Tag: Rebellion

Caligastia’s Prison World Revisited

Standing our Ground

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By far the most popular page on UBLightofTruth.com is “Urantia: Caligastia’s prison World.” This was posted in mid-February 2021 and still gets lots of hits. It discusses Caligastia, our former Planetary Prince who, about 200,000 years ago joined a rebellion against universe authority. Jesus defeated Caligastia over 2,000 years ago, but our fallen Planetary Prince, who is invisible to mortals, was allowed to remain free on our planet. Some questions not addressed in the previous posting are: why has it taken so long to remove effects of the rebellion? And, why must citizens of Earth decide between Jesus and Caligastia?

We look into these questions by discussing the introduction of sin into our world by the revolution, what is special about being an evolutionary planet, and the wisdom of delay. We conclude by evaluating the vital importance of our free will decisions.

Introduction of Sin

Evil is inherent in the natural order of this world, but sin is an attitude of conscious rebellion which was brought to this world by those who fell from spiritual light into gross darkness.[1]

Before discussing the introduction of sin into planet Earth a brief comparison of evil, sin, and iniquity is necessary. Evil is an unconscious going against God’s law, sin is a knowing deliberate going against God’s law, while iniquity is persistently going against God’s law.[2]

When committing evil, the individual does not know any better. On a young evolutionary world that has not been visited by higher truth, evil would be a common occurrence, the natural state. Later Caligastia arrived on planet Earth introducing higher values to our distant ancestors, and for about 300,000 years he did that effectively.

Our planet is located in the system Satania, when complete each system will have about 1,000 inhabited planets; we are planet 606 in our system. About 200,000 years ago our System Sovereign, Lucifer, declared rebellion against the Heavenly Father and universe authority; 38 Planetary Princes, including our Caligastia, quickly joined the rebellion. This premeditated rebellion against the universe government introduced sin to Earth. The higher truths were soon replaced by sin, deliberate transgression of God’s law.

Later Adam and Eve arrived to reintroduce higher truth but they defaulted on their mission; sin was allowed to spread. Later Machiventa Melchizedek fostered advanced truth; he was followed by our Creator Son Michael, whom we know as Jesus. Awareness of these truths is slowly growing, but sin is still strong in our materialistic society.

Component Units of Material Creation

In The Urantia Book, one paragraph in Paper 35[3] is especially relevant to this discussion. This is part of a discussion concerning Lanonandek Sons; the primary Lanonandeks are system rulers such as Lucifer, while the secondary ones are Planetary Princes such a Caligastia. The discussion in this section is based on this paragraph.

Evolutionary planets such as Urantia are the primary units of creation; it is on such planets that beings with free will dignity[4] appear as a result of an evolutionary process: humans such as us. Our Heavenly Father and all who are loyal to Him absolutely respect spiritual free will. Once human beings with free will appear on a planet, the primary focus becomes nurturing and guiding these beings; in the vast majority of worlds, mortals with free will are lovingly guided toward higher truth. Interfering with an individual’s free will decisions is contrary to the will of our Heavenly Father; it is sin.

When a Planetary Prince rebels against universe government, replacement rulers are appointed but they do not take office immediately. First the effects of the rebellion must be at least partially overcome. This is done by the Melchizedeks and others working to introduce higher truth. The appearance of our Urantia Book was part of this process for us. Our native planet obviously is nowhere near to being ready for a resident Planetary Prince because there is way too much evil and outright sin; reading news reports is a daily description of the inhumanity of humanity.

When a Planetary Prince goes into rebellion, all communication to and from his planet is cut off; prior to this it is possible to send messages to other inhabited planets and higher government. Once these lanes are cut, it takes a bestowal Son like Jesus to restore them and such a Son would only come after there has been stabilization in planetary affairs. For this to happen, a vast majority of Earth citizens would have to support Michael, our universe creator.

Before the rebellion can be terminated on Urantia, the majority of its citizens must choose to follow Michael, our Creator Son. We must work to combat the sin that was deliberately introduced by those who rebelled against our Heavenly Father. Every mortal on this planet must choose; even those who are unaware of extra-planetary affairs must choose between good and evil. The rebellion will be ended when we make these choices, when each of us makes such a choice.

Wisdom of Delay

The Lucifer rebellion, and Caligastia’s involvement on Urantia, took place about 200,000 years ago; to us that seems like an awfully long time. It is difficult for us to understand why it has been allowed to last so long. Our revelation devotes an entire section to explain this: “The Wisdom of Delay.”[5] Following is a condensation of this discussion.

Mercy is a primary characteristic of our Heavenly Father; mercy requires time for wrongdoers and those affected by their evil to make a final decision whether to accept or reject the mercy offered them. We are each given whatever time we need to make a final decision. Our Heavenly Father’s patient mercy requires time to unfold. This time-bound mercy allows the sinner to realize a mistake was made and accept salvation.

Since we live on a world where sin was deliberately introduced by rebels, each of us has been affected by their iniquitous actions and each of us must choose between good and evil.

If the rebellion were terminated too soon, sympathy could remain in the hearts of other citizens; every creature has to come to a firm decision about the rebellion, otherwise simmering sympathy is likely. Frequently, after wars on Earth there is a strong feeling of rage among the defeated; this is especially true in the Mid-East. These festering emotions can last decades or even centuries.

The Universe Mother Spirit proclaimed that the rebellion must not be hidden or half cured. She directed the angels to work for full disclosure and unlimited opportunity for sin-expression as the quickest technique of achieving the perfect and final cure of the plague of evil and sin.[6] If sin is not allowed to be freely expressed, it will still be in the mind of some individuals, a growing menace. Our society has many who harbor strong silent emotions which could erupt into violent acts.

Those in universe authority were advised to permit the rebellion to take its full and natural course, even if it should require a million years to wind up the consequences.[7] Unexpressed violent thoughts cannot be dealt with; only when they are expressed can they be countered. Citizens of Urantia have been immersed in the consequences of iniquity for so long that it seems to be the normal way of life. Each of us must choose.

Free will Decisions

Our ability to make spiritual free will decisions is more than a God given right, it actually defines who we are; we can freely choose between good and evil. We can choose between the way of eternal life and the way of sin. Each choice has consequences.

If we steadfastly select righteousness, then sin is somewhat reduced. The deliberate introduction of sin to Earth requires each individual affected to make the decision between good and evil. Those so affected include every mortal born on planet Earth until sin has been fully restrained, which naturally will take a very long time.

Our message is to begin a discussion about choosing good, thereby working for the time when Urantia will no longer harbor rebels against universe authority; when this happens, this will no longer be Caligastia’s prison world, because he and all his followers will have been obliterated. It will be as if they never existed.

Each one of us has to stand steadfast and make the righteous decision.

[1] The Urantia Book, the one column version page.paragraph. 1660.5; all references are to The Urantia Book.

[2] 1660.2-4

[3] 394.1

[4] 138.4

[5] 617.1-618.3

[6] 617.11

[7] 618.1

True Liberty

Freedom to Explore

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In 1775, before we became a nation, Patrick Henry declared “Give me liberty or give me death!” Ever since then our citizens have been concerned about liberty, but what is liberty? Our nation was founded on the rallying cry of liberty; it has an important place in our national psyche.

Current political discussions sometimes revolve around questions of liberty; government needs to implement regulations aimed at addressing health risks resulting from the COVID pandemic and some individuals claim these measures impair their liberty. A discussion about liberty is crucial at this time; it is especially important to distinguish between true liberty and false liberty.

We begin our discussion with gnats and camels, perhaps you remember the quote from the Bible; next we talk about false liberty; we conclude with true liberty, which is based partly upon the recognition that we are all equally sisters and brothers.

Of Gnats and Camels

In the Bible Jesus is quoted as saying: “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” (Bible: Matthew 23, 24; also in The Urantia Book, 1736.5)

In today’s political environment there is a lot of gnat straining and camel swallowing. People read something on social media about the perceived dangers of vaccines and they accept everything negative as gospel. Every loose statement becomes part of their anti-vaccine mindset. Actively seeking out only falsehoods agreeing with their anti-truth viewpoint is similar to straining at gnats.

The efficacy of current vaccines is well established, they are over 95% effective; they are even more effective against getting a serious or fatal infection. Information about vaccine effectiveness can be found on the website for the Center for Disease Control (www.CDC.gov). Ignoring this mountain of scientific evidence and declaring vaccines are not effective is like swallowing the camel.

True liberty cannot exist in a vacuum; it must be scientifically informed, and it must recognize the existence of other selves: our sisters and brothers. For liberty to flourish its citizens need to be involved and have proper information about issues effecting society.

If we are unwary, gnats and camels can destroy our society.

False Liberty

One reason our society has trouble distinguishing between false liberty and true liberty is because of a rebellion against universe authority that happened a long time ago. What we think of as being normal is an aberration in the universe, not the norm. Actions of some of our predecessors who were entrusted with uplifting society, led us astray.

When we declare we want liberty there is a significant problem; if one person is to have unrestricted liberty, others must necessarily have something less than this, liberty must balance out. Personal liberty for some disenfranchises others, takes away their chance at liberty. A balanced society gives everyone equal opportunities; society must give each individual an equal chance to grow and become all they can become; anything less than this equilibrium disenfranchises some. When an individual seeks “personal liberty,” what is actually sought is freedom from regulation, freedom from oversight, and freedom from responsibility to others. Responsible citizens seek to increase the welfare of each sister and brother instead of a select few.

A vital consideration is the truth every thinking mortal has within them a spark of God. (Urantia Book, 63.5) Everyone stands equal before God; nobody has the right to use political or economic power to degrade anybody else.

False liberty is for a select few at the expense of others. False liberty is portrayed in “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand; at the end of the book the upper crust of society live in protected enclaves, while the mass of society are outside killing each other in a lawless state. False liberty recognizes value or importance for only a few individuals who self-proclaim their own importance over others. Arguments by the ultra-rich using calls to false liberty hide a deeper purpose: control others and limit their freedoms so they can enhance their own liberty. These individuals and their followers personify the call to false liberty.

False liberty is unsustainable in the long run because the actual workers, those who truly produce goods and services, are degraded until they can no longer function in society. The remaining privileged few are neither willing nor able to keep up the infrastructure or the flow of goods and services needed by society; the entire society will eventually collapse.

Those who seek unwarranted power over others are certainly not new in our history, they have been with us throughout all of our history; their allegiance is to a rebellion that took place two hundred thousand years ago. These seditious ideas have been with us for a very long time! Thus does the Lucifer manifesto, masquerading in the habiliments of liberty, stand forth in the clear light of reason as a monumental threat to consummate the theft of personal liberty and to do it on a scale that has been approached only twice in all the history of Nebadon. (Urantia Book – 614.8) (Nebadon is the name of our local universe; Jesus and our Universe Mother Spirit created all life therein.) This call to unfettered personal liberty was the major aspect of the Lucifer rebellion; it is also a major theme for his present-day followers.

One wonders about religions asking for an exemption from necessary health regulations because of some religious dogma. Apparently they are more concerned about ecclesiastical theory than they care about the health of their followers. Their adherents are dying because of a theology that ignores science and truth.

True Liberty

One of the most important consequences of rebellion is our inability to distinguish between true and false liberty. (Urantia Book, 613.3) True liberty allows all beings to become the best they can be, false liberty promotes a privileged few at the expense of everyone else. No being, in the exercise of his supposed personal liberty, has a right to deprive any other being of those privileges of existence conferred by the Creators and duly respected by all their loyal associates, subordinates, and subjects. (Urantia Book, 614.4)

We have difficulty distinguishing between true and false liberty. True liberty acknowledges everyone has value; everyone has a spark of God within. This presence of Heavenly Father within each normal minded individual has astounding implications; it means each of us has a chance for eternal life, go to Paradise, and meet Father in person. It also means if anybody is degraded for any superficial characteristic, it is God Himself who is being degraded. If any individual loses freedom because of prejudice, God is the subject of such unfair treatment. How can we subject the creator of all things and beings to such unfair treatment, to bigotry?

True liberty recognizes the worth of everyone, but it also includes responsibility for each of us to make the best use of whatever opportunities we have; this especially includes the downtrodden and the disenfranchised. When an individual realizes their own worth they will have incentive to better themselves even after they have been degraded by the mass of society for generations. Once they become aware of their eternal potential and that of every other individual, they will want to improve and will no longer be a drain on society, instead they will be able to make a positive contribution to society. They will want and will find dignity and meaning in their existence. This process will not be an overnight transformation; it will take patience, love, perseverance, compassion and understanding. This will be a small price to pay for the chance to transform these human beings from pure consumers to contributors, from the degraded to the participating, from the disenfranchised to real members of a more vibrant society.

True liberty, being inclusive and uplifting, is able to progress, improve and grow because everyone becomes contributors rather than having a class of degraded human beings who are a drag on society. True liberty includes God in our lives, and with Him on our side we cannot fail. False liberty is transitory, while true liberty is potentially eternal.

In the final analysis, what is true liberty? It can be summarized thus: No being in all the universe has the rightful liberty to deprive any other being of true liberty, the right to love and be loved, the privilege of worshiping God and of serving his fellows.(Urantia Book, 615.2)

How Should We Approach The Urantia Book?

We have been granted this Fifth Epochal Revelation, the most important revelation of truth since the life and teachings of Jesus over two thousand years ago; what are we going to do with it? How can we get into its teachings in a way that will transform our lives, even the life of every citizen of this beautiful blue marble in space? How can we wrap our minds around it?

The Urantia Book is a challenging read, how do we begin to understand it? The authors of this revelation would want us to start reading (studying) from the beginning. The human mind would ordinarily crave to approach the cosmic philosophy portrayed in these revelations by proceeding from the simple and the finite to the complex and the infinite, from human origins to divine destinies. But that path does not lead to spiritual wisdom. Such a procedure is the easiest path to a certain form of genetic knowledge, but at best it can only reveal man’s origin; it reveals little or nothing about his divine destiny. (Urantia Book 215.2)

The next paragraph expands on this thought. Even in the study of man’s biologic evolution on Urantia, there are grave objections to the exclusive historic approach to his present-day status and his current problems. The true perspective of any reality problem — human or divine, terrestrial or cosmic — can be had only by the full and unprejudiced study and correlation of three phases of universe reality: origin, history, and destiny. The proper understanding of these three experiential realities affords the basis for a wise estimate of the current status. (Urantia Book 215.3)

Not only do these quotes give reasons to start from the beginning, they also give an idea of the concentrated concepts in this Epochal Revelation. This is dense material, not intended for light bedtime reading. Every sentence is thought provoking.

There is another way for us to approach the study of this revelation, more relevant for us who are not used to thinking in these deep and precise ways. We should ask what interests us, what do we want to know. After we know the goal, we can proceed accordingly. There are several possibilities.

The most obvious is to learn about Jesus; there is much about him in the Bible, but much is also missing. What was he like as a child? For this read Paper 120, The Bestowal of Michael on Urantia, through Paper 126, The Two Crucial Years (page 1323 – 1394). What was he doing during the so-called missing years? This is discussed in Paper 127, The Adolescent Years, through Paper 134, The Transition Years (page 1395 – 1495). What exactly did he teach the apostles? We learn these things by reading Paper 136, Baptism and the Forty Days, through Paper 196, The Faith of Jesus (page 1509 – 2097).

Perhaps we might want to learn how our planet evolved, then read Paper 57, The Origin of Urantia (page 651 – 663); how life arose and changed Paper 58, Life Establishment on Urantia, through Paper 62, The Dawn Races of Early Man (page 664 – 710). We learn whether life was brought here or did it originate on this planet. To meet the first true human beings read Paper 63, The First Human Family (page 711 – 717)

To find out why our planet is in such a sad state today read Paper 53, The Lucifer Rebellion, and Paper 54, Problems of the Lucifer Rebellion (page 601 – 620). In addition also read Paper 66, The Planetary Prince of Urantia, and Paper 67, The Planetary Rebellion (page 741 – 762).

Another question is what is God like? For this read Paper 1, The Universal Father, through Paper 5, God’s Relation to the Individual (page 21 – 72). To learn what the Eternal Son is like read Paper 6, The Eternal Son, and Paper 7, Relation of the Eternal Son to the Universe (page 73 – 89). What is the Infinite Spirit like? Then read Paper 8, The Infinite Spirit, and Paper 9, Relation of the Infinite Spirit to the Universe (page 90 – 107). To learn about the Trinity read Paper 10, The Paradise Trinity (page 108 – 117). Where do they reside? This is revealed in Paper 11, The Eternal Isle of Paradise (page 118 – 127). For a description of the structure of the cosmos study Paper 12, The Universe of Universes (page 128 – 142).

To learn more about Adam and Eve see Paper 73, The Garden of Eden, through Paper 76, The Second Garden (page 821 – 854).

To learn about how civilization grew read Paper 81, Development of Modern Civilization (page 900 – 912).

If we want to learn about the evolution of marriage study Paper 82, The Evolution of Marriage, through Paper 84, Marriage and Family Life (Page 913 – 943)

To learn about religion, study Paper 99, The Social Problems of Religion, through Paper 103, The Reality of Religious Experience (page 1086 – 1142).

Those with a scientific background might tackle Paper 42, Energy—Mind and Matter (page 467 – 484).

If we are interested in government start at Paper 69, Primitive Human Institutions, through Paper 72, Government on a Neighboring Planet (page 772 – 820). Another excellent discussion of government is in Paper 134, The Transition Years; especially sections 3 – 6 (page 1485 – 1491) which are based on a series of lectures Jesus gave on the subject of government.

A link to each paper in the revelation is found on the Urantia Book page on this web site.

When one topic has been completed, move on to another and expand understanding of this revelation.

However, one final group of prospective students deserves more consideration. These individuals are driven to learn more about this revelation but do not know where to start, nothing seems to satisfy them. Something within drives them to learn more, to understand more. They feel something vital is missing from their lives. These are the truth seekers and they must make the extra effort to start from the beginning, with the Foreword.

In the Forward various concepts are presented along with the specific meaning attached to each. Among these are Deity and Divinity, God, the Seven Absolutes, Universe Reality, Energy and Pattern, the Supreme Being, God the Sevenfold and many more. The Forward is a challenging read but it lays the foundation for the rest of the book by presenting the meaning of words that are subsequently used. It should be referred to when the meaning of a specific term is uncertain; this is the definitive “dictionary” for the rest of the book.

When studying The Urantia Book we must keep in mind this precise word usage. We should make a sincere effort to comprehend its teachings but not get overly tangled up in details. We also should not become discouraged if there are things we do not understand at first because human beings are not used to thinking in these deep terms. It is a challenging read but the reward is immense: a greater and ever expanding understanding of creation!

There is one vital truth to keep in mind while studying this revelation; our Heavenly Father literally dwells within each thinking mortal on Earth. God is with us seeking to guide us into a greater realization of spiritual reality; this inner presence is assisting us to understand these concepts. Let Him!

After someone studies a few of these areas and is sincere about wanting to know more, the time comes when they will be a truth seeker and then they should study the revelation from the beginning, at the Foreword in order to gain the proper perspective.

Once The Urantia Book finds an individual, no longer will that person be bored, having nothing to do, because always there is much more to learn. The search for spiritual growth is truly endless, even eternal.