FARRAKHAN SPEAKS: A NEW THOUGHT, A NEW MIND, TRANSFORMING THE THINKING OF A PEOPLE (2645 hits)
CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - New thinking and new strategies patterned after the mind of God are required in order to bring in a new world and a new level of consciousness, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan told those gathered in Chicago for the annual Panorama of Truth conference.
“When looking at this world, it is as though no prophet of God has ever appeared among us when we look at the human condition,” said Min. Farrakhan.
Speaking from the rostrum of the iconic Christ Universal Temple on the city’s far south side, Minister Farrakhan said the world is suffering from old ways of thinking and outmoded ways of doing things. The people of God appear to be powerless to change these realities because they haven’t truly embraced God’s will and made his desires real and active in their lives. Because of that, they are in danger of going down with the old world which is passing away, he noted July 25.
“Old thought is after the old man and the old man is after the old world. New thought is after the new man and the new man is the foundation of a brand new world,” said the Minister. “If you are full of enmity and envy, jealousy, strife, slander and backbiting, you are not a new man or new woman with a new thought, you are the old man and the old woman dressed up talking about new thought but acting like the same old negro that the slave master made!”
“Jesus wanted to transform the thinking of the people,” said Minister Farrakhan. “Thought is power because it is thought that shapes matter. I don’t care how strong the matter is, thought can reshape it! Thought can remold it! That’s why how you think is critical!”
Although he had recently been hospitalized, going against the advice of his doctors and the desires of his family members who lovingly attempted to persuade him to rest, the Minister said he must continue to do his job.
“When you put your trust in God, and when you know that it is your duty to deliver his word containing his will for the people, you can’t lay down in your bed and talk about being sick,” said Min. Farrakhan.
The Minister spoke about a time in the early days of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s teaching while Master Fard Muhammad was present. One Sunday evening in Chicago, when Master Fard Muhammad came to check on Elijah Muhammad asking him how the meeting and lecture went. Elijah Muhammad told him he wasn’t feeling well, and did not go out. A frown came over Master Fard Muhammad’s face and he said to his divine servant: “Die on your post!”
Master Fard Muhammad was teaching his servant an important lesson regarding the commitment level demanded in the mission.
“See, some of us don’t have a sense of mission, so we don’t have a comprehension of the duty of one who has a mission. But when God has put on your shoulders an assignment, you cannot tell him, ‘I’m not feeling well.’ You cannot tell him about your ailments, he knew them before you had them. That’s your trial. Can you stand up in his name and deliver his word? And if it is his will, then die right there delivering the word of God!” said Min. Farrakhan.
The Minister paid homage to Christ Universal Temple’s founder, the Reverend Dr. Johnnie Colemon, calling her a great visionary woman of God. The vision is sometimes so powerful that the great one with the vision passes away, but the vision continues in those students who continue to represent the principles of the visionary, he noted.
“The test of a great student is not how you act when the teacher is present. The test of a great student is will you carry on the principles of your teacher when your teacher is not present anymore?” Min. Farrakhan noted.
Using the example of the disciples of Jesus, the Minister said they had to be tried by Jesus because later, they would turn into apostles charged with continuing the work. There are steps of growth that are experienced by those who would carry on the work during the absence of the teacher. There can no longer be belief without actions, nor faith without works, he said.
In 1974, Rev. Colemon founded the Universal Foundation for Better Living (U.F.B.L.), an international association of New Thought churches, centers, and study groups dedicated to spreading the abundant life teachings of Jesus the Christ. The UFBL sponsors the annual Panorama of Truth Conference with the aim of bringing together many of the leading proponents and organizers in the New Thought Movement.
Reverend Derrick Wells is the senior minister at Christ Universal Temple. When Minister Farrakhan spoke there last in 2011, Rev. Wells had only been in the position for about six months. The Minister, whom Rev. Wells considers his spiritual father, delivered public and private words of guidance that the pastor has been following.
“When he was here three years ago he said to me, ‘Brother, go after the young people.’ We absolutely have to get our brothers and sisters. We have a message that can help them change their minds and change their lives and we can’t be comfortable and content being on this side of the wall and not making sure that we do our part to get that message to them,” Rev. Wells said.
Calling the message “profound,” Rev. Wells said that Min. Farrakhan’s words “spoke directly to the soul of Christ Universal Temple as well as to the soul of the Universal Foundation for Better Living.” Rev. Wells says he visits his spiritual mother Rev. Colemon at least monthly to check on her. “She’s holding her own,” he said.
This year’s four-day Panorama of Truth conference treated its attendees to international speakers such as Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith, founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Culver City, California. Rev. Beckwith was featured in the movie “The Secret” and is considered a leading member of the New Thought Movement, and the “Life Visioning Process,” which he originated. He enjoyed listening to Min. Farrakhan synthesize New Thought, his love for Rev. Colemon and “the power to move forward in a powerful way.”
“I appreciated everything he had to say, he brought it with vitality and vigor, articulation and powerful scholarship,” said Rev. Beckwith. “I’m just so privileged to be in the number to hear him tonight. It was very powerful.”
Reverend Bernette Jones, Universal Foundation for Better Living interim president and senior minister at the One God, One Thought Center in Baltimore, Md., said this year’s conference is a celebration, the theme “Honoring the Legacy, Embracing the Future” was very appropriate and Min. Farrakhan’s message was outstanding.
“We’re celebrating 40 years, and we’ve come together to learn more, to study, and to be lifted up spiritually,” said Rev. Jones. “I thought the message was a message for our time, and I was particularly impressed with his understanding of New Thought and New Thought Consciousness and the Bible scriptures that we study,” said Rev. Jones. “He was quite eloquent, and fun.”
