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Who is the Way today?
In the Bahá'í faith you will find the pure teachings of the new prophet, Bahá'u'lláh, to Whom followers of all religions are turning for spiritual guidance. You will also discover in His Teachings laws and ordinances of world order and the establishment of a higher world civilization. (from Baha’i tract in Hawaii from Wilmette Ill.) They state, “The revelation of Bahá'u'lláh should be viewed as the marking of the last and highest stage in the stupendous evolution of man’s collective life on the planet. (It marks) the emergence of a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a world civilization and culture” (Shoghi Effendi The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh p.163). “The revelation of Jesus was for His own dispensation -that of 'the Son.' Now it is no longer the point of guidance to the world. We are in total darkness if we are refusing the revelation of the present dispensation. Bahá'í's must be severed from all and everything that is past things both good and bad - everything. Now all is changed. All the teachings of the past are past.” Abdu'l-Baha is now supplying all the world ”(C.M. REMEY “Star of the West Dec.31 1913,Wisdom of Abdu'l Baha p.43). Their claim is that Jesus was the way then but is no longer, He’s been replaced by a new manifestation, He has become obsolete. If Jesus is not THE WAY today, then He is unable to take our sin's away. No one can have their sins forgiven! This means we are still in our sins, our faith is useless, we are false witnesses, He then died in vain (1 Cor.15). If He is not the way today then He was not when He came either ! The Bible presents a different story that He died for our sins past, present, and future. Which means He must still be the way today. Since all the other teacher's of the other religion's are dead and Christ is the only one still alive, it only makes sense to follow Him, just like He asked. Why follow someone who is dead and can't prove a thing! Bahá'u'lláh is not a path to God because he states one cannot know God personally or directly. Abdul Baha says, “All the perfections, the bounties, the splendors which come from God are visible and evident in the Reality of the Holy Manifestations, like the sun which is resplendent in a clear polished mirror with all its perfections and bounties. If it be said that the mirrors are the manifestations of the sun and the dawning-places of the rising star, this does not mean that the sun has descended from the height of its sanctity and become incorporated in the mirror, nor that the Unlimited Reality is limited to this place of appearance. God forbid! This is the belief of the adherents of anthropomorphism. No; all the praises, the descriptions and exaltations refer to the Holy Manifestations -- that is to say, all the descriptions, the qualities, the names and the attributes which we mention return to the Divine Manifestations; but as no one has attained to the reality of the Essence of Divinity, so no one is able to describe, explain, praise or glorify it. Therefore, all that the human reality knows, discovers and understands of the names, the attributes and the perfections of God refer to these Holy Manifestations. There is no access to anything else: "the way is closed, and seeking is forbidden." (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 147) Jesus did not say He was a manifestation (one of many) but the exact image of the invisible God (Hebrews 11-3; Jn.1:14). Col.2:9 “For in him dwells (lives) the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (bodily form). It means that the very nature of God, what makes God who He is was at rest in Jesus Christ. That is why He could say “I am the way.” no one has attained to the reality of the Essence of
Divinity, so no one is able to describe, explain, praise or glorify it. Abdul Baha goes on to say “this does not mean that the sun has descended from the height of its sanctity and become incorporated in the mirror, nor that the Unlimited Reality is limited to this place of appearance. God forbid! This is a direct denial of the teaching in the Bible- that God BECAME a man. Rom 9:5 “according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” However the Bahai Faith says, “Jesus was not the only-begotten Son of God come down from Heaven, crucified and resurrected, nor the unique Saviour. (Firuz Kazemzedun World Order summer 1978 p.39 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai’s of the United states). The Bible says He is- so they are challenging and disbelieving God's words. John also writes the word became flesh. Speaking of John the baptizer “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” (John 1:8-10) Abdul Baha emphatically states, No access to anything else- the way is closed and seeking is forbidden.” In other words you can learn of God by a manifestation but NOT directly. However, Jesus says the way is open and He invites all to come to Him just as He did when He was physically here on earth. The Gospel is called the eternal gospel because it is centered on the eternal God and His work. Which means it's not just for their culture and time but continues for all time to all people. In John 14 Jesus makes an exclusive statement that no other has. He says, “I Am the way.” In John 8:24 Jesus states “... unless you believe I Am you will die in your sins.” Using the divine name of God that God Himself gave to Moses in Ex.3, Jesus applies it to Himself. Addressing their unbelief he gives an absolute statement, if one does not believe He (Jesus) is the eternal God they will not be cleansed from their sins. Jesus is not just saying he’s in the line of prophets like Islam and Bahá'í believe, he is saying he is the one true God. To reject Jesus is to reject God. One must choose between Bahá'u'lláh a self proclaimed manifestation and prophet (not in line with the other Jewish prophets) and Jesus the eternal God who has God the Father's approval. You cannot serve two masters. You must choose. The Bahá'í's do not believe in sin. Bahá'u'lláh stated, “ Every age has its own problems, and every soul its own particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require.” “We can well perceive how the whole human race is encompassed with great, with incalculable afflictions. We see it languishing on its bed of sickness, sore-tried and disillusioned... they cannot discover the cause of the disease, nor have they have any knowledge of the remedy” (Baha'u'lla, Gleanings, p. 213) If Bahá'ís believed in sin the way Jesus taught they would acknowledge that Jesus died for their sin, and believe the gospel as the ONLY way to be saved from the consequence of their sin. They would have a relationship with Christ because the wall of sin that separated them was now taken away because of ONE THING; the sacrificial death of Jesus. This must be accepted if one is to accept Jesus as a true prophet and listen to what he has said. Jer. 17:9 “the heart is deceitfully wicked,”( incurably sick). God the creator is the only one capable of fixing what is broken in man. We need a touch from a divine agency the great physician Himself. There is only one universal remedy to restore our alienation from God and cleanse us from guilt. God has given mankind the blood of Christ as the cure to remove the innate problem of sin. The Bahá'ís have no solution for the fallen state of man. “Evil is imperfection. Sin is the state of man in the world of the baser nature, for in nature exist defects such as injustice, tyranny, hatred, hostility, and strife: these are characteristics of the lower plane of nature. These are the sins of the world, the fruits of the tree from which Adam did eat. Through education we must free ourselves from these imperfections'! (The Wisdom of Abdul Baha p.128,155) One cannot free themselves from sin no matter how educated they are. If this were true the message of Jesus would have been education and He would not have had to go to the cross. Paul said it well, “ The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Why? Because most cannot understand how a crucified man can save us from the penalty of our sin. No other religion claims to solve the sin factor because they don't believe it exists, this includes the Bahá'ís. Their remedy is education to free ourselves from any imperfections. As Walter Martin once said, “ I don't believe this is the answer, some of the most depraved people in the world are well educated with PH D.s. If one educates a thief, you only increase his capacity to steal, education is not the solution.” This is exactly what a government study revealed the more educated a thief is the better he becomes at it. Jefferies, a sociologist, agrees, education escalates crime. What we need is a moral and spiritual reform. Germany, at the time of the Natzi's was one of the highest educated countries in the world. But they were the most sinful.We don't need a cover-up for our falling short, but an uncovering to see our sin that separates one from God. Only then will one be willing to go to the great physician, when they see their sickness and how desperate they are in need of his cleansing from sin. What Jesus does is from the inside out, what man does is from the outside which can never affect our fallen nature inside. Religion gives us rules and regulations to live by. Jesus reforms us from the inside. Jesus said “I AM the way, the truth, the life no one come to the father (God) except through me.” What He is saying is perfectly clear in the Greek, it means He was the way, the truth the life and He is still, presently the way, the truth the life and will always be the way the truth the life. This is an eternal absolute statement and it was when He spoke this and will continue to be throughout eternity. Baha’u’llah had no miracles like Jesus. Jesus sits at the right hand of God, not Baha’u’llah Jesus’ name is above all others even Baha’u’llah. Eph. 1:19-21: “And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” Christ is exalted above all then and throughout the future, this isn't my opinion but God's, for it was the Father who did this. Every knee will bow to him one day and say HE is LORD. To be a Christian means you do this willingly today.Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Baha’u’llah is not a son according to Christ because he did not believe in the gospel. But he also claimed himself to be Christ. 1 John.5:20: “ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.Little children keep yourselves from idols.” The true God and eternal life. By believing in Him, we believe in the true God, and are in possession of eternal life. John warns against any others who come along no matter what display of religion they may have. Jesus Christ is the one and only express image of God's person approved for all time, the only true manifestation of God there ever was. Any other representatives claiming to be of God are forbidden to be followed and are no more than idols being mere men.
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