© 2019 David Kantor
© 2019 The Urantia Book Fellowship
It is not uncommon to hear a reader of The Urantia Book expressing an ideal of being able to assist our unseen friends in some way with their work. Too often this doesn’t go much beyond imagining what it would be like to be a reservist. But there are some very deep spiritual needs and cosmically compelling service potentials in our world with repercussions extending far beyond this life.
This article will provide background on the present planetary dispensation and highlight once again the Master’s plea to each of his followers—his kingdom service imperative. On isolated Urantia, the journey to light and life may be highly dependent on the mobilization of dedicated mortals.
¶ Dispensations
The Urantia Book describes planetary history as a sequence of dispensations. What is a dispensation? The first section of Paper 115 contains a discussion of “universe frames”— contexts, paradigms, or frames of reference within which we do our thinking. Imagine a dispensation as a “metaframe” embodying administrative goals for guiding planetary evolution through a specific stage of development.
There have been four dispensations on our planet:
- The Era of the Life Carriers
- The Dispensation of the Planetary Prince
- The Adamic Dispensation
- The Dispensation of the Spirit of Truth—the current dispensation.
Among other purposes a dispensation may be thought of as providing:
- A tool for celestial management of mortal orientation to the ascension career. Dispensations provide structured conceptual environments within which evolutionary growth takes place. At the beginning of each dispensation divine Sons inaugurate potentials which then are developed during the dispensation by mortals responding to the leading of superhuman ministry.
- A tool for managing the superhuman planetary administration. Planetary administrative priorities are structured to work within the context of the goals and objectives of a particular dispensation. At the start of a new dispensation the superhuman elements of planetary administration get reorganized relative to the advancing goals set by the initiating divine Son.
- A tool for integrating planetary evolution with administrative affairs on the Mansion Worlds. Rehabilitation services, social mechanisms, educational programs, planetary and local system administration procedures–all need to be planned, created, staffed, and put in place in readiness for new groups of pilgrims arriving from the evolutionary planets.
It is possible that dispensations also provide a means for synchronizing the flow of groups into the Constellation educational regime.
¶ The Present Dispensation on Urantia
The present dispensation on Urantia is the dispensation of the bestowed Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, that [UB 34:4.5] “spiritual force which ever draws all truth seekers towards Him who is the personification of truth in the local universe.” On Urantia neither personal spiritual experience nor the development of civilization can ever be the same again.
Mighty spiritual forces have been unleashed for access by individual mortals including the Spirit of Truth and the universal bestowal of Thought Adjusters. But the effectiveness of these resources for planetary rehabilitation depends on cooperative participation by individual mortals functioning within the material and interpersonal environment of the planet.
What can we discern regarding superhuman intentions for the present dispensation? Reviewing the purposes of the guiding Spirit of Truth illuminates the matter beyond question.
“The Spirit of Truth 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.” [UB 194:2.1]
“The Spirit of Truth was bestowed for the purpose of qualifying believers more effectively to preach the gospel of the kingdom.” [UB 194:3.5]
“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 the spirit-filled sons of God.” [UB 194:2.6]
“The fruits of the spirit, your sincere and loving service, are the mighty social lever to uplift the races of darkness, and this Spirit of Truth will become your power-multiplying fulcrum.” [UB 178:1.6]
“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.” [UB 191:5.3]
The primary task of the present dispensation is to foster global consciousness of the kingdom. Said Jesus,
“You should understand that, when this gospel of the kingdom shall have been proclaimed to all the world for the salvation of all peoples, and when the fullness of the age has come to pass, the Father will send you another dispensational bestowal, or else the Son of Man will return to adjudge the age.” [UB 176:2.5]
Fostering a world-wide appreciation for the kingdom will create the foundation upon which the revelation of the next dispensation will take place. But the achievement of this planetary recovery will be heavily dependent on mortal commitment and work over many generations.
The Spirit of Truth is a resource that will facilitate the work of the Master’s followers who choose to accept his commission. This is the Master’s personal spirit working in the world to actualize potentials planted during his prematurely terminated Incarnation. And we are commissioned by him to work in partnership with his bestowed spirit.
He has provided powerful spiritual resources–the Spirit of Truth, the global mobilization of Thought Adjusters, and more. He has reorganized the superhuman planetary government to address the task. And he has provided us with an epochal revelation, a kingdom worker’s manual containing context, instructions, and guidance.
Do we fully appreciate being personally asked by our Creator Son to help him rehabilitate this isolated, sin-stricken planet? As he emphatically instructed the Seventy,
“The gospel of the kingdom must be proclaimed to all the world.” [UB 163:4.2]
¶ The Revolutionary Nature of His Teaching
The teachings of Jesus brought a revolutionary new perspective to one of the most pressing questions of his day; “What must I do to be saved?”
The Hebrews taught adherence to the Law of Moses as the means of gaining favor with Yahweh.
The Romans taught political loyalty and service to the State.
The Greeks valued virtue and taught the construction of a soul through the cultivation of philosophical thought.
The mystery religions focused on the observance of ritual.
Jesus shifted the locus of spiritual attention to personality, a revolutionary departure from the religious paradigms of mind, law, and ritual of his day. His teachings immerse the believer in a milieu in which the primacy of interpersonal relationships prevails—our relationship with God and our relationships with each other. And this milieu of spiritualizing communion between persons is the environment within which his spiritual kingdom may be discovered.
It has been said that the Greeks discovered mind mobilized by the development of rational thought. The teachings of Jesus constitute nothing less than a revelation of personality mobilized by selfless service.
¶ Jesus’ Personal Philosophy of Living
The Beatitudes are reflective of Jesus’ personal philosophy of living. They illuminate qualities of spiritual being implicit in his teaching. Be humble, thirst for righteousness, be meek, and be pure in heart. These four beatitudes describe ideals of personal being.
In the domain of social being, he places a high value on serving people, comforting them, being merciful, being a peacemaker, being willing to stand up for righteousness, doing good rather than forcefully resisting evil—even to the extent of loving one’s enemies.
The fruits of the spirit are experienced only as these attitudes of personality are actually lived. Loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, and forgiving tolerance can only be experienced in relationships with other persons.
Jesus was teaching neither a doctrine nor an ideology. Neither was he trying to found a religion. This was our Creator, incarnate, telling us how reality works in a personal universe; how to grow and thrive as persons in a world with other persons. He was revealing personality itself as the very ground of being. The dispensation he was inaugurating was one in which [UB 179:5.2] “the enslaved individual emerges from the bondage of ceremonialism and selfishness into the spiritual joy of the brotherhood and fellowship of the liberated faith sons of the living God.”
This was our Creator who came “that we might have life and have it more abundantly.”
¶ Participation
But note that this Spirit of Truth [UB 34:5.5] “is almost wholly limited in function and power by man’s personal reception of that which constitutes the sum and substance of the mission of the bestowal Son.”
What might that “sum and substance” be?
“I have come to proclaim the establishment of the Father’s kingdom.” [UB 137:8.6]
“I have come to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom.” [UB 137:8.14]
“I have come into the world to reveal the Father and establish his kingdom.” [UB 145:3.9]
“I have come not to reform the kingdoms of this world but rather to establish the kingdom of heaven.” [UB 140:6.6]
And what might our “personal reception” of his mission look like? [UB 140:6.6]
[Jesus was] “dedicated to the work of revealing the heavenly Father to his fellow mortals and at the same time was consecrated to the sublime task of living his mortal earth life all the while subject to the will of the same Paradise Father.” [UB 129:3.5]
Our “personal reception” of his mission— our assimilation of his religion—implies the embodiment and expression through our own lives of his personal spiritual objectives. In this regard we should note that, UB 160:5.3 “If something has become a religion in your experience, it is self-evident that you already have become an active evangel of that religion since you deem the supreme concept of your religion as being worthy of the worship of all mankind, all universe intelligences. If you are not a positive and missionary evangel of your religion, you are self-deceived in that what you call a religion is only a traditional belief or a mere system of intellectual philosophy.”
Not only does our personal reception of his mission further the process of planetary rehabilitation; our personalities become more real as we engage with the spiritual trends and objectives of the present dispensation. Ascent through the psychic circles is directly related to mastering the personality challenges inherent in the tasks of the kingdom. Here in our initial lives in the flesh, kingdom service and personal growth are all provided in an integrated career package available for the choosing.
Do we appreciate the magnitude of the universe career option being offered to us? We are Agondonters being invited to join a corps of planetary ministers working in the wake of the Creator Son’s final bestowal and attainment of universe sovereignty; we are mortals given an epochal revelation containing background and guidelines for helping with planetary rehabilitation. We are the boots on the ground with the ability directly to engage individuals and impact institutions in a way that is impossible for our unseen friends.
Our Creator Son has commissioned us to work for the establishment of his spiritual kingdom on earth—what an exciting adventure! What faith he has in us!
The dispensation of the Spirit of Truth under the transcendent guidance of Michael’s personal spirit will be a time of great transition during which our troubled world will begin more fully to embrace the forward progressive march of evolution in Nebadon. It is a march toward light and life and the fuller realization of the kingdom proclaimed by Jesus, catalyzed by the commitments of countless generations of his faithful followers.
Will the story of your universe career show that you were a creative participant or merely an observer? All Urantia is waiting.
David Kantor is the director of Urantia Book Films, sponsored by Rocky Mountain Spiritual Fellowship. He is producer of the Amazon Prime film, “Re-Imagining Jesus” and has a new film, “Who Say You That I Am?” currently in production, optimistically projected for completion by the end of 2020. He was also on the editorial team for the newly published book, “The Untold Story of Jesus.”
¶ References
- Article obtained from The Fellowship site