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"The Hand of God," say the Jews, "is chained up." Their own hands shall be chained up - and for that which they have said shall they be cursed. Nay! outstretched are both His hands! At His own pleasure doth He bestow gifts. That which hath been sent down to thee from thy Lord will surely increase the rebellion and unbelief of many of them; and We have put enmity and hatred between them that shall last until the Day of Resurrection. Oft as they kindle a beacon fire for war shall God quench it. - Sura v, 69 (144:1) And of those who say, "We are Christians," have We accepted the Covenant. But they too have forgotten a part of what they were taught; wherefore We have stirred up enmity and hatred among them that shall last till the Day of Resurrection; and in the end will God tell them of their doings. - Sura v, 17. (144:2) These words also have been literally fulfilled in the subjection of the Jews to Christian (and Muslim) peoples, and in the sectarianism and strife which have divided both Jews and Christians among themselves during all the centuries since Muhammad spoke. Only since the commencement of the Baha'i era (the Day of Resurrection) have signs of the approaching end of these conditions made their appearance. (144:3) Signs in Heaven and Earth In the Book of Joel we read: And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible days of the Lord come.. For, behold, in those days .. when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat [Jehovah judgeth], and will plead with them there.. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of his people. - Joel ii, 30-31; iii, 1-2, 14-16. (144:5) Christ says: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. - Matt. xxiv, 29-30.
(144:6)
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