A Church in Search of Itself? Prophecy Fulfilled.

A fascinating analysis of the Catholic Church can be found upon the pages of A Church In Search Of Itself. Its institutions are facing a struggle over the Church’s future which is intensifying day by day. Robert Blair Kaiser, the author, carefully examines the most important issues confronting the Church. To me, it seems as though the book is a study companion to Shoghi Effendi’s Unfoldment of Divine Civilization. In a section titled the Deterioration of Christian Institutions, the Guardian writes:

“That the solidarity of some of these institutions has been irretrievably shattered is too apparent for any intelligent observer to mistake or deny. The cleavage between the fundamentalists and the liberals among their adherents is continually widening. Their creeds and dogmas have been watered down, and in certain instances ignored and discarded. Their hold upon human conduct is loosening, and the personnel of their ministries is dwindling in number and in influence. The timidity and insincerity of their preachers are, in several instances, being exposed. Their endowments have, in some countries, disappeared, and the force of their religious training has declined. Their temples have been partly deserted and destroyed, and an oblivion of God, of His teachings and of His Purpose, has enfeebled and heaped humiliation upon them.”

It is exactly this internal conflict between fundamentalists and liberals that can now be witnessed. The pope is struggling to keep hold on human conduct. Their congregations are becoming smaller. The insincerity of their preachers can not only be seen through various scandals. It is in a deep financial crisis. Every single one of the words of the Guardian has found its place in written history.

In examining denominations of Christianity and their respective deterioration, we should, however, not disregard Baha’u'llah’s own tribute to Jesus Christ.

“Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit.

We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him, the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened, and the soul of the sinner sanctified.”

“For the Faith of Baha’u'llah – if we would faithfully appraise it – can never, and in no aspect of its teachings, be at variance, much less conflict, with the purpose animating, or the authority invested in, the Faith of Jesus Christ.” (SE)