By Ken Helsley

Are You Ready for Action?

Are you properly girded with the Armor of the Lord? In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he made this analogy regarding putting on the full armor of God. “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:16-17)

But taking up the armor implies that you are ready for action and have been trained and prepared to go out and face the trials of spiritual warfare. But how many of us, even after years of reading and studying TheUrantia Book, can say we have donned the armor that we have been provided through the Fifth Epochal Revelation to mankind?

Parable of the Wasted Treasure 

A mighty king once ruled over a wonderful and fruitful land. One day, one of his foreign emissaries came to him and said, “My Lord, I have grave news. The king of another land has become hungry for conquest and is preparing his people to march out to war. They are still a long way off, but if they are successful, they will one day come for us as well. You must prepare the people for the day when they will reach our shores.”

So, the King ordered his generals to use all the resources of the treasury to begin preparing to defend the land. They went to the village closest to the landing spot where the enemy would most likely land and spared no expense in giving them armor and weapons, so when the enemy arrived, they would be prepared. He sent his best armorers, smiths, and war trainers to that village. But the people rejected and corrupted the smiths and trainers, and they became lazy.

Five years went by, and the day came when the king went out to inspect the village that he hoped would be his country’s first line of defense when the enemy arrived. But when he came to the village, he found all of the armor and weapons he had sent them were highly polished and gleaming but used only as fancy decorations in the homes of the people. 

The king called the villagers together and said to them, “Five years ago, I sent to you my finest armorers and smiths and a great treasure, so you might prepare yourselves for the enemy when they arrive, and yet it is unused and sits in your homes as decorations. What have you been doing with this great treasure I bestowed upon this village to be prepared to stave off the enemy when they arrive on our shores?”

A spokesman for the village stepped up and said, “But my Lord, we had great fun with the armor and weapons you gave to us. We held many jousts and played many fun games. We donned the armor, held great feasts and wonderful celebrations, and pretended that we were great knights who had just saved the kingdom from destruction. We had a wonderful time with what you gave to us, and we are very appreciative of your gift. But we are just common folk, My Lord. Surely you did not expect us to train and become fit to march out for actual battle?”

But rather than becoming angry, the king became saddened, and with tears rolling down his face, he said to his generals, “These people are lost to us. I hoped that they would be our first line of defense and be able to save themselves and us when the enemy reached our shores, while we worked to call the rest of our people to arms. But, lo, they have wasted this wonderful treasure I have given to them, and they have not used the time I gave them to train for action. Take away all that I have given them and give it to the next village in the path of the enemy, so they now may be prepared when the enemy arrives. This village is of no use to us, they are as good as dead men. They had five years to prepare, and they did nothing. They have given our enemy a great advantage, but perhaps the next village will be wiser and use my treasure to better prepare for action.”

What Have You Done With Your Treasure?

Seventy Years ago, our king delivered to us a great treasure in the form of The Urantia Book. I doubt that any of us alive today has had the full 70 years to read and study this treasure, but the vast majority of Urantia Book readers have had our five years or more to prepare for action. 

So I must ask, what have you done with this treasure? Have you used it as was intended by our king? Or have you wasted it by turning it into nothing more than an object to be enjoyed and frittered away with endless academic studies and discussions? If you have been reading and studying The Urantia Book for five years or more, it’s time to show the fruits of that preparation time.

I often hear people say, “But I’m not ready,” or “I don’t know what to do.” Let me share with you some advice a very wise friend once gave to me. My friend was a pastor at the church I was attending at the time. I was in a bit of an existential crisis and feeling quite lost. I went to Pastor Ron, and I told him that I felt stuck, like I needed to do something, but I just couldn't figure out what I needed to do to get unstuck. 

Pastor Ron looked at me with patience and said, “Ken, remember it is easier to redirect an object already in motion than it is to put that object in motion to begin with. Just get up and do something. Put yourself in motion, and God can then redirect you as he sees fit from that point.”

I took that advice to heart. I began sitting on committees and getting involved in things that before I had felt I was not qualified for and not ready for, and he was right; it led in many different directions and ultimately to The Urantia Book. In that process, I found many things that I didn’t enjoy doing, and it even led me away from the traditional organized institutions I had practiced in my entire life, and I went down many dead-end roads. Admittedly, there were times when I felt like a billiard ball bouncing aimlessly around a pool table, but I eventually found my pocket when I stumbled onto The Urantia Book.

I recently came to the point in my zeal for the message of The Urantia Book that I once again felt compelled to get up and move. I reached out to the Fellowship to volunteer. This led to some very wonderful discussions with several leaders within the community regarding writing some articles and outreach opportunities with the Fellowship’s Area Coordinators. I don’t know what these opportunities will lead to, and I may be bouncing around for a while once again until I find the pocket God has meant for me, but I am confident I will find it.

Service Opportunities Abound 

The one thing I have found, however, is that there is no limit to the opportunities to serve. Part IV of The Urantia Book, “The Life and Teachings of Jesus,” has one unmistakable conclusion. Action is expected of anyone who counts themselves among the brotherhood of man. If you believe yourself to be a faith son under the fatherhood of God, then it doesn’t matter what that action is, so long as it is in service of mankind and the brotherhood.

I have learned that The Urantia Book Fellowship is always in great need of volunteers to help in many different endeavors within the community. But whether you serve within the Urantia community or in your own local civic community in a shelter or food pantry or any of the hundreds of opportunities that abound in the endless need for service volunteers in the service of the brotherhood of man, service is service. 

I understand that when you are new to a message like The Urantia Book or a new church, it can feel awkward when it comes to getting involved with the mechanics of an organization already in place. We all ask ourselves, “Will I be accepted? Do I know enough? What if someone asks me a question I can’t answer? What if they ask more of me than I can give at this time?” But just be honest with those you work with and be willing to try something new occasionally, and if one thing turns out to not be a fit for you, try something else.

If you have been studying The Urantia Book for five years or more, it’s time to take some action if you haven’t already done so. Our king is counting on us to be of service to the brotherhood. Step out of your comfort zone. Find your pocket. I guarantee you, if you just put yourself in motion and are open to doing the will of the Father, he will redirect you as needed to where he knows is your best fit.

It’s hard to be a beacon on a hill if you keep your light covered. If you have taken the message of Jesus to heart, as it is laid out for us in The Urantia Book, then put on the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, and you cannot help but shine with the love for your fellow man just as Jesus did. 

Be the light in your community. Ready yourself for action. Our king is counting on you!

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A Calling to the Sons and Daughters of God on Urantia

A Clarion Call

Are we proclaiming the Kingdom of God or are we engaged in just another academic study of yet another spiritual text? Are we letting the light of truth shine through us in service and action? Are we a beacon on the hill to those around us? KEN HELSLEY has some soul-searching questions for the Urantia community.

"We have to do more. The harvest is ripe, it's time to bring it in."

I love The Urantia Book. I found the book about eight years ago and have developed the habit of reading through it at least once a year. 

I had spent several years searching for meaning within my faith. I was sixty years old and had come out of the traditional Christian church where I grew up and served on committees, as a deacon, and even as a full-time employee for a church at one point. But I felt lost and so I began searching for something more. 

It took several years and several faulty paths before I found what I had longed for in The Urantia Book. When I first saw it on a bookstore shelf, I felt like it just jumped off the shelf and into my hand. Throughout those years of searching, I never lost my faith in God; I just knew something was missing in my understanding of God.

After reading The Urantia Book for some time, I felt I needed to find other readers to study with, so I went online and found a local group that met not too far from my home. When Covid hit, we had to disband. I then found a remote group, and over the years I’ve met and studied with several live and virtual groups and forums. I’ve truly loved every moment of every group and study session I have been involved in. 

I’ve always been impressed with the level of intellectual scholarship I’ve found among Urantia Book readers. In these groups, I’ve met and conversed with college professors, corporate executives, football coaches, nurserymen, full-time homemakers, and just about everyone in between. Every conversation has been insightful, encouraging, and stimulating, and I knew I had found my community among Urantia Book readers.

Is Our Message about the Book or of the Book?

As has become my habit, in 2024 I re-started my journey through the Foreword and 196 papers of the book. Every time I’ve done this, I’ve been amazed at what has caught my attention that didn’t seem to stay with me from a previous reading or study session. This time was no exception. 

As I was going through Part IV, “The Life and Teachings of Jesus,” something new and very startling struck me, a nagging sense that we (the Urantia community) might be heading down the same road that the early Christians trod two millennia before: are we creating a community “about,” The Urantia Book rather than one based on the message “of,” the book?

The message that Michael of Nebadon came to deliver to the world was quite simple: the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. His message was about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. For all our scholarly research, philosophical discussions, and love for the Fifth Epochal Revelation, are we missing the entire point of The Urantia Book? 

The book tells us that sooner or later another is due to arise proclaiming “the kingdom of God is at hand”—meaning a return to the high spiritual concept of Jesus, who proclaimed that the kingdom is the will of his heavenly Father dominant and transcendent in the heart of the believer. (170.5.19) Is it time for us to recapture that message and begin proclaiming it as Jesus instructed his apostles and disciples to do? We in the Urantia Book community talk a great deal about the book, but, unless we’re studying a particular paper where it is included, we talk very little about the Kingdom of Heaven. 

The Jewish people of Jesus’s day and the early Christians had many ideas about the Kingdom of Heaven, usually based on their understanding of a physical, material kingdom here on earth. Not much has changed in that view over these last two millennia. But The Urantia Book makes it unmistakably clear that what Jesus is proclaiming is a spiritual kingdom that arises within each individual and changes each of us in such a way that the world itself will change along with us:

“It therefore is evident that the true and inner religion of the kingdom unfailingly and increasingly tends to manifest itself in practical avenues of social service. Jesus taught a living religion that impelled its believers to engage in the doing of loving service. But Jesus did not put ethics in the place of religion. He taught religion as a cause and ethics as a result.” (170.3.8)

This begs the question: are we proclaiming the Kingdom of God or are we engaged in just another academic study of yet another spiritual text?

“The Kingdom,” to the Jews, was the Israelite community, to the Gentiles it became the Christian church. “To Jesus the kingdom was the sum of those individuals who had confessed their faith in the fatherhood of God, thereby declaring their wholehearted dedication to the doing of the will of God, thus becoming members of the spiritual brotherhood of man.” (170.5.11)

What Are We Doing to Proclaim the Kingdom?

The Urantia Book’s teachings are now about 100 years old, if you include the very first messages delivered to the “sleeping subject.” Today, we stand at a crossroads, one that can lead us down the path of true righteousness or down that old path of dogma, creeds, and separate castes and factions within the Urantia community. 

The Urantia community stands at a crossroads

In my search for deeper Urantia Book understanding and study materials I have come across several different factions of the Urantia community who seem to have gone off to do their own thing. There is of course the major discord that erupted between the Urantia Brotherhood and Urantia Foundation. We are all aware of that rift, which may, after a long time, finally be healing. Some factions base their practices and beliefs on The Urantia Book. Another group believes a Teaching/Magisterial mission has begun and purports to practice  communication with morontia and spiritual  entities, while others have taken this sort of practice to an even greater extreme. I will not discuss the merits of any of these movements, but only ask the question: what are we doing within each of these movements to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven, the fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man, to the masses? 

We have been given the clearest, most unequivocal, and most astounding revelation that any generation has ever been given. We can know and understand things about the Kingdom that no generation before us could because we are the first generation capable of understanding these things on a technological and spiritual level.

So what are we doing with it, other than engaging in academic study?

I am not calling for the setting up of any kind of formal religion. The Urantia Book itself tells us that organizations lead to control and dogma. Rather, I am asking each one of us, individually, what we are doing with the message that our sovereign Creator incarnated in the flesh to teach us: the message about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and that our Father in Heaven lives within each of us.

A Book That's "Too Hard"

I’ve been engaged in several discussions stemming from the growing awareness among Urantia Book students that we are an aging population. In fact, the average age of the groups I have studied with was the late sixties to mid-seventies. Some are even in their nineties now. I know there are some younger people in the community—I’ve seen their pictures in group photos—but they are few in number. So what are we doing to attract more members into the Kingdom at a younger age? 

I was studying The Urantia Book in my office at home one day when my 11-year-old granddaughter happened to be over, and she asked, “Grandpa, what are you reading?” So I showed her and asked, “Would you like to read some with me?” “Sure, she replied.” So we read a couple of paragraphs in a paper I was studying and she looked very confused. “That’s too hard,” she said.

While she’s still young, it’s the reaction that most people have: The Urantia Book is a very complicated book. Its average reading comprehension score is college or graduate level. If our answer to an earnest inquiry about what we believe is to hand a young, impressionable mind a 2000-page tome and say, “Oh, you want to know what I believe? Here read this,” then the most common response is always going to be, “That’s too hard.” 

You don’t decide to “get in shape” after years of sedentary living by signing up to run a marathon. You start with the basics and work your way up to the bigger task; you make marathon running your ultimate goal. In school, we need to learn our ABCs before we can learn spelling and sentence structure.

The Revelation is Meant for This Generation

I’m old enough to remember the mid to late 1960s. I was still a kid, but I remember there was a huge revival in the Christian churches, at least here in America. It was called the Jesus movement. It was sparked by a bunch of radical, flower power-driven preachers who had just begun to preach the message of love and peace in the name of Jesus. They met in open-air spaces, public parks, beaches, and town squares. It was powerful. Tens of thousands of people were able to know Christ from this movement. Its message was simple: “Jesus loves you.”

Unfortunately, these preachers made the same fatal mistake as their predecessors when they sought to build congregations and organizations and obtain land and build buildings, which became just as mainstream as the churches their congregants were rejecting through the hippie and flower-power movement with their “turn on, tune in, and drop out” attitude.

The youth of this world are ready for change

I have often heard it said among the Urantia community that this revelation was meant for another generation before it could catch fire. I believe that generation has arrived. Young people all over the world are turning on, tuning in, and dropping out once again. China is undergoing a major “Lying Flat” movement where young people have just given up. Third-world countries are the only ones still producing young people in large enough numbers to replace older and dying elders, and are ripe for a major upwelling of youthful revival. Europe is floundering in decline and its youth are wondering what future they will have if things don’t change, and soon. America has a huge disparity between the wealthy elite and the deepest poverty. Its youth are aimlessly migrating looking for a better life anyplace they can find it, while surveys show that upward of 69% of young people 25 and under live in constant anxiety about the future.

But one thing above all else is clear: that the youth of this world are ready for a change. They are crying out for something new and different. 

We have the answer. We have the message: the Kingdom of Heaven (a spiritual kingdom) is within each of us, we all have one Father in Heaven and we are all brothers and sisters of that same spiritual Father. It’s time we are about our Father’s business, declare this truth to the world, and proclaim the Kingdom of God. 

I’m not advocating that we all take to the parks and beaches to hold rallies, although if you are inclined to do so and are a gifted speaker, I’m sure it would be welcomed by the youth of most nations. Rather, I am saying that we must each begin to let the light of truth shine through us through service and action, so that it will be unmistakable to the world around us that we are members of the Kingdom of God.

When the Jews rejected this message, the Father gave it to the Gentiles. When the Gentiles missed the point entirely, he gave the Fifth Epochal Revelation to the entire world through The Urantia Book. Are we going to be yet another generation who is stuck in academic debates and mired in dogma and sectarianism, or are we going to be about the Father’s business and start proclaiming the truth in a way that can be understood and spread? 

Jesus did not go about the countryside and into the towns and the villages with a Torah in hand proclaiming the law. He went about with nothing but the clothes on his back and taught the simple message of the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, and that the Kingdom of Heaven is within. 

Are You a Beacon on the Hill?

Each one of us in the  Urantia community may want to ask themselves: what am I doing to let the light of truth of the Kingdom shine through me? Am I a beacon on the hill to those around me and in my local community? Am I living the Father’s WILL in my life? 

We have to do more. The harvest is ripe, it’s time to bring it in.

Let us be reminded of Jesus’s words: “The world is filled with hungry souls who famish in the very presence of the bread of life; men die searching for the very God who lives within them. Men seek for the treasures of the kingdom with yearning hearts and weary feet when they are all within the immediate grasp of living faith.” (159.3.8)

Ken Helsley is a retired Federal employee who lives in Bastrop, Texas. He has been a Urantia Book reader for eight years and since retiring, has dedicated himself to becoming a better disciple of our Father in Heaven.

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How Goes the Outreach Effort?

By Philip G. Calabrese, Ph.D.

Published in 1955, after decades of divine communications from personages visiting our world from outer space (via the mind of a sleeping, human contact individual with a particularly adept indwelling spirit) 69 years later The Urantia Book is still a well-kept secret!

Even taken as a book of inventive fiction, the scope of this 2097-page epic boggles the mind. It literally covers everything from the eternal Infinite to the evolutionary Supreme and ends with a cosmic mission and destiny for each individual soul as a coordinated part of the perfecting supreme Soul. How can such a work be unknown to so many people living today? Why is such a creative, and arguably a statistically proven, epochal revelation to our world largely unrecognized and even ignored?

One reason, which cannot be discounted, is that espousing a book presenting itself as “the fifth epochal revelation” to our world “Urantia” could easily bring ridicule and damage to a scientist’s or religious scholar’s reputation and position. (Every new scientific or religious advance is resisted by those threatened with obsolescence.)

For example, three scholarly authors of papers discussing The Urantia Book in a recent book edited by Byron Belitsos chose to be anonymous. Now why do you suppose they did that? For similar reasons, there has long been a tendency among believers to “bootleg” The Urantia Book’s insightful remarks without attribution.

The Urantia Book was purposely dropped quietly into world culture without fanfare, and the early culture of Urantia Foundation as copyright holder prevented the book from being quoted extensively except with hard-to-get permission. After all, people needed time to read and digest the book’s contents and judge its excellence. Superficial adherents could do more harm than good, perhaps taking control of the “Urantia movement” with a populist approach. 

That danger existed in the first generation of readers after publication. But now there are plenty of readers who know the book well enough to prevent such a takeover threat were one to surface. But in the meantime, due to conflicts in publication efforts, the Urantia movement outreach organization, once called the Urantia Brotherhood, split into two organizations, only one of which is organically associated with Urantia Foundation while the other, The Urantia Book Fellowship (UBF) publishes its own, essentially identical, English edition. 

Total Devotion Needed

Today, the many early young and enthusiastic readers of the 1970’s and 80’s are old, and the UBF’s local Urantia societies in the USA are typically dwindling in membership and participation. In the past, many of these study groups and local societies had little interaction with the central organization of The Urantia Book Fellowship (the present 36-member General Council (GC)). 

These GC members are very hard-working administrators, among our most dedicated believers. But they labor in a constitutional framework that badly needs updating, even now very slowly discussing a constitutional revision of that self-same ill-suited constitutional framework. God help them!

Absent a truly dynamic administrative leader, the Urantia movement has become somewhat institutionalized with structures that struggle to be relevant to USA readership and youth. 

To some extent, our Urantia movement organizations reflect those of us who profess belief in The Urantia Book and loyalty to Jesus’ Gospel message, but who have hardly been totally devoted to sharing the message. Life has other responsibilities and attractions, which too often become almost unbreakable routines. 

Apostles, Not Just Disciples

In my own case, I am totally dedicated to promoting the spiritual message of The Urantia Book when I am hosting my Urantia study group, and also during some other times during an average day, like at my United Church of Christ weekly lectionary meetings, and when writing a note like this or a derivative paper. But I’m still a long way from “total dedication”.

Professionally, I spent decades writing and publishing numerous mathematical research papers including a book covering my synthesis of 2-valued Boolean algebra with 3-valued conditional event algebra, none of which directly promotes the book except potentially to testify to my intellectual ability. 

At the same time since 1970, I also authored numerous presentations and papers on Urantia Book cosmology including a paper that statistically proves that “the probability that the UB was authored by human beings is less than 1 in 50 million”. That probability was based on Urantia Book predictions and contemporary science reversals of thinking since 1955, such as the book’s predicted discovery (in the 1990’s) of hundreds of millions of outer space galaxies. But those papers were submitted and appeared in the Urantia community publications, not in secular publications. Perhaps it is time for that to happen.

What we need, I think, are more people who can become Urantian spiritual leaders—full-time spiritual workers like the apostles, not just mostly part-time disciples populating dwindling “societies” that struggle to attract enthusiastic members to our mission. For that, we need a truly talented leader to coordinate our many efforts to share the revelation with the world. Pato Banton comes to my mind.

To gather active youth to the challenge of effecting the spiritual transformation of the world we need to better articulate the mission. At least we can muster the courage to openly espouse The Urantia Book so that we won’t hear “I’ve never heard of it” so often. Let our Urantia Book enlightenment shine and not be hidden under a bushel. The world needs that now.

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5TH EPOCHAL REVELATION STUDY GROUP AND OUTREACH MAP

we invite the International UB Readership to join us all on Zoom:Join the Zoom Meeting:
 

https://urantiabook-org.zoom.us/j/87099272744

Meeting ID: 870 9927 2744

Find your local number:

https://urantiabook-org.zoom.us/u/kdedFy7k1o

Read Full Essay on the Jubilee Here

TUUFF will be co-hosting the event with The Center For Unity  

we invite the International UB Readership to join us all on Zoom:

Join the Zoom Meeting:
https://urantiabook-org.zoom.us/j/87099272744

Meeting ID: 870 9927 2744

Find your local number:

https://urantiabook-org.zoom.us/u/kdedFy7k1o

[player url="https://spiritualfamily.net/file/view/62692/christianities-problem-deacon-calvin-robinson-of-the-anglican-church" title="Christianities Problem Deacon Calvin Robinson of the Anglican Church :: SpiritualFamily.Net" summary="Social Networking For The World Wide Spiritual Fellowship Of All Mankind"]

[embed title="The Power of God and the Holy Spirit are sweeping the world's Nations" url="https://spiritualfamily.net/videos/view/58860/the-power-of-god-and-the-holy-spirit-are-sweeping-the-worlds-nations" summary="The Power of God and the Holy Spirit are sweeping the world's Nations   52:7.15 All the worlds of Satania can join in the hope of the one who wrote: "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein..." guid="58860"]

A debate about some of the most controversial issues is happening in the Christian faith and it is causing some to question the future of the Church. Scottie Nell Hughes speaks to Deacon Calvin Robinson of the Anglican Church on this episode of 360 View. We are going to look at the divide happening within the Christian Church and what effect the Church’s demise could have globally.

  ^195:9.1 Do not overlook the value of your spiritual heritage, the river of truth running down through the centuries, even to the barren times of a materialistic and secular age. In all your worthy efforts to rid yourselves of the superstitious creeds of past ages, make sure that you hold fast the eternal truth. But be patient! when the present superstition revolt is over, the truths of Jesus' gospel will persist gloriously to illuminate a new and better way.

  ^195:9.2 But paganized and socialized Christianity stands in need of new contact with the uncompromised teachings of Jesus; it languishes for lack of a new vision of the Master's life on earth. A new and fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus is destined to conquer an empire of materialistic secularism and to overthrow a world sway of mechanistic naturalism. Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment.

  ^195:9.3 The teachings of Jesus, even though greatly modified, survived the mystery cults of their birthtime, the ignorance and superstition of the dark ages, and are even now slowly triumphing over the materialism, mechanism, and secularism of the twentieth century. And such times of great testing and threatened defeat are always times of great revelation.

 

  ^195:9.4 Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. If Christianity persists in neglecting its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus' religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world.

  ^195:9.5 The modern age will refuse to accept a religion which is inconsistent with facts and out of harmony with its highest conceptions of truth, beauty, and goodness. The hour is striking for a rediscovery of the true and original foundations of present-day distorted and compromised Christianity -- the real life and teachings of Jesus.

 

  ^195:9.6 Primitive man lived a life of superstitious bondage to religious fear. Modern, civilized men dread the thought of falling under the dominance of strong religious convictions. Thinking man has always feared to be held by a religion. When a strong and moving religion threatens to dominate him, he invariably tries to rationalize, traditionalize, and institutionalize it, thereby hoping to gain control of it. By such procedure, even a revealed religion becomes man-made and man-dominated. Modern men and women of intelligence evade the religion of Jesus because of their fears of what it will do to them -- and with them. And all such fears are well founded. The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that men dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood of man.

  ^195:9.7 Selfish men and women simply will not pay such a price for even the greatest spiritual treasure ever offered mortal man. Only when man has become sufficiently disillusioned by the sorrowful disappointments attendant upon the foolish and deceptive pursuits of selfishness, and subsequent to the discovery of the barrenness of formalized religion, will he be disposed to turn wholeheartedly to the gospel of the kingdom, the religion of Jesus of Nazareth.

  ^195:9.8 The world needs more firsthand religion. Even Christianity -- the best of the religions of the twentieth century -- is not only a religion about Jesus, but it is so largely one which men experience secondhand. They take their religion wholly as handed down by their accepted religious teachers. What an awakening the world would experience if it could only see Jesus as he really lived on earth and know, firsthand, his life-giving teachings! Descriptive words of things beautiful cannot thrill like the sight thereof, neither can creedal words inspire men's souls like the experience of knowing the presence of God. But expectant faith will ever keep the hope-door of man's soul open for the entrance of the eternal spiritual realities of the divine values of the worlds beyond.

 

  ^195:9.9 Christianity has dared to lower its ideals before the challenge of human greed, war-madness, and the lust for power; but the religion of Jesus stands as the unsullied and transcendent spiritual summons, calling to the best there is in man to rise above all these legacies of animal evolution and, by grace, attain the moral heights of true human destiny.

  ^195:9.10 Christianity is threatened by slow death from formalism, overorganization, intellectualism, and other nonspiritual trends. The modern Christian church is not such a brotherhood of dynamic believers as Jesus commissioned continuously to effect the spiritual transformation of successive generations of mankind.

  ^195:9.11 So-called Christianity has become a social and cultural movement as well as a religious belief and practice. The stream of modern Christianity drains many an ancient pagan swamp and many a barbarian morass; many olden cultural watersheds drain into this present-day cultural stream as well as the high Galilean tablelands which are supposed to be its exclusive source.

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The Fellowship Herald

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The Herald: 2017
Urantia Spring -- By Joshua J. Wilson, Tempe, AZ
A Musical Metaphor -- By Dr. Bruce Jackson, Columbia, MO
The Temple Of Spiritual Brotherhood and the Greater Meaning Of Study Groups --
By Charles Laurence Olivea, Santa Fe, NM
What Will We Find in Outer Space? -- By William Sadler Jr.
What is Interfaith? -- By Michael Painter, Plainfield, IN
Who Said That? -- A Quiz
The Shroud of Turin and The Urantia Papers -- By Dennis Marshall, Fort Wayne, IN
Questions About Being Human -- By Michelle Klimesh, San Ramon, CA
What Does The Urantia Book Tell Us Needs to be Accomplished? --
By David Kantor, Boulder, CO
Twelve Ways I Hear From God -- By Richard Rosen, Sebastian, FL

The Herald: 2016
A Circle of Kindred Spirits -- Bobbie Dreier and Francis Oliver Lynn
Listen Up Grandparents and YaYAs -- Sara Blackstock
Early Persecutions of Jesus’ Followers and Dispersion of the Apostles -- Lawrence J. Bowman
Thoughts on the Bestowals of Personality and the Thought Adjuster -- Kermit Anderson
Mindedness and Spirituality, Comments on the Absolutes -- Bill Sadler Jr.
Why Should You Support a Urantia Organization Like The Urantia Book Fellowship? -- Paula Thompson
Top/Down -- Gary Deinstadt
Healing Meditation—A Poem -- K. Brendi Poppel
The Nature of Personal Reality -- Byron Belitsos
Jesus Said - A Puzzle

The Herald: 2015
Effective Study Group Leadership -- David Kulieke
Can We Have a Universal Standard of Morality -- Dave Holt
Destiny of the Master Michaels? -- Bill Sadler Jr.
The Urantia Book and Its Mission -- Charles Laurence Olivea
Is The Urantia Book a Sacred Text -- David Kantor
Sixty-Four Original Urantia Book Concepts -- Dr. William Sadler
Society Evolving: Chaos, Progress, and Order -- Lawrence Schkade
The Importance of Christian Ministry -- Preston Thomas

The Herald: 2014
The Rehabilitation of Urantia -- Carolyn Kendall
The Journey Following Mortal Death -- William S. Sadler, Jr.
Pursuing Supremacy: How Might the Master Seraphim and Human Beings Collaborate?
Urantian Language and the Preservation of Meaning -- Richard Daunt
Origin, Nature, Ministry, and Destiny of Thought Adjusters -- David Glass
Spiritual Unity -- Richard Goodman
Prayer? Why Bother? -- Linda Buselli

The Herald: 2013
Spiritual Genetics -- Steve Dreier
Religion of One -- Rev. Gary Deinstadt
A Cosmology of Race -- Charles Olivea
Exploring the Inner Life -- Dave Holt
Spiritual Faith, Uncertainty, and Cosmic Citizenship -- David Kantor
Moods, Music and Magic of The Urantia Book -- David Glass
A Statistical Test of the Hypothesis of Human Authorship of The Urantia Book -- Dr. Philip Calabrese

The Herald: 2012
Souls on Purpose: The Personal Creed Project -- John Creger
Evolutionary Spirituality -- Steve Macintosh
Urantia, 606 of Satania: Concerning the Inhabited Worlds of the Satania System -- Israel Dix
Perfecting, Neuroplasticity, and the Supreme Actualizing -- Lawrence Schkade
Race and The Urantia Book -- Earlene Green
Religion of Experience vs Religion of Authority -- Richard S. Omura
The Forgotten Urantian: Dr. Lena Sadler -- Larry Mullins
Cosmology in the Light of The Urantia Book -- Philip Calabrese

The Herald: 2011
The First Epochal Revelation in American Indian Traditions -- Dave Holt
The Power of The Name of Jesus -- Charles Laurence Olivea
Machiventa Melchizedek -- One of History's Mysteries
Getting Closer to God -- Approaching The Universal Father
One Man's Tour Through The Evolutionary Debate

The Herald: 2010
The World is Not Coming to an End -- Carolyn Kendall, Barbara Newsom
Religion of Experience vs. Religion of Authority -- Richard S. Omura
God Consciousness -- Charles Laurence Olivea
How Well Do You Know the Apostles?
The Urantia Book, Human Concepts, and Revelatory Validation -- David Elders
Understanding the Relation of Love to the Mind -- Sheila Keene-Lund
Cosmic Socialization and Planetary Citizenship -- Dave Holt
Testimonial of One Second-Generation Urantian -- Angela Thurston
Introducing The Urantia Book Historical Society
The Problem of Business -- Dan Amyx
Crouching Deity/Hidden Supreme -- Bob Debold

The Herald: 2009
In Search of the Historical Onamonalonton -- Dave Holt
The Role of Emotions and Feelings on an Evolutionary Word -- Nancy Johnson
Joy in the Worm Bin -- Sara Blackstock
Do You Remember These? -- A Quiz
Ten Lessons from the Vineyard -- Arnie Ondis
Solar System Discoveries that Corroborate The Urantia Book -- Philip Calabrese
The Book—a Poem -- M. Sanders
A Lesson from a Mouse -- Robert Seubert
The Third Cosmic Circle -- Richare Guevara
Becoming an Effective Missionary Evangel -- David Kantor
The Limitless Spectrum of Education -- David Glass
Urantia University - U2 -- David Nash
Our Creative Deities—A Supreme Relationship -- Linda Buselli

The Herald: 2008
Celestial Ministry: Seen and Unseen -- Michelle Klimesh
The Supreme and Outreach -- Arlene and Buck Weimer
Guess Who's Coming Next? -- Carolyn Kendall
A Missionary Experience in Turkey -- Bill Rocap
You Be The Book -- Michael Painter
The Start of a Worthy New Tradition
The Significance of the Sevenfold Bestowal Career -- David Glass
The Urantia Book Is Not What It Used To Be -- Halbert Katzen
Law is Life Itself -- Linda Buselli
Moral Cosmic Citizenship -- Doreen Heyne
The Roots of Morality -- Henry Begemann
Casting Pearls Before Personality -- David Elders

The Herald: 2007
Amazing Human Aspects of Epochal Revelation -- Paula Thompson
Archangels: Agents of Epochal Change -- Carolyn Kendall
Update: The Coming Scientific Validation -- Dr. Philip Calabrese
Participatory Evolution -- Jacob Dix
Personality and Man -- George Park
The Golden Rule -- Robert Burns
Science Fiction for Agondonters -- Cece Forrester
Loving Service -- Phil Taylor
The Kingdom and the Supreme -- David Kantor

The Herald: 2006
Guardian Angels -- Charles Olivea
Youth and The Urantia Book -- Gina Buselli
Prophecy and The Urantia Book -- Preston Thomas
Serving: A Cookbook for the Soul -- Bill and Share Beasley
What is Personality? -- Berkeley Elliott
The Coming Scientific Validation of The Urantia Book -- Dr. Philip Calabrese

The Herald: 2005
The Next Fifty Years: Dissemination -- Charles Olivea
The New Revelation of the Living Jesus -- Peter Holley
Untitled Poem -- David Glass
On Removing The Barrier to a Civilized Discussion Of Eugenics -- Finnie
Becoming a Universe-Conscious Citizen -- Nancy Johnson
At Home In The Universe: Stephen Zendt
Pattern of Unity: Jean-Pierre Heudier
Journey to India: Legacy of the Sethite Teachers -- Dave Holt
Thoughts About the Future of our Urantia Community -- Sara Blackstock
Legacy in Peril: Children and the Urantia Community -- Tom Allen
Putting the Teachings into Action -- Steve McIntosh
Science Cannot Replace Religion -- Dr. Antti Roine
A Reed Singing -- Dave Holt

The Herald: 2004
Illumination/Transformation -- Doreen Heyne
An Essay on Hope -- David Kantor
The Rise of Spiritual Technology -- Richard Omura
Meditation in The Urantia Book, Jesus Style -- Peter Holley
The Art of Marriage -- Arlene and Buck Weimer
Room in My Heart -- Dave Holt
A Trace of God -- Steven Hecht
The Golden Rule in Business -- Larry Mullins
The Lighter Side -- Charles Montgomery

The Herald: Summer 2003
A Jewish Girl Finds Jesus -- Bobbie Dreier
Ruminations on Revelation -- Steven Hecht
Safeguarding the Symbols of Urantian Faith -- David Kantor
When Belief Becomes Faith -- Al Lockett
The Patterns of Revelation -- Linda Buselli
The Difficulty of Being Objective -- Nancy Johnson
Closed Circle or Open Book -- Stephen Zendt
The Origin of the Spiritual Fellowship -- Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger
A Dialogue About "The Kingdom" -- Claudia Ayers and Lee Smith
Anti-Terror Treatise -- Stephen Zendt

The Herald: Summer 2002
Reflections on the Urantia Movement in 2002 -- Dr. Philip Calabrese
Centering--A Method of Divine Embrace -- Marvin Gawryn
Eugenics and The Urantia Book: Another Perspective -- Dr. Paul Premsagar
Revelatory Mouthpiecing -- Finnie
Faith Wiring in the Brain -- Sara Blackstock
In Search of the Error So Great -- Nancy Johnson
Jesus' Miracles and the Father's Will -- Ron Besser
Not What We Give, But What We Share -- James Lowell
A Demystification and Redefinition of Cult -- Alison Gardner
Religious Practice and the Urantia Revelation -- Byron Belitsos
The Gift of Tolerance -- Karen Larson

The Herald: Summer 2001
A Source Study of Paper 159, "Instruction for Teachers and Believers" -- M. Block
Show Us A Miracle -- Behz Sarmast
Universal Religion: An Interfaith Presentation -- Les Jamieson
Ethical Eugenics: A Modest Proposal for the 21st Century -- Charles Montgomery
Last Mountain in Vancouver -- Gina Buselli

The Herald: Summer 2000
Thinking About Tomorrow -- Carolyn Kendall
Restated in Modern Phraseology -- David Elders
Scientific Predictions of The Urantia Book, Part II -- Dr. Irwin Ginsburgh
"I Will Tell Them A Story" -- Stephen Zendt
The Science of Parenting -- Sara Blackstock
The Ethics of Genetic Control and Social Engineering -- Charles Olivea
The Intellectual Role of The Urantia Book -- Finnie

The Herald: Winter 1999
The Family: Birthplace of Cosmic Citizens -- Paul Snider
An Expression of Cosmic Worship -- David Glass
Two Cosmologies: Astronomy and The Urantia Book -- Dr. Irwin Ginsburgh
Reflections on Cosmic Citizenship ( Rumor, Gossip, Hearsay) -- Stephen Dreier
The Dual Nature of Supremacy -- Linda Buselli

The Herald: Spring 1999
The Challenge of the 21st Century -- Dr. Meredith Sprunger
On Facing Millenial Change -- Byron Belitsos
Magisterial Missions -- Behzad Sarmast
Springtime: A Study of the Future -- Henry Begemann
Whither Goest Thou, Woman? -- Jeanne Melchior
The Seven Psychic Circles -- Linda Buselli
On Removing the Barrier to a Civilized Discussion of Eugenics -- Finnie
The Basket -- A poem by Charlene Morrow

The Herald: Fall 1998
On the Brink of the Most Amazing and Enthralling Epoch -- Carolyn Kendall
Let Your Soul Decide -- Richard Omura
The Urantia Papers From a Jewish Perspective -- Martin Greenhut
Concepts of Trust and Hope in The Urantia Book -- Marilynn Kulieke
48 Chromosomes: Are We Asking the Right Questions? -- Ken Glasziou

Chinese Conference Generates Enthusiasm for The Urantia Book

in Gatherings

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Date: 

Fri, 12/18/2020

Author: 

Vicki Heng Fan Yang

By Vicki Heng Fan Yang, Chinese Translation Team Member, California, United States

Editor’s Note: The October issue of News Online featured Vicki’s article about an online conference of Chinese students of A Course in Light (ACIL) who have become interested in learning more about The Urantia Book. Two days were filled with interesting presentations, prayer, and meditations. The third day featured follow-up questions about the revelation. To read the original article, please click here.

As promised in my last article, I would like to share some of the gratifying comments that I received from the participants of our first Chinese conference of prospective readers of The Urantia Book. I hope this heartwarming feedback will give you a glimpse of the fertile soil that awaits the seeds of the revelation in Mainland China and Taiwan. The enthusiasm of my students fuels my own as I continue to work with Richard Zhu on the Chinese translation of The Urantia Book into both Simplified and Traditional characters. I am also looking forward to planning and hosting another Urantia conference for Chinese-speaking readers in the near future.

Tina Liu

Tina’s Observations

“Those three precious Saturdays were like a spiritual feast of inspiring topics. The speakers chose to focus on topics that would appeal to those of us who had not yet read the entire Urantia Book but had been exposed to the teachings through weekly quotes sent by Vicki.

“Richard Zhu’s talk about the ascending journey to Paradise clearly gave us a whole new picture of the Universal Father’s plan and the huge and detailed organization. As students of ACIL, we have been taught that ‘all is in perfect Divine order.’ What we accepted by faith before, The Urantia Book now gives us in detailed and concrete revelations!

“Both Mei Fong and Richard gave talks that were rich in content and wisdom, using examples, such as synonyms or analogies, to compare key concepts in The Urantia Book with familiar Chinese sayings from ancient books and classic scriptures. I appreciated their use of repeated, proven wisdom to help us increase understanding and build sincere faith. Universal truth rings true no matter at which time and in which culture.

“Last but not least, I would like to show my appreciation to Vicki, who has been sending us excerpts from The Urantia Book every Sunday for the past two years. Though difficult to follow in the beginning, they helped me to expand and upgrade my consciousness. The more I am involved, the more I love to read the book. And the more I read, the better I understand.”

“While listening to the talks, I was inspired to paint a Mandala ‘Flower of Life.’ My theme was, ‘We all come from the stars.’ I was trying to express my love and sense of belonging to the universe. From universes, stars, planets, time and space worlds, humans, to the plants in nature, we are all creations from the Creator. We are family!” ~ Tina

Fun

Fun’s Comments

“Having heard that Vicki Yang, the translator of A Course in Light, had suggested The Urantia Book as an advanced study course, I searched the Internet with curiosity. I did not find many Chinese references, so I stopped looking. Later, I joined a Urantia Book study group on WeChat. Though I slowly gained some degree of understanding, the giant book scared me. Without a Chinese translation, it would be impossible for me to read it.

“Fortunately, I discovered the conference, and signed up without hesitation. I was overjoyed with the three-day series, and many of my questions were answered. The timing of this conference was fortuitous. If it had been held two years earlier, I might not have understood it at all. There were high-quality speakers who helped bring me into this expanded belief system step by step. I was especially moved by Vicki’s and Richard Zhu’s devotion and contributions.

“Though most Chinese people may not be quite ready to read this book, I believe that in a few years more will be inspired by it. I believe a single spark can start a wildfire. So, I have set up a public account on social media, sharing some information. Although there are not yet many followers, with such a large Chinese population, it is inevitable and necessary that we will advance spiritually.”

 

ChuLi

 

 

 

 

Reactions from ChuLi

“I benefited a lot from the conference. It's like I was instantly expanded, and I heard the inner voice from deep within. I understood the meaning of my life. I gratefully decided that I will not only study The Urantia Book carefully, but I will also do my part to help share the wisdom of the revelators. We are looking forward to the Chinese version.”

 

 

 

 

 

Jane Luán

 

Reflections from Jane Luán

“What is my life purpose? Where did I come from? For these questions, I have visited the top psychologists in Beijing. I have a good job, a happy family, a healthy body, and lovely children. Though I have worked hard to improve myself and contribute to society, I am not completely satisfied.

“In The Urantia Book, I discovered hope in the answers to questions that have plagued me since childhood. I know I can go home. This conference has changed my life, and I thank all of the presenters. From now on I will live on Earth/Urantia with passion.”

 

 

 

ARTICLE SOURCE

SEE ALSO

 

CHINA RISING 5th Epochal Revelation Citizens in Motion

Well, we had a great time in the Netherlands supporting the 10th Annual Urantia Association Conference. The people in attendance were from over 40 countries and the love & support we all felt was truly overwhelming! 

Today I fly to the UK to visit my Family and tomorrow we head to Accra Ghana with my youngest daughter Genika, to host another amazing Spiritual Gathering with my brothers and sisters from all over Africa! Giving Thanks 

❤️