Global Change Teachings for the New Millennium

Presented by Gabriel of Urantia and Niánn Emerson Chase

to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service

Teaching by Niánn Emerson Chase

When I first heard the title, I balked at the word “warrior” for it brings up ideas of fighting and conflict, war and killing. I saw themes of angry, vengeful men blazing a path of havoc, death, and destruction with their weapons of swords, guns, and bombs. I see warriors as enemies of all living things, all things good and beautiful. And I’m right to a certain extent for the dictionary defines a warrior as “a man engaged or experienced in warfare; a person engaged in some struggle or conflict.” Synonyms in the thesaurus for warrior are: “soldier, wayfarer [a traveler on foot], brave, fighting man, man at arms, and warrioress.”

The dictionary definition that fits the context for this talk is “a person engaged in some struggle or conflict.” Since becoming a part of Divine Administration, I certainly have felt that I am continually struggling against evil in myself as well as in others. As I unfold and ascend in my understanding of goodness and perfection, I also become more aware of the many facets and nuances of evil. I feel as if I am continually “coming of age,” for my understanding of coming of age is losing one’s innocence and awakening to the presence of evil in the world.

When the descriptive term “spiritual” is attached to “warrior,” the concept then becomes much bigger than merely someone in warfare or conflict. It becomes something very different than my visions of a soldier at some kind of war. A spiritual warrior has to do with how we respond to situations and people as a result of living our faith in the Universal Father and following His will. Some of the greatest spiritual warriors in material form in the history of Urantia (Earth) began with Van, Amadon, and their band of followers who, two hundred thousand years ago, had to protect and maintain the epochal revelation that was being threatened by rebellion (see The URANTIA Book, Paper 67). Rebellion required that they become warriors, spiritual warriors. Over the two hundred thousand years since then, there have been many spiritual warriors who have carried on epochal revelation to some degree. These warriors have come in all shapes, sizes, races, religions, and genders. Many were quite flawed and imperfect, but to some degree they were great in being spiritual warriors. Exactly what made them spiritual warriors? A lot of things.

The URANTIA Book states on page 756,

The spiritual insight and moral steadfastness which enabled Van to maintain such an unshakable attitude of loyalty to the universe government was the product of clear thinking, wise reasoning, logical judgment, sincere motivation, unselfish purpose, intelligent loyalty, experiential memory, disciplined character, and the unquestioning dedication of his personality to the doing of the will of the Father in Paradise.

The URANTIA Book also tells us on page 762 that Van’s assistant, Amadon, “and his determined band of 143 comrades stood steadfast for the higher concepts of universe management and administration in the face of such tremendous and adverse pressure” exerted by the ones disloyal to Michael of Nebadon’s government. Those two leaders were definitely spiritual warriors two-hundred thousand years ago when they had to stand firm in their loyalty to Divine Administration against Lucifer, Satan, Caligastia, Daligastia, and many other persons powerful in their evil.

Today, we in Divine Administration often feel we have tremendous odds working against us, but we too need to be steadfast in our loyalty to the concepts taught in The URANTIA Book and Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation (CFER). Van, Amadon and I are reliving, in a way, the Lucifer rebellion, only now in our Mandate, we are also helping to adjudicate and end the rebellion. What the adjudication is about on our part is convincing people of their own error and sin, as well as enlightening them about evil in general; in other words, helping others come of age.

But our work in Divine Administration is not just about adjudication. We are mandated to disseminate the teachings that bring hope, healing, joy, and liberation to people. A Mighty Messenger tells us on page 598 of The URANTIA Book:

The brother-/sisterhood of humankind is, after all, predicated on the recognition of the fatherhood of God. The quickest way to realize the brother-/sisterhood of humankind on Urantia is to effect the spiritual transformation of present-day humanity. The only technique for accelerating the natural trend of social evolution is that of applying spiritual pressure from above, thus augmenting moral insight while enhancing the soul capacity of every mortal to understand and love every other mortal.

Every aspect of Divine Administration is in some way applying spiritual pressure from above—whether it is a garden tour, a class in the school, an event at Future Studios, a tour with Spirit Steps, a visit to Planetary Family Exchange, reading the Divine New Order or one of the Cosmic Family volumes, or participating in a counseling session. Just our presence is a force to be reckoned with, for we set up a dynamic that shakes peoples faulty foundations, wrong attitudes, and erroneous ideas. Every facet of our work here demands that we be spiritual warriors as well as ministers.

All great spiritual warriors must develop a detachment to outcomes, just as Van, Amadon and their comrades had to stand steadfast in their faith in and loyalty to the cosmic concepts of God regardless of the odds that seemed to be against them, and so did Jesus’ followers in His time, as well as those courageous disciples throughout the ensuing two-thousand years. The apostle Thomas stated, regarding the meaning of Jesus’ parable of the sower, “No matter how faithfully and efficiently we execute our divine commission, our work is going to be attended by varying degrees of success. All such differences in results are directly due to conditions inherent in the circumstances of our ministry, conditions over which we have little or no control.” (The URANTIA Book p. 1691.01)

We all work hard here in Divine Administration. We put out quantity as well as quality, and often it seems as if we get little in return for our efforts, but as spiritual warriors under the Mandate of the Bright and Morning Star, we must remain steadfast in our endeavors, loyal to all that we are, not compromising with the evil of the world. Remember, “the act is ours, the consequences God’s.” We continue to work hard, plant the seeds, and let the spirit of God work within the hearts and minds of the souls we have impacted. We won’t always see the results of our hard work, but our faith in God and our perseverance in doing the will of God can sustain us regardless of the outcomes.

The great religion of Buddhism is a result of the work of a spiritual warrior called Siddhartha. A Buddhist teaching states, “He is the greatest of warriors who overcomes and subdues himself. Restraint in all things is good. He alone is a superior person who esteems virtue and is observant of his duty. Let not anger and hate master you. Speak harshly to no one. Contentment is the greatest wealth. What is given wisely is well saved. Do not to others those things you would not wish done to you. Pay good for evil. Overcome evil with the good.” That is very similar to some of the teachings of Jesus.

Though often certain spiritual warriors have failed to always follow all of this wisdom, it is important that we in Divine Administration today take the virtue of self-control seriously. We cannot begin to minister to others and help them in their coming-of-age process if we ourselves do not follow our teachings. Self-control requires that we rise above our selfishness, our own personal agendas, our fits of anger, our self-pity sessions, our tendency to gossip and so on. In His ordination to the apostles, Jesus emphasized the importance of thoughts and attitudes in being true spiritual warriors. First and foremost, He said to put our trust in the Universal Father, and then He gave some advice that is the opposite of what any commander would give to his soldiers before going into battle. Jesus said to the apostles at their ordination, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you.” He said over and over again to be merciful as God is merciful.

Jesus also said to practice what we preach, and that having first cast the beam out of our own eye, we can better see to cast the mote out of our brother’s or sister’s eye. He said to “discern the truth clearly and to live the righteous life fearlessly. If you would guide others, you must yourselves walk in the clear light of living truth.” Jesus also admonished His apostles not to give the truth away to those who are not interested or do not deserve it. “Present not that which is holy to dogs. Neither cast your pearls before swine.”

The Master also said that God is more interested in our intentions and motives than in our words and actions that can so often be false. Talk is cheap, and often people speak with a forked tongue. In gaining an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, it is the motive that counts. Jesus said, “My Father looks into the hearts of people and judges by their inner longings and their sincere intentions.”

As spiritual warriors in Divine Administration we must ascend to discern the motives of those we minister to and those we serve. We must look beyond their words and acts to their true intentions. Often someone who comes across as blustering and harsh is really just uncomfortable; we need to look at what their true heart is like. Often those who speak smooth words and seem so courteous have hearts of darkness and speak with a forked tongue and are not genuine.

Jesus said, “Put away your swords. He who nurses hatred in his or her heart and plans vengeance in his or her mind, stands in danger of judgment.” He also said that the new epochal revelation truths could not be made to conform to that which already is. Don’t build new teachings on top of the old. Take the truth of the old and expand and illuminate it. He told His followers that they would have to walk away from the religious teachers and the doctrines and traditions of their institutionalized religion in order to become new creatures in epochal revelation.

The Beatitudes, a Way of Beauty

The Master stated that spiritual warriors should be cheerful and happy, as He was. He emphasized that it is our thoughts and attitudes that determine whether we will be happy, not necessarily our outer circumstances. He gave us the beatitudes—faith attitudes and supreme reactions—to live by as spiritual warriors. These attitudes are based on love rather than on law.

According to these beatitudes found on pages 1,570 and 1,573 to 1,575 in The URANTIA Book, a spiritual warrior should be poor in spirit, which means being humble. We should hunger for righteousness, which means we should want to think and do what is right in every situation. We should be meek, which means having an attitude of cooperating with God, “Your will be done.” This meekness embraces patience and forbearance in all that we do. We should be pure in heart, having a spiritual purity that lacks suspicion and revenge. In the third dimension of the dominant culture, being a good warrior requires that you are consumed with suspicion, hatred, fear, and revenge.

A spiritual warrior though has faith in his/her fellow humans as a parent has in his or her child. Jesus said that “a parent’s love need not pamper, and it does not condone evil, but it is always anticynical.” In other words, we should be realistic in our discernment of others, recognizing their evil but also realizing their potential and their goodness. Jesus gave four supreme reactions of parental love in the last four beatitudes.

He said, “Happy are those who mourn.” Sounds like a paradox doesn’t it? But isn’t life full of paradoxes? But happy are those who mourn. Mourning means having an emotional attitude of tenderheartedness, sympathy and compassion. Being sensitive and responsive to human need creates genuine and lasting happiness while such kindly attitudes safeguard the soul from the destructive influences of anger, hate and suspicion. “Happy are the merciful.” Mercy here denotes the heighth and depth and breadth of the truest friendship—loving kindness. It is active and dynamic and forgiving. “Happy are the peacemakers.” A warrior usually is not a peacemaker for if he was, he would be out of a job. But, a spiritual warrior is and should promote peace that prevents ruinous conflicts. Jesus said “Personal peace integrates personality. Social peace prevents fear, greed and anger. Political peace prevents race antagonisms, national suspicions and war. Peacemaking is the cure of distrust and suspicion.” “Happy are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are you when people should revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely. Rejoice and be exceedingly gland, for great is your reward in heaven.” There is also an immediate reward of happiness and peace that passes all understanding. Jesus told his followers that we would be persecuted as a result of embracing the epochal revelation. A spiritual warrior is brave and never shuns difficulty or danger when following God’s perfect will.

My First Encounter With a Spiritual Warrior

The very first time that I saw a spiritual warrior in action was when I was about seven or eight years old. I saw my father in action. He was always a very gentle man, softspoken. I think once I heard his voice rise in anger and yet he was very strict with us children. We knew that he had set up boundaries, and we didn’t get out of those boundaries because if we did, we suffered dire consequences, not usually a spanking, but he had logical consequences for each wrongdoing. So, we respected my dad. One summer evening we were traveling on the Navajo reservation on a small highway in a remote area outside of Shiprock in what seemed to be a wilderness to us kids. There was some roadwork or something going on. We were stopped, and a car behind us was stopped, and there was no other traffic. There was a Navajo policeman in his uniform who was being very abusive physically as well as verbally to a drunk Navajo man on the side of the road. The policeman was knocking him around and calling him terrible names. I watched with awe as my father quickly got out of that car. It was as if suddenly this power rose up in my soft-spoken father. He stepped out of the car and pulled the policeman away from the victim, and then my father put the policeman against our car and got in his face. My warrior father very quietly confronted this uniformed man for abusing his power. When my father would get angry his beautiful gray/blue eyes would change to a steel color. Though it was night and I could not see my father’s eyes, I imagined what his eyes looked like when he looked into that policeman’s face. My father informed the policeman that he was going to follow up on that and contact his supervisors about this incident, and than he gave a little sermon about the responsibility a person has when he wears a uniform and has authority, especially in the position of a law enforcement officer. My father went on to give a teaching about the role of a policeman is to protect and nurture and care for those people they are serving, not abuse them as this man had been doing. Then my father took the man who had been abused, put him in the car with us and took him home, which was a long way off the highway on a narrow, rutty dirt road. My dad did follow up afterwards in contacting the police chief. In that act of getting involved, my father was a spiritual warrior, and I was very impressed and proud of him. I never forgot it. In that moment my dad became a hero in my eyes. He saw evil and had the courage to get of that car and go after that policeman. He had no idea if that policeman would pull his gun or arrest him, but he confronted that evil. He protected a victim. And he even took it further in compassion and loving kindness; he showed that victim dignity and took him home to his family.
Teaching by Gabriel of Urantia

The word “spiritual” means, “of concerned with the soul, or affecting the soul; of, from, or relating to God.” The word “warrior” is defined as “one who is engaged or experienced in battle.” Usually we think that battle is a battle of guns and swords—weapons of war. But there are other “battles” that individuals have to face in life, many things to overcome, many experiences that we have to go through, and usually people think that they come out either a loser or a winner, one or the other. Sometimes people don’t know they’re losers until things affect them very deeply. There are certain laws that God has written in His eternity that are laws of cause and effect. People suffer the consequences of decisions that they make that were not the highest choices. When people act contrary to God’s spiritual and physical laws, they suffer. In Hinduism it’s called karma. I used to think that being brave was found in men who have jobs that demand a kind of bravery, like a fireman, a policeman, or a professional soldier. Perhaps the bravest thing that one can do is to become a seeker of truth, particularly on a fallen world like this one called Earth, Urantia.

What are you willing to give up to become a seeker of truth? What are you willing to give up to God because He asks it of you? He does. God asks of you. Besides giving up whatever God is asking you to give up, you must also be prepared to have some enemies. Everybody wants to be liked; but on a fallen world, the more truth you have, you will discover that often you will be divided from old friends, from some of your family. So often you will be divided from people that you were once very close to because on a fallen world before truth unites, truth divides. Jesus said if you cannot leave father and mother, husband or wife, brother or sister, son or daughter for the truth then you’re not worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Those are hard words. When I first became a follower of Christ and experienced what those words were saying, I cried out, “This is almost impossible God. You ask too much.” The Father came back to me and said “What’s the goal?” The goal is peace on earth, right? How does peace come? Is it by compromising with non-truth or by walking in the truth and being the example? That’s the goal. Jesus spoke and lived the truth and did not compromise and was crucified as a result. Many followers of God’s truth throughout the history of this planet who did not compromise were martyred.

So a spiritual warrior must be prepared to have enemies. We must love those enemies; nonetheless, they will act as our enemies because they choose to. We can pray for them; we can try to love them, but we cannot let them walk over us or murder us. We can bend over backwards; we can turn the other cheek, but at some point when they are about to kill us, destroy us, destroy our families, we must stand up and protect ourselves in the best way we can. But, we also turn the other cheek as much as we can. There’s a difference between the words “murder” and “kill.” Protection—sometimes we have to defend our families. If a bunch of maniacs, religious maniacs, or any kind of maniacs are coming into your environment and plan on raping your wife, children or whatever it might be, a man must do what he has to in order to prevent them from hurting his family. That’s basic common sense. It’s too bad we have to live on such a world where people have to worry about those kinds of things. In this world there’s always madness in the midst of peace. You can walk a life of peace and someone all of a sudden wants to hit you over the head and take what you have. Isn’t it horrible? Yet, we have to somehow, as best as we can, walk through this world in peace, which we in Divine Administration try to do in every situation.

You don’t want to walk through life with a chip on your shoulder. I grew up in a neighborhood where you find out that chip’s going to be knocked off real fast. Some people grow up in neighborhoods where they are allowed to walk around with a chip on their shoulder, but sooner or later, someone’s going to knock it off. To be a spiritual warrior, you must be willing to be the one to knock that chip off someone’s shoulder. Oh I don’t mean literally go up to them and punch someone in the mouth. That’s not what I mean. You must be willing to walk up to somebody who’s got that chip on their shoulder and say, “Look, you are an angry person. You need to love more. You need to forgive. I can tell you are angry, I don’t even want to be near you.”

As you seek truth, truth seeks you, and you begin to walk in that truth, and you become an example of that truth. Therefore, you can have the power of God to transform the lives of others who are seeking a better way, a more peaceful and loving way. That’s what God gives you—the power to transform lives through your words and actions which are powerful.

You must be willing to go against the normal tide, to be in constant transition in this great adventure in the search of the Holy Grail. What is the great adventure? The search for truth, the Holy Grail, the cup of truth, the treasure box of God’s truths. So many say, “I’ve got the truth, I’ve got the truth.” Maybe some do have some of it. But we believe that in Divine Administration those of us who have been through Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity and all the “isms” end up with the biggest box of truth, because we have experienced the truth found in other religions and expanded it with epochal revelation found in The URANTIA Book and Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation (CFER).

You must be willing to lose all social customs and masks that you wear. You must be willing to become an outcast and a non-conformist. Carl Jung stated, “Nothing is more repulsive than a furtively current spirituality. It is just as unsavory as gross sensuality.” In my definition of CosmoPop™ I say that my music links spirituality with sexuality. CosmoPop does, not my CosmoWorship™ so much, but CosmoPop music. Carl Rahim VonHombord, a German statesman in the late eighteenth century, said, “The sensual and spiritual are linked together by a mysterious bond sensed by our emotions, though hidden from our eyes. To this double nature of the visible and invisible world, to the profound longing for the latter, coupled with the feeling of the sweet necessity for the former, we owe all sound and logical systems of philosophy truly based on the immutable principles of our nature, just as from the same source arises the most senseless enthusiasms.” Basically he is saying that there is a link between spirituality, sensuality, and sexuality. Some groups dress “spiritual.” Some take courses to become a minister or even an avatar. Well, to me there’s no course that you can take to become an avatar. Nothing, except the course of life and your relationship with the true and living God will make you a true minister and spiritual warrior. Aldous Huxley once wrote, “Pure Spirit, one hundred degrees proof—that’s a drink that only the most hardened contemplation-guzzlers indluge in. Bodhisattvas dilute their Nirvana with equal parts of love and work.” If you’re going to take a shot of spirituality, take a hundred proof. Get into it, and add a little love and some work, actually, a lot of love and a lot of work. I’m not talking about sex here; I’m talking about brotherly and sisterly love for others, wanting to do good to others.

Some think that spirituality is living a perfect life with nothing ever going wrong. I met a young man a few weeks ago in a restaurant, and we connected briefly in a friendly visit. After I got to talk to him for a while I found out that he has a great default in his character; he thinks everything is perfect in his life, everything is peachy keen for him. People buy his way through school; they do this for him; they do that for him. On the streets we used to call them con artists. Now it’s somebody who’s a New Age guru. Anyway, everything’s perfect and they never have any real problems in life. And if they do they don’t admit them to you. They can get a few bucks out of you because they’re so perfect, and God’s blessed them so much; they don’t have any problems whatsoever. They’re spiritual. Goodness to them is projecting to others that everything is good, so they’re good. They’re good people because everything is good and everything is wonderful. Aldous Huxley again said, “Good is a product of the ethical and spiritual artistry of individuals. It cannot be mass produced.” You can’t mass produce goodness. You have to be it for real. One of the things you learn as you do grow up in big cities, you learn who the good guys are and who the bad guys are—who is really good and who is really bad, and who is confused along the way. I wrote a song called “The Good, the Bad and the Schizophrenic.” Basically, that’s what it boils down to. But for millions, they can’t determine who is good and who is bad because “Big Brother” sells you what’s supposedly good and in reality is really not so good for you. Advertisers and other propagandists try to convince you that bad is good. In my song “Wake up America” I sing, “They say good is evil and evil is good. Children grow up quite deceived.” We Americans buy it and people now all over the world buy it. It’s called a Hollywood delusion. That’s what I like to call it and that’s what it is. It’s a delusion.

The truth is, it is through much tribulation that we enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The URANTIA Book says, “The greatest affliction of the cosmos is never to have been afflicted. Mortals only learn wisdom by experiencing tribulation.” Want wisdom? You’re going to get tribulation. Be careful when you pray for wisdom. Because, once again, on this old fallen world that we live on, wisdom only comes by pain. Pain, emotional pain, can be very, very hard to live with. It can be worse than paralysis. At least when you’re paralyzed, you know you’re paralyzed. It’s real, you can tell. You can’t move and you can’t touch and you can’t feel. But with emotional pain, things may be going outwardly O.K. for you, but you are still in this terrible internal distress. “Oh it’s just what I’m going through. It’s because this person did it to me, that person did it to me, my kid did it to me, that did it to me ten years ago, the school did it to me, my teacher did it to me.” Or whoever did it to you. You become the victim over and over again. It’s your emotional pain. “Don’t touch my emotional pain. It’s mine. It’s who I am. It’s my emotions.” Maturity, spiritual maturity, is controlling the emotions and identifying it. “It’s a paralysis in my neurotransmitters that’s got to change. I’ve got to be able to handle that situation better. I’ve got to be able to handle jealousy better. I’ve got to be able to handle fear better. I’ve got to be able to handle resentment better. I’ve got to be able to handle disappointment better.” And when you handle it all better, then you’ll become more spiritually mature. Isn’t that what we all really want? It’s called enlightenment in some cultures. True enlightenment is being able to walk through all of the pain and kind of be laughing about it in a way. Not that we have to laugh it all off. I’m not saying be a fool. That’s not what I’m saying. But it’s being able to realize, “Hey, look, this is life on this planet. And I’ll do the best I can to help others get through it, but first I’ve got to get through it myself. You can’t help anybody until you are balanced yourself. The only way you can help somebody is you’ve got to be the balance for them.

The URANTIA Book also says on page 138, “Brotherhood constitutes a fact of relationship between every personality in universal existence. No person can escape the benefits or the penalties that may come as a result of relationship to other persons.” You have to deal with him or her. That’s it. “Oh I’m going to run. I’m never going to talk to that person. I see them in the store, I’m going to go the other way. I see them over here I’m going to go the other way. I’m going to turn around, maybe they didn’t see me.” You know, that’s what you do, right? I mean, I know, I’ve done it; I’m human too you know. But at some point, you’ve got to catch yourself and say “I’m going to go meet that person. I’m going to go meet them right where they are. I’m considering this God’s will. Because I’m up here in Sedona or wherever, and they’re there at the same time, we’re twenty feet apart and I’m going to go say “Hello.” You’d be surprised what might happen. It might be just a smile that you need to give them. It might not even be a conversation. Maybe they won’t even let you have a conversation with them. But you can at least say “Hi.” That’s being spiritual instead of doing the same thing that they’re doing to you. Growl! You can’t growl back. You’ve got to be different.

“The part profits or suffers in measure with the whole.” [The URANTIA Book, p. 138] If you’re sick, I’m sick in a way. If you’re not feeling good, I’m not feeling good. If your child suffers, my child suffers. How can you enjoy anything knowing that someone else is suffering somewhere else? That’s the problem with this planet.

The good effort of each man benefits all men. The error or evil of each man augments the tribulation of all men. As moves the part, so moves the whole. As the progress of the whole, so the progress of the part. The relative velocities of part and whole determine whether the part is retarded by the inertia of the whole or is carried forward by the momentum of the cosmic brotherhood. (The URANTIA Book, p.138)

That’s what Celestial Overcontrol—Paladin and company and the Bright and Morning Star—have been saying over and over again to us. One person who is not as loving as he/she should be, is not as spiritual as he/she should be at his/her particular level that he/she can be, affects all of us all over the world, let alone in a group of religious order workers trying to go forward as we are here in Global Community Communications. So we constantly try to identify, recognize and speak to those people, “How are you today? What’s happening? If you’re happy, your face isn’t saying it. What is it? What’s wrong? Speak my brother, my sister. Speak up. Don’t hold it in. The only thing that’s going to do is going to stop your blood flow. It’s going to cause you pain in your stomach and in your head, whatever. Get it out.” Go to one another in the spirit of love and share what you need to share with each other. We have counselors to help you with this in this community.

A nineteenth century German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote,

The most spiritual human beings, assuming they are the most courageous, also experience by far the most painful tragedies: but it is precisely for this reason that they honor life, because it brings against them its most formidable weapons. (Twilight of the Idols, p. 17)

When I was younger, all I ever wanted to do was become a singer, since I was this high, as long as I could remember. But God wanted me to be more than a singer, even though I used to think that I would have been happy just being a singer. Every time I prayed “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name,” God showed me a whole new thing. He wanted me to be a minister first. Thirty years ago a minister to me was something different than it became over the years; my ministry became more and more, something bigger, and it still continues to expand and stretch me. As I sought truth, I couldn’t remain a Protestant minister; I couldn’t become a Catholic priest, or even a monk or brother. As I prayed, God began to show me more insights, more truth, and eventually epochal revelation. I tried to deny The URANTIA Book because I had learned everything that I thought I could learn from the Bible. I had studied it for eleven years. I had degrees on the wall from the Institute of Bible Study in California. And I said, “Hey, now I’ve got to become a student of The URANTIA Book? I’ve got to let high school kids in study groups teach me, an ordained minister who worked with Nicki Cruz and had halfway houses of my own, had my own ministry, was volunteer chaplain of Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Now I’ve got to go to study groups and have kids telling me what truth is!” And Jesus said, “Yes.” “Ah man, that is a hard one, because now they won’t even call me ‘Reverend’. I mean, at least I used to get some respect. Now they’re not even calling me ‘Reverend’ any more.” Drop the titles. It’s difficult; I know, but I had to be willing to do that or else I could not go on in my destiny. None of this in Divine Administration would have happened. None of you in Divine Administration would be here. You’d be back in your isms, because the part affects the whole. If I don’t take that first step, I can’t help you take it. You don’t take it, you can’t help someone else take it. Each of you have your own synergy. You have your own drawing power. You have your own destiny in ministering to others.

The URANTIA Book says on page 1305, “Some of the amazing, fortuitous conditions occasionally prevailing on the evolutionary worlds may be due to the gradually emerging presence of God the Supreme, the foretasting of his future universe activities.” In other words, God the Supreme is experiencing everything that we are experiencing. He’s growing too. He’s becoming a bigger God. We hear in Christianity just about God, and Jesus is God. Christians make it very simple, but eternity and God is not that simple. There is a lot to learn. There’s God the Absolute, God the Unqualified Absolute, the existential God, the experiential God, the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, the Seven Master Spirits, the Creator Sons, the Universe Mother Spirits, and on and on and on. There’s a lot to learn. We can’t just simplify God and put Him in a little box.

You want to be a spiritual warrior? You’ve got to learn what and who God is, and God is big, very big. People want to make Him small so that they can be comfortable in their little boxes. Yet, God says, “If you want to stay in that box, it’s OK. You see, I’ve got forever and you can stay in that box of your own emotional pain for a hundred, two hundred, two thousand, ten trillion years.” There’s no hell. He’s not going to throw you in fire and consume you in burning hell. There is no fiery hell. The hell is your emotional life. That’s the hell, because you’ve got to live with yourself. You’ve got to live with yourself and God and others despite the fact that you are unwilling to take that next step of higher consciousness.

Most of what a mortal would call providential is not; his judgment of such matters is very handicapped by lack of far-sighted vision into the true meanings of the circumstances of life. Much of what a mortal would call good luck might really be bad luck; the smile of fortune that bestows unearned leisure and undeserved wealth may be the greatest of human afflictions; the apparent cruelty of a perverse fate that heaps tribulation upon some suffering mortal may in reality be the tempering fire that is transmuting the soft iron of immature personality into the tempered steel of real character. (The URANTIA Book, page 1305)

Of all the pain that I went through in my life, and I’ve been through a lot of pain—two divorces, the loss of my seven-year-old daughter in surgery—all that pain only brought me closer to God. For some people it brings them further away from God; for others it brings them closer. When the death of your child happens, there’s only one place that you can really go for healing and sustenance, and that’s thinking there has to be a God. There has to be a God for how can that spirit/soul, who was so beautiful, not be in existence any more. Many come to that conclusion very quickly when they lose someone so precious. Loosing someone in divorce or through death can ruin your whole life ahead of you, your destiny on this planet, if you don’t get it right with God quickly. If you don’t, you can spend years in grief and resentment and anger, never allowing yourself to love another in a healthy way. You’ve got to have tremendous faith, tremendous hope in God in order to move forward in your life, ministering to others and experiencing inner peace and happiness.

You have to ask questions. Will epochal revelation find you or will you find epochal revelation? That’s if you even understand what epochal revelation is. For those of you that don’t know, briefly, epochal revelation is God giving you higher insight to who He is through the printed word or through a master teacher. The Fourth Epochal Revelation on this planet was Jesus Himself. He never wrote anything. He just was it. His disciples and apostles wrote but they confused a lot of things. They thought He said this, they thought He meant this. They wrote what they thought, but they made many mistakes in their interpretations. Not that the Bible is all false. There’s truth in the Old Testament and there’s truth in the New Testament, but everything there is not truth. Everything there is not truth. So the Fifth Epochal Revelation was needed on this planet because after two thousand years, Christianity did not work. Christianity became “I’m a republican, and God is too.” That’s what Christianity became for some in this country. Some think that the more money you’ve got, the more spiritual you are. People equate money with God. Jesus never did that, but many of today’s so-called spiritual teachers do, not only in Christianity but in the New Age movement too.

Prosperity within true spirituality has to do with an inner prosperity, having character and virtues of eternal significance, that’s prosperity. It’s your godliness; it’s you being able to live in the midst of tribulation and have that peace that passes all understanding. This peace I can’t even begin to describe to you what it is, but I’ve been through it and I know what it is. The only thing I can say is that I would rather have that peace that passes all understanding than a mansion. I’ve lived in a tipi in the Superstitions Mountains and in a tent with Niánn and three children and have had more peace in those situations than living in a fine house outside of God’s perfect will.

My Scottish buddy who traveled through India, Africa, Burma, and Tibet often said, “Give it all away, man. Give it all away. It’s only going to tie you down.” There is a truth to that because those “things” can’t own you; you have to own them. A person’s meaning and purpose in life should not be dependent upon things, but upon relationships—a personal relationship with God and relationships with other people.

Is God truly a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him? That is what is indicated in the New Testament and in The URANTIA Book. They say that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. “Diligently,” I like that word. Today most Americans don’t want to be diligent about anything. But that word “diligent” is used as a search for God. In The URANTIA Book it says on page 579,

All through the Paradise career, reward follows effort as the result of causes. Such rewards set off the individual from the average, provide a differential of creature experience, and contribute to the versatility of ultimate performances and the collective body of the finaliters.

As you make an effort to discover God, God makes an effort for your sake, but you have to respond to God’s efforts. God rewards you as you make efforts. The URANTIA Book teaches:

To the inhabited worlds the quickeners of morality [an order of seraphim] portray mortal life as an unbroken chain of many links. Your short sojourn on Urantia [Earth], on this sphere of mortal infancy, is only a single link, the very first in the long chain that is to stretch across universes and through the eternal ages. It is not so much what you learn in this first life; it is the experience of living this life that is important. Even the work of this world, paramount though it is, is not nearly so important as the way in which you do this work. There is no material reward for righteous living, but there is a profound satisfaction—consciousness of achievement—and this transcends any conceivable material reward. (ibid., 435)

True liberty is the quest of the ages and the reward of evolutionary progress. False liberty is the subtle deception of the error of time and the evil of space. Enduring liberty is predicated on the reality of justice—intelligence, maturity, fraternity and equity. (ibid., 613)

The man who knows God looks upon all men as equal; they are his brethren. Those who are selfish, those who ignore their brothers in the flesh, have only weariness as their reward. Those who love their fellows and who have pure hearts shall see God. God never forgets sincerity. He will guide the honest of heart into the truth, for God is truth. [Excerpt quoted from doctrines of the Cynics] (ibid., 1443)

So often in my life there have been decisions that I chose to make in God’s will that were not necessarily in my will. Often when I prayed for an answer I did not really want the answer because I knew that God was going to give me an answer that did not fit into my will, my agenda. But I had no choice but to get God’s answer, since my higher self wanted His answer. So God would tell me and I would say, “Oh, shit,” because the answer I already knew, and I didn’t really like it. You all have the answer. That’s what I am trying to say. You see, the divine mind will speak to you, but you’ve got your mind so made up that He can hardly get through to you. So when you go to an elder or someone else and they say, “Oh, this is what I think is the highest way to go, counseling you from the perspective that there is a God and that there are godly standards to live by. Don’t go to someone and ask for advice about anything if they don’t believe in God. If they don’t have a connection with God, don’t connect with them in any way but trying to be their friend at some level, but don’t let them be your teacher. God is first and foremost your Father, and every good father wants to guide his children, and so every elder needs to be like a parent to you, wanting your highest good within the Father’s will. That’s why I say that before you try to be a friend to your children, be a parent first, because if you are not a parent, then you can’t really help them, because a friend has misplaced compassion. They say, “OK, go ahead and do this, do that; go ahead.” “You can have this. You can have that” “Go ahead, do it.” A wise parent says, “No, don’t do this, for it will bring harm to you and to others.” “Do this, for it will be good for you and for others.” That’s why I say that if you are really speaking truth, prepare to have enemies, for some people won’t like what they hear from you and will get very angry because what you say and do counteracts what they want to believe and do outside of God’s will.

One day when Jesus returns, and He will, He will set up His divine kingdom and if you can continue seeking the highest truth, you can be one of the leaders in that kingdom. That’s what He needs. He needs you to become a leader within God’s will. That is what Divine Administration is. That is why all of you in Global Community Communications are here from all over the world—from various countries, from various states—because there was something within you that registered with higher truth. You have to know yourself. You have to know who you are. You have to know who your brothers and sisters are to some degree. You have to encourage them in their talents. You need to encourage each other to use those talents in God’s kingdom in a true way. Not with a map. Not with the costumes, but who you really are in God. Some of you are fearful of your own talent. As Nelson Mandela said, “The thing that people fear most is their greatness.” You fear how great you could be. A lot of people never become anything greater than normality on this planet because everything is structured to keep you small. True spirituality is structured to make you awesomely big. That is what true spirituality does. It separates you from smallness and makes you big.

This is a quote of mine. “Spirituality equals constant change and flexibility. It is built in the mansions of one’s superconciousness, in the relativities of absolutes. It defines everything beautiful, starting with you. It is becoming the reflection of God.” You know that some people want to walk around thinking “Everything is relative. There is no absolute truth.” “Others want to say, “Everything is absolute.” Where is the balance? You have to have a balance. Yes, there are absolutes and yes there is relativity. God is a personality. God is a Father. He is the First Absolute, and if you don’t get that Absolute, you haven’t even begun the walk, and there is many things in the world that can separate you from that absolute. There are absolute truths, and there are certain things that are very relative. Maybe you shouldn’t eat chicken, but someone else should. Maybe you shouldn’t be a meat eater, but someone else eats meat and it is O.K. for them. They are relatives. There are other things, very profound things that may be right for you and wrong for me or the other way around. Who is to judge? God. God. That is why Jesus said that in those areas we cannot judge, in other areas we have to discern right from wrong, godliness from ungodliness. Often there is a very thin line between right and wrong, and as you grow more spiritually you find out that God is so big, merciful, and forgiving, so understanding. God is so big that He loves us in all our stinkiness. He loves us in all of our mistakes, and He pulls us right out and says, “OK, everything that you went through, you went through so that you could become a great leader and teacher yourself. You have learned many lessons. Now plant yourself in some absolutes and go forward, realizing that there is also much relativity when taking into consideration another person situation.

You have to see yourself as beautiful if you are going to be a spiritual leader, a teacher. You have to walk the walk of humility. You basically have to become the reflection of God. God, not a force, not an energy. Force and energy have no personality, but God, the Father, has a personality. As a matter of fact, He created you. He knows you. He lives in Paradise. His Creator Sons have come out from Paradise, like Jesus, who was a Creator Son. Jesus came to this planet to identify with you. We have the reality, the presence of God in our hearts that we should not try to escape because it is that God that makes us beautiful, and it is that God we should represent. Thank you.