Will the Real “So-Called Baha’is” Please Come Forth?
The so-called “Orthodox Baha’is” have now stooped to slander and calumny as their means of promoting their self-proclaimed guardian, Joel Marangella. This is evidenced in a document they have posted on their website as well as in the Internet search engines. The Document is a baseless attack of the true Baha’is, who are in adherence to all of the provisions of the Covenant. This webpage is an examination of their document, which they have titled:
The So-called “Bahá’ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant” Are Heterodox Believers
The unannotated text of this document can be found on their site at http://www.rt66.com/~obfusa/so-bupc.htm or by clicking here.
Let us begin. I’ll keep writing my thoughts in italics. Orthodox starts the document with:
Inquirers who happen upon a web site on the Internet that has been established by a group of people who call themselves “Bahá’ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant” need to recognize that the basic premises upon which that organization was developed place its members outside the Covenant of Bahá’u'lláh.
Orthodox, what are the premises you speak of? Your statement is vague and spurious. Exactly how are we outside of the Covenant? We have shown in detail the fallacy of Joel’s claim, but you just call us names?
Proof is in order. Heed the words of Paul who said:
“Prove all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thes. 5:21)
Recently on an America Online board, one of the “Provisions” leaders posted a document that set forth some of the conjectures of its members, while purportedly citing Bahá’í references that they claim support their views. Because the “Provisions” people have wrongly identified themselves as within the Covenant of Bahá’u'lláh, and because other heterodox Bahá’ís and inquirers may think that the Orthodox Bahá’í Faith is in some way related to the Montana-based “Provisions” group, we feel that it is essential for those who encounter the members of that group to know that there is no relationship whatsoever between those heterodox believers and the Orthodox Bahá’í Faith.
Once again Orthodox spuriously and unfoundedly makes the statement that the BUPC “have wrongly identified themselves as within the Covenant” but he offers no proof! So far the document is vague and misleading.
It is true that the Orthodox Baha’is and the Baha’is Under the Provisions of the Covenant are different Organizations. The only commonality is that both believe that the guardianship continued after the passing of Shoghi Effendi.
Based upon the convoluted thinking of Leland Jensen, developed while he was incarcerated in the Montana State Prison for child molestation, the “Provisions” people believe that Jensen became a latter- day Joshua who had the power to discern the real truth of the Covenant of Bahá’u'lláh. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Now Orthodox is really stooping to all time lows. In order to build up their false guardian (see links at page bottom) they first attack the defender of the Covenant and establisher of the Baha’i Faith, Dr. Jensen. (This is how the Sans-Guardian Faith was formed, first the Hands attacked the guardian Mason Remey, then they took over once they seemingly discredited him as a “Covenant breaker.”) Exactly how is the thinking of Dr. Jensen convoluted? Be specific Orthodox.
Orthodox even slanders Dr. Jensen. Doc was in the Montana prison but he was not convicted nor even charged with “child molestation.” If he were then He would have had a criminal trial; His was a civil trial that was set up by a bunch of Chiropractic Masons who wanted to put Dr. Jensen out of business. The whole trial was a sham. But there was a greater reason why Dr. Jensen was sent to that prison — because it is Ezekiels Temple where Jesus the high priest is prophesied to return from! Unbeknownst to those who don’t investigate the matter, is the fact that Dr. Jensen fulfills prophecies! He is Joshua, prophesied in the Old and New Testaments. He is also the establisher of the Baha’i Faith.
Contrary to the wording of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and contrary to the elucidation of Shoghi Effendi’s “Dispensation,” Jensen’s followers maintain that Shoghi Effendi was NOT the first Guardian of the Cause. Instead, they consider Shoghi Effendi to be a kind of interim leader between ‘Abdu’l- Bahá and Charles Mason Remey, the latter being identified by them as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s adopted son. They then extend the line of succession to Mason Remey’s adopted son, Joseph Pepe, an individual who both discounted Mason Remey’s Guardianship and who himself never became a Bahá’í.
WRONG. We do not “maintain that Shoghi Effendi was NOT the first Guardian of the Cause” as Orthodox claims. It was Mason Remey (who the Orthodox Baha’is supposedly believe was “infallible”) who stated that Shoghi was not the “first guardian of the Baha’i Faith.” The BUPC maintain that Shoghi Effendi was the Guardian of the Cause and that he was “unique” in that He was the only guardian who would ever have “infallibility” according to the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha.
See proof that Mason Remey was Abdu’l-Baha’s adopted son and not just “identified by us” to be so.
Joseph Pepe Remey Aghsan was appointed by Mason Remey to be his successor as guardian and he was Mason Remeys son. Therefore, according to page 12 of the Will and Testament, he met the criteria to be the guardian after Mason. Joel Marangella was merely one of 12 dummy appointments made by Mason to test the believers; Joel was not Mason’s son so he does not meet the criteria.
Like the heterodox Bahá’ís under the sans-Guardian Universal House of Justice, the Jensen believers mistakenly maintain that Shoghi Effendi was required to appoint a blood relative of Bahá’u'lláh to succeed him. They, like the other heterodox believers, have failed to recognize that when Shoghi Effendi translated the Will and Testament into English (the language from which all other translations are to be made) the first Guardian used the following words with respect to the appointment of the Guardian’s successor:
Thus, should the first-born o f the guardian of the Cause of God not manifest in himself the truth of the words:–”The child is the secret essence of its sire,” that is, should he not inherit of the spiritual within him (the guardian of the Cause of God) and his glorious lineage not be matched with a goodly character, then must he, (the guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him.
Heterodox Bahá’ís, whether they are members of the Jensen group or followers of the sans-Guardian Universal House of Justice, have made much of the Arabic word “Aghsán,” interpreting it to mean a descendant of Bahá’u'lláh, and saying that the word is used in the original Will of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. However, Shoghi Effendi himself on page 239 of God Passes By provides a different interpretation for the word “Aghsán” Quoting passages from Bahá’u'lláh’s Covenant, which appointed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the Center of the Faith and the Delineator of the Faith’s future institutions, Shoghi Effendi wrote that the “weighty and incomparable Document…directs, in particular, the Aghsán (His sons) to ponder the ‘mighty force and the consummate power that lieth concealed in the world of being.’”
Thus, the heterodox Bahá’ís have ignored Shoghi Effendi’s interpretation and have falsely interpreted the provisions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will in order to make the words of the Will conform to their faulty conception of the Covenant of Bahá’u'lláh.
In the previous paragraphs, the author states that Shoghi Effendi gives a different explanation for the meaning of the word “Aghsan.” This is simply untrue. Orthodox himself provides the verse in which Shoghi Effendi confirms that “Aghsan” means “sons”:
Shoghi Effendi wrote that the “weighty and incomparable Document…directs, in particular, the Aghsán (His sons) to ponder the ‘mighty force and the consummate power that lieth concealed in the world of being.’” (God Passes By, page 239)
Orthodox claims that BUPC ignore Shoghi Effendi’s interpretations when in fact it is they who are guilty. Talk about convolutions! Shoghi writes that Aghsan is “His sons” and Orthodox trys to use the verse as proof that that the BUPC are “misinterpreting” Aghsan. Sheesh!
Since Shoghi Effendi had no children, he was duty-bound by the provisions of the Will to appoint another branch–another member of the Faith–to succeed him so “that differences may not arise after his passing.” This he did in 1951 when he appointed Mason Remey as the president or head of the embryonic Universal House of Justice. (The Will states that the Guardian is the “sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body.”)
Here Orthodox concocts a new definition for the Baha’i word “branch.” “Branch” doesn’t mean “another member of the faith.” “Aghsan” and “branch” are the same. Branch is the English translation of Aghsan, which is Arabic for “sons.” The reason Shoghi picked Mason was because Mason was Abdu’l-Baha’s adopted son; Mason was a branch/Aghsan. Once again I direct you to read “re: Orthodox Doctrines” which you’ll find a link to at the bottom of this page.
Throughout His writings ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had emphasized the spiritual relationship of people over the merely physical. In His last tablet to America, He recounted how Qurratu’l-’Ayn (a heroine of the Faith) had denied her two eldest sons because they had not become believers and how she had, instead, embraced “All the friends of God” as her children because they were believers. The Master
then wrote:
Consider! The Divine Gardener cuts off the dry or weak branch from the good tree and grafts to it, a branch from another tree.
That verse pertains to Shoghi Effendi being the “chosen branch” who replaced Muhammad Ali.
NOWHERE in any of the Baha’i writings is there the term “spiritual sonship” which is the doctrine of Joel’s that you are trying to uphold here. It is kind of like the Hands who held “conclaves” as if they were part of Baha’i procedure.
While not doubt the importance of the lineage of Bahá’u'lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi, Orthodox Bahá’ís, in harmony with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s views on spiritual matters, emphasize the primacy of the spiritual relationship over that of the physical. Orthodox Bahá’ís therefore reject the view of the “Provisions” people that Shoghi Effendi was something less than the first Guardian of the Faith.(Emphasis Added).
What Orthodox Baha’is emphasize is unimportant in light of the fact that what they believe is not in accord with the Covenant, and this has certainly been proven now.
The Baha’is under the Provisions of the Covenant do not have the view that “Shoghi Effendi was something less than the first Guardian of the Faith.” On the contrary, the BUPC hold that Shoghi Effendi was indeed something more than any of the guardians after Him will ever be. Shoghi Effendi was the ONLY guardian that was infallible in His sphere. Mason Remey and Joseph Pepe and the future guardians are the distinguished executive of the UHJ but they do not share in Shoghis unique infallibility.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote in His Will that Shoghi Effendi “is, after ‘Abdu’l- Bahá, the guardian of the Cause of God,” and He said that “the beloved of the Lord must obey him and turn unto him. He that obeyeth him not, hath not obeyed God; he that turneth away from him, hath turned away from God and he that denieth him, hath denied the True One.”
In turning against Mason Remey, by accepting and promoting a false guardian, the Orthodox Baha’is have, like the Sans-Guardian Baha’is before them, gone against Shoghi Effendi and they have gone against God!
The Master then warned: “Beware lest anyone falsely interpret these words, and like unto them that have broken the Covenant after the Day of Ascension (of Bahá’u'lláh) advance a pretext, raise the standard of revolt, wax stubborn and open wide the door of false interpretation.”
Leland Jensen and those who now call themselves “Bahá’ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant” have falsely interpreted the words of ‘Abdu’l- Bahá. Under the pretext of their false Joshua, they are raising the standard of revolt, waxing stubborn, and opening wide the door of false interpretation.
More unfounded mudslinging by Orthodox.
Meanwhile, Orthodox Bahá’ís, who maintain that Shoghi Effendi duly appointed his successor when he appointed Mason Remey as the head of the embryonic Universal House of Justice, now teach the Faith of Bahá’u'lláh under the guidance of the third Guardian, Joel B. Marangella, who is Mason Remey’s duly-appointed successor.
And finally, Orthodox, having concluded in his own mind that he alone is right, concludes his document with a series of false and misleading statements. Orthodox purports that because his group is different than ours that his is the only one maintaining that “Shoghi Effendi duly appointed his successor when he appointed Mason Remey as the head of the embryonic Universal House of Justice.” This is the one thing in their document that the BUPC agrees with. And it is the one thread of truth that holds the “Orthodox” Baha’is together.
Peace