Acknowledgment
The content of this blog is excerpted from The Urantia Book unless credited to other authors. Some conclusions are interpretive. [Urantia is the cosmic name for Earth.]
To read The Urantia Book, go to: http://www.urantia.org/urantia-book/read-urantia-book-online.
Introduction
It is important to understand at the beginning of The Jesus Story that Jesus did not offer his life at the end as a sacrifice to the Father in atonement for the sins of men.
The Father desired his bestowal Son (Michael the Creator Son of our local universe incarnated as Jesus of Nazareth) to finish his earth career naturally, just as all mortals must conclude their lives in the flesh on Earth. Ordinary men and women cannot expect to have their last hours on earth and their death made easy by a special dispensation. Accordingly, Jesus elected to lay down his life in the flesh in the manner that was in keeping with the outworking of natural events, and he steadfastly refused to extricate himself from the clutches of a wicked conspiracy of inhuman events that swept forward with horrible certainty towards his humiliation and ignominious death.
All the manifestation of hatred and the unprecedented demonstration of cruelty was the work of evil mortals. God in heaven did not will it, neither did the archenemies of Jesus dictate it. Even Lucifer turned his face away from the excruciating horror of the scene of the crucifixion.
The Atonement concept (the reconciliation of God and humankind and the forgiveness of man's sins through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross taught by organized churches) is untrue.
The grand universe number of Urantia (Earth) is 5,342,482,337,666. That is the registry number on Uversa (the capital of our Seventh Super Universe) and on Paradise, in the catalog of the inhabited worlds.
Planet Earth is of minor significance in the grand scheme of things, but it gained considerable relevance when it was selected to become the planet for the bestowal of a Paradise Son, the creator of our local universe. The reason for the choice was because the people of Earth were in desperate need of spiritual assistance.
It is important to understand at the beginning of The Jesus Story that Jesus did not offer his life at the end as a sacrifice to the Father in atonement for the sins of men.
The Father desired his bestowal Son (Michael the Creator Son of our local universe incarnated as Jesus of Nazareth) to finish his earth career naturally, just as all mortals must conclude their lives in the flesh on Earth. Ordinary men and women cannot expect to have their last hours on earth and their death made easy by a special dispensation. Accordingly, Jesus elected to lay down his life in the flesh in the manner that was in keeping with the outworking of natural events, and he steadfastly refused to extricate himself from the clutches of a wicked conspiracy of inhuman events that swept forward with horrible certainty towards his humiliation and ignominious death.
All the manifestation of hatred and the unprecedented demonstration of cruelty was the work of evil mortals. God in heaven did not will it, neither did the archenemies of Jesus dictate it. Even Lucifer turned his face away from the excruciating horror of the scene of the crucifixion.
The Atonement concept (the reconciliation of God and humankind and the forgiveness of man's sins through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross taught by organized churches) is untrue.
The grand universe number of Urantia (Earth) is 5,342,482,337,666. That is the registry number on Uversa (the capital of our Seventh Super Universe) and on Paradise, in the catalog of the inhabited worlds.
Planet Earth is of minor significance in the grand scheme of things, but it gained considerable relevance when it was selected to become the planet for the bestowal of a Paradise Son, the creator of our local universe. The reason for the choice was because the people of Earth were in desperate need of spiritual assistance.
Michael's Bestowals
The Seven Descending Bestowals of Christ Michael
While the creatures of the creator of a local universe climb the ordained path through his universe towards Paradise, the creator Michael Son of each local universe must personally experience the life typical of the inhabitants at each level of his universe (through incarnations).
The purpose of these creature incarnations is to enable the Creators to become wise, sympathetic, just, and understanding sovereigns. The divine Sons are innately just, but they become emphatically understanding and merciful as a result of these successive bestowal experiences. The seven bestowals are the last steps in their education and training for the sublime tasks of ruling the local universes in divine righteousness and by just judgment.[“Just judgment” means ethically, morally & legally correct. The term is the test of right and wrong. Just judgment is that which accords with the perfect rights of others. Justice being a part of virtue, is confined to good or evil, but with compassion.]
Though many benefits accrue to the various worlds, systems, and constellations, as well as to the different orders of universe intelligence's affected and benefited by these bestowals, they are primarily designed to complete the personal training and universe education of the Creator Son of his creation that is teeming with varied forms of life and myriads of intelligent but imperfect creatures.
Certification
The Ancients of Days (the triune rulers of the super universes will not certify a Creator Son as Universe Sovereign until he has acquired the viewpoint of his own creatures by actual experience in the environment of their existence and as these very creatures themselves.
In this way Creator Sons become intelligent and understanding rulers. They come to know the various groups over which they rule. By living experience they obtain practical mercy, fair judgment, and the patience born of experiential creature existence.
Our local universe of Nebadon is now ruled by a Master Creator Son indicative of one who has completed his service of the seven bestowals. Michael reigns in just and merciful supremacy over all the vast realms of his evolving and perfecting universe. Michael of Nebadon is the 611,121st bestowal son upon the universes of time and space. Michael began the organization of our local universe about four hundred billion years ago. He prepared for his first bestowal adventure about the time Urantia (Earth) was taking on its present form, one billion years ago. His bestowals occurred about one hundred and fifty million years apart, the last taking place on Earth two thousand years ago.
Bestowal History
Michael of Nebadon (Earth's local universe) had bestowed himself six times in the likeness of six descending orders of his diverse creation of intelligent beings. Finally, he prepared to descend upon Earth in the likeness of mortal flesh, the lowest order of his intelligent will creatures, and, as a human of the material realm, to execute the final phase in the plan for his acquirement of universe sovereignty mandated by the divine Paradise Rulers of the universe of universes.
In the course of each of the preceding bestowals, Michael not only acquired the finite experience of one group of his created beings, but he also acquired an essential experience in Paradise cooperation that would contribute to constituting him the sovereign of his self-made universe.
Michael desired to ascend through actual experience in cooperative subordination to the Paradise Trinity to that high place in universe status where he would become qualified to rule his universe and administer its affairs with the perfection of insight and wisdom of execution that will sometime be characteristic of the exalted rule of the Supreme Being.
Twin Objectives
Michael had two goals in making the seven bestowals upon the various orders of his universe creatures. First, he was completing the required experience in creature understanding that is demanded of all Creator Sons before they assume complete sovereignty. (At any time a Creator Son may rule his universe in his own right, but he can rule as the supreme representative of the Paradise Trinity only after passing through the seven universe-creature bestowals.)
Second, Michael was aspiring to the privilege of representing the maximum authority of the Paradise Trinity, which can be exercised in the direct and personal administration of a local universe. Accordingly, Michael, during the experience of each of his universe bestowals, successfully, acceptably, and voluntarily subordinated himself to the various wills of the diverse associations of the persons of the Paradise Trinity. On the first bestowal Michael subjected himself to the combined will of the Father, Son, and Spirit; on the second bestowal to the will of the Father and the Son; on the third bestowal to the will of the Father and the Spirit; on the fourth bestowal to the will of the Son and the Spirit; on the fifth bestowal to the will of the Infinite Spirit; on the sixth bestowal to the will of the Eternal Son; and during the seventh and final bestowal, on Earth, to the will of the Universal Father.
Undisputed Sovereignty
Michael, therefore, combines in his personal sovereignty the divine will of the seven-fold phases of the universal Creators along with the understanding experience of his local universe creatures. His administration has become representative of the greatest possible power and authority while divested of all arbitrary assumptions.
His power is unlimited since it is derived from experienced association with the Paradise Deities.
His authority is unquestioned as it was acquired through actual experience in the likeness of universe creatures.
His sovereignty is Supreme since it embodies at one and the same time the seven-fold viewpoint of Paradise Deity combined with the creature viewpoint of time and space.
Michael's Surrogate Ruler
Having determined the time of his final bestowal and having selected the planet whereon this extraordinary event would take place, Michael held his normal prebestowal conference with Gabriel (his Chief Executive Officer) and then presented himself before his elder brother and Paradise counselor, Immanuel.
Michael had been instructed six times previously by the personal representatives of the various Paradise Deities. Now he was being instructed by the ambassador to the local universe of Nebadon (Immanuel), acting on behalf of the Universal Father.
Michael assigned all powers of his universe administration into the custody of Immanuel. In accepting the custody of the universe during the time of the Earth bestowal, Immanuel gave Michael his bestowal counsel that would serve as the incarnation guide for Michael when growing up on Earth as a mortal of the realm.
Immeasurable Motivation
There were immediate advantages and tremendous compensations resulting from the willingness of this mighty Creator Son to again voluntarily subordinate himself to the will of the Paradise Deities, this time to that of the Universal Father. By his decision to effect such associative subordination, Michael would experience in this incarnation, not only the nature of mortal man, but also the will of the Paradise Father of all.
Further, he could enter upon this unique bestowal with the complete assurance, not only that Immanuel would exercise the full authority of the Paradise Father in the administration of his universe during his absence on the Earth bestowal, but also knowing his realm would be completely safe during the period of his bestowal absence.
Immanuel's Counsel (Edited)
Incarnation through Child Birth
My Creator brother, I am about to witness your seventh and final universe bestowal. Most faithfully and perfectly have you executed the six previous commissions, and I entertain no thought but that you will be equally triumphant on this, your final sovereignty bestowal.
Previously, you have appeared on your bestowal spheres as a fully developed being of the order of your choosing. Now you are about to appear upon Urantia [Earth], the disordered and disturbed planet of your choice, not as a fully developed mortal, but as a helpless infant. This, my comrade, will be a new and untried experience for you.
You are about to pay the full price of bestowal and to experience the complete enlightenment of the incarnation of a Creator in the likeness of a creature.
Divestiture of Powers
Michael, by entering upon the Urantia [Earth] bestowal, you have voluntarily divested yourself of all extra planetary ministry and special assistance as might be rendered to any of your creatures.
As your created sons are wholly dependent upon you for safe conduct throughout their universe careers, so now you must become wholly and unreservedly dependent upon your Paradise Father for safe conduct throughout the unrevealed vicissitudes of your coming mortal career.
When you shall have finished this bestowal experience, you will know the full meaning and the rich significance of that faith-trust which you require all your creatures to master as a part of their intimate relationship with you as their local universe Creator and Father.
Throughout your Urantia bestowal you need be concerned with only one thing, the unbroken communion between you and your Paradise Father. Your concern has only to do with your personal life on Urantia (Earth).
Optional Termination of Bestowal
Your bestowal is, throughout, wholly voluntary. As a mortal incarnate in the realm you are without your celestial endowments, but all your relinquished power may be reclaimed at any time you may choose to reinvest yourself with universe authority.
If you should choose to reinstate yourself in power and authority, remember, it will be wholly for personal reasons since I am the living and supreme pledge whose presence and promise guarantee the safe administration of your universe in accordance with your Father’s will.
Rebellion, such has occurred three times in your universe of Nebadon, cannot occur during your absence.
Bestowal Limitations And Expectations
You will grow up on Urantia (Earth) as a child of that realm, complete your human education (all the while subject to the will of your Paradise Father) live your life on Urantia as you determine, terminate your planetary sojourn, and prepare for ascension to your Father to receive the supreme sovereignty of your universe from him.
Apart from your earth mission and your revelation to your universe, but incidental to both, I counsel that you assume, after you become aware of your divine identity, the additional task of technically terminating the Lucifer rebellion in the system of Satania.
You will do all this as the Son of Man; a mortal creature of the realm, in weakness made powerful by faith-submission to the will of your Father.
I suggest that you graciously achieve all you have repeatedly declined arbitrarily to accomplish by power and might when you were so endowed at the time of the inception of this sinful and unjustified rebellion.
I would regard it as a fitting climax of your mortal bestowal if you should return to us as the Son of Man [born human], Planetary Prince of Urantia, as well as the Son of God, supreme sovereign of your universe.
Subjugation of the Rebels
As a mortal man, the lowest type of intelligent creature in the universe of Nebadon, meet and adjudicate the blasphemous pretensions of Caligastia [the Planetary Prince of Earth] and Lucifer [the chief executive of one of Earth's sun systems of 607 inhabited worlds] and, in your assumed humble estate, forever end the shameful misrepresentations of these fallen children of light.
Having declined to discredit these rebels through the exercise of your creator prerogatives, it is now fitting that you should, in the likeness of the lowest creatures of your creation, wrest dominion from the hands of these fallen Sons. Your whole local universe will clearly and forever recognize the justice of your doing in the role of mortal flesh those things which mercy admonished you not to do by the power of arbitrary authority.
With your bestowal having established the possibility of the sovereignty of the Supreme in Nebadon, you will in effect have brought to a close the unadjudicated (not settled judicially) affairs of all preceding insurrections. And with the subsequent endowment of supreme sovereignty over your universe, similar challenges to your authority can never recur in any part of your great personal creation.
A Palpable Expression of Love
[The reader of these passages can feel the extreme tenderness and love that exists between these two high-born Paradise Sons as Immanuel counsels Michael to perform his duty by vanquishing his brilliant but defiant sons for their insurrection against the uncompromising plan of Infinity.
The anguished, caring, stoicism, and the emotional pain endured by Immanuel and Michael is genuine and fervent. Yet, there is no hesitation to do their Father's bidding.]
Accept Deserved Tributes
When you have succeeded in terminating the Urantia secession, as you undoubtedly will, I counsel you to accept from Gabriel the title of ‘Planetary Prince of Urantia’ as the eternal recognition by your universe of your final bestowal experience; and that you further do any and all things, consistent with the intent of your bestowal, to atone for the sorrow and confusion brought upon Urantia by the betrayal of its rebel ruler, Caligastia, and the subsequent default of Adam and Eve.
Gabriel and all concerned will cooperate with you in your expressed desire to end your Urantia bestowal with the pronouncement of a dispensational judgment of the realm, accompanied by the termination of an age, the resurrection of the sleeping mortal survivors, and the establishment of the disbursement of your bestowed Spirit of Truth.
Career Advice
As concerns the planet of your bestowal and the immediate generation of men living thereon at the time of your mortal sojourn, I counsel you to function largely in the role of a teacher.
Give attention, first, to the liberation and inspiration of man’s spiritual nature.
Next, illuminate the darkened human intellect, heal the souls of men, and emancipate their minds from age-old fears. And then, in accordance with your mortal wisdom, minister to the physical well-being and material comfort of your brothers in the flesh.
Live the ideal religious life for the inspiration and edification of all your universe.
Reveal the Supreme God of Time and Space
Extend the establishment of the Supreme's sovereignty throughout the domains of your personal creation.
In your material bestowal in the likeness of the flesh, you are about to experience the final enlightenment of a time-space Creator, the dual experience of working within the nature of man with the will of your Paradise Father, through a Thought Adjuster.
In your temporal life the will of the finite creature and the will of the infinite Creator are to become as one, while those united wills unite in the evolving Deity of the Supreme Being.
Pour out upon the planet of your bestowal your Spirit of Truth [possessing creator and creature sympathies and understanding] and thus provide all normal mortals on quarantined Urantia immediate and full access to the ministry of the exclusive [individualized and personal] presence of our Paradise Father, through the Thought Adjusters.
Spiritually free rebellion separated man.
Actualization of the Supreme
[To the extent that we creatures do the will of God in whatever universe station we may have our existence, to that degree the Almighty (deity) potential of the Supreme becomes one measure more actual.
Doing the will of God is the principle of the God of Infinity, the Universal Father, as it is potentialized in the possibility of future existence in the three Absolutes (the Universal Absolute, the Deity Absolute, and the Unqualified Absolute), personalized in the Eternal Son, conjoined (combined Universal Father and Eternal Son) for universe action in the Infinite Spirit, and eternalized in the everlasting patterns of Paradise.
God the the Supreme is becoming (actualizing the potential) of the highest finite manifestation of the total will of God.
When all the grand universes relatively achieve the full living of the will of God, then will the time-space creations be settled in light and life, and then will the Almighty (the deity potential of Supremacy), become factual in the emergence of the divine personality of God the Supreme.
Whenever an evolving mind becomes attuned to the circuits of cosmic mind, whenever an evolving universe becomes stabilized mirroring the pattern of the central universe (Havona), whenever an advancing spirit registers with the united ministry of the Master Spirits of the Super Universes, whenever an ascending mortal personality finally attunes to the divine leading of the indwelling Adjuster, then the actuality of the Supreme becomes real by one more degree in the universes. Then has the divinity of Supremacy advanced one more step toward cosmic realization.]
Total Deity
[The Absolute Universal Deity is not only the absolute potential for the actualization of the Almighty Supreme (the God of Time and Space), but also the potential for the actualization of the experiential gods of Ultimacy (Transcended Time and Space) and Absoluteness (the final portal to Infinity).
The worlds of the Ultimate and the Absolute are now under construction in Outer Space as evidence of the Universal Father's (the God of Infinity or the “hypothetical” I AM's) plan for Total Deity.
Presently, the Universal Father is acting to fill all Deity potential through the potential of the Universal Deity Absolute.]
Capaciousness of Bestowal Mission
In all that you perform on the world of your bestowal, Michael, bear constantly in mind that you are living a life for the instruction and edification of all your universe of Nebadon.
You are bestowing this life of mortal incarnation upon Urantia [Earth], but you are living a life for the spiritual inspiration of every human and superhuman intelligence that has lived, now exists, or may yet live on every inhabited world that has formed, now forms, or may yet form a part of the vast galaxy of your administrative domain.
Your life in the flesh on Urantia will be the inspiration for all lives upon all Nebadon worlds throughout all generations in the ages to come.
Raisons d'être for Mortal Incarnation
Your great mission to be realized and experienced in this mortal incarnation is encompassed in your decision to live a life wholeheartedly motivated to doing the will of your Paradise Father, thereby revealing God, your Father, in the flesh and especially to the creatures of the flesh.
At the same time you will also interpret our Father to the super mortal beings of all your universe of Nebadon. Equally with this ministry of new revelation and augmented interpretation of the Paradise Father to the human and the superhuman type of mind, you will also function to make a new revelation of man to God.
Exhibit in your one short life in the flesh, as never before been seen in all Nebadon, the transcendent possibilities attainable by a God-knowing human during the short career of mortal existence. Make a new and illuminating interpretation of man and the vicissitudes of his planetary life to all the superhuman intelligence's of all Nebadon, for all time.
You are to go down to Urantia in the likeness of mortal flesh, and living as a man in your day and generation, you will function to show your entire universe the ideal of perfected technique in the achievement of God seeking man and finding him; and the phenomenon of man seeking God and finding him; and doing all of this to the mutual satisfaction of God and man in one brief lifetime in the flesh.
Forgo Divine Attributes
I caution you to bear in mind that, while in fact you are to become an ordinary human of the realm, in potential you remain a Creator Son of the Paradise Father. Throughout this incarnation, although you will live and act as a Son of Man, your creative attributes are inseparable from your personal presence.
Subsequent to the arrival of your Adjuster and accompanying your developing recognition of the nature and significance of your bestowal mission, you should refrain from executing any superhuman will-to-attainment events.
No superhuman repercussions should attend your earthly career unless they are the will of the Paradise Father.
Family and Civic Relationships
As concerns family relationships, give precedence to the accepted customs of family life as you find them established in the day and generation of your bestowal. Live your family and community life in accordance with the practices of the people among whom you have elected to appear.
Confine your efforts largely to spiritual regeneration and intellectual emancipation. Avoid all entanglements with the economic structure and the political commitments of your day. Devote yourself to living the ideal religious life on Urantia.
Under no circumstances should you interfere with the normal and orderly progressive evolution of the Urantia races. This prohibition should not be interpreted as limiting in any way your efforts to leave behind you on Urantia an enduring and improved system of positive religious ethics.
Discourage the Formation of Churches
In every possible manner seek to avoid the establishment of a formal organized cult, a crystallized religion, or a segregated ethical grouping of mortal beings. Your life and teachings are to become the common heritage of all religions and all peoples.
To support the objective of not contributing to the creation of subsequent stereotyped systems of Urantia religious beliefs or other types of stagnant religious loyalties, leave no writings behind you on the planet. Refrain from all writing upon permanent materials. Warn your associates not to make images or other likenesses of you. Ensure that nothing potentially idolatrous is left on the planet at the time of your departure.
No Progeny
While you will live the normal and average social life of the planet as an individual of the male sex, you will probably not enter the marriage relationship, but I must remind you that one of the incarnation mandates forbids leaving any human offspring of a bestowal Son of Paradise origin behind on any planet.
In all other details of your bestowal, I commit you to the guidance of your indwelling Thought Adjuster (the teaching of the ever-present divine spirit of human guidance, and the reason-judgment of your expanding human mind of hereditary endowment).
This partnership of creature and Creator attributes will enable you to live the perfect life of man on the planetary spheres, not necessarily perfect as regarded by any one man in any one generation on any one world (much less on Urantia) but wholly and supremely replete as evaluated on the more highly perfected and perfecting worlds of your far-flung universe.
Blessing and Departure
And now, may your Father and my Father, who has ever sustained us in all past performances, guide and sustain you and be with you from the moment you leave us and achieve the surrender of your consciousness of personality, throughout your gradual return to recognition of your divine identity incarnate in human form, and then on through the whole of your bestowal experience on Urantia until your deliverance from the flesh and your ascension to our Father’s right hand of sovereignty.
When I shall again see you on Salvington [Michael's Nebadon headquarters], we shall welcome your return to us as the supreme and unconditional sovereign of this universe of your own making, service, and completed comprehension.
I now reign in your stead. I assume jurisdiction of all Nebadon as acting sovereign during the interim of your seventh and mortal bestowal on Urantia. And to you, Gabriel, I commit the safekeeping of the about-to-be Son of Man until he shall presently and in power and glory be returned to me as the Son of Man and the Son of God.
Then, in the presence of all Salvington assembled, Michael removed himself, and he was not seen again until he returned as the supreme and personal ruler of his universe following the completion of his bestowal career on Urantia.
Preparations for Michael's Urantia Incarnation
Long Range Planning
1,973 years before the birth of Jesus, Machiventa Melchizedek was bestowed upon the human races of Urantia. His coming was unspectacular. His materialization was not witnessed by human eyes. He was first observed by a mortal man when he entered the tent of Amdon, a shepherd.
Melchizedek incarnated on Earth to help prepare men's minds for the coming incarnation of Michael. The proclamation of his mission was embodied in the simple statement that he made to the shepherd, “I am Melchizedek, priest of the Most High, the one and only God.”
The incarnation of Machiventa Melchizedek was accomplished near what became the city of Salem, in the old Palestine region. The materialization of this Melchizedek Son was completed by the planetary receivers with the cooperation of the Life Carriers, some Master Physical Controllers, and other celestial personalities resident on Urantia.
[The planetary receivers were a group of twelve Melchizedek Sons who assumed jurisdiction over the loyal seraphic orders on Earth after the Caligastia secession and again after the default of Adam and Eve. When Jesus became the titular Planetary Prince of Urantia, he appointed Machiventa the Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia, a position Machiventa still holds.]
Machiventa Melchizedek spent several years instructing students (including Abraham), disciples, and believers on Earth. He trained missionaries, who penetrated to all the surrounding tribes, especially in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. In later decades, these teachers journeyed farther and farther from Salem, carrying with them Machiventa’s gospel of belief and faith in God.
While Machiventa Melchizedek remains on Earth, he disappeared from the view of men in the same unobtrusive manner in which he appeared. The city of Salem, where his school was located, became the city of Jebus, subsequently called Jerusalem.
Master Son Qualification
The existential Universal Father uses the potential of the infinite Deity Absolute (the totality of all Deity potential) to qualify all experiential (unqualified) beings of the Unqualified Absolute (initially pure energy) as deity.
Experiential beings learn through experience. This is true for humans, Creator Sons, and the experiential Gods: the Supreme, the Ultimate and the Absolute.
To become a master son, it is necessary for the Creator Sons of universes to live and experience the lives of their creatures through seven bestowals of themselves upon seven levels in their own universes.
Michael is seeking to become a Master Son (a Paradise Trinity anointed ruler of the universe called Nebadon that he created). He will qualify as a Master Son by successfully incarnating as a human being on Earth.
A successful seventh bestowal by Michael will contribute to the actualization of all experiential beings.
Making Two One
Some unfit children of Michael accused their Creator-father of selfishly seeking dictatorship. They suggested that Michael was arbitrarily and autocratically upheld in power by the unreasoning loyalty of his deluded universe of subservient creatures.
The dissident rebels would be silenced forever and left confused and disillusioned by the life of self-forgetful service that the Son of God entered as the lowly born Son of Man - subject to the will of the Paradise Father.
While Christ Michael, was a true dual-origin being, he was not a dual personality. He was not God in pairing in a mental connection with man but rather God incarnate (embodied in human flesh). He was an integrated personality. There was a growth factor in this unimaginable relationship, which was a gradual self-conscious realization and recognition (by the human mind) of the fact that he was both God and man.
Christ Michael did not progressively become God. Nor did God, at some vital moment in the earth life of Jesus, become man. Jesus was God and man, forevermore. And this God and this man were, and now are one, just as the Paradise Trinity of three beings is in reality one Deity.
There are few miracles. The appearance on Earth apparently through natural processes of a divine Son as a man is miraculous. It is the functioning of universal laws beyond creature understanding.
The Selection Process
Michael selected Urantia (Earth) as the planet upon which to enact his final bestowal after studying a special report prepared by the Melchizedek teacher sons on the status of segregated worlds.
Following Michael's decision, Gabriel made a personal visit to Urantia, and, as a result of his study of human groups and his survey of the spiritual, intellectual, racial, and geographic features of Urantia and its peoples, he decided that the Hebrews possessed advantages that warranted their selection as the bestowal race.
Upon Michael’s approval of this decision, Gabriel appointed and dispatched a Family Commission of Twelve to Urantia. The Family Commission members were selected from among the higher orders of universe personalities. The Family Commission was entrusted with the task of making an investigation of Jewish family life. When the commission finished its task, Gabriel who was present on Urantia received the report nominating three married couples as being equally favorable prospects for Michael’s incarnation.
Gabriel selected Joseph and Mary.
Joseph
Joseph, the human father of Jesus (Joshua ben Joseph), was a Hebrew, although he carried many non-Jewish racial strains that had been added to his ancestral tree by the female lines of his progenitors who introduced their blood ancestry.
Joseph’s immediate ancestors were builders, carpenters, masons, and smiths. Joseph himself was a carpenter and later a contractor. His family belonged to the nobility of the common people, accentuated occasionally by the appearance of exceptional individuals who distinguished themselves in connection with the evolution of religion on Urantia.
Mary
Mary, the earth mother of Jesus, was a descendant of a long line of unique ancestors embracing many of the most remarkable women in the racial history of Urantia. Although Mary was an average woman of her day and generation, possessing a fairly normal temperament, her ancestors included such well-known women as Ruth, Bathsheba, and Eve. No Jewish woman of that day had a more illustrious lineage of common progenitors or one extending back to more auspicious beginnings.
Mary’s ancestry, like Joseph’s, was characterized by the predominance of strong but average individuals, highlighted by occasional outstanding personalities in the march of civilization and the progressive evolution of religion. Racially considered, it is wrong to regard Mary as a Jewess. In culture and belief she was a Jew, but in hereditary endowment she was more a composite of Syrian, Hittite, Phoenician, Greek, and Egyptian stocks.
It was Michael' plan to appear on earth as an average man, that the common people might understand him and receive him, which is why Gabriel selected Joseph and Mary to become Michael's bestowal parents.
The Conception of John the Baptist
Jesus’ lifework on Urantia was actually begun by John the Baptist.
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, belonged to the Jewish priesthood, while his mother, Elizabeth, was a member of the more prosperous branch of the same large family group to which Mary the mother of Jesus also belonged. Though they had been married many years, Zacharias and Elizabeth were childless.
Late in the month of June, 8 B.C., Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth at noon in her home.
Gabriel's words to Elizabeth were: “While your husband, Zacharias, stands before the altar in Jerusalem, and while the assembled people pray for the coming of a deliverer, I, Gabriel, have come to announce that you will shortly bear a son who shall be the forerunner of this divine teacher, and you shall call your son John. He will grow up dedicated to the Lord your God, and when he has come to full years, he will gladden your heart because he will turn many souls to God, and he will also proclaim the coming of the soul-healer of your people and the spirit-liberator of all mankind. Your kinswoman Mary shall be the mother of this child of promise, and I will also appear to her.”
[The conception of John was analogous to the “miracle” of the mass healing at Capernaum. Unseen seraphim, physical controllers, Life Carriers, and midwayers impregnated Elizabeth just as they effected the cures of several hundred sick or afflicted people who gathered around Zebedee's house where Michael/Jesus and the apostles were dining in Bethsaida.]
Elizabeth's Reaction to Gabriel's Proclamation
Gabriel's visit frightened Elizabeth. Following Gabriel’s departure she repeatedly turned the experience over in her mind, pondering the words of the majestic Gabriel. She did not speak of the revelation to anyone other than Zacharias (after five months) until her visit with Mary in early February of the following year.
When she told Zacharias about Gabriel’s visit, he was very dubious and doubted the entire experience. Zacharias only consented halfheartedly to believe in Gabriel’s visit to his wife when it became obvious that she was pregnant.
While Zacharias was perplexed regarding the prospective motherhood of Elizabeth, he did not doubt the integrity of his wife, despite his advanced age. It was not until six weeks before John’s birth that Zacharias, as the result of an impressive dream, became fully convinced that Elizabeth was to become the mother of a son of destiny, one who was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.
Gabriel's Appearance to Mary
Gabriel appeared to Mary in the middle of November, 8 B.C. about sundown before Joseph returned home from work.
When Mary recovered her composure following Gabriel's surprise appearance, Gabriel said: “I come at the bidding of one who is my Master and whom you shall love and nurture. To you, Mary, I bring glad tidings when I announce that the conception within you is ordained by heaven, and that in due time you will become the mother of a son; you shall call him Joshua, and he shall inaugurate the kingdom of heaven on earth and among men. Speak not of this matter save to Joseph and to Elizabeth, your kinswoman, to whom I have also appeared, and who shall presently also bear a son, whose name shall be John, and who will prepare the way for the message of deliverance which your son shall proclaim to men with great power and deep conviction. And doubt not my word, Mary, for this home has been chosen as the mortal habitat of the child of destiny. My benediction rests upon you, the power of the Most Highs will strengthen you, and the Lord of all the earth shall overshadow you.”
Gabriel’s announcement to Mary was made the day following the conception of a child by Joseph. The appearance of Gabriel was the only supernatural event connected with her entire experience of carrying and bearing the child of promise.
[Since the level of secrecy assigned to the method of combining a god and a mortal is so restricted, the unseen spirits accompanying Gabriel and initiating the implantation of Michael/Jesus must be very close to the Eternal Son, the mother spirit of Paradise Sons.]
Mary's Reaction to Gabriel's Proclamation
Mary pondered Gabriel's visitation secretly in her heart for many weeks until she knew for certain that she was with child. Only then did she disclose Gabriel's visit to Joseph.
Joseph doubted Gabriel visitation.
Joseph did not become reconciled to the idea that Mary was to become the mother of an extraordinary child until he experienced a very impressive dream. In his dream a brilliant celestial messenger appeared to him and said: “Joseph, I appear by command of Him who now reigns on high, and I am directed to instruct you concerning the son whom Mary shall bear, and who shall become a great light in the world. In him will be life, and his life shall become the light of mankind. He shall first come to his own people, but they will hardly receive him; but to as many as shall receive him to them will he reveal that they are the children of God.”
After this experience Joseph never again doubted Mary’s story of Gabriel’s visit and of the promise that the unborn child was to become a divine messenger to the world.
Reassurance and Skepticism
When Mary knew without doubt that she was to become a mother, she persuaded Joseph to let her journey to the City of Judah, four miles west of Jerusalem, to visit Elizabeth. (Gabriel had informed each of these mothers-to-be of his appearance to the other.)
Both women were anxious to get together, compare experiences, and talk over the futures of their awaited sons. Elizabeth did much to strengthen Mary’s faith in the vision of Gabriel, so she returned home more fully dedicated to mother the child of destiny whom she would soon present to the world as a normal infant of the realm.
Upon her return from Judah, Mary went to visit her parents, Joachim and Hannah. Mary's parents, her two brothers and two sisters were skeptical about the divine mission of Jesus, though at this time, they knew nothing of the Gabriel visitation.
Birth of John the Baptist
John was born in the City of Judah, March 25, 7 B.C. Zacharias and Elizabeth were overjoyed in the realization that a son had come to them as Gabriel had promised. On the eighth day they presented the child for circumcision and formally christened him John, as directed by Gabriel.
A nephew of Zacharias carried a message to Mary in Nazareth announcing that a son had been born to Elizabeth and that his name was John.
From his earliest infancy John was taught by his parents that he was to grow up to become a spiritual leader and religious teacher. John’s heart was very responsive to these suggestions. Even as a child he was frequently at the temple during the times of his father’s service, and he was greatly impressed with the significance of all that he heard and saw.
Jesus the Son of Joseph
Joshua ben Joseph, the Jewish baby, was conceived and was born into the world just as all other babies before and since except that this particular baby was the incarnation of Michael of Nebadon, a divine Son of Paradise and the creator of all this local universe of things and beings.
This mystery of the incarnation of Deity within the human form of Jesus, otherwise of natural origin on the world, will forever remain unsolved. Even in eternity you will never know the technique and method of the incarnation of the Creator in the form and likeness of his creatures. Such mysteries are the exclusive possession of those divine Sons who have passed through the bestowal experience.
[Just as Jesus gradually became conscious of being both God and man, all humans may choose the consciousness of God within themselves.]
The Census Complication
In March, 8 B.C.(before Christ), Caesar Augustus decreed that everyone in the Roman world be counted and properly taxed. The Jews were greatly prejudiced against any attempt to “number the people,” and this, in connection with the serious domestic difficulties of Herod, King of Judea, caused the postponement of the taking of the census in the Jewish kingdom for one year. Throughout all the Roman Empire this census was registered as occurring in the year 8 B.C., except in the Palestinian kingdom of Herod, where it was taken in 7 B.C., one year later.
It was not necessary for Mary to go to Bethlehem for enrollment. Joseph was authorized to register his family, but Mary insisted on accompanying Joseph. Mary feared being left alone in case the child be born while Joseph was away.
On the morning of August 18, 7 B.C., the couple departed on their journey to Bethlehem. They had only one donkey, so Mary, being large with child, rode on the animal with the provisions while Joseph walked, leading the animal.
A Three Day Trip to Bethlehem
The first day of travel for Joseph and Mary carried them around the foothills of Mount Gilboa, where they camped for the night by the river Jordan and engaged in many speculations as to what sort of a son would be born to them. Joseph adhered to the concept of a spiritual teacher while Mary held to the idea of a Jewish Messiah, a deliverer of the Hebrew nation.
Early in the morning of August 19, Joseph and Mary resumed their journey. They arrived in Jericho, where they stopped at an inn in the outskirts of the city.
Following the evening meal, they conversed about the oppressiveness of Roman rule, Herod, the census enrollment, and the comparative influence of Jerusalem and Alexandria as centers of Jewish learning and culture.
Again, early in the morning of August 20 they continued their journey, reaching Jerusalem before noon. They visited the temple before going on to their destination, arriving at Bethlehem in mid afternoon.
No Vacancies at the Inn
Because of the census travelers, the inn in Bethlehem had no vacancies. Joseph accordingly sought lodgings with distant relatives, but they had no room for the couple. On returning to the courtyard of the inn, Joseph learned that the caravan stables, carved out of the side of the rock and situated just below the inn, had been cleared of animals and cleaned up for lodging.
Leaving the donkey in the courtyard, Joseph and Mary descended the stone steps to their lodgings below the inn. They found themselves located in what had been a grain storage room to the front of the stalls and mangers. Tent curtains had been hung, and they considered themselves fortunate to have such comfortable quarters.
Joseph wished to go out at once and enroll for the census, but Mary asked Joseph to stay with her, which he did.
A Discrete Proclamation
Certain wise men of earth knew of Michael's impending arrival. Through the contacts of the inner and outer worlds, these wise men of spiritual insight learned of the forthcoming bestowal of Michael.
A seraphim (a high level angel) announced the pending birth by employing the midway creatures (beings midway between man and angels) to a group of Chaldean priests whose leader was Ardnon.
The Chaldean priests are descendants of the the ancient star cultists who evolved religiously especially through the teachings of the incarnated Machiventa Melchizedek 1973 years earlier. These were the wise men of God who visited Mary's newborn child in the manger.
The only supernatural event associated with the birth of Jesus was the announcement to Ardnon and his associate priests by the seraphim who previously served Adam and Eve in the first garden of Eden.
The Earth Life of Michael/Jesus
The Birth of Michael/Jesus
The night of August 20th Mary was restless so that neither she or Joseph slept. By the break of day Mary was suffering the first pangs of childbirth, and at noon, August 21, 7 B.C., with the help and kind ministrations of fellow women travelers, Mary gave birth to a male child.
Jesus of Nazareth was born into the world, wrapped in the clothes that Mary had brought along for such a contingency. The baby was laid in an adjoining manger.
The promised child was born in the same manner that all babies before that day and since have come into the world. Subsequently, on the eighth day, following the Jewish practice, he was circumcised and formally named Joshua (Jesus).
Angelic Choir
At the noontide birth of Jesus the seraphim of Urantia, assembled under their directors, and sang anthems of glory over the Bethlehem manger, but these songs were not heard by human ears.
No shepherds nor any other mortal creatures came to pay homage to the babe of Bethlehem until the day of the arrival of certain priests from Ur (in Mesopotamia - present day Turkey), who were sent down from Jerusalem to Bethlehem by Zacharias.
The priests from Mesopotamia had been told sometime before by a religious teacher of their country that he had a vivid dream that “the light of life” was about to appear on earth as a babe among the Jews. The three teachers traveled to Jerusalem looking for this “light of life.” After many weeks of futile search in Jerusalem, they were about to return to Ur when Zacharias met them and disclosed his belief that Jesus was the object of their quest and sent them on to Bethlehem, where they found the babe and left their gifts with Mary. The babe was nearly three weeks old at the time of their visit.
[The visit by the priests from Ur is celebrated as the Epiphany, commonly known as Three Kings' Day in the United States, on January 6.]
Growth Phases and New Accomodations
Infancy is loosely defined as the time from birth to about one year old. Pubescence is the stage of life where an individual is maturing mentally, physically and sexually into the adult phase of life. Adolescence is the transitional period between puberty and adulthood in human development extending mainly over the teen years and terminating when the age of majority is reached.
The next day after the birth of Jesus, Joseph made his census enrollment. Meeting a man they had talked with two nights previously at Jericho, Joseph was taken by him to a well-to-do friend who had a room at the inn, who said he would gladly exchange quarters with the Nazareth couple. That afternoon they moved from the manger up to the inn, where they lived for almost three weeks until they found lodgings in the home of a distant relative of Joseph.
The Challenging Adventure Begins
The second day after the birth of Jesus, Mary sent word to Elizabeth that her child had come and received a response inviting Joseph up to Jerusalem to talk over their affairs with Zacharias.
The following week Joseph went to Jerusalem to confer with Zacharias. Both Zacharias and Elizabeth had become obsessed with the sincere but mistaken conviction that Jesus was indeed to become the Jewish deliverer, the Messiah, and that their son John was to be his chief of aides, his right-hand man of destiny.
Since Mary held these same opinions, they prevailed upon Joseph to remain in Bethlehem, the City of David, so that Jesus might grow up to become the successor of David as the king of all Israel. Accordingly, they remained in Bethlehem more than a year. Joseph found occasional work at his carpenter’s trade.
Usurping a Popular Pagan Holiday
The three wise men saw no star to guide them to Bethlehem. The beautiful legend of the star of Bethlehem originated as follows.
Jesus was born August 21 at noon, 7 B.C. On May 29, 7 B.C., there was an extraordinary conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces. Similar conjunctions occurred on September 29 and December 5 of the same year. On the basis of these extraordinary but wholly natural events the well-meaning Christian zealots (seeking converts) construed the appealing legend of the star of Bethlehem and the adoring Magi led to the manger, where they beheld and worshiped the newborn babe.
In the times before printing, human knowledge was passed by word of mouth from one generation to another. So, it was very easy for myths to become traditions and for traditions to become accepted as facts.
Saturnalia, held in mid-December, is an ancient Roman pagan festival honoring the agricultural god, Saturn. Saturnalia celebrations were the source of many of the traditions (such as giving gifts) now associated with Christmas.
The first reference to December 25 as the Nativity of Jesus occurred in AD 354.
Two in One Parallel
Christ Michael and Jesus, are an integrated personality. There was a brief growth factor, which was a gradual self-conscious realization and recognition (by the human mind) of the fact that Jesus was both God and man.
Christ Michael did not progressively become God. Nor did God, at some vital moment in the earth life of Jesus, become man. Jesus was God and man from the time of Michael's implantation a day after Jesus' conception. The God Michael and the man Jesus are one.
The Michael/Jesus relationship is analogous to the Thought Adjuster/mortal relationship. Just as Jesus gradually realized he was both God and man, if mortals choose to accept the guidance of the Thought Adjuster, the mortal personality will fuse with the oneness of the Thought Adjuster through a progressive growth that occurs in the soul.
The Presentation in the Temple
Moses had taught the Jews that every first-born son belonged to the Lord, and that, in lieu of sacrificing the male child to the Lord as was the custom among the heathen nations, such a son might live provided his parents would redeem him by paying five shekels to any authorized priest.
In addition, there was also a Law of Moses ordinance that directed a mother to present herself at the temple for purification.
It was customary to perform both of these ceremonies at the same time. Accordingly, Joseph and Mary went to the temple at Jerusalem in person to present Jesus to the priests to effect his redemption and also to make the proper sacrifice to insure Mary’s ceremonial purification from the alleged uncleanness of childbirth.
Herod Investigates
Herod was not Jewish. He was the king of of Israel because he had contrived to get his appointment through his connections with the Roman rulers. Herod would not even consider or tolerate the possibility of a newly born replacement for him as the king of the Jews.
When Herod's spies reported the visit of the priests of Ur to Bethlehem, Herod summoned the priests to appear before him. He inquired of these wise men about the new “king of the Jews,” but they gave him no satisfaction, explaining that the babe had been born of a woman who had come down to Bethlehem with her husband for the census enrollment. Herod, dissatisfied with this answer, sent them forth with a purse and directed that they should find the child so that he too might come and worship him, since the priests had declared that the new kingdom was to be spiritual, not temporal.
When the wise men did not return, Herod grew suspicious. Since his spies had failed to follow Joseph and Mary when they left the temple in Jerusalem after the redemption ceremonies, he dispatched searchers to locate Joseph and Mary.
Knowing Herod was searching for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Zacharias and Elizabeth stayed away from Bethlehem.
Herod Strikes
Herod (The Great), the King of Israel, and his family were ruthless materialistic tyrants, tainted with personality pride, a sense of entitlement, and greed.
Because of the Herod's relentless pursuit of Jesus, Joseph was afraid to seek work, and their meager savings were running out.
When, after more than a year of searching, Herod’s spies had not located Jesus. Herod suspected that the babe Jesus was still hidden in Bethlehem. Herod ordered that a systematic search be made of every house in Bethlehem, and that all boy babies under two years of age should be put to death. In this manner, Herod hoped to ensure that the child destined to become “king of the Jews” would be annihilated.
In one day, sixteen boy babies in Bethlehem of Judea were killed.
Intrigue and murder, even in his own immediate family, were not uncommon in Herod's reign.
Escape to Alexandria, Egypt
The massacre of the Bethlehem infants took place near the middle of October, 6 B.C., when Jesus was a little over one year of age.
Within Herod's court there were Jewish believers in the coming Messiah. One of these, learning of the order to slaughter the Bethlehem boy babies, contacted Zacharias, who dispatched a messenger to Joseph, and the night before the massacre Joseph and Mary departed from Bethlehem with the child Jesus for Alexandria, Egypt.
To avoid attracting attention, they journeyed alone with Jesus to Alexandria using funds provided by Zacharias. In Alexandria, Joseph worked at his trade while Mary and Jesus lodged with well-to-do relatives of Joseph’s family. They stayed in Alexandria two full years, not returning to Bethlehem until after the death of Herod.
The Early Childhood of Michael/Jesus
Owing to the uncertainties and anxieties of their life in Bethlehem, Mary did not wean her child until they had arrived safely in Alexandria, where the family was able to settle down to a normal life. They lived with kinsfolk, and Joseph was able to support his family as he soon found work. He was employed as a carpenter for several months and then became the of foreman of a large group of workmen employed on a public building in process of construction.
This new experience gave him the idea of eventually becoming a contractor and builder.
All through the early years of Michael/Jesus’ helpless infancy, Mary kept a constant watch over him to avert any mishap that could jeopardize his welfare or in any way interfere with his future mission on earth.
No mother was ever more devoted to her child.
Mary's Vigilance
In the home where Michael/Jesus chanced to be, there were two other children about his age, and among the near neighbors there were six others whose ages were sufficiently near his own to make them suitable playmates.
At first Mary was disposed to keep Michael/Jesus close by her side. She feared something might happen to him if he were allowed to play in the garden with the other children, but Joseph, with the assistance of his kinsfolk, was able to convince her that such a course would deprive Michael/Jesus of the helpful experience of learning how to adjust himself to children of his own age. Finally Mary, realizing that such a program of undue sheltering and unusual protection might tend to make him self-conscious and somewhat self-centered, consented to the plan of permitting the child of promise to grow up just like any other child. Still, she was always on watch while the little folks were at play about the house or in the garden.
Only an affectionate mother can know the burden that Mary carried in her heart for the safety of her son during these years of his infancy and early childhood.
A Gift for the Child of Promise
Throughout the two years of their sojourn at Alexandria, Michael/Jesus enjoyed good health and grew normally. Aside from a few friends and relatives no one knew about Michael/Jesus being a “child of promise.”
One of Joseph’s relatives revealed this to a few friends in Memphis, descendants of the distant Ikhnaton, and they, with a small group of Alexandrian believers, assembled at the palatial home of Joseph’s relative-benefactors before their departure for Palestine to wish the Nazareth family farewell and to pay their respects to the child. The assembled friends presented Michael/Jesus with a complete copy of the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. This copy of the Jewish sacred writings was not placed in Joseph’s hands until both he and Mary had finally declined the invitation of their Memphis and Alexandrian friends to remain in Egypt. These believers insisted that the child of destiny would be able to exert a far greater world influence as a resident of Alexandria than of in Palestine.
These persuasions delayed the family's departure for Palestine for some time even after they received the news of Herod’s death.
Deciding on a Permanent Home
Joseph and Mary finally departed from Alexandria on a boat bound for Joppa (known today as Jaffa in Israel). They arrived in Joppa late in August of the year 4 B.C. They went directly to Bethlehem, where they spent the entire month of September in counsel with their friends and relatives concerning whether they should remain in Bethlehem or return to Nazareth.
Mary thought that Bethlehem (the City of David) was the most appropriate place in which Michael/Jesus as the new candidate for David’s throne should be reared.
Joseph did not believe that their son was to become a temporal kingly deliverer of Israel. Also, he knew that he himself was not really a descendant of David. He was only reckoned among the offspring of David because of the adoption of one of his paternal ancestors into the Davidic line of descent.
In addition, Joseph preferred to take their chances with Herod Antipas in Galilee rather than with Archelaus (Antipas' brother who ruled over Bethlehem, in Judea). Joseph feared for his son's safety in Bethlehem or anywhere in Judea. Joseph thought that Archelaus would be more likely to continue the murderous practices of his father, Herod the Great, than would Antipas in Galilee.
Also, Joseph thought Galilee was a better place to rear and educate the child.
The Return to Nazareth
By the first of October, Joseph had convinced Mary and all their friends that it was best for them to return to Nazareth. Accordingly, early in October, 4 B.C., they departed from Bethlehem for Nazareth, taking the longer but safer route through Lydda and Scythopolis. They started out early one Sunday morning. Mary and the child rode on their newly acquired beast of burden, while Joseph and five kinsmen proceeded on foot.
Joseph’s relatives would not allow them to make the trip to Nazareth alone. They were apprehensive about traveling to Galilee through Jerusalem and the Jordan valley, as this route was not safe for two lone travelers with a small child.
Note
The modern calendar is based on calculations made by Dionysus Exegines, a Roman abbot who lived more than 500 years after the time of Michael/Michael/Jesus. Because of insufficient historical data the monk erred in fixing the time of Michael/Michael/Jesus' birth and this seven year error persists in the calendar to this day.
Back Home in Nazareth
After four days, the party reached Nazareth safely. They arrived unannounced at their Nazareth home, which had been occupied for more than three years by one of Joseph’s married brothers. The next day Joseph’s brother moved his family. Mary, for the first time since Michael/Jesus’ birth, settled down with her little family to enjoy life in their own home. In less than a week Joseph secured work as a carpenter, and they were quite happy.
Michael/Jesus was about three years and two months old at the time of their return to Nazareth. He had endured all the travels very well. He was in excellent health and very excited about having space to run about.
On the way to Nazareth, Joseph had persuaded Mary that it would be unwise to tell any of their Galilean friends and relatives that Michael/Jesus was a child of promise. Both were faithful in keeping this vow.
Michael/Jesus' Fourth Year (3 B.C.)
A big moment in the life of the newly settled Nazareth family was the birth of a second child, James, in the early morning hours of April 2, 3 B.C.. Michael/Jesus was fascinated by his new brother. He spent hours watching the baby’s activities.
In July, one month before Michael/Jesus was four years old, an outbreak of a malignant intestinal illness spread over all Nazareth from contact with the caravan travelers. Mary became so alarmed by the danger of Michael/Jesus and James being exposed to this illness that she bundled up both her children and fled to the country home of her brother, several miles south of Nazareth. They did not return to Nazareth for more than two months. Michael/Jesus thoroughly enjoyed his farm life experience.
Michael/Jesus’ fourth year was a period of normal physical development and of unusual mental activity. He formed a very close attachment to a neighbor boy about his own age named Jacob. Michael/Jesus and Jacob played happily together, and they grew up to be great and loyal friends.
Social Engineering
[A great deal of social engineering occurred in the life of Michael/Jesus' life. To ensure Michael experienced the maximum diversity of human reality during his bestowal, his Thought Adjuster, seraphim, and midwayer planners, arranged a complete panorama of human events during his life.
Such engineered execution may be noted in the absence of other children during the crucial years of evading capture by Herod, followed by settlement in Nazareth (on a heavily trafficked caravan route that provided exposure to people from all over the known world), followed by multiple births in the family that overwhelmed Joseph and Mary's energy and resources, followed by the accidental death of Joseph (with the loss of his substantial income) that forced Michael/Jesus to become the head of the family in his teen years.
Gabriel and his aides, along with an army of angels and other special forces, were always on standby to intervene at the bidding of the Thought Adjuster.]
The Beginning of Affluence
In midsummer of 3 B.C., Joseph built a small workshop close to the village spring and near the caravan respite lot. After opening his workshop, Joseph did very little day carpentry work. He employed two of his brothers as associates as well as several other mechanics, whom he sent out to work while he remained at the shop making yokes and plows and doing other woodwork. He also worked in leather, rope, and canvas.
While growing up, Michael/Jesus spent his time about equally between helping his mother with home duties and watching his father work at the shop when he was not at school.
His interests were broadened widely as he listened to the conversations of the caravan conductors and passengers from all around the world.
The First Major Event for Michael/Jesus
In just over a year after the return to Nazareth, at the age of five, Michael/Jesus made his first personal and wholehearted moral decision. Instantly, a Thought Adjuster, the divine gift of the Paradise Father, came to indwell his mind. This Thought Adjuster had previously served with Machiventa Melchizedek. As a result of that experience, it had gained the experience of functioning with the incarnation of another super mortal being who was living in the likeness of mortal flesh.
The arrival of the Thought Adjuster occurred on February 11, 2 B.C.. Michael/Jesus was no more aware of the coming of the divine Monitor than are the millions upon millions of other children who, before and since that day, have received Thought Adjusters to indwell their minds and work for their ultimate spiritualization and the eternal survival of their evolving immortal souls.
Also on this day in February, the direct and personal supervision of the Universe Rulers, as related to the incarnation of the child Michael was terminated. From that time forward throughout the human unfolding of the incarnation, the primary care of Michael/Jesus rested in the keeping of the indwelling Adjuster and the associated seraphic guardians supplemented from time to time by the ministry of midway creatures assigned for the performance of certain specific duties in accordance with the instruction of their planetary superiors.
Universe Rulers
[Just as Individuals have their guardians of destiny, planets, systems, constellations, universes, and super universes all have their respective rulers who labor for the good of their domains. Every human is the ruler of his or her own universe of inner worlds within the temple of their mortal bodies that teem with nascent atoms with the potential for immortality.
The atoms in bodies of flesh form into functional and social patterns reacting non-volitionally to the will of God as programmed by the Life Carriers. An analogy to the globalization of the world volitionally by humans doing the will of God is discernible in the activities of the body cells.
Potential reality is just as real as actual reality. Potential becoming actual follows the sequence through the Unqualified Absolute - energy and matter becoming god through the Deity Absolute, and the Universal Absolute for matter, mind, and spirit evolution.]
An Inquiring Mind
In the year, 2 B.C., a little more than one month before his fifth birthday, Michael/Jesus was very excited by the birth of his sister Miriam.
On the following day Michael/Jesus had a long talk with his father concerning the manner in which living things are born into the world. The most valuable part of Michael/Jesus’ early education was obtained from his parents in answer to his thoughtful and searching questions. Joseph never failed his parental duty of taking the time to answer the boy’s inquiries.
As with all precocious children, from the time Michael/Jesus was five years old until he was ten, he asked questions constantly, which enabled him to gather the information needed for his cognitive development.
While Joseph and Mary could not always answer his questions, they never failed to attempt to answer his questions and in every possible way to assist him in his efforts to reach a satisfactory solution of the problem that his alert mind posed.
Jewish Child Rearing
It was the custom of the Galilean Jews for the mother to bear the responsibility for a child’s training until the fifth birthday, and then, if the child were a boy, to hold the father responsible for the lad’s education from that time on. This year, therefore, Michael/Jesus entered upon the fifth stage of a Galilean Jewish child’s career, and accordingly on August 21, 2 B.C., Mary formally turned him over to Joseph for further instruction.
Though Joseph was now assuming the direct responsibility for Michael/Jesus’ intellectual and religious education, his mother still interested herself in his home training. She taught him to know and care for the vines and flowers growing about the garden walls that completely surrounded the home plot. She also provided on the roof of the house (the summer bedroom) shallow boxes of sand in which Michael/Jesus worked out maps and did much of his early practice at writing Aramaic, Greek, and later on, Hebrew, for in time he learned to read, write, and speak, fluently, all three languages.
Events of the Sixth Year (1 B.C.)
Already, with his mother’s help, Michael/Jesus had mastered the Galilean dialect of the Aramaic tongue; and now his father began teaching him Greek. Mary spoke little Greek, but Joseph was a fluent speaker of both Aramaic and Greek. The textbook for the study of the Greek language was the copy of the Hebrew scriptures - a complete version of the law and the prophets, including the Psalms, which had been presented to them when they left Egypt.
There were only two complete copies of the Scriptures in Greek in all Nazareth, and the possession of one of them by the carpenter’s family made Joseph’s home a popular gathering place and enabled Michael/Jesus, as he grew up, to meet an almost endless procession of earnest students and truth seekers.
Before this year ended, Michael/Jesus had assumed custody of this priceless manuscript. In a very short time he could read it.
Earthquake Damage
The first great shock of Michael/Jesus’ young life occurred when he was not quite six years old. It had seemed to the lad that his father and mother knew everything. Imagine, therefore, the surprise of this inquiring child, when he asked his father the cause of a mild earthquake which had just occurred, to hear Joseph say that he didn't know. Michael/Jesus was disconcerted and somewhat disillusioned to discover that his earthly parents were not all-wise and all-knowing.
Joseph’s first thought was to tell Michael/Jesus that the earthquake had been caused by God, but he realized that such an answer would provoke further and still more embarrassing inquiries. Even at an early age it was very difficult to answer Michael/Jesus’ questions about physical or social phenomena by telling him that either God or the devil was responsible.
In harmony with the prevailing belief of the Jewish people, Michael/Jesus was willing to accept the doctrine of good spirits and evil spirits as the possible explanation of mental and spiritual phenomena, but he doubted that such unseen influences were responsible for the physical happenings of the natural world such as earthquakes.
Michael/Jesus Meets John
Before Michael/Jesus was six years of age, in the early summer of 1 B.C., Zacharias, Elizabeth, and their son John came to visit the Nazareth family. Michael/Jesus and John had a happy time during this first visit (within their memories). Although the visitors could only remain a few days, the parents talked over many things, including the future plans for their sons. While they were engaged, the lads played with blocks in the sand on top of the house and in many other ways enjoyed themselves in the fashion of young boys.
Having met John, who came from near Jerusalem, Michael/Jesus began to show an unusual interest in the history of Israel and to inquire in great detail into the meaning of the Sabbath rites, the synagogue sermons, and the recurring feasts of commemoration.
Talks With His Father in Heaven
During this year Joseph and Mary had trouble with Michael/Jesus about his prayers. He insisted on talking to his heavenly Father just as he would talk to Joseph, his earthly father.
This rather casual departure from the more solemn and reverent modes of communication with Deity was a bit disconcerting to his parents, especially to his mother, but he could not be persuaded to change. He would say his memorized prayers just as he had been taught, after which he insisted on having “just a little talk with my Father in heaven.”
Experiential Becoming Existential
Michael/Jesus is experiencing the earliest level of the experiential becoming existential. The existential absolute level is timeless, spaceless, beginningless, and endless. The experiential is everything the existential is not. The existential is oneness, wholeness, and harmony. The experiential is individualism with its selfishness, disputes, and chaos.
The child Michael/Jesus is a template for his universe. He is a model who will demonstrate a lifestyle that transforms a human to a god.
Through the Universal Father's gifts of personality and the divine indwelling Thought Adjuster, a human can acquire the experience to escape the fragmentation of individuality and evolve into oneness by following his internal navigator's guidance. The Thought Adjusting navigator applies the will of God to life's choices.
The Universal Father never imposes any form of arbitrary recognition, formal worship, or slavish service upon the intelligent will creatures of the universes. The evolutionary inhabitants of the worlds of time and space must recognize, love, and voluntarily worship the Universal Father because they want to do so. The Creator refuses to coerce or compel the submission of the spiritual free wills of his material creatures. The affectionate dedication of the human will to the doing of the Father’s will is man’s choicest gift to God. Such a consecration of creature will constitutes man’s only possible gift of true value to the Paradise Father.
Bridges to Cross
1. Birth of mortal personality into body of flesh
2. Thought Adjuster enters mind of personality at first unselfish moral decision
3. Birth of soul (parented by Thought Adjuster and human personality)
4. Death of human body and favorable judgment for survival of human personality
5. Transport of soul/personality to morontial (mansion) worlds
6. Reunion of soul/personality with Thought Adjuster in Resurrection Hall
7. Successful promotions through Melchizedek Mansion World Schools
8. Fusion of soul/personality with Thought Adjuster
(Fusion with the Thought Adjuster is the irrevocable first major bridge to cross between the experiential existence in Time and Absolute Existential Existence.)
The Will of the Universal Father
The will of the Universal Father is the principle that controls the cosmos. Because of the Father's will, atoms form galaxies. Spirit and mind combine into higher realities and cross through dimensional boundaries within Super Universe Seven, Havona, and Paradise.
The will of the Father extends from the province of the Supreme in Time and Space into Infinity.
Total reality, at the infinite level, is one reality, but it is revealed at seven levels. The Seven Absolutes of Existential Infinity (which is timeless, spaceless, beginningless, and endless) inter-combine their individually unique dominions into vast functional associations consisting of the Paradise Trinity (as well as other triune agencies) to manifest the will of the Universal Father throughout all creation.
The will of the Universal Father lives in the minds of all persons. Paradise exists in all material realities.
Many down-stepped agencies ensure the implementation of the father's will at all levels. They influence the realities of every object, thought, feeling, and person that is or ever will be.
Michael/Jesus' Cultural Education
In June of 1 B.C., Joseph turned the shop in Nazareth over to his brothers and formally entered upon his work as a builder. Before the year was over, the family income had more than trebled. Never again, until after Joseph’s death, did the Nazareth family feel the pinch of poverty. The family grew larger and larger, and they spent much money on extra education and travel, but always Joseph’s increasing income kept pace with the growing expenses.
The next few years Joseph did considerable work at Cana, Bethlehem (of Galilee), Magdala, Nain, Sepphoris, Capernaum, and Endor, as well as much building in and near Nazareth. As James grew up to be old enough to help his mother with the housework and care of the younger children, Michael/Jesus made frequent trips away from home with his father to these surrounding towns and villages. Michael/Jesus was a keen observer and gained much practical knowledge from these trips away from home; he was assiduously storing up knowledge regarding man and the way he lived on earth.
Rules and Personal Research
This year (age six) Michael/Jesus made great progress in adjusting his strong feelings and vigorous impulses in the interest of family cooperation and home discipline. Mary was a loving mother but a disciplinarian. Overall, Joseph exerted the greater control over Michael/Jesus. Joseph would sit down with the boy and fully explain the real and underlying reasons for the curtailment of personal desires in deference to the welfare and tranquility of the entire family. When the situation had been explained to Michael/Jesus, he was always intelligently and willingly cooperative with parental wishes and family regulations.
When his mother did not require his help about the house, Michael/Jesus spent his spare time studying the flowers and plants by day and the stars by night. He developed an appetite for lying on his back and gazing wonderingly up into the starry heavens long after his bedtime.
The Years of Basic Training
1 A.D.- Michael/Jesus' seventh year is an eventful one. Early in January a great snowstorm occurred in Galilee. Snow fell two feet deep, the heaviest snowfall Michael/Jesus saw during his lifetime and one of the deepest at Nazareth in a hundred years.
On March 16th, Joseph, Joseph and Mary's fourth child was born.
In August, Michael/Jesus turned seven years old, the age when Jewish children begin their formal education. Accordingly, he entered upon his eventful school life at the Nazareth synagogue. He was already a fluent reader, writer, and speaker of two languages, Aramaic and Greek. Now he learned to read, write, and speak the Hebrew language.
He studied the rudiments of the Book of the Law as it was recorded in the Hebrew language. For three years he studied in the advanced school and committed to memory, by repeating aloud, the deeper teachings of the sacred law. He graduated from this school of the synagogue in his thirteenth year.
In 1 A.D., Michael/Jesus learned to milk the family cow and care for the other animals. He also learned to make cheese and to weave.
Time
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Time is another word for motion.
The things and beings of time are woven out of motion, which is innate in their existence.
Everything in the universes is evolving and metamorphosing from the province of the Supreme in accordance with the infinite plans and the unified urge of primordial purpose and eternal destiny of potentials to actuals towards the Seven Absolutes of Infinity.
On Paradise, existence does not involve time as time is understood by the creatures of time.
Paradise motion is not inherent, but volitional.
The substance of Paradise is composed of motionless particles. Sequence exists on Paradise, but without inherent motion. Duration, as it is known in the time universes, cannot exist in the NOW. Paradise consciousness is sequence consciousness without the duration consciousness of the beings of time. In the Paradise existence, the space between events is eliminated.
An ascending mortal attaining Paradise residency ceases to be a creature of time.
Social and Work Skills
2 A.D.- Michael/Jesus' uncles and aunts were all very fond of him. There was a lively competition among them to secure his company for monthly visits throughout this and subsequent years. His first week's sojourn on his uncle's farm (since infancy) was in January; his first week's fishing experience on the Sea of Galilee occurred in May.
Michael/Jesus made arrangements to exchange dairy products for lessons on the harp. He was very fond of music. Later on he worked to promote an interest in vocal music among his young friends. By the time he was eleven, he was a skillful harpist and enjoyed entertaining both family and friends with his extraordinary interpretations and improvisations.
By the age of ten Michael/Jesus was an expert loom operator.
On April 14th, 2 A.D., Simon, Joseph and Mary's fifth child was born.
3 A.D.- May. Michael/Jesus helped with the grain harvest on his uncle's farm for the first time.
On September 13, Martha, Joseph and Mary's sixth child and Michael/Jesus' second sister was born.
Everything Is Socially Engineered
Every Creator (Michael) Son is an original and unique expression of a concept of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son. This original concept is actualized (put into action) in Time and Space by the Conjoint Actor (AKA the Infinite Spirit) – the Paradise Trinity deity who exercises the thought and the intentions of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son.
The Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit collaborate to ensure compliance with the will of the Universal Father.
As a consequence of the existential origin of the Paradise creator son, every mortal person within the tableau of his universe is also a unique creation of the Creator Son and his creative companion who are fulfilling the will of the Universal Father.
Collectively, all mortal persons (through evolution) eventually complete the totality of the original concept of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son as put into action by the Conjoint Actor through the Creator Son and his mate.
The mate of the Creator Son (the Creative Daughter who becomes the Divine Minister of their local universe upon completion of the successful seventh bestowal incarnation of the Creator Son) engenders seraphim who oversee and manipulate the social activity of mortals to provide opportunities for mortals to realize their free will choice for spiritual salvation or worldly material goals.
The opportunities provided mortal personalities by the seraphim are directed by the individual Thought Adjusters of each mortal. Mortals who choose spiritual survival continue Godward.
The Thought Adjusters map out the desired life plan for each mortal before indwelling their mind at about the age of six.
Constant Growth of Consciousness
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Each ascending ex-mortal is destined to be a living part of experiential Deity. Growth actualizes expanded capacity for service and perception of reality at every step up to the seven absolutes of infinity.
Seekers after the will of God are destined to live and serve in the seven dimensional universe of the Seven Absolutes of Infinity.
Ascenders will be agents of the absolutes in the service of the Universal Father as a part of the Supreme. The urge impelling ascenders forward is the the will of the Father, which is the metamorphosing evolution of reality coordinated with the emergence of the experiential Deities in the limitless arena provided by the Seven Absolutes of Infinity.
Each ascender will ultimately conceive of space and time in terms of the absolutes.
Michael/Jesus Disputes Religious Dogma
3 A.D.- The most serious trouble as yet to come up at school occurred in late winter when Michael/Jesus dared to challenge the Chazan regarding the teaching that all images, pictures, and drawings are idolatrous in nature. Michael/Jesus delighted in drawing landscapes as well as in modeling a great variety of objects in potter's clay. Everything of that sort is strictly forbidden by Jewish law, but up to this time he had managed to disarm his parents' objections to such an extent that they had allowed him to continue in these activities.
4 A.D.- July 5. On the first Sabbath of the month while strolling through the countryside with his father, Michael/Jesus expressed feelings and ideas that indicated he was becoming self-conscious of the unusual nature of his life mission.
4 A.D.- August. Michael/Jesus entered the advanced school of the synagogue. At school he constantly created trouble by the questions he persisted in asking. Increasingly, he kept all Nazareth in turmoil.
Expansion of Work, Social, and Family Experience
4 A.D.- Late this year Michael/Jesus had a two month fishing experience with his uncle on the Sea of Galilee.
5 A.D.- Michael/Jesus spent considerable time at the caravan supply shop. By conversing with the travelers from all parts of the world, he acquired a store of information about international affairs that was astonishing, considering his age of 11. This is the last year in which he enjoyed much free play and youthful exuberance.
On June 24th, Jude, Joseph and Mary's seventh child was born. Because of complications attending the birth, Mary was very ill so Joseph remained at home for several weeks.
6 A.D.- Before he was thirteen, Michael/Jesus had managed to learn something about practically everything that men and women worked at around Nazareth except metal working. Consequently, he spent several months in a smith's shop when he was older.
Michael/Jesus payed more attention than ever to music. He also conducted home schooling for his brothers and sisters. At this time, Michael/Jesus became keenly conscious of the difference between the viewpoints of Joseph and Mary regarding the nature of his mission (spiritual or worldly).
This was Michael/Jesus' last year at school. He was 12 years old.
7 A.D.- On January 9th, Amos, Joseph and Mary's eighth child was born.
On March 20th Michael/Jesus graduated from the course of training in the local school connected with the Nazareth synagogue.
Traveling to Jerusalem
April 4th, 7 A.D., was Michael/Jesus' first Passover. Having graduated from the synagogue schools, Michael/Jesus was qualified to proceed to Jerusalem with his parents to participate with them in the celebration of his first Passover. One hundred and three relatives, friends and neighbors departed from Nazareth for Jerusalem. No incident in all of Michael/Jesus' eventful earth career was more engaging, more humanly thrilling, than his first remembered visit to Jerusalem. He was especially stimulated by the experience of attending the temple discussions by himself, and it long stood out in his memory as the greatest event of his later childhood and early youth.
On the eastern slopes of Olivet the Passover caravan paused to rest in a little village called Bethany. The hospitable villagers greeted and ministered to the the pilgrims. It “happened” that Joseph and his family had stopped near the house of Simon, who had three children about the same age as Jesus - Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Simon invited the Nazareth family in for refreshment, and a lifelong friendship sprang up between the two families. Michael/Jesus visited in this home many times afterward.
A Momentous Event
On the day before the Passover Sabbath, flood tides of spiritual illumination swept through the mortal mind of Michael/Jesus and filled his human heart to overflowing with affectionate pity for the spiritually blind and morally ignorant multitudes assembled for the celebration of the ancient Passover commemoration.
This was one of the most extraordinary days that the Son of God spent in the flesh; and during the night, for the first time in his earth career, there appeared to him a messenger commissioned by Immanuel, who said: “The hour has come. It is time that you began to be about your Father’s business.”
And so, even as the heavy responsibilities of his Nazareth family were about to descend upon his youthful shoulders, a celestial messenger arrived to tell this lad, not quite thirteen years of age, that the hour had come to resume the responsibilities of a universe.
This was the first of a succession of events that culminated in the completion of the Son’s bestowal on Earth and the replacing of the government of a universe on his human-divine shoulders.
Michael/Jesus Joins Discussion Groups
Following the events of the Passover celebration, Michael/Jesus joined the Temple discussion groups of the Jewish scholars. On the last day of his attendance, the entire attention of the chief discussion group had become focused upon the questions being asked by Jesus. Among his many questions were:
1. What really exists in the Holy of Holies, behind the veil?
[Within the Holy Place of the tabernacle, there was an inner room called the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place. It was God’s special dwelling place in the midst of His people where no ordinary person could enter. A thick curtain enclosed the Holy of Holies. This curtain, known as the “veil,” was made of fine linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn.]
2. Why should mothers in Israel be segregated from the male temple worshipers?
3. If God is a father who loves his children, why all this slaughter of animals to gain divine favor - has the teaching of Moses been misunderstood?
4. Since the temple is dedicated to the worship of the Father in heaven, is it consistent to permit the presence of those who engage in secular barter and trade?
5. Is the expected Messiah to become a temporal prince to sit on the throne of David, or is he to function as the light of life in the establishment of a spiritual kingdom?
Joseph Killed in a Work Accident
8 A.D.- September 25 - A runner from Sepphoris brought the tragic news that Joseph had been severely injured by the collapse of a derrick while at work on the governor's residence.
Mary directed that James should accompany her to Sepphoris while Michael/Jesus remained at home with the younger children.
Joseph died of his injuries before Mary arrived in Sepphoris. Joseph's body was taken back to Nazareth, and he was buried on the following day .
As the oldest son, Michael/Jesus became the head of the household. Mary was 32 years old and 2 months pregnant with Ruth. James was 9. Miriam was 8. Joseph was 7. Simon was 6. Martha had just turned 5. Jude was 3, and Amos was 20 months old.
The Years of Poverty
8 - 12 A.D.- For 4 years the standard of living of Michael/Jesus' family had declined steadily. Year by year they felt the pinch of increasing poverty. By the close of 12 A.D., they faced one of the most difficult experiences of all their financial struggles. Their hopeful courage contributed significantly to the development of strong and noble characters.
Of all Michael/Jesus' earth-life experiences, the fourteenth and fifteenth years are the most crucial. No human youth, in passing through the early confusions and adjustment problems of adolescence, ever experienced a more crucial testing than that which Michael/Jesus passed through during his transition from childhood to young manhood.
By the time of Michael/Jesus' fourteenth birthday in August, 8 A.D., he had become a good yoke maker and worked well with both canvas and leather. He was also rapidly developing into an expert carpenter and cabinetmaker.
Michael/Jesus - Surrogate Father
8 A.D.- September 26. With the death of Joseph, the affairs of their home were disrupted, and all the plans for Michael/Jesus and his future education perished. Michael/Jesus, just past fourteen years of age, realized that he not only has to fulfill the commission of his heavenly Father to reveal the divine nature on earth and in the flesh, but that he must also shoulder the responsibility of caring for his widowed mother and seven brothers and sisters with another child yet to be born. Michael/Jesus was the sole support and comfort of the family.
(Since Michael/Jesus was no longer expected to go to Jerusalem to study under the rabbis, it remained always true that Michael/Jesus "sat at no man's feet." He never derived authority to teach truth from human sources.)
9 A.D.- April 17, Ruth, Joseph and Mary's ninth child was born. To the best of his ability, Michael/Jesus endeavored to take the place of his father in comforting and ministering to his mother during this trying and peculiarly sad ordeal.
He was an equally good father to all the other members of his family.
At this time, Michael/Jesus first formulated the prayer that to many has become known as "The Lord's Prayer." The family had many forms of praise and several formal prayers, and after his father's death Michael/Jesus taught the older children to express themselves individually in prayer.
It was in the effort to stimulate his older brothers and sisters to say individual prayers that Michael/Jesus endeavored to lead them with suggestive phrases, and presently, without intention on his part, it developed that they were all using a form of prayer that is largely built up from the suggestive lines that Michael/Jesus taught them (now called The Lord's Prayer).
The Seven Absolutes of Infinity
The Seven Absolutes of Infinity are: the Universal Father who is the source and center of all things; the three absolutes responsible for actuality of matter (Paradise); of mind (the Infinite Spirit); and of spirit (the Eternal Son).
Their three reciprocal absolutes responsible for potentiality are: of matter (the Unqualified Absolute); of mind (the Universal Absolute); and of spirit (the Deity Absolute).
From the existential standpoint, nothing new can happen throughout the galaxies to complete the infinity that is inherent in the I AM. This fulfillment is eternally present in the Seven Absolutes.
The fact that infinity is existentially present does not affect the realization of future cosmic experientials.
From a finite creature’s viewpoint, the present contains much that is potential.
The entire scheme of universal creation and evolution on all experiencing levels is a matter of the conversion of potentialities into actualities.
Financial Hardship
9 A.D.- By the end of this year Michael/Jesus could earn, by working early and late, only the equivalent of 25 cents a day. It was difficult to pay the civil taxes, not to mention the synagogue assessments and the temple tax of one-half shekel. During this year the tax collector tried to extract extra revenue out of Michael/Jesus, even threatening to take his harp.
[One half shekel (the annual contribution every Jew was required to give to the Temple coffers) was equal to 160 grains of barley.]
The great shock of his fifteenth year came when Michael/Jesus went to Sepphoris to receive the decision of Herod regarding the appeal made by him disputing the amount of money due Joseph at the time of his accidental death. Michael/Jesus and Mary had hoped to receive a considerable sum of money, but the treasurer at Sepphoris offered them only a paltry amount.
Michael/Jesus rented a piece of land just to the north of their home, which he divided up as a family garden plot. Each of the older children had an individual garden, and they entered into a gardening competition. Michael/Jesus spent time with them in the garden each day during the season of vegetable cultivation.
John (the Future Baptizer) and Michael/Jesus Mature
9 A.D.- When sixteen years old, John (the Baptist), as a result of reading about Elijah, became greatly impressed with the prophet of Mount Carmel and decided to adopt his style of dress. From that day on John always wore a hairy garment with a leather girdle. At 16 he was over 6 feet tall. With his flowing hair and peculiar mode of dress he was a picturesque youth.
10 A.D.- Michael/Jesus, age 16, attained his full physical growth. He was a virile and comely youth.
Simon started to school, and the family was compelled to sell another house. James took charge of the teaching of his three sisters, two of whom are old enough to begin serious study. As soon as Ruth grew up, she was taken in hand by Miriam and Martha. Ordinarily the girls of Jewish families receive little education, but Michael/Jesus maintained that girls should go to school the same as boys, and since the synagogue school would not accept them, there was nothing to do but conduct a home school for them.
11 A.D.- James graduated from school this year and began full-time work in the carpenter shop. He was a clever worker with tools and he took over the making of yokes and plows while Michael/Jesus began to do more house finishing and expert cabinet work.
Personality Management
The completion of the Universal Father and Eternal Son's unique concept for the fulfillment of each Paradise (Michael) Son's universe development in Time and Space is existentially actual.
But the millions of unique universes built by the Paradise Creator Sons are still experientially potential.
The original idea for each mortal personality required to realize completion (actuality) within each experiential universe also remains largely potential.
Vast reservoirs of human personalities designed by the Creator Sons are awaiting their physical births to play their role in actualizing the original concept of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son as implemented by the Infinite Spirit and the Paradise Creator Son.
After birth upon the stages of the universes, each mortal person must volitionally embrace the will of the Universal Father as directed by the Thought Adjuster indwelling his or her mind. Acceptance of the Father's will at the human level is the first step for spiritual survival and the beginning of a long schooling to accomplish the totality of the Father's will.
Successful actualization of each person is marked by becoming a citizen of Paradise, which requires oneness with the Father's will.
Selection of a mortal person type for birth to specific mortal parents is planned by the divine Thought Adjuster. The social engineering seraphim arrange the events to be achieved by each prospective mortal within their family and universe groups.
The Twelve Apostles were exemplars of persons selected from the personality pool to play specific roles in scripted life dramas. All but Judas survived.
Personality and Deity Presence
Spiritual survival of a personality occurs when a personality relocates its seat of identity from the physical mind to the soul. This is a deliberate volitional choice emulating a marriage vow.
Neither successful spiritually surviving personalities or non surviving personalities return to a physical existence after physical death.
The Universal Father is the source and center of all personality. The Father is a person, and he is omnipresent through his personality circuit.
A Paradise Creator Son cannot be in more than one place at a time, but as a mind-influencing Spirit of Truth (after his successful seventh bestowal), he is diffusely present throughout a local universe, gently guiding the minds of his local universe children.
Challenging Family Affairs
12 A.D.- All the family property, except the home and garden, were sold. The proceeds were used for taxes, to buy some new tools for James, and to make a payment on the old family supply and repair shop near the caravan lot, which Michael/Jesus proposed to buy back since James was old enough to work at their home carpenter shop and help Mary about the home. With the financial pressure thus eased for the time being, Michael/Jesus decided to take James to the Passover.
On December 3, Michael/Jesus' baby brother, Amos, died after a week's illness with a high fever.
In July Zacharias died after an illness of several months. His son, John, was just past eighteen years of age.
In September, Elizabeth (widow of Zacharias) and John made a journey to Nazareth to visit Mary and Michael/Jesus. John has just about made up his mind to launch his lifework, but he was admonished, by Michael/Jesus' words and example to return home, take care of his mother, and await the "coming of the Father's hour."
John and Elizabeth returned to their home and began to lay plans for the future. John refused to accept the priest's allowance due him from the temple funds. Consequently, they lost their home after two years. They decided to go south with their sheep herd.
13 A.D.- Jude started school. Michael/Jesus sold his harp to defray the school expenses. The loss of the harp ended Michael/Jesus' recreational pleasures.
Rebecca
13 A.D.- Although Michael/Jesus was poor, his social standing in Nazareth was not affected. He was one of the foremost young men of the city and very highly regarded by most of the young women. Since Michael/Jesus was such a splendid specimen of robust and intellectual manhood, and considering his reputation as a spiritual leader, it was not strange that Rebecca, the eldest daughter of Ezra, a wealthy merchant and trader of Nazareth, fell in love with Michael/Jesus. She first confided her affection to Miriam, Michael/Jesus' sister, and Miriam in turn talked all this over with her mother. After Mary and Miriam discussed the matter, they decided to make an effort to stop it before Michael/Jesus learned of it, by going direct to Rebecca, laying the whole story before her, and honestly telling her about their belief that Michael/Jesus was a son of destiny; that he was to become a great religious leader, perhaps the Messiah.
The story of Rebecca's love for Michael/Jesus was whispered about Nazareth and later at Capernaum. For many years, when the story of Michael/Jesus' human personality was told, the love of Rebecca for him was recited as well.
Lazarus and Zebedee
14 A.D.- Although they could hardly afford it, Michael/Jesus had a longing to go to Jerusalem for the Passover. His mother, knowing of his recent experience with Rebecca, urged him to make the journey. What he most wanted was an opportunity to talk with Lazarus and to visit with Martha and Mary. Next to his own family he loved these three most of all.
Lazarus was the same age as Michael/Jesus and now head of the house. By the time of this visit Lazarus's mother had also been laid to rest. Martha was a little over one year older than Michael/Jesus, while Mary was two years younger.
Although all their Nazareth property (except their home) was gone, in 14 A.D. they received a little income from the sale of an equity in a piece of property in Capernaum. This was the last of Joseph's estate. This real estate deal in Capernaum was held with Joseph's friend, a boat builder named Zebedee.
Joseph Junior graduated at the synagogue school this year and prepared to begin work at the small apprenticeship bench in the home carpenter shop.
Michael/Jesus' Twenty-First Year
15 A,D. - With the attainment of his adult years, Michael/Jesus began in earnest and with full awareness the task of mastering the knowledge of the life of his lowest form of intelligent creatures, thereby fully earning the right of unquestioned rulership of the universe he had created. He was fully cognizant of his dual nature.
Michael/Jesus went to Jerusalem with Joseph to celebrate the Passover and to again mingle with Jewish pilgrims from all over the world.
16 A.D.- Michael/Jesus' brothers and sisters now ranged in age from seven to eighteen, and he was kept busy helping them adjust to the new awakenings of their intellectual and emotional lives. Simon graduated from school and began work with Michael/Jesus' old boyhood playmate, Jacob the stone mason.
After several family conferences it was decided unwise for all the boys to take up carpentry. It was thought that by diversifying their trades they would be prepared to take contracts for putting up entire buildings.
Michael/Jesus continued to work at house finishing and cabinetwork, but spent most of his time at the caravan repair shop. James alternated with him in attendance at the repair shop.
Michael/Jesus Studies Metalworking
In the latter part of 16 A.D., Michael/Jesus began a slow process of weaning his family from dependency upon him. Michael/Jesus put James in charge of the repair shop and Joseph at the home bench while he went to Sepphoris to work with a smithy. He worked six months with metals and acquired considerable skill at the anvil.
Prior to taking up his new job at Sepphoris, Michael/Jesus held one of his periodic family conferences. He installed James, then just past eighteen years old, as acting head of the family. James assumed full financial responsibility for the family. Michael/Jesus made weekly payments to James.
In 17 A.D. (Michael/Jesus' 23rd year), the financial pressure was somewhat relaxed as four of the family were at work. Miriam earned money through the sale of milk and butter, while Martha had become an expert weaver. The purchase price of the repair shop was over one third paid.
The situation was improved enough that Michael/Jesus quit working for three weeks to take Simon to Jerusalem for the Passover. This was the longest period away from daily toil he had enjoyed since the death of his father.
Entering Eternity
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
When an ascender, having become one with the will of God and qualifies for Paradise residency, one thing is yet lacking. The ascender’s spiritual form still carries traces of inherent motion (time consciousness and the metered changes of time) within it.
In preparation for the ascender’s attainment of Paradise, a supernaphim called a Complement of Rest comes down from Paradise to Havona to work with the ascender. Subsequently, another Paradise supernaphim, an Instigator of Rest, induces the ascender into the last sleep of time as the Complement of Rest moves along side the ascender to enter the last sleep of time along with the ascender. The ascender subsequently awakens on Paradise as a citizen of eternity.
The Instigators of Rest, who enfold and transport the sleeping ascenders bring them through the portals of eternity into life everlasting.
The motions of time are the nursery of human existence and the ladder of human growth. Within the the motions of time are also buried the keys to eternity, Paradise meanings and values.
It has not entered the mind of man or woman the things that God has waiting for them, but these things are present in their futures, if they so desire.
[Supernaphim are the ministering spirits of Paradise and the central universe (Havona). They are among a high order of the children of the Infinite Spirit.]
Michael/Jesus Talked to Stephen
A young Greek named Stephen was on his first visit to Jerusalem and “chanced” (remember the social engineering seraphim) to meet Michael/Jesus on Thursday afternoon of Passover week in 17A.D.. Michael/Jesus began a casual conversation that resulted in a 4 hour discussion about the way of life, the true God, and the worship of God. Stephen was tremendously impressed with what Michael/Jesus said. Stephen subsequently became a believer in the teachings of Michael/Jesus. His boldness in preaching the early gospel led to his being stoned to death by irate Jews.
Michael/Jesus spent the last four months of 17A.D. In Damascus as the guest of a merchant whom he had met on his way to Jerusalem.
18 A.D. was Michael/Jesus' first year of comparative freedom from family responsibility.
The week following the Passover of this year a young man from Alexandria came to Nazareth to arrange a meeting between Michael/Jesus and a group of Alexandrian Jews. The conference was set for the middle of June. Michael/Jesus went to Caesarea in north-central Israel to meet with five prominent Jews of Alexandria who asked him to establish himself in their city as a religious teacher and assistant to the Chazan in their chief synagogue. He respectfully declined.
A Model Parent
In December of 18 A.D., James had a private talk with Jesus. He explained that he was in love with Esta, a young woman of Nazareth, and that they would like to be married. Since Joseph would soon be eighteen years old, it would be a good experience for him to have a chance to serve as the acting head of the family. Michael/Jesus consented to James's marriage in two years provided he trained Joseph to assume direction of the home during that time.
19 A.D. - Michael/Jesus' deep meditation was often interrupted by Ruth and her playmates. Michael/Jesus was always ready to postpone the contemplation of his future work for the world and the universe to share in the childish joy and youthful gladness of these youngsters who never tired of listening to Michael/Jesus relate the experiences of his various trips to Jerusalem. They also greatly enjoyed his animal and nature stories.
Awareness of Special Powers and Transitions
20 A.D. - While Michael/Jesus was conscious of his wide range of potential power, he was convinced that this power was not to be used as the Son of Man, at least not until his hour came.
[Much social engineering remained to be accomplished by his army of unseen seraphim. Friends and adversaries had yet to make their independent life choices for the roles they would play in Michael/Jesus' mission.]
In November a double wedding occurred. James and Esta, and Miriam and Jacob (the stonemason) were married.
The day after the double wedding Michael/Jesus held an important conference with James, telling him that he was preparing to leave home. Michael/Jesus presented full title to the repair shop to James, and established his brother as "head and protector of my father's house. "He drew up a compact in which it was stipulated that James would assume full financial responsibility for the family, thus releasing Michael/Jesus from all further obligations in these matters.
James and his bride, Esta, moved into a small home on the west side of Nazareth, a gift of her father. While James continued to support his mother's home, his quota was cut in half because of his marriage. Joseph was formally installed by Michael/Jesus as head of the family.
Miriam now lived next door to Mary in the home of Jacob. Martha took Miriam's place in the home. The new organization was working smoothly before the end of the year.
Deity and Personality; Spirit and Energy
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Deity is the most sacred reality imaginable. Personality is the most human reality. Deity and personality are two manifestations of one higher reality. The Infinite God is always connected to persons through his personality circuit.
Deity and personality are an intimate and profound relationship. Each of these two realities is characterized by volition and unity. Each is described in terms of the other. Personality is a level of deified reality. Total Deity is all personalizable reality.
The basic volitional reality of infinity is pure spirit. Its non volitional counterpart is pure energy. Controlled by the Universal Father, these two boundless and original primordialities (existing at or from the beginning of time) are unified in the Father. Pure spirit and pure energy are the Universal Father's presence to humans in the form of the Thought Adjuster who indwells human minds.
Thought Adjusters are volitional, pre-personal presences of the Universal Father. These indwelling advisers within the human mind are fragments of pure Deity and pure spirit.
The Thought Adjusters are pre-personal because they were actualized at a level prior to the divergence of spirit and energy when the I Am transitioned into the Universal Father. As pure energy, the Thought Adjusters are fragments of the Unqualified Absolute in process of deification and personalization.
Michael/Jesus Severs His Family's Dependency
In January of 21 A.D. On a rainy Sunday morning, Michael/Jesus unceremoniously left his family home. He would never again be a regular member of the household.
Michael/Jesus stopped in Capernaum to pay a visit to his father's friend Zebedee. Zebedee's sons were fishermen. Zebedee was a boat builder. Zebedee was well acquainted with Michael/Jesus' skill as an expert in designing, building, and as a master at working with wood. For a long time Zebedee had contemplated making improved boats. He presented his plans to Michael/Jesus and invited him to join him in an enterprise of building improved boats. Michael/Jesus readily consented.
Throughout 21 A.D., Michael/Jesus built boats and continued to observe how men lived on earth. He worked with Zebedee a little more than one year. During that time he created a new style of boat and established entirely new methods of boat making. Michael/Jesus became well known to the Galilean fisher folk as a boat designer.
22 A.D.-In March, Michael/Jesus took leave of Zebedee and of Capernaum. He asked Zebedee for a small sum of money to cover his travel expenses to Jerusalem.
Enter Gonod and Ganid
The Passover week of 22 A.D., Michael/Jesus met a wealthy traveler, Gonod, and his son, Ganid, a young man about seventeen years of age. Gonod and Ganid were from India, and they were on their way to visit Rome and various other points on the Mediterranean Sea. They had arranged to arrive in Jerusalem during the Passover, hoping to find someone they could engage as an interpreter and as a tutor for Ganid. Gonod insisted that Michael/Jesus travel with them, and he advanced Michael/Jesus a year's wages.
Michael/Jesus turned this large sum of money over to John Zebedee, and took Zebedee fully into his confidence regarding this Mediterranean journey. He asked Zebedee to tell no one, not even his family, and Zebedee never disclosed his knowledge of Michael/Jesus' whereabouts during the long period of nearly two years. Before Michael/Jesus' returned from this trip, the family at Nazareth had just about given him up as dead. Only the assurances of Zebedee, who went up to Nazareth with his son John (the future apostle) on several occasions, kept hope alive in Mary's heart.
22 A.D. - August 17 – Elizabeth, John (the future Baptist's) mother died suddenly.
The Tour of the Roman World
This tour consumed most of the 28th and the entire 29th year of Michael/Jesus' life. Michael/Jesus and the two natives from India - Gonod and his son Ganid - left Jerusalem on a Sunday morning, April 26, 22 A.D.. They made their journey according to a planned schedule, and Michael/Jesus said good-bye to the father and son in the city of Charax on the Persian Gulf on December 10, 23 A.D..
From Jerusalem they traveled to Caesarea by way of Joppa. At Caesarea they took a boat for Alexandria. From Alexandria they sailed for Lasea in Crete. From Crete they sailed for Carthage, touching at Cyrene. At Carthage they took a boat for Naples, stopping at Malta, Syracuse, and Messina. From Naples they went on to Capua, then they traveled by the Appian Way to Rome. While at Rome they made five side trips which included the northern Italian lakes and Switzerland. After their stay in Rome they traveled overland to Tarentum, where they sailed for Athens in Greece, stopping at Nicopolis and Corinth. From Athens they went to Ephesus by way of Troas. From Ephesus they sailed for Cyprus, putting in at Rhodes on the way. They spent considerable time visiting and resting on Cyprus and then sailed for Antioch in Syria. From Antioch they journey south to Sidon and then over to Damascus. From there they traveled by caravan to Mesopotamia, passing through Thapsacus and Larissa. They spent some time in Babylon, visiting Ur, and then on to Susa. From Susa they returned to Charax, from where Gonod and Ganid embarked for India.
During the tour, Michael/Jesus introduced his revelation of the truth about God throughout the Roman World.
Note
The reader may view maps of Michael/Jesus' travels at: https://www.urantia.org/in-his-steps?term=maps#search-jump-result-0
Building Local Universes
A local universe is the product of a Creator Son of the Paradise order of Michael Sons. It comprises one hundred constellations, each embracing one hundred systems of inhabited worlds. Each system eventually contains approximately one thousand inhabited spheres.
These universes of time and space are all evolutionary. The creative plan of the Paradise Michaels always proceeds along the path of gradual evolvement and progressive development of the physical, intellectual, and spiritual natures and capacities of the manifold creatures who inhabit the varied orders of spheres comprising each local universe.
A Creator Son cannot begin universe organization until the power directors have effected the mobilization of the space-energies sufficiently to provide a material foundation – suns and material spheres for the newly emerging universe.
These non-living worlds and forms in space are brought to life by the Daughters of the Infinite Spirit following the original design of their mates, the Paradise Son local universe creators (the Michaels).
Completing Family Arrangements
24A.D. - After taking leave of Gonod and Ganid at Charax (in December), Michael/Jesus returned by way of Ur to Babylon, where he joined a desert caravan on its way to Damascus. From Damascus he went to Nazareth, stopping only a few hours at Capernaum, where he paused to call on Zebedee's family. There he met his brother James, who had previously come over from Nazareth to work in his place in Zebedee's boat shop.
During his stay of a few weeks at Nazareth, Michael/Jesus visited with his family and friends, and spent some time at the repair shop with his brother Joseph, but he devoted most of his attention to Mary and Ruth. Ruth was nearly fifteen years old, and this was Michael/Jesus' first opportunity to have long talks with her since she had become a young woman.
Both Simon and Jude had for sometime wanted to get married, but they wanted Michael/Jesus' consent. Accordingly, they had postponed these events, hoping for their eldest brother's return. Though they all regarded James as the head of the family, when it came to getting married, they wanted the blessing of Michael/Jesus. So, in March, Simon and Jude were married at a double wedding. All the older children were now married. Only Ruth, the youngest, remained at home with Mary.
Yet Another Fortuitous “Coincidence”
About the time Michael/Jesus was preparing to leave Nazareth, the conductor of a large caravan that was passing through Nazareth was taken ill, and Michael/Jesus, being a linguist, volunteered to take his place. Since this trip would necessitate his absence for a year, and inasmuch as all his brothers were married and his mother was living at home with Ruth, Michael/Jesus called a family conference at which he proposed that his mother and Ruth go to Capernaum to live in the home that he had recently given to James.
A few days after Michael/Jesus left with the caravan, Mary and Ruth moved to Capernaum, where they lived for the rest of Mary's life in the home that Michael/Jesus provided. Brother Joseph and his family moved into the old Nazareth home.
Michael/Jesus left Nazareth on April 1st on the caravan trip to the Caspian Sea region. The caravan that Michael/Jesus joined as conductor was going from Jerusalem by way of Damascus and Lake Urmia through Assyria, Media, and Parthia to the southeastern Caspian Sea region.
The job covered a broad-spectrum of responsibilities for Michael/Jesus functioned in an executive capacity. He was responsible for the safe conduct of the travelers making up the caravan party as well as the goods and animals entrusted to his charge.
The Lake Urmia Lectures
On the return from the Caspian region, Michael/Jesus gave up the direction of the caravan at Lake Urmia, where he lingered to lecture for slightly over two weeks. He returned as a passenger with a later caravan to Damascus, where the owners of the camels asked him to remain in their service. Declining this offer, he journeyed on with the caravan train to Capernaum, arriving the first of April, A.D. 25.
Michael/Jesus' Lake Urmia lectures were delivered in a lecture amphitheater dedicated to the “spirit of religion.” This temple of religion had been built by a wealthy merchant citizen of Urmia. This man was Cymboyton.
The lectures and discussions in this school of religion began at ten o’clock every morning in the week. The afternoon sessions started at three o’clock, and the evening debates opened at eight o’clock. Cymboyton had arranged with Michael/Jesus to sojourn with them for two weeks on his return trip and give twenty four lectures on “The Brotherhood of Men,” and to conduct twelve evening sessions of questions, discussions, and debates on his lectures in particular and on the brotherhood of men in general.
Fatherhood - The Bond Between Time and Infinity
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Within the depths of the Seven Absolutes stir and move the realities of every object, thought, feeling, and person that is or ever will be.
The God of Infinity (the I AM and The Universal Father of the Eternal Son and all created beings) is the original personality relationship of actualities. The absolute personality of the Eternal Son makes absolute the fact of God’s fatherhood and establishes the potential son-ship of all personalities.
Fatherhood establishes the personality of the Infinite and consummates (perfects) its spiritual revelation in the personality of the Original Eternal Son. By definition, Fatherhood creates persons (personalities). Personalities are dependent upon the Father for their existence.
This phase of the infinite I AM may be partially experienced on spiritual levels even by mortals who, while yet in the flesh, may worship (love and adore) their Universal Father.
As above, and so below, family and brotherhood are the ancestry of creation.
The Universal Controller
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
The I AM cause of eternal Paradise is the primal impersonal (not existing as a person) relationship of actualities, the original nonspiritual association. The Universal Father is God-as-love; the Universal Controller is God-as-pattern. This relationship establishes the potential of form-configuration and determines the master pattern of impersonal and nonspiritual relationship (the master pattern from which all copies are made).
The Universal Creator
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
The I AM is one with the Eternal Son. This union of the Father and the Son (in the presence of Paradise) initiated the creative cycle, which was consummated in the appearance of the Conjoint Personality (the Infinite Spirit) and the eternal universe.
From the finite mortal’s viewpoint, reality had its true beginnings with the eternity appearance of Havona (the Central Universe) creation beyond Paradise. This creative act of Deity was effected by and through the God of Action (The Infinite Spirit), who is in essence the unity of the Father-Son manifested on and to all levels of the actual.
Divine creativity is unfailingly characterized by unity, and this unity is the outward reflection of the absolute oneness of the duality of the Universal Father-Eternal Son and of the Trinity of the Father-Son-and Spirit.
Michael/Jesus Devotes Undivided Attention to His Mission
Prelude to Michael/Jesus' Mission
25 A.D. - In March. John decided on a method of proclaiming the new age of the kingdom of God. He resolved that he would become the herald of the Messiah. He swept aside all doubts and departed from Engedi to begin his short but brilliant career as a public preacher.
John journeyed around the western coast of the Dead Sea and up the river Jordan to opposite Jericho, the ancient ford over which Joshua and the children of Israel passed when they first entered the promised land. Crossing over to the other side of the river, he established himself near the entrance to the ford and began to preach to the people who passed by on their way back and forth across the river.
It was apparent to all who heard John that he was more than a preacher. The great majority of those who listened to this strange man believed they had heard the voice of a prophet. Never in all Jewish history could John’s message, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” have made such a deep and universal appeal as at the very time he mysteriously appeared.
There was also a new feature about the work of John. He baptized every one of his believers in the Jordan “for the remission of sins.”
Michael/Jesus' Spiritual Retreat
Approaching his 31st birthday in August, 25 A.D., Michael/Jesus' mind-indwelling Thought Adjuster led Michael/Jesus to forsake the dwelling places of men and go to Mount Hermon where he could concentrate his full attention upon the remainder of his lifework on earth.
Michael/Jesus procured supplies, a beast of burden, and hired a lad named Tiglath.
They proceeded to the foothills of Mount Hermon where they established a camp. Tiglath accompanied Michael/Jesus the first day up the mountain to a designated point about 6,000 feet above sea level, where they built a stone container in which Tiglath deposited food twice a week.
Michael/Jesus spent the last three weeks of August and the first three weeks of September on Mount Hermon. During these weeks he finished the mortal task of achieving the psychic circles of mind-understanding and personality-control. Throughout this period of communion with his heavenly Father the indwelling Adjuster also completed the assigned services for Michael/Jesus. The mortal goal of Michael/Jesus was attained. Only the final phase of mind and Adjuster attunement remained to be consummated.
After more than five weeks of unbroken communion with his Paradise Father, Michael/Jesus became absolutely assured of his nature and of the certainty of his triumph over the material levels of time-space personality manifestation. He fully believed, and did not hesitate to assert, the ascendancy of his divine nature over his human nature.
Confronting Satan and Caligastia
Near the end of the mountain sojourn Michael/Jesus asked his Father if he might be permitted to hold a conference with his Satania enemies as the Son of Man, Joshua ben Joseph. This request was granted. During the last week on Mount Hermon “the great temptation,” the universe trial, occurred.
Satan (representing Lucifer) and the rebellious Planetary Prince, Caligastia, were present with Michael/Jesus and were made fully visible to him. This so called “temptation,” this final trial of human loyalty in the face of the misrepresentations of rebel personalities, had nothing to do with food, temple pinnacles, or presumptuous acts. It had nothing to do with the material kingdoms of this world, but only with the sovereignty of a mighty and glorious universe.
The symbolism in the human records was intended for the backward ages of the world’s childlike thought. However, subsequent generations should understand what a great struggle the Son of Man passed through that eventful day on Mount Hermon.
The superhuman beings who confronted him on the mountain, and with whom he wrestled in spirit, and whom he defeated in power, were real. They were his archenemies in the system of Satania (approximately one thousand inhabited planets). They were not phantasms of the imagination evolved out of the intellectual vagaries of a weakened and starving mortal who could not distinguish reality from the visions of a disordered mind.
Michael/Jesus' Rejects Luciferian Proposals
To the many proposals and counter proposals of the emissaries of Lucifer, Michael/Jesus only replied: “May the will of my Paradise Father prevail, and you, my rebellious son, may the Ancients of Days (the representatives of the Paradise Trinity who judge all experientials) judge you divinely. I am your Creator-father; I can hardly judge you justly, and my mercy you have already spurned. I commit you to the adjudication of the Judges of a greater universe.”
To all the Lucifer-suggested compromises and alternatives, to all such specious proposals about the incarnation bestowal, Michael/Jesus only replied, “The will of my Father in Paradise be done.”
When the trying ordeal was finished, the recently detached guardian seraphim returned to Michael/Jesus’ side and ministered to him after his emotionally draining experience.
Uncontested Sovereignty
On an afternoon in late summer, amid the trees and in the silence of nature, Michael of Nebadon won the unquestioned sovereignty of his universe. On that day he completed the task set for Creator Sons to live to the full the incarnated life in the likeness of mortal flesh on the evolutionary worlds of time and space. The universe announcement of this momentous achievement was not made until the day of his baptism, months afterward, but it had all taken place that day on Mount Hermon. And when Michael/Jesus came down from his sojourn on Mount Hermon, the Lucifer rebellion in Satania and the Caligastia secession on Earth were virtually settled. Michael/Jesus had paid the last price required of him to attain the sovereignty of his universe, which in itself regulated the status of all rebels and determined that all such future upheavals (if they ever occur) may be dealt with summarily and effectively.
At the end of this sojourn on the mountain, as Michael/Jesus was making his descent, he met Tiglath coming up to the rendezvous with food. Turning him back, he said only: “The period of rest is over; I must return to my Father’s business.” He was a silent and much changed man as they journeyed down the mountain. When he left Tiglath, he gave him the donkey, and he proceeded south to Capernaum to build boats while awaiting his hour.
Celebrity Status
By December, 25 A.D., John had reached the neighborhood of Pella in his journey up the Jordan River. His fame has extended throughout all Palestine, and his work has become the chief topic of conversation in all the towns around the Sea of Galilee.
On Sunday, January 13, 26 A.D., news reached Capernaum that John had reached Pella, Michael/Jesus put down his tools, and declared, "My hour has come." He went out to his brothers James and Jude, repeating, "My hour has come - let us go to John." And they started immediately for Pella.
Michael/Jesus was almost thirty-one and one-half years old when he was baptized. Luke says that Jesus was baptized in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, which would have been A.D. 29 since Augustus died in A.D. 14.
It should be recalled that Tiberius was co-emperor with Augustus for two and one-half years before the death of Augustus, having had coins struck in his honor in October, A.D. 11. The fifteenth year of his actual rule was, therefore, the year A.D. 26, that of Michael/Jesus' baptism. This was also the year that Pontius Pilate began his rule as governor of Judea.
John Baptizes Michael/Jesus
On January 14, 26 A.D., Monday noon, John baptized Michael/Jesus. John was trembling with emotion as he made ready to baptize Michael/Jesus in the Jordan. When John baptized Michael/Jesus and his two brothers James and Jude, he dismissed the others for the day.
As the people departed, the four men still standing in the water heard a strange sound, and there appeared for a moment an apparition immediately over the head of Michael/Jesus, and they heard a voice say, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
A great change came over the countenance of Michael/Jesus. He came out of the water in silence, and he took leave of them, going toward the hills to the east.
No one saw Michael/Jesus again for forty days.
Comparison and Contrast
Michael/Jesus began his public work at the height of the popular interest in John the Baptist's preaching and at a time when the Jewish people of Palestine were eagerly looking for the appearance of the Messiah.
There was a great contrast between John and Michael/Jesus. John was an eager and earnest worker, but Michael/Jesus was a calm and happy laborer.
Jesus was a comforting consolation to the world and somewhat of an example; John was hardly a comfort or an example. John preached the kingdom of heaven but seldom into the happiness of that kingdom.
Though Jesus spoke of John as the greatest of the prophets of the old order, he also said that the least of those who saw the great light of the new way and entered into the kingdom of heaven was indeed greater than John.
Destiny
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
In the world of humanity, one must communicate primarily with words. But in the things of God, there is a language of awareness and feeling that speaks directly to the soul. The souls of God-seeking humanity long to perpetuate an uplifting relationship, the desire to serve, the determination to exalt something that is beautiful and good, the hope of being part of a greater unending meaning. This urging is the call of destiny.
The mind knows facts, but the soul feels values. The embryonic soul is the child of the material and spiritual minds (the human and the Thought Adjuster). The soul can perceive the facts of material mind and the values of spiritual mind in so far as these are complementary.
Destiny is a reality. Perceiving the larger themes is the task of mind. Connecting with the deeply felt values is the province of the soul.
Michael/Jesus' Thought Adjuster Personalized
Ordinarily, when a mortal of the realm attains high levels of personality perfection, there occurs those preliminary phenomena of spiritual elevation that terminates in the fusion of the matured soul of the mortal with its divine Adjuster.
Such a change was apparently due to take place in the personality experience of Michael/Jesus on that very day when he went down into the Jordan with his two brothers to be baptized by John. This ceremony was the final act of his purely human life on Earth, and many superhuman observers expected to witness the fusion of the Adjuster with its indwelt mind (the soul of Michael/Jesus), but they were all surprised. Something new and even greater occurred. As John laid his hands upon Michael/Jesus to baptize him, the indwelling Adjuster took final leave of the perfected human soul of Joshua ben Joseph.
In a few moments (space travel is instantaneous for infinite spirits) this divine entity returned from Divinington (the home planet of Adjusters) as a Personalized Adjuster and chief of his kind throughout the entire local universe of Nebadon. Michael/Jesus observed his own former divine spirit descending on its return to him in personalized form. And he heard this same spirit of Paradise origin speak, saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
John, with Michael/Jesus’ two brothers, also heard these words. John’s disciples, standing by the water’s edge, did not hear these words, neither did they see the apparition of the Personalized Adjuster. Only Michael Jesus beheld the newly Personalized Adjuster.
Throughout the remainder of Michael/Jesus’ earth life this Personalized Adjuster was associated with him in all his labors. Michael/Jesus was in constant communion with this exalted Adjuster.
Michael/Jesus' Thought Adjuster
When incarnated on either bestowal or magisterial missions, the Paradise Sons have experienced Adjusters. These Adjusters are different for each incarnation. The Adjusters that occupy the minds of the incarnated Sons of God can never hope for personality through fusion with the human-divine beings of their indwelling, but they are often personalized by fiat of the Universal Father. Such Adjusters form the supreme Divinington council of direction for the administration, identification, and dispatch of Thought Adjusters to the inhabited realms.
They also receive and accredit Adjusters on their return to the “bosom of the Father” (intimacy with the Father) upon the mortal dissolution of their earthly tabernacles (the physical forms of the mortals). In this way the faithful Adjusters become the exalted chiefs of their kind.
Custody of Michael/Jesus' Soul
There are those in the universe who hold that the soul-identity of Jesus now reposes in the bosom of the Father, to be subsequently released for leadership of the Nebadon Corps of the Finality (our local universe finaliters) in their undisclosed destiny in connection with the uncreated universes of the unorganized realms of outer space.
The Forty Day Seclusion
When Michael/Jesus was baptized, he did not repent of any misdeeds, and he made no confession of sin. His baptism was a consecration to the performance of the will of the heavenly Father.
At his baptism he heard the unmistakable call of his Father, the final summons to be about his Father’s business, and he went away into private seclusion for forty days to weigh and meditate upon these many problems.
In retiring for a season from active personality contact with his earthly associates, Michael/Jesus, on Earth, was following the procedure employed on the morontia worlds when an ascending mortal fuses with the inner presence of the Universal Father.
The day of his baptism ended the purely human life of Michael/Jesus. The divine Son had found his Father, the Universal Father had found his incarnated Son, and they conversed.
Michael/Jesus Selected His First Apostles
On 26 A.D., February 23, early Saturday morning, Michael/Jesus came down from his forty day seclusion in the hills to rejoin John's company encamped at Pella. All that day Michael/Jesus mingled with the multitude. He ministered to a lad who had injured himself in a fall and journeyed to the near-by village of Pella to deliver the boy safely into the hands of his parents.
During this Sabbath, two of John's leading disciples spent much time with Michael/Jesus. Of all John's followers, one named Andrew was the most profoundly impressed with Michael/Jesus. Andrew accompanied Michael/Jesus on the trip to Pella with the injured boy. Andrew said: “I have observed you ever since you came to Capernaum, and I believe you are the new Teacher, and though I do not understand all your teaching, I have fully made up my mind to follow you; I would sit at your feet and learn the whole truth about the new kingdom.” And Jesus, with hearty assurance, welcomed Andrew as the first of his apostles.
Soon after Michael/Jesus and Andrew returned to the camp, Andrew sought out his brother, Simon, and taking him aside, informed him that he had settled in his own mind that Michael/Jesus was the great Teacher, and that he has pledged himself as a disciple. He suggested that Simon go to Michael/Jesus and offer himself for fellowship in the service of the new kingdom. Andrew then drew Michael/Jesus aside and he announced that his brother desired to join in the service of the new kingdom. In welcoming Simon as his second apostle, Michael/Jesus said: "Simon, your enthusiasm is commendable, but it is dangerous to the work of the kingdom. I admonish you to become more thoughtful in your speech. I would change your name to Peter" (a playful nickname meaning rock).
Hearing the Call of the Kingdom
On Sunday, February 24, 26 A.D., James and John Zebedee, became Michael/Jesus' third and fourth apostles. John asked, "But, Master, will James and I be associates with you in the new kingdom, even as Andrew and Simon?"
Michael/Jesus, put a hand on the shoulder of each of them, and said: "My brethren, you are already with me in the spirit of the kingdom, even before these others made request to be received. You, my brethren, have no need to make request for entrance into the kingdom; you have been with me in the kingdom from the beginning."
Later on Sunday morning. Philip, became Michael/Jesus' fifth apostle. It suddenly dawned on Philip that Michael/Jesus was a really great man, possibly the Messiah, and he decided to abide by Michael/Jesus' decision in this matter. He asked Michael/Jesus, "Teacher, shall I go down to John or shall I join my friends who follow you? " And Michael/Jesus answered, "Follow me." Philip was thrilled with the assurance that he has found the Deliverer.
Philip then lead Nathaniel to Michael/Jesus, who, looking benignly into the face of the sincere doubter, said: "Behold a genuine Israelite, in whom there is no deceit. Follow me." And Nathaniel, turning to Philip, said: "You are right. He is indeed a master of men. I will also follow, if I am worthy." And Michael/Jesus nodded to Nathaniel, again saying, "Follow me." Michael/Jesus had now assembled one half of his future corps of intimate associates, five who have for some time known him and one stranger, Nathaniel. Without further delay they crossed the Jordan and arrived in Nazareth late that evening.
The Absolutes and Destiny
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Destiny is a word for divinely ordained reality that only appears as a future reality when viewed from the finite level. Destiny is a maturing reality from an absonite (Ultimate) perspective, and as an ever present reality from an absolute vantage point.
While the absolute basis of destiny is far distant from human experience, understanding it is important for finite realities for it can only be understood in terms of the higher realities from which they are derived. At the absolute existential Paradise level (Total Actual Deity), the Paradise Trinity originates destiny and installs its post existential reality.
Human ascenders aspire to an eternal and divine destiny. Each perfected mortal finaliter, evolved in time and space and fused with a fragment of Deity (the Thought Adjuster), will express Supreme Deity just as Michael expressed the Universal Father during his mortal incarnation.
“Survival” of the Earth trial for mortals (matter/nature versus spirit/soul) is another word for continuation until fusion with spirit is achieved.
Near Term Destiny of Planet Earth
Conclusion of Lucifer's trial processes.
Eradication of Lucifer and his co-conspirators.
Lifting of quarantine on Satania System planets.
Reappearance of Machiventa Melchizedek on Earth acting as the Planetary Prince for Michael/Jesus.
Assignment of a new Adam and Eve on Earth in a new Garden of Eden.
A new spiritual awakening for Urantia (Earth).
The sometime return of Michael/Jesus when spiritually earned by Earth's people.
The Wedding at Cana
26 A.D. - February 27, Wednesday noon. Almost 1,000 guests had arrived in Cana, more than four times the number invited to the wedding feast. It was a Jewish custom to celebrate weddings on Wednesday, and the invitations had been sent out for the wedding a month prior. The occasion appeared to be more like a public reception for Michael/Jesus than a wedding.
The father of the bridegroom had provided plenty of wine for all the guests invited to the marriage feast, but he couldn't have anticipated that the marriage of his son was to become an event associated with the appearance of Michael/Jesus the presumed Messianic deliverer.
The host was delighted to have the honor of numbering the celebrated Galilean among his guests, but before the wedding supper was over, the servants told him that the wine was running short.
By the time the formal supper had ended and the guests were strolling about in the garden, the mother of the bridegroom confided to Mary that the supply of wine was exhausted. Mary confidently said: “Have no worry - I will speak to my son. He will help us.”
Turning Water into Wine
Mary had always turned to Michael/Jesus for help in every crisis of their home life at Nazareth, so it was natural for her to think of him at this time. But Mary had other motives for appealing to her eldest son on this occasion. As Michael/Jesus was standing alone in a corner of the garden, Mary approached him, saying, “My son, they have no wine.” And Michael/Jesus answered, “My good woman, what have I to do with that?” Mary replied, “But I believe your hour has come; cannot you help us?” Michael/Jesus responded: “Again I declare that I have not come to do things in this wise. Why do you trouble me again with these matters?” And then, breaking down in tears, Mary entreated him, “But, my son, I promised them that you would help us; won’t you please do something for me?” Michael/Jesus replied: “Woman, what have you to do with making such promises? See that you do it not again. We must in all things wait upon the will of the Father in heaven.”
Mary the mother of Michael/Jesus was crushed. As she stood there before him motionless, with tears streaming down her face, the human heart [soul] of Michael/Jesus was overcome with compassion for the woman who had borne him in the flesh. He laid his hand tenderly upon her head, saying: “Now, now, Mother Mary, grieve not over my apparently hard sayings, for have I not many times told you that I have come only to do the will of my heavenly Father? Most gladly would I do what you ask of me if it were a part of the Father’s will. Michael/Jesus stopped short. Mary seemed to sense that something was happening. Leaping up, she threw her arms around Michael/Jesus’ neck, kissed him,and rushed off to the servants’ quarters, saying, “Whatever my son says, that do.” But Michael/Jesus said nothing. He realized that he had already said - or rather desired - too much.
An Unintended “Miracle”
Mary was dancing with glee. She did not know how the wine would be produced, but she confidently believed that she had persuaded her son to assert his authority, to step forth and assert his position and exhibit his Messianic power. And, because of the presence and association of certain universe powers and personalities, of which the wedding guests were totally unaware, she was not to be disappointed. The wine Mary desired and which Michael/Jesus, the God in man, humanly and sympathetically wished for, was forthcoming.
Six stone water pots each filled with about twenty gallons of water intended for subsequent use in the final purification ceremonies of the wedding celebration stood near by. The commotion of the servants about these huge stone vessels, under the busy direction of his mother, attracted Michael/Jesus’ attention, and going over, he observed that they were drawing wine out of the pots by the pitcherful.
Astonishment of Michael/Jesus
Of all the persons present at the marriage feast of Cana, Michael/Jesus was the most surprised. Others had expected him to work a wonder, but that was just what he had decided not to do. And then the Son of Man recalled the admonition of his Personalized Thought Adjuster in the hills. He recalled the Adjuster had warned him about the inability of any power or personality to deprive him of the creator prerogative of independence of time.
On this occasion power transformers, midwayers, and all other required personalities were assembled near the water and other necessary elements, and in the face of the expressed wish of the Universe Creator Sovereign, there was no escaping the instantaneous appearance of wine. And this occurrence was made doubly certain since the Personalized Adjuster had signaled that the execution of the Son’s desire was in no way a contravention of the Father’s will.
But this was in no sense a miracle. No law of nature was modified, abrogated, or even transcended. Nothing happened but the abrogation of time in association with the celestial assembly of the chemical elements requisite for the production of the wine. At Cana on this occasion the agents of the Creator made wine just as they do by the ordinary natural processes except that they did it independently of time and with the intervention of superhuman agencies in the matter of the space assembly of the necessary chemical ingredients.
Furthermore, it was evident that the enactment of this so-called miracle was not contrary to the will of the Paradise Father, or else it would not have transpired, since Michael/Jesus had already subjected himself in all things to the Father’s will.
Fine Wine Complimented
When the servants drew this new wine and carried it to the best man, the “ruler of the feast,” and when he had tasted it, he called to the bridegroom, saying: “It is the custom to set out first the good wine and,when the guests have well drunk, to bring forth the inferior fruit of the vine; but you have kept the best of the wine until the last of the feast.”
Mary and the disciples of Michael/Jesus rejoiced at the supposed miracle which they thought Michael/Jesus had intentionally performed, but Michael/Jesus withdrew to a sheltered nook of the garden and engaged in serious thought for a few moments. He finally decided that the episode was beyond his personal control and, not being adverse to his Father’s will, was inevitable. When he returned to the people, they regarded him with awe. They all believed in him as the Messiah. But Michael/Jesus was sorely perplexed, knowing that they believed in him only because of the unusual occurrence which they had inadvertently beheld.
Michael/Jesus now understood he must remain constantly on guard lest his indulgence of sympathy and pity be responsible for repeated episodes of this sort. Even so, many similar events occurred before the Son of Man and God took final leave of his mortal life in the flesh.
John's Messenger Role Concludes
On March 3, Sunday morning, since Michael/Jesus had gone north into Galilee, John the Baptist felt led to retrace his steps southward. John and the remainder of his disciples began their journey south. About one quarter of John's followers had departed for Galilee in quest of Michael/Jesus. John was sad and confused.
John tarried for several weeks near the village of Adam. It was here that he made the memorable attack upon Herod Antipas for unlawfully taking the wife of another man.
John then returned to the Bethany ford of the Jordan where he had begun his preaching on the coming kingdom more than a year earlier.
In the weeks following the baptism of Michael/Jesus, John's preaching gradually changed into a proclamation of mercy for the common people, while he denounced with renewed vehemence the corrupt political and religious rulers.
A few weeks later, on June 12th, John was arrested and imprisoned.
Note
As relevant to the “miracle” of changing water into wine at Cana, it should be noted that Creator Sons are exempt from the laws of Time. The Divine Minister (the creative companion of the Creator Son) is exempt from the laws of Space. Working together, the pair are not affected by the restrictions of Time and Space.
Every Creation Unique
In addition to the physical, spiritual, and mental dimensions of creation, the Grand Universe features the seven different dimensions of the Seven Super Universes whose individual structures are based on the individual relationships of the three persons of the Paradise Trinity.
Super Universe Number One is patterned upon the person of the Universal Father; Super Universe Number Two upon the Eternal Son; Super Universe Number Three upon the Infinite Spirit; Super Universe Number Four upon the relationship of the Father and Eternal Son; Super Universe Number Five upon the relationship of the Father and the Infinite Spirit; Super Universe Number Six upon the relationship of the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit; and, Super Universe Number Seven upon the integrated Trinity (Universal Father, Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit).
Earth is a planet in Super Universe Number Seven. Not only are all Seven Super Universes unique, all the local universes, the deity, planets, and human occupants within the Seven Super Universes, as well as each of the one billion worlds of Havona are unique.
The Kingdom of Heaven Sermon
26 A.D. Saturday afternoon, March 11, Jesus preached his last sermon at Pella while still with John's disciples. This was among the notable addresses of his public ministry, embracing a full and complete discussion of the kingdom of heaven. He was aware of the confusion which existed in the minds of his apostles and disciples regarding the meaning and significance of the terms “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God,” which he used as interchangeable designations of his bestowal mission.
The term kingdom of heaven should have been enough to distinguish what it stood for as separate from all connection with earthly kingdoms and temporal governments, but it was not.
The idea of a temporal king was too deep-rooted in the Jewish mind to be dislodged in a single generation.
Augmenting the Apostle Corps
On Sunday, before they began their first two weeks of service, Michael/Jesus announced to the six potential apostles that he desired to ordain 12 apostles to continue the work of the kingdom after his departure and authorized each of the six to choose one man from among his early converts for membership in the projected corps of apostles.
So, in July, 26 A.D., after each man presented his selection for the new apostleships, Michael/Jesus asked all the others to vote upon the nominations; thus all six of the new apostles were formally accepted by all of the initial six. Then Michael/Jesus announced that they would visit the chosen candidates and give them the call to service.
The newly selected apostles were: Matthew Levi, the customs collector of Capernaum, selected by Andrew; Thomas Didymus, a fisherman and onetime carpenter and stone mason, selected by Philip; James Alpheus, a fisherman and farmer, selected by James Zebedee; Judas Alpheus, the twin brother of James Alpheus, also a fisherman, selected by John Zebedee; Simon Zelotes who was a high officer in the patriotic organization of the Zealots and previously a merchant, selected by Peter Zebedee; Judas Iscariot, who was the only son of wealthy Jewish parents chosen by Nathaniel. (When Judas had become attached to John the Baptist, his Sadducee parents had disowned him.)
[Sadducee - a member of a Jewish sect or party that denied the resurrection of the dead, the existence of spirits, and the obligation of oral tradition, emphasizing acceptance of only the written Law.]
Ordination of the Apostles
On Sunday, January 12, 27 A.D., just before noon, Michael/Jesus called the apostles together for their ordination as public preachers of the gospel of the kingdom. When he had assembled all twelve, he journeyed with them to the highlands north of Capernaum.
Before the formal ordination service Jesus spoke to the twelve as they were seated about him: “My brethren, this hour of the kingdom has come. I have brought you apart here with me to present you to the Father as ambassadors of the kingdom. Some of you heard me speak of this kingdom in the synagogue when you first were called. Each of you has learned more about the Father’s kingdom since you have been with me working in the cities around the Sea of Galilee. But just now I have something more to tell you concerning this kingdom.
“The new kingdom which my Father is about to set up in the hearts [souls] of his earth children is to be an everlasting dominion. There shall be no end of this rule of my Father in the hearts of those who desire to do his divine will. I declare to you that my Father is not the God of Jew or gentile. Many shall come from the east and from the west to sit down with us in the Father’s kingdom, while many of the children of Abraham will refuse to enter this new brotherhood of the rule of the Father’s spirit in the hearts of the children of men.”
[The heart is a metaphor for the emotions and the soul of a person.]
A Brotherhood of Love
“The power of this kingdom shall consist, not in the strength of armies nor in the might of riches, but rather in the glory of the divine spirit [the Spirit of Truth] that shall come to teach the minds and rule the hearts of the reborn citizens of this heavenly kingdom, the sons of God.
This is the brotherhood of love wherein righteousness reigns, and whose battle cry shall be: Peace on earth and good will to all men. This kingdom, which you are so soon to go forth proclaiming, is the desire of the good men of all ages, the hope of all the earth, and the fulfillment of the wise promises of all the prophets.
But for you, my children, and for all others who would follow you into this kingdom, there is set a severe test. Faith alone will pass you through its portals, but you must bring forth the fruits of my Father’s spirit if you would continue to ascend in the progressive life of the divine fellowship. Verily, verily, I say to you, not every one who says, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but rather he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Apostles' Message
Michael/Jesus told his apostle candidates, “Your message to the world shall be: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and in finding these, all other things essential to eternal survival shall be secured therewith. And now would I make it plain to you that this kingdom of my Father will not come with an outward show of power or with unseemly demonstration. You are not to go hence in the proclamation of the kingdom, saying, ‘it is here’ or ‘it is there,’ for this kingdom of which you preach is God within you.
Whosoever would become great in my Father’s kingdom shall become a minister to all; and whosoever would be first among you, let him become the server of his brethren. But when you are once truly received as citizens in the heavenly kingdom, you are no longer servants but sons, sons of the living God. And so shall this kingdom progress in the world until it shall break down every barrier and bring all men to know my Father and believe in the saving truth which I have come to declare. Even now is the kingdom at hand, and some of you will not die until you have seen the reign of God come in great power.
And this which your eyes now behold, this small beginning of twelve commonplace men, shall multiply and grow until eventually the whole earth shall be filled with the praise of my Father. And it will not be so much by the words you speak as by the lives you live that men will know you have been with me and have learned of the realities of the kingdom. And while I would lay no grievous burdens upon your minds, I am about to put upon your souls the solemn responsibility of representing me in the world when I shall presently leave you as I now represent my Father in this life which I am living in the flesh.”
The Ordination Blessing
Jesus instructed the twelve mortals who had just listened to his declaration concerning the kingdom to kneel in a circle about him. Then the Master placed his hands upon the head of each apostle, beginning with Judas Iscariot and ending with Andrew. When he had blessed them, he extended his hands and prayed:
“My Father, I now bring to you these men, my messengers. From among our children on earth I have chosen these twelve to go forth to represent me as I came forth to represent you. Love them and be with them as you have loved and been with me. And now, my Father, give these men wisdom as I place all the affairs of the coming kingdom in their hands. And I would, if it is your will, tarry on earth a time to help them in their labors for the kingdom. And again, my Father, I thank you for these men, and I commit them to your keeping while I go on to finish the work you have given me to do.”
When Jesus had finished praying, the apostles remained each man bowed in his place. And it was many minutes before even Peter dared lift up his eyes to look upon the Master. One by one they embraced Jesus, but no man said anything. A great silence pervaded the ordination setting while a host of celestial beings looked down upon this solemn and sacred scene - the Creator of a universe placing the affairs of the divine brotherhood of man under the direction of human minds.
The Ordination Sermon
Then Jesus spoke, saying:“Now that you are ambassadors of my Father’s kingdom, you have thereby become a class of men separate and distinct from all other men on earth. You are not now as men among men but as the enlightened citizens of another and heavenly country among the ignorant creatures of this dark world.
It is not enough that you live as you were before this hour, but henceforth must you live as those who have tasted the glories of a better life and have been sent back to earth as ambassadors of the Sovereign of that new and better world. Of the teacher more is expected than of the pupil; of the master more is exacted than of the servant. Of the citizens of the heavenly kingdom more is required than of the citizens of the earthly rule. Some of the things which I am about to say to you may seem hard, but you have elected to represent me in the world even as I now represent the Father; and as my agents on earth you will be obligated to abide by those teachings and practices which are reflective of my ideals of mortal living on the worlds of space, and which I exemplify in my earth life of revealing the Father who is in heaven.”
The Beatitudes – Supreme Bliss
“I send you forth to proclaim liberty to the spiritual captives, joy to those in the bondage of fear, and to heal the sick in accordance with the will of my Father in heaven. When you find my children in distress, speak encouragingly to them, saying:
Happy are the poor in spirit, the humble, for theirs are the treasures of the kingdom of heaven.
Happy are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Happy are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Happy are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
And even so speak to my children these further words of spiritual comfort and promise:
Happy are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Happy are they who weep, for they shall receive the spirit of rejoicing.
Happy are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Happy are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.
Happy are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”
The Salt of the Earth
“My brethren, as I send you forth, you are the salt of the earth, salt with a saving savor. But if this salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.
You are the light of the world. A city set upon a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and be led to glorify your Father who is in heaven.
I am sending you out into the world to represent me and to act as ambassadors of my Father’s kingdom, and as you go forth to proclaim the glad tidings, put your trust in the Father whose messengers you are. Do not forcibly resist injustice; put not your trust in the arm of the flesh. If your neighbor smites you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Be willing to suffer injustice rather than to go to law among yourselves. In kindness and with mercy minister to all who are in distress and in need.”
Love Your Enemies
“I say to you: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you. And whatsoever you believe that I would do to men, do you also to them.
Your Father in heaven makes the sun to shine on the evil as well as upon the good; likewise he sends rain on the just and the unjust. You are the sons of God; even more, you are now the ambassadors of my Father’s kingdom. Be merciful, even as God is merciful, and in the eternal future of the kingdom you shall be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.
You are commissioned to save men, not to judge them. At the end of your earth life you will all expect mercy; therefore do I require of you during your mortal life that you show mercy to all of your brethren in the flesh. Make not the mistake of trying to pluck a mote out of your brother’s eye when there is a beam in your own eye. Having first cast the beam out of your own eye, you can the better see to cast the mote out of your brother’s eye.
Discern the truth clearly; live the righteous life fearlessly; and so shall you be my apostles and my Father’s ambassadors. You have heard it said: ‘If the blind lead the blind, they both shall fall into the pit.’ If you would guide others into the kingdom, you must yourselves walk in the clear light of living truth. In all the business of the kingdom I exhort you to show just judgment and keen wisdom. Present not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample your gems under foot and turn to rend you.”
Beware of False Prophets
“I warn you against false prophets who will come to you in sheep’s clothing, while on the inside they are as ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?
Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit, but the corrupt tree bears evil fruit. A good tree cannot yield evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is presently hewn down and cast into the fire. In gaining an entrance into the kingdom of heaven, it is the motive that counts. My Father looks into the hearts of men and judges by their inner longings and their sincere intentions.
In the great day of the kingdom judgment, many will say to me, ‘Did we not prophesy in your name and by your name do many wonderful works?’ But I will be compelled to say to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me you who are false teachers.’ But every one who hears this charge and sincerely executes his commission to represent me before men even as I have represented my Father to you, shall find an abundant entrance into my service and into the kingdom of the heavenly Father.”
Never before had the apostles heard Jesus speak in this way, for he had talked to them as one having Supreme authority.
Indoctrination Versus Education
Indoctrination implies effectively causing people to act and think on the teachings of a specific ideology. Many believe that organized religions indoctrinate their adherents as children. Military forces indoctrinate their members in patriotic service.
The difference between education and indoctrination is vast, but it is often subtle. Education concentrates on seeking facts, and learning about what is truth, and what is not. You can be indoctrinated into a political party, a cult, or a belief system.
Indoctrination
Brown, Dan. Origin: A Novel (p. 332-333). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Edited.)
The young soldier who pulls the trigger in battle is not the actual killer. He is a pawn, doing the work of the more powerful – government leaders, generals, religious leaders - those who have either paid him or convinced him that a cause is worthy at all costs. This applies to terrorism. The most vicious terrorists are not the people who build the bombs, but the influential leaders who fuel hatred among desperate masses, inspiring their foot soldiers to commit acts of violence. It takes only one powerful dark soul to wreak havoc in the world by inspiring spiritual intolerance, nationalism, or loathing in the minds of the vulnerable.
Terrorist attacks are on the rise around the world. These attacks are no longer strategically planned events. They are spontaneous assaults carried out by individuals who are answering a call to arms sent out by persuasive leaders.
Corrupted Leadership
The people of Earth must understand that for two hundred thousand years all the worlds of Satania have lingered in a state of a spiritual ban of the constellation of Norlatiadek in consequence of the evil Lucifer rebellion. (Earth, Urantia, is situated in the constellation of Norlatiadek.) The ban was instituted to avoid contamination of other worlds beyond the Norlatiadek constellation.
It will require age upon age to recover the evolutionary losses resulting from the sin and secession of Lucifer. Earth continues to pursue an irregular and checkered career as a result of the double tragedy of a rebellious Planetary Prince and a defaulting Adam and Eve. Even the bestowal of Christ Michael on Earth did not immediately void the temporal consequences of these serious blunders in the earlier administration of the world.
Corrupted leadership persists at the temporal level on this soiled planet.
The Rewards of Isolation - Agondonters
At first, it might appear that Urantia (Earth) and its associated isolated worlds are most unfortunate in being deprived of the beneficent presence and influence of the superhuman personalities such as a Planetary Prince and a Material Son and Daughter (Adam and Eve). But the isolation of these spheres affords their races a unique opportunity for the exercise of faith and for the development of a peculiar quality of confidence in cosmic reliability.
Eventually, it may well turn out that mortal creatures hailing from the worlds quarantined in consequence of rebellion are extremely fortunate. Such ascenders are very early entrusted with numerous special assignments in cosmic undertakings where unquestioned faith and sublime confidence are essential to achievement.
On Jerusem (the headquarters of Earth's system of Satania in the constellation of Norlatiadek), the ascenders from isolated worlds occupy a residential sector by themselves and are known as the agondonters, meaning evolutionary will creatures who can believe without seeing, persevere when isolated, and triumph over insuperable difficulties even when alone. This functional grouping of the agondonters persists throughout the ascension of the local universe and the traversal of the super universe. It disappears during the sojourn in Havona but reappears upon the attainment of Paradise and clearly persists in the Corps of the Mortal Finality where the differential of creature experience contributes to the versatility of ultimate performances in the collective body of the finaliters.
Beginning the Public Work
On January 19, 27 A.D. Michael/Jesus and the 12 apostles prepared to depart from their headquarters at the home of Zebedee in Bethsaida to go to Jerusalem to attend the Passover feast in April.
The twelve knew nothing of their Master’s plans except that they were going up to Jerusalem to attend the Passover feast in April, and that it was the intention to journey by way of the Jordan valley. They did not get away from Zebedee’s house until near noon because the families of the apostles and others of the disciples had come to say good-bye and wish them well in the new work they were about to begin.
Sadness of the Soul
On the eve of their departure for Jerusalem, the apostles missed the Master, and Andrew went out to find him. After a brief search he found Michael/Jesus sitting in a boat down at the beach, and he was weeping. None of the apostles had ever seen him weep. Andrew was somewhat startled to see the Master so affected and he ventured to approach Michael/Jesus and ask: “On this great day, Master, when we are about to depart for Jerusalem to proclaim the Father’s kingdom, why is it that you weep? Which of us has offended you?” And Jesus, going back with Andrew to join the twelve, answered him: “No one of you has grieved me. I am saddened only because none of my father Joseph’s family have remembered to come over to bid us Godspeed.”
At this time Ruth was on a visit to her brother Joseph at Nazareth. Other members of his family were kept away by pride, disappointment, misunderstanding, and petty resentment indulged in as a result of hurt feelings. Mary still harbored the hope that Michael/Jesus would use his powers to be the literal “King of the Jews” in this world replacing the Herod family of rulers. Sister Ruth believed Michael/Jesus' teachings in the Agondonter manner.
The Momentum of Pubic Work Builds
The apostolic group taught and preached the new gospel for weeks at encampments along the Jordan while proceeding to Jerusalem.
The month of April was spent in Jerusalem; the first ministry by Michael/Jesus and the twelve.
Teaching in the Temple
Throughout the month of April, Jesus or one of the apostles taught daily at the temple. When the Passover crowds were too great to find entrance to the temple teaching, the apostles conducted many teaching groups outside the sacred precincts.
The Apostles' Themes
1. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
2. By faith in the fatherhood of God you may enter the kingdom of heaven, thereby becoming the sons 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 spirit in one’s personal life, is the law of the kingdom.
The Jewish Passover
Passover is a major Jewish holiday. Jews celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in ancient Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses.
At the time of Michael/Jesus, the Passover holiday was a very profitable event for the Sanhedrin.
A Clash Between the Temporal and Spiritual Kingdoms
The vested interests of the wealthy Sanhedrin oligarchy were threatened by the non materialistic teachings of Michael/Jesus. The Sanhedrin were the Capitalists of the time. The clash between Michael/Jesus and the Sanhedrin continued the ideological war between Materialism and Spirituality emanating on Earth with Caligastia, Prince of Urantia (Earth) and his corporeal staff.
The Sanhedrin controlled the temporal Jewish Church/Government. Michael/Jesus controlled the invisible powers of the the energy transformers, Life Carriers, angels, midwayers, and the social engineering seraphim, as well as his visible army of apostles, disciples, and followers.
Every Person Must Choose Allegiance
Exercising the gift of free will, every individual in this experiential trial life must choose fealty to materialism or spirit. Materialism (selfishness and greed) is the path to extinction. Spirituality (love of God and all of his sons) is the path to eternal life.
Ancestry of the Sanhedrin
On going to a young world, a Planetary Prince usually takes a group of volunteer ascending beings from the local system headquarters with him. This corps of material helpers constitutes the connecting link between the prince and the primitive mortals of the planet. The Urantia Prince, Caligastia, had a corps of one hundred such helpers.
The volunteer assistants were citizens of the system capital. None of them had yet fused with their indwelling Adjusters.
The Life Carriers, the architects of form, provided the volunteers with new physical bodies, which they were to occupy for the period of their planetary sojourn.
Some of Caligastia's corporeal staff supported the cause of the rebels. These defectors were reduced to mortal status and remained on Earth following the “war in heaven.”
These supermen and superwomen mated with the sons and daughters of Earth, giving origin to the stories of the gods coming down to mate with mortals. They were known as the Nodites after their leader, Nod.
One wonders if the materialistic minded descendants of the wayward Nodites such as the Sanhedrin might compose the approximate one percent of the population who rule in the materialistically inclined affairs of the advanced nations of the world.
Spiritual Education
People who seek knowledge assimilate information from books on science, philosophy, religion, the humanities, as well as from the experiences of parents, associates and teachers.
People who seek spiritual truth look for learning that does not favor a class of people, a client, or is used to prey upon other people.
Spiritual truth seeks to benefit the greatest number of people possible.
Spiritual truth is not welcomed by everyone because it infringes upon their life style.
Eventually, Michael/Jesus had to resort to the use of parables to protect his teachers of the new spiritual truths from the overlords of religion who had vested material interests in preserving the status quo.
John the Baptist Beheaded
By order of Herod Antipas on the evening of January 10, A.D. 28, John the Baptist was executed. The next day a few of John's disciples heard of his execution and, going to Herod, requested his body, which they put in a tomb, later giving it burial at the home of Abner, John's leading apostle.
Then they went and told Michael/Jesus.
When Michael/Jesus heard the report of John's death, he dismissed the multitude and, calling his ministers together, said: "John is dead. Herod has beheaded him. Tonight go into joint council and arrange your affairs accordingly. There shall be delay no longer. The hour has come to proclaim the kingdom openly and with power. Tomorrow we go into Galilee."
Extensive Social Engineering
John had languished in Herod's despicable prison for than a year and a half. Many wondered why Michael/Jesus did nothing to deliver him from this unbearable imprisonment. The answer is that the humans responsible for John's detention could not be coerced to make their voluntary decisions to end his detention.
In celebration of his own birthday Herod provided a great feast in the Machaerian palace for his chief officers and other men high in the councils of the government of Galilee and Perea. Since Herodias (Herod's wife) had failed to bring about John’s death by direct appeal to Herod, she now set herself to the task of having John put to death by cunning planning. Herodias, Herod's unlawful wife, hated John because of his public criticism of the royal mores.
In the course of the evening’s festivities and entertainment, Herodias presented her daughter to dance before the banqueters. Herod was very much pleased with the girl's performance and, calling her before him, said: “You are charming. I am much pleased with you. Ask me on this my birthday for whatever you desire, and I will give it to you, even to the half of my kingdom.” And Herod did all this while well under the influence of his many wines. The young lady drew aside and inquired of her mother what she should ask of Herod. Herodias said, “Go to Herod and ask for the head of John the Baptist.” And the young woman, returning to the banquet table, said to Herod, “I request that you forthwith give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
Herod was filled with fear and sorrow, but because of his oath and because of all those who sat at dinner with him, he would not deny the request. Herod Antipas commanded a soldier to bring the head of John. So, that night John was beheaded in the prison. The soldier brought the head of the prophet on a platter and presented it to the daughter of Herodias. The young girl gave the platter to her mother.
Destiny Structures Our Experiences
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
The anticipated reality of the future can be appreciated in the present through knowledge of its projected parts.
Destiny can be felt through the soul when woven together with the actual spiritual events of the anticipated Paradise ascent. Adventure, though not a goal, is an ever present part of the Paradise ascent.
Reality awareness deepens with experiences on other real worlds with other types of atmospheres, natural features, people, animal and plant life. On the approach to Paradise attainment, during the long traversal of the one-billion Havona spheres of eternal perfection, ascenders experience unending astonishment at the successive wonders opening up to them. Among the Havona beings are patterns for future orders of time-space creatures and the arts (appreciated for their beauty or emotional power).
The eternity commitment to the Deity ascent intensifies into a growing passion as one is joined by perfecting ascenders from other worlds. The great, the noble, and the transcendent mingle, fraternize, and cooperate, while always looking and climbing, upward.
The spiritual presence of the Eternal Son hovers over his Havona worlds. Unity and harmony swell to endless proportions. Even the animal kingdom is a chorus of harmony, trust, and beauty. Havona companions and activities and a formal course of study advance the ascender toward the goal of attaining the presence and perception of the Paradise Trinity.
After recognition of the Paradise presence of the Infinite Spirit, Eternal Son, and Universal Father comes rebirth from time to eternity. Paradise training, residency, and induction into the finaliter corps follow with eternal allegiance to the Paradise Trinity.
Bestowals of the Eternal Son
In an inconceivably long time ago, the Eternal Son bestowed himself upon each of the circuits of the central creation for the enlightenment and advancement of all the inhabitants and pilgrims of Havona, including the ascending pilgrims of time. On none of these seven bestowals did he function as either an ascender or a Havoner. He existed as himself. His experience was unique; it was not with or as a human or other pilgrim but in a super personal sense.
It is not possible for the Eternal Son, an absolute being, to suspend consciousness of personality. And during the times of these bestowals, the central Paradise lodgment of spiritual luminosity was undimmed, and the Son’s grasp of universal spirit gravity was undiminished.
The bestowals of the Eternal Son in Havona are not within the scope of human imagination. They were transcendental. He added to the experience of all Havona then and subsequently.
The Eternal Son passed through the life experiences of the ascending pilgrims from circuit to circuit, personally journeying a stage of each circle with them.
The Eternal Son made real to the creatures of Havona that forevermore each pilgrim of time who labors in the adventure of making the Havona circuits is cheered and strengthened by the certain knowledge that the Eternal Son of God seven times abdicated the power and glory of Paradise to participate in the experiences of the time-space pilgrims on the seven circuits of progressive Havona attainment.
Launch of the First Public Preaching Tour
On Tuesday evening, January 13, 28 A.D., Michael/Jesus and the apostles arrived in Capernaum and, as usual, made their headquarters at the home of Zebedee in Bethsaida.
The death of John the Baptist marked the end of an age for the worlds of Satania. Michael/Jesus now prepared to launch an open and public preaching tour of Galilee to inaugurate a new revelation.
The news that Michael/Jesus had returned rapidly spread throughout the city, and early the next day, Mary the mother of Michael/Jesus, hurried away to Nazareth to visit her son Joseph.
On January 18, Sunday, Michael/Jesus and the apostles began their tour of the cities of Galilee that continued for about two months. On this tour Michael/Jesus and the 12 apostles, assisted by the former apostles of John, preached the gospel and baptized believers in eleven different cities. While in the city of Iron, Michael/Jesus worked as a miner in the mineral mines.
[Michael/Jesus did not discourage baptism by water introduced by John, but he taught baptism of the spirit.]
A Seaside Encampment and the Second Public Tour
From May 3 to October 3, 28 A.D., Michael/Jesus and the apostolic party were in residence at the Zebedee home at Bethsaida. Throughout this five month period of the dry season an enormous camp was maintained by the seaside near the Zebedee residence. The camp had been greatly enlarged to accommodate the growing followers of Michael/Jesus. The seaside camp was occupied by an ever- changing population of truth seekers, candidates for healing, and curios devotees, numbering from five hundred to fifteen hundred. This tented city was under the general supervision of David Zebedee, assisted by the apostles, the Alpheus twins. The sick of different types were segregated and under the supervision of a believer physician, a Syrian named Elman.
Beginning on October 3rd to December 30th, 28 A.D., Michael/Jesus' conducted a second public preaching tour of Galilee. Participating in this effort were Michael/Jesus and his 12 apostles, assisted by a newly recruited corps of 117 evangelists and other interested persons.
The Fidelity of Ruth
Michael/Jesus' sister, Ruth, was the only member of Michael/Jesus' family who consistently and unwaveringly believed in the divinity of his earth mission from the times of her earliest spiritual consciousness through his eventful ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. She passed on to the Mansion Worlds never having doubted the supernatural character of her father-brother's mission in the flesh. Ruth was the chief comfort of Michael/Jesus, as regards his earth family.
The Remarkable David Zebedee
Throughout this period and subsequently, up to the time of the final departure of Jesus and the twelve for Jerusalem, David Zebedee, the youngest son of John Zebedee maintained a permanent headquarters for the work of the kingdom in his father’s house at Bethsaida. This was the clearinghouse for Jesus’ work on earth and the relay station for the messenger service which David carried on between the workers in various parts of Palestine and adjacent regions. He did all of this on his own initiative with the approval of Andrew. David employed forty to fifty messengers in his intelligence division of the rapidly enlarging and extending work of the kingdom. While thus employed, he partially supported himself by spending some of his time at his old work of fishing.
The Phenomenal Soul
In this life, one feels the presence of the fragment of the Universal Father (the Thought Adjuster) through the soul. In the same manner one may feel with anticipation the fusion of the personality, soul, and thought adjuster in the mansion worlds and later the fusion of the father fragment, the soul, and the human personality with the Universal Father in Paradise.
Baptism of the Spirit (the Thought Adjuster)
Jesus instructed his apostles on the new life in the kingdom as follows. He said: “When you enter the kingdom, you are reborn. You cannot teach the deep things of the spirit to those who have been born only of the flesh; first see that men are born of the spirit before you seek to instruct them in the advanced ways of the spirit. Do not undertake to show men the beauties of the temple until you have first taken them into the temple. Introduce men to God and as the sons of God before you discourse on the doctrines of the fatherhood of God and the sonship of men.
Do not strive with men - always be patient. It is not your kingdom; you are only ambassadors. Simply go forth proclaiming: This is the kingdom of heaven - God is your Father and you are his sons, and this good news, if you wholeheartedly believe it, is your eternal salvation.”
A Series of Promotional Events
The Kheresa Lunatic
Seeking temporary solitude and respite from the crowds, Michael/Jesus and about forty of his apostles and disciples sailed to the eastern shore of Lake Galilee where they breakfasted on a steep hillside.
This entire hillside was covered with ancient tombs. About halfway up the hillside on a small, relatively level spot was the cemetery of the little village of Kheresa. As Michael/Jesus and his associates passed near this burial ground, a lunatic who lived in the crypts rushed up to them.
This man, Amos, was afflicted with a periodic form of insanity. During one of his lucid intervals, he had gone over to Bethsaida, where he heard the preaching of Michael/Jesus and the apostles, and he had become a believer in the gospel of the kingdom.
When Amos recognized Michael/Jesus, he fell down at his feet and exclaimed: “I know you, Jesus, but I am possessed of many devils, and I beseech that you will not torment me.”
Michael/Jesus, looking down upon the man crouching like an animal at his feet, reached down and, taking him by the hand, stood him up and said to him: “Amos, you are not possessed of a devil; you have already heard the good news that you are a son of God. I command you to come out of this spell.” When Amos heard Michael/Jesus speak these words, there occurred such a transformation in his intellect that he was immediately restored to his right mind and the normal control of his emotions.
By this time a crowd had assembled from the near-by village, and these people, augmented by the swine herders from the highland above them, were astonished to see the lunatic sitting with Michael/Jesus and his followers, in possession of his right mind and freely conversing with them.
Spreading the News of the Cure
As the swine herders rushed into the village to spread the news of the taming of the lunatic, their dogs charged upon a small and untended herd of about thirty swine and drove most of them over a precipice into the sea. It was this incidental occurrence, in connection with the presence of Michael/Jesus and the supposed miraculous curing of the lunatic that gave origin to the legend that Michael/Jesus had cured Amos by casting a legion of devils out of him, and that these devils had entered into the herd of swine, causing them to rush headlong to their destruction in the sea below the cliff.
The story of the cure of Amos, the Kheresa lunatic, had already reached Bethsaida and Capernaum, so a great crowd was waiting for Michael/Jesus when his boat landed that Tuesday forenoon.
Among this throng were observers from the Jerusalem Sanhedrin who had come to Capernaum to find cause for the Master’s apprehension and conviction.
Taunting the Sanhedrin
As Michael/Jesus spoke with those who had assembled to greet him, Jairus, one of the rulers of the Capernaum synagogue, made his way through the crowd and, falling down at his feet, took him by the hand and besought that he would come with him, saying: “Master, my little daughter, an only child, lies in my home at the point of death. I pray that you will come and heal her.” When Michael/Jesus heard the request of this father, he said: “I will go with you.”
As Michael/Jesus went along with Jairus, the large crowd that had heard the father’s request followed to see what would happen. Shortly before they reached the ruler’s house, as they hurried through a narrow street and as the throng jostled him, Michael/Jesus suddenly stopped, exclaiming, “Someone touched me.” And when those who were near him denied that they had touched him, Peter spoke up: “Master, you can see that this crowd presses you, threatening to crush us, and yet you say ‘someone has touched me.’ What do you mean?” Then Michael/Jesus said: “I asked who touched me, for I perceived that living energy had gone forth from me.” As Michael/Jesus looked about him, his eyes fell upon a near-by woman, who, coming forward, knelt at his feet and said: “For years I have been afflicted with a scourging hemorrhage. I have suffered many things from many physicians; I have spent all my substance, but none could cure me. Then I heard of you, and I thought if I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall certainly be made whole. And so I pressed forward with the crowd as it moved along until, standing near you, Master, I touched the border of your garment, and I was made whole; I know that I have been healed of my affliction.”
Clarifying the Power of Faith
When Michael/Jesus heard this, he took the woman by the hand and, lifting her up, said: “Daughter, your faith has made you whole; go in peace.” It was her faith and not her touch that made her whole. And this case is a good illustration of many apparently miraculous cures that attended upon Michael/Jesus’ earth career, but which in no sense he consciously willed. The passing of time demonstrated that this woman was really cured of her malady. Her faith was of the sort that laid direct hold upon the creative power resident in the Master’s person. With the faith she had, it was only necessary to approach the Master’s person. It was not at all necessary to touch his garment; that was merely the superstitious part of her belief.
Michael/Jesus called this woman, Veronica of Caesarea-Philippi, into his presence to correct two errors which might have lingered in her mind, or which might have persisted in the minds of those who witnessed this healing. He did not want Veronica to go away thinking that her fear in attempting to steal her cure had been honored, or that her superstition in associating the touch of his garment with her healing had been effective. He desired all to know that it was her pure and living faith that had wrought the cure.
At the Home of Jairus
Jairus was, of course, terribly impatient of this delay in reaching his home; so they now hastened on at quickened pace. Even before they entered the ruler’s yard, one of his servants came out, saying: “Trouble not the Master; your daughter is dead.”
But Michael/Jesus seemed not to heed the servant’s words, for, taking with him Peter, James, and John, he turned and said to the grief-stricken father: “Fear not; only believe.” When he entered the house, he found the flute-players already there with the mourners, who were making an unseemly clamor. The relatives were already engaged in weeping and wailing. When he had put all the mourners out of the room, he went in with the father, the mother and his three apostles. He had told the mourners that the damsel was not dead, but they laughed at him.
Michael/Jesus now turned to the mother, saying: “Your daughter is not dead; she is only asleep.” And when the house had quieted down, Michael/Jesus, going up to where the child lay, took her by the hand and said, “Daughter, I say to you, awake and arise!” And when the girl heard these words, she immediately rose up and walked across the room. And presently, after she had recovered from her daze, Michael/Jesus directed that they should give her something to eat, for she had been a long time without food.
No Recurrences
Michael/Jesus’ apostles, let alone the common people, could not understand the nature and attributes of this God/man. Nor has any subsequent generation been able to evaluate what took place on Earth in the person of Michael/Jesus of Nazareth.
There can never occur an opportunity for either science or religion to examine these remarkable events simply because such an extraordinary situation can never again occur. Never again, on any world in this universe, will a being appear in the likeness of mortal flesh embodying all the attributes of creative energy combined with spiritual endowments that transcend time and most other material limitations.
While his absence prevents such material manifestations, mortals should refrain from placing any sort of limitation on the possible exhibition of his spiritual power. Though the Master is absent as a material being, he is present as a spiritual influence in the hearts (the souls) of men (as the Spirit of Truth). By going away from the world, Michael/Jesus made it possible for his spirit to live alongside that of his Father which indwells the minds of all mankind (the Thought Adjuster).
Seeking Rest and Relaxation
Michael/Jesus continued to teach the people by day while he instructed the apostles and evangelists at night. Seeking respite from the exhausting schedule, he declared a furlough of one week so that all his followers might go home or to their friends for a few days before preparing to go up to Jerusalem for the Passover. But more than one half of his disciples refused to leave him, and the multitude was daily increasing in size, so much so that David Zebedee desired to establish a new encampment, but Michael/Jesus refused consent.
The Master had so little rest over the Sabbath that on Sunday morning, March 27, 29 A.D., he sought an interlude away from the people. Some of the evangelists were left to talk to the multitude while Michael/Jesus and the twelve planned to slip away unnoticed, to the opposite shore of the lake, where they proposed to obtain much needed rest in a beautiful park south of Bethsaida-Julias.
A Seeming Crisis Develops
The people saw the direction taken by Michael/Jesus’ boat, and hiring every craft available, they started out in pursuit. Those who could not obtain boats followed on foot walking around the upper end of the lake. By late afternoon more than a thousand persons had located the Master in the park, and he spoke to them briefly, followed by Peter. Many of these people had brought food with them, and after eating the evening meal, they gathered about in small groups while Michael/Jesus’ apostles and disciples taught them.
By Monday afternoon the multitude had increased to more than three thousand. And still - way into the evening - the people continued to flock in, bringing all manner of sick folks with them. Hundreds of interested persons had made their plans to stop over at Capernaum to see and hear Michael/Jesus on their way to the Passover, and they simply refused to be disappointed. By Wednesday noon about five thousand men, women, and children were assembled in this park to the south of Bethsaida-Julias. The weather was pleasant, since it was near the end of the rainy season in this locality.
Expectations of a Major Announcement
The Apostle Philip had provided a three day supply of food for Michael/Jesus and the twelve, which was in the custody of the lad, Mark, their chore boy and future chronicler of these events. By afternoon of the third day the food the people had brought with them was nearly exhausted. David Zebedee had no tented city here to feed and accommodate the crowds. But even though the people were hungry, they would not go away. They were expecting a big announcement.
It was being quietly whispered about that Michael/Jesus, desiring to avoid trouble with both Herod and the Jerusalem leaders, had chosen this quiet spot outside the jurisdiction of all his enemies as the proper place to be crowned king. The enthusiasm of the people was rising every hour. Not a word was said to Michael/Jesus, though he knew all that was going on. Even some of the apostles were infected with the notion. The apostles who favored an attempt to proclaim Michael/Jesus king were Peter, John, Simon Zelotes, and Judas Iscariot. Those opposing the plan were Andrew, James, Nathaniel, and Thomas. Matthew, and Philip. The Alpheus twins were noncommittal.
The ringleader of the plot to make Michael/Jesus king was Joab, one of the young evangelists.
Rising Tensions
The stage was set. About five o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, Michael/Jesus asked James Alpheus to summon Andrew and Philip. Michael/Jesus said: “What shall we do with the multitude? They have been with us now three days, and many of them are hungry. They have no food.” Philip and Andrew exchanged glances, and then Philip answered: “Master, you should send these people away so that they may go to the villages around about and buy themselves food.” And Andrew, fearing the materialization of the king plot, quickly joined with Philip, saying: “Yes, Master, I think it best that you dismiss the multitude so that they may go their way and buy food while you secure rest for a season.”
By this time others of the twelve had joined the conference. Then Michael/Jesus said: “But I do not desire to send them away hungry; can you not feed them?” This was too much for Philip, and he spoke up: “Master, in this country place where can we buy bread for this multitude? Two hundred denarii worth would not be enough for lunch.”
Before the apostles had an opportunity to express themselves, Michael/Jesus turned to Andrew and Philip, saying: “I do not want to send these people away. Here they are, like sheep without a shepherd. I would like to feed them. What food have we with us?” While Philip was conversing with Matthew and Judas, Andrew sought out the lad, Mark to ascertain how much was left of their store of provisions. He returned to Michael/Jesus, saying: “The lad has left only five barley loaves and two dried fishes.” Peter promptly added, “We have yet to eat this evening.”
Feeding the Five Thousand
For a moment Michael/Jesus stood in silence. There was a faraway look in his eyes. The apostles said nothing. Michael/Jesus turned suddenly to Andrew and said, “Bring me the loaves and fishes.” And when Andrew had brought the basket to Michael/Jesus, the Master said: “Direct the people to sit down on the grass in companies of one hundred and appoint a leader over each group while you bring all of the evangelists here with us.”
Michael/Jesus took up the loaves in his hands, and after he had given thanks, he broke the bread and gave to his apostles, who passed it on to their associates, who in turn carried it to the multitude. Michael/Jesus in like manner broke and distributed the fishes. And this multitude ate and were filled. And when they had finished eating, Michael/Jesus said to the disciples: “Gather up the broken pieces that remain over so that nothing will be lost.” And when they had finished gathering up the fragments, they had twelve basketfuls. They who ate of this extraordinary feast numbered about five thousand men, women, and children.
This was a genuine supernatural deed. In this case, Michael/Jesus multiplied food elements in the natural way, as he always does (in his time and space environment), except for the elimination of the time factor and the life channel visible to mortals.
The King-Making Episode
The feeding of the five thousand by using supernatural energy was another of those cases where human pity plus creative power equaled that which happened. Now that the multitude had been fed to the full, and since Michael/Jesus’ fame was then and there augmented by this stupendous wonder, the project to lay hold upon the Master and proclaim him king required no further personal direction. The idea seemed to spread through the crowd like a contagion. The reaction of the multitude to this sudden and spectacular supplying of their physical needs was profound and overwhelming.
For a long time the Jews had been taught that the Messiah, the son of David, when he came, would cause the land to flow with milk and honey, and that the bread of life would be bestowed upon them as manna from heaven. This expectation had been fulfilled right before their eyes. When this hungry, undernourished multitude had finished gorging itself with the wonder-food, there was but one unanimous reaction: “Here is our king.” The wonder-working deliverer of Israel had come. In the eyes of these simple-minded people the power to feed carried with it the right to rule. No wonder, then, that the multitude, when it had finished feasting, rose up and shouted, “Make him king!”
An Unexpected Lesson
The mighty shout to make Michael/Jesus king excited Peter and those of the apostles who still retained the hope of seeing Michael/Jesus assert his right to rule. But these false hopes were not to live for long. This outcry of the multitude had hardly ceased when Michael/Jesus stepped upon a huge stone and, lifting up his right hand to command their attention, said: “My children, you mean well, but you are shortsighted and material-minded.” There was a brief pause. Michael/Jesus appeared majestic in the enchanting glow of that eastern twilight. He looked like a king as he continued to speak to the breathless multitude: “You would make me king, not because your souls have been lighted with a great truth, but because your stomachs have been filled with bread. How many times have I told you that my kingdom is not of this world? This kingdom of heaven which we proclaim is a spiritual brotherhood, and no man rules over it seated upon a material throne. My Father in heaven is the all-wise and the all-powerful Ruler over this spiritual brotherhood of the sons of God on earth. Have I so failed in revealing to you the Father of spirits that you would make a king of his Son in the flesh! Now all of you go hence to your own homes. If you must have a king, let the Father of lights be enthroned in the heart of each of you as the spirit Ruler of all things.”
The words of Michael/Jesus sent the multitude away stunned and disheartened. Many who had believed in him turned back and followed him no more from that day. The apostles were speechless. They stood in silence gathered about the twelve baskets of the fragments of food. Only the chore boy, the Mark lad, spoke, “And he refused to be our king.” Michael/Jesus, before going off to be alone in the hills, turned to Andrew and said: “Take your brethren back to Zebedee’s house and pray with them, especially for your brother, Simon Peter.”
Dreams and Visions
If one is disposed to recognize a theoretical subconscious mind as a practical working hypothesis in the otherwise unified intellectual life, then, to be consistent, one should postulate a similar and corresponding realm of ascending intellectual activity at the super conscious level, the zone of immediate contact with the indwelling spirit entity, the Thought Adjuster.
The great danger in all these psychic speculations is that visions and other mystic experiences, along with extraordinary dreams, may be regarded as divine communications to the human mind.
In times past, divine beings have revealed themselves to certain God-knowing persons, not because of their mystic trances or morbid visions, but in spite of all these phenomena.
Thought Adjusters Employ Dreams
While their mortal hosts are asleep, the Thought Adjusters try to register their creations in the higher levels of the material mind. Some grotesque dreams indicate their failure to make efficient contact. The absurdities of dream life not only testify to pressure of unexpressed emotions, but also bear witness to the horrible distortion of the representations of the spiritual concepts presented by the Adjusters. Your own passions, urges, and other innate tendencies translate themselves into the picture and substitute their unexpressed desires for the divine messages that the indwelling adjusters are endeavoring to put into the psychic records during unconscious sleep.
Simon Peter’s Dream
Sent off by themselves, the apostles, without Michael/Jesus entered the boat and began to row toward Bethsaida on the western shore of the lake in silence. None of the twelve was so crushed and downcast as the impulsive, erratic, and temperamental Simon Peter. They were all thinking of the Master alone in the hills. Had he forsaken them? Never before had he sent them all away and refused to go with them.
As darkness descended, a strong and contrary wind made progress rowing almost impossible. As the hours of darkness and hard rowing passed, Peter grew weary and fell into a deep sleep of exhaustion. Andrew and James put him to rest on the cushioned seat in the stern of the boat. While the other apostles toiled against the wind and the waves, Peter dreamed. He saw a vision of Michael/Jesus coming to them walking on the sea. When the Master seemed to walk on by the boat, Peter cried out, “Save us, Master, save us.” Those who were in the rear of the boat heard him say some of these words. As this apparition continued in Peter’s mind, he dreamed that he heard Michael/Jesus say: “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” This was a salve to Peter’s disturbed soul. In his dream he cried out to the Master: “Lord, if it really is you, bid me come and walk with you on the water.” And when Peter started to walk upon the water, the boisterous waves frightened him, and as he was about to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Many of the twelve heard him utter this cry. Then Peter dreamed that Michael/Jesus came to his rescue. Stretching forth his hand, he took hold and lifted Peter up, saying: “O, you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt?”
Peter arose from the seat where he slept and stepped overboard into the water. He awakened from his dream as Andrew, James, and John reached down and pulled him out of the sea.
Back in Bethsaida
The next morning, before daylight, the apostles anchored their boat offshore near Zebedee’s house and sought sleep until about noontime. Andrew was first up and, going for a walk by the sea, found Michael/Jesus, with their chore boy, Mark, sitting on a stone by the water’s edge.
Many of the multitude and the young evangelists had searched all night and much of the morning about the eastern hills for Michael/Jesus. Shortly after midnight Michael/Jesus and the Mark lad had walked around the lake back to Bethsaida.
Of the five thousand who were miraculously fed, and who, when their stomachs were full and their hearts empty, would have made him king, only about five hundred persisted in following after him. But before these received word that he was back in Bethsaida, Michael/Jesus asked Andrew to assemble the twelve apostles and their associates, including the women, saying, “I desire to speak with them.”
A Reprimand
When the apostles and their associates were gathered about him, Michael/Jesus said:
“How long shall I bear with you? Are you all slow of spiritual comprehension and deficient in living faith? All these months have I taught you the truths of the kingdom, and yet are you dominated by material motives instead of spiritual considerations....
And now do you all see that the working of miracles and the performance of material wonders will not win souls for the spiritual kingdom? We fed the multitude, but it did not lead them to hunger for the bread of life neither to thirst for the waters of spiritual righteousness. When their hunger was satisfied, they sought not entrance into the kingdom of heaven but rather sought to proclaim the Son of Man king after the manner of the kings of this world, only that they might continue to eat bread without having to toil therefor. And all this, in which many of you did more or less participate, does nothing to reveal the heavenly Father or to advance his kingdom on earth. Have we not sufficient enemies among the religious leaders of the land without doing that which is likely to estrange also the civil rulers? I pray that the Father will anoint your eyes that you may see and open your ears that you may hear, to the end that you may have full faith in the gospel which I have taught you.”
The Fast Approaching Crisis at Capernaum
28 A.D., after their return to Bethsaida from the Passover in Jerusalem, the apostles were aware that Jesus was seriously occupied with some momentous problem.
Not in months had they seen the Master so preoccupied and uncommunicative. Even Simon Peter was depressed. Judas Iscariot thought that Jesus was oppressed with regrets that “he did not have the courage and daring to permit the five thousand to proclaim him king of the Jews.”
Michael/Jesus Concern Regarded His Epochal Sermon
It was from among such a group of depressed and disconsolate followers that Jesus went forth on Sabbath afternoon to preach an epoch-making sermon in the Capernaum synagogue.
A distinguished congregation awaited Michael/Jesus at three o’clock in the new Capernaum synagogue on the beautiful Sabbath afternoon.
The day before, fifty-three Pharisees and Sadducees had arrived from Jerusalem; more than thirty of the leaders and rulers of the neighboring synagogues were also present. These Jewish religious leaders were acting directly under orders from the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, and they constituted the orthodox vanguard that had come to inaugurate open warfare on Jesus and his disciples. Sitting by the side of these Jewish leaders, in the synagogue seats of honor, were the official observers of Herod Antipas, who had been directed to ascertain the truth concerning the disturbing reports that an attempt had been made by the populace to proclaim Jesus the king of the Jews in the domains of his brother Philip.
Inaugurating the New Age
Michael/Jesus was aware that he faced open warfare from his increasing number of enemies, and he elected to assume the offensive. At the feeding of the five thousand he had challenged the idea of the material Messiah. This present crisis, which began with the feeding of the five thousand, and which terminated with this Sabbath afternoon sermon, was the turning of the tide of popular fame and acclaim. Henceforth, the work of the kingdom was to be increasingly concerned with the more important task of winning lasting spiritual converts for the truly religious brotherhood of mankind. This epochal sermon marked the crisis in the transition from the period of discussion, controversy, and the choice for spiritual salvation or final rejection.
The Master knew that many of his followers were slowly but surely preparing their minds to reject him. He likewise knew that many of his disciples were slowly but certainly passing through that training of mind and that discipline of soul which would enable them to triumph over doubt and to courageously assert their full-fledged faith in the gospel of the kingdom. Michael/Jesus had subjected his chosen messengers to repeated rehearsals in disappointment and provided them with frequent testing opportunities for choosing between the right and the wrong way of meeting spiritual trials. He knew he could depend on his followers, when they met the final test, to make their vital decisions in accordance with prior and habitual mental attitudes and spirit reactions.
This crisis in Michael/Jesus’ earth life began with the feeding of the five thousand and ended with the sermon in the synagogue. The crisis in the lives of the apostles began with this sermon in the synagogue and continued for a whole year, ending with the Master’s trial and crucifixion.
One Transcendent Question
Before Jesus began to speak, there was just one great mystery, one supreme question, in the minds of all his listeners. Both his friends and his foes pondered just one thought, “Why did he himself so deliberately and effectively turn back the tide of popular enthusiasm?” And it was immediately before and immediately after this sermon that the doubts and disappointments of his disgruntled adherents grew into unconscious opposition and eventually turned into actual hatred. It was after this sermon in the synagogue that Judas Iscariot entertained his first conscious thought of deserting.
Everyone was perplexed. Jesus had left them dumbfounded and confounded. He had recently engaged in the greatest demonstration of supernatural power to characterize his whole career. The feeding of the five thousand was the one event of his earth life which made the greatest appeal to the Jewish concept of the expected Messiah. But this extraordinary advantage was immediately offset by his prompt and unequivocal refusal to be made king.
Michael/Jesus' Sermon
“Today, I desire to ask you: What will the chief priests and religious leaders of this people do with the man who dares to warn them of the day of their spiritual doom? Will you also seek to put to death the teacher who dares to proclaim the word of the Lord, and who fears not to point out wherein you refuse to walk in the way of light which leads to the entrance to the kingdom of heaven?
What is it you seek as evidence of my mission on earth? We have left you undisturbed in your positions of influence and power while we preached glad tidings to the poor and the outcast. We have made no hostile attack upon that which you hold in reverence but have rather proclaimed new liberty for man’s fear-ridden soul. I came into the world to reveal my Father and to establish on earth the spiritual brotherhood of the sons of God, the kingdom of heaven. And notwithstanding that I have so many times reminded you that my kingdom is not of this world, still has my Father granted you many manifestations of material wonders in addition to more evidential spiritual transformations and regenerations.
“What new sign is it that you seek at my hands? I declare that you already have sufficient evidence to enable you to make your decision. Verily, verily, I say to many who sit before me this day, you are confronted with the necessity of choosing which way you will go; and I say to you, as Joshua said to your forefathers, ‘choose you this day whom you will serve.’ Today, many of you stand at the parting of the ways.”
Destroying the Messiah Myth
“Some of you, when you could not find me after the feasting of the multitude on the other side, hired the Tiberias fishing fleet, which a week before had taken shelter near by during a storm, to go in pursuit of me, and what for? Not for truth and righteousness or that you might the better know how to serve and minister to your fellow men! No, but rather that you might have more bread for which you had not labored. It was not to fill your souls with the word of life, but only that you might fill the belly with the bread of ease. And long have you been taught that the Messiah, when he should come, would work those wonders which would make life pleasant and easy for all the chosen people. It is not strange, then, that you who have been thus taught should long for the loaves and the fishes. But I declare to you that such is not the mission of the Son of Man. I have come to proclaim spiritual liberty, teach eternal truth, and foster living faith.”
The Real Bread of Life
“My brethren, hanker not after the meat which perishes but rather seek for the spiritual food that nourishes even to eternal life; and this is the bread of life which the Son gives to all who will take it and eat, for the Father has given the Son this life without measure. And when you asked me, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ I plainly told you: ‘This is the work of God, that you believe him whom he has sent.’”
And then said Jesus, pointing up to the device of a pot of manna which decorated the lintel of this new synagogue, and which was embellished with grape clusters: “You have thought that your forefathers in the wilderness ate manna - the bread of heaven - but I say to you that this was the bread of earth. While Moses did not give your fathers bread from heaven, my Father now stands ready to give you the true bread of life. The bread of heaven is that which comes down from God and gives eternal life to the men of the world. And when you say to me, Give us this living bread, I will answer: I am this bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger, while he who believes me shall never thirst. You have seen me, lived with me, and beheld my works, yet you believe not that I came forth from the Father. But to those who do believe - fear not. All those led of the Father [the Thought Adjuster fragment of the Father] shall come to me, and he who comes to me shall in nowise be cast out.”
Mission Statement
“And now let me declare to you, once and for all time, that I have come down upon the earth, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the final will of Him who sent me, that of all those he has given me I should not lose one. And this is the will of the Father: That every one who beholds the Son and who believes him shall have eternal life. Only yesterday did I feed you with bread for your bodies; today I offer you the bread of life for your hungry souls. Will you now take the bread of the spirit as you then so willingly ate the bread of this world?”
Incredulity
Despite the fact that Michael/Jesus had just demonstrated his supernatural powers by feeding 5000 people with two loaves and five fishes, and then refused to be anointed a temporal king, the suspicious materialistic-minded religious and civil rulers could not accept the fact that Michael/Jesus was a god/man interested only in saving human souls.
“As Jesus paused for a moment to look over the congregation, one of the teachers from Jerusalem (a member of the Sanhedrin) rose up and asked: “Do I understand you to say that you are the bread which comes down from heaven, and that the manna which Moses gave to our fathers in the wilderness did not?” And Jesus answered the Pharisee, “You understood aright.”Then said the Pharisee: “But are you not Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, the carpenter? Are not your father and mother, as well as your brothers and sisters, well known to many of us? How then is it that you appear here in God’s house and declare that you have come down from heaven?”
By this time there was much murmuring in the synagogue, and such a tumult was threatened that Michael/Jesus stood up and said: “Let us be patient; the truth never suffers from honest examination. I am all that you say but more. The Father and I are one; the Son does only that which the Father teaches him, while all those who are given to the Son by the Father, the Son will receive to himself. You have read where it is written in the Prophets, ‘You shall all be taught by God,’ and that ‘Those whom the Father teaches will hear also his Son.’ Every one who yields to the teaching of the Father’s indwelling spirit will eventually come to me. Not that any man has seen the Father, but the Father’s spirit does live within man. And the Son who came down from heaven, he has surely seen the Father. And those who truly believe this Son already have eternal life.
The Bread of the Soul
“I am this bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. But this bread (Revelation) which comes down from God, if a man eats thereof, he shall never die in spirit. I repeat, I am this living bread, and every soul who attains the realization of this united nature of God and man shall live forever. And this bread of life which I give to all who will receive is my own living and combined nature. The Father in the Son and the Son one with the Father - that is my life-giving revelation to the world and my saving gift to all nations.”
When Jesus had finished speaking, the ruler of the synagogue dismissed the congregation, but they would not depart. They crowded up around Jesus to ask more questions while others murmured and disputed among themselves. And this state of affairs continued for more than three hours. It was well past seven o’clock before the audience finally dispersed.
The Post Meeting
Michael/Jesus was asked many questions after the formal meeting. Some were asked by his perplexed disciples, but more were asked by caviling unbelievers who sought only to embarrass and entrap him.
One of the visiting Pharisees, mounted a lamp stand and shouted out: “You tell us that you are the bread of life. How can you give us your flesh to eat or your blood to drink? What avail is your teaching if it cannot be carried out?” And Jesus answered this question, saying: “I did not teach you that my flesh is the bread of life nor that my blood is the water thereof. But I did say that my life in the flesh is a bestowal of the bread of heaven. The fact of the Word of God bestowed in the flesh and the phenomenon of the Son of Man subject to the will of God, constitute a reality of experience which is equivalent to the divine sustenance. You cannot eat my flesh nor can you drink my blood, but you can become one in spirit with me even as I am one in spirit with the Father. You can be nourished by the eternal word of God, which is indeed the bread of life, and which has been bestowed in the likeness of mortal flesh; and you can be watered in soul by the divine spirit, which is truly the water of life. The Father has sent me into the world to show how he desires to indwell and direct all men; and I have so lived this life in the flesh as to inspire all men likewise ever to seek to know and do the will of the indwelling heavenly Father.”
Answer to Accusation of Disrespect for Tradition and Law
Then one of the Jerusalem spies who had been watching Jesus and his apostles, said: “We notice that neither you nor your apostles wash your hands properly before you eat bread. You must well know that such a practice as eating with defiled and unwashed hands is a transgression of the law of the elders. Neither do you properly wash your drinking cups and eating vessels. Why is it that you show such disrespect for the traditions of the fathers and the laws of our elders?”
And when Michael/Jesus heard him speak, he answered: “Why is it that you transgress the commandments of God by the laws of your tradition? The commandment says, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and directs that you share with them your substance if necessary; but you enact a law of tradition which permits undutiful children to say that the money wherewith the parents might have been assisted has been ‘given to God.’ The law of the elders thus relieves such crafty children of their responsibility, notwithstanding that the children subsequently use all such monies for their own comfort. Why is it that you in this way make void the commandment by your own tradition? Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, saying: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.’
“You can see how it is that you desert the commandment while you hold fast to the tradition of men. Altogether willing are you to reject the word of God while you maintain your own traditions. And in many other ways do you dare to set up your own teachings above the law and the prophets.”
Spiritual Defilement
Michael/Jesus then directed his remarks to all present. He said: “But hearken to me, all of you. It is not that which enters into the mouth that spiritually defiles the man, but rather that which proceeds out of the mouth and from the heart.”
But even the apostles failed fully to grasp the meaning of his words. Simon Peter asked him: “Lest some of your hearers be unnecessarily offended, would you explain to us the meaning of these words?” And then said Michael/Jesus to Peter: “Are you also hard of understanding? Know you not that every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up? Turn now your attention to those who would know the truth. You cannot compel men to love the truth. Many of these teachers are blind guides. And you know that, if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the pit. But hearken while I tell you the truth concerning those things which morally defile and spiritually contaminate men.
I declare it is not that which enters the body by the mouth or gains access to the mind through the eyes and ears, that defiles the man. Man is only defiled by that evil which may originate within the heart, and which finds expression in the words and deeds of such unholy persons. Do you not know it is from the heart that there come forth evil thoughts, wicked projects of murder, theft, and adulteries, together with jealousy, pride, anger, revenge, railings, and false witness? And it is just such things that defile men, and not that they eat bread with ceremonially unclean hands.”
Religious Rules
The Pharisaic commissioners of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin were now nearly convinced that Michael/Jesus must be apprehended on a charge of blasphemy or on one of flouting the sacred law of the Jews; thus their efforts to involve him in the discussion of, and possible attack upon, some of the traditions of the elders, or so-called oral laws of the nation.
No matter how scarce water might be, these traditionally enslaved Jews never failed to go through with the required ceremonial washing of the hands before every meal. It was their belief that “it is better to die than to transgress the commandments of the elders.” The spies asked their question because Michael/Jesus had said, “Salvation is a matter of clean hearts rather than of clean hands.” Such beliefs, when they once become a part of one’s religion, are hard to get away from. Even many years after this day the Apostle Peter was still in the bondage to many of these traditions about things clean and unclean, only being finally delivered by experiencing an extraordinary and vivid dream.
All of this can the better be understood when it is recalled that these Jews looked upon eating with unwashed hands in the same light as commerce with a harlot, and both were equally punishable by excommunication.
Breaking the Chains of Superstition
Michael/Jesus discussed and exposed the folly of the whole rabbinic system of rules and regulations that was represented by the oral law - the traditions of the elders, all of which were regarded as more sacred and more binding upon the Jews than even the teachings of their Scriptures.
Michael/Jesus spoke critically because he knew the hour had come when he could do nothing more to prevent an open rupture of relations with the religious leaders.
An Exorcism
In the midst of the discussions in this after-meeting, one of the Pharisees from Jerusalem brought to Jesus a distraught youth who was possessed of an unruly and rebellious spirit. Leading this demented lad up to Jesus, he said: “What can you do for such affliction as this? Can you cast out devils?” And when the Master looked upon the youth, he was moved with compassion, and, beckoning the lad to come to him, took him by the hand and said: “You know who I am; come out of him; and I charge one of your loyal fellows to see that you do not return.” Immediately the lad was normal and in his right mind.
This is the first case where Michael/Jesus cast an “evil spirit” out of a human being. All of the previous cases were only supposed possession by the devil; but this was a genuine case of demoniac possession, such as occurred sometimes in those days right up to the day of Pentecost, when the Master’s spirit was poured out upon all flesh (the Spirit of Truth), making it forever impossible for these few celestial rebels to take advantage of unstable types of human beings.
Blinded by Prejudice
When the people marveled at Michael/Jesus' exorcism, one of the Pharisees stood up and charged that Jesus could do these things because he was in league with devils; that he admitted in the language which he employed in casting out this devil that they were known to each other; and he went on to state that the religious teachers and leaders at Jerusalem had decided that Jesus did all his so-called miracles by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of devils. The Pharisee said: “Have nothing to do with this man; he is in partnership with Satan.”
Michael/Jesus replied: “How can Satan cast out Satan? A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand; if a house be divided against itself, it is soon brought to desolation. Can a city withstand a siege if it is not united? If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? But you should know that no one can enter into the house of a strong man and despoil his goods except he first overpower and bind that strong man. And so, if I by the power of Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I, by the spirit of God, cast out devils, then has the kingdom of God truly come upon you. If you were not blinded by prejudice and misled by fear and pride, you would easily perceive that one who is greater than devils stands in your midst. You compel me to declare that he who is not with me is against me, while he who gathers not with me scatters abroad. Let me utter a solemn warning to you who would presume, with your eyes open and with premeditated malice, knowingly to ascribe the works of God to the doings of devils! Verily, verily, I say to you, all your sins shall be forgiven, even all of your blasphemies, but whosoever shall blaspheme against God with deliberation and wicked intention shall never obtain forgiveness. Since such persistent workers of iniquity will never seek nor receive forgiveness, they are guilty of the sin of eternally rejecting divine forgiveness.
Self Incrimination
“Many of you have this day come to the parting of the ways; you have come to a beginning of the making of the inevitable choice between the will of the Father and the self-chosen ways of darkness. And as you now choose, so shall you eventually be.
You must either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else will the tree become corrupt and its fruit corrupt. I declare that in my Father’s eternal kingdom the tree is known by its fruits. But some of you who are as vipers, how can you, having already chosen evil, bring forth good fruits? After all, out of the abundance of the evil in your hearts your mouths speak.”
Proof of Authenticity
Then stood up another Pharisee, who said: “Teacher, we would have you give us a predetermined sign which we will agree upon as establishing your authority and right to teach. Will you agree to such an arrangement?” And when Michael/Jesus heard this, he said: “This faithless and sign-seeking generation seeks a token, but no sign shall be given you other than that which you already have, and that which you shall see when the Son of Man departs from among you.”
When he had finished speaking, his apostles surrounded him and led him from the Capernaum synagogue. In silence they journeyed home with him to Bethsaida. They were all amazed and somewhat terror-stricken by the sudden change in the Master’s teaching tactics. They were wholly unaccustomed to seeing him perform in such a militant manner.
The Michael Creator Sons
The Paradise Creator Sons (Michaels) are brought into being by the Universal Father and the Eternal Son.
The Michaels serve not only as Paradise Sons in their descending ministrations of service and bestowal, but when they have completed their bestowal careers, each functions as a universe Father in his own creation.
The Creator Sons are the makers and rulers of the local universes of time and space. Each Creator Son is different from every other. Each is unique in nature as well as in personality, so each is the “only-begotten Son” of the perfect deity ideal of his origin.
In the vast work of organizing, evolving, and perfecting a local universe, these high Sons always enjoy the sustaining approval of the Universal Father. The profound affection of the Deity parents for their divine progeny is the wellspring of that beautiful and well-nigh divine love that even mortal parents bear for their children.
The order of Michael Sons know the grand universe from end to end. There is no essential experience of any of the children of time and space in which the Michaels have not personally participated. They are partakers not only of the divine nature but also of mortal nature, meaning all natures, from the highest to the lowest.
Time into Eternity
Time spent in a mortal's temporal existence in the worlds of Time and Space is very brief in comparison to all of Time. It is difficult to understand why a mortal would choose a moment of transient material satisfaction over a spiritually perfected growth in eternity.
It is helpful to man’s cosmic orientation to gain all possible comprehension of Deity’s relation to the cosmos. While absolute Deity is eternal in nature, the Gods are related to time as an experience in eternity. In the evolutionary universes, eternity is temporal everlastingness - the everlasting now.
The personality of the mortal creature may eternalize by self-identification with the indwelling spirit through the technique of choosing to do the will of the Father. Such a consecration of will is tantamount to the realization of eternity-reality of purpose. This means that the purpose of the creature has become fixed with regard to the succession of moments. The succession of moments will see no change in creature purpose. A million or a billion moments makes no difference. Number has ceased to have meaning with regard to the creature’s purpose.
The creature's choice plus God’s choice result in the eternal realities of the never-ending union of the spirit of God and the nature of man in the everlasting service of the children of God and of their Paradise Father.
Bardos
In Tibetan Buddhism, a bardo is the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth.
In the larger sense, a bardo maybe the dwelling where energy cells of the Unqualified Absolute are housed after reaching each evolutionary threshold before the human personality phase.
Fragments of the Unqualified Absolute have been progressing for innumerable ages from the smallest particles of energy (the ultimaton) through countless programmed transformations of physical, chemical, and living forms.
All of the bardos may exist in the Paradise reservoirs since the energy cells having gone out from Paradise must return to Paradise, even if age upon age is required for the completion of the ordained circuit. That which is of Paradise Deity origin can only have a Paradise destination or a Deity destiny.
All of the energy fragments of the Unqualified Absolute were mandated to be personified deity by the Universal Father.
It is from the selection of potential personalities at the human level that the social engineering seraphim select the human family groups for trial lives with the free will to test their worthiness to survive and pass into the morontia state (the level between flesh and spirit) or to reenter the bardo stripped of their human personalities because of their opting for materialistic values.
Recaptitulation
Each Michael Son is the unique “only begotten son” of one of more than seven hundred thousand original thoughts for the Michael Creator Sons conceived by the Universal Father and the Eternal Son.
Following his final bestowal as a human, the Michael Creator Son becomes the Universal Father of his universe. The Divine Minister evolves as the acting Infinite Spirit.
The Creator Son's personified Thought Adjuster provides the Creator Son perfect harmony with the will of the Universal Father.
All fragments of the Unqualified Absolute are initially identical cells of energy that evolve materially and in mind until each Unqualified Absolute fragment reaches the stage of indwelling a human mind. The social engineering seraphim provide the testing experiences measured against the resulting human reactions and decisions (guided by the Unqualified Absolute fragment, the Thought Adjuster).
The child of the Thought Adjuster and the mortal personality (the morontia soul) reflects the mortal personality and is the mechanism for escaping the life in the flesh.
The triad of the Thought Adjuster, the human personality, and the soul participate to make each fragment of the Unqualified Absolute unique.
When all the fragments of the Unqualified Absolute are fused with their souls and personalities, and after completing the ages of the Supreme, the Ultimate, and the Absolute, the unity of the Unqualified Absolute will be a personified deity as mandated by the Universal Father when Time and Space began.
Fear and Despondency
Time and again Michael/Jesus tested his apostles by deliberately dashing their hopes, but no time of disappointment or season of sorrow ever equaled that which now overtook them following his sermon at the Capernaum synagogue. Along with their depression, they feared for their safety. They were all surprised by the suddenness and completeness of the desertion of the populace. They were frightened as well by the unexpected boldness and assertive determination exhibited by the Pharisees who had come down from Jerusalem. Most of all they were bewildered by Michael/Jesus’ sudden change of tactics. Under ordinary circumstances they would have welcomed the appearance of his more militant attitude, but coming as it did, along with so much that was unexpected, it alarmed them.
About midnight after Michael/Jesus' sermon, Joab, the leader of the evangelists, announced that about one third of his associates had deserted the cause. All through the evening loyal disciples reported that the revulsion of feeling toward Michael/Jesus was growing in Capernaum. The leaders from Jerusalem fed the feeling of disaffection and in every way possible sought to promote movement away from Michael/Jesus and his teachings.
After the Day of Crisis
A little after midnight, Michael/Jesus addressed the twelve and their associates, numbering about thirty in all. He said: “I recognize that this sifting of the kingdom distresses you, but it is unavoidable. Still, after all the training you have had, was there any good reason why you should stumble at my words? Why is it that you are filled with fear and consternation when you see the kingdom being divested of these lukewarm multitudes and these halfhearted disciples? Why do you grieve when the new day is dawning for the shining forth in new glory of the spiritual teachings of the kingdom of heaven? If you find it difficult to endure this test, what, then, will you do when the Son of Man must return to the Father? When and how will you prepare yourselves for the time when I ascend to the place whence I came to this world?
“My beloved, you must remember that it is the spirit that quickens; the flesh and all that pertains thereto is of little profit. The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Be of good cheer! I have not deserted you. Many shall be offended by the plain speaking of these days. Already you have heard that many of my disciples have turned back; they walk no more with me. From the beginning I knew that these halfhearted believers would fall out by the way. Did I not choose you twelve men and set you apart as ambassadors of the kingdom? And now at such a time as this would you also desert? Let each of you look to his own faith, for one of you [Judas] stands in grave danger.”
When Michael/Jesus had finished speaking, Simon Peter said: “Yes, Lord, we are sad and perplexed, but we will never forsake you. You have taught us the words of eternal life. We have believed in you and followed with you all this time. We will not turn back, for we know that you are sent by God.” And as Peter ceased speaking, they all with one accord nodded their approval of his pledge of loyalty.
Saturday Night, April 30th, 29 A.D.
As Michael/Jesus spoke words of comfort and courage to his downcast and bewildered disciples, at Tiberias a council was held between Herod Antipas and a group of special commissioners representing the Jerusalem Sanhedrin.
These scribes and Pharisees urged Herod to arrest Michael/Jesus. They did their best to convince Herod that Michael/Jesus was stirring up the populace to dissension and rebellion. But Herod refused to take action against him as a political offender. Herod's advisers had correctly reported the episode across the lake when the people sought to proclaim Michael/Jesus king and how he rejected the proposal.
Sunday, May 8th, 29 A.D.
At Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin passed a decree closing all the synagogues of Palestine to Michael/Jesus and his followers. This was a new and unprecedented usurpation of authority by the Jerusalem Sanhedrin. Theretofore, each synagogue had existed and functioned as an independent congregation of worshipers and was under the rule and direction of its own board of governors. Only the synagogues of Jerusalem had been subject to the authority of the Sanhedrin.
One hundred messengers were dispatched to convey and enforce this decree. Within two weeks every synagogue in Palestine except for the synagogue at Hebron obeyed the manifesto of the Sanhedrin. Hebron was where John the Baptist herded his sheep while awaiting his calling.
The Order to Arrest Michael/Jesus
Sunday, May 22nd, 29 A.D. In the morning, before daybreak, one of David's messengers arrived from Tiberias, bringing word that Herod had authorized the arrest of Michael/Jesus by the officers of the Sanhedrin. Receipt of the news of this impending danger caused David Zebedee to arouse his messengers and send them out to all the local groups of disciples, summoning them for an emergency council at seven o'clock that morning. When the sister-in-law of Jude (the brother of Michael/Jesus) heard this alarming report, she sent word to all of Michael/Jesus' family who dwelt near by, summoning them to assemble at Zebedee's house. In response Mary, James, Joseph, Jude, and Ruth gathered together at the Zebedee home as well.
Michael/Jesus Responds to His Impending Arrest
For three years Michael/Jesus has been proclaiming that he was the "Son of Man," For these same three years the apostles had increasingly insisted that he was the expected Jewish Messiah.
Michael/Jesus now revealed that he was both the Son of Man and the Son of God, and as the combined nature of the Son of Man and the Son of God, he would build the kingdom of heaven.
Bridging the Spiritual and Material Worlds
Friday, August 12th, 29 A.D. Near sundown. Michael/Jesus and his associates reached the foot of Mount Hermon, near the place where the lad Tiglath had once waited while the Master ascended the mountain alone to settle the spiritual destinies of Urantia (Earth) and to technically terminate the Lucifer rebellion. Here Michael/Jesus and the apostles sojourned for two days to prepare spiritually for the major event to follow, the Transfiguration.
The God Gap
Brown, Dan. Origin: A Novel (pp. 82-89). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Ancient humans were perplexed by phenomena in their universe that they couldn't understand. To cope with these mysteries, they created a pantheon of gods and goddesses to explain anything that was beyond their understanding such as thunder, tides, earthquakes, volcanoes, infertility, plagues, and love.
For example, the seasonal change to winter, was attributed to the planet’s sadness at Persephone’s annual abduction into the underworld. For the Romans, volcanoes were believed to be the home of Vulcan (blacksmith to the gods) who worked in a giant forge beneath a mountain, causing flames to spew out of the chimney.
The invented gods not only explained the mysteries of the planet, but also the mysteries of their own bodies. Infertility was caused by falling out of favor with the goddess Juno. Love was the result of being targeted by Eros. Epidemics were explained as a punishment sent by Apollo.
Gods filled the countless gaps in scientific knowledge.
Scientific Discoveries Expelled the Invented Gods
Brown, Dan. Origin: A Novel (pp. 82-89). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Over the centuries, scientific knowledge increased. As the gaps in man's understanding of the natural world was diminished, the pantheon of gods shrank. For example, when men realized that the tides were caused by lunar cycles, Poseidon was no longer necessary, so he was banished as a foolish myth of an unenlightened time.
The same fate befell all the gods of superstition and ignorance – they died off, one by one. But the gods did not go gently. It is difficult for a culture to abandon its deities. Spiritual beliefs are etched deeply into human psyches at a young age by parents, teachers, and religious leaders. Religious belief shifts occur over generations, and not without angst, and often bloodshed.
Eventually, a single god remained - an iconic wizened face with a flowing white beard, Zeus, the god of all gods. Zeus was the most feared and revered of all the pagan deities.
Zeus, more than any other god, resisted his own extinction, mounting a heroic battle against his dying. Followers were so resistant to giving up on Zeus that the conquering faith of Christianity had to adopt the face of Zeus as the face of their new God depicted in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Science Substitutes Theories for Knowledge Gaps
Brown, Dan. Origin: A Novel (p. 392-398). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Because work (the displacement of an object due to force) is obtained from ordered molecular motion, the amount of entropy (decay) is also a measure of the molecular disorder, or randomness, of a system.
Entropy dissolves organized structure. Humans build sand castles, but waves never deposit sand on beaches in the shape of sand castles. Rather, the waves redistribute the matter constructed by humans.
Jeremy England, an MIT professor of physics, theorizes that Nature functions with one goal - to disperse energy. When the universe finds areas of focused energy, it disseminates that energy. However, England suggests that there is an additional dimension to entropy. England theorizes that the universe dissipates energy by first organizing molecules. There are many examples of molecules apparently organizing themselves prior to the redistribution of molecules. One example is a tornado vortex. Tornadoes dispel a concentrated area of high pressure by converting it into a rotational force that then exhausts itself.
Even life itself is an exceptionally effective tool for dissipating energy. A tree absorbs the energy of the sun, uses it to grow, and then emits infrared light - a much less focused form of energy that is invisible to humans. Photosynthesis is also an effective entropy machine. The concentrated energy of the sun is dissolved and weakened by the tree, resulting in an overall increase in the entropy of the universe. The same can be said for all living organisms - including humans - that consume organized matter as food, convert it to energy, and then dissipate the energy back into the universe as heat.
Scientific Atheism
There have always been people who did not believe in God, but science today has made it more acceptable to be an atheist. As science continues to explain progressively more of how the world works, there is less need for Gods to fill the the gaps in human knowledge. For this reason, many scientists predict that religion will go into a long, steady decline.
Creationism
Creationists base their beliefs on a strict, literal interpretation of scripture in religion, including the creation stories found in Genesis and the Quran. Creationists reject the scientific theory of evolution.
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.
Revelation
The Urantia Book (the most recent revelation) identifies the work of controlling physical or material energy as the effort of Master Physical Controllers, Universe Power Centers, and energy manipulators ranging at levels from Paradise to the planets.
The Energy Explanation Science is Seeking
Chaos (turbulence) and entropy (decay) are the universe's method of releasing the components of energy forms to higher levels of material evolution.
The Supreme Power Centers of Time and Space are distributed throughout the seven super universes. They number, with their associates and subordinates, approximately ten billion. And they are all in perfect synchrony and complete liaison with their Paradise associates. The power control of the grand universe is entrusted to the keeping and direction of the Seven Master Spirits who created the Seven Supreme Power Directors.
Power centers and physical controllers undergo no training. They are all created in perfection and are inherently perfect in action.
Having no ascendant past to revert to in memory, power centers and physical controllers are always working. They never play. There is no provision in the universal scheme for the interruption of the physical lines of energy. These beings can never relinquish their direct supervision of the energy circuits of time and space for even a fraction of a second.
The directors, centers, and controllers of power have nothing to do with anything in all creation except power, material or semi-physical energy. They do not originate it, but they do modify, manipulate, and directionize it (that is, impel it in some direction).
The Master Force Organizers
The force organizers reside on Paradise, but they function throughout the master universe, particularly in the domains of unorganized space (which is in the process of construction). These beings are neither creators nor creatures. The Primary Master Force Organizers are the manipulators of the primordial or basic space-forces of the Unqualified Absolute; they are nebulae creators. They are the living instigators of the energy cyclones of space and the early organizers and directionizers of these gigantic manifestations. These force organizers transmute primordial force (pre-energy not responsive to direct Paradise gravity) into primary energy transmuting from the exclusive grasp of the Unqualified Absolute to the gravity grasp of the Isle of Paradise. The primordial-force manipulators work exclusively under the supervision of the Architects of the Master Universe. Their actions are succeeded by the associate force organizers, who continue the process of energy transmutation from the primary through the secondary or gravity-energy stage.
Upon the completion of the plans for the creation of a local universe, signaled by the arrival of a Creator Son, the Associate Master Force Organizers retire giving way to the orders of power directors acting in the super universe of astronomic jurisdiction.
The Transfiguration
Monday, August 15, 29 A.D. Michael/Jesus knew what was to transpire on the mountain, and he desired that all his apostles might share this experience. He lingered with them at the foot of the mountain to spiritually prepare them for the revelation of himself. But the apostles could not attain the spiritual levels that would justify their exposure to the full experience of the visitation of the celestial beings soon to appear on earth. Since he could not take all of his associates with him, he decided to take only the three who normally accompanied him on his meditations and vigils. Accordingly, only Peter, James, and John shared even a part of this unique experience with the Master.
About three o’clock on this beautiful afternoon on Mount Hermon, Michael/Jesus took leave of the three apostles, saying: “I go apart by myself for a season to commune with the Father and his messengers; I bid you tarry here and, while awaiting my return, pray that the Father’s will may be done in all your experience in connection with the further bestowal mission of the Son of Man.” After saying this, Michael/Jesus withdrew for a long conference with Gabriel and the Father Melchizedek, not returning until about six o’clock. Noting the anxiety of Peter, James, and John over his prolonged absence, he said: “Why were you afraid? You well know I must be about my Father’s business; wherefore do you doubt when I am not with you? I now declare that the Son of Man has chosen to go through his full life in your midst and as one of you. Be of good cheer; I will not leave you until my work is finished.”
While they ate their meager evening meal, Peter asked the Master, “How long do we remain on this mountain away from our brethren?” Michael/Jesus answered: “Until you shall see the glory of the Son of Man and know that whatsoever I have declared to you is true.” They talked over the affairs of the Lucifer rebellion while seated about the glowing embers of their fire until darkness drew on and the apostles’ eyes grew heavy, for they had begun their journey very early that morning.
Showtime
When Peter, James, and John had been fast asleep for about half an hour, they were suddenly awakened by a near-by crackling sound, and much to their amazement and consternation, on looking about them, they beheld Michael/Jesus conversing intimately with two brilliant beings clothed in the light of the celestial world. Michael/Jesus’ face and form shone with the luminosity of a heavenly light. These three conversed in a strange language, but from certain things said, Peter erroneously conjectured that the beings with Michael/Jesus were Moses and Elijah. In reality, they were Gabriel and the Father Melchizedek. The physical controllers had arranged for the apostles to witness this scene because of Michael/Jesus’ request.
The three apostles were so badly frightened that they were slow in collecting their wits, but Peter, who was first to recover himself, said, as the dazzling vision faded from before them and they observed Michael/Jesus standing alone: “Jesus, Master, it is good to have been here. We rejoice to see this glory. We are loath to go back down to the inglorious world. If you are willing, let us abide here, and we will erect three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Peter said this because of his confusion, and because nothing else came into his mind at just that moment.
While Peter was still speaking, a silvery cloud drew near and overshadowed the four of them. The apostles now became greatly frightened, and as they fell down on their faces to worship, they heard a voice, the same that had spoken on the occasion of Michael/Jesus’ baptism, say: “This is my beloved Son; give heed to him.” And when the cloud vanished, and Michael/Jesus was alone with the three, he reached down and touched them, saying: “Arise and be not afraid; you shall see greater things than this.” But the apostles were truly afraid; they were a silent and thoughtful trio as they made ready to descend the mountain shortly before midnight.
Uniting Spirit and Matter
When the Infinite God (the I AM) liberated himself from energy-matter, he did not desert the undeified controller of energy (the Unqualified Absolute). Rather, he mandated the deification and personification of the Unqualified Absolute through the personification and deification of every particle of energy comprising the Unqualified Absolute.
Subsequently, the separation of the I Am spawned the beginning of the unity and oneness of total deity by manifesting the oneness of the Universal Father, the duality of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son, and the Trinity of the Universal Father, Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit or Conjoint Actor.
The seven interrelationships of the Trinity gods provided the chain of gods of the subsequent triunities, triodities, the Trinity of Trinities, Havona (the Central Universe) the seven expressions of the Trinity relationships in the seven super universes and local universes of the Grand Universe and the Outer Universes (now in construction) that equate to the unity and diversity without end or limit of the continual transfer of reality from potentiality to actuality.
The Ordination of the Seventy
On November 19, 29 A.D., the ordination of the seventy at Magadan Park occurred. Abner (former lead apostle of John the Baptist) was placed at the head of this group. Four hundred believers and workers gathered on the shore of the Sea of Galilee to witness this ordination.
While Michael/Jesus formed a Women's Corps for their instruction and missionary work among women, he never ordained any women. One must assume he considered women too vulnerable to seek converts in the general population. He considered women's role as child bearers for the family equally important. Women are to be cherished by supportive men and husbands. As an extension of the family model, occupations such as teachers of children in schools should be conducted by a male and a female working together.
All Believers in Michael/Jesus know his lesson to love (care for and protect) one's brothers in the same manner as for oneself.
Michael/Jesus Notified of the Illness of Lazarus
30 A.D. By the middle of March when Michael/Jesus began the journey toward Jerusalem for Passover, over four thousand persons composed the large audience that heard Jesus or Peter preach each morning. The interest in Michael/Jesus' message had soared again.
When Martha and Mary sent word to Michael/Jesus concerning their brother Lazarus’s illness. They were confident the Master would do something about it. They knew that their brother was desperately sick, and though they hardly dared hope that Jesus would leave his work of teaching and preaching to come to their assistance, they had such confidence in his power to heal disease that they thought he would just speak the curative words, and Lazarus would immediately be made whole. When Lazarus died a few hours after the messenger left Bethany for Philadelphia, they reasoned that it was because the Master did not learn of their brother’s illness until it was too late, until he had already been dead for several hours.
But they, with all of their believing friends, were greatly puzzled by the message which the runner brought back Tuesday forenoon. The messenger insisted that he heard Jesus say, “...this sickness is really not to the death.” Neither could they understand why he sent no word to them nor otherwise proffered assistance.
Lazarus Died
It was shortly after noon when Martha started out to meet Jesus as he came over the brow of the hill near Bethany. Her brother, Lazarus, had been dead four days and had been laid away in their private tomb at the far end of the garden late on Sunday afternoon. The stone at the entrance of the tomb had been rolled in place on the morning of this day, Thursday.
When Martha met Jesus, she fell at his feet, exclaiming, “Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!” Many fears were passing through Martha’s mind, but she gave expression to no doubt, nor did she venture to criticize or question the Master’s conduct as related to Lazarus’s death. When she had spoken, Jesus reached down and, lifting her upon her feet, said, “Only have faith, Martha, and your brother shall rise again.” Then answered Martha: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day; and even now I believe that whatever you shall ask of God, our Father will give you.”
Then said Jesus, looking straight into the eyes of Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live. In truth, whosoever lives and believes in me shall never really die. Martha, do you believe this?” And Martha answered the Master: “Yes, I have long believed that you are the Deliverer, the Son of the living God, even he who should come to this world.”
Michael/Jesus having inquired for Mary, Martha went at once into the house and, whispering to her sister, said, “The Master is here and has asked for you.” And when Mary heard this, she rose up quickly and hastened out to meet Michael/Jesus, who still tarried at the place, some distance from the house, where Martha had first met him. The friends who were with Mary, seeking to comfort her, when they saw that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep.
Mixed Emotions
Martha led Mary to Jesus, and when she saw him, she fell at his feet, exclaiming, “If you had only been here, my brother would not have died!” And when Jesus saw how they all grieved over the death of Lazarus, his soul was moved with compassion.
When the mourners saw that Mary had gone to greet Jesus, they withdrew for a short distance while both Martha and Mary talked with the Master and received further words of comfort and exhortation to maintain strong faith in the Father and total resignation to the divine will.
The human mind of Michael/Jesus was mightily moved by the contention between his love for Lazarus and the bereaved sisters and his disdain and contempt for the outward show of affection manifested by some of these unbelieving and murderously intentioned Jews.
Michael/Jesus resented the show of forced and outward mourning for Lazarus by some of these professed friends inasmuch as such false sorrow was associated in their hearts with so much bitter enmity toward himself. Some of these Jews were sincere in their mourning, for they were real friends of the family.
At the Tomb of Lazarus
After Jesus had spent a few moments in comforting Martha and Mary, apart from the mourners, he asked them, “Where have you laid him?” Then Martha said, “Come and see.” And as the Master followed on in silence with the two sorrowing sisters, he wept. When the friendly Jews who followed after them saw his tears, one of them said: “Behold how he loved him. Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind have kept this man from dying?” By this time they were standing before the family tomb, a small natural cave, or declivity, in the ledge of rock which rose up some thirty feet at the far end of the garden plot.
It is difficult to explain to humans just why Michael/Jesus wept. He was truly reluctant to bring Lazarus back to the mortal life. His sisters really needed him, but Jesus regretted having to summon his friend back to experience the bitter persecution that he knew Lazarus would have to endure as a result of being the subject of the greatest of all demonstrations of the divine power of the Son of Man.
Acting Out the Human Drama Role
While this narrative unfolds as an apparently natural and normal event in human affairs, it had supernatural facilitation. When the messenger went to Michael/Jesus on Sunday, telling him of Lazarus’s illness, and while Michael/Jesus sent word that it was “not to the death,” he subsequently went to Bethany and asked the sisters, “Where have you laid him?” Even though all of this seems to indicate that the Master was proceeding after the manner of this life and in accordance with the limited knowledge of the human mind, the records of the universe reveal that Michael/Jesus’ Personalized Adjuster issued orders for the indefinite detention of Lazarus’s Thought Adjuster on the planet subsequent to Lazarus’s death. This order was made of record fifteen minutes before Lazarus breathed his last.
The divine mind of Michael/Jesus knew before Lazarus died, that he would raise him from the dead.
Many of Michael/Jesus’ enemies were inclined to sneer at his manifestations of affection, and they said among themselves: “If he thought so much of this man, why did he tarry so long before coming to Bethany? If he is what they claim, why did he not save his dear friend? What is the good of healing strangers in Galilee if he cannot save those whom he loves?” And in many other ways they mocked and made light of the teachings and works of Michael/Jesus.
Unseen Miracle Workers
On this Thursday afternoon at about half past two o’clock, the scene was all set in the little hamlet of Bethany for the enactment of the greatest of all works connected with the earth ministry of Michael of Nebadon, the greatest manifestation of divine power during his incarnation in the flesh. (His own resurrection occurred after he had been liberated by death from the bonds of mortal habitation.)
The small group assembled before Lazarus’s tomb was unaware of the presence of a vast company of all orders of celestial beings assembled and waiting, under the leadership of Gabriel, and directed by the Personalized Adjuster of Michael/Jesus. These spiritual beings were vibrating with expectancy and ready to execute the bidding of their beloved Sovereign.
When Michael/Jesus spoke the words of command, “Take away the stone,” the celestial hosts braced themselves to enact the drama of the resurrection of Lazarus in the likeness of his mortal flesh. This form of resurrection involves difficulties of execution that far transcend the usual technique of the resurrection of mortal creatures in morontia form and requires far more celestial personalities and a far greater organization of universe facilities.
Emotional Confusion
When Martha and Mary heard the command of Michael/Jesus directing that the stone in front of the tomb be rolled away, they were filled with conflicting emotions. Mary hoped that Lazarus was to be raised from the dead, but Martha feared that Lazarus would not be presentable in his appearance to Michael/Jesus, the apostles, and their friends. Martha said: “Must we roll away the stone? My brother has now been dead four days, so that by this time decay of the body has begun.” Martha said this because she was not certain as to why the Master had requested that the stone be removed. She thought maybe Michael/Jesus only wanted to take one last look at Lazarus.
As they hesitated to roll away the stone, Jesus said: “Did I not tell you at the first that this sickness was not to the death? Have I not come to fulfill my promise? And after I came to you, did I not say that, if you would only believe, you should see the glory of God? Wherefore do you doubt? How long before you will believe and obey?”
When Michael/Jesus finished speaking, his apostles, with the assistance of willing neighbors, laid hold upon the stone and rolled it away from the entrance to the tomb.
It was the common belief of the Jews that the drop of gall on the point of the sword of the angel of death began to work by the end of the third day, so that it was taking full effect on the fourth day. They allowed that the soul of man might linger about the tomb until the end of the third day, seeking to reanimate the dead body; but they firmly believed that such a soul had gone on to the abode of departed spirits before the fourth day dawned.
The Resurrection of Lazarus
The beliefs and opinions regarding the dead and the departure of the spirits of the dead served to make sure, in the minds of all who were now present at Lazarus’s tomb and subsequently to all who might hear of what was about to occur, that this was truly a case of the raising of the dead by the action of one who declared he was “the resurrection and the life.”
As the company of some forty-five mortals stood before the tomb, they could dimly see the form of Lazarus, wrapped in linen bandages, resting on the lower right side niche of the burial cave. While these earth creatures stood there in almost breathless silence, a vast host of celestial beings swung into their places preparatory to answering the signal for action when given by their commander, Gabriel.
Michael/Jesus lifted up his eyes and said: “Father, I am thankful that you heard and granted my request. I know that you always hear me, but because of those who stand here with me, I thus speak with you, that they may believe that you have sent me into the world, and that they may know that you are working with me in that which we are about to do.” And when he had prayed, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”
Though these human observers remained motionless, the invisible vast celestial host was all astir in unified action in obedience to the Creator’s word. In just twelve seconds of earth time the hitherto lifeless form of Lazarus began to move and presently sat up on the edge of the stone shelf where it had rested. His body was bound about with grave cloths, and his face was covered with a napkin. And as he stood up before them, Michael/Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.”
Immediate Reaction to the Resurrection
All, except for the apostles, and Martha and Mary, fled to the house. They were pale with fright and overcome with astonishment. While a few tarried, many hastened to their homes.
Lazarus greeted Jesus and the apostles and asked the meaning of the grave cloths and why he had awakened in the garden. Jesus and the apostles drew to one side while Martha told Lazarus of his death, burial, and resurrection. She had to explain to him that he had died on Sunday and was now brought back to life on Thursday, inasmuch as he had had no consciousness of time since falling asleep in death.
As Lazarus came out of the tomb, the Personalized Adjuster of Michael/Jesus, now chief of all Thought Adjusters in this local universe, gave command to the former Adjuster of Lazarus, now in waiting, to resume abode in the mind and soul of the resurrected man.
Then Lazarus went over to Michael/Jesus and, with his sisters, knelt at the Master’s feet to give thanks and offer praise to God. Jesus, taking Lazarus by the hand, lifted him up, saying: “My son, what has happened to you will also be experienced by all who believe this gospel except that they shall be resurrected in a more glorious form. You shall be a living witness of the truth which I spoke - I am the resurrection and the life. But let us all now go into the house and partake of nourishment for these physical bodies.”
As they walked toward the house, Gabriel dismissed the extra groups of the assembled heavenly host while he made record of the first instance on Urantia (Earth), and the last, where a mortal creature had been resurrected in the likeness of the physical body.
General Reaction to the Resurrection
Lazarus could barely comprehend what had occurred. He knew he had been very sick, but he could recall only that he had fallen asleep and been awakened. He was never able to tell anything about the four days in the tomb because he was wholly unconscious. Time is nonexistent to those in the sleep of death.
Though many believed in Michael/Jesus as a result of this mighty work, others only hardened their hearts the more to reject him. By noon the next day this story had spread over all Jerusalem. Scores of men and women went to Bethany to look upon Lazarus and talk to him. The alarmed and disconcerted Pharisees hastily called a meeting of the Sanhedrin to determine what should be done about these new developments.
Even though the testimony of the man raised from the dead did much to consolidate the faith of the mass of believers in the gospel of the kingdom, it had little or no influence on the attitude of the religious leaders and rulers at Jerusalem except to harden their decision to destroy Michael/Jesus and stop his work.
The materialistic beliefs of the Sanhedrin were totally incompatible with the spiritual teaching of Michael/Jesus. The Sanhedrin had to deny the miracle of Lazarus' resurrection to maintain their own lifestyles and their control of Jewish thought and the common people.
The Sanhedrin preferred the status quo over Truth.
The Bond of Destiny
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Destiny is more than individual. It is an overall reality shared by all. Angels (denominated Guardians of Destiny) safeguard the potentials of supremacy, ultimacy, and absoluteness, which though associated with individual souls, are the common heritage of all.
As countless finite personalities and interpersonal relationships develop, and as impersonal finite reality becomes unified under Supreme Deity, the Supreme Being increasingly actualizes. An intimate relationship unites experiential Deity and ascenders. The ascender’s awareness of this relationship is the basis of the measure of his or her progress through the seven psychic circles of cosmic growth. The ascender senses the bond with experiential Deity as a noble duty, sacred responsibility, and high meaning.
Destiny and the work of the social engineering seraphim are one.
Tuesday, April 4th, 30 A.D.
At eight o'clock the fateful meeting of the Sanhedrin is called to order. On many previous occasions this supreme court of the Jewish nation had informally decreed the death of Michael/Jesus. Many times had this august ruling body determined to put a stop to his work, but never before had they resolved to place him under arrest and to bring about his death at any and all costs.
Just before midnight, the Sanhedrin officially and unanimously voted to impose the death sentence upon both Michael/Jesus and Lazarus.
Wednesday, April 5th, 30 A.D. - Judas's Betrayal
Shortly after Michael/Jesus and John Mark left the camp, Judas Iscariot disappeared from among his brethren. He did not return until late in the afternoon. This confused and discontented apostle, notwithstanding his Master's specific request to refrain from entering Jerusalem, hurried to keep his appointment with Michael/Jesus' enemies at the home of Caiaphas the high priest.
Thursday, April 6th, 30 A.D. - Arrangements for The Last Supper
Thursday afternoon, Philip reminded the Master about the approaching Passover and inquired about his plans for its celebration. Philip had in mind the Passover supper which was due to be eaten on the evening of the next day, Friday. The apostles therefore were at a loss to understand the Master’s announcement that they would celebrate the Passover one day early. Some of them suspected that he knew he would be placed under arrest before the time of the Passover supper on Friday night and was therefore calling them together for a special supper on this Thursday evening.
Michael/Jesus had arranged to for the group to dine at the home of John Mark's parents. After receiving the greetings of welcome extended by the father and mother of John Mark, the apostles went immediately to the upper chamber while Michael/Jesus deliberately paused to talk with the Mark family. Since it had been understood beforehand that the Master was to celebrate this occasion alone with his twelve apostles, no servants were provided to wait upon them.
Final Exams
When the apostles had been shown upstairs by John Mark, they beheld a large and commodious chamber, which was completely furnished for the supper. They observed that the bread, wine, water, and herbs were all in readiness on one end of the table. Except for the end on which rested the bread and wine, this long table was surrounded by thirteen reclining couches such as would be provided for the celebration of the Passover in a well-to-do Jewish household.
Upon entering upper chamber, the twelve had noticed, just inside the door, pitchers of water, basins, and towels, for washing their dusty feet. Since no servant had been provided to render this service, the apostles began to look at one another, and each began to think to himself, who shall wash our feet? Each one thought that it would not be he who would act as the servant of the others.
While inwardly debating the foot washing dilemma, they also surveyed the seating arrangement of the table, noting the higher divan of the host with one couch on the right and eleven arranged around the table up to opposite the second seat of honor on the host’s right. The Apostles wondered whether they should seat themselves or wait for the Master to assign them their places. While they hesitated, Judas stepped over to the seat of honor, at the left of the host, and indicated that he intended to recline there as the preferred guest. Judas' decision stirred up a heated dispute among the other apostles. John Zebedee claimed the next preferred seat, the one on the right of the host. Simon Peter was so enraged at this assumption of choice positions by Judas and John that he marched clear around the table and took his place on the lowest couch, the end of the seating order. Since others had seized the high seats, Peter chose the lowest. He did this, not merely in protest against the unseemly pride of his brethren, but with the hope that Michael/Jesus would call him up to a higher seat.The rest of the apostles chose places, some near Judas and some near Peter, until all were located.
In this last rendezvous with Michael/Jesus, the apostles gave way to their old predilection for honor, preference, and personal exaltation.
Beginning the Supper
The apostles were still engaged in angry recriminations when the Master appeared in the doorway where he hesitated a moment with a look of disappointment and disapproval on his face. Without comment he went to his place. He did not disturb their seating arrangement.
Except for the fact that their feet were still unwashed, and that they were in an unpleasant frame of mind, the apostles were ready to begin the supper.
For a few moments after the Master had gone to his place, not a word was spoken. Jesus looked them all over and, relieving the tension with a smile, said: “I have greatly desired to eat this Passover with you. I wanted to eat with you once more before I suffered, and realizing that my hour has come, I arranged to have this supper with you tonight, for, as concerns the morrow, we are all in the hands of the Father, whose will I have come to execute. I shall not again eat with you until you sit down with me in the kingdom which my Father will give me when I have finished that for which he sent me into this world.”
The Blessing
After the wine and the water had been mixed, Thaddeus (one of the twin brothers) brought the cup to Michael/Jesus, who, when he had received the cup, he held it while he offered thanks. And when he had finished offering thanks, he said: “Take this cup and divide it among yourselves and, when you partake of it, realize that I shall not again drink with you the fruit of the vine since this is our last supper. When we sit down again in this manner, it will be in the kingdom to come.”
Michael/Jesus now spoke to his apostles in this manner because he knew that his hour had come. He understood that the time had come when he was to return to the Father, and that his work on earth was almost finished. The Master knew he had revealed the Father’s love, had shown forth the Father's mercy to mankind, and that he himself had completed that for which he had come into the world, even to the point of receiving all power and authority in heaven and on earth. He also knew Judas Iscariot had made up his mind to deliver him that night into the hands of his enemies. He realized that this betrayal was the work of Judas, but that it also pleased Lucifer, Satan, and Caligastia. Michael/Jesus feared none of those who sought his spiritual overthrow any more than he feared those who sought to accomplish his physical death. The Master had but one anxiety, and that was for the safety and salvation of his chosen followers. And so, with the full knowledge that the Father had put all things under his authority, the Master now prepared to enact the parable of brotherly love.
The Parable of Brotherly Love
After drinking the first cup of the Passover, it was the Jewish custom for the host to arise from the table and wash his hands. Later on in the meal and after the second cup, all of the guests likewise rose up and washed their hands. Since the apostles knew that their Master never observed these rites of ceremonial hand washing, they were curious to know what he intended to do when, after they had partaken of this first cup, he arose from the table and silently made his way over to where the water pitchers, basins, and towels had been placed. They were astonished when they saw the Master remove his outer garment, gird himself with a towel, and begin to pour water into one of the foot basins.
Imagine the amazement of these twelve men, who had so recently refused to wash one another’s feet, and who had engaged in such unseemly disputes about positions of honor at the table, when they saw Michael/Jesus make his way around the unoccupied end of the table to the lowest seat of the feast, where Simon Peter reclined, and, kneeling down in the attitude of a servant, make ready to wash Simon’s feet. As the Master knelt, all twelve arose as one man to their feet. Even the traitorous Judas so far forgot his infamy as to arise with his fellow apostles in this expression of surprise, respect, and utter amazement.
Bewilderment
Simon Peter, stood there looking down into the upturned face of his Master. Michael/Jesus said nothing. His attitude plainly revealed that he was minded to wash Simon Peter’s feet. Notwithstanding his frailties of the flesh, Peter loved the Master. This Galilean fisherman was the first human being to wholeheartedly believe in the divinity of Michael/Jesus and to make full and public confession of that belief. Since Peter so revered and honored Michael/Jesus in his heart, it was not strange that his soul resented the thought of Michael/Jesus’ kneeling there before him in the attitude of a menial servant and proposing to wash his feet as would a slave.
After a moment of this great embarrassment, Peter said, “Master, do you really mean to wash my feet?” And then, looking up into Peter’s face, Michael/Jesus said: “You may not fully understand what I am about to do, but hereafter you will know the meaning of all these things.” Then Simon Peter, drawing a long breath, said, “Master, you shall never wash my feet!” And each of the apostles nodded their approval of Peter’s firm declaration of refusal to allow Michael/Jesus to humble himself before them.
The dramatic appeal of this unusual scene at first touched the heart of even Judas Iscariot; but when his vainglorious intellect passed judgment upon the spectacle, he concluded that this gesture of humility was just one more episode which conclusively proved that Michael/Jesus could never qualify as Israel’s deliverer, and that he had made no mistake in the decision to desert the Master’s cause.
Peter's Enthusiastic Capitulation
As the the twelve apostles stood there in breathless amazement, Michael/Jesus said: “Peter, I declare that, if I do not wash your feet, you will have no part with me in that which I am about to perform.” When Peter heard this declaration, coupled with the fact that Michael/Jesus continued kneeling there at his feet, he made one of those decisions of blind acquiescence in compliance with the wish of one whom he respected and loved. As it began to dawn on Simon Peter that there was attached to this proposed enactment of service some signification that determined one’s future connection with the Master’s work, he not only became reconciled to the thought of allowing Jesus to wash his feet but, in his characteristic and impetuous manner, said: “Then, Master, wash not my feet only but also my hands and my head.”
As the Master made ready to begin washing Peter’s feet, he said: “He who is already clean needs only to have his feet washed. You who sit with me tonight are clean - but not all. But the dust of your feet should have been washed away before you sat down at meat with me. And besides, I would perform this service for you as a parable to illustrate the meaning of a new commandment which I will presently give you.”
The New Commandment
Silently, the Master went around the table washing the feet of his twelve apostles including the traitor, Judas. When Michael/Jesus had finished, he donned his cloak, returned to his place as host, and after looking over his perplexed and confused apostles, said: “Do you really understand what I have done to you? You call me Master, and you say well, for so I am. If, then, the Master has washed your feet, why was it that you were unwilling to wash one another’s feet? What lesson should you learn from this parable in which the Master so willingly does that service which his brethren were unwilling to do for one another? Verily, verily, I say to you: A servant is not greater than his master; neither is one who is sent greater than he who sends him. You have seen the way of service in my life among you, and blessed are you who will have the gracious courage so to serve. But why are you so slow to learn that the secret of greatness in the spiritual kingdom is not like the methods of power in the material world?
“When I came into this chamber tonight, you were not content proudly to refuse to wash one another’s feet, but you must also fall to disputing among yourselves as to who should have the places of honor at my table. Such honors the Pharisees and the children of this world seek, but it should not be so among the ambassadors of the heavenly kingdom. Do you not know that there can be no place of preferment at my table? Do you not understand that I love each of you as I do the others? Do you not know that the place nearest me, as men regard such honors, can mean nothing concerning your standing in the kingdom of heaven? You know that the kings of the gentiles have lordship over their subjects, while those who exercise this authority are sometimes called benefactors. But it shall not be so in the kingdom of heaven. He who would be great among you, let him become as the younger; while he who would be chief, let him become as one who serves. Who is the greater, he who sits at meat, or he who serves? Is it not commonly regarded that he who sits at meat is the greater? But you will observe that I am among you as one who serves. If you are willing to become fellow servants with me in doing the Father’s will, in the kingdom to come you shall sit with me in power, still doing the Father’s will in future glory.”
Dismissal of Judas
And when Michael/Jesus had thus spoken, they all began again to ask, “Is it I?” And as Judas, sitting on the left of his Master, again asked, “Is it I?” Michael/Jesus, dipping the bread in the dish of herbs, handed it to Judas, saying, “You have said.” But the others did not hear Michael/Jesus speak to Judas. John, who reclined on Michael/Jesus’ right hand, leaned over and asked the Master: “Who is it? We should know who it is that has proved untrue to his trust.” Michael/Jesus answered: “Already have I told you, even he to whom I gave the sop.” But it was so natural for the host to give a sop to the one who sat next to him on the left that none of them took notice of this. But Judas was painfully conscious of the meaning of the Master’s words, and he became fearful lest his brethren were likewise now aware that he was the betrayer.
Peter was highly excited by what had been said, and leaning forward over the table, he addressed John, “Ask him who it is, or if he has told you, tell me who is the betrayer.”
Michael/Jesus brought their whispering to an end by saying: “I sorrow that this evil should have come to pass and hoped even up to this hour that the power of truth might triumph over the deceptions of evil, but such victories are not won without the faith of the sincere love of truth. I would not have told you these things at this, our last supper, but I desire to warn you of these sorrows and so prepare you for what is now upon us. I have told you of this because I desire that you should recall, after I have gone, that I knew about all these evil plottings, and that I forewarned you of my betrayal. And I do all this only that you may be strengthened for the temptations and trials which are just ahead.”
Leaning over toward Judas, Michael/Jesus said: “What you have decided to do, do quickly.” And when Judas heard these words, he arose from the table and hastily left the room, going out into the night to do what he had set his mind to accomplish.
Establishing the Remembrance Supper
As they brought Michael/Jesus the third cup of wine, the “cup of blessing,” he arose from the couch and, taking the cup in his hands, blessed it, saying: “Take this cup, all of you, and drink of it. This shall be the cup of my remembrance. This is the cup of the blessing of a new dispensation of grace and truth. This shall be to you the emblem of the bestowal and ministry of the divine Spirit of Truth. And I will not again drink this cup with you until I drink in new form with you in the Father’s eternal kingdom.”
[The Creator Sons are endowed with a spirit of universe presence analogous to that of the Seven Master Spirits of Paradise. This is the Spirit of Truth which is poured out upon a world by a bestowal Son after he receives spiritual title to such a sphere. This bestowed Comforter is the spiritual force which ever draws all truth seekers towards Him who is the personification of truth in the local universe. This spirit is an inherent endowment of the Creator Son, emerging from his divine nature just as the master circuits of the grand universe are derived from the personality presences of the Paradise Deities.]
The apostles all sensed that something out of the ordinary was transpiring as they drank of this cup of blessing in profound reverence and perfect silence. The old Passover commemorated the emergence of their fathers from a state of racial slavery into individual freedom; now the Master was instituting a new remembrance supper as a symbol of the new dispensation wherein the enslaved individual emerges from the bondage of ceremony and selfishness into the spiritual joy of the brotherhood and fellowship of the liberated faith sons of the living God.
When they had finished drinking this new cup of remembrance, the Master took up the bread and, after giving thanks, broke it in pieces and, directing them to pass it around, said: “Take this bread of remembrance and eat it. I have told you that I am the bread of life. And this bread of life is the united life of the Father and the Son in one gift. The word of the Father, as revealed in the Son, is indeed the bread of life.”
Remembrance Without Blindness
In instituting this remembrance supper, the Master, as was always his habit, resorted to parables and symbols. He employed symbols because he wanted to teach certain great spiritual truths in such a manner as to make it difficult for his successors to attach precise interpretations and definite meanings to his words. In this way he sought to prevent successive generations from crystallizing his teaching and binding down his spiritual meanings in the chains of tradition and dogma.
In the establishment of the only ceremony or sacrament associated with his whole life mission, Michael/Jesus took great pains to suggest his meanings rather than to commit himself to precise definitions. He did not wish to destroy the individual’s concept of divine communion by establishing a precise form; neither did he desire to limit the believer’s spiritual imagination by formally inhibiting it. He sought to set man’s reborn soul free upon the wings of a new and living spiritual liberty.
No Costumes or Script Required
This supper of remembrance, when it is partaken of by those who are Son-believing and God-knowing, does not need the symbolism of man’s puerile misinterpretations regarding the divine presence, for upon all such occasions the Master is really present. The remembrance supper is the believer’s rendezvous with Michael/Jesus. When you become spirit-conscious, the Son is actually present, and his spirit fraternizes with the indwelling fragment of his Father (the Thought Adjuster).
After they had engaged in meditation for a few moments, Jesus continued speaking: “When you do these things, recall the life I have lived on earth among you and rejoice that I am to continue to live on earth with you and to serve through you. As individuals, contend not among yourselves as to who shall be greatest. Be you all as brethren. And when the kingdom grows to embrace large groups of believers, likewise should you refrain from contending for greatness or seeking preferment between such groups.”
Thursday Night, April 6th, 30 A.D. In the Garden at Gethsemane
Gethsemane is where Michael/Jesus and his apostles lived when they visited Jerusalem. They lived for the most part in tents, which they pitched in the shaded park, or garden, known in that day as Gethsemane. This park was situated on the western slope of the Mount of Olives not far from a brook.
It was about ten o’clock Thursday night after the last supper when Jesus led the eleven apostles from the home of Elijah and Mary Mark on their way back to the Gethsemane camp. As Michael/Jesus and the eleven made their way back to camp, the apostles began to wonder about Judas’s prolonged absence. They spoke to one another concerning the Master’s prediction that one of them would betray him, and for the first time they suspected that all was not well with Judas Iscariot.
A few moments after arriving at camp, Michael/Jesus said to them: “My friends and brethren, my time with you is now very short, and I desire that we draw apart by ourselves while we pray to our Father in heaven for strength to sustain us in this hour and henceforth in all the work we must do in his name.”
Michael/Jesus then led the way a short distance up on Mount Olivet, and in full view of Jerusalem he bade them kneel on a large flat rock in a circle about him as they had done on the day of their ordination. Then, as he stood there in the midst of them glorified in the mellow moonlight, he lifted up his eyes toward heaven and prayed aloud.
Michael/Jesus' Prayer
“Father, my hour has come; now glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. I know that you have given me full authority over all living creatures in my realm, and I will give eternal life to all who will become faith sons of God. And this is eternal life, that my creatures should know you as the only true God and Father of all, and that they should believe in him whom you sent into the world. Father, I have exalted you on earth and have accomplished the work which you gave me to do. I have almost finished my bestowal upon the children of our own creation; there remains only for me to lay down my life in the flesh. And now, O my Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before this world was and receive me once more at your right hand.
“I have manifested you to the men whom you chose from the world and gave to me. They are yours—as all life is in your hands - you gave them to me, and I have lived among them, teaching them the way of life, and they have believed. These men are learning that all I have comes from you, and that the life I live in the flesh is to make known my Father to the worlds. The truth which you have given to me I have revealed to them. These, my friends and ambassadors, have sincerely willed to receive your word. I have told them that I came forth from you, that you sent me into this world, and that I am about to return to you. Father, I do pray for these chosen men. And I pray for them not as I would pray for the world, but as for those whom I have chosen out of the world to represent me to the world after I have returned to your work, even as I have represented you in this world during my sojourn in the flesh. These men are mine; you gave them to me; but all things which are mine are ever yours, and all that which was yours you have now caused to be mine. You have been exalted in me, and I now pray that I may be honored in these men. I can no longer be in this world; I am about to return to the work you have given me to do. I must leave these men behind to represent us and our kingdom among men. Father, keep these men faithful as I prepare to yield up my life in the flesh. Help these, my friends, to be one in spirit, even as we are one. As long as I could be with them, I could watch over them and guide them, but now am I about to go away. Be near them, Father, until we can send the new teacher to comfort and strengthen them [the Spirit of Truth who arrived on Pentecost].
Continuation of Michael/Jesus' Prayer
“You gave me twelve men, and I have kept them all save one, the son of revenge, who would not have further fellowship with us. These men are weak and frail, but I know we can trust them; I have proved them; they love me, even as they reverence you. While they must suffer much for my sake, I desire that they should also be filled with the joy of the assurance of sonship in the heavenly kingdom. I have given these men your word and have taught them the truth. The world may hate them, even as it has hated me, but I do not ask that you take them out of the world, only that you keep them from the evil in the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. And as you sent me into this world, even so am I about to send these men into the world. For their sakes I have lived among men and have consecrated my life to your service that I might inspire them to be purified through the truth I have taught them and the love I have revealed to them. I well know, my Father, that there is no need for me to ask you to watch over these brethren after I have gone; I know you love them even as I, but I do this that they may the better realize the Father loves mortal men even as does the Son.
Conclusion of Prayer
“And now, my Father, I would pray not only for these eleven men but also for all others who now believe, or who may hereafter believe the gospel of the kingdom through the word of their future ministry. I want them all to be one, even as you and I are one. You are in me and I am in you, and I desire that these believers likewise be in us; that both of our spirits indwell them [the Father's Thought Adjuster and Michael's Spirit of Truth]. If my children are one as we are one, and if they love one another as I have loved them, all men will then believe that I came forth from you and be willing to receive the revelation of truth and glory which I have made. The glory which you gave me I have revealed to these believers. As you have lived with me in spirit, so have I lived with them in the flesh. As you have been one with me, so have I been one with them, and so will the new teacher ever be one with them and in them. And all this have I done that my brethren in the flesh may know that the Father loves them even as does the Son, and that you love them even as you love me. Father, work with me to save these believers that they may presently come to be with me in glory and then go on to join you in the Paradise embrace. Those who serve with me in humiliation, I would have with me in glory so that they may see all you have given into my hands as the eternal harvest of the seed sowing of time in the likeness of mortal flesh. I long to show my earthly brethren the glory I had with you before the founding of this world. This world knows very little of you, righteous Father, but I know you, and I have made you known to these believers, and they will make known your name to other generations. And now I promise them that you will be with them in the world even as you have been with me—even so.”
The Arrest and Trial of Michael/Jesus
About 11:30 pm, April 6th, 30 A.D., when Judas Iscariot started out from the temple, he was accompanied by more than sixty persons - temple guards, Roman soldiers, and curious servants of the chief priests and rulers.
As the company of armed soldiers and guards, carrying torches and lanterns, approached the garden, Judas stepped well out in front of the band that he might quickly identify Michael/Jesus so the apprehenders could arrest him before his associates could rally to his defense.
On Friday morning, April 7, 30 A.D., at about 3:30 the chief priest, Caiaphas, called the Sanhedrin court of inquiry to order and asked that Michael/Jesus be brought before them for his formal trial. The Sanhedrin, had decreed the death of Michael/Jesus by a large majority vote on three previous occasions.
Annas, the former high priest who desired to maintain his prestige as the chief ecclesiastical authority of the Jews had kept Michael/Jesus at his home following Michael/Jesus' arrest knowing that a court of Sanhedrin was waiting at the palace of his son-in-law, Caiaphas. Some thirty members of the Sanhedrin had gathered at the home of the high priest by midnight so that they would be ready to sit in judgment on Michael/Jesus when he might be brought before them. Only those members who were strongly and openly opposed to Michael/Jesus and his teaching were assembled. It required only twenty-three to constitute a trial court.
Reaction of the Celestial Onlookers
Throughout the awful hours of waiting for his trial, Michael/Jesus said nothing. The human heart (soul) cannot conceive of the shudder of indignation that swept out over a vast universe as the celestial beings witnessed the sight of their beloved Sovereign submitting himself to the will of his ignorant and misguided creatures on the sin-darkened sphere of Earth.
At 6:00 in the morning Michael/Jesus was led from the home of Caiaphas to appear before Pilate, the Roman procurator who governed Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. for confirmation of the sentence of death which the Sanhedrin court had unjustly and irregularly decreed. Michael/Jesus was taken by the temple guards, bound, and accompanied by about fifty of his accusers, including the Sanhedrin court, Judas Iscariot, the high priest, Caiaphas, and by the Apostle John.
Pontius Pilate
Pilate had been informed that Michael/Jesus would be brought before him early in the morning by those who had secured his consent the previous evening to employ the Roman soldiers to arrest the Son of Man. This trial was arranged to take place in front of the praetorium (a portion of a Roman fortress) where Pilate and his wife made their headquarters when stopping in Jerusalem.
Though Pilate conducted much of Jesus’ examination within the praetorium, the public trial was held outside on the steps leading up to the main entrance.
While Pontius Pilate was a fairly good administrator, he was a moral coward. He did not comprehend the nature of his task as governor of the Jews. He failed to grasp the fact that the Hebrews had a real religion, a faith for which they were willing to die, and that millions of them scattered throughout the empire, looked to Jerusalem as the shrine of their faith and held the Sanhedrin as the highest tribunal on earth.
Very early in his experience as governor, Pilate had made a series of blunders that gave the Jews great power over him. When they wanted to influence his decisions, all they had to do was to threaten an uprising, and Pilate would capitulate. The Jews knew that Pilate was afraid of them, and they employed this knowledge to the disadvantage of the governor on numerous occasions.
Trial a Travesty
Pilate's relationship with the Jewish religious leaders explains what transpired on this tragic Friday morning. It is easy to understand why the Jews presumed to dictate to Pilate - to get him up at six o’clock to try Jesus - and also why they did not hesitate to threaten to charge Pilate with treason before the emperor if he dared to refuse their demands for Michael/Jesus’ death.
A more worthy Roman governor. one who had not been subdued by the rulers of the Jews, would never have permitted the bloodthirsty religious fanatics to bring about the death of a man whom Pilate himself had declared to be innocent of their false charges.
Rome made a great mistake when it sent the second-rate Pilate to govern Palestine. The emperor, Tiberius, should have sent his best provincial administrator to govern the Jews.
Michael/Jesus Appears Before Pilate
When Michael/Jesus and his accusers gathered in front of the judgment hall, Pilate came out, and, addressing the assembled company, asked, “What accusation do you bring against this fellow?”
The Sadducees and councilors who had taken it upon themselves to unburden themselves of Michael/Jesus had determined to go before Pilate and ask for confirmation of the death sentence pronounced upon Michael/Jesus without offering any definite charges. Therefore the spokesman for the Sanhedrin court answered Pilate: “If this man were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up to you.”
Pilate knew about Michael/Jesus’ work among the Jews, and he surmised that the charges that might be brought against him had to do with infringements of the Jewish ecclesiastical laws. Therefore, he sought to refer the case back to their own tribunal. Pilate said: “I will not sentence this man to death without a trial; neither will I consent to examine him until you have presented your charges against him in writing.”
The Written Charges
“We find in the Sanhedrist tribunal that this man is an evildoer and a disturber of our nation in that he is guilty of:
1. Perverting our nation and stirring up our people to rebellion.
2. Forbidding the people to pay tribute to Caesar.
3. Calling himself the king of the Jews and teaching the founding of a new kingdom.
Michael/Jesus had not been regularly tried nor legally convicted on any of these charges. He had not even heard these charges, but Pilate now had him brought from the praetorium, where he was in the keeping of the guards, and he insisted that these charges be repeated in Michael/Jesus’ hearing. When Michael/Jesus heard these accusations, he made no reply. Even when Pilate bade him answer his accusers, he remained silent.
Pilate was stirred by the spectacle of Michael/Jesus’ standing there in majesty before his bloodthirsty accusers gazing down on them, not in silent contempt, but with an expression of genuine pity and sorrowful affection.
Astonished at the unfairness of the whole proceeding and so impressed by Michael/Jesus’ silent and masterly bearing, Pilate decided to take the prisoner inside the hall and examine him privately.
Claudia's Implanted Dream
While Pilate had pondered the problem of what to do with Michael/Jesus, a messenger came and gave him a sealed message from his wife, Claudia.
Pilate paused to read the communication before he proceeded with the official matter before him. When Pilate opened the letter, he read: “I pray you have nothing to do with this innocent and just man whom they call Jesus. I have suffered many things in a dream this night because of him.” This note from Claudia greatly upset Pilate and further delayed the adjudication of the Michael/Jesus trial.
Claudia had heard much of Jesus through her maid-in-waiting who was a Phoenician believer in the gospel of the kingdom.
[Claudia too became a Christian. She worked to spread Michael/Jesus' gospel following the death of Pilate.]
Pilate's Private Examination
Pilate took Michael/Jesus and John Zebedee into a private chamber. Leaving the guards outside in the hall, and requesting the prisoner to sit down, Pilate sat down by Michael/Jesus' side. Pilate began his talk with Michael/Jesus by assuring him that he did not believe the first count against him (that he was a perverter of the nation and an inciter to rebellion). Then he asked, “Did you ever teach that tribute should be refused Caesar?” Michael/Jesus, pointing to John, said, “Ask him or any other man who has heard my teaching.” Then Pilate questioned John about the matter of tribute, and John explained that Michael/Jesus and his apostles paid taxes to both Caesar and to the temple.
Pilate then turned back to Michael/Jesus saying: “And now about the third accusation against you, are you the king of the Jews?” Since there was a tone of possibly sincere inquiry in Pilate’s voice, Michael/Jesus smiled on the procurator and said: “Pilate, do you ask this for yourself, or do you take this question from these others, my accusers?” Whereupon, in a tone of partial indignation, the governor answered: “Am I a Jew? Your own people and the chief priests delivered you up and asked me to sentence you to death. I question the validity of their charges and am only trying to find out for myself what you have done. Tell me, have you said that you are the king of the Jews, and have you sought to found a new kingdom?”
Affirmation of Kingship
Then Michael/Jesus said: “Do you not perceive that my kingdom is not of this world? If my kingdom were of this world, surely would my disciples fight that I should not be delivered into the hands of the Jews. My presence here before you in these bonds is sufficient to show all men that my kingdom is a spiritual dominion, even the brotherhood of men who, through faith and by love, have become the sons of God. And this salvation is for the gentile as well as for the Jew.”
“Then you are a king after all?” said Pilate. And Michael/Jesus answered: “Yes, I am such a king, and my kingdom is the family of the faith sons of my Father who is in heaven. For this purpose was I born into this world, even that I should show my Father to all men and bear witness to the truth of God. And even now do I declare to you that every one who loves the truth hears my voice.”
Not Guilty
Like most people hearing Michael/Jesus' words for the first time, Pilate was unable to grasp their meaning, or to understand the nature of his spiritual kingdom. However, he was certain that the prisoner had done nothing worthy of death. One look at Jesus, face to face, was enough to convince even Pilate that this gentle and weary, but majestic and upright, man was no wild and dangerous revolutionary who aspired to establish himself on the temporal throne of Israel. Pilate thought he understood something of what Michael/Jesus meant when he called himself a king, for he was familiar with the teachings of the Stoics, who declared that “the wise man is king.” Pilate was thoroughly convinced that, instead of being a dangerous rebel, Michael/Jesus was nothing more or less than a harmless visionary, an innocent fanatic.
After questioning the Master, Pilate went back to the chief priests and the accusers of Jesus and said: “I have examined this man, and I find no fault in him. I do not think he is guilty of the charges you have made against him; I think he ought to be set free.” And when the Jews heard this, they were moved with great anger, so much so that they wildly shouted that Michael/Jesus should die; and one of the Sanhedrists boldly stepped up by the side of Pilate, saying: “This man stirs up the people, beginning in Galilee and continuing throughout all Judea. He is a mischief-maker and an evildoer. You will long regret it if you let this wicked man go free.”
When Pilate heard that Michael/Jesus began his work in Galilee, he decided to send Michael/Jesus to appear before Herod, who was then in the city attending the Passover.
Levels of Men
1. The level of the flesh.
This level of mankind is selfish, lustful, and concerned only with seeking physical pleasures.
2. The level of the feelings.
This plane of man's personal evolution embodies a sympathy and pity enabling an interpretation of the rule of living, which is do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
3. The level of mind.
This level of development brings into action the reason of mind and the intelligence of experience. Good judgment dictates that the rule of living be interpreted with idealism and with the nobility of profound self-respect.
4. The level of brotherly love.
Still further advanced, this person discovers the level of unselfish devotion to the welfare of one’s fellows. On this higher plane is wholehearted social service growing out of the consciousness of the fatherhood of God with the consequent recognition of the brotherhood of man. Here is discovered a far more beautiful interpretation of the rule of life.
5. The moral level.
When a man or woman attains true philosophic levels of interpretation enabling real insight into the rightness and wrongness of things, when he or she perceives the eternal robustness of human relationships, this mortal begins to view problems of interpretation of the rule of life as would be imagined by a high-minded, idealistic, wise, and impartial third person.
6. The spiritual level.
Greatest of all, when the level of spirit insight and spiritual interpretation is attained, individuals recognize in the rule of life the divine command to treat all men as God would treat them. This is the universe ideal of human relationships. This is the supreme desire to do the Father’s will.
Michael/Jesus Before Herod
As directed by Pilate, Michael/Jesus was now taken by the temple guards to Herod's palace. He was followed by his accusers and an increasing multitude of people.
Herod had long heard of Jesus, and he was very curious about him. When the Son of Man stood before him, Herod did not recognize Michael/Jesus as the lad who had appeared before him in Sepphoris pleading for a just decision regarding the money due his father. Now that he was in the custody of Pilate and the Judeans, Herod desired to see him. Herod had heard about the miracles wrought by Jesus, and he hoped to see him do some wonder.
When the guards brought Michael/Jesus before Herod, the tetrarch was startled by his stately appearance and the calm composure of his countenance. For some fifteen minutes Herod asked Michael/Jesus questions, but the Master would not answer. Herod taunted and dared him to perform a miracle, but Michael/Jesus would not reply to his many inquiries or respond to his taunts.
Herod then turned to the chief priests and the Sadducees and listened to all and more than Pilate had heard regarding the alleged evil doings of the Son of Man. Finally, being convinced that Michael/Jesus would neither talk nor perform a wonder for him, Herod arrayed him in an old purple royal robe and sent him back to Pilate.
Michael/Jesus Returned to Pilate
When the guards brought Michael/Jesus back to Pilate, Pilate went out on the front steps of the praetorium where his judgment seat had been placed, and called together the chief priests and Sanhedrists. He said to them: “You brought this man before me with charges that he perverts the people, forbids the payment of taxes, and claims to be king of the Jews. I have examined him and fail to find him guilty of these charges. In fact, I find no fault in him. Then I sent him to Herod, and the tetrarch must have reached the same conclusion since he has sent him back to us. Certainly, nothing worthy of death has been done by this man. If you still think he needs to be disciplined, I am willing to chastise him before I release him.” [A tetrarch in the Roman empire was the governor of the fourth part of a province.]
Just as the Jews were about to engage in shouting their protests against the release of Michael/Jesus, another large crowd marched up to the praetorium to ask Pilate for the release of a prisoner in honor of the Passover feast. (For some time it had been the custom of the Roman governors to allow the populace to choose some imprisoned or condemned man for pardon at the time of the Passover.) And now this crowd had come before him to ask for the release of a prisoner. Since Michael/Jesus had so recently been in great favor with the multitudes, it occurred to Pilate that he might possibly extricate himself from his predicament by proposing to this new group that since Michael/Jesus was now a prisoner before his judgment seat, he would release to them this man of Galilee as a token of Passover good will.
Crucify Him!
As the crowd surged up onto the steps of the building, Pilate heard them calling out the name, “Barabbas.” Barabbas was a noted political agitator and murderous robber, the son of a priest, who had recently been apprehended in the act of robbery and murder on the Jericho road. Barabbas was under sentence to die as soon as the Passover festivities were over.
Pilate stood up and explained to the crowd that Michael/Jesus had been brought to him by the chief priests, who sought to have him put to death, and that he did not think the charges or the man were worthy of death. Pilate said: “Which, therefore, would you prefer that I release to you, this Barabbas, the murderer, or this Jesus of Galilee?” And when Pilate had spoken, the chief priests and the Sanhedrin councilors all shouted at the top of their voices, “Barabbas, Barabbas!” Once more, Pilate addressed himself to the solution of the problem which confronted him, by asking the mixed assembly of Jewish rulers and the pardon-seeking crowd, “What shall I do with him who is called the king of the Jews?” And they all shouted with one accord, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” The unanimity of this demand from the multitude distressed Pilate.
Pilate responded: “Why would you crucify this man? What evil has he done? Who will come forward to testify against him?” But when they heard Pilate speak in defense of Michael/Jesus, the crowd only cried out all the more, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Again Pilate appealed to them saying: “Once more I ask you, which of these prisoners shall I release to you at this, your Passover time?” Again the crowd shouted, “Give us Barabbas!”
Then said Pilate: “If I release the murderer, Barabbas, what shall I do with Jesus?” Again the multitude shouted in unison, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Pilate was terrorized by the insistent clamor of the mob acting under the direct leadership of the chief priests and the councilors of the Sanhedrin. Nevertheless, he decided upon another attempt to appease the crowd and save Michael/Jesus.
Pilate’s Last Appeal
Afraid to defy the clamor of the mob who cried for the blood of Michael/Jesus, Pilate ordered the Jewish guards and the Roman soldiers to scourge him. The guards took Michael/Jesus into the open courtyard of the praetorium for the torture. Before the scourgers laid their knotted whips upon Michael/Jesus, he was bound to the whipping post. He was dressed in the purple robe, and had a crown of plaited thorns placed upon his brow. Scornfully, the scourgers placed a reed in his hand as a mock scepter, and knelt before him saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Then they spit upon Michael/Jesus and struck him in the face. Though his enemies did not witness the scourging, Pilate did. Before the scourgers finished the whipping, Pilate ordered a cessation of the whipping, and had Michael/Jesus brought to him. One of the scourgers struck Michael/Jesus a final blow on the head with the reed before returning him to Pilate.
Pilate then led forth the bleeding and lacerated prisoner and presented him to the multitude. Pilate said: “Behold the man! Again I declare to you that I find no crime in him, and having scourged him, I would release him.”
Michael/Jesus stood there clothed in the old purple royal robe with a crown of thorns piercing his brow. His face was bloodstained and his body bowed with suffering and grief. The sight sent a shudder through the realms of a vast universe. But nothing can appeal to the unfeeling hearts of those who are victims of intense emotional hatred and slaves to religious prejudice. When the the crowd had recovered from the first shock of seeing the Master’s plight, they only shouted louder and longer, “Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Pilate's Final Interview
Finally, Pilate understood the futility of appealing to any feelings of pity in the crowd. He stepped forward and said: “I perceive that you are determined this man shall die, but what has he done to deserve death? Who will declare his crime?”
The high priest stepped forward and, going up to Pilate, angrily declared: “We have a sacred law, and by that law this man ought to die because he made himself out to be the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this, he was all the more afraid, not only of the Jews, but recalling the Greek mythology of the gods coming down to earth, he now trembled at the thought of Michael/Jesus possibly being a divine personage. He waved to the crowd to hold its peace while he took Michael/Jesus by the arm and again led him inside the building to examine him further. Pilate was now confused by fear, bewildered by superstition, and intimidated by the stubborn attitude of the mob.
Pilate, trembling with emotion, sat down by the side of Jesus. He inquired: “Where do you come from? Really, who are you? What is this they say, that you are the Son of God?”
But Jesus could hardly answer such questions when asked by the fearful, weak, and vacillating judge who was so unjust as to subject him to flogging after declaring him innocent of all crime, and before he had been sentenced to die. Michael/Jesus looked Pilate in the face, but he did not answer him. Then Pilate said: “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not realize that I still have power to release you or to crucify you?” Michael/Jesus said: “You could have no power over me except it were permitted from above. You could exercise no authority over the Son of Man unless the Father in heaven allowed it. But you are not so guilty since you are ignorant of the gospel. He who betrayed me and he who delivered me to you, they have the greater sin” (Judas, the traitor, and Caiaphas, the high priest.)
Pilate Capitulates
Again Pilate appeared before the crowd, saying: “I am certain this man is only a religious offender. You should take him and judge him by your law. Why should you expect that I would consent to his death because he has clashed with your traditions?”
Pilate was just about ready to release Michael/Jesus when Caiaphas, the high priest, approached the cowardly Roman judge and, shaking an avenging finger in Pilate’s face, angrily said so the entire multitude could hear: “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend, and I will see that the emperor knows all.” [Roman Emperor, Tiberius Caesar.]
This public threat was too much for Pilate. Fear for his personal fortunes now eclipsed all other considerations, and the cowardly governor ordered Jesus brought out before the judgment seat. As the Master stood there before them, he pointed to him and tauntingly said, “Behold your king.” And the Jews answered, “Away with him. Crucify him!” And then Pilate said, with much irony and sarcasm, “Shall I crucify your king?” And the Jews answered, “Yes, crucify him! We have no king but Caesar.” Then Pilate realized there was no hope of saving Michael/Jesus since he was unwilling to defy the Jews.
A Foreshadowing
Pilate was afraid of a tumult or a riot. He dared not risk having such a disturbance during Passover time in Jerusalem. He had recently received a reprimand from Tiberias Caesar, and he would not risk another.
The mob cheered as he ordered the release of Barabbas.
Then Pilate ordered a basin of water, and before the multitude he washed his hands, saying: “I am innocent of the blood of this man. You are determined that he shall die, but I have found no guilt in him. See you to it. The soldiers will lead him forth.”
And then the mob with a prophetic telling of the future cheered and replied, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
The Suicide of Judas
On Friday morning, April 7th, 30 A.D., Judas Iscariot, recently an ambassador of the kingdom of heaven on earth walked alone through the streets of Jerusalem. He had been forsaken by the Jewish leaders with whom he had sought to ingratiate himself for thirty pieces of silver. His despair was intense. He felt hopeless.
He journeyed through the city and went outside the walls into the solitude of the valley of Hinnom where he climbed up the steep rocks and fastened one end of the girdle of his cloak to a small tree. He then tied the other end around his neck and leaped over the precipice to his death by hanging.
The Enticing Call of Destiny
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Humans, who are provided with material instincts in the interest of self and species, are also endowed with higher urges relating to destiny.
The desire to respect royalty and those considered great is designed into humans for the time when they will associate with higher beings.
Love of adventure is also embedded into people as stimulation for the Paradise ascent. Love of parents and love of offspring prepare mortals to experience the relationship between Deity and ascender. Affection for brothers and sisters prepares the way for awareness of the inter relatedness of all beings. The deep stirrings of honor, righteousness, patriotism, and religious sentiment provide a foundation for the realities of higher realms.
The eternal ascent is not a continuing accumulation of material reality by the ascender, but rather a continuing divestment simultaneous with an accompanying expansion into ever more encompassing realities.
The Crucifixion
30 A.D. - April 7, Friday morning. A little after 8:00 a.m., Pilate turned Michael/Jesus over to the soldiers. Just before nine o'clock, they started for Golgotha, the scene of the crucifixion. During this period of more than half an hour Michael/Jesus said nothing.
Shortly after 9:00 the procession arrived at Golgotha, and the Roman soldiers began nailing two brigands and the Son of Man to their respective crosses. At about 9:30, Michael/Jesus was hung upon a cross. Before 11:00, about 1,000 people had assembled to witness the spectacle of the crucifixion of the God Son of Man.
Throughout these appalling hours, the unseen hosts of a universe stood in silence while they gazed upon this extraordinary phenomenon of their Creator as he died the death of the creature - the most ignoble death of a condemned criminal.
It was just before 3:00 when Michael/Jesus, with a loud voice, cried out, "It is finished! Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." And when he had spoken, he bowed his head and gave up the life struggle. He was 4 months and 14 days short of 36 years of age.
Unconditional Trust
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
Ascenders learn to trust God in all things, discovering and rediscovering with breathless joy and burning hearts that to desire what God desires is wisdom and righteousness.
Everything is created for a purpose. Fulfillment of any reality is to do that for which it was created. For each man or woman, the highest fulfillment possible is to know and do that very thing for which he or she was created by God.
Destiny calls from infinity and eternity sweeps through the hearts of humankind as God's will.
Humans can choose to respond, becoming expressions of limitless divinity. The melody of responding human souls resonating to this vast stirring is a song that rises with them through the higher halls of reality, now and forever, even to the presence of the Infinite.
Ascenders' Destiny
Starwind, Bishop, Troy R.. Kindle Edition. (Edited.)
As eternals existing and functioning beyond the time stream, Paradise finaliters (successful ascended mortal souls and their Thought Adjusters) will traverse the far reaches of space on the divine orders of the Paradise Trinity. Personalized in living systems of timeless, spaceless reality, we prisms of the divine shining of the spiritual glory will interface with the new realities equipped with forty-nine material, seventy morontial, and two hundred-ten spiritual senses in our God-revealing missions of eternity.
At some point in the distant future, as perceived from a time-space creature’s point of view, the evolution of the Supreme will be completed and finite growth will be ended. Collectively attuned by then to the total mind of the finite and comprising a phase of Supremacy, finaliters will travel to the outer space levels of the master universe to assist life that will begin developing there to factualize the eventuation of space-time-transcendent (Ultimate) Deity.
In that future universe, with all finite growth exhausted, Paradise finaliters and other ministers of the Supreme will be indispensable to the realization of the children of the Ultimate. Making the accumulated values and meanings of time and space available, we personalities of God the Supreme will engage with the absonite beings in an undertaking to attain time-space-transcended absonite values and meanings – a concerted joint search for the Ultimate.
[Absonite is the level of reality between the finite and the absolute that is characterized by things and beings without beginning or ending and by time/space transcendence.]
Creatures Cannot Resurrect Their Creator
Soon after the burial of Michael/Jesus on Friday afternoon, the chief of the archangels of Nebadon (the local Universe), then present on Urantia, summoned his council of the resurrection of sleeping will creatures and began the consideration of a possible technique for the restoration of Michael/Jesus. These assembled sons of the local universe, the creatures of Michael, did this on their own initiative. By midnight they had arrived at the conclusion that a creature could do nothing to facilitate the resurrection of their Creator.
Gabriel consoled them saying since Michael had “laid down his life of his own free will, he also had power to take it up again in accordance with his own determination.” Shortly after the adjournment of this council, the Personalized Adjuster of Jesus, being in personal command of the assembled celestial hosts then on Urantia, spoke these words to the anxious waiting watchers:
“Not one of you can do aught to assist your Creator-father in the return to life. As a mortal of the realm he has experienced mortal death; as the Sovereign of a universe he still lives. That which you observe is the mortal transit of Jesus of Nazareth from life in the flesh to life in the morontia. The spirit transit of this Jesus was completed at the time I separated myself from his personality and became your temporary director. Your Creator-father has elected to pass through the whole of the experience of his mortal creatures, from birth on the material worlds, on through natural death and the resurrection of the morontia, into the status of true spirit existence. A certain phase of this experience you are about to observe, but you may not participate in it. Those things which you ordinarily do for the creature, you may not do for the Creator. A Creator Son has within himself the power to bestow himself in the likeness of any of his created sons; he has within himself the power to lay down his observable life and to take it up again; and he has this power because of the direct command of the Paradise Father, and I know whereof I speak.”
Resurrection Completed
At two forty-five Sunday morning, April 9th, 30 A.D., the Paradise incarnation commission, consisting of seven unidentified Paradise personalities, arrived on the scene and immediately deployed themselves about the tomb containing the body of Michael/Jesus. At ten minutes before three, intense vibrations of commingled material and morontia activities began to issue from the tomb. At two minutes past three o’clock, this Sunday morning, the resurrected morontia form and personality of Michael/Jesus of Nazareth rose from the tomb.
After the resurrected Michael/Jesus emerged from his burial tomb, the body of flesh in which he had lived and worked on earth for almost thirty-six years was still lying in the sepulcher niche, undisturbed and wrapped in the linen sheet, just as it had been laid to rest on Friday afternoon. The stone before the entrance of the tomb was not disturbed; the seal of Pilate was still unbroken; the soldiers were still on guard. The temple guards had been on continuous duty; the Roman guard had been changed at midnight. None of these watchers suspected that the object of their vigil had risen to a new and higher form of existence, and that the body which they were guarding was now a discarded outer covering that had no further connection with the delivered and resurrected morontia personality of Michael/Jesus.
Personality, Matter, Morontia, Spirit, Time, Space and Eternity
In all that relates to personality, matter is the skeleton of morontia, and both are the reflected shadow of enduring spirit reality. Time is the moving image of eternity and space is the fleeting shadow of Paradise realities.
No creature of this universe nor any personality from another universe had anything to do with the morontia resurrection of Michael/Jesus of Nazareth. On Friday he laid down his life as a mortal of the realm. On Sunday morning he took it up again as a morontia being of the system of Satania in Norlatiadek.
[To gain some perspective on the morontia resurrection of Michael/Jesus on Urantia (Earth), one must realize that our planet is comparatively isolated on the outskirts of Satania, our solar system. With one exception, Urantia is the farthest removed from Jerusem (the capital of our universe of Nebadon). Satania itself is next to the outermost system of Norlatiadek (our constellation). Norlatiadek is now traversing the outer fringe of Nebadon. Earth was among the least of all creation until Michael’s bestowal elevated Urantia (Earth) to a position of honor and great universe interest.]
There is much about the resurrection of Michael/Jesus that is not understood, but it occurred as stated at the time indicated. All known phenomena associated with this mortal transit, or morontia resurrection occurred in the new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where the mortal material remains of Michael/Jesus lay wrapped in burial cloths.
[Joseph of Arimathea, a believer in the gospel, volunteered the use of his new tomb for the internment of Michael/Jesus.]
The Morontia Awakening
Michael/Jesus' physical body was not a part of his resurrected personality. When Michael/Jesus came forth from the tomb, his body of flesh remained undisturbed in the sepulcher. He emerged from the burial tomb without moving the stone before the entrance and without disturbing the seals of Pilate.
Michael/Jesus did not emerge from the tomb as a spirit or as the creator son, Michael of Nebadon. He did not appear as he had been before his incarnation in the likeness of mortal flesh on Urantia (Earth).
Michael/Jesus came forth from the tomb in the same manner that all of the morontia personalities of those who, as resurrected morontia ascendant beings, emerge from the resurrection halls of the first mansion world of our local system of Satania in a morontia form.
The first words spoken by Michael/Jesus after rising from the tomb were to the morontia groups of the seven mansion worlds, gathered together to greet and welcome their Creator as a creature of their order. The morontia Michael/Jesus said: “Having finished my life in the flesh, I would tarry here for a short time in transition form that I may more fully know the life of my ascendant creatures and further reveal the will of my Father in Paradise.”
Beginning Life as a Morontia Creature
Michael/Jesus began making contacts at the morontia level. He was introduced, as a creature, to the requirements of the morontia life. This initiation into the morontia world required more than an hour of earth time.
The morontia resurrection of the Son of Man was completed. The transitory experience of the Master as a personality midway between matter and spirit had begun. He has done all this through the power inherent within himself. No personality rendered him any assistance.
He now lived as Michael/Jesus of morontia, and as he began this morontia life, the material body of his flesh lay undisturbed in the tomb. The soldiers were still on guard, and the seals of the governor upon the rocks was not yet broken.
Disposal of the Material Body of Michael/Jesus
At ten minutes past three o’clock, as the resurrected Michael/Jesus fraternized with the assembled morontia personalities from the seven mansion worlds, the chief of archangels - the angels of the resurrection - approached Gabriel and asked for the mortal body of Michael/Jesus.
The chief of the archangels said: “We may not participate in the morontia resurrection of the bestowal experience of Michael our sovereign, but we would have his mortal remains put in our custody for immediate dissolution. We do not propose to employ our technique of dematerialization; we merely wish to invoke the process of accelerated time. It is enough that we have seen the Sovereign live and die on Urantia; the hosts of heaven would be spared the memory of enduring the sight of the slow decay of the human form of the Creator and Upholder of a universe. In the name of the celestial intelligences of all Nebadon, I ask for a mandate giving me the custody of the mortal body of Jesus of Nazareth and empowering us to proceed with its immediate dissolution.”
The archangel spokesman was given permission to make disposition of the physical remains of Michael/Jesus.
Opening the Tomb
After the chief of archangels received permission to dispose of the physical body of Michael/Jesus, he summoned many of his fellows, along with numerous representatives of all orders of celestial personalities, and then, with the aid of the Urantia midwayers, proceeded to take possession of Michael/Jesus’ physical body.
The lifeless body was a purely material creation. It was physical and literal; it could not be removed from the tomb as the morontia form of the resurrection had been able to escape the sealed sepulcher.
As they made ready to remove the body of Michael/Jesus from the tomb to render it the dignified and reverent disposal of near-instantaneous dissolution, the secondary Urantia midwayers began to roll away the stones from the entrance of the tomb. The larger of these two stones was a huge circular affair, much like a millstone, and it moved in a groove chiseled out of the rock so that it could be rolled back and forth to open or close the tomb.
When the watching Jewish guards and the Roman soldiers, in the dim light of the morning, saw the huge stone begin to roll away from the entrance of the tomb, apparently of its own accord - without any visible means to account for its motion - they were seized with fear and panic, and they fled. The Jews fled to their homes, afterward going back to report these doings to their captain at the temple. The Romans fled to the fortress of Antonia and reported what they had seen to the centurion as soon as he arrived on duty.
The Women Discover the Empty Tomb
The morning of the resurrection, ten of the apostles were staying at the Mark home. Thomas was in solitude at the home of Simon of Bethphage. The women were at the home of Joseph of Arimathea, and other disciples were gathered at the home of Nicodemus. [Nicodemus was a wealthy and elderly member of the Jewish Sanhedrin. He was a secret believer in Michael/Jesus since hearing him teach in the temple courts.]
Five of the women followers started out for the tomb before daybreak with bandages and embalming lotions, intending to anoint and re-wrap the body of Jesus. It was half past three when these women arrived at the tomb. They were surprised to see the stone already rolled away from the entrance. (They had wondered how they would get into the tomb.) As the others stood by, Mary Magdalene nervously but boldly went inside the sepulcher.
Mary saw that Jesus' body was gone. Only the grave cloths remained on the shelf. She cried out in alarm panicking the other women who fled all the way to the Damascus gate before they rallied and returned to the tomb. Mary then showed her friends that the tomb was empty.
The First Appearances of the Morontia Michael/Jesus
As the women standing by the empty tomb discussed what they should do, Michael/Jesus interrupted his review of life in the morontia state. Then the women noticed a stranger standing nearby.
Mary Magdalene rushed over to him, asking, "Where have you taken the Master? Where have they laid him?" When the stranger did not answer, Mary began to weep. Michael/Jesus then asked, "Whom do you seek?" Mary told him that they were looking for Jesus, and asked again where he had been taken. Michael/Jesus asked, "Did not this Jesus tell you, even in Galilee, that he would die, but that he would rise again?" And then he spoke to Mary in a familiar voice, saying simply, "Mary." She recognized the voice of her Master and knelt at his feet. Mary tried to embrace Michael/Jesus' feet but he prevented her.
(The illuminated morontia body would be hurtful to flesh.) He asked the women to go back into the city to tell the apostles that he had risen.
The women hurried to the Mark home and related what they had seen and heard to the apostles. The apostles did not believe them. The Zebedee brothers Peter and John ran to look at the empty tomb for themselves. They could not understand what could have happened, thinking that perhaps the body had been stolen by the guards.
Mary Magdalene returned to the tomb disheartened that the apostles did not believe her. After Peter and John left the Master appeared to her again, telling her to have courage. Michael/Jesus asked Mary Magdalene to tell the apostles that he would soon appear before them. Mary returned to the city to speak once more with the apostles. They still did not believe, but when they heard Peter and John's reports of the empty tomb, they were filled with trepidation.
The Unshakable Faith of David Zebedee
Unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade the apostles that Michael/Jesus had risen, Mary Magdalene and the other women spread the news to the women gathered at Joseph's (of Arimathea) and to the men at Nicodemus's home.
David Zebedee and Joseph set out to inspect the tomb. They immediately went on to the Mark home and told the apostles that the tomb was empty. Only John Zebedee was faintly swayed. David declined to argue with the apostles. He took his leave of them saying, "You are the apostles, and you ought to understand these things. I heard the Master say that, after he should die, he would rise on the third day, and I believe him."
At half past nine that morning, a squadron of messengers assembled at the home of Nicodemus. David bid them to spread the message that Jesus had risen from the dead. Twenty-six runners set out to Bethany, Beersheba, Damascus, Sidon, Philadelphia, Alexandria, and other cities to spread the news.
Stunning Appearances
The entire Earth family of Jesus was assembled at the home of Martha and Mary (the sisters of Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead) when David's messenger arrived with the news of the resurrection.
As Michael/Jesus' brother James stood alone in front of Lazarus' empty tomb pondering what the messenger had told them, he became aware of a presence. He watched in amazement as a strange form appeared. Michael/Jesus said, "James, I come to call you to the service of the kingdom. Join earnest hands with your brethren and follow after me." The two brothers conversed for three minutes before Michael/Jesus said farewell. James rushed inside to tell the rest of his family what he had seen.
Two hours later Jesus appeared again at Lazarus's home, this time to almost twenty family members and believers.
The women assembled at Joseph's house were next to see Michael/Jesus. He greeted them: "Peace be upon you. In the fellowship of the kingdom there shall be neither Jew nor gentile, rich nor poor, free nor bond, man nor woman. You also are called to publish the good news of the liberty of mankind through the gospel of sonship with God in the kingdom of heaven. And I will be with you always even to the ends of the earth."
The Sixth Appearance
About half past four o’clock, at the home of Flavius, a Greek Jew, the Master made his sixth morontia appearance to some forty Greek believers assembled there. While they were engaged in discussing the reports of the Master’s resurrection, Michael/Jesus manifested himself in their midst, notwithstanding that the doors were securely fastened, and, speaking to them, said: “Peace be upon you. While the Son of Man appeared on earth among the Jews, he came to minister to all men. In the kingdom of my Father there shall be neither Jew nor gentile; you will all be brethren - the sons of God. Go you, therefore, to all the world, proclaiming this gospel of salvation as you have received it from the ambassadors of the kingdom, and I will fellowship you in the brotherhood of the Father’s sons of faith and truth.”And when he had thus charged them, he took leave, and they saw him no more.
A Remembrance Supper
Two brothers, shepherds, lived at Emmaus, about seven miles west of Jerusalem, They had spent the momentous Passover week in Jerusalem. Cleopas, the elder, was a partial believer in Jesus. As a result, he had been cast out of the synagogue. His brother, Jacob, was not a believer, although he was intrigued by what he had heard about the Master’s teachings and works. On this Sunday afternoon, about three miles out of Jerusalem and a few minutes before five o’clock, as these two brothers trudged along the road to Emmaus, they talked in great earnestness about Michael/Jesus, his teachings, work, and especially about the rumors that his tomb was empty, and that certain of the women had talked with him.
Michael/Jesus came along the road and joined them. He spoke to them at length. When they reached their home, the brothers invited Michael/Jesus inside. When they sat down to eat, they gave Jesus their bread to bless. He broke the bread and handed it to them.
Suddenly, Cleopas and Jacob realized who he was just as Michael/Jesus vanished. The brothers rushed back to Jerusalem where they burst into the Mark home and excitedly told the apostles what they had seen and heard.
The Sanhedrin Reaction to Michael/Jesus' Resurrection
Reports that Jesus had risen were reaching the Jewish rulers.
The Jewish leaders had begun the sordid business of getting rid of Michael/Jesus by offering a bribe to the traitor, Judas. When confronted with the embarrassing situation of an empty tomb, instead of thinking of punishing the guards who deserted their post, they resorted to bribing their guards and the Roman soldiers. They paid each of the twenty men a sum of money and instructed them to say: “While we slept during the nighttime, his disciples came upon us and took away the body.” The Jewish leaders promised the soldiers they would defend them before Pilate if it ever came to the governor’s knowledge that they had accepted bribes.
The Sanhedrin next called a meeting and decided that anyone who mentioned the resurrection would be banned from the synagogues. It was further suggested that the penalty should be death, but this didn't come to a vote because the meeting broke up in a panic.
Hopes and Fears
April 9th, resurrection Sunday, was a wretched day for the apostles. Thomas spent the day brooding alone in Bethphage at the home of a friend. [Thomas’ membership in the twelve was a declaration that Michael/Jesus loved honest doubters.] Peter vacillated between believing in the resurrection and doubting it. James wanted to go to the tomb to see for himself until Nathaniel reminded him that Jesus had warned against jeopardizing their own safety. Andrew was perplexed but was grateful that he had been released from his position as the leader of the Apostles..
Simon Zelotes spent most of the day lying on a couch, staring at the wall. Matthew was distracted by the fact that he had received the apostolic funds formerly carried by Judas, and he was worried about what to do with the money. Philip asked many questions. The Alpheus twins believed that Michael/Jesus was alive, because they had spoken with their mother who said she had talked to the resurrected Master at the tomb.
Michael/Jesus delayed his first appearance to the apostles because he wanted them to think about what he had said about his death and resurrection. The Master also wanted Peter to work through his guilt problems, and Thomas to rejoin his fellows.
Reassurance Appearances to Peter and the Apostles in Hiding
Peter wondered if Jesus refrained from appearing to his men because of Peter's denials of knowing Michael/Jesus in Annas's courtyard. Peter went outside to the garden to think. As he contemplated events his faith increased. He spoke aloud, saying, "I believe he has risen from the dead; I will go and tell my brethren." At that very moment, Jesus appeared, saying, "Peter, the enemy desired to have you, but I would not give you up." Peter and Jesus spoke for almost five minutes before the Master vanished. The impetuous Peter rushed into the upper chamber of the Mark home and told the apostles that he had seen the Master. The report had some influence on the apostles, but not enough to convince them of Michael/Jesus' resurrection.
Soon thereafter, Michael/Jesus appeared in their midst. "Peace be upon you. Why are you so frightened when I appear, as though you had seen a spirit? Did I not tell you about these things when I was present with you in the flesh?" Jesus told them that when they were all together again they should go into Galilee to enter into a new phase of service in the kingdom.
When the morontia Jesus had spoken to them, he disappeared from their sight. They all fell on their faces, praising God and venerating their vanished Master. This was the Master’s ninth morontia appearance, all on Sunday, April 9th.
Michael/Jesus Actualizes the Morontia Experience
The next day, Monday, April 10th, was spent wholly with the morontia creatures then present on Urantia. More than one million morontia directors and associates, together with transition mortals of various orders from the seven mansion worlds of Satania participated in the Master’s morontia-transition experience. The morontia Michael/Jesus sojourned with these splendid intelligences for forty days. He instructed them and learned from their directors the life of the morontia transition as it is traversed by the mortals of the inhabited worlds of Satania as they pass through the seven system morontia spheres.
About midnight of this Monday, April 10th, the Master’s morontia form was adjusted for transition to the second stage of morontia progression. When he next appeared to his mortal children on earth, it was as a second-stage morontia being. As the Master progressed in the morontia career, it became technically, more and more difficult for the morontia intelligences and their transforming associates to visualize the Master to mortal and material eyes. Michael/Jesus made the transit to the third stage of morontia on Friday, April 14; to the fourth stage on Monday, the 17th; to the fifth stage on Saturday, the 22nd; to the sixth stage on Thursday, the 27th; to the seventh stage on Tuesday, May 2; to Jerusem (our system of Satania capital) citizenship on Sunday, the 7th; and he entered the embrace of the Most Highs of Edentia (the capital of our constellation Norlatiadek) on Sunday, May 4th.
In this manner, Michael of Nebadon completed his service of universe experience. He had already experienced to the full the life of the ascendant mortals of time and space in his six prior bestowals sojourning on the headquarters of the constellation (Edentia) even on to, and through, the service of the headquarters of the super universe (Uversa). It was by these morontia experiences that the Creator Son of Nebadon finished and acceptably terminated his seventh and final universe bestowal.
[While Michael/Jesus passed through the morontia transition required forty days, the morontia transition for the personalities of mortals would require thousands of years of training and experience.]
The Tenth and Eleventh Appearances
On Tuesday, April 11th, the morontia Michael/Jesus appeared to Abner, Lazarus, and over one hundred others at a meeting in Philadelphia, which had been called to discuss rumors of the resurrection. Michael/Jesus continued his talks with the morontia delegates from the mansion worlds of the local systems of our constellation of Norlatiadek.
On Saturday, April 15th, Peter and John went to Bethphage (a hamlet near Bethany) and brought Thomas to Jerusalem. Thomas continued to disbelieve the stories of the resurrection. "I will not believe unless I see the Master with my own eyes and put my finger in the mark of the nails." (Thomas did not realize their were no marks of the crucifixion nails on the morontia form of Michael/Jesus.)
At that moment, the morontia form of Jesus appeared. After speaking to the group, Jesus spoke to Thomas, saying, "I bid you be not faithless but believing - and I know you will believe, even with a whole heart."
Appearance Before Rodan and the Greek Believers
It took nine days for David's messenger bearing the news of the crucifixion to reach Alexandria. On April 18th, Rodan gathered some eighty Greek and Jewish believers to hear the messenger's sad news. [Rodan was a Greek philosopher from Alexandria who had become a disciple of Michael/Jesus.]
Just as the messenger finished his report, the morontia form of Jesus appeared. Jesus' final words to this gathering were:
"As the Father sent me into this world, even so now send I you. You are all called to carry the good news to those who sit in darkness. This gospel of the kingdom belongs to all who believe it; it shall not be committed to the custody of mere priests. Soon will the Spirit of Truth come upon you, and he shall lead you into all truth. Go you, therefore, into all the world preaching this gospel, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the ages" (Time).
[Michael/Jesus will lead Finaliters from his universe to realize the Ultimate God of Transcendent Time and Space after the Supreme God of Time and Space is actualized.]
Appearances in Galilee
The apostles and John Mark departed Jerusalem for Galilee. The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, noting that the apostles were out of the public eye, decided that the Jesus movement had been squelched. The apostles arrived in Bethsaida late Wednesday, April 19th. Simon Zelotes was so disheartened that he went to his home. Thursday night Peter suggested they go fishing. They fished all night without catching anything, and at dawn they decided to go back to shore.
About six o’clock Friday morning, April 21, as they dropped anchor a man on the beach asked them whether they had caught anything. When they told him they hadn't, he advised them to drop their net on the right side of the boat. The apostles did as they were told and their net was immediately filled with fish. John Zebedee realized who the man on shore was and whispered to Peter, "It is the Master." Impetuously Peter jumped into the water and began to swim to shore, reaching Michael/Jesus just ahead of the others.
Jesus visited with John Mark and the apostles for more than an hour as they ate breakfast. After breakfast, he walked on the beach with them two by two, advising them, counseling them, and encouraging them to be strong during the trials ahead. Michael/Jesus left them with instructions that they were to find Simon Zelotes and return with him to a meeting the next day on the mount of their ordination near Capernaum.
The Beginning of Peter's Religion
At noon on Saturday, April 22nd, Michael/Jesus appeared among his apostles at the site where they had first been ordained as ambassadors of the kingdom. The eleven men once again knelt in a circle around their Master as he reaffirmed their ordination. When the ceremony was complete, Michael/Jesus vanished.
Meanwhile many believers had arrived in Bethsaida to ask about the resurrection. Peter announced that a public meeting would be held the following Saturday, April 29, at three o’clock. More than five hundred believers gathered that day to hear Peter preach his first public sermon since the resurrection. Peter ended with these words: "We affirm that Jesus of Nazareth is not dead; we declare that he has risen from the tomb; we proclaim that we have seen him and talked with him." Just as Peter said this, Michael/Jesus appeared, saying only, "Peace be upon you, and my peace I leave with you."
The next day the apostles started back for Jerusalem where they headquartered in the home of John Mark. All except the Alpheus twins, Thomas, and Simon Zelotes, pledged themselves to preach the new gospel of the risen Lord. The subtle process of altering the religion of Jesus into a religion about Jesus had begun.
The new gospel of the risen Lord was replacing the gospel of the kingdom (sonship with God and brotherhood with man) into the proclamation of the resurrection of Michael/Jesus. (Nathaniel opposed this shift , but he could not withstand Peter’s eloquence, neither could he overcome the enthusiasm of the disciples, especially the women believers.)
Eventually, this disagreement became so acute that by the middle of the following month Nathaniel withdrew, going to Philadelphia to visit Abner and Lazarus where he remained for more than a year. He then went on into the lands beyond Mesopotamia preaching the gospel of Michael/Jesus as he understood it. The Philadelphia splinter group was the origin of the Greek Orthodox (true) Church. Peter's group became the Roman Catholic Church.
Final Appearances
Michael/Jesus appeared in the courtyard of Nicodemus's home on Friday, May 5th, where the apostles, the women's corps, and about fifty other disciples were gathered. He commented on the diversity of believers this gathering represented and reminded them that the gospel was about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men. Michael/Jesus warned them not to adjust their message because of the resurrection.
On May 13th, Michael/Jesus appeared to Nalda and seventy-five Samaritans near Jacob's well at Sychar.
On May 16th, Michael/Jesus appeared at Tyre in Phoenicia at the close of a meeting of believers; these believers carried the story to Sidon, Antioch, and Damascus.
On May 18th, 30 A.D., the Master made his final appearance on earth to the eleven apostles in the home of John Mark. Jesus led the apostles to the Mount of Olives where they looked out over Jerusalem. As the men knelt about Jesus in a circle he spoke his final instructions to them.
"I bade you tarry in Jerusalem until you were endowed with power from on high. I am now about to take leave of you; I am about to ascend to my Father, and soon, very soon, will we send into this world of my sojourn the Spirit of Truth; and when he has come, you shall begin the new proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom, first in Jerusalem and then to the uttermost parts of the world. Love men with the love wherewith I have loved you and serve your fellow mortals even as I have served you. By the spirit fruits of your lives impel souls to believe the truth that man is a son of God, and that all men are brethren. Remember all I have taught you and the life I have lived among you. My love overshadows you, my spirit will dwell with you, and my peace shall abide upon you. Farewell." Michael/Jesus then vanished from sight.
The Culminating Ascension
Michael/Jesus went to Edentia (our constellation headquarters) by way of Jerusem (our local system headquarters), probably via seraphic transport, where the Most Highs (the rulers in the lives of men) released him from morontia form and returned him to sovereignty on Salvington (our local universe headquarters).
On Earth, Peter called a meeting for disciples in Jerusalem that same morning, forty days after Michael/Jesus' resurrection. After Peter described the apostles' final meeting with the Master, the disciples began to pray in preparation for the reception of the promised Spirit of Truth.
From the time of the morontia resurrection until the hour of his spirit ascension on high, Michael/Jesus made nineteen separate appearances in visible form to his believers on Earth. He did not appear to his enemies nor to those who could not make spiritual use of his manifestation in visible form.
Our local universe of Nebadon is now ruled by a Creator Son who completed his service of bestowals. He reigns in just and merciful supremacy over all the vast realms of his evolving and perfecting universe of 4000 planets. Our Michael of Nebadon is the 611,121st bestowal of the Eternal Son upon the universes of time and space. He began the organization of our local universe about four hundred billion years ago. Michael made ready for his first bestowal adventure about the time Urantia (Earth) was taking on its present form, one billion years ago. His bestowals occurred about one hundred and fifty million years apart, the last taking place on Urantia about 2000 years ago.
Michael/Jesus' Gifts of the Spirit of Truth and His Promise to Return
On Pentecost, one hundred and twenty believers gathered in prayer in Jerusalem after listening to Peter describe the farewell message of their Master. [Pentecost is the spring harvest festival of the Israelites.]
As they prayed, they became filled with a new consciousness of spiritual joy and power, followed by an urge to publicly proclaim the gospel. The Spirit of Truth, the promised new teacher, had arrived.
The apostles emerged from forty days in hiding after the resurrection of Michael/Jesus and began to preach their new message in the temple. Peter delivered an appeal which won more than two thousand souls. The Jewish leaders were astounded at the apostles' boldness.
Michael/Jesus' followers quickly discovered that the story of his resurrection held great allure. The gospel of the Fatherhood of God quickly changed into the gospel of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. The apostles proclaimed the facts of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and his promise to return.
[It is unlikely that Michael/Jesus will return until his true gospel is implemented on Earth.]
Aftermath
The Jesus brotherhood grew rapidly. Converts to the gospel prayed together, broke bread together (the communion of shared food), and referred to each other as brothers and sisters. They ministered to the poor and shared their material possessions.
Jewish leaders, seeing that they didn't pose any threat, and that they continued to follow Jewish law, took little notice.
All went well in Jerusalem until pupils of Rodan (the Greek disciple of Michael/Jesus) began to make converts among the Hellenist. Greeks did not conform to Jewish practices and ceremonies and this eventually caused relations between the Jesus brotherhood and the Jewish leaders to deteriorate. Stephen, a Greek convert, became the first martyr of the new religion when he was stoned to death while he preached.
Stephen's death motivated the formal organization of the early Christian church. Believers agreed to separate themselves from unbelievers. Within a month of Stephen's death, Peter and James were leading a new church in Jerusalem.
Missionaries went forth in the Roman empire carrying the message of the new gospel, and a relentless persecution of Christians by the Jews began.
The Spirit of Truth
Pentecost was a call to spiritual unity among believers. The Spirit of Truth descended in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Philadelphia, and all other places where true believers lived. Michael/Jesus' gift of the Spirit of Truth equipped teachers of the new faith with spiritual weapons: unfailing forgiveness, matchless good will, and boundless love. Among themselves, followers of Michael/Jesus were set free from discrimination based on sex, race, culture, and social status.
The life and death of Michael/Jesus proved for all eternity that goodness and faith will always be rewarded. Michael, as Jesus, revealed God to mankind just as the Spirit of Truth reveals Michael to mankind. The mission of the Spirit is to foster and personalize (individualize) truth and to destroy feelings of man's spiritual orphan hood.
The Spirit of Truth purifies the human heart and leads mortals to commit to the will of God and the welfare of humankind.
The joy of this Spirit is a tonic for health, a stimulus for mind, and an unfailing energy for the soul.
The Spirit of Truth brings a restatement of the message of Michael/Jesus to every new generation of believers, providing personal enlightenment and guidance for the spiritual difficulties of mortal life.
After Pentecost
The Roman Empire was receptive to the spread of Christianity. Conflicts between older religions and the budding new religion were solved through compromise. A revised version of Michael/Jesus' teachings were blended with Greek and Hebrew philosophy, Mithraism, and paganism that became Christianity.
[Mithra in ancient Indo-Iranian mythology was the god of light (the sun). The cult spread from India in the east and as far west as Spain, Great Britain, and Germany.]
Christianity initially grew primarily in the lower classes, but after the first century, the best members of the Greco-Roman culture were also attracted.
The early church leaders deliberately compromised the ideals of Michael/Jesus in the attempt to preserve his ideas. The eastern form of Christianity remained more true to the original teachings of Michael/Jesus, but was eventually lost in the rise of Islam.
The ideals of the Master (commitment to the will of God and the welfare of humankind) will eventually assert their power throughout the world.
Christianity Today
Today, Christianity faces a struggle more difficult than any it has known throughout history. The rise of science and materialism challenges religion. The higher a civilization evolves, the more necessary it is that people seek spiritual reality to help stabilize society and solve material problems. Religion helps man develop faith, trust and assurance. Society without a morality based on spiritual reality cannot survive.
Science has destroyed the childlike interpretations of life, but true science has no conflict with true religion. However, the change from an age of miracles to an age of machines has been upsetting to modern man.
Religious leaders are mistaken when they try to lure people to spiritual practice with methods that were used in the middle ages. Religion must renew itself and find new ways to approach modern people.
Modern secularism (a system of political or social philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship) sprang from two influences: atheistic science and the protest against the domination of western civilization by the medieval Christian church. For hundreds of years Western thinking has been progressively secularized.
Even most professed Christians are actually secularists. Secularism is barren of spiritual values and satisfactions. Secularism freed humankind from ecclesiastical slavery only to lead them into political and economic slavery (credit purchasing). This materialistic philosophy leads to unrest, unhappiness, and disaster.
The blessings of secularism - tolerance, social service, democracy, and civil liberty - can be had without sacrificing faith in God.
A Coming Apocalypse
Apocalypse literally means "an uncovering". It is a disclosure of knowledge or revelation. It is usually a disclosure of something hidden, "a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities".
Urantia (Earth) is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment.
Religion needs leaders who will depend solely on Michael/Jesus and his teachings. The world must see Jesus living again in the experience of spirit-born mortals who reveal the Master to all people.
The true Church is invisible, spiritual, and characterized by unity rather than uniformity.
If the Christian church would follow the Master, young people would not hesitate to enlist in his great spiritual adventure.
It is not duty that will transform our world, but the effort of freely-given service and devotion by followers of Michael/Jesus who truly live and love as he taught.
Christianity suffers a handicap because it is identified with western civilization - a society burdened with science without idealism, politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without restraint, knowledge without character, power without conscience, and industry without morality.
The Faith of Michael/Jesus
Michael/Jesus demonstrated a living faith in God. He never doubted the certainty of God's watching care. His faith was not merely intellectual; it was a profound conviction that securely held him in the living reality of God and destroyed every desire that conflicted with the will of the Father. Michael/Jesus never failed to exhibit unquestioning loyalty to God's will.
Michael/Jesus trusted God as a child trusts his father. His complete dependence on God gave Jesus the assurance of absolute personal security. Jesus had confidence in the goodness of the universe. He wants his followers to believe in the reality of the Father's love so that they too can experience the confidence that comes from knowing
Michael/Jesus was the most truly religious person who ever lived on earth. If the religion of Jesus suddenly replaced the religion about Jesus, the social, economic, and moral transformations that would occur would be revolutionary.
Christianity is founded on the personal religious experience of Paul, but the gospel of the kingdom is founded on the personal religious experience of Jesus. We should not literally imitate Jesus' life; we need to trust God as Michael/Jesus trusts God and to believe in each other as he believes in us.
The greatest of all human knowledge is knowing the religious life of Michael/Jesus and how he lived it.
Michael/Jesus' life reveals a pattern of religious growth that started with early primitive awe, moved through personal spiritual communion, and arrived at advanced consciousness of oneness with the Father.
Evidence of the Spirit Indwelling Human Minds
Michael/Jesus did not believe, as Paul did, that the world is fundamentally evil. Michael/Jesus saw men as sons of God and knew of the magnificent futures awaiting those who choose survival. Michael/Jesus was willing to devote himself to mortal service because of the high value that he placed on people. We are uplifted by his extraordinary faith in us and the spirit within us.
There are three evidences that spirit indwells the human mind. The first is love - only a spirit-indwelt mind is capable of altruism. The second is wisdom - only a spirit-indwelt mind can discern that the universe is friendly. The third is worship - only a spirit-indwelt mind can realize the divine presence and seek experience with divinity.
The human mind does not create value. It can only discover, recognize, interpret, and choose values and meanings. Human survival is dependent on choosing those values selected by the indwelling spirit-value sorter. Man's challenge on earth is to achieve better communication with this indwelling Monitor – the Thought Adjuster.
Mortals should not be discouraged by the problems of the world. Human evolution is still in progress. The revelation of God in the world, in and through Michael/Jesus, will not fail.
The Vital Role of Mortals in Creation
The Macrocosm and the Microcosm
Everything a human can see or conceive of is composed of fragments of the Unqualified Absolute in some phase of evolution – inorganic and organic.
Triodities - The Feat of Making Potential Actual
The realization of all potentiality is the experience “distance” between experiential and existential.
This is the business of two triodities. Triodities are triune relationships that are non-Father involved triunities. The two triodities are The Triodity of Potentiality and The Triodity of Actuality.
The Triodity of Potentiality consists in the association of the three Absolutes of potentiality:
The Deity Absolute.
The Universal Absolute.
The Unqualified Absolute.
The inter-association of The Deity Absolute, The Universal Absolute, and The Unqualified Absolute provides the integration of all latent (existing but not yet developed) energy reality – spirit, mindal, and cosmic. It is infinite in potential.
As the triunities are primarily concerned with the functional unification of infinity, the triodities are involved in the cosmic appearance of experiential Deities. The triunities are concerned indirectly, but the triodities are directly concerned with the experiential Deities - Supreme, Ultimate, and Absolute. They appear in the emerging power-personality synthesis of the Supreme Being. To the time creatures of space the Supreme Being is a revelation of the unity of the I AM.
The Triodity of Actuality also consists of the interrelationship of three absolute actuals:
The Eternal Son.
The Paradise Isle.
The Conjoint Actor.
The Eternal Son is the absolute of spirit reality, the absolute personality. The Paradise Isle is the absolute of cosmic reality, the absolute pattern. The Conjoint Actor is the absolute of mind reality, the coordinate of absolute spirit reality, and the existential Deity synthesis of personality and power. This triune association eventuates (leads to) the coordination of the sum total of actualized reality - spirit, cosmic, and mindal.
While the role of any particular human in the adventure of making potential actual is minute, it is essential to the qualification of the Unqualified Absolute (the reason for creation). Each individual fusion of a person, soul, and spirit starts another fragment of the Unqualified Absolute (energy) towards absolute deity.
Wrap Up
Our Creator Son, Michael, began his experiential existence as a Son of God (conceived by the Universal Father and the Eternal Son). He became a Son of Man (conceived by Joseph and Mary) and through his successful seventh bestowal experience.
Mortals reverse Michael/Jesus' sequence through evolution to human status and then become potential Sons of God through cosmic, mental, and spiritual experiential evolution and personal choice. Former mortals achieve Son of God status through the mind indwelling fragment of the Universal Father, the ever-present Spirit of the Eternal Son, and the morontia soul, which lead to existential absoluteness.
The Spirit of the Eternal Son is amplified in our quarantined world by the guiding Spirit of Truth earned for mortals by the successful bestowal of Michael/Jesus.
The End
The Michael/Jesus Story (Finding God Book 20) Kindle Edition
by A. Cercatore (Author) is available on Amazon.
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