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General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy

Saturday, October 8th, 2022

The Paris Peace Pact

Treaty between the United States and other Powers providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy. Signed at Paris, August 27, 1928; ratification advised by the Senate, January 16, 1929; ratified by the President, January 17, 1929; instruments of ratification deposited at Washington by the United States of America, Australia, Dominion of Canada, Czechoslovkia, Germany, Great Britain, India, Irish Free State, Italy, New Zealand, and Union of South Africa, March 2, 1929: By Poland, March 26, 1929; by Belgium, March 27 1929; by France, April 22, 1929; by Japan, July 24, 1929; proclaimed, July 24, 1929.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS a Treaty between the President of the United States Of America, the President of the German Reich, His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the President of the French Republic, His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, His Majesty the King of Italy, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, the President of the Republic of Poland, and the President of the Czechoslovak Republic, providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy, was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotontiaries at Paris on the twenty-seventh day of August, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight, the original of which Treaty, being in the English and

the French languages, is word for word as follows:

THE PRESIDENT OF THE GERMAN REICH, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN IRELAND AND THE BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, EMPEROR OF INDIA, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF ITALY, HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND THE PRESIDENT OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC,

Deeply sensible of their solemn duty to promote the welfare of mankind;

Persuaded that the time has, come when a frank renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy should be made to the end that the peaceful and friendly relations now existing between their peoples may be perpetuated;

Convinced that all changes in their relations with one another should be sought only by pacific means and be the result of a peaceful and orderly process, and that any signatory Power which shall hereafter seek to promote its ts national interests by resort to war a should be denied the benefits furnished by this Treaty;

Hopeful that, encouraged by their example, all the other nations of the world will join in this humane endeavor and by adhering to the present Treaty as soon as it comes into force bring their peoples within the scope of its beneficent provisions, thus uniting the civilized nations of the world in a common renunciation of war as an instrument of their national policy;

Have decided to conclude a Treaty and for that purpose have appointed as their respective

Plenipotentiaries:
THE PRESIDENT OF THE GERMAN REICH:
Dr Gustav STRESEMANN, Minister of Foreign Affairs;
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
The Honorable Frank B. KELLOGG, Secretary of State;
HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS:
Mr Paul HYMANS, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of State;
THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC:
Mr. Aristide BRIAND Minister for Foreign Affairs;
HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND AND THE BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, EMPEROR OF INDIA:
For GREAT BRITAIN and NORTHERN IBELAND and all parts of the British Empire which are not separate Members of the League of Nations:
The Right Honourable Lord CUSHENDUN, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Acting-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;
For the DOMINION OF CANADA:
The Right Honourable William Lyon MACKENZIE KING, Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs;
For the COMMONWEALTH of AUSTRLIA:
The Honourable Alexander John McLACHLAN, Member of the Executive Federal Council;
For the DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND:
The Honourable Sir Christopher James PARR High Commissioner for New Zealand in Great Britain;
For the UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA:
The Honourable Jacobus Stephanus SMIT, High Commissioner for the Union of South Africa in Great Britain;
For the IRISH FREE STATE:
Mr. William Thomas COSGRAVE, President of the Executive Council;
For INDIA:
The Right Honourable Lord CUSHENDUN, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Acting Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;
HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF ITALY:
Count Gaetano MANZONI, his Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Paris.
HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN:
Count UCHIDA, Privy Councillor;
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND:
Mr. A. ZALESKI, Minister for Foreign Affairs;
THE PRESIDENT OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC:
Dr Eduard BENES, Minister for Foreign Affairs;

who, having communicated to one another their full powers found in good and due form have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I

The High Contracting Parties solemly declare in the names of their respective peoples that they condemn recourse to war for the solution of international controversies, and renounce it, as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another.

ARTICLE II

The High Contracting Parties agree that the settlement or solution of all disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them, shall never be sought except by pacific means.

ARTICLE III

The present Treaty shall be ratified by the High Contracting Parties named in the Preamble in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements, and shall take effect as between them as soon as all their several instruments of ratification shall have been deposited at Washington.

This Treaty shall, when it has come into effect as prescribed in the preceding paragraph, remain open as long as may be necessary for adherence by all the other Powers of the world. Every instrument evidencing the adherence of a Power shall be deposited at Washington and the Treaty shall immediately upon such deposit become effective as; between the Power thus adhering and the other Powers parties hereto.

It shall be the duty of the Government of the United States to furnish each Government named in the Preamble and every Government subsequently adhering to this Treaty with a certified copy of the Treaty and of every instrument of ratification or adherence. It shall also be the duty of the Government of the United States telegraphically to notify such Governments immediately upon the deposit with it of each instrument of ratification or adherence.

IN FAITH WHEREOF the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed this Treaty in the French and English languages both texts having equal force, and hereunto affix their seals.

DONE at Paris, the twenty seventh day of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight.

[SEAL] GUSTAV STRESEMANN
[SEAL] FRANK B KELLOGG
[SEAL] PAUL HYMANS
[SEAL] ARI BRIAND
[SEAL] CUSHENDUN
[SEAL] W. L. MACKENZIE KING
[SEAL] A J MCLACHLAN
[SEAL] C. J. PARR
[SEAL] J S. SMIT
[SEAL] LIAM T.MACCOSGAIR
[SEAL] CUSHENDUN
[SEAL] G. MANZONI
[SEAL] UCHIDA
[SEAL] AUGUST ZALESKI
[SEAL] DR EDWARD BENES

Certified to be a true copy of the signed original deposited with the Government of the United States of America.

FRANK B. KELLOGG
Secretary of State of the United States of America

AND WHEREAS it is stipulated in the said Treaty that it shall take effect as between the High Contracting Parties as soon as all the several instruments of ratification shall have been deposited at Washington;

AND WHEREAS the said Treaty has been duly ratified on the parts of all the High Contracting Parties and their several instruments of ratification have been deposited with the Government of the United States of America, the last on July 24, 1929;

NOW TIIEREFORE, be it known that I, Herbert Hoover, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Treaty to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

DONE at the city of Washington this twenty-fourth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fifty-fourth

HERBERT HOOVER
By the President:
HENRY L STIMSON
Secretary of State

NOTE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE

ADHERING COUNTRIES

When this Treaty became effective on July 24, 1929, the instruments of ratification of all of the signatory powers having been deposited at Washington, the following countries, having deposited instruments of definitive adherence, became parties to it:

Afghanistan Finland Peru
Albania Guatemala Portugal
Austria Hungary Rumania
Bulgaria Iceland Russia
China Latvia Kingdom of the Serbs
Cuba Liberia Croats and Slovenes
Denmark Lithuania Siam
Dominican Republic Netherlands Spain
Egypt Nicaragua Sweden
Estonia Norway Turkey
Ethiopia Panama

Additional adhesions deposited subsequent to July 24, 1929. Persia, July 2, 1929; Greece, August 3, 1929; Honduras, August 6, 1929; Chile, August 12, 1929; Luxemburg August 14, 1929; Danzig, September 11, 1929; Costa Rica, October 1, 1929; Venezuela, October 24, 1929.

*********

“Elect the Supreme Tribunal! Uphold the 1928 Covenant of International Peace! (Kellogg-Briand Paris Peace Pact)”

Baha’i Sabbath: Jalal 7, 179 B.E. (4/15/2022)

Saturday, April 16th, 2022

TABLET FOR A DURABLE PEACE

(Lawh-i-Hague)

–‘Abdu’l-Baha–

O YE ESTEEMED ONES WHO ARE PIONEERS AMONG THE WELL-WISHERS OF THE WORLD OF HUMANITY![1]

The letters which ye sent during the war were not received, but a letter dated 11 February 1916, has just come to hand, and immediately an answer is being written. Your intention deserves a thousand praises, because you are serving the world of humanity, and this is conducive to the happiness and welfare of all. This recent war has proved to the world and the people that war is destruction while Universal Peace is construction; war is death while peace is life; war is rapacity and bloodthirstiness while peace is beneficence and humaneness; war is an appurtenance of the world of nature while peace is of the foundation of the religion of God; war is darkness upon darkness while peace is heavenly light; war is the destroyer of the edifice of mankind while peace is the everlasting life of the world of humanity; war is like a devouring wolf while peace is like the angels of heaven; war is the struggle for existence while peace is mutual aid and co-operation among the peoples of the world and the cause of the good-pleasure of the True One in the heavenly realm.

There is not one soul whose conscience does not testify that in this day there is no more important matter in the world than that of Universal Peace. Every just one bears witness to this and adores that esteemed Assembly because its aim is that this darkness may be changed into light, this bloodthirstiness into kindness, this torment into bliss, this hardship into ease and this enmity and hatred into fellowship and love. Therefore, the effort of those esteemed souls is worthy of praise and commendation.

But the wise souls who are aware of the essential relationships emanating from the realities of things consider that one single matter cannot, by itself, influence the human reality as it ought and should, for until the minds of men become united, no important matter can be accomplished. At present Universal Peace is a matter of great importance, but unity of conscience is essential, so that the foundation of this matter may become secure, its establishment firm and its edifice strong.

Therefore Baha’u’llah, fifty years ago, expounded this question of Universal Peace at a time when He was confined in the fortress of ‘Akka and was wronged and imprisoned. He wrote about this important matter of Universal Peace to all the great sovereigns of the world, and established it among His friends in the orient. The horizon of the East was in utter darkness, nations displayed the utmost hatred and enmity towards each other, religions thirsted for each other’s blood, and it was darkness upon darkness. At such a time Baha’u’llah shone forth like the Sun from the horizon of the East and illumined Persia with the lights of these teachings.

Among His teachings was the Declaration of Universal Peace. People of different nations, religions and sects who followed Him came together to such an extent that remarkable gatherings were instituted consisting of the various nations and religions of the East. Every soul who entered these gatherings saw but one nation, one teaching, one pathway, one order, for the teachings of Baha’u’llah were not limited to the establishment of Universal Peace. They embraced many teachings which supplemented and supported that of Universal Peace.

Among these teachings was the Independent Investigation of Reality so that the world of humanity may be saved from the darkness of imitation and attain to the truth; may tear off and cast away this ragged and outgrown garment of a thousand years ago and may put on the robe woven in the utmost purity and holiness in the loom of reality. As reality is one and cannot admit of multiplicity, therefore different opinions must ultimately become fused into one.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is the Oneness of the world of Humanity; that all human beings are the sheep of God and He is the kind Shepherd. This Shepherd is kind to all the sheep, because He created them all, trained them, provided for them and protected them. There is no doubt that the Shepherd is kind to all the sheep and should there be among these sheep ignorant ones, they must be educated; if there be children, they must be trained until they reach maturity; if there be sick ones, they must be cured. There must be no hatred and enmity, for as by a kind physician these ignorant, sick ones should be treated.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is that Religion must be the cause of fellowship and Love. If it becomes the cause of estrangement then it is not needed, for religion is like a remedy; if it aggravates the disease then it becomes unnecessary.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is that Religion must be in conformity with Science and Reason, so that it may influence the hearts of men. The foundation must be solid and must not consist of imitations.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is that religious, racial, political, economic and patriotic Prejudices destroy the edifice of humanity. As long as these prejudices prevail, the world of humanity will not have rest. For a period of 6000 years history informs us about the world of humanity. During these 6000 years the world of humanity has not been free from war, strife, murder and bloodthirstiness. In every period war has been waged in one country or another and that war was due to either religious prejudice, racial prejudice, political prejudice or patriotic prejudice. It has therefore been ascertained and proved that all prejudices are destructive of the human edifice. As long as these prejudices persist, the struggle for existence must remain dominant, and bloodthirstiness and rapacity continue. Therefore, even as was the case in the past, the world of humanity cannot be saved from the darkness of nature and cannot attain illumination except through the abandonment of prejudices and the acquisition of the morals of the Kingdom.

If this prejudice and enmity are on account of religion consider that religion should be the cause of fellowship, otherwise it is fruitless. And if this prejudice be the prejudice of nationality consider that all mankind are of one nation; all have sprung from the tree of Adam, and Adam is the root of the tree. That tree is one and all these nations are like branches, while the individuals of humanity are like leaves, blossoms and fruits thereof. Then the establishment of various nations and the consequent shedding of blood and destruction of the edifice of humanity result from human ignorance and selfish motives.

As to the patriotic prejudice, this is also due to absolute ignorance, for the surface of the earth is one native land. Every one can live in any spot on the terrestrial globe. Therefore all the world is man’s birthplace. These boundaries and outlets have been devised by man. In the creation, such boundaries and outlets were not assigned. Europe is one continent, Asia is one continent, Africa is one continent, Australia is one continent, but some of the souls, from personal motives and selfish interests, have divided each one of these continents and considered a certain part as their own country. God has set up no frontier between France and Germany; they are continuous. Yea, in the first centuries, selfish souls, for the promotion of their own interests, have assigned boundaries and outlets and have, day by day, attached more importance to these, until this led to intense enmity, bloodshed and rapacity in subsequent centuries. In the same way this will continue indefinitely, and if this conception of patriotism remains limited within a certain circle, it will be the primary cause of the world’s destruction. No wise and just person will acknowledge these imaginary distinctions. Every limited area which we call our native country we regard as our motherland, whereas the terrestrial globe is the motherland of all, and not any restricted area. In short, for a few days we live on this earth and eventually we are buried in it, it is our eternal tomb. Is it worthwhile that we should engage in bloodshed and tear one another to pieces for this eternal tomb? Nay, far from it, neither is God pleased with such conduct nor would any sane man approve of it.

Consider! The blessed animals engage in no patriotic quarrels. They are in the utmost fellowship with one another and live together in harmony. For example, if a dove from the East and a dove from the West, a dove from the North and a dove from the South chance to arrive, at the same time, in one spot, they immediately associate in harmony. So is it with all the blessed animals and birds. But the ferocious animals, as soon as they meet, attack and fight with each other, tear each other to pieces and it is impossible for them to live peaceably together in one spot. They are all unsociable and fierce, savage and combative fighters.

Regarding the economic prejudice, it is apparent that whenever the ties between nations become strengthened and the exchange of commodities accelerated, and any economic principle is established in one country, it will ultimately affect the other countries and universal benefits will result. Then why this prejudice?

As to the political prejudice, the policy of God must be followed and it is indisputable that the policy of God is greater than human policy. We must follow the Divine policy and that applies alike to all individuals. He treats all individuals alike: no distinction is made, and that is the foundation of the Divine Religions.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is the origination of One Language that may be spread Universally among the people. This teaching was revealed from the pen of Baha’u’llah in order that this universal language may eliminate misunderstandings from among mankind.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is the Equality of Women and Men. The world of humanity has two wings–one is women and the other men. Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible. Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is Voluntary Sharing of one’s property with others among mankind. This voluntary sharing is greater than equality, and consists in this, that man should not prefer himself to others, but rather should sacrifice his life and property for others. But this should not be introduced by coercion so that it becomes a law and man is compelled to follow it. Nay, rather, man should voluntarily and of his own choice sacrifice his property and life for others, and spend willingly for the poor, just as is done in Persia among the Baha’is.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is Man’s Freedom, that through the ideal Power he should be free and emancipated from the captivity of the world of nature; for as long as man is captive to nature he is a ferocious animal, as the struggle for existence is one of the exigencies of the world of nature. This matter of the struggle for existence is the fountain-head of all calamities and is the supreme affliction.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is that Religion is a Mighty Stronghold and bulwark. If the edifice of religion shakes and totters, commotion and chaos will ensue and the order of things will be utterly upset, for in the world of mankind there are two safeguards that protect man from wrongdoing. One is the law which punishes the criminal; but the law prevents only the manifest crime and not the concealed sin; whereas the ideal safeguard, namely, the Religion of God, prevents both the manifest and the concealed crime, trains man, educates morals, compels the adoption of virtues and is the All-Inclusive Power which guarantees the felicity of the world of mankind. But by religion is meant that which is ascertained by investigation and not that which is based on mere imitation, the foundations of Divine Religions and not human imitations.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is that although material civilization is one of the means for the progress of the world of mankind, yet until it becomes combined with Divine Civilization, the desired result, which is the felicity of mankind, will not be attained. Consider! These battleships that reduce a city to ruins within the space of an hour are the result of material civilization; likewise the Krupp guns, the Mauser rifles, dynamite, submarines, torpedo boats, armed aircraft and bombers–all these weapons of war are the malignant fruits of material civilization. Had material civilization been combined with Divine Civilization, these fiery weapons would never have been invented. Nay, rather, human energy would have been wholly devoted to useful inventions and would have been concentrated on praiseworthy discoveries. Material civilization is like a lamp-glass. Divine Civilization is the lamp itself and the glass without the light is dark. Material civilization is like the body. No matter how infinitely graceful, elegant and beautiful it may be, it is dead. Divine Civilization is like the Spirit, and the body gets its life from the Spirit, otherwise it becomes a corpse. It has thus been made evident that the world of mankind is in need of the breaths of the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit the world of mankind is lifeless, and without this light the world of mankind is in utter darkness. For the world of nature is an animal world.

Until man is born again from the world of nature, that is to say, becomes detached from the world of nature, he is essentially an animal, and it is the teachings of God which convert this animal into a human soul.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is the Promotion of Education. Every child (male and female) must be instructed in sciences as much as is necessary. If the parents are able to provide the expenses of this education, it is well, otherwise the community must provide the means for the teaching of that child.

And among the teachings of Baha’u’llah are Justice and Truth. Until these are realized on the plane of existence, all things shall be in disorder and remain imperfect. The world of mankind is a world of oppression and cruelty, and a realm of aggression and error.

In fine, such teachings are numerous. These manifold principles, which constitute the greatest basis for the felicity of mankind and are of the bounties of the Merciful, must be added to the matter of Universal Peace and combined with it, so that results may accrue. Otherwise the realization of Universal Peace by itself in the world of mankind is difficult. As the teachings of Baha’u’llah are combined with Universal Peace, they are like a table provided with every kind of fresh and delicious food. Every soul can find, at that table of infinite bounty, that which he desires. If the question is restricted to Universal Peace alone, the remarkable results which are expected and desired will not be attained. The scope of Universal Peace must be such that all the communities and religions may find their highest wish realized in it. The teachings of Baha’u’llah are such that all the communities of the world, whether religious, political or ethical, ancient or modern, find in them the expression of their highest wish.

For example, the people of religions find, in the teachings of Baha’u’llah, the establishment of Universal Religion–a religion that perfectly conforms with present conditions, which in reality effects the immediate cure of the incurable disease, which relieves every pain, and bestows the infallible antidote for every deadly poison. For if we wish to arrange and organize the world of mankind in accordance with the present religious imitations and thereby to establish the felicity of the world of mankind, it is impossible and impracticable–for example, the enforcement of the laws of the Torah and also of the other religions in accordance with present imitations. But the essential basis of all the Divine Religions which pertains to the virtues of the world of mankind and is the foundation of the welfare of the world of man, is found in the teachings of Baha’u’llah in the most perfect presentation.

Similarly, with regard to the peoples who clamor for freedom: the moderate freedom which guarantees the welfare of the world of mankind and maintains and preserves the universal relationships, is found in its fullest power and extension in the teachings of Baha’u’llah.

So with regard to political parties: that which is the greatest policy directing the world of mankind, nay, rather, the Divine policy, is found in the teachings of Baha’u’llah.

Likewise with regard to the party of “equality” which seeks the solution of the economic problems: until now all proposed solutions have proved impracticable except the economic proposals in the teachings of Baha’u’llah which are practicable and cause no distress to society.

So with the other parties: when ye look deeply into this matter, ye will discover that the highest aims of those parties are found in the teachings of Baha’u’llah. These teachings constitute the all-inclusive power among all men and are practicable. But there are some teachings of the past, such as those of the Torah, which cannot be carried out at the present day. It is the same with the other religions and the tenets of the various sects and the different parties.

For example, the question of Universal Peace, about which Baha’u’llah says that the Supreme Tribunal must be established: although the League of Nations has been brought into existence, yet it is incapable of establishing Universal Peace. But the Supreme Tribunal which Baha’u’llah has described will fulfill this sacred task with the utmost might and power. And His plan is this: that the national assemblies of each country and nation–that is to say parliaments–should elect two or three persons who are the choicest men of that nation, and are well informed concerning international laws and the relations between governments and aware of the essential needs of the world of humanity in this day. The number of these representatives should be in proportion to the number of inhabitants of that country. The election of these souls who are chosen by the national assembly, that is, the parliament, must be confirmed by the upper house, the congress and the cabinet and also by the president or monarch so these persons may be the elected ones of all the nation and the government. From among these people the members of the Supreme Tribunal will be elected, and all mankind will thus have a share therein, for every one of these delegates is fully representative of his nation. When the Supreme Tribunalgives a ruling on any international question, either unanimously or by majority rule, there will no longer be any pretext for the plaintiff or ground of objection for the defendant. In case any of the governments or nations, in the execution of the irrefutable decision of the Supreme Tribunal, be negligent or dilatory, the rest of the nations will rise up against it, because all the governments and nations of the world are the supporters of this Supreme Tribunal. Consider what a firm foundation this is! But by a limited and restricted League the purpose will not be realized as it ought and should. This is the truth about the situation, which has been stated.

Consider how powerful are the teachings of His Holiness Baha’u’llah. At a time when His Holiness was in the prison of ‘Akka and was under the restrictions and threats of two bloodthirsty kings. Notwithstanding this fact, His teachings spread with all power in Persia and other countries. Should any teaching, or any principle, or any community fall under the threat of a powerful and bloodthirsty monarch, it will be annihilated within a short space of time. At present for fifty years the Baha’is in Persia and most regions have been under severe restrictions and the threat of sword and spear. Thousands of souls have given their lives in the arena of sacrifice and have fallen as victims under the swords of oppression and cruelty. Thousands of esteemed families have been uprooted and destroyed. Thousands of children have been made fatherless. Thousands of fathers have been bereft of their sons. Thousands of mothers have wept and lamented for their boys who have been beheaded. All this oppression and cruelty, rapacity and bloodthirstiness did not hinder or prevent the spread of the teachings of Baha’u’llah. They spread more and more every day, and their power and might became more evident.

It may be that some foolish person among the Persians will affix his name to the contents of the Tablets of His Holiness Baha’u’llah or to the explanations given in the letters (Tablets) of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and send it to that esteemed Assembly. Ye must be aware of this fact, for any Persian who seeks fame or has some other intention will take the entire contents of the Tablets of His Holiness Baha’u’llah and publish them in his own name or in that of his community, just as happened at the Universal Races Congress in London before the war. A Persian took the substance of the Epistles of His Holiness Baha’u’llah, entered that Congress, gave them forth in his own name and published them, whereas the wording was exactly that of His Holiness Baha’u’llah. Some such souls have gone to Europe and have caused confusion in the minds of the people of Europe and have disturbed the thoughts of some Orientalists. Ye must bear this fact in mind, for not a word of these teachings was heard in Persia before the appearance of Baha’u’llah. Investigate this matter so that it may become to you evident and manifest. Some souls are like parrots. They learn any note which they may hear, and sing it, but they themselves are unaware of what they utter. There is a sect in Persia at present made up of a few souls who are called Babis, who claim to be the followers of His Holiness the Bab, whereas they are utterly unaware of His Holiness. They have some secret teachings which are entirely opposed to the teachings of Baha’u’llah and in Persia people know this. But when these souls come to Europe, they conceal their own teachings and utter those of His Holiness Baha’u’llah, for they know that the teachings of His Holiness Baha’u’llah are powerful and they therefore declare publicly those teachings of Baha’u’llah in their own name. As to their secret teachings, they say that they are taken from the Book of Bayan, and the Book of Bayan is from His Holiness the Bab. When ye get hold of the translation of the Book of Bayan, which has been translated in Persia, ye will discover the truth that the teachings of Baha’u’llah are utterly opposed to the teachings of this sect. Beware lest ye disregard this fact. Should ye desire to investigate the matter further, inquire from Persia.

In fine, when travelling and journeying throughout the world, wherever one finds construction, it is the result of fellowship and love, while everything that is in ruin shows the effect of enmity and hatred. Notwithstanding this, the world of humanity has not become aware and has not awakened from the sleep of heedlessness. Again it engages in differences, in disputes and wrangling, that it may set up ranks of war and may run to and fro in the arena of battle and strife.

So is it with regard to the universe and its corruption, existence and non-existence. Every contingent being is made up of different and numerous elements and the existence of everything is a result of composition. That is to say, when between simple elements a composition takes place a being arises; the creation of beings come about in this way. And when that composition is upset, it is followed by decomposition, the elements disintegrate, and that being becomes annihilated. That is to say, the annihilation of everything consists in the decomposition and the separation of elements. Therefore every union and color of leaves, of flowers and of fruits, each will contribute to the beauty and charm of the others and will make an admirable garden, and will appear in the utmost loveliness, freshness and sweetness. Likewise, when difference and variety of thoughts, forms, opinions, characters and morals of the world of mankind come under the control of one Supreme Power, that influence of composition among the elements is the cause of life, while dissociation and separation is the cause of death. In short, attraction and harmony of things are the cause of the production of fruits and useful results, while repulsion and in harmony of things are the cause of disturbance and annihilation. From harmony and attraction, all living contingent beings, such as plant, animal and man, are realized, and from in harmony and repulsion decay sets in and annihilation becomes manifest. Therefore whatever is the cause of harmony, attraction and union among men is the life of the world of humanity, and whatever is the cause of difference, of repulsion and of separation is the cause of the death of mankind.

And when you pass by a garden wherein vegetable beds and plants, flowers and fragrant herbs are all combined so as to form a harmonious whole, this is an evidence that this plantation and this rose garden have been cultivated and arranged by the care of a perfect gardener, while when you see a garden in disorder, lacking arrangement and confused, this indicates that it has been deprived of the care of a skilful gardener, nay, rather it is nothing but a mass of weeds. It has therefore been made evident that fellowship and harmony are indicative of the training by the real Educator, while separation and dispersion prove wildness and deprivation of Divine training.

Should any one object that, since the communities and nations and races and peoples of the world have different formalities, customs, tastes, temperaments, morals, varied thoughts, minds and opinions, it is therefore impossible for ideal unity to be made manifest and complete union among men to be realized, we say that differences are of two kinds: One leads to destruction, and that is like the difference between warring peoples and competing nations who destroy one another, uproot each other’s families, do away with rest and comfort and engage in bloodshed and rapacity. That is blameworthy. But the other difference consists in variation. This is perfection itself and the cause of the appearance of Divine bounty. Consider the flowers of the rose garden. Although they are of different kinds, various colors and diverse forms and appearances, yet as they drink from one water, are swayed by one breeze and grow by the warmth and light of one sun, this variation and this difference cause each to enhance the beauty and splendor of the others. The differences in manners, in customs, in habits, in thoughts, opinions and in temperaments is the cause of the adornment of the world of mankind. This is praiseworthy. Likewise this difference and this variation, like the difference and variation of the parts and members of the human body, are the cause of the appearance of beauty and perfection. As these different parts and members are under the control of the dominant Spirit, and the Spirit permeates all the organs and members, and rules all the arteries and veins, this difference and this variation strengthen love and harmony and this multiplicity is the greatest aid to unity. If in a garden the flowers and fragrant herbs, the blossoms and fruits, the leaves, branches and trees are of one kind, of one form, of one color and one arrangement, there is no beauty or sweetness, but when there is variety in the World of Oneness, they will appear and be displayed in the most perfect glory, beauty, exaltation and perfection. Today nothing but the power of the Word of God which encompasses the realities of things can bring the thoughts, the minds, the hearts and the spirits under the shade of one Tree. He is the potent in all things, the vivifier of souls, the preserver and the controller of the world of mankind. Praise be to God, in this day the light of the Word of God has shone forth upon all regions, and from all sects, communities, nations, tribes, peoples, religions and denominations, souls have gathered under the shadow of the Word of Oneness and have in the most intimate fellowship united and harmonized!

[1] This Tablet was written in response to a letter sent to ‘Abdu’l-Baha by the Executive Committee for a Durable Peace. In God Passes By, p. 308, Shoghi Effendi refers to this Tablet as of “far reaching importance” and states that it was “dispatched to…The Hague by the hands of a special delegation.”

Download a PDF of this Tablet here:

Tablet for a Durable Peace

*********

12/13/2017 – Masa’il 2, 174 B.E.

Wednesday, December 13th, 2017

Dear friends: where old Jerusalem was called “the City of the Covenant” in ancient days, ‘Abdu’l-Baha designated NYC USA as the City of the Covenant upon his arrival in 1912 on April 11th (4-11). The Times Square Attack coming in the wake of official Trump announcement of Jerusalem as Capital City for the US Embassy for Israel (thus signaling Palestinian State Issues) motivates me to share this important letter from more recent days. I remain yours, your servant, Neal.

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“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev. 22:19 KJV).

 

Dear All,

 

When we predicted the attacks on NYC, we explained that the prophecy is not the cause of the attacks. The cause is the double standard that the US has against the Muslim peoples. In 1991 Saddam Hussein made the key issue of this double standard the Palestine State Issue. When Saddam focused on the Palestinian State issue then Usama b. Laden joined up with him (see Newsweek, January 1999 attached below).

 

As the Palestinians were denied their statehood on 9-11 of the year 2000 — a year later to the day is the 9-11 event. The current issue of the Palestine State is extremely relevant and important to both what is about to happen next and when. Thus the scriptures state: “I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spake like a dragon” (Rev. 13:11 KJV).

 

Dr. Jensen explains that the dragon is Islam, and therefore this second beast is the Islamic power that is left in the world today. It has two horns, which are the two divisions of Islam into Sunni and Shi’ite. It is like a lamb because it is weak. However it states that this Islamic power: “doeth great wonders, so that it maketh fire come down from heaven in the sight of men” (Rev. 13:13 KJV).

 

Another way to say sight is “vision” — This refers to the television where all the people saw the attacks by Jihadist Muslims against NYC and the 9-11 on live television in the sight of men. We gave these predictions based on these infallible prophecies many years before these events came to pass. We stated who would do it, why they would do it, where they would do it, and when then would do it. These are the words of the prophecy of the book of Revelation:

 

“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev. 22:19 KJV).

Dr. Jensen explains:

 

“The “fire” which comes “down from heaven” is the thermonuclear war which the Arab nations will trigger by THEIR ACTIONS, in response to the big bully. ” http://entrybytroops.uhj.net/revelation13.html

 

In order to win our stations as active Baha’i guides and teachers, it is essential that we ALL become educated to the FACTS and to the TRUTH as one voice in the NEW SONG, the song of the Lamb on these teaching points which are spoken of in the Book of Revelation, lest “God shall take away his part” as Jesus said, “if thy eye offend thee, pluck it out,” etc.

 

Now the reason many are suspicious that the US government had foreknowledge of the 9-11 before it happened is because they did: FROM US!! We sent them all the data and facts they needed to prevent these things. They did not heed our warnings; and the events happened just as we foretold. Now more is yet to come, in aggression between the East and West, between Muslim, Jew and Christian, as they remain stubborn, and fail to implement our guidance for the amicable solutions to these root problems.

 

For this reason, at the request of many of the friends, I am re-posting, some important facts of the connection of the Palestine State issue to the motive of the East against the West in the current war, and how these Middle Eastern issues pertain not only to the problem which is the cause of the Islamic attacks again the west, but also to the ultimate solution which is issuing forth from the Covenant of Baha’u’llah and the sacred Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha.

 

Your servant,

 

Neal,

Guardian.

 

Attachments:

 

I.

 

UN Israel-Palestine Sept 2011

 

This September 2011, the Palestinian State issue is scheduled to come before the UN.

 

The last time this was set and thwarted was Sept 11, 2000. A year later on that very day was the 9-11. This is the underlying reason for that day as we have said previously.

 

The following is a significant article form the NY Times about this: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/world/middleeast/03mideast.html

“We are facing a diplomatic-political tsunami that the majority of the public is unaware of and that will peak in September,” said Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister”

 

To further deepen on this issue quickly is “Israel’s Story in Maps”. Looking at the history through these maps with brief explanations will orient anyone quickly to easily understand the key points of this issue since Baha’u’llah’s arrival in the Holy Land to the present day.

Four pdf documents at this link: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/Israel+in+Maps/

Lastly, it should be pointed out that when we calculated the dates of 9-11 2000-2001, we were looking to see what was to occur at that time.

 

It was September, 13, 2000 that Palestine was to face their crucial deadline. http://www.jcpa.org/art/becker2.htm

 

However, the UN meeting Millennium Summit Sept. 8, 2000 crushed these hopes forcing the Palestinian National Council (PNC) to cancel declaring its independent statehood on September 11, 2000 two days before the deadline.

 

This was thus all thwarted at that pivotal date (9-11-2000) and then gas thrown on the fire when Arial Sharon went up on the temple mount, in September 2000 setting off the second Intifada also called the al-Aqsa Intifada. One year later to the day was the 9-11, 2001.

Simultaneous with the failure of the Palestine State on September 11, 2000 was this official announcement from Al-Sabah, the official publication of the Palestinian Authority, dated September 11, 2000 which declared: “We will advance and declare a general intifada for Jerusalem. The time for the intifada has arrived, the time for intifada has arrived, the time for Jihad has arrived.” http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp470.htm

In Israel, Time for Peace Offer May Run Out 

By ETHAN BRONNER

Published: April 2, 2011

JERUSALEM: With revolutionary fervor sweeping the Middle East, Israel is under mounting pressure to make a far-reaching offer to the Palestinians or face a United Nations vote welcoming the State of Palestine as a member whose territory includes all of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

 

The Palestinian Authority has been steadily building support for such a resolution in September, a move that could place Israel into a diplomatic vise. Israel would be occupying land belonging to a fellow United Nations member, land it has controlled and settled for more than four decades and some of which it expects to keep in any two-state solution.

 

“We are facing a diplomatic-political tsunami that the majority of the public is unaware of and that will peak in September”, said Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, at a conference in Tel Aviv last month. “It is a very dangerous situation, one that requires action”. He added, “Paralysis, rhetoric, inaction will deepen the isolation of Israel.”

With aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thrashing out proposals to the Palestinians, President Shimon Peres is due at the White House on Tuesday to meet with President Obama and explore ways out of the bind. The United States is still uncertain how to move the process forward, according to diplomats here.

 

Israel’s offer is expected to include transfer of some West Bank territory outside its settlements to Palestinian control and may suggest a regional component, an international conference to serve as a response to the Arab League peace initiatives.

 

But Palestinian leaders, emboldened by support for their statehood bid, dismiss the expected offer as insufficient and continue to demand an end to settlement building before talks can begin.

 

“We want to generate pressure on Israel to make it feel isolated and help it understand that there can be no talks without a stop to settlements.” said Nabil Shaath, who leads the foreign affairs department of Fatah, the main party of the Palestinian Authority. “Without that, our goal is membership in the United Nations General Assembly in September.”

 

Israeli, Palestinian and Western officials interviewed on the current impasse, most of them requesting anonymity, expressed an unusual degree of pessimism about a peaceful resolution. All agreed that the turmoil across the Middle East had prompted opposing responses from Israel and much of the world.

 

Israel, seeing the prospect of even more hostile governments as its neighbors, is insisting on caution and time before taking any significant steps. It also wants to build in extensive long-term security guarantees in any two-state solution, but those inevitably infringe the sovereignty of a Palestinian state.

 

The international community tends to draw the opposite conclusion. Foreign Secretary William Hague of Britain, for example, said last week that one of the most important lessons to be learned from the Arab Spring was that “legitimate aspirations cannot be ignored and must be addressed.” He added, referring to Israeli-Palestinian talks, “It cannot be in anyone’s interests if the new order of the region is determined at a time of minimum hope in the peace process.”

 

The Palestinian focus on September stems not only from the fact that the General Assembly holds its annual meeting then. It is also because Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced in September 2009 that his government would be ready for independent statehood in two years and that Mr. Obama said last September that he expected the framework for an independent Palestinian state to be declared in a year.

 

Mr. Obama did not indicate what the borders of that state would be, assuming they would be determined through direct negotiations. But with Israeli-Palestinian talks broken off months ago and the Middle East in the process of profound change, many argue that outside pressure is needed.

 

Germany, France and Britain say negotiations should be based on the 1967 lines with equivalent land swaps, exactly what the Netanyahu government rejects because it says it predetermines the outcome.

 

“Does the world think it is going to force Israel to declare the 1967 lines and giving up Jerusalem as a basis for negotiation?” asked a top Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity. ”That will never happen.”

 

While the Obama administration has referred in the past to the 1967 lines as a basis for talks, it has not decided whether to back the European Union, the United Nations and Russia “the other members of the so-called quartet” in declaring them the starting point, diplomats said. The quartet meets on April 15 in Berlin.

 

Israel, which has settled hundreds of thousands of Jews inside the West Bank and East Jerusalem, acknowledges that it will have to withdraw from much of the land it now occupies there. But it hopes to hold onto the largest settlement blocs and much of East Jerusalem as well as the border to the east with Jordan and does not want to enter into talks with the other side’s position as the starting point.

 

That was true even before its closest ally in the Arab world, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, was driven from power, helping fuel protest movements that now roil other countries, including Jordan, which has its own peace agreement with Israel.

 

“Whatever we put forward has to be grounded in security arrangements because of what is going on regionally,” said Zalman Shoval, one of a handful of Netanyahu aides drawing up the Israeli proposal that may be delivered as a speech to the United States Congress in May. “We are facing the rebirth of the eastern front as Iran grows strong. We have to secure the Jordan Valley. And no Israeli government is going to move tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes quickly.”

 

Those Israelis live in West Bank settlements, the source of much of the disagreement not only with the Palestinians but with the world. Not a single government supports Israel’s settlements. The Palestinians say the settlements are proof that the Israelis do not really want a Palestinian state to arise since they are built on land that should go to that state.

 

“All these years, the main obstacle to peace has been the settlements”, Nimer Hammad, a political adviser to President Abbas, said. “They always say, ”but you never made it a condition of negotiations before.” And we say, “that was a mistake.” ”

 

The Israelis counter that the real problem is Palestinian refusal to accept openly a Jewish state here and ongoing anti-Israeli incitement and praise of violence on Palestinian airwaves.

 

Another central obstacle to the establishment of a State of Palestine has been the division between the West Bank and Gaza, the first run by the Palestinian Authority and the second by Hamas. Lately, President Abbas has sought to bridge the gap, asking to go to Gaza to seek reconciliation through an agreed interim government that would set up parliamentary and presidential elections.

 

But Hamas, worried it would lose such elections and hopeful that the regional turmoil could work in its favor “that Egypt, for example, might be taken over by its ally, the Muslim Brotherhood “ has reacted coolly.

 

Efforts are still under way to restart peace talks but if, as expected, negotiations do not resume, come September the Palestinian Authority seems set to go ahead with plans to ask the General Assembly to accept it as a member. Diplomats involved in the issue say most countries “more than 100” are expected to vote yes, meaning it will pass.

What happens then?

 

Some Palestinian leaders say relations with Israel would change.

 

“We will re-examine our commitments toward Israel, especially our security commitments”, suggested Hanna Amireh, who is on the 18-member ruling board of the Palestine Liberation Organization, referring to cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli troops. “The main sense about Israel is that we are fed up.”

 

Mr. Shaath said Israel would then be in daily violation of the rights of a fellow member state and diplomatic and legal consequences could follow, all of which would be painful for Israel.

In the Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, Ari Shavit, who is a political centrist, drew a comparison between 2011 and the biggest military setback Israel ever faced, the 1973 war.

 

He wrote that “2011 is going to be a diplomatic 1973” because a Palestinian state will be recognized internationally. “Every military base in the West Bank will be contravening the sovereignty of an independent U.N. member state.” He added, “A diplomatic siege from without and a civil uprising from within will grip Israel in a stranglehold.”

 

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 10, 2011

 

A Diplomatic Memo article last Sunday, about the growing possibility that, even without an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, the United Nations General Assembly might approve a resolution in September granting statehood to Palestinians on Israeli-controlled land referred incompletely to the options available to the United States for blocking such a resolution. It has no veto power in the General Assembly, as the article stated, but such a resolution would first require a recommendation from the Security Council, where the United States could exercise a veto.

 

Arabs resigned to delay of Palestinian state

September 11, 2000
Web posted at: 8:10 AM EDT (1210 GMT)

 

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) — Arabs grimly acknowledged on Monday that Palestinians had little choice but to defer their statehood dream, but some saw peace talks with Israel as futile.

 

Few Arab governments commented on Sunday’s widely expected decision by the PLO Central Council to postpone declaring an independent state that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat had vowed to proclaim as early as September 13.

 

The official Arab silence seemed to signal quiet relief at a move that allows more time for a negotiated final peace with Israel and defuses prospects for violent confrontation.

 

“We are determined to do what needs to be done to save the peace process and, therefore, regain our land and rights,” Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath told Egyptian radio, adding that the council would review the issue on November 15.

 

November 15 is the anniversary of a declaration of statehood which Arafat made from exile in Algiers in 1988.

 

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the delay was a vote for the peace process. “We hope that we can conclude an agreement this year and with that we can have our own state by agreement. The decision last night was to recommit ourselves to peace as a strategic option,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

 

Sign of weakness 

 

Yet many Arabs viewed the PLO decision as an expression of Arab and Palestinian feebleness in the face of an expansionist Israel unwilling to concede basic Palestinian rights, particularly sovereignty over Arab East Jerusalem.

 

In Damascus, two radical groups — the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — criticized the delay.

 

“Israel wants the establishment of an unarmed Palestinian state which is deprived of the right to sign any defensive deals with any of its Arab neighboring countries in addition to the cancellation of Palestinian refugees’ rights to return to their homes,” DFLP leader Nayef Hawatmeh told Reuters.

 

“If Arafat had announced the Palestinian state…it would not have been like (northern) Cyprus that nobody recognizes except Turkey,” grumbled Egypt’s state-owned al-Akhbar daily, arguing that 180 countries would endorse a Palestinian state.

 

“But, as usual, Israel prevented this with threats (of retaliation) in the event of unilateral Palestinian action and the United States is supporting Israel on that,” it said.

 

Egyptian analyst Tahseen Bashir, once adviser to the late President Anwar Sadat, said the PLO decision was weak.

 

“What has been implemented of the (1993) Oslo accords does not give the Palestinians sovereignty over their land and Israel controls the Palestinian economy,” the former diplomat said.

 

“These defects made it difficult for the Palestinians to declare their independence without Israeli agreement.”

 

In Jordan, which hosts some 1.4 million registered Palestinian refugees, residents of the sprawling Baqa’a refugee camp accused their leaders of caving in to U.S. pressure and some called for violence to seize Palestinian rights.

 

“The Palestinian leadership fixed a date for the declaration of the Palestinian state, but did not go ahead with it. This is a sign of cowardice,” complained Fayez Ahmed, 55.

 

No gain for refugees

 

In Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, many said delaying statehood by months, or even years, would make little difference to their 52-year-old plight.

They said that without Israeli recognition, proclaiming a sovereign country would be meaningless, though some spoke wistfully of their need for state protection, however symbolic.

 

“We want peace,” said 70-year-old Ibrahim Moghrabi, sitting on the pavement outside his tiny tin-roofed grocery shop.

 

“This delay does not harm us in any way and if it means that we are giving peace another chance, then we support it.”

 

Abu Nasser Hussein, an elderly tailor who hails from Safad, in Galilee, scoffed at the idea of declaring a state that would not lead to the return of land occupied by Israel since 1948.

“I don’t support this state business if it doesn’t mean that every inch of our land will come back to us,” he said. “The Israelis and the Arabs are conspiring against us. We know that if Abu Ammar (Arafat) had declared a state it would not have had any meaning.”

Aytaf Hamed, clutching her baby daughter, said she craved to belong to a state. “Palestinians live a very hard life in Lebanon, we’re lucky if we get work as garbage collectors.

 

“My husband is unemployed although he’s an expert builder and I have to work to support our kids. We need a state to protect us and to end the humiliation and misery we live in.”

An estimated 365,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, where they are denied many civil rights, barred from 70 professions and regarded as a potential source of violence.

 

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

II.

 

 

Saddam Warned of WTC Attack Before 9/11, Praised Bin Laden Afterwards

NEWSMAX | 3-28-04 | Carl Limbacher.

 

Why did the Bush administration immediately suspect that Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks when there was no evidence of any connection, as Richard Clarke and other Bush critics maintain?

 

Maybe it was because there was indeed evidence, very dramatic evidence, in fact – in the form of warnings in the state-run Iraqi press that such an attack was coming, along with praise for Osama bin Laden and his kamikaze hijackers in the days after the World Trade Center was destroyed.

 

Less than two months before 9/11, the state-controlled Iraqi newspaper “Al-Nasiriya” carried a column headlined, “America, An Obsession Called Osama Bin Ladin.” [July 21, 2001] In the piece, Baath Party writer Naeem Abd Muhalhal predicted that bin Laden would attack the U.S. “with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”

 

The same state-approved column also insisted that bin Laden “will strike America on the arm that is already hurting,” and that the U.S. “will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs” – an apparent reference to the Sinatra classic, “New York, New York.” [Two 9/11 families were awarded over $100 million last May by U.S. District Court Judge Harold Baer based on this and other evidence that Iraq was involved in 9/11]

 

Saddam’s threats of a 9/11-style attack before 9/11 weren’t limited to that single report. In 1992, his son Uday used an editorial in Babil, the newspaper he ran, to warn of Iraqi kamikaze attacks inside America, saying, “Does the United States realize the meaning of every Iraqi becoming a missile that can cross countries and cities?”

 

Then in the late 1990s, according to UPI, “a cable to Saddam from the chief of Iraqi intelligence was transmitted by Baghdad Radio. The message read, ‘We will chase [Americans] to every corner at all times. No high tower of steel will protect them against the fire of truth.'”

 

Coincidence? Perhaps.

 

But after the 9/11 attacks, Saddam became the only world leader to offer praise for bin Laden, even as other terrorist leaders, like Yassir Arafat, went out of their way to make a show of sympathy to the U.S. by donating blood to 9/11 victims on camera.

 

The day after the attacks, in quotes picked up by Agence France Press, Saddam proclaimed that “America is reaping the thorns planted by its rulers in the world.”

 

“There is hardly a place (in the world) that does not have a memorial symbolizing the criminal actions committed by America against its natives,” AFP quoted the Iraqi dictator complaining, based on reports in the Iraqi News agency.

 

After excoriating the U.S. for ending World War II by using nuclear weapons, and for its involvement in Vietnam, Saddam gloated, “[He] who does not want to reap evil must not sow it, and [he] who considers the lives of his people precious must remember that the lives of the people in the world are precious also.”

 

“The American peoples should remember that no one ever crossed the Atlantic carrying weapons to be used against them. They are the ones who crossed the Atlantic carrying death, destruction and ugly exploitation to the whole world.”

 

A day later Saddam told visiting Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib ben Yahya, “America brought the hatred of the world upon itself.”

 

For his part Uday flat-out praised the 9/11 attacks, saying, “These were courageous operations carried out by young Arabs and Muslims,” according to quotes picked up by the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat.

 

As Richard Clarke and his fans in the Democrat-media complex report in ominous tones that President Bush ordered him to launch an unwarranted investigation into the 9/11-Iraq connection, it’s worth remembering how much Iraq had done justify that order.

 

THIS IS PRIOR TO 2001:

 

Saddam + Bin Laden? 

It would be a marriage made in hell. And America’s two enemies are courting. 

Authors:  Christopher Dickey, Gregory L. Vistica and Russell Watson
with Joseph Contreras in Jerusalem

January 11, 1999

NEWSWEEK
Volume 133, Issue 2, pages: 34-36

IN THE NO-FLY ZONES OF northern and southern Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s gunners blindly fired surface-to-air missiles at patrolling American and British warplanes. In Yemen, terrorists seized a group of British Commonwealth and American tourists, and four of the hostages died in a shootout. In Tel Aviv, the U.S. Embassy abruptly closed down after receiving a terrorist threat. Perhaps it was just a typical week in the Middle East. But in a region where no one puts much faith in blind coincidence, last week’s conjunction of Iraqi anti-aircraft fire and terrorism aimed at the countries that had just bombed Iraq convinced some that a new conspiracy was afoot.

 

Here’s what is known so far: Saddam Hussein, who has a long record of supporting terrorism, is trying to rebuild Ms intelligence network overseas – assets that would allow him to establish a terrorism network. U.S. sources say he is reaching out to Islamic terrorists, including some who may be linked to Osama bin Laden, the wealthy Saudi exile accused of masterminding the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa last summer. U.S. intelligence has had reports of contacts between low-level agents. Saddam and bin Laden have interests – and enemies – in common. Both men want U.S. military forces out of Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden has been calling for all-out war on Americans, using as his main pretext Washington’s role in bombing and boycotting Iraq. Now bin Laden is engaged in something of a public-relations offensive, having granted recent interviews, one for NEWSWEEK (following story). He says “any American who pays taxes to his government” is a legitimate target.

 

Saddam’s terrorism capability is still small-time, according to senior U.S. officials. “He’s nowhere close to the level of the Iranians or Hezbollah,” says one. But terrorism may be Iraq’s growth industry. An Arab intelligence officer who knows Saddam personally and stays in touch with his clandestine services predicts that “very soon you will be witnessing large-scale terrorist activity run by the Iraqis.” The attacks, he says, would be aimed at American and British targets in the Islamic world. Washington is somewhat skeptical, but this source says plans have already been put into action under three “false flags”: one Palestinian, one Iranian and one “the AL Qaeda apparatus,” the loose collection of terrorists who receive bin Laden’s patronage. “All these organizations have representatives in Baghdad,” says the Arab intelligence officer.

 

According to this source, Saddam expected last month’s American and British bombing campaign to go on much longer than it did. The dictator believed that as the attacks continued, indignation would grow in the Muslim world, making his terrorism offensive both harder to trace and more effective. With acts of terror contributing to chaos in the region, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait might feel less inclined to support Washington. Saddam’s long-term strategy, according to several sources, is to bully or cajole Muslim countries into breaking the embargo against Iraq, without waiting for the United Nations to lift it formally. With the sudden end of the allied air offensive, the Iraqi challenge to U.S. and British overflights in the exclusion zones may have been Saddam’s way of keeping the regional pot boiling.

 

Early last week, an Iraqi air-defense battery fired three surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) at U.S. warplanes over the northern zone. Two days later, the Iraqis launched several SAMs at four British Tornado jets over the southern zone. The allies responded with smart bombs that damaged some of the mobile launchers. The Iraqis announced they would continue to fire at allied planes over both zones, but a Pentagon spokesman said there was a “very low likelihood” they would hit anything.

 

Apart from wanting to taunt Bill Clinton, Saddam has good reason for challenging the no-fly zones, especially the one in the south. The Iraqi opposition in the region is mostly Shute Muslim, supported by fellow believers in Iran, which has already trained thousands of Iraqi exiles to fight in units known as the Badr Brigades. Saddam’s nightmare, however unlikely, is that Iran and the United States will combine to overthrow him, using the southern Shiites as foot soldiers.

 

Tensions in the Middle East probably will rise sharply in the coming year, and not just because of Saddam. The governments of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Iran have all been hobbled by ill leaders or political squabbling. The Arab-Israeli peace process is stalled again, with Israel facing an election in May – just when the Palestinians threaten a unilateral declaration of statehood. The threat to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv seems to have had no connection to Saddam or bin Laden. Intelligence sources said an odd collection of Iranians, Armenians, Russian gangsters and members of the militant Hamas movement were supposed to be planning a strike against the seaside embassy building. “Our guys didn’t put a lot of credence in it,” says a U.S. counterterrorism expert. But American officials in Israel have reason to be edgy. When the CIA was assigned to help implement the latest Arab Israeli peace agreement, the name of the agency’s station chief – who has an office in the embassy – became public. Now a U.S. official says the station chief and his case officers are being watched by terrorists. Revealing the names “created a possible target,” complains a White House aide.

 

Though it was too early to know for sure, the CIA suspected that bin Laden had a hand in the abduction of 16 foreign tourists in Yemen last week. Four of the hostages – three Britons and an Australian were killed when the police intervened, and two others, including an American woman, were wounded. Most kidnappings in Yemen are strictly cash-and-carry affairs, in which tribal desperadoes raise money without harming their captives. But these kidnappers, who came from a Yemeni group calling itself Islamic Jihad, demanded that the authorities release two of their leaders, who have ties to bin Laden. And they said they were protesting Western “aggression” against Iraq.

 

The idea of an alliance between Iraq and bin Laden is alarming to the West (what if Baghdad gave the terrorists highly portable biological weapons?). Saddam may think he’s too good for such an association. Jerold Post, a political psychologist and government consultant who has profiled Saddam, says he thinks of himself as a world leader like Castro or Tito, not a thug. “I’m skeptical that Saddam would resort to terrorism,” says a well-informed administration official. “He can do a lot of other things to screw with us.” But Saddam is famous for doing whatever it takes to stay in power. Now that the United States has made his removal from office a national objective, he knows he is fighting for his life. “The worst thing you can do is to wound him, let him know you meant to kill him, and then let him survive,” says an Iraqi Shiite leader in London. As his own people know only too well, Saddam is quite capable of fighting dirty.

 

A New Mideast Axis?

 

While Saddam turned the sides over Iraq into a shooting gallery, bin Laden ran a terrorist training camp near Kandahar.

 

Saddam + Bin Laden?   Newsweek article from January 11, 1999 

On January 11, 1999, an article appeared in Newsweek titled “Saddam + Bin Laden?” The sub headline declared, “It would be a marriage made in hell. And America’s two enemies are courting.” This article, which matter of factly points out that Saddam Hussein has a long history of supporting terrorism, says Saddam is now reaching out to Islamic terrorists including those associated with Osama bin Laden according to U.S. intelligence reports. The article also points out that, in the prior week alone, several surface-to-air missiles were fired at U.S. and British planes patrolling the no-fly zones and that Saddam is now fighting for his life now that the U.S. has made his removal from office a national objective.

http://www.reasons-for-war-with-iraq.info/index.html

Holy Day: The Ascension Of Baha’u’llah-Azamat 13, 174 B.E. (5/29/2017)

Monday, May 29th, 2017

Abdu’l-Baha’ on War & Peace

Although I felt indisposed this afternoon, yet because I attach great importance to this assembly and was longing to see your faces, I have come. The expression of kindly feelings and the spirit of hospitality manifested by the former speakers are most grateful. I am thankful for the susceptibilities of your hearts, for it is an evidence that your greatest desire is the establishment of international peace. You are lovers of the oneness of humanity, seekers after the good pleasure of the Lord, investigators of the foundations of the divine religions.

Today there is no greater glory for man than that of service in the cause of the Most Great Peace. Peace is light, whereas war is darkness. Peace is life; war is death. Peace is guidance; war is error. Peace is the foundation of God; war is a satanic institution. Peace is the illumination of the world of humanity; war is the destroyer of human foundations. When we consider outcomes in the world of existence, we find that peace and fellowship are factors of upbuilding and betterment, whereas war and strife are the causes of destruction and disintegration. All created things are expressions of the affinity and cohesion of elementary substances, and nonexistence is the absence of their attraction and agreement. Various elements unite harmoniously in composition, but when these elements become discordant, repelling each other, decomposition and nonexistence result. Everything partakes of this nature and is subject to this principle, for the creative foundation in all its degrees and kingdoms is an expression or outcome of love. Consider the restlessness and agitation of the human world today because of war. Peace is health and construction; war is disease and dissolution. When the banner of truth is raised, peace becomes the cause of the welfare and advancement of the human world. In all cycles and ages war has been a factor of derangement and discomfort, whereas peace and brotherhood have brought security and consideration of human interests. This distinction is especially pronounced in the present world conditions, for warfare in former centuries had not attained the degree of savagery and destructiveness which now characterizes it. If two nations were at war in olden times, ten or twenty thousand would be sacrificed, but in this century the destruction of one hundred thousand lives in a day is quite possible. So perfected has the science of killing become and so efficient the means and instruments of its accomplishment that a whole nation can be obliterated in a short time. Therefore, comparison with the methods and results of ancient warfare is out of the question.

According to an intrinsic law all phenomena of being attain to a summit and degree of consummation, after which a new order and condition is established. As the instruments and science of war have reached the degree of thoroughness and proficiency, it is hoped that the transformation of the human world is at hand and that in the coming centuries all the energies and inventions of man will be utilized in promoting the interests of peace and brotherhood. Therefore, may this esteemed and worthy society for the establishment of international peace be confirmed in its sincere intentions and empowered by God. Then will it hasten the time when the banner of universal agreement will be raised and international welfare will be proclaimed and consummated so that the darkness which now encompasses the world shall pass away.

Sixty years [Now 165] ago Bahá’u’lláh was in Persia. Seventy years [Now 175] ago the Báb appeared there. These two Blessed Souls devoted Their lives to the foundation of international peace and love among mankind. They strove with heart and soul to establish the teachings by which divergent people might be brought together and no strife, rancor or hatred prevail. Bahá’u’lláh, addressing all humanity, said that Adam, the parent of mankind, may be likened to the tree of nativity upon which you are the leaves and blossoms. Inasmuch as your origin was one, you must now be united and agreed; you must consort with each other in joy and fragrance. He pronounced prejudice—whether religious, racial, patriotic, political—the destroyer of the body politic. He said that man must recognize the oneness of humanity, for all in origin belong to the same household, and all are servants of the same God. Therefore, mankind must continue in the state of fellowship and love, emulating the institutions of God and turning away from satanic promptings, for the divine bestowals bring forth unity and agreement, whereas satanic leadings induce hatred and war.

This remarkable Personage was able by these principles to establish a bond of unity among the differing sects and divergent people of Persia. Those who followed His teachings, no matter from what denomination or faction they came, were conjoined by the ties of love, until now they cooperate and live together in peace and agreement. They are real brothers and sisters. No distinctions of class are observed among them, and complete harmony prevails. Daily this bond of affinity is strengthening, and their spiritual fellowship continually develops. In order to ensure the progress of mankind and to establish these principles Bahá’u’lláh suffered every ordeal and difficulty. The Báb became a martyr, and over twenty thousand men and women sacrificed their lives for their faith. Bahá’u’lláh was imprisoned and subjected to severe persecutions. Finally, He was exiled from Persia to Mesopotamia; from Baghdád He was sent to Constantinople and Adrianople and from thence to the prison of ‘Akká in Syria. Through all these ordeals He strove day and night to proclaim the oneness of humanity and promulgate the message of universal peace. From the prison of ‘Akká He addressed the kings and rulers of the earth in lengthy letters, summoning them to international agreement and explicitly stating that the standard of the Most Great Peace would surely be upraised in the world.

This has come to pass. The powers of earth cannot withstand the privileges and bestowals which God has ordained for this great and glorious century. It is a need and exigency of the time. Man can withstand anything except that which is divinely intended and indicated for the age and its requirements. Now—praise be to God!—in all countries of the world, lovers of peace are to be found, and these principles are being spread among mankind, especially in this country. Praise be to God! This thought is prevailing, and souls are continually arising as defenders of the oneness of humanity, endeavoring to assist and establish international peace. There is no doubt that this wonderful democracy will be able to realize it, and the banner of international agreement will be unfurled here to spread onward and outward among all the nations of the world. I give thanks to God that I find you imbued with such susceptibilities and lofty aspirations, and I hope that you will be the means of spreading this light to all men. Thus may the Sun of Reality shine upon the East and West. The enveloping clouds shall pass away, and the heat of the divine rays will dispel the mist. The reality of man shall develop and come forth as the image of God, his Creator. The thoughts of man shall take such upward flight that former accomplishments shall appear as the play of children, for the ideas and beliefs of the past and the prejudices regarding race and religion have ever lowered and been destructive to human evolution. I am most hopeful that in this century these lofty thoughts shall be conducive to human welfare. Let this century be the sun of previous centuries, the effulgences of which shall last forever, so that in times to come they shall glorify the twentieth century, saying the twentieth century was the century of lights, the twentieth century was the century of life, the twentieth century was the century of international peace, the twentieth century was the century of divine bestowals, and the twentieth century has left traces which shall last forever.

Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation Of Universal Peace

13 May 1912
Talk at Reception by New York Peace Society
Hotel Astor, New York

 

*****

 

(1) O ye esteemed ones who are pioneers among the well-wishers of the world of humanity!
The letters which ye sent during the war were not received, but a letter dated February 11th, 1916, has just come to hand, and immediately an answer is being written. Your intention deserves a thousand praises, because you are serving the world of humanity, and this is conducive to the happiness and welfare of all. This recent war has proved to the world and the people that war is destruction while universal peace is construction; war is death while peace is life; war is rapacity and bloodthirstiness while peace is beneficence and humaneness; war is an appurtenance of the world of nature while peace is of the foundation of the religion of God; war is darkness upon darkness while peace is heavenly light; war is the destroyer of the edifice of mankind while peace is the everlasting life of the world of humanity; war is like a devouring wolf while peace is like the angels of heaven; war is the struggle for existence while peace is mutual aid and co-operation among the peoples of the world and the cause of the good-pleasure of the True One in the heavenly realm.

There is not one soul whose conscience does not testify that in this day there is no more important matter in the world than that of universal peace. Every just one bears witness to this and adores that esteemed Assembly because its aim is that this darkness may be changed into light, this bloodthirstiness into kindness, this torment into bliss, this hardship into ease and this enmity and hatred into fellowship and love. Therefore, the effort of those esteemed souls is worthy of praise and commendation.

But the wise souls who are aware of the essential relationships emanating from the realities of things consider that one single matter cannot, by itself, influence the human reality as it ought and should, for until the minds of men become united, no important matter can be accomplished. At present universal peace is a matter of great importance, but unity of conscience is essential, so that the foundation of this matter may become secure, its establishment firm and its edifice strong.

Therefore Bahá’u’lláh, fifty years ago, expounded this question of universal peace at a time when He was confined in the fortress of ‘Akká and was wronged and imprisoned. He wrote about this important matter of universal peace to all the great sovereigns of the world, and established it among His friends in the orient. The horizon of the east was in utter darkness, nations displayed the utmost hatred and enmity towards each other, religions thirsted for each other’s blood, and it was darkness upon darkness. At such a time Bahá’u’lláh shone forth like the sun from the horizon of the east and illumined Persia with the lights of these teachings.

Among His teachings was the declaration of universal peace. People of different nations, religions and sects who followed Him came together to such an extent that remarkable gatherings were instituted consisting of the various nations and religions of the east. Every soul who entered these gatherings saw but one nation, one teaching, one pathway, one order, for the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh were not limited to the establishment of universal peace. They embraced many teachings which supplemented and supported that of universal peace.

Among these teachings was the independent investigation of reality so that the world of humanity may be saved from the darkness of imitation and attain to the truth; may tear off and cast away this ragged and outgrown garment of a thousand years ago and may put on the robe woven in the utmost purity and holiness in the loom of reality. As reality is one and cannot admit of multiplicity, therefore different opinions must ultimately become fused into one.

And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is the oneness of the world of humanity; that all human beings are the sheep of God and He is the kind Shepherd. This Shepherd is kind to all the sheep, because He created them all, trained them, provided for them and protected them. There is no doubt that the Shepherd is kind to all the sheep and should there be among these sheep ignorant ones, they must be educated; if there be children, they must be trained until they reach maturity; if there be sick ones, they must be cured. There must be no hatred and enmity, for as by a kind physician these ignorant, sick ones should be treated.
And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is that religion must be the cause of fellowship and love. If it becomes the cause of estrangement then it is not needed, for religion is like a remedy; if it aggravates the disease then it becomes unnecessary.

And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is that religion must be in conformity with science and reason, so that it may influence the hearts of men. The foundation must be solid and must not consist of imitations.
And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is that religious, racial, political, economic and patriotic prejudices destroy the edifice of humanity. As long as these prejudices prevail, the world of humanity will not have rest. For a period of 6,000 years history informs us about the world of humanity. During these 6,000 years the world of humanity has not been free from war, strife, murder and bloodthirstiness. In every period war has been waged in one country or another and that war was due to either religious prejudice, racial prejudice, political prejudice or patriotic prejudice. It has therefore been ascertained and proved that all prejudices are destructive of the human edifice. As long as these prejudices persist, the struggle for existence must remain dominant, and bloodthirstiness and rapacity continue. Therefore, even as was the case in the past, the world of humanity cannot be saved from the darkness of nature and cannot attain illumination except through the abandonment of prejudices and the acquisition of the morals of the Kingdom.

If this prejudice and enmity are on account of religion consider that religion should be the cause of fellowship, otherwise it is fruitless. And if this prejudice be the prejudice of nationality consider that all mankind are of one nation; all have sprung from the tree of Adam, and Adam is the root of the tree. That tree is one and all these nations are like branches, while the individuals of humanity are like leaves, blossoms and fruits thereof. Then the establishment of various nations and the consequent shedding of blood and destruction of the edifice of humanity result from human ignorance and selfish motives.
As to the patriotic prejudice, this is also due to absolute ignorance, for the surface of the earth is one native land. Every one can live in any spot on the terrestrial globe. Therefore all the world is man’s birthplace. These boundaries and outlets have been devised by man. In the creation, such boundaries and outlets were not assigned. Europe is one continent, Asia is one continent, Africa is one continent, Australia is one continent, but some of the souls, from personal motives and selfish interests, have divided each one of these continents and considered a certain part as their own country. God has set up no frontier between France and Germany; they are continuous. Yea, in the first centuries, selfish souls, for the promotion of their own interests, have assigned boundaries and outlets and have, day by day, attached more importance to these, until this led to intense enmity, bloodshed and rapacity in subsequent centuries. In the same way this will continue indefinitely, and if this conception of patriotism remains limited within a certain circle, it will be the primary cause of the world’s destruction. No wise and just person will acknowledge these imaginary distinctions. Every limited area which we call our native country we regard as our motherland, whereas the terrestrial globe is the motherland of all, and not any restricted area. In short, for a few days we live on this earth and eventually we are buried in it, it is our eternal tomb. Is it worth while that we should engage in bloodshed and tear one another to pieces for this eternal tomb? Nay, far from it, neither is God pleased with such conduct nor would any sane man approve of it.

Consider! The blessed animals engage in no patriotic quarrels. They are in the utmost fellowship with one another and live together in harmony. For example, if a dove from the east and a dove from the west, a dove from the north and a dove from the south chance to arrive, at the same time, in one spot, they immediately associate in harmony. So is it with all the blessed animals and birds. But the ferocious animals, as soon as they meet, attack and fight with each other, tear each other to pieces and it is impossible for them to live peaceably together in one spot. They are all unsociable and fierce, savage and combative fighters.

Regarding the economic prejudice, it is apparent that whenever the ties between nations become strengthened and the exchange of commodities accelerated, and any economic principle is established in one country, it will ultimately affect the other countries and universal benefits will result. Then why this prejudice?

As to the political prejudice, the policy of God must be followed and it is indisputable that the policy of God is greater than human policy. We must follow the Divine policy and that applies alike to all individuals. He treats all individuals alike: no distinction is made, and that is the foundation of the Divine Religions.
And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is the origination of one language that may be spread universally among the people. This teaching was revealed from the pen of Bahá’u’lláh in order that this universal language may eliminate misunderstandings from among mankind.

And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is the equality of women and men. The world of humanity has two wings—one is women and the other men. Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible. Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be.

And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is voluntary sharing of one’s property with others among mankind. This voluntary sharing is greater than equality, and consists in this, that man should not prefer himself to others, but rather should sacrifice his life and property for others. But this should not be introduced by coercion so that it becomes a law and man is compelled to follow it. Nay, rather, man should voluntarily and of his own choice sacrifice his property and life for others, and spend willingly for the poor, just as is done in Persia among the Bahá’ís.

And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is man’s freedom, that through the ideal Power he should be free and emancipated from the captivity of the world of nature; for as long as man is captive to nature he is a ferocious animal, as the struggle for existence is one of the exigencies of the world of nature. This matter of the struggle for existence is the fountain-head of all calamities and is the supreme affliction.

And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is that religion is a mighty bulwark. If the edifice of religion shakes and totters, commotion and chaos will ensue and the order of things will be utterly upset, for in the world of mankind there are two safeguards that protect man from wrongdoing. One is the law which punishes the criminal; but the law prevents only the manifest crime and not the concealed sin; whereas the ideal safeguard, namely, the religion of God, prevents both the manifest and the concealed crime, trains man, educates morals, compels the adoption of virtues and is the all-inclusive power which guarantees the felicity of the world of mankind. But by religion is meant that which is ascertained by investigation and not that which is based on mere imitation, the foundations of Divine Religions and not human imitations.

And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is that although material civilization is one of the means for the progress of the world of mankind, yet until it becomes combined with Divine civilization, the desired result, which is the felicity of mankind, will not be attained. Consider! These battleships that reduce a city to ruins within the space of an hour are the result of material civilization; likewise the Krupp guns, the Mauser rifles, dynamite, submarines, torpedo boats, armed aircraft and bombers—all these weapons of war are the malignant fruits of material civilization. Had material civilization been combined with Divine civilization, these fiery weapons would never have been invented. Nay, rather, human energy would have been wholly devoted to useful inventions and would have been concentrated on praiseworthy discoveries. Material civilization is like a lamp-glass. Divine civilization is the lamp itself and the glass without the light is dark. Material civilization is like the body. No matter how infinitely graceful, elegant and beautiful it may be, it is dead. Divine civilization is like the spirit, and the body gets its life from the spirit, otherwise it becomes a corpse. It has thus been made evident that the world of mankind is in need of the breaths of the Holy Spirit. Without the spirit the world of mankind is lifeless, and without this light the world of mankind is in utter darkness. For the world of nature is an animal world. Until man is born again from the world of nature, that is to say, becomes detached from the world of nature, he is essentially an animal, and it is the teachings of God which convert this animal into a human soul.

And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is the promotion of education. Every child must be instructed in sciences as much as is necessary. If the parents are able to provide the expenses of this education, it is well, otherwise the community must provide the means for the teaching of that child.

And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are justice and right. Until these are realized on the plane of existence, all things shall be in disorder and remain imperfect. The world of mankind is a world of oppression and cruelty, and a realm of aggression and error.

In fine, such teachings are numerous. These manifold principles, which constitute the greatest basis for the felicity of mankind and are of the bounties of the Merciful, must be added to the matter of universal peace and combined with it, so that results may accrue. Otherwise the realization of universal peace by itself in the world of mankind is difficult. As the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are combined with universal peace, they are like a table provided with every kind of fresh and delicious food. Every soul can find, at that table of infinite bounty, that which he desires. If the question is restricted to universal peace alone, the remarkable results which are expected and desired will not be attained. The scope of universal peace must be such that all the communities and religions may find their highest wish realized in it. The teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are such that all the communities of the world, whether religious, political or ethical, ancient or modern, find in them the expression of their highest wish.

For example, the people of religions find, in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the establishment of Universal Religion—a religion that perfectly conforms with present conditions, which in reality effects the immediate cure of the incurable disease, which relieves every pain, and bestows the infallible antidote for every deadly poison. For if we wish to arrange and organize the world of mankind in accordance with the present religious imitations and thereby to establish the felicity of the world of mankind, it is impossible and impracticable—for example, the enforcement of the laws of the Torah and also of the other religions in accordance with present imitations. But the essential basis of all the Divine Religions which pertains to the virtues of the world of mankind and is the foundation of the welfare of the world of man, is found in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh in the most perfect presentation.

Similarly, with regard to the peoples who clamour for freedom: the moderate freedom which guarantees the welfare of the world of mankind and maintains and preserves the universal relationships, is found in its fullest power and extension in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.

So with regard to political parties: that which is the greatest policy directing the world of mankind, nay, rather, the Divine policy, is found in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.

Likewise with regard to the party of ‘equality’ which seeks the solution of the economic problems: until now all proposed solutions have proved impracticable except the economic proposals in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh which are practicable and cause no distress to society.

So with the other parties: when ye look deeply into this matter, ye will discover that the highest aims of those parties are found in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. These teachings constitute the all-inclusive power among all men and are practicable. But there are some teachings of the past, such as those of the Torah, which cannot be carried out at the present day. It is the same with the other religions and the tenets of the various sects and the different parties.

For example, the question of universal peace, about which Bahá’u’lláh says that the Supreme Tribunal must be established: although the League of Nations has been brought into existence, yet it is incapable of establishing universal peace. But the Supreme Tribunal which Bahá’u’lláh has described will fulfil this sacred task with the utmost might and power. And His plan is this: that the national assemblies of each country and nation—that is to say parliaments—should elect two or three persons who are the choicest men of that nation, and are well informed concerning international laws and the relations between governments and aware of the essential needs of the world of humanity in this day. The number of these representatives should be in proportion to the number of inhabitants of that country. The election of these souls who are chosen by the national assembly, that is, the parliament, must be confirmed by the upper house, the congress and the cabinet and also by the president or monarch so these persons may be the elected ones of all the nation and the government. From among these people the members of the Supreme Tribunal will be elected, and all mankind will thus have a share therein, for every one of these delegates is fully representative of his nation. When the Supreme Tribunal gives a ruling on any international question, either unanimously or by majority rule, there will no longer be any pretext for the plaintiff or ground of objection for the defendant. In case any of the governments or nations, in the execution of the irrefutable decision of the Supreme Tribunal, be negligent or dilatory, the rest of the nations will rise up against it, because all the governments and nations of the world are the supporters of this Supreme Tribunal. Consider what a firm foundation this is! But by a limited and restricted League the purpose will not be realized as it ought and should. This is the truth about the situation, which has been stated….

1. This is the first part of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s reply to a letter addressed to Him by the Executive Committee of the Central Organization for a Durable Peace. The Tablet, described by Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By as of ‘far reaching importance’, and dated December 17, 1919, was despatched to the Committee at The Hague by a special delegation.

 

*****

 

Today I wish to speak to you upon the subject of the oneness of humanity, for in this great century the most important accomplishment is the unity of mankind. Although in former centuries and times this subject received some measure of mention and consideration, it has now become the paramount issue and question in the religious and political conditions of the world. History shows that throughout the past there has been continual warfare and strife among the various nations, peoples and sects; but now—praise be to God!—in this century of illumination, hearts are inclined toward agreement and fellowship, and minds are thoughtful upon the question of the unification of mankind. There is an emanation of the universal consciousness today which clearly indicates the dawn of a great unity.

In the investigation of a subject the right method of approach is to carefully examine its premises. Therefore, we must go back to the foundation upon which human solidarity rests—namely, that all are the progeny of Adam, the creatures and servants of one God; that God is the Protector and Provider; that all are submerged in the sea of divine mercy and grace and God is loving toward all.

Humanity shares in common the intellectual and spiritual faculties of a created endowment. All are equally subject to the various exigencies of human life and are similarly occupied in acquiring the means of earthly subsistence. From the viewpoint of creation human beings stand upon the same footing in every respect, subject to the same requirements and seeking the enjoyment and comfort of earthly conditions. Therefore, the things humanity shares in common are numerous and manifest. This equal participation in the physical, intellectual and spiritual problems of human existence is a valid basis for the unification of mankind.

Consider how discord and dissension have prevailed in this great human family for thousands of years. Its members have ever been engaged in war and bloodshed. Up to the present time in history the world of humanity has neither attained nor enjoyed any measure of peace, owing to incessant conditions of hostility and strife. History is a continuous and consecutive record of warfare brought about by religious, sectarian, racial, patriotic and political causes. The world of humanity has found no rest. Mankind has always been in conflict, engaged in destroying the foundations, pillaging the properties and possessing the lands and territory of each other, especially in the earlier periods of savagery and barbarism where whole races and peoples were carried away captive by their conquerors. Who shall measure or estimate the tremendous destruction of human life resulting from this hostility and strife? What human powers and forces have been employed in the prosecution of war and applied to inhuman purposes of battle and bloodshed? In this most radiant century it has become necessary to divert these energies and utilize them in other directions, to seek the new path of fellowship and unity, to unlearn the science of war and devote supreme human forces to the blessed arts of peace. After long trial and experience we are convinced of the harmful and satanic outcomes of dissension; now we must seek after means by which the benefits of agreement and concord may be enjoyed. When such means are found, we must give them a trial.

Consider the harmful effect of discord and dissension in a family; then reflect upon the favors and blessings which descend upon that family when unity exists among its various members. What incalculable benefits and blessings would descend upon the great human family if unity and brotherhood were established! In this century when the beneficent results of unity and the ill effects of discord are so clearly apparent, the means for the attainment and accomplishment of human fellowship have appeared in the world. Bahá’u’lláh has proclaimed and provided the way by which hostility and dissension may be removed from the human world. He has left no ground or possibility for strife and disagreement.

First, He has proclaimed the oneness of mankind and specialized religious teachings for existing human conditions. The first form of dissension arises from religious differences. Bahá’u’lláh has given full teachings to the world which are conducive to fellowship and unity in religion. Throughout past centuries each system of religious belief has boasted of its own superiority and excellence, abasing and scorning the validity of all others. Each has proclaimed its own belief as the light and all others as darkness. Religionists have considered the world of humanity as two trees: one divine and merciful, the other satanic; they themselves the branches, leaves and fruit of the divine tree and all others who differ from them in belief the product of the tree which is satanic. Therefore, sedition and warfare, bloodshed and strife have been continuous among them. The greatest cause of human alienation has been religion because each party has considered the belief of the other as anathema and deprived of the mercy of God.

The teachings specialized in Bahá’u’lláh are addressed to humanity. He says, “Ye are all the leaves of one tree.” He does not say, “Ye are the leaves of two trees: one divine, the other satanic.” He has declared that each individual member of the human family is a leaf or branch upon the Adamic tree; that all are sheltered beneath the protecting mercy and providence of God; that all are the children of God, fruit upon the one tree of His love. God is equally compassionate and kind to all the leaves, branches and fruit of this tree. Therefore, there is no satanic tree whatever—Satan being a product of human minds and of instinctive human tendencies toward error. God alone is Creator, and all are creatures of His might. Therefore, we must love mankind as His creatures, realizing that all are growing upon the tree of His mercy, servants of His omnipotent will and manifestations of His good pleasure.

Even though we find a defective branch or leaf upon this tree of humanity or an imperfect blossom, it, nevertheless, belongs to this tree and not to another. Therefore, it is our duty to protect and cultivate this tree until it reaches perfection. If we examine its fruit and find it imperfect, we must strive to make it perfect. There are souls in the human world who are ignorant; we must make them knowing. Some growing upon the tree are weak and ailing; we must assist them toward health and recovery. If they are as infants in development, we must minister to them until they attain maturity. We should never detest and shun them as objectionable and unworthy. We must treat them with honor, respect and kindness; for God has created them and not Satan. They are not manifestations of the wrath of God but evidences of His divine favor. God, the Creator, has endowed them with physical, mental and spiritual qualities that they may seek to know and do His will; therefore, they are not objects of His wrath and condemnation. In brief, all humanity must be looked upon with love, kindness and respect; for what we behold in them are none other than the signs and traces of God Himself. All are evidences of God; therefore, how shall we be justified in debasing and belittling them, uttering anathema and preventing them from drawing near unto His mercy? This is ignorance and injustice, displeasing to God; for in His sight all are His servants.

Another cause of dissension and disagreement is the fact that religion has been pronounced at variance with science. Between scientists and the followers of religion there has always been controversy and strife for the reason that the latter have proclaimed religion superior in authority to science and considered scientific announcement opposed to the teachings of religion. Bahá’u’lláh declared that religion is in complete harmony with science and reason. If religious belief and doctrine is at variance with reason, it proceeds from the limited mind of man and not from God; therefore, it is unworthy of belief and not deserving of attention; the heart finds no rest in it, and real faith is impossible. How can man believe that which he knows to be opposed to reason? Is this possible? Can the heart accept that which reason denies? Reason is the first faculty of man, and the religion of God is in harmony with it. Bahá’u’lláh has removed this form of dissension and discord from among mankind and reconciled science with religion by revealing the pure teachings of the divine reality. This accomplishment is specialized to Him in this Day.

Still another cause of disagreement and dissension has been the formation of religious sects and denominations. Bahá’u’lláh said that God has sent religion for the purpose of establishing fellowship among humankind and not to create strife and discord, for all religion is founded upon the love of humanity. Abraham promulgated this principle, Moses summoned all to its recognition, Christ established it, and Muḥammad directed mankind to its standard. This is the reality of religion. If we abandon hearsay and investigate the reality and inner significance of the heavenly teachings, we will find the same divine foundation of love for humanity. The purport is that religion is intended to be the cause of unity, love and fellowship and not discord, enmity and estrangement. Man has forsaken the foundation of divine religion and adhered to blind imitations. Each nation has clung to its own imitations, and because these are at variance, warfare, bloodshed and destruction of the foundation of humanity have resulted. True religion is based upon love and agreement. Bahá’u’lláh has said, “If religion and faith are the causes of enmity and sedition, it is far better to be nonreligious, and the absence of religion would be preferable; for we desire religion to be the cause of amity and fellowship. If enmity and hatred exist, irreligion is preferable.” Therefore, the removal of this dissension has been specialized in Bahá’u’lláh, for religion is the divine remedy for human antagonism and discord. But when we make the remedy the cause of the disease, it would be better to do without the remedy.

Other sources of human dissension are political, racial and patriotic prejudices. These have been removed by Bahá’u’lláh. He has said, and has guarded His statement by rational proofs from the Holy Books, that the world of humanity is one race, the surface of the earth one place of residence and that these imaginary racial barriers and political boundaries are without right or foundation. Man is degraded in becoming the captive of his own illusions and suppositions. The earth is one earth, and the same atmosphere surrounds it. No difference or preference has been made by God for its human inhabitants; but man has laid the foundation of prejudice, hatred and discord with his fellowman by considering nationalities separate in importance and races different in rights and privileges.

Diversity of languages has been a fruitful cause of discord. The function of language is to convey the thought and purpose of one to another. Therefore, it matters not what language man speaks or employs. Sixty years ago Bahá’u’lláh advocated one language as the greatest means of unity and the basis of international conference. He wrote to the kings and rulers of the various nations, recommending that one language should be sanctioned and adopted by all governments. According to this each nation should acquire the universal language in addition to its native tongue. The world would then be in close communication, consultation would become general, and dissensions due to diversity of speech would be removed.

Another teaching of Bahá’u’lláh is in relation to universal peace: that all mankind must be awakened to and become conscious of the harm of war, that they should be brought to realize the benefits of peace and know that peace is from God while warfare is satanic. Man must emulate the merciful God and turn away from satanic promptings in order that universal inclination shall be toward peace, love and unity and the discord of war vanish.

Lack of equality between man and woman is, likewise, a cause of human dissension. Bahá’u’lláh has named this as an important factor of discord and separation, for so long as humankind remains unequally divided in right and importance between male and female, no unity can be established. In a perfect human body it is not possible for one organ to be complete and another defective. In the great body of human society it is impossible to establish unity and coordination if one part is considered perfect and the other imperfect. When the perfect functions of both parts are in operation, harmony will prevail. God has created man and woman equal as to faculties. He has made no distinction between them. Woman has not reached the level of man in human accomplishment because of the lack of opportunity and education. If educational opportunities were made equal and similar, the two parts, man and woman, would equalize in attainment. God has intended no difference between them that should be productive of discord. He has endowed all with human faculties, and all are manifestations of His mercy. If we say man and woman differ in creational endowment, it is contrary to divine justice and intention. Both are human. If God has created one perfect and the other defective, He is unjust. But God is just; all are perfect in His intention and creative endowment. To assume imperfection in the creature is to presuppose imperfection in the almighty Creator. The soul that excels in attainment of His attributes and graces is most acceptable before God.

We are considering the divine plan for the reconciliation of the religious systems of the world. Bahá’u’lláh has said that if one intelligent member be selected from each of the varying religious systems, and these representatives come together seeking to investigate the reality of religion, they would establish an interreligious body before which all disputes and differences of belief could be presented for consideration and settlement. Such questions could then be weighed and viewed from the standpoint of reality and all imitations be discarded. By this method and procedure all sects, denominations and systems would become one.

Do not question the practicability of this, and be not astonished. It has been accomplished and effected in Persia. In that country the various religionists have conjoined in investigating reality and have united in complete fellowship and love. No traces of discord or differences remain among them; now affection and unity are manifest instead. They live together in harmony and accord like a single family. Antagonism and strife have passed away; love and agreement have taken the place of hatred and animosity. Furthermore, those souls who have followed Bahá’u’lláh and attained this condition of fellowship and affiliation are Muslims, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Nestorians, Sunnites, Shiites and others. No discord exists among them. This is a proof of the possibility of unification among the religionists of the world through practical means. Imitations and prejudices which have held men apart have been discarded, and the reality of religion envelops them in a perfect unity. When reality envelops the soul of man, love is possible. The divine purpose in religion is pure love and agreement. The Prophets of God manifested complete love for all. Each One announced the glad tidings of His successor, and each subsequent One confirmed the teachings and prophecies of the Prophet Who preceded Him. There was no disagreement or variance in the reality of Their teaching and mission. Discord has arisen among Their followers, who have lost sight of reality and hold fast to imitations. If imitations be done away with and the radiant shining reality dawn in the souls of men, love and unity must prevail. In this way humanity will be rescued from the strife and wars which have prevailed for thousands of years; dissensions will pass away and the illumination of unity dawn. Consider how all the Prophets of God were persecuted and what hardships They experienced. Jesus Christ endured affliction and accepted martyrdom upon the cross in order to summon mankind to unity and love. What sacrifice could be greater? He brought the religion of love and fellowship into the world. Shall we make use of it to create discord, violence and hatred among mankind?
Moses was persecuted and driven out into the desert, Abraham was banished, Muḥammad took refuge in caves, the Báb was killed and Bahá’u’lláh was exiled and imprisoned forty years. Yet all of Them desired fellowship and love among men. They endured hardships, suffered persecution and death for our sakes that we might be taught to love one another and be united and affiliated instead of discordant and at variance. Enough of these long centuries which have brought such vicissitudes and hardships into the world through strife and hatred. Now in this radiant century let us try to do the will of God that we may be rescued from these things of darkness and come forth into the boundless illumination of heaven, shunning division and welcoming the divine oneness of humanity. Perchance, God willing, this terrestrial world may become as a celestial mirror upon which we may behold the imprint of the traces of Divinity, and the fundamental qualities of a new creation may be reflected from the reality of love shining in human hearts. From the light and semblance of God in us may it be, indeed, proved and witnessed that God has created man after His own image and likeness.

O my God! O my God! Verily, I invoke Thee and supplicate before Thy threshold, asking Thee that all Thy mercies may descend upon these souls. Specialize them for Thy favor and Thy truth.
O Lord! Unite and bind together the hearts, join in accord all the souls, and exhilarate the spirits through the signs of Thy sanctity and oneness. O Lord! Make these faces radiant through the light of Thy oneness. Strengthen the loins of Thy servants in the service of Thy kingdom.
O Lord, Thou possessor of infinite mercy! O Lord of forgiveness and pardon! Forgive our sins, pardon our shortcomings, and cause us to turn to the kingdom of Thy clemency, invoking the kingdom of might and power, humble at Thy shrine and submissive before the glory of Thine evidences.
O Lord God! Make us as waves of the sea, as flowers of the garden, united, agreed through the bounties of Thy love. O Lord! Dilate the breasts through the signs of Thy oneness, and make all mankind as stars shining from the same height of glory, as perfect fruits growing upon Thy tree of life.
Verily, Thou art the Almighty, the Self-Subsistent, the Giver, the Forgiving, the Pardoner, the Omniscient, the One Creator.

 

Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation Of Universal Peace

14 July 1912
Talk at All Souls Unitarian Church
Fourth Avenue and Twentieth Street, New York

 

*****

It is a great happiness to be here this evening, especially for the reason that the members of this Association have come from the region of the Orient. For a long time I have entertained a desire to meet some of the Japanese friends. That nation has achieved extraordinary progress in a short space of time—a progress and development which have astonished the world. Inasmuch as they have advanced in material civilization, they must assuredly possess the capacity for spiritual development. For this reason, I have an excessive longing to meet them. Praise be to God! This pleasure is now afforded me, for here in this city I am face to face with a revered group of the Japanese. According to report the people of the Japanese nation are not prejudiced. They investigate reality. Wherever they find truth, they prove to be its lovers. They are not attached tenaciously to blind imitations of ancient beliefs and dogmas. Therefore, it is my great desire to discourse with them upon a subject in order that the unity and blending together of the nations of the East and the nations of the West may be furthered and accomplished. In this way religious, racial and political prejudice, partisan bias and sectarianism will be dispelled amongst men. Any kind of prejudice is destructive to the body politic.

When we review history from the beginning of human existence to the present age in which we live, it is evident all war and conflict, bloodshed and battle, every form of sedition has been due to some form of prejudice—whether religious, racial or national—to partisan bias and selfish prejudice of some sort. Even today we witness an upheaval in the Balkans, a war of religious prejudice. Some years ago when I was living in Rumelia, war broke out among the religious peoples. There was no attitude of justice or equity whatever amongst them. They pillaged the properties of each other, burning each others’ homes and houses, slaughtering men, women and children, imagining that such warfare and bloodshed was the means of drawing near to God. This clearly proved that prejudice is a destroyer of the foundations of the world of humanity, whereas religion was meant to be the cause of fellowship and agreement.

Religion must be the cause of love. Religion must be the cause of justice, for the wisdom of the Manifestations of God is directed toward the establishing of the bond of a love which is indissoluble. The bonds which hold together the body politic are not sufficient. These bonds may be mentioned—for instance, the bond of patriotism. This is evidently not a sufficient bond, for how often it happens that people of the same nation wage civil war amongst themselves. The bond of fellowship may be racial, but history proves this is not sufficiently strong, for tremendous wars have broken out between peoples of the same racial lineage. Again, the bond holding men together may be political. How often it happens that the diplomacy of nations makes a treaty of peace one day and on the morrow a declaration of war! It is historically evident and manifest that these bonds are not self-sufficient.

The real bond of integrity is religious in character, for religion indicates the oneness of the world of humanity. Religion serves the world of morality. Religion purifies the hearts. Religion impels men to achieve praiseworthy deeds. Religion becomes the cause of love in human hearts, for religion is a divine foundation, the foundation ever conducive to life. The teachings of God are the source of illumination to the people of the world. Religion is ever constructive, not destructive.

The foundation of all the divine religions is one. All are based upon reality. Reality does not admit plurality, yet amongst mankind there have arisen differences concerning the Manifestations of God. Some have been Zoroastrians, some are Buddhists, some Jews, Christians, Muslims and so on. This has become a source of divergence, whereas the teachings of the holy Souls Who founded the divine religions are one in essence and reality. All these have served the world of humanity. All have summoned souls to peace and accord. All have proclaimed the virtues of humanity. All have guided souls to the attainment of perfections, but among the nations certain imitations of ancestral forms of worship have arisen. These imitations are not the foundation and essence of the divine religions. Inasmuch as they differ from the reality and the essential teachings of the Manifestations of God, dissensions have arisen, and prejudice has developed. Religious prejudice thus becomes the cause of warfare and battle.

If we abandon these timeworn blind imitations and investigate reality, all of us will be unified. No discord will remain; antagonism will disappear. All will associate in fellowship. All will enjoy the cordial bonds of friendship. The world of creation will then attain composure. The dark and gloomy clouds of blind imitations and dogmatic variances will be scattered and dispelled; the Sun of Reality will shine most gloriously.

Verily, we should consider the divine Prophets as the intermediaries, but mankind has made use of Them as causes of dissension and pretexts for warfare and strife. In reality, They were the intermediaries of love and reconciliation. If They were not sources of love and fellowship amongst men, then undoubtedly They were not true, for the divine wisdom and purpose in sending the Prophets was the manifestation of love in human hearts. Therefore, we must investigate reality. First of all, let us determine whether these Prophets were valid or not by using rational proofs and shining arguments, not simply by quoting traditionary evidences, because traditions are divergent and the source of dissension.

Among the holy, divine Manifestations of God was Moses. The sending of Prophets has ever been for the training of humanity. They are the first Educators and Trainers. If Moses has developed the body politic, there is no doubt that He was a true Teacher and Educator. This will be proof and evidence that He was a Prophet. We shall consider how He was sent to the children of Israel when they were in the abyss of despair, in the lowest degree of ignorance and heedlessness, degraded and under conditions of bondage. Moses rescued these degraded people of Israel from that state of bondage. He raised them from that condition of ignorance, saved them from barbarism and led them into the Holy Land. He educated them, endowed them with sagacious instincts, made them worthy and honorable. He civilized them, raised them to a higher plane of existence until they were enabled to establish a national sovereignty, the great kingdom of Solomon. This proves that Moses was a Teacher and an Educator. He had neither army nor dominion; neither did He possess wealth. It was only through an idealistic power that He cemented them together, proving that He was a Prophet of God, an Educator and Trainer.

Likewise, must we set aside prejudice in considering other divine Educators by investigating reality. For instance, let us take Christ. He achieved results greater than Moses. He educated the body politic, trained mighty nations. There is no doubt whatever that such Souls were Prophets, for the mission of Prophethood is education, and these wondrous Souls trained and educated mankind.

Christ was a unique Personage, without helper or assistant. Single and solitary He arose to train great and mighty nations; the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Syrians, Chaldeans and Assyrians came under His influence. He was able to bind together many nations, melting them together, as it were, and pouring them into one mold, changing their enmity into love, war into peace. Under His influence satanic souls became veritable angels, tyrannical rulers became just, the human moral standard was raised. This proves that Christ was an Educator, a Teacher and Trainer of nations. If we deny this, it is nought but injustice.

Blessed souls—whether Moses, Jesus, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, Confucius or Muḥammad—were the cause of the illumination of the world of humanity. How can we deny such irrefutable proof? How can we be blind to such light? How can we dispute the validity of Christ? This is injustice. This is a denial of reality. Man must be just. We must set aside bias and prejudice. We must abandon the imitations of ancestors and forefathers. We ourselves must investigate reality and be fair in judgment.

The old nation of Persia denied all these facts, harboring the utmost hatred and enmity toward other religious beliefs besides their own. We have investigated reality and found that these holy souls were all sent of God. All of them have sacrificed life, endured ordeals and tribulations in order that They might educate us. How can such love be forgotten? The light of Christ is evident. The candle of Buddha is shining. The star of Moses is sparkling. The flame ignited by Zoroaster is still burning. How can we deny Them? It is injustice. It is a denial of complete evidence. If we forsake imitations, all will become united, and no differences will remain to separate us.

We entertain no prejudice against Muḥammad. Outwardly the Arabian nation was instrumental in overthrowing the Pársí dominion, the sovereignty of Persia. Therefore, the old Pársí nation manifested the utmost contempt toward the Arabs. But we deal justly and will never abandon the standard of fairness. The Arabians were in the utmost state of degradation. They were bloodthirsty and barbarous, so savage and degraded that the Arabian father often buried his own daughter alive. Consider: Could any barbarism be lower than this? The nation consisted of warring, hostile tribal peoples inhabiting the vast Arabian peninsula, and their business consisted in fighting and pillaging each other, making captive women and children, killing each other. Muḥammad appeared among such a people. He educated and unified these barbarous tribes, put an end to their shedding of blood. Through His education they reached such a degree of civilization that they subdued and governed continents and nations. What a great civilization was established in Spain by the Muslims! What a marvelous civilization was founded in Morocco by the Moors! What a powerful caliphate or successorship was set up in Baghdád! How much Islám served and furthered the cause of science! Why then should we deny Muḥammad? If we deny Him, we awaken enmity and hatred. By our prejudice we become the cause of war and bloodshed, for prejudice was the cause of the tremendous storm which swept through human history for thirteen hundred years and still continues. Even now in the Balkans a commotion is apparent, reflecting it.

The Christian people number nearly three hundred millions and the Muslims about the same. It is no small task to do away with such numbers. And furthermore, why should they be obliterated? For these are all servants of the one God. Let us strive to establish peace between Christians and Muslims. Is it not better? What is the benefit of war? What is its fruitage? For thirteen hundred years there has been warfare and hostility. What good result has been forthcoming? Is it not folly? Is God pleased with it? Is Christ pleased? Is Muḥammad? It is evident that They are not. The Prophets have extolled each other to the utmost. Muḥammad declared Christ to be the Spirit of God. This is an explicit text of the Qur’án. He declared Christ to be the Word of God. He eulogized the disciples of Christ to the utmost. He bestowed upon Mary, the mother of Christ, the highest praise. Likewise, Christ extolled Moses. He spread broadcast the Old Testament, the Torah, and caused the name of Moses to reach unto the East and the West. The purpose is this: that the Prophets Themselves have manifested the utmost love toward each other, but the nations who believe and follow Them are hostile and antagonistic among themselves.

The world was in this condition of darkness when Bahá’u’lláh appeared upon the Persian horizon. He hoisted the banner of the oneness of the world of humanity. He proclaimed international peace. He admonished the Persian nation to investigate reality, announced that religion must be the cause of unity and love, that it must be the means of binding hearts together, the cause of life and illumination. If religion becomes the cause of enmity and bloodshed, then irreligion is to be preferred, for religion is the remedy for every ailment, and if a remedy should become the cause of ailment and difficulty, it is better to abandon it. Today in Persia you will see the Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, Buddhists assembled together in the same meeting, living in accordance with the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, manifesting utmost love and accord. Rancor, hatred, antagonism and violence have disappeared; they live together as one family.

And ye who are the people of the Orient—the Orient which has ever been the dawning point of lights from whence the Sun of Reality has ever shone forth, casting its effulgence upon the West—ye, therefore, must become the manifestations of lights. Ye must become brilliant lamps. Ye must shine as stars radiating the light of love toward all mankind. May you be the cause of love amongst the nations. Thus may the world become witness that the Orient has ever been the dawning point of illumination, the source of love and reconciliation. Make peace with all the world. Love everybody; serve everybody. All are the servants of God. God has created all. He provideth for all. He is kind to all. Therefore, must we be kind to all.

I am greatly pleased with this meeting. I am joyous and happy, for here in these western regions I find Orientals seeking education and who are free from prejudice. May God assist you!

Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation Of Universal Peace

7 October 1912
Talk to Japanese Young Men’s Christian Association
Japanese Independent Church, Oakland, California

*****

O ye lovers of truth, ye servants of humankind! Out of the flowering of your thoughts and hopes, fragrant emanations have come my way, wherefore an inner sense of obligation compelleth me to pen these words.

Ye observe how the world is divided against itself, how many a land is red with blood and its very dust is caked with human gore. The fires of conflict have blazed so high that never in early times, not in the Middle Ages, not in recent centuries hath there ever been such a hideous war, a war that is even as millstones, taking for grain the skulls of men. Nay, even worse, for flourishing countries have been reduced to rubble, cities have been levelled with the ground, and many a once prosperous village hath been turned into ruin. Fathers have lost their sons, and sons their fathers. Mothers have wept away their hearts over dead children. Children have been orphaned, women left to wander, vagrants without a home. From every aspect, humankind hath sunken low. Loud are the piercing cries of fatherless children; loud the mothers’ anguished voices, reaching to the skies.

And the breeding-ground of all these tragedies is prejudice: prejudice of race and nation, of religion, of political opinion; and the root cause of prejudice is blind imitation of the past—imitation in religion, in racial attitudes, in national bias, in politics. So long as this aping of the past persisteth, just so long will the foundations of the social order be blown to the four winds, just so long will humanity be continually exposed to direst peril.

Now, in such an illumined age as ours, when realities previously unknown to man have been laid bare, and the secrets of created things have been disclosed, and the Morn of Truth hath broken and lit up the world—is it admissible that men should be waging a frightful war that is bringing humanity down to ruin? No, by the Lord God!

Christ Jesus summoned all mankind to amity and peace. Unto Peter He said: ‘Put up thy sword into the sheath.’ 1 Such was the bidding and counsel of the Lord Christ; and yet today the Christians one and all have drawn their swords from out the scabbard. How wide is the discrepancy between such acts and the clear Gospel text!

Sixty years ago Bahá’u’lláh rose up, even as the Day-Star, over Persia. He declared that the skies of the world were dark, that this darkness boded evil, and that terrible wars would come. From the prison at ‘Akká, He addressed the German Emperor in the clearest of terms, telling him that a great war was on the way and that his city of Berlin would break forth in lamentation and wailing. Likewise did He write to the Turkish sovereign, although He was that Sulṭán’s victim and a captive in his prison—that is, He was being held prisoner in the Fortress at ‘Akká—and clearly stated that Constantinople would be overtaken by a sudden and radical change, so great that the women and children of that city would mourn and cry aloud. In brief, He addressed such words to all the monarchs and the presidents, and everything came to pass, exactly as He had foretold.

There have issued, from His mighty Pen, various teachings for the prevention of war, and these have been scattered far and wide.

The first is the independent investigation of truth; for blind imitation of the past will stunt the mind. But once every soul inquireth into truth, society will be freed from the darkness of continually repeating the past.

His second principle is the oneness of mankind: that all men are the sheep of God, and God is their loving Shepherd, caring most tenderly for all without favouring one or another. ‘No difference canst thou see in the creation of the God of mercy’; 2 all are His servants, all implore His grace.

His third teaching is that religion is a mighty stronghold, but that it must engender love, not malevolence and hate. Should it lead to malice, spite, and hate, it is of no value at all. For religion is a remedy, and if the remedy bring on disease, then put it aside. Again, as to religious, racial, national and political bias: all these prejudices strike at the very root of human life; one and all they beget bloodshed, and the ruination of the world. So long as these prejudices survive, there will be continuous and fearsome wars.

To remedy this condition there must be universal peace. To bring this about, a Supreme Tribunal must be established, representative of all governments and peoples; questions both national and international must be referred thereto, and all must carry out the decrees of this Tribunal. Should any government or people disobey, let the whole world arise against that government or people.

Yet another of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is the equality of men and women and their equal sharing in all rights. And there are many similar principles. It hath now become evident that these teachings are the very life and soul of the world.

Ye who are servants of the human race, strive ye with all your heart to deliver mankind out of this darkness and these prejudices that belong to the human condition and the world of nature, so that humanity may find its way into the light of the world of God.

Praise be to Him, ye are acquainted with the various laws, institutions and principles of the world; today nothing short of these divine teachings can assure peace and tranquillity to mankind. But for these teachings, this darkness shall never vanish, these chronic diseases shall never be healed; nay, they shall grow fiercer from day to day. The Balkans will remain discontented. Its restlessness will increase. The vanquished Powers will continue to agitate. They will resort to every measure that may rekindle the flame of war. Movements, newly-born and world-wide in their range, will exert their utmost effort for the advancement of their designs. The Movement of the Left will acquire great importance. Its influence will spread.

Strive ye, therefore, with the help of God, with illumined minds and hearts and a strength born of heaven, to become a bestowal from God to man, and to call into being for all humankind, comfort and peace.

1. John 18:11.
2. Qur’án 67:3.

 

*****

Praise be to Him Who hath rent the dark asunder, hath blotted out the night, hath drawn aside the coverings and torn away the veils; Whose light thereupon shone out, Whose signs and tokens were spread abroad, and His mysteries laid bare. Then did His clouds part and loaded down the earth with His bounties and bestowals, and made all things sweet with rain, and caused the fresh greenery of knowledge and the hyacinths of certitude to spring forth and to shake and tremble for joy, till the whole world was scented with the fragrance of His holiness.

Salutations and praise, blessings and glory be upon those divine realities, those sacred windflowers that have come forth out of this supreme bestowal, this flooding grace that hath roared like a clashing sea of gifts and bounties, tossing its waves to the high heavens.

O God, my God! Praise be unto Thee for kindling the fire of divine love in the Holy Tree on the summit of the loftiest mount: that Tree which is ‘neither of the east nor of the west,’ 1 that fire which blazed out till the flame of it soared upward to the Concourse on high, and from it those realities caught the light of guidance, and cried out: ‘Verily have we perceived a fire on the slope of Mount Sinai.’ 2

O God, my God! Increase Thou this fire, as day followeth day, till the blast of it setteth in motion all the earth. O Thou, my Lord! Kindle the light of Thy love in every heart, breathe into men’s souls the spirit of Thy knowledge, gladden their breasts with the verses of Thy oneness. Call Thou to life those who dwell in their tombs, warn Thou the prideful, make happiness world-wide, send down Thy crystal waters, and in the assemblage of manifest splendours, pass round that cup which is ‘tempered at the camphor fountain.’ 3

Verily art Thou the Giving, the Forgiving, the Ever-Bestowing. Verily art Thou the Merciful, the Compassionate.

O ye loved ones of God! The wine-cup of Heaven overfloweth, the banquet of God’s Covenant is bright with festive lights, the dawn of all bestowals is breaking, the gentle winds of grace are blowing, and out of the invisible world come good tidings of bounties and gifts. In flower-spangled meadows hath the divine springtime pitched its tents, and the spiritual are inhaling sweet scents from the Sheba of the spirit, carried their way by the east wind. Now doth the mystic nightingale carol its odes, and buds of inner meaning are bursting into blossoms delicate and fair. The field larks are become the festival’s musicians, and lifting wondrous voices they cry and sing to the melodies of the Company on high, ‘Blessed are ye! Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!’ And they urge on the revellers of the Abhá Paradise to drink their fill, and they eloquently hold forth upon the celestial tree, and utter their sacred cries. All this, that withered souls who tread the desert of the heedless, and faded ones lost in the sands of unconcern, may come to throbbing life again, and present themselves at the feasts and revels of the Lord God.

Praise be to Him! The renown of His Cause hath reached to east and west, and word of the power of the Abhá Beauty hath quickened north and south. That cry from the American continent is a choir of holiness, that shout from far and near that riseth even to the Company on high is ‘Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá!’ Now is the east lit up with a glory, and the west rose-sweet, and all the earth is fragrant with ambergris, and the winds that blow over the Holy Shrine are laden with musk. Erelong shall ye see that even the darkest lands are bright, and the continents of Europe and Africa have turned into gardens of flowers, and forests of blossoming trees.

But since the dawning of this Day-Star was in Persia, and since from that orient the sun shone upon the west, it is our fondest hope that the flames of love’s fire should blaze ever more vehemently in that land, and that there the splendour of this Holy Faith should grow ever more intense. May the tumult of God’s Cause so shake that land to its foundations, may the spiritual force of His Word so manifest itself, as to make Írán the core and focus of well-being and peace. May rectitude and conciliation, and love and trust, issuing forth from Írán, bring immortality to all on earth. May she raise on the highest summits the banner of public order, of purest spirituality, of universal peace.

O ye loved ones of God! In this, the Bahá’í dispensation, God’s Cause is spirit unalloyed. His Cause belongeth not to the material world. It cometh neither for strife nor war, nor for acts of mischief or of shame; it is neither for quarrelling with other Faiths, nor for conflicts with the nations. Its only army is the love of God, its only joy the clear wine of His knowledge, its only battle the expounding of the Truth; its one crusade is against the insistent self, the evil promptings of the human heart. Its victory is to submit and yield, and to be selfless is its everlasting glory. In brief, it is spirit upon spirit:

Unless ye must,
Bruise not the serpent in the dust,
How much less wound a man.
And if ye can,
No ant should ye alarm,
Much less a brother harm.

Let all your striving be for this, to become the source of life and immortality, and peace and comfort and joy, to every human soul, whether one known to you or a stranger, one opposed to you or on your side. Look ye not upon the purity or impurity of his nature: look ye upon the all-embracing mercy of the Lord, the light of Whose grace hath embosomed the whole earth and all who dwell thereon, and in the plenitude of Whose bounty are immersed both the wise and the ignorant. Stranger and friend alike are seated at the table of His favour. Even as the believer, the denier who turneth away from God doth at the same time cup his hands and drink from the sea of His bestowals.

It behoveth the loved ones of the Lord to be the signs and tokens of His universal mercy and the embodiments of His own excelling grace. Like the sun, let them cast their rays upon garden and rubbish heap alike, and even as clouds in spring, let them shed down their rain upon flower and thorn. Let them seek but love and faithfulness, let them not follow the ways of unkindness, let their talk be confined to the secrets of friendship and of peace. Such are the attributes of the righteous, such is the distinguishing mark of those who serve His Threshold.

The Abhá Beauty endured the most afflictive of calamities. He bore countless agonies and ills. He enjoyed not a moment’s peace, drew not an easeful breath. He wandered, homeless, over desert sands and mountain slopes; He was shut in a fortress, and a prison cell. But to Him, His pauper’s mat of straw was an eternal throne of glory, and His heavy chains a sovereign’s carcanet. By day, by night, He lived under a whirring sword, and He was ready from moment to moment for death on the cross. He bore all this that He might purify the world, and deck it out with the tender mercies of the Lord God; that He might set it at rest; that conflict and aggression might be put to flight, the lance and the keen blade be exchanged for loving fellowship, malevolence and war turn into safety and gentleness and love, that battlefields of hate and wrath should become gardens of delight, and places where once the blood-drenched armies clashed, be fragrant pleasure grounds; that warfare should be seen as shame, and the resort to arms, even as a loathsome sickness, be shunned by every people; that universal peace raise its pavilions on the loftiest mounts, and war be made to perish forever from the earth.

Wherefore must the loved ones of God, laboriously, with the waters of their striving, tend and nourish and foster this tree of hope. In whatsoever land they dwell, let them with a whole heart befriend and be companions to those who are either close to them, or far removed. Let them, with qualities like unto those of heaven, promote the institutions and the religion of God. Let them never lose heart, never be despondent, never feel afflicted. The more antagonism they meet, the more let them show their own good faith; the more torments and calamities they have to face, the more generously let them pass round the bounteous cup. Such is the spirit which will become the life of the world, such is the spreading light at its heart: and he who may be and do other than this is not worthy to serve at the Holy Threshold of the Lord.

O ye loved ones of God! The Sun of Truth is shining down from invisible skies; know ye the value of these days. Lift up your heads, and grow ye cypress-tall in these swift-running streams. Take ye joy in the beauty of the narcissus of Najd, for night will fall and it will be no more….

O ye loved ones of God! Praise be to Him, the bright banner of the Covenant is flying higher every day, while the flag of perfidy hath been reversed, and hangeth at half-mast. The benighted attackers have been shaken to their core; they are now as ruined sepulchres, and even as blind creatures that dwell beneath the earth they creep and crawl about a corner of the tomb, and out of that hole, from time to time, like unto savage beasts, do they jibber and howl. Glory be to God! How can the darkness hope to overcome the light, how can a magician’s cords hold fast ‘a serpent plain for all to see’? ‘Then lo! It swallowed up their lying wonders.’ 4 Alas for them! They have deluded themselves with a fable, and to indulge their appetites they have done away with their own selves. They gave up everlasting glory in exchange for human pride, and they sacrificed greatness in both worlds to the demands of the insistent self. This is that of which We have forewarned you. Erelong shall ye behold the foolish in manifest loss.

O my Lord and my Hope! Help Thou Thy loved ones to be steadfast in Thy mighty Covenant, to remain faithful to Thy manifest Cause, and to carry out the commandments Thou didst set down for them in Thy Book of Splendours; that they may become banners of guidance and lamps of the Company above, wellsprings of Thine infinite wisdom, and stars that lead aright, as they shine down from the supernal sky.

Verily art Thou the Invincible, the Almighty, the All-Powerful.

1. Qur’án 24:35.
2. cf. Qur’án 28:29.
3. Qur’án 76:5.
4. Qur’án 26:31; 26:44; the reference is to Moses’ rod, and the enchanters.

Abdu’l-Baha, Selections #206

 

The Only Salvation From War

Holy Day: The Twelfth Day Of Ridvan, Jamal 5, 174 B.E. (5/2/2017)

Friday, May 5th, 2017

Dear Friends,

 

Why is it that the majority of those who fight for material control of this world also hold to the religion of the physical resurrection of their flesh?

 

Obviously one is a delusional belief system, and the other is antisocial behavior (such as war and murder for oil, control and power). It is probably true that thoughts and deeds cycle around each other to perpetuate both wrong thinking and crimes against the dignity of other human beings. Look at South Sudan. Oil was found there. Now instead of those people being rich, and well to do, and having a better world, their lives have been made miserable by the warmongers and oil addicts. Thus at the root of bad words, bad thoughts, and bad deeds–we find bad religion; that which is anti-human and not humane. According to ‘Abdu’l-Baha:

 

“My name is Abdu’l-Baha… servitude to all the human race my perpetual religion.”

 

The only “revolution” that is going to solve all the problems of human suffering in this world is “the revolution of the human heart”. Baha’u’llah inaugurated this revolution on April 21, 1863.

 

This revolution cannot take place–Baha’u’llah tells us–unless we see the truth with our own eyes and not through the eyes of our neighbor. Ah hah! That means we need two things to accept the truth–the intellect to recognize the truth, and a heart that is pure to accept it.

 

Facts. The pure of heart go by the facts. This is why Jesus said to seek the truth and truth will set you free. We seek the truth when it is the truth that we love. And here Jesus specifically means to seek the truth of God and the truth of the Bible: the truth of the Kingdom of God. Not be fooled by lies, mythologies, and theologies of the clergy class or preistcraft. This is the full “revolution of the human heart”, accompanied by body, mind and soul–to love God above all else with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul. Not blindly hide in a meaningless pile of lies, told to us by others, who also were either so deceived or who knowingly chose to deceive others. No. Someone has to stop the viscous cycle. Someone has to step forth and not go along with the lemmings to the slaughter. The first one to do this in our age is Baha’u’llah, then ‘Abdu’l-Baha, then you and me, and all of us today. Long ago it was Jesus who was the first, and then another dozen apostles, then maybe 500 more, and lastly his establisher Paul. But now there isn’t one single true Christian remaining in all the world who both knows the whole truth and loves the whole truth, and nothing but the whole truth. In order for God to help us–we must have a love for the truth in our own pure heart first and foremost. Therefore Jesus has returned to fix that problem.

 

Attached is a “Letter to a Member of the Easter Faith.” For those who may not know, “the Easter Faith” isn’t a faith in Jesus, or God or the Kingdom, or of the after-life in the spiritual world to come, but a malignant obsession with the non-Biblical physical resurrection of the flesh of their own body (to re-inhabit this material world). In different forms–resurrection, re-incarnation, metempsychosis, etc– it dates back to Ishtar (Easter) of Babylonia and is a malignant obsession with living in this material world in a material body. It has nothing to do with the spiritual progression of the soul in both this life and the next–through all the innumerable worlds of God. No. Instead it is a deception that derails the majority of people from being able to advance in the Kingdom (which is here and now in both this world and the next) freely and unalloyed. This fulfills what is written in the scripture:

 

“They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie (2 Thess. 2: 10-11 NIV).

 

Baha’u’llah states:

 

“This ‘oppression’ is the essential feature of every Revelation. Unless it cometh to pass, the Sun of Truth will not be made manifest. For the break of the morn of divine guidance must needs follow the darkness of the night of error.” (Iqan, p. 31)

 

Now that all the Covenants of God have all been broken by the people, and the darkness of error has spread over the minds of all the people deceived by pompous leaders who hijacked God’s original true religions–the time for the “break of the morn of divine guidance” is come–and we could all use just such a break.

 

Best Wishes, this Ridvan, and Happy Ridvan to All!!

 

Your servant,

 

Neal.

UHJ.net

BUPC.org

 

 

LETTER TO A MEMBER OF THE EASTER FAITH

 

Dear Dr. F.,

 

According to the Greek New Testament, Joseph of Aramathea placed the corpse of Jesus in a tomb north of the city. His body did die and he did not “swoon” as you say. The apostles then took Jesus’s corpse out of the tomb and mummified it during the prescribed 40 days process in the town of Emmaus. As their first Act, in the Acts of the Apostles, they then buried Jesus’s mummified corpse under the wall of the city at the place where the road to Emmaus came into Jerusalem at the wall. This is the exact spot of the current location of the church of the Holy Sepulcher and Jesus mummified corpse remains there to this day. When the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was attacked in the middle ages, the Christian Knights retook the city and preserved the mummified corpse of Jesus in a leaden-lined casket filled with preservatives that they re-interred in the sacred Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

 

Like the Bab’i and Baha’i martyrs (10,000 + 20,000 respectively) true Christian martyrs were willing to sacrifice their lives because they knew that Jesus was the Universal Manifestation of God, the Herald of the Kingdom, and is therefore the universal forerunner (as the “son”) for Baha’u’llah (the glory of the Father), the Davidic King who is seated upon the throne of King David that continues today in the great-great grandson of Baha’u’llah, the current living Davidic King who is the president of Baha’u’llah’s Universal House of Justice (the House of the Lord–prophesied in the Bible). No true Christian ever died for the lie that the fleshy body of Jesus resurrected. Jesus said in John 6:63 that his “flesh” was of no avail–and that his words were “spirit and life”. It was only later after Rome became “Christian”–loyal to one sect only–that this mainstream new majority killed off all the true Christians who refused to go along with the lie of the resurrection of the flesh. The original martyrs of true Christianity all knew the location of Jesus’s mummified corpse, and this is how Helen the mother of Constantine was able to find the location so easily. As a mummified corpse Jesus’s flesh saw “no decay” (as prophesied). In the original Hebrew and Greek saying that a fleshy body would “see no decay” refers only to the mummification process after physical death–seeing “no decay” is only in reference to the corpse of flesh, which was mummified. It was only after the Council of Nicaea and after Charlemagne killed off the rest of the true Christians in Europe, that the anti-Biblical lie of the resurrection of the physical flesh became the entrenched dogma of the people who have been deceived by this non-Biblical teaching, such as yourself. This is why the return of Jesus can destroy antichrist with the “breath of his lips” because the way you get rid of a lie is by speaking the truth–as the lie has no reality-based existence it is then gone.

 

According to Paul–Jesus did not rise in the flesh–but “according to Scriptures!”

 

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again [it does not say in the fleshy flesh] the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen [mummified] by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen [mummified] by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen [mummified] by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen [mummified] by me also, as by one born out of due time.  (1 Corinthians 15:3–8)

 

Don’t you SEE Paul says: “Then last of all He was seen by me [Paul] also, as by one born out of due time.” So the other Apostles showed Paul Jesus’s mummified corpse in Jerusalem at the wall–after Paul had converted. This was long, long after Paul was struck by lightning on the road to Damascus. Long, long after Paul was at the stoning of Stephen. Long, long after, the clergy claims Jesus rose up into heaven [the sky they claim] in the first chapter of Acts, once and for all time, never to be seen by anyone again until the prophesied second coming 2000 years later. If Jesus floated away to never to be seen again, in the first chapter of Acts, then Paul could not have seen him, whom he had, therefore the clergy are false. Now I don’t why you believe this lie, or why anyone else would believe such an anti-scientific, and ridiculous lie as the resurrection of the flesh. But Paul tells us why: “He [that liar] will use every kind of evil deception [the resurrection of the physical flesh] to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth [of Jesus’s mummified corpse] that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies [trinity, easter egg, zombie apocalypse, etc]” (2 Thess. 2: 10-11 NLT).

 

So we all must have a LOVE for the truth–not a fear of death. This means we must be pure of heart. But that is not enough. We also must use the intellect that God gave us, and the independent investigation of the truth that Baha’u’llah enjoined upon us to get the reality!! Paul says: The resurrection is spiritual (1 Cor. 15:44) not physical. Learn!

 

According to the Guardian of the Baha’i faith Shoghi Effendi (and confirmed in the Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha):

 

“People wonder what happened to the body of Christ after the crucifixion. It was buried by the disciples under the wall of Jerusalem to protect it from the Roman legions. It remained buried there for some 290 years. It remained buried under the wall of Jerusalem until the mother of the Emperor Constantine, Helena, who had herself become a Christian, came to Jerusalem and had the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built–at which time the body of Christ was removed from under the wall of the city and was placed under the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. And that is where it is today. The Baha’is should be aware of this fact when they visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is the holiest place in Christendom.” (Shoghi Effendi, April 1957 to the believers).

 

Jesus is not descended from the throne-line of King David–he is from Mary who is of the tribe of Levi (of the “daughters of Aaron” the “kinswoman of Elizabeth: see Luke 1:5, 36 RSV). Mary is not from the tribe of Judah but of Levi of the daughters of Aaron the kinswoman of Elizabeth. Joseph is not of the throne-line of King of David. Joseph is from David’s son Nathan who was never seated upon the throne (Luke 3:31). Further Jesus’s mummified corpse is buried in Jerusalem in the tomb just like everyone else–which is what the Bible says in the Greek New Testament. The resurrection is spiritual (1 Cor. 15:44) not physical. Jesus came to proclaim the coming of Baha’u’llah who is that great King of Kings seated upon the throne of King David that the whole Bible is talking about. When Christians say that is Jesus they are doing Jesus a dis-service for they make Jesus out to be a usurper–usurping the throne-line from Baha’u’llah, to Jesus who never sat upon the throne of David. Thank God Jesus never claimed to be seated upon the throne of David or he would have been a usurper. No, He said he was the “son” not the “father” (Is. 9:6-7). Jesus denied being the “prince of peace” (Is. 9:6-7) saying he did not “come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34), and Jesus prophesied Baha’u’llah by name (Mk. 8:38) as the one (“the glory of God” the father) who was yet to come!

 

BAHA’U’LLAH IS JEWISH: A DESCENDANT OF KING DAVID FROM THE TRIBE OF JUDAH

 

“The purpose of the descendant of King David being the President (Head of the Government, the Executive Branch) of Baha’u’llah’s Universal House of Justice is so we can recognize the true UHJ from fakes, frauds, and imitations.” (UHJ.net)

 

“This House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government [Davidic King] enforceth them. The legislative body must reinforce the executive [David King], the executive [Davidic King] must aid and assist the legislative body so that through the close union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become even as Paradise itself.” (W&T, p. 15)

 

“To Him Isaiah, the greatest of the Jewish prophets, had alluded as the “Glory of the Lord,” the “Everlasting Father,” the “Prince of Peace,” the “Wonderful,” the “Counselor,” the “Rod come forth out of the stem of Jesse” and the “Branch grown out of His roots,” Who “shall be established upon the throne of David…” (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 94)

 

“By the violent beating of my heart I knew that we were soon to see the Blessed face of the Prince of the House of David, (‘Abdu’l-Baha) the King of the whole world.” (Lua Getsinger, cf. “Persia” by Asaac Adams, pp. 478-484).

 

Shoghi Effendi writes:

 

“Regarding your question concerning the Jesse from whom Baha’u’llah is descended: The Master says in Some Answered Questions, referring to Isaiah, chapter 11, verses 1 to 10, that these verses apply “Word for word to Baha’u’llah.” He then identifies this Jesse as the father of David in the following words: “…for Joseph was of the descendants of Jesse the father of David…” thus identifying the Jesse of Isaiah, chapter 11, with being the father of David. Baha’u’llah is thus the descendant of Jesse, the father of David

“The Guardian hopes that this will clarify the matter for you. It is a tremendous and fascinating theme, Baha’u’llah’s connection with the Faith of Judaism, and one which possesses great interest to Jew and Christian alike.” (Shoghi Effendi, 11 July 1942)

 

Also, from the mainstream perspective, the research of Dr. Grover Gonzales, a Baha’i in the mainstream fold, has published research on Baha’u’llah’s genealogy entitled “the genealogy of Shoghi Effendi” which traces the male throne-line of King David that Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha inherited through their Jewish lineage back to the exilarch Bostanai. The “exilarchs” are the exiled Jewish Kings of David – thus exiled monarchs = exil-arch: Exilarch. This is the Jewish origins of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha of the Jewish Kings that were brought into exile originally by Nebuchadnezzar and later into Persia by Cyrus the Great into what became Muslim lands.

 

According to Dr. Gonzales himself, he “was commissioned by Shoghi Effendi to do this research and [Shoghi Effendi] approved it for publication.” Dr. Gonzales “received the bulk of his work on Baha’u’llah’s family from Mirza Abu-Fazl who received it directly from Baha’u’llah Himself.” Gonzales’s chart showing the genealogy of Baha’u’llah back to the exilarch Bostanai and through him to King David is attached. You can see the names of Baha’u’llah, Bostanai, Exilarchs, and King David circled in red. Dr. Gonzales’s work on the Jewish (Davidic) origins of the genealogy of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha is published on-line at the Baha’i Academic Resource Library, the premiere on-line website for all academic studies of the Baha’i Faith: (http://bahai-library.com/gonzales_genealogy_shoghieffendi)

 

Another mainstream resource that gives this lineage and history of the Jewish origins of the family of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha is the Iqlim-i-Nur, by eminent Baha’i historian, Malik Khusravi. The second edition, the longer extended version, gives this same lineage back to the marriage of Bostanai to Dara (Izdundad) the daughter of Yazdigird III, the last Sassanian monarch. Thus Baha’u’llah is a descendant of Zoroaster (which means literally “seed of the woman”) through Yazdigird’s daughter Dara, and from the male throne-line from the Jewish origin of Bostanai the Exilarch. You may request a copy of the longer version of the Iqlim-i-Nur from Haifa where it is under lock and key. The guardian has told me that the shorter version is uploaded onto H-Net for the general public to have.

 

Aside from those works, we also have in our possession a manuscript copy of Baha’u’llah’s Book of Kings, which elucidates this entire theme completely. Again the main source of original Baha’i literature is the central documents and tablets of the Covenant. Beyond this core body of literature, the Jewish origins are a pervasive theme throughout the entirety of the Baha’i holy writ and literature. The reason for this is that the Baha’i scriptures are clear that Jesus Christ is the “Herald of the Kingdom.” He is the herald by proclaiming the meaning of the title Christ that is the key to the promised Kingdom of God.

 

The word “Christ” comes from the Greek word Christos, and literally means “anointed one” like to christen a ship. The Hebrew word for anointed one is “messiah.” But anointed one of what? The full title was “messiah ben David,” that is the anointed male-sperm descendant of King David. In order for Jesus and Baha’u’llah to be the Christ they must be of the male-sperm descendants of King David. If Baha’u’llah was not of this male-sperm throne-line of King David he couldn’t fulfill prophecy for the second coming of Christ in the potency of the “everlasting Father “ seated upon the “throne of King David” that is to last forever. However this is exactly what His claim is. This is backed up by history as well as all the Baha’i holy literature including especially Baha’u’llah’s Book of the Covenant and the sacred Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. Some of the Iranian Baha’is who occupied positions of power and seats of control in the Baha’i world had a problem with these Jewish roots–Jewish origins–of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha. This may have been a strong motive in their hijacking of the Faith away from ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s son Mason Remey to do away with the continuation of the Jewish line of Kings that is reserved for the president and executive branch of the Universal House of Justice of Baha’u’llah, now entitled the guardianship of the Baha’i Faith (see Will and Testament, page 14 and 15 for more).

 

 

The Foundation Of God’s Kingdom On Earth As It Is In Heaven

 

THE LITTLE HORN PROPHECY – DONALD TRUMP AND THE GOP

Thursday, March 23rd, 2017

Introduction

“Until the heavenly civilization is founded, no result will be forthcoming from material civilization, even as you observe. See what catastrophes overwhelm mankind. Consider the wars which disturb the world. Consider the enmity and hatred. The existence of these wars and conditions indicates and proves that the heavenly civilization has not yet been established. If the civilization of the Kingdom be spread to all the nations, this dust of disagreement will be dispelled, these clouds will pass away, and the Sun of Reality in its greatest effulgence and glory will shine upon mankind.” –Abdu’l-Baha, Chicago, May 5th, 1912

These words, spoken more than a century ago by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, son of Baha’u’llah, highlight the professed reality that unless and until the principles and values of the Oneness of Humanity and Unity in Diversity, based on a foundation of Justice for All, are embraced and infused into human society, we will not successfully enter into a progressive form of internationalism and globalism, but will instead find ourselves hindered and stunted from achieving our true potential.

Click HERE To Read The Full Article

1/16/2017 (Sharaf 17, 173 B.E.) In Commemoration Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & his work

Monday, January 16th, 2017

In every dispensation, there hath been the commandment of fellowship and love, but it was a commandment limited to the community of those in mutual agreement, not to the dissident foe. In this wondrous age, however, praised be God, the commandments of God are not delimited, not restricted to any one group of people, rather have all the friends been commanded to show forth fellowship and love, consideration and generosity and loving-kindness to every community on earth. Now must the lovers of God arise to carry out these instructions of His: let them be kindly fathers to the children of the human race, and compassionate brothers to the youth, and self-denying offspring to those bent with years. The meaning of this is that ye must show forth tenderness and love to every human being, even to your enemies, and welcome them all with unalloyed friendship, good cheer, and loving-kindness. When ye meet with cruelty and persecution at another’s hands, keep faith with him; when malevolence is directed your way, respond with a friendly heart. To the spears and arrows rained upon you, expose your breasts for a target mirror-bright; and in return for curses, taunts and wounding words, show forth abounding love. Thus will all peoples witness the power of the Most Great Name, and every nation acknowledge the might of the Ancient Beauty, and see how He hath toppled down the walls of discord, and how surely He hath guided all the peoples of the earth to oneness; how He hath lit man’s world, and made this earth of dust to send forth streams of light.

These human creatures are even as children, they are brash and unconcerned. These children must be reared with infinite, loving care, and tenderly fostered in the embraces of mercy, so that they may taste the spiritual honey-sweetness of God’s love; that they may become like unto candles shedding their beams across this darksome world, and may clearly perceive what blazing crowns of glory the Most Great Name, the Ancient Beauty, hath set on the brows of His beloved, what bounties He hath bestowed on the hearts of those He holdeth dear, what a love He hath cast into the breasts of humankind, and what treasures of friendship He hath made to appear amongst all men.

O God, my God! Aid Thou Thy trusted servants to have loving and tender hearts. Help them to spread, amongst all the nations of the earth, the light of guidance that cometh from the Company on high. Verily Thou art the Strong, the Powerful, the Mighty, the All-Subduing, the Ever-Giving. Verily Thou art the Generous, the Gentle, the Tender, the Most Bountiful.

Abdu’l-Baha’, Selections #7, exc.

 

The Elimination Of All Forms Of Prejudice: The 7th Baha’i Principle

All 12 Baha’i Principles

 

Video From The View: Former White Supremacist – Satanic Strength Transformed Into Spiritual Power

American Injustice Ongoing As Of 11/22/2016

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2016

Kendrick Eagle Message to Obama about Standing Rock

What Would Jesus Do?

Saturday, December 19th, 2015

What would Jesus do?

Christians often ask this question: “What would Jesus do?” It is a type of moral compass to do the right thing. An inventory to think about God before committing terrible mistakes, saying stupid things you can’t take back, or committing violent wrongs that cannot be undone.

I cannot imagine how painful the suffering of Jesus must have been on the cross. By all accounts this type of death seems cruel and unusual and excruciatingly torturous to say the least.

In this case however–of Jesus on the Cross–we do not have to wonder what Jesus would do. We have the gospel truth of EXACTLY what HE DID DO! He cried out to ALLAH the God of Muhammad in his dying final breaths!

“Ali Ali lama sabachthani” (Matthew 27:46) are of the last words of Jesus on the Cross when he calls out to HIS God. These are quoted from Psalms 22 verse 1 in Hebrew the words “My God! My God!” are spelled with three letters: the first letter of the alphabet Aleph that is our letter ‘A’ (not an ‘E’). Then the letter ‘L’ and finally the letter ‘Y’ (yod) meaning mine or my.

Now somewhere down the line someone decided to translate the “Allah” of “Alohim” “Al” and “Ali” (my God) into English as “Elohim” “El” and “Eli”–in order to distance themselves and foolish naive readers of the Bible (THE UNSUSPECTING AND THE UNAWARES) from Allah. Why?

They did this on purpose to DIVIDE the Muslim peoples against the Christian peoples and to divide the Christian peoples against the Muslim and Jewish Peoples and to Divide the Jewish peoples against the Muslim & Christian peoples in order to continue this thousands of years of war and terror against ALL of God’s people.

This travesty will not end until the majority of the Christian people recognize that Muhammad is a legitimate prophet and Islam is a viable religion.

What would Jesus do? He already calls God “Allah” from the cross! He has already prophesied the coming of Muhammad immediately after him (when he goes away) in the Gospel of John, as the name “Muhammad”–who will come after him–means “comforter”, “counselor”, “advocate” or “praised one” in English. Jesus didn’t speak English but a Galilean dialect of Aramaic. He flatly said “Muhammad will come after me.”. Why do you think there are so many Muslims in the world?

There are so many Muslims in the world because when the Arabic Christian cavalry of Rome came out to meet the Islamic Arabs of Arabia in the first wars; the Muslims came out of the desert with the Bible in one hand and the Koran in the other and showed the Roman Arabic Christian armies where in the gospels Jesus said “Muhammad” and called God “ALLAH” on the Cross. Then they showed them where in the Koran Muhammad backed-up the infallibility of Jesus in the name of Allah (bismi-Allah ar rachman ar rahim) and the infallibility of the Bible (as opposed to the corruption of the texts by the false interpretation of preistcraft).

So something had to be done about this! There were mass conversions. The Vatican gathered up all of the original Aramaic Bibles that had Muhammad’s name in them as Mu-Ahmad (the praised one) and burned them all accept one. My friend saw that one, original, Aramaic Bible in the Vatican archive under lock and key as he was a curator of the archives.

Thereafter all Bibles have the ‘E’ and ‘Elohim’ instead of the ‘A’ of ‘Allah’ and the Greek ‘paracletos” instead of the Aramaic ‘Muhammad’. And the people are FOOLS to go along with this. What would Jesus do?

He has already done it! He has opened up his heart to the prophet Muhammad even as we should open up our hearts as we accept Moses, Noah and Abraham who came before Jesus, we should accept, Muhammad and the Bab and Baha’u’llah who come after Jesus as Jesus prophesied of them by their prophesied names. Their prophesied addresses, and prophesied dates, and prophesied missions are also given in the infallible Bible. Now you can fight against this all you want–but you will LOSE THE WAR. No one wins a war fighting against God. No. They lose the war. They are “loo-hoo-hoosers” (Q 2:27; 58:19). They lose their souls. They lose their countries. They lose their votes. They lose their money. They lose their health, their self-respect, and lose their self-esteem. Eventually they lose their minds, their friends, and their physical lives–for all shall taste death. In the end they have nothing, as fruitless trees, Jesus said, are “fit for fire in the end to be burned” (Jn. 15: 1-8; Matt. 3:10).

Verily God has sent real prophets to all the people of the world both before and after Jesus. All of these love Jesus and have taken Jesus into their hearts even as Jesus loves them and has taken them into his heart. Jesus loves Muhammad and Buddha, Krishna, the Mayan prophets. Odin and Thor and all the rest–and they love him.

What would Jesus do? He already accepts them all into his heart–we should accept them all too. In fact they have all prophesied the return of Jesus himself (in their different names and different languages). In the Koran he is called “Isa” (Jesus) and he shall come again!

Therefore when Jesus returns–through the acceptance of those who came before Jesus like Moses, Noah and Abraham who prophesied and prepared the way for his first and second coming, and those who came after Jesus who backed up his first coming and who prophesied and prepared the way for his second coming, like Muhammad, the Bab and Baha’u’llah we can all be united in Jesus on his return.

Do Muslims have a different God than Christ’s God? Yes according to the lying liars (clergy of both false Islam and pseudo-Christianity who are killing our sons and daughters and profiting off this unending war) who lie to you as wolves in sheep’s clothing. Do Muslims have a different God than Christ’s God? NO! According to the written Gospel and the Holy Texts of the Bible, which remains infallible and uncorrupted to this day. It is the phony interpretations that are false that corrupt the “texts” not the purity of the texts themselves.

Who are YOU going to Believe? The wolves in sheep’s clothing–warmongers–a corrupted preistcraft, or the WORD?

Jesus called God ALLAH on the Holy Cross. That is the Gospel truth! Those who reject this have rejected themselves from the Kingdom in both this world and the next. Those who accept this understand not only “what would Jesus do?” but also in fact what he has already done.

Nothing can change this judgment by which the people judge themselves.

Jesus called God “Allah”.

Muhammad IS a legitimate prophet, and Islam IS a viable religion from God–the God of Abraham, Moses and Christ.

You can say that in any language you want. The words only point to the truth of inner reality that all living souls already know.

In the name of Moses, Krishna, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, the Bab and Baha’u’llah, all from the family tree of Abraham through his three wives: http://www.bupc.org/genealogy/genealogy-of-christ.html, God has sent us World Reformers so that everyone should be saved. What would Jesus do? We already know the answer to that…

The real question is what will you do?

The prophecies state that one-third of mankind is to die in one hour of thermonuclear war with every American City of a population of 100,000 or more to be destroyed.

This travesty will not end until the majority of the Christian people recognize that Muhammad is a legitimate prophet and Islam is a viable religion.

What would Jesus do? We already know the answer to that…

The real question is what will you do?

Some Answered Questions Holy Text Preserved! Ilm 1, 172 B.E. (10/16/2015)

Saturday, October 17th, 2015

Dear friends,

The original preserved text of Some Answered Questions (SAQ) is now available in hard copy format.

*****

This book gives the answers of a great World Teacher to numerous questions which deeply trouble modern man in this post-modern Age of Transition. First published in London in 1908, Some Answered Questions is as timely now as it was then; the need for it has grown more acute with the years. The many questions which it considers remain either unanswered or misunderstood in the minds of the mass of humanity.

What is man? Is there a God? How can we know God? What of the Reality of the Unseen? Miracles, prophecy, predestination, immortality, free will, reincarnation, baptism, the Trinity, healing? Here, too, are commentaries on and explanations of Biblical passages and the metaphysical underpinnings of scientific worldviews suited to our age of increasing maturity.

Some Answered Questions is intended for the searcher with an open and independent mind. The answers are unorthodox. Religion and Spirituality, stripped of ritualism and tradition, become reasonable and alive. If the search for truth is coupled with a dream of justice for all and a world at peace, if the student is willing to receive an idea by which he or she may live meaningfully both for true-self and for others, then here you will find an authentic challenge to match that dream.

This is the original 1908 translation that preserves the prophecy of the coming of the “7th Angel” made by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in this volume (p. 66) in 1908 and approved by Him. Contrary to the Covenant-breakers assertions, Some Answered Questions is NOT “pilgrim’s notes”–but forms a collection of talks in the authenticity of the written Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha approved and corrected by Him (with His own hand during His lifetime) in the potency of genuine Baha’i Holy Writ:

“Baha’u’llah has made it clear enough that only those things that have been revealed in the form of Tablets have a binding power over the friends… Those talks of the Master that were later reviewed by Him, corrected or in some other form considered authentic by Himself, such as Some Answered Questions, are considered as Tablets and therefore have the necessary binding power” (Shoghi Effendi, to the United States Publishing Committee, December 29, 1931).

This original re-print edition of Some Answered Questions combats the various changed false-text corrupted “editions” of the Covenant-breakers and contains a unique preface written by Dr. Leland Jensen and updated for current times along with a New Appendix including the Tablet of the Dichotomy and ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s the Tablet of Wood, Iron and Gold. The perfect teaching text (and required reading: the first 90 pages) for the full experience of the Baha’i Fireside series.