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The fears of today. The Ark of today.A prophesy for the US
1/4/2008 9:39:55 AM
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Good day dear readers , thoughtful friends.
Last night I was thinking of conversations I have had with people about the world and about the Faith of Bahaullah trying to recall peoples questions and fears, wondering if you might have the same fears and questions. You are free to put them forward here and to explain what is in your heart. And I will readily answer you, or find out the answer.
But as long as you are so very silent I have to assume that you agree that Bahai is good for the hearts and for the world. And that you have no fears.
Nevertheless I'll take up one of the fears that people have felt for many a year. Will there be a world war 3?
The short answer is: the Bahais do not know. We just work to prevent it, and if it occurs we will offer our institutions, our Spiritual Assemblies, as a gift to mankind,( more or less reduced?),when it is seeking guidance. Such is our might, not the political worldly one, but it derives its strength from the Divine. and that supercedes the powers of the earth. When the Bahais gather for descision-making we are guided by the Supreme Hosts of God.
I'll begin my longer answer with a quotation from the Bible, and Matteus (24:21-2 and 37-9) says:
"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, and never will be, And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man."
When I study this chapter by Matteus, I can see that it might refer to the two disastrous world wars,(when 55 million people died)of which the last one has been pronounced as a "universal collapse" by the Guardian. Jesus might also include even a third devastating one.
As I mentioned, we enjoy consultative status at the UN. But the main
task is to establish the 'Ark' of Spiritual Assemblies on local and national
levels.Everywhere. The Universal House of Justice is elected already
(the first election held in 1963). For a bewildered mankind to turn to for spiritual guidance and advice, everywhere.We can read: The Guardian ...speaks of us as building 'that Ark of human salvation, ordained as the ultimate haven of a society destined, for the most part, to be submerged by the tidal wave of the abuses and evils which its own perversity has engendered.'
In Tysons words 'The purpose of the calamity of Noah's age was the same as its purpose is today: to cause us to abandon materialism and advance spiritually. If man rejects every other means of spiritual advancement, then God seems to be willing to allow mankind to carry this rejection to its natural conclusion - a collapse of his material civilization.It is at once a 'retribution' for man's failure to accept God's Messenger, a 'cleansing process' intended to exorcise his perversity, and a constructive step necessary to 'weld (humanity's) component parts into one organic, indivisible worldembracing community.'"
U Thant, former General Secretary at the UN said: 'We must love each other or die.'
"The image of fire is frequently used in the description of the calamity, Bahaullah says:
'If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the straints of moderation...The day is approaching when its flame will devour its cities....'
The 'burning of cities' .as ..is listed by the Guardian ...would 'either herald or accompany the retributive calamity'. Passages such as, 'Soon shall the blasts of His chastisement beat upon you, and the dust of hell enshroud you' (Bahaullah)have an ominous ring to those who are familiar with the effects of nuclear weapons" They fell at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will they fall again?.
"... when looking at the probable future of the 'advanced peoples' versus that of the villagers of the world, one is tempted to wonder how literal will be the fulfillment of Jesu's statement 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth'."
The Bahais are not alone "in recognizing the very dangerous predicament of the present situation: 'I am terrified by having to admit', says Carl-Fredrich von Weizacker, 'that it is increasingly probable that this step(of creating a world government) will be taken only as the result of an atomic world war, for the reasons already given. (he had earlier shown that all three scenarios of an arms race, an arms halt, and disarmament without world government, are likely to lead eventually to a nuclear war.)"
As I (.Laila)try to follow the development of the expanding European Union, created to maintain peace, and to sense its atmosphere of much good will and cooperation, I feel that the leaders of those nations are mature and wise. But from other parts of the world we can hear of new nuclear-weapon- nations proudly telling the world about their recently built nuclear power. I personally use to think that, as the great powers do have nuclear weapons as a kind of self-right, why should not smaller nations insist on getting them. And how good is that?
It has been said in a message from one of our institutions to us "we ,(the bahais)can do nothing about the world, but we can do everything for the Faith".
I myself was like a little world not turning to God until I was devastated and outworn by my materialistic ways and wims, back in the 70ies. And, to take a similie as explanation, the world could as a whole be likened to a teenager who will not heed the caring advices from father and mother, (=Our Father God) until it really hurts. This "it" is the unforeseen calamity,hunting at our heels but that our parents (=Bahaullah) can see.
Repetedly Bahaullah has warned mankind,
"Behold the disturbances which, for many a long year, have afflicted the earth, and the pertuberation that hath seized its peoples. It hath either been ravaged by war, or tormented by sudden and unforeseen calamities. Though the world is encompassed with misery and distress, yet no man hath paused to reflect what the cause or source of that may be. Whenever the True Counsellor uttered a word in admonishment, lo, they all denounced Him as a mover of mischief and rejected His claim. How bewildering, how confusing is such behaviour! No two men can be found who may be said to be outwardly and inwardly united. The evidences of discord and malice are apparent everywhere, though all were made for harmony and union,The Great Being saith: O well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch....The Great Being saith: The structure of world stability and order hath been reared upon, and will continue to be sustained by, the twin pillars of reward and punishment...Take heed, O concourse of the rulers of the world! There is no force on earth that can equal in its conquering power the force of justice and wisdom...Blessed is the king who marcheth with the ensign of wisdom unfurled before him, and the battalions of justice massed in his rear. He verily is the ornament that adorneth the brow of peace and the countenance of security."
Diligently the Bahais have continued all over the earth to tell the minsters and rulers , to carry Bahaullahs Message to them, as well as to religious leaders in various places. One king, has accepted Bahaullah as Gods Messenger for this age: King Malietoa II of Western Samoa Islands and before him queen Maria of Roumania. That king lives now but queen Maria died long ago.
"The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every souls its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.
We can well perceive how the whole human race is encompassed with great, with incalculable afflictions. We see it languishing on its bed of sickness, sore-tried and disillusioned. They that are intoxicated by self-conceit have interposed themselves between it and the Divine and infallible Physician...." " He, Who is your Lord, the Merciful, cherishest in His heart the desire of beholding the entire human race as one soul and one body. Haste ye to win your share of God's good grace and mercy in this Day that eclipseth all other created days. How great the felicity that awaiteth the man that forsaketh all he hath in a desire to obtain the things of God! Such a man, We testify, is among Gods blessed ones."
Again Bahaullah is warning mankind,
"We have fixed a time for you, O peoples. If ye fail, at the appointed hour, to turn towards God, He, verily, will lay violent hold on you, and will cause grievous afflictions to assail you from every direction. How severe, indeed, is the chastisement with which your Lord will then chastise you!"
" O YE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD!
Know, verily, that an unforeseen calamity followeth you, and grievous retribution awaiteth you. Think not that which ye have committed hath been effaced in My sight. By My beauty! All your doings hath My Pen graven with open characters upon tablets of crysolite."
Harsh and clear!
I do not intend to frighten you, we hardly talk about Doomsday as I said, but I wish to show you how categoric and sincere the reality of the Bahai Faith is , how absolute the Words of Bahaullah are. I wish to point out somehow, that this is very real. That you may know. Nothing is like before, for me,like this: I am only happy when I can do something for this Faith.
Finally, something very positive for the US inhabitants, I can tell you that much is expected from the US, namely to take the initiative towards Universal peace. In the US "the Banner of Universal Peace" will be hosted. This is a divine Promise. Also the Americans will be diligent at forming and fostering the Bahai Institutions, which indeed is the Institutions of the Kingdom of God on earth.Therefore I am extra anxious to reach the Americans even here at Adland.
I have a suggestion!. Start reciting this prayer every day between 12,at noon and 16 hrs. It is laden with much power though short.It is one of the daily obligatory prayers. And then notice how things begin to change for the better inside of you and outside.
"I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth.
There is no ther God but Thee, the Help in peril, the Self-Subsisting"
Bahaullah
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bahaullah+and+the+bahai+faith&search=Searchwww.Bahai.org www.Bahai.us
Bye for now
Laila
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