Hands of the Bahá'í Faith

"The kingdoms of earth and heaven are Thine"

"The kingdoms of earth and heaven are Thine, O Lord of the worlds!" --Bahá’u’lláh

By what manner will Almighty God control His kingdom on earth? Can a woman or a man be a true Bahá'í without acknowledging the method by which He exercises control over His kingdom on earth?

There are two main features of His method of control and influence towards His Kingdom on earth. The first feature of that method is the Holy written Words/Instructions of His Holy Messenger, the Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, the main mission of which Faith is the establishment of His kingdom on earth.

The second feature of His method of control of His Kingdom on earth is the exclusive power and authority to interpret His Holy writtten Words, which authority follows the mantle of the continuing Guardianship of the Bahá'í Faith, which passes from each living
Guardian to his successor by means of the hereditary principle of the Bahá'í Faith.

It is utter vanity for any woman or man who claims to be Bahá'í to recite the Long Obligatory Prayer, claiming to acknowledge that: "The kingdoms of earth and heaven are Thine, O Lord of the worlds!", while at the very same time denying/rejecting the only method by which He controls His Kingdom on earth, namely through/by means of the living interpreters of His words.

The website of the living Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith:
http://www.Bahai-Guardian.com

By Hand of the Cause Ross Campbell

What Is There About Kingdom That You Don't Understand?

The Lord’s Prayer has been recited so many times by so many people over the ages that its salient feature has become indelibly ingrained within the inner beings of Christians and others. They expect that Christ will appear in the sky in His descent to earth prior to his 
becoming the King of this earth. He is expected to rule His human followers singly and alone within His glory. I opine that the actual reality of the kingdom has escaped them. Be that as it may, there is a lesson here that has escaped the followers of Haifa's bogus Universal House of Justice. 

Quite simply, the structure of the Kingdom of God will be within the confines of what we understand as a kingdom. 

Do any humans ever really consider what the Kingdom of God on earth will resemble? They most likely consider that the Kingdom of God will be glorious and that there will be peace and harmony and good stuff for all. Now wouldn’t it be grand if it were that easy? All that outpouring of goodness for all to reap the benefits of while not a whit of effort will be required from any of them. Under that simplified premise, we would all be robots with no responsibility for anything. Has anything related to God’s goodness ever been given without the requirement of a lot of human thought and exertion? 

The Kingdom of God will not be a democracy. It will, rather, resemble a kingdom, if we are to believe what was instructed and is recited by the Christians. Why does humanity recite countless times daily the word kingdom and not likewise prepare their hearts and minds for the acceptance of a (just) form of kingdom? Likewise, why have not the 
Baha'is conditioned themselves to the reality of a kingdom on earth, with a singular voice of authority for the leadership of that kingdom? 

A kingdom is always directed by a single person, not by a collective. A kingdom has to have a king, a single person. It is not a convenient collection of men who pretend to be, and act as if they were, that person. A king is but one person at a time, who obtains his office through some sort of hereditary inheritance or appointment. A cursory review of but the most basic of the Baha'i Holy Writ, and by Holy Writ I mean writings penned by the Three Central figures, should determine that the Baha'i Faith will not be akin to any other form of government ever established on earth, including a democracy. Shoghi Effendi clearly explained that. 

The Lord's Prayer determines that the future governmental establishment on earth will be God's Kingdom, a Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And the Baha'i Faith does not counter that in any manner. Rather its very essence is of a just God determining and 
guiding the progress of His creatures. God is not a collective. God is a single entity. His Kingdom must likewise be focused on one individual of authority on this end as well. Even if there was the slightest question about that, ‘Abdu’l-Baha clearly defined a leadership structure in His Will and Testament that mirrored the single person sort of structure that the Lord’s Prayer should have prepared us for. 

Have humans missed the most important “heads up” in the history of the world? 

When Shoghi Effendi appointed Mason Remey as the President of the embryonic International Baha'i Council, he chose an avenue that would specifically ensure that the Institution of the Guardianship would endure with a succession of singular persons at the helm. While Shoghi Effendi’s appointment did not specifically mention the word Guardian, it did provide for a singular leadership role that would comply with the terms of the Will and Testament and would evolve into a Universal House of Justice organization and satisfy the provision that an appointed guardian would always be available as its head. An appointed guardian that would allow an unbroken chain of living Guardians as the center and focal point of the activities of the ongoing Universal House of Justice. 

Could it be that mankind is so full of itself that it would not even consider a higher power determining its direction? Even though they pray for a Kingdom on Earth, they act as if they want to specify the terms of that Kingdom. Humanity as a whole may be excused from that error in assumption, but anyone who calls himself a Baha’i should know better. 

A Kingdom is lead by an individual person. In the case of the promised Kingdom, that person will direct humans through the offices of the Institution of the Guardianship such that they will comply with the mirrored Will of God. 

Hand of the Cause David Maxwell