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 ↑