It is a fascinating account of how the Baha’i Faith was presented in the North America by its early proselytizers.The notes which we began to consider in part 1 further state,
“The believers are given some mysterious name which openly they always call ‘The Greatest Name.’ It is given very privately and in a very solemn manner. They are supposed to make use of it when in need. I am sorry to say that some people have sent the letter for the sake of the rest of the teaching and for a mysterious something which they hope to get…Many things I cannot explain, for explanations were not given, but we were told that we should know in the future. That future has never come-it may be reserved for the believers. Besides the doctor requested the students to take no notes up to about the tenth lecture, when the use of pencils and paper was allowed…There is little chance for discussion at any lecture, as the doctor has an extremely funny way of telling people who oppose his view in the class that they are ‘excused.’ Of course they have to leave, and in profound silence the surprised offender arises, packs up what belongs to him and makes as graceful an exit as he can under the trying conditions…
At the first lecture the people are requested not to talk over what they are told with outsiders. An air of mystery is over the whole affair and infinitesimal things are most enormously magnified, and the way in which [some] matters are minimized in order to maximize other points in the teaching is truly remarkable; I mean interpretations of the English Bible. In lesson five it is clearly stated that Beha was a Manifestation of God, but in lesson eleven he is God Himself. I was much puzzled and asked Dr. Kheiralla about it. He very humbly attempted to explain and began by saying that Beha was a Manifestation only, but before he ended he certainly spoke of him as being God…Jesus was the greatest one ever on this planet. (A great difference is made between Jesus and Beha; God is said to have manifested through Jesus.)…
some pray and use the wrong Name; they will not receive…We communicate with God through talking with Him. Use of the right Name is the pass-word. When you become ‘believers’ the ‘Greatest Name’ will be given to you to be used in time of need. Prayers are pass-words and we have used prayers of our own making; have used the wrong pass-word; should not compose them. If we do not use the right pass-word God will hear, but He will not answer…
If you use these prayers earnestly you will have dreams or visions which will come to pass. I promise you that you will have revelations if you use them…Many have been sent by God, Noah, Moses, and others; but the teachings were all corrupted. When they become so, God sends another. At last He sent Jesus, His Beloved son. Brahmins and Buddhists do not know what their true religion is. The Mohammedan is the most corrupt of all. A few days (I’m not sure about the exact number of days) after the death of Mohammed his teaching was corrupted…
There are 27 [?28] letters called the ‘Letters of Luddon,’ and every letter signifies a great power which can only be received by special permission from head-quarters (Acre). Luddon means presence of God, or presence of the Almighty…The finite cannot comprehend the infinite; this is what is between God and us. (Read from Isaiah xlii, 10 [Browne’s footnote: “Though I have done my best to verify and correct these references to the Bible, here and in some other cases I have failed to do either, and so leave them as they stand”] and St John i, 18.) God is forever unknowable. He wished to make Himself known, and as the finite cannot comprehend the infinite He made a form, He chose a ‘Face [Wajh…a term which the Bab often applied to himself],’ that through that He might become known to us. He is not the form; it only represents Him…
The ‘face’ is called by different names; as, ‘The Chosen,’ ‘my Son David,’ etc. He came here that we might gain higher limitations. We receive the Letters of Luddon in our new limitations. Jesus had 12 powers, 8 first, then 4 (did not say what they all were). One power is to communicate without material means; another one is sight. The teacher has no power to convey to another these powers given by head-quarters…Eden means the paradise of God. It is not a place. No tree of knowledge and evil can grow in the soil; it is not a real tree (read Revelation xxii, 2 as one proof). Rivers mentioned in Genesis (ii, 10-14) are not real rivers, for you never see rivers branching into four heads. (We were told in a later lecture that the ‘Manifestation’ is the big river and the four branches are the four sons of Beha.)
There are three Adams – the race, our ancestor, and we shall know the other (Beha) when we get to the ‘pith.’ Adam spoke the Kurdish language, which has no alphabet and is a short spoken language only. Silence will prove this. Adam does not mean ‘red earth’; it means the ‘skin’ or ‘surface.’ Eve means life [In Arabic Hawwa, from the same root as hayy, ‘living,’ and hayat, ‘life.’].God gave Adam and Eve ‘coats of skin,’ to wit the body. He made but two coats of skin. The meaning of ‘coats of skin’ is His ‘image.’ Adam and Eve obeyed the law of multiplication and gave tents to other souls. They had two children, Cain and Abel. These are not material children. Cain means the material and Abel means the spiritual, and these are always at war.There are three bibles: the Hebrew, the Egyptian, and the Chaldean. The Hebrew borrowed from the Egyptian, and the Egyptian from the Chaldean. All have [the same] account from Adam to Moses. We were in Eden, the Paradise of God. The serpent, Wisdom, suggested to us that we should go higher and be as gods. We asked God for this great privilege, and we were allowed to come to earth where this great privilege is to be gained. The ‘flaming sword’ is the earth. Our will is free at all times; we can choose…Those who overcome return to Eden. The tree of knowledge and tree of life are God. When we become adopted children we eat of the tree of life. Cain, the material, is cast out. Cain’s ‘mark’ is God’s image, the skin(?) (It is the thickest kind of fog right here.) Those having the ‘mark’ never become the adopted children of God; they bring this upon themselves; it is not a punishment. Cain went to the Land of Nod [Genesis iv, 16] which means wandering. Impossible to live with God unless we have the image. All go to the Land of Nod who do not conquer. (The Prodigal Son was quoted as proof that Jesus taught these ideas.) We learn to know the good from the evil…
Noah’s Ark.-The ark is a symbol of God, and means protection. The Temple of Solomon is the same. The clean animals ‘by sevens’ (Genesis vii, 2) are the believers; ‘by two’ means the believers’ parents, who are protected because of the believers. 70 persons went into the ark; 40 first and then 30. The translation is wrong. ‘Raven’ means calamities, and ‘dove’ peace. (A curious story was related in which a dot caused by a fly changed a character which meant husband to mean mule.)…The class were then permitted to ask questions. These are a few of the statements in answer to questions…The accounts of Creation in Genesis were given by three different persons…God made disease; it exists because of the perfection of the law; it is the result of the law. We must all die. It is possible to communicate with others without physical contact…The class were asked to give their ideas as to the meaning of the biblical references in the 9th lesson, but scarcely any one answered satisfactorily. Some said Jesus was referred to, but this was denied with great energy by Dr. Kheiralla, and Isaiah ix, 6 was given as proof. Jesus was not ‘the Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace’; he was not a ruler. The answer which seemed to give satisfaction was that a manifestation of God was foretold. Revelation i was read as evidence that Jesus bore witness to the Manifestation. Job xix, 25; Ezekiel xliii, 4; Isaiah lxiii, 1, and Jude 14 are proofs of the Manifestation…In 1852-1853 the Incarnation of God (Beha) appeared…Beha declared himself God to the world in 1866…Micah contains an account of Acre, the New Jerusalem. In 1869-1870 Beha sent tablets to the different rulers calling upon them to throw their kingdoms at his feet and worship him…The Millennium is to come in 1917; this is the Resurrection, when one out of every three will become a follower of Beha…
A message, said to be from Jesus Christ and addressed to the students in Chicago where there were about thirty, was read…In 1852-1853 God Almighty appeared. He was born in Persia among the Mohammedans; declared himself God in 1866 and departed in 1892…He married two wives [One named Nawwab, the mother of `Abbas Efendi and his sister Bahiyya; the other entitled Mahd-i-`Ulya, the mother of Muhammad `Ali, Ziya’u’llah, and Bada`u’llah]; they are the ‘anointed ones’ or ‘olive trees.’ People object to the ‘Manifestation’ because of his being married. A real man ought to marry; a monk is the invention of priests. God came as a man, had a father and mother, fulfilled…
In Isaiah xlv (9-)11 we are rebuked for thinking God should do as we think best. The greatest reason why God should marry is that the race is grafted through His having children.”1
