Dear friends and readers
Welcome everybody.
The first recipient of faith is our soul.The first sign of Faith is love. If it wasn't for the divine love, Faith would be barren and meaningless. For joyous love gives us illumination and insight into the high realms of the spirit. The spiritual world is our goal. The Holy Messengers or Manifestations prepare us for that world. Just as we were prepared to get out into this earthly plane when we were growing in our mothers wombs..
Those of you who have a Christian back ground may object and say: Well Christ did prepare us once and for all with His sacrificing His life on the Cross. And when He comes back He shouldn't have to suffer.
We can turn to the Bible and see that when He comes back there will be forces of darkness waging war against Him.See Rev.19:19-20."This prophecy states that Christ will be opposed but that He will prevail. If we interpret this literally it would mean there would be a military battle. But if we interpret this as symbolic language we can understand it to mean that He will be persecuted and has to suffer again and that He will be victorious over His opponents through His sacrificing. Bahaullah Whom we Bahais believe to be that "King of Kings "and that"Lord of Lords"spoken of in the verses of Rev. suffered forty years of imprisonment for our sake.
"This is yet another sign of God's unfailing grace toward humankind"
You might say that many people suffer. Is their suffering of less value? There are false Prophets you say. Yes there are. So how should a true Messenger of God be known. Suffering must be done volontarily.And joyously. That way there is the chance we can see the fruits of the spirit. In the verse (Gal.5:22-23) we come to know: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
And (Matt.7:15-20)"every good tree bears good fruit...therefore by their fruits you will know them." That is you will be able to judge by yourself. I said by yourself. There is no need for you consulting anybody, but your own soul, and to be independent in your investigation for truth. So if we find in Bahaullah "all goodness, righteousness, and truth," (Gal.5:9) He is of God. Bahaullah says in one of His Tablets: "My body hath endured imprisonment that ye may be released from the bondage of self." "We verily, have come for your sakes, and have borne the misfortunes of the world for your salvation"
"If Bahaullah had not been aflame with love for humanity, He would not have willingly accepted forty years' of imprisonment. "There was no ordeal or difficulty He (Bahaullah) did not experience, yet He endured all in perfect joy and happiness. "Bahaullah endured forty years of vicissitudes, ordeals and hardships for the purpose of spreading His teachings . "His (Bahaullahs) life was a vortex of persecution and difficulty; yet catastrophes, extreme ordeals and vicissitudes did not hinder the accomplishment of His work and mission. Nay, on the contrary, His power became greater and greater.
He bore these ordeals, suffered these calamities and difficulties in order that a manifestation of selflessness and service become apparent in the world of humanity; that the Most Great Peace should become a reality."Abdu'l-Baha
Abdu'l-Baha, who volontarily followed Bahaullah into exile and imprisonment in order to serve Bahaullah ,points out that"true happiness is not dependent on the comforts of this world and that through living a spiritual life we too can attain happiness despite the difficulties we encounter,"
I have presented the martyrdom of Muna, the young girl, who weas happy in prison, thousands of others, like 20 000 Babis were persecuted and died as martyres.
It is well documented about several of them that when suffering the bastinado (wipping of the feet) and other forms of tortures , like the burning with hot irons,they had to hide their quiete giggling with their hands at the great efforts by the torturers to make them feel wounded. Another one, mulla Rida, was discretely cleaning his teeth behind his handcerchief while his torturer was beating his feet into bloody deep wounds. Yes, they did not even feel the pains. Their joyus spirit elevated them above even these sufferings. They were truly happy to suffer and give their lives when needed. I can tell you that in one of the cities during this Age of Martyrdom several Babis were cut in the flesh and in the cuts candlelights were plugged in, then lighted. In this condition, like torches they were wipped to run through the town and if they happen to drop one of the lights they themselves bent down to pick it up and plugged it into place Then laughingly start to run again.
This is the kind of love that Bahaullah and the Bab imparted to His followers. This is heavenly love. This is the secret of the worlds.
On some of the victims of the clergys agents horseshoes would be applied, just like on horses, on their feet! and then wipped to run through town. This has been documented by western observers. And it has been said that the darkest country in the world is Persia. Why would it not be, since such beastly treatment is praised by the clergy in alliance with the secular authority. The priests were themselves out on the streets to agitate the masses to perpertrate these indignities and shameless actions in the name of God. Now you may understand that God choses to send His Messengers to other places than what humans expect and pray for.
Christ came to the darkest country, to the Israelii people during the opression of the Roman Empire. Such is the way of God's Physicians, They come to the worst places to heal with the spirit.
Bahaullah came to the darkest country in our age, Iran, because the divine Messengers always come to heal spiritual illnesses and Iran was suffering most of the lack of spirituality. The sign of its low spiritual state was the killing of the Bab and the life long banishment and imprisonment of Him Whom God would Make Manifest. The West who eagerly awaited Christ was not in such a bad condition. Why should He come there first then?
To us in the west, Christ would have to come as a "Thief in the Night", when nobody expects Him. He is not expected now, look around. No, people have stopped waiting , and this is quite in line with the prophesies, as I have shown in articles recently.
But I am showing you this Great Manifestation of God, who came to impart love and harmony to mankind through His own life of heroic suffering, and His teachings. Now we have His Books and documents about His life. He has revealed His Writings with His own hand. They are well guarded in Haifa at the Bahai World Centre, He has changed my life completely. My fear of life is gone. My life is running smothly, I am happy, I am happy because I can do something for this Faith, the greatest of all for me is to know that mankind will survive and will not only survive these dangerous times but also prosper greatly, triumphantly, in the future. The Most Great Peace is awaiting us. Don't you need this vision? Dear friends, I say, take care! Bye for now Kind regards from Laila
|