The Conspiracy Hypothesis*

The Vision:
A New Revelation of Jesus

| Beyond the Urantia Movement | Love | The Second Mile | If Not Us, Who? | It’s Not Too Early to Start Now! | “Quivering on the Brink” |

The URANTIA Book’s Prophecy

In one of last pages of The URANTIA Book, the Paper’s supernal author states: “What a transcendent service if, through this revelation, the Son of Man should be recovered from the tomb of traditional theology and be presented as the living Jesus to the church that bears his name, and to all other religions!” (2090 C). This statement is nothing less than the purpose of the revelation, the raison d’etre of The URANTIA Book.

This is the manifestation of Jesus’ promised “enhanced demonstration of righteousness” and the fulfillment of The URANTIA Book’s prophecy concerning the advent of the future teachers and leaders. These, having been born of the spirit, depending “solely” on Jesus and his teachings, and who will “exclusively devote” themselves to the spiritual regeneration of mankind, shall “supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world” (2082 D). The New Revelation of Jesus is nothing less than the second part of the Fifth Epochal Revelation, the promised compliment to its “expanded revelation of truth” found in The URANTIA Book, also promised by Jesus. It is at least the “enhanced demonstration of righteousness” for our time (ref. 1914 C).

A beautiful vision of how this transcendent service will be actualized is given elsewhere in the same Paper, especially in its sections 9, “Christianity’s Problem” and 10, “The Future”. There we see quite clearly that a spiritual movement is being foretold. If my timing is correct it should begin to take place in about the year A.D. 2021. But whether this dating is correct or not, we have been assured that “the revelation of God to the world, in and through Jesus, shall not fail” (2097 A).

What is being pictured in those pages is a worldwide, spirit-backed project with a goal of nothing short of the “spiritual regeneration of men” (2082 D) . And this project will be world changing: it will “quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world” (2082 D - 2083 A).

Beyond the “Urantia Movement”

This New Revelation is apparently to take place on its own if Christianity cannot rehabilitate itself in time, It seems that the church must first accept an “expanded revelation of truth” as it is found in The URANTIA Book (ref. 2082 D and 2091 C), or at least get back to the “unadulterated religious teachings of Jesus” in order to do so.

“If the Christian church would only dare to espouse the Master’s program, thousands of apparently indifferent youths would rush forward to enlist in such a spiritual undertaking, and they would not hesitate to go all the way through with this great adventure.” (2085 B)

“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.” (2085 C)

“Christianity is an extemporized religion, and therefore must it operate in low gear. High-gear spiritual performances must await the new revelation and the more general acceptance of the real religion of Jesus.” (2086 B)

“The hope of modern Christianity is that it should cease to sponsor the social systems and industrial policies of Western civilization while it humbly bows itself before the cross it so valiantly extols, there to learn anew from Jesus of Nazareth the greatest truths mortal man can ever hear -- the living gospel of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.” (2086 D)

However it was almost wholly, as an institution, unable to accept the awakening begun by Peter Abelard and Arnold of Brescia one millennium earlier and fought growth every step of the way for hundreds of years. And presently U.S. President, George Bush, is promoting government policies which would seem to reward the church for diversion from its spiritual mission into fitting itself into the parameters of “faith-based charities” -- that is, substituting its spiritual mission with an even greater social program this time sponsored by the government. Whether or not the government will go forward with this program in spite of the “establishment” clause of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment is questionable, and in light of its war against terrorism, is anyone’s guess. But it was Jesus, not the Constitution, who first built a wall of separation between “the things of God” and the “things of Caesar” -- church and state. And The URANTIA Book tells us:

“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 … new teachers of Jesus’ religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men.” (2082 D)

If Christianity is to become the bearer of expanded truth and demonstrator of righteousness on into the oncoming millennium, it must move beyond the mere conversion of non-believers to its fixed-doctrines. People must learn that religion has to do with the presence of God in one’s personal life, and that inner spiritual unfolding and growth is every bit as important to the adult as is physical growth to a child! The part of Christianity which is often called “churchianity” is almost worse than no religion at all:

“Religion has become more and more a nominal influence, largely a ritualistic exercise. The majority of professed Christians of Western civilization are unwittingly actual secularists.” (2081 A)

When you see me, you see Jesus!

Spirit birth is not a concept confined to The URANTIA Book by any means, in fact at the time of this writing (2001) it seems to be mainly overlooked and devalued by most of its readers (in my opinion) -- if published material online and off provides insight into the true state of affairs. Christianity has a strong born-of-the-Spirit contingency but currently it seems to have been diverted into seeking legislative goals for issues such as abortion, prayer in school, anti-homosexuality, and creationism vs. evolution. Rather than follow where the inner spirit leads as individuals, they often follow the direction of people who interpret the Bible for them. The URANTIA Book tells us that:

“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 … new teachers of Jesus’ religion” (2082 D) .

What sets The URANTIA Book’s visionary New Revelation of Jesus apart from the ordinary spiritual brotherhood of Jesus, is the fact that not only have the hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or more individuals who will enlist in its completion been born-in-the-Spirit, but they will also exclusively devote themselves to the “spiritual regeneration of men”. Not only that, but they “dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings” (2082 D). Such teachings restricted to the smaller parts of both the Bible and The URANTIA Book, while being largely dependent on the Spirit of Truth.

“Now that [Jesus] has personally left the world, he sends in his place the Spirit of Truth, who is designed to live in man and, for each new generation, to restate the Jesus message so that every new group of mortals to appear upon the face of the earth shall have a new and up-to-date version of the gospel … (2060 D)

“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me … ” (John 15:26)

“The spirit also came to help men recall and understand the words of the Master as well as to illuminate and reinterpret his life on earth. Next, the Spirit of Truth came to help the believer to witness to the realities of Jesus’ teachings and his life as he lived it in the flesh, and as he now again lives it anew and afresh in the individual believer of each passing generation of spirit-filled sons of God (2061 B).

The written teachings of Jesus are hardly the exclusive property of any one book. As the Bible puts it:

“There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” (John 21:25)

And Jesus says in The URANTIA Book:

“Fail not to discern the words of truth which come not through the traditional oracles of supposed inspiration.” (1731 A)

There are those who look forward to the “second coming of Jesus, within”, and many Christians foretell a yet-to-come worldwide mission of the Holy Spirit, which they confuse with the Spirit of Truth, but which The URANTIA Book reveals are actually two separate entities. These visions appear to be identical with The URANTIA Book’s New Revelation of Jesus.

“All Urantia is waiting for the proclamation of the ennobling message of Michael [Jesus], unencumbered by the accumulated doctrines and dogmas of nineteen centuries of contact with 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.” (1041 C)

Equipt by a living connection to the source of truth and dedicated both to the Jesus within them and the spiritual regeneration of mankind as well, through the exercise of their supreme freewill choice, soldiers of the circles, sailors of the cross, marines of the star of David, and commandoes of every other religion’s symbology will provide “a new and fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus” (2082 C) by revealing him in their life experiences (2084 A) in the same way that Jesus revealed the Father in his own. When you see them you will see Jesus!

Love

The URANTIA Book provides some details as to exactly how this project is to operate. We are told that “the religion of Jesus is a … gospel of faith to be proclaimed to struggling humanity. This … religion is founded on faith, hope, and love” (2063 A). In conjunction with this, we are also taught: “You cannot truly love your fellows by a mere act of will. Love is only born of a thoroughgoing understanding of your neighbor’s motives and sentiments. It is not so important to love all men today as it is that each day you learn to love one more human being” (1098 C). We are further assured in this lesson that:

“Genuine and unselfish love is truly contagious. If each mortal could only become the focus of dynamic affection, this benign virus of love would soon pervade the sentimental emotion-stream of humanity to such an extent that all civilization would be encompassed by love, and that would be the realization of the brotherhood of man” (1098 D).

The Second Mile

This vision of the New Revelation of Jesus, then, is a picture of a multitude of born of the Spirit lovers unleashed upon the world to win “souls for the Master” by going the second mile which “will transform man and his world” by reaching forth to grasp their brother [or sister] in love and sweep him [or her] on under spiritual guidance toward the higher and divine goal of mortal existence” (2084 C) -- finding God and being like him!

The vision of the worldwide project of world-changing, dynamically-loving spiritual transformation is summed up thus:

“The call to the adventure of building a new and transformed human society by means of the spiritual rebirth of Jesus’ brotherhood of the kingdom should thrill all who believe in him as men have not been stirred since the days when they walked about on earth as his companions in the flesh.”(2084 D)

“And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, economic, and political reorganization of the world.” (2082 D)

“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.” (2082 C)

If Not Us, Who?

The foregoing is merely a limited, birds-eye-view of the coming spiritual project. The URANTIA Book, especially Part IV, “The Life and Teachings of Jesus” (recently published separately as Jesus: A Nwe Revelation) is chock full of vital, essential information concerning its actuality, its growth, and its development. The only thing that can stop it is if people such as you and I refuse to heed the call it makes to our hearts. When the time comes the project will snowball. It will shoot around the world like a chain reaction, growing in geometric proportion. Its spread will be like a wonderful, born again virus of love! Legions of angels and midwayers are already at hand to make sure that the project succeeds. Remember, it is in no way my project, nor am I somehow its organizer. I am nothing more than a minstrel, singing its song! AND I want to be a part of it as well!

The project belongs to the spiritual kingdom of God. To become a part of it we must abandon every previous guide we have used except for Jesus and his incomparable teachings, relying “solely” on them. Otherwise we shall be led astray, following some other master, In many cases our own subconscious desires, accomplishing at best only an attenuated and distorted version of this vision comparable to that which resulted from the changed gospel of Jesus’ Apostles combined with the theology of Paul, which was brought forward as Christianity in place of religion such as Jesus both taught and practiced.

“Christianity exhibits a history of having originated out of the unintended transformation of the religion of Jesus into a religion about Jesus. It further presents a history of having experienced Hellanization, paganization, secularization, institutionalization, intellectual deterioration, spiritual decadence, moral hibernation, threatened extinction, later rejuvenation, fragmentation, and more recent relative rehabilitation. And this same Christianity is now present in the civilized world of Occidental peoples and stands face to face with a struggle for existence which is even more ominous than those eventful crises which have characterized its past battles for dominance.” (2075 B)

It’s Not Too Early to Start Now!

We cannot expect to start out fully outfitted and equipped to begin this expedition already spirit born, relying solely on Jesus and his teachings, and exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men, but must begin where we find ourselves at the moment the truth of the vision speaks to our hearts! Then, by way of prayer, worship and meditation (“Jesus-style”, worshipful meditation), we shall sign our names, as it were, on the enlistment papers, and after that it will be the work of the Spirit of Truth (Jesus) and our Thought Adjusters (the personality’s indwelling Father-fragment) to provide what we need to turn the vision into reality. If we fully give ourselves to this project then God will do the rest, teaching us, leading us, and guiding us into the acceptable performance of His will. And only by these means will Urantia be transformed. Only by bringing about the transformation of the hearts and minds of our planet’s inhabitants will true and lasting progress ever be attained for the entire earth.

“Quivering On The Brink”

Some might say it is too early to think about beginning today if the actual starting date is still two decades in the future. But at this writing’s same relative date 2,000 years ago (A.D. 1 ), the seven year old Jesus had a vision of his coming mission (then twenty years in his future). He expressed it in his “birthday text” with words he quoted from the Prophet Isaiah :

“ The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to set the spiritual prisoners free.” (1363 C)

First comes the vision and the dedication to the vision, then spiritual development during the intervening years takes care of the rest. When Jesus stepped forth from his family as an unencumbered man of the realm twenty years later (A.D. 21) he was no longer a child in the spirit, but a man fully prepared to begin the first part of his mission to mankind.

Those of us who accept this challenge, this dare to bring about the spiritualizing of mankind and the transformation of the planet must grow to the extent that we can truly say, “when you see me, you see Jesus.”

“You may enter the kingdom as a child, but the Father requires that you grow up, by grace, to the full stature of spiritual adulthood.” (2054 D)

(NEXT:) “THE JUDEO/CHRISTIAN CYCLES: TIMING”