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• 1 2010-08-07T18:04:55-07:00 Standards of Living 7 plain 2016-09-06T16:44:30-07:00
  **This Page is Under Construction**
  International Modest Code dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla dui quam, ultricies at elementum a, consequat eu tellus. Pellentesque ac tincidunt quam. Vivamus cursus augue eleifend sapien vestibulum feugiat. 
  All Peace Mission properties, and living quarters, were spiritualized through their cleanliness (See 16-17 February 1950 message; printed in The New Day 16 April 1983:5) and safety and marked by their ubiquitous adornment with framed photos of Father and Mother Divine and mottos of the Mission in every room.  Such preparations marked a building's dedication and consecration to the service of God.  Properties with Banquet Rooms still stand prepared with clean plates, glasses, and silverware for a Service, always with the expectation of Father's personal presence and with the belief in Father Divine's spiritual presence.  Father Divine maintained offices in all major church properties, and he would unexpectedly arrive at these extensions to visit with staff.  Large properties were important, but Divine acknowledged the spiritual significance of followers' domestic environments as well. In the same November sermon, he proclaimed: 

  I ABUNDANTLY and BOUNTIFULLY BLESS YOU ALL ”" causing your homes as selected and purchased and owned, to no longer be houses as they have been, of VICE and Crime and SIN, but DEDICATED as HOUSES of PRAYER, where you in your own Homes will be able to WORSHIP GOD under your own Vine and Fig Tree where no man can make you ashamed!...I AM causing every Home, at least, I shall cause every home to be as a CHURCH!  Aren't you glad!..To be a CHURCH for PRAISE and WORSHIP, where you WORSHIP GOD by DAY and by NIGHT in all you SAY and in all you DO! (22-23 November 1945, printed in The New Day, 30 November 1991:3)

• 1 2010-08-07T17:55:55-07:00 The Divine Economic Plan 7 plain 2016-09-06T17:03:41-07:00
  Father Divine claimed millions of dollars had been saved by the city because of his economic vision called the "Divine Cooperative Plan."  While Father Divine's standards for followers were strict, as he insisted on "an honest day's work for an honest day's pay," moral standards were equally strict as Father banned smoking, drinking, gambling, swearing, and sexual relations among the followers who were asked to live by his "International Modest Code."
  He provided economic security in the form of lodging, food, and employment. Among his programs was the opening of free employment bureaus where the Peace Mission worked at finding jobs at no charge for any individual. Economic ideas were a basic part of his overall principles and commonly found in his sermons, lectures, letters, even church by-laws. The reality of God's economy stressed individual independence but also saw the cause of humanity served through a cooperative system of community sharing and community spending of resources: 

  "We usually have a-full and a-plenty to eat.  That is the first thought, if you please.  Plenty of comfort and convenience!  Then the cost of living is cut from forty to seventy-five to eighty percent by MY Cooperative System and by unifying the people together, causing them to love one another”"