by Master Elijah Muhammad

        The original man went and made him out of the made man and out of the original man,
but for what? He wanted to get part of each so that He could come and get you and me,
divide us from the made man, put us back where we belong. The original man actually was
not made, but self-created. We are from a Self-created God, not a made God. I hope you
understand. You are a great people, a great people. Just think over it, you are not a made
people, but a created people. We can make something from others or from that which is
created. We can make all we want, but now let us create something. You can’t do that.

        This temple here is from the material that was created in the earth, when the earth was
created. The material is old, because it’s made out of the material that was created. The
devil has not created anything. If there is one of you that can prove to me that the devil has
created something, I will give you ten thousand dollars out of my brothers vest pocket for
lying. The white man has not created anything. Everything he wants to build his world with,
he found it here from what our Father had created. “Who is your Father, Mr. Muhammad,
that is not the father of the white man?” My Father is not a made father, my Father is a
created Father. After His self-creation, He began creating others. He is able to produce out
of nothing – something.

          The Theology of Time or the secret of the time was made so that you would not be able
to know exactly when the man on time was going off. He would have you so full of fire
against him, if you knew, you would probably take him off before the time ever expired. Who
would not be angry with a person that not only was not satisfied in taking away our valuable
labor, but took away our knowledge of ourselves. That is the worst robbery you can do; to go
and deprive a man of the knowledge of himself. You can’t be robbed any worse.
We have been teaching on many things. We are teaching you how to eat and what to
eat: How to eat to live, why, because it takes eating to live. You can’t live without eating,
but you must know what to eat and when to eat it. Oh doctor, I’m not after you, I know you
still want to make a few more nickels.

          Let us all move around to a healthier corner. All of our food has been prepared by
Satan, which leads to the death of us. First, we must learn the right kinds of food to eat.
Second, we must know what time to partake of that food. After we correct these errors that
we have been making in food, we will start living. God cannot prolong our lives unless we
obey Him in what to put in our mouth, because what we put in our mouths keeps us here and
the same takes us away. You say, “Well Mr. Muhammad, you get sick.” Yes, I get sick. Maybe
I’m sick now, but it’s not because of Muhammad’s ignorance. He’s well aware of his cause.
How can I fulfill the scriptures if I don’t suffer like you?

          We today must learn the mistake that our fathers made for following this devil out of
Africa to come to the West; but it was for a good purpose. We learned something for
following an enemy to his kingdom. An enemy was made to rule for a limited time, not
forever, but for a limited time. God wanted us to get a thorough knowledge of the enemy,
then make us the most wisest and best people to use to build the kingdom of heaven, as they
call it, on Earth.

[Excerpt from Theology of Time lecture series]