CHAPTER XI
THAT WHICH WILL CAUSE THE LIMBS OF MANKIND TO QUAKE
"Behold, the Lord will lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants...The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled for the inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, a few men are left." Isaiah 24:1-8
>From the beginning of his role as Guardian, Shoghi Effendi tried in vain to awaken the Baha’is throughout the world to the dangers of the overwhelming materialism that had engulfed the world. Often Abdu’l-Baha described the dangers we face, but it seems that only a few take His warnings seriously. Since then the moral regression of the peoples of the world, the cancer of materialism, and the destruction of the ecology, have steadily worsened. Still only a few understand that we must all change our ways of thinking completely, dedicate our lives to God, and make the tremendous sacrifices required to change the world.
Many are aware of the warnings and prophecies, but unfortunately, few Baha’is pay any attention. Those who do heed the warnings and prophecies of Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi will be at least able to prepare themselves spiritually for the times yet to come in the next decade. As for the others, the vast majority, they will continue as they are, deaf to the warnings, blinded by the so-called ‘attractions’ of this materialistic civilization. The few prophetic warnings presented herein should be sufficient for those who are spiritually awake."...The civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men. Thus warneth you He Who is the All-Knowing. If carried to excess civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had of goodness when kept within the restraint of moderation. Meditate on this, O people, and be not of them that wander distraught in the wilderness of error. The day is approaching when its flame will devour the cities. when the Tongue of Grandeur will Proclaim: ‘The Kingdom is " Baha’u’llah in Gleanings, pp. 342-343
"The ‘fiery tribulations’ to come would not only ‘weld the American nation to its sister nations in both hemispheres’ but would cleanse it of ‘the accumulated dross which ingrained racial prejudice, rampant materialism, widespread ungodliness and moral laxity have combined, in the course of successive generations, to produce, and which have prevented her thus far from assuming the role of world spiritual leadership forecast by Abdu’l-Baha’s unerring pen—a role which she is bound to fulfill through travail and sorrow.’ Shoghi Effendi, cited in Baha’i’ World, 1954-1963,[year book], p.114
"The time for the destruction of the world and its People hath arrived." ‘The promised day is come, the day when tormenting trials will have surged over your heads, and beneath your feet, saying: ‘Taste ye what your hands have wrought.’ ‘Soon shall the blasts of His chastisement beat upon you, and the dust of hell enshroud you." "The day will soon come whereon they will cry out for help and receive no answer.’ ‘O ye peoples of the world! Know verily that an unforeseen calamity is following YOU and that grievous retribution awaiteth YOU. Think not the deeds ye have committed have been blotted from My sight. By My beauty! All your doings hath My pen
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graven with open characters upon the tablets of chrysolite." Ibid., Baha’u’llah cited, p. 123
In her notes printed in this same Baha’i World yearbook for 1954-63, page 113, Ruhiyyih Khanum tells us what Shoghi Effendi said about those who think of themselves as the ‘good people’ in these times still ahead of us. "He said it was wrong to think, as some Baha’is do, that the good would perish with the evil. All men are evil because they have repudiated God in this day and turned from Him. He said we can only believe that in some mysterious way, in spite of the terrible destruction, enough will be left over to build the future."
In his communications to the American believers, Shoghi Effendi was especially insistent that the American Baha’is be aware of the degree of materialism engulfing the nation, so that perhaps, some of them, could distance them x lves from the values and thinking of their peers. How tragic that so few of them have paid any attention to his urgent pleas and repeated warnings.
" The steady and alarming deterioration in standards of morality as exemplified by the appalling increase of crime, by political corruption in ever-widening and ever higher circles, by the loosening of the sacred ties of marriage, by the in ordinate craving for pleasure and diversion, and by the marked and progressive slackening of parental control, is no doubt the most arresting and distressing aspect of the decline that has set in, and can be clearly perceived, in the fortunes of an entire nation.’
"Parallel with this and pervading all departments of life—an evil which the nation, and indeed all those within the capitalist system, though to a lesser degree, share with that state and its satellites Russia regarded as the sworn enemies of that system—is the crass materialism, which lays excessive and ever increasing emphasis on material well-being forgetful of those things of the spirit on which alone a secure and stable foundation can be laid for human society. It is this same cancerous materialism, born originally in Europe, carried to excess in the North American continent, contaminating the Asiatic peoples and nations, spreading its ominous tentacles to the border of Africa, and now invading its very heart, which Baha’u’llah in unequivocal and emphatic language denounced in His Writings, comparing it to a devouring flame and regarding it as the chief factor in precipitating the dire ordeals and world-shaking crisis that must necessarily involve the burning of cities and the spread of terror and consternation in the hearts of men." Shoghi Effendi cited in Baha’i World, 1954- 1963, p. 172#
The downfall of communism in the East is not the result of idealism, but of materialism, because the people there know little or nothing about democracy, ‘market place economics, capitalism , etc.; because of this it cannot but lead to ever increasing chaos, internal strife, and disintegration of the former USSR The so-called ‘free-market’ system and democracy as practiced in the West today, are in themselves extremely corrupt, and not suitable for a world civilization destined to replace existing systems. However, the citizens of the Western nations have not awakened to most of the defects of their systems, except for a few exceptional souls- In a Tablet by Abdu’l-Baha, called "Lamentation" these days are described, and I quote the last part of that Tablet below.
" From different parts are to be heard sighs of anguish, lamentations of poverty, cries of agony and misery—and the calls for succor hare reached the gate of heaven. One hears the weeping of the hopeless, the appeals of the oppressed, the trembling murmurs of the helpless, the harrowing wails of the shipwrecked in the sea of perception. The heat of the conflagration of opposition spreads on all sides, the fire of longing is raging with great intensity and the tongues of the flames of calamity leap forth in every direction. Here one sees the oppression of kings and the
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thoughtlessness of cabinet ministers; there one sees conflict on the battlefields of thoughts and ideals between ambitious generals, statesmen and administrators of the nations and countries. They consult, scheme, plot and exchange views; they organize fallacious and superfluous companies and falsify the established values; and thus do lay and destroy the foundation of their political career." In short: when thou observest these things with the eye of reality, thou w wilt see that the outcome, result and fruit of all these theatrical performances are mirages, and their sweetness is bitter poison. A few days the earth will roll on its axis, and these fleeting visions will be completely forgotten." "When thou shutest thine eyes to this world and lookest upward and heavenward, thou wilt see light upon light stretching from eternity to eternity. The reality of the mysteries will be revealed. Happy is the pure soul who does not attach himself to transient conditions and comforts, but rather seeks to attach himself to the purity, nobility and splendor of the world which endures." Abdu’l-Baha cited in Baha’i Scriptures, p. 344
You will notice, no doubt, that Abdu’l-Baha speaks of a shift in the axis of the earth, which is the subject I will discuss below. The approximate time when these terrible events will begin, or occur, is mentioned earlier and is around the end of this century. Shoghi Effendi said that when the prophecies tell us these events will come suddenly, he said it meant ‘unexpectedly’, because humanity does not believe. No doubt the anarchy and disintegration we witness in the Eastern nations will encompass nations around the world. Perhaps this will be followed by oppressive government action, to quell the riots and control the social upheaval. ALI of this would most certainly be terminated by a catastrophic shift in the axis of the Earth, changing land masses and destroying thousands of cities not already devastated by war. Two-thirds of humanity will perish, as mentioned in the Bible and repeated by Abdu’l-Baha.
"What! Are they sure that the overwhelming chastisement of God shall not cone upon them, or that the Hour will not come suddenly, while they are unaware?" Quran, 12:106-7
"But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighted down with dissipation, drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day comes upon you suddenly like a snare, for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth." Luke, 21:34-35
"After this date great commotion and upheaval will embrace the whole earth. To make a long story short, terrible wars, and disastrous earthquakes will take place and all kinds of miseries will encompass mankind to such an extent that in certain parts of the world historical monuments will be completely destroyed. Briefly, the population of the earth will be diminished to one-third." Abdu’l-Baha in Tablet to a Persian believer.
"From the Holy Scriptures, it is clear that a series of great events will appear in the world, either concurrently or serially between the initial appearance of the Manifestation of God and the final ushering in of the Kingdom of God on earth. These are a cataclysmic upheaval, a worldwide economic collapse and a fiery holocaust or Armageddon. These events will be fulfilled in both senses, that is literal 1Y and figuratively so that no man shall have grounds for excuse." Abdu’l-Baha in Tablet to a Persian believer.
A Baha’i who visited Haifa told me that Shoghi Effendi remarked that the final cataclysm might well destroy the Baha’i monuments and buildings. After the second World War Shoghi Effendi said that in the Last Days there would be riots in the cities of America, perhaps because of racial strife and economic disasters.
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"...the burning of cities, the contamination of the atmosphere of the earth—these stand out as the signs and portents that must either herald or accompany the retributive calamity. Shoghi Effendi in Message to America, April 1947 "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise and the elements be dissolved with fire and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10-13
Of course, the majority of the Baha’is, like the rest of humanity, have ignored and will continue to ignore, the dire warnings of the Founders of their Faith, because of attachment to this materialistic civilization. Some have told me that they are ‘unafraid’, that they will remain in the large cities which Shoghi Effendi said are in extreme danger, which is simply a way of saying that they do not believe. "...Those men who having amassed the vanities and ornaments of the earth, have turned away disdainfully from God—these have lost both this world and the world to come. Ere long, will divest them of Thou too, shall God, with the Hand of Power, strip them of their possessions, and the robe of His bounty. To this they themselves will soon witness, testify." Baha’u’llah in Gleanings, p. 209
"...If ye fail, at the appointed h w r to turn towards God, He, verily, will lay violent hold on you, and will cause grievous afflictions to assail you from every direction. How severe indeed is the chastisement with which your Lord will then chastise you...’ Ibid. p. 214
When Abdu’l-Baha visited the home of my grandmother and my father in Montclair , New Jersey He said that in the future New York would be under water and that Montclair would eventually become a harbor. He said that Greenland would became green, whereas now it is covered with glaciers. While in Canada, a believer related a dream to Abdu’l-Baha in which he said he was looking at the sky and saw the stars suddenly begin to move rapidly across the heavens. He asked Abdu’l-Baha if that is what would happen during the cataclysm, and Abdu’l-Baha said yes, it would be like that. He also told some of the old believers that America would become tropical. A shift in the axis of the earth would cause these changes.
A shift in the axis can change the shapes of continents and destroy coastal and low-lying cities around the world. Furthermore, in Some Answered Questions, Abdu’l-Baha said: ‘Each of the Divine Manifestations has...a cycle, and during the cycle His laws and commandments prevail and are performed. When His cycle is completed by the appearance of a new Manifestation, a new cycle begins. In this way cycles begin, end and are renewed, until a universal cycle is completed in the world, when important events and great occurrences will take place which entirely efface every trace and record of the past; then a new universal cycle begins in the world..." Abdu’l-Baha in Some Answered Questions, pp. 160-161 #
‘Mention hath been made in certain books of a deluge which caused all that existed on earth, historical records as well as other things, to be destroyed. Moreover, many cataclysms have occurred which have effaced the traces of many events...’ Baha’u’llah in Gleanings, p. 174
VARIOUS NOTES ABOUT SHIFTS IN THE AXIS 0~ THE EARTH
In recent years more and more geologists and paleontologists, have come to recognize that great catastrophes have repeatedly occurred in past ages, often leading to the termination of certain stages in evolution and marking new evolutionary surges. Recent discoveries indicate that such catastrophes, altering the Earth’s climate, have occurred far more frequently than previously believed.
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" Discussion of whether human economic activity can affect the climate has generally rested on a comforting assumption: if change did occur, it would occur gradually. There would be time to respond. That assumption has been made untenable by analysis of glacial ice as well as of sediments from the ocean floor. R" The findings reveal that far from being stable, the earth’s climate has always changed quite abruptly—both during times of glaciation and, as the newest studies indicate, during interglacial periods such as the current one....The studies ‘have concluded that 130,000 years ago, when the earth was as warm as it is today, there were very rapid changes from warm to cold climates,’ explains Michael L. Bender of the University of Rhode Island. ‘If that conclusion stands up, it is going to be extremely important because the very stable climate that the earth has had for the past 10,000 years will not necessarily stay that way. Dr. Barber’s theory, discussed below, is that the axis shifts about every 10,000 years, causing vast climate changes, and what we call ice ages in certain areas]...The factors that cause the abrupt changes remain obscure...’The fact that interglacials are not times of stable climate,’ Bond adds [Columbia Universityl) ‘is a warning that we are poised between modes and could bring on a switch." Scientific American, Dec. 199~,p. 34
In the ice of Siberia they have discovered frozen mammoths with grass still in their mouths, evidence that they were frozen instantaneously, and that the area where they were found once had a temperate climate. A sudden shift in the axis of the Earth would account for this, as well as the other evidence that the oceans have, in past ages, swept across large portions of the continents. A shift in the gyroscopic equilibrium of the Earth would cause a sudden shift in the axis to a new equilibrium point, causing violent storms, tremendous earthquakes, immense tidal waves, volcanic activity, changes in ocean levels and high winds.
The illustration (except in Internet copy in the Appendix indicates where the poles wandered in past ages, based on estimates from geological evidence. Solid lines and dotted lines indicate two estimates. From a position near Hawaii in the Pre-Cambrian, the North Pole migrated north-westward to between Japan and Kamchatka by about the end of the Paleozoic, and then via eastern Siberia to its present position. Most geologists today are gradualists’ (uniformitarians) and still cannot accept the idea of sudden changes. Also, R.W. Fairbridge, in Natural History, (Vol LXXX,No.6,June/July) claims that the South Pole was once located in North Africa, according to geological and topological indications. There are also fossil remains in Antarctica which indicate that it had a temperate or tropical climate at one time. In A Revolution in the Earth Sciences (A.Hallam, Clarendon Press, ‘73) p.40:
"Now the recognition of the apparent polar wandering was a surprising result because, as we have seen, conventional geophysical theory had firmly favoured the fixity of pole position. Were the data therefore unreliable, or was the theory in error? Fortunately an English astronomer, T. Gold, quickly came to the rescue in 1955. An analysis of minor rotational perturbations other than precession was only explicable if there were no permanent stiffness in the geoidal shape of the Earth, as had previously been claimed." "That is, when a shift occurs, the equatorial bulge is replaced by water from the oceans until the actual crust, over thousands of years, slowly bulges in the same book, the reason scientists have problems accepting the idea of a shift in the axis is explained."In nearly all matters the human mind has a strong tendency to judge in the light of its own experience, knowledge and prejudices rather than on the evidence presented[and the same is true in religions). Thus new ideas are judged in the light of prevailing beliefs. If the ideas are too revolutionary, that is to say, if they
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depart too far from reigning theories and cannot be fitted into the current body of knowledge they will not be acceptable...they are almost certain to be ignored or meet with opposition which is too strong to overcome...^
Some scientists do keep an open mind, as this quotation from Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard University indicates: "...maybe the poles do move rapidly. The claim should at least be investigated, rather than being dismissed with w t a test.’(Catastrophes and Earth History, p. 16) None of the conventional theories provide a definite explanation for the shift in the axis, and because most scientists are reluctant to consider new and unorthodox hypotheses, clinging to their old idea in the face of all the new discoveries and anomalies that disprove their old theories, they remain baffled by the evidence of past changes.
Many years ago a Dr. Barber, who was neither a geologist nor an astronomer, came up with a hypothesis to explain the shifts in the axis. His idea has been generally rejected because it is not in agreement with current theories about the orbit of the Earth, and because Dr. Barber was not an astronomer. Dr. Barber demonstrated with gyroscopes that it is quite possible that the Earth has not only a large orbit around the Sun, but a smaller orbit around a point in space as well. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that thebary-point ~center of gravity) for the Earth-Moon relationship is nQ~ at the center of the Earth, but near its surface. It completes the smaller orbit about once in each large orbit around the Sun, he said, thus making its large orbit appear to be an ellipse. He contended that every 10,000 years, more or less, the centrifugal forces involved cause the axis to shift 20 to 30 degrees, to seek a new equilibrium point.
Because of the tremendous centrifugal forces involved, he suggested that as the time for the shift approaches we would witness increasing eccentricity in the weather. chances in ocean currents that cannot be explained. and an uP~wina in telluric activity (increasing numbers of large earthquakes, new volcanic activity, etc.) All of these signs are now clearly apparent, and increasing in frequency. I believe that Dr. Barber’s hypothesis, so unpalatable to conventional astronomers, may well be the correct answer.
REGARDLESS 0~ HOW THE SHIFT IN THE AXIS COMES ABOUT, it will be sudden and violent, and all humanity will suffer greatly. The violent winds, rains, and changes in the ocean and air currents will effectively disperse any fallout from atomic warfare. It will lead to changes in the shapes of continents, with new land appearing in the seas, or old lands disappearing under the water, and it will ultimately result in climate changes throughout the world. Abdu’l-Baha said that in general there would be more temperate climates throughout the world. The shape of the United States will be completely altered as the seas cover the lowlands up to about 500 or 600 feet.
*~ *~ *~*~ *~***~**~**~*~*~*~**~**~**~***~*~**
The final cataclysm will end any conflicts remaining in the world, and bring to a close the period of chastisement and purification promised by God in all the Holy Books. It will wash away most of the lingering traces of the poisons of world conflict and of a degenerate civilization, preparing the world for a new age. Obviously, after so many terrible events, life will not be easy for anyone for many, many years. God’s purpose is none other than to usher in, in ways He alone can bring about, and the full significance of which He alone can fathom, the Great, the Golden Age of along-divided, a long-afflicted humanity. Its present state, indeed even its immediate future, is dark, distressingly dark. Its distant future, however, is radiant, gloriously radiant—so radiant that no eye can visualize it...~ The convulsions of this transitional and most turbulent period in the annals of humanity are the essential Prerequisite and herald the inevitable approach of that Age of Ages, ‘the
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time of the end,’ in which the folly and tumult of strife that has, since the dawn of history, blackened the annals of mankind, will have been finally transmuted into the wisdom and tranquillity of an undisturbed, a universal and lasting peace. in which the discord and separation of the children of men will have given way to the world-wide reconciliation, and the complete unification of the divers elements that constitute human society...It is this stage which humanity, willingly or unwillingly, is resistlessly approaching. It is for this stage that this vast, this fiery ordeal which humanity is experiencing, is mysteriously paving the way." Shoghi Effendi in Baha’i World, ~954-1963, p. 110
Following the years of suffering and purification, the Manifestation of God will begin His Mission. His role in the Revelation of the Greatest Name will most likely be the revelation of laws suitable to the new age, establishment of the organization of a world government, and revealing teachings outlining the formation of a world executive and supreme tribunal mentioned by Abdu’l-Baha in His Will and Testament. Those Words of God which Baha’u’llah revealed and then destroyed, because humanity was not yet ready for them, will be revealed with new Teachings. This Manifestation of the Beloved God will complete the three part Revelation of the Greatest Name.
He will reestablish the successorship of the Appointed Interpreter and the Light of God will never be dimmed. He will address the rulers of the nations, and they will heed His advice. He will establish the Lesser Peace; then, gradually, the peoples of the world will become spiritualized, and the one Faith of God will cover the Earth. In the ensuing century the Most Great Peace will be attained. Thus will the promise of God to all the people of the Earth be fulfilled; it will be most glorious.
Written by John Carre’, final rev. 1996