Approaching the West — Page 15
A pproaching the West—15 Abode of Love [Agapemone] on a piece of 200 acres of land at Spaxton in Somerset. He could persuade his followers to give up all or part of their earthly possessions in order to be ‘saved. ’ The Agapemone became wealthy enough to build an extravagant temple, the Ark of the Covenant, at Clapton in London. Rev. J. H. Smyth-Pigott was a handsome and charming man who, like his predecessor, Rev. H. J. Prince, loved the company of young and beautiful women. He had more than 3,000 followers who lived very well, enjoying good food and drinks, and playing billiards in the company of attractive young ladies. All of his followers were promised immortality. In 1902, Rev. Smyth-Pigott claimed to be the Messiah– Jesus incarnate–”God, not man. ” When the news reached Ḥ a ḍ rat A ḥ mad (peace be on him), he took notice of his deceitful claims and said that similar false claimants had emerged at the time of the Messenger of All ā h (may peace and blessings be on him) but were quickly annihilated. He predicted that the same would be the case of Rev. Smyth- Pigott. A revelation “All ā h is severe in punishing!” (in Arabic: annall ā ha shad ī dul-‘iq ā b) was made public to be applicable on Smyth-Pigott (Al-Badr, February 20, 1903). On August 23, 1903, Ḥ a ḍ rat A ḥ mad (peace be on him) issued another notice expressing his heartfelt pain that even in this age false claimants were emerging among the followers of Jesus Christ. For this abhorrent situation, he blamed the Christian dogma of the Divinity of Jesus. Dowie had claimed to be Elijah in America, and Smyth-Pigott had become Jesus the God in London! Ḥ a ḍ rat A ḥ mad said that the difference between the two was that Dowie did not dare