False prophet
(Bahá'u'lláh's warning mirroring Biblical warning against false prophets)[edit]
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
"O YE THAT ARE FOOLISH, YET HAVE A NAME TO BE WISE! Wherefore do ye wear the guise of shepherds, when inwardly ye have become wolves, intent upon My flock? Ye are even as the star, which riseth ere the dawn, and which, though it seem radiant and luminous, leadeth the wayfarers of My city astray into the paths of perdition."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Hidden Words, from the Persian, no. 24)
(False prophets seen as within Christianity)[edit]
"To sum up, if Christians say "our acts may be wrong," they say truly. If they say "however our Gospel is right" they are quite wrong. The false prophets have corrupted the Gospel as successfully as they have the deeds and lives of Christian people."
- (George Townshend, Christ and Bahá'u'lláh, a book commended by Shoghi Effendi in Unfolding Destiny, p. 379)
False prophets to bear bad fruit; Paul considers love, peace, etc. as good fruits which Bahá'u'lláh also advocated (and embodied)[edit]
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.”
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control"
"The fruits that best befit the tree of human life are trustworthiness and godliness, truthfulness and sincerity..."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Questions and Answers, no. 106)
"...foreign peoples and non-believers attributed wondrous works to Bahá’u’lláh. Some believed He was a saint, and some even wrote accounts to this effect, such as Siyyid Dávúdí, a Sunní divine of Baghdád, who composed a short treatise in which he related in some connection certain extraordinary feats of Bahá’u’lláh. To this day there are people throughout the East who do not believe in Bahá’u’lláh as a Manifestation of God, but who regard Him as a saint and attribute miracles to Him.
"To summarize, not a single soul, whether friend or foe, who attained Bahá’u’lláh’s presence failed to acknowledge and attest to His greatness. Although he might not become a believer, he would invariably bear witness to His greatness. No sooner would someone appear before Him than the encounter would produce such an impression as to prevent him, in most cases, from uttering a word. How often would a bitter enemy resolve in his heart to say such-and-such or to argue so-and-so when he had attained His presence, only to find himself amazed, bewildered, and reduced to utter silence!"
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, Chapter 9, [[saqpar:9-19-20|19-20])