Third Guardian of the Bahá’i Faith Ascended to the Abha Kingdom

Joel Bray Marangella
September 22, 1918 – September 1, 2013

Joel Bray Marangella, Guardian of the Bahá’i Faith, passed away on Monday, September 1, 2013 at his home in San Diego, California. He dedicated his labors during his Ministry to the Victory of the “Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh” and its divinely conceived, sacred and immortal “Child” and immutable “Charter”.

A celebration of his life’s service held at 10:30 A.M, Friday, September 6, 2013 at the North Chapel at Point Loma in San Diego, California.

Joel Bray Marangella was born on September 22, 1918 in Lynn, Massachusetts to Phillip and Edith (Gurthrie) Marangella.

In September 1945, he married the former Irene Maria Aducat in West Englewood, New Jersey.

Joel Bray Marangella was a WWII veteran, where is served in the European Theatre with distinction receiving two Bronze stars. Retiring from active duty at the rank of full Colonel, Joel Bray Marangella continued to serve as a Department of the Army civilian until 1972.

Joel Bray Marangella was also the leader, ‘the Guardian’, of the Orthodox Bahá’i Faith with a ministry spanning over 44 years. His dedicated service to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh spanned over 80 years since his early declaration as a Bahá’i at the age of 15.

He and Irene lived in France for over 18 years before moving permanently to their vacation home in Ringgenberg, in the heart of the Swiss Bernese Oberland, overlooking the Lake of Brienze.

His periodic visits to the U.S. allowed him to obtain an advanced degree (MBA) from Florida International University in 1976.

A chance visit to Australia in the winter of 1983 convinced Joel and Irene that Perth, Australia was to be their new home where they lived for 30 years. During this period Joel Bray Marangella perfected his golf game and became the oldest continuous playing member of the famous Joondalup Golf Club at the age of 90.

At the age of 91, Joel again convinced Irene that they should finally return to the United States, and they left Australia and joined their son Paul and his wife Georgia in California.

Joel Bray Marangella is survived by his three sons, Paul Maxwell Marangella and his wife Georgia of San Diego, California; Mark Vali Marangella and his wife Christine of Ashburn, Virginia; and Joel Jani Marangella of Perth, Australia; three grandchildren, Mason, Adam, and Phillip Marangella and two great grandchildren, Noah and Leila Marangella.

He appointed his successor as the Fourth Guardian of Baha’i Faith to Mr. Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand as per the “Will and Testament” of Master Abdu’l Baha:

“O ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent upon the guardian of the Cause of God to appoint in his own life-time him (guardian) that shall become his successor, that differences may not arise after his passing.” (Will and Testament of Abdu’l Baha, page 12)

Compiled by Dr. A. Parikh from the writing the Hand of Cause of God Mr. Jeffrey Goldberg.

Action of the believers in Lucknow following the passing of Shoghi Effendi.

The State of Guardianship is the super most thing upon the Earth.
The second Guardian, Charles Mason Remey wrote in his dairy: “Daily Observations,”(written during the years he resided in Haifa) about the remarkable action taken by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Lucknow, India, following the passing of Shoghi Effendi:


“This afternoon (12 February 1959) there was a meeting of seven of us Custodian Hands of the Cause now here in the Holy Land at which there was a discussion of many things - details of comings and goings of pilgrims all of routine work, and a letter from the Local Assembly of Lucknow, India, was laid upon the table without remark, someone saying that it was a local problem – a matter that should be referred not to the Hands but to the National Assembly of India.

“Seeing the letter, as it lay there on the table, I glanced at it and was astonished indeed at its contents. It was a record of action of that local Assembly in which seven of the nine members had united to dissolve that local body until such time as the Guardianship be renewed and functioning again – this letter (copy of which was addressed to the Hands in the Holy Land, dated 18 November 1958) was being sent to the Indian National Assembly in New Delhi. This was indeed a most remarkable statement (in six short paragraphs) of the reasons why these friends cannot accept the present condition of the Cause without a Guardian.”
A summary of the original letter:. Gupta wrote the following letter on 18 November 1957 from 51 L
 
Resolution: Where as by a resolution passed in the presence of seven members of the Assembly on November 9, 1957, [five days after the passing of Shoghi Effendi] it was resolved that “the activities of this LSA be suspended till the appointment of the next Guardian of the Faith” and the same was intimated to the NSA, New Delhi, and whereas it comes under the purview of the Supreme Council, so therefore it behooves this assembly to place the following arguments without prejudice, before the aforementioned Supreme Council through Raffanian, Haifa (Israel):

1. Man’s nature is two-fold; he is spirit and body and therefore, at once, a citizen of this world and of the Heavenly City.
2. The State of Guardianship is the super most thing upon the Earth.
3. The Guardian ought to have no equal in his realm because this would nullify the rule that an equal cannot have authority over his equals.
4. The Supremacy of the Guardian in spiritual matters is absolute under the God…The Guardian has full power to create Hands of the Cause and can do so without any of the customary forms of election.
5. The unique power possessed by the Guardian alone is, therefore a “Divine Right”…In substance the Guardian alone is the head of entire legal system, not, indeed, as a universal executive but as a court of final authority which functions not in absentia but by presence.
6. The present system is but conciliary and the concilliarists have set against it the ideal of harmony of powers cooperating by free and mutual consent. Such an argument is fraught with the implication that God had changed the mode of imposing His Divine Right according to the wishes of the few. Such a democratic conception is vitally opposed to the Spirit of the Faith.

Alert Bahá'í Brethren!
From the above, it is clear that those who investigate the truth independently, find the truth but those who do not struggle for the truth, God seals their hearts.

“The Center of the Cause”

Series of Questions continued from the posting of August 5, 2008
Q.3. How, or on what basis, did he become Guardian of the Faith?

Ans: A very pertinent question to which there is a clear and unambiguous answer. His accession to the Guardianship was on the basis of his appointment in 1951 by his predecessor in Office, the second Guardian of the Faith, who had been appointed himself by the first Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, the Grandson of Abdu’l-Baha, the Son of the Founder of the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah, Who had been named by Him the Center of His Covenant with the believers. Abdu’l-Baha delineated the Institutions of the Baha’i Administrative Order in His Will and Testament in which the Guardianship is designated as “The Center of the Cause” and an Institution that is occupied without interruption by a succession of Guardians, each appointed by his predecessor in that Office throughout the duration of the Dispensation of Baha’u’llah, promised by Him to endure at least a full thousand years.

Q.4. You maintain therefore that Joel Marangella became the third Guardian of the Faith strictly on the basis of the provisions of the “Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha?

Ans: Yes. But, although none of the Baha’is deny the authenticity of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l Baha and recognize it as Baha’i Holy Writ and a Document, in accordance with whose terms, Shoghi Effendi became the first Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, those Baha’is, under the leadership of the Haifa organization, have not recognized the fact that Shoghi Effendi, faithfully provided for the continuation of the Guardianship, in accordance with these same terms, in appointing as his successor, Mason Remey, a highly distinguished Hand of the Cause, who then, in turn, dutifully appointed as his successor, the present third Guardian of the Faith, Joel Marangella, also in accordance with these terms.

There is no one with authority to judge a Guardian:

It is questionable who has the authority to judge a Guardian in regards to matters related to the Cause; to say in this case or that case he made a mistake? We have seen in T.R.B. some comments that Shoghi Effendi made a mistake because he did not announce his successor more clearly than he did or that Mason Remey made a mistake because he delayed making his proclamation or similarly why did Joel B. Marangella wait so long to issue his proclamation? My answer is: those things or similar things had to happen. They were guided to do it the way they did. If Shoghi Effendi trusted Rúhíyyih Khánum, he did not make a mistake as she was a Hand of the Cause and also his secretary. Moreover, she was his wife, and all of the records of her writings prior to the passing of the first Guardian reveal to the reader her profound knowledge of the Faith and the Covenant and emphasize her clear testimony to the necessity of the continuation of the Guardianship until the end of the Bahá'í Dispensation. If Rúhíyyih Khánum after the passing of Shoghi Effendi followed the satanic promptings of her human soul, that was her great error which made her the "Arch Covenant-breaker." The Guardians are not prophets. Some people claim that the Manifestations of God have made a lot of mistakes (which is not true), the fact is that we cannot judge those things that have been done or have happened in the past according to today's knowledge and understandings and conditions. We cannot blame Jesus for what He did with the businesses in front of the Temple, which by today's laws would be considered a crime. He did what He had to do then according to the Will of God. Some people have raised questions as to why Shoghi Effendi put so many of his relatives out of the Faith. The fact is that the condition of the Faith in its infancy required a non-tolerant discipline and on the other hand those relatives' exploitation and misuse of the privileges that they possessed was not acceptable and they left no other choice for the Guardian. He did what he had to do according to the Will of ............. Click for detail

By Hand of the Cuase of God Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand

MARTYRDOM OF THE BAB

MARTYRDOM OF BAB (9th JULY)

Bab the Forerunner of Baha u llah one of the two Promised Ones of all the past religions, left the world handing over His mission to Baha u llah to provide peace and salvation to the humanity. Baha u llah handed over this mission to His son Abdu’l Baha and He appointed to His grandson Shoghi Effendi the First Guardian of Baha’i Faith with an emphatic instruction in His Will and Testament that:

“O ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent upon the Guardian of the Cause of God to appoint in his own life-time him (Guardian) that shall become his successor, that differences may not arise after his passing.”

Thus for the Continuity of Guardianship, Shoghi Effendi appointed his successor to Mason Remey as the Second Guardian of Baha’i Faith.

Mason Remey appointed his successor to Joel Bray Marngella as the Third Guardian, the Head of the Universal House of Justice delineated by Abdu’l Baha in His Will and Testament.

A Memorial meeting with the Devotional and Deepening program on the Continuity of Guardianship in Baha’i Faith will be held at Vasai(Thane), New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Surat and Lucknow between 4.00 to 7.00 pm.

Only Orthodox Bahais are requested to attend the function.

Secretary,
Provisional National Baha'i Council of India

PROCLAMATION CHART

Click on the above chart to Enlarge

RAMIFICATIONS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI’S MOMENTOUS PROCLAMATION OF 9 JANUARY, 1951

Blind & Irrational Opposition

Above is the answer to the comment made by an anonymous reader in Persian language on our posting dated April 16, 2008 and titled Festival of Ridvan.

Why They Shunned the Independent Investigation of Truth?

Sans-Guardian Baha’is Say about us;

> They are Covenant Breakers.
> Do not read their literature.
> Do not visit their internet sites.
> Do not entertain them when they come to meet you.
> Do not discuss the contents of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l Baha.
> Do not accept their view about the Continuity of Guardianship in Baha’i Faith.

WHILE ............

In the words of Baha'u'llah,

"Purge your sight, that ye may perceive its glory with your own eyes, and depend not on the sight of any one except your self, for God hath never burdened any soul beyond its power. Thus hath it been sent down unto the Prophets and Messengers of old, and been recorded in all the Scriptures."

ORTHODOX BAHA’I INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

For further detail contact obfcouncilsecty@hotmail.com

To Read, Click Image to Enlarge