The Family / Children of God

"THE TEMPLE PROPHECY"--MO            November 15, 1970    NO.9--GP

Copyrighted November, 1970 by The Children of God

P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or B.P. 752 75123 Cedex Paris France

            1. AS ELIJAH CLIMBED CARMEL to the altars of Baal and confounded the false prophets by the fire of God, so we climbed Carmel to the Temple of Bahai and there received a revelation by the power of His Spirit.

            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