he
advantage of the whole, and that no lasting result can be achieved by any
of the component parts if the general interests of the entity itself are
neglected....

--Shoghi Effendi

THE PROMISED DAY IS COME

Friends and fellow-heirs of the Kingdom of Baha'u'llah:

A tempest, unprecedented in its violence, unpredictable in its course,
catastrophic in its immediate effects, unimaginably glorious in its
ultimate consequences, is at present sweeping the face of the earth. Its
driving power is remorselessly gaining in range and momentum. Its
cleansing force, however much undetected, is increasing with every passing
day. Humanity, gripped in the clutches of its devastating power, is
smitten by the evidences of its resistless fury. It can neither perceive
its origin, nor probe its significance, nor discern its outcome.
Bewildered, agonized and helpless, it watches this great and mighty wind
of God invading the remotest and fairest regions of the earth, rocking its
foundations, deranging its equilibrium, sundering its nations, disrupting
the homes of its peoples, wasting its cities, driving into exile its
kings, pulling down its bulwarks, uprooting its institutions, dimming its
light, and harrowing up the souls of its inhabitants.

"The time for the destruction of the world and its people," Baha'u'llah's
prophetic pen has proclaimed, "hath arrived." "The hour is approaching,"
He specifically affirms, "when the most great convulsion will have
appeared." "The promised day is come, the day when tormenting trials will
have surged above your heads, and beneath your feet, saying: 'Taste ye
what your hands have wrought!'" "Soon shall the blasts of His chastisement
beat upon you, and the dust of hell enshroud you." And again: "And when
the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall
cause the limbs of mankind to quake." "The day is approaching when its
[civilization's] flame will devour the cities, when the Tongue of Grandeur
will proclaim: 'The Kingdom is God's, the Almighty, the All-Praised!'"
"The day will soon come," He, referring to the foolish ones of the earth,
has written, "whereon they will cry out for help and receive no answer."
"The day is approaching," He moreover has prophesied, "when the wrathful
anger of the Almighty will have taken hold of them. He, verily, is the
Omnipotent, the All-Subduing, the Most Powerful. He shall cleanse the
earth from the defilement of their corruption,