sibc to amy krueger august 15, 1991

To Amy Krueger and Sara Toole:

The second International Bahai Council as well as the Lamb himself have received and read your letter dated June 23, 1991, and find it to be a reprehensible and shameful attack on the Cause of God. It was manifestly obvious from reading your letter, signed with your signatures, that instead of being concerned with the truth, ulterior motives were working behind the scenes of a vicious and vindictive nature which have caused you to lash out against the Cause in an attack that any unbiased reader can easily see is directed specifically toward the establisher of the Baha'i Faith, Dr. Leland Jensen, and his beloved wife Wind Jensen, the designated liaison officer to the Council. Your written and signed statement cannot be seen (in light of its blatant attack) as anything less than a declaration of war against the Faith and an open denunciation of the Cause of God. Since you have willfully chosen to bring this upon yourselves, your names have been removed from the roster; and unless you recant and repent immediately in writing it will be a permanent removal. According to the right action established by 'Abdu'l-Baha in his Will, and the precedents set by Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi during their lifetimes concerning malefactors and ill-wishers of the community, the friends are instructed not to have any association or correspondence with you at all.

O ye beloved of the Lord! The greatest of all things is the protection of the True Faith of God, the preservation of His Law, the safeguarding of His Cause and service unto His Word.[1]

One of the greatest and most fundamental principles of the Cause of God is to shun and avoid entirely the Covenant-breakers, for they will utterly destroy the Cause of God, exterminate His Law and render of no account all efforts exerted in the past.[2]

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1 W&T, p. 4.

2 W&T, p. 20.

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Your written statement, that you have recanted and repented, must be signed in front of a notary public and then sent registered mail to the address of the second International Baha'i Council listed above.

Upon the friends receipt of this letter from the second International Baha'i Council, they are instructed to have absolutely no contact with the two of you whatsoever and any mail that they receive from you should be returned to you unread and unopened. For those that ignore this warning and continue any kind of a relationship with you their spiritual status could be considered in jeopardy.

In short, the point is this: 'Abdu'l-Baha is extremely kind, but when the disease is leprosy, what am I to do? Just as in bodily diseases we must prevent intermingling and infection and put into effect sanitary laws--because the infectious physical diseases uproot the foundation of humanity; likewise one must protect and safeguard the blessed souls from the breaths and fatal spiritual diseases; otherwise violation, like the plague, will become a contagion and all will perish. In the early days after the Ascension of the Blessed Beauty, the center of violation was alone; little by little the infection spread; and this was due to companionship and association.[3]

The second International Baha'i Council (IBC) being the infant Universal House of Justice (UHJ) now born in the world, recognized as genuine with the grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha as its president and empowered with the authority and guidance of the Lamb through his liaison officer, according to the explicit prototype set forth by Shoghi Effendi, has the right, power and duty to ward off all differences from the Faith, guard the Cause of God from dissenters and solve all difficult problems such as you two have become.

When Baha'u'llah revealed the Universal House of Justice, and 'Abdu'l-Baha delineated its functions, they empowered it with the right to ward off all differences in the same manner that 'Abdu'l-Baha empowered Shoghi Effendi to function as the appointed Center of the Cause. 'Abdu'l-Baha explains:

Our hope is that no trace of opposition may remain; but some of the friends in America are restless in their fresh ambitions and strive and seek under the ground and in the air to discover anything that breedeth dissension.

Praise be to God, all such doors are closed in the Cause of Baha'u'llah for a special authoritative Center [Shoghi Effendi Center of the Cause] hath been appointed--a Center that solveth all difficulties and wardeth off all differences. The Universal House of Justice, likewise, wardeth off all differences and whatever it prescribeth must be acceptedand he who transgresseth is rejected. But this Universal House of Justice which is the Legislature hath not yet been instituted.[4]

In the above quote 'Abdu'l-Baha has appointed a successor to ward off all differences, Shoghi Effendi, to be followed by an IBC/UHJ, which was not yet instituted until Shoghi Effendi established it in his worldwide cablegram of January 9, 1951.

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3 'Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 438.

4 'Abdu'l-Baha, Selections From the Writings of 'Abdul-Baha, p. 215.

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Though the IBC/UHJ was not yet set up in 'Abdu'l-Baha's lifetime he said that if it were established and operational he himself would be subjected unto it for its origin is from Baha'u'llah himself. The Universal House of Justice was not yet instituted in the time of 'Abdu'l-Baha for the time was not ripe, but now it has been born into the world and exists as the infant second International Baha'i Council with the grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha as its president. It is the function of the IBC/UHJ as both the Legislative and Judicial branch of government to make all decisions and solve all problems. It is the function of the president (the Aghsan guardian) as the executive to enforce these decisions once made. Per the provisions of Shoghi Effendi, the vice president (which Shoghi provided for) Anita Coryell Bailiff chairs the meetings in lieu of the president's absence and functions in the executive capacity. When the president comes forth he will take his rightful place--however the Lamb will guide them through his liaison officer as Shoghi Effendi also provided, until the end of the century. Thus when the guardian comes forth to be the active president he will honor us with his presence and the Lamb will guide us to the living waters through his liaison officer.

Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night within his temple; and he who sits upon the throne [Aghsan guardian] will shelter them with his presence.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.[5]

The Aghsan guardian who shelters us with his presence will be the president and is subjected to the House of Justice. He will only honor us with his presence at this time because God has so set it up that all rule power and authority has been given to the Son (Jesus the Lamb) until the end of the century after the Kingdom is fully established (see I Corinthians 15).

Amazingly enough you conclude your letter with this statement:

The apostles of the Lamb share the station of Christ's apostles: they are an aspect of His return. To none of Jesus' apostles was given the right to interpret His revelation: theLamb alone was given these sanctions.

Yet, knowingly, you still go against the interpretation of Leland (the Lamb) that he alone has been vouchsafed to give as his sacred and divine right, sanctioned by Almighty God everlasting and evidenced by the innumerable proofs he bears for his mission to do this according to the prophecies he fulfills. In this light 'Abdu'l-Baha continues his above explanation:

Thus it is seen that [because of the appointed Center of the Cause (Shoghi Effendi) and then the IBC/UHJ to succeed him] no means for dissension hath been left, but carnal desires are the cause of difference as it is the case with the violators.These do not doubt the validity of the Covenant but selfish

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5 Revelation 7:15-17.

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motives have dragged them into this condition. It is not that they do not know what they do--they are perfectly aware and still they exhibit opposition.[6]

In the very first place, this letter shouldn't even have to be written, for as you have mentioned in the above passage, the Lamb alone (Leland Jensen) has been given authority by God to establish the Kingdom by his right of the fulfillment of prophecy and based on this criteria we have all recognized his station and authority. In this case because your erroneous theories are in opposition to the Lamb (Leland), this alone makes everything you wrote irrelevant. Also your opposition to the Lamb brings forth a most important point--that this dissension of yours is not a two-sided argument where people pick and choose which side to be on. Rather, there is only one side--the side of God which is distinguished and recognized by His chosen one that fulfills prophecy, Leland, and not you.

As any right minded person who possesses a pure heart and has justice before his sight will tell you, Jesus is righteous, ever faithful, and is on the side of God all the time. No intelligent person can deny this. Even when Jesus went into the Temple with a whip and chased out the money changers, there were not two sides, but only one side: the side of God represented by Jesus as His chosen authority, recognized and distinguished above all others, without peer, through the fulfillment of the golden criteria of prophecy. Therefore all people of the world and all the friends who are true should easily comprehend that your letter is nothing other than a vicious attack on the Promised One himself, and a clear denunciation of his teachings. What defense of the Covenant opens by denouncing the Promised One, rejecting his teachings, and usurping his authority to give the truth of God's message and Covenant to all the world? No--yours is a shameful attempt to usurp the leadership of the Faith, divide the faithful, cause dissension and attract attention to yourselves. Your vicious "tract" absolutely in no way, shape, or form can be construed to be a defence of the Covenant or of the truth. The Faithful follow the Lamb wherever he goes--and Baha'u'llah urges us to reject not the things we cannot comprehend--for our lack. of understanding is not the criteria to determine whether they are true or false. The criteria we have been given by God is that the Promised One fulfills prophecy and therefore his word upholds the word of God and he establishes these words in the world. All else is for the fire.

In the case of the Covenant, which you reject, it is written that no one on heaven or on earth or under the earth could look into it, understand or know its meaning other than the Lamb (see Revelation chapter 5 and the Open Epistle to Charles Gaines). When it says that only the Lamb can look into this scroll of the Covenant written within and the Will and Testament written on the back, this obviously means that no one could understand it and give forth the true meaning of it. No one. To this sure reality all the right-minded loved ones of God must abundantly testify. Any opinion other than this one is of those who seek division and loveth discord. All revolts, by spreading broadcast vicious and erroneous information to mislead the flock, are like a cancer that is to be cut out and thrown into the gut bucket. It is to be removed and disposed of permanently, once and for all.

To the sure reality of these things, the firmly faithful Baha'is Under the Provisions of the Covenant, in the service of the Lamb, do not deny. We have been given a criteria, a golden one, the fulfillment of prophecy by name, date, address, and mission, like a divine calling card. In this way the true one from God is recognized and everything he says or does is of God. For he that is so designated by the golden criteria is the representative of

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6 'Abdu'l-Baha, Selections From the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, p. 215-216.

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God on earth endowed and entrusted with a sacred mission which none of the knowing deny nor misunderstand.

When you came into the Faith, you came in on proofs. You base your belief in Jesus Christ on these proofs. Your Faith in Baha'u'llah is based on these proofs--and likewise you acknowledge the truth of Leland as the return of Jesus also based on these same proofs, prophesied by name, date, address, and mission. Thus the two of you have seen the light as have so many others--yet unlike the others seeing the light and knowing it well, you have come to hate it. Heed this warning: according to 'Abdu'l-Baha inSome Answered Questions this is the definition of the unforgivable sin of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit--those who know the light, teach it, and then for reasons of their own come to hate the light, reject it, and attempt to turn others away.

At the first coming of Jesus it is understandable to see how the people mixed up his mission of being the Suffering Messiah instead of the Reigning Messiah. No one is condemned for being ignorant of the truth or for being confused. People are entitled to their own opinions and may need more time than others to gain full understanding. However, using one's own opinions to attack the Cause and the Lamb and his wife is not acceptable at all. There is no excuse for malicious disloyalty. After the mailing of this letter, which bears the seal of the second International Baha'i Council, and the publication of the Epistle to Charles, which bears the seal of the Lamb himself, there is absolutely no cause for rebellion at all since the truth would then be totally brought to light. Any rebellion at that time would be a clear rebellion against God according to the explicit text itself (see Will and Testament page 11). The only reason for rejection after the mailing of the above letters, would be the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit which is those who see the light, know it, yet hate it and reject it like bats fleeing into the darkness of self and desire. This letter to the two of you is the Mercy of God giving you the opportunity to recant and repent before you commit an egregious error so damaging to your own selves, and so blinding to your own souls as to place an eternal barrier of darkness between you, the truth and God.

In seven Epistles to Pepe, over the last several years, Leland clearly demonstrated that the authority of the Lamb, Jesus, the High Priest, is greater than the authority of the king, the Aghsan guardian. Evidence to this truth is Danny S.'s discovery in the sacred writings that the king comes before the High Priest and that the High Priest never comes before the king. Danny wrote on this and knows it well. Most glaring is the tremendous difference between the mandates of authority that God has vouchsafed the Aghsan guardians in contrast to the divine mandate of the Lamb. The mandate of the Aghsan guardian comes from 1) being a son and 2) who is appointed, as set forth in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha. The mandate of Jesus the High Priest, however, which is far superior, is that he fulfills prophecy like the almighty Manifestations of God themselves! In the direct and clear language of the seven epistles, Pepe and all the friends learned this fact. Likewise, the Epistle to Brent gives the brilliant proof of why only Leland is the Lamb in Revelation, Chapter five, and how he alone takes the scroll of the Book of the Covenant and the Will and Testament out of the hands of Mason, the Aghsan guardian seated upon the throne, and that he alone breaks the seven seals. After the Epistle to Brent was written, Leland then wrote the Seventh Epistle to Pepe, breaking the seventh seal on May 2, 1991. All the friends today are witnesses to these events. Now, and it should come as no surprise for we were all told that he was breaking the seventh seal, the meaning of the Covenant and the Will and Testament has become evident. In this way all questions have been answered over lengthy periods of time, for 20 years, and recently in seven epistles to Pepe and the Epistle to Brent not to mention all the fireside classes; and that is

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why there remains no excuse at all to reject Leland's mission after having once professed belief. The plain and simple denial of the truth for reasons of ones own--purposefully blinding oneself to the truth because of hating the light--adds up to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

There is only one light, the light of God, as there is only one side, the side of God--outside of the light is only darkness and other than the side of God there is only the abyss. At the time of Moses we had a similar occurrence with the sons of Korah. They said: Who are you, Moses, to do what you do and teach what you teach. You are just a man like all of us--two eyes, two ears, nose, mouth, arms and legs. (But Moses was God's Promised One the representative of God on earth.) So Moses said: Let all those who are with me stand with me and let all those who are not with me stand away from me. So the people who knew took shelter with Moses and God and those of wicked heart and mischief merry-making left his shelter and the shelter of God. And the Bible recounts that the earth opened up and swallowed up the sons of Korah and all those who were foolish enough to follow them down into the depths of hell below. Who today is foolish enough to leave the side of God, abandon His shelter and the shelter of His Promised One and go down into hell like in the days of Moses? For those who know, everything you have written is irrelevant for it is based upon an open attack and denial of the return of Jesus himself, whom you once held in company, but now you have left the fold by your own choosing. In the name of God, let all the world know that it is because of your own choosing to leave the Faith, you willfully repudiate the Promised One and knowingly deny the meaning of the Covenant in which you have severed yourselves from God. "Verily, we wronged them not, but they have, wronged themselves!"[7] Therefore the IBC hereby removes you from the rolls and, having already instructed the friends, cuts off all contact with you and your sick cause.

The authority of Leland to break the seven seals and look into the scroll of the Covenant and the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha as he is the Lamb is stated absolutely and clearly in Revelation, Chapter five. You still claim in your letter to believe that Leland fulfills prophecy as the return of Jesus and as the Lamb according to the same golden criteria of name, date, address, and mission that Jesus Christ and Baha'u'llah fulfill. You admit that his name is Leland--the land--named in Zechariah, Chapter three, as such. You admit that he came at the right place, prison; as Jesus foretold in Matthew 25 that he would be in prison and that this prison has seven watch towers making it the stone with seven eyes; and that it is between two mountains of copper, Lincoln and Butte in Deer Lodge, Montana. Likewise you recognize his date for the start of his ministry, given by 'Abdu'l-Baha as 1963 when he was first opposed by Satan (Rex King). Yet when it comes to his mission to establish Baha'u'llah's Kingdom, the Kingdom of God on earth, by breaking the seven seals and giving the true meaning of the Covenant you openly deny and protest his authority to do so as given in Revelation, Chapter five; I Corinthians, Chapter 15; and control and judgment over God's courts in Zechariah, Chapter three. Clearly it is Leland's specific mission as the Lamb to be the only one in heaven or on earth or under the earth that is to bring forth the meaning of the Covenant and the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha. No one, NO ONE, has any right or claim to this other than him. Or as the Bible puts it no one other than him is even able to do this--for it is God who has decreed it so. Any one who persists in their error or opposition against Leland's authority as the Lamb to do this, even if their deviation is only a hair's breadth, (after having been informed completely of this message) is of those who have fallen away and joined the crooked path. This

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7 W&T, p. 9.

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separation can be eternal, as in the case of Brent Mathieu--separation can be permanent, the choice is yours.

Truly, your letter of June 23, 1991, came as no surprise, for 'Abdu'l-Baha prophesied that when Leland (the seventh angel) would sound his trumpet (Epistle to Charles) the meaning of the, Covenant and the Will and Testament would become evident and then there would be a great storm and the earthquake of doubts would take place, and that even those who profess belief would fall into trials and temptations (see Some Answered Questions page 70-71).

Furthermore it is written that: "Iniquity must come, but woe betide them by whom it comes." Thus it should be no surprise that this iniquity of yours has come for it is written that it must come--what was a surprise was that it came from the two of you. To think that a once rising star, such as you Amy, a once motivated teacher (who openly professed belief based on the proofs), should denounce the meaning of the Covenant as given by the Promised One himself is a blemish on you, but a glory for God. The Cause of God advances through iniquity and thereby the true friends become firm, the weak are removed and the fence sitters make their choice for or against and get off the fence. Through this type of iniquity, such as that of Brent Mathieu, the Judas Iscariot of today, the truth becomes known. The iniquity of Brent, causing his eternal separation, resulted in his personal downfall and at the same time became the catalyst of the seven seals being set forth with the seventh seal broken before our very eyes in the seventh epistle to Pepe just this May 2, 1991--thus revealing for the first time to all people the meaning of what was concealed in the scroll written within and on the back and sealed with seven seals. Obviously if the seventh seal is still intact the book cannot be opened and looked into. Therefore it is the Lamb who has done this per his authority which he alone possesses above all people in the world, in which God has sworn that He Himself will put all rule power and authority under his feet. And if God has sworn that he will do it, as God is Almighty, All-powerful and AllWise than it shall be done and no one can stop it, not you nor the guardians who have violated nor the Hands nor all the nations, tribes, and peoples of the world should they arise in unison to assist one another. No one will stop God from establishing His purpose and to seal 144,000 on the forehead (intellect) with the true meaning of this Covenant with an eternal bond. Everything in opposition to the Lamb's Book of Life which is his true interpretation of the Covenant and Will and Testament, which is the true reality of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi, is to be burned up with fire in the one hour of thermo-nuclear war so that no opposition shall be remaining and all the violators will be destroyed and dispersed.

In the same way as the garbage[8] of Brent Mathieu prompted a mighty Epistle to be written, your garbage has prompted this open Epistle directed to the two of you, and to all the world, through which a deeper and clearer understanding of the Covenant and the inner workings of the twin inseparable institutions (that are established today by Leland, the one authorized to do so) will be so infused and cemented in the minds of all created things and all mankind that nothing can ever tear them asunder. Such is the firm foundation of the Kingdom of God as Revealed by Baha'u'llah, delineated by 'Abdu'l-Baha, interpreted by Shoghi Effendi, thrown out by the violators (both the Hands and the two apostate gargoyle guardians) and reestablished by the Lamb, the Distinguished Individual, the Great Teacher, Leland Jensen, Knight of Baha'u'llah, return of Jesus the High Priest, the Son returned to

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8 "Worthless writing or speech: trash." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, p. 473.

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establish His Father's Kingdom. O the pity and shame and degradation on those destitute people whose names are not found in the Lamb's Book of Life that God Almighty has foreordained that nothing unclean shall enter His Kingdom. "Nothing unclean shall enter it."[9]

Yet though iniquity absolutely must come in order that the true Cause of God shall advance forward and the wisdom of every command be tested, nevertheless, woe betide those by whom it comes. Woe betide you--all of you--by whom it has now come.

According to the true text of the scripture (Rev. chap. 5), which every fairminded Baha'i under the Covenant can easily see, the meaning of the Book of the Covenant and of the Will and Testament of 'Abdul-Baha (the scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals) has been sealed until this very time with the breaking of the seventh seal by the Lamb. In the book of Revelation it describes the scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals that no one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth is able to understand, look into, or read. This scroll is the Book of the Covenant written within and the Will and Testament written on the back.

The seven seals with which the Book of the Covenant and the Will and Testament are sealed are described as the seven sets of seven in the Open Epistle to Brent Mathieu--the breaking of the seventh seal being the seventh Epistle to Pepe (making 49). From the breaking of the seventh seal, which occurred on May 2, 1991, until Pepe received the seventh Epistle on May 9, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour; which on the scale that one day equals a year works out to be about seven and a half days. After this time, Revelation, Chapter eight, describes the great activity which is now taking place through the prayers of the saints. In the Baha'i Faith work is elevated to the station of worship, and work in the Cause is the real prayer.

With the breaking of the seventh seal all the work and activity of the Baha'is is now taking place. After the breaking of the seventh seal by the Lamb, and the sounding of his trumpet (his Epistle to Charles Gaines), the meaning of the scroll of the Covenant and the Will and Testament that has been hidden has now become clear. As it is the return of Jesus who is authorized through the fulfillment of prophecy to establish his Father's (Baha'u'llah's) Kingdom, it is evident from the text that only the Lamb, the return of Jesus, is authorized to explain the true meaning of the scroll (Covenant and Will and Testament) as it was meant in the writings of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi.

No one else in heaven or on earth or under the earth is authorized by God to be able to give and establish the true meaning of the Book of the Covenant and of the Will and Testament. No one other than the Lamb is able to break these seven seals and see into the meaning of the Book of the Covenant and the Will and Testament to establish them in the world. Accordingly, in Zechariah, Chapter three, Jesus the High Priest is given the authority by God to have charge of his courts (Houses of Justice) and to bring forth the Branch (the Golden Branch[10] of the UHJ and the guardianship united together). No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth is empowered and authorized to do this--not even the one seated upon the throne (Aghsan Davidic guardian). For the Lamb takes the scroll out of

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9 Revelation 21:27.

10 Zechariah 3:8.

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the hand of the one seated on the throne showing that neither Mason nor Pepe nor any future Aghsan Davidic guardian has or will have the power to break these seven seals, reveal the true meaning of the Covenant and the Will and Testament, and establish the Kingdom of God on earth according to the exact instructions of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdul-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi. This is the World Order of Baha'u'llah. It is the Kingdom of God on earth. And only one person, Dr. Leland Jensen, fulfills the prophecies for the one who is the Lamb, the one and only one who is empowered and authorized by God through the fulfillment of prophecy to open up this book to the eyes of the world and establish God's Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

As was shown in the firesides, which both of you had attended, Dr. Jensen fulfilled the prophecies of name, date, address, and mission for the return of Jesus, and that one of the titles in the book of Revelation for Jesus on his return is that of the seventh angel. 'Abdu'l-Baha in Chapter 11 of both the book of Revelation and Some Answered Questions told us that the seventh angel is a man with spiritual qualities who will establish the Kingdom. When he breaks the seventh seal, a monumental event in the history of the world, it is followed by lightning flashes, peals of thunder, and an earthquake. Likewise 'Abdu'l-Baha explains in Some Answered Questions that the blowing of the seventh angel's trumpet (Epistle to Charles Gaines) is to be succeeded by a great storm, wherein he explains Revelation, Chapter 11, verses 15-19:

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet...Then the Temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, loud noises peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

'Abdu'l-Baha also explains in Some Answered Questions:

'And the temple of God was opened in heaven,' means also that by the diffusion of the divine teachings, the appearance of these heavenly mysteries, and the rising of the Sun of Reality, the door of success and prosperity will be opened in all directions, and the signs of goodness and heavenly benedictions will be made plain.

'And there was seen in His temple the ark of His Testament.' That is to say, the Book of His Testament [Will and Testament] will appear in His Jerusalem, the Epistle of the Covenant [Book of the Covenant] will be established, and themeaning of the Testament and of the Covenant will become evident. The renown of God will overspread the East and West, and the proclamation of the Cause of God will fill the world. The violators of the Covenant will be degraded and dispersed, and the faithful cherished and glorified, for they cling to the Book of the Testament and are firm and steadfast in the Covenant.

'And there were lightnings and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake and great hail,' meaning that after the appearance of the Book of the Testament there will be a great storm, and the lightnings of the anger and the wrath of God will flash, the noise of the thunder of the violation of the Covenant will resound, the earthquake of doubts will take place, the hail of torments will beat upon the violators of the Covenant, and even those who profess belief will fall into trials and temptations.

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Now the great storm has descended! With the breaking of the seventh seal and the meaning of the Book of the Covenant and the Will and Testament revealed for the first time, it is clear that these signs are now transpiring before our very eyes. With the appearance of the meaning of the Covenant we have the great storm that is now taking place. The lightnings of the wrath and anger of God are flashing and the noise of the violation of the Covenant is resounding. With your tract we have the re-sounding of the violation just like at the time of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha when the great storm occurred against Shoghi Effendi's successorship. Those who refused to accept Shoghi Effendi, calling him a young upstart, chose rather to go into hell with the teachers they adored such as Ahmad Sorhab and Dr. Kheiralla. Sorhab even went to Shoghi Effendi and said: You can be the guardian of the East and I will be the guardian of the West. Shoghi Effendi told him: You're not the guardian of anything, you're out of the Faith.

Even more specific in its details is the re-sounding of the Rex King/Satan debacle of 1963. Rex King, who was to become the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, (NSA) started spreading rumors to the incoming delegates attending the national convention during Ridvan of 1963. Rex was showing some letters from Mason, eulogizing him for his good work in the cause, to the delegates interpreting them to mean that he was being groomed to be the next guardian. Delegates wanting to be on the good side of the succeeding guardian began buttering up to him in hopes of being appointed to coveted positions in the framework of the hierocracy of the Administration, or to be appointed Hands,. etc..

He patronized Charles Gaines by lauding him on the newly elected assembly of which Rex was secretary and Charles was vice-president, appointing him to prestigious committees which Rex chaired making Charles second in command, etc. Because the people respected Charles this gave more credibility to Rex to reinforce his leadership and his claim. So as not to support Rex's evil plot, Charles resigned from this NSA and the Faith with Mason's approval.

Charles then began to look for the Great Teacher for whom he had been waiting. God later promised him the Great Teacher would walk through his front door at a specific time and date, which he recorded in a little green book. This was fulfilled by Dr. Leland Jensen some 15 years after the 1963 national convention, although Charles and Leland had lost contact and Charles had moved to a different city and a different address. Thus Charles was surprised to learn that the Great Teacher was Dr. Leland Jensen, giving proof to him of the authenticity that Leland was the one that God had sent to establish the Faith that had gone awry.

Already in 1963, Leland, the Knight of Baha'u'llah, was the great defender of the Faith and the greatest internationally known Baha'i teacher. For this reason Rex's main attack was against him. It was essential for Rex to get rid of the Knight so he could accomplish his mission to become the succeeding guardian; for he used his position on that NSA to attempt to make himself the succeeding guardian. The final outcome of this debacle was that the guardian Mason Remey denounced Rex King as the Satan of the "Dispensation of Christ." In like manner, in this day, the dark and clandestine forces of Satan have rebelled again like Lucifer, the great star fallen from heaven, in a new claimant to be the next guardian with a letter from Pepe saying that he is his "boy" which the claimant interprets to mean that he himself is being chosen to be the succeeding guardian thus making him the great Satan of the day of Jesus the High Priest. You two have eagerly become entrenched in this sewer of sedition as did the members of that National Spiritual Assembly that were

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'kissing butt' for their own personal gain. The violation has re-sounded as it did in 1963, blow for blow, and the storm has reoccurred like it did at the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha.

Now that the meaning of the Covenant and Testament is revealed to those standing before the Lamb, the earthquake of doubts has taken place--causing many to advance in certitude and a few to be the losers. At the trumpet call (epistle to Charles Gaines) to sound throughout the world, this same storm and occurrence will happen worldwide. As the High Priest Jesus reveals the meaning of the scroll to the other priests (educators) with the breaking of the seventh seal, next, with the trumpet blast (epistle to Charles Gaines) everyone will see and hear of the meaning of the book of the Covenant and the Will and Testament which only the Lamb can disclose as he takes this scroll out of the hand of the Aghsan guardians seated upon the throne of David when they were unable to break the seals or to explain the true meaning of the Covenant and Testament.

According to I Corinthians, Chapter 15, the Son returns to establish His Father's (Baha'u'llah's) Kingdom. By taking the scroll out the hand of him seated on the throne (Mason, and after him his son Pepe), the authority is transferred from these erring guardians to that of the Lamb, giving him the authority of the scroll to reestablish what they and the "Hands" threw out of the Baha'i Faith: namely the Hands had thrown out the first IBC including the guardianship, and the guardian Mason Remey threw out the IBC/UHJ. Thus God has given the Lamb all power and rule and authority:

Then comes the end, when he delivers the Kingdom to God the Father [Baha'u'llah] after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy is death [spiritual death]. "For God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "All things are put in subjection under him," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him that God may be everything to everyone.[11]

God then gives all rule, power and authority to the Son, who reigns as destined by God until all the world comes in to the true understanding of the Kingdom through the true meaning of the book of the Covenant and the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha. This will be fully accomplished by the year 2000 prophesied of by 'Abdu'l-Baha in Baha'u'llah and the New Era, that the whole world will be Baha'i by the end of this century. In the interim the Son reigns with all "rule, power and authority" through the liaison officer to the IBC/UHJ, giving them guidance.

The Plan of God to unite all the people of the world under the banner of His Kingdom is given detail per detail in the explicit instructions found in the writings of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi. Shoghi Effendi specifically provided for the four stage efflorescence of the 1) IBC into the 2) Supreme Tribunal, becoming 3) an elected body and then 4) blossoming into the Universal House of Justice. According to the unerring guidance of Shoghi Effendi's prototype IBC and its four stage evolution into the fully elect UHJ, the Kingdom will be rightly established on this unassailable and unimpeachable foundation firmly anchored and secured by the Lamb. At that time (when all nations are Baha'i and the full UHJ is set up) the Son will turn the Kingdom over to the Father (Baha'u'llah) and he himself will become subjected to it--the Universal House of Justice (having both the

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11 I Corinthians 15:24-28.

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Aghsan guardian as its head and the body which is to be elected by universal suffrage of all nations from their secondary National Houses of Justice). This foundation shall never be uprooted and this bed-rock shall never be torn asunder. For an entire 500,000 year dispensation the World Order of Baha'u'llah will be unwaveringly supported by the network and strong rock of the foundation of the Lamb's Book of Life.

In your letter of June 23, 1991, you put forth what you incorrectly and deliberately misconstrued to be the teachings of the Lamb that he presented when he was answering a letter that Charles Gaines had written to the IBC. His letter was only in its first draft of just five pages in which he didn't complete his entire thought, that is, carry it on to conclusion. You attacked the concepts that were in it and purposely misrepresented them in your letter, giving a deliberate misconception to the people. You have perpetrated a debacle.

You never called the Baha'i Center once, nor Leland's home phone, although you have both numbers, in order to voice any questions or lack of understanding you may have had. You never once independently investigated by seeking the truth from the Promised One himself or waited for the final draft of the rest of the Epistle. Instead you chose to travel to New York secretly instead of coming to Missoula as you might have done. Nor did you request any help from the Lamb or the second International Baha'i Council to help you in any way. Even if travel or phone would have been beyond your means (which they obviously were not), a reliable representative could have been dispatched to you to help solve your shortcomings in understanding the meaning of the Covenant. But, no. The first thing we hear from you is this vicious and virulent attack against the Cause, writing half-truths, innuendos, and downright lies trying to put the Promised One in a compromising position and for what purpose?

By the time you did call on the phone, you had already mass mailed your mischievous manifesto to all the Baha'is in the entire country; and still persisted in closedmindedness without any regard for the facts or the truth. Yet for the sake of the Cause and for the educational purposes of all the friends everywhere, wherever they may be (teaching the faith, living the life and being firm in the Covenant), this response to your document is taken point by point as you listed them out.

* * * * * * * * * * *

You organize your denial of the truth into a seven point synopsis of the teachings of the Lamb. In a way, this is similar to the violation of Brent Mathieu who based his iniquity on five points; but in your case your missal is organized into seven points of your own arbitrary picking in what you misrepresented and then misconstrued to be the teachings of the Lamb. As Brent's five points were so easily and thoroughly destroyed by the Lamb, leaving him dead on the battle field--foolish Knight Courageous defeated and ripped to shreds by the glorious Knight of Baha'u'llah, Leland, the last Knight of Baha'u'llah left in all the world under the provisions of the Covenant--your flimsy objections also fail miserably.

You introduce your misconstrued concepts of what our points are as follows:

A synopsis of some of the new theories as put forth by Leland and Wind Jensen is as follows:

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1. The Will and Testament is a covenant between 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi.

2. The paragraph on page eleven referring to the "sacred and youthful branch" refers exclusively to Shoghi Effendi.

3. Shoghi Effendi is the only one of the Guardians to ever inherit the right to interpret the writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha.

4. The "branch" that Shoghi Effendi must appoint (referred to on page twelve) is the Universal House of Justice with an Aghsan head.

5. The Universal House of Justice has the right and authority to interpret the holy Writings when answering the "questions" of the world.

6. The I.B.C. as the infant UHJ, also has the right to interpret.

7. The term "Center of the Cause" used on page 25 refers to Shoghi Effendi alone.

This synopsis of yours can be easily refuted as Brent's five points were, and shown to be the work of Satanic minds.

Your first point lacks intelligence. The truth is that in The Will and Testament, 'Abdu'l-Baha makes a Covenant appointing his successor and his successor's successor just like Baha'u'llah did in the Kitab-i-Ahd. Baha'u'llah appointed first, 'Abdu'l-Baha to be his full successor; and next Muhammad-Ali to be 'Abdul-Baha's successor. Had Muhammad-Ali not violated the Covenant and turned against 'Abdu'l-Baha by trying to take over and do away with him, Muhammad-Ali would have succeeded 'Abdu'l-Baha and inherited his full powers of being the Center of the Covenant. If this had occurred we would be in a whole different ballgame, so to speak, and 'Abdu'l-Baha might never have written his Will and Testament, leaving certain things for Muhammad-Ali to accomplish. Howbeit, despite the objections of the violators in that day, Muhammad-Ali separated himself, much as you two are doing today and was therefore removed from the Faith and cut off the tree. With this occurrence 'Abdu'l-Baha then had to write his Will and Testament as an addendum to the Covenant of Baha'u'llah in order to preserve, safeguard, and protect the Faith after his passing, which Baha'u'llah gave him the authority to do. In this way he patterned his Will and Testament after the Covenant of Baha'u'llah by appointing two successors: first Shoghi Effendi and after him the Universal House of Justice to be the successor to Shoghi.

In order to recognize the genuine House of Justice from bogus ones, 'Abdu'l-Baha delineates the UHJ in such a way that only an Aghsan (a descendant of David, giving it continuity) can be the president of it, to distinguish it from false UHJ's, or imitations, with the Aghsan guardian becoming the focal point of unity for the entire world. Without it the guarantee of establishing and maintaining world unity is destroyed.

The main thing the Baha'i World failed to understand is that it would be the UHJ (both body and head) which would succeed Shoghi Effendi. We know that Shoghi Effendi himself knew what he was doing, for he appointed no one individual to any singular position of authority to succeed him in the Faith. Instead Shoghi Effendi set up the first International Baha'i Council as the embryonic UHJ in the world-wide cablegram of January 9, 1951. In this cablegram he names no one person, or any persons for that matter, but distinguishes

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the IBC/UHJ (which includes all its members jointly) as the greatest event to occur in the 500,000 year cycle of Baha'u'llah other than the lives of the three central figures, the Bab, Baha'u'llah, and 'Abdu'l-Baha. In succeeding cablegrams he names Mason Remey as the president and Amelia Collins as the vice-president in the same breath, in the same sentence. Later he named the other members. Thus when Shoghi Effendi died, had the people been paying attention they would have been looking for the UHJ to be Shoghi's successor. Had they done this they would have found the first IBC/UHJ and then realized that indeed it was the genuine successor, for 'Abdu'l-Baha's son Mason Remey sat at the presidency of it, therefore inheriting the title guardian of the Cause of God, giving him, the powers to appoint Hands, collect the huquq, diffuse the divine fragrances, expel members off the IBC/UHJ who have been found guilty of committing sins injurious to the common weal and function as the president/executive and chairman of that body for life in an appointed capacity. Nowhere does it say that the president of the UHJ, though he may share with Shoghi Effendi the title "guardian of the Cause," inherits any of the exclusive powers granted to Shoghi Effendi alone in order for him to operate singly and independently outside the confines of a council. Just the opposite! Because the Aghsan guardians must function only within the confines of the council their power of authority is delineated by 'Abdu'l-Baha and explained by Shoghi Effendi as being of a vastly different nature.

The opposing ideas of future guardians being Infallible are myths promoted by Mason Remey in his Proclamation and enlarged upon in his succeeding writings and upheld by Pepe. They actually contradict the Will and Testament and the writings of Shoghi Effendi, which do just the opposite by defining the Aghsan guardian/presidents of the UHJ as being both fallible and having to go by the majority vote on issues. This will be dealt with in detail in the following points.

The main thing here, however, is that the Will and Testament is a Covenant conferring infallibility on Shoghi Effendi as the successor to 'Abdu'l-Baha and also conferring infallibility to the Universal House of Justice the successor to Shoghi Effendi that 'Abdu'l-Baha designated. For some reason you miss this point entirely and blurt out that we are saying the Will is a Covenant between 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi as if the believers held no part in it. Then after quoting 15 passages in the Will where the believers are enjoined to function in their part of the Covenant you think you've made some sort of a point. You make no point. The only intelligible thing in the entire section is that the definition of a Covenant is "a contract between two or more persons." In fact 'Abdul-Baha did make a personal Covenant with Shoghi Effendi that Shoghi Effendi, as his chosen successor, would carry out all that 'Abdu'l-Baha set forth without screwing it up. Likewise, the members of the UHJ including the future Aghsan guardian/head, are also enjoined to function within certain spheres of jurisdiction--the body being legislative and judicial and the Aghsan guardian/presidents being executive, which, if they fail to do their job or redefine their powers would be a violation of the trust imposed upon them. Likewise 'Abdu'l-Baha makes a Covenant with the institution of the Hands who are under the direction and appointment of the guardian (like the president's cabinet) to diffuse the divine fragrances.

As for the people of the world in general, that is, all the Baha'is, most certainly they are included in the Covenant also. It is their duty to first accept Shoghi as 'Abdu'l-Baha's successor and then after him to accept the UHJ (both body and head) as Shoghi Effendi's successor. To deviate from this pattern of first Shoghi Effendi, who is unique, and then after him the UHJ which Shoghi set forth as an IBC/UHJ is to violate the Covenant.

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The second aspect of the Covenant which all people must obey is that after we accept the successor of 'Abdu'l-Baha--Shoghi Effendi--and after him the IBC/UHJ, we must guard the Cause from all attacks and attempts to do away with the line of successorship. By promoting the myth that the Aghsan guardians are the infallible interpreters and therefore qualify as the full successor to Shoghi Effendi, you are rejecting the true successorship to Shoghi Effendi of the IBC/UHJ (both body and head) and messing up the specific powers and functions of the body and head as set forth by 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi and established by the Lamb. You are doing the opposite of guarding the Cause, which is incumbent upon everyone. Instead you are attacking and attempting to do away with it.

The third thing which all believers are enjoined to do is to teach the Faith. We must all teach.

Fourthly, 'Abdu'l-Baha makes a Covenant that all the friends of God must shun and entirely avoid the dissenters, troublemakers, and Covenant-breakers as part of their duty to the Covenant.

Thus all Baha'is have entered this Covenant to accept Shoghi Effendi and after him the Universal House of Justice (both body and head) which was Shoghi's successor. 'Abdu'l-Baha also definitely entered into a Covenant with Shoghi as well as his successor the UHJ (both body and head) and all the friends everywhere. You state that nowhere "does 'Abdu'l-Baha speak directly to Shoghi Effendi"--But he clearly does! In the first place the envelope the Will came in was addressed to Shoghi Effendi! It had his name on it and was exclusively a document for him first to bring to the entire Baha'i world. Furthermore he is named in the document several times repeatedly and therefore had to carry out those functions that he is named to perform by 'Abdu'l-Baha or he would be betraying the sacred trust of the Covenant that he had personally with 'Abdu'l-Baha. Likewise he is also included in the masses of Baha'is with whom 'Abdu'l-Baha also Covenanted.

In writing about the Covenant that 'Abdu'l-Baha made with him, Shoghi explains that to betray the confidence 'Abdu'l-Baha reposed in him would be a shameless act.

For my own part to hesitate in recognizing so vital a truth or to vacillate in proclaiming so firm a conviction must constitute a shameless betrayal of the confidence reposed in me by 'Abdu'l-Baha and an unpardonable usurpation of the authority which he himself has been invested.[12]

Clearly Shoghi Effendi and 'Abdu'l-Baha had a Covenant between the two of them: that Shoghi Effendi would carry out the divine plan and appoint his successor, the UHJ (both body and head) as he had no son.

Your concept of point one, whatever it is you are trying to get at, is ludicrous and nonsensical. If this is your full understanding of the Covenant, no wonder you have failed the test and fallen into the abyss.

The next point we will consider, you have listed as point seven: that the term "Center of the Cause" used on page 26 refers to Shoghi Effendi alone. This is correct. Only Shoghi Effendi is referred to as being the Center of the Cause. What succeeds Shoghi Effendi is the UHJ and not succeeding guardians. I have not found any place where this title was

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12 Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 152.

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applied to either the UHJ or its presidents. The successors to Baha'u'llah are; 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Center of the Covenant; Shoghi Effendi, the Center of the Cause; and then the Universal House of Justice. Refer to the last two paragraphs of the Will and Testament beginning on the bottom of page 25 and then page 26.

According to Charles Gaines, when a paragraph begins it defines that which the paragraph is about. He gives the example of Zechariah, Chapter three, which is all one paragraph. At the opening it states that Jesus the High Priest is the subject and we read that the iniquity of Jesus will be removed. Later it reads that God has removed the iniquity of the land, thus proving that the iniquity of the land is the same as the iniquity of Jesus giving the name of Jesus as the Land--Leland. He says that in this same way we should read the paragraphs in the Will and Testament and he is correct. Charles Gaines makes it clear that the last two paragraphs of the Will and Testament name Shoghi Effendi as the subject. The guardianship of Shoghi Effendi refers to Shoghi Effendi alone and then the UHJ. It doesn't include the Aghsan guardians.

On pages 25 and 26 'Abdu'l-Baha gives the last two paragraphs of the Will in which he speaks of Shoghi Effendi only. 'Abdu'l-Baha writes:

O ye faithful loved ones of 'Abdu'l-Baha! It is incumbent upon you to take the greatest care of Shoghi Effendi, the twig[Afnan] that hath branched from and the fruit given forth by the two hallowed and Divine Lote-Trees [The Bab and Bahalu'llah], that no dust of despondency and sorrow may stain his radiant nature, that day by day he may wax greater in happiness, in joy and spirituality, and may grow to become even as a fruitful tree.

For he [Shoghi Effendi] is, after 'Abdu'l-Baha, the guardian of the Cause of God, the Afnan, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause and the beloved of the Lord must obey him and turn unto him. He that obeyeth him [Shoghi Effendi] not, hath not obeyed God; he that turneth away from him [Shoghi Effendi], hath turned away from God and he that denieth him [Shoghi Effendi], hath denied the True One.Beware lest anyone falsely interpret these words, and like unto them that have broken the Covenant after the Day of Ascension (of Baha'u'llah) advance a pretext, raise the standard of revolt, wax stubborn and open wide the door of false interpretation. To none is given the right to put forth his own opinion or express his particular convictions. All must seek guidance and turn unto the Center of the Cause [Shoghi Effendi] and [then after him] the House of Justice. And he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed in grievous error.

Therefore we can clearly read that the subject of both the first and second paragraph is Shoghi Effendi. The first paragraph names Shoghi Effendi and the second paragraph opens with: "For he is, after 'Abdu'l-Baha, the guardian of the Cause of God, the Afnan, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause and the beloved of the Lord must obey him and turn unto him. The only "he" and "him" that is referred to here is Shoghi Effendi. To reject this concept in light of the facts is rebellious. Furthermore 'Abdu'l-Baha warns us that no one is to "falsely interpret these words." in other words no one other than Shoghi Effendi alone under any other pretext is referred to in this passage and to do so or say so is to advance a pretext and raise the standard of revolt and open wide the door of false interpretation. Your "tract" has done just this.

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Applying the logic of Charles, as stated above, Shoghi Effendi alone is the singular subject of the paragraph when it refers to the Center of the Cause, which no person who possesses a pure heart and has placed justice before their sight can deny. This is a title bestowed upon Shoghi Effendi alone just as the title Center of the Covenant was bestowed upon 'Abdul-Baha alone by Baha'u'llah himself. Baha'u'llah made a firm Covenant appointing 'Abdu'l-Baha to be the Center of the Covenant, giving him unique powers that are non-transferrable to anyone else. Likewise 'Abdu'l-Baha made this firm Covenant appointing Shoghi Effendi to be uniquely the Center of the Cause, a title and distinction that is non-transferrable to anyone else including future Aghsan guardians.

The main error of thought here is that when 'Abdu'l-Baha next mentions the Universal House of Justice in the clear context that this will succeed Shoghi Effendi, people are mislead into thinking that this refers to the elected members only, as if the institution of the guardianship and that of the UHJ were separate. However when we read 'Abdu'l-Baha's delineation of the UHJ on page 14 of the Will we find that by Universal House of Justice is meant both the body and the head together. Furthermore Shoghi Effendi defines them as the "twin inseparable institutions."[13] To imagine the UHJ without the Aghsan head is impossible, as this is what the Covenant-breaking Hands have set up on Mt. Carmel: a headless body. Thus we see two things here: Shoghi Effendi, the Center of the Cause; and then the Universal House of Justice (both body and head), his successor.

To none is given the right to put forth his own opinion or express his particular convictions. All must seek guidance andturn unto the Center of the Cause [Shoghi Effendi] and [then after him] the House of Justice. And he that turneth unto whatsoever else in indeed in grievous error.

In your rejection of these clear and manifest words of 'Abdu'l-Baha that the station of the Center of the Cause refers to Shoghi Effendi alone, you tamper with the opening phrase of the paragraph despite 'Abdu'l-Baha's stern warning: "Beware lest anyone falsely interpret these words." You state that: "The full understanding of this paragraph and ultimately, to whom 'Abdu'l-Baha is referring when speaking of the 'Center of the Cause', hinges on the first word of this paragraph: 'For."' Nonsense! "For" is not the subject of that paragraph any more than it is the subject of the first sentence. "He," Shoghi Effendi, is the subject of both the sentence and the paragraph and therefore is the Center of the Cause. In this paragraph only the pronoun is the subject.

The last two paragraphs of the Will are most important because they sum up the line of successorship after 'Abdu'l-Baha as he had explicitly delineated it. First we have Shoghi Effendi as his successor functioning singly and alone as the Center of the Cause, and after him this full authority passes on to the twin inseparable institutions comprising the delineated framework of the UHJ--the elected members which form the body and the appointed head who is the president, entitled the guardian of the Cause. This same theme is repeated on page 11 where the authority for Shoghi Effendi and the UHJ (both body and head) is further expressed.

In accordance with the instructions of 'Abdu'l-Baha in the Will to set up the UHJ to succeed him, Shoghi Effendi established the first International Baha'i Council within his life time. For the last six years of Shoghi Effendi's life the UHJ (both body and head) existed under the rulership of Shoghi Effendi. If as you suppose, the Center of the Cause referred

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13 Shoghi Effendi, WOB, p. 148.

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to all guardians, which it does not, and the UHJ referred to the elected members, then Shoghi Effendi himself would have had to sit at the head of the first IBC/UHJ as commanded by 'Abdu'l-Baha. However the fact that Shoghi Effendi never sat at the head of the council (IBC/UHJ) that he set up, proves beyond all measure that he alone is the Center of the Cause and not the institution of the guardianship. Your concept, and you can take all the credit you want for it, is an egregious blunder.

The next point on your list that we will address is point two, which is: "The paragraph on page eleven referring to the 'sacred and youthful branch' refers exclusively to Shoghi Effendi. This is correct.

The paragraph on page 11 to which you refer is a mirror of the paragraph on page 25 and 26. It refers to BOTH Shoghi Effendi and his successor the IBC/UHJ and confers both Shoghi Effendi (the sacred and youthful branch) and the IBC/UHJ after him with infallibility by equating them with God. What is correct in your statement of our point is that throughout the entire Will and Testament only Shoghi Effendi is referred to as the sacred and youthful branch and no one else. In fact this is not really one of our points, but has always been understood by all the friends everywhere that only Shoghi Effendi is the sacred and youthful branch. However after the realization that therefore the conferred infallibility in the paragraph refers only to the sacred and youthful branch (Shoghi Effendi) and after him it goes to the IBC/UHJ and that no other guardians as individuals possess such infallibility, you raise the argument that Shoghi Effendi is not the one exclusively referred to as the sacred and youthful branch. Any unbiased reader can see from the mentality of the fallacious arguments you present, that they are levied against the truth of this applying to Shoghi Effendi alone because of some sort of desire by you, and those who choose to follow you, to have all guardians share in this unique power of infallibility, which they do not.

Your denial of the obvious is founded on the baseless claim that the reason Shoghi Effendi is the sacred and youthful branch is because he is the guardian of the Cause and therefore all guardians of the Cause should be considered to be sacred and youthful branches. In the first place the paragraph does not say the sacred and youthful branches but only "the sacred and youthful branch," which is singular and therefore can only refer to one person.

However the crux of your blunder is thinking that Shoghi Effendi is the sacred and youthful branch because he is the guardian and therefore all guardians are so designated. The reason that Shoghi Effendi is the sacred and youthful branch as stated by 'Abdu'l-Baha at least half a dozen times throughout the entire Will, if not more, is because of his genealogy as he is branched from the twin holy trees of the Bab and Baha'u'llah and from the twin holy seas and the Lote-Trees of the Bab and Baha'u'llah. How many times does 'Abdu'l-Baha have to repeat this in the Will in order for you to understand it? The absolute, fact is that none of the succeeding guardians have this unique genealogy of being from both the tree of the Bab and from the tree of Baha'u'llah. No, they (the future Aghsan guardians) are of the Aghsan line of Baha'u'llah only and are from only one tree, the tree of Baha'u'llah alone and not both. In one unique person (unique means the only one), Shoghi Effendi, these two genealogies are united. For this reason 'Abdu'l-Baha entitles Shoghi Effendi the sacred and youthful branch branched from the twin trees.

The most absurd part of your rejection of the obvious is that in the preceding paragraph on page 11 right before the one that opens up with: "sacred and youthful branch," 'Abdu'l-

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Baha writes "Shoghi Effendi--the youthful branch branched from the two hallowed and sacred Lote-trees...." How can you ignore this? It is on the same page!

These fallacious arguments that you raise are not because that is what you actually think, but it is because you do not like the obvious fact that since Shoghi Effendi is the only one referred to by 'Abdu'l-Baha in this paragraph (he being the only sacred and youthful branch) he alone possesses that unique power conferred upon him in the second paragraph of page 11 of the Will that to go against him is to go against God, thus not referring to any future Aghsan guardians but to Shoghi Effendi alone.

By equating Shoghi Effendi with God, 'Abdu'l-Baha is conferring infallibility upon him. As he does not mention the institution of the guardianship nor any other guardians in this paragraph other than Shoghi Effendi, no infallibility is conferred upon any future guardians at all. In fact it is just the opposite! Nowhere in any of the writings of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha or Shoghi Effendi are future Aghsan guardians declared to be infallible. In fact it is just the opposite as 'Abdu'l-Baha declares in Some Answered Questions (page 199), that none of the members of the Universal House of Justice (which includes the guardian as a member) are infallible by themselves, but only as a group do they have conferred infallibility.

If that House of Justice shall decide upon any question not mentioned in the Book [Kitab-i-Aqdas], that decision will be guarded from mistake. Now the members of the House of Justice [which includes the distinguished member, the guardian--W&T, p. 14.] have not, individually, essential sinlessness; but the body of the House of Justice is under the protection of God: this is called conferred infallibility.[14]

Therefore no members of the House of Justice have infallibility as individuals but only when they function as a group. As the Aghsan guardian is one of the members of the IBC/UHJ, unlike Shoghi Effendi who was not the member of any IBC/UHJ, the Aghsan guardian does not as an individual possess infallibility. Danny S.'s argument that all Aghsan guardians possess infallibility, but Mason and Pepe screwed up as exceptions because they were embryonic guardians, is nonsense. He fabricates this on the baseless claim that because the first IBC/UHJ that Shoghi Effendi set up was an embryonic institution, therefore both Mason and Pepe are embryonic guardians and therefore they alone screwed up but future mature guardians will not make this mistake and will be infallible. In the first place as already stated, nowhere in any of the writings whatsoever are any of the future Aghsan guardians given infallibility separate from their functioning as a member of the Universal House of Justice. Furthermore the writings of both 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi declare just the opposite! This line of thinking is that of an educated ignoramus who knows enough to understand the concept of an embryo yet doesn't have enough common sense to realize either all the Aghsan guardians have infallibility or none of them do. As the very actions of Mason (and Pepe who upholds him), who did away with Shoghi Effendi and thereby went against God and ended the Baha'i Faith for a new religion of his own making which Mason named the "Abha Father Faith" testify, none of the Aghsan guardians possesses infallibility as an individual. This was vouchsafed unto Shoghi Effendi alone as the text of the Will so clearly states.

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14 'Abdu'l-Baha, SAQ, p. 199.

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Finally, Mason and Pepe were not and are not embryonic guardians anyway! The first IBC/UHJ that Shoghi Effendi set up was only embryonic within his life-time, making Mason the embryonic guardian only until 1957. At the death of Shoghi Effendi the first IBC/UHJ was no longer embryonic but was born into the world. As Mason never activated it we had a still birth (or it was in a coma), and then in 1966 he completely did away with the Baha'i Faith including Shoghi Effendi's successor (the IBC/UHJ) that he was the president of. Pepe's problem, likewise does not stem from being an "embryonic guardian" as the second IBC/UHJ is already activated and born into the world existing as an infant. Pepe has yet to take his seat as the president, not because he is "embryonic" but because he is still supporting Mason who did away with Shoghi Effendi and all he stood for:

The only thing for the second Guardian [Mason Remey] to do, to set matters aright, is to discard all which Shoghi Effendi did and institute a New Faith which shall be the Orthodox Faith of Baha'u'llah under the Holy name of ABHA...It is now the duty of the second Guardian [Mason Remey] to declare the NEW ABHA FAITH otherwise their will be no Orthodox Baha'i Faith.

--signed, Mason Remey[15]

According to the text of the Will and Testament, to go against Shoghi Effendi is to go against God. Although the Hands did away with the guardianship by saying that it came to an end in 1957, Mason still didn't break with them because they made a covenant between themselves stating that they would still go ahead with Shoghi Effendi's plan for 1963 to have the IBC/UHJ become a fully recognized Baha'i World Court. Mason went along with them for this reason only. Then in 1959 the Hands made an announcement that as Hands they had no authority to infallibly guide the Faith as they can only function under the framework and absolute command of a guardian. So they stated that they must go from one point of infallibility (Shoghi Effendi) to another point of infallibility and the only other institution in the Faith after the institution of Shoghi Effendi's guardianship that was infallible is the Universal House of Justice. Instead of accepting the first IBC/UHJ that Shoghi set up to succeed him, which was the genuine UHJ, they announced that they were doing away with Shoghi Effendi's plan for 1963 and were going to elect their own bogus imitation headless UHJ without an Aghsan guardian as its president. At this point, on the grounds that they had disobeyed and went against Shoghi Effendi and therefore had disobeyed God, Mason broke with the Hands, proclaimed himself to be the next infallible guardian, and expelled the Hands from the Faith for going against Shoghi Effendi and therefore going against God--after the death of Shoghi Effendi this was actually the prerogative of his successor alone, the IBC/UHJ.

Mason was right in expelling the Hands for going against Shoghi Effendi, however, because they had done away with the IBC/UHJ. But what he should have done was activate the first IBC/UHJ so that the council could have expelled the corrupted Hands. According to the explicit text of the Will and Testament, to go against Shoghi Effendi is to go against God and after him to go against Shoghi Effendi's successor the IBC/UHJ is to go against God. Mason, however, made his big mistake in thinking that he was also an infallible guardian like Shoghi Effendi and therefore didn't have to function in the framework of the council and so he did away with the body of the IBC/UHJ. This error lead both himself and Pepe down the wrong road as well as caused all the believers to fall away from him.

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15 Mason Remey, The Guardian's Letter Volume 1, no. 2, December 1966.

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Mason was under the misconception that since he was the president of the IBC/UHJ and therefore entitled the next guardian (page 14 of the Will and Testament), he also inherited the infallibility vouchsafed to Shoghi Effendi alone by 'Abdu'l-Baha. When Mason considered himself in this way, he reasoned that if he was the infallible guardian he didn't need to function under a council, an IBC/UHJ, or any Baha'i organization at all. Later as the followers began to fight amongst themselves over positions of power and wouldn't follow Mason's instructions, he put all the blame for the confusion in the Faith upon Shoghi Effendi, calling him an egomaniac and a disturbed soul. In actuality it was Mason's misconception, as well as that of everyone else, that caused all the confusion. In order to solve the problem, Mason then declared that it was his sacred duty as the infallible guardian to do away with everything Shoghi Effendi had done to the point of ending the Baha'i Faith and starting his own new religion called "the Abha Father Faith."

Pepe supported Mason in his ousting of everything that Shoghi Effendi did. In Mason's mind, the Baha'i Faith as interpreted by Shoghi Effendi was the cause of all the problems in the Faith, as this is what Mason puts forth in his writings. Therefore when Mason did away with Shoghi Effendi Pepe fully supported him. However, according to the explicit text of the Will, when Mason went against Shoghi Effendi he went against God. There is no way that Mason's doing away with Shoghi Effendi can be seen or interpreted as anything other than going against God as in the Will and Testament on both pages 25-26 and page 11 'Abdu'l-Baha states this fundamental truth in the most absolute clear and undeniable language. However, from Pepe's point of view Mason had all the authority in the world to do or proclaim anything at all, for he presumed he was the infallible guardian of the Faith. According to Pepe's thinking, therefore everyone else who does not accept what Mason did by eliminating Shoghi Effendi is a violator of the Covenant. Unfortunately it is Mason who violated. The fact that Mason did away with Shoghi Effendi and therefore went against God by violating the Will and Testament and then established a new Faith in its place, is a flagrant and blatant error that cannot be denied.

As the Lamb, Dr. Leland Jensen, upholds and reestablishes the Faith according to the explicit provisions of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, ANDShoghi Effendi, Pepe cannot accept this as it contradicts his indoctrination from Mason. In a recent letter Pepe writes that all Mason was concerned with was preserving the institution of the guardianship--AND NOTHING ELSE! He wasn't concerned with preserving the IBC/UHJ or preserving the Covenant or the Baha'i Faith, but only his mythical concept of an everlasting line of infallible guardians to rule all the world for at least 1000 years--without an IBC/UHJ--the Aghsan guardians making all the decisions for everyone by themselves with the 24 elders or Hands as advisors. This of course is not the plan of God but only the plan of Mason--and Pepe played a specific role in the plan of Mason as Mason promised him that as the successor to this type of mythical guardianship, he would be provided for by the friends for the rest of his life. Instead Mason's plan for Pepe, as it was founded on the mythic infallible guardian role, failed and all the Baha'is left both Mason and Pepe. Mason's promise to Pepe based, as it was, on a glaring violation of the Covenant that went against Shoghi Effendi and God, never has nor ever will come to pass. As Pepe admitted, the plan of Mason (for his well-being) failed and therefore the plan of God must prevail. The plan of God for Pepe, as Mason's only son (and therefore a ghusn/Aghsan) is to sit at the head of the IBC/UHJ that both 'Abdu'l-Baha AND Shoghi Effendi provided for according to the explicit text of the Will and Testament and the prototype of Shoghi Effendi. As obedience to Shoghi Effendi is equated with obedience to God, the plan of Shoghi Effendi (which Mason threw out) is actually the plan of God in which Pepe is included, being the only son of Mason to succeed him to the post of president of the IBC/UHJ, both adopted according

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to the laws of the land and appointed in writing during his lifetime according to the provisions of the Will and Testament.

How baseless are the preposterous claims of Danny S., advanced by Amy Krueger and Sara Toole, that Mason and Pepe erred because they were only embryonic. As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite! Mason never made any mistakes while he was embryonic, because he was under the infallible command of Shoghi Effendi from which he could not deviate. After Shoghi Effendi died, Mason was activated as the living guardian and head of the IBC/UHJ and was no longer in embryo; then he made all his mistakes--including doing away with the Baha'i Faith as well as going against Shoghi Effendi which is going against God. Likewise Pepe is not embryonic either. At the death of Mason, Pepe succeeded him to the presidency of the IBC/UHJ. Now that the second IBC/UHJ is activated, so is Pepe--and he is definitely not embryonic. All he needs to do is come forward and sit at the head of the council. Clearly, after the death of Shoghi Effendi they were born into this world in a coma and should have been brought out of the coma and activated as the heads of the IBC/UHJ. Danny's argument is full of holes. Mason and Pepe were definitely no longer in embryo!

Therefore as we can see that only Shoghi Effendi is the sacred and youthful branch and no one else, as given by 'Abdu'l-Baha in his will, applying the logic of Charles Gaines, the powers conferred in the paragraph refer only to Shoghi Effendi and to no other succeeding guardians but instead transfer to the IBC/UHJ after his passing. Likewise the entire paragraph on page 11 is a duplicate of that which we have already seen on page 25 and 26 where 'Abdu'l-Baha designates Shoghi Effendi as the Center of the Cause and the UHJ to succeed him; thus moving from one point of infallibility, Shoghi Effendi's guardianship, to another point of infallibility, his direct successor the first IBC/UHJ. In this paragraph 'Abdu'l-Baha is again stating the power of Shoghi Effendi and after him that same power will go to the UHJ (inseparable body and head) his full successor.

The sacred and youthful branch [Shoghi Effendi], the guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One (may my life be offered up for them both). Whatever they [Shoghi Effendi and then the UHJ] decide is of God, Whoso obeyeth him [Shoghi Effendi] not, neither obeyeth them [the members of both the head and body of the UHJ], hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him [Shoghi Effendi] and against them [the members of the UHJ, both head and body] hath rebelled against God; whoso opposeth him [Shoghi Effendi] hath opposed God; whoso contendeth with them [members of the House, both head and body] hath contended with God; whoso disputeth with him [Shoghi Effendi] hath disputeth with God; whoso denieth him [Shoghi Effendi] hath denied God; whoso disbelieveth in him [Shoghi Effendi] hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth aside from him [Shoghi Effendi] hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God. May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance of God rest upon him! The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him [Shoghi Effendi] who is the guardian of the Cause of God. It is incumbent upon the members [both the head and the body] of the House of Justice, upon the Aghsan, the Afnan, the Hands of the Cause of God to show their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto [Shoghi Effendi] the guardian of the Cause of God, to turn unto him [Shoghi Effendi] and be lowly before him [Shoghi Effendi]. He that

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opposeth him [Shoghi Effendi] hath opposed the True One, will make a breach in the Cause of God, will subvert His word and will become a manifestation of the Center of Sedition.[16]

Your erroneous concept that the "them" or "they" refers only to the body of the UHJ and that the "he" refers to all guardians, is based on the ludicrous argument that 'Abdul-Baha had not yet described the inner workings of the Universal House of Justice in his Will. To make an assumption that the UHJ refers only to the elected members is presumptuous on your part. When we turn to page 14 where 'Abdu'l-Baha focuses on the UHJ, he then tells us that the "guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and distinguishedmember for life of that body." Therefore where it refers to "them" or "they" this is obviously referring to all the members of the UHJ including the inseparable head. It is indubitably clear, as history testifies, that Shoghi Effendi did not function as the head of the UHJ but instead appointed 'Abdu'l-Baha's son to do so. From 1951 on, the UHJ was established in embryonic form (and Shoghi Effendi uses the word established in his cablegram) and therefore existed at the same time as Shoghi Effendi himself. However Shoghi Effendi never activated the IBC/UHJ although he did instruct the members to perform certain duties toward the newly formed Israeli government at the time. In order that Shoghi Effendi's authority be maintained it was incumbent upon the members of this House of Justice, including Mason the Aghsan head, to be obedient, submissive, and lowly before Shoghi Effendi--and they all were. After Shoghi Effendi's death, it is still incumbent upon everyone to obey him as he lives on eternally in his writings just as Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha live on in their writings. On page five you state that the UHJ will seek "advice" from Baha'u'llah, yet he has passed away and on page six you object that the future generations and guardians and Houses cannot possibly consult or obey Shoghi Effendi as he is dead. You contradict yourselves. Shoghi Effendi as well as Baha'u'llah live on in their writings and the things that they have set forth are inviolable and cannot be done away with by you, the future Aghsan guardians, nor anyone else. For this reason, where 'Abdu'l-Baha writes that it is incumbent upon all the Aghsan to show their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto Shoghi Effendi and to turn unto him and be lowly before him this means that Mason had to do this while Shoghi Effendi was alive and continue to obey his plan and interpretations after he had passed on, and that all future Aghsan guardians must likewise proclaim, defend, support, obey, and diffuse the writings of Shoghi Effendi as well as those of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha. Instead Mason and Pepe, claiming what you claim, that all guardians are like Shoghi Effendi, have done away with the Baha'i Faith and thrown out everything Shoghi Effendi did, replacing it with a new religion. This also clearly proves that the Aghsan guardians do not have this type of power for if they did then the Baha'i Faith ended in 1966 when Mason did away with it.

Another convoluted point of yours claims that in the beginning paragraph on page 11, 'Abdu'l-Baha uses the word "are" referring to both Shoghi Effendi, the sacred and youthful branch, as well as the Universal House of Justice which "are both under the care and protection of the 'Abha beauty...." You state:

'Abdu'l-Baha's use of the word "are" is the third person plural in the present tense form of the infinitive verb "to be." This usage indicates the necessity for the Twin Institution's simultaneous existence: "they ARE both under the care..." The Universal House of Justice did not exist in the time of Shoghi Effendi..."

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16 W&T, page 11.

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This is absurd. The Universal House of Justice existed in the plan of Baha'u'llah since he revealed the UHJ in the Aqdas and other writings years before Shoghi Effendi was even born. Also, at the very moment 'Abdu'l-Baha passed on, the IBC/UHJ existed in embryo as the Lamb, who was already living in the world at age 7 as the embryonic body, and as Mason, who was the embryonic head.

Furthermore 'Abdu'l-Baha qualifies his statement when he says: "the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established.." thus putting the formation of the UHJ in the future and yet still including it in the infallibility it inherits as Shoghi Effendi's successor through the use of the word "are both" under the protection of Baha'u'llah and the Bab. 'Abdu'l-Baha always referred to the powers of the UHJ in the present tense when speaking of it because, though it was not already elected, it existed in Baha'u'llah's plan. For example in the first quoted passage of this paper 'Abdu'l-Baha states that the UHJ "wardeth off all differences." This is of course in the present tense as he did not say "will wardeth off differences." Again, in the Will, 'Abdu'l-Baha qualified that it was not instituted yet, as he states in the Will it is "to be" elected, meaning in the future.

The purpose of the sentence is to say that both Shoghi Effendi and his successor the UHJ after him are guided by Baha'u'llah and the Bab. Shoghi Effendi is under both as he was from the twin Lote-Trees, making him the only sacred and youthful branch designated by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the Will. As an Afnan through his father's genealogy, Shoghi inherited the right to read the writings of the Bab and utilize them to establish the Cause in the world. However, the Bab, Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi all forbid Westerners to read the writings of the Bab as they are not part of the Baha'i dispensation and were meant for the Shi'ite Muslims only. The future Universal House of Justice "to be" universally elected and established" as Shoghi Effendi's successor is under the protection of Baha'u'llah through His writings and (as they are forbidden to read the writings of the Bab) has the "unerring guidance" of the Bab (the exalted one) only through Shoghi Effendi. Today the second IBC/UHJ is under the unerring guidance of the Bab through Shoghi Effendi because he set up the prototype that we follow. Because of the Center of the Cause, Shoghi Effendi, and his prototype IBC/UHJ, we can have the vice-president operate in lieu of the absent guardian and have the connection to the Lamb through the liaison officer, his wife. In this way those who are firm in the Covenant are now infallibly guided through the prototype of Shoghi Effendi and his writings which represent the Bab, as he was Afnan. Likewise all future Houses of Justice will also be infallibly guided by Shoghi Effendi's guidance through his writings which live on forever.

The next sections that we will address are three, five and six as they all circle around the meaning of the word "interpret." In all three of these points you have completely misrepresented the explanations and commentaries of the Lamb and deliberately missed the point entirely of what the Aghsan guardian's powers of interpretation are as the presidents of the IBC/UHJ and what the decision-making powers of the council functioning as a whole are.

First of all in the Will and Testament, no future Aghsan guardians are given the right of INFALLIBLE interpretation of the teachings. Baha'u'llah established the doctrine of the infallibility of the Manifestations of God of which there are nine in the Adamic cycle. He then made a strong Covenant conferring infallibility to his successor 'Abdu'l-Baha. 'Abdu'l-Baha then made a strong covenant conferring infallibility upon Shoghi Effendi but after Shoghi Effendi the infallibility passes to his successor, the Golden Branch of the Universal House of Justice, and not to any one member, including the president.

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Your first failure (in all three of these sections) is that you miss the point entirely. It is not the "interpretation" of the teachings which the Aghsan guardians do not inherit; but it is the INFALLIBLE interpretation that they do not inherit. Therefore when the Aghsan guardians function as the interpreters, they can only function as the interpreters in their capacity as the head of the IBC/UHJ as only that council as a whole is conferred infallibility and not any one member--this includes the Aghsan guardian who is only one member.

The second gross failure of yours is the fact that you have only a misconstrued concept of what to interpret the teachings means. Two terms are used regarding this, one is "expound" (found in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha) and the other is "interpret" used by Shoghi Effendi in theWorld Order of Baha'u'llah. To expound is to publish and to interpret is to translate.

Interpret comes from the Latin "interpretari," which means to explain or expound from "interpresetis," meaning an agent between two parties.[17] The Aghsan guardian is the "agent" that expounds on what the IBC/UHJ (party #1) has decided to the public (party #2).

According to 'Abdu'l-Baha on page 38 of the Secret of Divine Civilization, it is the function of the Universal House of Justice (the assembly) to solve the difficult problems and then it is the function of the executive branch (the Davidic king) as the agent to publish these decisions through the countries to all the people.

Since the primary means for securing the peace and the tranquility of the people, and the most effective agency for the advancement of high and low alike, is this all important matter, it is incumbent of those learned members of the great consultative assembly [IBC/UHJ] who are thoroughly versed in the Divine Law to evolve a single, direct and definite procedure for the settlement of litigations. This instrument should then be published throughout the country by the order of the king [the Aghsan guardian Davidic king], and its provisions should be strictly adhered to. This all-important question requires the most urgent attention.[18]

Through the publication of the infallible decisions of the IBC/UHJ the Aghsan guardian diffuses the divine fragrances to the world (publish). These publications must then be put into a language that can be easily understood and comprehended by the people. Thus the Aghsan guardian interprets (translates) them into the different languages and dialects of the various countries of the world. This what it means to diffuse the sweet savours. The guardian has his Hands to help him accomplish this. An interpreter is someone who translates from one language to another.[19] The guardian publishes the decisions of the IBC/UHJ according to his obligation as the executive of the House. It is the publication of the final verdict of the IBC/UHJ. Nowhere does it say that the guardian goes before the IBC/UHJ and tells them what the teachings mean. No. Just the opposite! All problems are

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17 Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, second edition, p. 960.

18 'Abdu'l-Baha, Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 38.

19 "To act as an interpreter between speakers of different languages." Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, p. 443.

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deliberated upon by the IBC/UHJ and then according to the explicit instructions of 'Abdu'l-Baha the Aghsan guardian diffuses these divine fragrances through the publication of the final decisions. This is his executive right, obligation, and duty as the Davidic king and executive of the IBC/UHJ. The Infallibility originates with the entire institution of the IBC/UHJ and the executive as one of the members does not possess it individually; but from working in close harmony and association of the IBC/UHJ as one of the members, receives his guidance from the entire assembly, thus making the publication of these decisions free from all error.

The source and root of the problem of the people in understanding what it means to interpret is that they fail to look at the functioning of both 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi. When 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi interpreted the teachings they never went before the members of the IBC/UHJ and told them what to do or how it was going to be. No. Instead, as in the case of Shoghi Effendi, he sent out letters, dispatched cablegrams, organized world conferences, directed his Hands to educate the people, and wrote innumerable epistles, pamphlets and books all establishing the truth of what Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha brought. By interpret is not meant to do away with, alter, change, abrogate or destroy; but it means to elucidate, make clearer what is already known, expound, state clearly, defend with an argument, bring forth the meaning of and give to the people in a language they can understand. But it does not mean that the guardian gives his own concept of the meanings of the words but expounds the concepts of the infallible IBC/UHJ. 'Abdu'l-Baha interpreted the teachings to the world and himself declared that if the IBC/UHJ were established within his lifetime: "I myself will obey the House of Justice because it is founded upon the Commands of the Blessed Perfection [Baha'u'llah]."[20]

The fact that the Guardian has been specifically endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and disclose the implications of the utterances of Baha'u'llah and of 'Abdu'l-Baha does not necessarily confer upon him a station co-equal with those Whose words he is called upon to interpret. He can exercise that right and discharge this obligation and yet remain infinitely inferior to both of them in rank and different in nature.[21]

The power of the executive to appoint Hands and his power to collect the Huquq, both of which are for diffusing the divine fragrance to the public, enables the guardian to disclose the meaning and purport of the teachings as deliberated upon by the IBC/UHJ to all the public. However, some misinformed people have the idea that by "power" is meant that the Aghsan guardian is somehow essentially different in nature from everyone else by possessing a special power, such as another organ or a tube connecting his brain to God, or even infallibility. Not the case at all! In the same above statement Shoghi Effendi explains that to interpret is to disclose the teachings to the public -- with the Huquq, through the Hands, cable-grams, books, etc.--he demands that all people know that the guardians are essentially different and infinitely inferior to both 'Abdu'l-Baha and Baha'u'llah. The purposeful machinations of those who would deny these essential truths of our Faith for power-mongering reasons of their own by arrogating these powers and authorities (unique to

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20 'Abdu'l-Baha, Ten Days in the Light of Akka, p. 25.

21 Shoghi Effendi, WOB, p. 151.

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Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi and the IBC/UHJ after him) to any of the Aghsan guardians (past, present or future) is "NOTHING SHORT OF OPEN BLASPHEMY!"[22]

Dearly-beloved friends! Exalted as is the position and vital as is [executive] function of the institution of the Guardianship in the Administrative Order of Baha'u'llah, and staggering as must be the weight of responsibility which it carries, its importance must, whatever be the language of the Will, be in no wise OVER-EMPHASIZED. The guardian of the Faith must not under any circumstances, and whatever his merits or his achievements, be exalted to the rank that will make him a co-sharer with 'Abdu'l-Baha in the unique position which the Center of the Covenant occupies--much less to the station exclusively ordained for the Manifestation of God. So grave a departure from the established tenets of our faith IS NOTHING SHORT OF OPEN BLASPHEMY.[23]

The power that the guardian is endowed with is not some sort of mystic tube connecting him to Baha'u'llah or God. The power of the Aghsan guardians is that of executive power granted to him in the provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha and further defined by Shoghi Effendi. That power is his ability to appoint his Hands and collect the Huquq, both of which are to be used for the specific purpose of diffusing the divine fragrance to the people. To diffuse is to expound. Thus the interpretation of the Aghsan guardians- as the executive of the IBC/UHJ is to bring the message to the world. O God! How many times must this be repeated? The Aghsan guardians can only function within their executive sphere of jurisdiction as the president and distinguished member of the IBC/UHJ!

Your first misconception seeking to undermine the truth of the above statements is that by citing the passage where 'Abdu'l-Baha grants Shoghi Effendi the power to be "the expounder of the words of God," and then says that this will be granted to his first born son to succeed him, you hope to confuse the people into disregarding the historical facts that Shoghi Effendi had no sons and that the first IBC/UHJ succeeded him. Then you write that "On page 12 the Master is clear that if a first born son is lacking, that another should take his place."

The fact of the matter is that Shoghi Effendi is unique, being from both the Bab and Baha'u'llah, thus making him both an Afnan and an Aghsan. As 'Abdu'l-Baha explains on page 80 and 81 of Some Answered Questions, the Bab is represented by a Branch of iron.

'And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.' This great son is the promised Manifestation who was born of the Law of God and reared in the bosom of the divine teachings. The iron is a symbol of power and might--it is not a sword--and means that with divine power and might he will shepherd all the nations of the earth. This son is the Bab.[24]

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22 Shoghi Effendi, WOB, p. 151.

23 Shoghi Effendi, WOB, pp. 150-151.

24 'Abdu'l-Baha, SAQ, pp. 80-81.

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Baha'u'llah, on the other hand, being of the Branch of wood, which stands for the Davidic Kings from the line of Solomon and the exilarchs from which He is a descendant, makes Shoghi Effendi the uniting of both the wood of Baha'u'llah and the iron of the Bab forming the Golden Branch that 'Abdu'l-Baha speaks of in Selections of the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha.

In brief, the Scripture saith: 'And he that talked with me had a rod made out of gold, that is, a measure, wherewith he measured the city and the gates thereof and the towers thereof.' The meaning is that certain personages guided the people with a staff grown out of the earth, and shepherded them with a rod, like unto the rod of Moses. Others trained and shepherded the people with a rod of iron, as in the dispensation of Muhammad. And in this present cycle, because it is the mightiest of dispensations, that rod grown out of the vegetable kingdom and that rod grown out of iron will be transformed into a rod of purest gold, taken from out the endless treasure houses in the Kingdom of the Lord. By this rod will the people be trained.

Note well the difference: at one time the Teachings of God were as a staff, and by this means the Holy Scriptures were spread abroad, the Law of God was promulgated and His Faith established. Then followed a time when the staff of the true Shepherd was as iron. And today, in this new and splendid age, the rod is even as the purest gold. How wide is the difference here! Know, then, how much ground hath been gained by the Law of God and His Teachings in this dispensation, how they have reached such heights that they far transcend the dispensations gone before: truly this rod is purest gold, while those of the past were of iron and wood.[25]

Since Shoghi Effendi is the Golden Branch (Branch of wood and Branch of iron) only another Golden Branch can succeed him. Since he had no son the UHJ (both head and body) is that Golden Branch which succeeded Shoghi Effendi, as it combines both the Branch of iron in the body and the Branch of wood in the Davidic king, making it the Branch of Gold.

On page three in the second paragraph of the Will and on page 11 in the first full paragraph 'Abdu'l-Baha takes great pains to explain that Shoghi Effendi is both from the Bab (iron) and Baha'u'llah (wood) making him the Golden Branch. On page 11 of the Will, after 'Abdu'l-Baha has named Shoghi Effendi as being unique (the Branch of Gold), he explains that Shoghi Effendi's firstborn son can then succeed Shoghi Effendi. The reason that his firstborn son can succeed him is because his son would also be the Golden Branch, inheriting this unique genealogy from both the Bab and Baha'u'llah through his father Shoghi Effendi. As history testifies, Shoghi Effendi had no firstborn son to be his successor to the Golden Branch. Then you quote page 12 of the Will in which you say: "that if a firstborn son is lacking, that another should take his place." As history also shows Shoghi Effendi had no other sons either, therefore according to this erroneous thinking there would be no successor to Shoghi Effendi at all because he had no firstborn son or any sons at all. This is the thinking of the Hands.

However your argument that Mason Remey as the son of 'Abdu'l-Baha could succeed Shoghi Effendi as his successor is also totally erroneous as he is only a Branch of wood

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25 'Abdu'l-Baha, Selections of the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, pp. 166-167, no. 142.

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(from David) and cannot function outside of the executive framework of the IBC/UHJ (body of the Branch of iron). But as previously stated the genuine IBC/UHJ, which combines both the Branch of wood of the Aghsan guardian and the Branch of iron of the body of the IBC/UHJ into one single Branch of Gold can succeed Shoghi Effendi. The reason that the Arabic word ghusn (Aghsan) is used on page 12 to designate another Branch is because only the genuine Branch of Gold of the true IBC/UHJ has the authentic Aghsan Branch of wood as its president. In this way the genuine IBC/UHJ can be distinguished from all other bogus imitations, such as the Hands have erected on Mt. Carmel, which does not even have a guardian at the head of it let alone the authentic Aghsan son of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha from the line of David. Since no Branch of wood (Aghsan guardian) inherits infallibility, as has already been stated, no Aghsan guardian singly and alone can succeed Shoghi Effendi because only the Branch of Gold has the infallibility. However, the right of interpretation is passed down through the hereditary line but not the right of infallibleinterpretation--this has already been established and proven. The right of interpretation, which is the expounding of the teachings by publishing the decisions of the IBC/UHJ to the public, has already been proven. Whenever and wherever it is written that the Aghsan guardians "interpret the words or teachings," this always means in their capacity as the president of the IBC/UHJ, functioning only within their designated sphere of jurisdiction as the executive branch of government just as 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi have both repeatedly established and delineated. You just do not want to see this concept, plain and simple. No concept other than this one can ever be accepted by anyone: that the Aghsan guardians publish and translate the revealed writings and the findings of the IBC/UHJ to the public.

In the dispensation of Baha'u'llah it is the IBC/UHJ which has been given the judicial and legislative authority to deliberate upon and decide upon all problems. In your thinking there is a fatal flaw. When we examine the Holy writings themselves we read that the guardians are the interpreter of the teachings in general, which includes all the writings of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi as no one will deny that within their writings are contained the Baha'i teachings. Yet on the other hand we read in the Will and Testament that:

Unto the Most Holy Book [Kitab-i-Aqdas] everyone must turn and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of Justice...It is incumbent upon the members (of the Universal House of Justice) to gather in a certain place and deliberate upon all problems which have caused difference, questions that are obscure and matters that are not expressly recorded in the Book.[26]

The Universal House of Justice is empowered to deliberate upon all matters that are not expressly recorded in the one Baha'i Book, the Kitab-i-Aqdas, alone. Therefore all the other writings of Baha'u'llah, all the writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, and all the writings of Shoghi Effendi, are under the sphere of jurisdiction of all the members of the IBC/UHJ to deliberate upon. To deliberate means to discuss openly and come to conclusions based on the truth of research. But yours is the most illogical thinking ever, that the Aghsan guardian's being infallible (which they are not) and having to obey them like God (which we do not) will dictate to the IBC/UHJ what it can or cannot deliberate on in the teachings as if the people were forbidden to read the books and come to their own conclusions. You have it that the Aghsan guardians will solve all problems in the writings by telling the

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26 W&T, pp. 19-20.

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IBC/UHJ what they mean, yet it says this nowhere in any of the writings of any of the teachings anywhere. In fact, it states just the opposite! The House will deliberate on all problems not expressly recorded in that one book of the Aqdas alone and the guardian can only ask them to reconsider their decision if he feels it goes against his personal views of what the teachings mean. Then after they reconsider, as he only has a vote of one, and since majority rules, he can be outvoted and then as the executive still has to exercise his obligation of interpreting the teachings (as deliberated upon and decided by the IBC/UHJ) to the public. Shoghi Effendi explains:

He [the Aghsan guardian] cannot override the decision of the majority of his fellow-members, but is bound to insist upon a reconsideration by them of any enactment he conscientiously believes to conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of Baha'u'llah's revealed utterances.[27]

Therefore after they have reconsidered the majority still rules whether the Aghsan guardian voted in the minority or the majority. After the decisions are made he must whether he voted for or against them, publish them throughout the countries of the world and interpret (translate) them to the public. But he does not come before the members of the IBC/UHJ and tell them what to do on any issue whatsoever!! They, as a unified entity (the Aghsan guardian included) deliberate upon all problems; and either unanimously or by majority (no matter where the guardian personally stands) the issue passes as the words of God Himself. Clearly on page 11 of the Will and Testament and other places 'Abdu'l-Baha makes it clear that the IBC/UHJ is equated with God. The decisions of the IBC/UHJ are "verily the Truth and the Purpose of God himself."[28] To disobey the IBC/UHJ is to disobey God. To rebel against the IBC/UHJ is to rebel against God. To contend with the IBC/UHJ (as you two have done) is to contend with God. Therefore when we say that the Aghsan guardians expound (publish) the words of God this can only mean that they expound (publish) the words' of the IBC/UHJ as this is the infallible successor to Shoghi Effendi equated by 'Abdu'l-Baha as being as if it were God Himself; and the Aghsan guardian is the executive that enforces their decisions.

Now on page 19 of the Will and Testament we read:

Unto the Most Holy Book [Kitab-i-Aqdas] everyone must turn and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of justice.

This does not mean the Aqdas is excluded from the deliberations of the IBC/UHJ because that is not what 'Abdu'l-Baha says. It also does not mean that only the guardian can read the Aqdas to the other members of the IBC/UHJ because it doesn't say that either. What it does say is that allthat is not "expressly recorded" in the Aqdas must be referred to the IBC/UHJ and whatever they decide is "verily the Truth and the Purpose of God himself."

Charles Gaines correctly explains that by "explicit" or "expressly" is meant that everyone and anyone (you or I, or anyone else) can just pick up the book and know immediately, exactly what it says! Then what are you people saying that only the guardian

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27 Shoghi Effendi, WOB, p. 150.

28 W&T, P. 19.

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can do this! By explicit and expressly is meant that anyone can pick up the book and read it and see (for example) that the fine for accidentally killing someone is 200 mithquals[29] of gold. Therefore when the IBC/UHJ legislates it cannot change the expressly revealed laws of Baha'u'llah, established in the Aqdas to last for one thousand years. But everything else--the application of these laws, who is guilty or innocent, etc.--are subject to the deliberation of the entire IBC/UHJ in which the guardian is no mere figurehead but participates with a vote of one. Then when the decisions are made he interprets the teachings to the world. He interprets what has been explicitly revealed, "the fine is 200 mithquals of Gold"; and then the decisions of the IBC/UHJ, "the man was found guilty so he pays the fine." Thus the official announcement and publication of the executive branch to the world would sound something like this after the House had already deliberated on it and come to a final decision. The deliberations of the IBC/UHJ include the chairman of the assembly the Aghsan guardian who not only participates in the discussions but has one vote with no veto power.

No man-made system, nor any system ever revealed in the past in any Revelation, has the beauty, authority and working simplicity of the World Order of Baha'u'llah which is the Kingdom of God on earth. Woe unto those who fail to perceive.

Therefore according to the explicit text of the Will we read on both pages 25 and 26 as well as on page 11 that it will be the IBC/UHJ that will succeed Shoghi Effendi. As history also testifies since Shoghi Effendi had no sons he set up an IBC/UHJ to succeed him per 'Abdu'l-Baha's instructions. The genuine IBC/UHJ according to the provisions of the Will on page 14 must have the Aghsan guardian as its head and it is through this hereditary principle that the Aghsan guardians as the executive of the IBC/UHJ continue to expound (publish) the word of God both revealed and decided upon by the IBC/UHJ to all the people throughout all the countries of the world.

The basic flaw that permeates throughout your three sections on the meaning of "interpret" causing you to fail to see the Aghsan guardians functioning as the executive of the IBC/UHJ, interpreting these decisions and teaching to the world at large and not dictating to the House itself, is grounded in your failure to understand the inner workings of the "twin inseperable institutions" functioning each with their own spheres. As to the details between the two spheres of jurisdiction (legislative and judicial), of the House on the one hand, and the sphere of jurisdiction of the executive on the other (which is the Aghsan guardian), 'Abdu'l-Baha writes:

This House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government enforceth them. The legislative body must reinforce the executive, the executive must aid and assist the legislative body so that through the close union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become as Paradise itself.[30]

Therefore it is through the union and harmony of these inseparable "two forces" of the executive and the legislative/judicial that the foundation of fairness and justice in the

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29 Each unit of one mithqual is equal to the Weight of 19 garbanzo beans (chickpeas) as Baha'u'llah has written.

30 W&T, pp. 14-15.

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Kingdom of God will be laid in all regions of the world and peace on earth and good will toward all men will ensue.

Another point of confusion is where Shoghi Effendi explains that the institution of the guardianship provides "the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative activity of its elected representatives."[31] In any assembly or legislature it is the president of that assembly as the chairman who defines the legislative activity of the council. As the president he manages and administers the affairs of the council and organizes and defines the activities of his fellow members. He sets the agenda, chairs the meeting, facilitates the deliberations and then publishes the final outcome to the people around the world. These functions are found within the dictionary definitions of "president" and "executive The president is "the presiding member of the legislative assembly or council."[32] His function as the executive is "to administer or manage affairs"[33] of that assembly, legislature or council. Clearly, as the presiding member of the legislative assembly of the IBC/UHJ, the Aghsan guardian by definition defines their sphere of jurisdiction by managing the affairs of that council and administering its laws. (He sets the agenda, chairs the meetings, publishes the results, etc.) Nothing could be clearer. Yet problems have arisen out of ignorance and a lack of understanding regarding the full meaning of government as delineated by 'Abdu'l-Baha in his Will and Testament.

Shoghi Effendi is explicitly clear in his writings that the people of his generation stood indeed too close to the Will and Testament to understand all its implications and the intricate details of how it would function, uniting the iron and the wood (the body and the head) together into the Branch of Gold (see World Order of Baha'u'llah pages 8 and 147). But Shoghi did explain that it would be only his successor, the IBC/UHJ (and not any one Aghsan guardian functioning alone), that would be the infallible guiding authority answering this question, solving this problem and defining the inner workings of these institutions--making them clear to "future generations" (our generation today). Shoghi Effendi writes that it will be under the guidance, not of the future Aghsan guardians, but of the Universal House of Justice (IBC/UHJ), of which the guardian is the executive, that these things would be solved and brought to light. This was to take place after the Lamb breaks the seventh seal. With the sounding of the trumpet of the seventh angel, the doors of the temple are flung open and all the world can see the Ark of the Covenant, meaning that the Book of the Covenant will be established and the meaning of the Will and Testament and theCovenant will become evident.[34] This wasn't made possible until after the IBC/UHJ was reestablished by the Lamb exactly 40 years after the founding of the first IBC/UHJ. In other words, 'Abdu'l-Baha indicates that at the time of the seventh angel's trumpet when the doors of the temple are opened, first the Covenant will be established meaning that the second IBC/UHJ was established, then the meaning of the Testament and the Covenant becomes evident.

Touching the point raised in the Secretary's letter regarding the nature and scope of the Universal Court of Arbitration [IBC/UHJ], this and other similar

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31 Shoghi Effendi, WOB, p. 148.

32 Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, p. 1423.

33 Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, p. 639.

34 'Abdu'l-Baha, SAQ, p. 70.

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matters will have to be explained and elucidated by theUniversal House of Justice, to which, according to the Master's explicit instructions, all important and fundamental questions must be referred. At present the exact implication and full significance of the provisions of the Master's Will are as yet imperfectly understood, and time will serve to reveal this wisdom and the far-reaching effects of His words.[35]

We are called by our beloved Master in His Will and Testament not only to adopt it [the World Order of Baha'u'llah] unreservedly, but to unveil its merit to all the world. To attempt to estimate the full value, and grasp its exact significance after so short a time since its inception would be premature and presumptuous on our part. We must trust to time, and the guidance of God's Universal House of Justice, to obtain a clearer and fuller understanding of its provisions and implications.[36]

Nowhere in any of the writings are the future Aghsan guardians given the right of explaining these fundamental inner workings of the two inseparable spheres of the executive and legislative/judicial that make up the one single entity of the IBC/UHJ designated by Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi to govern the World Order of Baha'u'llah.

Your ridiculous assertion of the Aghsan guardians being the infallible sole authority on all the spiritual teachings is completely removed from the Baha'i Dispensation. Your mythical, fictitious and imagined precept of a guardian is like that of an Imam or Pope: one-man spiritual rule. This is absolutely, completely unfounded and has been done away with and removed from the Baha'i Faith. Shoghi Effendi himself lays out the LAW so no one can go astray; and remember to go against him is to go against God.

Nor can the Baha'i Administrative Order be dismissed [as you two would have it] as a hard and rigid system of unmitigated autocracy or as an idle imitation of any form ofabsolutistic ecclesiastical government, whether it be thePapacy, the Imamate or any other similar institution, for the obvious reason that upon the international elected representatives of the followers of Baha'u'llah has been conferred the exclusive right of legislating on matters not expressly revealed in Baha'i writings. Neither the Guardian of the Faith nor any institution apart from the International House of Justice [IBC/UHJ] can ever usurp this vital and essential power or encroach upon that sacred right.[37]

After the death of Shoghi Effendi the Universal House of Justice (IBC/UHJ) is the head of the Faith. The Aghsan guardians can never usurp the vital and essential powers granted to the IBC/UHJ, which are vouchsafed as the sacred right of that institution as the Golden Branch successor to Shoghi Effendi. The House deliberates upon all matters in both a judicial and legislative capacity. Explicit laws found in the Aqdas such as a 200 mithqual

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35 Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i Administration, p. 47.

36 Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i Administration, p. 62.

37 Shoghi Effendi WOB, p. 153.

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gold fine cannot be changed to a 300 mithqual fine or a 100 mithqual fine. Likewise the punishment itself cannot be changed. If a specific fine of 200 mithquals is Baha'u'llah's explicit punishment for accidentally killing someone--then imprisonment, torture or the death sentence are out and the IBC/UHJ cannot legislate or repeal what Baha'ullah has already set forth in the Aqdas or expressly revealed in Baha'i writings. However, far from being unable to read the writings or depend upon the Aghsan guardian to read them to the other members or to give his final say on what the writings mean or how they apply, the first thing the IBC/UHJ will do in considering all issues is turn to the Aqdas and all the writings themselves to see what the writings say on any issue. After consulting not the guardian but the writings themselves, then the members will begin their deliberations an all issues and all problems. In all deliberations the guardian has a vote of one and has no veto power. After the decisions have been made either unanimously or by majority vote he must publish and interpret the teachings to the world. He diffuses the divine fragrance from the IBC/UHJ and expounds it to the world. The system is so simple a child can understand it. Its beauty and elegance lies within its manifest simplicity and unimpeachable character, setting it off far above all present-day systems in its strength, purity and designated specific authorities and powers. Woe unto the malefactors and haters of God who have aligned themselves with the modern-day Center of Sedition.

One of your deliberate misconceptions is that Shoghi Effendi quotes that unto the firstborn son "even the station of prophethood hath been his birthright." You use this to manipulate others into thinking that all guardians are prophets and therefore have extraordinary powers, making them infallible and above other people. This has already repeatedly been shown to be false. But for the sake of educating God's loved ones we will briefly address this point so that the truth of what Shoghi Effendi is actually referring to in this passage can be made known to everyone, everywhere.

On page 144 of The World Order of Baha'u'llah, Shoghi Effendi explains that it is the creative energies of Baha'u'llah that impregnated the mind of 'Abdu'l-Baha, giving birth to the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Through this mystic intercourse between the manifestation of God and the Center of the Covenant, the Charter of the New World Order was conceived, giving birth to twins: Shoghi Effendi and His successor the IBC/UHJ. As Shoghi Effendi was the firstborn of these two (being the eldest son) who directly succeeded 'Abdu'l-Baha, he inherited the rights and distinctions of prophethood and therefore functioned alone infallibly without a council. All future Aghsan guardians that are the heads of the IBC/UHJ are second, third, fourth to bear the title "guardian of the Cause of God" and therefore do not inherit the exclusive right of Shoghi Effendi who is equal to the full IBC/UHJ and alone possesses infallibility as the Golden Branch; whereas future guardians are from the Davidic line of Baha'u'llah only, being Branches of wood and not the Branch of Gold. Shoghi Effendi writes:

The creative energies released by the Law of Baha'u'llah, permeating and evolving within the mind of 'Abdu'l-Baha, have, by their very impact and close interaction, given birth to a Instrument which may be viewed as the Charter of the New World Order which is at once the glory and the promise of this most great Dispensation. The Will may thus be acclaimed as the inevitable offspring resulting from that mystical intercourse between Him Who communicated the generating influence of His divine Purpose and the One Who was its vehicle and chosen recipient. Being the Child of the Covenant--the Heir of both the Originator and the Interpreter of the Law of God--the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha can no more be divorced from

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Him Who supplied the original and motivating impulse than from the One Who ultimately conceived it.[38]

Within the framework of the Will. and Testament we find the "twin Successors" to Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha are: Shoghi Effendi the firstborn and eldest son and his successor the IBC/UHJ. The Will and Testament itself proclaims that Shoghi Effendi is the "primal branch" (primal means first) meaning he is the first guardian above all others and unique as the Golden Branch. Likewise history testifies that he is the first guardian and therefore according to the right of the firstborn son which is that of "prophethood," he is far above the future Aghsan guardians as his very birthright and essentially different nature (being from both the Bab and Baha'u'llah) confers upon him.

The word prophet (Nabi in Hebrew) literally means "mouthpiece," referring to the prophet as one who speaks for or is the mouthpiece of God. In this way Shoghi Effendi, like 'Abdu'l-Baha before him, functioned without a council of the IBC/UHJ. In the case of future Aghsan guardians who can only function as the head of the IBC/UHJ, they are the mouthpiece for that great assembly as it is their job to publish the decisions of the IBC/UHJ to the people and interpret (translate) the teachings to all nations. No future Aghsan guardians share the unique and peerless station of Shoghi Effendi, the firstborn of the Twin Institutions and the eldest son of all the future Aghsan guardians. The aggrandizement and unwarranted usurpation of that unique power of infallibility invested in Shoghi Effendi alone, as the Center of the Cause and the Golden Branch, for future Aghsan guardians to share in, is manifestly wrong and has absolutely no basis or foundation in any of the Baha'i scriptures, writings, or teachings. In fact the writings say just the opposite. This idea of all guardians being infallible, which you are promoting, is nothing less than dissension.

Finally on this subject of the authority of the IBC/UHJ as the decision-making council of consultation and the Aghsan guardian who publishes these decisions, 'Abdu'l-Baha, who also interpreted the teachings to the public, stated that if the Universal House of Justice were established in his lifetime, he himself would obey it as it is from the direct Command of Baha'u'llah Himself to do this.

In this Day we are near to the Source of true Religion and the Law of God, before the Revelation has been corrupted by the interpretations of men. The true believer is one who follows the Manifestation of God in all things. After the departure of Baha'u'llah we are commanded to obey the House of Justice. I myself will obey the House of Justice because it is founded upon the Commands of the Blessed Perfection [Baha'u'llah]. The Council of Constantine [Council of Nicaea] did not survive because it was not founded by Christ; but in this Day the House of Justice has been established by the Manifestation of God. It is the centerof government and must be obeyed in all things. It is theLaw of God embodied in the people, reflecting His Will and their need and desire, not blindly following command.[39]

Thus the inner workings of the IBC/UHJ is the "Law of God embodied in the people, reflecting His Will and their need and desire, not blindly following [the] command" of the

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38 Shoghi Effendi, WOB, p. 144.

39 'Abdu'l-Baha, Ten Days in the Light of Akka, p. 25.

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Aghsan guardians. Shoghi Effendi is clear that the government of Baha'u'llah, His IBC/UHJ does not get its mandate from the people, which is absolutely true; the mandate is from God in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha which is the Charter for the World Order of the Kingdom of God. But within this mandate from God, the Law of God is embodied within the people who are the members of the IBC/UHJ (both body and head) that make all the decisions. Again they (the members) are inspired from God and guided by the Lamb into all truth through the writings of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, but they are not, repeat, are not, to blindly follow the command of the president (the Aghsan guardian) or anyone else for that matter. Each member himself must seek the truth from the writings and vote his own conscience, whatever it may be.

The unique feature of the Baha'i Dispensation, which is marked by the first 1000 years of peace being 1000 years of Justice, is that we are to see the truth with our own eyes and not through the eyes of our neighbor. What does this mean? Well, it doesn't mean that we reject Baha'u'llah under the fallacious grounds that He is only our neighbor. No, it means that we seek the truth of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, the IBC/UHJ, and the establisher of the Faith, Dr. Leland Jensen, to understand and know their teachings with our own eyes and not through the eyes of our neighbor. It also means that the members of the IBC/UHJ do not blindly follow the command of the Aghsan guardian in anything, but instead vote their own conscience. You two would have it that we reject the teachings of Leland in order to independently investigate. This is the same claim that the violators and vicious people used against Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha. When it says not to see the truth through the eyes of your neighbor, by "see the truth" is meant the truth contained and enshrined within the teachings of the Promised One, whether Baha'u'llah or his establisher Leland. By "not through the eyes of your neighbor" is meant that the people should reject your erroneous claims, as they go against the Promised One Himself. 'Abdu'l-Baha writes that we independently investigate the truth until we find the Promised One and then our investigation stops because we have found what we are seeking. It does not mean that we argue, dispute, and contend with every single detail of the teachings of the Promised One, as people bickered with Baha'u'llah in His day. No. It means that once we have found, recognized and believed in the Promised One based on his proofs of prophecy (name, address, date and mission), then we unhesitatingly and unreservedly accept these teachings as the waters of life itself. The criteria is not the teachings themselves, as the Jews rejected Jesus for changing the teachings on diet and of the Sabbath; but the criteria is the fact that he fulfilled prophecy and thereby had a mandate from God to do what he did. Therefore as by the Command of the Manifestation of God Himself, Baha'u'llah has revealed the IBC/UHJ, and the infallible exemplar has stated that he himself would obey it in all things and as the authentic establisher has now brought forth its authority and reestablished it according to Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi, the second IBC/UHJ must be obeyed in all these things.

Some people have remarked that they were confused as to where the IBC/UHJ derives its authority. Clearly this is brought forth in all the writings. But the question of these people who have come into the Faith on proofs was raised because they failed to see the connection between the Lamb (whom they have sworn to follow wherever he goes) and the IBC/UHJ. The connection is through the liaison officer through whom the IBC/UHJ now receives its guidance from the Lamb. In I Corinthians 15 it states that the Son will return to establish His Father's Kingdom and that God will therefore put all rule, power, and authority under his feet. This includes the Aghsan guardian who are put under the feet of the Son. The authority by which the Aghsan guardians are seated on the throne of David at the Head of the IBC/UHJ comes from the Book of the Covenant and the Will and Testament, which Revelation, Chapter five, depicts as being like a scepter that the Aghsan

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guardians seated on the throne hold in their hand. However, Mason misinterpreted the Will to make himself infallible like Shoghi Effendi--whereas the authority that he does have is limited to being the president of the House. With this failure of the Aghsan guardians, God provided the safety-net of His Son who has all rule, power, and authority placed under his feet by God--that includes the bogus authority of the Aghsan guardians who claimed infallibility, to be put under the Son. As the authority of the Son comes from fulfilling prophecy, he takes the scroll away from the Aghsan guardians who didn't know what it meant anyway. Then by his authority, as the Son come to establish His Father's Kingdom (I Corinthians 15), he explains the true meaning of the Covenant and the Will and Testament contained within the scroll thus reestablishing the true Kingdom of God according to the true principles and commands of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdul-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi which Mason threw out and did away with. Therefore by the guidance of the Lamb, through the liaison officer of the IBC/UHJ, his wife Wind Jensen, the second International Baha'i Council is guided to the living waters. As Shoghi Effendi provided both the liaison officer and the vice-presidency of the IBC/UHJ in his prototype we are under the infallible guidance of his instruction and cannot err as long as we stick to this plan, the Plan of God. In the absence of Pepe therefore, the vice-president takes her place as the chairperson of the meetings so that the board can still function. Shoghi Effendi explicitly provided for this and as long as he is absent and we stick to Shoghi's unerring guidance we cannot go wrong. Likewise the liaison officer brings the guidance of the Lamb to this IBC/UHJ, thus ensuring no possibility of error whatsoever as the Lamb fulfills the prophecy of God. Even if the Aghsan guardian were to take his seat as the head of the IBC/UHJ and chair the meeting and set the agenda, he would honor us with his presence but it is still the Lamb to whom all rule, power and authority has been subjected, including that of the Aghsan guardian himself; and it will remain this way until the end of the century when the whole world becomes Baha'i. Then the Son (Leland) will turn the Kingdom over to the Father (Baha'u'llah--the Glory of the Father) meaning that the genuine IBC/UHJ will have blossomed into the fully elected UHJ from all nations and peoples of the world. United with the Branch of wood (Aghsan guardian as it head) the elected body (Branch of iron) will be united as the one Branch of Gold, then the Son (Leland) will become subjected unto it as 'Abdu'l-Baha himself said that he would if it were established in his day. If 'Abdu'l-Baha and the Son himself are to be subjected unto the Universal House of Justice of Baha'u'llah, how much more do the Aghsan guardians who are infinitely inferior to both of them need to be subjected unto the IBC/UHJ? They are but one member only and are instructed to publish the decisions of the House to all countries, translating (interpreting) them into the different languages.

Furthermore 'Abdu'l-Baha compares the IBC/UHJ to the Council of Constantine, but then remarks that because this was not founded by Jesus himself it did not survive. Likewise because it was not founded by Jesus its decisions were also erroneous. But 'Abdu'l-Baha's point is that the purpose of the Council of Constantine, in which the council was activated by the king, was to solve the difficult problems of the day and then the king was to enforce them. At the time of the apostles after the death of Jesus, Christianity was already divided into 100 different sects, combining mysticism, Babylonian and Egyptian mythology and paganism, and other false ideas into the name and teaching of Christianity. The apostle John even wrote that there were people claiming to be apostles who were not.[40] The scene was a mess. On the one hand there was the only true Faith upheld by the apostles and on the other there were 100 sects lumped together under the title of gnosticism. By the time 325 A.D. rolled around, Constantine, who wanted to unite the

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40 Revelation 2:2.

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Roman Empire, saw that if he could resolve all the problems of Christianity, uniting the multitude of denominations into one universal Christian Faith, Rome would be one, so the Council of Nicaea was set up. As their authority was not from Jesus they failed, and true Christianity came to an end. Still the purpose of such a council was to ward off difference and unite the people.

In this day the authority of the Council is genuine and not Satanic as that of the Council of Nicaea because the IBC/UHJ receives its authority directly from the Manifestation of God Himself, Baha'u'llah; and unlike the Council of Nicaea, is founded by Jesus himself, the Son returned to establish his Father's (Baha'u'llah's) Kingdom. Therefore the council's power to ward off all differences and solve these problems and eliminate the heresy of today, such as the gnostic heretics of Babylonian paganism back then, is not to be doubted. The return of Jesus himself has reestablished this second IBC/UHJ under the unerring prototype of Shoghi Effendi according to the explicit delineations of 'Abdu'l-Baha in His Will and the revealed Commands of Baha'u'llah Himself! We can all rest assured that this second IBC/UHJ is righteous and of God as it bears the stamp and seal of both Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, as well as Shoghi Effendi and the return of Jesus (Leland). This council conforms to the criteria set forth by 'Abdu'l-Baha in His Will and Testament because only the Aghsan guardian is the president of it: Pepe, grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Happy are we! Joyous are we! We who are of those who know!

Clearly the second IBC/UHJ, under the guidance of the Lamb, which has the authority to guard the Faith, ward off all differences, educate the world, bring in the 144,000, establish the Kingdom, and shun and avoid entirely the troublemakers, cannot be compared AT ALL in any way to the activities of the Covenant-breaking Hands and their bogus headless monster House of Justice. What authority did the Hands have to do any of these things? "None!" we declare so loudly that it resounds and thunders around the world again and again and again. The people were foolish to follow the Hands as they had no authority whatsoever in the Will to do anything accept under the direction of their guardian, Shoghi Effendi. The moment Shoghi Effendi died so did the authority of his Hands. The dirty "Hands" themselves realized this when they announced to their brainwashed and deluded followers that they as Hands had no authority and therefore must move from one point of infallibility (Shoghi Effendi) to another point of infallibility (the UHJ). Yet as they declared this statement in 1959, they did away with the genuine UHJ, which was that first IBC with 'Abdu'l-Baha's son Mason Remey, the Branch of wood, at the head of it. Instead they set up a bogus, headless House by 1963 and therefore moved from one point of abysmal error (following the powerless dirty Hands) to another point of abysmal error (coming under the masquerading authority of a bogus, headless, guardianless House of Justice).

Clearly on page 14 of the Will and Testament, the IBC/UHJ must have the Aghsan guardian (Branch of wood) at the head of it. The bogus UHJ of the Hands does not have a Branch of wood at the head of it (Aghsan guardian) therefore it is a fraud. Praise be to God! 144,000 pure souls will see the truth of this one verse on page 14 of the Will and Testament for themselves and remove themselves from under the violation of the Hands and their bogus house of injustice and come under the provisions of the Covenant, joining the Baha'is Under the Provisions of the Covenant, learning the new song of the Lamb, and following him (Dr. Leland Jensen) wherever he goes through four winds of destruction into the Kingdom of God on earth as all nations become Baha'i by the year 2000 A.D. The Golden Branch of the genuine, authentic, and God-fearing second IBC/UHJ ushers in the Golden Age of the 1000 years of peace, the Golden Millennium, under the guidance and direction of the Lamb through his liaison officer. He has all rule, power, and authority placed under his feet and has taken the scepter of authority out of the hand of the Aghsan

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guardians seated upon the throne of David to establish the World Order of Baha'u'llah for everyone, everywhere.

Your last point of contention we need to address is that you cannot see how the IBC/UHJ qualifies as the Golden Branch that is to succeed Shoghi Effendi. This will cover both your delusion, written under the heading point four, and the mutterings of Sara recorded in the third section of your ridiculous "tract" entitled: "The Purpose of the Golden Branch."

Your last point of objection is that: You quote page 11 of the Will where it states that Shoghi Effendi's firstborn son will succeed him, and then page 12 where it states that if his firstborn son is not spiritual (or he has no firstborn son), then he must choose another branch (ghusn) to succeed him; therefore you claim that it must be Mason Remey who is the successor to Shoghi Effendi rather than the UHJ with Mason (a ghusn) as its president.

As already explained previously, Shoghi Effendi himself is the Golden Branch. He is from both the line of the Bab, the Branch of iron (Afnan), and from the line of Baha'u'llah, the Branch of wood (Aghsan). These two genealogies of wood and iron from the Twin Holy Trees united together in Shoghi Effendi make him the Golden Branch. Therefore as Shoghi Effendi is the Golden Branch, only another Golden Branch can succeed him. As he had no firstborn son (lineal descendant) to be the Golden Branch (this son would have inherited the same unique genealogy as his father) he was instructed to appoint another branch. But Shoghi had no second son either. So he set up an IBC/UHJ to succeed him as it is the Golden Branch combining both the Branch of iron of the body and the Branch of wood of the head into one single Branch of Gold.

You seem to be hung up on the word "ghusn," which is singular in Arabic for "Aghsan" and therefore refers to the Davidic kings who are the Branches of wood. But as repeated over and over and over again the genuine IBC/UHJ which is the Golden Branch is recognized only from false ones or imitations by the fact that it has the genuine Branch of wood (Aghsan/ghusn), Davidic King, at the presidency of it. If the first IBC/UHJ did not have the son (Aghsan/ghusn) of 'Abdu'l-Baha at the head of it then it could not have qualified to be the Golden Branch successor to Shoghi Effendi. But as the first IBC/UHJ did have the son of 'Abdu'l-Baha as the president of it, which the previous guardian Shoghi Effendi appointed to that position within his lifetime, the first IBC/UHJ does qualify to be the Golden Branch successor to Shoghi Effendi. Likewise as the second IBC/UHJ has the genuine ghusn (Aghsan) Branch of wood as its president (Pepe, the grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha), it too qualifies as the Golden Branch. Your arguments are like the morning mists that the hot sun quickly whisks away.

Historically, we have this same point proven over and over and over and over again. So far the world has seen three imitations of Baha'u'llah's genuine IBC/UHJ and one bogus, fraudulent one. The first one was at the time of the Czar of Russia who became a Baha'i. When asked what he could do for the Cause, Baha'u'llah instructed him to gather the leaders of the nations together in the assembly of the UHJ and then proclaim Baha'u'llah so peace and justice could be established throughout the world. Had they done this, explains Baha'u'llah, had any one of the sovereigns of the world accepted him and proclaimed him all the catastrophes mentioned in the book could have been avoided. The Czar failed to proclaim Baha'u'llah and therefore the Branch of wood was never united to the body of the World Court at the Hague and we had World War I.

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Next was Woodrow Wilson who imitated Baha'u'llah's plan for the IBC/UHJ. Wilson's daughter was a Baha'i and he knew all about the Faith. He started the League of Nations covenant based on Baha'u'llah's UHJ but he could never get the United States to join and therefore never proclaimed Baha'u'llah. In the end he died and the Branch of wood (Aghsan--ghusn) was never united with the iron of the body of the League of Nations. Because it failed miserably, we had World War II.

The next imitation is the United Nations, which goes so far as to quote Isaiah, Chapter two, in front of their headquarters in New York--they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks and learn war no more,[41] as the house of the Lord, Baha'u'llah's House of Justice, is prophesied to do in the Bible. FDR and Eleanor were secret Baha'is. Eleanor had heard about the Faith from the Persian ambassador in Washington D.C. She told her husband and they both began to attend Baha'i firesides. The next thing you know FDR is having fireside chats with the nation and basing his New Deal on an imitation of Baha'u'llah's spiritual solution to the economic problem. Likewise he begins to organize the U.N. based on Baha'u'llah's plan for the IBC/UHJ.

Since they were developing the Atomic bomb at that time, FDR's plan was to gather the world leaders together in the Nevada testing grounds, explode the bomb, hand it to the U.N., and proclaim Baha'u'llah. He died in office before the bomb was perfected and Harry Truman took over. He knew nothing of FDR's plan to give the bomb to the U.N. and when he was told he said: Hell no! We've got the bomb, the world can dance to our tune. Likewise Truman failed to proclaim Baha'u'llah so the U.N. was set up without the Branch of wood (Aghsan/ghusn) at the head of it and now we are going to have World War III in which one third of mankind will be killed in one hour of thermonuclear war.

The fourth appearance is the bogus one of the dirty Covenant-breaking Hands which they set up on Mt. Carmel in 1963. Unlike the other ones the Baha'i name is associated to it; but just like the other false ones, it also does not have the (Aghsan/ghusn) Branch of wood at the head of it and is therefore false.

Clearly only the genuine House of Justice (IBC/UHJ) to succeed Shoghi Effendi can be the genuine Golden Branch because it has the Aghsan/ghusn at the head of it so we can recognize the genuine one from false ones.

The paragraph on page 12 in which it states that the Guardian of the Cause of God must appoint his successor in his lifetime, and if his eldest son isn't spiritual he must appoint another Branch (Aghsan/ghusn) to succeed him, refers not only to Shoghi Effendi but to all future guardians. Shoghi Effendi set up the IBC/UHJ within his lifetime and thus it succeeds him as the Branch of Gold (having the ghusn--Aghsan--Branch of wood at the head of it). Now the Branch of wood (ghusn), the Aghsan guardian who is the head of the IBC/UHJ, must appoint his son within his lifetime, who also must be a Branch of wood (ghusn) to be his successor to the presidency of the IBC/UHJ. Thus with these two criteria to be 1) a son: ghusn Branch of wood; and 2) appointed within the lifetime of the previous guardian, no fake claimants to the throne of David can arise as the true one is distinguished from all usurpers to the throne of David with these two criteria. Therefore because the criteria for the next Aghsan guardian is so strict and specific, only the genuine IBC/UHJ has the genuine Aghsan (guardian) at the head of it. This prevents all people from having a false IBC/UHJ because the true one that the friends come under must have that

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41 Isaiah 2:2.

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specific Aghsan (ghusn) guardian at the head of it. All others are imitations, bogus and false and therefore do not have to be adhered to like the bogus headless UHJ of the dirty Hands on Mt. Carmel. Everyone should feel safe and well-assured that they have absolutely no power and authority from Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, or even God himself to do anything as they are like "impure gold"[42] not having the Branch of wood as their head or no head at all for that matter. Today only the second IBC/UHJ is the genuine Branch of Gold combining the presidency of Pepe (the Branch of wood) with the body of iron into the Golden Branch of the second IBC/UHJ that succeeded Shoghi Effendi.

The entire idea that Shoghi Effendi would even have a firstborn to succeed him is the pit and snare that all the people fell into. Because of that clause in the Will and Testament on page 11, the first place where the people went wrong was in looking for a son to succeed Shoghi Effendi--for 'Abdu'l-Baha knew that Shoghi Effendi would have no sons, and thus the clause on page 11 stating that after him, (Shoghi Effendi) will succeed the firstborn of his lineal descendants is a test written in by 'Abdu'l-Baha to remove the violators. The people should have been smart enough to pass this test and realize that on pages 25 and 26 'Abdu'l-Baha is clear that it will be first Shoghi Effendi and then the UHJ to succeed him, and not any son of Shoghi Effendi's at all.

The fact that a test would be inserted in the book of the Covenant or the Will and Testament itself should come as no surprise to the Baha'is. Danny S. realized this, for in his very first paper written when he first entered the Faith, entitled "How Severe the Tests," he quotes Adib Taherzadeh on tests:

They (Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha) interpreted the Scriptures of the past, explained many of their abstruse passages and statements, elucidated divine mysteries, expounded the teachings of God for this age, delineated the features of a New World Order and gave the details of the application of the laws and ordinances of Baha'u'llah.

However, on the subject of succession They remained silent and only at the end of Their lives did They disclose the identity of Their successors. There are many wisdoms in this. Such an action may be likened to that of a teacher who is always ready to answer questions and help his pupils solve their problems. Only on one occasion does he remain silent and refrain from helping them, namely, on the day of examination. On that day the students alone will have to find the answers. It is their test and it is also the day of separation. Those who pass are elevated to a higher class and those who fail are not.

The history of the Faith demonstrates that the Covenant has always provided the testing-ground for the believers. The Bab gave the glad-tidings of the appearance of 'He Whom God shall make manifest' but did not explicitly disclose the identity of Baha'u'llah. Baha'u'llah established a mighty Covenant appointing 'Abdu'l-Baha as the Center of that same Covenant but kept this appointment a well-guarded secret until, shortly before His ascension, He handed the Kitab-i-Ahd (Book of My Covenant) to 'Abdu'l-Baha. This document, in the terms of the above analogy, became the examination paper for the entire body of Baha'u'llah's followers. Some passed and others failed the test. Similarly, the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha in which

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42 W&T, p. 12.

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Shoghi Effendi was appointed as the Guardian of the Faith was kept a secret. It was after His passing that this document was read. Again, this produced tests for the believers. Some who had ambitious ideas and a lust for leadershipopposed Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian of the Faith.[43]

Then Danny writes: "Every appointment of a successor is a test, separating those who wish to follow their own ideas from those who choose to obey God through the authoritative instructions." Nothing can be more authoritative than Jesus himself giving the true instructions on how the UHJ is the full successor to Shoghi Effendi.

Therefore in this light the people are always tested on the Covenant. 'Abdu'l-Baha knew that the UHJ would be Shoghi Effendi's successor yet he tested the people on this. Shoghi Effendi knew that the IBC/UHJ was his successor and that is why he set it up to succeed him; yet he tested the believers. The believers are always tested on successorship. All Shoghi Effendi had to do, or 'Abdu'l-Baha for that matter, was state one sentence clearly: "The UHJ will be the successor to Shoghi Effendi." They did not do this because "on the subject of succession they remained silent."

The first point is that people thought because of that clause on page 11, Shoghi Effendi would have a firstborn son to succeed him. Yet this was 'Abdu'l-Baha's "test clause" or "ploy" just as Baha'u'llah knowingly and consciously tested the believers on 'Abdu'l-Baha's successor Muhammad-Ali. Baha'u'llah knew full well that Muhammad-Ali would violate the Covenant and never succeed 'Abdul-Baha at all, yet He inserted this as the "test clause" or "ploy" to ensnare, entrap and remove the unworthy from the Faith. But at the same time Baha'u'llah gave provisions for what to do when the test came! That provision is that we all must obey 'Abdul-Baha absolutely, therefore we can easily accept his Will as the authoritative addendum to Baha'u'llah's Covenant and at the same time accept the fact that on page 9 he explains that Muhammad-Ali has been cut off the tree. Likewise 'Abdu'l-Baha knew for a certain fact that Shoghi would have no sons and therefore inserted his "ploy" or "test clause" on page 11, but at the same time within the same document (on page 25 and 26, as well as page 11) 'Abdu'l-Baha provides for the UHJ to be Shoghi Effendi's successor, which we cannot fail to recognize as it will have a ghusn (Aghsan) Branch of wood at its head.

The way that 'Abdu'l-Baha patterned his Will after Bahau'llah's Covenant is remarkable. In both documents two successors are appointed and in both documents we have the same type of "test clause." Referring to Bahau'llah's ploy of naming Muhammad-Ali to succeed 'Abdu'l-Baha, 'Abdul-Baha writes:

The Blessed Perfection [Baha'u'llah] wrote a Testament or Covenant with his own pen so that no one who obeys it will deny or disobey God. The point is expressed very clearly in the Covenant he revealed. Therefore there can be no possibility, no position of disobedience. He knew that Muhammad-Ali would disobey the Covenant. By violating the Covenant he has become a fallen branch. The Covenant was also written by Muhammad-Ali's own hand from dictation of the Blessed Perfection [Baha'u'llah] who knew he would disobey. What cause of union could be greater than the Covenant God has revealed through his Manifestation, Baha'u'llah? After the departure of Baha'u'llah the beautiful blossoms upon the Tree of Life were destroyed by Muhammad-Ali

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43 Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah, pp. 136-137.

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and must now be grown again by the love of 'Abdu'l-Baha. The work and mission of 'Abdu'l-Baha are very great. No one could express the grief which followed the turning away from the Covenant by Muhammad-Ali. We should be thankful that the Blessed Perfection [Baha'u'llah], foreseeing this action, ordained a Center of the Covenant through which by allegiance and love we may protect and preserve the Cause of God.[44]

'Abdu'l-Baha reveals the secret of Baha'u'llah's "test clause" that Muhammad-Ali would never succeed 'Abdu'l-Baha for he would violate the Covenant. Then 'Abdu'l-Baha reveals the provision of Baha'u'llah that he included in His Covenant to protect those from failing this test: that we must obey 'Abdul-Baha in all things. Thus Baha'u'llah, foreseeing the action of Muhammad-Ali, "ordained" the Center of the Covenant ['Abdu'l-Baha] "through which by allegiance and love we may preserve the Cause of God."[45]

Likewise 'Abdu'l-Baha knew that Shoghi Effendi would have no sons but inserted that clause on page 11 as a "ploy." However, on pages 25 and 26 'Abdu'l-Baha "ordained" a Universal House of Justice (IBC/UHJ) to succeed Shoghi Effendi who had no sons, "through which by allegiance [to the IBC/UHJ that succeeded Shoghi Effendi] and love we may protect and preserve the Cause of God."

'Abdu'l-Baha foresaw Shoghi Effendi having no sons in this way: 'Abdu'l-Baha knew the parents of Ruhiyyih Khanum who later became the wife of Shoghi Effendi. May Bolles (May Maxwell), a renound Baha'i teacher, had met and married Sutherland Maxwell, another esteemed Baha'i. They were unable to have children so they came to 'Abdu'l-Baha with their problem. 'Abdu'l-Baha then took an apple and cut it in half, giving half to Sutherland Maxwell and half to May Maxwell. He told them each to eat their half and if they did they would have a son. They both ate their halves and later May became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl, Ruhiyyih Khanum. "But 'Abdu'l-Baha," they said, "You said we would have a son." "You will. You will," said 'Abdu'l-Baha patiently. Later Ruhiyyih married Shoghi Effendi and Sutherland Maxwell and May had their son, Shoghi. This is a well-known story told by the Baha'is throughout the world about how May Maxwell and Sutherland Maxwell had a son, Shoghi Effendi.

From that time forward 'Abdu'l-Baha knew that Ruhiyyih Khanum would be barren and have no children, for she had inherited this from her parents. Perceptively, 'Abdu'l-Baha foreseeing that Shoghi Effendi by marrying her would have no sons, put his ploy into the Will so the people that looked for a son and yet failed to grasp onto his successor of the IBC/UHJ when he had no son would be removed from the Faith, failing the test as unworthy. Therefore how ringingly clear are these words of Adib quoted by Danny S.: "The history of the Faith demonstrates that the Covenant has always provided the testing-ground for the believers"; and again,"on the subject of succession They remained silent."

Those who fail the test, likewise fail because of selfish desires and lust for leadership, dragging others into their violation for lack of their understanding. Today the test came again with the Lamb opening the seventh seal on May 2, 1991, and sounding his trumpet (Epistle to Charles), giving the true meaning of the Covenant. As 'Abdu'l-Baha prophesied on pages 70 and 71 of Some Answered Questions, the violation has re-sounded and those

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44 'Abdu'l-Baha, "Star of the West" magazine Vol. VIII, no. 17, p. 222.

45 'Abdu'l-Baha, "Star of the West" magazine Vol. VIII, no. 17, p. 222.

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who profess belief have fallen into trials and temptations. For those who lack the capacity to understand the and are confused, God has provided a safety net. God has sent the return of Jesus with proofs of his mission and with "all power, rule and authority" to restore the true Baha'i Faith that was thrown out by the Covenant-breakers. So by following the Lamb wherever he goes, even though they may not understand everything, they will be among the elect, the 144,000.

Not everyone is like you two, however, who have purposely distributed your diatribe throughout the country trying to deceive the rest of the friends who with one voice have stood up and risen against you for attacking the Lamb and the liaison officer, in a document that in the opinion of many who have known you is "riddled with jealousy and hatred" against Wind Jensen in particular.

Thus as the second IBC gets its guidance to the living waters from the Lamb (Leland) through his liaison officer, you have attacked the very root and source of the Cause today, the Lamb, the liaison officer and the second IBC/UHJ that the Lamb is authorized by God to reestablish. You have failed the test, but shining stars across the country have passed with flying colors. Your names have already been removed from the roster and all the friends everywhere are instructed to cut you off completely like a cancer that is removed entirely for the health of the body. Not a trace shall remain, unless you repent and recant.

A great lesson is to be learned from all this and that is: "If you say you believe do you think you won't be tested?"[46]

Although people had been reading the Book of the Covenant and the Will and Testament ever since the early 1920's, they couldn't understand its full meaning. It is not until the Lamb comes and breaks the seventh seal that the full meaning is now brought to light. Over the years, all the differences and difficulties in the Faith have been the result of people's lack of understanding the Covenant and the Will and Testament. Shoghi Effendi himself, the appointed authoritative translator and interpreter of the Will and Testament, warned the Baha'is of his day that they were failing the test and missing the full meaning of the Will and Testament. Although he himself totally comprehended the full meaning of the Will and Testament he did not disclose this to the people. Shoghi writes:

I strongly feel the urge to elucidate certain facts, which would at once reveal to every fair-minded observer the unique character of that Divine Civilization the foundations of which the unerring hand of Baha'u'llah has laid, and the essential elements of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha has disclosed. [However] I consider it my duty to warn every beginner in the Faith that the promised glories of the Sovereignty which the Baha'i teachings foreshadow, can be revealed only in the fullness of time, that the implications of the of the Aqdas and the Will of 'Abdu'l-Baha, as the twin repositories of the constituent elements of that Sovereignty,are too far reaching for this generation to grasp and fully appreciate. I cannot refrain from appealing to them who stand identified with the Faith to disregard the prevailing notions and the fleeting fashions of the day..."[47]

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46 Muhammad, the Qu'ran.

47 Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 16.

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Shoghi Effendi purposely kept the meaning of the Covenant and the Will and Testament from the people not only because they did not have a capacity for it, but because he said they would not even appreciate it for they were ingrates! Therefore at the death of Shoghi Effendi no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth knew the full meaning of the Covenant and the Will and Testament. This corresponds to the fifth chapter of Revelation in which the one seated upon the throne, Mason Remey, holds the document of the Covenant and the Will and Testament in his hand, which is the authority for him being seated on the throne. This is the scroll written within: the Book of the Covenant, and on the back: the Will and Testament, which is sealed with seven seals, and as Mason himself couldn't understand it, he therefore failed the test. The Lamb, Leland, took it away from him to give its true meaning and establish it in the world.

Mason was unable to understand the Will because of his genome (heredity) back to Nimrod's (Satan's) brother, Ram of the Remey's and because of the environment in which he was brought up, a strict military household where everything was under the absolute say of his father Rear Admiral Remey. Mason was conditioned and had the genetic make-up of those that do not make group decisions through consultation, but of those who rule alone and everyone else obeys them. Thus, Mason gloried in his pagan Remey genealogy thinking that this made him great and entrenched himself in his cryptalogy (worshiping his ancestors) instead of glorying in that heritage of his adopted father 'Abdu'l-Baha and of the great ancestry of David. The real glory was in the true spirit of the Kingdom of God from Baha'u'llah, Himself, and the infallible guidance of Shoghi Effendi to which all the Houses of Justice and all future guardians must turn. Mason also erred because he failed to recognize the person who came in 1963 (Leland) and because he didn't go by Shoghi Effendi. Therefore he was unable to look into the scroll and uncover its true meaning. Instead, like the Hands before him, he went against God by going against Shoghi Effendi. Mason did away with the plan of Shoghi Effendi to have the first International Baha'i Council (IBC) which was the Universal House of Justice (UHJ) in embryo to succeed Shoghi Effendi and be born into the world. He scrapped the Council, did away with the Baha'i Faith and said that he had to set up a new religion called the "Abha Father Faith." Because of this confusion the people fail to see the meaning of the Covenant and understand that the IBC/UHJ was the infallible successor to Shoghi Effendi and not one person. All the problems and differences that have been in the Faith occurred because of this lack of comprehension concerning the Covenant.

So we see, with the screw up of the Hands and the screw up of Mason, the Lamb with this authority invested in him went and took the scroll (the Covenant and the Will and Testament), which was sealed, out of the hand of Mason seated on the throne. The Lamb has now broken the seals and brought the meaning of the Covenant and the Will and Testament to light. This became a test and the storm prophesied by 'Abdu'l-Baha to occur at this time with the sounding of the trumpet (Epistle to Charles); and, as prophesied, the falling away of some has now happened. Since the death of Shoghi Effendi only one man, Dr. Leland Jensen, has continually passed all the tests. God had designated him as the Lamb so that we, today, who are worthy and pure of heart can pass these tests under his guidance and the grace of God. Through the sanction of God, Leland fulfills the prophesies for the only one who would be able to do this. He has now broken the seventh seal (on May 2, 1991) and the storm 'Abdu'l-Baha describes on pages 70 and 71 of Some Answered Questions has descended.

One of the reasons people failed to understand the Covenant was due to the difficult language that 'Abdu'l-Baha employs in the Will and Testament. Not only have Arabic and Persian speaking people commented on the greatness and absolute mastery of language

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employed by 'Abdu'l-Baha, but they have also admitted to their own personal deficiency and lack of understanding and capacity to be able to comprehend the fullest meaning of the document.

In Danny S.'s paper, Genealogical References in the Will and Testament, written May 1, 1990, exactly one year before the breaking of the seventh seal by the Lamb, he writes:

The following analysis of some passages of the Will and Testament is merely the result of one soul trying to comprehend part of the Will. I hope that in the coming days further insights from the friends under the guidance of the Lamb will improve on my thinking on these issues.

With the breaking of the seal by the Lamb, and under his guidance, this prayer and hope has now been fulfilled exactly one year later.

The idea behind researching genealogical references in the Will concerning Shoghi Effendi was brought about for the purpose of clarifying the difference between the station of Shoghi Effendi and that of the succeeding guardians who function as the presidents of the Universal House of Justice. (The audio tape of Danny S.'s lecture confirms this as well as all the witnesses who attended the meeting.)

The question came up that since Shoghi Effendi was unique, being both an Afnan and an Aghsan branched from the twin holy trees of both the Bab and Baha'u'llah, and all future guardians are only from the tree of Baha'u'llah, being exclusively Aghsan, what is the original Persian and Arabic language employed in the Will to distinguish one from the other?

The results brought about several new Persian and Arabic words which the people need to know and understand. At the time they were not clearly defined, but with the breaking of the seventh seal by the Lamb, and this new research by his wife Wind Jensen, this absolutely, positively proves our point that Shoghi Effendi, alone and uniquely, was given special authority and powers way beyond that of all future guardians. This is an absolute, positive proof that Shoghi Effendi was unique because of his genealogy, which the other guardians don't have, making him the Golden Branch; and none of the other guardians qualify, for their genealogies only inherit the Branch of Wood.

The words or terms employed by 'Abdu'l-Baha in his Will to distinguish Shoghi Effendi from all future guardians that refer to his genealogy, are:

1. Aghsan--plural for "branch," referring exclusively to Baha'u'llah's male descendants from the line of David.

2. Ghusn--"branch." Singular form of Aghsan meaning one "branch" from the Tree of Baha'u'llah, referring to any one male descendant of Baha'u'llah from the line of David.

3. Afnan--plural for "twig," referring exclusively to the male co-lateral descendants of the Bab from the line of Muhammad.

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4. Far' (pronounced "ferrah")-- "twig." Employed as the singular form of Afnan by 'Abdu'l-Baha in His Will meaning one "twig," referring to any one male colateral descendant of the Bab from the line of Muhammad.

For all intent and purposes the words: Aghsan and ghusn, as well as, Afnan and ferrah are interchangeable for one another. In the Will and Testament Shoghi Effendi is alternately referred to as Aghsan (ghusn) and Afnan (ferrah) showing that he is descended from both the Bab and Baha'u'llah. No other guardian of the Cause of God can ever claim this distinction as they are all only branched from the one tree of Baha'u'llah being ghusn only and bearing Aghsan as their title. For this reason Shoghi Effendi is described by 'Abdu'l-Baha as unique, meaning one of a kind, and He bestows upon him special authority not possessed by the other guardians who are Aghsan only and must function in the framework only as the presidents of the Universal House of Justice. The proof is in the language of the Will itself. The original Arabic and Persian terms employed by 'Abdu'l-Baha, from which the following is translated, are underlined and in bold. Referring to Shoghi Effendi as both an Aghsan (ghusn) from Baha'u'llah and an Afnan (ferrah) from the Bab, being branched from the Twin Holy Trees of Baha'u'llah and the Bab, 'Abdu'l-Baha writes on page 3, the first page of the Will and Testament:

Salutation and praise, blessing and glory rest upon that primalbranch [ghusn--Aghsan] of the Divine and Sacred Lote-Tree, grown out, blest, tender, verdant and flourishing from the Twin Holy Trees [of the Bab and Baha'u'llah]; the most wondrous, unique and priceless pearl that doth gleam from out the Twin surging seas [of the Bab and Baha'u'llah] ... for behold! he [Shoghi Effendi] is the blest and sacred bough [ferrah--Afnan] that hath branched out from the Twin Holy Trees [of the Bab and Baha'u'llah]. Well is it with him that seeketh the shelter of his [Shoghi Effendi's] shade that shadoweth all mankind.

Again on page 11, 'Abdu'l-Baha repeats this same description of Shoghi Effendi as being both the Aghsan (ghusn) from Baha'u'llah's tree and the Afnan (ferrah) from the tree of the Bab.

O my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one, it is incumbent upon the Aghsan (Branches), the Afnan (Twigs) of the Sacred LoteTree, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God and the loved one of the Abha Beauty to turn unto Shoghi Effendi--the youthful branch [ferrah--Afnan] branched from the two hallowed and sacred Lote-Trees [of the Bab and Baha'u'llah] and the fruit grown from the two offshoots of the Tree of Holiness,--as he is the sign of God, the chosen branch [ghusn--Aghsan], the guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom all the Aghsan, the Afnan, the Hands of the Cause of God and His loved ones must turn. He [Shoghi Effendi] is the expounder of the words of God and after him will succeed the firstborn of his lineal descendants.

Clearly Shoghi Effendi is BOTH an Afnan (ferrah) from the Bab and an Aghsan (ghusn) from Baha'u'llah; and therefore his successor has to be both an Afnan and an Aghsan, both iron and wood. According to 'Abdu'l-Baha, the dispensation of Baha'u'llah is unique because unlike the dispensations of the past, such as Moses' which was like a Branch of Wood, or Jesus', Muhammad's or the Bab's which were like Branches of Iron, the dispensation of Baha'u'llah combines these two branches, the Branch of Iron and the Branch of Wood, into one Branch which becomes the Branch of Gold. The Branch of Wood, which began in the dispensation of Moses, represents the line of Davidic Kings because like the budding staff

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representing the vegetable spirit of growth and reproduction, the lineage of David goes on forever--for the life of this planet and David shall neverlack a man to sit upon the throne. The Branch of Iron represents the body of the Universal House of Justice and the head is represented by the Branch of Wood of the line of David. Together, united in the Universal House of Justice of Baha'u'llah, both body and head, we have the iron and wood combine to form the Branch of Gold. Likewise within Shoghi Effendi, who is of the Bab (whom 'Abdu'l-Baha designated as iron[48]) and also is of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha (the Davidic kings which are the Branch of Wood), these two branches of the wood (ghusn) of the Aghsan and the iron (ferrah) of the Afnan are united together in Shoghi Effendi making him the Branch of Gold. On the periodic table of the elements iron is called "ferrum." Thus the iron (ferrum) of the Bab is the Arabic and Persian word for twig (ferrah) that 'Abdu'l-Baha uses in his Will.

Because Shoghi Effendi is the Branch of Gold only another Branch of Gold can be his successor. Had Shoghi Effendi had a first born son or any sons for that matter they would have been Golden Branches inheriting the unique genealogy of their father of both the iron of the Bab and the wood of Baha'u'llah. However, Shoghi Effendi had no first born son and he had no second son nor any sons at all, so the Will and Testament states on page 12, that he must appoint another branch to succeed him. As only a Golden Branch can succeed Shoghi Effendi (who is also a Golden Branch) he had to set up an IBC/UHJ consisting of both the wood and the iron, the head and the body, to succeed him.

In the writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Administrative Order of the Golden Branch of the IBC/UHJ, to succeed Shoghi Effendi, is referred to as the Branch that will grow and flourish after the physical genealogy of Shoghi Effendi (also the Golden Branch) comes to an end, for Shoghi had no sons. Shoghi Effendi, quoting 'Abdu'l-Baha, writes:

"Fear not," are His reassuring words foreshadowing the rise of the Administrative Order established by His Will,"fear not if this Branch [the Golden Branch of Shoghi Effendi] be severed from this material world and cast aside its leaves; nay, the leaves thereof shall flourish, for this Branch [the Golden Branch] will grow after it is cut off from this world below, it shall reach the loftiest pinnacles of glory and it shall bear such fruits as will perfume the world with their fragrance."[49]

Shoghi Effendi had no sons and his genealogy came to an end when he was "Severed from this material world." The leaves, which are the teachings contained within the writings of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, preserve the Golden Branch in the IBC/UHJ to succeed Shoghi Effendi, as they give the provisions and foreshadow "the rise of the Administrative Order." This "Administrative Order" is the Golden Branch that is growing after the genealogy of Shoghi Effendi, who had no sons, "is cut off from this world below." The Branch referred to by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the above prophecy cannot be himself, as Shoghi Effendi says that it is specifically the Branch referred to in the Will and Testament. It therefore can only be the two Golden Branch successors of 'Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi and after him the IBC/UHJ for these are the only Golden Branches referred to in the Will. The Golden Branch of the IBC/UHJ "shall reach the loftiest pinnacles of glory, and it shall bear such fruits as will perfume the world with their fragrance." In

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48 'Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, pp. 80-81.

49 Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 146.

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wonderful, lucid and clear language Shoghi Effendi identifies the genuine Administrative Order of the Faith (IBC/UHJ) established in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha as the Golden Branch that, when established in all the world, will usher in the Golden Age of the Kingdom of God on earth. Nothing could be clearer.

The general consensus of Charles and others is that the twin institutions function separately like two separate pillars. This is not true. In the case of Shoghi Effendi, the authority of the body, the iron, was his through his father's side of the family who was descended from Muhammad and the Bab. Shoghi received the authority of the head, the wood, through his mother's side which was descended from Baha'u'llah. Thus Shoghi Effendi had the twin pillars in his one person because of his genealogy. After the death of Shoghi Effendi the institution of the IBC/UHJ succeeded him which combines the twin pillars that Shoghi had in his one body into theone body of the IBC/UHJ. For it is clear that the wooden head of the guardianship and the iron body are the twin "inseparable institutions."[50] The "chosen Successors" to Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, as delineated in the Will and Testament are Shoghi Effendi and after him the IBC/UHJ. In the World Order of Baha'u'llah, on page 19 and the top of page 20 and again on the bottom of page 21, Shoghi Effendi explains that the twin successors to both Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha are the twin institutions. In Shoghi Effendi's guardianship, the twin genealogies and twin powers were contained in one person and after him the Universal House of Justice combines the powers of the twin institutions, the iron body and the wooden head, into one body. Within Shoghi's body are the powers of the twin pillars and they are indeed inseparable. Likewise, after the passing of Shoghi Effendi the twin pillars are combined in the IBC/UHJ that has the Aghsan guardian as the president of its members; and the twin institutions in this one body are just as inseparable as those twin pillars within Shoghi's own person. When the Holy scriptures mention and refer to the Universal House of Justice, this cannot be imagined to exist without the Aghsan guardian, who is the head and president of it. The misconception of the people has been that by the institution of the UHJ is meant just the body and by the institution of the guardianship is meant just the head that function as separate institutions. We see that Shoghi Effendi directly succeeded 'Abdu'l-Baha and he functioned with both his body and his head united together and inseparable. After him succeeds the Universal House of Justice which functions with both its body and its head united together as the inseparable twin institutions. As Shoghi Effendi could not function in any capacity at all whatsoever with his head separated from his body, neither can the body of the IBC/UHJ function as a body alone nor can it function as a severed head alone without the body. Nothing could be clearer.

They [Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha] have also, in unequivocal and emphatic language, appointed those twin institutions of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship as their [Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha's] chosen Successors,destined to apply the principles, promulgate the laws, protect the institutions, adapt loyally and intelligently the Faith to the requirements of progressive society, and consummate the incorruptible inheritance which the Founders of the Faith have bequeathed to the world.[51]

The twin pillars are the twin institutions. These twin pillars, represented by the wood and the iron for the guardianship and the body respectively, were combined in Shoghi's

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50 Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 148.

51 Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah, pp. 19-20.

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personal body. Because of this he was an infallible Gold Branch. Then, as he had no son, these twin pillars, the Aghsan wooden head and the iron body are combined in the one, whole, Golden body of the IBC/UHJ. Because of this union of the wood and the iron pillars, the IBC/UHJ is the infallible Golden Branch that succeeds Shoghi.

Since Shoghi is an infallible Golden Branch he can 1) look at the words and understand their meaning, 2) expound the meaning to the public, 3) publish the meaning to the world, and 4) interpret/translate it into various languages of the world. Since the IBC/UHJ is the infallible Golden Branch that succeeds Shoghi, they can 1) together, as a full body, look at the words and discover their meaning, 2) the Aghsan guardian expounds the meaning to the public, 3) the Aghsan guardian publishes the meaning to the world, and 4) the Aghsan guardian is in charge of interpreting or translating it into the various languages of the world. However, the meaning of the writings doesn't need to be discerned if they are clear and not obscure. In this same vein, if an interpretation/translation of the writings could go several different ways, for instance if there were three different words that the one original word could be translated into, then this is unclear and the final decision falls to the full membership of the House, and even if the guardian votes contrary to the consensus of the House, he must submit and support its infallible decision.

In the future the Aghsan guardians who make sure the Baha'i writings are published will also help decide when to publish them. For in each new guardianship new and great lessons are to be learned. For example, a guardian in the future will educate humanity on telepathy and other latent mental abilities. This guardian will want to make sure all the obscure areas of this subject, in the writings, are brought before the House. He will also want to make sure that all the Baha'i writings on this subject are translated and published. And since so few of the Baha'i writings are translated and published, it is a very big task to oversee all of this and make sure it is done properly.

Within the Golden Branch of the Universal House of Justice, the full successor to Shoghi Effendi, is the sub-branch of wood, namely the Aghsan guardians who are its presidents and members for life of that body. As the Aghsan guardians are the Branches of Wood they cannot succeed Shoghi Effendi as his successor because he was unique being the Branch of Gold and therefore only another Branch of Gold can succeed him. This Gold Branch is the IBC/UHJ--both body and head--that succeeds Shoghi. As the paragraph on page 12 refers to the guardian of the Cause without designating Shoghi Effendi explicitly, as in other places in the Will, the criteria for successorship as written by 'Abdu'l-Baha applies to the presidents of the UHJ (as well as Shoghi Effendi) who on page 14 are also designated as the guardian of the Cause. However, since the Aghsan guardians are only Branches of Wood they can only appoint their successors to be Aghsan Branches of Wood who function exclusively as the president of the Universal House of Justice and not as the uniqueGolden Branch of Shoghi Effendi. REMEMBER, no matter how much the Aghsan guardians of wood may share with Shoghi Effendi the title of guardian of the Cause of God and therefore inherit the right to appoint Hands, choose their successors to the presidency of the House, collect the Huquq, diffuse the divine fragrances (interpret or expound the teachings to the public) or expel members of the house found guilty of committing a sin injurious to the common weal, they can never, even temporarily usurp the mighty power and supreme authority that 'Abdu'l-Baha invested in Shoghi Effendi alone. For to go against Shoghi is to go against God and after him, to go against the IBC/UHJ (both body and head) is to go against God and this does not pertain to any one member of the House, including its president and head, but only to the body as a whole.

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'Abdu'l-Baha makes all this very clear in the Will and Testament on both pages 25-26 and page 11. No matter how fierce the opposition of Satan and his followers may be it is completely impossible to swerve away from the truth in light of the Persian and Arabic terms employed by 'Abdu'l-Baha in his Will which distinguish between Shoghi Effendi exclusively, and all future guardians. Even the violators and dissenters cannot deny or argue that Shoghi Effendi alone is the only Afnan/Aghsan guardian there ever was or ever will be. On page 11 of the Will and Testament 'Abdu'l-Baha writes:

The sacred and youthful branch [ferrah--Afnan!--Shoghi Effendi only], the guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One (may my life be offered up for them both). Whatever they [Shoghi Effendi and then the UHJ] decide is of God, Whoso obeyeth him [Shoghi Effendi] not, neither obeyeth them [the members of both the head and body of the UHJ], hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him [Shoghi Effendi] and against them [the members of the UHJ both head and body] hath rebelled against God; whoso opposeth him [Shoghi Effendi] hath opposed God; whoso contendeth with them [members of the House, both head and body] hath contended with God; whoso disputeth with him [Shoghi Effendi] hath disputeth with God; whoso denieth him [Shoghi Effendi] hath denied God; whoso disbelieveth in him [Shoghi Effendi] hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth aside from him [Shoghi Effendi] hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God. May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance of God rest upon him! The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him [Shoghi Effendi] who is the guardian of the Cause of God. It is incumbent upon the members [both the head and the body] of the House of Justice, upon the Aghsan, the Afnan, the Hands of the Cause of God to show their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto [Shoghi Effendi] the guardian of the Cause of God, to turn unto him [Shoghi Effendi] and be lowly before him [Shoghi Effendi]. He that opposeth him [Shoghi Effendi] hath opposed the True One, will make a breach in the Cause of God, will subvert His word and will become a manifestation of the Center of Sedition.[52]

No matter what is said by the opposition of the violators or by Satan himself, this paragraph refers to Shoghi Effendi only when using the word guardian! Clearly 'Abdu'l-Baha declares Shoghi Effendi "THE SACRED AND YOUTHFUL AFNAN!" which definitely refers to no other guardian, as Shoghi Effendi is the only Afnan guardian! Furthermore on page three 'Abdu'l-Baha designates Shoghi Effendi as "THE SACRED AFNAN" just as he did in the above paragraph on page 11. Also, right above the paragraph on page 11 (on the very same page!) 'Abdu'l-Baha designates Shoghi Effendi only as "THE YOUTHFUL AFNAN" thus naming Shoghi Effendi exclusively! In all instances 'Abdu'l-Baha uses the term ferrah which is AFNAN! No way, no how, is any other Sacred and Youthful Afnan any guardian other than Shoghi Effendi. Of this no one can deny, despite Danny S.'s preposterous

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52 W&T, page 11.

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statement "that each successor to the Guardianship is called both 'ferrah' and 'ghusn'.[53] Any believer or person who has even briefly understood the Covenant knows for a certainty that only Shoghi Effendi is, and no other guardians at all, are, or will ever be, an Afnan twig (ferrah of iron) descended from the Bab! To say that all successors to the guardianship automatically are called twigs (ferrah) and inherit a genealogy from the Bab is impossible and ridiculous. The infallible interpreter line of guardians bearing the title Afnan twig or ferrah came to an end with the death of Shoghi Effendi who had no sons. Only the Aghsan lineage of guardians, who must function in the framework as the heads of the IBC/UHJ (something Shoghi didn't have to do as the Afnan/Aghsan guardian and absolute monarch being the Golden Branch all by himself), still continues in the world through the last living descendant of King David that came through Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha. This descendant today is Joseph Pepe, grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha. He and he alone is the ghusn (Branch of Wood), which he has even admitted privately in a phone conversation, according to Danny S..

Likewise according to the explicit text of the Will on page 25 and 26, as on page 11, the word ferrah (Afnan) twig is used by 'Abdu'l-Baha. Here 'Abdu'l-Baha using the word Afnan, as he did on page 11, as referring to Shoghi Effendi only. 'Abdu'l-Baha confers upon Shoghi exclusively the title Center of the Cause because he is the Golden Branch and after him will succeed the IBC/UHJ.

O ye faithful loved ones of 'Abdu'l-Baha! It is incumbent upon you to take the greatest care of Shoghi Effendi, the twig [ferrah--Afnan!] that hath branched from and the fruit given forth by the two hallowed and Divine Lote-Trees [The Bab and Baha'u'llah], that no dust of despondency and sorrow may stain his radiant nature, that day by day he may wax greater in happiness, in joy and spirituality, and may grow to become even as a fruitful tree.

For he [Shoghi Effendi] is, after 'Abdu'l-Baha, the guardian of the Cause of God, the Afnan, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause and the beloved of the Lord must obey him and turn unto him. He that obeyeth him [Shoghi Effendi] not, hath not obeyed God; he that turneth away from him [Shoghi Effendi], hath turned away from God and he that denieth him [Shoghi Effendi], hath denied the True One.Beware lest anyone falsely interpret these words, and like unto them that have broken the Covenant after the Day of Ascension (of Baha'u'llah) advance a pretext, raise the standard of revolt, wax stubborn and open wide the door of false interpretation. To none is given the right to put forth his own opinion or express his particular convictions. All must seek guidance and turn unto the Center of the Cause [Shoghi Effendi] and [then] the House of Justice.And he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed ingrievous error.[54]

Woe to those who have falsely interpreted these verses to refer to any one else other than Shoghi Effendi, the single and unique Center of the Cause and after him, the body to be universally elected and established, which is born into the world and exists today as the infant IBC/UHJ, Shoghi Effendi's successor the Universal House of Justice (both body and head). "And he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed in grievous error."

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53 Genealogical References in the Will and Testament, p. 4.

54 Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, pages 25-26.

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Now that the points of attack in your document have been exposed as false and the error of these arguments has been thoroughly established we move on to the motives behind why you would write such a vicious attack upon the Covenant, the Promised One Himself, and the second International Baha'i Council.

In a Court of Law, although evidence has been presented (a knife with fingerprints on it, a limb in the basement), sometimes evidence is circumstantial. Based on circumstantial evidence alone the law can convict but with a great deal of difficulty. Motive thus becomes key in proving the innocence or guilt of the person. For instance someone was killed but was it a motive of self-defense, or was it an accident, or was it deliberate and premeditated? The motive is important as it sometimes becomes key in separating the innocent from the guilty.

This letter that you sent out as a mass mailing was definitely an attack on the Cause and the Lamb and moreover we find that it was a premeditated attack; and that through a secret trip and conspiracy these concepts were formulated and dispersed. We have the authentic testimony of several independent reliable sources that you traveled in secret to New York City and met with Danny S. in order to formulate your paper. The fact that it was done in secret is what makes this most reprehensible. Two independent sources which are absolutely reliable have testified that you did this in secret and that when you found out that it was "leaked" out you became enraged that your cover was blown. Likewise we have the authoritative testimony that Danny S. himself lied that you were in his apartment in order to keep your clandestine meetings unknown. We also have another reliable source that has testified that you have been promoting Danny S. to be the next infallible guardian and this, therefore, reveals the reason that you have directed your attack on the Lamb. Likewise we have your own verbal confession that indeed you were in New York City collaborating with Danny S. on your mass mailing. The fact that your "tract" is filled with Danny S.'s most objectional and erroneous concepts is also confirmed by the testimony of at least seven reliable sources who are all independent of one another. Even more astonishing is the testimony of one reliable source who was personally instructed by Danny S. not to associate Danny's name with these concepts, and was instructed by him to keep this secret. This source then received these same ideas of Danny's masquerading in your letter through which they realized his clandestine participation. The list that connects you two up with Danny S. is long and damaging. The evidence is glaring that your motive for doing this stems from promoting him as the next infallible guardian on the flimsy words written to Danny by Pepe telling him that he was his "boy." This was interpreted by Danny that Pepe was calling him his son, and that if Pepe should die immediately, he would be Pepe's successor.

The IBC/UHJ sees your motives in this as devious, secretive, and impure. The amount of backbiting, calumny, lying, conspiring and rebellion you have had to commit in order to maintain your stance is heaped upon you. Some of the more heinous and disgusting of your misdeeds is the purposeful withholding of the vital forum information from the people in Nebraska and Arizona for which you were responsible. Not only did you attempt to cut these people off from the waters of life to which the Lamb leads them to, but you deliberately mismanaged the funds that were entrusted into your care for the delivering of that information to the people. Although complaints were voiced from Arizona that they were not receiving information, and this prompted the IBC/UHJ to rework its distribution system, we were not yet at that time informed of the fact that you had taken it upon yourselves to deliberately do this against those pure souls. Another great and evil deed of

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yours is the malicious name dropping and character assassination you have committed by listing people you claim have broken with the Lamb in favor of Danny, whom you promote as the next infallible guardian to be. Again the list of offenses is long, damaging, and mighty against the two of you.

Your personal involvement is very similar to that which occurred at the time of the violation of Rex King, who Mason later expelled from the Faith in this world as well as the world to come, his station to be that of Satan ("in these day of the Dispensation of Christ"') from that time forward and forevermore. At the time of Rex King (Satan), Rex started misleading the delegates attending the 1963 convention to elect the first National Spiritual Assembly under the guardianship of Mason Remey. Rex was misleading the delegates by approaching them with several letters of eulogies that he had from Mason in which he interpreted that he was being groomed to be the next guardian, thus causing them to turn to Rex's leadership and support him in his devious plan. As everyone respected Charles Gaines, Rex patronized him to promote his own ambitions. The key point of Rex's attack was directed at the Knight of Baha'u'llah, Dr. Leland Jensen. Rex knew that he had to get rid of the Knight if he were to be successful. Dr. Jensen opposed Rex in his move to gain control of the Baha'i Faith in America and abroad. Rex went to Mason with signatures and letters and with two witnesses to pressure Mason into appointing him to be the regent guardian.

The friends who listened to Rex (Satan) made their choices on their own and willfully went against the Faith and turned on the Knight of Baha'u'llah (Dr. Jensen), to whom Rex directed his attack. In a similar way you have directed your attack against the Lamb while promoting Danny to be the next guardian.

Likewise we have it from the highest authorities that Danny has been promoting himself to be the next infallible interpreter guardian based on the claim that he has at least one letter from Pepe calling him "his boy." Of course in order to be the next guardian he would have to be legally adopted in a court of law in this country, evidence which Danny has not produced; and even then Danny would have to be appointed to that position by Pepe within Pepe's lifetime.

Unprecedentedly, a vast majority of the friends throughout the country have almost in one single voice stood up against your vicious attack and have put down you rebellion. Praise be to God for those who had the veracity and spiritual impetus and reasoning to see your letter as nothing less than a vicious and virulent attack against the Cause. To these rare gems and exquisitely enlightened souls who responded to you immediately in rejection of your "tract" of hatred, upon them be the greatest blessings and favors of God.

As the IBC/UHJ is a House of Justice, let all the friends everywhere know for a certainty that the final decision made by the IBC/UHJ was not done hastily but was rather done after consultation and deliberation in the true spirit of Baha'i justice. For those who have questions they are directed to the writings, such as in Some Answered Questions, the chapter "The Right Method of Treating Criminals" as well as various passages in the Selections of the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha dealing with the government's and community's right to protect itself. Also one might peruse the Will and Testament, pages 20 and 21 as well as page 25, for the proper action and conduct to take in shunning the rebellious ones and those who, like "impure gold," seek division.

Today is a great Day for those who seek the shelter of God and live eternally in His Kingdom. It is both Great and Terrible. Now that the foundation has begun to be firmly laid

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and the workers in the Cause move on to victory after victory, the seventh angel sounds his trumpet (Epistle to Charles Gaines) and through his explanations and commentaries the meaning of the Testament and Covenant has become evident.

All praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds.

In the power of El Abha,

under the guidance of the Lamb,

The second International Baha'i Council.

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Source: Dave Cornell