Malfuzat - Volume IV — Page 87
87 Malfuzat – Volume IV A person is inclined towards things which are advantageous and beneficial; on the other hand, he flees from and detests things that are detrimental and harmful. Now, people consider gold and silver to be beneficial for themselves, so they are extremely inclined to it. They undertake exhaustive efforts and undergo difficul - ties to obtain it, and store it with great safety. However, if someone were to dis - card gold and silver and begin to safely store large blocks of clay in their trunks, would physicians not regard such a person to be mad? Of course they would. Similarly, when we realise that God exists and He detests sin, but loves piety and holds it dear, we will run madly towards good deeds and flee far from a life of sin. It is this principle alone which nurtures the strength to perform virtue, encourag - es faculties of piety, destroys evil propensities and vanquishes the spawn of Satan. When we truly develop certainty in God, just as we do in the sun that shines above us, and we see God, as it were, most certainly, a death overtakes our baser life and a heavenly life is born—as were the lives of the Prophets, peace be upon them, and other holy people. I would like to reassure you that the mercy of God descends upon those who are obedient and righteous. Those who advance towards God Almighty and offer to Him the gift of virtue and purity, and who abstain from evil and wrongdoing because they know that these things distance and deprive a person from God, such people are cleansed by a holy spring. A person who is cleansed by this spring then never becomes dirty or impure ever again. They are given a sherbet to drink and the one who drinks this never feels thirsty again. They are given a life which knows no death. They are given a paradise from which they are never made to leave. On the contrary, those who are not satiated by this spring, those who are not touched by the hand of God, become distanced from God and grow closer to Satan. Such people have stopped moving towards God and this is the reason that they no longer experience comfort, nor do they possess any arguments in their favour, nor spiritual influence. I Can Show Miracles If someone were to ask a Christian that you claim to have been purified of your sins through the blood of the Messiah, but what is the proof of this and what miraculous qualities have been vested in you that have filled you with the spirit of extraordinary fear of God and virtue, they would have no answer. In contrast, if someone were to ask me, I would be able to give strong evidence of this fact. If p. 359 p. 360