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Dear Nigel,
Thankyou for your encouraging comments. I am more than happy to respond to your request. But it might take me a while because I like to do things properly – there is much to sift through! Hopefully you’ll hear from me again within a week.
In loving friendship,
Julian
Greetings Nigel!!
You posted this text:
“The modern age will refuse to accept a religion which is inconsistent with facts and out of harmony with its highest conceptions of truth, beauty, and goodness. The hour is striking for a rediscovery of the true and original foundations of present-day distorted and compromised Christianity — the real life and teachings of Jesus.” (195:9.5)
Me here: I wonder if the Jews, Christians, and Muslims may be the last religionists on Urantia to convert to the brotherhood and the kingdom of the Jesusonian Gospel? So many of them are so deeply entrenched and socially integrated and intertwined in secular politics and the rhetoric of partisanship.
99:2.1 (1087.4) Institutional religion cannot afford inspiration and provide leadership in this impending world-wide social reconstruction and economic reorganization because it has unfortunately become more or less of an organic part of the social order and the economic system which is destined to undergo reconstruction. Only the real religion of personal spiritual experience can function helpfully and creatively in the present crisis of civilization.
99:2.2 (1087.5) Institutional religion is now caught in the stalemate of a vicious circle. It cannot reconstruct society without first reconstructing itself; and being so much an integral part of the established order, it cannot reconstruct itself until society has been radically reconstructed.
Me here: It is incredibly important to recognize the multiple ways that Michael’s Bestowal affected Urantia, but also, all of Nebadon. The UB presents this 4th Epochal Revelation simultaneously in our history as a new Planetary Mortal Epoch, one of 7 such transformational stages of social evolutionary progress and planetary spiritualization on every evolutionary sphere.
The Urantia Papers teach that because our Son’s Bestowal happened to be the 7th and final Creator Son’s Bestowal, at least 4 distinct effects were realized and actualized therefore and thereby. A Creator Son became a Master Son. The Son’s Spirit of Truth was released upon our world. This brought the Adjusters to every child forever afterward. And the form and power and nature and effect of the Son’s Spirit was forever changed and strengthened throughout all of Nebadon!
Of course, the influence and function and power of God the Supreme was likewise tremendously enhanced. And so was Nebadon immediately stabilized and more settled in its evolutionary progress and spiritization and trajectory!!
Lots to consider here!
Paper 21 offers much information relevant regarding the impact, effects, and results of Michael’s bestowal 2000 years ago to our world and our universe.
21:3.15 (238.9) Before the completion of the bestowal career a Creator Son rules with certain self-imposed limitations of sovereignty, but subsequent to his finished bestowal service he rules by virtue of his actual experience in the form and likeness of his manifold creatures. When a Creator has seven times sojourned among his creatures, when the bestowal career is finished, then is he supremely settled in universe authority; he has become a Master Son, a sovereign and supreme ruler.
And:
21:4.5 (240.1) It is of record that the divine Son of last appearance on your planet was a Paradise Creator Son who had completed six phases of his bestowal career; consequently, when he gave up the conscious grasp of the incarnated life on Urantia, he could, and did, truly say, “It is finished”—it was literally finished. His death on Urantia completed his bestowal career; it was the last step in fulfilling the sacred oath of a Paradise Creator Son. And when this experience has been acquired, such Sons are supreme universe sovereigns; no longer do they rule as vicegerents of the Father but in their own right and name as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” With certain stated exceptions these sevenfold bestowal Sons are unqualifiedly supreme in the universes of their abode. Concerning his local universe, “all power in heaven and on earth” was relegated to this triumphant and enthroned Master Son.
21:4.6 (240.2) Creator Sons, subsequent to the completion of their bestowal careers, are reckoned as a separate order, sevenfold Master Sons. In person the Master Sons are identical with the Creator Sons, but they have undergone such a unique bestowal experience that they are commonly regarded as a different order. When a Creator deigns to effect a bestowal, a real and permanent change is destined to take place. True, the bestowal Son is still and none the less a Creator, but he has added to his nature the experience of a creature, which forever removes him from the divine level of a Creator Son and elevates him to the experiential plane of a Master Son, one who has fully earned the right to rule a universe and administer its worlds. Such beings embody all that can be secured from divine parentage and embrace everything to be derived from perfected-creature experience. Why should man bemoan his lowly origin and enforced evolutionary career when the very Gods must pass through an equivalent experience before they are accounted experientially worthy and competent finally and fully to rule over their universe domains!
More from Paper 195 regarding the success of the 4th Epochal Revelation (which is also Michael’s 7th and final bestowal and the beginning of a new dynastic empowerment as a Master Son and a new Planetary Mortal Epoch on Urantia) and also the timing of the Urantia Papers as our world’s 5th Epochal Revelation as the “new and fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus” at this precise intersection of time, progress, and destiny trajectory!
195:9.2 (2082.7) But paganized and socialized Christianity stands in need of new contact with the uncompromised teachings of Jesus; it languishes for lack of a new vision of the Master’s life on earth. A new and fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus is destined to conquer an empire of materialistic secularism and to overthrow a world sway of mechanistic naturalism. Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment.
195:9.3 (2082.8) The teachings of Jesus, even though greatly modified, survived the mystery cults of their birthtime, the ignorance and superstition of the dark ages, and are even now slowly triumphing over the materialism, mechanism, and secularism of the twentieth century. And such times of great testing and threatened defeat are always times of great revelation.
Me here: The Urantia Papers seem so clearly an affirmation of the evolutionary success of Urantia and the transformation of our world since Pentacost and the ministry of Michael and the Spirit of Truth ever since.
Was Urantia “quivering on the very brink” 2000 years ago? The text above certainly describes the epochal, transformative progress of our world by the cause of the 4th Epochal Revelation and the effects of the Jesusonian Gospel and by the subsequent ministry of the Spirit of Truth and God Fragments.
While we should not be impatient, we should also not be disappointed in the great evolutionary progress of our world and the success of our Divine watch-care in their ministry of transformation!
It is said in the UB (or so I understand) that evolutionary religions are vital and formative and foundational to personal spiritization and planetary spiritualization, but also inherently disappointing and inadequate compared to revelatory religion.
The great value and benefit of our “innate” and natural religious reactions and experience is the function of faith. Faith itself is a religious experience and causes personal spiritual growth. Faith does not depend upon or require facts or knowledge or accuracy of beliefs or reality perspective.
Our faith experience is expressed by our Deity Connections fruits of idealism, morality, kindness, generosity, duty, loyalty, forgiveness, love, etc. Faith is not beliefs or church affiliations, but the motives, intentions, priorities, and acts in response to our spirit nature.
Personal and epochal revelation adds greater insight and understanding and perspective to our faith experience. The Spirit of Truth and our Adjusters contribute an enormous impact to our ability to receive both personal and epochal revelation.
100:6.1 (1100.3) Evolutionary religions and revelatory religions may differ markedly in method, but in motive there is great similarity. Religion is not a specific function of life; rather is it a mode of living. True religion is a wholehearted devotion to some reality which the religionist deems to be of supreme value to himself and for all mankind. And the outstanding characteristics of all religions are: unquestioning loyalty and wholehearted devotion to supreme values. This religious devotion to supreme values is shown in the relation of the supposedly irreligious mother to her child and in the fervent loyalty of nonreligionists to an espoused cause.
100:6.2 (1100.4) The accepted supreme value of the religionist may be base or even false, but it is nevertheless religious. A religion is genuine to just the extent that the value which is held to be supreme is truly a cosmic reality of genuine spiritual worth.
100:6.8 (1101.3) Even evolutionary religion is all of this in loyalty and grandeur because it is a genuine experience. But revelatory religion is excellent as well as genuine. The new loyalties of enlarged spiritual vision create new levels of love and devotion, of service and fellowship; and all this enhanced social outlook produces an enlarged consciousness of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
100:6.9 (1101.4) The characteristic difference between evolved and revealed religion is a new quality of divine wisdom which is added to purely experiential human wisdom. But it is experience in and with the human religions that develops the capacity for subsequent reception of increased bestowals of divine wisdom and cosmic insight.
103:0.1 (1129.1) ALL of man’s truly religious reactions are sponsored by the early ministry of the adjutant of worship and are censored by the adjutant of wisdom. Man’s first supermind endowment is that of personality encircuitment in the Holy Spirit of the Universe Creative Spirit; and long before either the bestowals of the divine Sons or the universal bestowal of the Adjusters, this influence functions to enlarge man’s viewpoint of ethics, religion, and spirituality. Subsequent to the bestowals of the Paradise Sons the liberated Spirit of Truth makes mighty contributions to the enlargement of the human capacity to perceive religious truths. As evolution advances on an inhabited world, the Thought Adjusters increasingly participate in the development of the higher types of human religious insight. The Thought Adjuster is the cosmic window through which the finite creature may faith-glimpse the certainties and divinities of limitless Deity, the Universal Father.
103:0.2 (1129.2) The religious tendencies of the human races are innate; they are universally manifested and have an apparently natural origin; primitive religions are always evolutionary in their genesis. As natural religious experience continues to progress, periodic revelations of truth punctuate the otherwise slow-moving course of planetary evolution.
Dear Nigel,
Thank you for this opportunity to answer your questions. There is so much relevant material in the UB which I could use but I will only quote passages that in my opinion give the clearest answers to what you are asking. However, I will include references to other supporting quotes in order to demonstrate the degree of evidence that is available. In so doing, I will try to avoid this post becoming too voluminous. You asked:
Julian, to get the ball rolling, can you describe the revelation that Jesus revealed, and which these new teachers will need to “teach”?
To begin with, Jesus was aware of the human tendency to set up religions containing complex creeds and theologies. The human ego loves knowledge, especially when it makes one feel special, somewhat superior to one’s fellows. In contrast, Jesus proclaimed a message that was simple but profoundly powerful and was universal in it’s appeal. He knew it would attract the masses.
(1413.2) 128:4.6 One purpose which Jesus had in mind, when he sought to segregate certain features of his earthly experience, was to prevent the building up of such a versatile and spectacular career as would cause subsequent generations to venerate the teacher in place of obeying the truth which he had lived and taught. Jesus did not want to build up such a human record of achievement as would attract attention from his teaching. Very early he recognized that his followers would be tempted to formulate a religion about him which might become a competitor of the gospel of the kingdom that he intended to proclaim to the world. Accordingly, he consistently sought to suppress everything during his eventful career which he thought might be made to serve this natural human tendency to exalt the teacher in place of proclaiming his teachings.
Similarly…
(1543.1) 138:6.3 Jesus endeavored to make clear to his apostles the difference between his teachings and his life among them and the teachings which might subsequently spring up about him. Said Jesus: “My kingdom and the gospel related thereto shall be the burden of your message. Be not sidetracked into preaching about me and about my teachings. Proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and portray my revelation of the Father in heaven but do not be misled into the bypaths of creating legends and building up a cult having to do with beliefs and teachings about my beliefs and teachings.” But again they did not understand why he thus spoke, and no man dared to ask why he so taught them.
Because they did not understand him, the apostles found it difficult to not preach a message about Jesus himself, such was their awe of and esteem for this God-man. Moreover, it was hard for them to give up their Jewish roots. (See also P1579:2; P1932:1)
(1542.3) 138:5.2 Always would they make the mistake of trying to fit Jesus’ new gospel into their old forms of religious belief. They could not grasp the idea that Jesus had come to proclaim a new gospel of salvation and to establish a new way of finding God; they did not perceive that he was a new revelation of the Father in heaven.
There was a very good reason why Jesus wanted to keep his message simple, a reason that I believe still applies today.
(1535.6) 137:7.14 Jesus taught these men [the apostles] all they could assimilate. He did not make the mistake of overteaching them. He did not precipitate confusion by the presentation of truth too far beyond their capacity to comprehend.
The same principle was true regarding the preaching of the gospel message that Jesus had taught them.
(1592.6) 141:6.4 That night Jesus discoursed to the apostles on the new life in the kingdom. He said in part: “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.”
This instruction from the Master must surely be as true today as it was in the first century.
We can already see in the few passages I have quoted the nature of the revelation that Jesus brought to our planet: “the gospel of the kingdom which he intended to proclaim to the world”, which is variously referred to as “Jesus’ new gospel”, “his gospel of eternal salvation”, “my kingdom and the gospel related thereto”, “the kingdom of heaven”, and “my revelation of the Father in heaven”.
The UB contains so many clear statements of the message that Jesus wished to reveal to humankind. Here are just some of them:
(1543.2) 138:6.4 There was just one motive in Jesus’ postbaptismal life on Urantia, and that was a better and truer revelation of his Paradise Father; he was the pioneer of the new and better way to God, the way of faith and love. Ever his exhortation to the apostles was: “Go seek for the sinners; find the downhearted and comfort the anxious.”
(1084.10) 98:7.11 As the original teachings of Jesus penetrated the Occident, they became Occidentalized, and as they became Occidentalized, they began to lose their potentially universal appeal to all races and kinds of men. Christianity, today, has become a religion well adapted to the social, economic, and political mores of the white races. It has long since ceased to be the religion of Jesus, although it still valiantly portrays a beautiful religion about Jesus to such individuals as sincerely seek to follow in the way of its teaching. It has glorified Jesus as the Christ, the Messianic anointed one from God, but has largely forgotten the Master’s personal gospel: the Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of all men.
[141:7.4; 1593.5] The Master sought to impress upon all teachers of the gospel of the kingdom that their only business was to reveal God to the individual man as his Father—to lead this individual man to become son-conscious; then to present this same man to God as his faith son. Both of these essential revelations are accomplished in Jesus. He became, indeed, “the way, the truth, and the life.”
(1590.5) 141:4.2 In answer to Thomas’s question, “Who is this God of the kingdom?” Jesus replied: “God is your Father, and religion — my gospel — is nothing more nor less than the believing recognition of the truth that you are his son. And I am here among you in the flesh to make clear both of these ideas in my life and teachings.”
(1670.5) 149:2.4 We would not belittle the place of the person of Jesus in a religion which might bear his name, but we would not permit such consideration to eclipse his inspired life or to supplant his saving message: the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
(1862.6) 170:3.9 The righteousness of any act must be measured by the motive; the highest forms of good are therefore unconscious. Jesus was never concerned with morals or ethics as such. He was wholly concerned with that inward and spiritual fellowship with God the Father which so certainly and directly manifests itself as outward and loving service for man. He taught that the religion of the kingdom is a genuine personal experience which no man can contain within himself; that the consciousness of being a member of the family of believers leads inevitably to the practice of the precepts of the family conduct, the service of one’s brothers and sisters in the effort to enhance and enlarge the brotherhood.
In response to Jacob, Jesus said: (1597.2) 142:2.2 And now have I come in the flesh to reveal the Father in new glory and to show forth his love and mercy to all men on all worlds. As the gospel of this kingdom shall spread over the world with its message of good cheer and good will to all men, there will grow up improved and better relations among the families of all nations. As time passes, fathers and their children will love each other more, and thus will be brought about a better understanding of the love of the Father in heaven for his children on earth. Remember, Jacob, that a good and true father not only loves his family as a whole — as a family — but he also truly loves and affectionately cares for each individual member.”
(2017.9) 188:5.1 The cross of Jesus portrays the full measure of the supreme devotion of the true shepherd for even the unworthy members of his flock. It forever places all relations between God and man upon the family basis. God is the Father; man is his son. Love, the love of a father for his son, becomes the central truth in the universe relations of Creator and creature — not the justice of a king which seeks satisfaction in the sufferings and punishment of the evil-doing subject. (See also: 192:2.11, 12 , 142:1.4 3)
Significantly for us, there are numerous passages in the book that make it clear that we also should continue to proclaim to the world this original message of Jesus. Here are some of them:
(2084.1) 195:10.1 “The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men…. Modern culture must become spiritually baptized with a new revelation of Jesus’ life and illuminated with a new understanding of his gospel of eternal salvation”
(966.1) 87:7.6 Regardless of the drawbacks and handicaps, every new revelation of truth has given rise to a new cult, and even the restatement of the religion of Jesus must develop a new and appropriate symbolism. Modern man must find some adequate symbolism for his new and expanding ideas, ideals, and loyalties. This enhanced symbol must arise out of religious living, spiritual experience. And this higher symbolism of a higher civilization must be predicated on the concept of the Fatherhood of God and be pregnant with the mighty ideal of the brotherhood of man.
(1010.4) 92:5.16 The future of Urantia will doubtless be characterized by the appearance of teachers of religious truth — the Fatherhood of God and the fraternity of all creatures. But it is to be hoped that the ardent and sincere efforts of these future prophets will be directed less toward the strengthening of interreligious barriers and more toward the augmentation of the religious brotherhood of spiritual worship among the many followers of the differing intellectual theologies which so characterize Urantia of Satania.
(2082.9) 195:9.4 Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. If Christianity persists in neglecting its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus’ religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world.
(1041.5) 94:12.7 All Urantia is waiting for the proclamation of the ennobling message of Michael, unencumbered by the accumulated doctrines and dogmas of nineteen centuries of contact with the religions of evolutionary origin. The hour is striking for presenting to Buddhism, to Christianity, to Hinduism, even to the peoples of all faiths, not the gospel about Jesus, but the living, spiritual reality of the gospel of Jesus.
(See also: 170:5.17,19 & 21, 178:1.9 , 194:2.1,8 , 194:3.2 , 195:0.12 , 195:9.1, 2 , 195:6.2 , 195:10.16)
In your second question Nigel you asked the following:
And looking ahead, having been taught, how might a group of sincere and love-saturated souls help to reveal such truth to the equally sincere souls in Iran’s Council of Experts? Or to feisty congregations of Christian nationalists? ….given that 7 billion Adjusters, and Michael himself, are on our side, and that the Divine Minister maintains the very minds with which we choose, and that our world is “the sentimental shrine of all Nebadon” (119:8.8), any thoughts on how, individually and as a team, we might proceed?
This is a huge question! Once again, as with your former question, the UB is far from silent. It tells us how this critical work of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus to our troubled world is to be accomplished. This is largely revealed through the words of the Master himself, both before and following his resurrection.
In the following quotes, Jesus makes it clear to his followers that for the proclaiming of his gospel to be effective in bringing about the establishment of his kingdom worldwide, that is, the promised spiritual renaissance, they will need to not just preach a verbal message, but more importantly, they must exhibit behaviour that is congruent with that message. Anything less than that will simply not succeed. We live in a world where there is fierce competition for minds! The reality is that the media, and in particular the social media, is awash with memes that extol all manner of causes and tribal propaganda. People are impressed with action rather than words! Consider the following:
(1726.2) 155:1.5 “Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-ordinated life.”
(1569.4) 140:1.7 “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.
(2057.4) 193:5.2 “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.”
(2043.1) 191:5.3 “Peace be upon you. For a full week have I tarried that I might appear again when you were all present to hear once more the commission to go into all the world and preach this gospel of the kingdom. Again I tell you: As the Father sent me into the world, so send I you. As I have revealed the Father, so shall you reveal the divine love, not merely with words, but in your daily living. I send you forth, not to love the souls of men, but rather to love men. You are not merely to proclaim the joys of heaven but also to exhibit in your daily experience these spirit realities of the divine life since you already have eternal life, as the gift of God, through faith. When you have faith, when power from on high, the Spirit of Truth, has come upon you, you will not hide your light here behind closed doors; you will make known the love and the mercy of God to all mankind. Through fear you now flee from the facts of a disagreeable experience, but when you shall have been baptized with the Spirit of Truth, you will bravely and joyously go forth to meet the new experiences of proclaiming the good news of eternal life in the kingdom of God….Your mission to the world is founded on the fact that I lived a God-revealing life among you; on the truth that you and all other men are the sons of God; and it shall consist in the life which you will live among men — the actual and living experience of loving men and serving them, even as I have loved and served you. Let faith reveal your light to the world; let the revelation of truth open the eyes blinded by tradition; let your loving service effectually destroy the prejudice engendered by ignorance. By so drawing close to your fellow men in understanding sympathy and with unselfish devotion, you will lead them into a saving knowledge of the Father’s love. The Jews have extolled goodness; the Greeks have exalted beauty; the Hindus preach devotion; the faraway ascetics teach reverence; the Romans demand loyalty; but I require of my disciples life, even a life of loving service for your brothers in the flesh.”
(2044.3) 191:6.2 “Peace be upon you. That which my Father sent me into the world to establish belongs not to a race, a nation, nor to a special group of teachers or preachers. This gospel of the kingdom belongs to both Jew and gentile, to rich and poor, to free and bond, to male and female, even to the little children. And you are all to proclaim this gospel of love and truth by the lives which you live in the flesh. You shall love one another with a new and startling affection, even as I have loved you. You will serve mankind with a new and amazing devotion, even as I have served you. And when men see you so love them, and when they behold how fervently you serve them, they will perceive that you have become faith-fellows of the kingdom of heaven, and they will follow after the Spirit of Truth which they see in your lives, to the finding of eternal salvation.
(1121.6) 102:3.4 “Religious desire is the hunger quest for divine reality. Religious experience is the realization of the consciousness of having found God. And when a human being does find God, there is experienced within the soul of that being such an indescribable restlessness of triumph in discovery that he is impelled to seek loving service-contact with his less illuminated fellows, not to disclose that he has found God, but rather to allow the overflow of the welling-up of eternal goodness within his own soul to refresh and ennoble his fellows. Real religion leads to increased social service.”
(2064.3) 194:3.11 Pentecost, with its spiritual endowment, was designed forever to loose the religion of the Master from all dependence upon physical force; the teachers of this new religion are now equipped with spiritual weapons. They are to go out to conquer the world with unfailing forgiveness, matchless good will, and abounding love. They are equipped to overcome evil with good, to vanquish hate by love, to destroy fear with a courageous and living faith in truth. Jesus had already taught his followers that his religion was never passive; always were his disciples to be active and positive in their ministry of mercy and in their manifestations of love.
We also have to be creative and imaginative in the way that we present the message of salvation. It has to be relevant to the people of this generation rather than couched in words that belong to a bygone era.
(1931.6) 178:1.15 This gospel of the kingdom is a living truth. I have told you it is like the leaven in the dough, like the grain of mustard seed; and now I declare that it is like the seed of the living being, which, from generation to generation, while it remains the same living seed, unfailingly unfolds itself in new manifestations and grows acceptably in channels of new adaptation to the peculiar needs and conditions of each successive generation. The revelation I have made to you is a living revelation, and I desire that it shall bear appropriate fruits in each individual and in each generation in accordance with the laws of spiritual growth, increase, and adaptative development. From generation to generation this gospel must show increasing vitality and exhibit greater depth of spiritual power. It must not be permitted to become merely a sacred memory, a mere tradition about me and the times in which we now live.
(2042.1) 191:4.4 “Go, then, into all the world proclaiming this gospel of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men to all nations and races and ever be wise in your choice of methods for presenting the good news to the different races and tribes of mankind. (Said to Abner and Lazarus and some one hundred and fifty of their associates, including more than fifty of the evangelistic corps of the seventy.)
(2084.1) 195:10.1 Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men. It is futile to talk about a revival of primitive Christianity; you must go forward from where you find yourselves. Modern culture must become spiritually baptized with a new revelation of Jesus’ life and illuminated with a new understanding of his gospel of eternal salvation. And when Jesus becomes thus lifted up, he will draw all men to himself. Jesus’ disciples should be more than conquerors, even overflowing sources of inspiration and enhanced living to all men. Religion is only an exalted humanism until it is made divine by the discovery of the reality of the presence of God in personal experience.
Of course, the obvious question that one might ask is: how as mere mortals can we possibly achieve what the Master is asking of us? The answer would require another lengthy post but, in a nutshell, it’s all about devotion and consecration. Here are just a few quotes among many that I could choose from:
(756.8) 67:3.7 …. it is entirely possible for the indwelling spirit to make direct contact with the decision-determining powers of the human personality so as to empower the fully consecrated will of the creature to perform amazing acts of loyal devotion to the will and the way of the Father in Paradise.
(1923.3) 177:3.2 It was about midafternoon when Nathaniel made his speech on “Supreme Desire” to about half a dozen of the apostles and as many disciples, the ending of which was: “What is wrong with most of us is that we are only halfhearted. We fail to love the Master as he loves us.
(2083.2) 195:9.6 The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that men dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood of man.
Finally, in answer to your question Nigel, here is a summary of the techniques that the Master himself used to proclaim the gospel to his fellows. Of course, each of these points can be backed up by many supporting quotes. But this answer has already become too large!
- GET TO KNOW PEOPLE WELL – BE FRIENDLY!
- ASK QUESTIONS AND LISTEN WITH GENUINE INTEREST
- TEACH WITH RESPECT AND NOT WITH FORCE
- RECEPTIVITY – DON’T OVERTEACH!
- BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR HUMAN NEEDS
- EMPHASIZE TRUTHS HELD IN COMMON
- BUILD ON THE TRUTH THAT THE OTHER PERSON ALREADY HAS
- ADD WHAT IS POSITIVE RATHER THAN SUBTRACT WHAT IS NEGATIVE
- TEACH BY BEING A LIVING WITNESS OF JESUS’ RELIGION
I hope this goes at least partway to answering your questions, Nigel. I didn’t mean for it to be so long, but I had a feeling it would. Personally, I’m very grateful for, and in awe of the privilege and responsibility that the Master has placed on our shoulders.
Dear Julian,
Thanks for pointing to so many fine quotes!
Sandwiched between our Michael’s personification of Truth and our Father’s incarnation of Love, as I reflect on my rhetorical questions, one thing comes to mind: the mission and opportunity of Adam.
The first and essential task of his small team was simply to become a million. After which, all else would have followed, as day follows night.
In this light, beholding the love blossoming among Muslim families, the compassion and fairness promulgated by Buddhists, and the desire of so many to restore “family values” within confused and complex cultures, I must contend that things are progressing quite well.
With much love and tender feelings,
Nigel
Thank you Nigel and Julian! A lovely discussion.
I especially enjoy these 9 points, Julian:
GET TO KNOW PEOPLE WELL – BE FRIENDLY!
ASK QUESTIONS AND LISTEN WITH GENUINE INTEREST
TEACH WITH RESPECT AND NOT WITH FORCE
RECEPTIVITY – DON’T OVERTEACH!
BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR HUMAN NEEDS
EMPHASIZE TRUTHS HELD IN COMMON
BUILD ON THE TRUTH THAT THE OTHER PERSON ALREADY HAS
ADD WHAT IS POSITIVE RATHER THAN SUBTRACT WHAT IS NEGATIVE
TEACH BY BEING A LIVING WITNESS OF JESUS’ RELIGION
You discern rightly the ideals demonstrated by his life in the flesh. Jesus would have each us be so filled up with spiritual love as to be founts of loving and unselfish service to our fellows, as well as to be the best citizens of the various nations of our individual affiliation.
Jesus lived a life which is a revelation of man submitted to the Father’s will, not an example for any man literally to attempt to follow.
When man yields the “fruits of the spirit” in his life, he is simply showing forth the traits which the Master manifested in his own earthly life.
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.
Jesus had an unerring ability for the recognition of truth, and truth he never hesitated to embrace, no matter from what source it appeared to emanate.
…his method of instruction: Never once did he attack their errors or even mention the flaws in their teachings. In each case he would select the truth in what they taught and then proceed so to embellish and illuminate this truth in their minds that in a very short time this enhancement of the truth effectively crowded out the associated error.
…he did show man the best way of living, and no generation is exempt from the labor of discovering how best to adapt Jesus’ life to its own problems.
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