1Wake up! I shall come upon you like a thief !
Christ (Rev. 3:2-3 NEB)

2Hushidar Hugh Motlagh, Ed.D.

3A publication of Unity in Diversity,
a nonprofit organization established
to promote peace, understanding, and
unity among diverse nations, races,
and religions of the world

4www.GlobalPerspective.org

5Copyright © 2014 by Hushidar Hugh Motlagh
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
The New English Bible (NEB). Copyright © the Delegates of the
Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University
Press, 1961, 1970. Reprinted by permission.
Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984. International Bible Society. Used by permission of
Zondervan Bible Publishers.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJ). Copyright © 1982 by
Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Cover design by Lori Block.

6Address: Global Perspective
1106 Greenbanks Dr

I Shall Come

1Like a Thief!
I shall come upon you as a thief… Christ (Rev. 3:3)

1Christ promised that He would return “like a thief.” What did
He mean by this metaphor? Did He mean that to find Him and
know Him, we must search for Him? He also asked us to
“watch!” Did He mean that we must watch out for the news of
His coming? Do we need to watch out for events that we can
miss, or cannot miss? Do we need to watch out for the sun at
noon on a sunny day, or for a twinkling star on a cloudy day?
This book invites you to take a little time for your destiny, to
investigate to see if you may have missed the news of the
greatest and most glorious Event in human history—the coming
of the heavenly Thief! What can you lose from knowing?
History is our best teacher. Did not Jesus come also the first
time “like a thief,” and only those who paid close attention to
the news of His coming, and the signs of His greatness, found
Him and followed Him? Could this happen again?
Jesus fulfilled every prophecy that predicted His coming. Why
then did the Jews fail to recognize Him? Was it not because He
fulfilled them in His own way rather than their way? Could this
happen again? Is it possible that the people of our time, like
those who lived in the past, cherish many unfounded theories
about the way our Redeemer will come? This book offers you
an opportunity to explore this possibility. What can you lose from
seeking and searching, from devoting a little time to your destiny?

2“appointed day” have come and gone! Why would any faithful
servant fail to investigate the news of the coming of his Master?
Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. Christ (Luke 11:9)

Part Ii
A Brief History
Of The Greatest News

1Chapter 3: Bahá’u’lláh—The One Promised
in All Sacred Scriptures…18

Part Iii

1Why Does God Test Us and How?
Chapter 4: The Need for Testing…27

1Chapter 5: The Meaning of “Seek
and Ye Shall Find”…43
Chapter 6: The Meaning of “Watch…45
Chapter 7: The Metaphors of “Seeing”
and “Coming Down on Clouds”…47

2How Can You Recognize
Your Lord?
Chapter 8: Pray Always…52

3References

4The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to
see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
Psalms 14:2 NIV
This book is like a little perfume. It is the essence of at least
eight volumes, or 2,880 pages. It is designed for busy people
who must run to get through each day, and get ready for the
next, until all their days are gone.
If someone gave you eight large books and asked you to take
them home and read them, how would you respond? Most
people would panic. This mini book is prepared to save
sensitive people from panic!
We have all heard and read about thousands of events and
stories. How can one story be so newsworthy to be called: The
Greatest News? This mini book is written to answer that
question.
I Shall Come Like a Thief is gentle, friendly, and fair. It asks
you only for a small favor. It says: “Give me just an hour of
your time. You will be surprised by what you will receive in
return. Don’t judge me by my size. Don’t take me lightly. I am
only a little book, but I carry the Greatest News—the news that
can change your destiny. Take time to learn about me. If after
knowing me, you felt cheated, please state your case and send
me an Email: info@TheKnowledgeOfGod.com. I will be
honored to answer you. I offer you several topics. Feel free to
start with the one you like the best:”
• If you wish to learn about one event that overshadows all

5told to show the difference between wise and foolish
people, start with Topic Two. Please remember that
wisdom is the supreme master and teacher of all virtues.
• If you wish to learn the specific parable Jesus offered to
help Christians recognize Him at His Second Advent,
start with Topic Three.
• If you like history, start with Topic Four.
• Finally, if you are patient and are equally interested in all
the topics, follow the order they are presented here.

1guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Christ (John 15:22 NEB)
Where a man has been given much, much will be expected
of him; and the more a man has been entrusted to him, the

1Today religion has become a breeding ground for prejudice,
fanaticism, war, and terrorism. Can this trend be reversed? Can
the very instrument that is causing so much pain and suffering
serve an opposite purpose? Instead of inciting enmity and
violence, can religion promote peace, harmony, unity, and under-
standing among the diverse peoples of the world?
While millions are building walls of separation, other millions
are quietly building bridges of friendship. They are bringing the
peoples of all nations, races, and religions together. How can
this be possible? “You will believe it when you see it!”
The year 1844 marked the dawning of a new day in human
history. It gave birth to a universal religion called the Bahá’í
Faith. Today we have seven major living religions. The Bahá’í
Faith is the most recent among them:
1. Hinduism 2000 B.C. 5. Christianity 27 A.D.
2. Judaism 1500 B.C. 6. Islam 622 A.D.
3. Zoroastrianism 750 B.C. 7. Bahá’í Faith 1844 A.D.
4. Buddhism 560 B.C.
Every great achievement begins with awareness. Just as a bud,
in due time, bursts into a flower, so does the state of awareness

2in a human heart. When an idea reaches the saturation point,
when it advances to a level called “the critical mass” it flourishes
and spreads like a forest fire. At that point, no one can stop it.
Today the idea of freedom has reached its “critical mass.”
Dictatorship can no longer hold humanity in its grip. Awareness
of the evils of slavery reached its “critical mass” in the mid-19th
century and was abolished in the United States in 1863.
The purpose of this small book is to plant the Seed of a New
Awareness in your soul—one that is quietly turning our chaotic
planet into a place of peace, into a beautiful rose-garden called:
“Unity in Diversity.” You are invited to walk through this
garden, pick a few flowers, and witness the awesome powers
and wonders of this Most Glorious Awareness. This Awareness
is so vital, it can change your future in ways you cannot imagine.
The world is ready to take a giant leap forward toward its
splendid destiny—one that has been the hope of humanity since
the dawn of history. Yet it remains earthbound, incapable of
advancing. It looks like an eagle intent on flying, but failing to
leave the ground. What is holding this “eagle” back from
soaring toward its glorious destiny? It is the disparity between
its two wings. One wing represents the wonders of science and
technology, the other the wonders of the spirit. This wing—that
of the spirit—has been neglected by so many people for so long,
it has lost its strength.
Compare the human race, in its present state, to an adolescent
who has attained physical and mental maturity, but socially,
emotionally, and spiritually it continues to behave like a child—
focused on selfish demands and immature desires. Unless this
“child” is helped to grow to maturity, the human race remains in
grave danger.
The Bahá’í Faith proclaims that since the mid-19th century we
have been ready to enter a new stage in our social and spiritual
development. But we have failed to do so. The new stage is the
realization that we are all one people, living on one planet, and
with one destiny. We should no longer draw divisive lines
between nations, but rather recognize that we now live in one

3“global village.” The time has come to plant this Seed of
Awareness in every heart, and proclaim this Message of
Oneness to every home:
The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.1
Bahá’í Scriptures
It is essential that we awaken to this new reality and spread this
awareness to every heart and every home until the light of
oneness circles the globe.
Like a caterpillar that turns into a butterfly and then abandons
its closed and small home for the open and beautiful gardens
beyond, we must liberate ourselves from our past prejudices and
adopt a new perspective about the world within and without. We
must open our minds to a new awareness, and our hearts to all
peoples of the world. We must move from self-interest toward
the greater goal of global interest. This is the first Seed of
Awareness that must be planted in every heart and every
home. This Awareness will bloom into Social Maturity.
O ye loved ones of the Lord! This is the hour when ye
must associate with all the earth’s peoples in extreme
kindliness and love, and be to them the signs and tokens
of God’s great mercy.2 Bahá’í Scriptures
The second Seed of Awareness, that must be planted and
nourished, is Spiritual Renewal. It is a call to the heart and soul
of humankind, it is an awakening to:
• The great spiritual potential that God has placed in every
human being.
• The everlasting glory that awaits those who cultivate their
potential.
Every human being needs an enduring purpose. He must
“know” himself and set a goal infinitely higher than being alive
and making a living. The Bahá’í Faith declares that we are
God’s most glorious creation:
O SON OF SPIRIT!
I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to
poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase

4thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee
being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone
beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how
dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight
unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within
thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.3
Bahá’í Scriptures
Would God allow His most glorious creation to perish?
O SON OF MAN!
Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not,
wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light
and My light shall never be extinguished, why dost thou
dread extinction? Thou art My glory and My glory
fadeth not; thou art My robe and My robe shall never be
outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou
mayest find Me in the realm of glory.4 Bahá’í Scriptures
Spiritual Renewal comes from the cultivation of human potential,
especially from recognizing that:
• To be human is the most glorious honor.
• That honor is everlasting.
The preceding are the pillars of Spiritual Renewal. What is the
structure? It is an awakening to our true purpose in life, it is
knowing what God has planned for us. Unless this Seed of
Awareness is planted and cultivated, we cannot reach our
supreme potential.
The Bahá’í Faith teaches that the purpose of life is spiritual, that
the only reason we have come into this world is to know and
love God.
The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will
ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain
His Presence.5 Bahá’í Scriptures
God is the Spirit of the universe, the generating source of all
spiritual life. Knowing and loving Him must be our only reason
for being alive. Without this reason, we have no reason; without

5this purpose, we have no purpose. Without knowing God, we
are ignorant, even if we master all human knowledge. Without
loving God, we are poor, even if we own all the wealth of the
world.

6Most people express a belief in God. But “believing without
knowing” has no roots. It can be blown away by the winds of
time; it can wither and die before bearing any fruit. Knowledge
is the root that provides the nourishment, stability, and strength
to our beliefs.
Only our Creator can teach us about Himself. Only He can raise
our vision, elevate our spirit, and enlighten our soul. The Bahá’í
Faith, as the latest revelation of knowledge from God, raises our
level of “knowing” to new heights never before achieved. It
helps us to know our Creator, according to our maturity, on a
scale not possible in past ages.
This level of knowledge, this advanced stage of knowing, leads
us to our final phase of spiritual evolution or maturity: a state of
experiencing absolute, unshakable, and unconditional love for
God. The earth may quake, burn, or be ravaged by storms, but
the sun continues to shine. Even so must our love for God be
independent of all things. It must continue to shine, no matter
what happens in our lives. Unconditional love requires trust,
trust requires knowledge, and true knowledge can come only
from God.
Attaining this level or state of loving must be recognized as the
ultimate goal of every human being, and the very purpose of

7living. This love is the most powerful force in the universe. It
turns enemies into friends, sinners into saints. It transforms
despair into hope and happiness, grief into joy and peace, apathy
into exhilaration and ecstasy. Like the sun that is the source of
light, this love is the generating source of all virtues.
Unless we connect our soul to this source, we cannot experience
Spiritual Renewal. We remain a bud instead of a flower, a cater-
pillar instead of a butterfly.
Thy Paradise is My love; thy heavenly home, reunion
with Me. Enter therein and tarry not. This is that which
hath been destined for thee in Our kingdom above and
Our exalted Dominion.6 Bahá’í Scriptures
I have breathed within thee a breath of My own Spirit,
that thou mayest be My lover. Why hast thou forsaken
Me and sought a beloved other than Me?7 Bahá’í Scriptures
The Bahá’ís believe that:
• The time has come for all nations to work together to
create a world of peace and harmony, where all people
cooperate as members of one unified family. By far the
greatest obstacle to peace and prosperity is our failure to
develop a global conscience, a failure to realize that we
are all passengers on one planet with one destiny. Our
awareness of this truth will lead us toward unity and
cooperation. The unity of the human race is the foremost
remedy, the panacea for all the conflicts that engulf the
world and endanger its future.
• Every individual has a responsibility to participate in this
supreme endeavor, in this social and spiritual adventure.
Every person must play a part in moving the world toward
its global and glorious destiny.
• The Bahá’í teachings on the unity of humankind offer a
workable model for creating a peaceful world, and for
helping us to take a giant leap forward in our social-
spiritual evolution.

8• Promoting spirituality—a sense of intimacy with God—is
the foremost remedy, the panacea for all human suffering.
Inside every problem lies a spiritual solution. “The heart
of every problem is the heart.”
Who then is a Bahá’í? A Bahá’í is one who strives to cultivate
in himself and others a global conscience and a spiritual
perspective on life. His concerns and focus of interests pass far
beyond himself and his loved ones. Everyone is his loved one.
He spreads the knowledge and love of God to every heart and
every home until the glory of God fills the earth:
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14
A Bahá’í is socially active. He strives to promote the adoption
of the following principles as a foundation for a peaceful planet:
• All great religions come from the same Source. They
unfold an ever-evolving truth; they reveal the divine wis-
dom progressively according to the needs and maturity of
humankind.
• The purpose of religion is to unify humanity, to join
people in love and harmony.
• Religion and science are perfect partners. Their harmony
must be recognized and their powers integrated.
• Prejudice—racial, national, religious—must be uprooted.
• Gender discrimination must be abolished. Equal opportu-
nities and rights should be provided for both men and
women.
• Universal education must become a reality.
• Schools must teach both knowledge and nobility.
• It is essential to establish universal peace.
• Extremes of wealth and poverty must be eliminated, both
through laws and through individuals’ recognition of their
spiritual responsibilities.

9• Diversity among peoples and nations must be cherished
and prized.
• A universal auxiliary language must be adopted and
learned throughout the planet.
• A global order must be established to regulate interna-
tional relations.
When Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus become
Bahá’ís, they suddenly discover that they have always been one
people, worshipping one God, and believing in one everlasting
and evolving Faith, with different names. They see with wonder
and awe “the light of oneness”—a light that shines brightly in
all the great religions. They discover that the lines that divide
the peoples of the world are only shadows. When the light of
knowledge is allowed to shine, the lines vanish away. That is
what Bahá’ís in over 200 countries are doing: they are busy
spreading the light of understanding and knowledge until all
shadows are gone.
Bahá’ís believe that the time has come for each of us to stop
saying: “I don’t like the world! Let me get off!” and start
saying:
I am grateful to be alive and awake at the dawn of this
Glorious Day. And I am honored to play my role in this
unfolding drama. With God’s help I will do my share to
turn this divided planet into a place of peace and harmony,
where everyone enjoys freedom of conscience, and relates
to everyone else—whatever his race, religion, or culture—
in a spirit of friendship. I am responsible for what I can
do, but with God’s help I can do the work of a thousand
who are too busy to hear the call to this Most Glorious
Awareness.
There is so much to do and so little time! If we do not manage
our time, then time will manage us—and ultimately determine
our destiny. It will force us to focus on the demands of the hour
at the expense of our eternal future.

10If “wisdom” could speak, what would it say? What would it
teach us? It would probably teach us the secrets of everlasting
joy and happiness. But it would first gain our attention by
asking a few questions—questions that hold the key to our
everlasting destiny, such as:
Where have your past days gone? What did you do with
them? And how will you spend your remaining days?
What really matters in your life? What should you place
first—choices that endure for only a little while, or the
choices that have everlasting consequences? What if you
continue to give all your time and talents to making a
living, to staying in the race? Is this the reason for your
coming into this world? What if you continue to postpone
taking time for your soul? If not now, when? Time moves
on. It does not wait for you. Should you let the events and
demands of the passing hours make all the choices for
you? What if you fail to choose your destiny before you
have lost all your hours?
Reflect and meditate on these brief quotations from the Bahá’í
Scriptures until they awaken your soul:
The days of your life flee away as a breath of wind, and
all your pomp and glory shall be folded up as were the
pomp and glory of those gone before you. Reflect, O
people! What hath become of your bygone days, your
lost centuries? Happy the days that have been conse-
crated to the remembrance of God, and blessed the
hours which have been spent in praise of Him Who is
the All-Wise.8 Bahá’í Scriptures
What advantage is there in the earthly things which men
possess? That which shall profit them, they have utterly
neglected. Erelong, they will awake from their slumber,
and find themselves unable to obtain that which hath
escaped them in the days of their Lord, the Almighty, the
All-Praised. Did they but know it, they would renounce
their all, that their names may be mentioned before His
throne.9 Bahá’í Scriptures

11The past is gone, but the future is still yours. Would you like to
have a plan for your future? If you do, first find out how you are
spending the present. Estimate the amount of time you give
each day to the following tasks:
• Sleeping • Talking to others
• Working or going to • Reading ordinary books
school and magazines
• Eating • Sitting behind your
• Cooking, cleaning, and computer
bathing • Time on road
• Shopping • Wasted time
• Exercising • Time spent for your soul
• Watching TV or and your everlasting
movies destiny

12O SON OF BEING!
Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art
summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall
come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account
for thy deeds.10 Bahá’í Scriptures

13The Difference Between the
Spiritually Wise and Foolish
Among Jesus’ parables perhaps the most touching and the most
beautiful is that of the wise and foolish maidens or virgins
(sincere Christians) who wished to meet the Bridegroom (Jesus)
at His Second Advent, and then follow Him to His wedding
Banquet as maids of honor. The parable is brief but powerful. It
is like a little diamond shining with the blazing splendor of the
sun. It bestows the spirit of wisdom on anyone who basks in its
light. It reveals the secrets of everlasting joy and peace. It holds
the key to every lesson that a human being may ever need to
learn.
The parable portrays the stark contrast between the destiny of
two groups or types of Christians who are waiting for the return
of their Lord in the dark hours of the night: those who wait with
“empty lamps,” and those who wait with “oil in their lamps.”
The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any
oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along
with their lamps. Christ (Matt. 25:3-4)
Why did Jesus choose “maidens or young virgins” to represent
Christians at His Second Coming? Being young and virgin
symbolize purity, sincerity, and innocence. His purpose was to
show that simply being “a good Christian,” as defined by most
people, does not suffice. In this case, faith, sincerity, and
innocence must be crowned with wisdom. Only that virtue
separated the two groups of believers. Only that virtue granted
the maidens the honor of entering the heavenly Kingdom.

14What is wisdom and what qualities distinguish or describe the
wise? Wisdom is Heaven’s most glorious gift. Everything
depends on it, and without it everything falls apart:
Above all else, the greatest gift and the most wondrous
blessing hath ever been and will continue to be Wisdom.
It is man’s unfailing Protector.1 Bahá’í Scriptures
Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who
gains understanding, for wisdom is more profitable than
silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more
precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare
with her. Proverbs 3:13-15
Wisdom proclaims her glory and splendor to any human being
who has enough wisdom to listen:
He that hath Me [wisdom] not is bereft of all things.
Turn ye away from all that is on earth and seek none
else but Me…I am the guiding Light that illumineth the
way.2 Bahá’í Scriptures
The best way, perhaps the only way, to know wisdom—the
crown of all virtues—is by examining its fruits: to learn what it
produces, and where it leads us. Where does wisdom—or a lack
of it—lead those two groups of maidens representing the two
types of Christians living in our time? What will be their final
destiny?
The destiny of sincere The destiny of sincere
and wise Christians: but foolish Christians:
They went in with Him Sir, Sir! Open the door
[Jesus] to the wedding [to the Banquet] for us!
Banquet. And the door (Matt 25:11)
was shut (Matt. 25:10). Jesus: I do not know
you! (Matt. 25:11)

15Of what purpose is a lamp without light? A church without the
light of wisdom is only a tomb. A believer without the light of
wisdom is only a corpse. Is a church for the dead or for the

16living? Can a moving corpse taste the joys and wonders of life?
Of what purpose is a lamp without light?
In this dark night of confusion, many believers take great care
of “the lamp” but pay little attention to “the oil”—the essence
that sheds light on their path, that gives purpose to their lives. A
failure to fill the lamp with oil is the root cause of most of the
misery in human life, and the main reason religion has lost
much of its purity and honor in the eyes of so many people.
At that time many will turn away from the faith…
Christ (Matt. 24:10)
What happens when we don’t know, and we don’t know that we
don’t know? What happens when we don’t have enough
wisdom to know that we lack wisdom? What happens when
there is no oil to start a flame?
The wisdom of their wise shall vanish and the discern-
ing of the discerning shall be lost. Isaiah 29:14
Nothing can make as much difference to our lives as does
wisdom. The destiny of the two types of Christians clearly
demonstrates this fact. A true believer makes every effort to
keep his “lamp” (the connection to a religion or to a name)
filled with “oil” (wisdom). As the parable shows, only a lit lamp
can lead a believer to the Bridegroom and His Banquet. Only a
soul lit with wisdom can recognize the Lord, who comes in the
darkness of the night.
If wisdom is so precious, should we not spend our lives
searching for it? But who can find it? And how can it be found?
These are the most critical questions in life. The rules for
gaining wisdom are quite simple. Anyone who follows them
will succeed. A wise believer:
• Identifies what matters most in life. He discovers what
must come first.
• He also finds the ways that will lead to what matters most.
• And then dedicates his life to the things that matter most.
A foolish believer:

17• Directs his life by what comes easy and feels good, with
no regard for the consequences.
• He fails to search for truth, and keeps his mind biased and
closed to new ideas and opportunities.
• He then dedicates his life to what comes easy and feels
good.
What then is the first step in attaining wisdom? How can we
discover “what matters most in life” and “what path leads us to
what matters most”? The first step is to search for truth with a
“sound mind.” What is a sound mind? It is a mind endowed
with three virtues. A mind that is:
• Open
• Impartial
• Critical
The lack of any of these virtues will lead us astray. Like a chain,
they are intertwined. All of them must be present to guide the
mind to true knowledge and protect it from deception and
misjudgment.
Consider the virtue of an open mind. Can anyone make a good
choice if he is exposed to only one choice? Can a person be
wise without listening to opposing views? A “sound mind”
seeks for and exposes itself to diverse ideas before making up
its mind! Consider also the virtue of being impartial. Can a
judge come to a sound decision if he is biased, if he favors one
side over the other? Similarly, being critical protects us from
deception and danger, from being simple-minded or gullible.
The essence of all that We have revealed for thee is
Justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancy and
imitation, discern with the eye of oneness His glorious
handiwork, and look into all things with a searching
eye.3 Bahá’í Scriptures
What are the requirements for being foolish? It is failing to
search for truth, and keeping one’s mind closed, biased, and
uncritical.

18Your soul is an archeological treasure. The image of God is
hidden there. He placed it within you long before you were
born.
Would you like to look for the treasures you already own? If you
would, then put on your working shoes, and take up the shovel!
You will be amazed by what you will find: vast treasures hidden
deep in your soul. The tools you need to dig them out are effort,
patience, determination, and prayers.
• Recognize that there are rules for finding the treasures.
• Make a commitment to follow the rules.
• Then take action—start searching.
Have absolute faith that this promise is true, that it cannot and
will not fail:
Seek and ye shall find. Christ (Matt. 7:7)
Would you like to receive the most glorious honor a human
being may receive? Would you like to encounter “open doors”
and be welcomed as a permanent guest at the heavenly
Banquet? If you do, try to guide your destiny by the following
principles. They are as essential for sustaining spiritual life as
air and water are for physical life:
• Search for truth with an open, unbiased, and critical mind.
• Pray with all your heart and soul to be guided in your
search.
Take ye heed, watch [search] and pray…
Christ (Mark 13:33)
Watch ye therefore, and pray always… Christ (Luke 21:36)
What I say to you, I say to all: Watch! Christ (Mark 13:37)
What if someone looks forward to the following encounter?

The Believer:

1Sir, sir, open the door.

1I do not know you.

2not know you!”—will not be disappointed, because God loves
all human beings and respects their freedom to choose their
destiny. The believer who prefers closed doors, like the one who
prefers open doors, can also attain his heart’s desire. All he
needs to do is ignore the divine directions: neither search, nor
pray. May God bless you and crown your destiny with these
words:
Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world. Christ (Matt. 25:34)

1The Advent of the One
Promised in All Sacred Scriptures

2The desire of all nations shall
come… Haggai 2:7
He Who is the Desired One is
come in His transcendent majesty
…Better is this for you than all
ye possess. Bahá’u’lláh

3For the Son of man shall come
in the glory of his Father.
Christ (Matt. 16:27)
I have come in the shadows of
the clouds of glory, and am
invested by God with invincible

4Bahá’u’lláh:

1speak the Word of God, the most vital questions are these: Who
was He? What was He like? How did He live? What happened
to Him? Here are a few features of Bahá’u’lláh’s life, adapted
mostly from a book entitled Some Answered Questions:
Bahá’u’lláh was born in 1817, in Persia, to a rich and noble
family. He died in 1892, as a prisoner and exile in the Holy Land.
As an infant, He astonished His parents by His uniqueness and
distinctions. His father related that He would never cry or
scream. “You don’t know,” he said, “what a potential He has,
how intelligent He is! He is like a flame of fire, and in His
tender years superior to young people.”1 Bahá’u’lláh’s father
was so captivated by Him that he wrote a piece of poetry in his
son’s honor, inscribed it on a plaque, and hung it on the wall of
a summer mansion in which Bahá’u’lláh lived. The content of
the poetry shows that the father sensed the divine destiny of his
Son:
When thou enterest the sacred abode of the Beloved say:
“I am at thy command.
This is the home of love; enter with reverence.
This is holy ground; remove thy shoes when
thou enterest here.”2

2People were attracted by Bahá’u’lláh’s many distinctions. He did
not attend any school, yet astonished people by His wisdom and
knowledge. Even His enemies testified to His greatness. Great
thinkers flocked to His presence, asking Him their most difficult
questions. They said, “This man is unique in all perfections.”
He had an extraordinary power of attraction, which was
felt by all. People always crowded around Him. Ministers
and people of the Court would surround Him, and the
children also were devoted to Him. When He was only
thirteen or fourteen years old He became renowned for
His learning. He would converse on any subject and solve
any problem presented to Him. In large gatherings He
would…explain intricate religious questions. All of them
used to listen to Him with the greatest interest.3
He showed no interest in politics:
When Bahá’u’lláh was twenty two years old, His father
died, and the Government wished Him to succeed to His
father’s position in the Ministry…but Bahá’u’lláh did not
accept the offer. Then the Prime Minister said: “Leave
him to himself. Such a position is unworthy of him. He
has some higher aim in view. I cannot understand him, but
I am convinced that he is destined for some lofty career.
His thoughts are not like ours. Let him alone.”4
Bahá’u’lláh was known especially for His generosity and love
for the poor:
He was most generous, giving abundantly to the poor.
None who came to Him were turned away. The doors of
His house were open to all.5
One day Bahá’u’lláh sent ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His eldest Son, to
inspect the work of the shepherds who were taking care of
His sheep. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was a small child at the time, and
the persecutions against Bahá’u’lláh and His family had
not yet started. Bahá’u’lláh then had a good deal of land
in the mountains and owned large herds of sheep. When
the inspection was finished and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was ready

3to leave, the man who had accompanied Him said, “It is
your father’s custom to leave a gift for each shepherd.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá became silent for a while, because He did
not have anything to give them. The man, however,
insisted that the shepherds were expecting something.
Then ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had an idea that made Him very
happy! He would give the shepherds the sheep they were
taking care of! Bahá’u’lláh was very much pleased when
He heard about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s generous thoughts towards
the shepherds. He humorously remarked that everyone
had better take good care of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá because someday
He would give Himself away. Of course, this is exactly
what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did for the rest of His life. He gave
everything He had, each and every moment of His life, to
humanity, to unite us and bring us true happiness.6
Bahá’u’lláh was also known for His courage to stand against the
powerful who would abuse their power:
All classes of men marveled at His miraculous success in
emerging unscathed from the most perilous encounters.
Nothing short of Divine protection, they thought, could
have ensured His safety on such occasions…In His constant
association, during those days, with the highest dignitaries
of the realm…He was never content simply to accede to
the views they expressed or the claims they advanced. He
would, at their gatherings, fearlessly champion the cause
of truth, would assert the rights of the downtrodden,
defending the weak and protecting the innocent.7
Bahá’u’lláh spent the early part of His life in the utmost joy and
happiness. But He later became a target of prejudice and
persecution. Thousands of fanatical believers rose against Him.
Religious leaders were terrified of losing their power. They
said, “This man intends to destroy religion, law, the nation, and
the empire.” (People made the same accusations against Jesus.)
He faced His enemies with the utmost courage, showing no
weakness or fear.

4Bahá’u’lláh endured nearly 40 years of imprisonment and exile,
yet He never complained. No human being can imagine the
extent of His sufferings. Among His sufferings was imprison-
ment in an infamous dungeon in Tihrán, known as the Black Pit
or Black Dungeon, where He was kept for four months. In that
dungeon He endured every conceivable pain and anguish:
• Total darkness: The underground prison had neither lights
nor windows.
• A terrible stench: About 150 of the worst criminals were
thrown in that dark, deep, and damp dungeon with no air
circulation or sanitary facilities. The ground was covered
with several inches of filthy mud and mire.
• Hunger and thirst: For the first three days and nights
Bahá’u’lláh received neither food nor water.
• Severe pain and lack of mobility: Bahá’u’lláh’s feet were
put in stocks, and on His neck was placed a chain so
heavy that He was unable to hold Himself upright. To
hold the weight of the chain, Bahá’u’lláh had to press His
hands against the ground covered with slime up to His
wrists. From the weight of the harsh metal, His neck
became inflamed and injured.
• Little if any sleep: Bahá’u’lláh could hardly sleep under
those horrible conditions.
• Lack of clothes: His outer garments were stripped away
on His way to the prison.
• Illness: Because of the unsanitary conditions, Bahá’u’lláh
suffered grave illness.
• Being poisoned: He also suffered pain from consuming
poison placed in His food.
• Homelessness: All His properties were confiscated.
• Loneliness: “During this time none of His friends were
able to get access to Him.”8

5• Being surrounded by the worst criminals who had little
if any hope of survival or freedom.
• Anxiety about His family: Bahá’u’lláh’s family members,
including His young children, were left at the mercy of
fanatical mobs, filled with rage and incited to seek revenge.
(His Son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was then 9 years old.)
• Deep grief and concern for His devoted and distin-
guished disciples, who were being hunted down, tortured,
and killed by enraged mobs outside the prison.
• Concern about the future: From that prison Bahá’u’lláh
was banished to strange lands. As foretold in a prophecy
(Matt. 25:41-46), He became a stranger (an exile). Never
again did He see His homeland.
• Deep sorrow for those who were rejecting God’s choicest
blessings and bounties.•
It was in this dungeon that Bahá’u’lláh expressed the first
intimations of His Divine Mission:
One night, in a dream, these exalted words were heard on
every side: “Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by
Thyself and by Thy Pen. Grieve Thou not for that which
hath befallen Thee, neither be Thou afraid, for Thou art in
safety. Erelong will God raise up the treasures of the
earth—men who will aid Thee through Thyself and
through Thy Name…”9
Bahá’u’lláh repeatedly stated that He spoke only by God’s
command, and not of His own choosing. He declared:
Think ye, O people, that I hold within My grasp the
control of God’s ultimate Will and Purpose?…Had the
ultimate destiny of God’s Faith been in Mine hands, I
would have never consented, even though for one
moment, to manifest Myself unto you, nor would I have
•
The Bible contains numerous prophecies that predict suffering for Jesus in His
Second Advent. For a review of such prophecies, see King of Kings by this
author.

6allowed one word to fall from My lips. Of this God
Himself is, verily, a witness.10
This is but a leaf which the winds of the will of thy Lord,
the Almighty, the All-Praised, have stirred. Can it be still
when the tempestuous winds are blowing? Nay, by Him
Who is the Lord of all Names and Attributes!11
Bahá’u’lláh’s arrest and imprisonment in that dungeon give us
only a glimpse of the sufferings He endured for nearly 40 years
in three different countries. How could anyone survive the
scourge of such unrelenting pressures? How much pain can a
human being endure? Why would God allow the One He loved
the most to go through so much suffering? Did not Jesus endure
similar ordeals?
Worldly friends, seeking their own good, appear to love
one the other, whereas the true Friend [Bahá’u’lláh] hath
loved and doth love you for your own sakes; indeed He
hath suffered for your guidance countless afflictions. Be
not disloyal to such a Friend, nay rather hasten unto
Him.12 Bahá’u’lláh
The religious leaders feared Bahá’u’lláh’s influence, so they had
Him exiled to another land. They thought in a strange land His
influence would die out. But the result was that His charm
captivated many more disciples. They exiled Him again and
again. The results were the same—a spreading of His influence.
Finally, they sent Him to the worst place they could find: a
prison for murderers and thieves, located in a remote city
(‘Akká) with a dreadful climate and foul water. The sufferings
Bahá’u’lláh endured in ‘Akká surpassed even those He
experienced in the Black Dungeon.
Bahá’u’lláh was placed in a barren, filthy room, while His
followers were crowded into another, the floor of which
was covered with mud. Ten soldiers were posted to stand
guard over them. To add further to their misery, the exiles,
parched from a long day in the hot sun, soon found that
the only water available to them was unfit for consumption.

7Mothers were unable to feed their babies, and infants
cried for hours…
Under these conditions, all but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá [Bahá’u’lláh’s
Son] and one other, fell ill. Within a matter of days three
men died. The officials denied the prisoners permission to
leave the citadel to bury them, and the guards demanded
payment before removing the bodies. Bahá’u’lláh ordered
that His prayer rug, the only item of any value that He
possessed, be sold to cover the cost of the burial. The
guards pocketed the money and buried the men in the
clothes in which they died…
Three days after the exiles’ arrival, the Sultán’s edict was
read aloud in the mosque. It sentenced Bahá’u’lláh, His
family, and His companions to life imprisonment and
expressly forbade the exiles to associate with one another
or with local inhabitants.13
During Bahá’u’lláh’s imprisonment in ‘Akká, His young son
was pacing the roof of the prison, “wrapped in devotions, when
he fell through a skylight. Mortally wounded, his dying wish to
his Father was that his life might be a ransom for those who
were prevented from attaining Bahá’u’lláh’s presence.”14 In a
prayer, Bahá’u’lláh speaks of the sacrifice of His son:
I have, O my Lord, offered up that which Thou hast given
Me, that Thy servants may be quickened, and all that dwell
on earth be united.15
Here Bahá’u’lláh explains why He accepted so much pain and
suffering:
The Ancient Beauty [Bahá’u’lláh] hath consented to be
bound with chains that mankind may be released from its
bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner…that
the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath
drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples
of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled
with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the
Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to
be abased…that ye may be exalted, and have suffered

8manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish.
He Who hath come to build anew the whole world,
behold, how they…have forced Him to dwell within the
most desolate of cities!16
Despite this severe repression, Bahá’u’lláh’s influence continued
to spread, His glory became more evident. From behind prison
walls, He triumphed over all His enemies.
For if this idea…is of human origin, it will collapse; but if
it is from God, you will never be able to put them [the
believers] down, and you risk finding yourself at war with
God. Acts 5:38-39
When Bahá’u’lláh was exiled to the Holy Land, those aware
of biblical prophecies suddenly realized what had happened:
Bahá’u’lláh’s enemies had, unknowingly, become the very instru-
ments for the fulfillment of prophecies about Him because the
Bible predicts repeatedly that the Redeemer of the Last Days
will come to the Holy Land. Those who had wished to destroy
Him became the means of His triumph. (For a review of these
prophecies and many others, see I Shall Come Again, Lord of
Lords, and King of Kings.)
In 1868, while under arrest, Bahá’u’lláh addressed the kings and
rulers of the earth, asking them to act with justice and to work
for peace. With the exception of Queen Victoria, they ignored
His call. He predicted their downfall and His own triumph.
Among these sovereigns was Napoleon III. Bahá’u’lláh asked
him to investigate the reason for His imprisonment. The
sovereign did not respond. Bahá’u’lláh sent a second letter,
predicting his downfall. Soon thereafter, in 1870, war between
Germany and France broke out. Everything seemed to be in
Napoleon’s favor, yet he was defeated, dishonored, and debased.
According to The Fall of Paris:
History knows of perhaps no more startling instance of
what the Greeks called peripateia, the terrible fall from
prideful heights. Certainly no nation in modern times, so
replete with apparent grandeur and opulent in material

9achievement, has ever been subjected to a worse humilia-
tion in so short a time.17
Other sovereigns addressed by Bahá’u’lláh encountered similar
fates. Every prediction that Bahá’u’lláh made was fulfilled.
These are discussed in a book titled The Prisoner and the King,
by William Sears.
Bahá’u’lláh’s greatness touched even those who did not follow
Him. They wrote about His knowledge, His kindness, and His
patience. They flocked to His presence and marveled at His
wondrous works.
How often would one of His bitter enemies say to himself,
“When I see Him, I will argue with Him and defeat Him in this
way…” But when faced with Bahá’u’lláh, he would find
himself speechless—unable to utter a word.
Bahá’u’lláh declared His willingness to be tested. To leave the
religious leaders with no excuse, Bahá’u’lláh said that He was
willing to perform any miracle that they requested. The only
condition He set was that, after the miracle was performed, they
would acknowledge the validity of His claim. The religious
leaders declined to accept the condition. (God has always
refused requests to perform miracles to prove His power, see
Matt. 4:7. We cannot be sure why Bahá’u’lláh accepted this
request. Perhaps one reason was that He knew it would be
rejected.)
Bahá’u’lláh demonstrated His dependence on the divine and
detachment from worldly desires by associating with the poor
and the humble and avoiding the powerful and the pompous. A
notable figure wanted to meet Bahá’u’lláh. But to be seen with
Bahá’u’lláh meant danger. He sent a message asking to meet
with Him secretly. In response, Bahá’u’lláh sent him a piece of
poetry to this effect: “Unless you have a desire to sacrifice your
life, don’t come here. This is the way if you wish to meet Bahá.
If you are unprepared for this journey, don’t come, and don’t
bring trouble.” The man dared not take the risk of endangering
his life and declined.

10For nearly 50 years Bahá’u’lláh faced bitter enemies who killed
thousands of His followers, yet failed to destroy Him. Repeatedly
they planned and plotted against Him, but to no avail.
Are these marks of distinction not similar to those found in the
life of Jesus?

Part Iii
Why Does God

1In dealing with men, it is God’s purpose
to test them and to see what they truly are.
Ecclesiastes 3:18
The hour of trial which shall come upon

1Why did God put us on earth instead of heaven? Why should the
first step of our eternal journey begin with a physical experience?
If we are, in essence, spiritual beings, why are we given a body?
This world is a “testing station,” where we make a brief stop on
our way to God’s “many mansions in heaven.” The test is
designed to be tough, and yet it is offered on many levels. We
have a choice to drop out of school, to remain ignorant of the
purpose of our life and our spiritual destiny, or work hard to
graduate with honors.
The hour of trial which shall come upon the whole
world… Christ (Revelation 3:10)
In the third chapter of the Book of Revelation, Jesus first speaks
of His coming “like a thief,” and then predicts a severe test for
all the earth’s inhabitants:
The hour of trial which shall come upon the whole
world…He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches. Christ (Revelation 3:10, 13)
Jesus asked His disciples to pray to be protected from tests:
Pray that you may be spared the test… Christ (Matthew 26:41)
He has also instructed us to pray for the same reason:
Our Father in heaven…do not put us to the test…
Christ (Matthew 6:9, 13)
The purpose of praying is not to escape all tests, but to ask God
either not to give us a hard test or provide us the power to pass

2it. Sacred scriptures declare that everyone must face tests. In
fact, we are tested at every moment of our lives. For instance,
every time we spend money, we face a test.
O SON OF BEING!
Busy not thyself with this world, for with fire We test the
gold, and with gold We test Our servants.1 Bahá’u’lláh
Why have tests? Imagine a school without it. In thought and
theory, everyone can claim perfection. We all have a hidden self
that remains evasive and unknown even to us. Tests bring that
self out into the open. They allow us to see ourselves not in the
dark of self-deception, nor in thought and theory, but in the light
of truth as we really are.
Each of us is like a flower in a bottle with a tight lid. Unless the
lid is removed, the flower’s fragrance remains untapped and
unknown. In some cases, only by pressing the petals can we
detect any fragrance. Sometimes nothing comes out except foul
odor. The same holds true with humans. Unless we face difficult
choices, unless we are pressed for a response, our true essence
remains untouched, untapped, and invisible.
We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom
of God…See how I tested you…in the furnace of affliction;
there I purified you. Isaiah 48:10 NEB
For everyone shall be salted with fire… Mark 9:49
Even gold passes through the assayer’s fire, and more
precious than perishable gold is the faith which has stood
the test. I Peter 1:7
…that each soul may be tested by the touchstone of God,
that the true may be known and distinguished from the
false.2 Bahá’u’lláh
The Qur’án confirms the same principle:
We will certainly put you to the test, in order to distinguish
those among you who strive, and steadfastly persevere.
We must expose your true qualities. Qur’án 47:31
Bahá’u’lláh also quotes this prophecy from the Qur’án:

3Verily, God will bring everything to light, though it were
but the weight of a grain of mustard-seed, and hidden in a
rock or in the heavens or in the earth; for God is Subtile,
informed of all.3
Compare the preceding passage with this one:
For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and
nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out
into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen.
Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have,
even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.
Christ (Luke 8:17-18)
Why would God give more to the one who has much and take
away from the one who has little? As we discuss the meaning
and purpose of tests, the answer will become clear.
The purpose of coming to this world is to advance toward our
Creator, to become more and more like Him—as pure and perfect
as possible. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.” (Matthew 5:48). A receptive, open mind advances
through tests; an obstinate mind resists and regresses.
A topic that is universally ignored in Christian theology
concerning the second Advent is the need for testing. Those
who set conditions for accepting Christ’s second coming, such
as expecting to see Him display spectacular power and glory,
without knowing, are putting God to the test. By their expecta-
tion they are saying, “I will not accept you, unless you perform
a miracle.” They do not realize that it is for God to test us, not
for us to test Him. They simply brush aside or ignore the
prophecies that challenge their theories.
Prophecies indicate that those who live in this age will
encounter severe tests and trials:
…the hour of trial [testing] which is coming on the world,
to try those who dwell upon the earth.
Christ (Revelation 3:10)
But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can
stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and

4like launderer’s soap. He will sift as a refiner and a
purifier of silver… Malachi 3:2-3
God always tests us. What then makes our age different? Ours is
the time of transition and renewal. It takes far more courage to
investigate a new Faith than to continue to conform to old and
established ways of believing and behaving. Human beings
always love to keep their favorite illusions alive. Our resistance
to overcome our selfish desires and illusions is our test. This
test comes from within; it is self-selected. Passing it, requires
self-examination, self-discipline, and self-victory.
But there is another test that God presents. It is His special test
designed for those who live at the dawning of His great
Messengers. The nature of this test is clarified in one of
Bahá’u’lláh’s major works, The Book of Certitude. By explaining
that test, Bahá’u’lláh also resolves a riddle that has baffled the
mind of every believer and reader of sacred scriptures. The
following statement from a noted Christian philosopher and
historian, Dr. Elton Trueblood, demonstrates the riddle:
According to the Synoptic Gospels the parable was
Christ’s chief way of presenting his teaching…Apparently
the number of parables was very great, far greater, indeed,
than the number of those preserved for us. “With many
such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were
able to hear it; he did not speak to them without a parable,
but privately to his own disciples he explained everything”
(Mark 4:33, 34). This seems straightforward and clear,
but on the question of the fundamental reason for using
parables there is a serious problem. Mark announces flatly
that the purpose of parables is to confuse the people, and
Luke follows him in this, almost word for word (Mark
4:10-12 and Luke 8:9-10). Here is a hard saying, indeed,
but it is unambiguous: “And he said to them, ‘To you has
been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those
outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed
see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not under-
stand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.’”

5Is there any thoughtful person who has ever read this for the
first time without a shock? We rub our eyes and look again,
convinced that we have made some mistake in reading.
Could it be that Christ went to great pains to keep people
from understanding? If so, this seems to be utterly inconsistent
with His character as we find it depicted in other parts of the
Gospel. A vast amount of squirming has been done to defend
such a policy of arbitrary exclusion, but without manifest
success. Certainly this policy is far removed from “Behold, I
stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20).4
Jesus even praises God for hiding certain truths from the so
called “the wise and learned,” but disclosing them to the pure-
hearted:
I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you
have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and
revealed them to little children.
The Qur’án presents a similar message:
And who doth more wrong than one who is reminded of
the signs of his Lord, but turns away from them…Verily
We have set veils over their hearts lest they should
understand this, and over their ears deafness. If thou callest
them to guidance, even then will they never accept guid-
ance. But your Lord is most forgiving, full of mercy.
Qur’án 18:57-58
God asks us to seek Him and find Him. Why then would He
conceal certain truths from certain people? Such an act seems
inconsistent with His supreme love and grace. Bahá’u’lláh’s
explanation of tests resolves the riddle. In The Book of Certitude
He states that God tests us by blending some of His prophecies
about the coming of His Manifestations with symbols and
metaphors:
Know verily that the purpose underlying all these symbolic
terms and abstruse [difficult] allusions, which emanate from
the Revealers of God’s holy Cause, hath been to test and
prove the peoples of the world; that thereby the earth of the
pure and illuminated hearts may be known from the perishable

6and barren soil. From time immemorial such hath been the
way of God amidst His creatures, and to this testify the
records of the sacred books.5
Compare the preceding statement with this one from St. Paul:
…wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is
hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s
hearts.
St. Paul’s statement contains two main messages:
• Do not try to express your view or take any position
concerning issues that are “hidden in darkness.” This right is
given to the Lord, the One destined to come and empowered
to resolve the riddles.
• When He comes, He will expose people’s motives.
Bahá’u’lláh’s statement contains the same messages. He declares
that the purpose of “symbolic terms and abstruse allusions” is to
test the people. And what is the purpose of a test? To expose the
hidden motives of the heart. The similarities between the two
passages are remarkable. Symbols and abstruse allusions are the
kind of truths that remain, in Paul’s words, “hidden in darkness”;
and their purpose is to test people. “In Hebrew and Aramaic the
word for ‘parable’ might also mean ‘riddle.’”6
The following passage from Bahá’u’lláh points to the fulfillment
of Paul’s prediction:
The time is at hand when whatsoever lieth hid in the souls
and hearts of men will be disclosed…This Day the deceitful
of eye, and all that men’s breasts conceal, are made known
and laid bare before the throne of His Revelation. Nothing
whatsoever can escape His knowledge. He heareth and seeth,
and He, in truth, is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.7
The biblical message of concealment that has puzzled Dr.
Trueblood and countless other Christian scholars appears also in
Matthew:
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak
to the people in parables?” He replied, “The knowledge of

7the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to
you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more,
and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have,
even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I
speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not
see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In
them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever
hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing
but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become
calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have
closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their
eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and
turn, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes
because they see, and your ears because they hear.”
Matthew 13:10-16
Why would Jesus not speak to His disciples in parables? Con-
sider a chemistry teacher who tells her students that they cannot
work in the lab until they have mastered the basic principles of
chemistry. She will allow them that privilege only after they
have passed their written exam. Why would she do this?
Because such students are worthy enough and mature enough to
handle the chemicals. They have done their homework; they
deserve to witness the nature’s wonders. Jesus’ disciples had
already done their homework, they had already proved
themselves worthy and capable of advanced knowledge of God.
They had already proven worthy and capable of recognizing
their Lord. Not only did they deserve to receive advanced
knowledge, they could also appreciate it and understand it.
Because of their meritorious achievements, Jesus offered them
treasures of truths unwrapped, without the protection of symbols
and metaphors. Others were struggling with and elementary
test. They had to advance to the point of breaking through the
wrappings before they could become capable and worthy of
receiving the advanced truths. They had to open the box to get
to the gift. Jesus would not do what was theirs to do. If He
wanted to turn them into believers, He could do it in the
twinkling of an eye. But the design of creation is based on
courage not comfort, independence and self-discovery, not

8dependence and dictated-discovery. Without initiative, effort
and striving, we remain as immature and selfish as spoiled
children.
Scientific truths are concealed for the same reason. We must
reach out and break through the wrappings of nature to get to
concealed mysteries and wonders.
To get from the shell to the pearl, we must always seek God’s
blessings. Without His help, nothing of significance can be
achieved. Our sincere devotion and desire crowned with the
grace of God can move any mountain.
Why did Jesus say, “For everyone who has will be given more,
and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even
what he has will be taken from him” (Matthew 25:29)? Those
who had little faith, lost it because they failed their test; they did
not recognize their Lord. Those who had true faith gained even
more, because they passed their test; they recognized the Spirit
of God in a humble and poor person.
God provides a perfect balance of concealment and revelation
both for Himself and His Redeemers. Too much concealment
prevents the sincere from finding Him, and too little allows the
insincere to see His banquet. That banquet is so precious, so
beautiful, so marvelous, it must be protected from the strangers,
the ones who are not properly dressed, who want the pleasure of
going to the banquet without paying the price.
God is the source of infinite knowledge. There were truths that
Jesus concealed even from Hid disciples. Had He revealed
them, even they might have failed their test.
…in the sayings of Him Who is the Spirit (Jesus) unnum-
bered significances lie concealed. Unto many things did
He refer, but as He found none possessed of a hearing ear
or a seeing eye He chose to conceal most of these things.
Even as He saith: “But ye cannot bear them now.”8
Bahá’u’lláh

9The brief passage Bahá’u’lláh quotes at the end of His
statement comes from this prophecy as appears in The Amplified
Bible:
I have still many things to say to you, but you are not able
to bear them nor to take them upon you nor to grasp them
now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the truth-giving
Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth—the
whole full truth. For He will not speak His own message—
on His own authority—but He will tell whatever He hears
[from the Father, He will give the message that has been
given to Him] and He will announce and declare to you
the things that are to come—that will happen in the
future. [Brackets and parentheses belong to the original.]
Christ (John 16:12-13

1Bahá’u’lláh did not attend school, yet with a stroke of a pen He
resolved mysteries that have baffled Jewish and Christian
scholars for thousands of years. With His explanation, every-
thing falls in place. Without it, we face nothing but chaos and
contradiction. We encounter hundreds of conflicting views that
not only violate the rules of reason but also the facts of the
Scriptures. To see the extent of conflict in prophecy alone, see
The Last Day Handbook by Dr. Robert Lightner, especially
written to promote peace among warring Christian schools of
prophecy.
Dr. Lightner, a professor of theology at Dallas Theological
Seminary, chooses strong words to describe the extent of the
conflict. He refers to scholars and religious leaders who “battle
so tenaciously over prophecy.”9 He speaks of “unChristlike
fierceness of the battle.”10 He refers to name calling, accusa-
tions, and attacks of all kinds. He speaks of laymen finding the
professional in the ring and “watching the fight.”11 He describes
a never-ending fight, because “When those in the ring are too

2weak to keep fighting, they are quickly replace by others who
carry on the struggle…”12
Those involved in the interpretation of prophecy harbor intense
emotions about the rightness of their position. As Dr. Lightner
points out:
The real issues are not clear. You may wonder if these
people are really being honest, but when you talk about
the different viewpoints with others in the grandstand,
you soon find yourself taking sides. Before you know it,
you are arguing with your best friend.13
This prophecy explains why theologians are facing so much
difficulty:
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their
mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are
far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules
taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these
people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the
wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will
vanish.” Isaiah 29:13-14
No wonder we are asked not to make any judgment, but wait for
the Lord—the Wellspring of all Wisdom—to come and break
the seal of mysteries.
God has given us many precious gifts, among them the gift of
freedom to like or dislike the truth. Our Creator never deceives
us, never prevents us from knowing Him. But He does allow us
to deceive ourselves. It is because of self-deception that human
beings deny Him and His great Messengers:
Through deceit they refuse to know Me, says the Lord.
Jeremiah 9:6
In the following passage, Bahá’u’lláh refers again to tests, the
multiple meanings of divine Word, and the spiritual attributes
that can help us pass through the crust of symbols, parables, and
metaphors to reach the precious pearl of inner meanings:

3“God verily will test them and sift them.” This is the
divine standard, this is the Touchstone of God, wherewith
He proveth His servants. None apprehendeth the meaning
of these utterances except them whose hearts are assured,
whose souls have found favor with God, and whose minds
are detached from all else but Him. In such utterances, the
literal meaning, as generally understood by the people, is
not what hath been intended. Thus it is recorded: “Every
knowledge hath seventy meanings, of which one only is
known amongst the people.”14
Bahá’u’lláh concludes His explanation of tests and inner
meanings of divine Word with this statement:
These things We mention only that the people may not be
dismayed because of certain…utterances, which have not
yet been literally fulfilled, that they may rather attribute
their perplexity to their own lack of understanding, and
not to the non-fulfillment of the promises…The people,
therefore, must not allow such utterances to deprive them
of the divine bounties, but should rather seek enlighten-
ment from them who are the recognized Expounders
thereof, so that the hidden mysteries may be unraveled,
and be made manifest unto them.15
As God conceals certain pearls of truth in parables and
metaphors, He also gives us clear instructions to find them. His
infinite love requires that all of us pass our tests, that all of us
make the right choices. What are His instructions?
• He tells us that we are not the authorized interpreters of His
Word (I Corinthians 4:5; II Peter 1:20).
• He warns us of the dangers of being literal-minded (II
Corinthians 3:6).
• He teaches us that His Word must be discerned spiritually (I
Corinthians 2:13-14).
• He warns us that in order to see Him, we must strip every
veil away from our soul. We must become free from all

4personal desires, illusions, and attachments (Matthew 5:8;
Hebrews 12:14).
• He asks us not to remain passive, complacent, and conform-
ing, but seek and search for truth every moment of our lives
(Matthew 7:7-8; Proverbs 11:9; Luke 21:36).

5Why Come “as a Thief ”?
Not only God conceals certain truths from us in the mold of
metaphors, He also conceals His Redeemers in the robe of their
physical form. Just as we must pass through the wrappings of
metaphors to discover the Truth, so must we pass through the
wrappings of physical form, “the human temple,” to discover
the Ones who teach the Truth. No analogy can be stronger or
more vivid than that of a thief in the night. God promised to
conceal the Redeemer of our time from the strangers just as a
thief conceals himself from the sleeping householders. To help
us find His heavenly Thief, He has asked us repeatedly to
remain awake and alert.
In the third chapter of the Book of Revelation God first speaks
about the thief-like coming of Jesus. He then warns us that we
will be tested. This warning is one more instruction, one more
hint, one more clue on how we can find Him. The idea of being
tested implies the possibility of failing to find the object of our
search. To make sure everyone listens to His clues and
instructions, Jesus ends that chapter with:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My
voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine
with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will
grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and
sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Revelation 3:20-22
Notice that Jesus declares that He will knock on the door of our
heart. He does not say, “I will break through the door.” If we

6open the door with gratitude, we have passed our test; if we
keep it closed, we have failed. The choice is ours.
Jesus concludes His discourse by instructing and inviting His
church to listen to Him, to open its heart to His heavenly glory,
because He knows it won’t. Are today’s churches hearing the
voice of the Spirit, as Jesus instructed them? Are people wise
enough to understand God’s instructions (Daniel 12:10), to
apply His clues for finding the heavenly Teacher and His hidden
treasures of Truth? Are they humble enough to acknowledge
their ignorance? And are they faithful to their own scriptures to
admit that the right of interpreting the prophecies is given not to
theologians, but to the promised One? Do they have sufficient
insight to recognize the grave dangers of being literal-minded?
Are they listening to the commands and warnings of Jesus?
History shows that the desire for doing what comes easy is so
strong, it overshadows and subdues every other desire. It shows
that attachment to one’s ancestral beliefs overcomes every
evidence, every instruction, every encouragement, every reward,
every commandment, every warning, however grave it may be.
Even the threat of eternal “fire” does not move people, does not
open their hearts and souls. Consider the awesome resistance to
Jesus Christ. It took the power of a king and the passage of
three centuries before Jesus received His due recognition. Even
today most people do not acknowledge Him. Our age is no
exception. Once again we encounter the same sad news of
resistance to the new, and attachment to the past.
At the end of The Book of Certitude, Bahá’u’lláh offers this dire
warning to all the peoples of the world:
We perceive none, however, amongst the people of the
earth who, sincerely yearning for the Truth, seeketh the
guidance of the divine Manifestations concerning the
abstruse matters of his Faith. All are dwellers in the land
of oblivion, and all are followers of the people of wicked-
ness and rebellion. God will verily do unto them that
which they themselves are doing, and will forget them
even as they have ignored His Presence in His day. Such

7is His decree unto those that have denied Him, and such
will it be unto them that have rejected His signs.16

1Now meditate on God’s infinite Wisdom. With the help of a few
symbolic words, He separates and grades people. On one side
we have hundreds of literal prophecies fulfilled by the Báb and
Bahá’u’lláh. As demonstrated in I Shall Come Again, Lord of
Lords, and King of Kings, the probability of those prophecies
being fulfilled by chance is 1 in 4×1091—a figure that exceeds
by more than a hundred billion times the estimated number of
elementary particles in the observable universe! (See Lord of
Lords, Chapter 20.) Thus the evidence on the side of fulfilled
prophecies is greater than the universe. What do we have on the
other side? Only a few figures of speech, such as heaven, fire,
angels, trumpet blast, and the resurrection of the dead. What
all such figures have in common is this: they imply a miraculous
display of power over the laws of nature. What have these few
metaphors accomplished? Their powers have been awesome!
They have prevented hundreds of millions of Christians from
investigating the universe of evidence on the side of fulfilled
prophecies. They have prevented many people from even
approaching the new Revelation. Those symbols have discour-
aged leaders and laymen alike from coming close enough to
witness the most majestic and awesome expression of God’s
glory and power in Christ’s second Advent, with His new name
Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God!
How strange! How astonishing! How incredible! A little eyelid,
Bahá’u’lláh declares, can conceal the whole universe. This
seemingly little veil of metaphor can do the same for the soul. It
prevents it from seeing a universe of evidence, from beholding
the Blessed Beauty, the Glory of God! It has concealed a
Revelation so magnificent, so splendid the like of which the
world has never seen.

2The little eyelid on the soul works as perfectly as the one on the
eye. This points to the supreme power and wisdom of our
Creator. Through a few words, He tests the in-sight of the souls
of all inhabitants of the earth. He separates the detached from
the attached, the open-minded from the obstinate, the curious
from the complacent, the fearless from the fearful. The power of
separation in this seemingly simple test is awesome. It has
worked marvelously throughout all ages. Even repetition of the
test has not taught the people the lesson.
Consider the awesome power of God’s amazingly simple test in
the first Advent of Christ. By a single metaphor—king—He
tested and graded all the people of Israel. Most of them failed
because of that single metaphor! This is so amazing to believe,
yet it is true. After the lapse of many centuries, still the Jews
have not awakened to the dawning of divine splendor in Jesus,
still they are expecting a powerful king, who would also be their
first Messiah! If this happened to the followers of Moses, could
it not happen also to the followers of Jesus?

3Is It Fair to Conceal?
Let us now examine the question of fairness about concealing
from us certain truths in metaphors, and then giving us
directions and clues on how to find them. Why would God do
this? Please note that God wants to separate the faithful from
the unfaithful, the open-minded from the obstinate, the humble
from the proud. He knows that some people cling to the
“letters” or the surface meanings of specific verses and words,
others search for the spirit of the scriptures, for they know “the
letter killeth, the spirit giveth life.” The spiritual-minded seekers
are not disturbed by a new name; they recognize the Spirit
behind any name, no matter how strange it may sound. An
unknown name such as Bahá’u’lláh does not deter them. When
they hear the news of His coming, instantly they begin to
search. Their love for that Spirit is so intense, they would offer
their very lives to find Him. Who would the Master choose?
Although many are called, He declares, only a few are chosen

4(Matthew 22:14). These few are the daring ones, who do not
bury their “talents” (Matthew 18:22-35), who jump over every
obstacle, who have no fear of falling.
What about the others, who do not want to be disturbed, who
feel comfortable in their little fish bowl, who are pleased with
their spiritual possessions? God knows that they will ignore his
instructions, that they will disregard His clues and directions.
He knows that they would rather daydream than face reality;
that they would rather see a material miracle than a spiritual
wonder, that they would rather witness a winged warrior come
down from the sky with an army of fighting angels at His
command than look for and discover God’s supreme glory and
His magnificent power and splendor in His Word, uttered by a
humble and gentle human being. God knows that those
believers do not want to be disturbed, do not wish to be
awakened from their sweet dreams. Since God loves all His
creatures, even the ones who reject Him, He helps them attain
their heart’s desire. Without His help, they will experience
undue stress. He makes it possible for them to find excuses to
stay in their fish bowl, without being bothered, without any
pressure to come out. Undue exposure to the light will drive
them out of their dark closet, running and trembling with fear.
The clouds of metaphors and symbols provide them a buffer of
protection from the intense light.
God nurtures and loves little egos, but leaves the inflated ones
alone. He does not puncture them. He rings the bell, but never
climbs over the wall. He always honors people’s privacy and
freedom of choice.
But God has another reason for putting human beings to such
tests. He wants to pick and choose guests fit for His heavenly
banquet. He does not want any proud person in his presence,
such as a soul who might say, “I am right and no one can tell me
otherwise!” He does not want anyone who hangs this sign on
his soul: “I’m asleep! Please no knocking!”
When Bahá’ís complained to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá about people’s refusal
to acknowledge Bahá’u’lláh’s divine mission, in response He

5quoted this verse from Jesus: “Many are called, but few are
chosen” (Matthew 22:14). The verse clearly indicates that God
is the One who chooses guests for His heavenly banquet. Only
He knows the souls worthy of His Kingdom. Only He can
empower them to approach His presence.
…no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled
him. Christ (John 6:65)
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws him… Christ (John 6:44)
Let me illustrate by a true story how an individual with closed
heart responds to God’s invitation. Let us see how an insincere
person responds, when God out of His grace, lends him a
lending hand to see His splendid glory, when He sends a hard-
to-ignore sign.
Once a Bahá’í wanted desperately to teach her dear friend about
Bahá’u’lláh. The friend continued to resist and deny the
evidence. Finally she said, “If Bahá’u’lláh is true, let Him give
me a sign.” As we shall see, she was looking for an alibi, and
did not expect what was about to happen. At that point, her
Bahá’í friend, out of sheer love, went to work: she began to
pray fervently to Bahá’u’lláh to give her friend a sign. Sure
enough, Bahá’u’lláh appeared in her friend’s dream! What do
you think happened? Did she like the encounter? Did she
welcome Him? No, she protested against Bahá’u’lláh’s intrusion
into her life! This true story shows clearly that even God, the
All-Powerful, cannot enter a locked house, cannot force Himself
on unreceptive and obstinate souls, unless He crushes their ego
into submission through sheer power, just like a dictator. What
would happen if Bahá’u’lláh appeared a second or a third time
in her dreams? Would this be fair?
God does not have to give us any sign other than His words. His
face glows through them as brightly as the sun. Yet out of sheer
grace, sometimes He offers us a lending hand. This was one
example. I have read and heard about many other examples, but
mostly with positive consequences.

6The story of this lady brings to memory the response of
Pharisees to Jesus’ miracles. When they witnessed His awesome
powers, they declared that the Son of God was healing the sick
not by divine pleasure, but by demonic powers (Luke 11:20). It
was not the prince of peace, they believed, who did those
wonders; it was the prince of demons. It was not the angel of
light, but the angel of darkness disguised as the light. Miracles,
as mighty and memorable as those performed by Jesus, could
not unlock closed hearts.
God never prevents people from entering His banquet. They
choose to stay out, and God simply respects their choice.
Invitations are mutual. God first sends an invitation. We invite
Him to our hearts; He invites us to His heavenly celebrations:
“the great banquet of God” and “the Lamb’s feast” (Revelation
19:7; 19:9; 19:17). As a pure mirror attracts the light of the sun,
so does a pure soul the light of God. The moment we accept His
new Messenger, we enter His banquet. Before passing from this
life, His banquet remains invisible to our eyes; after passing
away, it becomes as visible as the sun.
God always knocks, and enters only if invited. Once entered, He
stays and at death He simply takes us to His heavenly feast.
Only He knows the way.
So much for those who close their hearts. What about others,
the true seekers? How do they act? Because they are humble,
they do not start with “I know I am right and no one can tell me
otherwise!” or “I am quite comfortable with my beliefs and
have no need to look!” Their humility, curiosity, and openness
allows them to pass beyond complacency. The metaphors do not
blind them as by a veil, the symbols do not prevent them from
seeking, for they know they should not be deterred or distracted
by “the letters” of their scriptures. They strive for the Soul
behind verses and words. They show no interest in surrendering
their everlasting destiny to their ancestors out of convenience or
family loyalty. Instead of starting their search with the symbolic
prophecies, they begin with the literal. They recognize that
hundreds of signs and clues cannot be fulfilled in the life of a
person by chance. Such seekers have no fear of leaving their

7comfort zone. And they do not put their wish for seeing glamour
above their Master’s command that they should leave all inter-
pretations to Him.

1rule, He chooses a Savior or Messenger who may have,
according to human standards, something objectionable in His
background. Bahá’u’lláh presents Moses as an example. Why
would God choose for His Redeemer someone who had
committed murder?
Reflect upon the strange and manifold trials with which
He doth test His servants. Consider how He hath suddenly
chosen from among His servants, and entrusted with the
exalted mission of divine guidance Him Who was known
as guilty of homicide…Was not God, the omnipotent
King, able to withhold the hand of Moses from murder, so
that manslaughter should not be attributed unto Him,
causing bewilderment and aversion among the people?17
Bahá’u’lláh
Did Jesus also have something objectionable in His background?
Yes, by human standards, He was born out of wedlock. Surely
God could find someone with a more acceptable family. Let us
not picture Jesus as He is regarded now. How much would
people pay today for a broken button on His robe? What about a
single strand of His hair? Now go back to 27 A.D., when He
declared His mission. How was Jesus viewed then? A poor
young man born to an unmarried woman. Just picture such a
person on the streets of Chicago or New York asking you to
become his disciple. Would you pass that test? Who would not
laugh and walk away with pity? Yes, that was the earthly state
of Jesus! God expected the revered rabbis and pompous
Pharisees to leave their synagogues and carry a cross behind
Him! What a test! Bahá’u’lláh asks us to ponder why God
would choose a person with such questionable background to
become His Manifestation:

2Who was known amongst the people as fatherless, the
glory of Prophethood, and made Him His testimony unto
all that are in heaven and on earth. Behold how contrary
are the ways of the Manifestations of God, as ordained by
the King of creation, to the ways and desires of men!18
Notice what Bahá’u’lláh states about Mary, about how she
could explain her pregnancy:
Likewise, reflect upon the state and condition of Mary. So
deep was the perplexity of that most beauteous counte-
nance, so grievous her case, that she bitterly regretted she
had ever been born…Reflect, what answer could Mary
have given to the people around her? How could she
claim that a Babe Whose father was unknown had been
conceived of the Holy Ghost?19
Consider the country in which the Bahá’í Faith was born. If
people in the time of Jesus said, “Can anything good come out
of Nazareth?” (John 1:46), today they may say, “Can anything
but violence come out of Iran?”
Does then God put stumbling blocks in our way? He surely
does. He wants to know who are the champion jumpers—over
worldly obstacles. He wants to know who is willing to pass
through the many layers of human desires to discover and
behold His Blessed Beauty, the most awesome revelation of
God’s glory and power..
The Creator hides Himself for the same reason. Is every
obstinate, prejudiced person worthy of beholding the awesome
splendors of God? Why should that same rule not apply also to
His Messengers? They are God on earth; they manifest Him to
us. They too must hide the divine in them.
If a person is looking for an alibi to deny the divine, to reject
any one of heavenly Redeemers, he will have no problem. God
in His supreme love wants to help him also. Without His help,
the deniers will be caught between two opposite poles; that is
too stressful. God is not a dictator. He wants to make it easy for
everyone to attain his heart’s desire.

3born-again evangelical Christian and say, “A man named
Bahá’u’lláh claims to be the return of Christ and He presents a
mountain of evidence to prove His claim.” What do you think
he might say? First, he will search for a biblical verse to remind
himself that he is safe where he is, such as, “I am the way and
the truth.” If you press him a little more, he might say, “Was this
person resurrected?” If you say yes, he will continue his search
to find something that will make the new Savior different from
Jesus. As a last resort, he might say, “Jesus is the only Son of
God. That other person is not Son of God.” Then he will look
for an excuse to walk away. What he will not say is, “Please tell
me more about the new Savior. What evidence does He present?
Could you lend me a book by Him or about Him?” This
individual is completely closed. Should we go after him or leave

1knows how much of Himself He should reveal or conceal in His
Redeemers. He knows what stumbling blocks He should put in
our way to test our courage and spiritual strength. The choice is
up to Him.
God is All-Powerful; if He wanted everyone to be in His
heavenly Kingdom, He could make that happen in the twinkling
of an eye, but only at the expense of becoming an authoritarian
and overprotective parent. In His infinite Wisdom, God knows
what treasures of truth He should reveal or conceal in order to
create a balance between freedom and guidance. Guidance in
conformity with our capacity bestows freedom. But if offered in
excess, it diminishes our liberty, uniqueness, and individuality.
We see an example of this in the family. Children who receive
too much guidance and instruction become overly dependent;
they lose their initiative, individuality, and self-esteem.

2is always measured to our capacity and need. God also knows
what words or language He should use and how much
instructions He should give to attract only the kind of guests
and residents He wants in His banquet. More specific or literal
instructions will attract the wrong people. A balanced dosage of
metaphors sprinkled on some prophecies will protect His
banquet from the closed-hearted believers, the kind who love
His name but love even more the cozy closet that their little
faith offers them.
The Book of Revelation predicts that Christ will come with a
sword in His mouth. “I will come to you quickly and will fight
against them with the sword of My mouth” (Revelation 2:16).
What is that sword? It is the Word of God, especially the
symbolic Word, with awesome powers of separation:
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any
double-edged sword…it judges the thoughts and attitudes
of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
The symbol of “sword” shows the severity of divine judgment
on those who deny the divine Messengers:
All the signs and allusions concerning the Day of Judg-
ment, which thou hast heard, such as the raising of the
dead, the Day of Reckoning, the Last Judgment, and
others have been made manifest…These revealed words
were a blessing to the righteous who on hearing them
exclaimed: “O God our Lord, we have heard, and obeyed.”
They were a curse to the people of iniquity who, on
hearing them affirmed: “We have heard and rebelled.”
Those words, sharp as the sword of God, have separated
the faithful from the infidel, and severed father from
son.20 Bahá’u’lláh
Saying yes or no to the One sent by God to guide us and redeem
us is by far the most critical decision in our lives. Our eternal
destiny is on trial. This is why the time of the return of Christ is
called the Day of Judgment. We have a choice to move to the
right or stay on the left. What we think is often tinged with

3not like what we hear—the harsh judgment against those who
deny the Redeemer of our age—but that should not deter us
from facing reality.
To conclude, God is always testing, grading, and separating
human beings. But those who live at the points of transition—
from a previous “age” to a new “age”—face the most awesome
and trying test. Believers who are the masters of their own
destiny, who are detached from past traditions and illusions,
when they hear the good News of the coming of the Kingdom,
they arise with supreme courage, and search for the hidden
treasures of truth with all their hearts and souls. Their search
leads them to discover God’s great glory and power in His
humble and gentle Messengers, such as Christ and Bahá’u’lláh.
They pass their test with flying colors. Others allow past
traditions, illusions, and superstitions to suffocate their freedom.
They fail their test, and by their action, they keep themselves
out of the heavenly banquet. As C.S. Lewis suggested, “the
doors of hell are locked on the inside.”21
Compare God’s promise as revealed through Christ, the
Anointed One, and as revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of
God:
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the
angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly
glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he
will separate the people one from another as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep
on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will
say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by
my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared
for you since the creation of the world… Then he will say
to those on his left, ‘Depart from me…’
Christ (Matthew 25:31-34,41)
Pope! Rend the veils asunder. He Who is the Lord of
Lords is come overshadowed with clouds, and the decree
hath been fulfilled by God, the Almighty, the Unrestrained.

4He came down from it the first time. Beware that thou
dispute not with Him even as the Pharisees disputed with
Him (Jesus) without a clear token or proof. On His right
hand flow the living waters of grace, and on His left the
choice Wine of justice, whilst before Him march the
angels of Paradise, bearing the banners of His signs.22
Bahá’u’lláh
The All-Merciful is come invested with undoubted
sovereignty. The Balance hath been appointed, and all
them that dwell on earth have been gathered together
…The people of the left hand sigh and bemoan. The
people of the right abide in noble habitations: they…are,
verily, the blissful.23 Bahá’u’lláh
Ponder, now…the influence of the word of God, that
haply thou mayest turn from the left hand of idle fancy
unto the right hand of certitude…Let him who wisheth
turn thereunto, and let him who wisheth turn aside.24
Bahá’u’llá

1when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of
life. James 1:12 NIV
From time immemorial even unto eternity the Almighty
hath tried, and will continue to try, His servants, so that

2The Meaning of “Seek And
Ye Shall Find”

1several theoretical dialogues between two Christians: one with a
curious and open mind, the other with a complacent and closed
mind.

Curious Christian Complacent Christian

3• I have a Bahá’í friend • This is impossible. We know
who believes Christ came for sure how the Advent will
again in 1844. take place. We know He has
not come.
• How can you be sure? • Everything is in plain lan-
guage.
• Then why are there so • There are always some
many schools of proph- people who dislike the truth.
ecy?
• But how do we know that • They take everything out of
those who disagree are context.
wrong.
• Could you give me an • What are you trying to

4anything. I just like to let there are many deceivers.
you know that Bahá’ís You need to be careful.
are firmly convinced that
Christ has come again
and they say they have
much evidence to prove
it. The question is critical.
Our eternal destiny de-
pends on it
• But what does it mean • The devil is always looking
to be careful? Does that to tempt us. As long as you
mean I should not investi- stay Christian, you are safe.
gate?
• Should I take your word • Yes, I am quite confident.
as the truth? Jesus is the way and the
truth and life. Anything else
is deception.
• I am not talking about • Yes, I believe you are wast-
anything else. Bahá’u’lláh ing your time. Just read the
claims to be Christ re- Bible and go to your church.
turned. How can I know Be a good Christian, and
He is not the One? Do you are saved.
you believe I should
ignore His claim and not
investigate it?
• But why did Jesus say, • I do not know what you
“seek and ye shall find”? should do. But I know in
Should I ignore His com- my heart that once you step
mand, and follow your outside the church, you get
instructions? lost.
• Isn’t that what the reli- • Yes, but we are different.
gious leaders told the
Jews at the time of Jesus?

5we are different? Why me. I know I am saved.
does the word “always”
in this verse apply only
to a specific time in his-
tory: “You always resist
the Holy Spirit!” (Acts
7:51)? What makes the
people of this age wiser
and better than the

1examine the evidence Bahá’u’lláh presents.
_____ It is wise to stay in one’s church or synagogue and ignore
Bahá’u’lláh’s invitation to investigate His mission.

2The Meaning of “Watch”

Curious Christian Complacent Christian

2• Christ repeatedly asked • It means be aware.
us to watch. What does
“Watch!” mean?
• Aware of what? • Aware of what is going on.
• How can I be aware? What • Just be aware!
can I do to be aware?
• But what action should I • No! There is no need for
take to conform to that that.
command? What should I
do that I do not normally
do? A man claims to be
the One we Christians are
expecting. His name is
Bahá’u’lláh. Should I
examine the evidence He
presents?
• But why? • Because we are sure of
certain signs. For instance,
we are told in plain language

3Him, why do we need to
watch?
• We have two sets of clues. • I don’t think we need to do
I want to know which I anything. When the Lord
should follow. What action comes, we will know.
a watchful person must
pursue to fulfill Christ’s
command? Should he:
♦ Watch the national
news?
♦ Read Christian maga-
zines and books?
♦ Watch CBN (Christian
Broadcasting News)?
♦ Watch the sky?
♦ Examine the evidence
that Bahá’u’lláh presents
to prove that He is the

Question

1investigating Bahá’u’lláh’s claim.
______ The command does not justify such an investigation.

2The Metaphors of “Seeing” and
“Coming Down on Clouds”

1God tests us in many ways. One way is to give us messages in
metaphor and then provide the clues to decipher them. Our
willingness to apply His clues is an evidence of our faith.
Consider this prophecy about seeing:
…every eye shall see Him. Revelation 1:7
To help us decipher the word “see,” God has provided us with
certain clues such as:
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so
you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you
can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on
your eyes, so you can see. Revelation 3:18
…without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5:8
“The great day of the Lord is near…The cry on the day of
the LORD will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there
…I will bring distress on the people and they will walk
like blind men… Zephaniah 1:14,
The connection between the preceding passages is quite clear.
All of them relate to seeing, to the gift of sight. The first one
“every eye shall see Him” is a test. All the others are clues or

2instructions for finding the answer and passing the test. One
prophecy declares that people will walk like the blind, unable to
see. Another prophecy declares that every eye shall see Him.
How can people be blind and be able to see? Another prophecy
offers the prescription for curing the blindness. Does it not
make sense to conclude that every eye that has benefited from
the prescription, that has been rubbed by “salve” will be able to
see Him? Thus if we consider “salve” the essential remedy for
curing blindness, both passages make perfect sense. As Zephaniah
declares, people are spiritually blind, but every person who
applies the remedy prescribed by Jesus, everyone who puts
salve on his eyes, will cure his blindness and see the Lord.
Anyone who follows the required instructions will see the Glory
of God, the second coming of Christ. Every inner eye that is
blessed by the remedy will see Him. Obviously those who fail
to apply the remedy, as Zephaniah indicates, “will walk like
blind men.” Even if Jesus Himself stood in front of them, they
would be unable to see Him. Because only the eye of the spirit
can see Him.
Can a student succeed if he fails to listen to all the teacher’s
instructions, if he fails to look at the clues? How then can we
succeed in the school of the spirit if we disregard all the clues
and instructions our divine Instructor has given us? How can we
pass our test if we take only one item and ignore similar items
that can help us understand that one?
Is this test—about the meaning of seeing—too difficult? It is, if
we start with tradition, with untested and unverified assump-
tions, if we fail to look at all the clues. With an open and
impartial mind, any ordinary high school student can find the
right answer to the test of “every eye shall see Him.”
Aside from the cited clues, we also have historical examples.
The following words of Jesus, addressed to His enemies at His
trial, should liberate every Bible reader and interpreters from
the snare of literal-mindedness:
But I tell you this: from now on, you will see the Son of
Man seated at the right hand of God and coming on the

3clouds of heaven. At these words the high Priest tore his
robes and exclaimed ‘Blasphemy!’ Matthew 26:64-65
Did Annas and Caiaphas, who condemned Jesus to death, see
Him from then on “seated at the right hand of God”? Did they
see Him any time in the future coming down on the clouds of
heaven? Did even His disciples see Him in those positions?
Again an atheist can use the preceding prophecy to discredit
Jesus. No one saw Jesus in those positions with earthly eyes.
What about spiritual eyes, the eyes of faith? If we follow St.
Paul’s admonition that the Word of God must be understood
spiritually, if we discern the meaning of this prophecy in that
way, we face no problem. Every “eye” of faith at every moment,
has seen Jesus and will continue to see Him seated at the right
hand of God, and coming on the clouds of heaven. In fact Jesus
never left heaven. Only His body lived on earth for a while.
According to this prophecy, seeing Jesus “coming on the
clouds of heaven” is not something that happens on His
return at a given point in history. It is an endless and
continuous event:
From now on, you will see the Son of Man…coming on
the clouds of heaven. Christ (Matthew 26:64)
The preceding verse shows that the “coming down” of Jesus
began even before He was crucified. The prophecy demonstrates
the unique language our Creator speaks.
Notice what Christian scholar, F.F. Bruce, states about Christ’s
prediction that the people around Him will see Him coming
down on clouds:
He [Jesus] says this in symbolic language, but the source
of this symbolic language is biblical…The right hand of
God was [symbolizes] the place of supreme exaltation;
the clouds were [symbolize] the vehicle of divine glory.1
Is it then unreasonable to use the fulfillment of one prophecy
about seeing, in the context of the supernatural, to understand
the meaning of a similar prophecy in the same context? Why

4then have double standards? Why take one prophecy
spiritually, the other about “coming down on clouds” literally?
The Bahá’í view of “visibility” and “clouds” is also confirmed
by some Christian authors and scholars. Consider this passage
from a Christian publication:
What is meant by his ‘coming on the clouds’ and ‘every eye
seeing him’? Revelation 1:7: “Look! He is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him…” What is indicated by “clouds”?
Invisibility. When an airplane is in a thick cloud or above the
clouds, people on the ground usually cannot see it, although
they may hear the roar of the engines. Jehovah told Moses: “I
am coming to you in a dark cloud.” Moses did not see God, but
that cloud indicated Jehovah’s invisible presence. (Ex. 19:9; see
also Leviticus 16:2; Numbers 11:25.) If Christ were to appear
visibly in the heavens, it is obvious that not “every eye” would
see him. If he appeared over Australia, for example, he would
not be visible in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, would he?
In what sense will ‘every eye see him’? They will discern from
events on earth that he is invisibly present. Also referring to
sight that is not physical, John 9:41 reports: “Jesus said to [the
Pharisees]: ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now
you say, “we see.” Your sin remains.’“ (Compare Romans 1:20.)
Following Christ’s return, some persons show faith; they
recognize the sign of his presence. Others reject the evidence…2
Notice Bahá’u’lláh’s description of what Jesus meant by saying
that He was sitting at the right hand of God:
…call thou to mind the day when the Jews, who had
surrounded Jesus, Son of Mary, were pressing Him to
confess His claim of being the Messiah and Prophet of
God, so that they might declare Him an infidel and
sentence Him to death. Then, they led Him away, He
Who was the Day-star of the heaven of divine Revelation,
unto Pilate and Caiaphas, who was the leading divine
[religious leader] of that age. The chief priests were all
assembled in the palace, also a multitude of people who
had gathered to witness His sufferings, to deride and

5injure Him. Though they repeatedly questioned Him,
hoping that He would confess His claim, yet Jesus held
His peace and spake not. Finally, an accursed of God
arose and, approaching Jesus, adjured Him saying: “Didst
thou not claim to be the Divine Messiah? Didst thou not
say, `I am the King of Kings, My word is the Word of
God, and I am the breaker of the Sabbath day?’“
Thereupon Jesus lifted up His head and said: “Beholdest
thou not the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of
power and might?” These were His words, and yet
consider how to outward seeming He was devoid of all
power except that inner power which was of God and
which had encompassed all that is in heaven and on earth.
How can I relate all that befell Him after He spoke these
words? How shall I describe their heinous behavior towards
Him? They at last heaped on His blessed Person such
woes that He took His flight unto the fourth Heaven.3
As you may have noticed, Bahá’u’lláh’s wording differs some-
what from that of Matthew, although the message He presents is
the same. If you wonder which version is more precise, please
remember that the Gospel was written long after crucifixion by
people who may have not been present at Jesus’ trial. What
about Bahá’u’lláh? The same divine Spirit that was present at
crucifixion was, is, and will always be present in Bahá’u’lláh.
When Christ’s enemies spoke those words, that same Spirit—
now called Bahá’u’lláh—was there and heard every word that
was spoken! This is of course only a surface explanation, for
that Spirit, whether attached to a body or not, is always All-
Seeing and All-Hearing.
In the following verse, Jesus declares that He will show Himself
to His loved ones:
He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too
will love him and show myself to him. John 14:21
How does Jesus show Himself to His loved ones? Physically or
spiritually? How many have seen His body or even His Spirit
with their physical eyes?

6Thus when we study related passages together, we become
aware of the unique language our Creator speaks. We discover
an abundant use of metaphor. With the aid of our spiritual eye,
as confirmed by St. Paul, we can discern their true meaning.
Viewed with the eye of the spirit, the metaphors glow with
full clarity.

1_____The clues and instructions given in the Scriptures make
the metaphorical meaning of “seeing” and “coming down on
clouds” clear.
_____The clues and instructions do not make the meaning clear.

1Prayer: The Essential Means
for Knowing and Attaining
the Presence of Jesus

2Pray always, that ye may be accounted
worthy to escape all these things that
shall come to pass, and to stand before

Pray Always

1Christ (Luke 21:36)

2Praying for God’s

1O my God, let me see through your eyes
until your eyes are my eyes.
We pray for many reasons: to travel safely, to pass an exam, to
get a job, to do well in business, or even to win a lottery!
Should we, then, simply assume that to receive the greatest gift
that heaven may bestow on humans—recognizing and welcom-
ing the Redeemer of the Age—we do not need to pray? Have
you ever heard anyone say: “To know Jesus at His Second
coming and to become worthy of the honor of attaining His
presence, we should pray”? Seldom if ever do Christian teachers
and authors raise this question. And yet Jesus specifically asks
us to “pray always” for this very purpose:
Pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy…to stand
before the Son of man. Christ (Luke 21:36)
Why does Jesus say: “pray always”? Because the gift of know-
ing Him and attaining His presence is so precious, so lofty that
it requires unceasing and earnest imploring and entreating.
Faced with danger, we plead for our earthly life—one that

2endures for only a few years. Should we not then plead for our
everlasting life?
What purpose does praying serve? It cultivates our soul by
connecting us to our Source. It helps us become more spiritual.
We are like the fruits on the tree of life growing in God’s
garden. The Gardener is quite choosy. He wants and selects only
the best fruits—the ones suitable for His heavenly Banquet.
Praying nourishes, ripens, purifies and sustains the soul. It
prepares us for our divine destiny. It makes us worthy of the
Gardener and fit for His heavenly Feast.
In knowing the laws that bind us to our Creator, this question is
critical: who is the chooser? Does the gardener choose the fruit,
or does the fruit choose the gardener? As many as 95 percent of
the people in some countries declare their faith in God. They
believe they have chosen God. But has God also chosen them?
It is easy to be self-righteous and consider oneself one of the
elect. For everyone looks clean in his own eyes (Prov. 16:2).
But contrary to what we are told—such as “Say Jesus is your
Savior, and you will be saved!”—joining the ranks of “the
saved” and “chosen ones” of God is not that simple. What
ultimately matters is not what we say, think, or assume, but
what God knows for sure. Only He knows who is worthy for
His banquet. Only He chooses His guests of honor:
You did not choose me, but I chose you…
Christ (John 15:16 NIV)
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws him… Christ (John 6:44 NIV)
The believers who assume that they are “saved” by simply declar-
ing their faith in God or Jesus, must realize that their standards
may not be high enough. For we are told that when the heavenly
King comes to establish His Kingdom, He will find only a few
guests ready for His Banquet. He will find only a few who are
“well-dressed,” only a few who will be living up to His standards.
The heavenly Host is quite choosy:
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The
kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding

3banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had
been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they
refused to come…Then he said to his servants, ‘The
wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not
deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the
banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into
the streets and gathered all the people they could find,
both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with
guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he
noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding
clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here
without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then
the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and
throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited,
but few are chosen.” Matt. 22:1-3, 8-14 NIV
To emphasize the need for praying as a means of receiving
heaven’s most glorious gift—knowing the Redeemer of the
Age—Jesus also spoke a specific parable—that of the persistent
widow—for this purpose. He wanted to remind us that we
should not take the supreme honor of “knowing Him” for
granted. He wanted to teach us that, without appealing to God
and even pleading with Him, we may not receive this most
glorious gift:
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that
they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a
certain town there was a judge who neither feared God
nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town
who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice
against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But
finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God
or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bother-
ing me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t
eventually wear me out with her coming!’” And the Lord
said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not
God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out
to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell

4you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However,
when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the
earth?” Luke 18:1-8 NIV
Jesus’ parables are brief, but they abound with pearls of
knowledge and truth. We often read them without pondering
their purpose, without meditating on their mysteries, without
unraveling their precious pearls of truth. The parable of the
persistent widow has a special significance. It should draw our
attention for two reasons:
• It defines one of the most critical laws that bind us to our
Creator.
• It was spoken specifically for us: to cultivate our soul and
make us worthy of our Redeemer.
Understanding and following the precepts of this parable is of
paramount significance. It holds the key to our divine destiny.
To fathom its supreme purpose, let us first review its content:
• A widow, who has been wronged, goes to a judge and
seeks justice, but the judge ignores her pleas.
• The widow does not give up. She appears before the
judge repeatedly and pleads her case.
• At last the uncaring judge gives in and responds to her
pleas for justice.
The parable concludes with this disparaging question: “How-
ever, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the
earth?”
Another translation of the last verse:
Yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find men on
earth who believe in him? NTME

5The first question we should explore is this: What relevance has
the story of the widow to the scarcity of faith at the time of
Jesus’ return? A brief review of the basic components of the
parable helps us find the answer:
• A desire to attain a purpose.

6• The required means to accomplish that purpose.
• And the scarcity of the virtue that empowers the
believers to accomplish that purpose at a given time.
Since Jesus links this parable to His Second Coming, it is clear
that He is teaching us the required means for attaining the
supreme purpose of knowing Him. His story clearly conveys
this message: the honor of recognizing Jesus in His Second
Advent will come only to the believers who remain proactive—
those who take the initiative to search and look for their Lord.
What does the parable then teach us to do?
• To present our desire to God.
• To have faith that our desire will be fulfilled, that our
prayers will at last be answered.
• And to persevere in our efforts until we receive an
answer.
What should be our greatest wish and our most passionate
longing at the time of the coming of our Lord? What should be
our prime purpose of praying and pleading at that blessed time?
It can only be this: receiving His grace to overcome the
obstacles that prevent us from knowing Him; receiving His
blessings to tear “the veils” and overcome “the clouds” of false
assumptions and expectations concerning the manner of His
return.
Can we determine or predict for sure how Christ must come?
Are we wise enough to decode God’s metaphoric and
mysterious language of prophecy? Should we use authority of
Jesus to “prophesy in His name”? Are we not condemned for
doing this?
Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in your name…? Then I will tell them plainly,
“I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
Christ (Matt. 7:22-23 NIV)
Bahá’u’lláh often uses a special word in His Writings: “idle
fancy.” What is an “idle fancy”? It is something that one

7assumes to be true, but is in fact false. It is synonymous with
“myth” and “illusion.” Perhaps the best-known example of such
an “idle fancy” is the Jewish expectation that the Messiah must
come with great power and glory to save the Jews from
suffering. Is not this precisely what many Christians are also
expecting from their Messiah? In fact the Gospel predicts such a
trend among today’s Christians. It uses the synonym of “idle
fancy”—myth—to describe the way many believers will
behave:
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn
aside to myths. II Timothy 4:4 NIV
What if our Redeemer fails to fulfill our “idle fancies” or
favorite “myths”? Should we rush to judgment and call Him “a
false prophet” as did the Jews? History shows that the way
people believe and behave does not change from age to age. In
the story of God’s latest Messenger and Redeemer—
Bahá’u’lláh—we can find one more chapter with the same
lesson.
Any believer, who thinks he knows how the prophecies must be
fulfilled, by this very thought, has stepped beyond his line of
authority. He has acted like a servant who imagines he is a king.
He has violated the command of the Scripture that no servant
has the right to prophesy in his Master’s name. The violation of
this command is quite serious. The violators are threatened with
the harshest punishment: hell! And yet this sacred command is
widely ignored.
Bahá’u’lláh offers many prayers to rescue the believers from
these dangerous clouds of idle fancies, vain imaginings, and
myths. These clouds are so massive and so obstructive that only
God can disperse them. Only He can help the seekers of His
Kingdom rise above them. Only He can rescue them.
Bahá’u’lláh often prays for such seekers:
Debar not Thy servants, O my Lord, from the door of Thy
grace, and drive them not away from the court of Thy
presence. Assist them to dispel the mists of idle fancy,
and to tear away the veils of vain imaginings and hopes.

8Thou art, verily, the All-Possessing, the Most High. No
God is there but Thee, the Almighty, the Gracious.1
Hold Thou the hand of this seeker who hath set his face
towards Thee, O my Lord, and draw him out of the depths
of his vain imaginations, that the light of certainty may
shine brightly above the horizon of his heart…2
Bahá’u’lláh also encourages the seekers of the Heavenly
Kingdom to do their share in seeking God’s blessings:
Rend asunder the veils of idle fancies. He, in truth, will
reinforce thee, and assist thee, as a token of His grace. He,
verily, is the Strong, the All-Subduing, the Almighty.3
Rising above “idle fancies” and myths that have captured the
hearts and minds of millions for many centuries is not simple. It
is the greatest challenge every believer must face. To inspire
Christians to overcome these obstinate obstacles, Jesus offered
them incredible incentives. To awaken them from their dreams,
He showed them a glimpse of the most glorious dawn of the
blessings in store for those who overcome the prevailing myths
or idle fancies:
I am coming soon…Him who overcomes I will make a
pillar in the temple of my God…I will also write on him
my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches. Christ (Rev. 3:11-13 NIV)
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from
the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation
2:7 NIV
To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden
manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new
name written on it… Revelation 2:17 NIV
He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his
God and he will be my son…But the cowardly•…and all
•
Those who are guided by their fears rather than by their faith. Believers
who fail to investigate the news of the coming of their Lord because they
are either afraid of being deceived or otherwise fear the social
consequences of accepting a new religion. If they had true faith, they

9liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning
sulfur. Revelation 21:7-8 NIV
See also Rev. 3:5; 2:11,
Most Christians simply assume that after Jesus returns, it will
be too late for us to accept Him. At the moment of His arrival,
we will suddenly lose our freedom of choice. That assumption,
that myth or “idle fancy” comes from misunderstanding God’s
metaphoric or spiritual language—a language used abundantly
throughout the Scriptures. Consider the following admonition,
among many others. It clearly shows that after Jesus arrives,
after we hear the news of His Advent, we will still have a choice
to open our hearts to Him or keep it closed:
Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps
burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a
wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they
can immediately open the door for him.Christ (Luke 12:35-36
NIV)

10Jesus uses the same message and the same metaphor in the Book
of Revelation:
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears
my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with
him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give
the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame
and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Christ (Rev. 3:20-22 NIV)
Who is being addressed by Jesus, when He declares: “to him
who overcomes”? The believer who has a choice to liberate
himself from the myths and idle fancies he has accepted as the
truth. The believer who can overcome his resistance to the call
of the new Redeemer, who can either open his heart to His call
or keep it closed as most people have done throughout all ages.

11would be certain that God would protect them from the deceivers, and they
would have no concern about facing unpleasant social consequences.

12As we noted, Jesus ends the parable of the persistent widow
with a gloomy message. He predicts that there will be a
universal famine of faith at the time of His Second Advent. He
declares that the virtue the believers will need to overcome their
deeply emotional, spiritual, and mental handicaps, and attain
their foremost desire—knowing their Redeemer—will be in
short supply. His critical and concluding question—”Will He
find faith on earth?”—clearly implies that by then the world’s
supply of faith will dwindle to such a low level that it will be
hard to detect. In His Olivet Discourse Jesus made the same
prediction:
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will
betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will
appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase
of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold… Matthew
24:10-12 NIV
The prediction from the Hebrew Scriptures is also gloomy:
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine through the land—not a
famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of
hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea
to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the
word of the Lord, but they will not find it.”Amos 8:11-12
NIV

13“When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on earth?” Will
He find many Christians who will be faithful to His
instructions? No, He will find only a few who will live up to the
widow’s example. Only a few will stand before the court of
divine justice and humbly ask God to grant them the gift of
knowing His Redeemer. Only a few will have faith that by
praying persistently and pleading with God, like the exemplary
widow, they will also be able to “overcome” that is, to see
through the “veils” or “clouds” that prevent them from attaining
their heart’s desire. Only a few believers will manifest her
persistence and devotion to the task.

14In this parable Jesus also reveals one of the basic laws that bind
us to our Creator. He teaches us the supreme powers and
wonders of praying. He declares that even an uncaring judge
responded to a sincere and desperate plea for help. Is God, then,
less caring than the judge who had no concern for justice?
Would the Judge of the universe ignore the sincere prayers and
pleas of His servants?
The parable clearly teaches us this lesson: To know our
expected Redeemer, we should not simply wish and wait. We
must take the initiative. We must be proactive. Otherwise, if we
fail to know Him, it will be our fault. It will be our failure to
resort to the means that God has created for our salvation, for
helping us attain our life’s purpose: recognizing the One He
sends to guide us to our divine destiny.
Could the widow receive justice without appearing before the
judge and presenting her case? How then can we receive God’s
blessings if we fail to make a sincere plea to our Judge to lead
us to our Redeemer? God is more than just. He is abounding in
His grace. He never turns us away even if we are unworthy of
His blessings as long as we follow His roadmap. He never fails
to guide us to our divine destiny, as long as we respect His
rules.
But what can we expect if we ignore His directions? What if we
decide to write the rules? What if we refuse even to present our
desire to God. What if we even fail to ask Him to grant us the
honor of recognizing His new Redeemer? What if we are
drowned in self-righteousness, if we believe we already know
the truth, and have no desire or need to investigate the news of
the coming of the One who accepts a life of suffering for our
sake?
Say,• O followers of the Son!…We, verily, have come for
your sakes, and have borne the misfortunes of the world
for your salvation.4 Bahá’u’lláh

15•
Equal to “Thus says the Lord.”

16Verily, He hath consented to be sorely abased that ye may
attain unto glory…5
Bahá’u’lláh
“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
Will He find followers who trust Him, who have faith in His
promise that by praying to Him persistently and pleading with
Him, they will attain their heart’s desire, they will be aided to
know their Redeemer? Will the Son of God find servants who
have remained faithful to His instructions? Will He find
believers who will acknowledge that they neither have the
wisdom nor are they authorized to decide how their Master
must come—whether from the sky or as a thief? Will He find
followers who have enough faith in the words of their Savior
that they should not judge Him by their traditional expectations?
Have they forgotten the lessons of the first Advent? If Jewish
expectations were wrong; why would Christian expectations be
right? Do people change from age to age? Do they grow in
wisdom? Why would the following judgment apply to the
peoples of the past, but not to the peoples of this age:
You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of
God in order to observe your own traditions!Christ (Mark
7:9 niv0
Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they
were serving their idols [of illusions]. To this day their
children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers
did. II Kings 17:41 NIV
See also Matt. 15:3; Acts 7:51
The parable of the persistent widow clearly shows that by the
time Jesus returns, the majority of Christians will have lost their
faith in the words of their Master. How will such servants
behave? Will they not follow their own desire, as people in a
similar position have always done throughout all ages? Are they
an exception to the rule?
You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a
prophet your fathers did not persecute? Acts 7:51-52 NIV

17Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate
the graves of the righteous. And you say, “If we had lived
in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken
part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.”
Christ (Matt. 23:29-30 NIV)
The parable of persistent widow, like many other parables of
Jesus, relates to His Second Advent. It is one more attempt on
His part to educate Christians that recognizing Him will require
an effort, that they must pray to receive this most glorious
honor, that they have a choice to listen to the news of His
coming or ignore that news, that they must knock if they expect
doors to be opened, that they must search for the Heavenly
Thief, that they must investigate the news of the Advent of the
One who has warned them repeatedly that He would arrive at
the darkest hour—at midnight—when the light of the faith is
dimmest in the heart of humankind (Matt. 25:6). Who can find
the Heavenly Thief in this dark night of unbelief? Only those
who have preserved their faith and followed its light.
Why would Christ come like a thief? Why would the believers
be asked to stay “awake” to know Him? Because He wants to
conceal His supreme splendor from “the strangers,” from those
who would rather remain asleep and dream of being suddenly
taken or “raptured” to heaven, than to stay awake, watchful, and
active: seeking, searching, pleading, praying, and knocking
persistently until the door of grace is opened unto them. He
wants to conceal His glory—the Glory of God—from those
who have faith in the Bible teachers but not in the One revealed
the Bible. He does not want the kind of guests at His banquet
who listen to the fantastic tales and myths their “itching ears”
like to hear, but not to the One who teaches them the truth, who
tells them what their ears do not like to hear (II Tim. 4:3 NIV).
Only the Heavenly Thief should wear a veil, not others. His veil
is essential; it protects Him from His enemies and from the
strangers—those unworthy to stand before Him (Luke 21:36).
What will happen if those who are supposed to be searching for
Him also wear veils? Will they see Him? No! Their mission is

18just the opposite. They must first remove the veils of their
illusions, and then pierce the veils that conceal the glory of the
Heavenly Thief. They can accomplish these tasks only with the
piercing light of their faith.
Jesus instructed us not to throw pearls before pigs. Why, then,
would God unveil His glory to those who are unworthy of
seeing such supreme splendor? God’s great Messengers and
Redeemers have always worn a mask. Did the masses of people
see who Jesus really was? Did they see His Spirit? Did they get
even a glimpse of His glory?
And when this process of progressive Revelation
culminated in the stage at which His peerless, His most
sacred, and exalted Countenance was to be unveiled to
men’s eyes, He chose to hide His own Self behind a
thousand veils, lest profane and mortal eyes discover His
glory.6 Bahá’u’lláh
Jesus declared that when He returns, every eye shall see Him
(Rev. 1:7). This literal expectation is the first and foremost
obstacle Christians must overcome. It is a misunderstanding
that is preventing many believers from paying any attention to
the news of the return of their Lord. They ask: If Bahá’u’lláh is
indeed the Glory of God, if He is indeed our Lord, why has He
not captured the eyes of humankind? Why has the world not
seen Him or known Him? To respond to this question and solve
this puzzle, let us place two critical pieces of end-time
prophecies together:

The First Piece
Of The Puzzle

1When the Son of Man comes, will he find
faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8 NIV)

1the Glory of God [Bahá’u’lláh]. (John 11:40 NEB)

2As Jesus declares, to see “the Glory of God” (which is an
equivalent of the title “Bahá’u’lláh”), we need faith. But what if
the supply of faith is extremely scarce? What if we have to
travel hundreds of miles to detect only traces of it? Can the one
who lacks eyesight see the glory of the sun? Can the one who
lack insight see the glory of the Son? Just as seeing God
requires a pure heart (Matt 5:8), so does seeing the Glory of
God.
To help us know Him the second time, Jesus declares in another
statement that not only should we pray persistently but also pay
attention to the news of His coming. We must investigate that
news, we must test the Spirit who claims to be King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. Why did He make such a request? Because
He knew that the news of His Advent would not draw much
attention—it would not become the headline of the day. To be
faithful, prayer must be sustained by action. What if we pray,
hear the news, but fail to look into it? What if we are invited to
learn about Bahá’u’lláh, but we pay no attention to the
invitation?
Then he sent some more servants and said, “Tell those
who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner:
My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and
everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.” But
they paid no attention…
Christ (Matt. 22:4-5 NIV)
What would happen if we obey Jesus’ commands, if we:
• Pay attention to this most glorious News
• Take the time to investigate the evidence for its
divine origin with a keen and searching mind?
• Devote much time and effort to praying and pleading
with God to aid us in our efforts, and grant us the
supreme honor of knowing His new Redeemer?
If we obey these three rules, all the doors of heaven will open
unto us!

3Obeying, with absolute devotion and sincerity, the following
command of Jesus—expressed in only three words—is the
magnet of all heavenly blessings:
Watch, pray always. Luke 21:36
If we are truly in love with our Lord, and cherish genuine faith
in Him and His words, we will follow His directions as
carefully as we would follow a roadmap to a city. Not only we
will pay attention to the monumental evidence that Bahá’u’lláh
presents in support of His claim, we will also pray persistently
to become worthy of God’s greatest of all blessings: seeing the
most splendid and awesome expression of His Glory in a
humble human being at a most critical time—when the light of
faith is dimmest in the heart of humankind, when wide is the
gate that leads to hell and everlasting loss, and narrow the gate
that leads to heaven and everlasting life (Mark 7:13), when
many are invited to know Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God, but
few respond to the invitation or exert any efforts to join the
ranks of the faithful.
If we are sincere in our desire to know our Redeemer, we will
follow the example of the persistent widow, who stood before
the judge many times. If we are faithful believers, we will stand
before the Judge of the universe and plead with Him day after
day, night after night, until we hear His answer. What if we
disobey our Lord? What if we fail to follow our Master’s will?
We are warned that such a failure will result in grave
consequences:
That servant who knows his master’s will and does not
get ready or does not do what his master wants will be
beaten with many blows. Christ (Luke 12:47 NIV)
To help us attain our foremost desire, Bahá’u’lláh also offers a
roadmap, quite similar to the one given by Jesus. His directions
are in perfect harmony with the ones found in the parable of the
persistent widow. Spiritual rues and roadmaps do not change
from age to age:

4We should with tearful eyes, fervently and repeatedly,
implore Him to grant us the favor of that grace
[knowing the Redeemer of the Age].7 Bahá’u’lláh
It is quite likely that the persistent widow satisfied all the
requirements stated by Bahá’u’lláh:
• She spoke fervently, perhaps with tearful eyes.
• She appeared before the judge repeatedly.
• She implored and pleaded with the judge to take
action.
Perhaps the only difference between the two sets of instructions
is this: the widow asked for justice; we ask for grace. Because
faith is bestowed by grace.
To attain our goal, we must follow God’s roadmap word for
word. Those who fail to satisfy the preceding three
requirements for knowing their Lord, by their response fulfill
Jesus’ prediction that at the end times a universal famine of faith
will sweep across the earth.
• Such believers will not stand before the Judge of the
universe and plead with Him to grant them the honor
of knowing His new Redeemer
• They will not persist in praying and pleading.
• And they will not have faith that if they followed the
roadmap, they would reach their destination, they
would receive an answer.
Such believers will read the promise of their Scriptures that God
always answers sincere prayers, but they will act as if He will
not.
Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a
stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If
you, then…know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give good
gifts to those who ask him!
Christ (Matt. 7:9-11 NIV)

5Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and
unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3 NIV
Since we do not know how to pray and seek the heavenly
blessings, again God comes to our aid. He even teaches us the
exact words we must say. The following section contains a few
prayers from hundreds, perhaps thousands, revealed by
Bahá’u’lláh. If you have a deep desire to know the truth, recite
these prayers fervently every day, even every hour of the day
“with all your heart and soul:”
…you will find him, if indeed you search with all your
heart and soul.
Deut. 4:29 NEB
Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with
all their heart. Psalms 119:2 NIV
Follow the divine prescription—without making the slightest
change—even as you would follow your doctor’s. The sounds
that come simply from reciting prayers cannot reach the
heavenly court. Only the heart can speak to the Heart of God.
Intone, O My servant, the verses of God that have been
received by thee, as intoned by them who have drawn
nigh unto Him, that the sweetness of thy melody may
kindle thine own soul, and attract the hearts of all men.
Whoso reciteth, in the privacy of his chamber, the verses
revealed by God, the scattering angels of the Almighty
shall scatter abroad the fragrance of the words uttered by
his mouth, and shall cause the heart of every righteous
man to throb. Though he may, at first, remain unaware of
its effect, yet the virtue of the grace vouchsafed unto him
must needs sooner or later exercise its influence upon his
soul.8 Bahá’u’lláh
Seize, O friends, the chance which this Day offereth you,
and deprive not yourselves of the liberal effusions of His
grace. I beseech God that He may graciously enable every
one of you to adorn himself, in this blessed Day, with the
ornament of pure and holy deeds. He, verily, doeth
whatsoever He willeth.9 Bahá’u’lláh

1from Bahá’u’lláh•
All praise, O my God, be to Thee Who art the Source of
all glory and majesty, of greatness and honor, of
sovereignty and dominion, of loftiness and grace, of awe
and power…Of all who are in heaven and on earth, none
can withstand the operation of Thy sovereign Will. From
all eternity Thou didst rule the entire creation, and Thou
wilt continue for evermore to exercise Thy dominion over
all created things. There is none other God but Thee, the
Almighty, the Most Exalted, the All-Powerful, the All-
Wise.
Illumine, O Lord, the faces of Thy servants, that they may
behold Thee; and cleanse their hearts that they may turn
unto the court of Thy heavenly favors, and recognize Him
Who is the Manifestation of Thy Self and the Day-Spring
of Thine Essence. Verily, Thou art the Lord of all worlds.
There is no God but Thee, the Unconstrained, the All-
Subduing.10

2Glory be to Thee, O my God! Thou hearest Thine ardent
lovers lamenting in their separation from Thee, and such
as have recognized Thee wailing because of their
remoteness from Thy presence. Open Thou outwardly to
their faces, O my Lord, the gates of Thy grace, that they
may enter them by Thy leave and in conformity with Thy
will, and may stand before the throne of Thy majesty, and
catch the accents of Thy voice, and be illumined with the
splendors of the light of Thy face.
Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. None can
withstand the power of Thy sovereign might. From
everlasting Thou wert alone, with none to equal Thee, and

3•
These prayers were selected from Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh,
347 pages.

4wilt unto everlasting remain far above all thought and
every description of Thee. Have mercy, then, upon Thy
servants by Thy grace and bounty, and suffer them not to
be kept back from the shores of the ocean of Thy
nearness. If Thou abandonest them, who is there to
befriend them; and if Thou puttest them far from Thee,
who is he that can favor them? They have none other
Lord beside Thee, none to adore except Thyself. Deal
Thou generously with them by Thy bountiful grace.
Thou, in truth, art the Ever-Forgiving, the Most
Compassionate.11
•
I am he who is sore athirst, O my Lord! Give me to drink
of the living waters of Thy grace. I am but a poor
creature; reveal unto me the tokens of Thy riches. Doth it
beseem Thee to cast out of the door of Thy grace and
bounty such as have set their hopes on Thee…from
beholding Thy face? By Thy glory! Such is not my belief
in Thee, for I am persuaded that Thou art the God of
bounteousness, Whose grace hath encompassed all things.
I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Thy mercy that hath
surpassed the entire creation, and Thy generosity that hath
embraced all created things, to cause me to turn my face
wholly towards Thee, and to seek Thy shelter, and to be
steadfast in my love for Thee. Write down, then, for me
what Thou didst ordain for them who love Thee. Powerful
art Thou to do what Thou pleasest. No God is there beside
Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the All-Bountiful.
Praised be God, the Lord of the worlds!12
•
The hearts of Thy chosen ones, O my Lord, have melted
because of their separation from Thee, and the souls of
Thy loved ones are burnt up by the fire of their yearning
after Thee in Thy days. I implore Thee, O Thou Maker of
the heavens and Lord of all names…to send down upon

5Thy loved ones that which will draw them nearer unto
Thee, and enable them to hearken unto Thine utterances.
Tear asunder with the hand of Thy transcendent power, O
my Lord, the veil of vain imaginings, that they who are
wholly devoted to Thee may see Thee seated on the
throne of Thy majesty, and the eyes of such as adore Thy
unity may rejoice at the splendors of the glory of Thy
face. The doors of hope have been shut against the hearts
that long for Thee, O my Lord! Their keys are in Thy
hands; open them by the power of Thy might and Thy
sovereignty. Potent art Thou to do as Thou pleasest. Thou
art, verily, the Almighty, the Beneficent.13
•
Hold Thou the hand of this seeker who hath set his face
towards Thee, O my Lord, and draw him out of the depths
of his vain imaginations, that the light of certainty may
shine brightly above the horizon of his heart…14
•
Naked am I, O my God! Clothe me with the robe of Thy
tender mercies. I am sore athirst; give me to drink of the
oceans of Thy bountiful favor. I am a stranger; draw me
nearer unto the source of Thy gifts. I am sick; sprinkle
upon me the healing waters of Thy grace. I am a captive;
rid me of my bondage, by the power of Thy might and
through the force of Thy will, that I may soar on the
wings of detachment towards the loftiest summits of Thy
creation. Thou, verily, doest what Thou choosest. There is
no God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the All-Glorious, the
Unconstrained.15
•
Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! I implore Thee, by Thy
Most Great Name…to assist Thy people to turn in the
direction of Thy manifold bounties, and set their faces
towards the Tabernacle of Thy wisdom. Heal Thou the
sicknesses that have assailed the souls on every side, and

6have deterred them from directing their gaze towards the
Paradise that lieth in the shelter of Thy shadowing Name,
which Thou didst ordain to be the King of all names unto
all who are in heaven and all who are on earth. Potent art
Thou to do as pleaseth Thee. In Thy hands is the empire
of all names. There is none other God but Thee, the
Mighty, the Wise.
I am but a poor creature, O my Lord; I have clung to the
hem of Thy riches. I am sore sick; I have held fast the
cord of Thy healing. Deliver me from the ills that have
encircled me, and wash me thoroughly with the waters of
Thy graciousness and mercy, and attire me with the
raiment of wholesomeness, through Thy forgiveness and
bounty. Fix, then, mine eyes upon Thee, and rid me of all
attachment to aught else except Thyself. Aid me to do
what Thou desirest, and to fulfill what Thou pleasest.
Thou art truly the Lord of this life and of the next. Thou
art, in truth, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.16
•
I pray Thee, O Thou Who causest the dawn to
appear…that Thou wilt grant that we may draw near unto
what Thou didst destine for us by Thy favor and bounty,
and to be far removed from whatsoever may be repugnant
unto Thee. Give us, then, to drink from the hands of Thy
grace every day and every moment of our lives of the
waters that are life indeed, O Thou Who art the Most
Merciful!…
Brighten our hearts, O my Lord, with the splendor of Thy
knowledge, and illumine our sight with the light of such
eyes as are fixed upon the horizon of Thy grace and the
Day-Spring of Thy glory…
…Ordain, then, O my God, for me and for whosoever
hath sought Thee what beseemeth the excellence of Thy
glory and the greatness of Thy majesty. No God is there
but Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate.17

7•
Praise be to Thee, O Lord, my God, my Master, my
Possessor, my King…I call unto Thee with my tongue
and the tongues of all that are in heaven and on earth, and
beseech Thee with my heart and the hearts of all that have
entered beneath the shadow of Thy names and Thine
attributes, not to shut us from the doors of Thy loving-
kindness and grace, nor to suffer the breeze of Thy
bountiful care and favor to cease from being wafted over
our souls, nor to permit that our hearts be occupied with
any one except Thee, or our minds to be busied with any
remembrance save remembrance of Thy Self…
Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the All-Highest, the All-
Glorious, the All-Subduing, the All-Possessing.18
•
I entreat Thee, O my God, by Thy name through
which…the fire of Thy love hath been kindled throughout
Thy dominion, to assist Thy servant who hath turned
towards Thee…Fortify, then, his heart, O my God, in Thy
love and in Thy Faith. Better is this for him than all that
hath been created on Thine earth, for the world and
whatsoever is therein must perish, and what pertaineth
unto Thee must endure as long as Thy most excellent
names endure. By Thy Glory! Were the world to last as
long as Thine own kingdom will last, to set their
affections upon it would still be unseemly…how much
more when they recognize its fleetingness and are
persuaded of its transience. The chances that overtake it,
and the changes to which all things pertaining unto it are
continually subjected, attest its impermanence.
Whosoever hath recognized Thee will turn to none save
Thee, and will seek from Thee naught else except
Thyself. Thou art the sole Desire of the heart of him
whose thoughts are fixed on Thee, and the highest
Aspiration of whosoever is wholly devoted unto Thee.

8No God is there beside Thee, the Almighty, the Help in
Peril, the All-Glorious, the Most Powerful.19

1Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide
me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my
Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalms 25:4-5 NIV
You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning…? Send forth your light
and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to
your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then
will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my
delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed
within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise
him, my Savior and my God. Psalms 43:2-5 NIV
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face
shine upon us; may your ways be known on earth, your
salvation among all nations…May the peoples praise you,
O God; may all the peoples praise you. Then the land will
yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. Psalms
67:1-2,5-6 NIV
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know
my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in
me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalms 139:23-24 NIV
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my
Redeemer. Psalms 19:14 NIV

2To continue your search for your divine destiny—for what God
has planned for you—and to learn how you can contribute your
share to the unfolding drama of the birth of a new Revelation of
Knowledge from God and of a peaceful planet, visit the
following Websites:
www.TheKnowledgeOfGod.com
www.GlobalPerspective.org

3The Websites offer information for three types of seekers:
• Those who wish to find answers to questions of identity
and purpose, who are mostly interested in cultivating their
spiritual potential.
• Those who are social activists, who wish to create a
peaceful and prosperous world.
• Those who are interested in discovering the fulfillment of
hundreds of biblical prophecies that predict the advent of
the Bahá’í Faith.
The Websites give you a choice to pursue your special line of
interest. They will help you discover opportunities you may
never have imagined you had. They will open a new world to
you, one that will inspire you to raise your vision, that will
change your plans from building a house on shifting sands to
raising a heavenly Mansion that will be yours for evermore—a
world that will elevate your soul from experiencing the fleeting
moments to capturing a splendid panorama of the future and
your eternal destiny.
If you prefer to read, start your search with these books:
• Choosing Your Destiny
• One God, Many Faiths; One Garden, Many Flowers
• On Wings of Destiny
• Bahá’u’lláh, the One Promised in All Scriptures
May God bless you and aid you in all your endeavors. May His
grace surround you all the days of your life. May He plant the

4Seed of the Most Glorious Awareness in your soul. May He
inspire you to investigate the Greatest and the Most Glorious
News. May He aid you to recognize the honor of witnessing this
Most Splendid Dawn. May He guide you to your everlasting
and divine destiny.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for you!

1Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide
me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my
Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalms 25:4-5 NIV
You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning…? Send forth your light
and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to
your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then
will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my
delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed
within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise
him, my Savior and my God. Psalms 43:2-5 NIV
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face
shine upon us; may your ways be known on earth, your
salvation among all nations…May the peoples praise you,
O God; may all the peoples praise you. Then the land will
yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. Psalms
67:1-2,5-6 NIV
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know
my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in
me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalms 139:23-24 NIV
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my
Redeemer. Psalms 19:14 NIV

2To continue your search for your divine destiny—for what God
has planned for you—and to learn how you can contribute your
share to the unfolding drama of the birth of a new Revelation of
Knowledge from God and of a peaceful planet, visit the
following Websites:
www.TheKnowledgeOfGod.com
www.GlobalPerspective.org

3The Websites offer information for three types of seekers:
• Those who wish to find answers to questions of identity
and purpose, who are mostly interested in cultivating their
spiritual potential.
• Those who are social activists, who wish to create a
peaceful and prosperous world.
• Those who are interested in discovering the fulfillment of
hundreds of biblical prophecies that predict the advent of
the Bahá’í Faith.
The Websites give you a choice to pursue your special line of
interest. They will help you discover opportunities you may
never have imagined you had. They will open a new world to
you, one that will inspire you to raise your vision, that will
change your plans from building a house on shifting sands to
raising a heavenly Mansion that will be yours for evermore—a
world that will elevate your soul from experiencing the fleeting
moments to capturing a splendid panorama of the future and
your eternal destiny.
If you prefer to read, start your search with these books:
• Choosing Your Destiny
• One God, Many Faiths; One Garden, Many Flowers
• On Wings of Destiny
• Bahá’u’lláh, the One Promised in All Scriptures
May God bless you and aid you in all your endeavors. May His
grace surround you all the days of your life. May He plant the

4Seed of the Most Glorious Awareness in your soul. May He
inspire you to investigate the Greatest and the Most Glorious
News. May He aid you to recognize the honor of witnessing this
Most Splendid Dawn. May He guide you to your everlasting
and divine destiny.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for you!