RealitySeeker

"When there is love, nothing is too much trouble, & there is always Time!" ...Exploring The Unifying Power of the Baha'i Revelation & Teachings on Spirituality!

[RealitySeeker @Sun_ofReality]

💕💕💕

[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.

[RealitySeeker @Sun_ofReality]

💞💞💞 Tip from Pearl: Prayerfully, tap into your psyche for its wisdom, and ignore/dissipate any unwanted thoughts, images, or impulses that are projected into your mind.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

- Words of Wisdom from Bahá'u'lláh -

"The source of error is to disbelieve in the One true God, rely upon aught else but Him, and flee from His Decree."

~ Bahá’u’lláh
Fountain of Wisdom
https://t.co/QyK8zFIlVt

[RealitySeeker @Sun_ofReality]

💞💕💕💕 From Dr. Pearl: On... Developing the ability to achieve constancy in spiritual happiness... Regardless of the pain and difficulties we undergo. An important role for our earth-life here on this physical plane of existence is to know how to facilitate and achieve spiritual happiness...regardless of the pain/ loss/ suffering we must endure.
When we have achieved a near constancy in being able to place within ourselves a true spiritual happiness, where divine joy actually resides, abiding within us at any given moment that we prayerfully request-- call-- it to be there, then we have attained for ourselves a special connection within our human physical selves-- inviting the Holy Spirit to connect and abide with constancy within us.
When our bodies die in this life and ascend with just our souls to the next eternal, immortal state of non-physical beingness, we must take to that plane of existence the spiritual attributes—such as spiritual happiness—that comes to us when we are actively working to perfect ourselves in embodying the virtues.
We will be taking our spiritual happiness—our ebullience of spirit—our attraction to the God's Presence --with us-- which is the purpose of our creation. The spiritual attributes God Desires for us to imbue ourselves with-- are our source of power to do what we wish—in the next, the spiritual, plane of existence. Without developing them here, we will be handicapped there-- just as the babe in the womb must develop arms, ears, eyes etc. in the womb or be handicapped in this material world after birth. What we have gained here in love, beauty, happiness, kindness, understanding, compassion, service, humility, truth-seeking qualities, trustworthiness, faith, prayerfulness, attunement to God's Will/Laws, etc., is what refreshes and exhilarates the powers of our soul here on the earth plane and then we take these powers with us for the next phase of our immortal existence-- in the non-physical realms of the kingdom of God.
With Love, Dear Friends-- Dr. Pearl

[RealitySeeker @Sun_ofReality]

@Matt_Pinner 4

[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.

[RealitySeeker @Sun_ofReality]

💕💕💞💞 On Eternal Life and Salvation-- According to the Baha'i Cycle of God's Dispensation of Knowledge to Mankind--- Abdu'l-Baha Answers the Question on whether every Soul is Saved... During This End-Time of the end of the Adamic Prophetic Cycle & The Beginning of the Coming of Age of the Human Race-- with the Coming of Baha'u'llah -The Glory of God- as the Promised One…. Abdu'l-Baha Tells us: "Thou didst ask whether, at the advent of the Kingdom of God, every soul was saved." Abdu'l-Baha Answers: "The Sun of Truth hath shone forth in splendor over all the world, and its luminous rising is man’s salvation and his eternal life — but only he is of the saved who hath opened wide the eye of his discernment and beheld that glory."
"Likewise didst thou ask whether, in this Bahá’í Dispensation, the spiritual will ultimately prevail. It is certain that spirituality will defeat materialism, that the heavenly will subdue the human, and that through divine education the masses of mankind generally will take great steps forward in all degrees of life — except for those who are blind and deaf and mute and dead."
"How can such as they understand the light?"
"Though the sun’s rays illumine every darkest corner of the globe, still the blind can have no share in the glory, and though the rain of heavenly mercy come down in torrents over all the earth, no shrub or flower will bloom from a barren land."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, "Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá", 160.5
https://t.co/MOtKjttGfc )

Abdu'l-Bahá in Some Answered Questions — 67 — Eternal Life and Entrance into the Kingdom of God-- life is of two kinds: that of the body and that of the spirit.
"YOU HAVE ASKED concerning eternal life and entrance into the Kingdom." .....
The Kingdom is outwardly referred to as “heaven”, but this is an expression and likeness and not a factual statement or reality.
For the Kingdom is not a material location but is sanctified above time and place.
It is a spiritual realm, a divine world, and it is the seat of the sovereignty of the almighty Lord.
It is exalted above bodies and all that is corporeal, and it is freed and sanctified from the idle conjectures of men.
For to be confined to place is a characteristic of bodies and not of spirits: Time and place encompass the body, not the mind and the soul.
Observe that the body of man abides in a limited space and occupies no more than two spans of earth.
But the spirit and mind of man traverses all countries and regions and even the limitless expanse of the heavens; it encompasses all existence and makes discoveries in the spheres above and in the infinite reaches of the universe.
This is because the spirit has no place: It is a placeless reality, and for the spirit earth and heaven are the same, since it makes discoveries in both.
But the body is confined in space and is unaware of that which lies beyond.
Now, life is of two kinds: that of the body and that of the spirit.
The life of the body consists in material life, but the life of the spirit is a heavenly existence which consists in receiving the grace of the Divine Spirit and being quickened through the breath of the Holy Spirit.
Although material life has existence, yet in the eyes of holy and spiritually minded souls it is utter non-existence and death. Thus man exists and so does this stone, but what a difference between the existence of man and that of the stone! Although the stone exists, in relation to the existence of man it is non-existent.

(Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, "Bahá’í Sacred Writings", 14.80; https://t.co/FxU1DNjWOz )
and found in .....
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, "Some Answered Questions ", 67.9
https://t.co/UCSYGorWpE )

[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.

[RealitySeeker @Sun_ofReality]

The Supreme Govt of Iran is still actively horribly persecuting our peaceful loving followers of the Baha'i Faith in their homeland, Iran. See this link for the history &amp; Teachings of this Beautiful Baha'i Faith here.... A book by Esslemont-- https://t.co/JLHchZib6d

[Isma Forghani @HR_Austria]

Bei der jüngsten @BahaiBIC Stellungnahme im @UN_HRC versuchte die #Iran-ische Regierung grundlos zu unterbrechen! 1 weiteres Beispiel für ihren Versuch die Stimme der #Bahai zu ersticken &amp; #Menschenrechtsverletzungen zu vertuschen.Der Ratsvorsitz ließ BIC dennoch weitersprechen.

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

- Words of Wisdom from Bahá'u'lláh -

"The source of all evil is for man to turn away from his Lord and set his heart on things ungodly."

~ Bahá’u’lláh
Fountain of Wisdom
https://t.co/VOZ9e98lQ9

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

{ The author of ‘Thief in the Night’, William Sears, was an American writer and radio & TV personality who became a Bahá'í in 1940. He was appointed a Hand of the Cause of God (a teacher and protector of the Bahá'í Faith) by Shoghi Effendi (the Guardian of the Faith) in 1957.

‘Thief in the Night’ was first published in 1961. Other great books he wrote are ‘Release the Sun’ and ‘God Loves Laughter’.

The title derives from a biblical verse "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2), which describes the return of the Lord as coming “as a thief in the night,” unexpectedly.

Sears presents the book as a skeptic and former Christian and shares his personal journey of discovery, akin to a detective solving a mystery as he sets out to prove or disprove the claims he was hearing that prophecy had been fulfilled, and that Christ had in fact returned! }

----------

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #0

Introduction

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.” II Peter 3:10

The Problem. In the first half of the nineteenth century, there was world-wide and fervent expectation that during the 1840’s the return of Christ would take place. The story made the headlines and even reached the Congress of the United States. From China and the Middle East to Europe and America, men of conflicting ideas shared in the expectancy. Scoffers were many but the enthusiasm was tremendous, and all agreed on the time. Why? And what became of the story? Did anything happen or was it all a dream?

The Solution. Patiently, and with exemplary thoroughness, William Sears set out to solve this mystery. In Thief in the Night he presents his fully detailed “conduct of the case” …

This is a mystery story with a difference: the mystery is a real one, and of vital importance to every human being…

There is no greater suspense story than this. It is filled with terror and magic, and it had been told with fantastic fervour in the 1840s.

Excited reports spread through the United States, Britain, Canada, Europe, Asia, even to Africa and Australia. People throughout those regions were strongly warned to prepare for the sudden appearance of Christ, the results of whose ‘coming’ promised to be either delightful or disastrous, depending on the teller…

------

I {William Sears} was determined to find out whether the return of Christ was a myth, a mistake, or the greatest unsolved mystery of our age.

One day in the reference room of one of the endless libraries I haunted during this period... I discovered I was not on a wild-goose chase!

The following chapters are the record of my seven years of search; they offer my solution to this intriguing century-old mystery...

You will find here considerable evidence to show that when the newspapers and publications of the 1840s printed their stories headed, Return of Christ expected, they were printing not fancy, but fact, even though they were unaware of the nature of the story at the time, and were totally unable to substantiate its truth in that hour.

If what I have uncovered is the truth, then (according to the testimony of the hard-boiled newspaper editors of the West) it is the most shocking and dramatic story that anyone could possibly tell in print.

But will anyone believe me?

You are now starting where I started a few years ago on The strange case of the missing millennium.

William Sears.

----------

NEXT - Post #1: Once To Every Man And Nation

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

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #1

Part One: The Unsolved Problem
Once To Every Man And Nation

{Exploring the questions, observations, and expectations of the people of the mid 1800s who were wondering when the Return will occur}

My {William Sears} first step was to investigate that period in history between the years 1830 and 1850. It was a time of strange and troublesome events. Men stared in wonder and uneasiness at the great halo that circled the sun. They looked up fearfully at the night sky where a giant comet with a fiery tale rushed through the darkness. Some said that the comet was racing toward mankind bringing the ‘end of the world’.

An interesting account of this period reads:

“A converted Jew in Palestine, Joseph Wolff, predicted the Advent (of Christ) for 1847. Harriet Livermore, an eloquent and arresting woman of the time, who figures in Whittier’s Snowbound, preached the Second Coming everywhere, including the House of Representatives at Washington, where crowds gathered to hear her. Lady Hester Stanhope, a valiant madwoman, niece of William Pitt, who turned her back on London and power and fashion, made her home in Lebanon among the Arabs and Druses, in order to be ready and near to the scene of the Advent. She kept, it was reported, two white Arab steeds in her stable, one for the Messiah, one for herself!”

Another writer stated:

“There is a little mosque, we are told, in the Holy Land, where a priest presides, keeping ready the shoes that the Messiah is to wear when he comes to Jerusalem.”

It was said of those days:

“So real was the hope of the Advent, people were actually taking almost violent measures for it. It was the nineteenth century, yet the shooting stars of the year 1833, and the perihelia, or halo-like rings, around the sun in 1843, were objects of the most awesome speculation and discussion. And the tail of the great comet of 1843 measured 108 million miles in length. … Whole families were engaged in making shrouds against that fateful day.”

Some of the more zealous believers, it is said, donned their ‘ascension robes’ and prepared to await Christ’s descent upon the clouds of heaven.

Their more sceptical, and practical, but equally uninformed neighbours pointed out that clouds did not descend, but were vapours that rose up from the earth.

Other scholars quoted St. Augustine who had written an entire volume proving that there could not be anyone living on the other side of the earth because it would then be impossible for such people to see Christ when He came down in the clouds on the day of His return.

Mathematicians asked: “Which way is down?” Furthermore, they said, taking into consideration the curvature of the earth, there would have to be thousands and thousands of ‘solo’ flights to the earth by Christ before all humanity would be able to see His descent. They poked fun at the literalists in many other ways, saying that obviously this coming down on the clouds was symbolical.

Still others suggested that perhaps these clouds were not a chariot that Christ rode from heaven, but a mist that arose from earth to obscure man’s vision.

However, in spite of scepticism and doubt, designers created special ‘ascension robes’ in various styles for the great coming event, especially for those who wished to be in fashion on that day. It is said that they were displayed in some of the shop windows in the eastern parts of the United States. Although this matter of ascension robes has been hotly denied in many quarters, I frequently encountered the story.

The following letter, one among many, makes this point quite evident. The letter was written by Ida M. Wing to Clara Endicott Sears on 21 August 1921. It reads:

“I have heard my mother tell that when she was a girl she remembers that her mother made a white robe, put her house in order, put lamps in the windows and sat up all night waiting for the end of the world to come.”

When the great comet of 1843 streaked across the heavens, people pointed at it with alarm, saying: “It is now the hour for Christ’s return!”

In that same year, the poet James Russell Lowell wrote:

“Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, Some great cause, God’s new Messiah …”

The great poet Lamartine, in a flood of praise, asked of God: “Is this not the time for you to reveal yourself?”

On 24 May 1844, in Washington D.C., Mr Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, stepped to the keyboard of his new instrument. He was about to send the first official telegram in history flashing along the wires from Washington to Baltimore. The press had heralded this day as a modern miracle. By this invention, it was said, the world would be united physically in the twinkling of an eye. These lightning-like impulses leaping along the wires would shrink the size of the planet, they said.

In fact, when Congress appropriated $40,000 for Morse to continue his work, he was told that now he could send his “lightnings” to the world. Thus his invention was associated with the words in the Book of Job, although at the time it was said partly in jest.

Students of Scripture asked: “Is this not still another proof that 1844 is indeed the hour for the appearance of Christ? Is it not written in the Book of Job that only God can send ‘lightnings that may go and say unto thee here we are!’ Does it not mean that Christ is here? Does not this same Job promise”:

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”
Samuel Morse put his hand to the keyboard of the telegraph and tapped out that first formal message. The words were taken from the Book of Numbers: “What hath God wrought!”

I {William Sears} was curious about that message of Morse in 1844. What had God wrought in that day, if anything besides the telegraph? Was there a hidden story? Was it possible to find it? At least this was a beginning.

About this time, I came upon the account of a lecture given by the British scientist, Sir Lawrence Bragg, in Carnegie Hall, New York. Sir Lawrence drew a graph of the scientific achievements of man until the period around 1844. He showed that man’s advancement up until that time had been very slow, so slow, indeed, that the line of the graph up to 1844 was almost horizontal.

Subsequently, however, and immediately, the line of the graph went almost directly upwards, and has continued to climb ever since.

This did interest me. Why? What had caused this new spirit of energy and creation in the world following the year 1844? Why had it begun in that particular period?

Had some historical event taken place in 1844 that could account for this new upsurge of knowledge and invention? Was there some happening that the historians had overlooked, or neglected? Did it have anything to do with the coming of the Messiah, the generally talked about return of Christ in that very year?

These were questions to which I now eagerly wanted the answer. The case of the missing millennium was at last becoming interesting. I decided to make a thorough check on the exact year of Morse’s 1844 message.

{Spoiler: This is especially significant because we know that May 24, 1844, the day Morse sent his first message “What hath God wrought!”, was the day after that the Báb, in Persia, had declared His Mission as the Qá’im, the Promised One, which is now celebrated each year by Bahá'ís on the 23rd or 24th of May (depending on the Bahá'í/Lunar Calendar)}

----------

NEXT - Post #2: The Strange Case of the Missing Millennium

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 Receptiveness to God’s Love & Wisdom-

"Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God!

I implore Thee, by Thy Name which none hath befittingly recognized, and whose import no soul hath fathomed;

I beseech Thee, by Him Who is the Fountainhead of Thy Revelation and the Dayspring of Thy signs, to make my heart to be a receptacle of Thy love and of remembrance of Thee.

Knit it, then, to Thy most great Ocean, that from it may flow out the living waters of Thy wisdom and the crystal streams of Thy glorification and praise."

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

[Unenslaved Mind @UnenslavedMind]

#TITN< follow link for more Thief in the Nightposts

Thief in the Night
by William Sears
Reading Journal
Post #2

Part One: The Unsolved Problem
The Strange Case of the Missing Millennium

{As it approached, why were people becoming so interested in the year 1844?}

I soon discovered that the year 1844 figured more prominently in the calculations of millennial Bible scholars than any other year. Many of these students of Scripture, working independently of each other in separate continents, arrived at almost the identically same time for the return of Christ.

It was the period 1843–5.

Wolff in Asia, Edward Irving in England, Mason in Scotland, Davis in South Carolina, William Miller in Pennsylvania, Leonard H. Kelber in Germany, and many others in various parts of the world believed that this was indeed the ‘time of the end’.

These Bible scholars did not all agree on the exact date, nor did they all explain the prophecies in a like manner. However, it was said of them:

“… In America, Europe, and Asia the clear message of the ending of the prophetic time in 1844 was proclaimed with power by many voices.”

Andrew Jackson Davis delivered 157 lectures in New York in 1845.

Edgar Allen Poe attended regularly, and heard Davis foretell the time when travel advertisements would read, ‘Through to California in four days!’ Davis also foretold the future speed of air travel. He repeatedly lauded the wonder of the new age that was coming, calling it a material heaven that was a preparation for the spiritual kingdom. He said, “A glorious period is before mankind. … Fall in love with the new dispensation.”

William Miller began lecturing in 1831 concerning the return of Christ. He declared that he couldn’t help himself, that a voice kept urging him on, saying, ‘Go tell the world.’ In 1832, he wrote: “The evidence flows from every quarter … Behold the Saviour comes!”

Forman, in his Story of Prophecy says, “The causes for religious stirrings were at that period in the air and umbiquitous”. He points out that Emerson attended a convention on Universal Reform and himself commented on the wide variety of those present, from madmen to philosophers. In Emerson’s own words, they were “madmen, madwomen, men with beards, Dunkers, Uggletonians, Come-Outers, Groaners, Agrarians, Seventh-Day Baptists, Quakers, Abolitionists, Calvinists, Unitarians and Philosophers.”

No wonder Clara Endicott Sears subtitled her book, A Strange Bit of History.

Just as 1844 approached, a clergyman of the Church of England, Mourant Brock, made the following statement:

“It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. In America about three hundred ministers of the Word are thus preaching this gospel of the kingdom; whilst in this country, about seven hundred of the Church of England are raising the same cry.”

I realized that with over a thousand clergymen in two countries alone preaching the return of Christ at that period, The case of the missing millennium became a story well worth investigating further.

W. A. Spicer, in Our Day in the Light of Prophecy, wrote:

“Here and there students of the Word saw that the 2300 year period of Daniel 8:14, as explained in the ninth chapter, would end soon … and looked to the year 1844 as the time when the judgement would come.”

Speaking of this unique convergence of prophecies upon the year 1844, Spicer wrote:

“Witnesses were raised up in Europe, in Holland, Germany, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries. Joseph Wolff, the missionary to the Levant, preached in Greece, Palestine, Turkey, Afghanistan, and other regions, the coming of the judgement hour.”

The millennial zeal reached its climax in the year 1844. I wanted to know exactly why. What had led all these people to the same year?

I found the answer. This date in history had been chosen primarily because of three specific promises made by Christ Himself to His disciples. He gave three promises, saying that when these three things came to pass, He (Christ) would return to earth.

The promises are as follows:

1. His Gospel would be preached everywhere on earth.

2. The ‘times of the Gentiles’ would be fulfilled, and the Jews would return to Israel (Palestine).

3. All mankind would see the ‘abomination of desolation’ foretold by Daniel the Prophet.

My next step, therefore, was to take up these three promises in order, and to follow this clue to its conclusion.

My plan was simple. I would

(1) find each promise made by Christ in the Scriptures,

(2) decide exactly what Christ had promised to His disciples,

(3) determine if these three prophesies had actually been fulfilled, and

(4) if they had been fulfilled, just when and how.

I was no longer dealing with theory: I now had something specific to consider.

----------

NEXT - Post #3: The First Promise

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 #3

Part One: The Unsolved Problem
The First Promise

{The Prophecy of Christ, regarding the spread of Christianity, is fulfilled by the year 1844}

The first promise of Christ was easy to find. He made it to His disciples in direct reply to their questions. They asked Him:

“Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

This verse is found in the twenty–fourth chapter of Matthew. Christ then gave His disciples in the following words:

“But he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness … then shall the end come.”

This was clear enough. The end would come, and Christ would return, when His Gospel was preached throughout the world.

My {William Sears} next step was to discover when the Gospel of Christ was considered to have been preached throughout the world.

A study of the spread of Christianity made by scholars of the 1840’s, convinced them that the message of Christ had, by their day, already encircled the globe. The Gospel was being taught in all the continents. By 1844 it was being taught even in the interior of Africa, not by solitary missionaries, but on an organized scale. A commercial history of East Africa states: “Christian missions began their activities amongst the African people in 1844.”

Dr D. L. Leonard, historian of the Mission movement, in his A Hundred Years of Missions, says of the spread of the Word of Christ and His Gospel: “… for the first time since the apostolic period, (there) occurred an outburst of general missionary zeal and activity.”

He is speaking of the last years of the eighteenth century, leading to the nineteenth century, to 1844, and beyond. “Beginning in Great Britain, it soon spread to the Continent and across the Atlantic. It was no mere push of fervour, but a mighty tide set in, which from that day to this has been steadily rising and spreading.”

Another account states: “In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organised. Students of the prophetic word felt at the time that these agencies were coming in fulfilment of the prophecy.”

This was a direct reference to the prophecy of Christ that He would return when His gospel was preached everywhere in the world.

Before 1804, the Bible had already been printed and circulated in fifty languages. In 1816 the American Bible Society was formed. George Storrs in the newspaper, Midnight Cry, on 4 May 1843, stated that these two societies (British and American) with their innumerable branches were spreading the Gospel of Christ in every part of the world.

G. S. Faber in Eight Dissertations, which was completed in the very year of greatest prophetic fervour, 1844, declares: “The stupendous endeavours of one gigantic community to convey the Scriptures in every language to every part of the globe may well deserve to be considered as an eminent sign even of these eventful times. Unless I be much mistaken, such endeavours are preparatory to the final grand diffusion of Christianity, which is the theme of so many inspired prophets, and which cannot be far distant in the present day.’

M. H. Goyer writes in his book on prophetic fulfilment: “The British and Foreign Bible Society (for one example) has issued, since its foundation in 1804, over 421 million copies of the Scriptures, in practically every country known throughout the globe.”

In Our Day in the Light of Prophecy, Spicer wrote that the Gospel in his day had been spread ‘to ninety-five per cent of the inhabitants of the earth.’ He added: “It was in 1842 that five treaty-ports in China were open to commerce and to missions—advance steps in the opening of all China to the Gospel. In 1844 Turkey was prevailed upon to recognise the right of the Moslems to become Christians, reversing all Moslem tradition. In 1844 Alan Gardiner established the South American Mission. In 1842 Livingstone’s determination was formed to open the African interior.”

Dr A. T. Pierson in Modern Mission Century wrote: “India, Siam, Burma, China, Japan, Turkey, Africa, Mexico, South America … were successively and successfully entered. Within five years, from 1853 to 1858, new facilities were given to the entrance and occupation of seven different countries, together embracing half the world’s population.”

There were many additional references which made it clear that the Gospel of Christ, and its teachers, had entered every continent by the year 1844, spreading the Word of Jesus the Christ throughout the world.

This was considered by the students of Scripture to be in exact fulfilment of the words of Christ given in Mark:

“And the gospel must first be published among all nations.”

In this same chapter, Christ warns that when this takes place:

“Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.” When this Gospel is published in all nations, Christ again promises:

“… then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”

The millennial scholars of the 1840s felt that Christ’s first promise had been fulfilled. They felt it had been clearly demonstrated that the Gospel of Christ had been ‘preached in all the world for a witness’ and, therefore, the hour for His coming must now be at hand.

I was convinced myself that the first promise of Christ had indeed been fulfilled by the year 1844. There could be no doubt of this.

It was an interesting beginning.

----------

NEXT - Post #4: The Second Promise

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.