The Alif of the Greatest Name BHA' by John Carre (full text)
Eric Stetson
REVELATION OF THE GREATEST NAME -- SOON TO APPEAR
BY JOHN CARRE
Last modified Monday, January 29, 2001
-----
Seeing that John Carre's website http://www.greatestname.com no longer
exists and therefore his book that was published at that URL is no
longer available on the internet, I have decided to post the full text
of it here on TRB, so that it will continue to be available for
religious scholars and others interested. (Fortunately I had
downloaded and saved Carre's entire website before he took it down.)
The book, entitled _The Alif of the Greatest Name BHA'_ is in my
opinion a very interesting treatise. Carre argues therein that a
third Baha'i prophet/manifestation of God will soon arise, and that
only then will Baha'u'llah's injunction against anyone claiming a
revelation direct from God for 1000 years begin to take effect.
Carre's specific prophecy was for a new prophet in the year 2001,
Mustaghath. His book was instrumental in my own decision to claim
prophethood in that year, whereupon I published _The Book of
Restoration: Nineteen Points for the Reform of the Baha'i Faith_ on
the internet at http://www.bahai-faith.com/restoration/ in early 2002.
Since then, of course, I have renounced my belief in Baha'u'llah
along with my own claim of spiritual authority, and I am now a
Christian. Nevertheless, Carre's book provides some strong arguments
in favor of the expectation of a third Baha'i prophet, and I suspect
if the Baha'i Faith continues to struggle with stagnation and
disillusionment there may be other reform-minded Baha'is who will
arise with prophetic claims in the future.
Full text of the book to follow in this thread.
Eric Stetson
Ex-Baha'i Christian Testimony
http://www.bahai-faith.com
Ex-Baha'i Discussion & Debate
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ex-bahai/
Randy Burns
embodied in every intelligent mature adult human that walks the earth. That
is the final manifestation.
Cheers, Randy
--
"Eric Stetson" <erics...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f581312e.0308...@posting.google.com...
> THE ALIF OF THE GREATEST NAME BHA' -- THE THIRD MANIFESTATION OF THE
> REVELATION OF THE GREATEST NAME -- SOON TO APPEAR
>
Susan Maneck
>
>The third manifestation and the last elder are the same: namely they are
>embodied in every intelligent mature adult human that walks the earth. That
>is the final manifestation.
>
And your evidence for this is?
http://bahaistudies.net/susanmaneck/
Baha'i Studies is available through the following:
http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st
Randy Burns
Cheers, Randy
--
"Susan Maneck " <sma...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030821225924...@mb-m16.aol.com...
Susan Maneck
>Produce the relevant quotes and I will show you the evidence.
>
I don't talk about 'third manifestations' or 'last elders.' I think those are
topics for the overly active imagination.
warmest, Susan
Randy Burns
the 24th elder, but could be wrong. For some reason I've never see a quote
from the Baha'i writings about a "third" Manifestation, have you? Where are
they keeping them?
Cheers, Randy
--
"Susan Maneck " <sma...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030822000900...@mb-m16.aol.com...
Susan Maneck
>Well there you go, you are living proof of my assertion. BTW I think it's
>the 24th elder, but could be wrong.
Dear Randy,
Yes, there are four of the 24 Elders who have yet to be identified. Some folks
have let their imaginations get away from them and made this into some kind of
prophetic figures to come in the future. I don't think so. I think all 24
Elders were contemporaries of Baha'u'llah. We just don't know who they are
yet, as used to be the case with Vahid ul-Dawlih, the twentieth elder.
>For some reason I've never see a quote
>from the Baha'i writings about a "third" Manifestation, have you?
No, not named as such. But Baha'u'llah appears to foretell the coming of two
Manifestations one in an thousand years and one in 2001 years.
Eric Stetson
THE MYSTERY
"May your souls be illumined by the light of the words of God and may
you become repositories of the mysteries of God, for no comfort is
greater and no happiness sweeter than spiritual comprehension of the
Divine teachings." Abdu'l-Baha cited in The Divine Art of Living, p.40
Early in my life as a Baha'i, before the passing of Shoghi Effendi, I
used to wonder about the writings which indicated that there were to
be three parts to this Revelation of the Greatest Name. I found it
difficult to accept the interpretation most Baha'is apparently believe
about the prophecy which follows:
"...when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that
which will cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then and only then
will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise
warble its melody." Baha'u'llah,Gleanings, p. 118
It seemed that almost every Baha'i I spoke with interpreted this
prophecy in the same way many Christians interpret the prophecies
about the return of the Christ Spirit. They said that it meant that
the Holy Spirit would suddenly awaken everyone to spiritual truth, and
the Cause of God would then be firmly established. To me the Divine
Standard being unfurled meant new Teachings, and the Nightingale of
Paradise indicated a Manifestation to appear. However, because Shoghi
Effendi was alive at the time, I did not pursue the question. In 1958,
after the passing of Shoghi Effendi, I met and spoke alone with the
late Hand of the Cause Dr. Muhlschlegel while in Paris, France. He
told me that he believed that a new Manifestation would appear very
soon, and my concern about this question was renewed. I did ask
another Hand about the prophecy mentioned above, but he was unable to
give any coherent answer. Not long after this, the following article,
written by Ruhiyyih Khanum, appeared in the May 1959 issue of the
Baha'i News, No. 327 printed in America:
"The Guardian said to some of the pilgrims, during the last year and a
half or two years, something very strange. He said that there are two
Plans. The long-term Plan of Almighty God for mankind on this planet:
that is the Plan that has the Prophets of God, the Adamic Cycle and
all of the Great Manifestations of God, like Christ and Muhammad,
Buddha, Zoroaster, and Moses and so on, bringing us to this day with
the Bab and Baha'u'llah. This is the Mighty Plan of God, educating
humanity and bringing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth on this planet.
He said this is the Plan of God, it goes forward in mysterious ways,
we do not always understand its workings. Then, he said, we have the
Divine Plan which is being carried forward by the Baha'is in the form
as we know it, first the two Seven-Year Plans, and then this Ten-Year
Plan— the World Crusade which we are now engaged upon and part of
which has passed. The Guardian said, who knows, maybe this Great Plan
of God will interfere in the other Plan."
Ruhiyyih Khanum wrote that she was mystified by this statement by
Shoghi Effendi; apparently she believed, like most Baha'is do today,
that the 1000 years mentioned in the Kitab-i-Aqdas begin in 1852 or
1892, although no beginning date for the 1000 years is mentioned in
the authoritative Writings. She wrote that she believed that this
intervention by God must refer to World War II and/or the passing of
Shoghi Effendi, --although neither event interrupted the work of the
Baha'i plans for more than a very short time, and World War II
occurred prior to the passing of Shoghi Effendi.
It becomes clear, upon reading the words of Shoghi Effendi in his
various writings, that he would never conceive his death as being
equal in importance to the coming of a Manifestation, and, indeed, he
clearly stated that his station did not compare with that of
Abdu'l'-Baha. And besides, he said the Great Plan of God was the
coming of Manifestations to humanity, and so I believe that Baha'is
ought to abandon any fixed, conditioned thinking about their
understanding of the 1000 year prophecy, or when the 1000 years begin,
and start to consider other prophecies and signs in the Teachings.
When comparing his station to that of Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi
wrote:
"No Guardian of the Faith...can ever claim to be the perfect exemplar
of the teachings of Baha'u'llah or the stainless mirror that reflects
His light...he remains essentially human and cannot, if he wishes to
remain faithful to his trust, arrogate to himself, under any pretense
whatsoever, the rights, the privileges and prerogatives which
Baha'u'llah has chosen to confer upon His Son. In the light of this
truth to pray to the Guardian of the Faith, to address him as lord and
master, to designate him as his holiness, to seek his benediction, to
celebrate his birthday, or to commemorate any event associated with
his life would be tantamount to a departure from those established
truths that are enshrined in our beloved Faith. The fact that the
Guardian has been specifically endowed with such power as he may need
to reveal the purport and disclose the implications of the utterances
of Baha'u'llah and of Abdu'l-Baha does not necessarily confer upon him
a station co-equal with those Whose words he is called upon to
interpret. He can exercise that right and discharge this obligation
and yet remain infinitely inferior to both of them in rank and
different in nature." The World Order of Baha'u'llah by Shoghi
Effendi, p. 151
I believe that Shoghi Effendi would be shocked by the very thought
that anyone would compare the event of his death with the coming of a
Manifestation in the Mighty Plan of God.
Although Baha'is may know that this is the Revelation of the Greatest
Name, most may not know the implications of that Name for God's Cause
in this Day. In Arabic the word is spelled with the three letters BHA'
with the mark at the end (indicating the sound "uh" according to
Marzieh Gail in her book Baha'i Glossary published by the Baha'i
Publishing Trust in 1957) In Arabic the word means "glory" and in
Farsi it means "value" or "worth ‘. In the Baha'i Faith the Arabic is
used, and the name Baha'u'llah means Glory of God. The symbolic
meanings of the Greatest Name will be discussed in a later chapter. In
the book The Heavenly Table by Ishraq Khavari (Iran), Abdu'l-Baha is
cited and He speaks of the first two Letters of the Greatest Name BHA'
which were revealed in the Bab and Baha'u'llah:
"Concerning the Name in the Hidden Word (i.e. #77 in the Persian
section), the two Letters of which were revealed, that Name is the
Most Great Name (BHA'). The purpose is the Blessed Beauty, and
whatever is in our possession is the meaning of two Letters of the
Most Great Name; that is, B and H."
Look up the word "Ha" in the glossary of the Kitab-i-Iqan as well as
the last two pages of that book for confirmation of this statement.
In the following chapters I will discuss the prophecies and signs of
the coming of the third Letter of the Greatest Name, the "A" or Alif,
that I have discovered through my research. I will also mention some
of the reasons why we need the last part of the Revelation of the
Greatest Name for the establishment of the future Kingdom of God on
earth.
"...If, in the Day when all the peoples of earth will be gathered
together any man should, whilst standing in the presence of God, be
asked: ‘ Wherefore hast thou disbelieved in My Beauty and turned away
from My Self,' and if such a man should reply and say: ‘Inasmuch as
all men have erred, and none hath been found willing to turn his face
to the Truth, I too, following their example, have grievously failed
to recognize the Beauty of the Eternal,' such a plea will, assuredly,
be rejected. For the faith of no man can be conditioned by any one but
himself." Baha'u'llah cited in Baha'i World Faith, p. 189
Eric Stetson
THE TESTS OF FAITH WE FACE TODAY. AND WHENEVER A NEW MANIFESTATION
APPEARS
"Behold how contrary are the ways of the Manifestations of God, as
ordained by the King of Creation, to the ways and desires of men!"
Baha'u'llah Kitab-i-Iqan,p.57
It seems appropriate, at this point, to discuss the question of tests
in the Faith before continuing with the presentation of signs and
prophecies about the coming of the next Manifestation in the
Revelation of the Greatest Name.
For almost everyone the turmoil of this age in itself presents
countless tests, for it is a time of the moral disintegration of
society, the end of one civilization and the beginning of the birth of
a new civilization. And yet the coming of a new Manifestation is a far
greater test of faith for almost everyone in these times. In all past
ages, whenever a Manifestation of God has appeared, the majority of
the followers of the previous Dispensations, often led by their
priests or other religious leaders, have denounced and persecuted
God's Chosen Ones. Because of the multitude of differing
interpretations of the Writings of the Manifestations, the manner in
which the Manifestations of God appear and declare Their Missions
never seems to please the people of the previous Dispensations, nor to
fulfill their expectations. God has always tested His servants in the
past, and we cannot expect to escape His divinely ordained tests today
"...Inasmuch as the divine Purpose hath decreed that the true should
be known from the false, and the sun from the shadow, He hath,
therefore, in every season sent down upon mankind the showers of tests
from His realm of glory." Baha'u'llah, in Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 53
"And now ponder in thy heart the commotion which God stirreth up.
Reflect upon the strange and manifold trials with which He doth test
His servants." Ibid., p. 55
Some tests are quite obvious, such as physical calamities, personal
misfortune, etc., while others are very subtle, so subtle that we may
deny that we are being tested, and these subtle tests are often the
kind we encounter in our religious beliefs. Such tests involve our
long-held beliefs, convictions in our faith that are supported by the
majority of our peers and by our religious leaders, beliefs that may
be totally in error, and which we may accept without investigation or
careful thought. Being able to search out and to move on to higher
truth is in itself one of the most severe tests in life for most
people, and yet this attribute is one of the most essential
prerequisites to spiritual progress. Baha'is are no more exempt from
testing than are the followers of any previous religion, and testing
is an essential part of every new Revelation.
"What ‘oppression' is more grievous than that a soul peeking the
truth? and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know
not where to go for it and from whom to seek it? For opinions have
sorely differed, and the ways unto the attainment of God have
multiplied. This ‘oppression' is the essential feature of every
Revelation. Unless it cometh to pass, the Sun of Truth will not be
made manifest. For the break of the morn of divine guidance must needs
follow the darkness of the night of error..." Ibid., p. 31
As you know from history, and from the Kitab-i-lqan, most people of
the previous Revelations have failed to understand their Teachings or
the tests and have blindly followed the admonitions of their leaders
or their peers. They have, in every age, persecuted the Beloved Ones
of God, even taking Their lives or putting Them in prison, as they did
His Holiness Baha'u'llah.
"Ponder for a moment, and reflect upon that which hath been the cause
of such denial on the part of those who have searched with such
earnestness and longing. Their attack hath been more fierce than
tongue or pen can describe. Not one single Manifestation of Holiness
hath appeared but He was afflicted by the denials, the repudiation,
and the vehement opposition of the People around Him. Thus it hath
been revealed: ‘O the misery of men! No Messenger cometh unto them but
they laugh Him to scorn.' Again He saith: ‘Each nation hath plotted
darkly against their Messenger to lay violent hold on Him, and
disputed with vain words to invalidate the truth.' Ibid., pp. 4-5
Although we, as Baha'is, may say, "Yes, but we have learned from the
mistakes of the past, and therefore we will not commit those errors,
but will avoid such tests." yet the Bab prophesied that Baha'is would
make the same mistakes when the third Letter of the Greatest Name
appears. One of the problems we face is that at the appearance of any
Manifestation, the tests are not identical to the tests that
accompanied Previous Manifestations, and today the tests faced by
Baha'is may be more difficult than the tests in past ages.
"Regard any people. In truth They all believe they are searching for
God...Nevertheless, they all act and have acted against what is true.
Look at the letters of the Psalms (i.e.. who rejected Zoroaster), then
the letters of the Bible(i.e. who rejected Christ), then the letters
of the Gospel (i.e. who rejected Muhammad). then the letters of the
Quran (i.e. who rejected the Bab), then the letters of the Bayan (i.e.
who rejected Baha'u'llah), then the letters of the Book of Him Whom
God shall make manifest (i.e. Baha'is who will reject the next
Manifestation). From the highest to the most humble, they all imagine
that they are searching for God's pleasure and that they have
certitude and insight in His Religion; yet all, in the presence of Him
Who will be manifested (the third Letter, or Alif, of the Revelation
of the Greatest Name) after Him Whom God shall manifest(Baha'u'llah)
are like the letters of the previous Books in the presence of the
witnesses of the Bayan." The Bab, in one of His Tablets cited in the
introduction and preface of the Arabic Bayan translation of A.L.M.
Nicolas
In this Holy Revelation of the Greatest Name, revealed first through
the Blessed Beauty, the Bab, and then through His Holiness
Baha'u'llah, the tests are certain to exceed those of any past
Revelation because of the greatness of this Day of God, the high
requirements for true believers, and the power and extent of this
Revelation. It is for this reason that Baha'u'llah sternly warned His
followers that they must think for themselves, search earnestly for
truth, and not simply accept the ideas of their leaders , teachers or
peers.
"Notwithstanding the divinely-inspired admonitions of all the
Prophets, the saints and the Chosen Ones of God, enjoining the people
to see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears, they have
disdainfully rejected the-ir ~ounsels and have blindly followed and
will continue to follow the leaders of their Faith." Baha'u'llah,
Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 164
"...The people have always busied themselves with such specious
discourse, vainly protesting: ‘Wherefore hath not this or that sign
appeared?' Such ills befell them only because they have clung to the
ways of the divines in the age in which they lived, and blindly
imitating them in accepting or denying these Essences of Detachment
these holy and divine Beings. These leaders...have regarded the divine
Luminaries as being opposed to the standards of their knowledge and
understanding, and the opponents of their ways and judgements...And
yet they bear witness to this well-known tradition: " Verily Our Word
is abstruse, bewilderingly abstruse." In another instance it is said:
"Our Cause is sorely trying, highly perplexing; none can bear it
except a favorite of heaven, or an inspired Prophet or he whose faith
God hath tested." These leaders of religion admit that none of these
three specified conditions is applicable to them. The first two
conditions are manifestly beyond their reach; as to the third, it is
evident that at no time have they been proof against those tests that
have been sent by God, and that when the divine Touchstone appeared,
they have shown themselves to be naught but dross." Ibid., pp. 81-82
"Gracious God ! It was intended that at the time of the manifestation
of the One true God the faculty of recognizing Him would have been
developed and matured and would have reached its culmination. However,
it is now clearly demonstrated that in the disbelievers this faculty
hath remained undeveloped and hath, indeed, degenerated. ‘ Baha'u'llah
in Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 53 (Publ. 1982 by UHJ)
We should not reject new ideas without thought, but look into any
information about a Manifestation with deliberate care.
‘...We must always anticipate. always be hopeful and Pray to God that
He will send unto us His holy Manifestations in Their most perfect
might, with the divine penetrative power of His Word, so that these
heavenly Ones may be distinguished above all other beings in every
respect, in every attribute, just as the glorious sun is distinguished
above all stars. Abdu'l-Baha in Promulgation of Universal Peace, p.
467
WHEN OUR BELIEFS ARE CONTRARY TO THE WILL OF GOD.
Sometimes the Will of God brings about changes in His Cause which are
contrary to our understanding of His intentions. Believers often have
difficulty surrendering old paradigms, conditioned thinking, about the
meanings of the Teachings. When such unexpected changes occur, for
many believers it is like having a rug pulled out from under them, and
as a result many have problems accepting the will of God. And yet,
submission to the Will of God, and that God does whatsoever He wills,
are two of the principal teachings of Baha'u'llah.
"...If we ever dare to limit and circumscribe God's purpose within any
bounds, then of necessity we have dared to set iimitation8 to the
omnipotence of God. The created has dared to define his Creator!"
Abdu'l-Baha cited in Baha'i Scriptures, p. 402
Humans have the tendency to define what God may or may not do, based
on their understanding of the Teachings, and this is one of the
reasons they are veiled from Truth when the Manifestations appear with
the Word of God.
"The Second Tajalli is steadfastness in the Cause of God and in His
love, exalted is His glory! This cannot be attained except through
knowledge of Him, and a perfect knowledge of Him cannot be obtained
except by confessing the blessed Word: ‘GOD DOETH THAT WHICH HE
WILLETH.' He who adheres to this exalted Word, and drinks from the
kawther of divine utterance which is deposited therein, will find
himself so steadfast that all the books of the world shall not
withhold him from the ‘Mother Book.' Oh! Great is this lofty station,
exalted position, and furthermost end!" Baha'u'llah cited in Baha'i
World Faith, p. 189, 1956 ed.
This difficulty humans often have of submitting to the will of God,
when it runs counter to their understanding of the prophecies and
other Teachings, must be the reason Baha'u'11ah is apprehensive for
the safety of the next Manifestation when He declares His Mission.
"I am not apprehensive for My own Self, My fears are for Him Who will
be sent down unto you after Me—Him Who will be invested with great
sovereignty and mighty dominion." Baha'u'llah cited in The World Order
of Baha'u'llah, p. 117
"By those words which I have revealed, Myself is not intended, but
rather He Who will come after Me. To it is witness God, the
All-Knowing...Deal not with Him as ye have dealt with Me." Ibid., p.
117
Recall what occurred in the Dispensation of the Bab, testing the
submission of the Babis to the Will of God. In both the Arabic and
Persian Bayans the Bab revealed laws and teachings covering individual
life and government seemingly suitable for a Dispensation of1000 years
or so. Babis living in those days assumed that the level of
civilization of that time would remain practically unchanged. The Bab
gave instructions for taxation, for building shrines, for maintenance
of cities, for personal conduct (many of the same laws appearing in
the Kitab-i-Aqdas), etc., indicating to the Babis of the time that His
Dispensation would last a very long time. Besides, in the Persian
Bayan He wrote that the next Manifestation would appear in about 1500
or 2000 years, according to the understanding of most Babis.
In both Bayans He spoke repeatedly of He Whom God will make manifest,
without saying that He would appear before 1000 years, except IN VERY
VEILED REFERENCES AND PROPHECIES. Of course there were other
prophecies of Muhammad and Siyyid Kazim, telling of the coming
Promised One, also in veiled language, just as there are such
prophecies concerning the coming of the next Manifestation. Just as
today, no one paid attention nor made much effort to search out the
hidden truth. Most Babis, not being able to see the signs and not
studying the Teachings carefully, went by what appeared to them to be
clear prophecies of1500 or 2000 years, and when Baha'u'llah appeared
they told Him that He could not be the Promised One because He had
appeared too soon. To such accusations Baha'u'llah responded:
"...0 ye who are inly blind! Whether too Soon or too late. the
evidences of His effulgent glory are now manifest. It behoveth you to
ascertain whether or not such a Light hath appeared. It is neither
within your power nor mine to set the time at which it should be made
manifest." Gleanings, p. 103
Baha'u'llah also stated that we must investigate and know for
ourselves about anyone who claims to be a Manifestation, seeking for
the fulfillment of the necessary requisites of that Exalted Station
"....these holy, divine Manifestations are and must always be
distinguished above all other beings in every attribute of glory and
perfection in order that it may be proven that the Manifestation is
the true Teacher and real Trainer; that He is the Sun of Truth,
endowed with a supreme splendor and reflecting the beauty of God...The
real Manifestation of God must be endowed with divine knowledge and
not dependent upon learning acquired in schools. He must be the
Educator, not the educated; His standard, intuition instead of
tuition. He must be perfect and not imperfect, great and glorious
instead of being weak and impotent. He must be wealthy in the riches
of the spiritual world and not indigent. In a word, the holy, divine
Manifestation of God must be distinguished above all others of mankind
in every aspect and qualification in order that He may be able to
train effectively the human body politic, eliminate the darkness
enshrouding the human world, uplift humanity from a lower to a higher
kingdom, be able through the penetrative power of His Word to promote
and spread broadcast the beneficent message of universal peace among
men, bring about the unification of humanity in religious belief
through a manifest divine power, harmonize all sects and denominations
and convert all native lands and nationalities into one native land
and fatherland." Abdu'l-Baha in Promulgation of Universal Peace, p.
467
"Heard it ye ever reported by your fathers of old, or by the
generations that preceded them, even unto the first Adam, that any one
coming in the clouds of revelation being invested with manifest and
transcendent sovereignty, having on his right hand the Kingdom of God
and on his left all the power and glory of everlasting dominion, any
one preceded by the hosts of God, the Almighty, the All-Compelling,
the Most Powerful, and uttering continually verses whose import the
minds of the mostl earned and wisest of men are powerless to fathom,
should yet be the bearer of a message that is not of God? Be
discerning, then, and speak ye the truth, the very truth, if ye claim
to be honest and high minded." Gleanings. pp. 258-259
"The first and foremost testimony establishing His truth is His own
Self. Next to this testimony is His Revelation. For whoso faileth to
recognize either the one or the other He hath established the words He
hath revealed as the proof of His reality and truth..." Baha'u'llah in
Gleanings, LII.
Today the test of submission to the Will of God has appeared with
greater strength because we have been given the opportunity for
greater spiritual knowledge and insight into the meaning of such tests
through the Kitab-i-Iqan and other Books of Baha'u'llah, and
repeatedly warned that we must wholly submit to the Will of God. The
following statements indicate that God can, in fact, change those
aspects of His Cause that we consider irrevocable. In the Most Great
Infallibility there is no change in plans but from the viewpoint of
the creatures it appears that God changes His plans, whereas past and
future events and possibilities are all known to God. For example, the
end of the Guardianship seems to Baha'is to be achange in God.s plan
because we assumed it would never end. Yet if it had not ended, at
least temporarily, until the next Manifestation, there would be no
test of the believers, and all Baha'is would accept the Manifestation,
and Baha'u'llah's statement, "I am not apprehensive for My Own Self,
My fears are for Him Who will be sent down unto you after Me," would
have no meaning.
"Concerning this, that God doth in Truth change His plans. God is not
worshipped by anything as he is by (the Doctrine) Al-Bida (i.e. Bada)
since this is a confession of His power to do what He pleaseth."
Persian Bayan, Vahid IV:3
"What He pleaseth will God abrogate or confirm..." Kitab-i-Iqan, p.
147
"0 thou who hast fixed thy gaze upon the Dawning-Place of the Cause of
God! Know thou for a certainty that the Will of God is not limited by
the standards of the people, and God doth not tread in their ways..."
Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 109 (Publ. by UHJ committee)
"...for the People of the Garden of Perpetual Bliss, the bestowal is
of the secrets of the divine decree and divine change of mind
(al-bada). That is, they understand how the divine signature is
suspended at the occurrence of divine change of mind (al-bada). They
know that this garden is higher than all the other gardens. It is
limitless and it is the center of all the gardens, and the other
gardens revolve around it and the knowledge of its inhabitants." The
Bab in the Tablet Tafsir suratal-baqara, cited in The Quran Commentary
of Sayyid Ali Muhammed the Bab, by R.T.Lawson, Mc Gill University.
Baha'is should remember that a Covenant is a two-way agreement. When
God makes a Covenant with the believers of His Manifestation, the
promises made require that the believers obey His Teachings and Laws.
If they fail to obey, and ignore His Appointed Interpreters and the
Will and Testament, they ought not expect that the promises made,
which were conditional on their obedience, to be fulfilled. This might
appear to Baha'is to be a "change in plans."
If we knew how and when God will test us, and understood completely
the outcome, it would no longer be a test. Tests from God are never
quite what we anticipate, and they separate the believers, so that the
sincere are known from those who are weak in their faith.
"Behold how contrary are the ways of the Manifestations of God, as
ordained by the King of creation, to the ways and desires of men!"
Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 57
‘Verily 0ur Word is abstruse, bewilderingly abstruse.' In another
instance, it is said: ‘Our Cause is sorely trying, highly perplexing,
none can bear it except a favorite of heaven, or an inspired Prophet,
or he whose faith God hath tested." Ibid., p. 82
"There are before you so many temptations, trials, afflictions,
calamities and difficulties because you have to be purified through
fire and sifted through the sieve in order to separate the wheat from
the tares. Verily I say unto you, none will be saved but the
believers, and even those are in great danger, especially in such a
time." Abdu'l-Baha, cited in Baha'i.Scriptures, p. 443
REMEMBER, SOME OF THE MOST DIFFICULT TESTS ARE THE MOST SUBTLE,
INVOLVING OUR FAITH AND OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF GOD, AND WHETHER OR
NOT WE REALLY SEARCH FOR TRUTH, WHEREVER IT MAY BE.
Eric Stetson
THE APPOINTED INTERPRETER
"The Guardians are the evidences of the maturity of mankind in the
sense that at long last men have progressed to the point of having one
world, and by needing one world management for world affairs...In the
spiritual realm they have also reached the point where God could leave
in human hands, that is, the Guardians', guided directly by the Bab
and Baha'u'llah, the affairs of His Faith for this Dispensation..."
Shoghi Effendi cited in Baha'i News, June 1950
In The World Order of Baha'u'llah, page 20, Shoghi Effendi writes of
the lack of specific authority from Christ, giving any of His
followers the sole right to interpret His Word, and the results of
that missing authority. The same problem now exists within the Baha'i
community (communities) without an appointed Guardian, and unless God
intervenes the future is bleak for the Baha'is.
"...none did He specifically invest with sufficient authority to
either interpret His Word, or to add to what He had not specifically
enjoined...For this reason, in later generations, voices were raised
in protest against the self-appointed Authority which arrogated to
itself privileges and powers which did not emanate from the clear text
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and which constituted a grave departure
from the spirit which that Gospel did inculcate...'
Today the leaders of each of the Baha'i groups consider themselves to
have the right to call anyone who disagrees with their interpretations
of the Teachings, or their acts based on such interpretations,
宋iolators'. None of these leaders, including the UHJ as a body, can
substantiate such claims from the explicit text of either the Will and
Testament of Abdu'l-Baha or the writings of Baha'u'llah. If such a
situation continues, in the future there would be millions who would
disagree with the interpretations of these leaders, quite willing and
able to challenge their claims of authority. As a consequence those
millions would be considered outcasts from the Baha'i communities. How
can there be a World Order based on such an unstable foundation? The
Hands called the Guardianship 腺ada', meaning that God had changed the
plans for His Cause, and the Guardianship was no longer necessary. But
did He change His Plans? In fact, the temporary termination of the
Guardianship is essential for the appearance of the next Manifestation
of the Revelation of the Most Great Name.
In the opening quotation we see that Shoghi Effendi spoke of the
Guardianship as being a sign of human maturity, and that it would last
for the length of the Dispensation of the Revelation of the Greatest
Name. Abdu'l-Baha stressed the importance of having an authorized or
疎ppointed' interpreter of the Word, and as we have seen, at this time
there is no such interpreter.
"The text of the Divine Book is this: If two souls quarrel and contend
about a question of the Divine Questions, differing and disputing,
both are wrong. The wisdom of this incontrovertible law of God is
this: that between two souls from amongst the believers of God, no
contention and dispute might arise; that they may speak with each
other with infinite amity and love. Should there appear the least
trace of controversy. they must remain silent, and both parties must
continue their discussions no longer, but ask the reality of the
question from the Interpreter. This is the irrefutable command."
Abdu'l-Baha cited in Baha'i World Faith, p. 428
According to Shoghi Effendi's interpretations, stated in his book
Dispensation, any future UHJ must have a Guardian to interpret the
Teachings, and tell the UHJ members when their legislation is opposed
to the Writings of Baha'u'llah, and if they are exceeding their
mandate. As you can see from the following statement by Baha'u'llah,
interpretations of Writings are manifold. and only an appointed
Interpreter can comprehend their meanings. So any future UHJ will need
a Guardian as a member of that body.
"Know assuredly that just as thou firmly believest that the Word of
God, exalted be His glory, endureth for ever, thou must, likewise,
believe with undoubting faith, that the meaning can never be
exhausted. They who are its appointed interpreters, they whose hearts
are the repositories of its secrets, are, however, the only ones who
can comprehend its manifold wisdom." Baha'u'llah in Gleanings, p. 175
Despite this clear statement of Baha'u'llah's that the meaning of the
Word of God can never be exhausted, and that only the appointed
interpreters can comprehend its meaning, the editors of the 1980
edition of Baha'u'llah and the New Era on page 285,inserted the
statement: "Pure and inviolate, the revealed Word of Baha'u'llah, with
its authorized interpretation, remains throughout the Dispensation the
uncorrupted and incorruptable source of spiritual life to men",
implying that single interpretations in our possession from the time
of Shoghi Effendi will suffice until the next Manifestation. Speaking
of the mportance of the guardianship in the World Order of God's
Cause, Shoghi Effendi, on page 148 of The World Order of Baha'u'llah
(also in the separate edition called Dispensation which is part of
that book) tells us that the Guardianship is indispensable.
"Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of
Baha'u'llah would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that
hereditary principle which, as Abdu'l-Baha has written, has been
invariably upheld by the Law of God...Without such an institution the
integrity of the Faith would be imperiled, and the stability of the
entire fabric would be gravely endangered. Its prestige would suffer,
the means required to enable it to take a long, an uninterrupted view
over a series of generations, would be completely lacking, and
necessary guidance to define the sphere of legislative action of its
elected representatives would be totally withdrawn."
No Baha'i should underestimate the vital importance of the
Guardianship, the Appointed Interpreter, for the spiritual unity of
humanity, and the success of any World Order. It is God's World Order,
not ours, and it belongs to all of humanity, not to the Baha'is. The
idea, held by many, that any one of the existing leaders or the UHJ
can fulfill the functions of a Guardian, are seriously in error, and
the very Words of God testify to this fact, as do current events
within the Baha'i community. Today a serious problem exists, a problem
that only God can resolve, and we ought not believe that God cannot
intervene in human affairs whenever He wills, in order to establish
HIS WORLD ORDER and the Kingdom of God on earth.
"What 双ppression' is more grievous than that a soul seeking the
truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know
not where to go for it and from whom to seek it? For opinions have
sorely differed, and the ways unto the attainment of God have
multiplied. This 双ppression' is the essential feature of every
Revelation. Unless it cometh to pass, the Sun of Truth will not be
made manifest. For the break of the morn of divine guidance must needs
follow the darkness of the night of error..." Baha'u'llah in
Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 31
Eric Stetson
THE REVELATION OF THE GREATEST NAME---THE REVELATION IS NOT YET ENDED
"As soon as men are ready to receive it the Tree of Truth descends
from 選 was a HiddenTreasure.'" Persian Bayan VI:13
In addition to the lack of a Guardian for the future World Order of
God's Cause, a second indication that this Revelation of the Greatest
Name is not yet complete is the fact that a vast number of the
Writings of Baha'u'llah were deliberately destroyed because mankind
was not ready for them at the time they were revealed.
"As to those verses which He either dictated or wrote Himself, their
number was no less remarkable than either the wealth of material they
contained, or the diversity of subjects to which they referred. A
vast, and indeed the greater proportion of these Writings were, alas,
lost irretrievably to posterity. No less an authority than Mirza Aqa
Jan, Baha'u'llah's amanuensis, affirms, as reported by Nabil, that by
the express order of Baha'u'llah, hundreds of thousands of verses,
mostly written by His own hand, were obliterated and cast into the
river. 詮inding me reluctant to execute His orders,' Mirza Aqa Jan has
related to Nabil, 腺aha'u'llah would reassure me saying: 鮮one is to
be found at this time worthy to hear these melodies.' Not once, or
twice, but innumerable times, was I commanded to repeat this act.' "
God Passes By, p.138
In the following statements, Baha'u'llah indicates that the full
extent of this Revelation of the Greatest Name remained concealed from
us because the people still did not have the capacity to benefit or to
understand these advanced teachings.
"Know verily that the veil hiding Our Countenance hath not been
completely lifted. We have revealed Our Self to a degree corresponding
to the capacity of the people of our age. Should the Ancient Beauty be
unveiled in the fullness of His glory mortal eyes would be blinded by
the dazzling intensity of His revelation." Baha'u'llah cited in The
World Order of Baha'u'llah, 1944 ed., page 116
禅he Revelation of which I am the bearer is adapted to humanity's
spiritual receptiveness and capacity; otherwise, the Light that shines
within Me can neither wax nor wane. Whatever I manifest is nothing
more or less than the measure of the Divine glory which God has bidden
me reveal." Ibid., P. 60
Although Baha'u'llah could not, at the time of His Mission, reveal
more than a limited number of Teachings, He did promise that the Day
is approaching when the Revelation of the Greatest Name would be
completely revealed. He prophesied that even if the nations or the
rulers opposed the Promised One, He would remain unshaken.
禅he heights which, through the most gracious favor of God, mortal man
can attain in this Day, are as yet unrevealed to his sight. The world
of being hath never had, nor doth it yet possess the capacity for such
a revelation. The Day, however, is approaching when the potentialities
of so great a favor will, by virtue of His behest, be manifested unto
men. Though the forces of the nations be arrayed against Him, though
the kings of the earth be leagued to undermine His Cause, the power of
His might shall stand unshaken. He, verily, speaketh the truth, and
summoneth all mankind to the way of Him Who is the Incomparable, the
All-Knowing.' Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, p. 214
The time that elapsed between the beginning of the Revelation of the
Bab and that of Baha'u'llah was only nine years, and in that time
mankind was prepared for the next part of the Revelation of the
Greatest Name. In the Persian Bayan the Bab states that as soon as
humanity is ready, and has the capacity for greater spiritual truth,
God reveals Himself through His Prophet.
"As soon as men are ready to receive it, the Tree of Truth descends
from 選 was a Hidden Treasure.' " Vahid VI:13
"And in every case the Tree of Truth regards the capacity of His
people; whenever He sees that they are ready for the Manifestation in
the mirror of their hearts, He reveals Himself." Vahid VII:11
Perhaps the concept of a Revelation coming whenever humanity reaches a
certain point of spiritual capacity, whether it be after nine or a
thousand years, is new to many believers. During the nine years that
elapsed from the beginnings of the Revelations of the Bab and
Baha'u'llah only a limited number of souls had acquired the capacity
for the immediate acceptance of a new Revelation, others followed
later. New levels of thinking and spiritual evolution always seem to
shine forth first in a few special, spiritual souls, and then,
gradually, the rest of humanity follows.
In 1992 one hundred years elapsed since the Ascension of Baha'u'llah,
and the influence of the Word of God has had world-wide effects,
causing vast changes in the ways people think and live. World-wide
communications have been established, means of travel have been
revolutionized, science has made incredible progress, and on the
physical plane at least, the 双neness' of humanity is being realized.
It is as if a vast nerve structure has been created throughout the
world, ready for the coming of a truly spiritual humanity, responsive
to the Word of God. Baha'u'llah spoke of the appearance of special,
spiritually advanced people who would appear and be prepared by God in
these time to serve His Cause,to awaken the body of a new humanity
that is being prepared for birth by God.
"There lay concealed within the Holy Veil, and prepared for the
service of God, a company of His chosen ones who shall be manifested
unto men, who shall aid His Cause, who shall be afraid of no one,
though the entire human race rise up and war against them. These are
the ones who, before the gaze of the dwellers on earth and the
denizens of heaven, shall arise and, shouting aloud, acclaim the name
of the Almighty, and summon the children of men to the path of God,
the All-Glorious, the All-Praised." Baha'u'llah cited in The Advent of
Divine Justice, p. 85
"The day is approaching when God will have, by an act of His Will,
raised up a race of men the nature of which is inscrutable to all save
God, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsisting." Ibid., p. 85
"A race of men incomparable in character, shall be raised up which,
with the feet of detachment, will tread under all who are in heaven
and on earth, and will cast the sleeve of holiness over all that hath
been created from water and clay." Ibid., p. 31
The question of when the next part of the Revelation of the Greatest
Name will be made manifest in the world, is discussed in the following
chapters of this book. Although most Baha'is today believe that they
know when the next Manifestation will appear, that is, sometime a
thousand years after 1852 or 1892, no beginning date for the thousand
years is given in the authoritative Writings. One of the Teachings
stressed in the Writings of Baha'u'llah is the truth that God does
whatsoever He wills, which is not always what the people expect, or
have arbitrarily decided. When the Babis questioned Baha'u'llah about
His claims, saying that he had appeared about one thousand years too
soon, He replied:
"For none knoweth the time of the Revelation except God. Whenever it
appeareth, all must acknowledge the Point of Truth, and render thanks
unto God." Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. P. 157
Eric Stetson
THE UNITY OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD
Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to make
any distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or to
discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed
their Revelation...Be ye assured, moreover, that the works and acts of
each and every one of these Manifestations of God, nay whatever
pertaineth unto them, and whatsoever they may manifest in the future,
are all ordained by God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose.
Whoso maketh the slightest difference between their persons. their
words. their messages. their acts and manners, hath indeed disbelieved
in God, hath repudiated His signs. and betrayed the Cause of His
Messenger." Baha'u'llah in Gleanings, pp. 59-60
The oneness of the Manifestations is often not stressed enough in the
study of the Teachings of Baha'u'llah. All Manifestations reflect the
same Holy Spirit, sometimes referred to as the Ancient Beauty or the
Ancient of Days, terms used in reference to God Himself, because the
Holy Spirit reflects the Word of God. In view of this truth, it is
important for many Baha'is to reconsider their concept of the station
of the Bab, because many believe He was only a Herald of Baha'u'llah.
He was in every degree a Holy Manifestation of God, reflecting the
will and purpose of God, proclaiming a Revelation direct from God.
Moreover, the Bab Himself explains that all of the Manifestations of
God prepare the way for the next Manifestation to appear, and are
Heralds of the next Manifestation.
"It is clear and evident that the object of all preceding
Dispensations hath been to pave the way for the advent of Muhammad,
the Apostle of God. These, including the Muhammadan Dispensation, have
had, in their turn, as their objective the Revelation proclaimed by
the Qa'im (i.e. the Bab). The purpose underlying this Revelation, as
well as those that preceded it, has, in like manner, been to announce
the advent of the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest (i.e.
Baha'u'llah). And this Faith, --the Faith of Him Whom God will make
manifest— in its turn, together with all the Revelations gone before
it, have as their object the Manifestation destined to succeed it. And
the latter, no less than all the Revelations preceding it, prepare the
way for the Revelation which is yet to follow. The process of the rise
and setting of the Sun of Truth will thus indefinitely continue -- a
process which hath no beginning and will have no end." The Bab, cited
in The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 117
In God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi says that the Revelation of
Baha'u'llah will overshadow future Revelations for the next 500,000
years. This statement must be considered in relation to the above
quotation of the Bab and Baha'u'llah. Taken literally this would
indicate that future Revelations will be less than that revealed
through Baha'u'llah, but this cannot be so. Every Manifestation
manifests the Holy Spirit, that Ancient Beauty, and it is the same
Holy Spirit. God cannot be overshadowed by God, the Holy Spirit is the
same in every Revelation and cannot be overshadowed by Itself.
Therefore, the intent is not the literal meaning. Consider carefully
the following statement of the Bab, concerning future Revelations,
which expresses the same principle of progressive Revelation taught by
Baha'u'llah.
"...each Manifestation is more perfect than the last and includes all
preceding ones(Vahid III:13) "...and each time the Divine Will returns
with increased strength and fuller utterance "(Vahid III:12) "A new
Manifestation comes as soon as the evolution of the human race has
prepared men for it. "(Vahid VI:13) "...but only God knows when it
will be "(Vahid VII:10, Vahid III:153) The Bab in the Persian Bayan,
trans. by E. G.. Browne
The spiritual and intellectual evolution of humanity requires a fuller
Revelation with each new Manifestation. However, there are certain
teachings which might be considered absolutes for a certain period of
time, since they cannot be exceeded until humanity reaches a certain
level of social organization, scientific progress and spiritual
development. Such teachings as world unity, universal education, the
oneness of the human race, etc. are among those teachings which will
be supported for an indefinite time. This is the intent of
"overshadow". These Teachings are from God, but need not be extended
until, perhaps, we attain superluminal communication with other
planets (which today's scientists say is impossible), circling other
stars. Teachings that define social relations within the scope of
world unity, and other universal teachings, will most certainly be
extended. Teachings that concern our understanding of the universe and
of our own spiritual essence and powers, will be revealed. Human
spiritual awareness of God will be increased with more advanced
teachings, and the Kingdom of God will be established on earth.
TITLES GIVEN THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE GREATEST NAME IN PR0PHECY
In Muslim eschatology (study of last, or final things) a general
sequence of events regarding the Last Day, is as follows. This
‘schedule' of events is repeated in the prophecies of Siyyid Kazim,
one of the forerunners of the Bab and Baha'u'llah.
1. Appearance of antichrist (Karim Khan and Mirza Yahya)
2. Descent of Mahdi and Isa (the Bab and Baha'u'llah)
3. First blast of the trumpet (Revelation of the Bab, the ‘B' of the
Greatest Name.)
4. Second blast of the trumpet (Revelation of Baha'u'llah, the ‘H' of
the Greatest Name.)
5. Long interval, while people stand before God for judgement (period
now reaching termination).
6. Judgement Day (literally, the collapse of this world civilization.
Figuratively, the coming of the Manifestation of the third Letter "A"
of the Greatest Name.)
7. The intercession for the faithful few by Muhammad (the ‘A' of the
Greatest Name, BHA')
In Muslim traditions (from Muhammad and Ali) the three Manifestations
of the Greatest Name are given titles that indicate their particular
part of the Message of the Revelation of the Greatest Name. The first
to appear is named the Mahdi, which means guided or enlightened One,
who took the name Bab (Gate) at the beginning of His Revelation, but
later declared that He was the Qa'im, the Promised One of all
religions. (The name Bab was then bestowed upon Mullah Husayn, who was
first called the Bab'ul'Bab, or gate of the Gate). The Bab declared
that He was the ~B~, the first Letter of the Greatest Name. The Bab
stated:
"Whatever is attributed to Me in this Paradise is exactly the same as
those things attributed to Him Whom God will make manifest (i.e.
Baha'u'llah). Will you not enter this Paradise?" Arabic Bayan
The second name is Isa, Who was to immediately follow the Qa'im. The
name means the Christ Spirit, and indicates the powerful spiritual
nature of the Revelation given through Baha'u'llah. Baha'u'llah also
laid the foundations of the future World Order of the new age, and
gave an indication of the structure of the future world government. He
said He represented the ‘H' of the Greatest Name of God, BHA' In the
Quran Muhammad said that the coming of Isa would be the sign of the
coming of the Hour of Judgement for humanity
"And Jesus (i.e. Isa) will be a Sign for the coming of the Hour of
Judgement; therefore have no doubt about the Hour but follow ye Me;
this is a Straight Way." Quran, XLIII:6l
After the time of Judgement (the Hour or the Appointed Hour), the
third Letter of the Greatest Name is to appear, and His name in the
traditions is Muhammad, or the Prophet. This is indicative of the role
Muhammad played during His lifetime, as an organizer and lawgiver
unparalleled in history (see Muhammad the Prophet by Maulana Muhammad
Ali, Ripon Press, Lahore). Of course Muhammad also gave powerful
spiritual teachings, and the third Letter, the Alif or ‘A' will give
those teachings which Baha'u'llah destroyed because mankind was not
yet ready to receive them. In some Baha'i prayers the Names of the
three Manifestations are given as the Most-Exalted, the All-Glorious,
and the All-Highest, which, of course, are Names of God, and the
Letters of the Greatest Name manifest the All-Mighty God.
Eric Stetson
SYMBOLISM IN THE GREATEST NAME AND IN THE WORDS FOR ONE THOUSAND AND
FOR THE LETTER A IN ARABIC
"Let nothing grieve thee, O Land of Ta (Tihran), for God hath chosen
thee to be the source of the joy of all mankind." Baha'u'llah,
Gleanings, p. 110
In the Kitab-i-Aqdas Baha'u'llah mentions the numerical value of the
Greatest Name (the letter "t" pronounced ta, has the Abjad value of
nine):
"Say: This is the hidden knowledge which never changes because it
begins with al-ta, which indicates the treasured, manifest,
well-fortified, and unapproachable Name." Elder and Miller
translation, p. 31(In the latest translation, publ. by the UHJ, p. 28,
this is translated as follows:)
"Say: This is that hidden knowledge which shall never change, since
its beginning IS WITH nine, the symbol that betokeneth the concealed
and manifest, the inviolable and unapproachably exalted Name."
As you can see from the first quotation at the head of the page,
Tihran is also designated by the number nine, because Baha'u'llah
began His Mission there in 1852 while imprisoned.
In the appendix there is an explanation of the use and significance of
numbers and letters in the Holy Books. Here I will mention only some
of the symbolic meanings of the Greatest Name BHA', and of the word
ALF. As noted in Chapter I the Writings of Baha'u'llah are usually in
Arabic, and the Kitab-i-Aqdas is in Arabic. The numerical value of
Arabic and Persian words in the Writings of the Bab and Baha'u'llah
are calculated using the Abjad numbering system for the letters of the
Arabic alphabet, and it is not applicable for transliterated words. In
Arabic, vowels are often not shown in the word, (See the book A Basic
Baha'i Dictionary by Wendi Momen, publ. 1991 by G. Ronald, Oxford,
p.6, or in Baha'i Glossary by Marzieh Gail, publ. 1957, Baha'i Publ..
Trust, Wilmette, p.2). Using this system the numerical value of BHA'
is nine because the "B" equals 2, the "H" equals 5, the "A" equals 1
and the " ‘ " equals 1. There are three Letters in the Greatest Name,
and in symbolism three is usually indicative of perfection (the
Manifestation, the Holy Spirit and God). Three times three or nine, is
the superlative of three, which indicates absolute perfection. The
word BHA' is composed of three letters, indicating the three part
Revelation, which is equal to nine when completed, or the perfection
of the Greatest Name. The Revelation of the Greatest Name will not be
complete until the third Letter of the Greatest Name is revealed.
When the Bab appeared He stated that He represented the Letter "B" of
the Greatest Name, the Gate to the two "Alifs" to follow Him. Alif (or
Alf) is the word indicating the letter ‘A' with the Abjad value of ‘1'
or unity, and in the following quotation it signifies the unity of the
Manifestation and the Word of God. That is, two Manifestations of God
are to follow the Bab. The Bab refers to Himself as "the Ba (i.e. "B")
which permeates the water of the Letters, and the point which stands
at the Gate of the two Alifs." The Bab, cited in Selections from the
Writings of E.G. Browne, by M. Moman, p. 215
When Baha'u'llah appeared He indicated that He represented the letter
"H" of the Greatest Name (See p. 261 of the 1954 edition of the
Kitab-i-Iqan, as well as the footnote on page 56 of the 1952 edition
of The Four Valleys and the Seven Valleys, both publ. by Baha'i Publ..
Trust, Wilmette) You will also recall that at the end of the
Kitab-i-Iqan Baha'u'llah also refers to Himself as both the "B" and
the "H"' (the Ba and the Ha) of the Greatest Name. This is because
every Manifestation of God represents the same Holy Spirit as all the
Manifestations Who have gone before. It also indicates, when He says
that He is ‘none other except the Primal Point' that His Revelation is
the same Revelation of the Greatest Name as that inaugurated by the
Bab.
"He Who now voiceth the Word of God is none other except the Primal
Point Who hath once again been made manifest.' "He is the same as the
One Who appeared in the year sixty (1260 A.H.).' Baha'u'llah cited in
The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 139, 1944 ed.
In Chapter I we saw that Abdu'l-Baha said that only two Letters of the
Greatest Name had been revealed, in the first two parts of this
Revelation.
"Concerning the Name in the Hidden Word (i.e. #77 in the Persian
section), the two Letters of which were revealed, that Name is the
Most Great Name (BHA'). The purpose is the Blessed Beauty, and
whatever is in our possession is the meaning of two Letters of the
Most Great Name; that is, B and H.'
When the third Letter of the Greatest Name, the Alif or ‘A', appears,
the three part Revelation from God will be completed. That there are
three Letters of the one Name of God indicates, symbolically, that
these are not independent Revelations, but parts of one great
Revelation from one God, one Cause of God. In each succeeding
Manifestation all the Letters and perfections of the previous
Manifestations are present and manifest.
SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCES OF ALIF/ALF
The words for "a" and for ‘one thousand' in Arabic are both spelled
the same, although their meanings change according to the context
wherein they are used. This subject is discussed in the Appendix. In
the discussion below the literal meanings of the words are not
important, and the spelling is identical (ALF) for both uses. In
discussing the symbolic significance of the word it is the Abjad
numerical value that is considered here, and the symbolic meaning of
the numbers themselves.
The Kitab-i-Aqdas is written in Arabic, and the word ALF is used in
the thousand year prophecy to indicate one thousand. The word ALF
(which in this instance is transliterated Alif in this usage) is the
name of the first letter ‘a' of the Arabic alphabet. This letter is
the same as the number ‘1' in Arabic, and it also has the Abjad value
of ‘1'. The letter ALF, or ALIF as it is transliterated, is used to
indicate the Manifestations because its value of ‘1' indicates the
unity of God and the Manifestation. The Lover and the Beloved are
united in the ALF, as it is written in the Quran:
"Arise, 0 Muhammad, for lo, the Lover and the Beloved are made One in
Thee.
As noted above, the Bab refers to Himself as "the Ba (i.e. the Letter
‘B') which permeates the water of the Letters, and the Point which
stands at the Gate of the two Alifs." Because the ALF (ALIF)
symbolizes the Manifestations, the Bab is the first ALF (ALIF) Who is
the Gate to the two ALFs /ALIFs) or Manifestations to follow. The WORD
ALF, used to indicate either ‘1,000' or ‘a', has the Abjad value of
111 (A=l, L=30 and F=80 for a total of 111) or three ALFs (ALIFs).
This is symbolic of the unity of this one Revelation of the Greatest
Name BHA', and of the oneness of the three Manifestations Who reveal
this one Divine Revelation. This unity is also demonstrated by the
three Letters of the Greatest Name BHA', as discussed above. So in the
thousand year prophecy the word ALF can also symbolize three
Manifestations of the Revelation of the Greatest Name.
If you reckon from the date of the beginning of the Mission of
Baha'u'llah, which was in 1852, until 1963, you find that 111 years
have elapsed. 1963 was the end of the 100 years given by God for
mankind to turn to His Holiness Baha'u'llah, as Shoghi Effendi wrote
in The Promised Day is Come (p. 4):
"For a whole century God has respited mankind that it might
acknowledge the Founder of such a Revelation, espouse His Cause,
proclaim His greatness and establish His Cause.'
Abdu'l-Baha wrote that after that date (1963) the time of tribulations
would begin if mankind did not respond favorably to the Cause of God.
May 1992 was the 100th anniversary of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah,
and in the coming few years the troubles which encompass mankind will
intensify, until the finalcalamity, as discussed in the coming
chapters.
The letter ‘A', or ALF/ALIF, symbolizes the universal power and
influence of the coming part of the Revelation of the Greatest Name.
The letter ‘A' indicates a new beginning, and as we have seen, in
Arabic it indicates one or unity; the most great unity of the Creator
as well as the beginning of all things in the New Age, the Age of the
Kingdom of God on earth. The ALF/ALIF is like the alpha in Greek,
symbolizing the time of the unification of all humanity (see
Revelation of St. John) and the universal recognition of the oneness
of God and HIS Cause, as represented by all past revealed religions.
The mark (‘) following the ‘A' in the Greatest Name BHA' points to the
incomparable spiritual station of the successor of the Alif, the
All-Highest, even though he will not be a Letter of the Greatest Name.
nor a Manifestation.
Eric Stetson
SIGNS OF THE COMING MANIFESTATION IN THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE HEAVENS
"With regard to the spiritual influence of the stars, though this
influence of starsin the human world may appear strange, still, if you
reflect deeply upon this subject, you will not be so much surprised at
it...I mean that this limitless universe is like the human body, all
the members of which are connected and linked with one another with
the greatest strength...the parts of this infinite universe have their
members and elements connected with one another, and influence one
another spiritually and materially." Abdu'l-Baha in Some Answered
Questions, LXIX
Christians often speak of the ‘star' which appeared in the heavens
prior to the appearance His Holiness Jesus Christ. I cannot recall
ever hearing any Baha'i speak of the Signs om the visible heaven that
heralded the appearances of the Bab and Baha'u'llah , although one did
speak of a comet, which is not an unusual event, and as you see in the
quotation below, Baha'u'llah speaks of a ‘star' being discovered.
Three major planets in the solar system were discovered during this
time, with a most astonishing relationship, as we shall see. In the
Kitab-i-Iqan (pp. 61-66) Baha'u'llah discussed at length the question
of ‘stars' appearing in the visible and invisible heavens prior to the
coming of a Manifestation.
And now, concerning His words: ‘ And then shall appear the sign of the
Son of man in the heaven,' by these words is meant that when the sun
of the heavenly teachings hath been eclipsed, the stars of the
divinely-established laws have fallen, and the moon of true
knowledge—the educator of mankind—hath been obscured: when the
standards of guidance and felicity have been reversed, and the morn of
truth and righteousness hath sunk in night, then shall the sign of the
Son of man appear in heaven. By ‘heaven' is meant the visible heaven.
inasmuch as when the hour draweth nigh on which the Day-Star of the
heaven of justice shall be made manifest, and the Ark of divine
guidance shall sail upon the sea of glory, a star shall appear in the
heaven, heralding unto its people the advent of that most great light.
In like manner, in the invisible heaven a star shall be made manifest
who, unto the peoples of the earth, shall act as a harbinger of the
break of that true and exalted Morn. These twofold signs, in the
visible and invisible heaven, have announced the revelation of each of
the Prophets of God, as is commonly believed.'
‘Among the Prophets was Abraham, the Friend of God. Ere He manifested
Himself, Nimrod dreamed a dream. Thereupon, he summoned the
soothsayers, who informed him of a star in the heaven. Likewise there
appeared a herald who announced throughout the land the coming of
Abraham. ‘
After Him came Moses. He Who held converse with God. The soothsayers
of His time warned Pharaoh in these terms: ‘A star hath risen in the
heaven, and lo! it foreshadoweth the conception of a Child Who holdeth
your fate and the fate of your people in His hand.' In like manner,
there appeared a sage, who, in the darkness of the night, brought
tidings of joy unto the people of Israel, imparting consolation to
their souls, and assurance to their hearts. To this testify the
records of the sacred books...In like manner, when the hour of the
Revelation of Jesus drew nigh, a few of the Magi, aware that the star
of Jesus had appeared in heaven, sought and followed it, till they
came unto the city which was the seat of the Kingdom of Herod. The
sway of his sovereignty in those days embraced the whole of that
land.'
‘These Magi said: ‘Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we
have seen His star in the east and are come to worship Him!' When they
had searched, they found out that in Bethlehem, in the land of Judea,
the Child had been born. This was the sign that was manifested in the
visible heaven. As to the sign in the invisible heaven—it was Yahya,
son of Zachariah, who gave the people the tidings of the Manifestation
of Jesus...Moreover, in the heavenly Scriptures it is written: ‘John
the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying,
‘Repent ye: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.' By John is meant
Yahya."
" Likewise, ere the beauty of Muhammad was unveiled, the signs of the
visible heaven were made manifest. As to the signs of the invisible
heaven, there appeared four men who successively announced unto the
people the joyful tidings of the divine Luminary..."
" And now concerning this wondrous and most exalted Cause. Know thou
verily that many an astronomer hath announced the appearance of its
star in the visible heaven. Likewise, there appeared on earth Ahmad
and Kazim, those twin resplendent lights—may God sanctify their
resting place!"
" From all that We have stated it hath become clear and manifest that
before the revelation of each of the Mirrors reflecting the divine
Essence, the signs heralding their advent must needs be revealed in
the visible heaven as well as in the invisible, wherein is the seat of
the sun of knowledge, of the moon of wisdom, and of the stars of
understanding and utterance. The signs of the invisible heaven must
needs be revealed in the person of that perfect man who, before each
Manifestation appeareth, educateth, and prepareth the souls of men for
the advent of the divine Luminary, the Light of the unity of God
amongst men." Baha'u'llah in the Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 61-66
Carl Jung, the psychologist, observed that in creation there is a
certain ‘synchronicity' apparent in events, and this is especially
true of the signs in the visible heaven that occur at the time of the
Manifestations of God. As Abdu'l-Baha said, this is because the entire
universe is interrelated, physically and spiritually, it is the
natural order of God's creation.
Three new planets were discovered in the last 200 Years, and these
planets have a special and a most extraordinary relationship. Before
the coming of the Blessed Bab, in 1781, 63 years (7 x 9) before His
Declaration, the planet Uranus was discovered. Before the advent of
Baha'u'llah, the planet Neptune was discovered in 1846, 6 years before
He began His Mission in 1852, and 19 years before His public
announcement in Adrianople. In 1930, the ninth planet of the solar
system, Pluto, the planet of the final Manifestation of the Revelation
of the Greatest Name, was discovered.
Although nothing in creation seems to have exact numerical
relationships according to our human system of mathematics, the
numerical relationships of these three planets are almost exact even
by that system. As you will see, the numbers 9 and 19 which are
apparently so important in God's Cause, come up repeatedly in these
relationships between the three planets.
URANUS, the planet of the Bab, is 19 astronomical units from the Sun
(an astronomical unit is the distance of the Earth from the Sun).
URANUS revolves around the Sun every 9.15 x 9.15 years.
NEPTUNE, the planet of Baha'u'llah, and URANUS go into conjunction
every 9 x 19 years(171 years), and the last conjunction occurred in
1993 (which is composed of the numbers 19, 9 and 3 which are
significant in this Cause). This conjunction began on the 100th
anniversary of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah (May 1992) and reached
full conjunction in January 1993.
PLUTO, the planet of the third Letter of the Greatest name, is the
ninth planet of our solar system (as far as we know at present). As we
have seen, nine is symbolic of Divine perfection and the completion of
the Greatest Name. The orbit of PLUTO is 13x19 years.
The 1-2-3 relationship of the orbits of these three planets is unique
in our solar system. The orbit of URANUS takes about 84 years to
complete, that of NEPTUNE takes twice that time, and the orbit of
PLUTO takes three times as long. The NEPTUNE-PLUTO conjunctions occur
every 492 years, (about 26x19) and the last conjunction occurred in
1892, the Year of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah
PLUTO went inside the orbit of NEPTUNE in 1979 and will remain there
until the completion of 19 years, having reached its closest point to
the Sun in 1989, and then re-emerging from inside the orbit of NEPTUNE
just 9 years later! PLUTO was at its aphelion in 1865, which is the
time (according to E.G. Browne) of the first public declaration of the
Mission of Baha'u'llah in Adrianople.
The prophecy of Siyyid Kazim (from the Traditions of Muhammad and the
Imams) which foretells the coming of the Manifestations of the Bab and
8aha'u'llah, tells us that after Baha'u'llah (Husayn in the prophecy),
comes the time of Ali. Since Ali was the successor of Muhammad, this
refers to the time of Abdu'l-Baha. Then, after the time of
Abdu'l-Baha, it speaks of a time of 40 ‘nights'. In spiritual terms,
the word ‘night' indicates a time without a Sign of God being known to
mankind on earth, and since this did not occur until the passing of
Shoghi Effendi, that 40 year period begins in 1957, and ends in 1997.
Muhammad refers to this period as a time when the Devil is let loose
on earth. PLUTO emerges from inside the orbit of NEPTUNE in 1998,
immediately following the end of the 40 years. AT THAT TIME, ACCORDING
TO BOTH MUSLIM HADITH AND SIYYID KAZIM'S PROPHECY, MUHAMMADWILL APPEAR
AND RESCUE THE FAITHFUL. Of course this refers to the return of the
Holy Spirit in a Manifestation of God. These prophecies are fully in
accord with those of Baha'u'llah, which we will discuss in more detail
later.
"Oppression will envelop the world, and following a universal
convulsion the sun of justice will rise from the horizon of the unseen
realm." Baha'u'llah cited in Promised Day is Come, p. 121, 1976 India
ed.
"...when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that
which will cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then and only then
will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise
warble its melody." Baha'u'llah in Gleanings, p.118
Eric Stetson
THE TIME WHEN THE THIRD MANIFESTATION WILL PRIVATELY OR PUBLICLY
ANNOUNCE HIS MISSION
Baha'u'llah and all previous Manifestations have informed us that only
God knows when His Manifestations will appear. Yet, in each instance
He has given us prophetic statements indicating when the Revelations
will begin, written in a language that most people fail to understand.
The clearest prophecies giving a date for the appearance of a
Manifestation were those foretelling the coming of the Bab, and yet
Most people were veiled from their significance, and failed to accept
the Bab when He declared His Mission. In this chapter I have brought
together some of the prophecies relating to the time of the appearance
of the third Letter of the Greatest Name, the All-Highest.
In the previous chapter we mentioned two of the prophecies which
indicate an approximate time for the appearance of the Manifestation
of God. They are: "The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every
direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is
daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now
be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be
lamentably defective....Such shall be its plight that to disclose it
now would not be meet and seemly...Soon, will the present-day order be
rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead...After a time all
the governments on earth will change...Oppression will envelop the
world. And following a universal convulsion. the sun of justice will
rise from the horizon of the unseen realm.' Baha'u'llah cited in The
Promised Day is Come, p. 121, India edition.
"The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its
face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its
plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its
perversity will long continue, and when the appointed hour is come.
there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of
mankind to quake. Then, and only then, will the Divine Standard be
unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody."
Gleanings, p. 118
In these prophecies the terms "sun of justice"' and 鮮ightingale of
Paradise" are references to the Manifestations of God (see, for
example, The Tablet of Ahmad). The term "unseen realm" is a reference
to the hidden realm of the Holy Spirit. The term "Divine Standard" is
a reference to the Word of God, which is the standard by which all
things are judged. (Note: In Arabic there are no upper case and lower
case letters, so when translated into English they are sometimes not
indicated, depending on the translator and when the translation was
made).
Although the subject of the catastrophic events to be focused on the
world, a process well under way today, is discussed in the final
chapter of this book, a few words are necessary here because they are
among the 壮igns' occurring just prior to the appearance of the third
Letter of the Greatest Name. The days of the 叢urification' of
humanity are drawing near, and according to Shoghi Effendi and
Abdu'l-Baha only a few will survive (see the last chapter for further
prophecies). We see Baha'u'llah's prophecy above (and in the Quran as
well) that this cataclysmic event will occur suddenly, and Shoghi
Effendi said that this means unexpectedly. Many Baha'is, as well as
the generality of mankind, have failed to realize that world peace and
ongoing international commerce are not the solution to the problems of
mankind. We were created to know and to love God, this is the entire
purpose of our existence. Our material creations, our knowledge, our
new discoveries in science, etc., are given to us by God so that we
may attain the true goal of life, nearness to Him. In a world of crass
materialism we have lost sight of the purpose of life, and so humanity
rushes towards its self-inflicted judgement day and time of
purification.
"After this date (i.e.1963) great commotion and upheaval will embrace
the whole earth. To make a long story short, terrible wars, and
disastrous earthquakes will take place and all kinds of miseries will
encompass mankind to such an extent that in certain parts of the world
historical monuments will be completely destroyed. Briefly, the
population of the earth will be diminished to one third.' Abdu'l-Baha
in a Tablet to a Persian believer
前 peoples of the earth! I swear by your Lord! Ye shall act as former
generations have acted...warn ye then, of the terrible, the most
grievous vengeance of God...If ye fail, at the appointed hour to turn
toward God, He, verily, will lay violent hold on you and cause
grievous afflictions to assault you from every direction. How severe
indeed is the chastisement with which your Lord will then chastise
you...O ye peoples of the world! Know verily that an unforeseen
calamity is following you and that grievous retribution awaiteth
you..." Baha'u'llah cited in The Promised Day is Come. See also
Gleanings pp. 169, 209 and 214
The final years before the event that will 祖ause the limbs of mankind
to quake' are now upon us, and we witness a growing avalanche of
catastrophic events occurring around the world. One of the signs
apparent today is the racial, religious, national and ethnic divisions
that are growing worse month by month, and which are spreading around
the world.
"Great, great is the Cause! The hour is approaching when the most
great convulsion will have appeared. I swear by Him Who is the Truth!
; it shall cause separation to afflict everyone, even those who circle
around Me". Baha'u'llah cited in Advent of Divine Justice, p. 81
These events signal the end of this world civilization, and the
beginning of the new age. Only when this old order of things is
destroyed will it be possible to build anew, to establish the Kingdom
of God on earth. Many living during these times of the disintegration
of this world civilization, and those born since World War II, have
become so inured to the bad news and the calamities, that they accept
it as normal, the way it has always been.
"Behold, famine and pestilence and distress and anguish are sent as
scourges to correct men, but in spite of all these things, they will
not turn from their wickedness, or ever remember the scourge.' Esdras
II, 16:20
If people will only look at the past, and consider the real potentials
of humanity, they will become aware of the failures of this world
civilization and the dangers we have created for ourselves. There is a
decay of moral values, destruction of ecosystems and an unprecedented
world-wide buildup of armaments. Rather than turning to God, the
people still believe that we can solve our problems through material
means and intellectual solutions. A few wise men in the world realize
that we now face a world embracing cataclysm.
"A misunderstood development of the soul will inevitably carry a total
psychological destruction. The actual situation is at this time so
sinister that is difficult not to see that the Creator is preparing
another deluge to exterminate the human race. " Carl Jung in Questa a
una Filosofia
"The splitting of the atom has changed everything save our mode of
thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe." Albert
Einstein
After these days of darkness and terror have passed, the Light of God
will appear on the horizon of the Realm of the Spirit. We understand
that this event should occur just before the end of this century, or
at the beginning of the next century, about the year 2001, the time of
Mustaghath.
THE TIME OF MUSTAGHATH
"We, verily, believe in Him Who, in the person of the Bab, hath been
sent down by the will of the one true God, the King of Kings, the
All-Praised. We, moreover, swear fealty to the One Who, in the time of
Mustaghath, is destined to be made manifest, as well as to those Who
shall come after Him till the end that hath no end. We recognize in
the manifestations of each one of them, whether outwardly or inwardly,
the manifestation of no one but God Himself, if ye be of those that
comprehend. Every one of them is a mirror of God, reflecting naught
else but His Self, His Beauty, His Might and glory, if ye will
understand. All else besides them are to be regarded as mirrors
capable of reflecting the glory of these Manifestations Who are
themselves the Primary Mirrors of the Divine Being, if ye be not
devoid of understanding. No one hath ever escaped them, neither are
they to be hindered from achieving their purpose." Gleanings ,pp.73-74
"Say, We have originated all the letters from the Point (Nukta) and to
it We returned them; then We sent them forth in the form of a Human
Temple. May the Wonderful and Admirable Doer be exalted. We shall form
(a Temple) from it for another time in My name勇l Abha預s a bounty on
My part." Surat'ul'Hykal, translation by A. Hadad
You will note in the above quotations, that Baha'u'llah speaks of the
next Manifestation as appearing in the 奏ime of Mustaghath'. This
奏ime of Mustaghath' is given special importance in the Writings of
the Bab, as we shall see below. In her book Baha'i Glossary Marzieh
Gail explains the term 閃ustaghath' as follows:
"'He Who is invoked'. The cycle of every Divine Dispensation...The
letters total according to Abjad reckoning 2001 -- the limit of time
assigned by the Bab for the advent of the Promised One. With these
words of the Bab, Baha'u'llah refutes those who claimed that the
Promised One should not appear until 2001: 詮or none knoweth the time
of the Revelation except God. Whenever it appeareth, all must
acknowledge the Point of Truth, and render thanks unto God.'"
The Bab, in His Writings, stresses the importance of Mustaghath as a
number, or date, or time, besides its literal meaning which is 践e Who
is invoked'. In the following verse vahid (vahd in Arabic) means
unity, indicating the unity of all Manifestations (it also has the
Abjad value of 19). As we have seen, the Abjad Value of the letter A
(ALF/ALIF) which is the third Letter of the Greatest Name, is also
unity, or one. The name Ali-Muhammad has the Abjad value of seven,
mentioned in the quotation below as 壮even letters'.
"Let each soul guard itself by the form of the name of the Mustaghath
at the moment of its birth, and no one should dispense with it. No
name amongst the names of God is equal as regards its number (i.e.
2001), and that is the supreme fruit of the Names which has reached
the Extreme of Manifestation, and where naught is manifest but the
first Vahid. And in the first Vahid is naught but the primal Vahid,
which is the Prophet of God in the Quran, and the Essence of the Seven
Letters in the Bayan, and before the Quran it was Jesus, and after the
Bayan it will be He Whom God shall manifest. Different enthronements
appear in different Manifestations, else that which 疎scends the
throne', which is free from all limitations, is the same Primal
Volition, the enthronement of which changes it not...And no name is
superior to the number of Mustaghath in the ranks of Names. Therefore
it is ordained that from the conception they should guard that form by
a Tablet wherein is the number of the Name Mustaghath. For only God
knows how long it will be from the beginning of a Manifestation until
another, but if God please, it will not be more than the number of
Mustaghath. And in the cycle of the Quran, the beginning and return of
that was the name Aghfar (i.e the Most Forgiving) minus the Name Huwa
(i.e. He), and there is no test by which to judge this matter, which
only God knows. for between the Gospel and the Quran the number of
years did not even reach 1000. And in every case the Tree of Truth
regards the capacity of His people; whenever He sees that they are
ready for the Manifestation in the mirror of their hearts, He reveals
Himself.' This portion of Vahid VII:10 was translated by E.G. Browne.
(Note:Aghfar equals 1281 and Huwa equals 1, so 1281-11=1270, the
number of years from the beginning of the Dispensation of Muhammad
until that of the Bab).
(This portion of Vahid YII:10 translated from the French of A.L.M.
Nicolas) "The significance of this is that since all names circle
around the Name of God, and the perfection of all consists in reaching
the value of the name of Mustaghath, it is possible (if one follows
the command that We gave of keeping a Tablet with you) that all
believers in the Bayan reach the degree of perfection possible in
order that at the moment of the manifestation of Truth, they can
recognize the Sun of Truth and circle around Him. One must be cautious
and not exceed this number; if someone who believes in the Bayan
reaches the year 2001, and is informed that the Tree of Truth is
manifest, that person must go to Him, even if he/she is not convinced.
It is thus that he/she will be shielded from the fire [of unbelief] by
that kindness. No mercy has been, nor is greater, in the Bayan (if one
understands its value), than to save oneself from the fire of He Whom
God will manifest, and to repose in the shadow of His Light. The
Manifestation is the Source of the creation of Truth, and of the world
of hearts, after the creation of the physical world prior to His
Manifestation."
"Give as guardians for your children (hung from neck or arms) a prayer
in the form of a hykal (i.e. shape of a star, signifying perfect Man)
whereon are written 2001 names of God. The aim of this command is that
perhaps on the Day of Judgement you will find salvation." Arabic
Bayan, Vahid VII:10
As noted earlier, Baha'u'llah wrote:'...We verily, believe in Him Who,
in the person of the Bab, hath been sent down by the Will of the one
true God, the King of Kings, the All-Praised. We, moreover, swear
fealty to the One Who, in the time of Mustaghath. is destined to be
made manifest, as well as to those Who shall come after Him till the
end that hath no end..." Gleanings, p.79
I believe that these statements are a (veiled to some, perhaps, clear
to others perhaps) reference to the date of the announcement of the
Mission of the third Letter of the Greatest Name, the All-Highest. The
奏ime of Mustaghath' mentioned by Baha'u'llah will be the year 2001,
about four years after November 1997, which marks the end of the "40
years of night" (as noted in Chapter VII). Perhaps the Manifestation
will announce His Mission to a few of His followers in 1998, prior to
any public announcement, I do not know. I do not expect to live to
witness that Day, and I pray to God to protect, strengthen, guide amd
inspire those sincere believers who turn to God in those days, and set
out to find that Holy One.
You will know the Manifestation by His Presence, His spiritual
attributes and His wisdom and insight. One cannot attempt to describe
His physical appearance, but this does not matter. He will have, like
everyone else, suffered through the time of cataclysm. His Presence
will be overpowering, and those who are spiritually awakened will have
nodifficulty in recognizing the Beloved of God, and so we must strive
to prepare ourselves spiritually for that day.
Unless one has acquired the essential spiritual attributes mentioned
in the Teachings of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha, at least to a large
degree (none of us can expect perfection in humans), the seeker will
be veiled from the Light of God. To acquire the attributes of
submission to the Will of God, humility, love of God and humanity,
communion with God at all times, sanctity and the other spiritual
qualities of a true believer must become our central aim in life.
"I swear by the one true God! This is the day of those who have
detached themselvesfrom all but Him, the day of those who have
recognized His unity, the day whereon God createth, with the hands of
His power, divine beings and imperishable essences, everyone of whom
will cast the world and all that is therein behind him, and will wax
so steadfast in the Cause of God that every wise and understanding
heart will marvel." Baha'u'llah cited in The Advent of Divine Justice,
p. 85
THE PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTH ANGEL
In Some Answered Questions, Abdu'l-Baha explains the significance of
the prophecy of the coming of the Seventh Angel mentioned in
Revelation. This was explained to Laura Clifford Barney many yers
after the Ascension of Baha'u'llah, and Abdu'l-Baha speaks entirely in
the future tense of the Manifestation Who will appear. First He
describes the Three Woes as the coming of Muhammad, the Bab and
Baha'u'llah. Then He switches to the future tense to describe the
Manifestation to appear after the Three Woes.
"The Seventh Angel is a man qualified with heavenly attributes, who
will arise with heavenly qualities and character. Voices will be
raised, so that the appearance of the Divine Manifestation will be
proclaimed and diffused. In the Day of the manifestation of the Lord
of Hosts, and the epoch of the divine cycle of the Omnipotent which is
promised and mentioned in the books and writings of the Prophets---in
that Day of God, the Spiritual and Divine Kingdom will be established,
and the world will be renewed; a new spirit will be breathed into the
body of creation, the season of the Divine Spring will come, the
clouds of mercy will rain, the sun of reality will shine, the
life-giving breeze will blow, the world of humanity will wear a new
garment, the surface of the earth will be a sublime paradise; mankind
will be educated, wars, disputes, quarrels and malignity will
disappear; and truthfulness, righteousness, honesty, and the worship
of God will rule forevermore; meaning that the Spiritual and
Everlasting Kingdom will be established. Such is the day of God, for
all the days that have come abd gone were the days of Abraham, Moses
and Christ, or of the other Prophets; but this day is the day of God,
for teh sun of reality will arise in it with the utmost warmth and
splendor." Some Answered Questions, Ch. 11
Every Manifestation is a "man endowed with heavenly qualities," as
Abdu'l-Baha explains. You will note that Abdu'l-Baha speaks of the day
of God, and this is because all Revelations are from God, and all are
parts of God's Cause, given through one Holy Spirit. In that Day which
is ahead, people will no longer worship the personalities of the
Manifestations, but will realize the meaning of the Divine Unity, and
see that it is God speaking, and guiding humanity through His Chosen
Ones. Then they will speak of God's Cause for all mankind.
Eric Stetson
PROPHECIES OF THE PLACE OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE MANIFESTATION OF THE
THIRD LETTER
"If the sun arises in the west, it would still be the same sun; one
must not withdraw from it on account of its rising place nor consider
the west to be always the place of sunset." Abdu'l-Baha in Some
Answered Questions, Chap. 14
The precise geographical location where a Manifestation will appear is
never revealed, except perhaps in veiled language, as in the case of
Jesus Christ, or where the general area is indicated as in the time of
Muhammad. Those who sincerely believe must search for the
Manifestation at the time He is to appear, and this in itself is a
test of the sincerity of seekers. Those who sought the Bab found Him
through prayer, fasting, searching and in some cases through dreams
and visions. These matters are discussed in the following chapter. The
situation is different with the appearance of every Manifestation, and
the tests vary, as discussed in previous chapters. The prophecies we
know of indicate that the Manifestation of the third Letter of the
Greatest Name will reveal Himself in the West, specifically in
America.
"Unveil thy face, O beauty of the Lord, that the Sun may arise in the
West..." Baha'u'llah, cited in Haifa Notes of May Maxwell.
"The Hour will not come...until the Sun rises in the West, and all men
seeing it will believe." A hadith of Muhammad cited in Shorter
Encyclopedia of Islam, p. 256
"Issue forth from your cities, 0 peoples of the West and aid your God
ere the Day when the Lord of mercy shall come down unto you in the
shadow of the clouds..." The Bab in Selections from the Writings of
the Bab, p. 56
"At the third resurrection the sun will rise from the West." A hadith
of Muhammad cited in The Heavenly Table, p. 25
"They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the
Lord they shout from the West. Therefore in the East give glory to the
Lord; in the coastlines of the sea, to the name of the Lord, the God
of Israel..." Isaiah 24:14-15 Revised Standard Edition of the Bible by
Nelson and Sons. See also the New English Bible
Abdu'l-Baha made many prophecies about the spiritual future of
America. In one of them He infers that the throne of the Kingdom of
God will be established in America. These prophecies refer to the
future, not to the spiritual condition of the believers at this time,
but to a new race of spiritual people who will serve the Cause of God.
"This American nation is equipped and empowered to accomplish that
which will adorn the pages of history, to become the envy of the
world, and be blest in both the East and the West for the triumph of
its people." Abdu'l-Baha cited in God Passes By, p.254
"Your mission is unspeakably glorious. Should success crown your
enterprise, America will assuredly evolve into a center from which
waves of spiritual power will emanate, and the throne of the Kingdom
of God will in the Plenitude of its majesty and glory be firmly
established." Ibid.
"The American continent giveth signs and evidences of very great
advancement. Its future is even more promising, for its influence and
illumination are far reaching. It will lead all nations spiritually."
Ibid.
"May the inhabitants of this country...rise from their present
material attainment to such heights that heavenly illumination may
stream from this center to all the peoples of the world." Ibid.
"The East hath verily been illumined with the light of the Kingdom.
Ere long will this same light shed a still greater illumination upon
the West. Then will the hearts of its people be vivified through the
potency of the teachings of God and their souls be set aglow with the
undying fire of His love." Abdu'l-Baha cited in The World Order of
Baha'u'llah. P. 79
In one of these Tablets, addressed to the believers in the north
Eastern states, these weighty and highly significant words are
recorded:
羨ll countries, and all cities and villages are on an equal footing...
However, the dweller confereth honor upon the dwelling, some of the
countries achieve distinction, and attain a preeminent position. For
instance, notwithstanding that some of the countries of Europe and of
America are distinguished by, and surpass other countries in, the
salubrity of their climate, the wholesomeness of their water, and the
charm of their mountains, plains and prairies, yet Palestine became
the glory of all nations inasmuch as all the Holy and divine
Manifestations from the time of Abraham until the appearance of the
Seal of the Prophets (Muhammad), have lived in, or migrated to, or
traveled through, that country. Likewise, Mecca and Medina have
achieved illimitable glory, as the light of Prophethood shone forth
therein. For this reason Palestine and Hijaz have been distinguished
from all other countries. Likewise, " is His remarkable disclosure,
"the continent of America, is, in the eyes of the true God, the land
wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed, where the
mysteries of His faith shall be unveiled.". Abdu'l-Baha cited by
Shoghi Effendi in Challenging Requirements of the Present Hour, pp.
27-28
The foregoing quotations indicate that the next Manifestation of God
will appear in the United States of America. I believe that the Chosen
One will begin His Mission in the Central Mountain states, along the
Rocky Mountain chain, possibly near Santa Fe. Abdu'l-Baha indicated to
believers when He came to America, that this central area would be the
safest place when the cataclysm occurs. Those few believers who have
sanctified their souls and who submit wholly to the Will of God, will
be guided and sustained by God in their search, in the time of
Mustaghath. The influence of the Manifestation on these believers will
cause a complete transformation of their souls, as described by
Abdu'l-Baha.
" 0 phoenix of the immortal flame kindled in the sacred Tree!
Baha'u'llah (may my life, my soul, my spirit, be offered up as a
sacrifice unto His lowly servants) hath, during His last days on
earth, given the most emphatic promise that, through the outpourings
of the grace of God and the aid and assistance vouchsafed from His
Kingdom on high, souls will arise and holy beings appear, who, as
stars would adorn the firmament of divine Guidance; illumine the
dayspring of loving kindness and bounty; manifest the signs of the
unity of God; shine with the light of sanctity and purity; receive
their full measure of divine inspiration; raise high the sacred torch
of faith; stand as firm as the rock and immovable as the mountain;
grow to become luminaries in the heavens of His Revelation, mighty
channels of His grace, means for the bestowal of God's bountiful care,
heralds calling forth the name of the one true God, and establishers
of the world's supreme foundation.
" These shall labor ceaselessly by day and by night, shall heed
neither trial nor woes shall suffer no respite in their efforts, shall
seek no repose, shall disregard all ease and comfort, and, detached
and unsullied, shall consecrate every fleeting moment of their life to
the diffusion of the divine fragrance and the exaltation of God's holy
Word. Their faces will radiate heavenly gladness, and their hearts be
filled with joy. Their souls will be inspired, and their foundation
stand secure. They shall scatter in the world, and travel throughout
all regions. They shall raise their voices in every assembly, and
adorn and revive every gathering. They shall speak in every tongue,
and interpret every hidden meaning. They shall reveal the mysteries of
the Kingdom, and manifest unto every one the signs of God. They shall
burn brightly even as a candle in the heart of every assembly, and
beam forth as a star upon every horizon. The gentle breeze wafted from
the garden of their hearts shall perfume and revive the souls of men,
and the revelation of their minds, even as showers, reinvigorate the
peoples and nations of the world.' Abdu'l-Baha cited in Baha'i World
Faith, p. 354
Eric Stetson
SOME OF THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THOSE WHO SEEK THE NEXT MANIFESTATION OF
THE REVELATION OF THE GREATEST NAME
"Verily, I say unto you; none shall be saved but the believers, and
from the believers only the sincere, and even those are in great
danger, especially in such a time." Abdu'l-Baha cited in Baha'i
Scriptures, p. 443
Those who seek the next Manifestation, from whatever religious
background, and who sincerely turn to God, will endeavour, with all
their strength and concentrated efforts of their wills, to sanctify
themselves from all attachments and to immerse themselves in the love
of God, obeying His Will and being responsive to His guidance. Events
surrounding the appearance of every Manifestation of God have
differed, and we can only surmise what will occur at the appearance of
the last Letter of the Greatest Name. Certainly it will be vastly
different than any past appearances, because the world will have just
gone through a time of terrible destruction and upheaval.
From the New Testament we learn that just before the Revelation of
Jesus Christ, John the Baptist announced His coming, speaking to small
groups of people in the countryside. Israel is a small nation, and we
do not know to what extent his message spread around the country. At
least a few responded, but the story is vague and incomplete.
According to the New Testament when Jesus began His Mission He
selected His disciples as He traveled during the first days of His
public ministry. It would seem that they did not seek out Jesus, He
came to them.
Very little is known about the forerunners of Muhammad. In the
Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 65, it speaks of the heralds sending out one person,
Salman, to go to "Hijaz" to seek out the promised Holy One. The
heralds were in Iraq, and Hijaz is in Arabia, far from Iraq. During
his search, Salman was enslaved, and taken to Medina, where he met
Muhammad and became one of His staunchest followers.
The prophecies in the Bible concerning the place and time of the
appearance of Muhammad are very vague. For example, in Habakkuk,
3:3-6:
"God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory
covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Selah. His
brightness was like the light, rays flashed from his hand, and there
he veiled his power. He stood and measured the earth; he looked and
shook the nations..."
Mt. Paran refers to Arabia, and the Holy One refers to His Holiness
Muhammad. There are also the well-known prophecies of Jesus concerning
the coming of the "Comforter", which give no time or place. It is easy
to understand the difficulties faced by those few who were spiritually
aware of the meanings of the prophecies. When Muhammad began His
Mission in Mecca He faced extreme persecution and endless ridicule.
Over the ten years prior to His move to Medina He gathered a few
followers, come of whom moved to Ethiopia to escape the fierce and
relentless persecution.
Before the coming of the Bab, the planet Uranus was discovered, as we
mentioned earlier. Two heralds, Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kazim, tried
to spiritually prepare a few Shi'ites for the coming of the Beloved
One of God, but most of the Shi'ite religious leaders considered them
to be outcasts, and ridiculed their teachings. Despite the abundance
of relatively clear prophecies giving the time of the coming of the
Bab, the Muslim masses were in a deep sleep spiritually, as are the
people today. When Siyyid Kazim died he appointed no successor, and he
told his followers that they must seek out the Promised One as their
Leader.
In the traditions and prophecies the place for the appearance of the
Promised One was to be Persia, which is a very large nation. By
hindsight Baha'is say that Siyyid Kazim indicated that Shiraz was the
place the Promised One would first appear. This is based in a paper
Siyyid Kazim wrote concerning the meanings of the two names of
Muhammad, which are Ahmad and Muhammad. He said that the name Muhammad
refers to the general mass of believers (in the 双uter court'),
whereas Ahmad is the celestial name of Muhammad, and is used in
reference to those believers who have attained the highest spiritual
stations. He said that the name Ahmad is the place of the appearance
of the Master, which is manifested only where the air is pure and the
land superior. (See page 44, Seyyed Kazem Rechti, by A.L.M. Nicolas,
Lib. P. Geuthner, Paris, 1914). Such a statement can be understood as
being wholly symbolic in nature, referring to the atmosphere and realm
of pure spirits where the Holy Spirit is manifested. No mention is
made of the city of Shiraz in the translation of that paper, and it
would have been difficult to grasp such a hidden reference prior to
the appearance of the Bab. Of course the Bab did appear in Shiraz, but
his first disciples found Him through arduous searching, prayer and
spiritual perception -- not by geographical indications.
The only reason I mention the difficulties seekers in the past have
faced is because many imagine that what they have learned by hindsight
was easily apparent beforehand. This is simply not so. In the case of
the Bab, the first believers discovered Him after spending time
fasting and praying, and within two or three months all eighteen
Letters of the Living had accepted His Revelation and become His
disciples. Again, these events are unique in the annals of religious
history. To those who have insight, it becomes apparent that the souls
who have prepared themselves prior to the appearance of the
Manifestation, who strive for spiritual understanding, who earnestly
search for truth, who make every effort to sanctify their souls, and
who sincerely believe, will be awakened and guided to the Beloved One
of God.
Consider this: Baha'u'llah's Mission actually began in 1852 while He
was imprisoned in the underground dungeon of Siyah-chal in Tihran.
During the following ten years prior to the announcement of His
Mission to a few believers in the Garden of Ridvan, Baghdad, only a
few very spiritual souls recognized His Station. Although the Bab, in
His Writings, had made very veiled references to the time of the
Revelation of Baha'u'llah, a large number of Babis could not accept
Baha'u'llah because of the following prophecy of the Bab in the
Persian Bayan:
"If He Whom God shall manifest shall appear in the number Giyath (1511
by the Abjad numbering system) all shall enter in, not one shall
remain in the Fire. If He tarry until the time of Mustaghath (2001)
all shall enter in, not one shall remain in the Fire, but all shall be
transformed by His Light.'
As mentioned earlier, the Babis claimed that Baha'u'llah had appeared
much too soon, because of the above prophecy, and so many rejected the
Beloved One of God. There were veiled references, which are easily
understood by hindsight, but at the time were understood by only a
very few enlightened souls. These references give the years 創ine' and
創ineteen' as being significant spiritual dates. "Ere the year nine
will have elapsed from the inception of this Cause the realities of
things will not have been made manifest." "In the year nine ye will
attain unto the presence of God." " Be attentive from the inception of
the Revelation until the number of vahid." "The Lord of the Day of
Reckoning will be manifested at the end of vahid." The Bab, cited in
God Passes By, chap. VI
The Abjad value of vahid (vahd in Arabic) is nineteen. Hindsight makes
all these references seem easy to understand, IF you believe in
Baha'u'llah. At the time it required keen spiritual insight to grasp
their meanings, a quality lacking in too many believers. In the year
nine Baha'u'llah did not declare His Mission, but did so eleven years
later in Baghdad to a few selected believers, after the year 19 (that
is, 19 years after the inception of the Revelation of the Bab). His
public announcement was made in Adrianople in 1865, 21 years after the
inception of the Revelation of the Bab.
The point is that the events at the time of the beginning of the
Revelation of Baha'u'llah were vastly different than those at the
beginning of any previous Revelation. In these times one ought not
expect an exact repetition of anything that occurred in the past. The
tests are different before and during the first years of every
Dispensation.
Believers must rid themselves of all conditioned thinking, about
spiritual matters as well as the general meaning of life, concepts
that have been instilled into them since childhood or since their
acceptance of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. The key words are honesty
and humility; the greatest force for change is love of God. trust in
God. and submission to His Will. Before the appearance of the Holy
Spirit in the Manifestation of God, a number of holy souls must be
prepared, who will have the spiritual capacity to know and accept the
Promised One, wherever and whenever He may appear. To reach such a
station requires sacrifice of self, and dedicated efforts to purify
our spirits and reform our characters.
"0 thou advancer toward the Kingdom! Endeavor thou day by day to
increase thy yearning and attraction so that the attitude of
supplication and prayer may be realized more often." Abdu'l-Baha in
Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 522
"Forget all save God, be in communion with Him, supplicate and pray to
Him to make thee conqueror over material things, impressed by the
bounties of the Kingdom, commemorating the name of thy Lord, pure from
all else save Him, and imbued with the spiritual attributes of those
who are holy...' Ibid., p. 247
Eric Stetson
THAT WHICH WILL CAUSE THE LIMBS OF MANKIND TO QUAKE
"Behold, the Lord will lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and
He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants...The earth
shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled for the inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the
everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and its
inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the
earth are scorched, a few men are left." Isaiah 24:1-8
>From the beginning of his role as Guardian, Shoghi Effendi tried in
vain to awaken the Baha'is throughout the world to the dangers of the
overwhelming materialism that had engulfed the world. Often
Abdu'l-Baha described the dangers we face, but it seems that only a
few take His warnings seriously. Since then the moral regression of
the peoples of the world, the cancer of materialism, and the
destruction of the ecosystems, have steadily worsened. Still only a
few understand that we must all change our ways of thinking
completely, dedicate our lives to God, and make the tremendous
sacrifices required to change the world.
Many are aware of the warnings and prophecies, but unfortunately, few
Baha'is pay any attention. Those who do heed the warnings and
prophecies of Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi will be at
least able to prepare themselves spiritually for the times yet to come
in the next decade. As for the others, the vast majority, they will
continue as they are, deaf to the warnings, blinded by the so-called
疎ttractions' of this materialistic civilization. The few prophetic
warnings presented herein should be sufficient for those who are
spiritually awake."...The civilization, so often vaunted by the
learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap
the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men. Thus warneth you
He Who is the All-Knowing. If carried to excess civilization will
prove as prolific a source of evil as it had of goodness when kept
within the restraint of moderation. Meditate on this, O people, and be
not of them that wander distraught in the wilderness of error. The day
is approaching when its flame will devour the cities, when the Tongue
of Grandeur will Proclaim: 禅he Kingdom is " Baha'u'llah in Gleanings,
pp. 342-343
"The 素iery tribulations' to come would not only 層eld the American
nation to its sister nations in both hemispheres' but would cleanse it
of 奏he accumulated dross which ingrained racial prejudice, rampant
materialism, widespread ungodliness and moral laxity have combined, in
the course of successive generations, to produce, and which have
prevented her thus far from assuming the role of world spiritual
leadership forecast by Abdu'l-Baha's unerring pen預 role which she is
bound to fulfill through travail and sorrow.' Shoghi Effendi, cited in
Baha'i' World, 1954-1963,[year book], p.114
"The time for the destruction of the world and its People hath
arrived." 禅he promised day is come, the day when tormenting trials
will have surged over your heads, and beneath your feet, saying:
禅aste ye what your hands have wrought.' 全oon shall the blasts of His
chastisement beat upon you, and the dust of hell enshroud you." "The
day will soon come whereon they will cry out for help and receive no
answer.' 前 ye peoples of the world! Know verily that an unforeseen
calamity is following YOU and that grievous retribution awaiteth YOU.
Think not the deeds ye have committed have been blotted from My sight.
By My beauty! All your doings hath My pen
35
graven with open characters upon the tablets of chrysolite." Ibid.,
Baha'u'llah cited, p. 123
In her notes printed in this same Baha'i World yearbook for 1954-63,
page 113, Ruhiyyih Khanum tells us what Shoghi Effendi said about
those who think of themselves as the 組ood people' in these times
still ahead of us. "He said it was wrong to think, as some Baha'is do,
that the good would perish with the evil. All men are evil because
they have repudiated God in this day and turned from Him. He said we
can only believe that in some mysterious way, in spite of the terrible
destruction, enough will be left over to build the future."
In his communications to the American believers, Shoghi Effendi was
especially insistent that the American Baha'is be aware of the degree
of materialism engulfing the nation, so that perhaps, some of them,
could distance themselves from the values and thinking of their peers.
How tragic that so few of them have paid any attention to his urgent
pleas and repeated warnings.
" The steady and alarming deterioration in standards of morality as
exemplified by the appalling increase of crime, by political
corruption in ever-widening and ever higher circles, by the loosening
of the sacred ties of marriage, by the in ordinate craving for
pleasure and diversion, and by the marked and progressive slackening
of parental control, is no doubt the most arresting and distressing
aspect of the decline that has set in, and can be clearly perceived,
in the fortunes of an entire nation.'
"Parallel with this and pervading all departments of life預n evil
which the nation, and indeed all those within the capitalist system,
though to a lesser degree, share with that state and its satellites
Russia regarded as the sworn enemies of that system擁s the crass
materialism, which lays excessive and ever increasing emphasis on
material well-being forgetful of those things of the spirit on which
alone a secure and stable foundation can be laid for human society. It
is this same cancerous materialism, born originally in Europe, carried
to excess in the North American continent, contaminating the Asiatic
peoples and nations, spreading its ominous tentacles to the border of
Africa, and now invading its very heart, which Baha'u'llah in
unequivocal and emphatic language denounced in His Writings, comparing
it to a devouring flame and regarding it as the chief factor in
precipitating the dire ordeals and world-shaking crisis that must
necessarily involve the burning of cities and the spread of terror and
consternation in the hearts of men." Shoghi Effendi cited in Baha'i
World, 1954- 1963, p. 172#
The downfall of communism in the East is not the result of idealism,
but of materialism, because the people there know little or nothing
about democracy, 僧arket place economics, capitalism , etc.; because
of this it cannot but lead to ever increasing chaos, internal strife,
and disintegration of the former USSR The so-called 素ree-market'
system and democracy as practiced in the West today, are in themselves
extremely corrupt, and not suitable for a world civilization destined
to replace existing systems. However, the citizens of the Western
nations have not awakened to most of the defects of their systems,
except for a few exceptional souls. In a Tablet by Abdu'l-Baha, called
"Lamentation" these days are described, and I quote the last part of
that Tablet below.
" From different parts are to be heard sighs of anguish, lamentations
of poverty, cries of agony and misery預nd the calls for succor hare
reached the gate of heaven. One hears the weeping of the hopeless, the
appeals of the oppressed, the trembling murmurs of the helpless, the
harrowing wails of the shipwrecked in the sea of perception. The heat
of the conflagration of opposition spreads on all sides, the fire of
longing is raging with great intensity and the tongues of the flames
of calamity leap forth in every direction. Here one sees the
oppression of kings and the
36
thoughtlessness of cabinet ministers; there one sees conflict on the
battlefields of thoughts and ideals between ambitious generals,
statesmen and administrators of the nations and countries. They
consult, scheme, plot and exchange views; they organize fallacious and
superfluous companies and falsify the established values; and thus do
lay and destroy the foundation of their political career." In short:
when thou observest these things with the eye of reality, thou wilt
see that the outcome, result and fruit of all these theatrical
performances are mirages, and their sweetness is bitter poison. A few
days the earth will roll on its axis, and these fleeting visions will
be completely forgotten." "When thou shutest thine eyes to this world
and lookest upward and heavenward, thou wilt see light upon light
stretching from eternity to eternity. The reality of the mysteries
will be revealed. Happy is the pure soul who does not attach himself
to transient conditions and comforts, but rather seeks to attach
himself to the purity, nobility and splendor of the world which
endures." Abdu'l-Baha cited in Baha'i Scriptures, p. 344
You will notice, no doubt, that Abdu'l-Baha speaks of a shift in the
axis of the earth, which is the subject I will discuss below. The
approximate time when these terrible events will begin, or occur, is
mentioned earlier and is around the end of this century. Shoghi
Effendi said that when the prophecies tell us these events will come
suddenly, he said it meant 爽nexpectedly', because humanity does not
believe. No doubt the anarchy and disintegration we witness in the
Eastern nations will encompass nations around the world. Perhaps this
will be followed by oppressive government action, to quell the riots
and control the social upheaval. All of this would most certainly be
terminated by a catastrophic shift in the axis of the Earth, changing
land masses and destroying thousands of cities not already devastated
by war. Two-thirds of humanity will perish, as mentioned in the Bible
and repeated by Abdu'l-Baha.
"What! Are they sure that the overwhelming chastisement of God shall
not come upon them, or that the Hour will not come suddenly, while
they are unaware?" Quran, 12:106-7
"But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighted down with
dissipation, drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day comes
upon you suddenly like a snare, for it will come upon all who dwell
upon the face of the whole earth." Luke, 21:34-35
"After this date great commotion and upheaval will embrace the whole
earth. To make a long story short, terrible wars, and disastrous
earthquakes will take place and all kinds of miseries will encompass
mankind to such an extent that in certain parts of the world
historical monuments will be completely destroyed. Briefly, the
population of the earth will be diminished to one-third." Abdu'l-Baha
in Tablet to a Persian believer.
"From the Holy Scriptures, it is clear that a series of great events
will appear in the world, either concurrently or serially between the
initial appearance of the Manifestation of God and the final ushering
in of the Kingdom of God on earth. These are a cataclysmic upheaval, a
worldwide economic collapse and a fiery holocaust or Armageddon. These
events will be fulfilled in both senses, that is literally and
figuratively so that no man shall have grounds for excuse."
Abdu'l-Baha in Tablet to a Persian believer.
A Baha'i who visited Haifa told me that Shoghi Effendi remarked that
the final cataclysm might well destroy the Baha'i monuments and
buildings. After the second World War Shoghi Effendi said that in the
Last Days there would be riots in the cities of America, perhaps
because of racial strife and economic disasters.
37
"...the burning of cities, the contamination of the atmosphere of the
earth葉hese stand out as the signs and portents that must either
herald or accompany the retributive calamity. Shoghi Effendi in
Message to America, April 1947 "But the day of the Lord will come like
a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise and the
elements be dissolved with fire and the earth and the works that are
upon it will be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10-13
Of course, the majority of the Baha'is, like the rest of humanity,
have ignored and will continue to ignore, the dire warnings of the
Founders of their Faith, because of attachment to this materialistic
civilization. Some have told me that they are 爽nafraid', that they
will remain in the large cities which Shoghi Effendi said are in
extreme danger, which is simply a way of saying that they do not
believe. "...Those men who having amassed the vanities and ornaments
of the earth, have turned away disdainfully from God葉hese have lost
both this world and the world to come. Ere long, will divest them of
Thou too, shall God, with the Hand of Power, strip them of their
possessions, and the robe of His bounty. To this they themselves will
soon witness, testify." Baha'u'llah in Gleanings, p. 209
"...If ye fail, at the appointed h w r to turn towards God, He,
verily, will lay violent hold on you, and will cause grievous
afflictions to assail you from every direction. How severe indeed is
the chastisement with which your Lord will then chastise you...' Ibid.
p. 214
When Abdu'l-Baha visited the home of my grandmother and my father in
Montclair , New Jersey He said that in the future New York would be
under water and that Montclair would eventually become a harbor. He
said that Greenland would become green, whereas now it is covered with
glaciers. While in Canada, a believer related a dream to Abdu'l-Baha
in which he said he was looking at the sky and saw the stars suddenly
begin to move rapidly across the heavens. He asked Abdu'l-Baha if that
is what would happen during the cataclysm, and Abdu'l-Baha said yes,
it would be like that. He also told some of the old believers that
America would become tropical. A shift in the axis of the earth would
cause these changes.
A shift in the axis can change the shapes of continents and destroy
coastal and low-lying cities around the world. Furthermore, in Some
Answered Questions, Abdu'l-Baha said: 薦ach of the Divine
Manifestations has...a cycle, and during the cycle His laws and
commandments prevail and are performed. When His cycle is completed by
the appearance of a new Manifestation, a new cycle begins. In this way
cycles begin, end and are renewed, until a universal cycle is
completed in the world, when important events and great occurrences
will take place which entirely efface every trace and record of the
past; then a new universal cycle begins in the world..." Abdu'l-Baha
in Some Answered Questions, pp. 160-161
閃ention hath been made in certain books of a deluge which caused all
that existed on earth, historical records as well as other things, to
be destroyed. Moreover, many cataclysms have occurred which have
effaced the traces of many events...' Baha'u'llah in Gleanings, p. 174
VARIOUS NOTES ABOUT SHIFTS IN THE AXIS OF THE EARTH
In recent years more and more geologists and paleontologists, have
come to recognize that great catastrophes have repeatedly occurred in
past ages, often leading to the termination of certain stages in
evolution and marking new evolutionary surges. Recent discoveries
indicate that such catastrophes, altering the Earth's climate, have
occurred far more frequently than previously believed.
38
" Discussion of whether human economic activity can affect the climate
has generally rested on a comforting assumption: if change did occur,
it would occur gradually. There would be time to respond. That
assumption has been made untenable by analysis of glacial ice as well
as of sediments from the ocean floor. R" The findings reveal that far
from being stable, the earth's climate has always changed quite
abruptly傭oth during times of glaciation and, as the newest studies
indicate, during interglacial periods such as the current one....The
studies 蘇ave concluded that 130,000 years ago, when the earth was as
warm as it is today, there were very rapid changes from warm to cold
climates,' explains Michael L. Bender of the University of Rhode
Island. 選f that conclusion stands up, it is going to be extremely
important because the very stable climate that the earth has had for
the past 10,000 years will not necessarily stay that way. Dr. Barber's
theory, discussed below, is that the axis shifts about every 10,000
years, causing vast climate changes, and what we call ice ages in
certain areas]...The factors that cause the abrupt changes remain
obscure...'The fact that interglacials are not times of stable
climate,' Bond adds [Columbia Universityl) 訴s a warning that we are
poised between modes and could bring on a switch." Scientific
American, Dec. 1995,p. 34
In the ice of Siberia they have discovered frozen mammoths with grass
still in their mouths, evidence that they were frozen instantaneously,
and that the area where they were found once had a temperate climate.
A sudden shift in the axis of the Earth would account for this, as
well as the other evidence that the oceans have, in past ages, swept
across large portions of the continents. A shift in the gyroscopic
equilibrium of the Earth would cause a sudden shift in the axis to a
new equilibrium point, causing violent storms, tremendous earthquakes,
immense tidal waves, volcanic activity, changes in ocean levels and
high winds.
The illustration (except in Internet copy) in the Appendix indicates
where the poles wandered in past ages, based on estimates from
geological evidence. Solid lines and dotted lines indicate two
estimates. From a position near Hawaii in the Pre-Cambrian, the North
Pole migrated north-westward to between Japan and Kamchatka by about
the end of the Paleozoic, and then via eastern Siberia to its present
position. Most geologists today are gradualists' (uniformitarians) and
still cannot accept the idea of sudden changes. Also, R.W. Fairbridge,
in Natural History, (Vol LXXX,No.6,June/July) claims that the South
Pole was once located in North Africa, according to geological and
topological indications. There are also fossil remains in Antarctica
which indicate that it had a temperate or tropical climate at one
time. In A Revolution in the Earth Sciences (A.Hallam, Clarendon
Press, 1973) p.40
"Now the recognition of the apparent polar wandering was a surprising
result because, as we have seen, conventional geophysical theory had
firmly favoured the fixity of pole position. Were the data therefore
unreliable, or was the theory in error? Fortunately an English
astronomer, T. Gold, quickly came to the rescue in 1955. An analysis
of minor rotational perturbations other than precession was only
explicable if there were no permanent stiffness in the geoidal shape
of the Earth, as had previously been claimed." "That is, when a shift
occurs, the equatorial bulge is replaced by water from the oceans
until the actual crust, over thousands of years, slowly bulges. In the
same book, the reason scientists have problems accepting the idea of a
shift in the axis is explained."In nearly all matters the human mind
has a strong tendency to judge in the light of its own experience,
knowledge and prejudices rather than on the evidence presented (and
the same is true in religions). Thus new ideas are judged in the light
of prevailing beliefs. If the ideas are too revolutionary, that is to
say, if they
39
depart too far from reigning theories and cannot be fitted into the
current body of knowledge they will not be acceptable...they are
almost certain to be ignored or meet with opposition which is too
strong to overcome...^
Some scientists do keep an open mind, as this quotation from Stephen
Jay Gould of Harvard University indicates: "...maybe the poles do move
rapidly. The claim should at least be investigated, rather than being
dismissed without a test.'(Catastrophes and Earth History, p. 16) None
of the conventional theories provide a definite explanation for the
shift in the axis, and because most scientists are reluctant to
consider new and unorthodox hypotheses, clinging to their old idea in
the face of all the new discoveries and anomalies that disprove their
old theories, they remain baffled by the evidence of past changes.
Many years ago a Dr. Barber, who was neither a geologist nor an
astronomer, came up with a hypothesis to explain the shifts in the
axis. His idea has been generally rejected because it is not in
agreement with current theories about the orbit of the Earth, and
because Dr. Barber was not an astronomer. Dr. Barber demonstrated with
gyroscopes that it is quite possible that the Earth has not only a
large orbit around the Sun, but a smaller orbit around a point in
space as well. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the
bary-point (center of gravity) for the Earth-Moon relationship is not
at the center of the Earth, but near its surface. It completes the
smaller orbit about once in each large orbit around the Sun, he said,
thus making its large orbit appear to be an ellipse. He contended that
every 10,000 years, more or less, the centrifugal forces involved
cause the axis to shift 20 to 30 degrees, to seek a new equilibrium
point.
Because of the tremendous centrifugal forces involved, he suggested
that as the time for the shift approaches we would witness increasing
eccentricity in the weather. chances in ocean currents that cannot be
explained, and an upswing in telluric activity (increasing numbers of
large earthquakes, new volcanic activity, etc.) All of these signs are
now clearly apparent, and increasing in frequency. I believe that Dr.
Barber's hypothesis, so unpalatable to conventional astronomers, may
well be the correct answer.
REGARDLESS OF HOW THE SHIFT IN THE AXIS COMES ABOUT, it will be sudden
and violent, and all humanity will suffer greatly. The violent winds,
rains, and changes in the ocean and air currents will effectively
disperse any fallout from atomic warfare. It will lead to changes in
the shapes of continents, with new land appearing in the seas, or old
lands disappearing under the water, and it will ultimately result in
climate changes throughout the world. Abdu'l-Baha said that in general
there would be more temperate climates throughout the world. The shape
of the United States will be completely altered as the seas cover the
lowlands up to about 500 or 600 feet.
*~ *~ *~*~ *~***~**~**~*~*~*~**~**~**~***~*~**
The final cataclysm will end any conflicts remaining in the world, and
bring to a close the period of chastisement and purification promised
by God in all the Holy Books. It will wash away most of the lingering
traces of the poisons of world conflict and of a degenerate
civilization, preparing the world for a new age. Obviously, after so
many terrible events, life will not be easy for anyone for many, many
years. God's purpose is none other than to usher in, in ways He alone
can bring about, and the full significance of which He alone can
fathom, the Great, the Golden Age of a long-divided, a long-afflicted
humanity. Its present state, indeed even its immediate future, is
dark, distressingly dark. Its distant future, however, is radiant,
gloriously radiant耀o radiant that no eye can visualize it...~The
convulsions of this transitional and most turbulent period in the
annals of humanity are the essential Prerequisite and herald the
inevitable approach of that Age of Ages, 奏he
40
time of the end,' in which the folly and tumult of strife that has,
since the dawn of history, blackened the annals of mankind, will have
been finally transmuted into the wisdom and tranquillity of an
undisturbed, a universal and lasting peace, in which the discord and
separation of the children of men will have given way to the
world-wide reconciliation, and the complete unification of the divers
elements that constitute human society...It is this stage which
humanity, willingly or unwillingly, is resistlessly approaching. It is
for this stage that this vast, this fiery ordeal which humanity is
experiencing, is mysteriously paving the way." Shoghi Effendi in
Baha'i World, 1954-1963, p. 110
Following the years of suffering and purification, the Manifestation
of God will begin His Mission. His role in the Revelation of the
Greatest Name will most likely be the revelation of laws suitable to
the new age, establishment of the organization of a world government,
and revealing teachings outlining the formation of a world executive
and supreme tribunal mentioned by Abdu'l-Baha in His Will and
Testament. Those Words of God which Baha'u'llah revealed and then
destroyed, because humanity was not yet ready for them, will be
revealed with new Teachings. This Manifestation of the Beloved God
will complete the three part Revelation of the Greatest Name.
He will reestablish the successorship of the Appointed Interpreter and
the Light of God will never be dimmed. He will address the rulers of
the nations, and they will heed His advice. He will establish the
Lesser Peace; then, gradually, the peoples of the world will become
spiritualized, and the one Faith of God will cover the Earth. In the
ensuing century the Most Great Peace will be attained. Thus will the
promise of God to all the people of the Earth be fulfilled; it will be
most glorious.
Written by John Carre', final rev. 1996
Eric Stetson
The science of letters and numbers is highly regarded in the East, and
is used throughout the Holy Books. Although numbers in themselves do
not have any magic powers, they do indicate certain ordered
relationships existing throughout the universe. Some modern physicists
as well as ancient Greek philosophers say,'God is a mathematician',
indicating their realization of the perfect order in all levels of
creation. Mathematics is only a language created by man in his attempt
to understand the universe. The Manifestations have used the tongues
of man to communicate with us, and therefore they have used all levels
of communication, including numbers and letters in symbolic language
to convey hidden messages to the more spiritual among the believers.
Before the numerical symbols now in use were imported from India by
the Arabs, the people of Greece, Israel and Arabia used letters of
their alphabet to indicate numbers. From this system came the practice
of using words to indicate numbers, called gematria. The Bab uses the
system throughout both Bayans, and Baha'u'llah uses it in the
Kitab-i-Aqdas in the original Arabic. The latest translation into
English by the UHJ committee has changed the words into numbers using
the Abjad numbering system. This system uses words to indicate
numbers, and uses numbers as symbols to represent hidden meanings,
veiled to most believers unless they make the effort to investigate
and understand. On the pages with illustrations and diagrams is the
Abjad numbering system used in the Arabic and Farsi (Persian)
languages. You cannot apply this numbering system to transliterated
words, because in such altered words there are additional letters
inserted to preserve the sound of the original word of the native
language. Some people tend to believe that numbers in themselves have
some hidden power, but in the Holy Books they are used only as symbols
to indicate some spiritual message, prophetic statements of coming
events, and relationships existing in God's creation.
In the Bible there are examples of the science of letters and numbers,
especially in the prophecies. One example is the use of the number
666, which in the Revelation is called the number of the beast. The
beast indicates human materialism and spiritual death, when the
followers of religion become enamored with the organization (body) of
their religion rather than the spirit (see Some Answered Questions,
chap.. XI). The number 6 was the stamp of the old mystery cults. The
great secret symbol was SSS, because in the Greek alphabet the ‘s', or
stigma, indicated the value of 6. The stigma means a mark formerly
used to brand slaves. Thus the people who turned away from God and are
slaves to sensual and material appetites, worshipping the body
(organization) of their religion rather than the Spirit, are branded
with the stigma of 666, the symbol of spiritual death. The number
doesn't refer to an individual, and in the original Greek of the
Revelation it says that 666 is the number of man, NOT of a man. Thus,
it refers to all who turn away from the real intent of the Faith of
God, which is the spiritual development of humanity, and instead place
religious organizations first in their lives and thinking.
This same problem is illustrated in the Tablet of the Holy Mariner by
Baha'u'llah. Concerning this Tablet, Abdu'l-Baha wrote: ‘Study the
Tablet of the Holy Mariner that you may know the truth, and consider
that the Blessed Beauty hath fully foretold future events. Let those
who Perceive take warning.'(cited in Baha'i Prayers, 1982 edition, p.
221) In that Tablet Baha'u'llah speaks thus of future Baha'is: "By the
Lord I found not from these idle claimants the breeze of
Faithfulness!" And then, concerning the condition of the Faith in
these days, He wrote: "They all gathered around her and lo! they found
her body fallen on the dust; Glorified be our Lord. the Most High!".
Compare this to the two dead bodies found in Sodom and Egypt mentioned
in Revelation 11:8, and explained by Abdu'l-Baha in Some Answered
Questions, Chap. XI, pp 60-61 (1970 edition). This is indicative of
the Baha'is who consider their religious organization first in their
priorities, rather than the spiritual values, and commandments of God.
The value of 19 is present throughout the Quran, and its significance
was first acknowledged in writing in the works of the mystic Sheykh
Muhiyyu'd-Din Ibnu'l-Arabi in Spain. The Bab also mentions this fact
in the Bayan. In recent years, Dr. Rashad Khalifa of the Muslim Mosque
of Tucson, Arizona compiled a list of all occurrences he could find in
the Quran of the value of 19, in the words, letters and chapters.
"Here is a subtle point, which is this, that the prophets...have
placed the letters of the alphabet in correspondence with the degrees
of Existence...and therefore it is said, ‘Existence emerged from the
Ba of Bismillah since that is the letter which follows the alif, which
is placed to correspond with the Essence of God. And it (i.e. the
letter B or Ba) signified the First Intelligence, which was the first
thing which God created." (The First Intelligence indicates the Holy
Spirit). Sheykh Muhiyyu'd-Din Ibnu'l-Arabi
Although the sacred character of the number 19 was thus prominently
brought forward by the Bab, He by no means implies that is was unknown
to previous prophets. On the contrary, He not only points out that the
number of letters in ‘ Bi~mi'llahir-Rahmani'r-Rahim,' which stands at
the head of every chapter in Quran, is 19, but further that the total
number of chapters themselves (114=19x6) is a multiple of the sacred
number. So, in every ‘Manifestation', the 18 ‘Letters of the Livng'
have appeared surrounding the ‘Point', and amongst their number there
is always at least one woman—Fatima in the Manifestation of Islam,
Kurratu'l-Ayn(Jenab-i-Tahire) in the present one...So also the Bab
declares that ‘He Whom God shall manifest will appear with His 18
‘Letters of the Living'.." E.G. Browne, Selection from the Writings of
E.G. Browne, ed. M. Momen, p. 229
As for Dr. Khalifa, I can only mention a few of the occurrence of the
value of 19 that he has listed, for he has written two books on the
subject, and the list is too long. He calls it the miracle of the
Quran, and it is undoubtedly one of the proofs of the Divine origin of
the Quran.
1. The opening statement of the Quran consists of 19 letters
2. The first Quranic revelation has 19 words (Surih 96:1-5)
3. The first revelation consisted of 76 letters, or 19x4. The first
five verses of Surih 96 were the first revealed verses)
4. The first Surih revealed consists of 304 letters (19x16)
5. The last Surih revealed consists of 19 letters.
6. Other revelations similarly consist of multiples of 19.
See Visual Presentation of the Miracle. Masiid Tucson.
The Bab made obvious use of the number 19. Each Vahid (vahd in Arabic
means unity, and has the Abjad value of 19) in either Bayan contains
19 Gates, or verses, except for the last Vahid in the Persian Bayan.
Almost every ordinance in either Bayan contains some expression using
the numbers 9 or 19, or multiples thereof. Dowries are in multiples of
9 and 19. There were to be no more than 95 (5xl9) doors on the Shrine
of the Bab. People who travel by sea can only do so for 95 months
(5x19). Fines are all in multiples of 19, etc.
Every nineteen years the Sun, Moon and Earth are lined up in a
specific orientation. In Jewish tradition their Lunar year is adjusted
every 19 years when the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned in that
specific orientation. The Bab, using the solar year, divided each
month into 19 days and the year into 19 months, plus 4 holidays before
the Spring Equinox. He also established 19 year cycles (which
correspond to the nodes of the Moon) which He called Vahids. Nineteen
Vahids, or 19x19 He called the Number of All Things. So you have
double meanings of numbers and words, as well as an indication of the
actual interrelationships in our Solar system.
.. NOTES ON THE WORD ‘ALF' lN ARABIC
Every language is historical; that is, it changes over time so that
the language, as written and spoken a hundred years or so in the past,
is not identical with the written and spoken language of today.
Consequently, there will be differences in the way some words are
written and accented over a long period of time. Although modern
written Arabic is fairly standard, with variations from nation to
nation, there is considerable diversity of dialects in spoken Arabic,
just as in any language. Differences in written Arabic are usually
historical, but differences do exist in various localities as well as
in dictionaries. In Arabic, as in any language, there are some words
that have identical spellings, but the meanings and sometimes the
pronunciation vary according to the context of the sentences wherein
they appear.
In English, for example, the word ‘read' changes meaning and
pronunciation according to the tense and person in which it is used.
Many words in the English language are spelled differently in England
than they are in the United States. One example is the word
‘favor'(U.S. spelling), which in England is usually spelled ‘favour'.
Such variations are normal in any language, differing from area to
area, and sometimes from dictionary to dictionary. This is the reason
we speak of languages as being ‘historical', and dictionaries as being
historical records of languages as spoken and written at the time and
place such dictionaries are published.
In the Arabic alphabet three vowels are indicated, although vowel
sounds are quite often included in the pronunciation of the
consonants. In the Greatest Name (BHA'), spelled with three letters,
two consonants and one vowel, the ‘B' and ‘H' are pronounced Ba and Ha
when by themselves. The word for unity, transliterated as ‘vahid' to
preserve the original pronunciation, is composed of three consonants
and one vowel (vahd). In most languages accent marks are sometimes,
not always, used to indicate different pronunciation and meanings of
words.
In Arabic the word ‘alf' changes meaning according to the context in
which it is used. Alf is the of the first letter (a in English) of the
Arabic alphabet. That letter is also written the same as the number
‘1', and it has the Abjad value of ‘1'. The word for 1,000 (one
thousand) in Arabic is also alf, the same word as the name of the
first letter of the Arabic alphabet. I have seen the word ‘alf' for
the first letter of the Arabic alphabet transliterated as either ‘alf'
or ‘alif'.
I have questioned Baha'is with knowledge of Arabic about this word
used with either the meaning of ‘a' or of ‘one thousand'. One told me
that it was the same word, with the meaning altered by the context in
which it is used. Another, (reproduced on pages of diagrams and
illustrations, except in Internet copy) indicated that an accent is
added to the word when it is used as the name of the first letter of
the Arabic alphabet.
In a book by Dr. Syed Ali from the Hippocrene Language Studies series,
he shows that the letter ‘a' DOES NOT have the accent mark indicated
in the example mentioned above, but on the other hand the same word
when used to indicate ‘1000' DOES have an accent added. As you see
from the illustrations, the same word is either accented or not,
according to the dictionary used as reference, or to the country. For
the people whose native language is Arabic, the context wherein the
word is used is probably sufficient, and the difference known by the
context.
It is because of these differences of opinion that I did this limited
research. In the notes explaining the symbolic significances of the
word ‘alf'. The differences of opinion DO NOT affect the symbolic
significances of the word, which are derived from its numerical
values.
Freethought110
> >
> >
> >The third manifestation and the last elder are the same: namely they are
> >embodied in every intelligent mature adult human that walks the earth. That
> >is the final manifestation.
> >
>
> And your evidence for this is?
Scanty given the existence of Susan Maneck in the world.
Susan Maneck
I'm a little puzzled as to your motive in posting this. Are you trying to
encourage someone else to arise and make this claim?
I wonder if you realize that not a single clear cut passage from scripture has
been adduced to establish that there is ever going to be an "Alif"? Carre's
theories are based on pure speculation.
warmest, Susan
MOST@btinternet.com Dermod Ryder
> Dear Eric,
>
> I'm a little puzzled as to your motive in posting this. Are you trying to
> encourage someone else to arise and make this claim?
>
> I wonder if you realize that not a single clear cut passage from scripture
has
> been adduced to establish that there is ever going to be an "Alif"?
Carre's
> theories are based on pure speculation.
Has Scripture ever been clear cut? If it ever were, how come there are so
many different interpretations?
Can she answer this? Will she let this challenge to her authority pass?
Tune in for next week's exciting episode of the Reaper and the Maniac!"
--
"Still kill-filed after all these months! Cadwych y cyswilt."
Eric Stetson
> Dear Eric,
>
> I'm a little puzzled as to your motive in posting this. Are you trying to
> encourage someone else to arise and make this claim?
No, I really don't care whether anyone else makes a claim. As I said
in the first message in the thread, I am posting it so that this work
is available to religious scholars and anyone who is interested in
Baha'i prophecy. I think it would be sad for such a work as Carre's
to be lost in oblivion.
Also, Carre's book is quite relevant because it already led directly
to one prophetic claimant, namely myself, and the arguments therein
are also being used by a man who calls himself "Maitreya" and claims
to be the Alif of the Greatest Name. http://www.maitreya.org
Yet another reason I posted Carre's book is because I don't like it
when people who make prophecies (as Carre did, predicting a new
manifestation in America in the year 2001) try to expunge it from the
public record when they feel their prophecy has proven to be
inaccurate. I don't know if that was Carre's motivation for taking
down his website or not, but it might have been. If I were a
different kind of person, I would have long ago removed my Book of
Restoration from the web and tried to hide the fact that I once
claimed to be receiving revelations from God. But I believe that
people should not try to cover up the mistakes they made in the past.
> I wonder if you realize that not a single clear cut passage from scripture has
> been adduced to establish that there is ever going to be an "Alif"? Carre's
> theories are based on pure speculation.
Carre's theories are speculative, but he does put forward quite a bit
of circumstantial evidence to support his view. Personally, I think
the work of John Carre is well worth preserving for posterity, whether
Carre himself wants that to happen or not.
Best,
Eric
Susan Maneck
>when people who make prophecies (as Carre did, predicting a new
>manifestation in America in the year 2001) try to expunge it from the
>public record when they feel their prophecy has proven to be
>inaccurate.
Ahhh, now that makes more sense. I think Carre did become rather nervous by
the sorts of claimants he witnessed that year. ;-}
Eric Sloan
> to one prophetic claimant, namely myself, and the arguments therein
> are also being used by a man who calls himself "Maitreya" and claims
> to be the Alif of the Greatest Name. http://www.maitreya.org
Eric, actually Maitreya (or Joseph) never made such a claim. I have
spoken with Him in a chat room, and he doesn't have the slightest clue
of "Alif of the Greatest Name" or anything pertaining to the content
in John Carre's book.
However, John Hall, a follower of Maitreya and the writer of
www.maitreya.org, made this claim for Maitreya. I found out, through
e-mail correspondence with Hall, that he (Hall) is an ex-member of the
Orthodox Baha'i Faith. Incidentally John Hall served on a Local
Spiritual Assembly in Kansas with John Carre before he resigned and
joined the Mission of Maitreya. Thus, Hall naturally attributed the
erroneous speculations found in John Carre's book to Maitreya.
Its noteworthy to mention that while Carre's book stipulates that this
"third Manifestation" was to arrive in 2001 – known as "Alif of the
Greatest Name". Maitreya on the other hand, made his Spiritual
claim(s) from 1977 to 1982(during these years his claims varied and
finally solidified in 1983.) Maitreya never claimed to be what John
Carre has foretold; rather Maitreya's sole claim of fulfillment (at
first) was the prophecies of Mr. Benjamin Crčme, Mr. Crčme's website
is at - http://www.share-international.org/
Benjamin Crčme, around 1974, started preaching the coming of Maitreya
who represents the return of Christ, the coming of Krishna and the
coming of Maitreya Buddha. Crčme has publicly denounced Joseph's
claims and is promoting a different Maitreya (although it gets
confusing I've found about 8 people claiming to be Maitreya today). In
1988 according to Mr. Crčme, Maitreya made his first appearance in
Kenya, Nairobi June 11th 1988
(http://www.share-international.org/maitreya/Ma_main.htm)
So basically, Eric, you were the only one who claimed to be the "Alif
of the Greatest Name," Maitreya does not make such a claim, and even
if he did, his supposed revelation came in 1977-83 not 2001.
Also, despite the errors, I think Maitreya has good intentions just
like you had Eric. John Hall is a nice guy as well and I'm sure he
doesn't mind me talking about our e-mail correspondence publicly
because he would look at it like promoting the cause of the "mission,"
as he calls it.
Eric Sloan
message boards. When I say Eric Stetson and Maitreya have good
intentions, that does not mean I agree with them. I recognize the
authority of the UHJ and all the Baha'i institutions and contrary to
Maitreya's teaching I recognize Baha'u'llah as the Promised One and
not as an ambitious follower of the Bab. When I say they have good
intentions I mean they're genuine in their motive and beliefs.
Although, I'm not sure why Maitreya charges 180 $ per person to attend
the yearly Mission of Maitreya feast. As far as I know Eric never
asked for money.
Eric Sloan
That is Maitreya's e-mail for google, if you type that in the search
you can read the messages he posted in google groups.
Susan Maneck
>Spiritual Assembly in Kansas with John Carre before he resigned and
>joined the Mission of Maitreya.
Dear Eric Sloan,
This is very strange. I presume you are referring to a Remeyite LSA? I was
under the impression that John Carre broke with the Remeyites fairly early on.
warmest, Susan
Susan Maneck
>intentions, that does not mean I agree with them. I recognize the
>authority of the UHJ
Dear Eric Sloan,
I don't think anyone, even the Institutions, question Eric Stetson's sincerity.
However, I'm a little puzzled by your saying you recognize the authority of the
House of Justice and then saying you correspond with John Hall. If he belonged
to the Orthodox Baha'i Faith isn't he considered a Covenant breaker?
Randy Burns
to post here.
Cheers, Randy
--
"Susan Maneck " <sma...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030823205409...@mb-m11.aol.com...
Pat Kohli
Susan Maneck wrote:
> >When I say Eric Stetson and Maitreya have good
> >intentions, that does not mean I agree with them. I recognize the
> >authority of the UHJ
>
> Dear Eric Sloan,
>
> I don't think anyone, even the Institutions, question Eric Stetson's sincerity.
>
> However, I'm a little puzzled by your saying you recognize the authority of the
> House of Justice and then saying you correspond with John Hall. If he belonged
> to the Orthodox Baha'i Faith isn't he considered a Covenant breaker?
Maybe he found that out in the course of corresponding w/ him.
I may have replied dozens of times to John Hall (aka Johanna, aka treehugger, ...)
here on TRB. I don't know if that is the same person.
Eric, my experience has been that there is nothing gained in discussions with the
Orthodox. Some might even find me opinionated on that count. We had a rather ugly
incident here a few years back.
Best wishes!
- Pat
kohli at ameritel.net
Eric Sloan
> I don't think anyone, even the Institutions, question Eric Stetson's sincerity.
>
>
> However, I'm a little puzzled by your saying you recognize the authority of the
> House of Justice and then saying you correspond with John Hall. If he belonged
> to the Orthodox Baha'i Faith isn't he considered a Covenant breaker?
>
> warmest, Susan
Dear Susan,
I didn't know John Hall was an ex-member of the Orthodox Baha'i group
until the 3rd or 4th e-mail – Pat's assessment was right. After
questioning him on Alif of the greatest name and saying how familiar
it sounded it to Carre's website – then I found out.
I'm a fairly new Baha'i so I'm not sure, if they leave the group are
they still considered covenant breakers?
>Dear Eric Sloan, This is very strange. I presume you are referring to
a >Remeyite LSA? I was under the impression that John Carre broke with
the >Remeyites fairly early on. warmest, Susan
That's what I thought too, however didn't Carre change groups many
times - BUPC, Orthodox, and didn't he create his own group? There does
seem to be an inconsistency. Also Hall is 22 yr. old and he told me
that he served with Carre on the LSA before he joined the Mission,
which was mid 1990's. With that being the case Hall would have been
12-14 years old when serving on the Orthodox LSA? You have to be 21
to be eligible for election right? Perhaps Mason Remey changed the age
in which one can serve. Or was that group in Kansas just desperate.
>Eric, my experience has been that there is nothing gained in
discussions with >the Orthodox. Some might even find me opinionated on
that count. We had a >rather ugly incident here a few .years back.
Best wishes! - Pat kohli at >ameritel.net
Dear Pat,
I'll take your word on the ugly incident, and I think your right, my
observation is that the discussions turn to name calling. What if they
are no long affiliated with the group and the discussion has nothing
to do with it?
Thanks for your replies
Pat Kohli
Eric Sloan wrote:
> (snip)
> Dear Pat,
>
> I'll take your word on the ugly incident, and I think your right, my
> observation is that the discussions turn to name calling. What if they
> are no long affiliated with the group and the discussion has nothing
> to do with it?
>
I tend to avoid those Baha'is who identify themselves
with a Remeyite faction due to an impression I had that
those who associate with CBs are at risk of being
declared CBs. That is, they are already acting like
CBs. Furthermore, I tend to avoid those who have been
formally named as CBs. John Carre, for example, was
named.
On the other hand, I've probably broken my rules or
worked the edge on one case or another. One or more of
John Carre's daughters had posted here, and seemed
generally friendly toward the teachings of Baha'u'llah.
It seemed to me, that if she was not saying she was a
Baha'i, or if she was not advocating a Remeyite
Guardianship, and since she had not been named as a
CB, I saw nothing wrong w/ responding to her.
Often critics of the faith borrow arguments from
schismatics. When I was new to TRB I did get into a
discussion w/ a Remeyite. One of the friends
cautioned me, and I've been a little more careful since,
but I feel I have a better sense of what to look out for,
now. I wasn't exposed to so much of this stuff in the
real world, so I don't think I was well prepared for
it when I got to TRB.
>
> Thanks for your replies
Baha'is like to help out new Baha'is, especially those
who don't complain too loudly about the help (grin).
Best wishes!
- Pat
ko...@ameritel.net
MOST@btinternet.com Dermod Ryder
"Pat Kohli" <ko...@ameritel.net> wrote in message
news:3F4831AD...@ameritel.net...
> We had a rather ugly
> incident here a few years back.
I wasn't here then! Do elaborate!
Susan Maneck
>Don't let her chase you away, Eric Sloan, you have as much right as anyone
>to post here.
No on is suggesting that he not post here, Randy. I'm just asking for an
explanation of this seeming inconsistency.
Susan Maneck
>I didn't know John Hall was an ex-member of the Orthodox Baha'i group
>until the 3rd or 4th e-mail – Pat's assessment was right.
Dear Eric Sloan,
That certainly makes sense.
>I'm a fairly new Baha'i so I'm not sure, if they leave the group are
>they still considered covenant breakers?
Yes, if they have been officially declared as such by the Universal House of
Justice. However, if this person joined a Remeyite group without ever having
been a member of the normative Baha'i community then you may associate with
them once they are no longer promulgating their views. I have a few former
Jensenites that I correspond with in cyperspace.
> Also Hall is 22 yr. old and he told me
>that he served with Carre on the LSA before he joined the Mission,
>which was mid 1990's. With that being the case Hall would have been
>12-14 years old when serving on the Orthodox LSA? You have to be 21
>to be eligible for election right?
Exactly. Something is very garbled here.
>, however didn't Carre change groups many
>times - BUPC, Orthodox, and didn't he create his own group?
He was a follower of one person who claimed to be the third Manifestation back
in the '70's, Jamshi Maani. That's where all this Alif stuff first came from.
Eventually he realized Ma'ani was a fraud, but he continued to believe a
Manifestation would soon appear. I don't think he was associated with any
Remeyite group after his break with Ma'ani. I don't know that he had any
followers of his own after this either, other than his own daughters.
>Perhaps Mason Remey changed the age
>in which one can serve. Or was that group in Kansas just desperate.
Or maybe someone is feeding you some misinformation. ;-}
>What if they
>are no long affiliated with the group and the discussion has nothing
>to do with it?
Again, if they were ever officially declared Covenant breakers by the House of
Justice only the House of Justice can remove that status. However, if they were
affliated with a Covenant breaking group but never officially declared CB, you
can associate with them once they leave the group.
Susan Maneck
>with a Remeyite faction due to an impression I had that
>those who associate with CBs are at risk of being
>declared CBs.
Dear Pat,
That normally would only happen if the Baha'i refused to dissassociate
themselves after being told officialy hat they need to do so.
>It seemed to me, that if she was not saying she was a
>Baha'i, or if she was not advocating a Remeyite
>Guardianship, and since she had not been named as a
>CB, I saw nothing wrong w/ responding to her.
I didn't either. However, we were given rather specific instructions from the
Counselors that we were not to associate her. Otherwise, I felt the same as you
did about her.
John R MacLeod
>However, we were given rather specific instructions from the
> Counselors that we were not to associate her. Otherwise, I felt the same
as you
> did about her.
Can Counsellors give instructions?
Susan Maneck
>Can Counsellors give instructions?
Only if they can back it up with something explicitly from the Writings or the
House of Justice. In this case they could.
Freethought110
and then comes back in utter fear and clarifies what he said before by
stating he does not agree with them lest he besmirch his loyalty to
ideological orthodoxy in the eyes of his fellow cult members. This
individual lives in a world of fear and internal oppression, as do
virtually all cultists, and this is the world of baha'ism: a
dictatorship upon the mind.
How pathetic!
trackru...@hotmail.com (Eric Sloan) wrote in message news:<bf8b1f36.03082...@posting.google.com>...
John R MacLeod
> >
> >Can Counsellors give instructions?
>
> Only if they can back it up with something explicitly from the Writings or
the
> House of Justice. In this case they could.
>
draw your attention to the piece of Writing they believe is relevant and
suggest you consider your actions in the light of it. But too many people,
including too many counsellors, think their understanding of something is
law.
Eric Sloan
> Get a load of this. The guy makes a statement about two individuals
> and then comes back in utter fear and clarifies what he said before by
> stating he does not agree with them lest he besmirch his loyalty to
> ideological orthodoxy in the eyes of his fellow cult members. This
> individual lives in a world of fear and internal oppression, as do
> virtually all cultists, and this is the world of baha'ism: a
> dictatorship upon the mind.
>
> How pathetic!
Nima, after reading what I initially wrote I thought it could've been
misconstrued as saying I thought the goals of these individuals were
good. I don't always use the best choice of words, I should have said
sincere instead of good intentions.
I'm not fearful just want to say what I mean. Nima maybe you just try
this next time you claim to be a manifestation of God, then later say
you were just joking and making a point.
Cal E. Rollins
Where do you get this info about Baha'u'llah foretelling two
Manifestations to come? Was one of them black and the other a female?
--Cal
Cal E. Rollins
I heard about the uglies on TRB a while back. To me it just sounded
like a bunch of avaracious white guys fighting over the
already-thoroughly chewed bone of leadership. Then I remembered that
one of them was black, so I had to alter my opinion somewhat. What is
there about some white folk having to grab for leadership of what would
seem at this point a thoroughly insignificant religion? The salary
isn't that good. I know of people selling drugs on the street getting
better salaries. So money can't be the motivation. Power? What power?
So power couldn't be the answer either. Right? --Cal
Cal E. Rollins
But aren't Counsellors our neo-clergy? Most Baha'is I know look to them
as the Repositories of the Word just as we do the Learned, although the
three CounsellorsI knew well thoroughly repudiated the tendency of
Baha'is to rely upon them as ministers. --Cal
Randy Burns
force recall votes. If they can start rating baseball umpires on balls and
strike then we can certainly rate Counselors. Either that or else they could
pick better ones to begin with. I think most of the trouble starts with the
ABM's.
Cheers, Randy
--
"Cal E. Rollins" <crol...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:13885-3F4...@storefull-2331.public.lawson.webtv.net...
Cal E. Rollins
The backup does seem to start with the BMs. When Shoghi Effendi was the
roto rooter stuff didn't hit the fan as much, in my opinion. --Cal
Pat Kohli
Dermod Ryder wrote:
Mesbah talked about the elder Joel:
http://groups.google.com./groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=7n54m9%24lqr%241%40iceman.tac.net
Then he even addressed the elder Joel:
http://groups.google.com./groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=7n0o8k%24l9i%241%40iceman.tac.net
Then Mesbah addressed Joel J.
http://groups.google.com./groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=7ttd85%24nd3%241%40iceman.tac.net
It was one of the uglier moments on TRB, right there with may have been
MrMahdi's twisted performance in May of the same year.
Eric Stetson
> I think we need a ratings system for our Counselors and maybe the ability to
> force recall votes. If they can start rating baseball umpires on balls and
> strike then we can certainly rate Counselors. Either that or else they could
> pick better ones to begin with. I think most of the trouble starts with the
> ABM's.
>
> Cheers, Randy
Better watch what you say, Randy. That sounds like the kind of
progressive reform-oriented talk that got Dialogue Magazine closed
down! Don't be making any modest proposals unless you want Haifa to
sic the Counselors and ABMs on YOU. ;-)
Best,
Eric
Freethought110
>
> Nima, after reading what I initially wrote I thought it could've been
> misconstrued as saying I thought the goals of these individuals were
> good.
The point is that you even need to clarify this, ergo you live in a
world of fear because you are *in* a cult and must constantly
demonstrate your loyalty to the creed lest you own seat on the side of
Allah be compromised.
> Nima maybe you just try
> this next time you claim to be a manifestation of God, then later say
> you were just joking and making a point.
Except that I was. I got a laugh out of a lot of people's reactions
online. You and your kind, on the other hand, haven't even got a clue!
MOST@btinternet.com Dermod Ryder
"Eric Stetson" <erics...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f581312e.03082...@posting.google.com...
> Better watch what you say, Randy. That sounds like the kind of
> progressive reform-oriented talk that got Dialogue Magazine closed
> down! Don't be making any modest proposals unless you want Haifa to
> sic the Counselors and ABMs on YOU. ;-)
Fear not little boy wonder and ace junior manifestation! Randy has received
specialist, intensive counter-Grumpie (and nasty clones thereof) training.
Randy Burns
the same way and manner that political reform solves any society's problems.
Yes you can probably make a joke out of that, but in the long run it is the
only game in town. Remember that in this dispensation religion and politics
are the same.
Cheers, Randy
--
"Eric Stetson" <erics...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f581312e.03082...@posting.google.com...
>
Randy Burns
Randy
--
"Eric Stetson" <erics...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f581312e.03082...@posting.google.com...
> CHAPTER VIII
>
> "After this date (i.e.1963) great commotion and upheaval will embrace
> the whole earth. To make a long story short, terrible wars, and
> disastrous earthquakes will take place and all kinds of miseries will
> encompass mankind to such an extent that in certain parts of the world
> historical monuments will be completely destroyed. Briefly, the
> population of the earth will be diminished to one third.' Abdu'l-Baha
> in a Tablet to a Persian believer
Gaza Yaza
> It would be nice to get this letter authenticated!
>
> Randy
There is an article in Baha'i World 1957-64 where AB says much the
same thing. I'll have my brother look it up for you. Isn't that 'two
thirds of the people evaporated' a bible thingy too?
Gaza
Randy Burns
If Ahmad refers to the Alif of the Greatest Name BHA' then I suggest again
that the reference is to those believers who become sanctified and not to a
specific person to be expected. All religions have Saints who arise to make
the religion successful, these Saints are the "Ahmad" of each dispensation.
Cheers, Randy
--
"Eric Stetson" <erics...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f581312e.03082...@posting.google.com...
> CHAPTER X
> This is based in a paper
> Siyyid Kazim wrote concerning the meanings of the two names of
> Muhammad, which are Ahmad and Muhammad. He said that the name Muhammad
> refers to the general mass of believers (in the 'outer court'),
> whereas Ahmad is the celestial name of Muhammad, and is used in
> reference to those believers who have attained the highest spiritual
> stations.
Cal E. Rollins
Did 'Abdu'l-Baha say where the one-third left would reside? Wouldn't it
make sense it would be in San Francisco where I live? After all, this
is the City He said would start the United Nations of the World.
I did read in some pilgrim note that the Guardian said the world's near
destruction would be a much-needed bloodletting, because we were too big
anyway and had high-blood pressure. Makes good medical
sense--bloodletting. Brian, can you confirm that? --Cal
John Carre
subject, whether or not you agree with my beliefs. Soon, I believe, we
will see if the concepts I have explained in the Alif of the Greatest
Name are manifested.
I have discontinued the original site (www.greatestname.com) and have
instead these new web sites at:
http://www.metavergence.com/john
http://www.angelfire.com/amiga/humanity/Manifestation_coming_soon.html
http://alif.resonance.org
I made a few clarifications in the original text because some
believers misunderstood certain quotations.
Warmest regards to all..........John
PS. Thanks Eric, for posting this subject.
Eric Stetson
> Eric Stetson,
>
> Did 'Abdu'l-Baha say where the one-third left would reside? Wouldn't it
> make sense it would be in San Francisco where I live? After all, this
> is the City He said would start the United Nations of the World.
I didn't know he said that about San Francisco. What I do know, at
least in my recollection, is that Abdu'l-Baha said the climate of
earth would warm up and the coastal areas would be innundated. Seems
like that one will turn out to be a true prophecy, unless the "Gulf
Stream shift" theory prevails and we enter a new ice age instead. I
believe Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi both encouraged believers to
move to inland areas away from the ocean and also away from big
cities, in which massive race riots were predicted to occur that would
cause blood to run in the streets. In the United States the Rocky
Mountain region was supposed to be the best. Mason Remey continued
with these apocalyptic traditions and that's why the Remeyites and
people like John Carre moved out to places like New Mexico and
Colorado. Baha'is following the Haifan tradition have of course
downplayed the apocalyptic aspect of Baha'i teachings. Then you have
groups like the BUPC which have made this the sole focus, to the point
of absurdity.
Best,
Eric
Sekhmet
>I didn't know he said that about San Francisco. What I do know, at
>least in my recollection, is that Abdu'l-Baha said the climate of
>earth would warm up and the coastal areas would be innundated. Seems
>like that one will turn out to be a true prophecy, unless the "Gulf
>Stream shift" theory prevails and we enter a new ice age instead.
Who says we can't have both, one after the other? ;-)
--Sekhmet
Eric Stetson
Thanks, John, for letting us know about your new websites. I
apologize for suggesting that you had removed your book from the
internet as a way to cover up your former views. You have proven me
wrong about that.
Best,
Eric