Making Radical Unity in the New Millennium a Reality
by Gabriel of Urantia
Both the Old and New Testaments mention that there was a war in
heaven and that Lucifer rebelled against God. But neither Testament
gives much information about the details of what the Rebellion was. The
Fifth Epochal Revelation, The URANTIA Book, devotes a whole
paper (chapter) to this rebellion: Paper 53—The Lucifer Rebellion. It
is not the context of this article to teach the specifics of the
Lucifer Rebellion, but after 200,000 years of those specifics, our
planet Urantia/Earth suffers great divisions among its races.
It was the purpose of Lucifer to cause divisions among the family of
God. These divisions exist today mostly in the area of religious
thought—how God is defined and how ascension to Paradise is understood.
Even among the world's major religions—such as Hinduism, Buddhism,
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and various indigenous religions—there
are subdivisions or numerous sects, all, in some way, competitive with
the parent religion.
In Christianity alone, there are estimated to be more than 2,000
different sects and thousands more nondenominational churches. The
parent church of Christianity is the Catholic Church, in which Martin
Luther in 1521 tried to correct some wrong doctrines by posting his 95
theses. He never meant to start a new denomination; he wanted the
Catholic Church to correct the problems. The following humor describes
what has happened as a result of the Reformation.
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, “Stop! Don't do it! There's so much to live for!” He said, “Like what?” I said, “Well, are you religious or atheist?” He said, “Religious.” I said, “Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?” He said, “Christian.” I said, “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?” He said, “Baptist Church of God.” I said, “Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God or Reformed Baptist Church of God?” He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God!” I said, “Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?” He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915.” I said, “Die, heretic scum,” and pushed him off.1
The URANTIA Book goes further to earnestly state the need for unity among believers of God:
Christianity is seriously confronted with the doom embodied in one of its own slogans: ''A house divided against itself cannot stand.'' The non-Christian world will hardly capitulate to a sect-divided Christendom. The living Jesus is the only hope of a possible unification of Christianity. The true church—the Jesus brotherhood—is invisible, spiritual, and is characterized by unity, not necessarily by uniformity. Uniformity is the earmark of the physical world of mechanistic nature. Spiritual unity is the fruit of faith union with the living Jesus. The visible church should refuse longer to handicap the progress of the invisible and spiritual brotherhood of the kingdom of God. And this brotherhood is destined to become a living organism in contrast to an institutionalized social organization. It may well utilize such social organizations, but it must not be supplanted by them.2
STEPS TO RADICAL UNITY
First,
Divine Administration [Aquarian Concepts Community], the Urantia
movement, and the Christian world must unite behind the Fifth Epochal
Revelation found in The URANTIA Book and Continuing Fifth
Epochal Revelation found in The Cosmic Family volumes. Yes,
this is radical unity. But it is the only way to begin a worldwide
acceptance of epochal revelation.
Second, a new world religion must evolve out of the major religions
with all of their divisions by embracing and encompassing epochal
revelation, which will then give a higher understanding of the cosmic
Christ—the local universe Creator Son, Jesus Christ Michael.
This new world religion, however, can only start in America, which over
the last 200 years has become a melting pot for all of the world's
religions. American Muslims, American Buddhists, American Christians,
and American Jews will be first to be able to embrace the higher truth
of the cosmic Christ Michael.
Most of the people of the world, particularly in third-world countries,
need food, clothing, shelter, and jobs before any new revelation can be
introduced to them. Christ Michael knew this. That is why the beginning
one-tenth of the Fifth Epochal Revelation (the 196 papers of The
URANTIA Book)
was brought through and introduced in Chicago, as well as the
continuation of these papers (Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation) that
is in the process of being brought through to a forum of humans in
Sedona, Arizona. The URANTIA Book will not be accepted en
mass worldwide until those who believe in Christ can unite behind
higher revelation of who Jesus Christ Michael is, in addition to an
understanding of the ascension process, not only of our local universe
of Nebadon but other universes as well.
Many in the Urantia movement and Christianity do not generally accept
past lives, because they have not embraced Continuing Fifth Epochal
Revelation. The majority of the world believes in reincarnation. Why
should this majority accept the incomplete revelation of The
URANTIA Book or New Testament which do not explain and even deny
what people have believed (and is the truth) for thousands of years? The
Cosmic Family
volumes (Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation) teach the concept of
repersonalization—a higher understanding of past lives that is not the
lower understanding of reincarnation. For the more than 500 million
starseed (souls who lived before and whose ascension process is of
another universe) ethnocentricity is not a problem in their character.
They already consider themselves citizens of the world.
BECOMING A SPIRITUAL
CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
Millions
of people identify nationalism with religious affiliation. However,
both nationalism and religion by birth need to change. A Jew does not
necessarily have to be involved in the religious aspect of Judaism in
order to be a Jew, nor does a Japanese person have to be a Buddhist
just because a majority of Japanese are Buddhist, nor does a Mexican
have to be a Catholic just because Catholicism is the dominant religion
in Mexico.
Professor Ebrahim Moosa of Duke University, a Muslim scholar, says of
Islam: In
Islam, umma signifies a community of people who are united by their
commitment to faith. Muslims form a global faith community that
transcends the nation-state. When one thinks in terms of umma, one
doesn't think of borders. To a Muslim, it doesn't matter whether it was
an Iraqi, an Indonesian, or a Turk who got killed, because these labels
are an accident of birth; what matters is that a fellow Muslim got
killed. This concept of umma creates a deep sense of solidarity among
Muslims.3
The fact that
people of all religions are beautiful and that there is truth in all
religions can be invisible barriers that prevent the truth-seeker from
discovering epochal revelation and realizing the planetary need to grow
out of these evolutionary religions. Along with the truth and beauty
within all the world religions, there is also much fallacy and
superstition. It is true that certain customs and traditions are
beautiful, and it is certainly true that people of all races are
beautiful, but unless we have a planetary synthesis of all those races,
we will continue to war in an unhealthy materialistic way with each
other.
Here's one of my new quotes: All
paths may eventually lead to God, but one is less bumpy. It creates
less wear on your vehicle, and you can get to your destination much
faster. Another quote by Sherry Ruth Anderson and Patricia
Hopkins, states: There are many, many gates to the sacred, and
they are as wide as we need them to be.4
(A major misconception prevalent in the world today is the idea that
traversing the width of a road is no different from following the clear
direction of the road.) Quoting Jesus:
You also have another saying among you, and one that contains much truth: That the way which leads to eternal life is straight and narrow, that the door which leads thereto is likewise narrow so that, of those who seek salvation, few can find entrance through this door. You also have a teaching that the way which leads to destruction is broad, that the entrance thereto is wide, and that there are many who choose to go this way. And this proverb is not without its meaning. But I declare that salvation is first a matter of your personal choosing. Even if the door to the way of life is narrow, it is wide enough to admit all who sincerely seek to enter, for I am that door. And the Son will never refuse entrance to any child of the universe who, by faith, seeks to find the Father through the Son.”5
Billions of people have no choice but to take the wide road due to of lack of education and opportunity as well as the pervasiveness of poverty and superstition in those cultures and religions. Many millions of others in more affluent societies take the wide road because of greed and self-assertion. The affluent may achieve material success, but they may never have the fulfillment of having a family with a truly complementary husband or wife. These blessings are actually more likely to be given by God to those trapped in their caste or economic systems.
You see how difficult it is for those who have riches to enter fully into the kingdom of God! Spiritual worship cannot be shared with material devotions; no man can serve two masters. You have a saying that it is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the heathen to inherit eternal life.” And I declare that it is as easy for this camel to go through the needle's eye as for these self-satisfied rich ones to enter the kingdom of heaven.6
On
higher worlds, where rebellion against God has not taken place, within
the evolution of humankind, there is gradually an amalgamation of all
the races and eventually all the skin colors are mixed into one human
race. This has not yet happened on Urantia/Earth, and as a result,
interracial marriage today still is stigmatized by many. More than
2,000 years ago Alexander the Great had the vision of amalgamation
between his Macedonian soldiers and the Persians he conquered. He
realized that there would be a greater civilization if the races came
together in marriage and shared the best of each culture. His vision
was not understood by most due to their entrapments in limiting
identities.
Many people identify religions
by how people dress, and it is true on this planet that people do dress
the religious part in many sects. An example where different dress and
modes of worship do not necessarily cause those individual sects to
form new labels for their type of religious worship would be, again,
the Catholic Church. They have been able to form new orders—such as
Franciscan, Benedictine, Dominican, Trappist, and so on—and still all
be united as Catholic Christians.
Because the word “Christian” today conjures up an image of a person of
the Anglo-Saxon races and conveys a religion of certain doctrines that
Jesus Himself did not even teach, the majority of the peoples of the
Orient and Levant cannot consider calling themselves Christians—and
rightfully so. The URANTIA Book addresses this problem:
These various groupings of Christians may serve to accommodate numerous different types of would-be believers among the various peoples of Western civilization, but such division of Christendom presents a grave weakness when it attempts to carry the gospel of Jesus to Oriental peoples. These races do not yet understand that there is a religion of Jesus separate, and somewhat apart, from Christianity, which has more and more become a religion about Jesus.7
A
person who seeks for higher truth, then receives that higher truth from
God, and next begins to preach or teach it to his immediate family,
church, or religious affiliations, will come up against tremendous
opposition. The religious organizations have millions and millions of
dollars worth of property under the name of that church or religion,
and many of the spiritual teachers have titles such as Pastor, Bishop,
Cardinal, Sheik, Monk, Shaman, and so on. It is hard to give up one's
power or position to become a student of continuing epochal revelation,
especially if one's sustenance comes from a religious position.
This, however, is exactly the kind of radical unity that is necessary
to unite all humanity under the Fatherhood of God and the
brother-/sisterhood of humankind. We need to get away from the labels
that separate us, the “isms.” We need to only identify ourselves as
“ascending sons and daughters of God.”
In the first century when the disciples were beginning to identify
themselves as belonging to the church of Peter or the church of Paul,
they were corrected and were asked not to identify themselves with
anything other than God. All of humanity must ask themselves: “What
unites us and what divides us?” We must then begin to take giant steps
to end the separations.
Only by radical decisions can humanity unite under the Fatherhood of
God. In order to break away from habits and mindsets that prohibit them
from expanding, individuals may need to begin to dress differently from
the social standards. They may need to find new ways to worship outside
of traditional practices. They may even need to make a geographic move
away from those other individuals who refuse to change and choose to
remain stagnant. The problem is immense, and maybe the masses within
all religions will not make this paradigm shift.
There are political problems and there are economic problems that
prevent true freedom of peoples. I personally believe that without
either the return of Jesus to this world or the landing of supermortals
from another planet to help us out of our quagmire, true peace and
justice cannot come to this divided world.
AQUARIAN CONCEPTS
FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
Despite
the immensity of the problems of the world, that does not mean that we
of Aquarian Concepts Community/Divine Administration are not trying to
create that change, one person at a time. Divine Administration
presently consists of approximately 100 individuals from several
continents and from backgrounds of all religions. We are a prototype
subculture that needs to become a planetary culture. We have taken and
incorporated the best of those religions and cultures—the truths, the
dress, the traditions, the food—but we have also embraced epochal
revelation. We are very much like the first-century Christians, who
went house to house, broke bread together, and had all things in
common. Our children are raised to honor and respect eldership.
We are an EcoVillage and grow our own organic vegetables, fruits, and
livestock. We are the beginning model for all of the peoples of the
planet. We are blessed to still drink pure water from our wells and
live by a running creek here in the high desert. In everything we do,
we do think globally and act locally. For instance, we hope one day, in
the future as we expand on a planetary level, to be able to feed the
world through the World Council of Food and Material Welfare that we
are beginning to implement within our model culture.
I coined the phrase, My child is your child, and your child is mine,
for we need to raise our children as a tribal family, with many mothers
and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, sisters and brothers,
uncles and aunts and cousins. This is part of what radical unity is.
I never felt more alone than when I lived in Los Angeles, a city of 15
million people. Most individuals are primarily concerned with their own
agendas. Most people have no idea that the spiritual concept—being thy
brother and sister's keeper (mentioned in Genesis)—is a key, if
practiced, to God's blessings in helping you meet God's destiny for you.
The suburban lifestyle—driving to work miles away from where one
lives—has to change. The churches of the future need to become truly commune-istic,
as Jesus taught true communism—meaning having all things in common with
each other. Communism failed in Russia and China because God was absent
from government and the people. True government has godly leaders
serving the people, not vice versa. The churches need to become tribal
families and, even more so, cosmic families, because of the higher
genetics of souls from other universes, as mentioned in Continuing
Fifth Epochal Revelation, The Cosmic Family volumes.
G.I. Gurdjieff said: Even if only 100 people remember themselves the
world can be saved.
1 Emo Philips, The Sun magazine, April 2006
2The URANTIA Book, p. 2085
3The Sun, April 2006
4 ibid.
5The URANTIA Book, p. 1828
6The URANTIA Book, p. 1803
7The URANTIA Book, p. 2086