While millions seek world peace through uniting religions, Jesus Christ alone - the Prince of Peace - can establish the peace that passes understanding.
• Pray for members of the Universal House of Justice to recognize Jesus as the true and final Christ.
• Pray for members of national and local assemblies to question their faith and search for Truth.
• Pray for Baha’is to find the peace they seek in God’s everlasting kingdom.
Number of adherents: 7 million
Birthplace: Shiraz, Iran
Founder: Bahá’u’lláh
Date Founded: 1863
Holy Book/Text: Kitáb-i-Aqdas
Holy Sites: Bahá'u'lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's, and the Báb's
burial sites
Major Subgroups: none
Growth Rate: 2.3%
% of Growth, Conversion: 18.4%
% of Growth, Birth: 81.6%
Who They Worship: One god, a god of all religions
Place of Worship: temple
While Baha’is are not well known by many around the world, God knows them perfectly as beautiful people for whom His love is never-ending and never-changing.
The Baha’i faith was born out of Islam in 1844 when the Báb, a supposed messenger of god, said a man was coming who would be the next prophet from god. After Muslims executed the Báb for teaching against their beliefs, Bahá'u'lláh - one of the Báb’s followers - proclaimed he was the announced prophet. After Bahá'u'lláh’s death, Abdu'l-Bahá, his son, began spreading the religion around the world.
Today a committee of people, the Universal House of Justice, is elected to lead the religion. It is the second most geographically widespread religion in the world after Christianity. With 7.5 million followers, primarily in India and Africa, this is the seventh largest religion in the world.
Baha'is believe there is one god who created the earth and everything in it. They believe every religion worships that same god, called by different names. Cultural differences have led people to interpret god differently, they say, leading to many different religions.
Baha'is believe god is omnipotent, without sin, and all knowing. He cannot be incarnated into human form. But the Bible says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). They also believe that humanity cannot know anything about god because we can’t understand him. All we can know is that He exists. But the Bible says, “The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations” (Ps. 98:2). Baha’is believe that men such as Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, the Buddah, Mohammad, and even Jesus were prophets sent from god. But Jesus said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30).
The essence of the Baha’i faith is that all people should be unified and love each other. They encourage people of many different faiths to join the Baha’i faith without the renunciation of their previous faith. A person must only recognize Bahá'u'lláh as the latest messenger from god. But the Bible says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
Baha’is believe everyone has an immortal soul, which will freely roam the spirit world after death. There is no literal heaven or hell. After death, it is only a journey towards or away from god. Followers of the Baha’i faith must develop certain virtues during this life so they will be able to move forward quicker in the next. Matthew 25:46 says, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
People within the Baha’i faith are lost and searching for something that can only be found in the presence of the one true God. As one of the world’s fastest growing religions, more and more people are losing their way from God and trying to find refuge in this lost religion. But there is light within the darkness. Many Baha’is are seeing the problems within their faith and seeking more. God is speaking to these people in amazing ways, drawing them to their Savior Jesus - the only way, truth, and life (John 14:6).
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1-3
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:6
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
John 8:58
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. - John 14:14
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