, when you have met with God, you have performed the real pilgrimage. And that, each one of us is to perform in our lifetime. Our whole life is a struggle to meet with the Source of our life.

The Qur'an says when you meet with God, you become a soul at rest and it says, 'O soul that is at rest! Well-pleased with thy Lord and thy Lord well-pleased with thee.' When you reach that point in your development where you have improved and developed to the point where you are a soul that is no longer fighting, no longer struggling, but you have reached the goal and soul is at rest; you are well-pleased with God and God is well-pleased with you. That's the goal. But to reach this great goal, there is struggle at every stage. After overcoming one stage, there is ease to build you up for the next stage of struggle. This is the path to God and this is the path to Self-improvement.

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Now, if you look at the prophets, all of them are examples of this struggle. Every prophet that God sent into the world is an example of this struggle to meet with God.

Though the prophets' examples are not what I would call a perfect example; (because) the prophets struggled in the absence of God with Light from God that is considered, in symbolic language, 'moonlight'. Since the moon represents the Sun, in the absence of the Sun it has no light of its own; it borrows light from the Sun and reflects it to the Earth. Likewise, in the absence of God, prophets reflect the Light of God to the people of the Earth. But, they do not see. They are not a witness of God's Divine Presence; they are only a witness that God is interested in the affairs of men. Do you follow what I am saying? If you have a limited light, you can only be a limited example. The prophets of God had limited light; therefore, their example is limited. It is not the apex example of human beings.

This is why in the Christian context, Jesus Christ is the Supreme Example. Why is Jesus the Supreme Example? Jesus is the Supreme Example because he is not a 'prophet', in the classical sense of that name; he is the Master of prophets. He comes, not as 'a' star of God, but 'The Star' of God---for in Jesus is a witness, not that God is Coming, but that God is Present. Listen, listen, listen now.

Jesus becomes the Supreme Example because he is not moonlight, but he is actually sunlight, or, 'The Light of the World'. So, Jesus gives man a glimpse of his potential. Jesus is not here for you to worship him; he is here for you to follow his example, that where he is, you may be. Meaning that what he has become you also can become if you follow that path. Do you follow what I am saying?

Listen, Reverend. You know, Reverend, we waste a lot of time getting the people to worship Jesus, when in reality, we should be getting the people to follow his example. If the group had followed the example of Jesus, you wouldn't just have Jesus, Peter and Paul, but everywhere you look, you would see another Jesus. Because if you follow that example, Jesus is only manifesting what is really in yourself.

Are you following what I am saying? 'This is a different message from Farrakhan. I thought Farrakhan was telling us we should hate people.' You don't know where Farrakhan is coming from. You really don't listen. You'll understand me better if you stop trying to pre-judge and do some post-judging. Listen to what I am saying about this man, Jesus.

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He is the perfect example of human potential. Therefore, he should be shown to men, not as some being that is out there in space, that we can never attain. That is the wrong way to preach Jesus. If you make Jesus acceptable, he becomes reachable. But If you put him out there on Cloud 9, saying, 'Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Master, Jesus has control of the forces of nature', and you don't show every human being that he was a born of a woman and came through the vicissitudes of life, just like you. He struggled and overcame and the last test that he had to overcome was death. Not this death that you are thinking about. I'll get to that later on. Not too long from now, don't worry.

But, he overcame death to give us an example of how death is to be overcome. But, once you get past a certain point, you are out there. It is like an astronaut going out in space. I mean, Brother, those first few minutes---they are rough. When they reach the ceiling of gravity, where there is pure fire; they are going through fire; they have the heat shield around them. It's rough Brother. But when they get out in Space they have gotten out of the pull of gravity of this sphere; then there is smooth sailing. But, getting out there--that is the test.

You know, when I was in church we used to sing a song at Easter time--in the Episcopal Church---I don't know how they do it in the Baptist Church. But, it went like this: 'The strife is o'er, the battle done, the victory of life is won. All glory to that risen Son, Allelujah!' Now, I sang that as a Christian, but today I understand it as a Muslim.

Tonight, there are Christians and Muslims praying together, singing together, seated together. Why? Because Farrakhan does not come into the Valley to divide people who believe in God, but to show those who believe in God that, if you truly believe in God and seek to understand what you believe, you find a way to connect things that appear to be diverse and different. Because, if we can connect Indians and Mexicans and Blacks, who appear to be different (and whites), then what can you do to connect Hebrews, Muslims, Christians. It should be easier to connect those who believe in God than those who are culturally and racially different. Tonight, we are going to overcome all of that.

I am sure you will agree with me that there is a great problem with man. I am not talking about color, now. The white man has a problem and is a problem to himself and others. Listen. Wait a minute. 'Now here comes that racism.' No, no, no, you just be quiet.

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The Black man is a problem; he is a problem to himself and he is a problem to others. Listen The Chicano is a problem, but he is a problem to himself. The Indian---Native American---is a problem to himself. All human beings are suffering from a problem and the problem is not somebody else; the problem is yourself.

We have a problem. And tonight, what we want to do, is just analyze what is giving us all of this hell. Will you help me to analyze this thing?

I am a Black man and I love Black people. I sit and cry over the beauty that I see in Black people that perhaps others do not even see. I am willing to give my life tonight, if dying will make life better for you. I would leave here tonight and die for the Black man. I would much rather live for you, but if dying would do it, I would die tonight. I don't want to live seeing you in this condition; I do not care to live and watch my people dying in my face and I do nothing to help them out of this condition,. I cannot take that. But, Brothers and Sisters, listen to me.

If every white person on Earth dies tonight, you would have a problem tomorrow. My Chicano and Native American brothers and sisters, if the white man died tomorrow, you would have a problem the day after. The problem is not the white man. The problem is something within yourself that you are not facing up to. Listen to me. White people, there is something in yourself that you are not facing up to. So, each of us has some facing up to do. But, somebody has to show you your face, so that you can face up to your face and deal with yourself. Forget about your neighbor. I want you, tonight, to deal with you, because you are your worst enemy.

I listened to the television this morning. Reverend was really preaching.. He was preaching about how the devil is seeking to rob you. The devil is seeking to take joy from you. The devil is seeking to keep you from the Kingdom. The devil is going to do this, you can't let the devil do this. I mean, this devil raises a lot of hell, doesn't he? And no one can get a handle on this devil and choke the hell out of him. Tonight is the night I am going to let you put your hands on that devil that is giving you some particular hell, an you can strangle the hell out of him tonight.

The Holy Qur'an and the Bible teach us that God has no need for any of His creatures. He is above need of His creatures. He is independent of His creation, but all creation depends upon Him.

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The Holy Qur'an, again teaches us that man thinks himself to be self-sufficient. He doesn't recognize his incompleteness. Man is created in need and he or she goes about his whole life in pursuit of the fulfillment of needs; we don't even recognize our need of God until trouble afflicts us. The more trouble afflicts us, and there is no one around to help us, then we call on God, making our prayer sincere.

I went into the sweat lodge with our Native American Brothers and Sisters. If you have never had that experience---it is an experience. In there with fire; heat like you have never felt; darkness that resembles the darkness of the womb out of which birth comes.

I was outside of the 'inipi', listening to those who went in in front of me; I listened to how they called on God when they were praying. When that heat got hot, I heard them say 'Oh, Grandfather!' And I mean there was no insincerity in it. You could tell they were reaching for somewhere deep down within. I heard the Muslims, in the 'inipi', saying 'Oh Allah!' I mean, they cried His Name out with such fervor, such sincerity. I said, 'Uh-huh. God has to keep us in total trouble in order to get a sincere prayer from our lips.'

And even those who think they don't believe in God. Just travel on these airplanes and wait until it hits a severe (air) pocket and bumps. You see the Christian grab for his cross. You see the Jewish person get the Star of David or the Talmud; a Muslim gets the Qur'an, or something divine. They don't ask for the navigator, because he cannot see where he is going. They reach outside the plane to somebody that they know, or believe, has power over this wind, over the forces that are tearing this plane apart.

And the Qur'an says: "And lo! (When I get you safely to port), you set up other gods besides Me. Surely man is ungrateful.' Look at how you get on the plane and the man says, 'This is Flight 242, American Airlines. We will be landing in Los Angeles in 3 hours and 40 minutes. We will be flying at speed of 450 knots, at an altitude of 36,000 feet and we are looking for an on time arrival.' He does not say, "God Willing.' He doesn't recognize that there is another Power here. He (thinks he) is the power.

Listen to me carefully. That word, "I", that personal pronoun "I", represents 'independence.' "I" will do this. "I" will say that...Don't worry, just as good as done. I will take care of it.' It's the ninth letter of the alphabet. The number nine (9) represents completion.

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Man is complete, yet he is incomplete, but he does not want to recognize his incompleteness. He is not sufficient, but he wants to think that he is self-sufficient, so his thinking of his self-sufficiency and his completeness damages his perception of reality. So he says, 'I will see you tomorrow. Oh, yes, the money I owe you. I will pay you on the weekend.'

Brothers and Sisters, we cannot speak independently of God. We have no control of tomorrow. We must always recognize Allah and remember our need of Him and our complete dependence upon Him, lest we abort our development. The moment you say 'I' and you don't think there is another Power and you don't recognize that there is another Power, you are setting up a state of mind, an attitude, that will abort your own meeting (with God) and start you on a degenerative road.

Listen. The Bible says, when you speak, say 'I will do thus and so, if it be the Will of God.' The Qur'an says, when you speak, say, 'I will do thus and so, Inshallah (if it be the Will of God).' Because between today and tomorrow, there are forces that you know nothing of, that can interfere with all of our plans. So our plans must be contingent upon whether God will permit it, or whether Allah will permit it, or Grandfather will permit it, so we must acknowledge Him, lest we make a serious mistake and abort our own progressive development and improvement in character.

Moses is given to you (the biblical Moses) and me as an example. Here is a man that God chose; a man that God taught; a man that God empowered; a man that led his people out of Egypt into the wilderness. He used a rod that God gave him with Power and Majesty, but he was overcome and said, 'Must I smite the rock and bring forth water?' And God said, 'What is this? What is wrong with you, Moses? What do you mean, must you smite? Have you forgotten Me?' Moses quickly repented. He said, 'Oh, I am sorry.' God said, 'It's too late. For this, Moses, I am going to deny you the Promised Land.'

Now, here is a man who served God faithfully, but spoke independently of God, because power has a way of making you forget. See, you that lust for power, you that have it; you that lust for fame, you that have it; you that lust for money, you that have it; you that have some of these things that most of us strive for; once you have it and people admire you, there is a tendency to forget Who it is that you are dependent upon. When you forget, you lose something. Moses (biblical Moses) lost the Promised Land. What will you lose? See, you lose the Promised Meeting with God, by thinking that you and I can do, on our own.

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If Jesus is the Prime Example, and he said, 'I of myself can do nothing, but whatsoever the Father Wills, that I do.', he is telling you that he is dependent. He is not Sovereign Lord. He is dependent upon a Power bigger than himself. Well, that example should be studied by us, for the Qur'an teaches us that Allah loves not any self-conceited boaster, who goes about the land exultingly. In fact, the Qur'an says the most hateful sound to God is the braying of an ass. Even if he gave the ass a voice, he doesn't like to hear it. When you talk like the jack ass, going about in the land exultingly, self-conceited boaster, saying and thinking that you can do things which you really cannot do, then God intervenes to show you that you are not what you think you are.

Look at how many rockets have fallen out of the sky. With a few successful launches of the new program that came out of NASA, suddenly every rocket they sent up exploded. See, there is another Power and that Power is trying to tell you, 'Look, man, you are not God. You had better wake up and recognize, you are coming out into My Universe, taking a peek at what My technology has built. Why don't you bow down and recognize that there is somebody bigger than you?

Now. This part of the lecture is really the heart of it. This is very difficult and I want you to pay attention.

In this Qur'an, as well as the Bible, Allah says, 'I am going to place a ruler in the Earth.' And the Angels say to Allah, 'What will you place in it except that which will create mischief and cause the shedding of blood?...We celebrate Your Praise and extol Your Holiness.' But, God says to them, 'I know what you know not....I am going to place a ruler in the Earth and that ruler that I place in the Earth is going to create mischief and cause the shedding of blood.' The Angels say, 'You are Holy, why would you do a thing like this?' And God says, 'I know what you know not.' Listen carefully, now.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us a very clear interpretation of the Qur'anic passage. That interpretation dealt with a ruler who is over the nations of the Earth, who has created mischief and the shedding of blood. But God, Who knows best, said that even though a mischief-maker 'has become the ruler by My permission, nevertheless, at the end of the mischiefmaking and bloodshed there is something that will wipe away the pain of his rule...I know what you know not.'

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Tonight, I would like to advance another interpretation of that scripture. You say, 'Wait a minute, Farrakhan. Who are you to advance an interpretation?' Really, nobody, just a student of a great teacher. But you know, it is wrong for any man to think that any one interpretation of a divine word is the interpretation. How could this be God's Word and you treat it as though it is your word? If The God, Who reveals the Book, gives a Word that is comparable to His own consummate knowledge of things, then how could you dare say that His Word is limited to your meager interpretation or mine? I would like to offer this interpretation to you as another way to look at scripture.

Listen. 'I am going to place a ruler in the Earth.' Not on the Earth, but in the Earth. Where did you come from? Your flesh is from what? The vegetation of the Earth. Your bone is from what? The stone of the Earth. Your blood is from what? The water of the Earth. This lump of flesh and blood and bone has to have a ruler in it. Something that rules it; something that commands it; that dominates it. Is that right?

Now look Who is talking. This is the Lord of Creation talking. 'I am going to place a ruler in the Earth.' And the Angels said, 'My God, what You are going to place is going to create mischief and cause the shedding of blood.' Then He answered, 'I know what you know not.' Now, if God is going to form this body and He knows that you are supreme above the Sun, Moon and Stars, above all the creatures; you are the supreme existence --- Man and Woman. He is going to place in you a ruler. But, the ruler that he puts in you has got to come through stages of development and on its way is going to create mischief and cause the shedding of blood. I want you to follow me, because I want you to see yourself.

'I am going to place a ruler...' In Hebrew,' ruler means 'Elohim' or 'God', 'Divine Essence', 'Will', 'Divine Force.' God shares Himself with Man and Woman. The only reason you can say 'I' is because the true 'I' has shared a part of His 'I am' with you, that you may be. Look, now. He, Allah, God, places in you a Power from Himself. I am going to say this --- it may create a lot of trouble. But you all are ready for trouble. When God gives you some of Himself, that is a Power that you have to learn how to handle. You see people get rich too fast; what happens to them? You have to be spiritually equipped to handle the Power of God. When God shares Himself with you, He gives you a problem to overcome. You have to struggle with the only force that is in you, which is the God Force. There is no other force but God. 'But I thought there is a Devil.' Wait a minute. That is what you become when you abuse the God Force and use it for negative ends.

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]Many years ago, people thought that the Earth was the center of the Universe. Then they thought that perhaps the Sun was the center of the Universe. So, we asked the Honorable Elijah Muhammad one day, 'Is the Sun the center of the Universe?' He said, 'The Sun is very near the center.' He didn't say any more. The Sun is not the center. God, Himself is the center of what He creates. He makes everything to revolve. If the Sun were the absolute God, it wouldn't move; it would just make everything else move. But the Sun is also revolving. It is near the center and there is an Unseen Reality that makes the Sun move.

Look at a child. What makes a child want to be the center of attention? Have you seen your children? You have been one, probably you still are. How many of us want to be the center of attention? 'Hey, look at me, ha, ha.' Why do you think people go into show business? They want to get attention. And when people shower attention on them, they feel so good. They become a star; they become great. Then they begin to think they are different; they talk different. It takes time for the child to mature, to realize that there are others in this world other than himself. I want you to look, now. Don't look at anybody else; look at yourself, because I am talking to you.

If the child does not get attention, he resorts to destructive means to get it. God is a Life giver, but God also Destroys. The same Power is within us; we can give life, but we can also destroy. So, if we don't get attention, we break the party up. 'If the organization won't recognize my tremendous skill and ability, I'll break the organization up.' Look at you. 'If the church won't recognize that I can sing better than anybody in the choir and give me a solo, then the hell with the choir, I'll break it up.' What kind of mind is that? What kind of power is that, that you have misused? See, someone is creating mischief with a created thing. Your voice is a gift of God, but it is the way you use it.

The child must learn to accept its place with others You are the center of nothing. And you are deluding yourself if you think you are. There is always a True Center and you are not it; neither am I.