SpiritualFamily.Net

Children of the Lesser Known God

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.