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#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #51

Part Five: The Final Evidence
The Third Fruit: Religion

{Sears seeks out the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh: “...Each religion is true, is beautiful, is valid ...there is only one God, there is also only one religion. All the great Prophets have taught this same one religion”}

Bahá’u’lláh has written:

“O ye people of the world! The Religion of God is for the sake of love and union; make it not the cause of enmity and conflict. … By this one Word shall the diverse sects of the world attain unto the light of real union; …” [cited in Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, Esslemont]

Bahá’u’lláh teaches that just as there is only one God, there is also only one religion. All the great Prophets have taught this same one religion. There is, Bahá’u’lláh tells us, no exclusive salvation for the Hindu, the Jew, the Zoroastrian, the Buddhist, the Christian, the Muslim, or the Bahá’í.

The Bahá’í Faith is not a sect, but an independent religion. The famous historian Arnold Toynbee was asked about Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith. He replied:

“My opinion is that
(1) Bahá’ísm is undoubtedly a religion,
(2) Bahá’ísm is an independent religion, on a par with Islám, Christianity, and the other recognized world religions. Bahá’ísm is not a sect of some other religion; it is a separate religion, and it has the same status of other recognized religions.

{The term Bahá'ísm is not used anymore, and is now called The Bahá'í Faith.}

“This opinion is based both on study and on personal acquaintance with Bahá’ís.”

All these pure and holy Faiths are part of the one eternal religion of God that goes on forever. No single religion is the one exclusive Faith, or the final outpouring of truth from Almighty God.

Each religion is true, is beautiful, is valid. It is the one Message from God for that age in which it appears. It is the only truth for that particular age, yet it is not final. It is but one part of a single, great, progressive, never-ending Religion of God that has no beginning and will have no end.

Though the Word (Holy Spirit) of God is one, the Speakers (Messengers) of this Word are many. It is the one light in many lamps.

The golden rule can be found in all the great religions of the world:

Hinduism: The true rule is to do by the things of others as you do by your own.

Judaism: Whatever you do not wish your neighbour to do to you do not to him.

Zoroastrianism: As you do you will be done by.

Buddhism: One should seek for others the happiness one desires for one’s self.

Christianity: Therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do even so to them.

Islám: Let none of you treat a brother in a way he himself would dislike to be treated.

Bahá’í Faith: If thou regardest Mercy, look not to that which benefits thyself; but to that which will benefit thy fellowmen. If thou regardest Justice, choose thou for others that which thou choosest for thyself. [Epistle to the Son of the Wolf]

The Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh liken religion to the growth of a plant. Dr Esslemont, who spent many years studying the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, states it in this way:

“The religion of God is the One Religion, and all the Prophets have taught it, but it is a living and growing thing, not lifeless and unchanging. In the teaching of Moses we see the Bud; in that of Christ the Flower; in that of Bahá’u’lláh the Fruit. The flower does not destroy the bud, nor does the fruit destroy the flower. It destroys not, but fulfils. The bud scales must fall in order that the flower may bloom, and the petals must fall that the fruit may grow and ripen. Were the bud scales or the petals wrong or useless, then, that they had to be discarded? Nay, both in their time were right and necessary; (paraphrase) without them there could have been no fruit.

So it is with the various prophetic teachings; their externals change from age to age, but each revelation is the fulfilment of its predecessors; they are not separate or incongruous, but different stages in the life history of the One Religion, which has in turn been revealed as seed, as bud, as flower, and now enters on the stage of fruition.” [Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era]

Thus, one step is not greater than another. No step is exclusive. No stage is final. Not even the stage of the ‘fruit’. The ‘fruit’ is the fulfilment of the ‘seed’. It is the end of a cycle, but from that ‘fruit’ will come the ‘seed’ of another great cycle. The religion of God is continuous and never-ending and like the rain, never ceases to shed its water of life upon mankind.

The oneness and progressive unfoldment of spiritual truth can be shown from the Bible. Moses, knowing that His followers could not understand all of His teachings, said:

“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” [Deuteronomy 18:15]

This foretold the coming of Christ. When He came, Christ reminded the people of His day about these words of Moses. Christ said:

“For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me.” [John 5:46]

Then Christ rebuked them for being blind. He said:

“But if ye believed not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” [John 5:47]

At a later time, Christ spoke almost the same words to His followers that Moses had spoken to those who had followed Him. Christ knew that His followers could not understand all that He had taught them. He was disappointed many times by their failure to perceive His meaning. He promised them that another would come and explain these hidden truths to mankind. He said:

“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth …” [John 16:12, 13]

This foretold the coming of the Messiah. When Bahá’u’lláh came, He reminded the people of His day about these words of Christ. He said:

“Heard ye not the saying of Jesus, the Spirit of God … He saith: ‘When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.’”[Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh]

Then Bahá’u’lláh rebuked them for being blind. He said:

“Wherefore, then, did ye fail … to draw nigh unto Him? … And yet … ye refused to turn your faces towards Him …” [Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh]

Bahá’u’lláh addressed special letters to the heads of Christianity. {look to “The Summons of the Lord of Hosts”} These letters can be studied. He urged them to lead their flocks into the sacred fold. Among His words are these:

“Draw near, and tarry not, though it be for one short moment.”[Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh]

Bahá’u’lláh proclaims:

“Verily I say, whatsoever hath lowered the lofty station of religion hath increased the waywardness of the wicked, and the result cannot be but anarchy.” [cited in The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh]

Bahá’u’lláh also counsels the people of all religions to follow the precepts given by Moses:

“… consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship, to proclaim that which the Speaker on Sinai [Moses] hath set forth and to observe fairness in all matters.” [Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh]

Bahá’u’lláh upholds the oneness of religion and the Prophets throughout His Writings. In one instance He says:

“Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets of God is one and the same. Their unity is absolute. God, the Creator, saith:

‘There is no distinction whatsoever among the Bearers of My Message.

They all have but one purpose; their secret is the same secret.

To prefer one in honour to another, to exalt certain ones above the rest, is in no wise to be permitted. Every true Prophet hath regarded His Message as fundamentally the same as the Revelation of every other Prophet gone before Him.

If any man, therefore, should fail to comprehend this truth, and should consequently indulge in vain and unseemly language, no one whose sight is keen and whose understanding is enlightened would ever allow such idle talk to cause him to waver in his belief.’”
[Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh]

Bahá’u’lláh addresses the people of the religions of the world, saying:

“Blessed are such as hold fast to the cord of kindliness and tender mercy and are free from animosity and hatred.” [Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh]

The great tragedy of religion, Bahá’u’lláh tells us, is that mankind remembers the Messenger and forgets the Message. Sainte Beuve told the people of France that they would be members of sects long after they had ceased to be Christians. They were more interested in the lamp than in the light.

The Prophets are all mirrors on which the sun of God’s truth shines. The mirror is not the truth. The light that shines in it is the truth. Christ emphasizes this truth, saying it was God in whom the people must believe, not in Him, Jesus. He said:

“He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.” [John 12:44]

Bahá’u’lláh speaks of the Founders of all the world’s religions with great love, tenderness and beauty. He counsels His followers to look upon the people of all beliefs with radiance and friendliness. He reminds them:

“Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean.” [Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh]

In ‘The Coming World Teacher’, Pavri writes: “… among the Bahá’ís is that remarkable movement emphasizing the brotherhood of religions, a brotherhood which the Teacher, alike of gods and men, alone can make possible.”

Bahá’u’lláh calls upon His followers to dedicate their lives to the well- being and happiness of the people of all religions and nations. To those who would follow Him, He says:

“Address yourselves to the promotion of the well-being and tranquillity of the children of men.

Bend your minds and wills to the education of the peoples and kindreds of the earth, that haply the dissensions that divide it may, through the power of the Most Great Name [of God], be blotted out from its face, and all mankind become the upraisers of one Order, and the inhabitants of one City. Illumine and hallow your hearts; let them not be profaned by the thorns of hate or the thistles of malice.

Ye dwell in one world, and have been created through the operation of one Will. Blessed is he who mingleth with all men in a spirit of utmost kindliness and love.” [Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh]

This is another fruit by which you may test the tree of Bahá’u’lláh and judge His life.

----------

NEXT - Post #52: The Fourth Fruit: Individual Life

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN< follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #50

Part Five: The Final Evidence
The Second Fruit: Country

{Sears seeks out the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh: “Bahá’ís are willing to give their energies, even their lives, to the just government that does not require them to be disloyal to their love for God...”}

The Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, I found, say specifically:

“According to the direct sacred command of God, we are forbidden to utter slander, are commanded to show forth peace and amity, are exhorted to rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and harmony with all the kindreds and peoples of the world.” [Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá]

It is, these Teachings state further, the duty of every one of His followers to demonstrate “their unqualified loyalty and obedience” to “their respective governments”. [The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh]

The followers of Bahá’u’lláh are instructed to consider disloyalty unto a just government as disloyalty to God Himself. It is the sacred obligation of each individual Bahá’í, Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings state:

“… to promote, in the most effective manner, the best interests of their government and people.” [The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh]

According to the written word of the Bahá’í Teachings it is the sincere desire of every true and loyal follower:

“… to serve, in an unselfish, unostentatious and patriotic fashion, the highest interests of the country to which he belongs.” [The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh]

These Bahá’ís are willing to give their energies, even their lives, to the just government that does not require them to be disloyal to their love for God, and to the spiritual teachings given by Christ and Bahá’u’lláh.

Although the essence of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teaching is the establishment of the unity of all nations, His words neither condemn nor disparage or censure an intelligent patriotism; nor do they in any way try to alter the natural, warm love one feels for one’s native land.

The Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith say specifically that His Message concerning world government and world unity does not,

““… seek to undermine the allegiance and loyalty of any individual to his country, nor does it conflict with the legitimate aspirations, rights, and duties of any individual state or nation.

All it does imply and proclaim is the insufficiency of patriotism, in view of the fundamental changes effected in the economic life of society and the interdependence of the nations, and as the consequence of the contraction of the world, through the revolution in the means of transportation and communication— conditions that did not and could not exist either in days of Jesus Christ …

It calls for a wider loyalty, which should not, and indeed does not, conflict with lesser loyalties.

It instils a love which, in view of its scope, must include and not exclude the love of one’s own country.

It lays, through this loyalty which it inspires, and this love which it infuses, the only foundation on which the concept of world citizenship can thrive, and the structure of world unification can rest.

It does insist, however, on the subordination of national considerations and particularistic interests to the imperative and paramount claims of humanity as a whole, inasmuch as in the world of interdependent nations and peoples the advantage of the part is best to reached by the advantage of the whole.”
[The Promised Day is Come]

Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings not only demand that His followers be loyal to their government but they are also specifically and firmly forbidden to take part in any subversive political or social movement.

Viscount Samuel, High Commissioner for Palestine under the British Mandate, wrote of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in August 1959, that the Bahá’ís were generally regarded as a valuable element in the population, intelligent, orderly, well-educated, and above all, trustworthy. In Government service and in commercial employment they were much esteemed as being free from corruptibility … well-behaved, courteous to others …” The Bahá’í Faith, Samuel said, “commands the respect and goodwill of its neighbours.” [Bahá’í Journal, British Isles 1959]

That the Bahá’í makes a useful, and desirable citizen in every land, becomes apparent from these words of counsel which Bahá’u’lláh gives His followers:

1. “It is incumbent upon every man, in this Day, to hold fast unto whatsoever will promote the interests, and exalt the station of all nations and just governments.”

2. “Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts.”

3. “That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race.”

4. “Beautify your tongues, O people, with truthfulness, and adorn your souls with the ornament of honesty. Beware, O people, that ye deal not treacherously with anyone. Be ye the trustees of God amongst His creatures …”
[Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh]

This is another fruit by which you may test the tree of Bahá’u’lláh.

----------

NEXT - Post #51: The Third Fruit: Religion

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #49

Part Five: The Final Evidence
The First Fruit: Home and Family

{Sears seeks out the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh: about Home and Family, in particular, marriage and children}

Bahá’u’lláh claims that the home and family are sacred. These precious possessions are of the utmost importance for a useful and worthwhile life. He calls upon all mankind to honour the sanctity of marriage.

He forbids His followers to live lives of monastic seclusion.

According to Bahá ‘u’ lláh, it is not sufficient in this day to be good in isolation. We must be good in a group. A wholesome family life, he tells us, is the basis of society.

Bahá’u’lláh says:

“Enter ye into wedlock, that after you another may arise in your stead. We, verily, have forbidden you lechery, and not that which is conducive to fidelity.”
[Epistle to the Son of the Wolf]

Dr J. E. Esslemont in his analysis of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh writes:

“Whatever justification there may have been for the monastic life in ancient times and bygone circumstances, Bahá’u’lláh declares that such justification no longer exists; and, indeed, it seems obvious that the withdrawal of a large number of the most pious and God-fearing of the population from association with their fellows, and from the duties and responsibilities of parenthood, must result in the spiritual impoverishment of the race.” [Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era]

The Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh say:

“She must not rest until she makes him her spiritual as well as physical partner in life. But the Bahá’í engagement [betrothal] is the perfect communication and the entire consent of both parties. However, they must show forth the utmost attention and become informed of one another’s character and the firm covenant made between each other must become an eternal binding, and their intentions must be everlasting affinity, friendship, unity and life.”
[Tablets of `Abdu'l-Bahá]

“The marriage of Bahá’ís means that the man and woman must become spiritually and physically united, so that they may have eternal unity throughout all the divine worlds, and improve the spiritual life of each other. This is Bahá’í matrimony.”
[Tablets of `Abdu'l-Bahá]

Bahá’u’lláh advises all men and women to marry so that children may be raised up who can honour the name of God and who can render service to mankind.

Bahá’u’lláh’s followers have been given the following counsel about their homes and families:

“Make your home a haven of rest and peace. Be hospitable, and let the doors of your home be open to the faces of friends and strangers. Welcome every guest with radiant grace and let each feel that it is his home.

“Nourish continually the tree of your union with love and affection so that it may remain ever green throughout all seasons, and when God gives you sweet and lovely children consecrate yourselves to their instruction and guidance so that they may become the servants of the world of humanity.” [Bahá’í Prayers]

The son of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, spoke in Paris on 6 November 1911. He said: “This is in truth a Bahá’í house.” He told the people who were gathered in that house that every time such a house is established in a community it must become known for the “intense spirituality and for the love it spreads among the peoples.” [Paris Talks]

He said:

“Oh, friends of God! If ye will trust in the Word of God and be strong; if ye will follow the precepts of Bahá’u’lláh to tend the sick, raise the fallen, care for the poor and needy, give shelter to the destitute, protect the oppressed, comfort the sorrowful and love the world of humanity with all your hearts, then I say unto you that ere long this meeting-place will see a wonderful harvest. … but ye must have a firm foundation and your aims and ambitions must be clearly understood by each member.

“They shall be as follows:

1. To show compassion and goodwill to all mankind.
2. To render service to humanity.
3. To endeavour to guide and enlighten those in darkness.
4. To be kind to everyone, and show forth affection to every living soul.
5. To be humble in your attitude towards God, to be constant in prayer to Him, so as to grow daily nearer to God.
6. To be so faithful and sincere in all your actions that every member may be known for embodying the qualities of honesty, love, faith, kindness, generosity, and courage. To be detached from all that is not of God …” [Paris Talks]

The home and family that fulfilled these conditions, he said, would be true to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.

This is one of the fruits taken from the tree of Bahá’u’lláh by which you may judge Him.

----------

NEXT - Post #50: The Second Fruit: Country

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #48

Part Five: The Final Evidence
The Tree of Life

{Sears comes to a decision: “systematically to examine the fruits from the tree of Bahá’u’lláh, so that I might determine whether He was a true or a false prophet”}

Christ foretold that the One Who came in His name at the time of the end would be the ‘Spirit of Truth’:

“… he will guide you into all truth …” [John 16:13]

In another place, He said:

“… he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” [John 14:26]

And yet again:

“… he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” [John 16:14]

I was determined to seek for the inward truth behind the outward symbol in Christ’s words, for I found written in yet another place:

“… the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him (the believer) in the last day.” [John 12:48]

Bahá’u’lláh, I found, had written over a hundred volumes. Here it is possible for me to mention but a few of His teachings, and in only the briefest manner. It is like trying to catch the ocean in a cup.

The scholar Charles Baudouin, in his book Contemporary Studies, writes of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings, saying that this “ethical code is dominated by the law of love taught by Jesus and by all the prophets. In the thousand and one details of practical life, this law is subject to manifold interpretations. That of Bahá’u’lláh is unquestionably one of the most comprehensive of these, one of the most exalted, one of the most satisfactory to the modern mind …”

The former President of Czechoslovakia, Eduard Benés wrote of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings, “The Bahá’í Cause is one of the great moral and social forces in all the world today.”

Mr Benés wrote on another occasion, “The Bahá’í Teaching is one of the spiritual forces now absolutely necessary to put the spirit first in this battle against material forces … The Bahá’í Teaching is one of the great instruments for the final victory of the spirit and of humanity.”

The scientist, Dr Glenn A. Shook, inventor of the colour-organ {inventor of a color organ, a device designed to translate sound, particularly music, into visual representations through colored lights}, and former head of the Physics Department at Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts, wrote of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings:

“Here is a mighty river of knowledge. It appeals to the scientist as well as to the layman. Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings meet the challenge of our age head-on, and offer sound, reasonable solutions. They have been an invaluable discovery to me as a scientist, and a treasure and comfort to me as an individual human being.”

Queen Marie of Rumania wrote in the Daily Star of Toronto, Canada, on 4 May 1926:
“If ever the name of Bahá’u’lláh (or His son {`Abdu'l-Bahá}) comes to your attention, do not put their writings from you. Search out their Books, and let their glorious, peace-bringing, love-creating words and lessons sink into your hearts as they have into mine.”

Eight years later, she wrote:
“These books have strengthened me beyond belief and I am now ready to die any day full of hope … The Bahá’í Teaching brings peace and under-standing … It accepts all great prophets gone before, it destroys no other creeds and leaves all doors open … To those in search of assurance, the words of the Father are as a fountain in the desert after long wandering.”

The following words of Bahá’u’lláh, I felt, reflected the spirit of His entire Teaching:

“O ye children of men! The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men.”
[Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh ] https://t.co/6SfMG0zCww

At this point, I began systematically to examine the fruits from the tree of Bahá’u’lláh, so that I might determine whether He was a true or a false prophet.

I searched out Bahá’u’lláh’s words upon those subjects that I felt were nearest to my heart and to the heart of every human being. These subjects I thought were most vital to every man’s welfare:

1. His home and family.
2. His country.
3. His religion.
4. His individual self.

The first fruit I planned to test was that relating to man’s home and family.

----------

NEXT - Post #49: The First Fruit: Home and Family

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #47

Part Five: The Final Evidence
Enemy of the People

{Sears decides how to test if Bahá'u'lláh is the Messiah. “I would measure Bahá’u’lláh according to the standard that Christ had given”}

Christ knew that this same disbelief would be repeated in the day of His return {disbelief in the new Messiah, just as people had disbelieved in Christ Himself}.

He {Christ} warned His followers not to be misled by outward, physical wonders that might be worked in His name, but to look for the Figure Who would have that humble, loving, in-swelling Spirit.

Whenever a Messenger of God such as Jesus, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Muhammad, the Báb, or Bahá’u’lláh appears, He is considered to be a ‘false prophet’ by those who are not spiritually awake.

This is not a new problem. It did not begin with Christ or with Bahá’u’lláh. It is as old as the human race.

In that same chapter of Matthew in which Christ so clearly foretold the time of His return, He also gives His strongest warnings about the false prophets in the last days. He says:

“Wherefore if they shall say unto you, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” [Matthew 24:26]

It is said that in the fifty years following the crucifixion, many people arose and claimed to be the Messiah, and throughout the centuries, many have made this false claim.

In spite of these false prophets and fake Messiahs, Durant, in his The Age of Faith, says that the Jewish thinker Maimonides “accepted the Messianic hope as an indispensable support to the Jewish spirit in the Dispersion, and made it one of the thirteen principal tenets of the Jewish Faith.”

Although both Christianity and Judaism eagerly awaited the coming of the Messiah, the great mass of believers lost interest and became indifferent, even though in both Faiths the coming Kingdom was spoken of in prayer each day.

And so I {William Sears} asked myself if there were not some positive way in which I could test Bahá’u’lláh to make certain that He was a true prophet, and not a false prophet.

Fortunately, there was a way. It was given us by Christ Himself. He gave all Christians an infallible method by which they could test each prophet that came.

“‘Beware of false prophets,’ Christ warned, ‘which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.’” [Matthew 7:15]

Christ promised that if we looked for the ‘inward’ truth and not the ‘outward’ appearance, we would know the true from the false, for:

“He that entereth in by the door [Gate] is the shepherd of the sheep … he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.” [John 10:2, 4]

Christ was clearly speaking of the day of His return in this warning, for He said:

“And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold [Christianity]: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it up again.” [John 10:16–17]

In the very prophecy in which Christ warns His followers to ‘beware of false prophets’, He gives them the method by which they can judge the true from the false. He has provided humanity with an unerring standard by which every person can determine for himself whether a prophet is true or false.

I found this standard in the seventh chapter of Matthew. In this one chapter Christ gives the warning concerning false prophets, and gives the measuring rod by which to judge them.
I felt there was no excuse for me, or any other follower of Christ not to know the truth, for it is taken from His famous Sermon on the Mount.

“Beware of false prophets,” He warns, “which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

“Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit …

“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

Therefore, I intended to use this sound basis for judgement. I would do as Christ Himself advised. I would judge Bahá’u’lláh by His fruits. I would measure Bahá’u’lláh according to the standard that Christ had given, knowing that it would prove once and for all whether Bahá’u’lláh had the right to be called the Messiah.

If the fruit is good, the tree is good; and the prophet is true. That would be my test.

I decided to make this one of my most fundamental proofs, for I felt that the solution to The case of the missing millennium depended upon this one proof perhaps more than on any other.

----------

NEXT - Post #48: The Tree of Life

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN< follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #46

Part Five: The Final Evidence
Beware of False Prophets

{“The Messiah, it appears, can only be recognized by those who have ‘eyes to see’.”}

Christ warned his followers to beware of false prophets and not to be misled by them before the day of His return. He said:

“Take heed that no man deceive you.

“For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.” [Matthew 24:4–5]

Again He said:

“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ or there; believe it not.” [Matthew 24:23]

Jesus warned His followers that there would not be one, but many false Christs and false prophets who “… shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” [Matthew 24:24]

It was to protect His followers from error that Christ gave them His three great promises concerning the proof of His return:

(1) The Gospel would be preached everywhere;
(2) the times of the Gentiles would be fulfilled; and
(3) the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel would come to pass.

He warned them to ‘watch!’ with spiritual eyes and ears for these proofs, so that they would not be misled. Christ knew that only the pure in heart would recognize Him in the day of His return. He knew that every Prophet had been called false by His own generation. It had been true of Himself as well.

Christ was considered, by the great mass of the people of His day, to be a ‘false prophet’. It is written:

“And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, he is a good man; others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.” [John 7:1]

When the simple, humble people went to their religious leaders and asked about the truth of Christ’s Mission, they were told that He was a false prophet. They were warned against Him. Even though Christ showed signs and wonders that attracted people, the leaders still denied Him. This is shown clearly in the words:

“The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. “Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?” [John 7:46–47]

The great separation between the few whom considered Him true and the vast majority who considered Him false is clear from the words of John:

“So there was a division among the people because of him.” [John 7:43]

The public was told that only the lowest class believed in Christ, and that the important and influential people who had knowledge, education and wisdom knew Christ to be false. It was pointed out to those foolish ones who wanted to believe:

“Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?” [John 7:48]

It was repeatedly said that only those ignorant ones who didn’t know the book of Moses believed in Christ. These people were misled, and as false as Christ, the leaders warned, saying:

“… this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.” [John 7:49]

The great public of Palestine did not believe in Jesus of Nazareth because He had not fulfilled their understanding of the prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah.

To the followers of Christ who tried to win over their allegiance, the people replied scornfully that He, Christ, was a false prophet. They proved it from the prophecies in their Scriptures.

“The Messiah will sit upon the throne of David,” they pointed out. “Where is the throne of the Nazarene?”

“Mount Zion will dance in the day of the Messiah. Who has yet seen this wonder?”

“The Messiah will rule with a sword. This Jesus does not even have a staff, let alone a sword.”

“He will be a son of David, yet you say he is born of a virgin. He cannot fulfil this prophecy.”

“Daniel has promised that He will be a prince. This Jesus is but a carpenter, and not a prince of noble birth.”

“It is written that a holy one will not hang upon a tree, yet this Nazarene was nailed to a tree and hung.”

“In Deuteronomy it states plainly:

“‘… he that is hanged is accursed of God.’” [Deuteronomy 21:23]

The Jews pointed out all these things to the Christians, asking, “How can we believe in one who is accursed according to the book?”

One of the most difficult questions for the Christians to explain to the Jews was the prophecy that the Messiah would bring together the dispersed sheep of Israel. The Jews said: “It is written of the Messiah that He will gather us out of the nations where we are scattered, but we are not scattered, we are here. How can he be a true prophet? How can he gather us if we are not separated?”

Later, after the year 70 AD, when Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews scattered, this question was even harder to answer. For the Jews would then reply:

“The Messiah is to gather us together when He comes. Christ has come and we are driven out of our homeland. This is the opposite of what the Messiah is to do. Therefore, we think Him to be false. How can you expect us to believe?”

Philip met his friend Nathaniel and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses spoke in the Law. He is Jesus of Nazareth.”

Nathaniel, quoting Scripture, replied, “Can there any good come out of Nazareth?”
Nicodemus said to the Pharisees concerning Jesus: “Doth our law judge any man before it hear him, and know what he doeth?”

The Pharisees answered him from Scripture, saying, “Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.”

The people of Palestine said honestly to themselves: “How then can this Jesus of Nazareth be the Messiah?”

The people of that day were sceptical of Messiahs, especially those from Galilee. Within the time of many of them, Judas the Gaulonite had claimed to be the Messiah, and had arisen to free the Jews from the yoke of Rome. Many thousands perished in Galilee in the ensuing war, until Josephus, a contemporary historian, concluded “that God had given up the Galileans to the Romans …” This Jesus of Galilee might well be another such false Christ, they reasoned. It would be wiser to ignore him.

The followers of Jesus explained to the people that these prophecies concerning Christ had been fulfilled ‘inwardly’ not ‘outwardly’; that these prophecies were to be understood symbolically and not literally. The people, however, refused to accept such an explanation.

Some of Christ’s own followers eventually thought Him false too, because they could not understand the symbolic meaning of His parables.

It was the inward truth not the outward form which they must understand, He told them:
“… the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” [John 6:63]

They heard from His lips words which they felt were contrary to all the things they had been taught for generations; and we are told:

“From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” [John 6:66]

His Holiness Christ was considered to be a false prophet for hundreds of years by many. To the present day, the followers of Moses do not accept Christ as the Messiah, nor does the majority of mankind.

The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that the Christians were condemned by Nero ‘for their enmity to mankind’. They were ‘criminal, and deserving of exemplary punishment …’ Again he wrote that the Christian religion was a ‘pernicious superstition’.

Suetonius, another Roman philosopher and historian, labelled the Holy Faith of Christ ‘a new and magical superstition’. Its followers, he said, ‘were continually making disturbances …’

Celsus, in the second century, compiled a large book filled with terrible libels and dreadful stories of the sacred person of Jesus. Celsus wrote that His Holiness Christ was born out of wedlock, that he was little, ill-favoured, and ignoble, that because of poverty he went to Egypt and worked as a hired labourer, learning magic while there, that he went about begging and gathered round him ten or eleven infamous men.

Porphyry, one of the Neo-Platonic philosophers, wrote similar books that were burned and destroyed by order of two Christian emperors.

The Emperor Julian, whom the Christians called the Apostate, attacked Christianity and Christ in his writings.

Fronto, the tutor of one of the emperors, published an oration against Christianity.
According to Mírzá Abu’l-Fadl, just a list of the writings of those who denied Christ and His Faith through the centuries would make a volume in itself.

The Messiah, it appears, can only be recognized by those who have ‘eyes to see’. These spiritual souls must find the truth in His Teachings and His life through personal investigation. No man of perception will accept the words of an enemy of the Messiah as his own appraisal.

Yet, how could a sincere seeker be sure? Surely, God must have given some guide upon which His children could depend.

----------

NEXT - Post #47: Enemy of the People

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #45

Part Four: Signs in the Heavens
The Night Visitor

{Sears shows that the prophecy “The coming of the Messiah shall be told in the heavens as well as on the earth” has been fulfilled}

The most important date to confirm by signs in the heavens was the date of the birth of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. It was also the easiest. The sign was a great comet.

The famous astronomer, Sir James Jeans, writes in his well-known book Through Space and Time: “… oddly enough many of the most conspicuous appearances of comets seem to have coincided with, or perhaps just anticipated, important events in history.”

The following headlines tell their own story:

‘Sudden appearance of a great and fiery comet in the skies at noonday’

This comet appeared in 1843, the year before the birth of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘anticipating’ this event. It was a giant comet with a tail 105 million miles long. It appeared at the time when a great parhelic circle {halo} around the sun was causing much wonder and speculation.

This appearance is reported in Our First Century as follows:

“The Comet of 1843 is regarded as perhaps the most marvellous of the present age, having been observed in the daytime even before it was visible at night—passing very near the sun, exhibiting an enormous length of tail; and arousing interest in the public mind as universal and deep as it is was unprecedented.”

The New York Tribune and the American Journal of Science devoted special sections to this great comet of 1843, the Journal of Science identifying in those very words:

‘The Great Comet of 1843’.

I found an even more dramatic story told in the heavens during this same period. It was the story of still another comet. It was seen in the skies in 1845. It appeared to be quite an ordinary comet in a year in which some 300 comets had appeared. It had been studied many times in the past. In 1846, the comet was still visible.

However, at this period in its history, it became one of the rare comets of history. It was now entering what were to be the last dramatic moments of its life. It was called Biela’s comet, after the original discoverer.

The Encyclopaedia Americana (1944 ed.) gives the following account of this event:

“It was found again late in November 1845, and in the following month an observation was made of one of the most remarkable phenomena in astronomical records, the division of the comet. It put forth no tail while this alteration was going on. Professor Challis, using the Northumberland telescope at Cambridge, on 15 January 1846, was inclined to distrust his eyes or his glass when he beheld two comets where but one had been before. He would call it, he said, a binary (twin) comet if such a thing had ever been heard of before. His observations were soon verified, however.”

Sir James Jeans has written of this same comet, saying: “The most interesting story is that of Biela’s comet which broke in two while under observation in 1846.”

Professor Challis was wrong. It was not the only binary comet in history, just as Sirius was not the only double-star, nor the Star of Bethlehem the only bright star, or novae, or conjunction of planets in astronomical history. It was not the uniqueness of the event that made it important in prophecy, but its remarkable timing.

Biela’s comet disappeared in 1846. It returned in August 1852. This was the very month and year in which Bahá’u’lláh was cast into an underground prison in Tihrán. It was the beginning of the forty years of his Mission which ended in Israel in 1892 with his death; the forty years foretold by Micah during which God would show to the Messiah ‘wonderful things’.

The year 1852 was also the beginning of the year 1269 of the Persian calendar. It was the ninth year following the Báb’s prophecy concerning the coming of Bahá’u’lláh. The Báb had written,

“In the year nine ye will attain unto all good … in the year nine ye shall attain unto the presence of God.” [cited in Epistle to the Son of the Wolf by Bahá'u'lláh]

When the single comet that had now become a twin comet reappeared in August 1852, one half had receded far into the background. The other half now dominated the sky. So the Báb, the Herald of Bahá’u’lláh, had now passed into history through martyrdom, and the one whose coming he had foretold, Bahá’u’lláh, had now assumed his Mission.

An account of the reappearance of the comet states: “Late in August 1852, the larger came into view and three weeks later the smaller one, now much fainter than its former companion.”

Sir James Jeans confirms this, saying that in 1852, the two pieces were one and a half million miles apart.

Bahá’u’lláh has written of that hour when the twin-comets rode the skies.

He lay chained in an underground prison. Of that moment, he has said:

“… lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious [God] were wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from One Who is Almighty and All-Knowing. And He bade Me lift up My voice between earth and heaven …” [Epistle to the Son of the Wolf by Bahá'u'lláh]

In that very hour, just as the dove had descended upon Jesus in the river Jordan, and the Burning Bush had appeared to Moses, so did the Most Great Spirit appear to Bahá’u’lláh. He wrote of that experience, saying:

“By my life! Not of Mine own volition have I revealed Myself, but God, of His own choosing, hath manifested Me … Whenever I chose to hold My peace and be still, lo, the Voice of the Holy Spirit, standing on My right hand, aroused Me … and the Spirit of Glory stirred within My bosom, bidding Me arise and break My silence.” [Epistle to the Son of the Wolf by Bahá'u'lláh]

The comet which announced this twin-event of the appearance of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, disappeared, never to return again. Sir James Jeans says:

“… neither of them (the twin-comets) has been seen in cometary form, but the place where they ought to be is occupied by a swarm of million of meteors, known as the Andromedid meteors. Occasionally these meet the earth in its orbit, and make a grand meteoric display …”

Thus the two comets were no longer separate comets, but were mingled in one show of light, just as the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh and that of the Báb were no longer separate, but one in the light they shed upon the world.

There is yet another unique way in which this same oneness of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb is expressed. Even in the calendar of their native land, they are inseparably intertwined.

In the calendar of Persia where both Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb were born, their birthdays fall upon successive days in the exact order in which their Missions were declared.

In the calendar of the West, the Báb was born on 20 October, and Bahá’u’lláh on 12 November. But in the calendar of Persia, the Báb was born on the first day of the month of Muharram, and Bahá’u’lláh on the second day.

In Persia, these two birthdays are celebrated as one great twin-festival. {Now, in the West they are celebrated this way as well}

I was more than gratified by the list of events that I had found written in the skies concerning the coming of Bahá’u’lláh and his Faith. It made an interesting array:

1. The star-fall of 1833 and the periodic appearance of this shower of meteors always in November, the month of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh.

2. The beginning of the study of ‘double-stars’.

3. The parhelic circles {haloes} surrounding the sun in 1843.

4. The great comet of 1843.

5. The parhelic circles of 1844.

6. The comet of 1845, which split in two in 1846, and the mingling of the twin-comets into one single shower of light.

7. The belief that the brightest star Sirius had had a twin companion; a belief announced in 1844. It was proved to be true in 1862, on the eve of Bahá’u’lláh’s declaration.

Although these dramatic events, earthquakes, dark days, falling stars, comets and signs in the heavens concerned the appearance of Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God—indeed they seemed a further fulfilment of the words of the Psalm,

“The heavens declare the glory of God” [Psalms 19:1]

I must make it clear that they are not in any way teachings of the Bahá’í Faith. They were physical signs that added fuel to the Messianic zeal of the 1800s, which was itself a Christian enthusiasm for the return of Christ. The Bahá’í Faith, I learned, gave far more weight to the symbolic fulfilment of ‘falling stars’ and all the other signs.

I now heartily agreed with the newspaper men who said that this story of the return of Christ, if it could be printed as a true story, would be the most dramatic tale it would be possible to tell mankind.

I felt that it was now possible to tell this story.

Beneath the proof:

The coming of the Messiah shall be told in the heavens as well as on the earth, I wrote:

Fulfilled.

In fact, it was at this point that I closed my file on the Prophecies. That part of The case of the missing millennium was complete.

There was only one more obstacle to overcome. This hurdle faces every person who sincerely follows Christ’s command to:

“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” [Matthew 24:42]

If I were successful in overcoming this next obstacle, I felt that I would have without doubt solved for all time this century-old mystery of the return of Christ.

The obstacle could be stated in four words: ‘Beware of false prophets!’

----------

NEXT – PART FIVE – Post #46: Beware of False Prophets

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #44

{Sears discusses the heavenly and human stars that appear to herald the coming of the new Manifestations of God}

Part Four: Signs in the Heavens
The Face of Heaven

-
1. The appearance of the great earthquake in 1755.

2. The sun darkened and the moon turned into blood on the Dark Day of 1780.

3. The stars falling from the heavens in 1833.

...It is interesting to note that the great star-fall came on the night of 12 November, which is the birthday of Bahá’u’lláh.

Could there possibly be any additional signs?
-

There were! Many more!

In addition to these general wonders in the sky preceding the coming of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in 1844, I found other more specific happenings recorded during that period.

Margaret Fuler (Ossoli), a friend of Emerson, made the following statement: “One very marked trait of the period was that the agitation reached all circles.”

Another account of those days says: “Now it was about this time that strange signs appeared in the heavens with such frequency as to cause great uneasiness.”

An article in the Connecticut Observer on 25 November 1833, declared: “We pronounce the raining of fire which we saw on Wednesday morning, last, an awful type, a sure fore-runner—a merciful sign of the great and dreadful day which the inhabitants of the earth will witness when the Sixth Seal (of Revelation) shall be opened. The time is just at hand described, not only in the New Testament, but in the Old.”

After the star-fall of 1833, the interest in the prophecies concerning the time of the end grew by leaps and bounds, reaching a zenith in the 1843–4 period. The concern and zeal were greatly accelerated by the sight of the above parhelic circles or haloes which were seen around the sun in 1843–4, and were reported in the press.

The signs and prophecies became so overpowering to the Reverend Charles Fitch, pastor of the Marlborough Street Chapel in Boston, Massachusetts, that he “took upon himself the duty of warning the public of the coming end. By so doing he lost all connection with his church.”

Fitch himself said: “I became in part an ecclesiastical outcast. But I gained deliverance.”

I {William Sears} was still not at the end of the signs in the heavens that heralded that hour. I had read Bahá’u’lláh’s own words, which said that whenever a Messiah appeared on earth, a star appeared in the heavens.

In his Book of Certitude, Bahá’u’lláh said that there were in reality two stars that attended the appearance of a Messenger of God on earth. There was, he said, the human herald who was the symbolic star and there was the actual physical star in the heavens.

Scripture confirms this truth, telling of the star that warned Nimrod of Abraham’s coming, the star that the soothsayers pointed out to Pharaoh concerning Moses, the star of Bethlehem that made Herod fear the Christ. These same stories of stars have been told of Zoroaster and the other great Messengers of God.

Each of these Prophets had a human herald who prepared the way for Him, as John the Baptist did for Christ. Therefore, if this were the time of the end, when two Messengers of God would come almost simultaneously, then there should be two heralds on earth, and two signs in the heavens. It was a fantastic thought, I felt, but if the formula of Scripture were to be followed, it should be so. Besides, by now I was prepared for anything.

In the history of Persia, I found exactly this event. There were twin heralds who foretold the coming of both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. These two holy souls were called Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim. This accounted for the two human (symbolic) stars on earth, but what about the two stars in the heavens?

Oddly enough, I found that the interest in the study of ‘double’- or ‘twin’- stars began at this very period. Two men, William Hershel and William Struve, were primarily responsible for ‘the foundation of systematic measurement and study of double-stars’. Struve completed his work at Dorpat in 1835.

At almost that exact hour, Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim were proclaiming to the world the coming of the Twin Messengers of God for the last day. Siyyid Kázim, like Shaykh Ahmad before him, prophesied to the people of Persia concerning the Two Who were about to appear. He told them:

“Verily, I say that after the promised Dawn, the promised Sun will be made manifest. For when the light of the Former has set, the Sun of the Latter will rise and illuminate the whole world.” [The Dawn-breakers]

I learned another unusual thing about double-stars which happened at this same time. One of the brightest stars in the heavens is Sirius. The astronomer Bessel advanced a theory that Sirius was not a single star, but a double-star. He made his pronouncement in the year 1844. Sirius has been called a double- star ‘of exceptional historical interest’.

To the millennial scholar this was also true. Bessel made his announcement in 1844, the year of the announcement of the Báb, and the year of the beginning of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith.

Alvan Clark studied Sirius carefully, and then announced that Bessel’s theory was correct. Sirius was a double-star. It had a companion. Clark made his statement in 1862, but a few months before Bahá’u’lláh made his declaration to the world that he was the one foretold by the Báb.

This was fascinating, but it was only the beginning. As in almost every prophecy associated with the life and history of Bahá’u’lláh, I found that the prophecy was not only fulfilled, but the ‘cup runnerth over’.

I understood and sympathised with the words of the student of prophecy who said of these fulfilments:

“It is difficult for a seeker to find spring or a stream, or even a river, but who can fail to behold the ocean?”

----------

NEXT - Post #45: The Night Visitor

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #43

{Sears identifies the third of the three events as are mentioned in Revelation: The falling of the stars from the heavens.}

{from Post #40:

“The signs of Revelation that would appear in succession, leading up to the day of the return of Christ were, in order:

1. The great earthquake

2. The darkening of the sun and the moon.

3. ** The falling of the stars from the heavens. **

I {Wiliam Sears} did find a record of three just such events as are mentioned in Revelation, happening in exactly the order foretold.

...I came across the account of one millennial scholar who made a study of the historical events leading up to the 1840 period...

These events which he listed were as follows:

1. The Lisbon earthquake, 1755.

2. The Dark Day, 1780.

3. ** The Falling Stars, 1833. **

Was I on to something?

I decided to take up the three events one at a time and see for myself.”}

Part Four: Signs in the Heavens
When Stars Fell Like Snowflakes

I admit that as the detective in charge of The case of the missing millennium, I found the story fascinating. The third clue even more so. The third prophecy of Revelation said:

“And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken by a mighty wind.”

I had found just such an event. It was called:

The star-fall of 1833

So exceptional was this event that Clarke in his History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century writes: “… a tempest of falling stars broke over the earth.”

According to the millennial scholars of the 1840s, the third sign in the sixth chapter of Revelation came to pass on 12 November 1833, the night of the unique star-fall.

Clarke wrote of that night, saying: “Once and for all, then, as the result of the star-fall of 1833, the study of luminous meteors became an integral part of astronomy.” He goes on to say: “North America bore the brunt of its pelting. From the Gulf of Mexico to Halifax {eastern Canada}, until daylight with some difficulties put an end to the display, the sky was scored in every direction with shining tracks and illuminated with majestic fireballs.”

Denison Olmsted, Professor of Mathematics at Yale University, wrote the following in the American Journal of Science:

“The morning of 13 November 1833, was rendered memorable by an exhibition of the phenomenon called shooting stars, which was probably more extensive and magnificent than any similar one hitherto recorded … Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was received with so much admiration and delight by one class of spectators, or with so much astonishment and fear by another class. For some time after the occurrence, the ‘meteoric phenomenon’ was the principle topic of conversation.”

Simon Newcomb in Astronomy for Everybody called the display of falling stars “the most remarkable one ever observed”.

The French astronomer, Flammarion, in Popular Astronomy, wrote: “The Boston observer, Olmsted, compared them, at the moment of maximum, to half the number of flakes which are perceived in the air during an ordinary shower of snow.”

Professor Olmsted estimated 34,640 falling stars per hour. His estimate was made after the shower had diminished sufficiently for him to make some sort of a count.

Dr Humphreys, President of St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, in his report in the American Journal of Science, said: “In the words of most, they fell like flakes of snow.”

The American Journal of Science carried the following report: “Though there was no moon, when we first observed them, their brilliancy was so great that we could, at times, read common-sized print without much difficulty, and the light which they afforded was much whiter than that of the moon, in the clearest and coldest night, when the ground is covered with snow.”

The New York Journal of Commerce wrote: “No philosopher or scholar has told or recorded an event like that of yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble of understanding stars falling to mean falling stars.”

Thomas Milner of Britain, writing in the Gallery of Nature in 1852, points out that not only America but all the world was aroused by the profound impression the display made. “In many districts,” he said, “the mass of the population was terror-struck, and the more enlightened were awed at contemplating so vivid a picture of the apocalyptic image—that of the stars of heaven falling to earth, even as a fig tree casting her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.”

Astronomers, after careful study, learned that this particular meteoric display occurs every thirty–three years. However, the display of 1833 was unique in its drama. The fall of 1866 did not rival it in any way, and that of 1899 was of even less interest.

In any event, as the millennial scholars said, it was not the cause behind the sign, but the time of its arrival, and its sequence with the earthquake and the dark day which were important. Many Biblical scholars pointed to the exact fulfilment, and in the proper order of the prophecies concerning the heavens and the signs of the coming of Christ as given in the sixth chapter of Revelation:

1. The appearance of the great earthquake in 1755.

2. The sun darkened and the moon turned into blood on the Dark Day of 1780.

3. The stars falling from the heavens in 1833.

In this same chapter it is foreseen that the Messiah shall come and topple the kings from their thrones, for the great day of the Lord will have come. Christ said:
“… and the stars shall fall from heaven …. And then … shall they see the Son of man coming …” [Matthew 24:29–30]

The millennial scholars pointed to the great convergence of prophecies on the year 1844. Now that the three signs in the heavens, promised as a prelude in Revelation, had been fulfilled, it further strengthened their belief that the hour of the return of Christ was at hand.

The Rev. L. D. Fleming, in his Synopsis of the Evidences of the Second Coming of Christ about AD 1843, written in 1842, declares: “Many distinguished students of prophecy have come to very similar conclusions … How can that wonderful phenomenon of falling stars, or meteors, which astonished the world a few years since, be regarded but as a sign of the last times?” Fleming then reminds the people of the strange ‘nocturnal light’ which a few years before had ‘hung over the earth’. He concludes, saying: “May God help us to watch!”

It is interesting to note that the great star-fall came on the night of 12 November, which is the birthday of Bahá’u’lláh. {In 1833, He would have turned 16 years old on that remarkable day of the third sign.}

Could there possibly be any additional signs?

----------

NEXT - Post #44: The Face of Heaven

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #42

{Sears identifies the second of the three events as are mentioned in Revelation: The darkening of the sun and the moon.}

{from Post #40:

“The signs of Revelation that would appear in succession, leading up to the day of the return of Christ were, in order:

1. The great earthquake

2. ** The darkening of the sun and the moon. **

3. The falling of the stars from the heavens.

I {Wiliam Sears} did find a record of three just such events as are mentioned in Revelation, happening in exactly the order foretold.

...I came across the account of one millennial scholar who made a study of the historical events leading up to the 1840 period...

These events which he listed were as follows:

1. The Lisbon earthquake, 1755.

2. ** The Dark Day, 1780. **

3. The Falling Stars, 1833.

Was I on to something?

I decided to take up the three events one at a time and see for myself.”}

-
Part Four: Signs in the Heavens
The Blast of the Trumpet
-

I was now on the trail of my second clue. The prophecy said:
“… and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.”

I discovered such an event in various documents. It was called:

The dark day of 1780

This event attracted so much attention that it made newspaper headlines in all parts of the United States and in other countries as well.

The following account was given by Dr Samuel Stearns in the Boston Independent Chronicle of 22 June 1780: “That the darkness was not caused by an eclipse is manifest by the various positions of the planets of our system at that time; for the moon was more than one hundred and fifty degrees from the sun all that day.”

The event was so unique that it was placed in the 1883 edition of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, as follows:

“The Dark Day, 19 May 1780—so called on account of a remarkable darkness on that day extending all over New England … The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known.”

In his Collections for the Massachusetts Historical Society 1792, Samuel Tenny writes: “This gross darkness held till about one o’clock, although the moon had filled but the day before.”

Uriah Smith, writing of Tenny’s statement says: “This statement respecting the phase of the moon proves the impossibility of an eclipse of the sun at that time. Whenever on this memorable night the moon did appear, as at times it did, it had … the appearance of blood.”

Many of the scholars made much of the uniqueness of this event, pointing out that it was not a natural eclipse of the sun—but a sudden darkening of the sky, with the moon having the appearance of blood. The more conservative scholars explained that it did not matter whether the happening was a natural one or a mysterious one. The important thing was that the sun was darkened and the moon turned into blood. What caused it was of no importance they said.

Many explanations were advanced for this phenomenon, but the millennial scholars were at least agreed that it was the fulfilment of the prophecy which was important, and not the manner it which it came to pass. Some protested that the ‘dark day’ was not seen by the whole world. Others replied that the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ was seen only in the Middle East, and that half the world is dark each day—how could all see it at once? The excitement and debates were vigorous. Excitement over Christ’s return grew in ratio to the intensity of the disputes.

The Massachusetts Spy reported the following: “Nor was the darkness of the night less uncommon and terrifying than that of the day; notwithstanding there was almost a full moon, no object was discernible, but by help of some artificial light … Some considered it as the immediate harbinger of the last day, when ‘the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.’”

Barber, in his Connecticut Historical Collections reports an amusing drama that took place in the Connecticut Legislature at Hartford. The body was in session when the sky suddenly darkened. The general view soon prevailed that the Day of Judgement had come.

However, Colonel Davenport spoke against a motion for adjournment. He said: “The Day of Judgement is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles be brought.”

The poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote of the awesome day, saying: “… there fell … Over the fresh earth and heaven of noon,

“A horror of great darkness … “… all ears grew sharp

“To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter “The black sky…”

Christ said:

“… shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light … And then … they shall see the Son of man coming …” [Matthew 24:29–30]

Millennial scholars of that day were deeply moved by the event. Many of them were satisfied that the Dark Day that followed the Great Earthquake had fulfilled in succession two of the prophecies recorded in Revelation, events that would precede the appearance of the Messiah on earth.

Both had taken place in the Western world. Anxious eyes looked heavenward, awaiting with expectancy the fulfilment of the third prophecy when the stars would fall from heaven.

----------

NEXT - Post #43: When Stars Fell Like Snowflakes

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #41

{Sears identifies the first of the three events as are mentioned in Revelation: The great earthquake}

{from previous Post:

“The signs of Revelation that would appear in succession, leading up to the day of the return of Christ were, in order:

1. ** The great earthquake **

2. The darkening of the sun and the moon.

3. The falling of the stars from the heavens.

I {Wiliam Sears} did find a record of three just such events as are mentioned in Revelation, happening in exactly the order foretold.

...I came across the account of one millennial scholar who made a study of the historical events leading up to the 1840 period...

These events which he listed were as follows:

1. ** The Lisbon earthquake, 1755. **

2. The Dark Day, 1780.

3. The Falling Stars, 1833.

Was I on to something?

I decided to take up the three events one at a time and see for myself.”}

-
Part Four: Signs in the Heavens
The Shaking Earth
-

My first clue was plain enough.

“… and, lo, there was a great earthquake.”

I found the earthquake in many historical records. It was called:

The Lisbon earthquake of 1755

Concerning the first of these three signs, this great earthquake, I read in the account of Professor W. H. Hobbs, geologist, the following words, taken from his book Earthquakes:

“Among the earth movements which in historic times have affected the kingdom of Portugal, that of 1 November 1955, takes first rank, as it does also, in some respects, among all recorded earthquakes … In six minutes 60,000 people perished.”

As I continued my investigation, I found that millennial scholars took into account the gathering momentum of the shaking of the earth.

The Reverend John Cumming in The Seventh Vial writes of this period, saying: “… in the 65 years that elapsed between AD 1800 and AD 1865, there occurred (within the limits of the old Roman Empire alone) no less than 35 great and disastrous earthquakes, arresting the attention of the historian … In the Scandinavian Peninsula and in Iceland, from AD 1700 to 1850, (there have been) 224; in Spain and Portugal 178; in France, Belgium and Holland 600 … On the Italian Peninsula and the Eastern Mediterranean, upwards of 800 earthquakes have occurred within the period of fifty years between 1800 and 1850.”

It was the unique proximity and the succession of the three events (earthquake, dark day, falling stars), beginning with the destructive earthquake in Portugal which arrested the attention of these scholars, but (according to James Parton in his Life of Voltaire) it was the blinding speed of the destruction in Portugal which set that earthquake apart from all others.

He says: “The Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755, appears to have put both theologians and philosophers on the defensive … At twenty minutes to ten that morning, Lisbon was firm and magnificent … In six minutes the city was in ruins.”

Robert Sears, in his Wonders of the World, writes: “The great earthquake of 1755 extended over a tract of at least four million square miles.”

Voltaire was profoundly moved by the destruction caused by the Portuguese earthquake. It is said that he describes it as follows: “It was the last judgement for that region; nothing was wanting to it except the trumpet.”

The opening of Voltaire’s new play was delayed by the disaster. His biographer, Tallentyre, said: “The earthquake had made all men thoughtful. They mistrusted their love of the drama, and filled the churches instead.”

In that very same year, 1755, another earthquake struck in the land of Persia, killing 40,000 persons. Christ said:

“… there shall be … earthquakes in divers places … these are the beginning … And then … they shall see the Son of man coming …” [Matthew 24:7–8, 30]

Many students of the Bible felt that the great earthquake of Revelation had come at last. It had arrived on the crest of a period of unprecedented increase in the number of earthquakes.

Many were confident that the first of the three signs in the sixth chapter of Revelation had taken place. They would now carefully watch the heavens for the second sign which was to follow: The darkening of the sun.

----------

NEXT - Post #42: The Blast of the Trumpet

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #40

Part Four: Signs in the Heavens
The Signs in the Heavens

{Sears explains how when the Bible says the coming Messiah will bring the end of the world, it actually means the end of an era}

In my {William Sears} study of the books and records of the 1844 period, as well as several relating to the preceding century, I discovered another remarkable thread which excited the people of that time, and led to their zealous expectancy of the Messiah.

These prophecies did not speak of the date of the Messiah’s appearance, but of the dramatic events that would gradually lead up to that wondrous day.

The story was both intriguing and entertaining. I felt that I had to record it. I began to understand much more clearly the zeal that aroused the populace as 1844 approached.

In the Book of Revelation, it promised that one from the seed of Abraham would unseal the Books in the last days. This Lamb of God was pictured in the visions as having seven eyes. These seven eyes were said to be the seven spirits (religions) of God that He had sent forth into the world up to that time. It was to be the Books of these seven great religions that the Messiah would unseal. Strangely enough, I had learned that up to the time of the coming of the Bahá’í Faith, there had been exactly seven great revealed religions...

When this Lamb of God, according to the sixth chapter of Revelation, opened the Books and unsealed their meaning, one of the seals which He broke open concerned the signs which would be written in the heavens. These signs would appear prior to the days or years of His coming. These signs, given in Revelation, were the signs that the millennial scholars searched through history to find during their 1844 enthusiasm. The Book of Revelation prophesied:

1. “… and, lo, there was a great earthquake.” [Revelation 6:12]

This was the first sign that was to appear.

2. “… and the sun became black as sack-cloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;” [Revelation 6:12]

This was to be the second sign.

3. “And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” [Revelation 6:13]

This was the third sign that was to appear. This was the final promise, and would be seen just before the coming of the Messiah in the last days.

Bahá’u’lláh wrote of these signs in the heavens in his Book of Certitude, saying that the meanings hidden in such words as those of Revelation were symbolical, although in some cases they had an outward physical fulfilment as well. Bahá’u’lláh’s explanation of their true inner meaning is given in the ‘Wine of Astonishment’ in the chapter When the stars fall from heaven.

I discovered many interesting events unearthed by the millennial scholars and leading up to the year 1844. Some of them were quite astonishing. Others were certainly dramatic. These happenings caused a great stir among the people of those days.

The signs of Revelation that would appear in succession, leading up to the day of the return of Christ were, in order:

1. The great earthquake

2. The darkening of the sun and the moon.

3. The falling of the stars from the heavens.

The Books of Isaiah, Joel, Daniel, Zechariah, and the New Testament of Christ Himself, had all foretold that these things would take place. Following these events, the ‘great and dreadful’ day of the Lord would appear, and then the Messiah would come, bringing the end of the world.

Some Bible scholars felt that all of these events mentioned in Revelation would take place in one great upheaval, and that the world as we know it would pass away forever. Most of them, however, felt that these three events would take place successively, each one in turn heralding a closer approach of the footsteps of the Messiah, until, shortly after the last of the three, the star-fall, He would appear.

My own study indicated clearly that the ‘end of the world’ mentioned in Scripture was obviously symbolical. It was referred to in some writings as the ‘end of the whirl’ or the ‘end of the cycle’ or the ‘end of the age’.

I found that there were two Greek words used for world. One was kosmos, the other was aion. Kosmos meant the material world and aion meant an age or era. The phrase ‘end of the world’ occurs seven times in the New Testament. Aion is used each time, never kosmos. When the disciples of Christ asked Him about the end of the world, it is aion. When Christ says, ‘so shall it be at the end of the world’, once again it is aion. Clearly, Christ’s return marks the end of an age or the end of an era.

Bizarre as it seemed to me at first, I did find a record of three just such events as are mentioned in Revelation, happening in exactly the order foretold. Incredible? Perhaps, but nevertheless true. Do you wonder that I was thrilled with The case of the missing millennium.
I came across the account of one millennial scholar who made a study of the historical events leading up to the 1840 period. When he had completed his search, he made the following statement:

“As we look, we find the events recorded (in Revelation), following on in the order predicted.” [Our Day in the Light of Prophecy, Spicer]

These events which he listed were as follows:

1. The Lisbon earthquake, 1755.

2. The Dark Day, 1780.

3. The Falling Stars, 1833.

Was I on to something?

I decided to take up the three events one at a time and see for myself.

----------

NEXT - Post #41: The Shaking Earth

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #39 B

Part Three: The Proof
The End of the Avalanche

{Sears lists the 29 prophecies of the Messiah he proved were fulfilled by Bahá'u'lláh}

At this stage in my {William Sears} search, there seemed no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Bahá’u’lláh had brought a definite solution to the century-old mystery of The case of the missing millennium.

With the exactness of the stars, and with an over-flowing abundance of proof, He {Bahá'u'lláh} had fulfilled each of the requirements concerning the Messiah of the last days.

He had fulfilled all of the following proofs from the Scriptures:

1. His Faith had appeared in the year 1844.
2. He had appeared in the East.
3. He had come from Persia.
4. He was known as ‘the Glory of God’.
5. He went to the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
6. He made his public announcement to the world in that land of ancient Babylon.
7. He was exiled from Babylon to Syria, as Abraham had been before him.
8. He came to the ancient land of ‘Canaan’ which God had promised to the seed of Abraham.
9. He came to Israel, the Holy Land, by way of the sea.
10. He came from fortified city to fortified city.
11. He came from the fortress to the river.
12. He came from mountain to mountain.
13. He came from sea to sea.
14. Carmel and Sharon had seen him, ‘the Glory of God’.
15. He came from the East by way of the Gate (the Báb).
16. He had come to the valley of ‘Akká, to the prison-city.
17. He had dwelt in the midst of Carmel.
18. His Law had gone down from the mountain {Mt. Carmel}.
19. The children of Israel had been gathered in the Holy Land in his day.
20. A ‘house of prayer’ for all nations was being raised up on the mountain of God.
21. The desert had blossomed as the rose.
22. His ministry on earth had lasted for exactly forty years.
23. The place of his sanctuary and rest had been beautified.
24. The place where his feet had walked had been made glorious.
25. He had come from the seed of Abraham.
26. He had established a spiritual kingdom even to the ends of the earth.
27. He had unsealed the Books.
28. He had toppled the kings from their thrones.
29. He had glorified Christ.

The fulfilment of these prophecies did not by any means exhaust the story. However, these were the major proofs by which I had planned to test the truth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith and his person.

Beside each one I could confidently place the word: Fulfilled. If my curiosity and interest had not been further aroused by additional information that came into my hands concerning his Faith, information which added greatly to the stature and to the proof of its truth, I would have closed the file on The case of the missing millennium and marked it: Solved.

But there was still more to come, incredible though it seemed. Would the ‘wonders’ never cease?

I bitterly regretted the long years of obscurity that had kept this story from reaching the masses of humanity who hungered and longed for such a hope, for the hand of God to lift their sorrow and disillusionment.

----------

NEXT – PART 4 – Post #40: The Signs in the Heavens

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #38

Part Three: The Proof
Fire in the Sky!

{Sears finds that Bahá'u'lláh fulfills prophecies about ‘(1) the Messiah shall unseal the Books, and (2) He shall topple the unjust kings from their thrones’}

I {William Sears} had one last point of proof. Christ Himself had foretold that when the Messiah came, the Spirit of Truth, He would glorify His, Christ’s, name. Had Bahá’u’lláh done this?

In order to come to this final evidence, I had set aside two important proofs:

1. “He shall unseal the Books.”

2. “He shall topple the unjust kings from their thrones.”

The fulfilment of these two proofs made such a thrilling and dramatic story, that I was not only able to write Fulfilled beside them, but I have felt impelled to write a separate book about each, so that you too, might enjoy the same delight which I felt when discovering these astonishing stories.

The first of these two books I have called ‘The Wine of Astonishment’.

On the eve of the declaration of his Mission, Bahá’u’lláh wrote his Book of Certitude. This book, he himself said, offered to mankind the ‘Choice Sealed Wine’ whose seal is of ‘musk’. It broke the ‘seals’ of the ‘Book’ referred to by Daniel, and disclosed the meaning of the ‘words’ destined to remain ‘closed up’ till the ‘time of the end’. [God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

Bahá’u’lláh wrote over a hundred volumes. This Book of Certitude was completed in the space of two days and two nights, a continuous outpouring. His words have been described as ‘a rushing torrent’.

A historian [Nabíl] who was living at the time of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád, has testified that the words which “streamed from his lips … in a single day and night” were the equivalent of a large volume. Moreover, “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.” [God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

I found the following eye-witness account of a business man of Shíráz, Persia [Muhammad Karím], who knew both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. He says:

“I bear witness that the verses revealed by Bahá’u’lláh were superior, in the rapidity which with they were penned, in the ease with which they flowed, in their lucidity, their profundity and sweetness to those which I, myself, saw pour from the pen of the Báb when in His presence. Had Bahá’u’lláh no other claim to greatness, this were sufficient, in the eyes of the world and its people, that He produced such verses as have streamed this day from His pen.” [God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

In his Writings, Bahá’u’lláh ‘unseals’ the truth and the ‘hidden meanings’ of those subjects which have long troubled and confused mankind, such as:

The Day of Judgement
Resurrection
Baptism
The Eucharist
The Trinity
Reincarnation
The creation of the world
Proofs of the existence of God
Life after death
The immortality of the soul
The story of Adam and Eve
Good and evil
The Son of God
The Father Heaven and hell
The stars falling from heaven
The darkening of the sun and the moon
The day of God
The city of God
The Seal of the Prophets
The Return

These and many other subjects are revealed in their true meaning by Bahá’u’lláh, whose fresh and clear explanations harmonize with science and education and broaden the outlook of humanity. These have been explained in detail in the book ‘The Wine of Astonishment’.

Enoch, in speaking of the Messiah of the time of the end, promised:

“This is the Son of man … who will reveal all the treasure of that which is concealed.” [Enoch 46:3]

The second of these two books I have called ‘Fire in the Sky’ [Published as The Prisoner and the Kings]. It tells the story of Bahá’u’lláh’s letters to the kings and rulers of the world.

Bahá’u’lláh addressed them saying:

“O Kings of the earth! We see you increasing every year your expenditures and laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is wholly and grossly unjust … lay not excessive burdens on your peoples. Do not rob them to rear palaces for yourselves; nay rather, choose for them that which ye choose for yourselves … Your people are your treasures. Beware lest your rule violate the commandments of God, and ye deliver your wards to the hands of the robber. By them ye rule, by their means ye subsist, by their aid ye conquer. Yet, how disdainfully ye look upon them! How strange, how very strange!” [Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh]

In another place Bahá’u’lláh wrote to the kings and rulers:

“… O kings of the earth … Compose your differences, and reduce your armaments, that the burden of your expenditures may be lightened, and that your minds and hearts may be tranquillized. Heal the dissensions that divide you … and ye be the emblems of justice amongst them (mankind).” [ibid]

And again:

“If ye stay not the hand of the oppressor, if ye fail to safeguard the rights of the downtrodden, what right have ye then to vaunt yourselves among men?” [ibid]

Bahá’u’lláh informed the monarchs of the world by whose authority he spoke, saying:

“I am the One Whom the tongue of Isaiah hath extolled, the One with Whose name both the Torah [of Moses] and the Evangel [of Christ] were adorned …” [The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh]

Bahá’u’lláh addressed letters to:

Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria
Napoleon III of France
Kaiser William I of Germany
Czar Nicolaevitch Alexander II of Russia
The Sultán ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz of Turkey
Násiri’d-Dín Sháh of Persia
Queen Victoria of Britain
The Presidents and Rulers of the Republics of the West
The Religious Leaders of the Christians, Jews, Muslims and Zoroastrians
The followers of Christ, Moses, and Muhammad The peoples of the world

Napoleon III cast Bahá’u’lláh’s letter aside scornfully, saying, “If this man is of God, I am two Gods!”

Shortly after, Napoleon fell from power as prophesied by Bahá’u’lláh, and ended his days in exile, after suffering a humiliating imprisonment.

Only one of these sovereigns responded, even in the slightest measure. It was Queen Victoria in Great Britain. This dynasty is the only one which remains today of those once-mighty monarchies.

Bahá’u’lláh foretold that Queen Victoria would have a long and successful reign, although at the time her health was precarious and she was not in favour because of her German consort. Of far more arresting interest is the fact that still another Sovereign, a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria, became a follower of Bahá’u’lláh. I found these words of Queen Marie of Rumania concerning Bahá’u’lláh and his Faith, quoted in the Toronto Daily Star, 14 May 1926:

“It (Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith) is Christ’s message taken up anew … No man could fail to be better because of this Book. I commend it to you all.”

She was quoted in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, 27 September 1926 as follows: “Those who read their Bible with ‘peeled eyes’ will find in almost every line some revelation.”

She also wrote in a personal letter: “These Books (the writings of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith), have strengthened me beyond belief … The Bahá’í teaching brings peace and understanding.” [Appreciations of the Bahá’í Faith]

Bahá’u’lláh declared that he saw ‘abasement hastening after’ those unjust rulers who neglected the rights and welfare of the poor and humble among their subjects. They would, he said, be made an ‘object lesson’ for the world.

Three were assassinated and two went into exile, the royal thrones of all but one were overthrown!

These events, I found, were all foretold for the day of the coming of the Messiah, and were part of the proof expected by the millennial scholars. It had been written in the Scripture of the Messiah:

1. Psalms:
“He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.” [Psalms 76:12]

2. Job:
“He shall break in pieces mighty men without number …” [Job 34:24]

3. Isaiah:
“The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.” [Isaiah 14:5]

“And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.” [Isaiah 24:21]

In the very chapter of Daniel, in which he speaks of the time of the end, saying:

“… behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven …” [Daniel 7:13]

Daniel also says:

“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit (upon His throne) …” [Daniel 7:9]

I found over twenty specific prophecies in sacred Scripture that referred to the overthrow of the kings of the earth in the day of the coming of the Messiah.

Enoch refers to the same ‘Son of man’ mentioned by Daniel for the last days, saying:

“This is the Son of man whom thou hast seen shall … break the teeth of the sinners, and he shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms …” [Enoch 46:4–5]

Enoch even tells from what part of the world this ‘Son of man’ will come in the last days:

“And in those days the angels will assemble, and turn their heads toward the east, towards the people of Parthia and Medea (modern Persia), in order to excite the kings, and that a spirit of disturbance came over them, and disturbed them from off their thrones.” [Enoch 56:5]

The welfare and happiness of the under-privileged, the down-trodden, the common man was a favourite theme of Bahá’u’lláh. He had great love for those who suffered from hunger and persecution. He warned the rulers of earth:

“Know ye that the poor are the trust of God in your midst. Watch that ye betray not His trust, and ye deal not unjustly with them and that ye walk not in the ways of the treacherous.” [Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh]

Bahá’u’lláh’s own words set the seal to those winds of adversity which have swept across the face of the earth since 1844, dethroning monarchs, extinguishing dynasties, and uprooting age old kingdoms:

“God hath not blinked, nor will He ever blink His eyes at the tyranny of the oppressor. More particularly in this Revelation hath He visited each and every tyrant with His vengeance.” [cited in God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

This astonishing story concerning the downfall of kings and the fulfilment of prophecy is told with all of its dramatic detail in the book ‘Fire in the Sky’. [Published as The Prisoner and the Kings]

Beneath the two proofs: (1) the Messiah shall unseal the Books, and (2) He shall topple the unjust kings from their thrones, I wrote:

Fulfilled.

----------

NEXT - Post #39: He Shall Glorify Christ

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #37

Part Three: The Proof
The Blossoming Desert

{Sears discovers that Bahá'u'lláh fulfills the prophecies about how ‘In the day of the Messiah, the desert shall blossom as the rose’}

I {William Sears} had still another proof to check. It had been prophesied that when the Messiah came, the ‘desert would blossom as the rose’.

Isaiah had foretold clearly:

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” [Isaiah 35:1]

It is in the next verse of this prophecy that Isaiah says that when this happens, Carmel and Sharon shall see the Glory of the Lord.

Carmel and Sharon had seen the appearance of Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of the Lord, but had the desert blossomed as the rose?

My study revealed that the followers of Bahá’u’lláh came from as far away as his native land even while he was yet in prison. They knew that Bahá’u’lláh loved children, green fields, trees and flowers. They were heavy-hearted because of the nine years he had to spend in the prison-city surrounded by the sandy plain and the fetid atmosphere of that ‘foul city’.

Bahá’u’lláh’s followers brought flowers and plants from Persia, and his son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá planted a lovely garden nearby. An eye-witness to the events of those days has written:

“These wonderful pilgrims! How they came on that long toilsome journey on foot, braving numberless dangers, malignant human enemies and bad weather, and through all the fatigue, carrying, as the greatest treasure, some plant for their adored one’s garden. Often the only water, which the devoted pilgrims so urgently needed for themselves, was given to the plant.” [The Chosen Highway, Lady Blomfield]

I made a personal visit to that garden on the island of Na’mayn outside the city of ‘Akká. The land is arid, thirsting for water; yet, in the midst of this desert grows a magnificent garden. Laurence Oliphant refers to it in his book on Israel. He says: “This island (garden), which is about two hundred yards long by scarcely a hundred wide, is all laid out in flower-beds and planted with ornamental shrubs and with fruit-trees. Coming upon it suddenly it is like a scene in fairy land.” [Haifa, or Life in Modern Palestine, Lawrence Oliphant]

In another place, Oliphant says of this garden: “The stream is fringed with weeping willows, and the spot, with its wealth of water, its thick shade, and air fragrant with jasmine and orange blossoms, forms an ideal retreat from the heats of summer. The sights and sounds are all suggestive of languor … The senses are lulled by the sounds of murmuring water, the odours of fragrant plants, the flickering shadows of foliage, or the gorgeous tints of flowers …” [ibid]

From the sandy plain of ‘Akká, I {Sears} drove to the rocky side of Mount Carmel. There on the side of this sacred mountain, were lovely gardens, walks and paths of magnificent beauty virtually carved out of the rock.

Even while I was flying from Rome en route to the Holy Land, the beauty of this spot was called to my attention. I was given a folder from the British European Airways. On the cover was a picture of the entrance to the gardens of the Bahá’í Faith on Mount Carmel. The folder described it as: “The most beautiful spot in the Middle East.”

Between the two great Bahá’í gardens that go halfway up the mountainside, runs a broad highway. Through the gates leading from this highway stream pilgrims and visitors from all parts of the world. They come with hearts full of joy and gladness, and the sound of their beautiful chanting can be heard on that mountainside. This, too, was foreseen by Isaiah:

“And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness … the redeemed shall walk there.

“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” [Isaiah 35:8, 10]

Surrounding these beautiful Shrines and gardens are orange, lemon and pomegranate trees. Beautiful coloured paths of red and white stone wind through multi-coloured flowers, graceful lawns and dark green hedges. Wherever the feet of Bahá’u’lláh walked can be found these lovely gardens.

The Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh, the sanctuary where he is buried, is a place of great beauty and peace. It lies in the centre of a giant circle with many walks leading to it. This land was once an arid desert, but now it blossoms out in splendour. It is perfumed by rose, hyacinth, jasmine and geranium. Smooth white stones from the Sea of Galilee make a pathway directly to the door of his Shrine. Three hills carpeted in crimson shelter his sanctuary from wind and storm. These sacred Shrines are surrounded by cedars of Lebanon, fir trees, pine trees, cypress, box, and olive trees.

Isaiah had foretold:

“… his rest shall be glorious.” [Isaiah 11:10]

In still another chapter, Isaiah prophesies:

“… the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” and a few verses later he foresees the following:
“The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.” [Isaiah 60:1, 13]

Bahá’u’lláh’s name means ‘the Glory of the Lord’. The place of his ‘rest’ had been made glorious, as well as the place where his feet had walked.

Isaiah also prophesies:

“I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry lands springs of water.

“I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:

“That they may see, and know, and consider, and under-stand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.” [Isaiah 41:18–20]

I also uncovered the prophecies that foretold that when ‘the Glory of God’ that ‘Holy One’ of Israel returned to Zion, there would be changes of climate, and that the arid would become green. In that day when His ‘rest’ and ‘sanctuary’ would be ‘beautified’, the water would flow where the desert once held sway.

A survey of the early development of modern Israel disclosed the following report:

“Even the climatic conditions of Palestine (Israel) are now showing marked improvement. In 1927 the Pools of Solomon, dry for centuries, began to overflow. At that time the High Commissioner of Palestine was asked to declare a day of public thanksgiving to come for this seeming miracle. The pools were measured and found to contain approximately sixty million gallons. In Bible times there were two copious rainy seasons in Palestine, the “early and the later rain”. But for the past many centuries the “early rains” have been scant; while the “later rains” and the dews had disappeared completely. But now these have returned to gladden the land, with the result that some parts of Palestine now yield two or three crops a year.” [Zionism in Prophecy, F. Hudgings]

Thus the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled:

“… he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” [Joel 2:23]

Also the prophecy of Zechariah:

“Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion … I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days … the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.” [Zechariah 8:3, 11–12]

There in the sandy desert of the plain of ‘Akká, as long ago as 1878, a fountain splashed and gurgled in the midst of Bahá’u’lláh’s garden.

Fresh water flowed in abundance to the arid land that now nourishes the beautiful green lawns, trees and flowers in both ‘Akká and on the side of Mount Carmel in Haifa, even as Isaiah had prophesied:

“… in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert.

“And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.” [Isaiah 35:6–7]

In this same chapter, Isaiah again prophesies that these wonders shall take place in Israel when Carmel and Sharon shall see ‘the Glory of the Lord’.

Nearly twenty years before the turn of this century a Christian traveller described these waters of Bahá’u’lláh’s garden in the midst of the desert wilderness,

“In the centre is a splashing fountain from which the water is conveyed to all parts of the garden. The flower-beds are all bordered with neat edges of stone-work, and are sunk below the irrigating channels. Over a marble bed the waters from the fountain come rippling down in a broad stream to a bower of bliss, where two immense and venerable mulberry-trees cast an impenetrable shade over a platform with seats along the entire length of one side, protected by a balustrade projecting over the waters of the Belus, which here runs in a clear stream, fourteen or fifteen feet wide and … three deep, over a pebbly bottom, where fish of considerable size, and evidently preserved, are darting fearlessly about, or coming up to the steps to be fed.” [Haifa, Oliphant]

Bahá’u’lláh had successively demonstrated every requirement for this specific proof. Since the day of his coming to Israel, the land had grown in beauty. The places where he dwelled and where he walked had become gardens of superb loveliness. The desert had indeed ‘blossomed as the rose’. In fact, I saw with my own eyes, one huge plot where once only barren rock had pushed its head above the soil. Now there bloomed roses of every variety and hue, perfuming the air with a delicate fragrance.

The proof had demanded: In the day of the Messiah, the desert shall blossom as the rose. I marked it:

Fulfilled.

----------

NEXT - Post #38: Fire in the Sky!

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #36.b

Part Three: The Proof
Where the Poor are the Kings of Paradise (cont’d)

{Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá}

Isaiah had foretold:

1. “He is despised and rejected of men: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief …” [Isaiah 53:3]

Bahá’u’lláh was rejected by his own countrymen, and was sent into exile.
His life was filled with grief and sorrow.

2. “We hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” [Isaiah 53:3]

The Emperor Franz Joseph passed within but a short distance of the prison in which Bahá’u’lláh was captive. Louis Napoleon cast behind his back the letter which Bahá’u’lláh sent to him, saying: “If this man is of God, then I am two Gods!” The people of the world have followed in their footsteps.

3. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows …” [Isaiah 53:4]

I read the following words of Bahá’u’lláh concerning his persecution and imprisonment:

“Though weariness lay Me low, and hunger consume Me, and the bare rock be My bed, and My fellows the beasts of the field, I will not complain, but will endure patiently … and will render thanks unto God under all conditions … We pray that, out of His bounty—exalted be He—He may release, through this imprisonment, the necks of men from chains and fetters…” [cited in The Promised Day is Come, Shoghi Effendi,]

The prophecy of Isaiah continues:

4. “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” [Isaiah 53:5]

Bahá’u’lláh was twice stoned, once scourged, thrice poisoned, scarred with hundred-pound chains which cut through his flesh and rested upon the bones of his shoulders.

He lived a prisoner and an exile for nearly half a century.

5. “He was taken from prison and from judgement …” [Isaiah 53:8]

Bahá’u’lláh was taken from the black-pit prison in Tihrán for judgement before the authorities. His death was expected hourly, but he was banished to ‘Iráq and finally to Israel. In the prison-city of ‘Akká, on another occasion,

“… the Governor, at the head of his troops, with drawn swords, surrounded (Bahá’u’lláh’s) house. The entire populace, as well as the military authorities, were in a state of great agitation. The shouts and clamour of the people could be heard on all sides. Bahá’u’lláh was peremptorily summoned to the Governorate, interrogated, kept in custody the first night … The Governor, soon after, sent word that he was at liberty to return to his home, and apologized for what had occurred.” [God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

6. “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death …” [Isaiah 53:9]

Bahá’u’lláh was buried in the precincts of the Mansion of Bahjí, owned by a wealthy Muslim. He was surrounded by enemies; members of his own family who betrayed his trust after his death and dwelt in homes adjacent to his burial-place.

7. “… he shall see his seed …” [Isaiah 53:10]

Bahá’u’lláh did see his ‘seed’. He wrote a special document called the Book of the Covenant, in which he appointed his eldest son to be the Centre of his Faith after his own passing. This very event was also foretold in the prophecies of the Psalms that proclaim:

“Also I will make him my first-born higher than the kings of the earth … and my covenant shall stand fast with him.” [Psalms 89:27, 28]

The ‘first-born’ son of Bahá’u’lláh, was named ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, which means ‘the servant of Bahá’(‘u’lláh). Bahá’u’lláh appointed him as his own successor in his Will and Testament. He called ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the Centre of his Covenant.

Professor E. G. Browne said of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:

“Seldom have I seen one whose appearance impressed me more … One more eloquent of speech, more ready of argument, more apt of illustration, more intimately acquainted with the sacred books of the Jews, the Christians and Mohammadans, could, I should think, scarcely be found … These qualities, combined with a bearing at once majestic and genial, made me cease to wonder at the influence and esteem which he enjoyed even beyond the circle of his father’s followers. About the greatness of this man and his power, no one who had seen him could entertain a doubt.” [A Traveller’s Narrative, Browne]

The well-known Bible scholar of Oxford University, the Reverend Dr T. K. Cheyne, arranged a meeting for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at Manchester College, Oxford. Dr Cheyne himself invited the public in an advertisement in the Oxford newspaper. In the Preface of his book The Reconciliation of Races and Religions, Cheyne mentions the fact that the Hungarian sage Arminius Vambéry was a believer in Bahá’u’lláh. Of his own belief, Cheyne says, “I should express my own adhesion to the Bahá’í leader in more glowing terms.”

Cheyne is mentioned on the title page of his book as a member of ‘the Bahá’í Community’.

This is the same Christian clergyman and Bible scholar who wrote: “If there has been any prophet in recent times, it is to Bahá’u’lláh that we must go. Character is the final judge. Bahá’u’lláh was a man of the highest class—that of prophets.” [Appreciations of the Bahá’í Faith]

8. Isaiah’s prophecy continues:

“He (God) shall prolong his days …” [Isaiah 53:10]

Bahá’u’lláh’s days were prolonged. He was born in 1817 and passed away in the Holy Land in 1892. In the last years of his life, Bahá’u’lláh was released from his prison cell. He came out of the prison-city of ‘Akká and walked on the sides of Mount Carmel. His followers came from afar to be with him, and to surround him with their love, fulfilling the words of the prayer of David spoken within a cave:

“Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.” [Psalms 142:7]

These events in the valley of ‘Akká with its strong fortress prison had been foreshadowed in Ecclesiastes (4:14):

“For out of prison he cometh to reign …”

Bahá’u’lláh, I had found, had written that “whatsoever hath been announced in the Books hath been revealed and made clear.” He declared that the Ancient Beauty “ruleth upon the throne of David” and that the “Most Great Law is come.” [cited in God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

Alongside my record of the prophecies which the Messiah would have to fulfil concerning the ‘plain of Sharon’, the ‘valley of Achor’, and the sacred mountain ‘Carmel’, I wrote:

Fulfilled.

----------

NEXT - Post #37: The Blossoming Desert

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #36.a

Part Three: The Proof
Where the Poor are the Kings of Paradise

{Prophetic places: Mt Carmel and Akká}

{From Post #35:

The world administrative centre of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith is on the north side of Mount Carmel, one of the most beautiful situations and views in all of Israel. Thus, the new Zion fulfilled the prophecy of the Psalms for the last days:

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

“Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” [Psalms 48:1–]}

Post #36.a:

Almost immediately I {William Sears} found the following statement about this famous mountain:

“Carmel is renowned in Jewish history, and occurs frequently in the imagery of the prophets.” [The Jewish Encyclopaedia, Funk and Wagnalls]

It is mentioned in: Joshua, I Kings, II Kings, Songs of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah and Nahum, etc.

I also learned the following:

1. Mount Carmel is famous as the place where Elijah brought Israel to its allegiance to YHWH (God), and where he slew the priests of Baal. [ibid]

2. It was on Mount Carmel that Elisha restored to life the son of the Shumammite woman. [ibid]

{from Grok: “the Shumammite woman” “refers to a biblical story from the Old Testament, specifically in 2 Kings 4:8-37. The prophet Elisha, while staying with a Shunammite woman and her husband, was told by God that the woman, who was childless, would have a son. She did, but later the boy died. Elisha prayed to God and performed a miracle by restoring the boy to life. This took place in the region of Mount Carmel, a significant location in biblical narratives known for its spiritual importance”}

3. The Jewish Encyclopaedia says, “It is reasonable to suppose that from very early times Carmel was considered a sacred spot.” [ibid]

4. An altar to YHWH (God) existed on Mount Carmel before the introduction of the worship of Baal into the kingdom. [ibid]

{from Grok: Baal was false God worshipped by many in Israel under the influence of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal is a pivotal event described in the Old Testament, specifically in 1 Kings 18:16-40. It took place on Mount Carmel and is a dramatic demonstration of the power of the God of Israel over the false god Baal}

5. Elisha visited Mount Carmel from Jericho, and made it his abiding place. [ibid]

6. Pythagorus {an ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, and mystic } was attracted to Mount Carmel because of its sacred reputation. [ibid]

7. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, Vespasian went to Mount Carmel to consult the oracle of God which was believed to dwell on the side of the mountain.

8. Elijah chose Mount Carmel as the place for the assembly of the people. [ibid]

9. Fire descended from heaven onto Mount Carmel in a contest of truth, and ‘proved the God of Israel to be the true God’. [ibid]

10. The Cave of Elijah can still be seen on the side of Mount Carmel. This is the cave of the prophet Elijah who was to appear in the last days as the Forerunner and Herald of the expected Messiah.

There is still another very interesting prophecy concerning Mount Carmel and the time of the end. I found it in the Book of Elijah, one of the Midrashic apocalypses of the Jews.

Silver, in his Messianic Speculation in Israel, comments on this Book of Elijah, saying:

“The angel Michael, after showing Elijah the regions of heaven, reveals to him on Mount Carmel, the time of the end.”

The following promises were also given for Mount Carmel:

1. The Messiah would dwell in the midst of Carmel.

2. The Messiah would feed his flock from Carmel with the rod of his teachings.

3. The Messiah, the Glory of the Lord, would be seen by Carmel.

In addition to the many prophecies concerning Mount Carmel and the city of ‘Akká which have already been mentioned, I found some very interesting accounts in other Scriptures. I learned that the city of ‘Akká (Accho, Acre, St. Jean d’Acre, Ptolemais), had been greatly lauded as a place of hope and promise.

For example, the Arabian Prophet also referred to ‘Akká many times, calling it:

1. “A city … to which God has shown His special mercy.” [cited in God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

2. A city “by the shore of the sea … whose whiteness is pleasing to God.” [ibid]

In the prophecies of Islám, it is written of ‘Akká:

1. “Blessed the man that hath visited ‘Akká, and blessed be he that hath visited the visitor of ‘Akká.” [ibid]

2. “He that raiseth therein the call to prayer, his voice will be lifted up unto Paradise.” [ibid]

3. “The poor of ‘Akká are the kings of paradise and the princes thereof.” [ibid]

4. “A month at ‘Akká is better than a thousand years elsewhere.” [ibid]

And finally, one of the most remarkable prophecies of all, when one follows the history of the martyrdom of the Báb and of the exile of Bahá’u’lláh to the prison city of ‘Akká. In the sacred Writings of the land of Bahá’u’lláh’s birth, it states:

“All of them (the companions of the Herald of the Messiah) shall be slain except One, Who shall reach the plain of ‘Akká, the Banquet-Hall of God.” [ibid]

Professor E. G. Browne of Cambridge University visited Bahá’u’lláh on the plain of ‘Akká in 1890. He wrote of his experiences in that valley:

“… here did I spend five most memorable days, during which I enjoyed unparalleled and unhoped-for opportunities of holding intercourse with those who are the very fountain-heads of that mighty and wondrous spirit, which works with invisible but ever-increasing force, for the transformation and quickening of a people who slumber in a sleep like unto death. It was in truth a strange and moving experience, but one whereof I despair of conveying any save the feeblest impression … The spirit which pervades the (followers of Bahá’u’lláh) is such that it can hardly fail to affect most powerfully all subjected to its influence … it cannot be ignored or disregarded. Let those who have not seen, disbelieve me if they will; but, should that spirit once reveal itself to them, they will experience an emotion they are not likely to forget.” [A Traveller’s Narrative, Introduction]

When Professor Browne came face to face with Bahá’u’lláh, he said that he felt ‘a throb of wonder and awe’. He added:

“The face of Him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one’s very soul; power and authority sat upon that ample brow...

No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!” [ibid]

The mansion in which Professor Browne visited Bahá’u’lláh, was in the process of construction when Bahá’u’lláh was still a prisoner in ‘Akká.

Just as Jesus the Christ had ridden, lowly, upon a donkey in the land of Israel, so did Bahá’u’lláh ride in the same manner. One day while passing this mansion which was being constructed by a wealthy Muslim, ‘Údí Khammár, Bahá’u’lláh turned to his son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and said with a twinkle in his eye: “I wonder for whom they are building that mansion?”

No sooner was the mansion completed, than an epidemic of cholera broke out. The mansion was abandoned, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was able to secure its use for Bahá’u’lláh at a very nominal rental.

When Bahá’u’lláh was released from the prison, he moved into the mansion. Above the stairway leading to the rooms which Bahá’u’lláh was to occupy, ‘Údí Khammár had been inspired to carve the following message in stone. It still remains to this day:

“Greetings and Peace be upon this Mansion! Its beauty will increase down through the ages. Within its walls wondrous and strange things will take place; things which all the pens of the earth shall be powerless to describe.”

In this mansion, Bahá’u’lláh lived the last years of his earthly life. Within these walls, he passed away on 29 May 1892. To this sacred spot pilgrims now journey from all parts of the world.

There in the valley of ‘Akká, in sight of holy ‘Carmel’, the entire prophecy of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah was brought to its fulfilment.

----------

NEXT - Post #36.b: Where the Poor are the Kings of Paradise (cont’d)

NOTE:

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#PrayerPost

-for Contentment with the Will of God-

"I beg of Thee, O my God, by Thy most exalted Word which Thou hast ordained as the Divine Elixir unto all who are in Thy realm, the Elixir through whose potency the crude metal of human life hath been transmuted into purest gold, O Thou in Whose hands are both the visible and invisible kingdoms, to ordain that my choice be conformed to Thy choice and my wish to Thy wish, that I may be entirely content with that which Thou didst desire, and be wholly satisfied with what Thou didst destine for me by Thy bounteousness and favor.

Potent art Thou to do as Thou willest. Thou, in very truth, art the All-Glorious, the All-Wise."

~ Bahá’u’lláh
Prayers and Meditations
https://t.co/JRH6t5LmWM

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #35

Part Three: The Proof
The Door of Hope

{Sears examines prophecy about where the Messiah will appear, and he describes prophecies attributed to Christ that are actually fulfilled by Bahá'u'lláh}

My next assignment was to search out the wonderful things which were supposed to take place in Haifa and ‘Akká in the day when the Messiah appeared. I found there were promises not only for Mount Carmel itself, but for the plain of Sharon on one side, and the valley of ‘Akká on the other.

In the Book of Hosea it was promised that:

“I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth …” [Hosea 2:15]

When will this come to pass? It seemed clear to me that it would be in the last days when Israel would be forgiven for having turned away from the Messiah in His first coming, and would have embraced His truth in the time of His second coming. Hosea says:

“I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy: and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.” [Hosea 2:23]
Hosea foretells that this will take place at the time of the end. First, the valley of Achor will become a place of hope and refuge. Then Israel will return from disbelief, and seek their Beloved (David) from the stem of Jesse (seed of Abraham).

“Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” [Hosea 3:5]

I had already learned that the ‘latter days’ and ‘the time of the end’ were synonymous. I had also learned that they began in 1844; the year of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith, and the year of the beginning of the return of the Jews to the Holy Land.

Isaiah made an identical prophecy to that of Hosea, saying:

“And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob … an inheritor of my mountains; and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

“And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.” [Isaiah 65:9–10]

Five verses later, Isaiah tells us that this will take place in the day when God shall

“… call his servants by another name.” [Isaiah 65:15]

In yet another place Isaiah prophesies

“… thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” [Isaiah 62:2]

And the city of the Messiah and the redeemed of the Lord would be called “Sought out, a city not forsaken.” [Isaiah 652:12]

Ezekiel spoke of this city, the city of the great Shepherd of the ‘one fold’ and the ‘flock of God’. He said that the name of this city, the new Jerusalem is:

“… the Lord is there!” [Ezekiel 48:35]

I found in my research, that no one knows for certain where the valley of Achor is. The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible suggests that it might lie between Hyrcania and Gilgal in the wilderness of Judah west of the Dead Sea. George Adams Smith’s Historical Atlas of the Holy Land for the University of Aberdeen makes the guess that it lies along what is now the river Wadi el Qelt near to Jericho and Gilgal on its way to the Jordan above the Dead Sea. However, both mark the spot with a ‘?’.

Ever since the day that Achan and his family had been stoned and buried in the land of Achor, it had been a place unwanted and forsaken. Their sin of disobedience to the law of God had brought this punishment upon them.

Since Achor means trouble, and the valley of Achor the valley of trouble, there seemed little doubt that this was another symbol showing that when the Jews turned to the Messiah in the last days, their suffering and troubles would be ended. Such a day is foreshadowed by Joshua concerning the valley of Achor, when he said:

“The Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.” [Joshua 7:24–2]

In the last days, Bahá’u’lláh was sent, a prisoner and an exile, to the fortress of ‘Akká, the old city of Accho, the ancient Ptolemais, the St. Jean d’Acre of the Crusaders. It has been described as ‘the most detestable in climate’ and ‘the foulest in water’. Here, in what was once the land of Canaan, Bahá’u’lláh suffered cruel imprisonment and persecution at the hands of Turkish authorities. It was indeed a valley of trouble. I saw the words which Bahá’u’lláh himself wrote about this valley:

“Know thou, that upon Our arrival at this Spot, We chose to designate it as the ‘Most Great Prison’. Though previously subjected in another land (Persia) to chains and fetters, We yet refused to call it by that name … Ponder thereon, O ye endued with understanding!” [cited in God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

On another occasion Bahá’u’lláh wrote of the prison of ‘Akká:

“None knoweth what befell Us, except God, the Almighty, the All- Knowing!” [God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

In this valley of trouble (Achor), Bahá’u’lláh declared in his Writings that his ‘sufferings have now reached their culmination’. (That ‘Akká was intended by Hosea is attested by Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By, p. 184.)

An account of Bahá’u’lláh’s arrival at ‘Akká and his later visits to Mount Carmel states:

“It is difficult to understand how Bahá’u’lláh could have been obliged to leave Persia, and to pitch His tent in this Holy Land, but for the persecution of His enemies, His banishment and exile.” [God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

Bahá’u’lláh first touched upon the soil of Israel at Haifa, directly below the cave of Elijah. There was great rejoicing among his followers when they learned that Bahá (Glory) had arrived in the Holy Land, for none had known what his destination would be when he was banished from Turkey.

His exile had ended at last. The Glory of God had come to the land of Israel. His exile, like that of the Jews from Egypt, ended with the arrival in the Holy Land.

There is a very curious prophecy mentioned by Samuel ben Judah Valerio. He was a Biblical commentator who wrote a commentary on the Book of Daniel that was printed in Venice in the second half of the sixteenth century. Valerio calculated that the end of the present exile (of the Jews) would be in the year 5628 of the Jewish calendar, which is the year 1868 of the Christian era.

Strangely enough, 1868 is the exact date on which Bahá’u’lláh arrived in Israel, the Holy Land. Thus, 1868 marked the end of his long wanderings from Persia. He had come at last to the ‘nest of the prophets’. He had also symbolically brought to an end the spiritual exile of the children of Israel.

This arrival had been foretold, it was said, by David in his Psalms:

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of Hosts, he is the King of glory.” [Psalms 24:9–10]

Bahá’u’lláh had touched upon what was once the soil of Galilee, made holy by the feet of Christ and the prophets of old. He had come by way of the sea beyond Jordan.

Isaiah had prophesied both the first and the second coming of the Messiah on yet another occasion when he promised that the everlasting Father would come by way of the sea.

“Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Napthali, and afterward (the second time) did more grievously afflict her by way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.” [Isaiah 9:1]

That Isaiah was speaking of the second coming by way of the sea, and not of the first in the land of Napthali and Zebulun where Christ spent so much of His time, is clear from the prophecies which Isaiah gives a few verses later:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” [Isaiah 9:6–7]

This prophecy has been attributed to Christ by Christian scholars, although it was frankly admitted by them that some of the prophecies had not been fulfilled, and could only come to pass in the time of the end with His second coming. Some of the prophecies appeared to fit His Holiness Christ, but most of them did not. For example:

1. The government was not upon His shoulders. Christ Himself said:

“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” [Matthew 22:21]

“My kingdom is not of this world.” [John 18:36]

2. The name of Christ was not the mighty God. Christ obviously considered Himself different from God:

“Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.” [Mark 10:18]

3. Christ was not the everlasting Father. He often said the Father was one different than Himself. Although Christ said that He and the Father were ‘one’ in Their purpose, still, he said:

“My Father, which gave them (the sheep) me, is greater than all …” [John 10:29]

“The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do …” [John 5:19]

4. Christ did not claim to be the Prince of Peace. Although He has been called this. He Himself said:

“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword.” [Matthew 10:34]

He also said:

“Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay: but rather division.” [Luke 12:51]

5. Christ did not anticipate that there would be an increase of His government and peace after his death.

He said:

“For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.” [Luke 12:52]

In these very prophecies, in the very chapter quoted above, Christ speaks of the last days when He will come like a ‘thief’ in the night.

I learned the following:

1. The government was upon the shoulder of Bahá’u’lláh. His Writings established local, national, and international institutions to preserve his Faith, and to protect the human rights of mankind.

2. His name could be called the Counsellor, for his laws established the principle of ‘consultation’ for each of these governing institutions.

3. As Christ was called the Son, in like manner, I found that Bahá’u’lláh was called the Father. His mission was that of a father: to gather together the human family into one household, the planet. To unite the nations, races and religions was the purpose of his coming, Bahá’u’lláh declared. He was the Father of all religions, races and peoples, with complete equality.

4. Unlike Christ, Bahá’u’lláh’s mission was to bring peace. His whole purpose was to establish universal peace. He was a Prince of Peace, as I found in the words that he spoke to professor E. G. Browne in the Holy Land. I read Browne’s own account of that memorable visit:

“A mild dignified voice bade me be seated …

‘Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile … We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations … That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers … Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the ‘Most Great Peace’ shall come.’

Such, so far as I can recall them,” says Professor Browne, “were the word which, besides many others, I heard from Bahá. Let those who read them consider well with themselves whether such doctrines merit death and bonds, and whether the world is more likely to gain or lose by their diffusion.” [A Traveller’s Narrative, E. G. Browne]

5. There was indeed an increase in the kingdom of Bahá’u’lláh. It has spread from the day of its birth a little over one hundred years ago to all parts of the world. It continues to grow each year. The astonishing progress is almost entirely due, in this day, to the leadership of the great-grandson of Bahá’u’lláh, Shoghi Effendi Rabbání, who for thirty–six years was the World Head of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith.

Be honest. Aren’t you saying to yourself, as I did, at this time: “What a truly remarkable story?” My enthusiasm as the detective of The case of the missing millennium was never greater.

All these things took place in Israel, the Holy Land, the promised ‘valley of Achor’. They unfolded within sight of the ‘plain of Sharon’ on the side of ‘Mount Carmel’.

Bahá’u’lláh, I learned, wrote over one hundred volumes, addressing many letters to the leaders of the world’s governments and religions. Was this not the promise in the Psalms:

“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.” [Psalms 50:2–3]

The world administrative centre of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith is on the north side of Mount Carmel, one of the most beautiful situations and views in all of Israel. Thus, the new Zion fulfilled the prophecy of the Psalms for the last days:

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

“Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” [Psalms 48:1–]

I decided to learn more about Mount Carmel, and Haifa, the city of Bahá’u’lláh, and about ‘Akká, the place of his imprisonment.

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NEXT - Post #36 a: Where the Poor are the Kings of Paradise

NOTE:

Recommended Books:
God Passes By by Shoghi Effendi
https://t.co/I5WqhbIruR

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN < follow link for more Thief in the Night posts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #34

Part Three: The Proof
The Lord of the New Era

{Sears continues to demonstrate that Bahá'u'lláh fulfills the Biblical prophecies}

Isaiah made three specific predictions in one single chapter concerning the ‘seed’ of Abraham. He foretold:

1. God shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. [Isaiah 11:12]

2. God would set up an ensign, for the nations of the world to see. [Isaiah 11:12]

3. It would take place in the day when a Branch grew out of the roots of Jesse. [Isaiah 11:1]

Zechariah also foretold the coming of this branch from the line of Abraham. [Zechariah 3:8]

In those same chapters concerning the last days, he prophesied:

“Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies…” [Zechariah 1:16]

And in another place:

“Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion …” [Zechariah 8:3]

The mountain of the Messiah in that day, Zechariah says shall be called ‘the holy mountain’.
This was the day promised from the beginning to Abraham when God told him that his ‘seed’ would inherit this land. He said to Abraham:

“… he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir … I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land (Canaan) to inherit it.

“Unto thy seed have I given this land.” [Genesis 15:4–7, 18]

Abraham asked God:

“How shall I know that I shall inherit it?” God answered him, this time with a symbol:

“Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” [Genesis 15:9]

What a strange answer to Abraham’s question as to how and when he, Abraham, would inherit Canaan.

F. Hudgings, in his Zionism in Prophecy, offers the following interesting explanation of this prophecy of the animals and the birds. He suggests that we look at the inward truth behind this outward symbol. The birds are taken to be one year old as the term ‘young’ pigeon is used. Then, he tells us:

“A strange and remarkable story unfolds. It is not the animals and birds that are of significance, but their ages. The three animals are each three years old. The birds are taken to be one year old as the term ‘young’ pigeon is used. Thus we have three, three, three, one, one—or a total of eleven. The meaning is that Abraham will inherit Canaan and the seed inherit the earth when this prophecy came to pass after eleven years: eleven symbolical years of ‘each day for a year’.”

Eleven multiplied by 360 equals 3,960 years. After 3,960 years the prophecy would be fulfilled.

The exact time when this prophecy was revealed to Abraham is not known. However, we do know that it must have been immediately before the birth of Isaac.

Authorities differ on the year of Isaac’s birth. However, one of the later dates given is 2007 BC; 2,007 years from 3,960 years, brings us to the year AD 1953.

My task was to discover whether or not this year 1953 had any particular significance in the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. The results of my search were rewarding.

The year 1953 was the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission. It was the very year in which a great wave of pioneer teachers went out into all parts of the world so that the children of God might be gathered together in these last days, and their eyes and hearts be turned towards Israel, the world-centre of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

In 1953 the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh launched a great spiritual world crusade, which was destined to culminate in the raising up of a universal House of Justice so that as prophesied by Isaiah, the spiritual ‘Law of God’ would go forth from Zion.

Bahá’u’lláh began his exile one hundred years before, in 1853. He went to the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, and from there, like Abraham before him, was banished to the ancient land of Canaan.

Even more significant are the prophetic words in the Bahá’í teachings concerning this date of 1953, words which say that this date

“Marks the inception of the Kingdom of God on earth.” [God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi]

This same unique date of 1953 is also one of the important dates given in the prophecies of the Great Pyramid. Worth Smith, in his Miracle of the Ages, says of this date 1953: “That will be a period during which the whole earth is to be ‘cleansed of its pollutions,’ and which will prepare the people of earth for the actual beginning of Christ’s ‘Millennial Rule’ …”

In one year, from 1953 to 1954, the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, I learned, was spread to 100 new countries. This, too, I found to be foretold in prophecy.

Professor Roerich, in his Altai-Himalaya, a five-year record of his expedition, points out that all through the East, in India, Mongolia, even in Siberia, there are prophetic records of this great new age of teaching which would come with the Messiah. He says: “It is told in the prophecies how the new era shall manifest itself.”

I have recorded some of those prophecies here. This was the first:

1. “First will begin an unprecedented war of all nations.”
This had certainly come to pass with the Second World War. The next prophecy said:

2. “Then shall the Teachers appear and in all corners of the world shall be heard the true teaching.”

From the records of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, I learned that following the Second World War, the Bahá’ís (his followers) carried out a second Seven Year Plan of teaching which spread his Faith through the western hemisphere and Europe. Then in 1953 there began a Ten Year Crusade which carried the message of Bahá’u’lláh to all corners of the globe.

The next prophecy from the East foretold:

3. “To this word of truth shall the people be drawn but those who are filled with darkness and ignorance shall set obstacles … even those who by accident help the teachings of (this spiritual king of the world) will receive in return a hundred fold.”
It is also promised in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith, that whatever effort is made for the sake of God, the doer will receive in return a hundred fold.
Still another of these Eastern prophecies declares:

4. “Only a few years shall elapse before everyone shall hear the mighty steps of the Lord of the New Era.”

At the time of the martyrdom of the Báb, only two countries were included among the followers of his Faith. At the time of the passing of Bahá’u’lláh, only fifteen countries. Following the outpouring of teachers in 1953, Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith had reached over 3,000 centres in 235 countries.

Professor Dr V. Lesny called Bahá’u’lláh the ‘Saviour of the twentieth century.’ [Appreciations of the Bahá’í Faith]

Bahá’u’lláh has also been designated as the Lord of the New Era. The most widely distributed book concerning his teachings, a book translated into all the widely spoken languages is called Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era.

The prophecies of the East continued as follows:

5. “And one can already perceive unusual people. Already they (the teachers) open the gates of knowledge, and ripened fruits are falling from the trees.”

I found numerous references to these ‘unusual’ Bahá’ís, including the reference already given by Justice of the United States Supreme Court William O. Douglas who paid tribute to their high sense of integrity. Marcus Bach, member of the faculty of the State University of Iowa School of Religion, wrote in his article for the Christian Century, Bahá’í; A Second Look:

“‘If these Bahá’ís ever get going, they may take the country by storm.’ So said a discerning Protestant minister as we talked one evening about America’s most ‘ecumenical’ faith … Let all who are interested in the gospel of the abundant life take heed! It may be that the Bahá’ís are coming … They ask no salaries, want no honour, and are literally more interested in giving than receiving … a second look shows that by way of its devotion and the opening door, it (the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh) may loose itself from captivity. It may also be that the minister was quite right when he said, ‘If these Bahá’ís ever get going, they may take the country by storm.’”

And the final prophesy from the East:

6. “Those who accept him (the Messiah) shall rejoice. And those who deny him shall tremble … And the warriors (teachers) shall march under the banner of Maitreya.”

Ballou and Spiegelberg in The Bible of the World, point out that according to the sacred Scripture of the East, Maitreya is “the compassionate Buddha who is to come in the distant future. Foretold by Gautama, as Christ foretold his second coming.”

Maitreya, the Buddha of ‘universal fellowship’ was expected to appear to the West of India and to the East of Israel. Persia, the home of Bahá’u’lláh, lies between them. His message is one of ‘universal fellowship’ and the union of religions, nations, and races.

Isaiah also foretold the day when all the earth would hear the Messiah’s teaching:

“All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains …” [Isaiah 18:3]

Isaiah also prophesies:

“… blessed are all they that wait for him … he will be very gracious unto thee … thine eyes shall see thy teachers.” [Isaiah 30:18–20]

F. Hudgings worked out the prophecy concerning Abraham and Canaan to the date 1914. He attributed its fulfilment to the increased interest in Zionism at that time. However, I found that whatever date was taken for the fulfilment of the 3,960 years foretold to Abraham by God for ‘Canaan’, it would still fall within the years of the rise of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith. In fact, the very year given by Hudgings, 1914, was significant for the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. In that year, Bahá’u’lláh’s son stood on the side of Mount Carmel and prophesied that the tiny city of Haifa would soon become an important port, and that it would grow in greatness until a wide highway would link the towns of Haifa and ‘Akká, the twin holy cities of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. This prophecy has already come true.

He foretold that electric lights would illumine the sacred mountain Carmel, and the lights of the Holy places of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith would be seen far out to sea. This, too, has come to pass.

The Lord has indeed, as prophesied, ‘built up Zion’. The Psalms of David had promised:

“When the Lord shall build up Zion, he (the Messiah) shall appear in his glory.” [Psalms 102:16]

Isaiah foretold:

“And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls …” [Isaiah 60:10]

This would be in the day when the branch, the root of Jesse, the ‘seed’ of Abraham had appeared on earth. In that same chapter, Isaiah declares of that sacred mountain:

“The Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” [Isaiah 60:1]

Bahá’u’lláh had come to Israel. He was known as ‘the Glory of the Lord’. He was a descendent of Katurah, the third wife of Abraham. His sanctuary was placed eternally in the Holy Land. His teachers had covered the earth as the waters cover the sea in the short space of a few years.

To all these prophecies I could write without equivocation: Fulfilled.

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NEXT - Post #35: The Door of Hope

NOTE:

Recommended Books:
God Passes By by Shoghi Effendi
https://t.co/I5WqhbIruR

Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era by John E. Esslemont
https://t.co/NFHwn7bpwV

‘Thief in the Night’ is fully annotated and the references/footnotes can be found in the book.
https://t.co/c4BKFQWMRB

Edits in {curly brackets} are notes just for this Reading Journal.