In this article I am going to explore the experience of God on our world, Urantia – as framed within the contexts outlined in that book. Before I do, I’d like to take a moment to outline some experiences and insights I have acquired from my career and then later use these to contextualise and explore ideas put forward by the text. I worked in the medical device manufacturing industry for almost two decades. While there are an almost innumerable host of devices available to assist and promote health they generally fall into two classes: one could be categorised as for external use only [like a wheelchair or blood pressure monitor] the other as internal devices [like hip joints or pacemakers]. The internal devices can equally be divided into two classes: one could be classified as purely mechanical, while the other is a device that would be mechanical PLUS some active ingredient – such devices are known as combination devices. Devices that introduce APIs [Active Pharmacological Ingredients] have a whole universe of additional quality controls on them that govern their function and release.

The manufacture of medical devices is governed by very carefully designed procedures. There is zero room for tinkering with the process. With few exceptions, the manufacturing process has to be performed exactly as prescribed or it goes in the bin. Every device has to be calibrated and the calibration documented. Even the devices used to measure other devices have to be calibrated and their calibration documented. All of this to ensure and prove that the device in question was made to the exact specification required and that the proof of this is documented. Any deviations from the process are reviewed by a suitably qualified board. They will deliberate on the nature, effect and cause of a deviation, how to eliminate that cause going forward, and determine if the item can be safely reworked or if it needs to be disposed of. The exactitude associated with these processes is impressive. It needs to be, lives are at stake. Getting it wrong can lead to serious harm or even death.

In this space, ‘Tinkering’ can only be legitimately carried out in designated research areas by qualified and suitably trained personnel. It is in the research stage that every single control is determined, but only after testing. Every single element of the device is controlled, from the room temperature to who handles it and why – especially is this true of APIs. Inappropriately administered APIs can have lethal consequences. As a result the procedures in place surrounding these substances are significant, and in this I see considerable parallels in the Urantia Book.

I know the parallel is crude but one can see the celestials approach LIFE much as Quality Engineers would approach the handling of an API. There are very specific procedures and suitably qualified personnel associated with it. Devising life vehicles, and establishing life on the spheres, even its evolution from initial inception to the final realisation of Light and Life, is executed according to very specific procedures. However, unlike APIs, LIFE is considered SACRED and is approached by those who are charged with its elaboration and preservation with a holy reverence.

According to the UB, ninety percent of the worlds of space and time are built to according to specific and unchanging procedures and managed by appropriately trained personnel. However, ten percent of the worlds [approximately one in ten worlds] are designated as Life Experimentation Worlds, also known as Decimal Planets. These are essentially the Research and Development Departments of the Heavens. On these worlds, the celestials try to do things a little differently. These adventures/experimentations are thoroughly reviewed before they are signed off on. Consequently, the evolving life experience on these planets differs from other worlds. However, even on worlds such as these, though the expression of LIFE might vary somewhat in spirit the challenges are the same – self mastery, service, perfection attainment personally and socially. That said, life on these worlds differ and as a result the experiential appreciation of God will vary slightly also. Hence, when compared to the dominant trend on the other ninety percent of planets, the Father would be understood in a different way on such worlds.

I remember once thinking that LIFE is a ‘controlled substance’. It is, without question, the most precious resource in the Universe of universes. The UB flatly contradicts much of modern philosophy and science, which probably contributes much to its slow uptake. The revelation teaches that Mind comes only from mind, energy comes only from energy, spirit from spirit, personality from personality and that in the Great Source all these phenomena are one. Life does not come from not life, mind does not emerge from not mind, energy is not created ex nihilo. So, though the argument may seem circular, life does not emerge from nothing – it emerges from something, from LIFE - it is through the auspices and agencies of Living Beings that it is established.

Having been once established those that brought it into being bear a responsibility, a divine duty, for that life. Such beings are answerable to those by whom they were entrusted to foster its potential. This inescapable duty becomes the inspirational source of the efforts to ‘save’ the wayward worlds, the divinely rooted urge to restore them to the divine family that brought them into being and to which they belong, and to re-establish them on the high and divine destiny that the Creator had ordained for them since before they were even formed.

Of all the worlds out there [and ten million spheres have been projected for habitation] few suffer the ravages of rebellion. Our world started out as a Decimal Planet, then it was cursed by the affliction of rebellion by the ‘Head of the Department’. This created considerable commotion in terms of competing regimes [loyalists and secessionists] and their conflicting agendas and goals, practically knocked our world back into the Stone Age, retarding and hampering social and cultural development. Efforts to get the world back on track were further derailed by the default of Adam and Eve, whose progeny, it was hoped, would eventually restore the world to harmony with the celestial administration and get our world back on track. These are major celestial car-crashes to try and recover from, such was the catastrophic nature of the calamities that befell us that it drew the attention of our Universe Sovereign and He courageously chose this sin stricken and wayward sphere as his home. It is certainly arguable, at least from a regime or administrative point of view, that the arrival of Jesus on this planet instituted an upheaval no less profound than either two previous defaults.

To revert to the medical device analogy, when there’s a major breach in quality all manufacturing is immediately suspended (depending on how serious the issue is) while the source of the breach is “root-caused”. During this phase the Quality Engineers endeavour to ‘scope’ out the extent of the issue. Everything is stopped. Everything is counted. Nothing moves. If deliveries leave the site they are recalled, or a detention order is issued to the receiving site. You will, no doubt, be familiar with the term Product Recall. These are issued when a breach in procedures occurs that could result in harm to consumers. It becomes, therefore, necessary to have consumers return the goods to the store and seek a refund. Until we can be certain of the extent of the issue nothing moves. These remind me of the protocols that came into play during the rebellion.

During a major event nothing comes onto the site or leaves it, and all communications are restricted and channelled through pre-approved lines. Rebellion, such as we have been subjected to, is astoundingly toxic. It represents a major breach in procedures, one that can have harmful life altering effects at best or soul destroying effects at worst. Consequently, safety protocols would necessitate the suspension of all traffic to and from the affected sites. One wonders if these protocols are what is behind the revelation that regular procedures regarding sleeping survivors were put on hold, procedures that prevented even Elijah and Moses from taking their rightful seat on the Mansion worlds – prior to the advent of Michael?

It is certainly arguable that one of the clearest pieces of evidence we have of the fact that our world has been caught in the cross-fire of a War-In-Heaven is in the astounding silence of space. We are receiving not one single signal that might indicate life on other worlds. On the surface, we appear to be alone and adrift, but those of us blessed with the gift of the revelation know that this is not true. We detect the comings and goings of high level staff who are eagerly working to bring things to a close, who are as distressed by the delays as anyone but who are bound to procedures – specifically those procedures through which the full, final, and complete redemption of the world will be effected. However, they will not yield to the temptation to deviate from the procedure -  ‘even if it takes a million years’ to wind up the consequences.

On troubled worlds such as ours conventional universe wisdom can be unavailing. Here our divine overseers must implement experimental wisdom, apply policies and procedures not tried on many worlds. Consequently, new things can be learned here that cannot be learned elsewhere and that makes our tiny little sphere especially intriguing. It is also instructive that the author of paper 35 [one of the Chiefs of Archangels, no less] points out that our administrative troubles have been so profound as to transform our universe into one vast clinic. An interesting thing about this observation is that the Archangels are one of the few beings capable of communicating from our world. They form part of the divine administration whose duty it is to save our world, to eliminate the stain of rebellion and bring us back into communion with the spheres of light.

Consequently, our experience and appreciation of God is markedly different from the majority of the worlds out there. Being born on the wrong side of the cosmic tracks, as it were, we begin our cosmic adventure at what would seem a decided disadvantage. In many ways, the children of this world are born to a spiritual warzone – facing levels of poverty, desperation, and isolation that is in marked contrast with an average world. In a sense, we are like spiritual war orphans – cut off from, and deprived of the benefits of, sound direct celestial guidance. Now we face endless explosions of crisis and competing orders and conflicting priorities coming at us from every conceivable angle, disorienting, confusing and frightening us. Injustice, deception, and tragedy seem to proliferate. The corrupt seem to have the upper hand, and there appears to be no power on earth that can prevent them from enslaving the whole world. Finding God under such circumstances is quite the challenge. Consequently, the God we know and the God we need – is markedly different from the face with which He is more generally known throughout the galaxies. And those of us who succeed in finding the Creator under such difficult circumstances are, indeed, the Children of the Lesser Known God.

When our race on this troubled little sphere is run, the children of the far spreading household of Heaven will be intrigued and fascinated by our vision of the God who sustained us throughout these struggles. When our stories of salvation are heard on high His glory will be multiplied and amplified, as the universes learn that His light shines brightest in the darkest corners.

'Without an adequate vision of human life, it is easy to lose sight of our interconnection with each other and become vulnerable to an inner slavery that not only ignores human need but even rewards human greed. Structural reform is certainly needed, but politics and economics alone are insufficient to bring about the renewal and reordering of society. Nor can they map out the contours of a liberating human anthropology. Fundamental structural reform must be accompanied by a more fundamental inner change that originates in the human heart.iv

 

'Fear not little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' Luke 12:32

If you dare to believe in me and wholeheartedly proceed to follow after me, you shall most certainly by so doing enter upon the sure pathway to trouble. I do not promise to deliver you from the waters of adversity, but I do promise to go with you through all of them.viii

From the abundance of the heart spring the issues of life and not scripture. The self deceived heart may endeavour to make its foul intentions acceptable by wrapping them up in the righteousness of scripture but excrement wrapped in gold is still excrement. To dress one’s evil intentions up in the words of scripture is to come as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The shallow are fooled by such pretence; are content with the surface of things, with the appearance of wealth, nobility, culture, education, but never dare to venture below the surface. They clamour for conformity and revile the individual, revile the prophets that dare to pierce the façade and expose the rottenness within. They are the children of the shadows and not the light.

War has never been fought for a noble cause. Not once. Not ever. The roots of war are to be found in the bestial and self deceived human heart. Have you ever noticed how those who are quick to violence are even quicker to justify themselves and their actions? Fast, indeed, is the fist but faster still is the hate filled heart. But pause for a moment and consider deeply what they say and soon you will discern the disingenuous nature of their words and the wretched stench of hypocrisy. Is there not something to be learned from the fact that those who love violence will act on the slightest excuse, while those that love peace can find nothing that will justify violence against a brother?

Violence, be it between brothers or nations, is always about domination and control – the very antithesis of the ideals of spiritual living which are service and love. The waging of war then, being rooted in the flesh, can never be a service to God [who is spirit] it is, moreover the waging of grievous sin.

The call to WAR is always subterfuge; it is, without exception, a lie. No one would send their children off to war if they knew the real reasons behind them. War is merely a game played by the super rich, a game which reduces our homes and cities to ash and in which our children’s lives are thrown out like chips on a poker table. The great irony is that real, behind-the-scenes, players never get harmed, they just get richer.

As the man that is given to violence readily deceives himself that his actions are righteous, even so do the leaders of nations summon their army of soothsayers [the media] and ‘prophets-for-hire’ [experts] to lead the nation’s children into war. So strong is the spell cast by these fiends that that the nation’s children volunteer to lay down their lives for “this noble cause” and when these children return home – dead, or worse than dead, wrapped in a flag their parents weep proudly at the nobility of their sacrifice, all the while blind to the real tragedy – that they died, and continue to die, for nothing more noble than ensuring rich men can have a bigger pools and more private jets. They have become the unwitting instruments of thieves and long distance murderers. The cognitive dissonance generated by this calumny is profound. Is it any wonder that people have a hard time accepting truth when it is so at variance with the vision they hold dear to their hearts, when it reveals them to be worse than fools? Who has the stomach for that?

These so-called leaders are creatures of negotiable virtue; moral chameleons, appearing as creatures of light when they walk among the noble and as creatures of night when among the children of the shadows. They know well that we would not send our children to die in the service of ignoble men – to die so that these soulless, black hearted, wretched excuses for humanity can attempt to fill their bottomless pockets but there’s a lot, an awful lot, of money to be made. They have no compunctions whatsoever about trading blood for diamonds, gold, land, and oil…well, once it’s not their blood that gets spilled. But when you already own the media and the government and you are safely ensconced behind an impenetrable wall of money and power you need not worry too much about what people think. After all, you have enough money to make sure people [the vast majority of them anyway] think what you want them to think.

For the Hawks of War FEAR is everything. It is for this reason that the media constantly fosters anxiety; a couple of well placed bangs and you can be reasonably assured that the sheep will race off in the desired direction.

However, the Prophets-for-Higher – the prophets of peace, equality, justice, fairness, integrity, honesty, of social responsibility and service, who are the very destroyers of fear are a source of endless torment for the hawks. The Prophets-for-Higher, the passionate advocates of higher and better ways, always end up condemning and exposing the weakness of the version of reality being peddled by the hawks. They are tirelessly dedicated to highlighting the bankruptcy of the current system and the insanity of attempting to maintain such doomed systems, even going so far as to proclaim that better ways are not only preferable but actually possible and, in the long run, far less costly! The prophets come to a weary, desperate, and fearful generation preaching words of hope, consolation, and healing and for this service they are castigated, vilified, ridiculed, beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered. The hawks are jealous gods.

Indeed, what could be worse for the hawks of war than for the people to become truly enamoured with the idea that we are one family on one earth and that we should love and care for one another and that we should establish systems that foster such ideals?

For the hawks FEAR is the only reality.

They cling to FEAR as though it were life itself, as though it were salvation. To reject or discountenance it is heresy, insanity, even suicide! Their world cannot exist without it and that is why the elimination of fear is the first step to a better world. Indeed, the first duty of all spiritual leaders should be to liberate their fellows from the fetters of fear; to teach people not to be afraid, loose them from the shackles of fear and establish them on the path to liberty which is faith, for a better world is not possible without faith.

When our choices are based on fear we are the bondservants of fear [the flesh] and become locked in a cycle of Doom and Destruction. When we dare to make the choice of faith [become enthused by a vision of a better world] we affirm for the world our liberty from the shackles of fear and establish ourselves on the way of Hope and Healing.

When the Prophets-for-Higher come the hawks rush to rattle the cages and attempt to set the world on edge – filling it with fear: white afraid of black, black afraid of white, old fearful of the young, the young contemptible of the old, the wealthy in dread of the great unwashed, the great unwashed resentful of the wealthy. The world becomes infused with mistrust, suspicion, and paranoia. Trust no one, they say, except US. They, the very one’s that have created, fostered, and promoted this constant state of fearful anxiety, claim to know the way to brighter and better tomorrows. All our woes, they say, have their roots in X [insert appropriate outsider ‘HERE’]. Destroy X, it is claimed, and our troubles will melt away. Violence and war, these are the instruments wherewith we shall build enduring peace!

The Prince of Peace spoke of these fools before and named their sin: “They say that which is good but they do it not!” and warned us not to pattern after their works, lest we follow them into the pit [imagine the fate of Israel at the hands of the Romans but on a global scale].

The Prince of Peace came proclaiming peace on earth and good will toward all men and preaching the glad tidings that we are all one family, the children of the Almighty One, and that the rule of this family is simple: Love.

Indeed, what could be worse for the hawks of war than for the people to become truly enamoured with the idea that we are one family on one earth and that we should love and care for one another and even that we should establish systems that foster and promote such ideals? What could be worse for the hawks than for the people to discover that fear is an illusion which robs them of peace, joy, and hope and that peace, joy, and hope were within easy reach through faith, fellowship, and service?

The spiritual ideals of the divine family can illuminate a better way for us. Love is the law of the divine Kin-Dom and service is its lifeblood. In the ideal family the strong protect and nurture the vulnerable, and abundance is used to nourish the whole family, not just the chosen few. Those that cannot abide by such ideals are little better than beasts, craving a world where savagery is rewarded and the strong are allowed to prey upon the vulnerable.

Between the Savage and the Sage there lies a long road, from the darkness of ignorance, fear, control, and domination to the light of wisdom, faith, love, and service. What’s it going to be? Will we yield to fear and the darkness within or will we take up faith and follow the light of a better way, a better world?

Abba

1. The body and the spirit lay before the mind their plans, hopes, and desires for the future.
2. Mind is the arbiter between the desires of the flesh and lures of the spirit.
3. Will is the executor. 
4.  Character is what’s left in the wake of the decisions you make. The life you live bears witness to the values you hold in your heart, to whether you are motivated by the pleasures of the flesh or the high lures of spiritual attainment.
5. You can choose to grow and evolve, to strive for the attainment of progressively higher levels of health, wholeness and happiness; or to decay and devolve toward despair, disintegration and destruction. 
6. The Universe is on your side. It managed to pluck you out of the Endless Seas of Possibility and plonked you right at the start of a tremendous adventure of discovery, revelations, and achievements the likes of which you couldn’t even imagine. Once the confusion of being pulled into existence passes and you come to more fully realise who you are, where you are from and where you are going, you will be morethan happy. Until then, have  faith – it’s all going to work out.

1. The Kin-dom of Heaven is at hand.

2. By faith in the Fatherhood of God you enter the Kin-dom of heaven, thus becoming the sons of God.

3. Love is the rule of living within the Kin-dom — supreme devotion to God while loving your neighbour even as Jesus loves us.

4. Obedience to the will of the Father, yielding the fruits of the spirit in one's personal life, is the law of the Kin-dom.

5. Be perfect; even as the Paradise Father is perfect.

6. The Kin-dom which the Father is to establish in the hearts of his earth children is to be an everlasting dominion. There will be no end of the rule of the Father in the hearts of those who desire to do his divine will.

Simple principles to live by:

• Don't take things too seriously – in all things strive for balance.

• Learn; the whole universe is a School - you can learn from every person you meet and every experience you have. The only failure is the failure to learn.

• Laugh; few things give the Father more joy than the laughter of his children.

• Never denigrate the faith of others.