As we begin this new year�a year when America is about to elect a new president�such words as "issues," "agendas," and "priorities," will be heard with greater frequency.

When a true man from God appears among a people all of the "issues," "agendas," and "priorities," that were considered important by that people (and their rulers) are�by the very nature of the presence of God in that man�changed, restated, emphasized, or eliminated. Moreover, there are always new ones that come from the Lord he represents.

In the light of this, please reconsider what comes below, as it relates to those issues in your life, which you now see as important. Please, let us ask ourselves, are there any changes we must make in our personal "agendas," is there any reordering in our "priorities," that we must make, in the light of the words of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, both in what comes below and in the part of his press conference which contains a direct warning from Allah.

In Phoenix, Arizona, on May 17, 1998, I asked Minister Farrakhan the following question, for the book soon to be published titled: "Closing The Gap." I am here giving a part of his response.

Brother Jabril Muhammad: "Brother Minister, this first question concerns a phenomenon which is universal with leaders, generally, and divine leaders in particular, their staffing and their following.

"From time to time gaps develop, as the leader moves ahead and the followers work to keep pace. There has been some misunderstanding among some respecting certain moves, which in my view God has directed you to make, in the fulfillment of the mission of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad�which you have been made to share. Among them involves the way you have come to relate to certain members of the broad community, including the Caucasian race. Please comment."

Minister Louis Farrakhan: "The first thing that I shall intend to do is to analyze why gaps appear between leaders of consequence, particularly divine leaders, and their followers at given times in the growth and development of them in their mission.    

"Whenever a leader is chosen by God, he�s chosen sometimes thousands of years before he comes to birth. He is formed in his mother�s womb, under certain circumstances, which makes him for the specific job he is to do, by equipping him with the basic material at birth.

"As he comes into the knowledge of his assignment, or mission, the next and the greatest need for him�after understanding his mission�is to find the adequate and proper help to fulfill the mission that Allah (God) has given him. This is where the problem begins.

"First, he has to grow to understand his mission. In the course of his growth, persons come to help him at every stage of his evolution. As people do not always evolve with the leader, some fall off when the leader is a clot. Some fall off when the leader is embryonic. Some fall off when the leader is in the fetus stage. Some fall off when the leader is a child in understanding. Some fall off as he begins to mature.

"There are some who think they fully know him and his teachings when they became acquainted with him in the clot stage. However, such people lose sight of him, as he evolves, and they go out thinking maybe that they fully know him and his teachings. They teach what they know but a gap develops and widens between them and the leader, as he goes through the clot stage; or the embryonic stage; the fetus stage; the child stage; and finally becomes the mature man.

"What can prevent this? His help has to evolve with him. All of his help may not necessarily have been formed under the unique circumstances that led to his evolutionary development from before he was actually in physical form, even while that which produced him was being formed. So now he comes into the world constitutionally fit for his mission but his helpers may or may not have that base; that brilliance; that insight; that foresight; that comes from being divinely prepared.

"Now that kind of help, at best, comes according to their understanding of this man, his mission, and his teachings, at the moment in time when they first encounter him. But as he continues to grow and evolve, change and mature, perhaps they won�t see him in the same way in the next phase of his development, as they saw him in the stage when they first came aboard to help him. Why? Because he sufficed a particular need that was very personal and individual for them. When that need is met, they claim him as their leader. But as he evolves more and more, if they do not grow with him, a gap develops.

"Now, therefore, God, in helping His servants (the prophets), gives them help from Himself, which is the best help. That help is the best help because they grow along the same long lines that he grew under. They�re formed in the same way that he is formed and their heart is formed in the same way his heart is formed. Therefore, these helpers see into this man what other helpers don�t, or may not see, because the latter were not made from God to be His helpers, in the same way or degree, as the former helpers.

"However, they (the latter) accepted the role of a helper. Nevertheless, if they don�t stay in constant submission; in constant obedience; in constant study; and in constant growth; then gaps will develop between the teacher and the student that will lead the student (sometimes) to be critical of the teacher when the teacher grows beyond the particular need of that helper that motivated that helper to first want to help. That�s the way I would answer that question."

In my view all of us are obligated�for several reasons�to help Minister Farrakhan in his mission. More about this, next issue, Allah willing.

I also intend to make a few comments about Minister Farrakhan�s press conference and the reaction of America�s press to his words.

Meanwhile, ponder these words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, which Minister Farrakhan�s above quoted words called to my mind. For one thing Minister Farrakhan�s words, spoken in immediate response to my question�the contents of which he was hearing for the first time�is but another indication of the oneness of mind that exists between him and his teacher.

In addition, you can see in his profound answer his desire to bring unity of the right kind among us.