Urantia Book 39. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. Just as Jesus told Nalda that he was the Messiah, something that he hadn’t admitted to anyone before this: “It was the first direct, positive and undisguised pronouncement of his divine nature and sonship which Jesus had made on earth; and it was made to a woman, a Samaritan woman, and a woman of questionable character in the eyes of men up to this moment, but a women whom the divine eye beheld as having been more sinned against than as sinning of her own desire and now being a human soul who desired salvation, desired it sincerely and wholeheartedly, and that was enough” (143.5.8). Just as Nalda was about to express the real longing of her heart, the apostles came up to them and were very astonished to see Jesus in intimate conversation with a woman. They made their disapproval obvious, but they did not dare to reprove Jesus. They instead went about setting up camp. Jesus said to Nalda: “Woman, go your way; God has forgiven you. Henceforth, you will lead a new life. You have received the living water, and a new joy will spring up within your soul, and you shall become a daughter of the Most High. (Why did Jesus call the Father a Most High? The Most High ruled the Constellation Norlatiadek) The woman fled, sensing the disapproval of the apostles. She ran into the city and told everyone to go out to the well and meet the man “who had told her everything she had ever done.” The apostles couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that women had souls and were equal to men. They were shocked that Jesus would treat women as equals, even those of questionable morals. The crowd arrived before the apostles had a chance to eat, and they begged Jesus to let them eat before dealing with the crowd. But it was getting late, so Jesus wanted to minister to the crowd before eating. He informed Andrew that “I have meat to eat that you do not know about.” He clarified this statement by saying: “My meat is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.” They preached 2 days and then set up camp on top of Mount Gerizim. Jesus did not rebuke the apostles for their attitudes toward women. Instead, he gave a memorable talk on ‘The realities which are central in the kingdom of God.’ The theme of his talk on Mount Gerizim was that he wants humans to see God as a father-friend and he, Jesus, as a brother-friend. He returned to the idea again that love is the greatest relationship. The group spent the days in the cities preaching and the nights at the camp. Their preaching brought many souls into the kingdom. It paved the way for Phillip’s work after Jesus went home. Jesus held conferences in the evenings at the camp. He put the emphasis on the following: 1. True religion is an act of an individual soul in its self-conscious relations with its Creator; organized religion is man’s attempt to socialize the worship of individual religionists. 2. Worship-contemplation of the spiritual-must alternate with service. 3. Prayer is designed to make humans less thinking but more realizing; it is not designed to increase knowledge but to expand insight. 4. Worship is intended to anticipate the better life ahead and to then reflect these new spiritual significances back on to the life that is; Worship is divinely creative. 5. Worship is the technique of looking to the One for the inspiration for the service to the many. Worship is the yardstick which measures the extent of the soul’s detachment from the material universe and its secure attachment to the spiritualities of all creation. 6. Prayer is self-reminding–sublime thinking; worship is self-forgetting–superthinking. Worship is effortless attention, true and ideal soul rest, a form of restful spiritual exertion. The apostles did not grasp every idea in this talk, but that was typical**** (144.3.1-5). Jesus and his apostles spent September and October in seclusion at a camp on Mt. Gilboa. Jesus gave them more instruction in the truths of the kingdom. There were reasons for this seclusion. The Jerusalem religious rulers were very hostile towards them; Herod Antipas still held John in prison and was suspicious that John and Jesus were associated; thus it was unwise to do aggressive preaching in Judea or Galilee. Also, the tension between the leaders of John’s disciples and the apostles was getting worse as new believers increased. Jesus therefore decided to do some quiet work in the Decapolis while he prepared his apostles for the end and waited for the final verdict on John. Jesus made plain to his apostles the three reasons they were in retirement: 1. To confirm their understanding of, and faith in, the gospel of the kingdom. 2. To allow opposition to their work in Judea and Galilee to quiet down. 3. To await the fate of John the Baptist. The apostles sensed that a final proclamation on the gospel was coming, but they had no idea what it meant. Thomas asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. The Master did not like set and formal prayers, as John taught his disciples. The apostles longed to know what form of petition Jesus would approve. Jesus knew the common people needed a form of petition, so he consented to discourse on prayer. Jesus said: “Prayer is entirely a personal and spontaneous expression of the attitude of the soul toward the spirit…The ideal prayer is a form of spiritual communion which leads to intelligent worship… Prayer is the breath of the soul and should lead you to be persistent in your attempt to ascertain the Father’s will… Persist in praying… Your persistence, however, is not to win favor with God but to change your earth attitude and to enlarge your soul’s capacity for spirit receptivity (144.2.1-5).******************* But the apostles were not satisfied; they wanted a model prayer they could teach to the new believers. James told Jesus that new believers always ask for the proper prayers. Jesus finally taught them the “Our Father.” Jesus taught that, to be effective, prayer must be: 1. Unselfish-not always for oneself 2. Believing-according to faith 3. Sincere-honest of heart 4. Intelligent-according to light 5. Trustful-in submission to the Father’s will. For many days the apostles continued to ask Jesus about prayer and worship, and since they were resting, he continued to discourse on the subject. He said: The earnest and longing repetition of a petition, when sincere and uttered in faith, never fails to expand the soul’s capacity for spiritual receptivity. In all praying, remember that the status of a son or daughter of God is a gift. Faith is a gift. The child of God comes into the new life of the spirit by the will of the Father in heaven, the First Source and Center… The soul’s spiritual capacity for receptivity determines the quantity of heavenly blessings which can be personally appropriated and consciously realized as an answer to prayer… Prayer is an antidote for harmful introspection. Praying for one’s fellows is beneficial to one’s spirit, Jesus said. Worship is salvation for this generation of pleasure- seeking mortals. Prayer can be likened to recharging the spiritual batteries of the soul. Jesus also said that prayer is a psychological process of exchanging the human will for the divine will…(144.4.1-5). Jesus taught them 6 long prayers, one of which began “Glorious Father and Mother, in one parent combined,” (144.5.6)
Urantia Book 38. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. At the end of June, AD 27, Jesus and his apostles left Jerusalem for Samaria and the Decapolis (10 cities). The religious rulers were after them with very bad intentions. Two cities, Phasaelis and Archelais, became their headquarters. This was their first experience preaching exclusively to gentiles–Greeks, Romans and Syrians. They met with new difficulties in trying to win souls to the Father. The apostles complained to Jesus that these gentiles did not take the gospel seriously and said the gospel was only for weaklings and slaves. And these gentiles assert that heathen religions are superior to the gospel because they inspire a strong, robust and aggressive character. Moreover, the gentiles say the gospel turns men into enfeebled specimens of passive non-resisters (143.1.1-2). When Jesus heard their complaints, he went on a long lecture. He pointed out that none of them were weaklings and that he, Jesus, was not dominated by fear. He also informed them that the Paradise ascent is the rugged achievement of eternity. And he asserted that armies will never display more courage than those who are martyred for the sake of the gospel. In fact, this was one of the most impassioned addresses Jesus ever delivered to the twelve. He must have really made an impression because the effect was immediate: ” their message took on a new note of courageous dominance…they continued to acquire the spirit of positive aggression in the preaching of the new gospel of the kingdom…and they did not occupy themselves so much with the preaching of negative virtues or passive injunctions in their Master’s teachings (143.1.5-9).**** At one of the evening conferences, Andrew asked the following question: “Wherein does your teaching differ from that of John’s?” Jesus answered: “John taught the religion of self-examination and self-denial. But I come with a new message of self-forgetfulness and self-control. I show to you the way of life as revealed to me by my Father in heaven. Verily, I say to you, one who rules one’s self is greater than one who captures a city. Self-mastery is the measure of a person’s moral nature and the indicator of the person’s spiritual development. By your faith and the spirit’s transformation you become in reality the temples of God, and his Spirit actually dwells within you (143.2.2-4).******************************* I’ve noticed that most people believe in the devil–Satan or Lucifer. People don’t know that they don’t exist since they were put on trial on Uversa, found guilty and took the option of annihilating themselves. So many people blame the devil for the evil things they do, but it’s really their own human wickedness. It is rarely possession by a demon. If I can blame a demon for my sins, then I don’t have to take responsibility for them. And I’m glad to know Jesus agrees with me. He said: “Many times, when you have done evil, you have thought to charge up your acts to the influence of the evil one when in reality you have been led astray by your own natural tendencies…how easy for you to become self-deceived and thereby fall into foolish fears, divers lust, enslaving pleasures, malice, envy and even vengeful hatred!” (143.2.5). Also, you must have faith, but even faith must come from God as a gift. “It is the very goodness of God that leads people into true and genuine repentance. Your secret of the mastery of self is bound up with your faith in the indwelling Spirit, which ever works by love. Even this saving faith you have not of yourself; it also is the gift of God” (143.2.7).************************ Tension and irritability between the apostles and John’s disciples were so bad that a complete breakdown threatened. Andrew was beside himself, not knowing what to do about the situation. He finally had to bother the Master about the problem. When Jesus had listened to Andrew, he said: “I cannot do what you ask of me–I will not participate in these personal social difficulties–but I will join in the enjoyment of a 3 day period of rest and relaxation. Go to each individual apostle and privately tell him that we are to go up Mount Sartaba, where I desire to rest for a day or two. No mention will be made of our difficulties during the trip.” This was obviously a secret kept from John’s disciples. Jesus didn’t make the mistake of taking them up the mountain. Jesus had no control over the disciples’ attitudes, feelings, or sorrow. They were probably angry at Jesus for not saving John and Jesus had no control over that, either. But he could do something with his own apostles, and it worked. When they reached the top of the mountain, Jesus told them that after a period of rest and relaxation, they would be able to attack their problems with a clearer head and a steadier hand. The whole day was devoted to reminiscences and matters not related to their religious work. They had been exceedingly perplexed about how to get along with John’s disciples, but all that disappeared when they came back down the mountain. A great change had come over them. They made the discovery that many human perplexities are in reality non-existent. A period ensued of greatly improved relations with John’s followers.******************** They hadn’t made many converts among the gentiles, so Jesus decided to go to Samaria, the location of the city of Sychar, near Jacob’s well. The apostles were not happy about preaching to the Samaritans because the Jews had a history with them. When the Jews returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Captivity, the Samaritans tried to hinder the rebuilding of the city. They also built a temple on Mount Gerizim in which they worshiped Yahweh and pagan gods as well. Their animal sacrifices were similar to those in the temple at Jerusalem. This was all anathema to the Jews. So going to Samaria was a great test of loyalty to Jesus for these apostles. They reached Jacob’s well and Jesus sent the 12 into the city for food. A woman came along just as Jesus was feeling thirsty. He asked her for a drink because he didn’t have any cup to reach the water. The woman’s name was Nalda and she was surprised to be addressed by a man and a Jew. Jesus said: “I have indeed asked you for a drink, but if you could only understand, you would ask me for a drink of the living water.” Nalda wanted to know where Jesus was hiding this living water. Jesus told her that “anyone who drinks this water of the living spirit will never thirst.” It shall “become a well of refreshment springing up even to eternal life.” And Nalda immediately asked Jesus to give her this water so she didn’t have to trek to the well all the time. She also started to flirt with Jesus. Jesus responded by becoming stern and telling her to go and bring her husband to him. Then she sobered up and admitted she had no husband. Jesus knew that in her soul she really wanted to know a better way of life. He told her that Jews worship One God, and people one day will worship God in spirit and in truth. Nalda was still trying to avoid the subject of her personal life, but she said: “I know, Sir, that John has preached about the coming of the Converter, he who will be called the Deliverer, and that when he shall come–“and Jesus, interrupting Nalda, said with startling assurance, “I who speak to you am he.”
Urantia Book 37. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. Flavius, a wealthy Greek Jew who hadn’t yet been circumcised or baptized, had a house full of beautiful art, priceless treasures which he had picked up on his travels. He wanted to invite Jesus to dinner, but he was afraid Jesus would rebuke him for idolatry. But Jesus surprised him. He appreciated the beauty of the art, and he explained that they were not idols to be worshiped. In Moses’ time he had to destroy idols because they were objects of worship. Now that Jesus has come and is introducing the kingdom of heaven, people can enjoy art without confusing such appreciation of beauty with the worship and service of the Father in heaven. Flavius believed and the next day he went to the Jordan to be baptized by the disciples of John.******** A man from Damascus asked Jesus: “Rabbi, how shall we know of a certainty that you are sent by God, and that we may truly enter into this kingdom which you and your disciples declare is near at hand?” And Jesus answered:”Judge my apostles and disciples by their fruits. The spirit will witness in your hearts that our message is genuine. Just as an earthly father wants his children to feel secure in his love and does not keep his child in suspense about his place in the family, neither does your Father in heaven leave his faith children in doubtful uncertainty as to their position in the kingdom. If you receive God as your Father, then indeed and in truth you are sons of God. By believing in the Father, you have made your status in heavenly citizenship sure. If you do the will of the Father in heaven, you shall never fail in the attainment of the eternal life of progress in the divine kingdom. The evidence that you have been born of the spirit is that you love one another”(142.5.1-5).**************** A man named Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, a group of Jewish rulers in the Temple, desired a very private meeting with Jesus. He was afraid of the other rulers who were looking for a way to get rid of Jesus. I’m going to skip the first part of the meeting because it is exactly like the Bible. (Nico needs to be born again, but how can he do that when he’s old and can’t go back in his mother’s stomach.) Nicodemus asked: “But how can I begin to lay hold upon this Spirit which is to remake in preparation for entering into the kingdom?” Jesus answered: “Already does the Spirit of the Father in heaven indwell you. If you would be led by this Spirit from above, very soon would you begin to see with the eyes of Spirit. And then with the wholehearted choice of Spirit guidance would you be born of the Spirit since your only purpose in living would be to do the will of your Father who is in heaven…And you would begin to bear in your daily life the abundant fruits of the Spirits”(142.6.1-8).*********************** I am starting to use gender neutral pronouns as much as possible. This book was dictated by celestial beings in the 40s or 50s, before all the revolutions. To continue. Thomas asked Jesus a question as they all were resting at Bethany. This question was really dumb and it set Jesus off. The question was: “Master, on the day we were set apart as ambassadors of the kingdom, you told us many things, instructed us regarding our personal mode of life, but what shall we teach the multitude? How are these people to live after the kingdom more fully comes? Shall your disciples own slaves? Shall you believers court poverty and shun property? Shall mercy alone prevail so that we shall have no more law and justice?” These questions elicited a discussion that went on all afternoon and into the night. Jesus answered:”First, the Son of Man is the only person living on earth who can simultaneously see into the heart of God and into the depths of the human soul. Second, the kingdom of heaven in an evolutionary experience, beginning on earth and progressing up through successive life stations to Paradise. Third, the kingdom idea was not the best way of expressing humanity’s to God. It is better illustrated by a family relationship. Jesus restated two fundamental laws of living: the first commandment for the Father, the head of the family, and the second commandment of mutual love among the children, to love your sibling as yourself. Jesus then stated that the true family if founded on the following 7 facts: 1. The fact of existence. The relationship between parent and child is inherent in all nature and pervades all living things. 2. Security and pleasure. All parents want to meet their child’s urge for fun and pleasure after they have met their basic needs. 3. Education and training.True parents plan for their child’s future as a person who must support themselves. 4. Discipline and restraint. Parents don’t want to raise serial killers so they make guidance and values a part of their parenting. 5. Companionship and loyalty. Parents are always ready to share the hardships of their offspring. 6. Love and mercy. Real families are built upon tolerance, patience and forgiveness. 7.Provision for the future. Parents, if the can, leave a legacy to their children. Jesus concluded by saying: “This entire relationship of a son to a Father, I know in perfection, for all that you must attain of sonship in the eternal, I have now already attained.” ** But Thomas still didn’t understand: “But Master, we still do not find that the Father in heaven always deals kindly and mercifully with us. Many of time we suffer grievously on earth, and not always are our prayers answered. Where do we fail to grasp the meaning of your teaching?” Jesus replied: “Thomas, Thomas, how long will it be before you will acquire the ability to listen with the ear of the Spirit? How long will it be before you discern that the kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, and that my Father is also a spiritual being? Why do so literally apply my teaching to material affairs? By this time it should be possible for me to instruct you as full grown men of the Spirit. Must I ever address you as children? Will you never grow up in Spirit perception? Nevertheless, I love you and will bear with you, even to the very end of our association in the flesh. And even then shall my Spirit go before you into all the world” (142.7.1-17).******* By the end of April the opposition to Jesus on the part of the rulers of the Temple was so strong that the group left Jerusalem for Bethlehem and Hebron. During the month of May they did no public preaching. Instead, they went house to house, comforting the sick an d teaching the gospel. Jesus and Abner visited the Nazirite colony at Engedi. The Nazirite brothers refused to join Jesus because he did not teach fasting or other forms of self denial. Many souls, however, were added to the kingdom. Things had settled down in Jerusalem, so Jesus and the 12 went back to spend the month of June instructing and comforting believers. They did no public preaching so the temple rulers left them alone. Jerusalem was quiet; the apostles were quiet; Jesus was quiet, but this serenity could not last long. A Jew named Simon and a member of the Sanhedrin, announced that he was going to espouse the teaching Jesus. Then, all hell broke loose.
I need to pause and bring further information about some items I’ve mentioned in the past. I watched a YouTube presentation in which Kerry Cassidy interviewed Simon Parkes. Simon was raised among the Illuminati and endured abuse and satanism. He’s a refugee from that life and is recovering. He added to my knowledge of QAnon. It consists of 5 men who use AI and a 5D wave machine to predict the future, and Simon says their predictions have a high probability of success. I have more information now. A group of generals told Jerome Corsi, a writer, that Donald Trump had been recruited by a military intelligence group calling itself QAnon to run for president in 2016 and if elected, to remove all the corrupt Deep State officials. They also gave him a list of items to accomplish. I can’t find the list, but Trump is accomplishing most of the items on the list. They also said they would support him to the max. Trump doesn’t know the identity of these men.** I’ve also mentioned the 50, 000 indictments (the figure changes) which we are still waiting to be unsealed. Trump created quazi-military courts in every state to handle the trials, so they could be short, maybe 2 weeks. The trials will be held in the states where the indictments are served and the served live. The states with the most indictments are Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and California. Judges have had special training for these trials. In the actual indictments the words satanism or pedophilia won’t appear. Child trafficking will be the vocabulary used. The size and co-ordination of the child trafficking networks are shocking, and they must be pulled out by the roots. There will be complete secrecy surrounding these trials.**************** Another item is that an enormous number of satellites have been taken offline by “bad guys.” And China has put in orbit the first superluminal satellite. Now, that means faster than light, which travels 186,000 miles per second. So I really question this report. Why wouldn’t the satellite fling itself out of orbit? Or burn up? Or crash?********************* The weather wars were also discussed. It is mainly the US making war against itself. For instance, Hurricane Florence was an engineered storm. This weather technology is being interrupted by a huge gong which sends out a frequency damaging to the technology. But the really good news is that weather events are facilitated by satellites, and with so many satellites offline, the technology is dormant. The bad guys who took the sats offline were actually aliens, not Chinese or Russians. The aliens are trying to save us from destroying ourselves.*********** Richard Allen Miller, a geologist, said on 11/18 that the volcano at Yellowstone was going to erupt in 6 months. It has been 6 months 6/19, and it hasn’t blown yet. It is actually overdue to erupt, according to records. Recently, a volcano in Hawaii was triggered to erupt. Why are we being targeted by our own people? This is definitely something for Trump to work on. The news media didn’t pick this up, but there was an assassination attempt made on his life. I think it was the night that Marines were swarming around the White House.
Urantia Book 36. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. On February 26 Jesus, his apostles and a large contingent of followers journeyed down the Jordan to the ford near Bethany near Perea. They taught and preached four weeks before going on to Jerusalem. Jesus took Peter, James and John across the river for a three day rest, where he taught them many advanced truths about the kingdom. He said that the only business of teachers of the gospel of the kingdom was to reveal God to the individual person as a Father–to lead the person to become son or daughter conscious; then to present this person to God as his faith child. Jesus asserted that he had come to establish personal and eternal relations with each and every individual person which would forever take precedence over all other human relationships. Jesus made emphatic two truths important in teaching about the kingdom: the attainment of salvation by faith and the attainment of liberty as in the expression: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus was so bold and emphatic in making these statements that the three apostles thought he might be beside himself. And they didn’t understand some of what he said.************************************ During the time at Perea, Andrew assigned apostolic couples to go to Jericho several times a week. They were to carry out Jesus’ instructions to minister to the sick; they visited every house in the city and tried to comfort every afflicted person. The apostles found that the good news of the kingdom was very comforting to the sick, and their message brought comfort to the afflicted. “And it was in Jericho that Jesus’ commission to the twelve to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom and minister to the afflicted was fully carried into effect” (141.8.2). Jesus and his apostles left for the home of Lazarus in Bethany on the last day of March. John’s disciples stayed at the Jordan to baptize the many followers. Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus, were very happy to wait upon and take care of Jesus and his apostles. On Sunday morning, April 6, Jesus and the 12 went down to Jerusalem; this would be the first they were all there together.************* Jesus or his apostles taught in the Temple everyday. The burden of their message was fourfold: 1. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 2. By faith in the fatherhood of God you may enter the kingdom of heaven, thus becoming the children of God. 3. Love is the rule of living within the kingdom–supreme devotion to God while loving your neighbor as yourself. 4. Obedience to the will of the Father, yielding the fruits of the spirits in one’s personal life is the law of the kingdom. People loved the message, but the rulers of the Temple became concerned and wondered what to do with these preachers. People became believers, and after Passover, carried the message to the most remote parts of the Empire and to the East. The Word would no longer be confined to Palestine.******************* Jacob, a wealthy Jewish trader from Crete, asked Andrew for a private meeting with Jesus. Jacob didn’t understand the concept of a God who is a loving, merciful Father. All he knew was the God of Moses, a fire-breathing tyrant. Jesus said to him: “Our Father in Paradise is changeless. But our concept of his nature has enlarged and grown since the days of Moses…And now I have come in the flesh to reveal the Father in new glory and to show forth his love and mercy to all people on all worlds… Remember, Jacob, that a good and true father not only loves his family as a whole–as a family–but he also truly loves and affectionately cares for each individual member. And Jacob answered, “Rabbi, I believe; I desire that you lead me into the Father’s kingdom” (142.2.2).************* That night the apostles asked Jesus many questions about God. Jesus scolded them, saying they ought to know by now the history of the Jews’ relationship with Yahweh. But he gave them a short course in the growth of the idea of God: 1. Yahweh was the god of the Sinai clans. Moses exalted this primitive concept to the higher level of Lord God of Israel. The Father in heaven accepts the worship of his children no matter what name they give him. 2. The Most High was a concept of the Father proclaimed by Machiventi Melchizedek to Abraham, who was also exposed to El Elyon–The Most High God. This was a blending of older Mesopotamian ideas with the Most High doctrine. 3. El Shaddai was worshiped by many Hebrews in the early days. It was the Egyptian concept of the God of heaven which the Jews encountered during their captivity. All of these concepts were blended to form the doctrine of the creator Deity–the Lord God of Israel. 4. Elohim is plural for god. It is supposed to be an early indication of the Trinity. Zecharia Sitchin, however, writes that these “gods” are the Anunnaki, a race of aliens who came to earth 450,000 years ago looking for gold. They created humans as a slave race to work in the mines. Later, they upgraded humans, and the Sumerian Civilization was born under the direction of these gods worshiped by the humans. 5. The Supreme Yahweh was an expanded concept of a Universal Creator who was all powerful and all merciful. This God ruled during the time of Isaiah and supplanted all previous ideas of Deity in Israel’s religion. 6. The Father in heaven (Universal Father) is the concept taught by Jesus. The believer is a child of God. This is the good news of the kingdom of heaven. Co-existent with the Universal Father are the Eternal Son and Infinite Spirit. The true worship of any human being–as concerns individual spiritual progress– is recognized by the indwelling spirit as homage to the Father in heaven. When Jesus paused in his history lesson, the apostles were too shocked to ask questions. Jesus scared them sometimes . They were completely silent. Jesus continued to berate them: “And you would have known these truths had you read the scriptures…in the days of Samuel, the children of Abraham really believed that Yahweh created both good and evil. But a later writer did not dare to attribute evil to Yahweh. And you should be aware that the second 10 Commandments is more enlightened than the first 10 Commandments, and my commandment is the most enlightened: Love God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (142.3.1-22).
Urantia Book 35. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. The night before they left Pella, Jesus gave the apostles more instructions regarding the new kingdom. He said: “You have developed a concept of the kingdom of heaven as a glorified rule of the Jewish people over all the peoples of the earth with Messiah sitting on David’s throne and from this place of miraculous power promulgating the laws of all the world. But, my children, you see not with the eyes of faith, and you hear not with the understanding of the spirit. I declare that the kingdom of heaven is the realization and acknowledgement of God’s rule within the hearts of men. True, there is a king in this kingdom, and that king is your Father and my Father. We are indeed his loyal subjects, but far transcending that fact is the transforming truth that we are his sons. In my life this truth is to become manifest to all. Our Father also sits upon a throne, but not one made with hands. The throne of the Infinite is the eternal dwelling place of the Father in the heaven of heavens; he fills all things and proclaims his laws to universes upon universes. And the Father also rules within the hearts of his children on earth by the spirit he has sent to live within the souls of mortal men. When the Father’s will is your law, you are hardly in the kingdom. But when the Father’s will becomes truly your will, then are you in very truth in the kingdom because the kingdom has thereby become an established experience in you. When God’s will is your law, you are a noble slave subject; but when you believe in this new gospel of divine sonship, my Father’s will becomes your will, and you are elevated to the high position of free children of God, liberated sons of the kingdom” (141.2.1-2). The apostles didn’t understand the full meaning of this amazing announcement, but during later preaching it would give them great cheer. The Master and his apostles stayed near Amathus for nearly three weeks. The apostles preached twice a day to the crowds, and Jesus preached on Sabbath afternoons. It was impossible to continue the Wednesday R&R, so each apostle took one day off during the week. Peter, James and John did most of the preaching. Philip, Nathaniel, Thomas and Simon did the personal work and held classes for those with special questions. The Zebedee twins continued their police supervision. Andrew, Matthew and Judas evolved into a managerial committee, while also doing religious work. Andrew had the delicate job of dealing with John’s disciples. There were constant misunderstandings and disagreements between John’s disciples and Jesus’ new disciples. Jesus refused to help in defusing these conflicts or participate in the conferences. Nor would he give any advice about resolving these issues. His attitude was “I’m the adult and I’m not getting involved in the squabbles of my children.” (141.3.1-3)*************** The UB then proceeds to describe Jesus. He sounds like a God, which he should; he is a God. He “displayed great wisdom and manifested perfect fairness” in his dealings with his disciples. Jesus “was truly a master of men.” There was a “subtle commanding influence” in Jesus. There was “intellectual attractiveness and spiritual drawing power in his authoritative manner of teaching, in his lucid logic, his strength of reasoning, his sagacious insight, his alertness of mind, his matchless poise, and his sublime tolerance.” He was “simple, manly, honest and fearless. ” He possessed “patience, tenderness, meekness, gentleness and humility.” Jesus was indeed a strong and forceful personality; he was an intellectual power and spiritual stronghold. UB then decries the art which has portrayed Jesus as weak and wimpy. “The pictures of Jesus have been most unfortunate. These paintings of the Christ have had a deleterious influence on youth…Jesus did not pose as a mild, sweet, gentle and kindly mystic.” (141.3.4-6) Jesus really was intellectually and ruggedly attractive. He is still attracting followers after 2000 years. There are over a billion Catholics and probably another billion of other Christians. And the church is still growing. ***************** While at Amathus, Jesus spent much time with his apostles impressing upon them that God was their Father, not some bookkeeper in the sky making a check mark after all their mistakes. “God is your Father and my religion–my gospel–is nothing more nor less than the believing recognition of the truth that you are his sons. And I am here in the flesh among you to make clear both of these ideas in my life and teachings.” Jesus also was determined to free his apostles’ minds from the idea of animal sacrifice as a religious duty. The apostles were slow to understand this. (I am trying to put myself in their place and have someone tell me we aren’t going to worship Christ anymore through the Eucharist–it would be terrible and depressing to me.) The Master was patient; if one parable didn’t work, he would try another. At this time Jesus went deeper into the message the apostles would be preaching: to comfort the afflicted and minister to the sick.” He taught them about the whole man: the union of body, mind and spirit. He also taught them about the three forms of affliction they would encounter and how to recognize them: First, diseases of the flesh–affliction commonly regarded as physical sickness. Second, troubled minds–those nonphysical afflictions which were subsequently looked upon as emotional and mental disturbances. Third, the possession by evil spirits. Jesus explained the nature and origin of evil spirits. He knew the difference between possession by evil spirits and insanity, but the apostles did not. It wasn’t possible for Jesus to give them this information, but he did say: “They shall no more molest men when I shall have ascended to my Father in heaven, and after I have poured out my spirit on all flesh in those times when the kingdom will come in great power and spiritual glory” (141.4.1-5). I don’t understand this statement because demons are still at large. James Zebedee still didn’t get it and he brought the full force of Jesus’ personality down on his head. He asked: “Master, how shall we learn to see alike and thereby enjoy more harmony among ourselves?” Jesus replied vigorously: “James, James, when did I teach you that you should all see alike?! I have come into the world to proclaim spiritual liberty to the end that mortals may be empowered to live individual lives of originality and freedom before God. I do not desire that social harmony and fraternal peace shall be purchased by the sacrifice of free personality and spiritual originality. What I require of you, my apostles, is spirit unity–and that you can experience in the joy of your united dedication to the wholehearted doing of the will of my Father in heaven. You do not have to see alike or feel alike or even think alike in order spiritually to be alike. Spiritual unity is derived from the consciousness that each of you is indwelt, and increasingly dominated, by the spirit gift of the heavenly Father. Your apostolic harmony must grow out of the fact that the spirit hope of each of you is identical in origin, nature and destiny” (141.5.1). Jesus added: “Your spirit unity implies two things, which will always be found to harmonize in the lives of individual believers: First, you are possessed with a common motive for life service; you all desire above everything to do the will of the Father in heaven. Second, you all have a common goal of existence; you all purpose to find the Father in heaven, thereby proving to the universe that you have become like him. Again and again during the training of the 12, Jesus reverted to this theme. Repeatedly he told them that it was not his desire that those who believed in him should become dogmatic and standardized. He would warn against the formulation of creeds and the establishment of traditions as a means of guiding and controlling believers in the gospel of the kingdom” (141.5.3-4).
Urantia Book 34. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. The following Sabbath Jesus took the apostles back to the place where he had ordained them. After a touching message of encouragement, he consecrated them. He gathered them around him and put them into the hands of his Father, in preparation for the day when he would not be with them. He did no teaching, but his consecration charge was: “Go into all the world and preach the glad tidings of the kingdom. Liberate spiritual captives, comfort the oppressed, and minister to the afflicted. Freely you have received, freely give”(140.9.2). Jesus also gave them some advice: “Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be you therefore as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. But take heed, for your enemies will take you up before their councils, while in their synagogues they will castigate you. Before governors and rulers you will be brought because you believe this gospel, and your very testimony will be a witness for me to them. And when they lead you to judgment, be not anxious about what you shall say, for the spirit of my Father indwells you and will at such a time speak through you. Some of you will be put to death, and before you establish the kingdom on earth, you will be hated by many peoples because of this gospel; but fear not, I will be with you, and my spirit shall go before you into all the world. And my Father’s presence will abide with you while you go first to the Jews and then to the gentiles”(140.9.3).******************* The evening after the consecration the group was indoors at the Zebedee home. Jesus talked to the 12 a long time, trying to show them what they must BE, not what they must DO. They only knew a religion that told them what to do. Jesus told them they must be righteous to do the work of the kingdom. They must be perfect as the Father is perfect. He explained to the bewildered apostles that salvation was to be had by believing, by simple and sincere faith. The apostles would proclaim a baptism of fellowship with God. They could preach repentance if someone needed to hear it, but for those already seeking entrance into the kingdom, open the doors wide and bid them enter into the joyous fellowship of the sons of God.************************* Another mistake the 12 made was their tendency to take highly idealistic or religious truths and to remake them into concrete rules of personal conduct. And they didn’t grasp that Jesus was working on Urantia, not only for the people of Urantia, but for everyone in his universe. (I don’t believe that non-humanoid ETs come from our universe. Jesus created the life forms on the planets, and I can’t see him creating mantids. Also, spiders as big as VW bugs came through a portal on the Outer Banks of NC, and I can’t see him creating anything like that. However, there are intelligent raptors that work with our military. According to the UB, life is allowed to progress by evolution, so its possible that reptiles evolved into the most intelligent life form on some planets. And there is now a question about whether dinosaurs were reptiles.) To continue, Jesus was working to create a high spiritual and inspirational ideal for all mortal beings on all worlds. That evening Thomas asked a not so smart question: “Master, you have told us we must become as children before we can enter the kingdom and yet you have warned us not to be deceived by false prophets or cast our pearls before swine. Now, I am honestly puzzled. I cannot understand your teaching.” Jesus replied: “How shall I bear with you! Ever you insist on making literal all I teach. When I told you to become a child as the price of entering the kingdom, I didn’t mean you would be easily deceived, but you would easily believe.” Jesus also talked to Matthew during supper, and told him that the morality of an act is determined by its intent–the individual’s motive. Does that sound like relativism? The golden rule as restated by Jesus demands active social contact. Jesus had very positive ideas about morality. Simon Zelotes asked if all men were sons of God, and when Jesus replied in the affirmative, he was quite dismayed. “Yes, Simon, all men are sons of God, and that is the good news you are going to proclaim.” But the apostles couldn’t grasp such a doctrine; it was a new, strange and startling announcement. In response to a question asked by Andrew, Jesus made it clear that the morality of his teaching was inseparable from the religion of his living. He taught morality, not from the nature of man, but from the relation of man to God (I wonder if Christian theologians know anything about this.). At last John got the Master’s attention and asked him to define the kingdom of heaven. Jesus answered: “There are 3 essentials: first, recognition of the fact of the sovereignty of God; second, belief in the truth of sonship with God; third, faith in the effectiveness of the supreme human desire to do the will of God.” And this is the good news of the gospel: that by faith every mortal may have all these essentials of salvation” (140.10.1-9).****** Finally, the time had come to do the work. It was January 19, AD 27. But Jesus was missing, so Andrew went out searching for him. He found Jesus sitting in a boat and weeping. This was the first time any of the twelve had seen Jesus weep. Andrew asked why he was weeping on the eve of their departure for Jerusalem. Andrew was afraid that one of the twelve had offended Jesus. Many of the families of the 12 had come to wish them well on their first tour, and Jesus told Andrew that no member of his family had “come over to wish us Godspeed.” The UB notes that pride, disappointment, misunderstanding and petty resentment kept them away.************************* Since Jesus was famous in Galilee, and Herod was aware of him, he decided to take his apostles down the Jordan River and through Judea. Over 100 believers wanted to follow him, but he told them to wait a few days. They stopped at Pella for 2 weeks, preaching and teaching. Several hundred people gathered around their camp from Galilee, Phoenicia, Syria, the Decapolis, Perea and Judea. Jesus did no public preaching. Andrew divided the multitude and assigned the 12 for the forenoon and afternoon teachings. After dinner Jesus talked to the 12, but he only reviewed his teachings and answered questions. The apostles did not need to baptize John’s disciples, but the disciples wondered why Jesus did nothing to get John released from prison, especially if Jesus was all that John said he was. They wondered why Jesus did nothing to prevent the cruel death of their beloved leader. Andrew carefully instructed his fellow apostles in the delicate task of getting along smoothly with the followers of John the Baptist. During the first year of Jesus’ public ministry more than three-fourths of his followers had previously followed John and received his baptism. The entire year of AD 27 was spent in quietly taking over John’s work in Perea and Judea (141.1.1-5).
