The Temple Prophecy
"THE TEMPLE
PROPHECY"--MO November 15, 1970 NO.9--GP
2. WE STOPPED AT THE PILGRIM HOUSE, for a brief
discussion with some followers of Bahai on pilgrimage from the United States,
Persia, etc., and were informed that they have no meetings, lectures, or
information centers here in Israel--at the holiest of all shrines--for fear of
the Jews. So we walked on late towards the beautiful golden-domed memorial to
Baha'u'llah, its prophet and founder; and, instructed to leave our shoes
outside and that there must be no talking, we entered quietly into its hushed
interior and sat upon its beautiful Persian tapestried rugs in awed silence as
we viewed the beauty before us! The simplicity of the plain white walls
emphasized the splendor of the symbols before us: First, the large ornate, dark
green urn containing, we knew not what, and beside it a graceful vase, full of
lovely flowers in the foreground. Next behind the sheer gossamer golden
threaded, nearly invisible curtain--a sort of temple veil separating the
"holy place" of the worshippers from the "holy of holies"
with its mysterious representations of the "divine"--stood two golden
candelabras, each bearing 10 candles. Another large urn full of flowers stood
in the center of the sanctuary directly behind the dome, with various other
candlesticks, urns, and vases surrounding, some with flowers and some without.
3. OVER ALL, IN SPLENDIFEROUS, COLORFUL,
SCINTILLATING CUT GLASS GLORY, HUNG A HUGE, GORGEOUS, MULTI-LIGHTED CHANDELIER
suspended from the dome. And on the right and on the left of this scene of
splendid glory were two large, framed inscriptions of the words of "The
Prophet"--the one in Arabic, the other in English. We sat for a long time
crosslegged on the floor contemplating the English version and trying to
comprehend it, as it seemed like a prophecy which would have fit almost any
great man, priest or prophet, describing his ministry as a glorification of
God, and his sufferings in consequence thereof, closing with a prayer which
could have been ambiguously interpreted as either unto God or "The
Prophet" himself. As I sat there considering the inscription and thinking
how easy it is to slip as a prophet, from the glorification of God to the
glorification of self, and from the praise of God to the praise of man, the
dangers and responsibilities of the prophet, both to himself and to others, my
eyes turned again to the various simple symbols standing there as silent
witnesses in the stillness of this enchanting chamber and wondering what these
could mean.
4. SUDDENLY, EACH SEEMED TO COME TO LIFE AS IN
VISION--each candle became a prophet proclaiming the Words of God; each flower
a saint, rendering the fragrance of His Presence; each urn, a vessel fit for
the Master's use; and each light, a flaming proclaimer of truth! Each was
animated and alive before my eyes, and, whatever their original intent may have
been, God gave His own interpretation to His humble prophet by His Spirit, a
meaning fit for the occasion and He began to speak with another tongue as the
Spirit gave utterance--softly, reverently, but with definite conviction and
description, including gestures of the hands to describe what He was revealing.
Another worshipper or two came and went quietly reverently, without
disturbance, and one young woman even sat respectfully on the floor before me,
listening humbly to the Words of the Spirit.
5. WE HAD COME IN LATE, just before closing time, and
we were now, I was sure, far beyond the hour of closure, and on the fringe of
my consciousness there were voices outside the door. I was sure they were
waiting patiently for us to leave, but rather than disturb the moving of the
Spirit, I asked the Lord to close the door and it was immediately closed to
prevent further intrusions. I tell you, when you are strong in the Spirit, God
will do anything for you!--You're one with Him, and when this happens, you can
command Him to do anything. The Spirit was strong there! It had to be, against
all those devils and demons. God was in total command of the situation and
there wasn't anything they could do!
6. WE SAT THERE WHILE THE SPIRIT CONTINUED HIS ORATION,
as the temple of the prophet had become the oracle of God. As the message
reached its conclusion, about the darkness brought by the false prophets--the
lights that go out, the flowers that fade, the streams that run dry--somehow I
knew that the lights were actually going to go out in the shrine, and that we
would be left alone sitting in darkness as an illustration of the message, and
this would be our signal that God was finished with His Revelation--that it was
time to leave. And that's exactly what happened!
7. ALTHOUGH WE HAD STAYED NEARLY AN HOUR BEYOND THE
USUAL CLOSING TIME, I HAD PERFECT PEACE and remarkable assurance that no one
would touch me or disturb me as long as God was speaking--that the Voice of God
was mightier than the whims of man and that no one would be able to stop the
Lord or His prophet while engaged in His revelations. Sure enough, for this
entire hour after closing time, not a soul spoke to us or disturbed us, but
respected the presence of God and the presence of His prophet, till finally we
arose, shaken, with tears streaming down our face, leaning heavily upon our
cane, and the arm of our helper, who stood by faithfully through it all, and
left slowly, still in amazement at what the Lord had shown us and still
speaking in a strange tongue understood by none present but God. In fact, we
were having so much difficulty in coming back down from the spiritual plane
that we were still unable to speak English as we emerged from the shrine, and
one of the men outside wanted to know what language we were speaking--a dear
old Persian gentleman who said with admiration, "Ah, you are very
dedicated!"
8. LEAVING THIS LITTLE HANDFUL OF WORSHIPPERS STILL
AWED BY THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT WHICH THEY HAD JUST WITNESSED, we
strolled off into the seclusion of the heaven-like Persian Gardens surrounding
the temple, while we recalled the following interpretation of what the Lord had
just shown us in this remarkable experience--a beautiful illustration of His
ministry through us all--coupled with a fearsome warning of the dangers and
consequences should we ever lose that vital touch with Him, His Divine Life,
Beauty, Power and Wisdom, which makes all of His prophets what they are
9. GLORY BE TO THE FATHER AND TO THE SON AND TO THE
HOLY GHOST! Amen.
10. AND GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD BOAST, SAVE IN MY
SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST, our Lord, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
11. PROPHECY: THESE ARE ALL VERY SIMPLE CHILDLIKE
ILLUSTRATIONS OF MY MANIFESTATIONS IN MY PROPHETS. First, this urn of oil that
was poured out to minister to the people; and this urn was used to slake their
thirst, and these candles burned to give light, and the lamps above with power
to give light, and the flowers with life which give beauty, and the words with
spirit give wisdom. So all of this is nothing without the Life behind it and
within it. The urn would be useless, but to look upon; and the vase would be
dry and worthless, and could not quench their thirst; and the candles would go
out without oil; the lights above would be darkened without power; and the
flowers fade without life; and the words would die without the Spirit; and all
of this is nothing without My Life and My Spirit, and My Love.--And each is but
an urn; each is but a candle; each is but a light; each is but a flower; and
each is but a word, which has no usefulness, no ministry, no power, no light,
no beauty without Me.
12. FOR I AM HE THAT FILLETH ALL THINGS, to pour out
upon the thirsty ground, to beautify the lowly life, to heal the ragged wounds,
to enlighten the darkened minds, to bring grace and beauty and wisdom. Without
Me ye can do nothing! You would be as candles without tallow, as lamps without
power, as flowers without fluid, as urns without oil and as empty vases full of
nothingness and useless!
13. EACH OF THE PROPHETS BUT SPAKE FOR ME AND OF ME
AND BY ME--by My Power, with My Life, through My Wisdom, in My Light, and of My
Beauty, and were nothing without Me. Some spake truly and some spake falsely
and some quenched the light and there was darkness. (And just then the lights
in the shrine went out.)
14. FOR THEY TOOK MY WORDS AND DID WREST THEM and the
oil was contaminated, and the water was poisoned; and instead of a fragrance,
the flowers did stink with poisonous odor; and the fumes of the candles did
suffocate; and power did consume and destroy and bring darkness rather than
light, ignorance rather than wisdom, stench rather than fragrance, ashes rather
than beauty, and death rather than life! Because they glorified not Me and gave
not God the glory, but glorified themselves and sought the worship of man
rather than the praise of God! So that My power was cut off from them and they
no longer flowed with My oil, nor quenched with My water, their wisdom failed,
their beauty faded, and there was no life in them. The people did sit in
darkness, the clouds were without rain, they sought after springs without
water, their beauty withered into deadness, and their words did die in silence,
and those which did eat of them did also die, and those which looked unto them
were also darkened--how great was that darkness. (The picture was of a prophet
standing before the people, doing his act in God's spotlight--pretty soon he
became more conscious of his own words, his own thoughts, his own feelings--he
became more conscious of himself instead of really being inspired by God. So
God just turned off the light. But the prophet went right on, just as though he
didn't know the light had gone off, and it became almost comical, and the
people laughed and snickered at the foolishness. But after the light went out,
millions were sitting cross-legged on the ground in total darkness, dying of starvation
and thirst, because the prophet of God had lost the power and was continuing in
his own power.)
15. BE NOT THOU, THEREFORE, AS THEY, BUT GLORIFY ME
IN ALL THINGS. Then shall thy candle be exalted, and thy urn full of oil and
thy vase flow freely with the Water of Life, and thy flower shall not wither,
thy power shall not fail, thy wisdom shall not cease forever.
16. THEN THOU SHALT CONTINUE TO BE A LIGHT UNTO MY
PEOPLE
(a) and to quench their thirst for everlasting water
(b) and to heal their wounds
(c) and give beauty for ashes
(d) and wisdom for foolishness
(e) and shall pour forth thy life upon the dry ground
that it may bring forth fruit that thou shalt glorify Me, the Author and the
Finisher of all things, if thou shalt burn only with My Power and flow with My
Life, and speak by My Spirit, and give Me the glory, and not thyself, lest thou
become as one of them, who have died and in whom is no life--the people who
have died for want of the truth.
17. (a) --AT THIS POINT, A PROPHET LEAPED TO HIS
FEET, HOLDING HIGH A TORCH, which flooded the darkened landscape with light,
and everything came back to life again, and you could once more see the sea of
faces, the light of the torch reflecting upon them.
(b) --Multitudes of people were crowding round the
prophet, holding out their cups to be filled.
(c) --Here he was using a sop of some kind and
pouring oil on them and mopping their wounds.
(d) --The prophet was passing out a flower to each
one and they were happily receiving it. As they took them, the beauty of the
flower was reflected upon their faces--beauty for ashes. What is the truth of
God, but like a flower.
(e) --This picture was such a contrast to the silly,
foolish crowd before the false prophet. The people sat happy and lightened but
sober. There was a truth and wisdom upon their upturned faces and they knew
that what the prophet was saying was right. Everybody held his flower in his
hand and his cup was full and overflowing.
18. THE WHOLE THING WAS LIKE A TERRIBLE WARNING: THAT
WE ARE NOT TO EVER TAKE CREDIT FOR ANYTHING, but to always give God the glory,
else we would become like the false prophets. Each of the candles was a prophet
and I could actually see them materializing out of the candle. God even named
some of them while this was going on--Mohammed, Bahai, Confucius, Buddha, and
many other names I didn't even recognize. Even some of these had started with
the truth, but were then led astray.
19. IT WAS AS THOUGH EVERY ONE OF THOSE LIGHTS AND
EACH ONE OF THOSE REPRESENTATIONS WERE SYMBOLIC OF A LIFE OR A PROPHET OR A MAN
OF GOD, or someone God had used or tried to use. It was as though each one was
like the flames and the flowers and the vessels. Each one was a prophet
speaking that God was trying to use or using. But then some of them began to
take the glory unto themselves and they perverted His Words and they lost His
inspiration; so then they continued to speak of themselves without God's power,
lies and false prophecies, because God was no longer with them, because they were
disobedient prophets; and they became false guides to the people who no longer
knew the way, because they themselves could not find it because of
disobedience, because they "loved the praise of man more than the praise
of God."
20. I WAS SITTING THERE THINKING, "WELL, IT'S
BEAUTIFUL, BUT WHAT GOOD IS IT? What does it say?"--as I read the poetic
inscription on the wall. That saying could have applied to almost any prophet,
but at the end it took a strange twist: It concluded with adjectives and titles
which should only be applied to Deity, and was signed, Baha'u'llah; but though
his name was placed as though he were only the author, it could also sound as
though he were applying these names to himself--or whoever the author was--was
applying these descriptions to Baha'u'llah, virtually making it sound as though
he were some kind of god!
21. IN THE BEGINNING SOME HAD BEEN TRUE PROPHETS, but
when they began to take the acclaim to themselves, God turned off the power!
22. MAY GOD FORBID THAT THIS SHOULD EVER HAPPEN TO
ANY OF US. LET'S KEEP THE CONNECTION STRONG WITH HIS WORD AND HIS SPIRIT, HIS
TRUTH AND HIS LOVE, IN HUMILITY AND OBEDIENCE. "Behold, to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the
sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou
hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected
thee..."--1Sam.15:22,23. I pray by His Mercy and His Grace that this may
never be said of any one of us. "Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit
he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may
bring forth more fruit... Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in
Me."--Amen.--Jn.15:2,4.
"EVERY SIGN IS A DIFFERENT AGE, AND THIS IS THE
LAST. THE FLOOD OF THE WATER OF GOD'S TRUTH RISES, IT SHALL COVER THE EARTH AS
THE WATERS COVER THE SEAS. I BEAR THE WATER OF GOD'S WORD. JESUS SENT ME FOR
THIS AGE. I AM AQUARIUS. THIS IS MY AGE. I AM THE WATER BEARER...
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
