Legacy of Elijah, Pt 3

Can't just nibble around the edges...justice must be fully served.

I recall while in California, just after being appointed as Mr. Muhammad's financial secretary, in charge of that Temple's finances for all of central California, I was being hosted at a dinner celebration. One of Mr. Muhammad's captains, a very wise old gentleman, always said he got his degree from "street university" and could rise as high as God's blessings would allow, but had the capability of getting as low as necessary in defeating the devil...and the brotherhood knew what that meant. Anyway, he told us this story about the white businessmen asking Mr. Muhammad, what if the "coloreds" don't want to follow you, Sir? Mr. Muhammad simply said, "you keep 'em."

As I arrived back in Mobile, in my capacity as one of Elijah's representatives, I had a letter of introduction from this captain, and the road was cleared for my being given another role of responsibility...security, as opposed to finance. Nonetheless, keeping track of finances was an important part of security, which determined the level of progress the program was making in an area. I traveled to various temples throughout the southeastern part of the US looking at their business processes, some were far more successful than others, which begged the question...what were they doing that others were not?

While in Atlanta, the regional headquarters for the southeast, the brothers dressed in the finest suits and shoes, that the minister brought in from New York and Chicago of which the brothers were paying top dollar. Their businesses had people coming in and out of their doors...clean with quick customer service, making even the bums on the street feel like royalty, "as long as they were there to buy and not beg."

I even noticed that they sold shellfish (considered not kosher by religious standards) but acceptable by Mr. Muhammad's OK. Mr. Muhammad was a pragmatist and didn't want his movement impacted by those old archaic customs out of the east...and the Muslims of the east knew exactly what he meant, as  discovered with Malcolm being permanently sanctioned for his outlook after his return from Mecca.

I also visited a Temple in a large city in central Alabama, being led by this young firebrand minister who was quickly developing a reputation for his economic growth. At a meeting, one brother was being chastised for his ability to raise funds. I didn't understand why, until the minister told me the story. It appeared that this young brother was a recent convert from a life as a hustler, pimp, and pusher, who really came into the Temple or became a convert for protection from competing retaliation.

He told the minister, the way that he was able to raise so much money, was that he was going to white businessmen and telling them that the Temple needed a lot of money in order to buy ships for Negroes to go back to the East, which is what Malcolm was wanting to do. He said and I quote, "the Rednecks were falling all over themselves wanting to give money while smiling from ear to ear." I could contain myself no longer with unrestrained laughter...neither could the minister and his captain.

What's in a Name?

More importantly, what's in the person with the name, the purpose behind the person, the power behind the purpose. I use Mr. Elijah Muhammad as an example based on models going back thousands of years before him. He was Elijah Poole, from a small hamlet in Georgia to become Elijah Muhammad and named an individual who went on to change the identity of a people as well as that of the world. 

Let's look at Moses, a name that's survived well over 4,000 years, but I dare say you can only name two in the long lineage of Egyptian Pharoahs. Consider Jesus Christ, a name well over 2,000 years old but I bet you can't name more than two of the Roman Caesars. Likewise, Mohandas Gandhi, a man who moved a nation into their own independence, but don't remember any of the Indian or British rulers during his life. I dare say this will be true of Martin Luther King, Jr. hundreds or thousands of years down the line when all of the Presidents will have been forgotten.

I concluded from this chronological analogy, that it was not their names, but it was their pupose for being, and even greater, the power behind that pupose. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

A Real Devil down in Georgia?

I won't use real names but I think we know enough when we hear or see a lot of ministerial crap. It appears that "Eddie L. Caligula" will not deny any assertions before the world and his congregation by simply saying "I did not commit any of these acts." Nooo, what we get are parables about spiritual battles, he's "David fighting Goliath," and he has "five" stones and has not thrown one. He has yet to say what the stones are, for apparently he's thrown or shot "two" a number of times with other than his wife.

"Al B. Conked," like other "Rev. Jacklegs," waltzes around the issue as well. However, when I see the sheep coming out of that church, with that hollow, fish-eyed expression of support for "Eddie L. Caligula", I can't help but see the power of a devil at work.

I made mention of my getting a response from Mr. Elijah Muhammad years back explaining the difference between God and the devil, with his saying, only God can create, but the devil can imitate and deceive with his or her ability to imitate. This he cited as the problem with most black Christian ministers in America, with the exception of a few that you could count on one hand. They can only imitate an interpretation of scripture, not ever given a true understanding of the same...and, what devil-like slavemaster would even provide the truth to his slaves, even if knowing...thus, mandated illiteracy and ignorance.

While as one of Elijah's representatives, I got a chance to talk with some of his earlier members, many with their sharing stories "the Messenger" shared with them. A lot of these versions had to be taken with a grain of salt, if not outright laughter, which you wouldn't dare. One story in particular was the one as to why God allowed a devil to be created. The oldtimer searched his memory banks and began. God has had to intercede in the destiny of mankind a number of times before mankind completely destroyed himself. For example, (take this with a grain of salt if you like) the Indians or Native Americans were destroying each other through savagery like the beasts of the field, because they had gotten off the path of uprighteousness in mind, body, and spirit. What did God do? God allowed and showed them what a real devil could do. When "this devil" hit the shores of the North and South American continents, Africa and Asia before, they had seen nothing like him...a Bible in one hand and gun in the other, spreading death and destruction until the virtual annihilation of peoples who strayed too far from "Divine Cognition."

Take this for what it's worth, if it happened before any number of times in the history of humanity, don't you think it could very well happen again?