The Bahá’í Writings teach that covenant breaking is a spiritual disease and the Writings are replete with warnings about the great harm that will come to the Cause unless Bahá’ís everywhere are vigilant about avoiding them.

But exactly what is a covenant breaker, how does a Bahá’í become one, and what can we do to make sure that we do not fall under their influence?

For a full explanation of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, read the article What does He want you to do as a community?  For a complete discussion of how the Center of the Cause was rejected by most Bahá’ís, read the article on The Great Violation.

It is important to distinguish between persons whom have broken the Covenant and others whom have been merely misled away from the Covenant.

COVENANT BREAKER

A covenant breaker is a Baha’i who fully understands and grasps the significance of the Covenant and recognizes the Center of the Cause, the Living Guardian. However, he knowingly and purposefully betrays the Center of the Cause due to personal and selfish concerns or pursuits. This condition is born of an arrogance that leads the wayward Baha’i into believing that he or she has a better approach than what has been put forth by the Will of God. The covenant breaker believes that he or she knows better or has a compelling personal reason to reject and betray the Center of the Cause.

Covenant breaking is a spiritual disease, highly contagious and compared by ‘Abdu’l-Baha to the physical affliction of leprosy and that is why it has now assumed epidemic proportions in the Baha’i world since the passing of Shoghi Effendi. If we consider that the institutions of the Baha’i Administrative Order had been healthy living organisms during the ministry of the first Guardian, it was only, following his death in 1957, that this deadly infection of violation first attacked the immune system of one of these living organisms of the Faith, i.e. the Hands of the Cause, who in turn infected the other organisms such as Baha’i assemblies and through them the contagion was spread worldwide to most of the believers in the Faith. This infection had spread in this way very quickly throughout the Faith.  Only, Shoghi Effendi’s appointed successor, the Head of the Faith, “Center of the Cause” and “the sacred and youthful branch, the guardian of the Cause of God” alone remained immune to this infection as he was  “under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty“.

It was not long, however before some of the institutions and believers who had received a spiritual antitoxin, in the form of the second Guardian’s writings, recognized the virulence of this spiritual poison and became impervious to it, with the result that certain Baha’i organs, such as the National Spiritual Assembly of France, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Lucknow, India and some of the faithful believers in United States, Europe, Iran, India and Pakistan became immune to its effect. However the now affected and deformed cells of the immune system of the bogus UHJ presently headquartered in Haifa developed into an apparently incurable big spiritual tumor, which caused this thoroughly diseased body, in turn, to further infect all parts of the body of the Faith and paralyze all sense of understanding and logic on the part of most of the believers. That is how this tragic violation of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah happened. But the good news is that soon the Divine physician will inevitably extract the big tumor described above and its spiritual claws. Then the Faith will become healthy again.

Certainly everybody must take this warning very seriously:

“We have a fixed time for you, O peoples. If ye fail, at the appointed hour, to turn towards God, He, verily, will lay violent hold on you, and will cause grievous afflictions to assail you from every direction. How severe, indeed, is the chastisement with which your Lord will then chastise you!“

(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 214)

MISLED BELIEVER

A misled believer, on the other hand, does not have knowledge but comes under the influence of a covenant breaker and blindly accepts whatever he or she has to say. This is not covenant breaking. This condition arises from a shallowness of belief—a lack of faith. These misled and faithless believers must not be shunned. Instead they must be lovingly nurtured and deepened until their faith goes deeper in the Centre of Cause.

WHAT IS FAITHFULNESS TO COVENANT

Faithfulness to the Covenant should be understood as a spiritual process and journey. In order for a Bahá’í to properly take this journey, he or she must deepen in the Writings, become a sincere and independent investigator of Truth, and become a True Seeker. Bahá’u’lláh came to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. If one is to be a true Bahá’í, one must recognize and obey the Guardian. To do this, one must grow spiritually until there is the capacity to see and accept the Center of the Cause. It is not enough to remain on the surface of the Ocean of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation. He requires a deeper understanding and acceptance of the Faith. The independent investigation of Truth is our spiritual obligation.

TRUE SEEKER

A True Seeker does not have pre-conceived notions of what he or she will accept. The True Seeker knows what Truth is. All else is error and has no meaning or existence. Thus, the True Seeker will go wherever the Truth may lead. When a deaf, dumb, and blind Bahá’í awakens, True Faith is born and the wayward Bahá’í awakens to the truths of the Covenant. In other words, a deepened Bahá’í is a Bahá’í that has recognized the living Guardian of the Faith and obeys him.

There is a community of deepened Bahá’ís who remain completely unkown to the larger group of “blind, deaf, and dumb” Bahá’ís (those who have not yet been enlightened with the truth of the Covenant). Only those believers who remain faithful to the Center of the Cause— the living Guardian of the Cause– can be said to be True Baha’is. They understand that God really meant everything uttered from the mouths of Bahá’u’lláh and `Abdu´l-Bahá. They accept that the Bahá’í Revelation is a blueprint for God’s Plan for our society. This blueprint must be followed exactly. It is not acceptable to deviate at all from the Plan established by God Himself.

To be True Bahá’ís, it is required that we be fully prepared to render instant, exact, and complete obedience to the Center of the Cause.

When we have become deepened in the Bahá’í Revelation, and we have sincere, unyielding and complete faith in the Truth, we no longer have anything to fear. We have no doubt about our position. There is nobody to convince or convert. We simply stand for the Truth with full knowledge that the Truth will prevail and will be victorious.

Covenant breakers and the misled shallow believers who follow them are not characterized by the peaceful and fearless traits of the True Bahá’ís. Because they have no Faith, they respond with fear and frustration, and the urgent desire to proselytize and convert others to their position. They have great fear that something will go wrong and that the Bahá’í Revelation will come to naught. Since they don’t really accept the validity of the Bahá’í Revelation, they have doubts about it. They desire to make changes and to improve it. They want to substitute their own judgment for the Will of God. They attack and fear anybody who challenges their belief system because they are not so sure about it themselves. The more converts they can find, the better they feel that they are on the right course. If they can find leaders to guide them, they can let go of their fear and simply be a follower without question.

All Bahá’ís must come into the Light. It is time for Bahá’ís everywhere to begin their spiritual journey back to the shade of the Tree of the Covenant. Know that God is, and that all of His attributes, such as Love, Knowledge, and Glory, are the only things that really exist. All else is falsehood. Our job is to turn to Bahá’u’lláh, render instant, exact, and complete obedience to the Third Guardian, Joel B. Marangella and allow God’s attributes to shine within our souls.

Be assured that the gates are always open for those who learn to understand the lineage of the Covenant as prescribed by Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha, and embrace the current Center of that Covenant, the living Third Guardian, Joel B. Marangella. Those who do so will be welcomed with open arms into the fold of the True Baha’i Faith, the Orthodox Baha’i Faith.

Compiled By: Hand of the Cause Y.H. Taylor