Progress as an unwitting response

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The new earth

• Progress as an unwitting response

99 of all scientists are still living and 98
of all inventions have developed in the last 150
years
New landmarks in social progress equality,
justice..
. . .on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all
persons held as slaves within any State shall be
then, thenceforward, and forever free. . . And
upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of
justice I invoke the considerate judgment of
mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
-Abraham Lincoln
The world's equilibrium hath been upset through
the vibrating influence of this most great, this
new World Order. Mankind's ordered life hath
been revolutionized through the agency of this
unique, this wondrous System -- the like of which
mortal eyes have never witnessed. Bahaullah
The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound
with chains that mankind may be released from its
bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner
that the whole world may attain unto true
liberty. Bahaullah, 1853, while in
chains. Bahaullah declared His mission publicly
in 1863.
Through the movement of Our Pen of glory We
have, at the bidding of the omnipotent Ordainer,
breathed a new life into every human frame, and
instilled into every word a fresh potency. All
created things proclaim the evidences of this
world-wide regeneration. Bahaullah
"A new life is, in this age, stirring within all
the peoples of the earth and yet none hath
discovered its cause or perceived its
motive. Bahaullah
We have, then, called into being a new
creation, as a token of Our grace unto men. I
am, verily, the All-Bountiful, the Ancient of
Days. Bahaullah 1863
1300-1500 Renaissance
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Through the movement of Our Pen of glory We
have, at the bidding of the omnipotent Ordainer,
breathed a new life into every human frame, and
instilled into every word a fresh potency. All
created things proclaim the evidences of this
world-wide regeneration.(From the Pen of
Bahaullah)
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There isGood Newsand Bad News(press right and
left arrow keys to advance)
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The Good News
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Today the world responds unconsciously

• Unbeknownst to the great majority, His influence
  permeates all living beings. Indeed, no domain of
  life remains unaffected. In the burgeoning
  energy, the magnified perspectives, the
  heightened global consciousness in the social
  and political turbulence, the fall of kingdoms,
  the emancipation of nations, the intermixture of
  cultures, the clamour for development in the
  agitation over the extremes of wealth and
  poverty, the acute concern over the abuse of the
  environment, the leap of consciousness regarding
  the rights of women and racial equality in the
  growing tendency towards ecumenism, the
  increasing call for a new world order in the
  astounding advances in the realms of science,
  technology, literature and the arts -- in all
  this tumult, with its paradoxical manifestations
  of chaos and order, integration and
  disintegration, are the signs of His
  Bahaullahs power as World Reformer, the
  proof of His claim as Divine Physician, the truth
  of His Word as the All-Knowing Counselor. (UHJ)

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He suffered that we might prosper

• The Ancient Beauty 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 that the whole
  world may attain unto true liberty.  He hath
  drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all
  the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding
  joy, and be filled with gladness.  This is of the
  mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most
  Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O
  believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be
  exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions,
  that ye might prosper and flourish.  He Who hath
  come to build anew the whole world, behold, how
  they that have joined partners with God have
  forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of
  cities!
•  (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah,
  Pages 99-100)

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yet unwittingly enforcing the general
principles which He has enunciated

• Suffice it to say that this consummation will,
  by its very nature, be a gradual process, and
  must, as Bahá'u'lláh has Himself anticipated,
  lead at first to the establishment of that Lesser
  Peace which the nations of the earth, as yet
  unconscious of His Revelation and yet unwittingly
  enforcing the general principles which He has
  enunciated, will themselves establish. This
  momentous and historic step, involving the
  reconstruction of mankind, as the result of the
  universal recognition of its oneness and
  wholeness, will bring in its wake the
  spiritualization of the masses, consequent to the
  recognition of the character, and the
  acknowledgment of the claims, of the Faith of
  Bahá'u'lláh -- the essential condition to that
  ultimate fusion of all races, creeds, classes,
  and nations which must signalize the emergence of
  His New World Order.
• Then will the coming of age of the entire human
  race be proclaimed and celebrated by all the
  peoples and nations of the earth. (Shoghi
  Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 123)

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A new heaven and a new earth

• Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look
  for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
  righteousness. (2nd Peter 313 Rev. of John
  211)
• The earth will not be destroyed
• For, behold, I create new heavens and a new
  earth and the former shall not be remembered,
  nor come into mind.For as the new heavens and
  the new earth, which I will make, shall remain
  before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and
  your name remain. (Isaiah 6517 6622)

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A new spirit of life in a new world...

• . . in the generosity of God a new springtime
  dawned, the lights of God shone forth, the
  effulgent Sun of Reality returned and became
  manifest, the realm of thoughts and kingdom of
  hearts became exhilarated, a new spirit of life
  breathed into the body of the world and
  continuous advancement became apparent.
  (Abdu'l-Baha, BWF - p. 256 )
• The gift of God to this enlightened age is
  the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of
  the fundamental oneness of religion. War shall
  cease between nations, and by the will of God the
  Most Great Peace shall come the world will be
  seen as a new world, and all men will live as
  brothers.
• (Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 19 )

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A new spirit of life in a new world...

• The realm of thoughts and ideals is set in
  motion and blessed with new life. Minds are
  developed, hopes brighten, aspirations become
  spiritual, the virtues of the human world appear
  with freshened power of growth and the image and
  likeness of God become visible in man. It is the
  springtime of the inner world. the world is
  resuscitated, illumined and attains spirituality
  religion is renewed and reorganized, hearts are
  turned to God, the summons of God is heard and
  life is again bestowed upon man. . . .
• (Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 255)

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. . .called into being a new creation

• Verily, We have caused every soul to expire by
  virtue of Our irresistible and all-subduing
  sovereignty. We have, then, called into being a
  new creation, as a token of Our grace unto men. I
  am, verily, the All-Bountiful, the Ancient of
  Days. 
• (The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 2, p. 252 )

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none hath discovered its cause or perceived
its motive

• The world's equilibrium hath been upset through
  the vibrating influence of this most great, this
  new World Order. Mankind's ordered life hath
  been revolutionized through the agency of this
  unique, this wondrous System -- the like of which
  mortal eyes have never witnessed.
• "A new life is, in this age, stirring within
  all the peoples of the earth and yet none hath
  discovered its cause or perceived its motive.
• (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p.
  136 197)

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New Spirit released into the World

• Baha'u'llah found the world in a strange
  sleep. But what a disturbance His coming has
  unloosed! The peoples of the earth had been
  separated, many parts of the human race socially
  and spiritually isolated. But the world of
  humanity today bears little resemblance to that
  which Baha'u'llah left a century ago. Unbeknownst
  to the great majority, His influence permeates
  all living beings . . . .
• (Letters of The Universal House of Justice, 1997
  Aug 13, Science and Religion)

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Infused into the whole creation...

• "The Call of God," Abdu'l-Baha has written, "when
  raised, breathed a new life into the body of
  mankind, and infused a new spirit into the whole
  creation. It is for this reason that the world
  hath been moved to its depths, and the hearts and
  consciences of men been quickened. Erelong the
  evidences of this regeneration will be revealed,
  and the fast asleep will be awakened.
• (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah,
  p. 169)

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And it shall come to pass in the last days, that
the mountain of the LORD's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills and all nations
shall flow unto it. (Holy Bible, Isaiah 22)
House of Justice Bahai World Center Haifa, Israel
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And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and
let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the
house of the God of Jacob and He will teach us
of his ways, and we will walk in His paths for
out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word
of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge
among the nations, and shall rebuke many people
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares.
. (Holy Bible, Isaiah 23-4)
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". . . and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah
24)
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House of Justice Bahai World Center Haifa, Israel
the LORD's house shall be established in the
top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills and all nations shall flow unto it.
and He will teach us of his ways, and we will
walk in His paths
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And it shall come to pass in the last days, that
the mountain of the LORD's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills and all nations
shall flow unto it. (Isaiah 22)
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to
the house of God and he will teach us His ways,
and we will walk in his paths for shall go forth
the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem... (Isaiah 23-4) To Him that
overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of
my God and I will write upon him the name of my
God, and the name of the city of my God, which is
new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven
from my God and I will write upon him my new
name. (Rev. 312 212)
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To Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in
the temple of my God and I will write upon him
My new name. . . . . .which no man knoweth
saving he that receiveth it. (Rev. of St. John
312 217)
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Do ye know in what cycle ye are created and in
what age ye exist? This is the age of the
Blessed Perfection and this is the time of the
Greatest Name! ( Baha'i World Faith -
Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 351 )
22
Do ye know in what cycle ye are created and in
what age ye exist? This is the century of the
Manifestation, the age of the Sun of the
Horizons and the beautiful springtime of His
Holiness the Eternal One!( Baha'i World Faith
- Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 351 )
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All did see Christ during the First coming

• And he came into all the country about Jordan,
  preaching the baptism of repentance for the
  remission of sins As it is written in the book
  of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The
  voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye
  the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
• Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain
  and hill shall be brought low and the crooked
  shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall
  be made smooth And all flesh shall see the
  salvation of God.
• (Holy Bible, Luke 33-5 -- Luke refers to the Old
  Testament prophesy and claims that Jesus has
  fulfilled the Old verse in the First coming.
  Every eye DID see Him.)

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Subjective faith all are subjective to the
whole

• Thou hast written of a verse in the
  Gospels, asking if at the time of Christ all
  souls did hear His call. Know that faith is of
  two kinds. The first is objective faith that is
  expressed by the outer man, obedience of the
  limbs and senses. The other faith is subjective,
  and unconscious obedience to the will of God.
  There is no doubt that, in the day of a
  Manifestation such as Christ, all contingent
  beings possessed subjective faith and had
  unconscious obedience to His Holiness Christ.
• For all parts of the creational world are of one
  whole. Christ the Manifestor reflecting the
  divine Sun represented the whole. All the parts
  are subordinate and obedient to the whole.
  (Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 364)

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hidden from the sight of unwitting people

• . . . Judge thou from this metaphor how the
  world of the Kingdom hath shone down, and how its
  laws have been made to work in this nether realm.
  Although the spirit is hidden from view, still
  its commandments shine out like rays of light
  upon the world of the human body.
• In the same way, although the Kingdom of heaven
  is hidden from the sight of this unwitting
  people, still, to him who seeth with the inner
  eye, it is plain as day.
• (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p.
  192)

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. . . all souls did hear His call.

• It is evident then that the manifestation of the
  Messiah was synonymous with universal mercy. His
  providence was universal and his teachings were
  for all. His lights were not restricted to a few.
  Every Christ came to the world of mankind.
• (Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 106
  
• also found on page 444 of PUP)

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Potenciesare.. insensibly shaping

• "These same potencies, apart from, yet collateral
  with these efforts and accomplishments, are, on
  the other hand, insensibly shaping, under the
  impact of the world political and economic
  forces, the destiny of that nation, and are
  influencing the lives and actions of both its
  government and its people." 
• (S.E., The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 86)

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New Cycle of Human Power

• The banner of the Holy Spirit is uplifted,
  and men see it, and are assured with the
  knowledge that this is a new day.
• This is a new cycle of human power. All the
  horizons of the world are luminous, and the world
  will become indeed as a garden and a paradise. It
  is the hour of unity of the sons of men and of
  the drawing together of all races and all
  classes. You are loosed from ancient
  superstitions which have kept men ignorant,
  destroying the foundation of true humanity.
• The gift of God to this enlightened age is
  the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of
  the fundamental oneness of religion. War shall
  cease between nations, and by the will of God the
  Most Great Peace shall come the world will be
  seen as a new world, and all men will live as
  brothers.
• (Abdu'l-Baha in London, 1912, p. 19 )

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Justice and world-wide regeneration
Justice is, in this day, bewailing its plight,
and Equity groaneth beneath the yoke of
oppression. The thick clouds of tyranny have
darkened the face of the earth, and enveloped its
peoples. Through the movement of Our Pen of glory
We have, at the bidding of the omnipotent
Ordainer, breathed a new life into every human
frame, and instilled into every word a fresh
potency. All created things proclaim the
evidences of this world-wide regeneration. This
is the most great, the most joyful tidings
imparted by the Pen of this wronged One to
mankind. (Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha'u'llah, p. 92)
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The Bad news
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Death pangs.... Birth pangs...

• Deep as is the gloom that already encircles the
  world, the afflictive ordeals which that world is
  to suffer are still in preparation, nor can their
  blackness be as yet imagined. We stand on the
  threshold of an age whose convulsions proclaim
  alike the death-pangs of the old order and the
  birth-pangs of the new. Through the generating
  influence of the Faith announced by Baha'u'llah
  this New World Order may be said to have been
  conceived. We can, at the present moment,
  experience its stirrings in the womb of a
  travailing age -- an age waiting for the
  appointed hour at which it can cast its burden
  and yield its fairest fruit.
• (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah,
  p. 169 )

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unwittingly and irresistibly advancing

• ". . . through experiment and trial, slowly,
  painfully, unwittingly and irresistibly advancing
  towards the goal destined for it by both
  Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá.... Indeed if we
  would read aright the signs of the times, and
  appraise correctly the significances of
  contemporaneous events that are impelling forward
  both the American Bahá'í Community and the nation
  of which it forms a part on the road leading them
  to their ultimate destiny, we cannot fail to
  perceive the workings of two simultaneous
  processes, generated as far back as the
  concluding years of the Heroic Age of our Faith,
  each clearly defined, each distinctly separate,
  yet closely related and destined to culminate, in
  the fullness of time, in a single glorious
  consummation."
• (Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith, p. 31-32)

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Death pangs.... Birth pangs...

• "Soon," Baha'u'llah Himself has prophesied in
  the middle 1800s,
• "will the present-day order be rolled up, and a
  new one spread out in its stead." 
• And again 
• "By Myself!  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."
•  (Shoghi Effendi, in The Promised Day is Come,
  Pages 17-18)
• emphasis and brackets added

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We are witnessing a dual phenomena

• "We are indeed living in an age which, if we
  would correctly appraise it, should be regarded
  as one which is witnessing a dual phenomenon a
  "titanic upheaval". The first signalizes the
  death pangs of an order, effete and godless, that
  has stubbornly refused, despite the signs and
  portents of a century-old Revelation, to attune
  its processes to the precepts and ideals which
  that Heaven-sent Faith proffered it.  The second
  proclaims the birth pangs of an Order, divine and
  redemptive, that will inevitably supplant the
  former, and within Whose administrative structure
  an embryonic civilization, incomparable and
  world-embracing, is imperceptibly maturing. . .
• (Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p.
  17) continued next slide

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Soon will the present day order be rolled up

• . . . The one is being rolled up, and is
  crashing in oppression, bloodshed, and ruin.  The
  other opens up vistas of a justice, a unity, a
  peace, a culture, such as no age has ever seen. 
  The former has spent its force, demonstrated its
  falsity and barrenness, lost irretrievably its
  opportunity, and is hurrying to its doom.  The
  latter, virile and unconquerable, is plucking
  asunder its chains, and is vindicating its title
  to be the one refuge within which a sore-tried
  humanity, purged from its dross, can attain its
  destiny. emphasis mine
• (Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 17)

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Prevailing order is lamentably defective

• How long will humanity persist in its
  waywardness? How long will injustice continue?
  How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst
  men? How long will discord agitate the face of
  society?... The winds of despair are, alas,
  blowing from every direction, and the strife that
  divideth and afflicteth the human race is daily
  increasing. The signs of impending convulsions
  and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the
  prevailing order appeareth to be lamentably
  defective. I beseech God, exalted be His glory,
  that He may graciously awaken the peoples of the
  earth, may grant that the end of their conduct
  may be profitable unto them, and aid them to
  accomplish that which beseemeth their station.
• . . . Beseech ye the one true God to grant that
  all men may be graciously assisted to fulfil that
  which is acceptable in Our sight. Soon will the
  present-day order be rolled up, and a new one
  spread out in its stead. Verily, thy Lord
  speaketh the truth, and is the Knower of things
  unseen.
• (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, page
  216 and page 7)

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(No Transcript)
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The Judgement of God

• "The time for the destruction of the world and
  its people," Baha'u'llah's prophetic pen has
  proclaimed, "hath arrived. "The promised day is
  come, the day when tormenting trials will have
  surged above your heads, and beneath your feet,
  saying 'Taste ye what your hands have wrought!
  (Bahaullah quoted in The Promised Day is Come)
• Humanity... watches this great and mighty wind
  of God invading the remotest and fairest regions
  of the earth, rocking its foundations, deranging
  its equilibrium, sundering its nations,
  disrupting the homes of its peoples, wasting its
  cities, driving into exile its kings, pulling
  down its bulwarks, uprooting its institutions,
  dimming its light, and harrowing up the souls of
  its inhabitants. Shoghi Effendi

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Then and only then...
The world is in travail, and its agitation
waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards
waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its
plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet
and seemly. Its perversity will long continue.
And when the appointed hour is come, there shall
suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs
of mankind to quake. Then, and only then, will
the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the
Nightingale of Paradise warble its
melody. (Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha'u'llah, p. 118)
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The Good News
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The Promised One of all Religions

• " . . the Promised One of all the world's peoples
  hath now been made manifest. For each and every
  people, and every religion, await a Promised One,
  and Baha'u'llah is that One Who is awaited by
  all and therefore the Cause of Baha'u'llah will
  bring about the oneness of mankind . . .
• (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha,
  Page 101)

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Mysterious process
The latter part of Advent of Divine Justice has
some of the most mysterious things the Guardian
has ever written. There is a place towards the
end of Advent of Divine Justice where Shoghi
Effendi refers to America and he refers to the
American nation being moved by forces it can
neither comprehend nor control, to fulfil its
destiny. Ok, take your materialist politician
and say to him you know, your country is being
moved by forces it can neither comprehend nor
control. Hes not going to be very happy. Hes
not going to be particularly pleased about this.
Yet this is what the Guardian says. What does it
mean? What is the spiritual effect of
Abdul-Baha having come to the North American
continent? Of Bahaullah having addressed the
rulers of America in the Aqdas? Why is it that
this nation of all is chosen for the role that he
describes in Advent of Divine Justice? (Talk
given by Dr. Peter Khan, in Sydney -- 14 August
2002)