Signs of the Living God — Page 2
Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad 2 for spiritual water are made so dry they ache as though pricked by thorns; when their lips are parched and their eyes sink with the extremities of thirst; God raises a prophet for their guidance and a messenger for their reformation. These [messengers] come as clouds of spiritual water which inundate every swathe of land capable of absorbing their rain and assuage the yearning of the thirsty. They are a light by which those who are shrouded in darkness begin to see. They are a fire which burns the enemies of truth to ashes. They are a jolt of electricity which, by sudden bursts, strikes such power into the fortunate that the blind are able to see, the infirm are able to walk and the mute are able to speak. Their friendship is an antidote to all toxins and enmity to them is such a fatal poison that once it is consumed there are no humanly means or cures that can save people from destruction. In the present age, the estrangement of people from spirituality, the spread of vice and the prevalence of sin all signify that if God had raised prophets in the past, He must also raise one now, and if a reformer had appeared at any point in history , one must also appear today. The prophecies of earlier prophets unanimously testify that this would be a time for the advent of a prophet. Although there are thousands of differences between the