Re: the next Manifestation of God
gpoirier (gpoirier@acca.nmsu.edu)
Thu, Apr 20 1995 16:24:15 GMT
> It is also interesting to note that in the Book of Revelation
> it is prophecied that Satan would be bound for a thousand years,
> but then would be loosed for a little while. I interpret this to
> indicate that when the next Manifestation of God appears, He/She will be
> persecuted as have all the Manifestions. This time it will be the
> Baha'is doing the persecuting, I expect. It gives one pause to ponder.
>
> And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the
> bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on
> the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and
> bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit,
> and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the
> nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and
> after that he must be loosed a little season.
I believe that it is in The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah where Shoghi
Effendi quotes Baha'u'llah as saying "My fears are for Him who comes
after Me," as a reference to the next Manifestation of God. However, in
God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi applies this same quote from Baha'u'llah to
the person of Abdu'l-Baha, the Successor to Baha'u'llah.
Brent Poirier
[In fact, the two passages are different. In Dispensation of Baha'u'llah
He writes about "Him Who will be sent down unto you after Me--Him Who will
be invested with great sovereignty and mighty dominion." Shoghi Effendi
clearly links this with the next Manifestation (see #1562, Lights of Guidance
(2nd Ed). In God Passes By, He writes about "Him Who shall come after Me,
in the shadow of My Cause" (p 250). The context makes it clear that he is
refering to `Abdu'l-Baha. -mod]