[Editor’s note: The following article contains edited excerpts from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s address delivered at New Sunny Mount Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday, July 17, 2015. To order this message now available in its entirety on DVD, CD and MP3, please visit store.finalcall.com or call 1.866.602.1230, ext. 200.]
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.
This message to you is one I gave in a series of meetings ever since I touched down in St. Louis: I spoke to pastors and politicians, and a host of others in private meetings; and I met with the chief of police, along with Brother Anthony Shahid and others. And I know the mayor and others (were) concerned about what I have to say.
I am not an “insane person;” I’m just very angry at what is happening to us as a people. But anger not channeled can be self-destructive. When God met with Moses in a “burning bush,” it doesn’t mean an actual “bush.” God was so angry in coming, because He heard the moaning and the groaning of The Children of Israel according to the wickedness of their taskmasters, Moses heard Him out of a “burning bush” which represents the fire of His anger; but that fire was contained. It’s very difficult when we are angry to contain our anger … Elijah Muhammad was a very skillful teacher.
Most of us as Christians, and even Muslims: We have all been told to forsake The Devil, or Shaitan (“Satan”). Well, we didn’t know who he was! Because it’s clear in the Book of Job: The Sons of God came to present themselves before God, but The Devil came also with them! So The Children of God were hanging out with The Devil—and that’s a good description of us. You don’t know yourself! And you don’t know the enemy of yourself, though he has shown himself to be your enemy ever since you met him.
But when Master Fard Muhammad showed up in America, He taught Elijah Muhammad The Knowledge of Self, The Knowledge of God and The Knowledge of The Enemy of God, and The Knowledge of the True Religion of God. How could you be made in the image and likeness of God, and God is unseen? Do you see each other?
Then you see God! And the Bible tells you at a certain point in Revelation 1:7: “Every eye will see Him.” That means He will be made known to everyone. You know, Jehovah made Egypt great because He was not known.It’s like the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, where everybody was looking at Pacquiao (to be the victor)—and I love Pacquiao too! And I was kind of nervous when they finally met (smile). You might have been disappointed at the fight, but it was a work of art: A great fighter made a good fighter look bad.
Some were disappointed; they really wanted a “knock-down/drag out.” But a wise fighter doesn’t get knocked down and dragged out, he just whoops you nicely (you don’t even know you’ve been cut until you go home and your head falls off, you know?). Well,The God that came after The Children of Israel was so Mighty, He didn’t even want to dirty His Hands with Pharaoh.
Such a punk (Pharaoh)… But everybody was bowing down to Pharaoh! So God took a slave out from under his foot and told him: “You will be to Aaron as a God, and he will be your mouthpiece.” (New American Standard Bible-Exodus 4:14-17)
What God didn’t say is, “Moses, you will be to Pharaoh as a God—because I’m giving you a rod; and I’m going to give one to Aaron too.” But God says, “And the both of you: I’ve given you an authority. When you go talk to Pharaoh, just tell him what I said.” And when Moses asked, “Who should I tell him sent me?” God said, “Oh, tell him that ‘I Am that I Am.’” “I Am” is the present tense of the verb “to be,” meaning “I Am in Existence, and I’m Present Now! Tell him I Am here—and I’m going to give you (Moses and Aaron) a ‘calling card’ to let him know that I am here.”
“What is Your ‘calling card’ God?” Ezekiel saw It 595 years before Jesus: He looked up in the sky and he saw a Wheel—a dreadful-looking Wheel; and “Wheels within Wheels.”“That’s My ‘Calling Card’. Tell him I Am Here.” And you know, when somebody gives you their card, they’re introducing you to themselves and giving you a means of accessing them (e.g. “When you get confused, and you don’t know what’s going on, pick up the phone and call him”).
When Master Fard Muhammad came in 1930, that same year they discovered a Planet that they call “Pluto,” 4,600,000,000 miles from The Sun. The scripture teaches in Malachi 4:5 & 6—“Malachi” meaning “My Messenger”—that God said: “Behold, before the great and dreadful day of The Lord, I will send you Elijah, My Messenger.
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” So, just as they discovered Pluto, Master Fard Muhammad came among us July 4, 1930 on “Independence Day.” Not for us to celebrate the White man’s independence, but for us to know that God had come to declare our independence, and gave us a Flag…
‘Symbolism and no Substance’: The ease with which the enemy tricks and bamboozles
You are excited now because in Charleston they decided to take down the Confederate flag. And Black folk are so easily bamboozled by symbols with no substance! So, the White man deceived us again: They took down a flag that represented treason, and represented those who seceded from The Union over the question of slavery.
So we didn’t like that flag; yes—but the American flag: We caught a lot of hell since Emancipation under that flag! Sharecropping was under that flag! Jim Crow was under that flag! One hundred years of lynching was under that flag! Police brutality and mob attacks, under that flag! And we fought in every war under that flag, and have not received justice under that flag yet!
I respect the flag because it’s the flag of an independent sovereign nation. I respect it because one day we hope to be sovereign and independent in a nation of our own—and The Nation of Islam’s Flag is a Flag that they can never take down, because they never were involved in the beginning in putting that Flag up. That Flag is The Sun, The Moon and The Stars!
The reason that Master Fard Muhammad brought that Flag is because we were in The Beginning when that Flag went up. Oh, you didn’t hear me! You are “The Ancient of Days,” having no beginning of days or ending of years; that’s how long The Black Man has been in existence. And that’s why when the White man sees you, he’s terrified. He’s terrified because when he looks at you, he’s looking at “The Alpha” and he’s looking at “The Omega”: The beginning of their life, and the ending of their civilization!
We are The Beginning of The Universe, so that is why Jesus said in John 8, “Before Abraham was, I Am.” Did you understand what he meant? Abraham is a “Johnny-Come-Lately” (just 5,000 years ago) to the worship of The One God. You can’t count Our Beginning: There is no sign in the heavens above or in the earth beneath that shows when The Black Man began.
Do you think the White man, when he went into Africa, was getting some “tribal bunnies” that were jumping in trees, with bones in our noses? Do you think that which he told you about yourself is true? He went and got the Master Architects!
To my Masonic family: He got The Architect not that built Solomon’s Temple, but that built what you see, all of it; and brought us on a westerly course, and hit us in the head and put us in a shallow grave in “the north country.” You see, when a person’s been hit in the head: They’re not very effective when they don’t know themselves.
And you’ve taken a terrible hit, and even sleepwalking (not knowing that you’re up)! You outdo him in practically everything he gives you a chance; you beat him in everything. He doesn’t want to tell you all the inventions that Black folk have given to make America what it is; he doesn’t want to share that with you, he wants you to believe that you’re just the masters of song and dance.
Yes, you are the masters of song and dance. And he can’t dance quite as well, but he tries: He mimics you—and you don’t even realize that you are setting the pace.
The Biggest Trick of all: Window-dressing posing as ‘democracy’
I am not some “average Negro preacher”! They hate me—the White folks, the Jews, those in power. Well, that should tell you something about me… In John 15:18,Jesus said to his disciples, “They’re going to hate you because they first hated me”; but if you call yourself a good Christian, and White folks don’t hate you, you’ve been hoodwinked, you’ve been tricked and you’ve been bamboozled!
In verses 24-25, the scripture teaches they hated Jesus “without a cause”: “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.” They had no reason to hate that man! And to tell you the truth, they had no reason to hate my Teacher.
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave you great teachers in the city of St. Louis, yes; and every one that he gave you, the government hated.He gave you Brother Malcolm, and the government hated Brother Malcolm! And for them to have a government (postage) stamp in his name shows you that the tricks are working!
If Malcolm could come back today, he’d say, “What the hell is this??”—so I’m going to say it for him: “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?” The police didn’t like Brother Malcolm! You know what Malcolm called the police? “An occupying army.” They don’t serve and protect you; they occupy our little ghetto, like soldiers, making sure that your savagery doesn’t leave the ghetto and trouble downtown!
You politicians: See, you know what I’m saying. You “aldermen,” a title that they give you over a piece of the hood: How much change have you been able to bring? None. Well, what the hell are we voting for if nobody that we vote for has been able to change the reality of Black life?
And many of you are bought and paid for… Satan is a Master of Tricks, and the biggest trick of all, The Book says, is “he deceived the whole world.” Are you in the world? Do you think you might have been tricked? You should look at yourself in the mirror and say: “Damn! I sure have been tricked!”
The enemy is saying, “These Negroes are soon gonna leave me”—they’re getting angry. The biggest trick of all is The Jews got together (because they know prophecy), and they said, “Now they’re beginning to find out that they’re just like mannequins in the stores downtown.” You know how when you go downtown, and you’re window shopping?
You go in and say, “I saw a dress in the window. I’d like to try it on.” That is what Black politicians are: You are mannequins in the window of “democracy,” trying to sell your people that this madness works for you because it worked for them.
“See? I’m in the window! You see what I got on? You see how they call me ‘the honorable’?” But when you’re downtown, tell me how effective you are in the city council! They’re tricking you all the time. … That doesn’t mean you’re not a good person, but, good for nothing—unless we can deliver for our people!
‘What is Justice?’ Study the signs of ‘reaping the whirlwind’
What is “Justice”? The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, “Justice is the greatest principle of fair dealing.” Has the government of the United States dealt fairly with us? No. Justice is the law that distinguishes between right and wrong. Have we been done wrong? Yes. But he also said, “If there were justice, there would be no need for a judgment.” Did both Bible and Qur’an talk about a “judgment”/ “The Day of Judgment”? Elijah Muhammad said, “Justice is The Weapon that God will use in the Day of Judgment.”
In Galatians 6:7 the scripture teaches: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”; and in Hosea 8:7 it reads, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind ….” See, when you “reap”: You always get more than what you’ve sown. That is the nature of justice! Obadiah the prophet said (verse 15): “For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.”
White folk: You don’t seem like you think that there is a day when you have to pay for what you have done… And I’m saying this to you, Black brother and sister: That day is upon us as well. You have to think about what you send forth into the lives of others, because it will come back in your life unless God has mercy on us. And The Jesus that I know: See, he came into the world to save us from our sins! Oh, thank you Jesus! …
Now God may turn me over into the hands of the devil, like he turned Job over into the hands of the devil; because the devil had gone around making everybody bow, but not Job! And not Farrakhan.
Of all your leaders can nobody say, “I bought that nigga.”I’ll tell the Jews straight up: You ain’t got a ladder tall enough to get up to heaven to cut off my blessings! But if God turns me into the hand of my enemy to be tried, I am willing—my teacher has already said: “Ain’t nothing that they can do to get to Farrakhan.” I love God, with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and I love you like I love myself.
And I’m willing to give my life! They don’t have to take it; I’ll give it to see us free. And that’s not just “talk”: Every day that I live, I am just like this! In the privacy of my home, in my room, I am just like this! I’m not a different man in the public… But, if God wants to try me further, I am willing. The enemy is trying to find a way to get to me, to arrest me—like they (The Jews) said Jesus taught sedition.
And I am telling you, if they go to war with Iran or any other place: Don’t you sign up to fight for a country that has never fought for you! So if they send you a “greeting,” send it back! And tell them, “Farrakhan told me to send it back” (smile); or, “I sent it back because I ain’t going.”
Every one of you that have done a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan: You really need to sue the government with a “class action suit,” becausethe president was a liar, the vice president was a liar, and secretary of state was a liar! They all lied, because they put up a policy that wasn’t backed by intelligence; they skewed intelligence to back a policy, and they attacked Iraq on the basis of a lie.
Don’t send your son over there, because he may not be coming back; because they’re not gonna spare you because you’re Black, as the Japanese did once, telling you “Same same! Same same!” (In other words, “What are you doing over here? Same same [skin]!”); and they would send you back. But don’t go today—you’re going to have to tell them, “Same same,”but the response will be: “Well if you’re ‘same same’, what are you doing here?” So, they’ll kill you too.
“ISIS/ISIL”: You say, “Oh, those are some terrible people! They’re cutting off people’s heads!” That’s kind of rough though, isn’t it?
Do you know how many of our heads have been cut off? Do you know in the lynching of us how many of us were burned alive? Do you know how many of us, where they took a corkscrew, and stuck it into our flesh and turned it, and pulled? Every form of torture imaginable was given to us!
So as the song goes, “Don’t you weep, Mary! Don’t you weep, don’t you mourn”—because Pharaoh’s army is about to get drowned! So you might as well go home and strengthen yourself… When you see Justice as a Weapon that God is using to pay them back, don’t cry! Say, “Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord that the battle is not mine, the battle is Yours. Thank You Lord! Thank You, Lord, that vengeance is Yours—and You are taking vengeance on our enemies! THANK YOU LORD!”
Dr. King’s instructions on the last night of his life: ‘Redistribute the pain’
In closing: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the night before he was assassinated, was talking so strong… But after he was assassinated, they reduced him to a “dream.” Every time they mention Dr. King’s name, he is “The Dreamer”—but they did not kill our brother because he dreamed.
Go and Google search the terms “Dr. King” and “the last night of his life” and you will find a speech wherein Dr. King was talking about “justice,” and Dr. King was talking about “land.” Dr. King knew death was on him, and he told the people at Mason Temple COGIC in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968, in his speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”:
“We have to redistribute the pain; when we’re in pain, we’ve gotta make them feel pain.” That’s what he said! He said, “Tomorrow tell the neighbor, ‘Don’t buy Sealtest milk.’ Tell them ‘Don’t buy Coca-Cola in Memphis.’ Tell them ‘Don’t buy Wonder bread and Hart’s bread.’”—he said: “We don’t have to argue with anybody. We don’t have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don’t need any bricks and bottles.
We don’t need any Molotov cocktails. We just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, ‘God sent us by here, to say to you that you’re not treating his children right. And we’ve come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God’s children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you.’”
This is Dr. King! He said we (in 1968) made $30 billion dollars or more out of the American economy: “Now the other thing we’ll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people. Individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively—that means all of us together—collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine.
Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the American Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world.
We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That’s power right there, if we know how to pool it.” Today it’s $1.1 trillion to $1.3 trillion. …
‘10.10.15 – Our just demand’: The desire and need for Land
Dr. King said, “Well, if you don’t want to be fair with us, we’re just going to practice economic withdrawal. We’re going to redistribute the pain.” The 20th Anniversary is on “10.10.15”—but Christmas is right around the corner. We have to distribute some pain! “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving: You should not show up at any market spending money that you don’t have, buying Christmas gifts for those you love—you’re feeding the economy of those that hate you! And with Christmas and Black spending, they make enough money for the whole year of business to be profitable. Let’s distribute the pain. …
So this Christmas? Don’t put any tree in your house; that’s what the heathen used to do (study Book of Jeremiah, Ch. 10). See the balls that they used to put on the Christmas tree? That’s because they worshiped the sun, not the “Son of God.” All the candles that you put in your window that makes the electric company happy? Take them candles down! Put your money in your pocket! They don’t believe in Jesus; they even stopped calling it “Christmas” and call it “X-mas,” because “X” in mathematics stands for “the unknown.” …
I wish this Christmas you would kick Santa to the curb, and bring Jesus to the center of your life, and give him honor, and give him praise; and praise him much. Then “Christmas” will be real.
“10.10.15.: Justice…Or Else!”: It’s land that we need! It’s land that we want! We don’t want to stay with you—our differences are irreconcilable. And the Judge has ruled in our favor, because you’ve been a brutal, wicked man! And give us a good sendoff! Because we helped you build it; so, you might as well give half to us.
Oh, you think they’re going to “give” it? It don’t make no difference! If they don’t give it, God is going to take the whole thing, as The Book says: “He takes the kingdom from whom He pleases and He gives it to whom He pleases.” (Surah 3:26)
