One of the Apostles of Baha’u’llah was Mirza ‘Ali-Muhammad,
entitled Varqa. Once he asked Bahá'u'lláh, 'How will the Cause of God be
universally adopted by mankind?' Bahá'u'lláh said that first, the nations of
the world would arm themselves with infernal engines of war, and when fully
armed would attack each other like bloodthirsty beasts. As a result, there
would be enormous bloodshed throughout the world. Then the wise from all
nations would gather together to investigate the cause of such bloodshed. They
would come to the conclusion that prejudices were the cause, a major form being
religious prejudice. They would therefore try to eliminate religion so as to
eliminate prejudice. Later they would realize that man cannot live without
religion. Then they would study the teachings of all religions to see which of
the religions conformed to the prevailing conditions of the time. It is then
that the Cause of God would become universal.
(Adapted from ‘The Revelation of Baha’u’llah, vol. 4’, by
Adib Taherzadeh)