THE CASE OF THE MISSING MESSIAH
A brief presentation by Nurym Taibek on the topic: "The Case of the Missing Messiah" at the ECG meeting at the POSK, Polish Culture Centre in London, on 17.02.24.
Almost all religions expect the coming of a Messiah. Many different names have been attributed to him. The Christians expect the coming of Jesus Christ (as), and the Muslims expect ‘Isa (as) and a Mahdi. Hindus expect the return of Krishna (as). Zoroastrians, American Indians, Jews and many others expect the coming of such a man.
Today, I present a glimpse of a search for the Messiah, based on Christian and Jewish books, although similar research has been done on the books and teachings of some other religions as well.
The first prophecy is:
“And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24.14)
So, the Bible will be preached in all nations before the coming of the Messiah. This was in reply to the question about signs of Christ’s (as) second coming.
Many sects of Christianity have been preaching for almost 3 centuries by now that the coming of the Messiah is at hand and everyone in the countries with Christian population, seen or heard, “Repent, the end is nigh. Jesus is coming! The kingdom of God is at hand” etc.
It’s easy to discover when this all began.
In 1804, the British Foreign Bible Society was established and twelve years later its sister organisation, The American Bible Society came into being. Before the existence of these societies, the Bible was translated into 50 languages. By 1816, according to the records of these societies, 421 million copies were distributed amongst all nations. Massive efforts were launched by all Christians to spread the good news. Christian scholars stated that within the 19th century, the spreading and preaching of the Bible had taken place all over the globe. All continents were covered, including the interior of Africa. This all occurred on a massive organised scale. One scholar wrote, for the first time since the apostolic period, occurred an outburst of general missionary zeal and activity.”
Mr G. S. Faber stated in 1844: “The stupendous endeavours of one gigantic community to convey the scriptures in every language to every part of the world may well deserve to be considered as an eminent sign of these eventful times. Unless I be much mistaken, such endeavours are preparatory to the final diffusion of Christianity, which is the theme of so many inspired prophets, and which cannot be far distant in the present day.”
Since 1804, over 421 million copies of the Bible have been issued in practically every country throughout the world.
By 1842, the Gospel had been spread to 95% of the inhabitants of the earth. In 1842, five treaty ports in China were opened for commerce and missionaries.
In 1844, Turkey was prevailed upon to recognise the right of Muslims to become Christians.
In 1844, the South American Mission was established. In 1842, the door of Bible preaching in the interior of Africa was opened.
Up to 1858, India, Siam, Burma, China, Japan, Turkey, Africa, Mexico, and South America were successively and successfully entered, together embracing half of the world population.
Within the endeavours19th century, British evangelists and regular missionaries had openly declared that God had ordained that India, The Middle East and Africa should become Christian. Nothing was going to stop them. Britain, being the mighty empire of the day made sure that all facilities were granted for the work of the missionaries. The British believed in Christ’s(as) return and rushed to spread the news.
The nineteenth century was indeed full of events. There was an air of religious fervour throughout Christian countries. The Christians looked with great awe when they saw the sun being encircled with a great halo in 1843. The sight of a giant meteor in 1833 put fear in their hearts. The general conditions can now be realised only by reading some of the accounts of the times. Henry Foreman, author of a book called The Story of Prophecy, stated that Lady Hester Stanhope, a valiant woman, and niece of William Pitt, turned her back on London and power and fashion, and made her home in Lebanon amongst the Arabs and Druse. She kept two white Arab steeds, one for the Messiah and one for herself.
A famous Jewish convert, Joseph Wolff, predicted the advent of Christ in 1847.
A famous Washington lady, Harriet Livermore, preached the advent of the second coming of Christ to the House of Representatives, where crowds gathered to hear her.
The more orthodox Christians prepared robes for Christ (as). The fashion of the day was recorded to be a shroud. A magazine called Star of the West Vol. XIV, page 304 states: “There is a little mosque in the Holy Land, where the priests preside keeping ready the shoes that the Messiah is to wear when he comes to Jerusalem”
Henry Foreman states that so real was the hope of the advent, that people were taking almost violent action about it.
The shooting stars of 1833 and the perihelia or halo-like rings around the sun in 1843, were objects of the most awesome speculation and discussion. And the tail of the great comet of 1843 measured 108 million miles in length. Whole families were engaged in making shrouds for that fateful day.
The Christian scholars and students in all continents, independent of each other, concluded that around 1843/44, the Promised Messiah would return, counting that Christ was born in the year 0.
Many secular scholars say that Christ was born in 8 B.C. Thus, the calculation can be adjusted to 1835.
The founder of our community, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was born in 1835. He claimed to be the Promised Messiah sent for the whole of humanity, predicted by different names in various scriptures.
I’ll be happy to share more details with those interested afterwards.
Thank you very much for your time and kind attention.