August 2, 1975
Joseph Pepe Remey
3rd Guardian of the Baha'i Faith
Via Malenchini 6
Florence, Italy
My very dear Joseph,
I have here your letter of July 24th, in reply to my letter to you of July 19th, and I rush to answer it.
To begin with, our acceptance of you as the 3rd Guardian is not contingent upon how you feel about it or upon your acquiesence. We as Baha'is Under the Provisions of the Covenant have no choice but to accept, support and give our allegiance to only him who is the Guardian of the Cause of God. As you were the last one appointed by Mason Remey to succeed him in the Guardianship, we are turning to you and asking you to meet your responsibility of the Guardianship vested upon you by the late second Guardian, Mason Remey. One of the things we must not do is use Divine Unity as an excuse (page 12, Will and Testament).
I know how you feel, I went through the same thing. Way back in 1963, the date of "Blessed is he who waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days" of the 12th chapter of Daniel, I found my wife and I as the only two remaining Knights of Baha'u'llah in the Baha'i Faith under the second Guardian. I was aware that the Knights of the Lord were to establish the Kingdom of God on earth and the whole earth would rise up against them. I knew that if no more of the Knights came under the guardian, my wife and I were left with the awesome task of establishing the Kingdom of God on earth as per the prophecy of 'Abdul-Baha. This is something that I didn't want for myself. Therefore, I was at the forefront appealing to the waverers with epistles and documentation for them to return to the Provisions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will and Testament, hoping that all of the Knights would return to the fold. This continued until I was stopped in this effort by the actions of Rex King. Undoubtedly, the reason he so attacked me and my efforts was that he too recognized that my wife and I were to establish the Kingdom, and he was seeking a station above his station (Isaiah 14:13). Again, when I had "the stone with seven eyes" placed before me and I had received Mason's epistle declaring Rex to the station of Satan forever-more, I recalled that Rex had started his dirty work against me on April 21, 1963, exactly 100 years to the day from Baha'u'llah's Proclamation (the Jubilee year) and all good Baha'is knew that this was the year for the appearance of "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days" of Daniel 12:12. I recognized that I was wearing 'the dirty garment' of Zech 3:3, that the iniquity of Joshua (Zech 3:4) and the iniquity of 'the land' (Zech 3:9) was the same' iniquity (the dirty garment), and that my name was Leland, the name for the Promised Joshua, but I didn't know how a stone could have seven eyes. So I started looking to see if I had a stone with seven eyes before me. About a month later when I was up in the administration section, I heard an official say, "they're bringing in another one (prisoner) through tower seven." I asked him, "Say, how many towers does this stone wall have?" He told me "seven" and he pointed them out to me. I looked up to tower 7 and there was a guard looking out the window with a gun in his hand and I was then aware that this was an eye to this stone wall. As I turned in any direction, I found this stone with seven eyes was indeed placed before me. At this time I definitely knew that I was the Promised Joshua, and as
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Joshua of old took the 12 tribes of Israel across the River Jordan and established them in Palestine, so was I to take Israel, the 144,000 of Revelations, chapters 7 and 14 (the Baha'is Under the Provisions of the Covenant) and establish them on Mt. Carmel, Israel. I was awe- stricken. I didn't know what to do about this. There were no 144, 000 except in prophecy. Nobody else knew that I was the Promised Joshua. I was the only Baha'i in prison and my wife and I were the only Baha'is Under the Provisions of the Covenant in the state of Montana. Who was I to tell? Nobody would believe me, so I decided to tell nobody. This is when I was going through the same things that you have been going through. It wasn't until several months later that I confided in my wife, who faithfully came to see me every weekend that I was in prison, but only after I had made her promise that she would tell no one. She believed me and she told no one. Mason had written us that we were to remain in Montana and to build up a strong center. I had begun teaching the Faith in prison and established a bi-weekly Fireside, but I told no one that I was the Promised One that all of the peoples of the world would eventually turn to. I was hoping that I was mistaken, that the whole thing would go away, and that somebody else would fulfill the prophecies and be Joshua so that I could go back to leading a normal life. But this didn't happen, so when a year and one half later, Harry Stroup on April 29, 1971--the 9th day of Ridvan, the date given in the Great Pyramid for my Proclamation--told me that I was the Promised Joshua in the third chapter of Zechariah and that the stone wall of the prison was the stone With seven eyes, I then acquiesed. I told him that I was, but that I didn't want him to tell anyone. Several weeks later, when Harry Evans discovered our secret by overhearing us talking about it, we decided to announce this to the assembled Baha'is in the prison. They all believed. Since that time hundreds have believed and we now have a strong center of the Faith here in Missoula.
When Harry told me that I was the Promised Joshua, I said, "Harry, I didn't tell you this". The same way that Harry Stroup found that I was the Promised Joshua, I found that you are the last one appointed to the guardianship, by Mason Remey--through the breath of the Holy Spirit. Now that I know that you are the Guardian, we all know, and you are now being projected to the world. (See an open letter to Jean Dixon enclosed.) So you can come out of your shell and stop your procrastination, and above all stop shoving Donald Harvey off on us. We won't have him. You say that he has the spiritual qualities, but these are not necessarily the qualities essential for the Guardian. The only one that could decide this was the late Mason Remey, and he has chosen you.
Divine unity can only come from turning to him who is the Guardian of the Cause of God. Turning to anyone else would only cause disunity, as has been witnessed in the past. The test that Shoghi Effendi put us through by his appointing Mason Remey in his unique way, was as to whether there was a guardian or not, and most of the Baha'is failed that test. Now God is putting us through the test as to who is the Guardian. The friends failed in their test to accept Mason Remey because they wanted a clear statement in writing by Shoghi Effendi stating that so-and-so is to succeed him in the Guardianship. They didn't want to accept the one that he appointed to be the President of the future House of Justice as the Guardian, although it was tantamount to his stating that he was to be his successor; for, according to the Provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the President of the Universal House of Justice is the Guardian of the Cause of God. Today there may be some friends that may also want to see a clear statement stating that so-and-so is to be his successor instead of recognizing Mason's unique way of appointing his successor by the one that he, left the medallion to. As he gave this to you just before he passed on, you are the last one that he appointed to succeed him. Therefore you are the Guardian of the Cause of God to whom all must turn. For us to turn to anyone else would cause the greatest disunity, and the turning of the friends to Donald Harvey must be nipped in the bud before the most great damage is inflicted on the Cause of God that we so dearly love and are giving our very life's substance for.
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Baha'u'llah, in the year 9 of the Baha'i era (1852), was thrown in the dungeon (the Siyah-Chal). There the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a beautiful maiden and he became cognizant that He was Him whom God shall make manifest as proclaimed by the Bab. But He also went through an occultation period of ten years, letting it be known to only three persons up until April 21, 1863. After four months in the Siyah-Chal, he was exiled to Baghdad.
"Before his death the Bab wrote a letter to Mirza Yahya Subh-i-Ezel (Baha'u'llah's half brother) a young man of twenty years of age who was one of the 'Letters of the Living' and one of the most devoted of the Bab's followers, appointing him as successor. Accordingly, when the Bab was executed, the Babis looked to Subh-i-Ezel as their leader, and some of them thought that he was the new Manifestation of God foretold by the Bab." (Browne, The New History of the Bab, p. 381)
In Baghdad, although Baha'u'llah was the Manifestation of God foretold by the Bab, Christ, and all of the other preceding Revelations, He didn't want to cause disunity, so instead of proclaiming Himself, He went out into the wilderness where He remained for two years living very close to nature. Because of the disunity that ensued by his doing so, however, 'Abdu'l-Baha had to go out and find him and have him return to establish order and unity. Had Mirza Yahya just stuck to what he was appointed for, and not tried to establish himself as the Promised Manifestation and cooperated with Baha'u'llah, everything would have gone well.
Shoghi Effendi also went through an occultation period. When 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will and Testament was read he was just a very young man in his early twenties, a student at Oxford, and he came back for the reading of the Will. He was so shocked by the news of his appointment that he went into an immobilization period of two years and went away and hid himself. The Greatest Holy Leaf, 'Abdu'l-Baha's sister, took over temporarily the administration of the affairs of the Faith. During this time, however, strong personalities in the Faith had time to establish themselves. I remember some of this. I was about 7 to 10 years of age. There were only several strong communities in America at that time. Kenosha, Wisconsin was one of them. There were several hundred believers there, but by the time that most went with the Covenant-breakers there were but a handful left. My parents were with those that remained firm and steadfast in the Covenant, as did Mason Remey. Now in your occultation you propose the same thing. We are not willing to follow just anyone just to have a guardian. This would cause more problems than it would solve. By Donald not having the Divine Guidance that goes with the one that is duly appointed, we would have nothing but chaos and disunity. He would set the Cause back years. Nobody here is about to follow him. And that is simply because he is not the last one appointed by Mason Remey.
Mason Remey himself went through an occultation period. Had he that first day, when they had returned from London after burying Shoghi Effendi and couldn't find a Will and Testament (the Will and Testament of Abdu'l-Baha doesn't state that the appointment should be in the form of a Will and Testament), as a Hand of the Cause, proclaimed that all of the other 26 Hands of the Cause were Covenant-breakers and cast them out of the Cause, informed the Baha'i world of his actions and showed them how he was appointed to succeed Shoghi Effendi, there would have been but a minimal amount of Covenant-breaking. "My object is to show that the Hands of the Cause of God must be ever watchful and so soon as they find anyone beginning to oppose and protest against the guardian of the Cause of God cast him out from the congregation of the people of Baha and in no wise accept any excuse from him." (Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, p.12) But he didn't want to cause any disunity, thus giving the Covenant-breakers over two years to establish themselves. Then it was too late to rectify this mistake. He trusted those Covenant-breakers when they told him that they would follow every one of Shoghi Effendi's plans for 1963. If they had, Mason rightly would have found himself as the Judge of the World Court by 1963 on Mt. Carmel. The Covenant-breaking Hands, however, in 1959, laid aside Shoghi Effendi's plan to have the International Bahai Council become a World Court by 1963 for a plan of their
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own to establish a Universal House of Justice in its stead, having it elected by National Spiritual Assemblies instead of National Houses of Justice, and without having the head appointed by Shoghi Effendi become the head of the House of Justice. You can't trust Covenant-breakers. Once they break the Covenant they then have a spiritual disease that is almost incurable. That is why 'Abdu'l-Baha states in his Will and Testament that he should shun them entirely so we won't catch their disease. Mason made the mistake of letting the Covenant-breakers, for the reason of Divine unity, poison the Baha'is all over the world, causing them to become the 7th ugly head of the Beast that is about to be dead. The Beast with its 7 heads and ten horns along with the whore that rides it, is to go into the fire--the oncoming thermo-nuclear holocaust--and be destroyed. I am not going to let you or anyone else let this happen again. Everyone in this world needs to be brought under the Provisions of the Will and Testament of the BRANCH, 'Abdul-Baha, and this includes you. The whole world is going to be judged by me. I am the judge of the day of judgement. As the proof is projected to the world that I fulfill the prophecies for the Advent of Joshua (Jesus), who is to establish His Father's Kingdom (Baha'u'llah's), the Christians will be judged. The Christians claim that they are saved because of their belief in Jesus. Now they are going to be tested by God to see if they really do. The Bab was the return of Christ in the potency of the Door, or Gate. Baha'u'llah was the return of Christ (the Holy Spirit) in the potency of the Glory of the Father (Mark 8:38). Mason explained to me, however, that neither of them fulfilled the prophecies for the return of Jesus. Several times he alluded to me that he was the return of Jesus. He also sent out an epistle to the Baha'is that he was the one that 'Abdu'l-Baha said was to come in this age:
"O thou dear friend! Know thou that the Distinguished Individual of every age is according to the virtues of that age. The Distinguished Personage who was in the former cycle, His power and virtues were according to the former age, but in this brilliant age and divine cycle, the noble Personage, the Radiant Star, the Distinguished one, will manifest with virtues which will eventually amaze the peoples, for he is in spiritual virtues and divine perfections loftier than all the Individuals; nay, rather, He is the Source of Divine benediction and the Center of the Radiant Circle. He is certainly comprehensive. There is no doubt that He will reveal Himself to such a degree as to bring all under his overshadowing shelter." (Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha, Vol III, page 541)
Evidently he wasn't. He didn't establish His Father's Kingdom, and he didn't fulfill the prophecies for the return of Jesus. I am the only person in the world that fulfills these prophecies. To go over them again here would just be repititious.
I have a big job to do. I need all of the help that I can get, and I don't want to be plagued with the wrong person in the guardian's seat, nor do I want to have to do the guardian's work for him as I am now doing. Such as protecting the Cause from one who is not the Guardian gaining the guardianship. However, I would like to help the new guardian in his new position. You tell me of all the wonderful qualities that Donald has, that he comes from another background, is of another generation, and that you are neither prepared mentally or spiritually to assume the role of the guardianship. This is good and there is a Divine reason for this. Donald has convictions. He has come out of that old corrupt administration that Mason had to expel from the Baha'i Religious Faith. He brings most of this over with him into this new cycle (that Mason proclaimed that started in 1971--the date of my Proclamation), and should he be the guardian we would have a rehash of what we just got rid of. Mason was aware of this, so he chose one to train for his successor that was not a part of that old administration. You on the other hand do not have these strong convictions. You were trained well by Mason, who was really a great Guardian. I learned much from him. He taught you his social graces, plus you are the connecting link to Mt. Carmel by your being with him. He has prepared you so that one day you may sit at the head of the Faith on Mt. Carmel. There are some things, however, that he couldn't teach you, and that is the wisdom
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and knowledge that is only possessed by the Promised Joshua today. That is why you are neither mentally or spiritually prepared for assuming your role of the guardianship. I am to pick up where Mason left off and bring you into the knowledge of the full light. Had you already strong convictions, as Donald has, I wouldn't be able to do this. You need to learn first-hand the message that we the believers here have for the world. Then you too will have strong convictions, but these convictions will never be in conflict with the Promised One of God. Each of us are to work in our own sphere, each winning his own station, with neither encroaching upon the other, both being in consultation with one another, and with each helping the other for the good of the common wheel. We are about to have the Great Projection, as I have already explained to you, and you need to be here at the very start to keep up with it all. What you are now doing may be important to you but it is utter nothingness in comparison with the Great Projection. The minds and hearts of the believers here have so progressed in this new cycle of activity that it would be impossible for Donald to comprehend it. We must be very kind to Donald though. He has a high station and a great reward for the role that he has played in God's scheme of things. Therefore, we must at once cease from having him continue believing that he is the third Guardian. This must stop, before he goes so far that he will be in opposition to the Promised One of God and thus lose his own soul by becoming an enemy to the Cause of God. We certainly do not want this to happen to him, do we? If Donald had the necessary spiritual qualities, he would have been looking for the one who was last appointed by Mason, instead of trying to project himself. With his spiritual qualities, you will be able to explain this all to him now before it is too late. The sooner he realizes all of this the better. He should rejoice in the glad tidings that you were the last one appointed and give you his loyal support. I like Donald and there is much that he can do for the Cause, such as translating messages and writings on the Projection into French.
For you, however, I need you here now and you need to be here. There is so much for me to do that I don't seem to have time to get it all done. I won't be having you perform any personal service for me as you did for Mason, what you will be doing is helping with the Great Projection by joining God's heavenly army. I would still like for you to be here for the 9th and 10th of August. And I repeat, we have the fare and money for your expenses. Just send us a cable and we will send you the amount that you require to come. Your presence here at that time would greatly enhance the Great Projection and be of great service to the Cause of God. PLEASE COME!
Faithfully in El Abha,
Dr. Leland Jensen