by Master Elijah Muhammad

         Did God say that He was a Mystery God, or did someone say it of Him? Did God say that He
was only a Spirit, or did someone say it of Him? The most important question of all questions
that one could ask is, “Who is God?” It is like a child who does not know his father asking his
mother to tell him the name of his father, wanting to know what his father looks like and if
he favors his father. Can we not ask the same question who are seeking the knowledge of Our
Father, God? Should we be called disbeliever’s or infidels, just because we seek the truth or
knowledge of Our Father, God? The mother may, in some cases, think it best to keep the
name of her child a secret, as it was in the case of Mary and Joseph, 2,000 years ago. But, in
the case of God, one would say that we all should know Him, but at the proper time.

         It has been for the past 6,000 years that we had to wait for the proper time to learn just who
is Our Father, for the false god (the devil) would not dare tell us lest he lose his followers.
Naturally, the child will leave a foster father for his real father, especially when he is a good
father. The real father by nature loves his own flesh and blood regardless of how it looks or
acts, for it is his own child. So it is with us, the so-called Negroes, “lost-found members of the
Asiatic nation.” He who has found us is Our Father, the God of love, light, life, freedom,

Justice, and Equality. He has found his own, though His own does not know Him. They (the so-
called Negroes) are following and loving a foster father (the devil) who has no love for them

nor their real father but seeks to persecute and kill them daily. He (the devil) makes the lost
and found children (the American so-called Negroes) think that their real father (God) is a
mystery (unknown) or is some invisible spook somewhere in space. The only chance that the
children have to know their real father is that He must come and make Himself known by
overpowering and freeing them from Him whom they fear.

        The devils reared the poor so-called Negroes for 400 years and put fear in them when they
were babies. They (the devils) kept them apart from their own kind coming in from abroad, so
as to deprive them of any knowledge other than what he (the devil) has taught them. As soon
as they hears of a so-called Negro learning and teaching his own people that which they (the
devils) would not teach them, the devils then seek to kill that one or trail him wherever he
goes, threatening those who would listen to him, believe him and follow him. Knowing that
their very presence and inquiries might frighten or scare Negroes they ask, “What is this you
are listening to and believing in?” This will frighten most of them away from accepting his or
her own salvation and keep them from returning to their own God, religion and people.

         My people, if you only knew the time and presence of your God, Allah, there should be no
fear for you nor grief. But, you are deceived in the knowledge of your God. If your God were a
mystery, you and I would be a mystery people. If He were a Spirit and not a man, we would
all be spirits and not human beings! If He were a mystery or only a Spirit, the prophets could
not have predicted the coming of that which no one has knowledge of or of a spirit which

cannot be seen, only felt.

         Because of the false teaching of our enemies (the devils), God has made Himself known; (for I
teach not the coming of God but the presence of God, in person.) This kind of teaching hurts
the false teachings of the devils, for they knew that God would come in person after you.
They, (the devils) also are aware that God is present among us, but those of you who are
asleep they desire to keep asleep.

        The enemies of God today are the same as they were thousands of years ago, thinking that
they will be the winner against Him. America, for her evil done to me and my people, shall
he isolated and deceived by her friends. The heavens shall withhold their blessing until
America is brought to a disgraceful ruin.

[Excerpt from Message to the Blackman in America by Elijah Muhammad]