In this posting, we briefly discuss two quotations from The Urantia Book, both of which apply to these times. The first says our society is moving out of the sheltered bays of tradition into seas of destiny. The other looks at a troubling forecast by Jesus which may indicate workings of the Most Highs as they guide political evolution;[1] that the Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of mortals is also mentioned in the Bible.
Urantia society can never hope to settle down as in past ages. The social ship has steamed out of the sheltered bays of established tradition and has begun its cruise upon the high seas of evolutionary destiny; and the soul of man, as never before in the world’s history, needs carefully to scrutinize its charts of morality and painstakingly to observe the compass of religious guidance. (Urantia Book, 1086.6)
These seas of destiny will not be smooth like the sheltered bays of tradition we have resided in these many years. While the bays were enjoyable, such tranquility rarely causes human mortals to struggle and improve themselves. The vast majority of humanity would rather sit underneath a palm tree with a jolly beverage than move out and transform society. The urge to instigate societal transformation necessarily requires some sort of motivation, a “slap in the face” to get things moving.
Human beings need a firm moral foundation for these uncertain times; we must follow our compass of religious guidance. Only when we base our lives on living truths taught by Jesus will we be able to sail safely upon these seas of destiny.
Whatever the source of this pandemic, it is our slap in the face, a wakeup call saying we must make our native planet safe for everyone; we are all in this together. There is no safe space where we can hide to avoid this virus, to escape this mandate to move out and make this world of ours safe for every living creature. Many governments all over the world are failing in their efforts to deal with this health and economic calamity. In addition, there is no sovereign Earth government to regulate dealings between nations.
On these seas of evolutionary destiny we will encounter methods to utilize in guiding society toward recognizing spiritual reality, and basing society upon it; if this does not happen society will collapse because any society not based upon spiritual reality cannot endure.[2] Study any previous society in our history; all of them failed because they were not based on spiritual reality; God.
On the morning of his last free day on Earth, Jesus taught a group of believers, disciples, and the apostles near their camp in Gethsemane. This presentation, which lasted almost two hours, was about the relationship between the Kingdom of Heaven and kingdoms on Earth. He emphasized believers should follow laws of earthly kingdoms as well as adhere to spiritual directives such as the Golden Rule. The only exception was when earthly rulers should require homage given to them; years later, Peter was crucified in Rome because he refused to worship Caesar. This discourse by Jesus is summarized in The Urantia Book, Paper 178, “Last Day at the Camp,” section one, “Discourse on Sonship and Citizenship.”
One paragraph in this address[3] is especially relevant to our current situation. Each sentence will be considered separately. When Jesus speaks about “you” he is speaking to each individual as well as the collective body of Kingdom believers.
Under the soon-coming persecutions by those who hate this gospel of joy and liberty, you will thrive and the kingdom will prosper.
After Jesus ascended, his followers were indeed persecuted by those resisting these new teachings; those having religious and political authority were afraid of losing positions of influence, power, and their very livelihood. They were more interested in material considerations of self-preservation than understanding and accepting these new spiritual teachings of joy and liberty. In spite of this resistance, the Kingdom of Heaven did indeed thrive, prosper, and grow.
But you will stand in grave danger in subsequent times when most men will speak well of kingdom believers and many in high places nominally accept the gospel of the heavenly kingdom.
As the centuries passed, modified teachings of Jesus spread even farther, eventually covering most of the Earth; many nations and their leaders appeared to accept these teachings. Nominal Christianity was, and still is, one of the most prominent religions on our planet. However, this apparent acceptance shielded an underlying insincerity; this reception of the teachings was superficial and incomplete. The transformed message of Jesus did not generally bring about a fundamental spiritual renewal in individual believers; they did not truly manifest fruits of the spirit in their lives. Because of this artificiality, grave danger was lurking unseen.
Learn to be faithful to the kingdom even in times of peace and prosperity.
Being faithful to the kingdom means not only incorporating these truths into our daily lives, but also sharing them with sisters and brothers, contributing to growth of the kingdom. Believers need to be focused at all times on spiritual reality, upon values of the kingdom; this is especially true when things appear to be easy, when everything seems to be going well. During these idyllic times we are vulnerable to unforeseen events suddenly overwhelming us, catching us unprepared, obliterating our complacency, and bringing calamity upon us.
Tempt not the angels of your supervision to lead you in troublous ways as a loving discipline designed to save your ease-drifting souls.
This is the kicker to the entire paragraph. When spiritual reality has been ignored for a considerable length of time, there comes a moment when the tipping point is reached, when the system can tolerate no more abuse, and misfortune follows. We do not need to know how or upon whose orders these “angels of our supervision” operate. If we ignore our spiritual potential and become complacent, the angels watching over us may lead us into “troublous ways” in an effort to guide us into more spiritually productive efforts. These angels may be our individual guardian angels, and for society they would be the angels of progress or the angels of the churches. Their directions would come from the Most Highs.
What does this mean for our current situation? Our society has become mired in secularism for so long our Heavenly Father seems to be of minor importance. God has been marginalized and forgotten, to our peril. Therefore, our guiding angels may be directed to lead us into difficult times in an effort to help us become somewhat aware of spiritual reality and our obligation to humanity.
The way to make the best use of these opportunities is to examine our faith, becoming certain it is sincere. Next we need to accept the new covenant, a sincere commitment to follow God’s guidance knowing we will be assisted. We must choose to do His will at all times; if we are honest we will know how to proceed. Finally we must recognize our own light of truth and go forth sharing these teachings of love, joy, and service.
These times try our souls and force us to seek new ways of living. These times can transform society so every living soul becomes treasured, loved, nurtured, and assisted so they can become productive members of global society with global government.
These seas of destiny will become extremely rough and last far longer than we can imagine, but they are necessary to bring about an equitable society for each individual citizen, a citizen of the cosmos.
All references are to The Urantia Book one column edition and refer to page.paragraph, 1488.2 ↑
Things have changed around our house, as it has for many of us. A month ago we were a household of two with one cat. Then two family members were rescued from Palm Beach County, not a place to be during these times. Now there are four of us and two cats; I spend a significant amount of time being gate keeper for cats.
A discussion of the place of faith in our life is important in difficult times such as now. Faith can be a great comfort; it also can become a dangerous crutch. When faith ignores science, the consequence can be unfortunate.
In these times of anxiety over global pandemic, faith can be a comforting presence, but what does this mean? How should faith motivate us in these troubling times? Faith must be a driving force in our life at any time, even more so when we are in distress as today. Faith should be the bedrock of our existence, but must be based on spiritual reality. We must not presume Heavenly Father will allow us to flaunt faith, expecting Him to protect us from whatever misdeeds we might perpetrate.
Most of the country is under some sort of stay-at-home directive; the goal of which is to minimize spread of this deadly disease. There is scientific evidence isolation does in fact help curb the spread of this virus. Stay-at-home orders are a sensible method to lessen the severity of this deadly pandemic; such orders are based upon sound science from many places around the globe.
In Lodi, California, where there was a mandatory stay-at-home order, one pastor held religious services anyway, and was arrested after the services. We saw a report interviewing the faithful as they left the service. Many of them said they were “protected by the blood of Jesus.” They were confident and unanimous in their faith that Jesus would protect them from harm. Let us pray they are correct. The issue is about not only protecting ourself, but also those around us. One unsuspecting infected individual in that service could infect dozens of others who would spread it even farther. That is exactly what happened in South Korea. At least one infected person, identified as “patient 31,” attended a gathering at Shincheonji Church of Jesus, and infected others, this quickly grew to thousands. South Korea, a democracy, issued and enforced mandatory stay-at-home orders, the spread was minimized.
Jesus said we are to render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s;[1] he was talking about taxes, but this directive would also apply to laws, which we must obey. This especially applies when such laws are based on science and aimed at protecting public health. To do otherwise would be placing one’s own wishes above health and safety of sisters and brothers.
When religious people base their faith on a set of dogma, they are in danger of limiting themselves to only what that dogma proclaims. Sometimes this even neglects reasonable scientific considerations, as we saw above. Since everyone is indwelt by a spark of Heavenly Father,[2] faith can be a personal relationship with Him. The bedrock of faith should be the conviction Father is with us. Father will protect us as long we follow spiritual reality. If we presume to be somehow above others, we have not true faith.
Truth is living; the Spirit of Truth is ever leading the children of light into new realms of spiritual reality and divine service. You are not given truth to crystallize into settled, safe, and honored forms. (Urantia Book 1917.3) When truth becomes crystallized dogma, it has lost its vitality.
Everyone is equally indwelt by an actual spark of Heavenly Father. This means He is always with us, guiding us, and showing the way. He is “no respecter of persons.”[3] Father respects everybody equally; we all stand equal before Him.
Belief becomes faith only after it motivates our lives and changes our way of life. This faith is a living and personal religious experience.[4] When we have this personal experience, when we dedicate ourselves to following God’s will in thoughts, actions, and deeds, we know God and His love for each of us. In his life among us, Jesus attained the highest realization of this as a human being living on our planet. Jesus was born a mortal struggling to understand his surroundings just as everyone born on this orb or on any other in this local universe. He was on his own, and by the strength of his will and faith, he found God; and so can we if we make his faith our faith.
Jesus personified personal religious experience, and this shone forth in his life. The religion of Jesus is all about each believer having an individual relationship with God. It is truly that simple, and that difficult.
When an individual has faith there may not be any obvious indication; if they truly do have faith they cannot consciously prove it.[5] The only way faith can be demonstrated is first, fruits of the spirit are shown in their life,[6] and second their entire life shows they have risked everything they are and everything they have in pursuit of finding God in their own life.[7] Fruits of spirit include sincere and loving service working to uplift people in darkness.[8] In times such as this, we manifest fruits of the spirit in joyful service to family, friends, and neighbors.
Society must become more aware of spiritual reality; however this may take a major event. We need something to make us aware of the need for all citizens to seek a more spiritual existence; this spark may be anything: a major war, riots in the streets, a pandemic, an economic collapse, or perhaps a spiritual awakening. People need to become aware of their eternal spiritual possibilities, what will be in store for them if they reach out to grasp eternal goals and seek spiritual reality.
Kingdom builders… are not to be disturbed by temporal upheavals or perturbed by terrestrial cataclysms. What does it matter to you who believe this gospel of the kingdom if nations overturn, the age ends, or all things visible crash, since you know that your life is the gift of the Son, and that it is eternally secure in the Father?[9] (Urantia Book 1916.2)
We pray for peace, love, harmony, and guidance. We pray health care workers, government officials, and others on the front lines of this pandemic will find courage, strength, and moral fortitude to do the right thing. We pray those who have lost loved ones will have time to grieve, remember, and move on.
Be safe.
All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise noted, 1899.2, this refers to page:paragraph of the one column edition; and Bible, Matthew 22:21, also appears in Mark and Luke. ↑
