Timothy248

Revelations 2:26: As for the victor and the one who takes to heart my good deeds right to the end, to him or her I shall give authority over nations, 27: so that he or she shall guide them with an iron rod as clay pots to be broken up, as also I myself have attained from my Father, 28so I shall assign to him or her the Dawn-Star.

In apocalypse secrets, a book by the Baha'i Dr John Able, his interpretation of this passage is: "As for Hindus who prevail spiritually and those who take my good deeds seriously right through these end-times, to you I shall give authority over nations, so that you shall direct them with God’s firm law as countries devolving into cantons, as also I have attained from my Father Brahma, so I shall appoint a Hindu as the brilliant Teacher to dawn the next new Era."

An Indian guru, called Paramahamsa Nithyananda, claims to have reached enlightenment on January 1st of the year 2000. He has a lot of followers, 10 million according to his website. I watched his youtube videos for many years and believe in his authenticity. If this interpretation of the apocalypse is correct I suspect he is the Dawn Star of the new era.

How do you'll view Dr John Able's interpretations of revelations, and Paramahamsa Nithyananda?

arthra

My copy of Apocalypse Secrets copyright in 2011 reads a little differently... on p. 153:

"...I shall appoint the divine Teacher of the next new Era as one of you Hindus"

You have

"....so I shall appoint a Hindu as the brilliant Teacher to dawn the next new Era"

At least if you're going to quote him ...do so accurately. The words he uses are: "... as one of you Hindus" not as you suggest "...so I shall appoint a Hindu".

The author is paraphrasing what he thinks the verses are saying....He goes on to suggest that later verses are addressed to Buddhism, Christainity and Islam, this is what he calls his "parallel" interpretation. They are his own views. What the author writes on page 21 is significant:

"Apocalypse Secrets is a Baha'i based interpretation of the Book of Revelation. I have written it as a friend of the Baha'i faith. However, I disclaim representing it or its agencies in any official way.

My book simply presents my own best good-faith reading of Revelation..."

So his views arre his own and he makes no claims beyond that.

Emilia

In that case, a Baha'i view is not terribly useful, since Baha'u'llah was very clear in His remarks about "ere the expiration of 1000 years..." By that rubric it would be impossible for Swami Nithyananda's claim to be valid.

However, let's assume any Baha'i might wish to investigate further (hey, you never know, maybe Baha'u'llah's claims were not correct so the 1000 year thing is not relevant then).

The first thing I would look at is the character of Swami Nithyananda, not whether one verse in Revelation can be made to seem to apply to him.

With information available the way it is these days, it's possible to find out something about his character and if it's the sort of thing one would expect of a real prophet and not, well, I hate the term but...a cult leader? Only then would it be worth my time to continue on.

And then he'd better be able to fulfill a whole network of prophecies in the Bible (and other religions as well) if he wants me to take him seriously.

But let's start with looking at the character of him and his organization.

I have never heard of Swami Nithyananda, and while obviously Google searches are not always the most reliable source of information, if you're used to doing research on a regular basis it's fairly easy to see patterns and sift out the less reliable stuff.

I did notice a report in the Hindustan Times about Swami Nithyananda's passport being confiscated. The date of the article is just a few days ago: 6 Oct. 2012. Have you read that and if so, what do you make of it?

There are some other sources that make things look pretty shady, from many accusations of rape to harassment of those who have accused him of rape, and a U.S. Federal Civil case in which his Foundation was declared fraudulent. I can give you exact links if you want them.

Now, I'm aware that any actual prophet has accusations hurled against him, but reading about those in history there were also those who had good things to say about their honest, helping the poor and sick, and sacrifices.

I'm finding no positive comments save those from members of his organization. None. Srsly, even Pilate recognized Jesus was not a criminal. So this is not looking so good so far.

I'm afraid so far my (admittedly limited) Google search is revealing a picture more like a cult leader in it for the money, power, and sexual favors.

OK, but it behooves me to look at the guy's site and see what he says for himself too. So I did and uh...

1. Many overblown statements about if you take some course or whatever you will experience 1000% increase in mitochondrial whatnot....or 1300% increase in whatever else that was.

- Methinks the guy needs to consult a mathematician. And he's sounding scientific without any science. For a scientist like me, nothing could turn me off faster than overblown scientific claims with no visible means of support.

2. Just on a lark, I clicked on the link to Register for a course (it happens on a cruise ship, of course -- a nice controlled setting eh what as well as only subject to maritime law. Convenient?). There was no discussion of COST when you try to register, but several links along in a FAQ I did see mention they take credit cards. STILL no mention of price. So you register and THEN they tell you what the cost is? What honest person does that? Naturally I didn't click on any of these things openly but went through a proxy because I'm hardly an online n00b having been on since uh before there was an Internet. This group seems not to be trustworthy.

Name me ONE actual prophet that charged anyone $$$ to teach them spirituallity.

ONE

Just ONE.

Then, and maybe then, I might think there's some remote chance this guy is nothing more than a liar and his organization a total sham.

LOL..well Timothy, you did ask.

And so there's the result of Booko's Quick & Off-the-cuff Research Firm.

And in the face of those results, anything Dr. Able said about prophetic interpretations doesn't seem to figure into this case.

Timothy248

I'm not claiming he's a manifestation or one of the 24 elders, but a different role detached from the line of Baha'i but still important.

I'm aware of all the things people say about him, regardless I still trust him because his teachings on you tube have always been accurate and helpful.

However any interpretation of revelations not by a being with extremely high spiritual understanding and authority isn't very reliable so I'm saying this more as a vague possibility.

tonyfish58

Emilia- You hit the nail on the head - Well done with the reply.

Timothy248 - There is no reason that this person may not have tapped into the revelation released by Baha'u'llah. But as Emilia has stated, by their fruits you shall know them.

The First test is the Person

The second Test is their Word

A true spiritual person will not be after reward and will live by thier own teachings. They will not live in luxury while thier followers are in need.

IMHO - I would be putting my effort in to knowing and following Baha'u'llah. This is how the world will change.

Regards Tony

Emilia

Timothy, to me it doesn't matter what "still important" role he is supposed to be playing.

If his character is as untrustworthy as all this and he gives every appearance of being shady an into the money end of things, whatever teachings he gives may be useful, but are a distraction from something from a better source.

If he said things that didn't have *some* ring of truth to them, he wouldn't manage to gain so many followers.

Mind you I'm not calling him a con man, especially on the basis of 5 minutes of Internet search, but it would be worth keeping in mind that con men are successful only to the extent their pitch is mostly believable and appears to be of some use.

Maybe "walk the spiritual path with practical feet" applies here? *shrug*

I've seen too many examples of poor hermeneutic ripping one or a few verses out of prophecy and making something of it.

There's a lot of Biblical prophecy. It may not be likely for anyone to understand all of them in all detail, but there should be enough jigsaw pieces that hang together so you at least start to see a big picture before you can really make much of anything.

I say this as someone who discovered the Baha'i Faith by tracing the threads of prophecy of several major religions. Don't take me for an expert as much as a skeptic that saw enough to think the ridiculous was many not so ridiculous after all.

Tread carefully.

Magi728

We behold all created things moved to bear witness unto Us. Some know Us and bear witness, while the majority bear witness, yet know Us not.


Baha'u'llah