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Rebellious Reflections

by Barry Culligan

It is curious that Lucifer was designated as number 37 of his order 53:0.1 (601.1), and that in the rebellion 37 Planetary Princes joined him (53:7.1 (607.2)). We are taught that his rebellion was the most widespread of all those instigated by the Primary Lanonandeks, of which there were three. If we were to apply the Pareto Principle and presume that the planets lost to the Lucifer rebellion were 80% of all those lost, that would suggest that the other three comprised 20% of the total. We could round these numbers up to an even fifty. So, that means, out of ten million inhabited planets only 50 are rebellion tested. This would suggest that of all the planets in a Local System only 0.000005% produce Agondonters.

It is believed that our universe has had so much trouble with Lanonandeks because our Michael has endowed them with “such a large degree of personal liberty.” 35:9.8 (393.8) This would suggest that other local universes probably have considerably less than 0.000005%. This would place our planet in an exceptionally unique position in universe affairs: not only has it suffered rebellion compounded by Adamic defaults, but our Creator Son chose this sphere as his nativity sphere. It’s hard to appreciate the significance of this from within.

There’s another thing worth considering: rebellion planets offer incredibly unique opportunities for testing divine values. One thing I’ve noticed in reading the text is (what seemed to me at least) remarkable naivety. For the angelic orders, used to countless eons of stability and order, rebellion must be profoundly unsettling–unimaginably so. You detect their naivety in barely concealed elitism, and turns of phrase that indicate beings of high and delicate culture–which ignorant grunts like us could little appreciate which is undoubtedly true but, I’ll admit, fairly riles me up!

In contrast, for us (and our brethren on the fallen worlds) rebellion is all we have ever known. Indeed, the writers never grow weary of telling us that rebellion so distorts reality that we couldn’t imagine life on a normal planet. We learn that the angelic orders are subject to an incredibly long testing: age upon age, world upon world, system upon system; on and on and on it goes with no let up, while our destinies are settled in a relatively short amount of time. In reading The Urantia Book one can imagine how there might be some substance to the myths of angels being jealous of mortals. Not only is our fate sealed fairly quickly, our post-Paradise careers range the universe of universes and even on into the exploration of the master universe (though this comes with its own cost), while such a destiny is open to relatively few of the angelic orders. One can see how Lucifer might be able to curry resentment and foment rebellion from such seemingly unfair structural arrangements.

I am often asked about the level of sin on this world and how difficult it is to believe in God under such circumstances. The Urantia Book talks about the testing of the virtues and how this necessitates confronting realities that are less than ideal. It would seem on most worlds these challenges are never too extreme but on rebellion planets the deities are really asked to put their money where their mouths are. People are not risking merely their lives but their very souls. Jesus didn’t just talk about love; he loved imperfect creatures. He didn’t just talk about forgiveness; he forgave those who literally crucified him. He was beaten and spat upon, had his beard pulled, endured every indignity heaped upon his blessed head, and in the midst of all this foul treatment displayed the unsettling majesty of a man consecrated to doing the will of the Father.

The hosts of heaven stared agog at this mystical and bewildering spectacle of commingled human wickedness and divine triumph. We can never appreciate the true impact this life had upon the celestial hosts, at least not this side of the grave.

Lucifer challenged the gods to show themselves and the response of Jesus was a display of divine love such as had never been seen in this universe before. That display ended the rebellion in all the sincere-of-heart who witnessed it. And today, even throughout all future time, this divine human spectacle will bring peace and salvation to all who by faith witness this tremendous work and consecrate themselves to carrying it on.