Part 1: Preface
“Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment.” Isaiah 41:1
“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. Be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:19-20
“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14
I am talking to the generations who are yet to come. I am neither surprised nor frightened if my generation is neither able nor willing to accept what I am giving them. You the next generations, do not make the same mistakes as your fathers did. You do not walk on the same way as your ancestors did. You do not live in pride and selfishness as your parents did. You do not be like those whom you are laughing at now. My generation laughs at the ways their parents lived, yet, they do not think that their children will do the same to them.
You the next generations, will read these lines when I am no more among you; nor will any of these people who are living at my age. Where are your forefathers? Where are their prophets? Both your forefathers and their messengers are gone. What has remained is God and His voice. You too will go and those who are around you. But, God’s words and presence will live here eternally.
The people of my age do not accept what I am giving them. The very same people, however, are laughing at those who did not accept former messengers. They wish if they were at the time of their former messenger so that they could join and help him. They are so blind that do not see the same words coming from another person’s lips. God knows that these people are those who would deny Zoroaster, Buda, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Bahaullah and other messengers if they had the chance to live at their time.
You the next generations, do not follow the same blindness. You will have the power to separate good fruit from the bad. All you will need to do is to open your heart, which your parents didn’t. You do not fight each other for the sake of trees. Look for the fruit. The tree is good if it bears good fruit.
You the next generations, wash your robe and do not put the new wine into the old wineskin. You will receive the new wine when the time is right. When the time comes, do not think like your fathers. When the time comes, open your heart and plant the tree into your heart if it has good fruit. This is the key to know the fruit. The tree should bear fruit that tastes peace and love, and offers helping hand to everybody. Any fruit that tastes hatred and self-centeredness, focuses on the name of a person, aims at gathering people as a group or a religion, and does not put God in the center of attention is not worthy of attention.
The Reminded Way has introduced a new era in knowing and obeying God. Man-God relation is personal. Therefore, any future attempts in establishing a congregation, under any name, should be discarded. Do not pick the fruit of such trees and they will fall down one after another involuntarily. The fruit of such trees will be eaten by cows, worms, other animals, or will be trampled under the feet of the gardeners; and the branches of such trees, when they receive no attention, will dry very soon.
The truth of all religions is that they all come from one source and they introduce one fruit. That one source is the only God and that fruit is love. The people in different countries, on different lands, have used different names for this only source.
No messenger has stood against the other one. This is a pity that the followers of messengers stand against each other. The followers of Jesus, for example, stand against the followers of Muhammad, and the followers of Moses stand against the followers of Jesus, and so on. They do this because they have established an organization and they want to protect their organization against others. They have changed the first love of their messengers into worldly visions, worldly intentions, and worldly desires. The messengers have taught people to love and help others. They say if you love others, and if you help others, you are with God. When you are with God, you are saved. You can see this message in Islam, in Christianity, in Buddhism, in Zoroastrianism, in Bahai, or in any other religion. The main fruit is this. However, the problem is that I seek God through my messenger, you seek God through your messenger, and they seek God through their messenger. Then comes the idea of my God, your God, and their God. Then religious chaos appears. People stand against each other; people kill each other for one source.
We still remember what happened in Europe during the Middle Ages under the name of Jesus. We remember what has happened in many Islamic countries under the name of Islam. Under the name of a prophet who said, The closest to God is the most righteous one . The prophet did not say, The closest to God are those who believe in me.
Jesus had already introduced the righteous ones . According to him, those who love others, those who help others, those who protect others are righteous and will be saved (Mathew 25:31-46). You see, there is a harmony in their words. Bible says, If you have such a faith that moves the mountains but you do not have love, your faith is dead (1 Corinthians 13). If you go through other religions, you will see the same.
The main theme of all these words is love. Love does not need education. Not all mothers are literate. Not all mothers are educated enough to understand the philosophy of love. Not all mothers can explain love and fellowship. However, all mothers love their children. Love does not need academic education. Love does not need organization. Love does not need philosophical concepts of the books. You can love without being able to explain love.
This is a pity that the followers of great messengers of the world have reached an impasse. Each one is looking for a way to discard the other one. Each religion is trying to cut out the other one. They all do this under one name and that name is the one God. They have made their messenger a barrier behind which lots of people are crowded instead of climbing to the top. These messengers have come to show people how to climb to the top. Nevertheless, people are fighting each other in the valley. I say this guide or this messenger can take you to the top. You say that guide can take you to the top. The other person says his messenger can take you to the top. The result is that we are fighting; we are killing each other down in the valley. If you reached the top and looked at the people down in the valley, you would feel sorry for these people. You would see hatred, wars, and bloodshed. All of them claim to know the way. But all of them are down in the valley. None of them is climbing to the top. They have turned their guide, their messenger into a barrier behind which they are fighting, they are killing each other.
This is the question: which messenger is reliable? Which messenger has come from God? I give you three choices and you will have the right to choose.
1- The first option is that all messengers are liars. They have not been in touch with God. They just pretend that they have touched one supernatural power. They just pretend that they have brought a message from God but, in reality, their message is from their own. They have tried to become famous, rich, to have followers, and so on.
If this is the case, their words must vanish and fade away in history. Their words should expire.
If you looked at newspapers and daily speeches throughout the world, you would see that hundreds, thousands, or millions of speeches are delivered on each single day. However, almost all of them fade away in history. They are subject to expiration. But if you looked at the words of the messengers, you would see that their words are not expired in thousands of years and they will not expire in future. Therefore, this option cannot be true that messengers are liars. I encourage all of you to read the words of different messengers and you will come to this conclusion that they have touched a supernatural power.
2- The second option is that God must be crazy.
Such a God who had sent Zoroaster and then later sent Muhammad to stand against Zoroaster; such a God who had sent Moses and then later sent Jesus to stand against Moses must be crazy. Such a God loves tension. Such a God loves bloodshed. Such a God enjoys putting people against each other. Such a God loves to play with people. Or maybe, such a God does not know what to do. Whatever the reason is, such a God is not worthy of praise, for sure. He is not worthy of being called our God. He has sent several messengers by himself to bring disorder and to encourage people to stand against each other. Such a God must be crazy.
3- The third option is that neither messengers are liars nor God is crazy. In this case, all messengers have touched a supernatural power. They have been revealed to bring God’s words. God is the same God who has sent these messengers.
Now, here is the question: if God is not crazy and if the messengers are not lying, why and under whose authority the followers of these messengers are standing against each other, are insulting each other, and are killing each other? Who has given them such an authority? Where does the problem come from?
If you go through this, you will see that the problem does not come from God; neither does it come from messengers. No messenger has denied the former one. No messenger insulted the previous one. Therefore, the root of the problem is in the followers of each messenger. The followers of each messenger have established an organization. To keep such an organization safe, they have to stand against others. They are shopkeepers and businesspersons. They are making money with the name of their messengers. If Muhammad himself rose again today, his own followers would kill him. If Jesus himself rose again today, his own followers would kill him. The same would happen to other messengers.
Now, let us deal with a couple of religions. I am starting with Christianity. God has put His power in me to reveal His words. In His name, I begin my holy duty.
Think not that I am standing against Jesus. He is of me and I am of him. Those who have a message from God are from God and have one source in common.
Jesus, you are my witness and you know that I am revealing your words to the blind. You know that I am doing my duty as I am supposed to do. Let the world find the bad fruit on me, if any, and discard me. Let the world call me out of his mind’ as they called you so. Let the people enjoy the good fruit that will open their heart. Jesus, you are my witness that I am helping those who have eyes but do not see; I am helping those who have ears but do not hear. Jesus, you know that I am with you to help people wash their robe and join the light. Jesus, you know how deeply we love each other. Let those who call themselves your ambassadors see you as you are and not as what they want you to be. Let the world renew their recognition and know you as you revealed yourself to them. Jesus, you know that the One who sent you has given me this holy duty to accomplish. Jesus, you are my witness when they call my words blasphemy. In God’s name, I am starting my pleasant duty in love and peace. Let those who love you rejoice in what I am giving them through your words and let the shopkeepers put an end to their worldly intentions. Amen.
December 17, 2004 – August 2005