1Copyright © 2005 by Hushidar Hugh Motlagh
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN 9798594063068
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 98-94046
Cover design by Lori Block

2The 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.

3To order copies of this book and other works by this author, in
the United States call or fax:
1-800-949-1863
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1teachers and “pioneers” who have spread
the “knowledge of the Glory of God” to
the farthest reaches of the earth.

2For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the
sea. Habakkuk 2:14
As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with
the glory of the Lord. Numbers 14:21
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the
glory of the Lord rises upon you. Isaiah 60 :1 NIV
Did I not tell you that if you have faith you will
see the glory of God? Christ (John 11:40 NEB)
When the Lord…shall appear in his glory.
Psalms 10 2-16 NIV
The Lord is come in His great glory! Bahá’u’lláh
For 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… Bahá’u’lláh
He, verily, is come with His Kingdom, and all the
atoms cry aloud: ‘Lo! The Lord is come in His
great majesty!’ Bahá’u’lláh

Works By This Author

1About the Bahá’í Faith

2Six-Volume Series on Proofs and Prophecies

I Shall Come Again
Lord Of Lords
King Of Kings
Muhammad: The Spirit Who Glorified Jesus
In The Clouds Of Glory
By My Fruits You Shall Know Me

1Introductory Books on the Bahá’í Faith
One God, Many Faiths; One Garden, Many Flowers
Heaven’s Most Glorious Gift

On Wings Of Destiny
Choosing Your Destiny
Books For Christians
The Glory Of The Son
The Glory Of The Father

1Come Now, Let Us Reason Together

Compilations
The Glorious Journey To God
The Remembrance Of God
Unto Him Shall We Return
Others
Teaching: The Crown Of Immortal Glory
Proclaim The Most Great Name

1Does Your Fishbowl Need Fresh Water?

1the joy of knowing yourself
2. God’s 19 Great Little Tranquilizers. Heaven’s pre-
scription for peace and tranquility
3. Seize Your Chance. Destiny is a choice. Have you
made yours?
4. Prayer: The Key that Unlocks the Heart of Heaven
5. Death: The Door to Heaven
6. Did God Create the Universe, or is it an Accident?
7. Why Suffer? Take Heaven’s Advice. Learning to un-
derstand and cope with adversity
8. By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them. Knowing
God by His Word
9. Knowing and Loving God. How does God motivate
us to seek Him, to know Him, and to love Him?
10. Why Does God Test us and How?
11. The Greatest Lesson of History

2and the Bahá’í Faith
13. Bahá’u’lláh: A New Name Everyone Should Know
14. Bahá’u’lláh: the One Promised in all Scriptures
15. Bahá’í Faith: God’s Greatest Gift to Humankind
16. Thy Kingdom Come! God’s plan for a Kingdom on
earth as it is in heaven
17. If This is a New Day, Why are People Sleeping?
18. The Case for Bahá’u’lláh. Have you heard the

119. Hath the Hour Come? Bahá’u’lláh’s Epistle to
Christians
20. If There is One Way, Why Are There So Many Re-
ligions?
21. Should We Know God by Miracles or by His Word?
22. The News Every Christian Should Know. Behold! I
shall come upon you like a thief!
23. Mysteries of the Bible. Who can bring them to light?
24. How Can Christians Recognize Their Promised
Redeemer: Bahá’u’lláh
25. Prophecy: The Obstacle that Prevents People from
Knowing Their Redeemer
26. You Are Invited. Are you dressed for the banquet of
heaven?

12. The Heavenly Thief …………………………………………
Hearing Both Sides Before Deciding ……….
Guiding Your Search by Stars, not by
Clouds …………………………………………………
The Most Common Cause of Pain
and Suffering ………………………………………..

23. Test the Spirits ………………………………………………..
Serving on the Heavenly Court of Justice …

How Do Christians Respond To The News

1of the Return of Their Lord? ………………….. 43

How Should We Respond To The News Of

1the Coming of Bahá’u’lláh? …………………… 46

Part Ii
Testing The Spirits

14. By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them …………… 55

Part I: The Fruits Of The Tree Of Life:
Spiritual Fruits

15. By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them …………… 85

Part Ii: The Fruits Of The Tree Of Life:
Spiritual Fruits

16. The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life ….. 121

Part I: Physical Fruits

17. The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life ….. 131

Part Ii: Physical Fruits

18. The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life ….. 151

Part Iii: Physical Fruits

19. Fruits of God’s Garden ………………………………… 173

Part Ii: Believing And Denying

111. By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them …………. 205

1for Decision Making ……………………………. 205
Following God’s Standard is the Only
Way to Our Lord…………………………………. 211
Untestable Evidence Has No Value ……….. 229

212. As In a Trap …………………………………………………. 233
The Trap of the Antichrist ……………………. 235
Overcoming the Traps …………………………. 238
Choosing Your Destiny ……………………….. 245

Part Iii

1Prayers from Bahá’u’lláh
Seeking God’s Blessings and Favors …………………….. 251

1Section I: Bahá’í Scriptures Available in English ….

2Section II: Other Books by the Same Author ………..

3X The Glory of the Father

1Appendix I: The Fear of Being Deceived ………………. 285

2Appendix II: A Final Invitation …………………………… 293

3References …………………………………………………………… 301

1“Present your case,” says the Lord.
“Set forth your arguments…” Isaiah 41:21 NIV
A new book titled The Case for Christ became an instant
best-seller. Millions of Christians rejoiced in reading and
learning the evidence for the First Advent of Christ. Would
not those same Christians rejoice in reading and learning the
evidence for His Second Advent?
What can a Jew lose from reading The Case for Christ? What
can a Christian lose from reading The Case for Bahá’u’lláh—
the One who claims to fulfill the promise of the Second
Advent? Could we expect a non-believer to know Jesus with-
out studying the evidence in support of His claim? How then
can anyone judge Bahá’u’lláh without studying the evidence
in support of His claim, without examining His case, without
testing the glory and grandeur of His Spirit?
Test the spirits to see whether they are from God…
I John 4:1 NIV
Let us assume a Christian asks a Jewish friend to learn about
Jesus, and he responds by saying: “We have been warned of
false prophets. Our rabbis have told us repeatedly that our

2rabbis assure us that they interpret the Hebrew prophecies
about our Messiah correctly.” If the preceding response from
a Jew is unfair and unreasonable, how could the following
response from a Christian to a similar invitation be fair and
reasonable: “Our pastors have told us that our Redeemer has
not yet come—and Bahá’u’lláh is not the one. Our pastors
and priests assure us that they interpret the prophecies of the
Second Advent correctly.” If this line of reasoning from a
Jew is invalid, why would the same line of reasoning from
a Christian be valid? “‘Let us reason together,’ says the
Lord” (Isaiah 1:18 NIV).
The Scriptures have warned us to beware of false prophets.
Have they also warned us to beware of true prophets? Have
they also warned us to beware of our promised Redeemer?
How can we distinguish one from the other? How can we
separate the true One from the false one? Only by investigat-
ing the evidence. Is there any other way? What if Bahá’u’lláh
does indeed fulfill the promise of the Second Advent? Is it
wise to risk denying Him without knowing Him?
Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also ac-
knowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever
disowns me before men, I will disown him before my

1heaven” to “treasure hidden in a field” (Matt. 13:44). Just as
jewels remain concealed in the ground, so do the gems of
knowledge and truth in God’s Word. The Hebrew Scriptures
use the same metaphor:
…and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for under-
standing, and if you look for it as for silver and search
for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the
fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

2Without digging, we never know what lies hidden. Digging
and discovering hidden treasures of truth is the most joyous
adventure.
You are fortunate to have heard “the Greatest News”—the
News of the Advent of the promised Redeemer of our time,
Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God. This discovery can lead you
to the most challenging and fulfilling adventure of your life.
Since you have discovered the treasure box, the next step is
to open it and look at its contents. Many forces both from
within and without may prevent you from doing so: “I al-
ready have all the treasures I will ever need. Why look for
more?” “What if I lose my own treasures?” “What about
fictitious gems?” These negative thoughts are, in some
people, so powerful, they hesitate to get even a glimpse of
the treasures inside. They hear this most glorious News—the
News of the return of their Lord—but ignore it. They fail to
ask even a single question, such as: “Who is Bahá’u’lláh?
Tell me a little about Him!”
In the parable of the talents, Jesus asks us to overcome our
fears, and to be daring and adventurous (Matt. 25:30 ). Once
you overcome your fears and see the treasures, you cannot
stop yourself. You will keep finding gem after gem and mar-
veling at their beauty and brilliance. You will say, “This is
the most glorious adventure. How could I have lived without
seeing such wonders!” You will discover gems so divine, you
know they could not have come from the earth.
Today the glorious gift of faith has turned into business. We
are called constantly to join this faith or that denomination.
Anyone who invites people to investigate religious beliefs of
any kind is looked upon as a sales agent. Our natural and
immediate reaction is, “I don’t need anything! Don’t bother
me! Don’t take my time!” It does not matter what that reli-
gion teaches, what evidences it presents, where it comes from,
or what it is called. What matters is our perception, which

3agent as the one who wants a piece of our savings, we look
upon the teacher of a new religion as the one who wants a
piece of our soul. Our instinctive reaction is, “I am too precious
to give myself away! I must protect myself against all those
who want a part of me, who want to steal my faith!”
How can a new religion grow in such an environment? Only
by gaining people’s trust. This is why perhaps 99 percent of
those who take the time to learn about Bahá’u’lláh do so
through encouragement from a friend or a relative they re-
spect. Seldom do they respond to an ad or invitation from a
stranger. The trust and respect allows them, even motivates
them, to look at the evidence, to investigate the message.
Only then do they begin to see the light, only then do they
begin to wonder why they had not known about this great
Revelation before. They forget their past, and begin to won-
der why others don’t see the light!
You are indeed fortunate to have discovered this most glori-
ous treasure once “hidden in a field.” You are fortunate that
you have heard about Bahá’u’lláh. Can you imagine any Gift
as blessed and splendid as the Glory of God? Our Creator
asks us to give the adventure of examining this most precious
Gift of God our highest priority. “Seek ye first the Kingdom
of God” (Matt. 6:33). You now have the opportunity to learn
about this Kingdom and its heavenly King who has already
come and established His Kingdom in over 200 countries and
territories. The prime requirement for knowing Him is to obey
the instructions:
Seek and ye shall find. Christ (Matt. 7:7)
Thou shalt find Him if thou seek with all thy heart and
all thy soul. Moses (Deut. 4:29)
Knocking is always mutual. We knock to seek His help for
finding and opening the gate of His grace:
…knock, and it shall be opened unto you…

4He knocks to seek our help for offering and opening our
hearts:
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. Christ (Rev. 3:20 )
Only those who respond to the knocking and open their
hearts receive the honor of “dining” with their Lord. Only

May God Bless You And Lead You

1to the light of true knowledge.

2Preparing for the
Journey of the
Search for Truth

3Profile of a Redeemer
The Heavenly Thief

1of redemption throughout history. It shows the
common elements in the lives of God’s great
Messengers and Redeemers, in the way their
Message grows, and in the way people
treat them. More specifically it compares
the profiles of Christ and Bahá’u’lláh.

2The world is gripped by darkness and despair. Confusion and
conflict dominate the lives of the people. A man, meek and
humble, arises and calls himself a Savior, a Messenger from
God with a Message for those athirst for truth. He calls the
people to God and righteousness, and gives them the tidings
of a new day. He says he has come to bring hope, to bestow
the gift of a new life, abundant and everlasting:

312 The Glory of the Father

4…for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the
world, to testify to the truth. Christ (John 18:37 NIV)
…I am come that they might have life, and they might
have it more abundantly. Christ (John 10 :10 )
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will
never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
Christ (John 8:12 NIV)
…do not set your heart on what you will eat or
drink…your Father knows that you need them. But seek
his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as
well. Christ (Luke 12:29-31 NIV)
He says He has come:
• “to attract the souls…unto the summit of transcendent
glory.”1
• “to effect a transformation in the whole character of man-
kind.”
• “to quench the flame of hate and enmity.”
• “to ensure the peace and tranquility of mankind, and pro-
vide all the means by which they can be established.”
• “to liberate the children of men from the darkness of
ignorance, and guide them to the light of true under-
standing.”
• “to lay bare those gems that lie hidden within the mine
of their true and inmost selves.” 6 Bahá’u’lláh
He claims to speak not by his own leave, but by the will of
the All-Knowing:
I am not myself the source of the words I speak to you:
it is the Father who dwells in me doing his own work.
Christ (John 14:10 NEB)
This is but a leaf which the winds of the will of thy
Lord…have stirred. Can it be still when the tempestuous

5Chapter 1: Profile of a Redeemer

6winds are blowing? Nay, by Him Who is the Lord of all
Names…7 Bahá’u’lláh
He says he is as much dependent on God as others are on
him:
I can of my own self do nothing. Christ (John 5:30 )
Without me ye can do nothing. Christ (John 15:5)
He stands with utter humility before the Creator, declining
to accept praise. His wish is to glorify God, not Himself:
Why do you call me good? No one is good except God
alone. Christ (Luke 18:20 NEB)
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Christ (Matt. 5:16)
The Messenger declares that his advent is the fulfillment of
ancient prophecies, that God has been faithful to His cov-
enant, and people can now prove their faithfulness by accept-
ing the Gift of God, by welcoming the dawning of the new
day. He says:
O peoples of the earth!…Whatever ye have been promised
in the Books of your Lord…hath…been made manifest.
Beware lest the changes and chances of the world hold
you back from Him Who is the Sovereign Truth. Ere long
will everything visible perish and only that which hath
been revealed by God, the Lord of lords, shall endure.8
Bahá’u’lláh
These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you
refuse to come to me to have life. Christ (John 5:39-40 NIV)
The Messenger substantiates His divine claim and devotion
to God by His sufferings, supreme sacrifice, and detachment
from worldly cares and desires:
How numerous the tribulations which have rained, and
will soon rain, upon Me! I advance with My face set

714 The Glory of the Father

8towards Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Bounteous,
whilst behind Me glideth the serpent. Mine eyes have
rained down tears until My bed is drenched. I sorrow not
for Myself, however. By God! Mine head yearneth for the
spear out of love for its Lord. I never passed a tree, but
Mine heart addressed it saying: ‘O would that thou wert
cut down in My name, and My body crucified upon thee,
in the path of My Lord!’ 9 Bahá’u’lláh
His wish is to unveil joys unknown to the people, to immor-
talize their souls in peace and glory:
O SON OF THE SUPREME
To the eternal I call thee, yet thou dost seek that which
perisheth. What hath made thee turn away from Our de-
sire and seek thine own?10 Bahá’u’lláh
O MY SERVANT!
Abandon not for that which perisheth an everlasting do-
minion, and cast not away celestial sovereignty for a
worldly desire. This is the river of everlasting life that
hath flowed from the well-spring of the pen of the mer-
ciful; well is it with them that drink.11 Bahá’u’lláh
He asks the people to set their hearts on God and their hopes
on heaven, to break the barriers of flesh, and to rise to
horizons on high, where light abides and darkness is no
more. He calls those who seek his ways to follow him to the
kingdom of heaven, where death is doomed and sorrow
forgotten, where joy and peace and ecstasy blaze forth in
immortal glory. He says:
O OFFSPRING OF DUST!
Be not content with the ease of a passing day, and deprive
not thyself of everlasting rest. Barter not the garden of
eternal delight for the dust-heap of a mortal world. Up
from thy prison ascend unto the glorious meads above,
and from thy mortal cage wing thy flight unto the para-
dise of the Placeless.12 Bahá’u’lláh
And again:

9Chapter 1: Profile of a Redeemer

10O SON OF BEING!
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.13 Bahá’u’lláh
People respond to the call of the Redeemer in many ways.
Some are curious, but no more. They surround him and
listen to his tidings of cheer and hope. They allow him to
plant the seed, but the seed never blossoms forth.
Others are attracted to his charm and drawn as by a magnet
to his call of comfort and peace. They walk in his ways and
stand in awe before the ever-flowing fountain of his wisdom.
To them, he says:
…rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
Christ (Luke 10 :20 )
Those who deny him, hear these words:
O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but
ye cannot discern the signs of the times?
Christ (Matt. 16:3)
The Messenger speaks simply and forcefully. His words carry
authority.
…they were astonished…for his word was with power.
Luke 4:32
Of the many that he calls, only a few break away from their
bondage to conformity and tradition. The masses ignore the
call of the new Messenger. Many mock him and laugh at
him, others call him insane.
…small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life,
and only a few find it. Christ (Matt. 7:13 NIV)
You stubborn people…you are just like your fathers. You
always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet
your fathers did not persecute? Acts 7:51-52 NIV

1116 The Glory of the Father

12…you are revealing in action what you learned from your
father. Christ (John 5:39-40 NEB)
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
John 1:11
I am reproached and mocked all the time for uttering the
word of the Lord. Jeremiah 20 :8 NEB
Yet, despite the mocking and laughing, he stands firm, un-
moved as the mountains, high as the heavens. His confidence
is unshakable, his calm unimpaired, his courage beyond mea-
sure, his patience boundless, his resignation divine.
Little by little the Message of the Redeemer spreads and his
light catches on, extending farther and farther. His words like
fresh leaven stir the minds of the masses and his message
unsettles the old decaying order.
The Messenger singles out the religious leaders for special
counsel, for they hold in their grasp the destiny of the
masses. Theirs is the duty to guide, to lead the laity to new
Knowledge. Yet they stand adamant—deaf to the call of the
Messenger to build a new order and cast away the old.
The religious leaders are alarmed. Their security is threatened,
their power at stake. They can ignore the spread of a stirring
Message no longer. They incite their state to take harsh and
swift action against the expansion of “unbelief and heresy.”
They warn the people to stand on guard, to fear falsehood,
for Satan is set loose.
At last, their negligence and denial moves the Messenger to
rebuke them. He calls them “blind guides and hypocrites”
(Matt. 23:13-15). For they shut the gates of heaven not only
to themselves but to others as well:
Woe to you, teachers of the law [of the Lord] and Phari-
sees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in
men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let
those enter who are trying to. Christ (Matt. 23:13 NIV)

13Chapter 1: Profile of a Redeemer

14O concourse of bishops! Ye are the stars of the heaven of
my Knowledge. My mercy desireth not that ye should fall
upon the earth. My justice, however, declareth: ‘This is
that which the Son [Jesus] hath decreed.’ 14 = Bahá’u’lláh
The Messenger rebukes the religious leaders for their love of
rituals, for their devotion to “forms and apparels,” for ador-
ing the gold in the temple, but ignoring that which makes the
gold sacred.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees…Woe to
you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the
temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the
gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind
fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes
the gold sacred? Christ (Matt. 23:15 NIV)
Alas, such words of counsel and condemnation—sharp and
swift as an arrow—stand unheeded by most of the religious
leaders. The masses, too, refuse to heed the divine call. They
follow for the most part the example of the custodians of
their faith, saying: “We know not truth from falsehood. We
have put our trust in our leaders to guard the Faith of our
forefathers. Our duty is to follow, not to lead; to conform, not
to command.”
The populace, the clergy, and the state find a common en-
emy, a man of meekness who seeks to “wrest power from
the powerful” and “disturb the peace” of the conforming
masses—those who would “rather be wrong for sure than be
right unsure.”
The Messenger is arrested, abused, interrogated, and threat-
ened. But nothing can change his mind. He persists in his
claim without fear. Oppression strengthens his will, suffering
sustains his hope.

15=
…the stars shall fall from heaven… Christ (Matt. 24:29)

1618 The Glory of the Father

17He is asked to prove himself by a sudden outburst of his
miraculous powers, to sustain his claim by courting danger,
perhaps jumping from a high mountain, or freeing himself
from their grasp. He refuses, even condemns, all such re-
quests, all such displays of miraculous powers. He reminds
the people of God’s ancient and eternal commandment:
Do not test the Lord your God… Moses (Deut. 6:16 NIV)
See also Exodus 17:2
Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
Christ (Matt. 4:7 NIV)
And when they refuse to heed his warnings, he rebukes them
in harsh words:
A wicked…generation asks for a miraculous sign!
Christ (Matt. 12:39 NIV)
Alas, harsh words do not awaken the slumbering masses.
Distressed, he asks the people:
Will none of you ever believe without seeing signs and
portents? Christ (John 4:48 NEB)
Even at the hour of his deep pain and suffering, they mock
him and ask him to defy death:
If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Matt. 27:40
He saved others; himself he cannot save. Matt. 27:42
The Messenger’s wish is to be judged by his wisdom and his
words, which he calls life and spirit, the heavenly splendors,
the fruits of the tree of eternity:
The spirit alone gives life; the flesh is of no avail; the
words which I have spoken to you are both spirit and life.
Christ (John 6:63 NEB)
Wert thou to attain to but a dewdrop of the crystal wa-
ters of divine knowledge, thou wouldst readily realize that
true life is not the life of the flesh but the life of the

18Chapter 1: Profile of a Redeemer

19spirit…This life knoweth no death, and this existence is
crowned by immortality.15 Bahá’u’lláh
The Messenger calls the people to reason, to test him by his
works, to marvel at his knowledge and wisdom, which be-
stow light and life. He says his teachings are a comfort and
joy to those who mourn, a fountain of living waters to the
thirsty, a healing to the sick, and a lamp unto those who
walk in darkness.
My deeds done in my Father’s name are my credentials,
but because you are not sheep of my flock you do not
believe. Christ (John 10 :25 NEB)
And again:
I have set before you many good deeds, done by my
Father’s power; for which of these would you stone me?
Christ (John 10 :31-32 NEB)
The people are reminded that false leaders can be known by
their selfish or worldly deeds and desires, and that self-
sacrifice is the vanguard of truth:
They are of the world; therefore speak they of the world,
and the world heareth them…Hereby know we the spirit
of truth, and the spirit of error. I John 4:5-6
Do ye imagine that He seeketh His own interests, when
He hath, at all times, been threatened by the swords of the
enemies; or that He seeketh the vanities of the world,
after He hath been imprisoned in the most desolate of
cities? Be fair in your judgment and follow not the foot-
steps of the unjust.16 Bahá’u’lláh
“The good Shepherd” (John 10 :11) offers his life to become
“the Lamb of God,” (John 1:29), so that people may see his
love for humankind and his devotion to truth:
There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay
down his life for his friends. Christ (Matt. 15:13)

2020 The Glory of the Father

21For actions reveal motives:
Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
Job 14:4
You will recognize them by the fruits they bear.
Christ (Matt. 7:16 NEB)
The Messenger speaks with eloquence and charm, in moving
and vivid language. His words are rich in meaning and his
thoughts abound in wisdom. But alas, his light is met with
blindness and his voice falls on deaf ears. At last he is con-
demned to exile, torture, even death. The Messenger dies, but
his light lives on.
I am alive for evermore… Christ (Rev. 1:18)
The few who had followed him carry his torch and worship
in his name. They attract others, and others attract still
others. After decades and generations, his message spreads
far and wide. Millions adore him. They sing his praise and
remember his days of suffering. They call him the Prince of
Hope and Peace and his enemies the Hosts of Despair and
Delusion. They build magnificent shrines in his name and
light many candles in his memory. They marvel at the blind-
ness of those who could worship the letter but disdain the
Spirit, who could adore the law but condemn the Lawgiver,
those who had eyes but did not see, who had ears but did
not hear, who had minds but did not discern “the Light of
the world.” They hear with wonder and awe the words of
their Messenger spoken in the distant past, and many a time
before:
Woe to you…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)
Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets,
and it was your forefathers who killed them…they killed

22Chapter 1: Profile of a Redeemer

23the prophets, and you build their tombs.
Christ (Luke 11:47-48 NIV)
Centuries pass. Tradition and fancy becloud the minds of the
masses. The world once again borders on darkness and de-
spair. Confusion and conflict rise again as they have arisen
many a time before. Another Messenger is sent with a new
name in a new land. People have forgotten the past. They look
for halos around him, but find none. They seek displays of
power and earthly splendor, but find only meekness, patience,
suffering, and peace. They hear the Messenger say: O chil-
dren of desire! My glory is from beyond and my kingdom
not of this land. My light is heavenly, my splendor divine.
People are disappointed, even outraged. They reject and
disdain the new Redeemer as their forebears had done many
a time before.
Another cycle is set in motion by another people. But it
carries all the markings of the past. Such tragic cycles have
been repeated many times, in many places, and in many
ages. It is being repeated in our time.
Seek ye the Lord while He may be found… Isaiah 55:6
Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much
required. Christ (Luke 12:48)

Guiding Your Search By

1Stars, not by Clouds

1Be always on the watch! Christ (Luke 21:36)
I shall come upon you as a thief. Christ (Rev. 3:3)
That is the day when I come like a thief! Happy the man
who stays awake… Christ (Rev. 16:15)

1have divided Christians into hundreds of denominations. It
focuses only on two questions:

2• Does our Lord promise to come down from the sky, or
to come as a thief ?
• If He comes from the sky, we will have no problem
knowing Him. What if He comes as a thief ? How then
can we know Him?
The Glory of the Father proves the possibility that, accord-
ing to prophecies, our Lord must come as a thief. You have
both a right and a responsibility to hear also this side of the
“Issue,” the side that requires in-sight, not eyesight. By hear-
ing about both sides of the “Issue,” by seeing not just the
mask but the “Thief ” behind the mask, our knowledge of
God’s Word will begin to burst into beautiful blooms of
heavenly harmony and understanding. Many verses that
seemed unreasonable begin to make sense. We will feel like
a gardener who suddenly begins to see previously unnoticed
roses and jasmines growing everywhere in his garden, who
beholds many a bud turning into a blooming flower. We will
suddenly discover that the unmatched pieces of the Scripture
begin to fit into a beautiful profile of perfection.
There is a wonderful book called You Will See It When You
Believe It. Its author indicates that if we are told to believe
something often enough and long enough, we begin to be-
lieve it, and eventually see it. Our beliefs gradually settle like
layers of stones in ancient mountains. They become so well-
established, so hardened, that they prevent us from planting
and nourishing the seed of a new insight, from seeing an idea
in a new way. I have sometimes searched in vain for a book
in my library. The book was in plain sight, staring at me, yet
I would miss it. Why? I expected a different cover; my ex-
pectation blinded me. It did not let me see the “lost” book.
The same thing happens to belief systems. Our beliefs make
bright and beautiful the verses that validate our expectations,
but hide the others behind the clouds of careless thinking.
Beliefs—whether true or false—grow deep roots to provide

3cut the tree, but to get to the roots, to touch the hearts and
souls of those who hold them. As long as the old roots re-
main, there is no room for the new roots to grow.
False ideas, like true ideas, give people a sense of stability;
altering them can be threatening. It takes time and repeated
efforts to gain the confidence of those who cherish deeply
their ingrained beliefs. To recognize the difficulty of dealing
with people’s beliefs, try to remember the number of times
you could change someone’s opinion about a critical issue,
no matter how much evidence you had on your side. People
hold to their beliefs as tightly as they hold onto their most
precious possessions. Anyone who extends a hand toward
those possessions is perceived as a thief.
This book has a modest goal. It attempts neither to cut nor
to uproot the tree. Its purpose is to loosen and aerate the soil,
to create an atmosphere of openness, and a feeling that the
one established traditional view is not the only one. Even
accomplishing this modest goal—loosening the soil—is dif-
ficult and may be beyond the reach of this book.
Several times Jesus used the metaphors of “thief,” “night,”
and “clouds” to refer to Himself and His way of Return.
Why did He choose those metaphors? Why would the Master
hide Himself from His beloved servants? The Glory of the
Father answers this critical question. It removes “the veil”
from the face of our Lord, and reveals a glimpse of His infi-
nite glory and splendor. It brings to your attention verses that

1Stars, not by Clouds
As a result of giving pre-publication copies of this book to
several readers, I made a critical discovery. A few of them
started to read from the outset with a negative attitude, with

2a fault-finding eye. They wore a magnifying glass and started
looking for a verse that was not interpreted their way. As
soon as they found one, they would excuse themselves from
reading the rest of the book. That critical discovery justifies
this warning: We cannot see the stars—the guiding lights—
unless we shift our eyes away from the clouds.
The clouds are our previous learning and expectations. This
book is not written to support traditional interpretations.
Should we not be willing to give a hearing to new ideas and
insights? What are the stars? They consist of many specific
signs and standards by which, according to Scripture, we can
separate the divine from the deceptive.
It is hard for most people to be open-minded about religion.
New ideas are always resisted. To inspire a sense of humility
and open-mindedness in your soul, visualize these two
changes in your life:
Family change of Assume that you were born to a

1or Buddha, if they were Buddhists?
Historical change Assume that you were a devout Jew
of perspective: living at the time of Jesus. How
would you respond to His invitation
to be open-minded to a new interpre-
tation of the Hebrew Scriptures? As a
devout Jew, would you not resist?
History is the best teacher and awakener. Consider this ex-
ample. We know, according to the Jewish perspective, that
Jesus “broke” one of the ten commandments: the law of Sab-
bath (Matt. 12:2-8). Suppose you were present and saw Him
do this. What would happen if you were not fully awake and
aware, if you were tradition-bound? Your previous learning

2a patch of cloud, completely blocking the Light of Jesus to
your soul. No matter what evidence He presented, what bril-
liant stars He displayed, your dislike for His view of the
Sabbath, would prejudice your opinion against Him, and you
would not open your heart to Him. Not only that, your nega-
tive attitude would make you look for other flaws in His
teachings and interpretations. And if you looked for faults,
you would of course find them.
What then is the solution, and how can you overcome the
“clouds”? Perhaps the best solution is to postpone your final
verdict until you have seen all the beautiful stars that will
later emerge in this book. While reading, focus your eyes on
the “guiding lights” rather than on the “clouds.” Do not
allow disagreements with a given point prevent you from
pursuing your spiritual journey. After rising high into the sky
and seeing the “stars,” you can always come down to your
previous position. You have lost nothing.
Here is a simple and practical way to accomplish this goal.
Read the book as fast as you can. While reading, mark the
ideas you do not like, the verses or points that require further
study. When you reach the end of the book, determine which
of these verdicts appeals to you:
• The message presented here does not deserve further at-
tention and study.
• The message is not totally convincing, but it deserves
further study.
At that point, if your verdict is positive, if your heart and
mind move you to continue your search, then read the book
a second time with the purpose of making a thorough inves-
tigation of the puzzling points.
If you become bogged down with specifics, on your first
reading—which may have no significance or relevance to the
final message of the book—you will not see any “stars.” You

3Sabbath, who, because of that one obstacle—the purpose of
the Sabbath—would fail to discern the divine distinction and
supreme splendor of our Lord Jesus. That is how powerful
a little patch of “cloud” can be! And if your eyes are deter-
mined to find faults, of course they will find them. As we

1• Lack of proper care or attention, and
• Habitual inattention due to carelessness or laziness.1
Every year in the United States over 10 0 ,0 0 0 people die and
many times more are disabled by accidents. What contributes
to those accidents more than anything else? Negligence. Con-
sider also the suffering millions endure because they neglect
their health or their duty to save for their old age. Ponder
also the pain caused by parents who neglect their children.
What is the single most evident and universal negligence?
A failure to pay close attention to one’s spiritual purpose
and destiny. The most obvious evidence for this negligence
is the way people choose their beliefs. Do they devote much
time to this most significant task? Virtually all people of all
nations and creeds accept not only the religion but also the
denomination of their ancestors. They let someone they only
dimly know or have never met—an ancestor—decide what
they should believe.
To guide His faithful followers, Jesus selected and emphasized
one word more than any other. As we shall see, that word

2meaning and putting it to practice faithfully is the most splen-
did spiritual achievement. To show its critical significance,
our Lord used that word with a supreme sense of urgency,
as if there is a vast fire and most people are about to fall
into it. That word is “Watch!”:
Be on guard! Be alert!…keep Watch….do not let Him
find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone:
“Watch!” Christ (Mark 13:33-37 NIV)
Be always on the Watch, and pray that you may be able
to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may
be able to stand before the Son of Man.
Christ (Luke 21:36 NIV)

3Decoding the precise meaning of “Watch” is absolutely es-
sential. It is perhaps the most critical word our Lord used
to prepare His faithful followers for His Return. Let us see
how the dictionary defines it:
• Look attentively or carefully.
• Look or wait with care and attention.
• Keep guard.
• Stay awake for some purpose.2
As we can see, “Neglect” and “Watch “ have exactly the
opposite meanings:
Neglect: Give too little care or attention. Be careless or
lazy.

430 The Glory of the Father

5Which of the following sets of actions and attitudes is in har-
mony with “Watch” and which is in harmony with “Neglect”?

1Be awake and aware, Remain asleep and
like a detective who complacent, do nothing
looks at every clue,
examines every piece of
evidence
Be curious Be apathetic
Search for truth and Remain ignorant
knowledge

2How can we know the truth? By shifting our attention from
the negative column to the positive. By observing this coun-
sel: Watch! Pay Attention while you have the chance!

1His creatures (Matt. 22:36-39). But before we can love God
we must first know Him. How can we love someone we do
not know? This knowledge and love are the source of all

2goodness. Consider God as the sun and the soul as a garden.
In the soul’s garden beautiful flowers of virtue grow: knowl-
edge, peace, wisdom, love, hope, joy, and trust. Each virtue
has a consequence. What is a consequence of trust? The loss
of fear. Our trust teaches us that God will not remove our
love from His heart, that He will not abandon us, that He
will always be a part of our spiritual life. If you truly trust
a guest, would we worry that he or she may walk away with
a piece of jewelry left on a table? The one who truly knows
God and trusts God has no fear of losing Him.
What do we mean by knowing God? We mean really
knowing Him. What is an evidence of this knowledge? It is
the loss of the fear of un-knowing Him! Do you fear un-
knowing your mother? Why don’t you? Because you know
her well. What if you met someone for only a few minutes?
Do you remember the strangers you saw yesterday walking
on the street? You have forgotten them because you did not
get to know them well. Then who would fear learning about
another religion? The one who does not truly know God,
love God, and trust God; the one who says in his heart,
“What if by learning about this faith, I lose my faith?”
Do you really believe in Jesus or just a little bit? If you
believe just a little bit, you can read the rest of this book
without facing conflicts of any kind. You can treat it like a
novel: read it only with your mind, not with your heart and
soul. If you really believe in Jesus, you will experience some
resistance. At first you will say, “This is not the Father I
know.” But if you persist, your persistence will move you
away from the clouds. You begin to recognize the voice. You
will keep saying “This is so obvious! Why did it take me so
long to recognize the voice?” Patience, persistence, and trust
are the only provisions you need for this most exciting and

Test The Spirits

1I John 4:4

1members meet? The main one is this: they should have no
preconceived notions about the defendant or the issue under
investigation. If they show any tendency one way or another,
they are rejected.
Why do lawyers devote so much time and effort to selecting
juries? They know it is extremely hard to shift preconceived
notions. They know tendencies for or against a given position
exist in a context of values and beliefs that have developed

2Imagine a devoted republican judging a democratic candidate,
or a zealous democrat judging a republican candidate. Now
consider how much more difficult it is to be objective about
one’s beliefs that have far deeper roots than politics. Imagine
again a devoted atheist who is asked to consider the evidence
for God, a devout Jew who is told about Jesus, and a zealous
Muslim who is told that his religion is not the final revela-
tion from God.
I do not know you as an individual, but I often find that
people’s beliefs—whether they are Jews, Muslims, Christians,
or atheists—hold them as tightly as their skin! If we could
change people’s skins on command, so could we change their
beliefs! And if a rare person shows any interest in trying on
a new skin, he or she must wait a long time and do a lot of
scrubbing before any new layers become visible!
As you can see, when it comes to beliefs, turning yourself
into an impartial jury member is almost impossible. The best
you can do is to make an effort.
With the new awareness you now have, let me invite you to
put aside, just for an hour, all your previous learning about
how Jesus will return and what He will do. Let me ask you to
stop making predictions for just a little while and to examine
with a fresh perspective the forthcoming evidence from the
viewpoint of an ideal jury member. To enhance your objec-
tivity, picture yourself as a Jew living at the time of Jesus.
This change of perspective—both in relation to time and to
your roots—can be extremely enlightening. It will help you
become impartial.
To remind yourself of your jury duty, read the following

1let me make the following commitment to you. It
is an honor to serve on this jury. The consequences
of my vote, both to me and to the destiny of hu-
mankind are enormous. I will not take my jury
duty lightly.
I acknowledge that guilt and innocence can be
established only through justice. I recognize that
prejudging—assuming something to be false or true
before seeing all the evidence—is the first and
foremost enemy of justice and truth.
As a jury member sitting in this court, I will refrain
from making any judgment—true or false—until I
have seen all the evidence, and until I have heard
from the defense attorney the final appeal made on
behalf of the defendant.
If I violate this commitment, my service on this
jury will be void and my final judgment unsound
and unreliable.
With total commitment
to justice and truth,

236 The Glory of the Father

1Lord? Chances are you have heard of no one—nor have I,
except for two contemporary Figures who appeared in the
mid-19th century. They both advanced that claim. Not only
that, they presented much evidence to support their claims.
In The Glory of the Son we compared the best-known candi-
dates of the last two centuries with the One supreme Figure,
Jesus Christ. We saw how clearly they failed to be even
remotely comparable with Him. Let us carry forward our in-
vestigation by putting these two figures to the same rigorous
test, while keeping our perspective of a jury member alive.
The two figures under our examination are called the Báb,
meaning the Gate, and Bahá’u’lláh, meaning the Glory of
God. The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh claim to be the Ones prom-
ised in all sacred Scriptures. Let us put them on trial.
The year was 1844. A humble man from Persia called Him-
self the Báb or the Gate to the dawning of a new age and a
new Revelation of truth and knowledge from God. The Báb
came in the name of the Lord and declared that His prime
mission was to prepare the way for the coming of another
Savior and Redeemer far greater than Himself. He referred to
the One to come as Bahá’u’lláh, the equivalent of the Glory
of God in English. The Báb attracted not only many follow-
ers but also encountered many enemies who did their best to
uproot Him and His followers. The Báb’s message threatened
the religious and political leaders who feared the loss of their
powers. He was tortured, exiled, imprisoned, and finally
executed in 1850 by a firing squad of 750 soldiers before
thousands of spectators. Many thousands of His followers
were also killed. The Báb’s ministry lasted about six years.
The year was 1863, when Abraham Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation. A humble man, who had never

2Chapter 3: Test the Spirits

3met the Báb, claimed He was Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of
God, the Spirit of Truth, the One promised not only by the
Báb but by all great Redeemers of the past.
Sacred Scriptures have all predicted the coming of a supreme
Savior and Teacher who will bring peace, justice, love, and
joy to our divided and dreary world, who will gather together
all the diverse nations, peoples, and religions under one Faith
from God:
I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall
come. Haggai 2:7
…behold, in those days, and in that time…I will also
gather all nations… Joel 3:1-2
The only westerner who met Bahá’u’lláh in the Holy Land
was Edward Browne, a scholar from Cambridge. He met
Bahá’u’lláh while He was a prisoner in the Holy Land. In
his memoirs Edward Browne recorded these words spoken by
Bahá’u’lláh:
We desire but the good of the world and happiness of the
nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition
worthy of bondage and banishment…That all nations
should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that
the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men
should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should
cease, and differences of race be annulled—what harm is
there in this?…Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes,
these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the “Most Great
Peace” shall come…Yet…we see your kings and rulers
lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the
destruction of the human race than on that which would
conduce to the happiness of mankind…These strifes and
this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as
one kindred and one family…Let not a man glory in this,
that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that
he loves his kind…1

438 The Glory of the Father

5Bahá’u’lláh sent Epistles to the kings and rulers of the earth
as well as to Pope Pius IX. He invited all Christians to test
His claim according to God’s standards, not their own ways
and wishes. He said that His advent was the fulfillment of
a promise recorded in all holy Scriptures. He too, like the
Báb, attracted many followers and made many enemies, who
feared the loss of their powers. The Persian government, sup-
ported by religious leaders, arrested Him, tortured Him, and
imprisoned Him.
It seems incredible that the enemies of the new Revelation
would execute the Báb and thousands of His followers, and
yet miraculously spare the life of the most significant and
distinguished Figure of this fast-spreading Faith: Bahá’u’lláh.
Instead of beheading Him—the most common form of execu-
tion in those days—they exiled Him to Iraq and, even more
incredibly, later they banished Him, of all places, to the
western regions of Israel where Jesus had lived and died.
There is no one who has claimed so clearly, so repeatedly,
and so categorically, and with such authority and power to be
the Lord of humankind. Let us see what Bahá’u’lláh claims
in His own words. The following are but a few examples
among thousands. To the kings of His day, who denied His
call, Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
O kings of the earth! He Who is the sovereign Lord of
all is come. The Kingdom is God’s, the omnipotent
Protector…Worship none but God, and, with radiant
hearts, lift up your faces unto your Lord, the Lord of all
names. This is a Revelation to which whatever ye possess
can never be compared, could ye but know it.2
…O kings of the earth! He Who is the King of Kings
hath appeared, arrayed in His most wondrous glory, and
is summoning you unto Himself…3
Bahá’u’lláh spoke with the same authority to all humankind:
O people! Verily, the Day is come, and My Lord hath
made Me to shine forth with a light whose splendor hath

6Chapter 3: Test the Spirits

7eclipsed the suns of utterance. Fear ye the Merciful, and
be not of them that have gone astray.4
O peoples of the earth! God, the Eternal Truth, is My
witness that streams of fresh and soft-flowing waters have
gushed from the rocks through the sweetness of the words
uttered by your Lord, the Unconstrained; and still ye
slumber. Cast away that which ye possess, and, on the
wings of detachment, soar beyond all created things. Thus
biddeth you the Lord of creation, the movement of Whose
Pen hath revolutionized the soul of mankind.5
Here Bahá’u’lláh reminds us of the brevity of our lives and
the enduring consequences of the choices we make here. He
asks us to prefer God over gold, and to have the courage of
choosing truth over the comfort of following tradition:
Say: Rejoice not in the things ye possess; tonight they are
yours, tomorrow others will possess them. Thus warneth
you He Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. Say:
Can ye claim that what ye own is lasting or secure? Nay!
By Myself, the All-Merciful , ye cannot, if ye be of them
who judge fairly. 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 be-
fore you. Reflect, O people! What hath become of your
bygone days, your lost centuries? Happy the days that
have been consecrated to the remembrance of God, and
blessed the hours which have been spent in praise of Him
Who is the All-Wise. By My life!
Neither the pomp of the mighty, nor the wealth of the
rich, nor even the ascendancy of the ungodly will endure.
All will perish, at a word from Him. He, verily, is the All-
Powerful, the All-Compelling, the Almighty. What advan-
tage 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

840 The Glory of the Father

9in 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. They,
verily, are accounted among the dead.6
Bahá’u’lláh repeatedly takes God as witness to the truth of
His Word:
To this He Who is the Lord of all creation beareth Me
witness.7
Thy Lord, verily, is a witness unto what I say.8
Thy Lord beareth witness unto that which I declare.9
Thus hath the Lord your God commanded you.10
Thus have the mighty verses of Thy Lord been again sent
down unto thee, that thou mayest arise to remember God,
the Creator of earth and heaven…11
All on the earth shall pass away; and this is the face of
your Lord, the Almighty, the Well-Beloved.12
Is any rational human being capable of even thinking to be
the Lord? The mere thought of it shatters the heart of any-
one with any degree of decency. Let me invite you to search
for even one person in the entire history of humankind who
has spoken with the authority with which Bahá’u’lláh speaks.
There is none! Never did Jesus Christ speak in such a lan-
guage, with such authority! Surely we want to pay attention
to such a figure, to discover if He also has the proof to sup-
port this astonishing claim. What do we have to lose by
knowing? How should we respond to Bahá’u’lláh’s call?
Should we ignore His claim? Or should we put it to the test?
Should we obey this command or disobey it?
…TEST the spirits to see whether they are from God…
I John 4:1 NIV
This chapter examines Bahá’u’lláh’s call and our responsibil-
ity to investigate that call. The succeeding chapters present
the evidence.

10Chapter 3: Test the Spirits

11What does Bahá’u’lláh exactly claim? He claims to be the
Tree of Life that bears all the fruits of the Spirit. He claims
to fulfill the promise of the Second Advent, to be the return
of our Lord Jesus Christ with a new name. He does not say
He is the same person as Jesus of Nazareth. He rather de-
clares to be endowed with the same supreme Spirit, the
Spirit that raised Jesus from the human to the divine. That
Spirit has always existed and always will:
Before Abraham was, I am. Christ (John 8:58)

12The Spirit of God has no past, present, or future. For Him
“was,” “am,” and “will” are the same. Jesus Christ has al-
ways been and will always be. He is “the Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last”
(Rev. 22:13 NKJ). We know of no Redeemer who appeared
before 27 A. D. by the name Jesus Christ. What then did He
mean by saying that He existed before Abraham? He meant
His Spirit. That same Spirit, Bahá’u’lláh declares, once again
has become manifest in Him, in a new person with a new
name. This is how that everlasting and ever-present Spirit is
described:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

13And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we
beheld His glory. John 1:14 NKJ

14Who was the real Jesus? Billions of cells or a Soul? The real
Jesus was the Spirit of God. That Spirit dwelled in a human
body for a while to communicate with earthly beings. Jesus
was the Word of God—the Logos—who expressed God’s
wisdom in human terms, in words that we can understand.
Bahá’u’lláh declares to be that same Spirit, that same Word,
who became manifest in the body of Jesus of Nazareth and
spoke through Him long ago. That same Spirit appeared also
in the Báb, the Gate of God.

1542 The Glory of the Father

16Compare the Spirit of God to an inexhaustible source of
fragrance. To appear on earth, the fragrance needs a medium:
a rose. Long ago that fragrance appeared in a perfect Rose
called Christ, the Anointed One. That same fragrance has
once again appeared in a new Rose called the Báb, who
served as a Gate or a Herald, and again in Bahá’u’lláh, the
Glory of God, who established the Bahá’í Faith.
Logos, the Word of God Logos, the Word of God

17Christ Bahá’u’lláh
The Anointed One of God The Glory of God

1it is none the less a rose.13 Bahá’u’lláh
The Celestial Fragrance, the Spirit of God,
took the physical form of a perfect Rose and
“dwelt among us” once as the Anointed One
of God, and again as the Glory of God.

2The Spirit of God does not need a name. We human beings
need names to communicate. God helps us by bestowing
unique titles on His Spirit in each age. When God offers a
new spiritual wine, He also changes the wineskin:
You shall be called by a new name. Isaiah 62:2 NKJ
To him who overcomes [the spiritual obstacles], I will

3give him a white stone with a new name written on it.
Christ (Rev. 2:17 NIV)
Note Jesus’ promise:
…the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father.
Christ (Matt. 16:27 NKJ)
If we exchange “Father” for “God,” we will have:

1Some of them take the News seriously and take time to in-
vestigate it. Others fail to respond to the News just as many
Jews have failed to respond to the News of the First Advent.
To many Christians, the News of Bahá’u’lláh’s Advent,
seems to contradict almost everything they have been
taught from childhood about the return of Jesus. They dis-
miss Bahá’u’lláh’s claim as readily as hundreds of rumors,
false reports, and claims they constantly hear, especially
through the news media that has a habit of telling us the bad
news, but seldom the good.
Over the course of centuries, many have attempted to present
themselves as the Christ. The news of the Advent of
Bahá’u’lláh, most Christians think, is one more example of
such attempts. It simply proves, they assume, our Lord’s pre-
diction that there will be many false prophets. In their minds,
subconsciously they change the meaning of “Beware of false
prophets” to “Everyone is a false prophet.” Such a response
seems both safe and convenient. It protects them from facing
the most awesome challenge they can ever face. But is such
a response in harmony with “Seek and ye shall find”? Is it
in harmony with our Lord’s repeated instructions that we
should “watch” for Him? Is it in harmony with “Unto them

29:28)? Is it based on obedience or convenience? Why did
our Lord repeat this warning?
It will be good for those servants whose mas-
ter finds them watching when he comes.
Christ (Luke 12:37 NIV)
Take ye heed, watch and pray…
Christ (Mark 13:33)
Watch ye therefore, and pray always…
Christ (Luke 21:36)
Behold, I come like a thief ! Blessed is he
who stays awake. Christ (Rev. 16:15 NIV)
Do not let him find you sleeping. What I say
to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!”
Christ (Mark 13:36-37 NIV)
Many Christians, who hear about Bahá’u’lláh, act like a per-
son who has lost all his memory, and is suddenly introduced
to a loved one he or she can’t relate to. To them Bahá’u’lláh
looks like a stranger. What if Bahá’u’lláh had adopted the
name Jesus Christ? Would that make any difference? What
if He had come with the same body? Would anyone be able
to know Him?
The prime question is this: Who was our Lord Jesus Christ?
Was He made of billions of cells, or was He a Soul—the Spirit
of God? Could not that same Spirit—the Spirit of God—
appear in a new “temple,” in a new person with a new name?
The spirit alone gives life; the flesh is of no avail; the
words which I have spoken to you are both spirit and life.
Christ (John 6:63 NEB)
Ponder the words of our Lord: He says that the body has no
significance. Jesus told the Jews that if they knew Moses,
they would also know Him (John 5:46). What did the Jews
need to know about Moses? About His body, or His Spirit?
Was it spiritual attributes and honors or physical features

3Religion has always been, for the most part, an emotional
experience. People feel protective of their faith even as they
are of their children and cherished possessions. Such a re-
sponse is natural. But shouldn’t the natural and emotional be
tempered with the rational? Should we act as if every
stranger is a child abductor or a thief ?
The initial response of most Christians to Bahá’u’lláh is vir-
tually always tinged with emotions. But once they overcome
their emotional resistance, they begin to feel at home. They
begin to hear and recognize the Voice of “the stranger.” I
have seen this shift of perception and attitude many times.
How do you think early Christians declared the Advent of
Jesus Christ to Jews and Gentiles? Do you think people sud-
denly embraced them and said, “We have been waiting for
you! Where have you been?” No, just like the people of this
age, they responded with denial, disbelief, doubt, and skep-
ticism. Their minds were usually occupied with thoughts of
deception. The persecution of early Christians is an example
of the unchanging essence of human nature.
Consider this analogy. Jesus compared new Christians of His
day to fish. He called His disciples fishers of men! Suppose
you are a fish, and have lived all the days of your life in a
pond. You meet a new fish who invites you to another pond,
but you are reluctant to go because your pond is part of you.
You are attached to your environment and all the other fish
in your pond. You refuse to go.
Now suppose you are not a regular fish; you are adventurous
and you decide to say yes to the invitation. You don’t know
what to expect. Then experience the incredible! The moment
you enter the new pond, you say, “How could I have lived
in any other pond? It all feels so natural. I didn’t know I was
missing so much! Why didn’t I come here sooner?” This is
the way most people feel after they recognize Bahá’u’lláh.
They say, “It seems I have always believed in Bahá’í prin-

4already a Bahá’í in my heart. I just found my place. Although
I still love my old friends, I cannot go back to my old pond!”
The following are the main stages that people go through
before accepting an invitation to know Bahá’u’lláh. No doubt
early Christians went through similar stages before recogniz-
ing the divine glory of Jesus Christ:
1. Ignore
2. Ignore
3. Ignore
4. Why do I come across the word “Bahá’í”
again and again! Is that name following me?
5. Maybe I should look into it.
6. Maybe I should look into it.
7. Not again! I am coming across these Bahá’ís
again!
8. I will accept one invitation!
9. I can’t believe it! I have decided to continue
my investigation.
10. It is incredible! I have recognized Bahá’u’lláh!
It seems I was always a Bahá’í, but did not

1This book does not try to “convert” anyone. We are a spirit,
not an object. Only God can transform a spirit! To think that
a human being can change even a single human heart is sheer
illusion. We cannot even change our own hearts, let alone

2visit a new garden. The rest is in God’s hand. He will inter-
vene and do the specific heart operation you need. Your job
is to give Him a chance, to show your trust in Him by ex-
ploring new frontiers of knowledge. You have lived all your
life in your unique church or synagogue. Why not explore
the beyond? God loves people of courage who always seek
and knock.
God has given us clear and unmistakable standards by which
we can judge the truth, by which we can know His Redeem-
ers. Should we be loyal to His commands, or should we
submit to our own personal convenience, concerns, and fears?
Should we obey the voice of Scripture that we must “test the
spirits,” or should we obey our own voice that whispers:
“Why venture out? You are so secure in your comfort zone!”
Our Lord repeatedly asked us to overcome:
To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden
manna [the Bread of Life]. I will also give him a white
stone with a new name written on it. Christ (Rev. 2:17 NIV)
How can we overcome our concerns and fears? By turning
to God and asking Him for help:
Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and
you will receive. Christ (John 16:24 NKJ)
Do you have full confidence in the One who spoke these
words?
…seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. Christ (Matt. 7:7)
How does the word “shall” appear to you? As “maybe” or
as “for sure”? True faith in our Lord means having confi-
dence that He does get involved in our search, that He hears
our call, and opens windows of opportunity.
If evasive emotions overwhelm you, if they prevent you from
pursuing the call of reason and the command of the Scrip-

3in your heart, if they make you remember words such as
“deceivers,” “tempters,” or “false prophets,” try to take
charge of your destiny by turning to your Lord, by asking
Him to help you and lead you to true knowledge. Remember
this most critical command and instruction given by Jesus to
those who have a desire to find Him and know Him on His
return:

4c h ye
t
Wa efore,
t h e r pray
and a y s .
a l w 21:36

1one borne all the “fruits” of God?

2…do not despise prophetic utterances, but bring them
all to the test… I Thess. 5:20 NEB
…test the spirits to see whether they are from God…
I John 4:1 NIV
…observe all things that I have commanded you; and
lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

By Their Fruits
You Shall Know Them

1Christ (Matt. 7:20)

1two heavenly vineyards: the Gospel and the Bahá’í Scriptures.
They show a remarkable similarity between the “fruits” of Jesus
and Bahá’u’lláh. They demonstrate a level of distinction in
their Spirit, their lives, their teachings, their words, and their
influence on the world infinitely beyond the reach of even
the greatest of human beings. Following these two chapters,
we will examine the “physical fruits” of the two vineyards:
the literal prophecies fulfilled by the two great Redeemers.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.

1For 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 in-
vested by God with invincible sovereignty. Bahá’u’lláh

1shall never hunger.
John 6:35

2Bahá’u’lláh
This is the food that conferreth everlasting life
upon the pure in heart and the illumined in
spirit. This is the bread of which it is said:
“Lord, send down upon us Thy bread from
heaven.”

3Chapter 4: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

4God’s wisdom is proved right by its results.
Christ (Matt. 11:19 NEB)
You will know them by their fruits. Christ (Matt. 7:16 NKJ)
This bread shall never be withheld from them that deserve
it, nor can it ever be exhausted. It groweth everlastingly
from the tree of grace; it descendeth at all seasons from
the heavens of justice and mercy.1 Bahá’u’lláh
What fruits did Bahá’u’lláh cultivate in His garden? Not only
did He cultivate and produce abundant fruits of love, peace,
and patience in His life, but also in the lives of those who
followed Him. You will find the true followers of the Spirit
called Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God, identical with the true
followers of the Spirit named Jesus Christ, the Anointed One
of God. The same Spirit produces the same fruits. The true
followers of the new Revelation are as loving and kind, as
selfless and pure, as filled with the Holy Spirit and love of
the Lord, and as joyful and peaceful as are the true Chris-
tians everywhere. You will find absolutely no difference; the
fruits of the heavenly tree never change. The law of love
is as everlasting as God Himself.
Bahá’u’lláh’s Scriptures also offer a concrete and enduring
evidence of His heavenly fruits. Consider the following brief
quotations from the vast vineyard of His works, estimated to
equal one hundred volumes, words written without pause or
change of mind. Examine them carefully along with a few
passages offered from the Bible:
The source of all glory is acceptance of whatsoever the
Lord hath bestowed, and contentment with that which God
hath ordained.2 Bahá’u’lláh
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first
and great commandment. Christ (Matt. 22:37-38 NKJ)
Note the abundant use of metaphors in these verses from
Bahá’u’lláh:
Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be
worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him

558 The Glory of the Father

6with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor,
an admonisher to the rich, an answerer to the cry of the
needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair
in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to
no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp
unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful,
a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder
and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and
uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the
stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for
the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto
the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance
of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the
temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of
mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary
above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the hu-
man heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in
the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom,
a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit
upon the tree of humility.3 Bahá’u’lláh
To know our Lord Jesus, we need nothing except His words.
Like the sun, they are peerless and shine just as brightly.
These few verses from Christ have inspired and transformed
the lives of countless millions:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the
earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteous-
ness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for
they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who
are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Christ (Matt. 5:3-10 NIV)
To taste Bahá’u’lláh’s fruits you need to read at least one
volume of His works. You may have little if any time to
devote to this task, to an examination of this most glorious

7Chapter 4: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

8news and this most incredible event in human history. But
if you are a sincere seeker of truth, you will pursue this
noble task with absolute devotion. Ponder this question:
Could you know Jesus Christ without reading the Gospel?
How does “eternal life” come to us? Through the Word of
God. The Word is not just letters and syllables; the Spirit of
God flows through them:
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
Christ (John 6:63 NKJ)
Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is
endowed with such potency as can instill new life into
every human frame…4 Bahá’u’lláh
Fear ye God, and be not of them that have denied Him.
Withhold not yourselves from that which hath been revealed
through His grace. Seize ye the living waters of immor-
tality in the name of your Lord, the Lord of all names…5
Bahá’u’lláh
Bahá’u’lláh glorifies the Word of God and declares it to be
the most decisive proof of His presence:
Each one of these verses is unto all the peoples of the
world an unfailing testimony and a glorious proof of His
truth.6 Bahá’u’lláh
…greater proof than this there is none, nor ever will be:
This proof is His Word; His own Self, the testimony of
His truth.7 Bahá’u’lláh
Jesus was the Word, the spiritual food that always comes
from heaven. Can anything be greater than heavenly bread?
I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never
go hungry. Christ (John 6:35 NIV)
That which is preeminent above all other gifts…is the
gift of Divine Revelation. Every bounty conferred by the
Creator upon man, be it material or spiritual, is subservi-
ent unto this. It is, in its essence, and will ever so remain,
the Bread which cometh down from Heaven. It is God’s

960 The Glory of the Father

10supreme testimony, the clearest evidence of His truth, the
sign of His consummate bounty, the token of His all-
encompassing mercy, the proof of His most loving provi-
dence, the symbol of His most perfect grace…
Render thanks unto thy Lord for having vouchsafed unto
thee so great a bounty. Lift up thy voice and say: All
praise be to Thee, O Thou, the Desire of every understand-
ing heart! 8 Bahá’u’lláh

Self-sacrifice And
Suffering

Christ

1I am the good shepherd.

1Bahá’u’lláh
O Jews! If ye be intent on crucifying once again
Jesus, the Spirit of God, put Me to death, for He
hath once more, in My person, been made mani-
fest unto you. Deal with Me as ye wish, for I have

2Did Bahá’u’lláh satisfy this standard? As we noted, the Báb
gave His life at a youthful age, and Bahá’u’lláh was exiled
and sent to prison. The extent of Bahá’u’lláh’s sufferings
during His forty-year ministry is beyond imagination. “…He
endured the greatest misfortunes, and at every moment He
ran the risk of being martyred. He was put into chains and
confined in an underground prison. His vast property and
inheritance were pillaged and confiscated. He was exiled four
times from land to land and found rest only in the ‘Greatest
Prison.’”10 God protected Bahá’u’lláh so that He could live
and produce an abundance of heavenly fruits: works that will
endure and guide humankind for the next thousand years
and more. These verses demonstrate the self-sacrifice and the
absolute dedication of the Ones sent by God:
He [Jesus] bearing his cross went forth… John 19:17
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your
hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he
breathed his last. Luke 23:46 NIV
Ponder Bahá’u’lláh’s absolute devotion to God:
As My tribulations multiplied, so did My love for God and
for His Cause increase, in such wise that all that befell Me
from the hosts of the wayward was powerless to deter Me
from My purpose. Should they hide Me away in the depths
of the earth, yet would they find Me riding aloft on the
clouds, and calling out unto God, the Lord of strength and
of might. I have offered Myself up in the way of God,
and I yearn after tribulations in My love for Him, and for
the sake of His good-pleasure. Unto this bear witness the
woes which now afflict Me, the like of which no other
man hath suffered…Thus hath it been decreed by Him
Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.11 Bahá’u’lláh
How many the days, O my God, which I have spent in
utter loneliness with the transgressors amongst Thy ser-
vants, and how many the nights, O my Best-Beloved,
during which I lay a captive in the hands of the wayward

3tribulations I have continued to celebrate Thy praise before
all who are in Thy heaven and on Thy earth, and have
not ceased to extol Thy wondrous glory in the kingdoms
of Thy Revelation and of Thy creation…12 Bahá’u’lláh
Say: God is My witness! I have wished nothing whatever
for Myself. What I have wished is the victory of God and
the triumph of His Cause. He is Himself a sufficient wit-
ness between you and Me.13 Bahá’u’lláh

1Matt. 15:13 NIV

2The day is approaching when God will have ex-
alted His Cause and magnified His testimony in
the eyes of all who are in the heavens and all

3…every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut
down and thrown into the fire. Christ (Luke 3:9 NIV)
The hour is approaching when ye will witness the power
of the one true God triumphing over all created things and
the signs of His sovereignty encompassing all creation.15
What of the tree planted by Bahá’u’lláh? Christianity has
endured for 20 centuries, Islam for 14 centuries. The Bahá’í
Faith is now in its second century. And yet in spite of facing
severe persecutions, within that brief span of time, it has
grown so dramatically as to become the second most wide-
spread religion in the world, next to Christianity.
God always promises to protect the small Seed He plants and
to make it a towering and fruitful tree:
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…Though
it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it
is the largest of garden plants. Christ (Matt. 13:31-32 NIV)
The victory is mine; I have conquered the world.
Christ (John 16:33 NEB)
How vast is the tabernacle of the Cause of God! It hath
overshadowed all the peoples and kindreds of the earth,
and will, ere long, gather together the whole of mankind
beneath its shelter.16 Bahá’u’lláh
Know ye of a certainty that He will render you victorious,
will exalt you among the peoples of the world and will
demonstrate your high rank before the gaze of all nations.17
He Who leadeth to true victory is come. By the righteous-
ness of God! He is fully capable of revolutionizing the
world through the power of a single Word. Having en-
joined upon all men to observe wisdom, He Himself hath
adhered to the cord of patience and resignation.18

4Grieve thou not at men’s failure to apprehend the Truth.
Ere long thou shalt find them turning towards God, the
Lord of all mankind. We have indeed, through the potency
of the Most Sublime Word, encompassed the whole world,
and the time is approaching when God will have subdued
the hearts of all that dwell on earth. He is in truth the
Omnipotent, the All-Powerful.19 Bahá’u’lláh

1or contradict.
Luke 21:15 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
By the righteousness of God, should a man, all
alone, arise in the name of Bahá and put on the
armor of His love, him will the Almighty cause
to be victorious, though the forces of earth and
heaven be arrayed against him.20

3Chapter 4: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

4I tell you…if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.
Christ (Luke 19:40 NIV)
Those who heard Jesus, testified to His supreme authority:
And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word
was with authority. Luke 4:32 NKJ
Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in work
and word… Luke 24:19 AB
Did Bahá’u’lláh fulfill this sign? Examples offer the best
evidence. Consider these quotations from Biblical and Bahá’í
Scriptures:
For who is like Me?…And who is that shepherd [religious
leader] who will withstand Me? Jeremiah 49:19 NKJ
O ye leaders of religion! Who is the man amongst you
that can rival Me in vision or insight? Where is he to be
found that dareth to claim to be My equal in utterance or
wisdom? No, by My Lord, the All-Merciful! All on the
earth shall pass away; and this is the face of your Lord,
the Almighty, the Well-Beloved.21 Bahá’u’lláh
Now have come the salvation and the power and the king-
dom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.
Christ (Rev. 12:10 NIV)
To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I
will give authority over the nations—“He will rule them
with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like
potter”—just as I have received authority from my Father.
I will also give him the morning star. He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Christ (Rev. 2:26-29 NIV)
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on
earth. Christ (Matt. 28:18 NKJ)
You [Pilate] could have no power at all against Me unless
it had been given you from above. Christ (John 19:11 NKJ)

566 The Glory of the Father

6Note now the supreme authority with which Bahá’u’lláh
speaks:
By God besides Whom is none other God! Should any one
arise for the triumph of our Cause, him will God render
victorious though tens of thousands of enemies be leagued
against him. And if his love for Me wax stronger, God
will establish his ascendancy over all the powers of earth
and heaven. Thus have We breathed the spirit of power
into all regions.22 Bahá’u’lláh

7Every single letter proceeding from Our mouth is endowed
with such regenerative power as to enable it to bring into
existence a new creation—a creation the magnitude of
which is inscrutable to all save God. He verily hath
knowledge of all things.23 Bahá’u’lláh

8Read the following few quotations from Bahá’u’lláh about
His divine station. Then try to look through the Bible to see
if you can find any verse in which God has spoken with
more authority. You may wish to read these quotations several
times, and then ponder and pray to receive guidance from the
One who spoke them:
Proclaim then unto all mankind the glad-tidings of this
mighty, this glorious Revelation. Verily, He Who is the
Spirit of Truth is come to guide you unto all truth. He
speaketh not as prompted by His own self, but as bidden
by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.24
O concourse of priests! Leave the bells, and come forth,
then, from your churches. It behoveth you, in this day, to
proclaim aloud the Most Great Name among the nations.
Prefer ye to be silent, whilst every stone and every tree
shouteth aloud: “The Lord is come in His great glory!”?
Say: Is there any doubt concerning God? Behold how He
hath come down from the heaven of His grace, girded

9Chapter 4: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

10with power and invested with sovereignty. Is there any
doubt concerning His signs? Open ye your eyes, and con-
sider His clear evidence. Paradise is on your right hand,
and hath been brought nigh unto you, while Hell hath
been made to blaze. Witness its devouring flame. Haste ye
to enter into Paradise, as a token of Our mercy unto you,
and drink ye from the hands of the All-Merciful the Wine
that is life indeed.26 Bahá’u’lláh

11Say: O peoples of the earth! By the righteousness of God!
Whatever ye have been promised in the Books of your
Lord, the Ruler of the Day of Return, hath appeared and
been made manifest. Beware lest the changes and chances
of the world hold you back from Him Who is the Sover-
eign Truth. Ere long will everything visible perish and
only that which hath been revealed by God, the Lord of
lords, shall endure.27 Bahá’u’lláh

12Read the words of Christ and Bahá’u’lláh repeatedly to see
if they speak with the same “Voice.”
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they fol-
low Me. Christ (John 10 :27 NKJ)

13Note God’s warning to you and to all peoples of the earth:
O people! Fear ye God, and turn not away disdainfully
from His Revelation.28 Bahá’u’lláh

14…the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. Job 28:28

15What does “fearing God” mean? It does not mean being
afraid. It means being aware. It means remembering God’s
justice. It implies thinking about the story of the five maid-
ens who pleaded with their Lord to enter His Banquet, but
could not. Certainly a just God would not treat equally those
who obey Him, and those who do not, those who investigate
His call with humility and courage, and those who prefer the
safety and comfort of their churches and synagogues.

Knowledge
Of The Things To Come

1…the 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

1before it happens, so that
when it does happen
you will believe that I
am He. John 13:19 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
We have laid bare the divine mysteries and in most
explicit language foretold future events…29
…the prophecies He, in an unmistakable language,
hath made have been fulfilled…30

3Chapter 4: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

4He will tell you what is yet to come. Christ (John 16:13 NIV)
See also Isa. 41:21-4
Through thee the secret of all things, be they of the past
or of the future, hath been unfolded.31 Bahá’u’lláh
Both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh had the knowledge of all things:
Magnify Thou, O Lord my God, Him Who is…the
Manifestation of Thy Lordship, through Whom all the
knowledge of the past and all the knowledge of the future
were made plain, through Whom the pearls of Thy hidden
wisdom were uncovered, and the mystery of Thy treasured
name disclosed…32 Bahá’u’lláh
All that hath been sent down hath and will come to pass,
word for word, upon earth. No possibility is left for any-
one either to turn aside or protest.33 Bahá’u’lláh
…most of the things which have come to pass on this
earth have been announced and prophesied by the Most
Sublime Pen [Bahá’u’lláh].34 Bahá’u’lláh
What predictions did Jesus utter? By far the most significant,
the most detailed, and the most astonishing prophecies of
Jesus pertain to the advents of Islam and the Bahá’í Faith.
Most Christians fail to step beyond the boundaries of their
own faith because of preconceived notions about non-
Christian faiths and unjustified fears of being deceived. They
subconsciously believe that anyone who does not carry the
title “Christian” is deceived. It is astonishing to find so many
educated people who follow ignorance as a way to enlighten-
ment and wisdom! They ignore the counsels of God that:
…through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.
Proverbs 11:9 NKJ
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Hosea 4:6 NKJ
In the Book of Revelation, Jesus prophesied the Advents of
both Islam and the Bahá’í Faith. He predicted the precise
year of the Advent of the Bahá’í Faith both according to

570 The Glory of the Father

6Christian calendar (1844) and the Islamic calendar (1260 ).
The Book of Daniel also contains similar prophecies. There
is no example in religious history to show such precise pre-
dictions and such precise fulfillments. As a rule, prophecies
are somewhat cryptic; they require some calculations. In this
case, no calculations are needed. Jesus gave us the exact
number: 1260!*
No religion can claim such compelling evidence from
prophecy as does the Bahá’í Faith. The fulfillment of
Jesus’ prophecies validates not only the Bahá’í Faith but also
the divine authority of Jesus Christ in a way that no other
evidence can. For no human being has knowledge of the
future except God.
Just like Jesus, Bahá’u’lláh uttered many prophecies that have
come true. Among them is His prediction of the downfall of
powerful kings and rulers of the 19th century. For a review
of Bahá’u’lláh’s Epistles or Tablets to kings and rulers, see
The Summons of the Lord of Hosts. The following is a brief
passage from Bahá’u’lláh’s Epistle to Napoleon III at the
height of his power, at a time when no one expected his
defeat and downfall. Ponder not only the prediction but also
the authority with which Bahá’u’lláh speaks:
Hath thy pomp made thee proud? By My Life! It shall not
endure; nay, it shall soon pass away, unless thou holdest
fast by this firm Cord. We see abasement hastening after
thee, whilst thou art of the heedless.35 Bahá’u’lláh

7For what thou hast done, thy kingdom shall be thrown
into confusion…Commotions shall seize all the people in
that land…36 Bahá’u’lláh

8You will find a detailed description of these prophecies in these
volumes: I Shall Come Again, Lord of Lords, King of Kings. The
three volumes cover over 1,50 0 pages.

9Chapter 4: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

10Napoleon’s reign soon came to an abrupt end when, contrary
to the expectations, he was defeated by Wilhelm I of Germany
in the battle of Sedan, stripped of his power, and exiled for
the rest of his days. Napoleon’s defeat is regarded as one of the
most astonishing encounters in the whole history of warfare.
Because of his victory over Napoleon “the foremost monarch”
of the time, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany grew arrogant,
submitting his self to overwhelming pride and conceit.
Bahá’u’lláh summoned him to the Divine Kingdom, admonish-
ing and urging him not to allow his earthly sovereignty and
splendor to deprive him of everlasting and lofty Dominion.
Only God can speak in this language:
Verily, there is none other God but Me, the Everlasting,
the Peerless, the Ancient of Days. Take heed…lest earthly
desires shut thee out, as by a veil, from the Lord of the
Throne above and of the earth below. Thus counselleth
thee the Pen of the Most High. He, verily, is the Most
Gracious, the All-Bountiful. Do thou remember the one
whose power transcended thy power [Napoleon III], and
whose station excelled thy station. Where is he? Whither
are gone the things he possessed? Take warning, and be
not of them that are fast asleep. He [Napoleon] it was who
cast the Tablet of God behind him, when We made known
unto him what the hosts of tyranny had caused Us to
suffer. Wherefore, disgrace assailed him from all sides,
and he went down to dust in great loss. Think deeply, O
King, concerning him, and concerning them who, like unto
thee, have conquered cities and ruled over men. The All-
Merciful brought them down from their palaces to their
graves. Be warned, be of them who reflect.37 Bahá’u’lláh
O banks of the Rhine! We have seen you covered with
gore, inasmuch as the swords of retribution were drawn
against you; and you shall have another turn. And We
hear the lamentations of Berlin, though she be today in
conspicuous glory.38 Bahá’u’lláh

1172 The Glory of the Father

12Again, as in other cases, heedlessness to the Divine Call
culminated in the downfall of a conspicuous glory and the
disintegration of a glorious empire. In a subsequent war
between Germany and France, in spite of overwhelming odds
against France, Germany encountered a decisive defeat.

13Declaring God as the
Source of Every Act Performed
and Every Word Spoken

1the Father who dwells in
Me does the works.
John 14:10 NKJ

2Bahá’u’lláh
I speak naught except at His bidding, and fol-
low not…except His truth.39
Not of Mine own volition have I revealed My-
self, but God, of His own choosing, hath

3I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I
speak these things. John 8:28 NKJ

4This 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?…His
all-compelling summons have reached Me, and caused Me
to speak His praise amidst all people. I was indeed as one
dead when His behest was uttered. The hand of the will
of thy Lord, the Compassionate, the Merciful, transformed
Me. Can any one speak forth of his own accord that for
which all men, both high and low, will protest against
him? Nay, by Him Who taught the Pen the eternal mys-
teries, save him whom the grace of the Almighty, the All-
Powerful, hath strengthened.41 Bahá’u’lláh

5The Spirit that spoke through Jesus Christ once again de-
clares through His new name Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God,
that everything He teaches comes from God. In His Epistle
to the King of Persia, Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
O King! I was but a man like others, asleep upon My
couch, when lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were
wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that
hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from One Who
is Almighty and All-Knowing. And He bade Me lift up
My voice between earth and heaven, and for this there
befell Me what hath caused the tears of every man of
understanding to flow.42
In still another Epistle Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
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
allowed one word to fall from My lips. Of this God Him-

6Acknowledging the Divine
Station of Jesus Christ

7Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the
Lord rises upon you. Isaiah 60 :1 NIV
Let the light of His glory, O people, shine upon you, and be

Christ

1However, when He, the
Spirit of truth, has come,

1Me. John 16:13-14 NKJ

2Bahá’u’lláh
We testify that when He [Jesus Christ] came into the
world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all

3By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that con-
fesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God…
I John 4:2 NKJ

4Say, this is the One Who hath glorified the Son and hath
exalted His Cause [Christian Faith].45 Bahá’u’lláh

5Note how Bahá’u’lláh glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ:
Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His
breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weep-
ing. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was
infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed
in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before
thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered,
the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded,
the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influ-
ence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but mani-
festations of the quickening power released by His
transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit.46
Bahá’u’lláh uses the most exalted titles in referring to our
Lord Jesus Christ. He calls Him:

6The Lord Christ The Essence of detachment
The Lord of all being The Essence of the Spirit
The Lord of the visible The Word of God
and invisible That Peerless Beauty
The Spirit of God The Revealer of the
The Divine Spirit unseen Beauty
The Spirit The Daystar of the heaven
The Essence of Being of divine Revelation

7…no one can say that Jesus is Lord except

8Honoring God,
Not One’ s Sel f

9Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake…
Christ (Rev. 16:15 NIV)
Blessed the slumberer who is awakened…Blessed the ear that
hath heard, and the eye that hath seen, and the heart that hath

1who works for the honor
of the one who sent him
is a man of truth…
John 7:18 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
When I contemplate, O my God, the relation-
ship that bindeth me to Thee, I am moved to
proclaim to all created things “verily I am
God”; and when I consider my own self, lo, I

3I crave no human honor, I look for no mortal fame.
Christ (John 5:41 AB)
Anyone whose teaching is merely his own, aims at honor
for himself. But if a man aims at the honor of Him who
sent him he is sincere, and there is nothing false in him.”
John 7:18 NEB
Seldom does Bahá’u’lláh speak without acknowledging God
and glorifying His supremacy and grandeur. Consider these
few quotations among hundreds:
Say: My army is My reliance on God; My people, the
force of My confidence in Him…and My companion the
remembrance of God, the Sovereign Lord of all, the Most
Powerful, the All-Glorious…48
Know ye that I am afraid of none except God. In none
but Him have I placed My trust; to none will I cleave but
Him, and wish for naught except the thing He hath wished
for Me. This, indeed, is My heart’s desire, did ye but know
it. I have offered up My soul and My body as a sacrifice
for God, the Lord of all worlds. Whoso hath known God
shall know none but Him, and he that feareth God shall
be afraid of no one except Him, though the powers of the
whole earth rise up and be arrayed against him. I speak
naught except at His bidding, and follow not, through the
power of God and His might, except His truth.49
Consider also these verses from Jesus:
I am not seeking glory for myself… Christ (John 8:50 NIV)
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one
is good—except God alone.” Mark 10 :18 NIV

4Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will
be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy
Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age

5[The mother said:] “…give orders that in your kingdom
my two sons here may sit next to you…” [Jesus said:]
“…to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant; it is
for those to whom it has already been assigned by my
Father.” Matthew 20 :21-23 NEB

6They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your
right hand and the other on Your left…” But Jesus said to
them, “…to sit on My right hand and on My left is not
Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.”
Mark 10 :37-40 NKJ
…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve… Christ (Mark 10 :45 NIV)

7But about that day or that hour no one knows…not even
the Son… Christ (Mark 13:32 NEB)

8…take this cup away from me… Christ (Mark 14:36 NEB)
In truth…the Son can do nothing by himself…
Christ (John 5:19 NEB)
Glorified art Thou, O my God! Thou knowest that my
sole aim in revealing Thy Cause hath been to reveal Thee
and not my self, and to manifest Thy glory rather than my
glory. In Thy path, and to attain Thy pleasure, I have
scorned rest, joy, delight. At all times and under all con-
ditions my gaze hath been fixed on Thy precepts, and
mine eyes bent upon the things Thou hast bidden me ob-
serve in Thy Tablets. I have wakened every morning to
the light of Thy praise and Thy remembrance, and reached
every evening inhaling the fragrances of Thy mercy…
Though—as Thou beholdest me, O my God—I be dwell-
ing in a place within whose walls no voice can be heard
except the sound of the echo…yet my soul hath been so
inflamed by its love for Thee, that nothing whatsoever can
either quench the fire of its love or abate the consuming

1by God’ s W ill

2Yea, the set time is come…for Jehovah hath appeared in His
glory. Pslams 10 2:13, 16 ARV
He Whose advent hath been foretold in the heavenly Scriptures
is come… Bahá’u’lláh

1Yours, be done.
Luke 22:42 NKJ

2Bahá’u’lláh
I…wish for naught except the thing He hath
wished for Me.51
I have no will but Thy will, O my Lord, and

1Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Christ (Matt. 23:39 NIV)
He, verily, is come with His Kingdom, and all the atoms cry
aloud: “Lo! The Lord is come in His great majesty!” Bahá’u’lláh

1and asked, “How did this
man get such learning
without having studied?”
Jesus answered, “My
teaching is not my own.

1Bahá’u’lláh
I was but a man like others, asleep upon My couch,
when lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were
wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of

2The learning current amongst men I studied not; their
schools I entered not.54 Bahá’u’lláh
…in spite of His not being accounted among the learned
…He hath rained upon men the showers of His manifold
and Divinely-inspired knowledge…55 Bahá’u’lláh
The Ones sent by God receive little if any education, and yet
they manifest a level of knowledge far beyond the most
learned and educated people. They receive guidance from
God, not from humans. Their glory and grandeur are spiritual,
not secular. Their innate knowledge and wisdom, manifested
in their Word, are the surest evidence of their supremacy and
divine distinction.

Taking God As W Itness

Christ

1Thus says the Lord God.
Isaiah 28:16 NKJ

1Rev. 19:9 NKJ

2Bahá’u’lláh
O peoples of the earth! God, the Eternal Truth,
is My witness…56
Say: This is the Voice of God…did ye but

3Among the expressions of God’s supreme authority is this:
He testifies to the truth of His Word.
Christ: I am one who tes- Bahá’u’lláh: The One true
tifies for myself; my other God, He Who knoweth all
witness is the Father… things, Himself testifieth to
John 8:18 the truth of these words.58
Christ: The one who comes Bahá’u’lláh: Unto this tes-
from above… testifies to tifieth He Who is the King
what he has seen and of the realm of grace
heard, but no one accepts
his testimony. The man who Bahá’u’lláh: God testifieth
has accepted it has certified and beareth Me witness
that God is truthful. For the that whatever hath been
one whom God has sent said was the truth
speaks the words of God…
John 3:31-34
Christ: These are the true Bahá’u’lláh: The Tongue of
sayings of God…For the God testifieth to the truth
testimony of Jesus is the of My words, through Mine
spirit of prophecy. own Word that speaketh the
Revelation 19:9-10 truth, and embraceth and
comprehendeth all things.61
Christ: We testify to what Bahá’u’lláh: God, Himself,
we have seen, but still you knoweth and testifieth to
people do not accept our the truth of My words.62
testimony. John 3:11
The word “Say”—used in countless verses by Bahá’u’lláh—
is an abbreviation of the biblical phrase, “Thus says the
Lord.” Consider these examples:
Say: He Who is the Unconditioned is come, in the clouds
of light, that He may quicken all created things with the
breezes of His Name, the Most Merciful, and unify the
world, and gather all men around this Table which hath
been sent down from heaven.63 Bahá’u’lláh
Say: O concourse of monks! Seclude not yourselves in

4leave, and busy, then, yourselves with what will profit you
and others.64 Bahá’u’lláh
Say: Fear God, O people, and follow not the doubts of
such as shout aloud, who have broken the Covenant of
God and His Testament, and denied His mercy that hath
preceded all that are in the heavens and all that are on
earth.65 Bahá’u’lláh
Say: This is the Voice of God, if ye do but hearken. This
is the Day Spring of the Revelation of God, did ye but
know it.66 Bahá’u’lláh

1for so I am.
John 13:13 NKJ
Come, Lord Jesus.
Rev. 22:20 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
He, verily, is come with His Kingdom, and all the
atoms cry aloud: “Lo! The Lord is come in His
great majesty!”67
He Who is the sovereign Lord of all is come. The

3The titles God bestows on great Messengers and Redeemers
always reflect the intensity of divine Revelation, which is
adapted to the age. Because of the greatness of this age,
Bahá’u’lláh adopted a title prophesied by Jesus but never
assumed by Him in His first Advent. That title is Lord of
Lords:
O Pope! Rend the veils asunder. He Who is the Lord of
Lords is come overshadowed with clouds, and the decree

4By Their Fruits
You Shall Know Them
Christ (Matt. 7:20)

Part Ii

This Chapter Offers Still More Fruits From
The Vineyard Of The Two Great Redeemers:

1Christ and Bahá’u’lláh.

1O My servants! There shineth nothing else in Mine heart ex-
cept the unfading light of the Morn of Divine guidance, and
out of My mouth proceedeth naught but the essence of truth,
which the Lord your God hath revealed.1 Bahá’u’lláh

1one comes to the Father
except through me.
John 14:6 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
This is the Way of God unto all who are in the
heavens and all who are on the earth.2

3Bahá’u’lláh indicates that, “This is the way of God,” not
“This is a way of God.” The word “the” points to exclusive-
ness. Bahá’u’lláh’s statement goes even beyond that of Jesus’.
He claims that His is the Way not only for the peoples of
the earth, but also for those in heaven. Where does “the
Way” end? Always in God. Jesus showed that the goal is
God, the Father. He said, “No one comes to the Father…”
The Spirit in Jesus Christ, the anointed one of God, is the
same Spirit in Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God. Both “Names”
claim to be all truth.

1the beginning and the
end. Revelation 21:6

2Bahá’u’lláh
He Who is both the Beginning and the End…

3In the following prophecy, Jesus confirms that “the One who
is to come” is also the Alpha and the Omega:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God,
“who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Al-
mighty.” Revelation 1:8 NIV

1of the kings of the earth.
Revelation 1:5 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Ye are but vassals, O kings of the earth! He Who
is the King of Kings hath appeared, arrayed in His

3The Claim to Have Come
from Heaven

4For 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 in-

Christ
I Have Come Down

1John 6:38 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
He, verily, hath again come down from
Heaven even as He came down from it the

1I shall come again and receive you to myself, so that where I
am you may be also… Christ (John 14:3 NEB)
Lo! He is come…invested with conclusive proof and evidence.
Bahá’u’lláh

1God is my witness! He, the Ancient of everlast-
ing days is come, girded with majesty and

2The Claim that Denying Them
is Denying God

3…when he, the spirit of truth comes…He will bring glory to
me. Christ (John 16:13-14 NIV)
We testify that when He [Christ] came into the world, He
shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things.

1…whoever denies Me
before men, him I will
also deny before My
Father who is in heaven.
Matt. 10 :33

1I John 2:23

2Bahá’u’lláh
…whosoever denieth Him hath disbelieved in God.8
…whoso turneth away from these holy verses in
this Day is of those who throughout eternity have

3The Claim that Accepting Them
is Accepting God

4…when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into
all truth. Christ (John 16:13 NIV)
Proclaim then unto all mankind the glad-tidings of this
mighty, this glorious Revelation. Verily, He Who is the Spirit

Christ

1Most assuredly, I say to
you…he who receives

1Bahá’u’lláh
I bear witness that he who hath known Thee hath
known God, and he who hath attained unto Thy

2Seeing True Glory in
Suffering, Poverty, and Servitude

3And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind
together will see it. Isaiah 40 :5 NIV
This is the Day in which the earth shineth with the effulgent
light of thy Lord, but the people are lost in error and have

1come. Glorify Your Son…
John 17:1 NKJ
…the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to
serve, and to give His life
a ransom for many.
Matt. 20 :28 NKJ

2Bahá’u’lláh
I sorrow not for the burden of My imprisonment.
Neither do I grieve over My abasement, or the
tribulation I suffer at the hands of Mine enemies.

3…whoever desires to become great among you, let him
be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among
you, let him be your slave… Christ (Matt. 20 :26-27 NKJ)

4Poverty is My Pride.12 Bahá’u’lláh

5Poverty is My glory.13 Bahá’u’lláh

6Who can ever believe that this Servant of God hath at any
time cherished in His heart a desire for any earthly honor
or benefit? The Cause associated with His Name is far
above the transitory things of this world. Behold Him, an
exile, a victim of tyranny, in this Most Great Prison. His
enemies have assailed Him on every side, and will con-
tinue to do so till the end of His life. Whatever, therefore,
He saith unto you is wholly for the sake of God, that
haply the peoples of the earth may cleanse their hearts
from the stain of evil desire, may rend its veil asunder,
and attain unto the knowledge of the one true God—the
most exalted station to which any man can aspire. Their
belief or disbelief in My Cause can neither profit nor harm
Me. We summon them wholly for the sake of God. He,
verily, can afford to dispense with all creatures.14
Bahá’u’lláh

7My God, my Master, my Highest Hope, and the Goal of
my desire! Thou seest and hearest the sighing of this
wronged One…By Thy Beauty, O Thou Whose glory is
uncovered to the face of men! I am not impatient in the
troubles that touch me in my love for Thee, neither in the
adversities which I suffer in Thy path. Nay, I have, by
Thy power, chosen them for mine own self, and I glory in
them amongst such of Thy creatures as enjoy near access
to Thee, and those of Thy servants that are wholly devoted

Adopting The Most
Glorious Titles

1The titles cited here consist only of the ones Bahá’u’lláh and
Jesus adopted for themselves. They do not include the titles
uttered in prophecies or attributed to them by their followers.

1The First and the Last,
the Light of the World,
Son of Man, the Son, Son
of God, the Bridegroom,
the King of Jews.

2Bahá’u’lláh

1The First and the Last, the Lord of Hosts, the
Most Great Name, the Ancient Beauty, the Hidden
Name, the Most Great Light, the Speaker on Sinai.

2Other Titles Adopted by
Christ and Bahá’u’lláh

1of Life, the Door, the
Good Shepherd, the Res-
urrection, the Life, the
Way, the Truth, the Vine,
the Prince of the Kings.

2Bahá’u’lláh
The Desire of the Nations, the Lord of the Cov-
enant, the Glory of the Lord, the Counselor, the
Spirit of Truth, the Judge, Servant, the Essence of
Being, Lord of the visible and invisible, the Blessed
Beauty, Lord of Lords, the Spirit of God.

3Other titles adopted by Christ:
Alpha and Omega, the Beginning of the Creation of God,
the Faithful Witness, Lord Jesus, the Bright Morning Star,

4Other titles adopted by Bahá’u’lláh:
The Most Great Spirit, the Pen of the Most High, Prophet,
the Son of Man Who shall come in the glory of His Father,
the Word of God, Jehovah or Yahweh, King of Kings, the
Most Great Beauty, the Holy Spirit, the Hidden Mystery,
the Hidden Name, the Burning Bush, He who sits on the
throne, the Father, the Bird of Heaven, the Ruler of the
Kingdom of Names, the Revealer of the names of God,
the Lord of Names.

The Authority To Judge

Christ

1The Father…has entrusted
all judgment to the Son…
John 5:22 NIV

1John 9:39 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Say: This is the infallible Balance which the
Hand of God is holding, in which all who are
in the heavens and all who are on the earth are

3The peoples of the earth are judged by the way they respond
to the Redeemer of the Age, Bahá’u’lláh.
Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judg-
ment is come. Revelation 14:7

1whoever rejects the Son
will not see life, for God’s
wrath remains on him.
John 3:36 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
No man can obtain everlasting life, unless he em-
braceth the truth of this inestimable, this wondrous,

3The hands of bounty have borne round the cup of ever-
lasting life. Approach, and quaff your fill. Drink with
healthy relish…18 Bahá’u’lláh
…free thyself from the veils of idle fancies and enter into
My court, that thou mayest be fit for everlasting life and
worthy to meet Me. Thus may death not come upon thee,
neither weariness nor trouble.19 Bahá’u’lláh
O the pity! that man should deprive himself of this goodly
gift, this imperishable bounty, this everlasting life.20
Bahá’u’lláh
He is truly wise whom the world and all that is therein
have not deterred from recognizing the light of this Day,
who will not allow men’s idle talk to cause him to swerve
from the way of righteousness. He is indeed as one dead
who, at the wondrous dawn of this Revelation, hath failed
to be quickened by its soul-stirring breeze. He is indeed
a captive who hath not recognized the Supreme Redeemer,
but hath suffered his soul to be bound, distressed and
helpless, in the fetters of his desires.21 Bahá’u’lláh
This is the Day whereon the rushing waters of everlast-
ing life have gushed out of the Will of the All-Merciful.
Haste ye, with your hearts and souls, and quaff your
fill…22 Bahá’u’lláh
By the righteousness of the Almighty! Every hidden thing
hath been manifested through the power of truth. All the
favors of God have been sent down, as a token of His
grace. The waters of everlasting life have, in their full-
ness, been proffered unto men. Every single cup hath been
borne round by the hand of the Well-Beloved. Draw near,
and tarry not, though it be for one short moment.23
Bahá’u’lláh
Well is it with him who hath quaffed the Mystic Wine of
everlasting life from the utterance of his merciful Lord in
My Name—a Name through which every lofty and ma-

Knowledge Of
Spiritual Mysteries

1When the Lord…shall appear in His glory. Psalms 10 2:16

2The Lord is come in His great glory. Bahá’u’lláh

1“I know that Messiah is
coming” (who is called
Christ). “When He comes,
He will tell us all things.”
Jesus said to her, “I who
speak to you am He.”
John 4:25-26 NKJ

2Bahá’u’lláh
By the righteousness of the Almighty! Every
hidden thing hath been manifested through the

3…He [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the
Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:27 NIV

4…the Son of Man is sovereign over the Sabbath.
Christ (Matt. 12:8 NEB)

5Say: O leaders of religion! Weigh not the Book of God
with such standards and sciences as are current amongst
you, for the Book itself is the unerring Balance established
amongst men. In this most perfect Balance whatsoever the
peoples and kindreds of the earth possess must be
weighed…26 Bahá’u’lláh

6Does it make any sense to consider the interpretation of
religious leaders as the standard of truth? Just as Jesus
explained to the Jews the meaning of prophecies, so did
Bahá’u’lláh:
For it behooveth no man to interpret the holy words ac-
cording to his own imperfect understanding, nor, having
found them to be contrary to his inclination and desires,
to reject and repudiate their truth.27 Bahá’u’lláh

7Why do so many people refuse to acknowledge that they are
fallible, that they can be as wrong today as people were
2,0 0 0 years ago? Are the people of this age perfect?
…when perfection [the Spirit of God] comes, the imper-
fect disappears. I Corinthians 13:10 NIV

8Thou didst raise Him up to occupy Thy throne before all
the people of Thy creation. Thou didst enable Him to
unravel Thy mysteries, and to shine with the lights of
Thine inspiration and Thy Revelation, and to manifest Thy

1blemish or defect.
I Peter 1:19 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Say: This is the infallible Balance which the
Hand of God is holding…29

3In a prayer and meditation, Bahá’u’lláh refers to Himself as

1Bahá’u’lláh
We have never gloried in any thing, nor did We
seek preference over any soul. To everyone We
have been a most kindly companion, a most for-
bearing and affectionate friend.31

2Bahá’u’lláh continues:
In the company of the poor We have sought their fellow-
ship, and amidst the exalted and learned We have been

1Matt. 4:12 NKJ

2Bahá’u’lláh
We betook Ourselves to the wilderness, and
there, separated and alone, led for two years a
life of complete solitude.33

3Bahá’u’lláh continues:
From Our eyes there rained tears of anguish, and in Our
bleeding heart there surged an ocean of agonizing pain.
Many a night We had no food for sustenance, and many

Manifesting
Miraculous Powers

But Refusing To
Use Them As Evidence

Christ
Will None Of You Ever
Believe Without Seeing

1signs and portents?
John 4:48 NEB

1Matt. 12:39 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
We entreat Our loved ones not to…allow references
to what they have regarded as miracles and prodi-
gies to debase Our rank and station, or to mar the

3See that no one knows about this [miracle].
Christ (Matt. 9:30 NIV)
Jesus and Bahá’u’lláh owned the whole universe; they were
its Creator, and yet never did they use their supreme powers
for worldly gains. Jesus had no home. Bahá’u’lláh did have
a home: prison.
Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the
Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.
Christ (Luke 9:58 NKJ)
He hath, during the greater part of His life, been sore-tried
in the clutches of His enemies. His sufferings have now
reached their culmination in this afflictive Prison, into
which His oppressors have so unjustly thrown Him.36
Bahá’u’lláh
He summoned men unto the most sublime Paradise, and
yet they seized Him and paraded Him through cities and
countries. How many the nights during which slumber fled
from the eyes of My loved ones, because of their love for
Me; and how numerous the days whereon I had to face
the assaults of the peoples against Me! At one time I found
Myself on the heights of mountains; at another in the
depths of the prison of Tá (Tihrán), in chains and fetters.
By the righteousness of God! I was at all times thankful
unto Him, uttering His praise, engaged in remembering
Him, directed towards Him, satisfied with His pleasure,
and lowly and submissive before Him. So passed My
days, until they ended in this Prison (‘Akká) which hath
made the earth to tremble and the heavens to sigh.37
Bahá’u’lláh
As My tribulations multiplied, so did My love for God and
for His Cause increase…Should they hide Me away in the
depths of the earth, yet would they find Me riding aloft
on the clouds, and calling out unto God, the Lord of
strength and of might. I have offered Myself up in the
way of God, and I yearn after tribulations in My love for

4The Authority to Bestow

1“Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes,
let him take the free gift of the water of life. Christ (Rev. 22:17 NIV)
O concourse of priests! Leave the bells, and come forth…from
your churches…Prefer ye to be silent, whilst every stone and ev-
ery tree shouteth aloud: “The Lord is come in His great glory!”
Bahá’u’lláh

Christ
This Is Why I Told You
That No One Can Come To
Me Unless The Father Has

1enabled him. John 6:65 NIV

1people. Rev. 22:21 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
This is the Day in which God’s most excellent
favors have been poured out upon men, the Day
in which His most mighty grace hath been infused

3Among the sayings of Jesus the preceding verses come
closest to the idea of being saved by grace. The common
belief that we are saved by grace does not appear in Jesus’
recorded sayings, but His Apostles use it frequently:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…it
is the gift of God… Ephesians 2:8 NIV
The topic of grace appears frequently in the Works of the
Báb and Bahá’u’lláh:
Not for a moment hath His grace been withheld, nor have
the showers of His loving-kindness ceased to rain upon
mankind.40 Bahá’u’lláh
The Cause of God hath come as a token of His grace.
Happy are they who act; happy are they who understand;
happy the man that hath clung unto the truth, detached
from all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth.41
Bahá’u’lláh
Our grace assuredly pervadeth all that dwell in the king-
doms of earth and heaven and in whatever lieth between
them, and beyond them all mankind. However, souls that
have shut themselves out as by a veil can never partake
of the outpourings of the grace of God.42 The Báb
That hour is now come. The world is illumined with the
effulgent glory of His countenance. And yet, behold how
far its peoples have strayed from His path!…Its grace is
being poured out upon men. Fill thy cup, and drink in, in
His Name, the Most Holy, the All-Praised.43 Bahá’u’lláh
The whole duty of man in this Day is to attain that share
of the flood of grace which God poureth forth for him.44
Bahá’u’lláh
Look not upon the creatures of God except with the eye
of kindliness and of mercy, for Our loving providence
hath pervaded all created things, and Our grace encom-

4The Authority to Reward
and Punish

1spiritual handicaps] will
inherit all this, and I will
be his God and he will be
my son. But the cowardly,
the unbelieving, the vile
…their place will be in
the fiery lake of burning
sulfur. Rev. 21:7-8 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
He Who is the Lord of Lords is come overshad-
owed with clouds…On His right hand flow the
living waters of grace, and on His left the choice
Wine* of justice…46

3Wine symbolizes many meanings, among them God’s justice and wrath
against those who ignore His Call or deny or oppose His Messengers
and Redeemers of Hope and Peace. The connection between anger and
seething wine is obvious. These prophecies pertain to our time:
He [the promised Redeemer] treads the winepress of the fury of
the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has
this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Revelation 19:15-16 NIV
In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with
spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it

4Then He [the Redeemer of our age] will say to those on
His left hand…go from My sight to the eternal fire…
Christ (Matt. 25:41 NEB)
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom
of their Father. Christ (Matt. 13:43 NIV)
O son of being! 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.47 Bahá’u’lláh
To him who is victorious [over obstacles], I will grant a
place on my throne… Christ (Rev. 3:21 NEB)
Great, therefore, is the blessedness of him who hath be-
lieved in Thee, and in Thy signs, and hath humbled him-
self before Thy sovereignty, and hath been honored with
meeting Thee, and hath attained the good pleasure of Thy
will, and circled around Thee, and stood before Thy throne.
Woe betide him that hath transgressed against Thee, and
hath denied Thee, and repudiated Thy signs, and gainsaid
Thy sovereignty, and risen up against Thee, and waxed
proud before Thy face, and hath disputed Thy testimonies,
and fled from Thy rule and Thy dominion…48 Bahá’u’lláh
…to all who received him, to those who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God…
John 1:12 NIV
Great is the blessedness of him who hath in this Day cast
away the things current amongst men and hath clung unto
that which is ordained by God…Who is come from the
heaven of eternity through the power of the Most Great
Name, invested with so invincible an authority that all the
powers of the earth are unable to withstand Him.49
Bahá’u’lláh
“I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the
Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have
followed me will also sit on twelve thrones…

5Acknowledging a new Redeemer from God at a time of the
Most Great Negligence—when people pay more attention to
sports news than the news of the advent of the most awe-
some manifestation of God’s Glory—is a peerless act of
courage. Such a noble act deserves the most glorious rewards
God can bestow on humans.
Know thou that every ear which hearkeneth unto His
[Bahá’u’lláh’s] Words with true faith shall be immune
from the fire. Thus the believer, through his recognition
of Him will appreciate the transcendent character of His
heavenly Words, will whole-heartedly choose Him over
others, and will refuse to incline his affections towards
those who disbelieve in Him. Whatever one gaineth in the
life to come is but the fruit of this faith. Indeed any man
whose eye gazeth upon His Words with true faith well
deserveth Paradise; and one whose conscience beareth
witness unto His Words with true faith shall abide in Para-
dise and attain the presence of God; and one whose tongue
giveth utterance to His Words with true faith shall have his
abode in Paradise, wherein he will be seized with ecstasy
in praise and glorification of God, the Ever-Abiding,50
The Báb
What about those who neglect their duties? Their refusal to
open their heart to God’s most splendid expression of grace
and glory is the most awesome punishment a human being
can inflict on himself. This punishment is so severe it is
called “the Fire.” A person who chooses to stay outside
Bahá’u’lláh’s garden of grace and glory feels the pain of a
person who lives in a perpetual state of “burning out.” Surely
the powerful metaphor of “fire” should awaken every sleep-
ing soul. Yet the state of negligence is so severe in so many
people and in so many ways that this powerful metaphor fails
to awaken the slumbering masses, except a few watchful

T He Authority
To Forgive Sins

For The Earth Will Be Filled With The Knowledge Of The Glory

1of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14 NIV
The world is illumined with the effulgent glory of His coun-
tenance. Bahá’u’lláh

1thority on earth to forgive
sins. Matt. 9:6 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Verily, the breezes of forgiveness have been wafted
from the direction of your Lord, the God of Mercy;
whoso turneth thereunto, shall be cleansed of his

1“the Light”

2People will come from east and west and north and south, and
will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.
Christ (Luke 13:29 NIV)
Blessed the insatiate soul who casteth away his selfish desires for
love of Me and taketh his place at the banquet table which I have
sent down from the heaven of divine bounty for My chosen ones.
Bahá’u’lláh

1darkness instead of light
because their deeds were
evil. John 3:19 NIV

2The Dawn hath truly brightened and the light
hath shone forth and the night hath receded.
Happy are they that comprehend. Happy are they

3I am the light of the world. Christ (John 8:12 NIV)
The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not
understood it. Christ (John 1:5 NIV)
This is the Day whereon naught can be seen except the
splendors of the Light that shineth from the face of Thy
Lord, the Gracious, the Most Bountiful.53 Bahá’u’lláh
O My servants! Deprive not yourselves of the unfading
and resplendent Light that shineth within the Lamp of
Divine glory.54 Bahá’u’lláh
Say: “The True One is come evident as the shining sun;
O pity that He should have come into the city of the
blind!”55 Bahá’u’lláh
The sun in the physical world has its counterpart in the spiri-
tual. Every day we must wake up to the light of the new day.
Every day the sun bestows a new measure of light, but it is
the same sun and the same light. If we do not wake up to
the light of the new day, we remain asleep in darkness.
Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of
the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall
cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the
Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon
you…The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor
for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the
Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God
your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall
your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your
everlasting light… Isaiah 60 :1-2,19-20 NKJ
O SON OF MAN!
Many a day hath passed over thee whilst thou hast busied
thyself with thy fancies and idle imaginings. How long art
thou to slumber on thy bed? Lift up thy head from slum-
ber, for the Sun hath risen to the zenith, haply it may

4The Claim to be the
Creator of the Universe

5I shall come again and receive you to myself, so that where
I am you may be also… Christ (John 14:3 NEB)
Lo! He is come…invested with conclusive proof and evidence.

1out Him nothing was
made that was made.
John 1:3 NKJ

2Bahá’u’lláh
I testify…that with but a movement of Thy Pen
Thine injunction “Be Thou” hath been enforced…
and all created things have been called into being,

3I testify…that He Who hath been manifested is the Hidden
Mystery…through Whom the letters B and E (Be) have
been joined and knit together.58 Bahá’u’lláh
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.
Psalms 33:6
In a book called The Hidden Words, Bahá’u’lláh often speaks
as the Creator or as One who speaks with the Voice of the
Creator:
O SON OF MAN!
Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity
of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I cre-
ated thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed
to thee My beauty.59
O SON OF MAN!
I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do
thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul
with the spirit of life.60
O SON OF BEING!
Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from
it thy radiance and seek none other than Me. For I have
created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favor
upon thee.61
O SON OF BEING!
With the hands of power I made thee and with the fingers
of strength I created thee; and within thee have I placed
the essence of My light. Be thou content with it and seek
naught else, for My work is perfect and My command is
binding. Question it not, nor have a doubt thereof.62
O SON OF SPIRIT!
Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself.

4O BRETHREN!
Be forbearing one with another and set not your affections
on things below. Pride not yourselves in your glory, and be
not ashamed of abasement. By My beauty! I have created
all things from dust, and to dust will I return them again.64

1suffer many things and
be rejected…and…killed
…If anyone would come
after me, he must deny
himself and take up his
cross and follow me.
Mark 8:31-34 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
He [Bahá’u’lláh] did not seek, for one moment,

3Fulfilling Many Specific
and Literal Prophecies

4Did I not tell you that if you have faith you will see the glory
of God? Christ (John 11:40 NEB)

1you refuse to come to
me to have life.
John 5:39-40 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Whatever hath come to pass in this Day hath

3Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing
his plan to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7

4The time fore-ordained unto the peoples and kindreds of
the earth is now come. The promises of God, as recorded
in the holy Scriptures, have all been fulfilled.67 Bahá’u’lláh
Do prophecies carry much weight? Did Bahá’u’lláh and the
Báb fulfill any biblical prophecies? As we shall see in the
next three chapters, they fulfilled hundreds of prophecies on
a scale never seen before, not even in the first Advent of
Jesus Christ.
Let us conclude this chapter with a quotation from
Bahá’u’lláh on a topic quite dear to all Christians: the grace
of God. As there was an outpouring of grace at the time of
the first Advent through the Spirit of God, Jesus Christ, so is
there such an outpouring in this age, through the Advent of
that same Spirit with a new name Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of
God. In the Concordance to Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings, there are
almost 80 0 references to the word grace and its derivatives.
Behold how the manifold grace of God, which is being
showered from the clouds of Divine glory, hath, in this
day, encompassed the world. For whereas in days past
every lover besought and searched after his Beloved, it is
the Beloved Himself Who now is calling His lovers and
is inviting them to attain His presence. Take heed lest ye
forfeit so precious a favor; beware lest ye belittle so re-
markable a token of His grace. Abandon not the incorrupt-
ible benefits, and be not content with that which perisheth.
Lift up the veil that obscureth your vision, and dispel the
darkness with which it is enveloped, that ye may gaze on
the naked beauty of the Beloved's face, may behold that
which no eye hath beheld, and hear that which no ear

5The Fruits of Prophecies
on the Tree of Life

1Verily He [Bahá’u’lláh] is the Tree of Life that bringeth
forth the fruits of God, the Exalted, the Powerful, the
Great.1 Bahá’u’lláh
All the signs and standards, and all the “fruits” examined so
far are spiritual—they pertain to virtues, attributes, or the
Essence of “the Tree,” and the influence of those spiritual
fruits on others. Prophecies relate mostly not to the Essence
or the Spirit of the fruits but to their physical features.
The Spirit of God as manifested in His great Messengers and
Redeemers is so infinitely sublime, it does not need any evi-
dence to prove itself. Does the sun need any evidence? But

2122 The Glory of the Father

3God, out of His grace, goes beyond the Spirit of the fruits
of life, by giving us also specific knowledge about the physi-
cal features of the Tree and its fruits. Why is this knowledge
given? Because some people cannot be moved by the Spirit
alone. They need concrete and tangible evidence. Compare
the fragrance of the rose to the Spirit of God, and its color,
size, shape, texture, and petals to the means through which
the fragrance manifests itself. Prophecy is a description of
these physical features and the time and the environment in
which the plant grows.
God has always used knowledge of the things to come to
guide the seekers of His Kingdom:
Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing
his plan to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7 NIV
Should we put our trust in prophecy? Dr. James Kennedy, a
noted Christian leader and scholar, emphasizes the supreme
significance of prophecy:
Of all the attacks that have ever been made upon the
Scripture, there has never been one book written by a
skeptic to disprove the prophecies of the Scripture.
Though the Bible has been attacked at every other place,
the one place where God rests His inspiration, saying, “By
this ye will know that I have sent a prophet,” is that
which he foretells, comes infallibly to pass.2
Christian scholar David Reagan, author of several books on
prophecy and the host of “Christ in Prophecy,” confirms the
same point:
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the best evidences I know of
that the Bible is the inspired Word of God…The literal
fulfillment of so many prophecies in the life of one in-
dividual transcends any mere coincidence and serves to
validate that Jesus was who He said He was…Peter referred
to fulfilled prophecy as one of the greatest evidences that
Jesus was truly the Son of God (2 Peter 1:16-19).3

4Chapter 6: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

5How does prophecy gain its persuasive powers? From the
principles of “frequency” and “harmony.” Suppose you saw
three bricks lying on the ground in an orderly way. Could
you be convinced that someone organized them on purpose?
No! Three bricks may fall by chance, and lie next to each
other in an orderly way. What if you saw a whole mansion?
Could you reasonably conclude that it was put together by
the wind? Biblical prophecies about the advent of the twin
Redeemers of our time, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, are so nu-
merous and they fit so perfectly as to create not one but
many mansions of beauty and harmony.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the authorized Interpreter of Bahá’í teachings,
makes the following statement about the persuasive power of
biblical prophecies concerning the year 1844 A. D. (1260
A. H.)—the time of the advent of the Báb. Both the principles
of frequency and harmony are implied in His statement:
Nothing could be clearer than this agreement of the proph-
ecies with one another…For him who is just, the agree-
ment of the times [of the Second Advent] indicated by the
tongues of the Great Ones is the most conclusive proof.4
There are 16 prophecies that specify 1844. Could 16 prophe-
cies spoken over the course of centuries by different Prophets
and Messengers, including Jesus, point by chance to the same
year?
The reason many people discount the critical significance of
prophecies is that they do not take time to enter the mag-
nificent mansions of harmony. If they stepped inside, they
would also get a glimpse of the Spirit that permeates the
mansions.
Is it conceivable that God would give us clues and signs to
recognize the One He sends, and then mislead us by allow-
ing a false prophet to fulfill them? This chapter presents the
first piece of the vast spectrum of the Prophetic Puzzle.

6124 The Glory of the Father

7What is the predictive power of prophecy? Prophecy gains
enormous predictive powers if offered in specific terms. Sup-
pose you want to find a lost friend who may be anywhere
in the world. How many pieces of specific information do
you need? At the most five:
• Country
• City
• Street
• The house number
• The name of the friend
The preceding list shows how powerful specific facts are.
Five pieces of information can single out one person out of
six or even a hundred billion. Now suppose you had far more
than five facts. Suppose several people testify that they have
seen your friend at the designated address. What if they gave
you many accurate clues about the way he lives and acts?
Would you not feel quite confident that you will find him?
To illustrate the point, let us apply several biblical prophecies
to both Christ and Bahá’u’lláh. In this chapter, let us study
only the dates of the two Advents.
The first Advent of our Lord is predicted to happen after the
lapse of “69 weeks” from “the going forth of the command-
ment to restore and to build Jerusalem:”
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth
of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Mes-
siah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two
weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even
in troublesome times. Daniel 9:25 NKJ
Let us see the same prophecy in The Amplified Bible. The
added words of this translation, enclosed in brackets, enhance
the clarity of the prophecy:
Know therefore and understand that from the going forth
of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem

8Chapter 6: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

9until [the coming of] the anointed one, a prince, shall be
seven weeks [of years], and sixty-two weeks [of years];
it shall be built again with city square and moat, but in
troublous times.
The date recognized by many Christian scholars to mark the
beginning point of Daniel’s prophecy is 457 B. C. According
to NIV Bible Commentary, “The most likely fulfillment is the
decree issued to Ezra in the seventh year of Artaxerxes I (i.e.
457 B. C.)…” 5 “Many other sources, such as The Encyclope-
dia of Bible Difficulties confirm the accuracy of 457.”
A common code in the prophetic language is that a day
equals a year:
I have appointed thee each day for a year. Ezekiel 4:6
See also Numbers 14:34
Thus if we move forward 69 weeks of years (483 years) from
457 B. C., we arrive at 27 A. D., the time when Jesus lived:

10In addition to the prophecy of 69 weeks, Daniel’s vision
contains the following:
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon
thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end
of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring
in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Daniel 9:24
Many Christian scholars have confirmed the calculations of-
fered here. Consider the following passage from a Christian
publication concerning the prophecy of 70 weeks:
The Seventy Weeks: The Captivity, which was then draw-
ing to a close, had lasted 70 years. Daniel is here told by

11126 The Glory of the Father

12the angel that it would yet be “70 weeks” till the coming
of the Messiah (24). The “70 weeks” is generally under-
stood to mean 70 weeks of years, that is, 70 sevens of
years, or seven times 70 years, that is 490 years. As if the
angel were saying, the Captivity and the Coming of the
Messiah will be seven times that long.
Seven, and cycles of seven, sometimes have symbolic
meanings, yet the actual facts of this prophecy are most
amazing, as follows:
The date from which the 70 weeks was to be counted was
the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (25). There were three
decrees issued by Persian kings for this purpose (536 B. C.,
457 B. C., 444 B. C.) The principal one of these was 457 B. C.
The 70 weeks is subdivided into 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and
1 week (25, 27). It is difficult to see the application of the
“7 weeks”; but the 69 weeks (including the 7) equal
days, that is, on the year-day theory (Ezekiel 4:6), which
is the commonly accepted interpretation, 483 years.
This 483 years is the period between the decree to rebuild
Jerusalem and the coming of the “Anointed One” (25).
The decree to rebuild Jerusalem, as noted above, was
B. C. Adding 483 years to 457 B. C. brings us to A. D. 26,
the very year that Jesus was baptized and began his pub-
lic ministry. A most remarkable fulfillment of Daniel’s
prophecy, even to the year.
Further, within 3½ years Jesus was crucified, that is, “in
the midst of the one week” “the Anointed One” was “cut
off,” “purged away sin and brought in everlasting righ-
teousness” (24, 26, 27).
Thus Daniel foretold not only the Time at which the
Messiah would appear, but also the Duration of his Public
Ministry, and his Atoning Death for Human Sin.7

13Chapter 6: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

14This date, of course, by itself does not prove who Jesus was.
It only provides us with the first clue about the time when
the Messiah was to come.
The same vision that predicts the date of the first advent also
predicts the date of the second:
How long will the vision be…And he said to me, “For
two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall
be cleansed…“Understand, son of man, that the vision
refers to the time of the end.” Daniel 8:13-17 NKJ
The dates given for both advents are part of the same con-
tinuing vision, and have the same beginning point: 457 B. C.
How then can we decode the date of the Second advent? This
time, instead of moving forward 483 years from 457 B. C., we
must move forward 2,300 years. That brings us to 1843 A. D.:
230 0 = 457 + 1843
Thus the year of Second Advent must be 1843 A. D. But since
there is an extra year in the Christian calendar, because in-
stead of starting with zero, the calendar started with the year
one, the year of the advent must be 1844 A.D. To be accurate,
we must say that the year designated as 1844 was indeed
1843 A. D.! This example will clarify the discrepancy. What
would happen if at your birth you were considered to be a
one-year-old-child? Your birth certificate would show that
you were one year older than you really were!
Did Jewish scholars discover the date of the first advent? We
must assume that some of them did. But we do know that
in the first half of the 19th century, Christian scholars from
several countries, working independently, found the date of
the Second Advent to be between 1843 and 1844. The un-
sealing and disclosure of the time of the Advent at this criti-
cal time created a sense of expectations among Christians on
a scale never known before. You can read entire volumes on
this most significant chapter in religious history—the Advent
Movement—and its consequences. Most Christian theologians

15128 The Glory of the Father

16do not wish to acknowledge this event. Many reasons are
involved. Perhaps the most significant reason is that they
have to explain to people why this prophecy was not fulfilled.
If you say to yourself that Jesus told us “of that day and hour
no one knows,” remind yourself that Jesus also told us that
we would know “the season” of His coming (Luke 21:29-30).
But now the real issue is this: Jesus spoke about the future;
we are talking about the past. Suppose you do not know
when your friend will come. Will you not also know after he
has come? Further, Daniel predicted that “the wise shall under-
stand” (Dan. 12:10 ). That is exactly what happened. Certain
scholars understood the purpose of the prophecy and dis-
closed the season or the approximate time of Jesus’ Return.
The prophecy of 2,30 0 days is only one of sixteen prophe-
cies that confirm 1844 as the date of the Second Advent.
These prophecies, when put together like pieces of a jigsaw
puzzle, are so clear, conclusive, and convincing, that some
Christian scholars continue to this day to confirm their
purpose (the Return of Jesus Christ) and the accuracy of the
calculations that point to 1844 A. D. This is amazing. They
believe our Lord has not yet returned, because they expect
to see Him on the clouds. In spite of their disappointment—
that the prophecy has not been fulfilled—they do not question
the accuracy of the appointed date! Consider this statement
from the well-known Christian author and scholar George
Vandeman:
…so far as any time prophecy is concerned, Jesus could
have returned to this earth any time after 1844. He is not
waiting for any prophetic time period to end. No time
prophecy is holding Him back. Then why hasn’t He
returned? For nearly two hundred years we have been
living in the time of the end. Why isn’t He here? [em-
phasis added.]8

17Chapter 6: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

18You can read a detailed study of the prophecy of 2,30 0 days
and the other fifteen biblical prophecies that confirm 1844,
in I Shall Come Again.
Imagine the consequences if there were not two prophecies
about the first Advent, but sixteen. Christian leaders and
scholars would proclaim that knowledge continuously with a
supreme sense of pride. They would ask people to check to
see if any Redeemer has ever received such convincing evi-
dence. And yet the sixteen time prophecies of the Second
Advent, and their fulfillment by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh,
remain virtually unknown to the masses of Christians. Does
not this lack of knowledge fulfill the prophecy of “I shall
come upon you like a thief ”?
Because prophecy pertains to physical events, and many
Christians love prophecies, let us continue this topic in the
next two chapters.

19The Fruits of Prophecies
on the Tree of Life

1concerning both Advents. Here are some advantages of start-
ing with the prophecies of the first Advent of Christ:
• The study will provide us with a standard of judgment, a
yardstick from the past by which to measure the prophe-
cies of the Second Advent.
• It will help us understand and appreciate prophetic lan-
guage—how clear and specific it is.
• It will demonstrate how Christian scholars have used
prophecies to prove Christ’s divine station.

2132 The Glory of the Father

3• It will help us see the entire picture, and to build from
the ground up.
As a Christian author notes:
The fact that everything prophesied concerning Christ’s
first appearance took place exactly as foretold provides
absolute confidence that all of the prophecies concerning
His return will also surely come to pass.1
At this writing, one of the most convincing and most fre-
quently quoted books written by Christian scholars to validate
the station of Jesus Christ is: Science Speaks. Its prime sig-
nificance comes from applying scientific methods to test the
fulfillment of prophecies. To prove the truth of our Lord’s
mission, two eminent scientists, P. S. Stoner 8 and R. C.
NewmanK applied probability laws to eight major biblical
prophecies, which they believe point to the first advent. Their
book has been published by one of the most distinguished
Bible Institutes in America. It has been further supported and
distributed by the best-known evangelistic group in the world,
that of Dr. Billy Graham. Many Christian writers and scholars
refer to the conclusion of this scientific study as conclusive
evidence that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah of the Jews.
What is “the probability law” the two scientists used in their
studies? The following example demonstrates the most basic
law of probability—the one the two scientists used. If you
had to pick a number between 1 and 10, what is your chance
of being right? 1 in 10 . What is your chance a second time?
Again, 1 in 10. What is your chance of being right two times
in a row? Not 1 in 20 but 1 in 10 0 . If you find this hard to

4Formerly Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy
at Pasadena City College; Chairman of the Science Division, Westmont
College; now Professor Emeritus of Science, Westmont College.
K
Ph.D. in Astrophysics, Cornell University; S.T.M., Biblical School of
Theology; formerly Associate Professor of Physics and Mathematics,
Shelton College; now Associate Professor of the New Testament,
Biblical School of Theology.

5Chapter 6: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

6believe, test it for yourself. Of course, this law holds true
only when large numbers are involved. For instance, if you
establish an insurance company and insure 1 or 10 or even
10 0 people, you may go bankrupt. But if you insure 2 or
million, you have nothing to worry about. The laws of
chance are in your favor.
The following is a list of the eight Hebrew prophecies Stoner
and Newman have attributed to the first Advent. Each is fol-
lowed by a question of probability (One man in how many?),
and a “probability ratio” that they accepted for each prophecy:
1. But you, Bethlehem…out of you will come for me one
who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of
old [Christ’s eternal spiritual existence] Micah 5:2 NIV
“One man in how many, the world over, has been born
in Bethlehem?”
By comparing the population of Bethlehem with that of
the world at the time of Jesus, the two Christian authors
arrived at a probability ratio of …………………….1/280 ,0 0
2. See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way
before me. Malachi 3:1 NIV
“One man in how many, the world over, has had a
forerunner to prepare his way?”
The accepted probability ratio …………………………. 1/1,000
3. Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of
Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and
having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a
colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 NIV
“One man in how many, who was born in Bethlehem
and had a forerunner, did enter Jerusalem as a king
riding on a colt the foal of an ass?” 4 (This prophecy
was fulfilled by the triumphal entry of Jesus into
Jerusalem.)
The accepted probability ratio ……………………………. 1/100

7134 The Glory of the Father

84. If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your
body?’ He will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the
house of my friends.’ Zechariah 13:6 NIV
The authors explain: “Christ was betrayed by Judas, one
of His disciples, causing Him to be put to death, wounds
being made in His hands.”
“One man in how many, the world over, has been be-
trayed by a friend, and that betrayal has resulted in his
being wounded in his hands?”
The accepted probability ratio …………………………. 1/1,000
5. I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but
if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
Zechariah 11:12 NIV
“Of the people who have been betrayed, one in how
many has been betrayed for exactly thirty pieces of
silver?”
The accepted probability ratio …………………………. 1/1,000
6. And the Lord said unto me, cast it unto the potter…
Zechariah 11:13
The authors explain: “You will recall that Judas in remorse
tried to return the thirty pieces of silver, but the chief
priest would not accept them. So Judas threw them down
on the floor of the temple and went and hanged himself.
The chief priest then took the money and bought a field
of the potter to bury strangers in.”
“One man in how many, after receiving a bribe for the
betrayal of a friend, had returned the money, had it
refused, had thrown it on the floor in the house of the
Lord, and then had it used to purchase a field from the
potter?”
The accepted probability ratio ……………………….1/100,000
7. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his
mouth… Isaiah 53:7 NIV

9Chapter 6: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

10“One man in how many, after fulfilling the above
prophecies, when he is oppressed and afflicted and is
on trial for his life, though innocent, will make no
defense for himself ?”
The accepted probability ratio …………………………. 1/1,000
8. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has en-
circled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
Psalms 22:16 NIV
“One man in how many, from the time of David on,
has been crucified?”
The accepted probability ratio ……………………….. 1/10,000
The total probability figure for the eight prophecies is 1/10 28.
The authors then ask: “What is the chance that any man might
have lived from the day of these prophecies down to the
present time and have fulfilled all of the eight prophecies?”12
And then they respond:
We can answer this question by dividing our 10 28 by the
total number of people who have lived since the time of
these prophecies. The best information available indicates
the number to be about 88 billion or 8.8×10 10. To simplify
the computation let us call the number 10 11. By dividing
these two numbers we find that the chance that any man
might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled
all eight prophecies is 1 in 10 17.13
Stoner and Newman offer the following illustration to show
the remoteness of chance as an element in the fulfillment of
the preceding prophecies:
Let us try to visualize this chance. If you mark one of ten
tickets, and place all of the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly
stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his
chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose
that we take 10 17 silver dollars and lay them on the face
of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep.

11136 The Glory of the Father

12Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole
mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and
tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must
pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one.
What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just
the same chance that the prophets would have had of
writing these eight prophecies and having them all come
true in any one man, from their day to the present time,
providing they wrote using their own wisdom.14

The Second Advent
Let Us Now Examine Some Prophecies Concerning The Second

1Advent and their fulfillment by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.

1where Bahá’u’lláh lived:
The glory of the Lord came to the temple [in Israel]…the
place of my throne, the place where I set my feet, where
I will dwell among Israelites for ever. Ezekiel 43:4,7 NEB
Bahá’u’lláh, who lived and died in Israel, and was also buried
in that blessed land, confirms the fulfillment of the prophecies:
O Carmel [Israel]…Rejoice, for God in this day established
upon thee His throne…15 Bahá’u’lláh
This prophecy also links God’s throne to Israel:
…this is the place of My throne forever. Ezekiel 43:7 NKJ
Prophecies not only link the western regions of Israel to the
Redeemer of our time but also the southern regions of Iran:
I will set my throne in Elam…saith the Lord.

2Bahá’u’lláh’s Herald, the Báb, declared His mission in His
birthplace Shíráz, a city in the southern regions of Iran,
where Elam is located.
Many prophecies refer to the Redeemer of our time as the
Lord, God, and the Father. All these titles of honor are be-
stowed on the promised One of our time. Consider this
promise from Jesus Christ and a declaration of its fulfillment
by Him in His Second Advent in the name of Bahá’u’lláh,
the Glory of God:
…the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father…
Christ (Matt. 16:27 NIV)
The Lord is come in His great majesty! He Who is the
Father is come, and the Son (Jesus), in the holy vale,
crieth out: “Here am I, here am I, O Lord, My God!”16
Bahá’u’lláh
Many prophecies declare that the Lord will come to Israel.

1Holy Land. If Bahá’u’lláh had gone on His own accord, His
going would have little if any significance. But He was ban-
ished to Israel by the order of His enemies.
This Holy Land hath been mentioned and extolled in all
the sacred Scriptures…This is the promised Land in
which He Who is the Revelation of God was destined to
be made manifest…Whatever hath come to pass in this
Day hath been foretold in the Scriptures of old.17
Bahá’u’lláh
The One claiming to be the Lord was sent by His enemies
to Israel:
Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the

2He, verily, is come with His Kingdom, and all the atoms
cry aloud: “Lo! The Lord is come in His great majesty!”
Bahá’u’lláh
God shines out from Zion, perfect in beauty. Our God is
coming and will not keep silence. Psalms 50 :2-3 NEB
This Day all the signs have appeared. A Great City hath
descended from heaven, and Zion trembleth and exulteth
with joy at the Revelation of God, for it hath heard the
Voice of God on every side.19 Bahá’u’lláh
…and the God of gods shows himself in Zion.
Psalms 84:7 NEB
…and from Zion hath appeared that which was hidden,
and from Jerusalem is heard the Voice of God…20
Bahá’u’lláh
Carmel hath, in this Day, hastened in longing adoration
to attain His court, whilst from the heart of Zion there
cometh the cry: “The promise is fulfilled…” 21 Bahá’u’lláh
Shout aloud and rejoice, daughter of Zion [people of
Israel]; I am coming, I will make my dwelling among
you, says the Lord. Zechariah 2:10 NEB
The Shrines of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh are both in the Holy
Land. This is also predicted:
This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I
have desired it. Psalms 132:14 NKJ
See also Joel 3:17, 21; Isaiah 33:20 -21
…this is the place of…the soles of My feet, where I will
dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.
Ezekiel 43:7 NKJ
In Bahá’í writings, the shrine of Bahá’u’lláh is called the
Most Holy Sanctuary.22 This prophecy speaks of God dwell-
ing in a sanctuary:
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell

3The Resting Place of the Báb
on Mount Carmel, Israel

4The following verse describes the beauty of the Lord’s resting-
place:
And in that day…His resting place shall be glorious.
Isaiah 11:10 NKJ
The resting place of Bahá’u’lláh is also in the Holy Land. It

1ness will rejoice and blossom…they will see the glory of
the Lord, the splendor of our God. Isaiah 35:1-2 NIV
Let us look again at Isaiah’s prophecy, this time replacing “the
glory of the Lord” with its exact equivalent “Bahá’u’lláh:”
ness will rejoice and blossom…they will see Bahá’u’lláh,
the splendor of our God.

2Arise, Jerusalem, rise clothed in light; your light has come
and the glory of the Lord [Bahá’u’lláh] shines over you.
For, though darkness covers the earth and dark night the
nations, the Lord shall shine upon you and over you shall
his glory appear; and the nations shall march towards your
light and their kings to your sunrise. Isaiah 60 :1-3 NEB
Then shall the nations revere thy name, O Lord, and all
the kings of the earth thy glory, when the Lord builds up
Zion again and shows himself in his glory…This shall be
written down for future generations, and a people yet
unborn shall praise the Lord. Psalms 10 2:15-18 NEB
I [God] will be…a glory in the midst of her [Jerusalem].

1now the center of international Bahá’í institutions. The divine
Shepherd offers this promise in regard to Carmel, which was
blessed by Bahá’u’lláh during His exile in the Holy Land:
In those days…My people have been lost sheep; their
shepherd [religious leaders] have led them astray…and for-
got their own resting place…But I will bring Israel to his
own pasture and he [Israel] will graze [receive spiritual
food] on Carmel and Bashan.F Jeremiah 50 :4, 6, 19 NKJV
The symbolism of “sheep” and “shepherd” is abundant in
prophecies of the last day:
…the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a
shepherd. My anger burns against the shepherds, and I
will punish the leaders; for the Lord Almighty will care
for his flock… Zechariah 10 :2-3 NIV

2F
Bashan, meaning a “fruitful plane” is a disputed district, now known as
the Golan Heights, from which Syria shelled Israel. In 1967 the Israelis

3I will myself gather the remnant of my sheep from all the
lands to which I have dispersed them…I will appoint shep-
herds to tend them. Jeremiah 23:3-4 NEB
Bahá’u’lláh was exiled to and imprisoned in a small town in
Israel called ‘Akká or Acre. ‘Akká was a fortified city de-
signed for defense and war. Some of its fortifications still
stand. Bahá’u’lláh was exiled to ‘Akká because it was remote,
desolate, deadly, and well protected. The following verses not
only point to the desolation of ‘Akká, but also predict the rise
of a divine call (“trumpet blast”) from that forsaken city:
The fortified city [‘Akká] stands desolate, an abandoned
settlement, forsaken like the desert…And in that day a
great trumpet will sound. Isaiah 27:10 ,13 NIV
Has “the Trumpet-Call” of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation sounded?
The All-Merciful is come…The Trumpet hath been blown,
and lo…the hearts of all who are in the heavens and on
the earth have trembled, except them…who have detached
themselves from all things.23 Bahá’u’lláh
Násiri’d-Dín Sháh was the Persian king who banished
Bahá’u’lláh to Baghdad and had a part in sending Him later
to the Holy Land. The Sháh later realized that the banishment
was a mistake. In terms of his self-interests, this was the
worst choice, an incredible blunder. A letter from Násiri’d-
Dín Sháh, written by his Minister for Foreign Affairs, states
that “It was because of lack of tact and discernment on the
part of former officials that one of them [Bahá’u’lláh] was
released from the prison of Anbár [the Black Pit] and al-
lowed to go to Islamic holy places. And as you know he has
taken residence in Baghdad…”24 The letter then instructs the
responsible officials to arrest Bahá’u’lláh and His close dis-
ciples and bring them back to Iran.
Why did Bahá’u’lláh’s staunch enemies—the religious and
political leaders of Persia and the Ottoman Empire—decide

4so many other countries, did they select the Holy Land as the
place of banishment? This is a question of supreme signifi-
cance. People always plot against God, but God is “swifter
to plot:”
They that have turned away from Me have schemed many
a time…25 Bahá’u’lláh
Immersed in their selfish schemes, they are oblivious of
Divine decree.26 Bahá’u’lláh
A prophecy in Psalms compares God’s enemies to bees sur-
rounding and attacking the One sent by Him:
All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the
Lord I cut them off. They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them off. They swarmed
around me like bees, but they died out as quickly as
burning thorns… Psalms 118:10 -12 NIV
J. R. Church, a Christian scholar, makes this statement about
the preceding verses:
This symbolism, is most appropriate. When the bee gathers
honey, it thinks that it is collecting the sweet nectar for
its own use, not realizing that the beehive is under the
control and supervision of a beekeeper.27
The honey that the enemies of the new Revelation produced
was the fulfillment of prophecies about Bahá’u’lláh. The
following is a marvelous prophecy. It portrays God’s great
vision versus human vanity and weakness. Several kings and
nations plotted against Bahá’u’lláh without knowing that they
were assisting Him:
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand, the rulers gather
together against the Lord [the Báb] and against his
Anointed One [Bahá’u’lláh]. “Let us break their chains [of
authority],” they [the enemies of the new Redeemers], say

5laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in
his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have
installed my King [Bahá’u’lláh] on Zion, my holy hill.”
Psalms 2:1-6 NIV
God exalts the abased and abases the exalted. Bahá’u’lláh’s
banishment to the city of ‘Akká, on the northwestern regions
of Palestine, perfectly demonstrates this principle. At the time
of Bahá’u’lláh’s exile, Turkey was a vast empire. In that vast
territory, ‘Akká was selected mainly for its remoteness, forti-
fications, and deadly environment. It served as a “penal
colony,” a place of banishment and imprisonment of crimi-
nals and political dissidents. It “was devoid of any source of
water within its gates; was flea-infested, damp and honey-
combed with gloomy, filthy and tortuous lanes.” 28 It is hard
to imagine a city with a record as disastrous and miserable
as that of ‘Akká. Yet this most desolate of cities will be exalted.
It will become the most glorious of all cities, for it symbol-
izes the Throne of the Lord, a center from which the glory

1guishing physical features of ‘Akká are:
• It is a “strong” city, fortified to defend itself against enemy
attacks.
• It has a large gate to protect it from intruders. The gate
still exists.
To emphasize their power and clarity, Ezekiel’s prophecies
are presented twice, once with the English translation of the

2He led me to the gate, the gate facing eastwards, and I
beheld the glory of the God of Israel coming from the
east. His voice was like the sound of a mighty torrent, and
the earth shone with his glory. Ezekiel 43:1-2 NEB
He led me to the gate, the gate facing eastwards, and I
beheld Bahá’u’lláh of Israel coming from the east
[Persia is on the east side of Israel]. His voice was like
the sound of a mighty torrent, and the earth shone with
his glory. Ezekiel 43:1-2 NEB
And again:
The glory of the Lord came up to the temple towards the
gate which faced eastwards. A spirit lifted me up and
brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord
filled the temple. Then I heard one speaking to me from
the temple, and the man was standing at my side. He said,
Man, do you see the place of my throne, the place where
I set my feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites for
ever?… Ezekiel 43:4-7 NEB
Bahá’u’lláh came up to the temple towards the gate
which faced eastwards. A spirit lifted me up and brought
me into the inner court, and Bahá’u’lláh filled the temple.
Then I heard one speaking to me from the temple, and the
man was standing at my side. He said, Man, do you see
the place of my throne, the place where I set my feet,
where I will dwell among the Israelites for ever?…
Ezekiel 43:4-7
Here Bahá’u’lláh refers to ‘Akká as the place of His throne:
Great is thy blessedness, O ‘Akká, in that God hath made
thee…the dawn of His most mighty signs. Happy are thou
in that the Throne of Justice hath been established upon
thee
Ezekiel’s vision was literally fulfilled, when Bahá’u’lláh, the
Glory of God, came as an Exile from the east to the fortified

3earlier, “sanctuary” or “temple” symbolizes the most holy
place on earth, where God (through His Manifestation)
chooses to dwell among His people. Even after His passing,
Bahá’u’lláh continued to dwell in the Holy Land, not only
physically by being buried there, but spiritually as well, for
Israel stands as the World Center of the Bahá’í Faith. A
temple or a house of worship will be built on the slopes of
Mount Carmel. Its site has already been purchased and
marked by Shoghi Effendi.
Another prophecy from Psalms further confirms the final
resting-place of the Redeemer of our age. The prophecy may
refer to both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, because they are both
buried in the Holy Land:
For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His
dwelling place: “This is My resting place forever; here I
will dwell, for I have desired it. Psalms 132:13-14 NKJ
Some translations of Isaiah 14:1 indicate that someone referred
to as “the sojourner” or “the alien resident” comes and joins
the people of Israel:
For Jehovah will…set them in their own land: and the
sojourner [the Promised One] will join himself with

1with His other titles, such as the Lord, the Lord of Hosts,
the Lord Almighty, and Lord of Lords. The following proph-
ecy refers to several titles assumed by Bahá’u’lláh:
Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient
doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this
King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord
mighty… Psalms 24:7-8 NIV

2For the first time in history, a Redeemer comes to establish
not only a spiritual kingdom but an earthly one as well. The
previous Messengers all predicted and promised the coming
of the Kingdom of God to the earthly realms, but they never
tried to establish it.
My kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36 NIV
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.
Matthew 22:21 NIV
Bahá’u’lláh, for the first time in history, declares that through
His Revelation God’s Kingdom will become a reality on
earth as in heaven. In fact, one of His main teachings is the
establishment of a global federation of nations.
The Book of Revelation assigns the title KING OF KINGS
AND LORD OF LORDS to the One referred to by David
as King of Glory and the Lord Almighty:
…He will rule them with a rod of iron…On his robe and
on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS
AND LORD OF LORDS. Revelation 19:15-16 NIV
Note the authority with which Bahá’u’lláh declares His glo-
rious Kingdom:
…the heavens are cleft asunder, and God hath come down,
invested with radiant sovereignty. All created things are
heard exclaiming: “The Kingdom is God’s, the Almighty,

1Many prophecies specify Bahá’u’lláh’s title: the Glory of
God. Ponder these few examples among many others:
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14 NIV
…as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the
glory of the Lord. Numbers 14:21

2Chapter 6: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

3Did I not tell you that if you have faith you will see the
glory of God? John 11:40 NEB
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all man-
kind together will see it. Isaiah 40 :5 NIV
…they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our
God. Isaiah 35:2 NIV
If you grew up in an English speaking country, you heard the
words “Jesus Christ” from childhood. If you had grown up
in an Arabic speaking country, you would have heard Ísá
Masíh. If someone asked you “Do you believe in Ísá
Masíh?” you would be totally puzzled, because you are not
familiar with that word. The word Christ is a modified
version of a Greek word. If someone asked you, “Do you be-
lieve in Christus?” you may again be confused. You may
even think about Christopher Columbus. The name Christ did
not descend from heaven. It is a common Greek word mean-
ing anointed or blessed. Search the entire Hebrew Scriptures
to find any prophecies that use the word “Christ” even once.
You will find no prophecy with that title. Because the Hebrew
Scriptures are in the Hebrew language. They do not contain
such a Greek word. Read the entire Hebrew Scriptures to see
if you can find even the Hebrew version of the word Christ
used with any degree of clarity that comes even close to the
prophecies that predict the new title the Glory of God.
To be more faithful to the original words, some English trans-
lations of the Bible use the Hebrew word Yahweh for God
and Rabbi for the title, Master. Let us do the same with the
word Bahá’u’lláh. To see the astonishing clarity of prophecies
that point to the new name, read the preceding prophecies
once again, this time with the Arabic version of the name in
place of the English:
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of
Bahá’u’lláh, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14 NIV

4148 The Glory of the Father

5And Bahá’u’lláh will be revealed, and all mankind to-
gether will see it. Isaiah 40 :5 NIV
…as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with
Bahá’u’lláh. Numbers 14:21
Did I not tell you that if you have faith you will see
Bahá’u’lláh? John 11:40 NEB
…they will see Bahá’u’lláh, the splendor of our God.
Isaiah 35:2 NIV
Note how plainly the Book of Revelation predicts the com-
ing of two divine Beings who give light to the City of God,
a symbol of divine Revelation. These two prophecies were
spoken centuries apart, yet note how similar they are:
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on
it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb [the
Báb] is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and
the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
Revelation 21:23-24 NIV
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the
Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and
thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon
you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to
your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Isaiah 60 :1-3 NIV
Read the preceding prophecies again with some of its criti-
cal words such as “light” “glory” and “the glory of the Lord”
in Arabic:
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on
it, for Bahá’u’lláh gives it light, and the Lamb [the Báb,
the One who sacrificed Himself] is its lamp. The nations
will walk by its Bahá, and the kings of the earth will
bring their splendor into it.
Arise, shine, for your Bahá has come, and Bahá’u’lláh
rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick
darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you

6Chapter 6: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

7and his Bahá appears over you. Nations will come to your
Bahá, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
The gift of the new Name is prophesied throughout the entire
Scripture:
The nations will see…your glory [Bahá]; you will be
called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will
bestow. Isaiah 62:2 NIV
…his servants [new followers] he shall call by another
name. Isaiah 65:15 NEB
The Bible asks us to “Prove all things” and “hold fast that
which is good” (I Thess. 5:21). Bahá’u’lláh asks us to do the
same. He invites us to “cast away” our unfounded and un-
provable assumptions, and to “take fast hold” of that which
God commands. He asks us to “purge” our ears from every-
thing we have heard from fallible human beings:
Cast away, O peoples of the earth, that which ye have
and take fast hold of that which ye are bidden by the
All-Powerful, He Who is the Bearer of the Trust of God.
Purge ye your ears and set your hearts towards Him that
ye may hearken to the most wondrous Call which hath
been raised from Sinai, the habitation of your Lord, the
Most Glorious.31 Bahá’u’lláh
What more can we expect from God? More splendid than a
bright and beautiful City that is lighted, just like the earth,
with two sources of light, a Sun called Bahá’u’lláh for the
day, and a Lamp called the Lamb for the night? What more
do our hearts desire? More delightful than a pure river of life
that flows from the presence of Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God,
and His Gate the Lamb of God? What do our hearts hope
for? More nourishing than the tree of life that bears a new
crop of fruits not once a year, but every month of the year?
What more do our hearts wish for? More healthful than crops
of leaves that cure every disease, every pain and suffering
that may touch our lives? All these wondrous gifts are found
in Bahá’u’lláh’s celestial and supreme Word:

8150 The Glory of the Father

9• Two sources of light: The city does not need the sun or
the moon to shine on it, for the
glory of God [Bahá’u’lláh] gives
it light, and the Lamb [the Báb] is
its lamp. Revelation 21:23 NIV
• A pure river of life: And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding from the throne of God
[Bahá’u’lláh] and of the Lamb
[the Báb]. Revelation 22:1 NKJ
• The tree of life: In the middle of its street, and on
either side of the river, was the
tree of life. Revelation 22:2 NKJ
• Fruits: [The tree of life bore] twelve crops
of fruit, yielding its fruit every
month. Revelation 22:2 NIV
• Leaves: And the leaves of the tree are for
the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:2 NIV
• The promise to come Behold, I am coming soon!
and bestow all those Blessed is he who keeps the
blessings: words of the prophecy in this
book. Revelation 22:7 NIV

10He, verily, is come with His Kingdom, and all the atoms
cry aloud: ‘Lo! The Lord is come in His great majesty!’
Bahá’u’lláh
Lo! He is come in the sheltering shadow of Testimony,
invested with conclusive proof and evidence, and those
who truly believe in Him regard His presence as the em-
bodiment of the Kingdom of God. Blessed is the man
who turneth towards Him…33 Bahá’u’lláh
The next chapter offers further fruits of prophecies on the
Tree of Life.

11The Fruits of Prophecies
on the Tree of Life

1nated universal and permanent peace as their goal. Yet they
have promised that in the last days the hope of peace will
become a reality:
I…will let my people see an age of peace and security.
Jeremiah 33:6 NEB

2Though the mountains move and the hills shake, my…
covenant of peace shall not be shaken. Isaiah 54:10 NEB
My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure
homes, in undisturbed places of rest…how blessed you will
be… Isaiah 32:18-20 NIV
Unlike the previous Messengers, Bahá’u’lláh declares the
establishment of universal peace as one of His chief goals.
In the Bahá’í Scriptures we find many references to peace.
Bahá’u’lláh’s Son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the authorized Interpreter of
Bahá’í teachings, referred in His Paris Talks to the mecha-
nism through which peace can be achieved:
A supreme Tribunal shall be established by the peoples
and governments of every nation, composed of members
elected from each country and government. The members
of this Great Council shall assemble in unity. All disputes
of an international character shall be submitted to this
Court…The mission of this Tribunal would be to prevent
war.1
In the future, when the Bahá’í Faith is well established, disputes
arising among the nations will be settled by an International
Court as advocated by Bahá’u’lláh. This institution, in coop-
eration with the Universal House of Justice, the Supreme
Bahá’í Institution, will help to preserve the peace of the

1the ash heap. Psalms 113:7 NIV
God promises to eradicate poverty from the face of the planet:
“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the
needy, now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will set him
in the safety for which he yearns.” Psalms 12:5 NKJ

2The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the
hills the fruit of righteousness. He will defend the afflicted
among the people and save the children of the needy.
Psalms 72:4 NIV
Eradication of poverty is one of the fundamental teachings of
Bahá’u’lláh:
Know ye that the poor are the trust of God in your
midst. Watch that ye betray not His trust, that ye deal not
unjustly with them and that ye walk not in the ways of
the treacherous.2 Bahá’u’lláh

3It is important to limit riches, as it is also of importance
to limit poverty. Either extreme is not good…When we
see poverty allowed to reach a condition of starvation it
is a sure sign that somewhere we shall find tyranny…
There must be special laws made, dealing with these
extremes of riches and of want…The government of the
countries should conform to the Divine Law which gives
equal justice to all.3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

4Bahá’u’lláh demonstrated His love for the poor by example.
He was born to a wealthy family, and His father had a sig-
nificant position in the court. Instead of showing interest in
power and politics, He became a refuge for the poor. His
generosity earned Him the title of “the Father of the Poor.”
You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy
in his distress, a shelter from the storm… Isaiah 25:4 NIV
But poverty will not be eliminated until Bahá’u’lláh’s social
order is implemented.
Verily, have We made it [the Universal House of Justice]
the shelter for the poor and needy.4 Bahá’u’lláh

5The following story shows Bahá’u’lláh’s generosity, concern

6One day Bahá’u’lláh sent ‘Abdu’l-Bahá 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 per-
secutions 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 to
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, in-
sisted 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 shep-
herds. 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 every-
thing He had, each and every moment of His life, to
humanity, to unite us and bring us true happiness.5
Suppose you took your parent’s car to a car wash, and you
discovered that you did not have any money with you, so you
gave the car as payment! What kind of response would you
expect from your parents? This one example is sufficient to
show the value of wealth in God’s eyes.
Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteous-
ness to the king’s Son. He will judge Your people with
righteousness, and Your poor with justice. The mountains
will bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righ-
teousness. He will bring justice to the poor of the people;
He will save the children of the needy, and will break in

7Chapter 8: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

1everything new! Revelation 21:4-5 NIV
Bahá’u’lláh confirms:
The day is approaching when We will have rolled up the
world and all that is therein, and spread out a new order
in its stead. He, verily is powerful over all things.6
Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new
one spread out in its stead. Verily thy Lord…is the Knower
of things unseen.7
He…hath come to build anew the whole world
The most critical feature of the new social order will be global
unity. Those who recognize the Bahá’í Faith will carry the
good news to others throughout the world. This will continue
until all people are gathered under the banner of oneness:
…they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one
end of the heavens to the other. Christ (Matt. 24:31 NIV)
Thou wilt surely gather mankind for the Day of whose
coming there is no doubt—the Day whereon everyone
shall appear before Thee and find life in Thee.9 The Báb
The day is approaching when
…there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
John 10 :16 NIV
The nations on every shore will worship him, every one
in its own land. Zephaniah 2:11 NIV
All nations whom You have made shall come and worship
before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name.
Psalms 86:9 NKJ
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the

2before You. For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules
over the nations. Psalms 22:27-28 NKJ
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and
those who dwell therein. Psalms 24:1 NKJ
War will only be found in historical records. Those who have
seen each other as enemies and waged war will learn to live
in peace:
The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion
will eat straw like the ox…They will neither harm nor
destroy in all my holy mountain. Isaiah 65:25 NIV
I will give them one heart and one way of life…
Jeremiah 32:39 NEB
This is the time of celebration, the time to sing a new song,
for everything is made new:
Sing joyfully to the Lord…Sing to him a new song…and
shout for joy. Psalms 33:1-3 NIV
The Promised One hath appeared in this glorified Station,
whereat all beings, both seen and unseen, have rejoiced.
Take ye advantage of the Day of God. Verily, to meet
Him is better for you than all that whereon the sun
shineth, could ye but know it.10 Bahá’u’lláh
Chapter 98 of Psalms is a song of joy dedicated to the ad-
vent of Bahá’u’lláh:
The Lord has made known His salvation; His righteous-
ness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. He has
remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house
of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation
of our God…Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, the
world and those who dwell in it; let the rivers clap their
hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for
He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He
shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity.
Psalms 98:2-9 NKJ

3With faces beaming with joy, hasten ye unto Him. This
is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eter-
nal in the future. Let him that seeketh, attain it; and as
to him that hath refused to seek it—verily, God is Self-
Sufficient, above any need of His creatures.11 Bahá’u’lláh
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 within
this most mighty Stronghold [‘Akká] 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

1It beseemeth you…to convene a gathering and choose one
of the diverse languages, and likewise one of the existing
scripts, or else to create a new language and a new script
to be taught [to] children in schools throughout the world.
They would, in this way, be acquiring only two languages,
one their own native tongue, the other the language in
which all the peoples of the world would converse. Were
men to take fast hold on that which hath been mentioned,
the whole earth would come to be regarded as one coun-
try, and the people would be relieved and freed from the
necessity of acquiring and teaching different languages.13
Bahá’u’lláh
A biblical prophecy offers still another clue regarding the
new age and the new order. It points to the adoption of “a

2For then I will restore to the peoples a pureC language,
that they all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve
Him with one accord. Zephaniah 3:9 NKJ
The names of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh are the same in all
languages. When Bahá’u’lláh’s teaching on the necessity of
a universal language has become a reality, the Names and
Attributes of God will also be the same:
And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day

1of sacred Scriptures is that, at the end-time, there will come
not one but two divine Beings with the most exalted titles:
the Lord and God. The number of prophecies about the Twin
Advents is astonishing, yet it seems that hardly anyone has
noticed them. The only prophecy recognized and often quoted
is the one about the coming of Elijah before the great day
of the Lord (Malachi. 4:2-5). Since Elijah is considered a
minor prophet, his coming does not create much excitement.
People only refer to one divine Figure when they mention the
Second Advent. The reason is that many prophecies remain
sealed until the Advent of the new Redeemer takes place.
Only now, after the advent has come to pass, is this great
secret divulged and the prophecies unsealed.
In the following passage, Bahá’u’lláh declares specifically to
be the return of Christ:
O Jews! If ye be intent on crucifying once again Jesus,
the Spirit of God, put Me to death, for He hath once

2C
Perhaps the prophecy implies “pure” from national prejudice as well as
irrational complexities.

3Chapter 8: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

4more, in My person, been made manifest unto you. Deal
with Me as ye wish, for I have vowed to lay down My
life in the path of God. I will fear no one, though the
powers of earth and heaven be leagued against Me…I
have come in the shadows of the clouds of glory, and am
invested by God with invincible sovereignty. He, verily,
is the Truth, the Knower of things unseen. I, verily, an-
ticipate from you the treatment ye have accorded unto
Him that came before Me [the Báb].14
In the following statement, the Báb simply uses the word
“Return:”
How numerous the verses which have been revealed con-
cerning the grievous tests ye shall experience on the Day
of Judgment, yet it appeareth that ye have never perused
them; and how vast the number of revealed traditions re-
garding the trials which will overtake you on the Day of
Our Return, and yet ye seem never to have set your eyes
upon them.15
Let us now review a few of the many prophecies that point
to twin Messengers. This prophecy was fulfilled both at the
first advent and at the second:
Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way
before Me. Malachi 3:1 NKJ
Elijah is prophesied to appear twice, once before the advent
of Jesus, and again at “the end of the age” before the advent
of the Lord. The first advent of Elijah was fulfilled by John
the Baptist:
And if you are willing to accept it, he [John the Baptist]
is the Elijah who was to come. Matthew 11:14 NIV
See also 17:10 -13
This prophecy points to the second coming of Elijah:
The Sun of Righteousness [Bahá’u’lláh] shall arise with
healing in His wings…Behold, I will send you Elijah [the

5160 The Glory of the Father

6Báb] the prophet before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord. Malachi 4:2, 5 NKJ
Bahá’u’lláh refers to Himself as the Sun of Revelation:
…the Sun of Revelation shineth forth resplendent.16
The second coming of Elijah was fulfilled by the Báb. As
Bahá’u’lláh teaches, and Jesus implies, “return” does not
imply the coming back of the same body or soul, but a re-
birth of similar attributes or powers, a return of the same
Spirit, the Spirit of God. The Báb manifested not only the
attributes of Lordship but that of a Herald as well.
Though an independent Messenger, the Báb served primarily
as the Gate to Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation. His prime Mission,
like that of John the Baptist, was not to found a new faith,
but to awaken the seekers of truth and to prepare them for
the advent of the long-expected Savior, One greater than
Himself.
The Báb repeatedly asked His followers to be ready, to be
receptive to the call of the next Redeemer and to give Him
their full allegiance. He knew that the advent of Bahá’u’lláh
would pose a severe test to His own followers.
Bahá’u’lláh quotes this biblical prophecy:
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of the herald
[the Báb] who comes to proclaim prosperity and bring
good news, the news of deliverance, calling to Zion, ‘Your
God is king.’ Isaiah 52:7 NEB
A prophecy from Nahum offers an identical message:
See on the mountains the feet of the herald who brings
good news. Make your pilgrimages, O Judah…
Nahum 1:15 NEB
Christian scholar J. R. Church confirms the relevance of
Isaiah’s and Nahum’s prophecies to the Second Advent:

7Chapter 8: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

8This is a prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ…
Furthermore, that was the message of Isaiah, who lived
and wrote some 50 years before Nahum. Evidently,
Nahum quoted Isaiah 52:7, and the context definitely
places it at the Second Coming of Christ.17
Isaiah and Nahum refer to the herald who blesses the moun-
tain with His feet, and brings the good news of salvation and
the dawning of the Kingdom. All these prophetic messages
were fulfilled by the Báb, who came as the herald of
Bahá’u’lláh, and declared the good news of His Kingdom.
He was exiled and imprisoned on the mountains in Mákú and
Chihríq. In the following passage the Báb refers to His im-
prisonment in Mákú:
In this mountain I have remained alone, and have come
to such a pass that none of those gone before Me have
suffered what I have suffered…I render praise unto God
and yet again praise Him. I find Myself free from sorrow,
inasmuch as I abide within the good-pleasure of My Lord
and Master. Methinks I am in the all-highest Paradise,
rejoicing at My communion with God, the Most Great.
Verily this is a bounty which God hath conferred upon
Me; and He is the Lord of unbounded blessings.18
The Báb offered His life and became the Lamb of God. Note
how clearly this prophecy from the Book of Revelation refers
to the Báb as the Lamb and to Bahá’u’lláh’s title, the Glory
of God:
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out
of heaven…It shone with the glory of God…The city does
not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory
of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
Revelation 21:22-23 NIV
I am the lamp which…God hath lit…and caused to shine
with deathless splendor.19 The Báb
The following prophecies from Psalms and Revelation are
almost identical. One of them points to the coming of the

9162 The Glory of the Father

10Lord and his Christ, and the other to the coming of the Lord
and his anointed king. Since Christ means anointed, the two
prophecies can be considered almost identical.
The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of
our Lord [the Báb] and of his Christ [Bahá’u’lláh].
Revelation 11:15 NIV
The kings of the earth stand ready, and the rulers conspire
together against the Lord [the Báb] and his anointed king
[Bahá’u’lláh]. Psalms 2:1-2 NEB
The two kings who conspired against both the Báb and
Bahá’u’lláh were
• Muhammad Sháh, Sháh of Persia, who ruled from 1834
to 1848.
• Násiri’d-Dín Sháh, Sháh of Persia, who ruled from 1848
to 1896.
The two kings who opposed Bahá’u’lláh were:
• ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who ruled
from 1861 to 1876.
• ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who ruled
from 1876 to 190 9.
Thus two kings and their prime ministers (rulers) conspired
against the Báb; four kings and their prime ministers con-
spired against Bahá’u’lláh.
Here the Báb addresses those who conspire or scheme against
the Most Great Remembrance of God, which is one of the
Báb’s titles:
Are ye wickedly scheming, according to your selfish fan-
cies, an evil plot against Him Who is the Most Great
Remembrance of God? By the righteousness of God, all
who are in the heaven and on earth and whatsoever lieth
between them are regarded in My sight even as a spider’s
web, and verily God beareth witness unto all things. In-
deed they will not lay plots but against themselves.20

11Chapter 8: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

1and Bahá’u’lláh to fulfill some critical prophecies? To think
that they could have planned and plotted to harmonize their
lives with just the preceding four points, we must make these
most unlikely and even impossible assumptions:

2The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh were good friends. (It is known
that they did not even meet.)

3Bahá’u’lláh convinced the Báb, a perfect example of hon-
esty and integrity, to call Himself the Redeemer of our
time.
Bahá’u’lláh convinced the Báb to stand firm under pressure
and persecution and be willing to die for a lie.

4Bahá’u’lláh convinced the Persian and Turkish governments
to banish Him from Iraq to a small and unknown place in
Israel, ‘Akká, perhaps the deadliest of all cities at the time.

5Bahá’u’lláh discovered the secret title—Glory of God—
and adopted it for Himself. Even after 150 years, Christian
scholars remain unaware of this secret. The secrecy of this
title was guarded so well that no one in all history ever

6164 The Glory of the Father

1Bahá’u’lláh discovered the coded figure 1844 A. D. (1260
A. H.) and convinced the Báb to declare the new age in
that year.
Bahá’u’lláh knew He could prove that the prophecies that
point to the heavenly descent of the Redeemer of our time
were all symbolic.
To deceive people, Bahá’u’lláh gave up a life of luxury
and position of honor in His native land in exchange for
banishment and imprisonment lasting forty years.

2The need to deceive people and pursue this lie was so
urgent that Bahá’u’lláh exposed not only Himself but also
His family to a life of pain and suffering.
Let us now apply the probability laws to the prophecies of the
Second Advent quoted in this chapter. What is the probability
by chance alone:
1. That out of thousands of districts throughout the world,
a religion would have its beginning in Elam, in south-
ern Persia? (The Báb was born in and called to His
Mission in southern region of Iran.) By a conservative
estimate, let us say one in three thousand …… 1/3,0 0
2. That a man calls Himself the Glory of the Lord. As
far as we can tell, no one has ever called Himself by
this name. For this, let us accept a probability of one
in a thousand …………………………………………….. 1/1,000
3. That a Man who calls Himself the Lord and the Glory of

3indicate that the expected Messenger comes to Israel
from the East. Therefore, He cannot be an Israeli. We
also know that Bahá’u’lláh did not go to the Holy
Land of His own accord. Therefore, we have an unusual
case in which a Person fulfills a prophecy by the decree
of His enemies.
Has something like this ever happened before? How
many people calling themselves the Lord and the Glory
of God have been exiled to the Holy Land? A closely
accurate probability for such an event by chance alone
is one in millions. To be on the safe side, let us ac-
cept a probability of one in ten thousand ….. 1/10 ,0 0
4. That a Man who calls Himself the Glory of God comes
from the East to Israel, and that the divine call will be
raised from “a fortified city”? How many throughout
history have called themselves the Glory of God? And
how many with such a title have been exiled from the
East to a fortified city? Again, as far as we know, such
an event has never happened before. An accurate prob-
ability for this prophecy would be one in millions.
Again, to be safe, let us accept a probability of one in
a thousand …………………………………………………. 1/1,000
5. That after the arrival of a person in a town, the climate
of that town begins to improve? Although such a
change is quite rare, to be safe let us accept a prob-
ability of one in a hundred …………………………… 1/100
6. That a man named the Glory of God comes to the
Holy Land from the east of the Holy Land? Since
there are four basic directions, let us accept for this
prophecy a probability of one in four ……………….. 1/4
7. That the Man who calls Himself the Redeemer of the
world, or the Lord of the Vineyard, comes to Mt. Carmel
(meaning the Vineyard of the Lord)? How many with
such a claim have actually walked on Mt. Carmel? For

4(Since Mt. Carmel is close to ‘Akká, it is very likely
that a person who lives in ‘Akká visits Mt. Carmel.)
8. That the Man who comes to the Holy Land (under the
control of thousands of His enemies) is allowed to live
permanently in that blessed Land and to establish the
center of His spiritual kingdom on the slopes of Mt.
Carmel? Of those who have lived in the Holy Land,
how many have been able, or even tried, to establish
a kingdom on Mt. Carmel? Again such an event has
perhaps never happened before. For this, let us ac-
cept a probability of one in a thousand ……… 1/1,0 0
9. That the Man who is exiled to the Holy Land succeeds
in attracting followers from all nations of the earth
(over 200 countries and territories), to visit His resting-
place? How many people throughout history have
gained such an honor? Let us say one in ten thousand
………………………………………………………………. 1/10,000
10 . That the coming of the Man exiled to the Holy Land
coincides with the return of the Jews to that blessed
Land? For this let us accept the probability of one in
twenty …………………………………………………………… 1/20
11. That the Man who comes to the Holy Land calls Him-
self a King, and brings a pattern for global unity and
world federation? (Also that He does this at a time
when nationalism is still the chief goal of nations.) For
this let us accept a probability of one in fifty …. 1/50
12. That the Man who comes to the Holy Land introduces
world peace as one of His main goals, and offers a
plan for its realization? We should add that the title
Prince of Peace applies to Him not only symbolically,
but literally as well, for His lineage can be traced to
princes or rulers. Since world federation and world
peace are closely linked, for this let us accept a prob-

513. That the name of the Man who calls Himself the Re-
deemer of the world is the same in all languages? Also
that He declares the need for a universal auxiliary lan-
guage, so that all the peoples of the world will praise
the Lord in one “pure language” and “serve Him with
one consent”? For this let us accept a probability of
one in ten ……………………………………………………… 1/10
14. That a Man called the Glory of God has a Herald. For
this, let us accept a probability of one in a thousand.
………………………………………………………………… 1/1,000
15. That the Herald declares that His fondest desire is to
sacrifice Himself for the One who comes after Him and
thus becomes the Lamb of God. For this, let us accept
again a probability of one in a thousand …….. 1/1,0 0
The total probability figure for the preceding prophecies is:
1/3,000 × 1/1,0 0 0 × 1/10 ,0 0 0 × 1/1,0 0 0 × 1/10
× 1/4 × 1/2 × 1/1,0 0 0 × 1/10 ,0 0 0 × 1/20 × 1/50
× 1/10 × 1/10 × 1/1,0 0 0 × 1/1,0 0 0 = 1/
24,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 1/24×1033.
What is the chance that since ancient times anyone could
have fulfilled these prophecies by chance? If we assume that
number to be one trillion, then our total probability figure for

1The prophecies listed and the probability figures cited in this
book are based on only some of the prophecies of the Second
Advent, which are examined in more detail in Lord of Lords

2presented in those volumes and in I Shall Come Again is:
4×10 80.
To remain objective and impartial, let us compare the prob-
ability figures for both advents. To visualize the meaning of
the figure 10 21, note once again the following statement
quoted earlier from professors Stoner and Newman, the two
eminent Christian scholars, concerning the probability figure
(1017) for the first advent:
Let us try to visualize this chance. If you mark one of ten
tickets, and place all of the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly
stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his
chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose
that we take 10 17 silver dollars and lay them on the face
of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep.
Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole
mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and
tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must
pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one.
What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just
the same chance that the prophets would have had of
writing these eight prophecies and having them all come
true in any one man, from their day to the present time,

The Probability Figure For The First Advent:

110 17

110

2What is the difference between 10 21 and 10 17? The difference
is not 10 ,0 0 0 but 10 ,0 0 0 times! If we use the analogy of
spreading coins on the state of Texas to represent the prob-
ability figure for the first Advent, we must cover the state
to a depth of two feet. In this case, we have only one chance
of selecting a specific coin. But in relation to prophecies of
the Second Advent, we must spread coins with the same
depth in an area 10 ,0 0 0 times larger than the state of Texas
and still be able to choose one designated coin on our first
trial! The figure 10 21 is only a small fraction of the total
probability for the Second advent. The total figure presented
for biblical prophecies in Lord of Lords is 4×10 80! The human
mind can never comprehend the immensity of that number:
It equals the estimated number of atoms in the known uni-
verse. What more evidence could you expect?
I bear witness, O friends! that the favor is complete, the
argument fulfilled, the proof manifest and the evidence
established. Let it now be seen what your endeavors in the

1These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you
refuse to come to me to have life. Christ (John 5:39-40 NIV)
God promised that He would send a prophet like Moses to
the people of Israel. “And the Lord said to me: ‘…I will raise
up for them a Prophet like you’” (Deut. 18:17-18 NKJ). St.
Paul acknowledges that Jesus Christ was that Prophet (Acts
3:22). Our Lord reminded the Jews that His advent had been
predicted, yet they did not believe their own Scriptures:
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for He
wrote about Me. Christ (John 5:46 NKJ)
Note how in the previous passage our Lord links the lack of
faith in prophecies with the lack of faith in the One who

2170 The Glory of the Father

3spoke them. People do not change from age to age. When
“the end of an age”—that is now—arrives people do not
really believe in the Scriptures of their own faith. They pick
and choose and alter the meanings to protect their present
position. Change from one religion to another is the most
difficult challenge, the most awesome test a human being
can face. To some people it feels as difficult as changing
their parents. True faith in the Scripture of our own faith
requires that we face the challenge and pass the test.
Did the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh fulfill all the prophecies of the
Second Advent? Scholars believe that the Bible has over
1,80 0 prophecies about the Second Advent. The Báb and
Bahá’u’lláh have fulfilled every one of them. If this claim
seems incredible to you, all you need to do is put it to the
test. As a rule, when I invite Christians to examine the
prophecies, seldom do I find anyone who says:
We have been waiting and praying for this News for nearly
2,000 years. I can’t wait to read the evidence. If it is true,
I will accept it; if it is false, I have lost nothing. By read-
ing, I have obeyed my Lord who has asked me to watch
for Him and look for Him. I am not going to limit my
knowledge of the Bible to what theologians in my own
faith have told me. That is what the Jews did. I cannot
and will not ignore this most critical lesson of history:
listening to theologians will not protect a believer from
denying his Lord. What evidence do I have to make me
believe that I am wiser than the Jews who lived at the
time of Jesus and ever since? What makes me believe that
I am not in the same trap that they were in. All traps are
invisible. Does not the Bible teach us that, “All the ways
of a man are clean in his own eyes” (Prov. 16:2)? Am I
an exception?
Seldom if ever those who hear the news of the Advent of
Bahá’u’lláh show the required spirit of humility. Note the
sense of urgency in the following commands of Jesus, the
Anointed One of God, and Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God:

4Chapter 8: The Fruits of Prophecies on the Tree of Life

5Be ready…to let him in the moment he arrives and
knocks. Christ (Luke 12:35-36 NEB)
He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-
conquering sovereignty is manifest; His all-encompassing
splendor is revealed. Beware lest thou hesitate or halt.23
Bahá’u’lláh
He, truly, is to be obeyed in whatsoever He commandeth,
and decreeth, and revealeth, and is to be loved in every-
thing He, through His sovereignty, enjoineth, and, through
His power, ordaineth. Whoso will hesitate for less than
the twinkling of an eye, hath, verily, denied Thy [God’s]
right, and repudiated all that Thou hast revealed in Thy
Books, and in Thy Scriptures, and sent down with Thy
chosen Ones, and Thy Prophets, and Thy Messengers…24
Bahá’u’lláh
When you hear about Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God, and see
His glorious Word—the Word of God—you have heard the
heavenly “knocking.” According to the command of our
Lord, you must not wait or waste even a minute to verify
if Bahá’u’lláh is the Lord who is knocking and calling you
to His glorious Kingdom. If you hesitate a moment, you have
not obeyed the Lord. The moment you hear His knocking on
your heart, you must begin knocking on His door:
…seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. Christ (Matt. 7:7)

Fruits Of

1God’s Garden

Part I

A Basketful Of Virtues
Let Us Pick A Small Basket Of Virtues From The Scriptures Of
Each Of The Two Great Messengers To See If They Come From

1the same garden.

Love Of God

1The world passeth away, and that which is everlasting is
the love of God. Bahá’u’lláh

1Luke 10 :27 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
The most beloved of people before God are…
those who have surpassed others in their love for

3Set your mind upon His Kingdom, and all the rest will
come to you as well. Luke 12:31 NEB
Great is the blessedness awaiting thee, inasmuch as thou
hast adorned thine heart with the ornament of the love of
thy Lord, the All-Glorious, the All-Praised. He that hath
attained this station in this day, all good shall be his.2
Bahá’u’lláh

1others what you would
have them do to you,
for this sums up the
Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12 NIV

2O companion of my throne! Hear no evil, and see
no evil, abase not thyself, neither sigh and weep.
Speak no evil, that thou mayest not hear it spoken
unto thee, and magnify not the faults of others
that thine own faults may not appear great

3Beware lest ye prefer yourselves above your neighbors.4

4Purity of Hea r t,
the Gateway to Heaven

5We verily behold your actions. If We perceive from them
the sweet smelling savor of purity and holiness, We will

Christ
Let The Little Children Come

1to me…for the kingdom of

1not receive the kingdom
of God like a little child
will never enter it.
Luke 18:16-17 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
O Son of Spirit! My first counsel is this: Possess
a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may
be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and

3Deeds,

1…whoever lives by the truth comes into the light…
John 3:21 NIV
O CHILDREN OF ADAM!
Holy words and pure and goodly deeds ascend unto the
heaven of celestial glory. Bahá’u’lláh

Christ

1Why do you call me,
“Lord, Lord,” and do not
do what I say?
Luke 6:46 NIV

1Luke 3:8 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
O Son of Dust!…Of all men the most negligent
is he that disputeth idly and seeketh to advance
himself over his brother…Let deeds, not words,

3Strive that your deeds may be cleansed from the dust of
self and hypocrisy and find favor at the court of glory; for
ere long the assayers of mankind shall, in the holy pres-
ence of the Adored One, accept naught but absolute virtue
and deeds of stainless purity.7 Bahá’u’lláh
Every one must show forth deeds that are pure and holy,
for words are the property of all alike, whereas such deeds
as these belong only to Our loved ones. Strive then with
heart and soul to distinguish yourselves by your deeds.8
Bahá’u’lláh

1shine before men, that
they may see your good
deeds and praise your
Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14,16 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Forsake all evil, hold fast that which is good.
Strive to be shining examples unto all mankind,
and true reminders of the virtues of God amidst

3Beware, O people of Bahá, lest ye walk in the ways of
them whose words differ from their deeds. Strive that ye
may be enabled to manifest to the peoples of the earth the
signs of God, and to mirror forth His commandments. Let
your acts be a guide unto all mankind, for the professions
of most men, be they high or low, differ from their con-
duct. It is through your deeds that ye can distinguish your-
selves from others. Through them the brightness of your
light can be shed upon the whole earth. Happy is the man
that heedeth My counsel, and keepeth the precepts pre-
scribed by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.10
Bahá’u’lláh
It is Our wish and desire that every one of you may be-
come a source of all goodness unto men, and an example
of uprightness to mankind.11 Bahá’u’lláh
Every one must show forth deeds that are pure and holy,
for words are the property of all alike, whereas such deeds
as these belong only to Our loved ones. Strive then with
heart and soul to distinguish yourselves by your deeds.12
Bahá’u’lláh
The essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance
of deeds…13 Bahá’u’lláh
If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.
Christ (Matt. 19:17)
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith with-
out works is dead also. James 2:17
If you love me, you will obey what I command.
Christ (John 14:15
For you I desire spiritual distinction…You must become
distinguished for loving humanity…for faithfulness and sin-
cerity, for justice and fidelity, for firmness and steadfast-
ness, for philanthropic deeds and service to the human
world, for love toward every human being, for unity and
accord with all people, for removing prejudices and pro-

Independent Search
For T Ruth

1Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
Christ (Matt. 7:7 NIV)

1…What I say to you, I
say to everyone: “Watch!”
Mark 13:33-37 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
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 one-
ness His glorious handiwork, and look into all

3Both Christ and Bahá’u’lláh emphasize the need for spiritual
“detachment.” The word “detachment” is not found in Jesus’
teachings, only the idea. What is spiritual detachment? It is
the ability to separate one’s self from everything except God.
It is seeing as God sees, it is relying on nothing but God; it
is separating one’s self from one’s ego, from one’s knowl-
edge and beliefs, from one’s dependence on people, and from

1not give up everything
he has cannot be my
disciple. Luke 14:33 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true
understanding except he be detached from all that

3If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must leave self
behind. Luke 9:23-24 NEB
Sanctify your souls, O ye peoples of the world, that haply
ye may attain that station which God hath destined for
you…17 Bahá’u’lláh

1the outside of the cup
and dish, but inside you
are full of greed and
wickedness. You foolish
people! Luke 11:39-40 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
O ye seeming fair yet inwardly foul! Ye are like
clear but bitter water, which to outward seem-
ing is crystal pure but of which, when tested by

1Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they
will be shown mercy. Christ (Matt. 5:5-7 NIV)

Christ
Blessed Are The Poor In

1spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.

1comforted.
Matt. 5:3-4 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Let each morn be better than its eve and each
morrow richer than its yesterday. Man’s merit lieth
in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of

3Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons
of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Christ (Matt. 5:8-10 NIV)

4O ye beloved of the Lord!…Set your reliance on the army
of justice, put on the armor of wisdom, let your adorning
be forgiveness and mercy and that which cheereth the
hearts of the well-favored of God.
…Endeavor to the utmost of thy powers to establish the
word of truth with eloquence and wisdom and to dispel
falsehood from the face of the earth.20 Bahá’u’lláh
Loving one’s enemy is the ultimate test of one’s spiritual
maturity. Jesus asked Christians to rise and reach this glori-
ous state of perfection:
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes
his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain
on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those
who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the
tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your
brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not
even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heav-
enly Father is perfect. Christ (Matt. 5:44-48 NIV)
Be vigilant, that ye may not do injustice to any one, be
it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed. Tread ye the
path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path.21
Bahá’u’lláh
If ye become aware of a sin committed by another,
conceal it, that God may conceal your own sin.22
Bahá’u’lláh

5…forgive the sinful, and never despair his low estate, for

We Were Created
To Love One Anther

1O ye beloved of the Lord!…By the righteousness of the
Lord! Ye were created to show love one to another and
not perversity and rancor. Bahá’u’lláh

Christ
Love Your Neighbor As

1yourself. Luke 10 :27 NIV

1John 15:12 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Take pride not in love for yourselves but in love
for your fellow-creatures. Glory not in love for

3This quotation offers the essence of everlasting virtues found
in both biblical and Bahá’í Scriptures:
Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be
worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him
with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor,
an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the
needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair
in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to
no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp
unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful,
a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder
and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and
uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the
stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for
the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto
the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance
of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the
temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of
mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary
above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human
heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the
heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a
shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit
upon the tree of humility.25 Bahá’u’lláh

4Show forbearance and benevolence and love to one an-
other. Should any one among you be incapable of grasping
a certain truth, or be striving to comprehend it, show
forth, when conversing with him, a spirit of extreme
kindliness and good-will. Help him to see and recognize
the truth, without esteeming yourself to be, in the least,
superior to him, or to be possessed of greater endow-

5That We May Attain
Life and Glory

6The Purpose of the one true God, exalted be His glory,
in revealing Himself unto men is to lay bare those gems
that lie hidden within the mine of their true and inmost

1they may have it more
abundantly. John 10:10 NKJ

2Verily, He hath consented to be sorely abased

3My sole purpose in revealing to thee these words is to
sanctify thee from the transitory things of the earth, and
aid thee to enter the realm of everlasting glory, that thou
mayest, by the leave of God, be of them that abide and
rule therein.28 Bahá’u’lláh
The purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself
is to summon all mankind to truthfulness and sincerity, to
piety and trustworthiness, to resignation and submissive-
ness to the Will of God, to forbearance and kindliness, to
uprightness and wisdom. His object is to array every man
with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him
with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds.29 Bahá’u’lláh
Though the purpose of Him Who is the Eternal Truth hath
been to confer everlasting life upon all men, and ensure
their security and peace, yet witness how they have arisen
to shed the blood of His loved ones, and have pronounced
on Him the sentence of death.30 Bahá’u’lláh
The Prophets and Messengers of God have been sent down
for the sole purpose of guiding mankind to the straight
Path of Truth. The purpose underlying Their revelation
hath been to educate all men, that they may, at the hour
of death, ascend, in the utmost purity and sanctity and
with absolute detachment, to the throne of the Most High.31

Fruits Of

1God’s Garden

1in this chapter show:
• The qualities that allow us to recognize the Redeemer of
the Age.
• The consequences of believing or denying the Redeemer
of the Age.
• The way we should teach the Word of God to others.
• Our accountability before God if we deny the Redeemer

1O ye that thirst after Him! Strip yourselves of every earthly
affection, and hasten to embrace your Beloved. With a zest
that none can equal make haste to attain unto Him.
Bahá’u’lláh

1him come; and whoever
wishes, let him take the
free gift of the water of
life. Rev. 22:17 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
The waters of everlasting life have, in their full-
ness, been proffered unto men…Draw near, and

Teach Only
The Receptive

1O SON OF DUST!
The wise are they that speak not unless they obtain a
hearing, even as the cup-bearer, who proffereth not his
cup till he findeth a seeker… Bahá’u’lláh

1some worthy person in
it… Matt. 10 :11 NEB
…do not throw your
pearls to the pigs.
Matt. 7:6 NEB

2Bahá’u’lláh
Wherefore sow the seeds of wisdom and knowl-
edge in the pure soil of the heart, and keep them
hidden, till the hyacinths of divine wisdom spring

Do Not Imitate
Your Fathers

Consider How Men For Generations Have Been Blindly Imi-

1tating their fathers, and have been trained according to
such ways and manners as have been laid down by the
dictates of their Faith. Bahá’u’lláh

Christ
You Are Doing The Things

1your own father does…

1want to carry out your
father’s desire.
John 8:41, 44 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
O heedless people! Ye repeat what your fathers,
in a bygone age, have said. Whatever fruits they
have gathered from the tree of their faithlessness,
the same shall ye gather also.3

3Ere long shall ye be gathered unto your fathers, and with
them shall ye dwell in hellish fire. An ill abode! the

Overcome Your
Pride

1Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou
set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee
down, saith the Lord. Obadiah 1:4

1and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.
Luke 14:11 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Humility exalteth man to the heaven of glory
and power, whilst pride abaseth him to the

O Vercome
Your Fears

1The thing that must come hath come suddenly; behold
how they flee from it! Bahá’u’lláh

1flock, for your Father
has been pleased to give
you the kingdom.
Luke 12:32 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Flee ye the One Who hath sacrificed His life
that ye may be quickened [receive eternal life]?

3To inspire courage, Bahá’u’lláh sometimes quotes this verse:
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not:

1The True One is come evident as the shining sun; O pity
that He should have come into the city of the blind!
Bahá’u’lláh
Their eyes are drunken; they are indeed a blind people.
Bahá’u’lláh

1blind guides. If a blind
man leads a blind man,
both will fall into a pit.
Matt. 15:14 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Say: So great is the glory of the Cause of God that
even the blind can perceive it, how much more

3For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly
hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Other-
wise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal
them. Christ (Matt. 13:15 NIV)

Do Not Expect
Miracles

Christ
A Wickedand Adulterous
Generation Asks For A Mi-

1raculous sign!
Matt. 12:39 NIV

1John 4:48 NEB

2Bahá’u’lláh
We entreat Our loved ones not to…allow refer-
ences to what they have regarded as miracles
and prodigies to debase Our rank and station, or
to mar the purity and sanctity of Our name.8

3Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures

1Both Christ and Bahá’u’lláh rebuked, in the strongest lan-
guage, those who come to the Vineyard of heavenly fruits
with closed or fearful hearts and minds, who claim to be true
believers yet are far away from the truth, who use “common
sense” for judging natural events and objects, but refuse to
use that same sense to judge the spiritual:

1how to interpret the ap-
pearance of the earth
and the sky. How is it
that you don’t know how
to interpret this present
time? Luke 12:56 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
They see the sun with their own eyes, and yet
question that brilliant Orb as to the proof of
its light. They behold the vernal showers de-
scending upon them, and yet seek an evidence

3When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you
say, “It’s going to rain,” and it does. And when the south
wind blows, you say, “It’s going to be hot,” and it is.
Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of
the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how
to interpret this present time? Christ (Luke 12:54-56 NIV)

4Gracious God! how strange the way of this people!…They
cleave to the obscure intricacies of knowledge, when He,
Who is the Object of all knowledge, shineth as the sun.10
Bahá’u’lláh
The proof of the sun is the light thereof, which shineth
and envelopeth all things. The evidence of the shower is
the bounty thereof, which reneweth and investeth the
world with the mantle of life. Yea, the blind can perceive
naught from the sun except its heat, and the arid soil hath
no share of the showers of mercy.11 Bahá’u’lláh

5Though such men [the deniers] have been, night and day,
remembering the one true God, and have been devoutly
engaged in the exercise of their devotions, yet they failed
in the end to recognize, and partake of the grace of, the
Day Springs of the signs of God…
Consider the Dispensation of Jesus Christ. Behold, how all
the learned men of that generation, though eagerly antici-
pating the coming of the Promised One, have nevertheless
denied Him. Both Annas, the most learned among the
divines [religious leaders] of His day, and Caiaphas, the
high priest, denounced Him and pronounced the sentence

Severe Punishment
For Deniers

1Both Christ and Bahá’u’lláh condemn those who refuse to
investigate and acknowledge their divine station. Christ also
promised severe punishment for those who deny Him at His
Second Advent:

1that I am the one I claim
to be… John 8:24 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Blessed is the man who turneth towards Him,

3They that have disbelieved in God and rebelled against
His sovereignty are the helpless victims of their corrupt
inclinations and desires. These shall return to their abode
in the fire of hell: wretched is the abode of the deniers!14
Bahá’u’lláh

4Jesus offered this warning to those who will deny Him on
His Second Advent:
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the
angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly
glory…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 in-
heritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world…” Then he will say to those on his left,
“Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Christ (Matt. 25:31-41 NIV)

5Know ye that the world and its vanities and its embellish-
ments shall pass away. Nothing will endure except God's
Kingdom…The days of your life shall roll away, and all
the things with which ye are occupied and of which ye
boast yourselves shall perish, and ye shall, most certainly,
be summoned by a company of His angels to appear at the
spot where the limbs of the entire creation shall be made
to tremble, and the flesh of every oppressor to creep. Ye
shall be asked of the things your hands have wrought in
this, your vain life, and shall be repaid for your doings.
This is the day that shall inevitably come upon you, the
hour that none can put back. To this the Tongue of Him
that speaketh the truth and is the Knower of all things

6The Most Severe Punishment for
Religious Leaders Who Deny
T heir Promised Redeemer
Both Christ and Bahá’u’lláh rebuke the religious leaders for
ignoring their awesome responsibility to lead their followers

1For you won’t let others
enter the Kingdom of
Heaven, and you won’t
go in yourselves.
Matt. 23:13 NLT

2Bahá’u’lláh
Not one Prophet of God was made manifest
Who did not fall a victim to the relentless hate…
of the clerics of His day!…Woe unto them for
How

3Consider also these words of censure from Jesus addressed
to the religious leaders of His time:
Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear
extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and
they wear extra long tassels on their robes. And how they
love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the most
prominent seats in the synagogue! They enjoy the atten-
tion they get on the streets, and they enjoy being called
“Rabbi”… Christ (Matt. 23:5-7 NLT)
Woe to you, blind guide! Christ (Matt. 23:16 NIV)
Woe to you, teachers of the law [of Moses] and Pharisees,
you hypocrites!…on the outside you appear to people as
righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and
wickedness. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Phari-
sees, 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.” So you testify against yourselves that you are
the descendants of those who murdered the prophets…
Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and
teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others
you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town
to town. Christ (Matt. 23:27-34 NIV)
It is clear and evident that whenever the Manifestations
of Holiness [God’s Messengers] were revealed, the divines
[religious leaders] of their day have hindered the people
from attaining unto the way of truth. To this testify the
records of all the scriptures and heavenly books.17
Bahá’u’lláh
Why is God’s judgment on religious leaders so severe? For
this reason:
From everyone who has been given much, much will be
demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with

4We should remember that all judgment belongs to God. We
should never look down, however slightly, on anyone, whether
he occupies the lowest or the highest position of power.
We should treat with respect all religious teachers and leaders,
whatever their religion, whether they are mullas, mujtahids,
bishops, elders, pastors, or priests. Love means absolute re-
spect for the entire creation. We all belong to God and are
His honored guests. Disrespect for anyone means disrespect
for the Host.

1are the Scriptures that
testify about me, yet you
refuse to come to me to
have life. John 5:39-40 NIV

2Bahá’u’lláh
Though the clearest proofs attest the truth of His
Cause; though the prophecies He, in an unmis-
takable language, hath made have been fulfilled
…yet, behold how this generation hath rejected

3This Cause is too evident to be obscured, and too conspicu-
ous to be concealed. It shineth as the sun in its meridian
glory. None can deny it unless he be a hater and a doubter.19
Bahá’u’lláh
How far from the grace of the All-Bountiful and from His
loving providence and tender mercies it is to single out a
soul from amongst all men for the guidance of His crea-
tures, and, on one hand, to withhold from Him the full
measure of His divine testimony, and, on the other, inflict
severe retribution on His people for having turned away

By Their Fruits
You Shall Know Them

1Christ (Matt. 7:20)

1What virtues or values should guide decision making? This
chapter examines Jesus’ statement, “By their fruits ye shall
know them” in the light of reason and modern scientific
methods. The principles expressed in this model or paradigm
should guide both spiritual and secular decisions.
Every decision depends on the way the mind works, on the
strategies and processes it uses to come to a conclusion. This
brief chart presents the three most significant ways in which
the mind can work:

2206 The Glory of the Father

3Everyone is a deceiver. Have courage, "watch,"
Ignore every invitation pay attention, seek,
to search for truth. investigate, taste the fruit.

4There is no right or Beware of false prophets.
wrong, no way to know Do not be gullible. Use
the truth. Choose, believe, reasonable standards
and do whatever you like, to judge. Use only
whatever feels right. testable and provable
evidence: fruits.

5Every field of knowledge, every system of beliefs must be
grounded, must function within the realm of reason and
understanding, otherwise it loses touch with reality. If religion
loses its ground, it turns into superstition and fanaticism.
What is the firmest and most reliable ground? It is expressed
in these two brief verses:
Prove all things (I Thess. 5:21).
By their fruits you will know them (Matt. 7:20 ).
There is little if any difference between religion and science.
How do we verify an idea or principle in science? By evidence,

6Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

7by research, by testing or examining the “fruits.” This method
is applied to all fields of science. How do we know a medi-
cine works? By its “fruits” or consequences. How do we know
a system of farming is efficient? By studying its “fruits.”
How do we know healthy foods are better than junk foods?
By their consequences. The principle of testing by “fruits” is
among the best established laws of science. It is so reason-
able that no one questions it. It is as established as the laws
of mathematics. Why, then, should we make an exception in
religion? The only reason is being unreasonable!
All the standards we are asked not to use have this feature
in common: they are untestable and unprovable, and there-
fore unreliable as evidence. Take miracles. Would you join
a cult because its members would take an oath and testify
in a court that their leader has performed miracles? Take
“prophesying” or foretelling the future. Why would anyone
be able to foretell the future better than you do, even if he
uses the words of the Bible? When Jesus declares that He
shall come on the clouds and every eye shall see Him, has
anyone any advantage over anyone else in predicting that this
will literally happen? No human being is better gifted than
any other to make a prediction based on a literal meaning of
this prophecy. Almost every Jew made this prediction based
on clear prophecies of their Scripture: “The Messiah will
come as a powerful king to save us from bondage.” And
every Jew who made that prediction was wrong.
Ponder this supremely enlightening and yet incredible admis-
sion from two distinguished theologians of this age. Dr.
James Kennedy, a highly respected and recognized Christian
leader, ranks Dr. Charles Hodge among the greatest theolo-
gians Christianity has offered to the world. When Dr.
Kennedy was asked, “What do you believe are some of the
major mistakes we [Christians] tend to make in our study of
prophecy?” He said:
The great Princeton theologian of the last century, Dr.
Charles Hodge, said that though the Old Testament is

8208 The Glory of the Father

9filled with some 333 prophecies concerning the first
coming of Christ; in spite of that…they crucified Christ
because of a misunderstanding about what the Messiah
was really coming to do. And we should because of that
[failure] be somewhat humbled and modest in our attempts
to interpret prophecies concerning the second coming of
Christ. It is quite possible that all of us [Christian leaders]
are wrong as well. [Emphasis added.]1
Read Dr. Kennedy’s statement repeatedly until its truth
touches your heart and soul. We have an absolutely reason-
able but rare admission from two distinguished and highly
respected theologians with this most enlightening message:
all Christian leaders can be wrong in their interpretation of
prophecies. That is how unreliable human interpretation of
prophecies can be. If this is true, why, then, would anyone
build his or her everlasting destiny on such shifting sand?
Examine Dr. Kennedy’s statement in the light of the instruc-
tions our Lord gave us:
• Depend on the fruits
• Do not prophesy in my name
• Obey my command
• If you fail to obey, you have built your house on sand
In spite of this admission by two distinguished scholars, why
do so many Christians continue to build their everlasting
house on sand? Why do they continue to make these abso-
lutely false assumptions:
1. The sure way to know the Lord is through prophecy.
2. We are capable of deciphering the language of “meta-
phoric miracles” used abundantly in prophecies. We
know which prophecies are literal, and which prophecies
are symbolic.
Historical and scientific studies indicate that human beings
are unable to predict the future. This is what fortune telling

10Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

11pretends to do. Would you place your destiny in the hands
of a fortune teller, even if he or she uses the Bible? Theolo-
gians are no better in telling the future than fortune tellers.
The gift of knowing the future is only God’s.
Take the question of the “driving out the demons.” Is this
testable or provable? Is this not a prescientific belief that
mentally ill patients were possessed by the devil, and pun-
ished and sometimes even killed for being “possessed”? As
we can see, our Lord hits at the root of all superstitions,
unscientific, untestable, unprovable, and unreliable means
of knowing the truth. And then He tells us exactly what we
must do: To follow not only what the scientific method
teaches us but also what our own “common sense” tells us,
provided that “common sense” is not contaminated with self-
ish desires or spiritual weaknesses, such as conformity, fear,
pride, complacency, apathy, and lack of faith and sincerity.
To clarify His point, our Lord used an example that is totally
based on common sense: the way of knowing a tree is by
testing its fruits.
Another untestable and unprovable claim that people make to
support their beliefs is to say that the Holy Spirit tells them
that they are right! Recently I heard of a Christian who
would beat his non-Christian wife. When she would ask,
“Why are you doing this to me?” He would respond, “Be-
cause the Holy Spirit tells me!” People have used both the
Holy Spirit and the devil to justify their selfish desires. It is
easy to find thousands of people with conflicting views and
beliefs who would all claim, and be convinced, that they are
under the supervision of the Holy Spirit! I have met and
continue to meet them wherever I go.
Some Christians claim that they find guidance by “speaking
in tongues.” Note this statement from a Christian publication:
A joint statement by the Fountain Trust and the Church
of England Evangelical Council admitted: “We are also
aware that a similar phenomenon [speaking in tongues]

12210 The Glory of the Father

13can occur under occult/demonic influence.”…in Haiti
“speaking in tongues” is characteristic of both Pentecos-
tal and Voodoo religions.2
There are a few clever authors who attract many gullible
people by claiming that their theological views came to them
in visions. How can anyone be sure that the visions are not
the author’s personal views? Recently a number of American
authors have gained sizable royalties by claiming that their
books were dictated to them in dreams and visions, or other
similar mystical ways.
Sometimes even “good” people justify lying. They are so sure
they are right that they ask themselves, “How can I convince
people?” The answer comes quickly, “Call your views vi-
sions.” Religious wars have been waged by people who were
regarded as faithful disciples of their Lord by the masses of
people. This is the reason we are told, “Beware of false
prophets.” People can look good on the outside, but be de-
ceivers inside. Only provable evidence can separate the divine
from the deceptive. This is why nothing short of “fruits”
can suffice.
Untestable and unprovable claims and counterclaims denigrate
the station of religion. They hit at the root of the Tree of
Life. They bring it down from the supreme station of “fruits”
and evidence to the level of “Make up your pie of beliefs the
way you like. Include in the recipe anything your heart com-
mands you. Put a respectable label, such as ‘Holy Spirit’ or
‘Vision,’ on your beliefs and ‘Devil,’ ‘Satan,’ or ‘Antichrist’
on the beliefs of your opponents. As long as your claims are
untestable and unprovable, you are safe.”
When our Creator tells us, “Ye shall know,” we must trust
His words and not substitute “fruits” with our own untestable
and unauthorized standards, such as prophesying. If we doubt
God’s clear instruction, it can be due only to a lack of faith
in the One who gave us the standards.

14Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

15Some people say to me, “This is your interpretation.” Yes,
the details, the clarifications offered in this book are all mine.
But the fundamental principles, such as the need to rely on
the Word of God as the ultimate proof of knowing Him and
the use of “metaphoric miracles” as a means of testing the
heart of believers—all these basics come from Bahá’u’lláh,
who claims to be the Lord. The underlying message pre-
sented here is not one more view of a theologian, but the
decoding or unsealing of prophecies by the Lord, by
Bahá’u’lláh, by the One who uttered the prophecies. My
position of authority is “absolute nothingness.”
This book is only a clarification of biblical prophecies in the
light of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings. I can be wrong in details,
but the fundamentals stand as solidly as rock; they come not
from a fallible author but from the One who proves Himself,
by sheer evidence, to be the Lord.

16Following God’s Standard is
the Only Way to Our Lord
At any given moment there are millions of people who look
good, almost perfect, on the outside, and yet their inner
world contradicts their outer. We have repeatedly seen evan-
gelists who teach the Word of God to millions and receive
the highest reverence until someone gives us a glimpse of
their inner world. This is why our Lord said that the deceivers
come in “sheep’s clothing.” Appearances can be deceptive.
We cannot assume that anyone who wears an aura of holiness
(II Tim. 3:5) will not lie, will not make up visions, will not
claim miraculous powers, will not pretend to have true
knowledge of prophecies. These are all untestable and un-
provable claims. How can we test a vision? There is absolutely
no way to do this. How can we trust a miracle? It took a
Houdini, a genius, to expose some but not all deceivers.

17212 The Glory of the Father

18Jesus never linked “good fruits” to deception. Never can a
deceiver, an evil person, bring good fruits that would resemble
even remotely those produced by God. As Jesus told us, a
bad tree cannot bring good fruits. His fruits will expose him.
A false prophet or a false Christ has at least two problems:
1. All the fruits of God are testable. A deceiver cannot
withstand the light of testing.
2. The fruits of God are so sublime, so far beyond a
deceiver’s reach, he can never copy them.
We cannot find statements in the Bible such as “False Christs
and false prophets will appear and bring good fruits to de-
ceive even the elect.” It is not fruits, but miracles, that can
serve as tools of deception:
For false Christs and false prophets will appear and per-
form great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—
if that were possible. Christ (Matt. 24:24 NIV)
Prophesying in any way, even in the name of the Lord, can
also serve as a means of deception, sometimes of self-decep-
tion. How can you test a prediction of the future? Would you
trust any predictor more than you trust yourself? When it
comes to the future, we are all equal—equally ignorant.
Nowhere in the Christian world can you find a war waged as
intensely as it is waged among Bible teachers who “prophesy
in the name of the Lord.” See this for yourself by studying
The Last Day Handbook. This book is an outstanding volume
written by a distinguished Christian scholar, Dr. Robert
Lightner. He wrote the book for the sole purpose of bring-
ing peace among interpreters of biblical prophecy: those who
preface their personal interpretation with words such as, “Our
Lord promised in plain language.” “There is no doubt about
the meaning of this prophecy.” “I am sure this is the way
our Lord will come.” When it comes to interpretation of
prophecy, it is hard to find any modesty. Seldom can we find
statements such as the one by Dr. James Kennedy that all

19Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

20Christian leaders may be wrong in their interpretations. That
statement is extremely rare. Our Lord knew that many false
prophets, interpreters, and predictors would appear under His
name in our time. Hence He undermined every means they
are using today to support their claims. We have a perfect
map for finding and knowing our Lord on His return. “Be-
hold, I have told you all things” (Mark 13:23). But is there
any leader to hear “What the Spirit says to the churches”
(Rev. 2:29)?
Everything revolves around this point: Absolute, unqualified,
and unconditional obedience to our Lord. No deviation, how-
ever slight, is acceptable. In our journey of the search for
truth, even one wrong turn leads us away from the truth. The
reason we have so much confusion in religion is this: “The
authority figures,” Bible teachers and scholars, do exactly the
opposite of what they are told. They take the wrong turn at
every point. To make their ego triumphant, and to look good
in the eyes of the masses, they boast of a knowledge and
wisdom they do not have. They take advantage of the trust
people have in the Word of God. They abuse that trust,
knowing full well that they cannot be exposed.
Consider this example: Suppose you are an egoist and would
like to endear yourself in the eyes of others. You have two
choices. You can either make a claim that is testable or one
that is not. Which would you prefer? Of course, the one that
is untestable. If you falsely claim that you have memorized
the entire Bible, can you succeed in your deception? Any
child can expose your deception. But suppose you are an
excellent communicator and spend a lot of money to find out
what people’s “itching ears like to hear” (II Tim. 4:3). Then
you write an exceptionally convincing book on prophecy, a
book in which you claim to be absolutely sure of your in-
terpretation. Can anyone expose you? No. You may have
written a bestseller, and will be quoted by many authors for
years to come. You may even be surprised by your success.
You will become the authority others will quote to prove their
point. As long as your views are untestable, you are safe.

21214 The Glory of the Father

22Almost every Christian makes predictions in the name of
Jesus in some way or another. All these predictions are
untestable except one: When they set a date for the return of
Jesus. Why? The passage of time exposes the truth or false-
hood of their prophecy. Those who prophesy in the name of
the Lord enjoy a perfect safety net as long as they refrain
from setting dates, unless the date is far ahead. Consider this
simple example. Hal Lindsey is perhaps the most popular
Christian author, especially in relation to prophecy. People
love what he writes. Over the course of half a century he has
made many predictions about the way our Lord will return.
At some point, he felt so confident about his interpretations
and predictions that he ventured to set a date for the return
of Jesus. According to a Christian author: “By interpreting
‘this generation’ of Matthew 24:34 as being ‘the generation
which sees Israel…back in the land of Palestine,’ Lindsey
predicted in 1970 that ‘within forty years or so of 1948, all
these things could take place.’”
“In an interview reported in Christianity Today (April 1977),
Ward Gasque asked Hal Lindsey regarding his prediction that
Christ would return by 1988, ‘But what if you’re wrong?’
Lindsey replied: ‘Well, there is just a split second’s difference
between a hero and a bum. I did not ask to be a hero, but I
guess I have become one in the Christian community. So I
accept it. But if I’m wrong about this, I guess I’ll become a
bum.’”4
Mr. Lindsey does not deserve more blame than any other
Christian who claims knowledge of the inner meaning of
prophecies. He simply became too confident and made a
mistake; he made a claim that was testable, that would later
teach him this critical lesson: prophesying in the name of the
Lord is forbidden. Unfortunately, this event did not force Mr.
Lindsey to declare a disclaimer about his other prophecies,
such as the physical rapture of true believers, and the literal
war between our Lord and 200 million military men from all
the armies of the world!

23Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

24Why then would anyone with wisdom build his everlasting
destiny on such shifting sand? This evidence alone should
awaken every sincere Christian from the grand illusion of
“We know what biblical prophecies mean!” To recognize the
critical significance of using testable standards, consider this
example. Suppose you want to employ a physician for your
clinic. Would you use testable or untestable standards? Would
you simply say, “Tell me what credentials you have?” and
stop there, or would you want to see the credentials? If you
as an employer would refuse to use untestable standards, why
would God, the supreme source of all knowledge and wis-
dom? This point is critical and self-evident; why then do so
many seekers ignore it? Why do so many believers continue
to use the standards they are told not to use, the standards
that our Lord has condemned in the harshest words. He called
wicked those who disobey and deviate from the standard of
“works” and “fruits,” and yet the disobedience and deviation
continue. Why did He use such a harsh word? Because a
“wicked” person would not obey his Lord. He pays lip ser-
vice to the Master, and then acts as if he is the Master.
The necessity of using God’s standards, in one’s search for
truth, should not be taken lightly. This is not the same as
misunderstanding a prophecy. It is the most fundamental
issue. Disregarding it is like using the map of New York to
find a house in Chicago. Ignoring it is like looking for a lake
in India instead of Israel. Working harder, using more people,
spending more hours, investing more talent, looking for the
seal of approval from famous authorities, juggling the order
of prophecies—none of these will solve the problem.
Consider the Jews. They have been prophesying for 2,0 0
years. They have depended on the authority of thousands of
rabbis, Greek and Hebrew scholars, and brilliant interpreters
of Hebrew Scriptures. All those Jewish rabbis, scholars, and
interpreters have been prophesying in the name of Jehovah,
the Lord God, just as Christians are doing today. They have
been prefacing their interpretations and their views with,

25216 The Glory of the Father

26“This is what Jehovah promised to our prophets.” During
those 20 centuries, they have been exposed to the intense
light of the One who had the knowledge of all mysteries—
Jesus Christ—and yet they have not seen the Light. Why?
They have replaced the divine directions with their own.
Instead of looking heavenward to see the Sun, they have
been digging holes in the ground. They have been searching
for their Lord with the wrong map, the map of prophecy,
the forbidden standard of “prophesying in the name of
Jehovah,” of using the authority of God to support their
private personal interpretation of His Word.
This issue—using the right standard, the right map—is at
the heart and soul of every search, of every endeavor, of
every expectation. If this is missing, there is no life, there
is no truth, there is no hope. If you make this one exchange—
from human standards to God’s—the divine splendors of
Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God, will suddenly and dramati-
cally transform your perspective. Instead of seeing drifting
clouds, you will begin to see dazzling stars with infinite
beauty and splendor. You will say, “How could I have
missed this glorious Sun of Truth?”
Because of its critical position in helping us choose our ever-
lasting destiny, let us analyze once again our Lord’s most
clear and conclusive pronouncement on how we can distin-
guish truth from falsehood, how we can recognize future
Messengers and Redeemers. The following is the only state-
ment from Jesus in which He declares the exact standards of
knowing a Prophet or Redeemer from God.
May I encourage you to read these instructions many times.
Each time you read them, their meanings will become clearer.
After repeated readings, you will begin to see a picture or a
pattern in Jesus’ instructions that you may not have seen in
your first few readings.

27Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

28The The Verses The Number
Essence of He Uttered of Words He
our Lord’s Devoted to
Message Each Topic

29The Watch out for false prophets. They 18 Words
Warning: come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but inwardly they are ferocious
wolves. Matt. 7:15 NIV

30The By their fruit you will recognize 70 Words
Standard: them. Do people pick grapes from
thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

1fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad
fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear
good fruit. Every tree that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire. Thus, by their
fruit you will recognize them.
Matt. 7:16-18 NIV

2Obedience Not everyone who says to me, 21 Words
to God’s “Lord, Lord,” will enter the king-
standard dom of heaven, but only he who
is does the will of my Father who is

3The The Verses The Number
Essence of He Uttered of Words He
our Lord’s Devoted to
Message Each Topic
The stan- Many will say to me on that 43 Words
dards that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not
should not prophesy in your name, and in
be used for your name drive out demons
testing the and perform many miracles?”
truth, actions Then I will tell them plainly, “I
that are never knew you. Away from
prohibited, me, you evildoers!”
and punish- Matt. 7:22-23 NIV
ment for
those who
disobey:
Obedience to Therefore everyone who hears 10 3 Words
instructions these words of mine and puts
is absolutely them into practice is like a
essential. wise man who built his house
The conse- on the rock. The rain came
quences are down, the streams rose, and the
quite winds blew and beat against
serious: that house; yet it did not fall,
because it had its foundation on
the rock. But everyone who
hears these words of mine and
does not put them into practice
is like a foolish man who built
his house on sand. The rain
came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew and beat
against that house, and it fell
with a great crash.

4What did you discover from your repeated readings of Jesus’
instruction? Ponder these points:

1destiny, we must use critical judgment, we must watch for
deceivers who tell us, in Paul’s words, what our “itching ears
like to hear” (II Tim. 4:3). This is a matter of common sense,
yet we need to be reminded.
Unfortunately, many Christians have exaggerated Jesus’ instruc-
tion. Instead of observing caution, they experience phobia.
Instead of being prudent, they engage in avoidance. Today the
fear of being deceived by outsiders has overwhelmed many
Christians. The consequences of exaggerating this fear is so
serious, it is studied separately. (See Appendix II.)

1nouncement: The standard that separates the divine from the
deceptive. This standard is not self-evident. We do not know
how we can recognize a prophet from God. We do not know
by what standards we can separate the sincere from the insin-
cere. This is the heart of the entire discourse. We need a clear
standard by which we can separate the God-given from the
ego-driven. How can we know a good surgeon? How can we
know a good teacher? Only by having and applying standards.
To make sure everyone will take this instruction to heart,

2them” (Matt. 7:20 ), Jesus clarifies it by asking a common-
sense question, one that even a child can answer: “Do men
gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matt.
7:16). After raising the question, Jesus repeats His main prin-
ciple—the standard—several times to draw everyone’s atten-
tion to it. He knows that most people do not like “fruits.”
They have their eyes on something more exciting—one that
He covers later.

1He knows Christians living in the last days will not obey His
commandments. Many prophecies confirm this. He knows
people have always shown a reluctance to accept something
as ordinary as “fruits.” They do not find much excitement in
tasting something as ordinary as apples and oranges, or pears
and peaches. They have their eyes and hearts on miracles.
They like someone who changes apples into oranges, pears
into peaches. They like magicians, not Messengers. They
want a savior who will suddenly turn gravel into gold,
chickpeas into chocolate chips; a redeemer who will send
down from the sky milk and honey instead of hail and rain.
Note this conversation between Jesus and the Jews:
The Jews What miraculous sign then will you give that
we may see it and believe you? What will
you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the
desert; as it is written: “He gave them bread

2Jesus I tell you the truth…the bread of God is he
who comes down from heaven and gives life
to the world. John 6:32-33 NIV
Note how precisely history is repeating itself. The Jews
wanted to see a physical sign. They wanted the Lord to
bring them some loaves of bread from the sky. What do
most Christians expect today? Instead of loaves of bread,
they want the Lord to bring Himself down from the sky!
In the same conversation Jesus declared this everlasting truth:
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures
to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.
John 6:27 NIV
To make sure Christians will obey His command, that they
must depend on “fruits,” Jesus offers a grave warning: He
declares that those who disobey His pronouncement will be
unable to enter His heavenly Kingdom.

1first standard He mentions is: prophesying in His name. How
can a person prophesy in the name of Jesus? Only by depend-
ing on Jesus’ prophecies. If our Lord had made no other
prediction except this one, we would need no other evidence
for His divine foresight. Because many Christians are violat-
ing this rule on a scale that is unimaginable.
Every Christian who hears about Bahá’u’lláh, but hesitates
to investigate, has a problem with prophecy. His first and
foremost reason for rejection is related to what he expects

2meaning of every prophecy. When he hears about the advent
of Bahá’u’lláh, he instantly begins to prophesy in the name
of the Lord. What an astonishing foresight Jesus had!
What is the essential ingredient of all the predictions that
today’s Christians are making in the name of Jesus? That
ingredient is the miraculous. It seems they expect Jesus, at
His Advent, will break every law of nature.
After invalidating the standard of prophesying in the name
of the Lord, Jesus then invalidates the value or relevance of
anything that is untestable, such as the miraculous, cultic, or
demonic.
To instill obedience in Christians, Jesus once again declares
the most severe threat for violators: that of remaining outside
His heavenly Kingdom. Jesus is so angry with Christians who
pride themselves in His name, but disregard His commands,
He curses them in the strongest words. He says, “Away from
me you evildoers!” (Matt. 7:23). Why does He call them
evildoers? Because they are hypocrites. They claim His name,
but disobey His command. To make sure that they understand
the reason for His severe threat, He tells them, “I never knew
you” (Matt. 7:23). What does that expression imply? It implies
this: Many people consider themselves Christian. They think
they know their Lord and that the Lord knows them. But this
is an illusion. How can they know the Lord if the Lord does
not know them? In the next Kingdom, these Christians will
be treated as strangers.

1At the end, Jesus brings His discourse to a conclusion by rais-
ing the question of obedience once again. Jesus’ emphasis

2Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

3shows that obedience is by far the most critical challenge
Christians of this age are facing.
In conclusion, Jesus uses a wonderful analogy to emphasize
His point: The analogy of building one’s house on sand or
on rock. Christians who judge Bahá’u’lláh by their personal
interpretation of prophecy—an act they are strictly forbidden
by Jesus, Peter, and Paul—are building the house of their
everlasting destiny on sand. To recognize the shifting sands
behind these interpretations, examine the various theories
theologians have been presenting about the return of Jesus.
These theories are changed constantly like sands blown by
the wind. After all, what can we expect from fallible human
beings when they engage in decoding mysteries far beyond
their understanding? What can we expect when people engage
in a forbidden task: “No prophecy of scripture is of private
interpretation” (II Peter 1:20). Can a direction be more clear?
Lack of obedience is the root cause of all denials. If people
obey God, they will definitely find the One they are search-
ing for.
As we noted, when Jesus reasoned with the Jews in relation
to His first Advent, He linked knowing the source of His
teaching to obeying God’s will. He said, “If anyone chooses
to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching
comes from God ” (John 7:17 NIV). Is it a coincidence that,
in relation to both advents, our Lord emphasized the issue of
obedience? What is the connection between the standard of
knowing a Redeemer, and obeying God’s command? The
answer is obvious. But why did our Lord emphasize obedience
so much? Why did He refer to it repeatedly? Because He
knew Christians who live in this age would disregard His
instructions. He knew they would ignore God’s standards,
just as the Jews of His time abandoned God’s standard
of “works,” “bread,” “water,” and “fruits” and opted for
miracles. He knew the intense desire in human beings to
behold the incredible, the miraculous, the dramatic. He knew
people love “the magic arts,” when the impossible suddenly

4224 The Glory of the Father

5becomes possible, when the earth changes in one instant into
heaven, and all the bad people are magically destroyed.
Did not the Jews use the wrong map? Did they not prophesy
in the name of Moses and Hebrew Prophets? Did they not
object to our Lord for not doing things their way, for not
following their map? Even Jesus’ disciples had to struggle
with their urgent desires to prophesy in the name of the
Hebrew prophets, and to say to Jesus, “Our Lord! Why are
you so helpless? Why don’t you hit back? Why don’t you
conquer our enemies, as Hebrew prophecies have promised?
Why don’t you establish your Kingdom? Why don’t you act
like David, the pride of Israel? You have all those incredible
powers at your command. Why don’t you use them?”
This was an awesome test for Jesus’ disciples. We should
sympathize with their dilemma. If we were in their place, we
would feel and act the same way. To understand their impa-
tience, think of this example. Suppose you are walking with
your friend, who is a powerful boxer. Suddenly you are at-
tacked by a few muggers. But your friend, instead of hitting
back, submits to the demands of the muggers. In response to
your pleas for defense, he says “Be patient! In time they will
be punished!”
When St. Peter, our Lord’s distinguished disciple, changed
his map from God’s to that of humans, when he began to
prophesy and dream of miracles, he received the harshest
rebuke imaginable from our Lord. Note this brief but ex-
tremely instructive dialogue immediately after Jesus informed
Peter of His own imminent death:
From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly
that…he would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the
leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would
be killed…But Peter took him aside and corrected him.
“Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen
to you!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from

6Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

7me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are see-
ing things merely from a human point of view, and not
from God’s.” Matt. 16:21-23 NLT
Jesus’ application of this awful word—Satan—to His dear
disciple, the one who deviated for one moment from God’s
way of doing things, and shifted his heart to human ways,
should serve as a lesson to every sincere Christian. It should
awaken every faithful seeker and lover of truth to the supreme
significance of following God’s map with absolute precision,
to the urgent need for submitting our hearts and souls to His
ways of doing things—ways that are often contrary to ours:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV
If God did everything our way, how then would He test us?
Only when we submit our way to His way can we pass our
tests.
Note the remarkable similarity between our Lord’s statement
to St. Peter, who briefly engaged in prophesying and dream-
ing of miracles, with His statement to others who would do
the same:
Our Lord’s statement to St. Peter:
A harsh rebuke: Satan
A strong command: Get away from me!

8Our Lord’s statement to Christians
who think like St. Peter:
A harsh rebuke: Wicked
A strong command: Away from me!
Observing God’s standards of knowing the truth and honor-
ing His ways of accomplishing His goals should not be taken

9226 The Glory of the Father

10lightly. It is the map by which we can guide our journey of
the search for truth; it is the command by which we can
recognize our Lord; it is the road by which we can reach
our heavenly destiny. The consequence of ignoring God’s
map is spiritual death and loss of everlasting life. Negligence
in this case may seem innocent, as it often does, but this is
an issue no one should take lightly. The sincere and faithful
lover of our Lord will make every effort to ensure that his
or her choices are based not on convenience, but on absolute
obedience to God’s command; not on sand but on rock.
When we study our Lord’s teachings, we discover that He
had only words of condemnation and contempt for those who
loved the magical and the impossible, for those who wanted
miracles from Him as evidence. Consider this verse once
again:
A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous
sign! Christ (Matt. 12:39 NIV)
Why did our Lord call miracle-lovers adulterous? Because our
relationship with God is like a loving relationship between a
married couple. Both are a spiritual commitment of exclusive
love. Each spouse can say to the other: “I am all yours and
you are all mine.” What if a married man or woman starts
looking for a relationship with someone other than his or her
partner, for someone who is younger, prettier, or richer, for
someone who has a physical advantage? Is that not a clear
breach of the commitment, and a step toward adultery?
What binds us to God? A spiritual commitment that we love
Him for His own sake. We do not say, “I will love you if
you give me a million dollars.” We embrace Him with our
heart and soul because we love Him for who He is, and we
know He loves us in return. What if we say, “I can’t trust
our relationship. If you really love me, prove yourself by
some physical signs. Send me a golden plate from the sky.
Or better still, bring yourself down from the sky. Do some-
thing so extraordinary that even magicians can’t do.” Is this

11Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

12not as bad or even worse than adultery? Is it not going be-
yond our spiritual relationship with God? Is this not breaking
the bond of exclusive love? Is this not like loving material
objects?
Expecting miracles is a grave insult to God. It is similar to
staying in the “marriage,” but looking for love elsewhere. No
wonder our Lord calls the violators of the spiritual bond
by the worst of words: wicked and adulterous. Yet many
believers break this commandment. Some of the most won-
derful Christians, without knowing it, continue to engage in
this unseemly act. They continue to believe that to prove His
credibility, our Lord must come down from the sky, and
any Savior who fails to do this, no matter what SPIRITUAL
evidence He manifests, no matter what celestial fruits He
produces is unworthy of attention. Is not this expectation or
attitude a violation of our commitment to God that our rela-
tionship with Him is spiritual; that we love Him because He
is love, and not because He engages in some miraculous
feats, in some “magic arts”? Note the sense of utter despera-
tion in our Lord:
Will none of you ever believe without seeing signs and
portents? Christ (John 4:48 NEB)
It is as if you repeatedly say to your mother, “Mom, I will
love you if you make me my favorite dessert!” And in des-
peration, your mother responds: “Will you ever love me if
you don’t get your favorite food?”
As time went on, the image of our Lord continued to change
from that of a real person, the neighbor next door, who talked
and walked with people, who got hungry, thirsty, sick, sleepy,
and tired; to that of a mystical figure far removed from His
physical nature. The original image has changed so much
that people cannot imagine that another human being, just
like Him, can be the Lord. To restore this ingrained mysti-
cal image to its original form—to that of a mortal and humble
being who suffers from all physical needs and is subject to

13228 The Glory of the Father

14all demands and laws of nature—is extremely difficult. It is
a challenge of unimagined proportions.
The image of Jesus cherished and immortalized by most
Christians is even more ethereal and mystical than the Jews’
image of their Messiah. The Jews looked at our Lord and
saw another human being like themselves. They could not
imagine that their Messiah would have a mother and a father,
and brothers and sisters:
“Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called
Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
And His sisters, are they not all with us?”…Jesus said to
them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own
country and in his own house.” Matthew 13:55-57 NKJ

15An image, once established, becomes all-powerful, and takes
on a life of its own. Imagine how difficult it is to alter your
self-image. To change a person’s beliefs and actions, we must
first change the image that controls them. The same holds
true with ingrained mystical or spiritual images in religion.
As long as people picture our Lord as a mighty Figure
surrounded by hosts of heavenly angels with supreme
physical powers, they will resist examining the claims of a
mortal and humble human being like themselves. From a
young, ordinary man, from a Prophet who received no honor
in His country and His home, the image of our Lord has
gradually changed into that of the most mighty and celestial
conqueror who comes down from the sky to transform our
planet in an instant. Should we not reexamine and put to the
test the one perpetual image portrayed by fallible theologians
over the course of many centuries? Should we conform to
tradition? Should we, just like the Jews, keep a narrow and
rigid image of our Lord? Should we not be open-minded?

16Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits
to see whether they are from God… I John 4:1 NIV
By their fruit you will recognize them.
Christ (Matt. 7:16 NIV)
We are asked to test the spirits. How can we test a spirit by
untestable standards? Suppose a person says, “I am a good
doctor.” How can we know if we cannot test him?
Dr. Curtis Vaughan, professor of New Testament at South-
western Baptist Seminary, offers this interpretation for the
command that we must test the spirits:
The command itself is twofold: “believe not every spirit”
and “try the spirits.”…the use of “spirit” rather than
“prophet” shows that the apostle was looking behind and
beyond the individual prophet to the superhuman influence,
which inspired him. Strictly speaking, then, the “spirit” is
the spirit possessing the prophet…To “try the spirits” is to
test them for authenticity. The verb was used in ancient
times of the testing of metals for genuineness…We are not
to apply tests and canons of our own invention, eager to
demonstrate that all the rest are wrong, and we alone are
right. Too often has orthodoxy shown that spirit…The
purpose of testing the spirits is to determine their origin,
that is, whether they are of God.5
If we use untestable standards, we will have nothing but
chaos in the kingdom of spiritual knowledge. Everyone says,
“Come here, my miracle is bigger and better.” “My vision
is longer and sweeter!” “What the Holy Spirit told me is
nothing but the truth!” “God talks to me when I speak in
tongues!” “The Holy Spirit showed me that the Lord will
come from the sky, that what I prophesy in the name of the
Lord is true.”

2230 The Glory of the Father

3This kind of thinking turns the kingdom of spiritual knowl-
edge and truth into a marketplace where anyone can make
any claim without the fear of being exposed. Imagine the
consequences if the kingdom of scientific knowledge were
ruled by the same standards. Imagine if a biologist said, “My
theory is the truth because I had a vision that told me so!”
Imagine if a physicist said, “My discoveries are true because
while doing the experiment I saw a miracle!”
If such a system prevailed, we would have scientific chaos.
In fact, there would be no science. Today that chaos has
gripped religion and suffocated its glory and honor. What we
have in place of religion is a blend of facts and fiction; a
mixture of truths, half truths, and falsehoods. Everyone makes
a claim, yet none is testable.
Our Lord knew precisely what would happen in this age. He
tried to bring us back to reality, from the illusive assumptions
down to earth, to the testable and provable ground. Unless
we listen to Him, unless we obey Him, we will have only
spiritual chaos, where false prophets prosper and go unchal-
lenged. How do they prosper? They are not required to
present testable and provable evidence.
Those who follow such false prophets fail to do their home-
work, to recognize that they must test and taste the fruits
before swallowing them, that they must depend only on test-
able and provable evidence. Put yourself on trial! Present any
objective evidence that proves the truth of your faith, any
evidence that is testable and provable:
Think about this most critical question as long as you can:
If a religion cannot be supported by testable and provable
evidence, how can anyone be accountable for choosing his or
her beliefs for any selfish reasons? What advantage would
God’s Messengers have over the deceivers? Anyone can write
a few verses, claim several mighty miracles, and find a few
people who would testify to the truth of his claim. Past miracles

4Chapter 11: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

5are untestable and unprovable. Using them as evidence of
truth in the kingdom of spiritual knowledge undermines the
divine distinction of the One sent by God. The only evidence,
the only proof is what our Lord validated:
• By their fruits ye shall know them.
That statement or standard can also be repeated as:
• By their bread you shall know them.
• By their works you shall know them.
The next chapter will help you put your faith in Jesus’ com-
mands to the test.

1trap. Christ (Luke 21:34)
…the hour of trial that is going to come upon the
whole world to test those who live on the earth.
Christ (Rev. 3:10 NIV)
So far we have put Bahá’u’lláh and the Bahá’í Faith to the
test of the Scripture. Now you have a chance to put your
own faith in Jesus Christ to the test of the Scripture. God
always tests the depths of our sincerity and our faith. The
evidence of sincerity is obedience; the proof of faith is ac-
tion, not empty words. Putting one’s self to the test is a
willingness to look at one’s faith objectively. Bahá’u’lláh
asks us to “bring ourselves to account every day:”
O SON OF BEING!
Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned
to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee

2Avoiding a test is running away from reality. It is saying, “I
am pleased with what I have. By knowing more, I may lose
my self-satisfaction. What matters is what I think, not what
God thinks or what lies beyond my knowledge.” Jesus de-
clared that everyone will be tested:
…the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole
world to test those who live on the earth.
Revelation 3:10 NIV
Why is it the hour of trial? Because taking and passing the
test is difficult. Jesus’ prophecy has been clearly fulfilled:
Most people run away from the responsibility of testing
Bahá’u’lláh. They do not want to know. How can anyone be
afraid of knowing? What harm can come from the knowledge
of the most glorious advent in human history?
Note the Báb’s confirmation of Jesus’ prophecy:
How numerous the verses which have been revealed con-
cerning the grievous tests ye shall experience on the Day
of Judgment…[and] regarding the trials which will overtake
you on the Day of Our Return, and yet ye seem never to
have set your eyes upon them.2
Our willingness to take the test or avoid it is in itself a test.
What is the most awesome test we can ever face? Our de-
sire to remove the veil that separates us from the truth. Read
and ponder the meaning of these two quotations from Jesus
and the Báb:

3Behold, I am coming Were I to remove
as a thief. Blessed the veil, all would
is he who watches, recognize Me as
and keeps his gar- their Best Beloved,
ments, lest he walk and no one would
naked and they see deny Me.3 The Báb
his shame.

4Chapter 12: As In a Trap

1When they hear about the Advent of Bahá’u’lláh, they begin
to measure Him, against that list, without reexamining their
views or doing any research. If He falls short in relation to
any one of them, they pass a negative verdict and stop their
spiritual journey. Such a simplistic approach protects them
from the “pains” and “perils” of stepping out of their comfort
zone into an unknown territory. A sign that almost everyone
registers in his or her mind is the Antichrist. This expecta-
tion alone can become a trap for one’s soul.
Whenever there is light, there is also darkness. That is why
we are asked to be careful, to test a spirit before accepting
him. It is obvious that we should neither be gullible like a
sponge that absorbs everything, nor be hard and closed-
hearted like a coconut that keeps everything out. This is
common sense. To live is to make choices between good and
bad. God gave us the power to reason for a reason!
The purpose of covering this topic is this: Christians believe
that a deceptive figure, referred to as “the Antichrist,” will
appear and set himself up as the Christ. There is a void in
their expectations to be filled by such a figure. As soon as
they hear about anyone who makes a claim, they tend to fill
the void with him. They say, “He is the one!” Without test-
ing Bahá’u’lláh, without obeying the command of the Gospel
that they should test the spirits before judging them, they
rush to judge. Without knowing, they lay the trap of denial
upon their souls. They forget this warning from Jesus:
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the
day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your
words you will be condemned. Christ (Matt. 12:337 NIV)
Many prophecies specify the signs of the Antichrist. King of

2predicts, a deceptive figure did appear upon the scene during
Bahá’u’lláh’s time and played his role exactly as predicted.
He set himself up as the Christ and did everything within his
power to destroy Bahá’u’lláh.
Did he fulfill any signs? Yes, he fulfilled all the prophecies
that predicted his evil deeds. As to “the fruits,” he fulfilled
them also, but in an opposite way. Consider this sign, “I am
the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the
sheep” (John 10:11) Although Bahá’u’lláh had many enemies,
He feared no one, and never hid Himself. It is hard to imag-
ine anyone in Bahá’u’lláh’s position who could have survived
even a week, unless, of course, he hid himself. That decep-
tive figure—the Antichrist—was a man known as Azal, who
lived a life of perfect secrecy. He hid himself either in the
inner chambers of houses or in the mountains and deserts.
Azal was a pest on the Tree of Life.
In His Olivet discourse, our Lord warned us against this elu-
sive figure and described His own presence as the lightning
that shines from the East to the West (Matt. 24:25). The
“metaphoric miracle”—lightning—dramatized Bahá’u’lláh’s
power and openness before the gaze of all the peoples of the
world.
Jesus wanted to demonstrate a stark contrast between His
own Return and the appearance of this deceptive figure. He
knew that the sign of openness versus secrecy would present
the clearest contrast between Him as the Christ and the
Antichrist.
If you still have more questions, instead of looking for a
verse or a sign that will become a trap for your soul, may I
suggest once again that you study these three volumes:
„ I Shall Come Again
„ Lord of Lords

3These volumes abound with countless prophecies about
Bahá’u’lláh. Study all the facts before telling yourself that
Bahá’u’lláh is not the One you are waiting for. King of Kings
offers many detailed prophecies in the course of two long
chapters on Azal as the Antichrist.
Remember the warning that all the peoples of the world are
being tested (Rev. 3:10 ). Everyone is at least in one trap.
The problem is this: no one sees his own trap. We grow up
in our traps and become used to them. It is so natural to
want to stay there.
What happens when you talk to someone else about the news
of the coming of Bahá’u’lláh? You do this because you need
confirmation from the people you trust. Will they come to
your rescue? Will they obey their Lord and test the claim
before making a judgment? No, not as a rule. Since they are
also in their own unique traps, it is very likely that they will
attempt to add their traps to yours! Instead of following
the commands of our Lord that they should investigate the
glorious news of His coming, they will look for a loophole
in your news. Since most people are controlled by fear, their
negative signal will further scare you off. It is natural to say
to yourself, “I know I am saved. Why take chances?” You
must muster enormous courage to resist the prevailing fears
and temptations, and to go against the tides of the times.
According to a noted pastor, fear is the source of all evil. It
shows lack of trust in God.
No one can take you out of the trap of denying your Lord,
the One you worship and remember every day, except the
Lord Himself. Nothing can rescue you from that trap except
absolute trust in your Lord, except instant and unconditional
obedience to the One who has already told you what to do:
“Watch ye therefore, and pray always” (Luke 21:36). No one,
no theologian, no pastor, no priest, no rabbi, no evangelist,
no charismatic speaker, no prolific author, no professor can
save you from the trial that has come upon you and all the

4hours and days in privacy, pleading, crying, and praying to
our Lord for heavenly guidance. No one can change your
heart except the Lord. No one else can lift you from the
clouds of unawareness and confusion to the light of knowledge:
…no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to
him by My Father. Christ (John 6:65 NKJ)
You have the right to make multiple traps for your soul. That
is the meaning of freedom of choice. But remember that you
are the one who must face the consequences of disregarding
our Lord’s emphatic commands to investigate the news of
His coming with courage and wisdom.
If you are bent on finding excuses, you can find as many
as you want. Spiritual traps, like potholes, are everywhere.
Very likely you have another question or objection that is not
covered in this book. You have every right to make that un-
resolved question a trap for your soul. But that does not
show true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It shows faith in
your own desires to find reasons that will justify your action.
I will be delighted to receive and respond to your unre-

Overcoming The Traps
The Three Most Critical Commands Of Jesus To Save Christians
From Falling Into The Trap Of Denying Him:

1ch!

1See the Web Site listed at the beginning and the end of this book.

2The veil that conceals the Glory of God in Bahá’u’lláh, the
Báb, or Jesus is our attachment to this world. The trap that
conceals the light of truth is our own soul. Our test is to tear
the veil and liberate our soul from the trap. Otherwise, we
may look and look but will be unable to see (Acts 28:26).
To help us overcome the veil of separation, to help us escape
from our unique trap, our Lord emphasized and repeated
three commands:
Watch!
Pray!

1It will be good for Behold, I am coming
those servants whose as a thief. Blessed
master finds them is he who watches,
watching when he and keeps his
comes. garments, lest he
Christ (Luke 12:37 NIV) walk naked and they
Take ye heed, watch see his shame.
and pray… Christ (Rev. 16:15 NKJ)
Christ (Mark 13:33)
He who overcomes,
Watch ye therefore, I will…write on him
and pray always… My new name.
Christ (Luke 21:36) Christ (Rev. 3:12 NKJ)

2Why would anyone repeat a command? At least for two
reasons:
• It is critical.
• Those who must obey it are negligent.

3240 The Glory of the Father

4„ Question: What does “watch” mean? According to the
dictionary, it means, “To look at and pay attention to
something that is happening.”4
„ Question: Under what conditions does a person need to
pay attention? When he or she may miss an event or its
significance.
„ Question: Under what conditions is the command to
watch needed? When the person who must obey it is
negligent.
The responses offered to the preceding questions are totally
literal and sensible. Can you find any flaws in them?
We have numerous warnings, parables, and commands from
our Lord that support the literal and common-sense explana-
tion offered here. Take the following warning. It reveals the
obstacles to being watchful, and presents the precautions we
must take, so that we will succeed in pursuing our spiritual
destiny, so that we will be protected from falling into the hid-
den traps along the way. Note the clarity of Jesus’ instructions:
Watch out! Don’t let me find you living in careless ease
and drunkenness and filled with the worries of this life.
Don’t let that day catch you unaware, as in a trap. For
that day will come upon everyone living on the earth.
Keep a constant watch. And pray that, if possible, you
may escape these horrors [trials] and stand before the Son
of Man. Christ (Luke 21:34-36 NLT)
Our Lord asks us to watch out. For what? For traps. Which
ones? He singles out these three most dangerous and common
but concealed traps:
• Careless ease
• Drunkenness, which is a state of complacency
and unawareness of one’s unawareness
• The worries of this life

5Chapter 12: As In a Trap

6Both extremes—either being overtaken by complacency and
a life of ease or being gripped by worries and a life of pains
and pressures—can distract our attention from our spiritual
goal: that of pursuing what God has planned for us. How
divinely prophetic Jesus’ words are! These are precisely the
reasons that prevent the people of our time from investigat-
ing Bahá’u’lláh’s Message. Let us look more closely at the
three categories of people:
• Life of Ease: Many people feel comfortable with what the
world offers them. They enjoy the many luxuries that
modern civilization gives them. Their purpose is to pursue
a life of ease.
• Drunkenness: Many people are “drunk” with what they
have. They love their church, synagogue, or mosque so
much that they cannot even hear an invitation to watch
or pay attention to this awesome news.
• Worries of Life: Many people are continually running but
never catching up. They are so busy, they cannot “find”
the time to read even a small book like this or come to a
meeting. Surprisingly these people somehow manage to
“find” time for everything that pertains to their instant or
worldly needs and desires.
What is the solution? How can we prepare our souls to become
worthy of standing before the Son of Man? By not allowing
our souls to fall into the traps of careless ease, unawareness,
complacency, and constant working and worrying about the
demands of this earthly life.
Could Jesus’ instructions have been more clear? Who falls
into a trap? The one who fails to watch. Would a watchful
person fall into a trap? No, the one who obeys the commands
of his Master cannot and will not fall into a trap. The Master
will protect him.
Ponder this prophecy once again:

7242 The Glory of the Father

8Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches,
and keeps his garments. Christ (Rev. 16:15 NKJ)
What instructions does our Lord give us?
„ He asks us to watch or pay attention. Why? Because He
comes in a way that He may not attract our attention. He
implies that we can miss Him just as a householder who
is inattentive or sleepy can miss a thief who breaks into
his house.
„ He asks us to keep our garments. What does He mean by
“garments”? He means our faith in His commands, and
the spiritual qualities we need to recognize Him. These
instructions once again indicate that if we fail to over-
come the spiritual traps in our souls, we cannot know
our Lord. Jesus asks us to look for Him even as we look
for a thief; and we must do this with our “garments” on,
otherwise we will miss Him.
It is evident, if we start with preconceived notions, if we
keep our hearts and minds closed, we will be unable to “see”
Him. Can a person with closed eyes or with serious visual
defects see? Are people’s “eyes” more open today than they
were at Jesus’ time?
I [Jesus] am sending you to them to open their eyes.
Acts 26:17-18 NIV
Every instruction confirms every other. It is hard to imagine
our Lord could have guided us with more clarity. In His first
Advent, Jesus met the same kind of people who live today.
He told the Jews that they used common sense to predict the
weather. Why then did they fail to use that same sense in
judging their Redeemer?
Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him
asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He
answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say,
‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red;’ and in the
morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red

9Chapter 12: As In a Trap

10and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern
the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of
the times. Matthew 16:1-3 NKJ
Let me invite you to use your common sense about
Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God, just as the Jews were asked
by our Lord in His first Advent to use that same God-given
sense. Our Lord in His Second Advent has once again ful-
filled every sign, every standard. He has produced every good
fruit imaginable. The only thing He has failed to do is to
fulfill the prophecies the way you or most theologians ex-
pect. But do you have the right to decide what the prophe-
cies mean? No, you are told not to depend on your personal
interpretation of prophecies, but rather let the Lord tell you
what they mean. Your common sense also tells you that theo-
logians can be wrong. You know “authority figures” differ
and even fight over the meaning of prophecies. You also
know that people rejected our Lord at His first advent for the
same reason: misinterpretation of prophecies. For what rea-
son then would you brush aside Bahá’u’lláh’s claim to be the
Lord?
This passage is a further confirmation that you must look for
“the Heavenly Thief ” to find Him:

Shall He

1…UNTO

Appear The
Them That
Second
Look For

1TIME.

1Who will experience your destiny? You or your parents?
Who will face the consequences of your life? You or your
parents? Who will be accountable for your choices? You
or your parents? If you would not allow your parents to
choose your spouse, why then would you allow them to
choose your beliefs for you? If you would not allow some-
one else to decide what you will eat, when you will go to
bed, or when you will wake up, why then would you allow
your ancestors to decide what you should believe? Why,
then, would you let chance choose your everlasting destiny?
Why, then, would you take your spiritual life so lightly?
Do your beliefs matter less to you than everything else in your
life? Even choosing a spouse, perhaps the most significant
choice in your life, cannot compare with choosing your faith.
Your beliefs will determine your whole destiny for all eternity;
your spouse will determine part of your destiny for “less
than a moment” here on earth. In the context of eternity,
even a thousand years counts as less than a second.
Put yourself to the test. Choose one of these:
• I have both the obligation and the honor of choosing my
everlasting destiny. I will continue my investigation of
Bahá’u’lláh until I come to a definite conclusion. I will
pray for divine guidance and do everything within my
power to overcome my spiritual weaknesses.

2246 The Glory of the Father

3• I have neither the ability nor the interest in choosing my
everlasting destiny. Studying the evidence for Bahá’u’lláh
has no significance or priority in my life.
Followers of the Gospel…behold the gates of heaven are
flung open. He that had ascended unto it is now come.
Give ear to His voice calling aloud over land and sea,
announcing to all mankind the advent of this Revela-
tion…6 Bahá’u’lláh
Behold how He hath come down from the heaven of His
grace, girded with power and invested with sovereignty.
Is there any doubt concerning His signs?7 Bahá’u’lláh
By God! This is He Who hath at one time appeared in
the name of the Spirit [Christ]…8 Bahá’u’lláh
The time foreordained unto the peoples and kindreds of
the earth is now come. The promises of God, as recorded
in the holy Scriptures, have all been fulfilled.9
Bahá’u’lláh

4✾ ✾ ✾
Dear Seeker:
The divine command is clear: We must give up our personal
interpretation of prophecies—especially those expressed as
“metaphoric miracles”—submit to God’s standards, and taste
His celestial fruits, the food He has sent us from heaven.
Obeying God’s command is the ultimate test of our faith.
In the following statement, Bahá’u’lláh uses the example of
“the sun” and “the shower” in place of “the tree” to prove
the same point. As we know a tree by its fruits, so do we
know the sun and the rain by their effects:
The proof of the sun is the light thereof, which shineth
and envelopeth all things. The evidence of the shower is
the bounty thereof, which reneweth and investeth the
world with the mantle of life.10 Bahá’u’lláh

5Chapter 12: As In a Trap

6When our Lord says, “By their fruits ye shall know them”
is He asking us to do anything extraordinary, anything un-
reasonable? No, He is asking us to do the most sensible
thing. Consider this analogy. Suppose we wanted to buy a
car. What would our common sense, our reasonable mind tell
us to do? To find as much information as we can about that
car. If our common sense tells us to do this, why then would
that same sense not ask us to follow the same course of
action to know or test a Redeemer from God? The reason it
would not is totally emotional. Our negative emotions, based
on past conditioning, prevent us from carrying out the most
sensible and reasonable thing our mind tells us to do.
Ponder this statement from our Lord:
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before
long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see
me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you
will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me,
and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys
them…I…will…show myself to him. John 14:18-21 NIV
Note how clearly He tells us the way we can see Him. Every
Christian with an inner “eye” can and shall see his Lord.
What happens if a person does not have an “eye”? Jesus
makes no promises to him. Only obedience to Jesus’ command
gives a believer eyesight to see His Lord on His Return.
Those Christians who continue to give themselves the right
to interpret the prophecies, according to their own fallible
minds, violate the command of the Scripture. They are not
loyal to their Master, and Jesus will not show Himself to
them. Those who fail to use “the fruits,” as they are com-
manded, will be unable to see the Glory of God—a celestial
splendor that is hidden in the ordinary human temple of the
Heavenly Thief.
Some Bible translations use Jehovah or Yahweh in place of
the word God. They use a non-English word for God. Let us
do the same for the Glory of God:

7248 The Glory of the Father

8Did I not tell you that if you have faith you will see
Bahá’u’lláh? Christ (John 11:40 NEB)
The Lord gives only one condition for seeing Bahá’u’lláh, the
Glory of God. That condition is faith. How can you show your
faith? Only by obeying His commands. Only by trusting and
using His standards of knowing Him, not your standards.
If we follow Jesus’ instructions, we are told, we will know
Him, we shall know Him. This is God’s standard; this is
God’s promise. If we follow His instruction, He will not
deceive us. What can we expect, if we don’t follow it? If we
fail to obey the clear command of our Lord, if instead of
listening to Him, we listen to the voice of tradition? Will He
show Himself to us? Consider Jesus’ promise once again:
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you…
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the
one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my
Father, and I too will love him and SHOW myself to him.”
Christ (John 14:18, 21 NIV)
Is the true Christian the one who goes to “the right church”
regularly? Few would accept such a narrow definition. Who
then is a true Christian? The one who obeys Jesus Christ.
The one who respects the command of his or her Lord that
the only authorized standard the servant can use to know the
Master on His Return is the purity and perfection of His fruit:
By their FRUIT you will recognize them…Not everyone
who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but ONLY HE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY
FATHER…Therefore everyone who hears these words of
mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who
built his house on the rock…But everyone who hears
these words of mine and does not put them into prac-
tice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
Christ (Matt. 7:16-26 NIV)
Ponder these verses to recognize the honor of obeying God’s
commands:

9Chapter 12: As In a Trap

10But why do you call Me “Lord, Lord,” and do not do the
things which I say? Christ (Luke 6:46 NKJ)
…observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Christ (Matt. 28:20 NKJ)
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His
commandments. I John 2:3 NKJ
But this is what I commanded them, saying, “Obey My
voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My
people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded
you, that it may be well with you.” Jeremiah 7:23 NKJ
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
Christ (John 15:14 NKJ)
If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Christ (John 14:15 NKJ)
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father
will love him, and We will come to him and make Our
home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep
My words… Christ (John 14:23-24 NKJ)
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My
love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and
abide in His love. Christ (John 15:10 NKJ)

1Seeking God’s Blessings
and Favors

2…men ought always to pray. Luke 18:1
…whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
receive. Christ (Matt. 21:22)
…whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall

3252 The Glory of the Father

1in His Second Advent?
We are told repeatedly to pray for heavenly blessings.
…pour out thine heart like water before the face of the
Lord… Lamentations 2:19
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your Father which is
in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Christ (Matt. 7:11)
The Lord…heareth the prayer of the righteous.
Proverbs 15:29
…the prayer of the upright is His delight. Proverbs 15:8
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him…
psalms 91:15
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you… Christ (Matt. 7:7)
To recognize Him and follow Him, Jesus did not ask us to
engage in debates! He asked us to pray:
Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when
the time is. Mark 13:33 NKJ
…pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape
all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand be-
fore the Son of man.✾ Christ (Luke 21:36)
Why should we pray for receiving the honor of recognizing
our Redeemer? Because without His permission and His
blessings, we will be unable to know Him:

2✾
To emphasize the power of praying in disclosing His glory to the
seekers of the heavenly Kingdom in His Second Advent, Jesus spoke
a specific parable (Luke 18:1-8). For a detailed description of this
parable see: Prayer: the Key that Unlocks the Gate of Heaven, by
this author.

3Prayers from Bahá’u’lláh

4You did not choose Me, but I chose you…
Christ (John 15:16 NKJ)
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me
draws him… Christ (John 6:44 NKJ)
Sometimes we pray for the purpose of attaining trivial wishes
or needs. Should we not pray for the most glorious honor
that heaven may bestow on humans?
To help us attain the purpose for which we came into being
and to become worthy of knowing Him, Bahá’u’lláh has re-
vealed hundreds of prayers. The following are a few brief
selections from a large volume: Prayers and Meditations by
Bahá’u’lláh.
F F F

5U nto Thee be praise, O Lord my God! I entreat Thee,
by Thy signs that have encompassed the entire
creation…to rend asunder the veils that shut me out from
Thee, that I may…be immersed beneath the ocean of Thy
nearness and pleasure.1

6S uffer me not, O my Lord, to be deprived of the knowl-
edge of Thee in Thy days, and divest me not of the
robe of Thy guidance. Give me to drink of the river that
is life indeed…that mine eyes may be opened, and my
face be illumined, and my heart be assured, and my soul
be enlightened, and my steps be made firm.2

7M agnified be Thy name, O Lord my God! Thou art
He Whom all things worship and Who worshipeth
no one…I implore Thee…to enable me to drink deep of
the living waters through which Thou hast vivified the

8254 The Glory of the Father

9hearts of Thy chosen ones and quickened the souls of
them that love Thee, that I may, at all times and under
all conditions, turn my face wholly towards Thee.
Thou art the God of power, of glory and bounty. No God
is there beside Thee, the Supreme Ruler, the All-Glorious,
the Omniscient.3

10I beseech Thee, O my Lord…to rend asunder the veils
that have hindered me from appearing before the throne
of Thy majesty, and from standing at the door of Thy
gate. Do Thou ordain for me, O my Lord, every good
thing Thou didst send down in Thy Book, and suffer me
not to be far removed from the shelter of Thy mercy.
Powerful art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. Thou art,
verily, the All-Powerful, the Most Generous.4

11I beseech Thee, O Thou Who art my Companion in my
lowliness, to rain down upon Thy loved ones from the
clouds of Thy mercy that which will cause them to be
satisfied with Thy pleasure, and will enable them to turn
unto Thee and to be detached from all else except Thee.
Ordain, then, for them every good conceived by Thee and
predestined in Thy Book. Thou art, verily, the All-Power-
ful, He Whom nothing whatsoever can frustrate.5

12S ince Thou hast revealed Thy grace, O my God, deter
not Thy servants from directing their eyes towards it.
Consider not, O my God, their estate, and their concerns
and their works. Consider the greatness of Thy glory, and

13Prayers from Bahá’u’lláh

14the plenteousness of Thy gifts, and the power of Thy
might, and the excellence of Thy favors. I swear by Thy
glory! Wert Thou to look upon them with the eye of jus-
tice, all would deserve Thy wrath and the rod of Thine
anger. Hold Thou Thy creatures, O my God, with the
hands of Thy grace, and make Thou known unto them
what is best for them of all the things that have been
created in the kingdom of Thine invention.6

15B lessed is he that hath set himself towards Thee…Blessed
is he who with all his affections hath turned to the
Dawning-Place of Thy Revelation and the Fountain-Head
of Thine inspiration. Blessed is he that hath expended in
Thy path what Thou didst bestow upon him through Thy
bounty and favor. Blessed is he who, in his sore longing
after Thee, hath cast away all else except Thyself. Blessed
is he who hath enjoyed intimate communion with Thee,
and rid himself of all attachment to any one save Thee.7

16L auded be Thy name, O my God! I entreat Thee…to
blot out from my heart all idle fancies and vain
imaginings, that with all my affections I may turn unto
Thee, O Thou Lord of all mankind!
I am Thy servant…O my God! I have laid hold on the
handle of Thy grace, and clung to the cord of Thy tender
mercy. Ordain for me the good things that are with Thee,
and nourish me from the Table Thou didst send down out
of the clouds of Thy bounty and the heaven of Thy favor.
Thou, in very truth, art the Lord of the worlds, and the
God of all that are in heaven and all that are on earth.8

17256 The Glory of the Father

18H appy is the man who hath recognized Thee, and
discovered the sweetness of Thy fragrance, and set
himself towards Thy kingdom…Great is the blessedness
of him who hath acknowledged Thy most excellent maj-
esty, and whom the veils that have shut out the nations
from Thee have not hindered from directing his eyes to-
wards Thee, O Thou Who art the King of eternity…
Blessed, moreover, be the man that hath turned unto Thee,
and woe betide him that hath turned his back upon Thee.
Praised be Thou, the Lord of the worlds!

19G lory be to Thee, O King of eternity…I pray Thee…to
number me with such as have rid themselves from
everything except Thyself, and have set themselves towards
Thee…10

20I have laid hold, O my Lord, on the handle of Thy
bounty, and clung steadfastly to the hem of the robe of
Thy favor. Send down, then, upon me, out of the clouds
of Thy generosity, what will purge out from me the re-
membrance of any one except Thee, and make me able
to turn unto Him Who is the Object of the adoration of
all mankind…11

21S uffer me, O my God, to draw nigh unto Thee, and to
abide within the precincts of Thy court, for remoteness
from Thee hath well-nigh consumed me. Cause me to rest

22Prayers from Bahá’u’lláh

23under the shadow of the wings of Thy grace, for the flame
of my separation from Thee hath melted my heart within
me. Draw me nearer unto the river that is life indeed, for
my soul burneth with thirst in its ceaseless search after
Thee. My sighs, O my God, proclaim the bitterness of mine
anguish, and the tears I shed attest my love for Thee.12

24I beseech Thee…to grant that we may be numbered
among them that have recognized Thee and acknowl-
edged Thy sovereignty in Thy days. Help us then to quaff,
O my God, from the fingers of mercy the living waters of
Thy loving-kindness, that we may utterly forget all else ex-
cept Thee, and be occupied only with Thy Self. Powerful
art Thou to do what Thou willest. No God is there beside
Thee, the Mighty, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
Glorified be Thy name, O Thou Who art the King of all
Kings!13

25C ast me not out, I implore Thee, of the presence of Thy
grace, neither do Thou withhold from me the outpour-
ings of Thy generosity and bounty. Ordain for me, O my
Lord, what Thou hast ordained for them that love Thee,
and write down for me what Thou hast written down for
Thy chosen ones. My gaze hath, at all times, been fixed
on the horizon of Thy gracious providence, and mine eyes
bent upon the court of Thy tender mercies. Do with me
as beseemeth Thee. No God is there but Thee, the God
of power, the God of glory, Whose help is implored by
all men.14

26258 The Glory of the Father

27D eny me not, O my Lord, what is with Thee, and suffer
me not to be forgetful of what Thou didst desire in
Thy days. Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the Most Exalted,
the All-Glorious, the All-Wise.15

1towards 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…16

2P raise be to Thee, O Lord my God!…I beseech Thee, by

1the Day-Spring of Thy signs, to make my heart to be a
receptacle of Thy love and of remembrance of Thee. Knit
it, then, to Thy most great Ocean, that from it may flow
out the living waters of Thy wisdom and the crystal
streams of Thy glorification and praise.17

2I beg of Thee, O my God, by Thy most exalted Word…to
ordain that my choice be conformed to Thy choice and
my wish to Thy wish, that I may be entirely content with
that which Thou didst desire, and be wholly satisfied with
what Thou didst destine for me by Thy bounteousness and
favor. Potent art Thou to do as Thou willest. Thou, in
very truth, art the All-Glorious, the All-Wise.18

3Prayers from Bahá’u’lláh

4I implore Thee, by Thy name which Thou hast raised up
above every other name, and hast caused to overshadow
all that are in heaven and all that are on earth, to cast not
away him that hath turned towards Thee, and to deny him
not the wonders of Thy grace and the hidden evidences
of Thy mercy. Let the hands of Thine omnipotence kindle
in his heart a lamp that will enable him to shine brightly
in Thy days…that Thou mayest behold him sanctified as
Thou wishest and as beseemeth Thy majesty and glory.19

5L auded be Thy name, O my God and the God of all
things, my Glory and the Glory of all things, my
Desire and the Desire of all things, my Strength and the
Strength of all things, my King and the King of all things,
my Possessor and the Possessor of all things, my Aim and
the Aim of all things, my Mover and the Mover of all
things! Suffer me not, I implore Thee, to be kept back
from the ocean of Thy tender mercies, nor to be far re-
moved from the shores of nearness to Thee.20

6O God!…the remembrance of Thee is a healing medicine
to the hearts of such as have drawn nigh unto Thy
court; nearness to Thee is the true life of them who are
Thy lovers; Thy presence is the ardent desire of such as
yearn to behold Thy face; remoteness from Thee is a tor-
ment to those that have acknowledged Thy oneness, and
separation from Thee is death unto them that have recog-
nized Thy truth!

7260 The Glory of the Father

8G lory be to Thee, O my God! Thou hearest Thine ardent
lovers lamenting in their separation from Thee…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 with-
stand the power of Thy sovereign might.22

9H ave 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 bounti-
ful grace.
Thou, in truth, art the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compas-
sionate.23

10I 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!

11Prayers from Bahá’u’lláh

12I 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 crea-
ture; reveal unto me the tokens of Thy riches…
I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Thy mercy that hath sur-
passed 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. Power-
ful 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!25

13I testify, O my God, that this is the Day whereon Thy
testimony hath been fulfilled, and Thy clear tokens have
been manifested, and Thine utterances have been revealed,
and Thy signs have been demonstrated, and the radiance
of Thy countenance hath been diffused, and Thy proof hath
been perfected, and Thine ascendancy hath been estab-
lished, and Thy mercy hath overflowed, and the Day-Star
of Thy grace hath shone forth with such brilliance that
Thou didst manifest Him Who is the Revealer of Thyself
and the Treasury of Thy wisdom and the Dawning-Place
of Thy majesty and power.26

14Part IV

15Books that Can
Change Your Destiny

Section I

1Bahá’í Scriptures

1Seek ye out the book of Jehovah and read…
Isaiah 34:16

2Gleanings from the
Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh is the most com-
plete and comprehensive reference on Bahá’u’lláh’s Works
available in English. This book, which is a compilation from
the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, covers a wide spectrum of pre-
cepts ranging from the purpose of man’s creation, his duty

3Prayers and Meditations
By Bahá’u’lláh
Bahá’u’lláh has left a rich repository of prayers pertaining
to every human hope and aspiration, dream or desire. Thus,
in this dispensation, the seekers of serenity, guidance, and
inspiration can select and recite prayers and meditations re-
vealed and blessed by the Pen of the Redeemer of the age,
the revealer of divine Purpose.
Bahá’u’lláh has also written many prayers expressing His
own supplication and servitude before God. Such prayers
offer an intimate knowledge of Bahá’u’lláh’s own self—His
indomitable spirit, His unswerving love for the Creator and
for humanity, His steadfastness in His claim, His determina-
tion before the onrush of adversities, His absolute trust in
God, and His loving counsel to all those athirst for truth.

4The Hidden Words
of Bahá’u’lláh
No other of Bahá’u’lláh’s works so succinctly offers the reader
as complete and as representative a sample of the ethical
fruits of the new Revelation as The Hidden Words. It is a
small book filled with gems, a treasure-house of celestial
Wisdom, a divine guide to the unfoldment and ennoblement
of the human spirit.
All the requirements for attaining purity and self-fulfillment
are stated in the most exquisite and lofty language. Everything
that the soul must seek or surrender, everything that a spiri-
tual seeker must know or must do to direct the course of his
or her spiritual destiny is concisely and clearly revealed and
set forth by the pen of the Supreme Messenger—the Revealer

5The Seven Valleys
and the Four Valleys
Perhaps the most mystical of Bahá’u’lláh’s works available in
English. It unfolds and enumerates the stages of seeker’s
journey towards God; revealing, in a language at once poetic
and perplexing, his potential for attaining perfection and
nobility, and his sublime and celestial destiny, if he but turns
to the light instead of darkness, seeks the gems of divine wisdom
instead of the perishable joys of flesh, and undertakes to tread
the long but wondrous and enchanting path of purification
and illumination.

6Epistle to the
Son of the Wolf
Addressed to a cruel and cunning Muslim clergyman who,
along with his father, inflicted death, distress, and torment on
some of Bahá’u’lláh’s most beloved and most distinguished
disciples. Though addressed to a symbol of denial, it is a call
to humanity as a whole. This weighty volume covers and
clarifies many illuminating and inspiring arrays of precepts.

7The Summons of the
Lord of Hosts
Contains some of Bahá’u’lláh’s Epistles or Tablets addressed
to the kings and rulers of the world, to religious leaders, and
to humanity in general. These Tablets comprise Bahá’u’lláh’s
most emphatic words on His claim and on His station as the
supreme Savior of humankind, the King of Kings, the Glory
of the Lord, the Desire of the Nations, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace, the Lord of the Vineyard, Christ returned
in the Glory of the Father, the Inaugurator of the Cycle of

8The Book of Certitude8
This book responds to questions raised by a seeker of truth.
It unseals “the sealed Wine of mysteries,” and unveils the
symbolism and the essence of all the scriptures of the past.
It indicates how the seeker of truth can rise above the pre-
vailing perplexity and confusion, how he or she can move
from doubt to certitude, and from unbelief to belief.
It offers proofs of divine Revelation, portrays in a moving
language man’s refusal to accept and acknowledge, in every
age, the gift of divine Guidance, and conveys in a unique tone
and style the dramatic story of the unfoldment of the peren-
nial Faith of God—the unveiling of the eternal Truth.