Whoso Rejects You, Him Will God Reject

The Bab addressed Mulla Husayn these words: 

"Grieve not that you have not been chosen to accompany Me on My pilgrimage to Hijaz. I shall, instead, direct your steps to that city which enshrines a Mystery of such transcendent holiness as neither Hijaz nor Shiraz can hope to rival. My hope is that you may, by the aid of God, be enabled to remove the veils from the eyes of the wayward and to cleanse the minds of the malevolent. Visit, on your way, Isfahan, Kashan, Tihran, and Khurasan. Proceed thence to Iraq, and there await the summons of your Lord, who will keep watch over you and will direct you to whatsoever is His will and desire. As to Myself, I shall, accompanied by Quddus and My Ethiopian servant, proceed on My pilgrimage to Hijaz. I shall join the company of the pilgrims of Fars, who will shortly be sailing for that land. I shall visit Mecca and Medina, and there fulfil the mission with which God has entrusted Me. God willing, I shall return hither by the way of Kufih, in which place I hope to meet you. If it be decreed otherwise, I shall ask you to join Me in Shiraz. The hosts of the invisible Kingdom, be assured, will sustain and reinforce your efforts. The essence of power is now dwelling in you, and the company of His chosen angels revolves around you. His almighty arms will surround you, and His unfailing Spirit will ever continue to guide your steps. He that loves you, loves God; and whoever opposes you, has opposed God. Whoso befriends you, him will God befriend; and whoso rejects you, him will God reject."

(Dawn Breakers)

ABORTION OF "THE CHILD OF THE COVENANT"

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The List of Nineteen Letters of Living

First                         Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú’í
Second                    Muhammad Hasan (His Brother)
Third                       Muhammad-Báqir (His Nephew)
Fourth                    Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastamí
Fifth                       Mullá Khudá-Bakhsh-i-Quchání (later named Mullá ’Ali)
Sixth                     Mullá Hasan-i-Bajistání
Seventh                  Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdí
Eighth                    Mírzá Muhammad Rawdih-Khán-i-Yazdí
Ninth                    Sa’íd-i-Hindí
Tenth                   Mullá Mahmúd-i-Khú’í
Eleventh                Mullá Jalíl-i-Urúmí
Twelfth                 Mullá Ahmad-i-Ibdal-i-Marághi’í
Thirteenth             Mullá Báqir-i-Tabrízí
Fourteenth            Mullá Yusif-i-Ardibílí
Fifteenth              Mírzá Hádí (Son of Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb-i-Qazvíní)
Sixteenth      Mírzá Muhammad-i ‘Alíy-i-Qazvíní
Seventeenth         Táhirih
Eighteenth      Quddús
Nineteenth            The Báb Himself

Letters of the Living

The 18 disciples who first believed in Sayyid Ali Muhammad the Primal Point, the Point are called Letters of the Living. They were created before all things from the Point. They became living because the Point shone forth upon them. The Point is independent of all things, Letters of the Living including. The Point is not a Letter of the Living. These 18 disciples were minor manifestations subject to the major manifestation, the Primal Point.
These 18 disciples were “the return of Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, the Eleven Imams and the Four Original Gates (BÂB).”

What is meant by the “return” is the appearance of another person, born of other parents, but inspired by God with the same spirit and power. This “coming again” of these persons was fulfilled in the appearance of the Letters of the Living.

Grants of Titles and names are the prerogatives of the Point, the manifestation of the age, the Primal Point in the manifestation of the Bayan, to the exclusion of all others, Letters of the Living including.

Of the 19 Letters of the Living the First to believe was Mulla Muhammad Hussein who was the return of Muhammad.

The last believer was Mulla Muhammad Ali entitled Quddus. Which Imam’s return he was is not clear, presumably he was the return of the Imam Hussein.
The 18 disciples received their titles from the Primal Point in 1844 as they embraced the faith.

World of Thought

The reality of man is his thought, not his material body. The thought force and the animal force are partners. 
Although man is part of the animal creation, he possesses a power of thought superior to all other created beings.
If a man's thought is constantly aspiring towards heavenly subjects then does he become saintly; if on the other hand his thought does not soar, but is directed downwards to centre itself upon the things of this world, he grows more and more material until he arrives at a state little better than that of a mere animal.

Thoughts may be divided into two classes:
      
(1st) Thought that belongs to the world of thought alone.
     
(2nd) Thought that expresses itself in action.

Some men and women glory in their exalted thoughts, but if these thoughts never reach the plane of action they remain useless: 
the power of thought is dependent on its manifestation in deeds. 
A philosopher's thought may, however, in the world of progress and evolution, translate itself into the actions of other people, even when they themselves are unable or unwilling to show forth their grand ideals in their own lives. 
To this class the majority of philosophers belong, their teachings being high above their actions. 

This is the difference between philosophers who are Spiritual Teachers, and those who are mere philosophers: 
the Spiritual Teacher is the first to follow His own teaching; He brings down into the world of action His spiritual conceptions and ideals. His Divine thoughts are made manifest to the world. His thought is Himself, from which He is inseparable. 
When we find a philosopher emphasizing the importance and grandeur of justice, and then encouraging a rapacious monarch in his oppression and tyranny, we quickly realize that he belongs to the first class: for he thinks heavenly thoughts and does not practise the corresponding heavenly virtues.
This state is impossible with Spiritual Philosophers, for they ever express their high and noble thoughts in action. (Excerpt from "Paris Talks")

::: We Firmly Believe :::

Tablet to Mr. Charles Mason Remey

STAR OF THE WEST, Vol III, No. 7,  07/13/1912, page 16-17

Doctrines of Orthodox Baha'i Faith

The Orthodox Bahá’í Faith has its early roots in that of Islam.  A young Muhammadan Man announced in Persia on May 23rd, 1844, that He was the forerunner of the Promised One of all the previous religions.  It created uproar in that area of the world.  No less than 20,000 of His followers, known as Bábi’s, were martyred.  In 1850, the Báb was publicly executed.
One of the Báb’s followers became known as Bahá’u’lláh.  That title roughly translates as “the Glory of God”.  Bahá’u’lláh announced that He was the One foretold by the Báb.  He began his ministry in 1853, and publicly announced it in 1863.  Bahá’u’lláh was banished successively from Persia to Baghdad to Constantinople, to Adrianople, and finally to the prison city of Akka located across the bay from Haifa, Israel.  He later pitched His tent upon Mount Carmel.  He passed away in 1892.
`Abdu’l-Bahá, another title meaning “Servant of Bahá’u’lláh”, was the appointed successor and Center of the Covenant and Interpreter of the Word.  Released from imprisonment, He traveled to Europe and America in 1911 – 1912.  He passed away in 1921.
Shoghi Effendi, the eldest grandson of `Abdu’l-Bahá, was appointed by Him to be Guardian of the Faith, and under his leadership the Faith expanded to over 250 different countries.  Shoghi Effendi passed away in London in 1957.
Shoghi Effendi, in the only Proclamation he ever issued, appointed Charles Mason Remey as the Head of the International Bahá’í Council, the embryonic Universal House of Justice.  Mason Remey remained silent until 1960, as he tried to preserve unity among the believers.  In 1960 he publicly announced that Shoghi Effendi had appointed him second Guardian of the Faith.  The appointment being in the known fact that only a Guardian can be the Head or President of the Universal House of Justice, whether fully formed or in embryonic condition.  With the passing of Shoghi Effendi the embryonic House of Justice, provisionally designated as the International Bahá’í Council, which had never been activated, had immediately become the active organ, and Mason as its president, the Guardian.
Mason himself both appointed in writing, and by appointing to the second International Bahá’í Council as President, Joel Bray Marangella third Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith.  When Mason activated the Council in 1965, Joel, as its President and Head, became the Guardian.
The Orthodox Bahá’í Faith teaches the unity of God and His Prophets, the unity of the human race, the independent investigation of the truth, elimination of all forms of prejudice, the fundamental agreement of science and religion, equal opportunities, rights, and privileges for both sexes, abolishes extremes of poverty and wealth, establishes the need for an international script and language, universal education, a universal system of currency, weights, and measures, and promotes the establishment of world peace. Read full article of "I'an RoeBuck." 

‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Affection and Love for Mason Remey:

. . ."Praise be unto God, that the model of the Mashrekol-Askar [current transliteration: Mashriqu'l-Adhkár] made by Mr. [Louis J.] Bourgeois was approved by his honor, Mr. Remey, and selected by the Convention. His honor, Mr. Remey is, verily, of perfect sincerity. He is like unto transparent water, filtered, lucid and without any impurity. He worked earnestly for several years, but he did not have any personal motive. He has not attachment to anything except to the Cause of God. This is the spirit of the firm and this is the characteristic of the sincere."
(Star of the West, Volume 11, No. 9, 20 August 1920 p. 139):
Mason Remey’s attachment to the Cause was well known at the time.  He travelled extensively to promote the Baha’i Faith during the ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Baha.  Shoghi Effendi in “God Passes By” (1950 edition p261) recorded that Mason Remey and his Baha’i companion, Howard Struven, were the first Baha’is to circle the globe teaching the Faith. Mason Remey visited ‘Abdu’l-Baha in the Holy Land several times and received numerous Tablets from The Master. “Star of the West”, a Baha’i periodical, published many of these letters during the years 1913-1922.   ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s high regard for Remey is evident in these letters.  Samples of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s greetings and words to him illustrate this affection.
"O thou illumined youth and my spiritual beloved!” (SOTW, April, 1913)
"O my dear son!  Numerous letters have been received from you and their contents have all been conducive to happiness. Praise be to God, thou art confirmed in service to the Kingdom, art promulgating divine teachings, art raising the call of the oneness of mankind, art detaching the souls from ignorant racial prejudices, art summoning them to the investigation of truth, art showing forth unto them the light of guidance and art offering them the chalice of the wine of the love of God. This blessed purpose of thine is the magnet of the confirmations of the Abha Kingdom."   (July 1919 – translation by Shoghi Effendi)
"O thou enlightened beloved son!"  (November 1920)
"O thou herald of the Covenant! Thy letters have been received and an answer has been written. Verily thou art firm in the Covenant, art self-sacrificing, art the son of the Kingdom and dost deserve the confirmations of His Holiness Baha’u’llah." (December 1920 – translation by Shoghi Effendi)

The Scattered Beads

Sectarianism and Schism

The world's extant religions have without exception fallen prey to sectarianism and schism that have preoccupied and divided their followers to such an extent that the true spirit of the Teachings of the Authors of their respective Revelations has been so obscured that the spiritual effect which these Teachings have had on the hearts of men has been progressively weakened. Sectarianism and schism have stemmed from differences over interpretation of the Holy Scriptures and the introduction into the original Teachings of man-made dogmas and rituals. 
Had the Founders of the past great religions made specific provisions concerning the matter of succession; that is, had they formally designated a successor or established a system whereby a successor or series of successors would have been endowed with unequivocal authority to interpret Holy Writ, there would have been no basis for the divisive interpretations that have sundered these Faiths, even in early Christendom, the institution of the Papacy and hierarchy of the Church had as the sole basis for its authority their interpretation of the meaning of a verbal statement that Christ had made to His Apostle, Peter. 
While this authority remained unchallenged for centuries during which time the Church remained united, it was ultimately challenged by the Protestant movement with the result that today Christianity finds itself divided into hundreds of sects.