Ridwan 2020
An open letter to all the Baha’i world
Directed through the friends of India
Dear friends,
Allah'u'Abha!
May the blessings and glory of God be upon you all and all your loved
ones in this clear Day of the visible birth of the Great Peace of our times.
"Man schemes and God schemes and God is the best of schemers"
(al-Anfal Q 8:20).
AS WE come into the fullness of this first Century of the Covenant
(1921-2021), and this penultimate year of 2020, BEHOLD: an Act of God--The
current COVID-19 Crisis, and the universal global lock-down and shut-in
protocols of the Quarantine for all the people of the world--as 'Abdu'l-Baha
spoke in 1912: "All nations will be forced into it."
The Quarantine has effectively stopped all the major wars in temporary
cease fire. Palestinians and Israelis have gone home; Yemen signed a temporary
truce to get aid and medical supplies, etc. This may be the first time that the
world has experienced the closest thing to peace on earth! At least for the
last 40 days. According to the New York Times, the majority of Americans say
"No!" to returning back to the former "Beast" materialistic
economy of the American driven so-called "Forever War." The people
are tired of living the way they have been, out of balance, working endless
jobs without breaks, living hand to mouth, pay check to pay check, and
participating--through no other options--in destructive behaviors and
destructive lifestyles dictated by the circumstances of an endless war economy
based on greed, personal aggrandizement, a throw-away culture of instant
gratifications, and planned obsolescence of inferior products, goods, and
services.
This Act of God has in effect said: "STOP!" "Go
home...cooperate with one another...clean up your act....change your
ways....emerge to work together for a better world..." Together We can
make this world not merely a better place, but a real garden paradise on earth
for ourselves, our children, all creatures, and for all future generations.
Obviously if we will work together, cooperate, as the Baha'is are able to do
through our Covenant and Administration--as one soul in one body--this alone
can remedy the situation--all of us real people--human beings--taking care of
the real business at hand of life, and life abundantly! Through meeting,
gathering, assembling, speaking out, and participating together under the
Covenant, God guides us along the way every moment of every day, and all
obstacles are overcome.
For the first time in many years the Holy Mountains of the Himalayas can
be seen again from the low lands of India because the air pollution has cleared
up in just over one month of God halting man's destructive activities, and in
Beijing as well as in other places. The rivers have cleared up in the canals of
Venice for the first time anyone can remember in their lives, and in other
parts many animals are reported to be re-occupying areas now abandoned by the
people. Traffic is down, crime is down, gas prices in America are abnormally
low. The streets of Rome and New York City are vacated and empty (Rev. ch.
16-19). The threats of a coming oil war (Rev. 6:6) with the US and Russia are
brewing at this very time with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Syria, the
Palestinians, and other Arab peoples in the midst.
This current universal Covid-19 crisis has opened a door of opportunity
for universal human cooperation to NOW take place to make the earth a better
place and better home for us all. We sent out a video message for Naw Ruz that
can be found at the links to be given in our follow-up letter. That Naw Ruz
2020 message gets into the prophetical aspect of these things from the
perspective of the Book of Revelation and HOPI Prophecy. Also to be sent out in
follow-up to this guidance letter we have 3 documents of importance we
recently received from the Hopi. These will be uploaded to the Internet and can
be found in the link section in our follow-up letter. Also to uploaded the
Council of the IBC/UHJ has re-issued The Indictment sent out during the April
29, 1980 worldwide media projection of Dr. Leland Jensen. The IBC/UHJ has
reissued The Indictment in time for the 40th year anniversary: April 29,
1980-April 29, 2020 (Ez. 4:6 KJV).
As for other guidance:
The IBC/UHJ is at the present time establishing a solid communication
network with all the friends throughout the world. A more efficient system of
communication for the business affairs of the faith. On the one hand while we
strengthen our gnostic connections with one another through Baha'u'llah's
Covenant of friendship, we are able to use the proper channels of the Covenant
and Administration to communicate, resolve, and implement both spiritual and
practical affairs more quickly and smoothly.
In establishing the protocol of proper channels the IBC/UHJ will be
contacting the different friends and believers in the coming weeks through our
new contact e-mail address of the Secretary General's office: secgen2020@yahoo.com
The secretary generals of the local, national, and international
councils (as well as the isolated centers) are the communication hub of the
Baha'i world. Baha'u'llah has stated that Our "mere act of...gathering
together" (GL. xliii) is enough to "scatter the forces" of
darkness.
Through the regular communication, assembly, and fellowship of all the
friends everywhere--and including the office of the Secretariat--as well as
holding 19 day feasts, online zoom meetings, and other regular assemblies of
the Baha'is, our community generates a self-sustaining positive spiritual
vortex that has a lasting effect on the world and our immediate spiritual and
physical environment for the better (see World Order of Baha'u'llah, pp. 9 and
19 for more). If you wish to be in direct touch with us please contact us
anytime at: secgen2020@yahoo.com
This current crisis that began this Equinox 2020 parallels the Exodus of
Moses event almost 4000 years ago. It begins on the Vernal Equinox with
"the angel of death" (Ex. chps. 11, 12) passing over the entire world
in the form of this crisis, only on a scale of "one day is equal to one
year" (Num. 14:34; Ez. 4:6). The outer virus threat is also symbolic of
the other invisible "virus" of a new covenant-breaking strain of
poison that has been circulating through the population at this same time.
Passing the test is as easy as falling off a log, Dr. Jensen has said.
Opposition only engenders loyalty in all the rest, states 'Abdu'l-Baha. Like
the physical virus survival only boosts the immune system and strengthens the
body as these tests come upon us. The people need to have ample time to make
their adjustments to the new reality. The work to be done now is the inner
temple work. As we turn toward the God of our own understanding, make our
adjustments, and deepen in God, the spirit, and practical matters such as the
need to plant Victory Gardens at this time, and prepare for what is to come
next. If the Baha'is work together and cooperate, the prophecy states, these
times of trouble shall be like passing though warm-milk for the believers. As
we consolidate our own affairs, and perform our own inner temple work of the
spirit for ourselves and our community this will set a tone and influence those
around us to be able to trust more in God and turn to the Divine protection and
Bounty in this day.
"Trustworthiness is the greatest portal leading unto the
tranquility and security of the people. In truth the stability of every affair
hath depended and doth depend upon it. All the domains of power, of grandeur
and of wealth are illumined by its light." (Baha'u'llah, Tarazat)
"Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues. Without
truthfulness progress and success, in all the worlds of God, are impossible for
any soul. When this holy attribute is established in man, all the divine
qualities will also be acquired." ('Abdu'l-Baha, cf. Advent of Divine
Justice)
'Abdu'l-Baha states that "the day of judgment is not the time for
God to exercise His wrath but to exercise His mercy." This is because the
signs for the reality of God are so obvious on the Day of Judgment (20/20
vision), that it is a Mercy for us all to be guided to see the truth of God
with our own eyes and to directly and immediately experience the personal
reality of God's Promise fulfilled in our very own beings: independent of all
save God.
At the last August Gathering in 2019 we announced that as the "7
seals" of the Hopi Fireclan Tablet were now opened we have entered the time
period of the Hopi Purification that shall last for 7 years, 7 months, 7 weeks,
and seven days. This corresponds with the prophetic events that parallel the
exodus of Moses on the scale of each day for a year, the next seven years.
This lock down shows us that we will not be able to move from our
locations in the time of a great disaster. The India community should look into
purchasing a national center property in a rural area of India (Shoghi Effendi
calls this a "goal city") where the School & Cultural Center
would be safe from both a nuclear war and the earth's shifting crust. This is
to preserve the faith, the culture of India and the people of India, that
includes the Baha'i peoples of India there. A teaching, healing, and refugee
center with enough Baha'i households in that town or village to have a Baha'i
community with people there to accept, orient, and care for students, guests,
visitors, and in the case of disasters, refugees.
The American Baha'i Community is in the process of consolidating its
national center and business offices in the rural areas of the State of
Colorado at this time; and with the assistance of the IBC/UHJ has located a
suitable "goal city." This is in accordance with the instructions of
both the Guardians 'Abdu'l-Baha's son, Mason Remey Aghsan and Shoghi Effendi.
Shoghi Effendi stated:
"Baha'is must have a new way of life. They need to be different
from other people. They must be distinguished. The more distinguished, the more
they will attract people. The greater the distinction, the greater the
attraction. They must read the Tablets of the Covenant of 'Abdu'l-Baha (Will
and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha) and study the Text of the Teaching (the Book of
the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, the Kitab-i-Ahd). It is not enough to be good and
kind and to lead a religious life today; it does not count for much unless one
accepts the Manifestation of God and His Covenant, and the successors named
therein..."
"The young people must disperse far away, the old ones to outlying
places; they must settle goal cities. Sell your property and pioneer! The young
people of America should go out into the country on farms and work with their
hands and produce food for their families."
"Americans are exposed to great dangers. Today the power of America
is in the hands of the masses. There is a terrific power in the press, and the
people are swayed by it. The United States, on a national scale, sets the
pattern for an international pattern. There will be a World Civil War, followed
by the establishment of a world state; all the nations will be a part of it and
will have to conform to it. This war has already started...."
"Mankind cannot be purified and cleansed without suffering. It is
positively dangerous to live in cities. The cities are doomed. They will go up
in smoke. They will evaporate. The Baha'is must disperse from the cities...why
do they not disperse? If they do not respond and disperse, they will suffer
spiritually, materially, and physically. In America the destruction will be
great! They must disperse for their own protection. The cities are doomed: New
York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles... America will become the storm
center of the future."
"Those with independent means must pack up and go. Those with
spirit must pack up and go. There must be a mass response. I can warn them, but
I cannot make them go. The Cause will triumph in spite of the actions and
inactivity of the believers. If one country falls down, another will make up
for it. The Baha'is have been given the method. Now they must have the spirit.
It is hopeless for capable teachers in the cities (the people will not
listen)...
"People are flocking to churches through fear. Americans must have
a totally new way of life, become a race of wholly devoted souls, devoted to
God and His ways. They must get to a simpler way of life. The standards of
America must be lowered, have fewer luxuries. Americans do not have enough
belief in God, not enough detachment. They must be more spiritual, disencumber
themselves from things, have Baha'i standards, not American standards.
Americans are too materialistic, too mechanized, too attached to family,
health, and death. There must be less materialism, less intellectualism, and
more spirit. America is the most disturbed nation, politically, on earth. There
is too much organization in America and too little spirit." (Shoghi
Effendi, http://www.uhj.net/end-time-prophecy.html)
"Reflections such as these should steel the resolve of the entire
Baha'i community, should dissipate their forebodings, and arouse them TO
REDEDICATE THEMSELVES TO EVERY SINGLE PROVISION OF THAT DIVINE CHARTER-the
sacred Will and Testament-whose outline has been delineated for them by the pen
of 'Abdu'l-Baha." (Shoghi Effendi, Advent of Divine Justice, p. 73)
Today the American Baha'i Community has overcome all of the challenges
and obstacles leveled against those of the past by Shoghi Effendi. The Baha'is
under the Covenant today in America are not like the people in the 1940s and
50s. They have located many goal cities and pioneered them back in the 60s,
70s, 80s, and 90s. The mainstay of the entire Baha'i Community in America lives
outside of these large mega-cities that Shoghi Effendi has warned against.
Those few in or near these nuclear target cities are there for spiritual and
not material reasons. All today are filled with the Spirit. All today have
attained the deep level of devotion, loyalty, severance, and detachment needed
in these times of Test. How else could the American National Council
consolidate its resources, combine its energies, and focus upon one single goal
city at this time, to make the people's national center in the USA? By the
power of Spirit!
Therefore have we all--in both India and America and our community of
loved ones all throughout the world--most certainly attained the individual and
group capacity to take up this task, and reap that great benefits and spiritual
rewards in both this world and the next for working together on this plane of
existence for a common important goal of great significance and impact: The
Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, the pure spiritual democracy of unity in
diversity, that is, divine civilization for all! God graduates us from the
former cycle and condition, and has opened up this new Baha'i era: and if we
look very closely and subtly, and if we take pause and meditate into deep
spiritual intuition and interior percepts: we may behold the birth and
blossoming of the first green shoots of the Lesser Peace! Has not Baha'u'llah
Himself prophetically declared in the Ridvan Season: "Behold! The Divine
Springtime has Come!"
Now in this crisis we have already lost friends, loved ones, and dear
family members. It is my firm belief that those of us who are physically taken
in these things are called by God into the light to be the protectors,
coworkers, and guardian angels over our loved ones still on earth on this side
of the veil. Nothing can ever separate us from each other, or us from God,
because love is simply the POWER of ATTRACTION; and we are attracted to God,
and know each other with God, through God, and in God. As long as God shall
last, Baha'u'llah declares in His holy writings, we shall last (GL, lxxiii).
Death itself is a lie, for we are surrounded by our loved ones, ancestors, and
holy angels, and advanced beings protecting and looking out for us as helpers
unto God in both this life and the next.
"It is clear and evident that when the veils that conceal the
realities of the manifestations of the Names and Attributes of God, nay of all
created things visible or invisible, have been rent asunder, nothing except the
Sign of God will remain--a sign which He, Himself, hath placed within these
realities. This sign will endure as long as is the wish of the Lord thy God,
the Lord of the heavens and of the earth. If such be the blessings
conferred on all created things, how superior must be the destiny of the true
believer, whose existence and life are to be regarded as the originating
purpose of all creation. Just as the conception of faith hath existed from the
beginning that hath no beginning, and will endure till the end that hath no
end, in like manner will the true believer eternally live and endure. His
spirit will everlastingly circle round the Will of God. He will last as long as
God, Himself, will last. He is revealed through the Revelation of God, and is
hidden at His bidding. It is evident that the loftiest mansions in the Realm of
Immortality have been ordained as the habitation of them that have truly
believed in God and in His signs. Death can never invade that holy seat. Thus
have We entrusted thee with the signs of thy Lord, that thou mayest persevere
in thy love for Him, and be of them that comprehend this truth."
(Baha’u’llah, GL, lxxiii)
This Covid Crisis and the social distancing pattern must be overcome. We
are going to do this by gathering together on a more conscious regular basis
and communicating with one another through both proper channels and through
individual social and fellowship efforts.
Now is the appointed time--our world wide global wake-up call appointed
hour--to come together and meet with one another. By activating the office of
the Secretary General we mean to open up all proper channels so that everyone
can participate!
The guidance from the IBC/UHJ is to participate. Through participating
in the Covenant and current administration we are promised through Baha'i
consultation to have all of our needs met and solutions given and prayers
answered: when we work together and share fully and frankly.
We look forward to speaking with all the friends and networking with one
another in person or via internet in the coming weeks.
Now is the time for everyone to participate!
On behalf of the Council,
I remain yours,your servant,
Neal.Guardian/President
IBC/UHJ
