© 2023 Halbert Katzen, JD
By Halbert Katzen J.D.
Jesus said, “You should be alert to discern the signs of the times.”
¶ Introductory Remarks
I started the UBtheNEWS project over fifteen years ago. My reports and study aid docuement how new discoveries and scientific advances increasingly support The Urantia Book‘s comprehensive account of our planet’s history. In 2016, I expanded the scope of the project into this effort (UBannotated)—a resource for a broad selection of Urantia Book study aids, including other people’s efforts.
As it turns, right when this project was getting started, I also learned of the intersecting full solar eclipses over Bald Knob Cross of Peace on August 21, 2017 and April 8, 2024. Eclipses Trump Prophecy Scholars summarizes how this relates to prophecy and current religious and political trends. That article is the best place to start.
¶ History of this Topical Study
On August 21 (Jesus’ birthday), 2017 and April 8 (the day after crucifixion), 2024, the paths of two solar eclipses mark a big “X” on the United States. (Zoom in on the intersection.) The intersection of their paths is within a few miles of the Bald Knob Cross of Peace. Located in southern Illinois, this 111 ft. cross was constructed and is maintained cooperatively by a host of Christian groups from that area. This peculiar occurrence inspired study about prophecy and signs of the times. Several Urantia Book readers, including myself, traveled to Bald Knob Cross of Peace for the eclipse on August 21st: trip report.
Some believe that Machiventa [Melchizedek] will not come to take personal direction of Urantian [Earthly] affairs until the end of the current dispensation. Others hold that the vicegerent Prince [Machiventa Melchizedek] may not come, as such, until Michael [Jesus] sometime returns to Urantia as he promised when still in the flesh. Still others, including this narrator, look for Melchizedek’s appearance any day or hour_._ (UB 114:1.4)
That narrator and your editor are similarly minded regarding the issue of an “appearance.” I am inclined to believe that we will get some type of material appearance/visitation (probably by Machiventa Melchizedek, perhaps Adam and Eve, and possibly some children of Adam and Eve) between August 21, 2017 and April 8, 2024.
It was 1,973 years before the birth of Jesus that Machiventa was bestowed upon the human races of Urantia. (UB 93:2.1)
And this is the long story of the teachings of Machiventa Melchizedek on Urantia. It is nearly four thousand years since this emergency Son of Nebadon bestowed himself on Urantia, and in that time the teachings of the “priest of El Elyon, the Most High God,” have penetrated to all races and peoples. And Machiventa was successful in achieving the purpose of his unusual bestowal; when Michael made ready to appear on Urantia, the God concept was existent in the hearts of men and women, the same God concept that still flames anew in the living spiritual experience of the manifold children of the Universal Father as they live their intriguing temporal lives on the whirling planets of space. [Emphasis added.] (UB 98:7.12)
Jesus, born in 7 B.C. (UB 122:8.1), had his 2000th birthday in 1994 (there is no 0 year, if you’re doing the math). That means 27 years after Jesus’ 2000th birthday, 2021 A.D., is the 4000th anniversary of the arrival of Machiventa Melchizedek. Interestingly enough, this places his 4000th anniversary pretty much right in the middle of the two full solar eclipses.
I am guessing a visitation would occur in the general area of where the Bald Knob Cross of Peace is located, if not there specifically. Because there was not a visitation on August 21, 2017, my next best guess is April 8, 2024, for a specific date. But because we are now in between the two eclipses, this seems to give a bit more credence to the Chief of Seraphim’s speculations about a visitation occurring “any day or hour.” Maybe any day or hour in 2021!?!
Who knows? Not me. That’s for sure. But I have enjoyed studying the topic and am happy to share what I have learned.
¶ How is “signs of the times” used in The Urantia Book?
In The Urantia Book, the phrase “signs of the times” only appears twice. In both instances, the phrase is used while quoting Jesus.
On Monday, August 8, while Jesus and the twelve apostles were encamped in Magadan Park, near Bethsaida-Julias, more than one hundred believers, the evangelists, the women’s corps, and others interested in the establishment of the kingdom, came over from Capernaum for a conference. And many of the Pharisees, learning that Jesus was here, came also. By this time some of the Sadducees were united with the Pharisees in their effort to entrap Jesus. Before going into the closed conference with the believers, Jesus held a public meeting at which the Pharisees were present, and they heckled the Master and otherwise sought to disturb the assembly. Said the leader of the disturbers: “Teacher, we would like you to give us a sign of your authority to teach, and then, when the same shall come to pass, all men will know that you have been sent by God.” And Jesus answered them: “When it is evening, you say it will be fair weather, for the heaven is red; in the morning it will be foul weather, for the heaven is red and lowering. When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say showers will come; when the wind blows from the south, you say scorching heat will come. How is it that you so well know how to discern the face of the heavens but are so utterly unable to discern the signs of the times? To those who would know the truth, already has a sign been given; but to an evil-minded and hypocritical generation no sign shall be given.” (UB 157:2.1)
During those times, the issue was being able to recognize and accept Jesus–the divine downreach that had already occurred and was in their midst. In the second instance of “signs of the times,” Jesus speaks directly to the issue of future visitations.
“But the times of the reappearing of the Son of Man are known only in the councils of Paradise; not even the angels of heaven know when this will occur. However, 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)
“And now concerning the travail of Jerusalem, about which I have spoken to you, even this generation will not pass away until my words are fulfilled; but concerning the times of the coming again of the Son of Man, no one in heaven or on earth may presume to speak. But you should be wise regarding the ripening of an age; you should be alert to discern the signs of the times. You know when the fig tree shows its tender branches and puts forth its leaves that summer is near. Likewise, when the world has passed through the long winter of material-mindedness and you discern the coming of the spiritual springtime of a new dispensation, should you know that the summertime of a new visitation draws near.” (Emphasis added.) (UB 176:2.6)
“But what is the significance of this teaching having to do with the coming of the Sons of God? Do you not perceive that, when each of you is called to lay down his life struggle and pass through the portal of death, you stand in the immediate presence of judgment, and that you are face to face with the facts of a new dispensation of service in the eternal plan of the infinite Father? What the whole world must face as a literal fact at the end of an age, you, as individuals, must each most certainly face as a personal experience when you reach the end of your natural life and thereby pass on to be confronted with the conditions and demands inherent in the next revelation of the eternal progression of the Father’s kingdom.” (UB 176:2.7)
Of all the discourses which the Master gave his apostles, none ever became so confused in their minds as this one, given this Tuesday evening on the Mount of Olives, regarding the twofold subject of the destruction of Jerusalem and his own second coming. There was, therefore, little agreement between the subsequent written accounts based on the memories of what the Master said on this extraordinary occasion. Consequently, when the records were left blank concerning much that was said that Tuesday evening, there grew up many traditions; and very early in the second century a Jewish apocalyptic about the Messiah written by one Selta, who was attached to the court of the Emperor Caligula, was bodily copied into the Matthew Gospel and subsequently added (in part) to the Mark and Luke records. It was in these writings of Selta that the parable of the ten virgins appeared. No part of the gospel record ever suffered such confusing misconstruction as this evening’s teaching. But the Apostle John never became thus confused. (UB 176:2.8)
The process of bringing The Urantia Book into publication and the book itself, if considered the fifth epochal revelation to Urantia, powerfully supports the interpretation that we have experienced “the spiritual springtime of a new dispensation.”
Some Urantia Book readers, however, contend that the current state of affairs on Urantia is inconsistent with the belief that we have “passed through the long winter of material-mindedness.” This leads to having doubts about whether The Urantia Book can qualify as the springtime of a new dispensation. Fortunately, The Urantia Book provides some direct commentary on this issue:
At the time of this writing [over 80 years ago now] the worst of the materialistic age is over; the day of a better understanding is already beginning to dawn. The higher minds of the scientific world are no longer wholly materialistic in their philosophy, but the rank and file of the people still lean in that direction as a result of former teachings. But this age of physical realism is only a passing episode in man’s life on earth. Modern science has left true religion—the teachings of Jesus as translated in the lives of his believers—untouched. All science has done is to destroy the childlike illusions of the misinterpretations of life. (UB 195:6.4)
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. (UB 195:9.2)
How could we be “quivering on the very brink,” if the world has not already “passed through the long winter of material-mindedness?” “Passing through the long winter” suggests that the worst of something is over, not that the full cycle is complete.
Jesus made additional statements about future visitations:
In further answer to Peter’s question, Jesus said: “Why do you still look for the Son of Man to sit upon the throne of David and expect that the material dreams of the Jews will be fulfilled? Have I not told you all these years that my kingdom is not of this world? The things which you now look down upon are coming to an end, but this will be a new beginning out of which the gospel of the kingdom will go to all the world and this salvation will spread to all peoples. And when the kingdom shall have come to its full fruition, be assured that the Father in heaven will not fail to visit you with an enlarged revelation of truth and an enhanced demonstration of righteousness, even as he has already bestowed upon this world him who became the prince of darkness, and then Adam, who was followed by Melchizedek, and in these days, the Son of Man. And so will my Father continue to manifest his mercy and show forth his love, even to this dark and evil world. [Emphasis added.] (UB 176:2.3)
Consider how well The Urantia Book satisfies the phrase “an enlarged revelation of truth,” that “an enhanced demonstration of righteousness” means there would need to be a Demonstrator, and that “Melchizedek” means “king of righteousness.”
Of course, the belief held by some of our celestial administrators that “Machiventa [Melchizedek] will not come . . . until the end of the current dispensation,” also means that he would be coming back for the inauguration of a new dispensation. So, the question remains, if Machiventa is not coming back on just “any day or hour,” then what special day might mark the occasion. Do we have any other information from The Urantia Book to help us with this question? (For a deeper understanding of where our planet is at in our evolutionary and off-the-main-course trajectory, consider Robert Sarmast’s study on Magisterial Missions.)
¶ Why should the 8/21/17 and 4/8/24 eclipses be considered “signs of the times?”
When Jesus’ was here, people wanted to see material signs of spiritual power. In today’s modern scientific culture, with the Reformation and the Enlightenment periods behind us, after 2000 years of people mistakenly predicting when Jesus will return and when “the world will end,” and given the teachings of The Urantia Book, which are so thoroughly critical of a material-minded and sign-seeking mentality, we should not be at all surprised if we find ourselves quite incredulous when it comes to this general topic. For sure, I have gotten an enormous amount of personal criticism for doing this study and bringing up the issues related to it. Some people just cannot wait to mock those who give serious consideration to this subject.
We all have to ask ourselves: “Am I such a person? Am I going to let such people keep me from thinking and believing and talking about what would otherwise be considered an obviously timely and important subject? Scientists suffer many failures before achieving satisfactory results and conclusions. And many scientists get mocked for being wrong, even though they are part of a larger human process of discovery and learning. Similarly, many athletes go for the gold, fail at attaining it, and get mocked for thinking they could win. But all those losers, with their championship spirit, are necessary for the creation of champions. Religious inquiries and discoveries are no different. There are always those would mock efforts to understand our world better and achieve results, no matter what area of life is being considered.
Some Urantia Book readers are quick to criticize associating the eclipses with signs of the times. The criticism is that such thinking reflects both material-minded, sign seeking–exactly what Jesus criticized in the people of his day. And as additional support for the criticism will point to this paragraph:
- The courses of the stars in the heavens have nothing whatever to do with the events of human life on earth. Astronomy is a proper pursuit of science, but astrology is a mass of superstitious error which has no place in the gospel of the kingdom. (UB 150:3.3)
The issue here, though, has nothing to do with astrology. The definition of astrology is: “the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world.” Astronomy is about human affairs and relates to the natural (material) world. Astrology is a false science because humans are going outside of their domain by associating themselves personally with celestial bodies.
In contrast, prophecy is concerned celestial affairs and the spirit world. Prophecy may be associated with celestial bodies because celestial bodies are within the domain of celestial beings, like Creator Sons, for instance.
Ever and anon, true prophets and teachers arose to denounce and expose shamanism. Even the vanishing red man had such a prophet within the past hundred years, the Shawnee Tenskwatawa, who predicted the eclipse of the sun in 1806 and denounced the vices of the white man. Many true teachers have appeared among the various tribes and races all through the long ages of evolutionary history. And they will ever continue to appear to challenge the shamans or priests of any age who oppose general education and attempt to thwart scientific progress. (UB 90:2.9)
The revelators give us a specific example that clarifies the difference between the false science of astrology and the real life challenge of working with God’s messengers and messages as they the may relate to “signs of the times” issues. In this case, not only do we get a specific example of when prophecy and an eclipse were used together, the story actually relates to the very section of land where the current eclipses in question intersect! What more could a non materially-minded and non sign seeking generation ask for both in terms of an extremely intriguing set of circumstances coupled with an epochally revelatory explanation?
Is the period of roughly seven years between the eclipses of any significance? Here are some passages to consider:
Throughout the seven crucial years of the Caligastia rebellion, Van was wholly devoted to the work of ministry to his loyal army of men, midwayers, and angels. 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. (UB 67:3.6)
This seven years of waiting was a time of heart searching and soul discipline. Such crises in the affairs of a universe demonstrate the tremendous influence of mind as a factor in spiritual choosing. Education, training, and experience are factors in most of the vital decisions of all evolutionary moral creatures. But 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. And this is just what occurred in the experience of Amadon, the modified human associate of Van. (UB 67:3.7)
Amadon is the outstanding human hero of the Lucifer rebellion. This male descendant of Andon and Fonta was one of the one hundred who contributed life plasm to the Prince’s staff, and ever since that event he had been attached to Van as his associate and human assistant. Amadon elected to stand with his chief throughout the long and trying struggle. And it was an inspiring sight to behold this child of the evolutionary races standing unmoved by the sophistries of Daligastia while throughout the seven-year struggle he and his loyal associates resisted with unyielding fortitude all of the deceptive teachings of the brilliant Caligastia. (UB 67:3.8)
Caligastia, with a maximum of intelligence and a vast experience in universe affairs, went astray—embraced sin. Amadon, with a minimum of intelligence and utterly devoid of universe experience, remained steadfast in the service of the universe and in loyalty to his associate. Van utilized both mind and spirit in a magnificent and effective combination of intellectual determination and spiritual insight, thereby achieving an experiential level of personality realization of the highest attainable order. Mind and spirit, when fully united, are potential for the creation of superhuman values, even morontia realities. (UB 67:3.9)
There is no end to the recital of the stirring events of these tragic days. But at last the final decision of the last personality was made, and then, but only then, did a Most High of Edentia arrive with the emergency Melchizedeks to seize authority on Urantia. The Caligastia panoramic reign-records on Jerusem were obliterated, and the probationary era of planetary rehabilitation was inaugurated. (UB 67:3.10)
¶ Additional related considerations:
It does not appear that Moses would ever have succeeded in the establishment of his somewhat advanced ceremonial worship and in keeping his followers intact for a quarter of a century had it not been for the violent eruption of Horeb during the third week of their worshipful sojourn at its base. “The mountain of Yahweh was consumed in fire, and the smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.” In view of this cataclysm it is not surprising that Moses could impress upon his brethren the teaching that their God was “mighty, terrible, a devouring fire, fearful, and all-powerful.” (UB 96:4.5)
This video by Steve Cioccolanti—Is the USA in the Bible? Great American Eclipses of 2017 & 2024 – Real End Time Signs?—is highly recommended. (Over 1 million views.) The Biblical perspective and education on Jewish tradition related to this subject is excellent.
¶ The connection between this epochal revelation and past prophecies.
The Urantia Book acknowledges the general validity of John’s revelations and also gives examples of what specifically in the record should be looked to today as valid.
When in temporary exile on Patmos, John wrote the Book of Revelation, which you now have in greatly abridged and distorted form. This Book of Revelation contains the surviving fragments of a great revelation, large portions of which were lost, other portions of which were removed, subsequent to John’s writing. It is preserved in only fragmentary and adulterated form. (UB 139:4.14)
Bear in mind when reading the following paragraphs that whenever there is a full solar eclipse, it is also a new moon and that the Sabbath is the day set aside for God. Within a Urantia Book context, August 21st and April 8th could be considered God’s days–the miracle of the combined nature and the miracle of the resurrection.
It was of the conclusion of the terminal mission of the Teacher Sons (at least that would be the chronology on a normal world) that John wrote: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth and the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a princess adorned for the prince.”
This is the same renovated earth, the advanced planetary stage, that the olden seer envisioned when he wrote: “‘For, as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall you and your children survive; and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another all flesh shall come to worship before me,’ says the Lord.”
It is the mortals of such an age who are described as “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, an exalted people; and you shall show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into this marvelous light.”
No matter what the special natural history of an individual planet may be, no difference whether a realm has been wholly loyal, tainted with evil, or cursed by sin—no matter what the antecedents may be—sooner or later the grace of God and the ministry of angels will usher in the day of the advent of the Trinity Teacher Sons; and their departure, following their final mission, will inaugurate this superb era of light and life.
All the worlds … [in our section of the universe] can join in the hope of the one who wrote: “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.” (UB 52:7.11-15)
The olden seer, referred to in 52:7.12, is Isaiah. Note that they didn’t refer to him as Isaiah but as a seer. Definition: “a person who is supposed to be able, through supernatural insight, to see what the future holds.”
Note how challenging it is to make sense of Isaiah’s prophecy without the context of the fifth epochal revelation to Urantia and knowledge of the upcoming eclipses. Because the Sabbaths are weekly events and new moons are monthly events, there is not an obvious interpretation of “one new moon to another AND from one Sabbath to another.”
With 2000 years of false predictions about second comings and apocalyptic transitions behind us, interestingly enough, in the section where Isaiah makes the referenced prophecy, he says that God does not tease us with signs.
(Isaiah 66:9) Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD. “Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God.
The Urantia Book confirms that there were two Isaiah’s and speaks especially highly of the second one, even employing the word eclipsed in the description of this prophet.
The farseeing and courageous Isaiah effectively eclipsed the nationalistic Yahweh by his sublime portraiture of the majesty and universal omnipotence of the supreme Yahweh, God of love, ruler of the universe, and affectionate Father of all mankind. Ever since those eventful days the highest God concept in the Occident has embraced universal justice, divine mercy, and eternal righteousness. In superb language and with matchless grace this great teacher portrayed the all-powerful Creator as the all-loving Father. (UB 97:7.13)
This prophet of the captivity preached to his people and to those of many nations as they listened by the river in Babylon. And this second Isaiah did much to counteract the many wrong and racially egoistic concepts of the mission of the promised Messiah. But in this effort he was not wholly successful. Had the priests not dedicated themselves to the work of building up a misconceived nationalism, the teachings of the two Isaiahs would have prepared the way for the recognition and reception of the promised Messiah. (UB 97:7.14)
Here is Isaiah 66 (Judgment and Hope) in its entirety:
1 This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? 2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word. 3 But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person, and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig’s blood, and whoever burns memorial incense is like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations; 4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” 5 Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: “Your own people who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy!’ Yet they will be put to shame. 6 Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple! It is the sound of the LORD repaying his enemies all they deserve.
7 “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. 8 Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. 9 Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD. “Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. 11 For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.” 12 For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” 14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.
15 See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For with fire and with his sword the LORD will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the LORD. 17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow,” declares the LORD.
18 “And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory. 19 “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. 20 And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels. 21 And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the LORD.
22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD.
24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
Note that Isaiah 66 is the last Isaiah chapter. This was his final recorded prophecy.
Here are some additional Biblical passages related to signs of the times:
8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.” 10 Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:8-11)
25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:25-28)
34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36)
16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. 18 The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small—and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” (Revelation 11:16-18)
¶ “Another and greater John the Baptist” and “the kingdom of God is at hand”
In The Urantia Book, “the kingdom of God is at hand” appears twice. In both instances the sentence appears in quotations without capitalization or punctuation.
Jesus was baptized at the very height of John’s preaching when Palestine was aflame with the expectancy of his message—”the kingdom of God is at hand”—when all Jewry was engaged in serious and solemn self-examination. The Jewish sense of racial solidarity was very profound. The Jews not only believed that the sins of the father might afflict his children, but they firmly believed that the sin of one individual might curse the nation. Accordingly, not all who submitted to John’s baptism regarded themselves as being guilty of the specific sins which John denounced. Many devout souls were baptized by John for the good of Israel. They feared lest some sin of ignorance on their part might delay the coming of the Messiah. They felt themselves to belong to a guilty and sin-cursed nation, and they presented themselves for baptism that they might by so doing manifest fruits of race penitence. It is therefore evident that Jesus in no sense received John’s baptism as a rite of repentance or for the remission of sins. In accepting baptism at the hands of John, Jesus was only following the example of many pious Israelites. (UB 136:2.1)
Sooner or later another and greater John the Baptist is due to arise proclaiming “the kingdom of God is at hand”—meaning a return to the high spiritual concept of Jesus, who proclaimed that the kingdom is the will of his heavenly Father dominant and transcendent in the heart of the believer—and doing all this without in any way referring either to the visible church on earth or to the anticipated second coming of Christ. There must come a revival of the actual teachings of Jesus, such a restatement as will undo the work of his early followers who went about to create a sociophilosophical system of belief regarding the fact of Michael’s sojourn on earth. In a short time the teaching of this story about Jesus nearly supplanted the preaching of Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom. In this way a historical religion displaced that teaching in which Jesus had blended man’s highest moral ideas and spiritual ideals with man’s most sublime hope for the future—eternal life. And that was the gospel of the kingdom. (UB 170:5.19)
Note what the paragraph about “another and greater John the Baptist” does and does not say with regard to additional information and references.
Consistent with Jesus’ instructions on the issue, it specifically mentions that this does not involve anticipating the “second coming of Christ.” However, it does not say anything about an anticipated arrival of Machiventa Melchizedek.
“Without in any way referring . . . to the visible church on earth” does not indicate whether there will be references to the fifth epochal revelation to Urantia (or the invisible fellowship of believers, of course).
What are the implications of saying that “the kingdom of God is at hand” means “a return to the high spiritual concept of Jesus, who proclaimed that the kingdom is the will of his heavenly Father dominant and transcendent in the heart of the believer.”
Is “another and greater John the Baptist” a reference to a specific individual playing a specific new role in what is to come? Such an interpretation is encouraged by the fact that this is how it happened the first time. But from the perspective that it is the function that needs to be fulfill, not that there needs to be a particular individual to fulfill it, then perhaps the “greater” way of expressing this function is for it to be done collectively. In other words, could it be that everyone takes part in being “another and greater John the Baptist” by accepting that The Urantia Book is what it claims to be and that an important event is imminent?
The phrase “greater than John” is used twice:
JESUS began his public work at the height of the popular interest in John’s preaching and at a time when the Jewish people of Palestine were eagerly looking for the appearance of the Messiah. There was a great contrast between John and Jesus. John was an eager and earnest worker, but Jesus was a calm and happy laborer; only a few times in his entire life was he ever in a hurry. Jesus was a comforting consolation to the world and somewhat of an example; John was hardly a comfort or an example. He preached the kingdom of heaven but hardly entered into the happiness thereof. Though Jesus spoke of John as the greatest of the prophets of the old order, he also said that the least of those who saw the great light of the new way and entered thereby into the kingdom of heaven was indeed greater than John. (UB 136:0.1)
“Verily, verily, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is but small in the kingdom of heaven is greater because he has been born of the spirit and knows that he has become a son of God.” (UB 144:8.4)
These references could be interpreted to mean that anyone who truly accepts the gospel message is greater than John the Baptist. After all, John struggled with his faith:
This long suspense in prison was humanly unbearable. Just a few days before his death John again sent trusted messengers to Jesus, inquiring: “Is my work done? Why do I languish in prison? Are you truly the Messiah, or shall we look for another?” And when these two disciples gave this message to Jesus, the Son of Man replied: “Go back to John and tell him that I have not forgotten but to suffer me also this, for it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. Tell John what you have seen and heard—that the poor have good tidings preached to them—and, finally, tell the beloved herald of my earth mission that he shall be abundantly blessed in the age to come if he finds no occasion to doubt and stumble over me.” And this was the last word John received from Jesus. This message greatly comforted him and did much to stabilize his faith and prepare him for the tragic end of his life in the flesh which followed so soon upon the heels of this memorable occasion. (UB 135:11.4)
Perhaps believing in Jesus is also a necessary part of being the second and greater John the Baptist. John the Baptist did preach of an impending event. Maybe a parallel to that during these times has to do with believing that the “springtime of a new dispensation” (the Urantia revelation) has occurred and we should be looking forward to the “summertime of a new visitation.”
The great hope of Urantia lies in the possibility of a new revelation of Jesus with a new and enlarged presentation of his saving message which would spiritually unite in loving service the numerous families of his present-day professed followers. (UB 195:10.16)
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. UB 195:10.6
The Urantia Book, being the foundation for this whole line of inquiry into the subject of prophesy and “signs of the times,” must, on some level, be an essential part of interpreting the prophecy that “another and greater John the Baptist is due to arise.” If it is true that the eclipses are marking the imminent time period of the “summertime of a ew visitation,” then perhaps believing this is also important aspect of playing a part in the collective role of “another and greater John the Baptist.”
The time is ripe to witness the figurative resurrection of the human Jesus from his burial tomb amidst the theological traditions and the religious dogmas of nineteen centuries. Jesus of Nazareth must not be longer sacrificed to even the splendid concept of the glorified Christ. 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! Surely the Christian fellowship of believers will not hesitate to make such adjustments of faith and of practices of living as will enable it to “follow after” the Master in the demonstration of his real life of religious devotion to the doing of his Father’s will and of consecration to the unselfish service of man. Do professed Christians fear the exposure of a self-sufficient and unconsecrated fellowship of social respectability and selfish economic maladjustment? Does institutional Christianity fear the possible jeopardy, or even the overthrow, of traditional ecclesiastical authority if the Jesus of Galilee is reinstated in the minds and souls of mortal men as the ideal of personal religious living? Indeed, the social readjustments, the economic transformations, the moral rejuvenations, and the religious revisions of Christian civilization would be drastic and revolutionary if the living religion of Jesus should suddenly supplant the theologic religion about Jesus. (UB 196:1.2)
Given that this is the first epochal revelation to be provided in a written rather than a personal form, and if the role of another and greater John the Baptist necessarily involves some kind of reference to the fifth epochal revelation to Urantia, then perhaps a community of believers are actually what is needed to fulfill the role under these circumstances.
These may be the type of questions that are more valuable to ask than to answer. Inquiring and speculating together might have a socially cohesive effect, while asserting answers together may do the opposite.
¶ Expecting the unexpected and who to expect.
The Urantia Book speaks to the issue of our unusual history and why our planets trajectory may be especially peculiar:
At the center of the seven angelic residential circles on Jerusem is located the headquarters of the Urantia advisory council, the four and twenty counselors. John the Revelator called them the four and twenty elders: “And round about the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment.” The throne in the center of this group is the judgment seat of the presiding archangel, the throne of the resurrection roll call of mercy and justice for all Satania. This judgment seat has always been on Jerusem, but the twenty-four surrounding seats were placed in position no more than nineteen hundred years ago, soon after Christ Michael was elevated to the full sovereignty of Nebadon. These four and twenty counselors are his personal agents on Jerusem, and they have authority to represent the Master Son in all matters concerning the roll calls of Satania and in many other phases of the scheme of mortal ascension on the isolated worlds of the system. They are the designated agents for executing the special requests of Gabriel and the unusual mandates of Michael. UB 45:4.1
Urantia may yet be visited by an Avonal commissioned to incarnate on a magisterial mission, but regarding the future appearance of Paradise Sons, not even “the angels in heaven know the time or manner of such visitations,” for a Michael-bestowal world becomes the individual and personal ward of a Master Son and, as such, is wholly subject to his own plans and rulings. And with your world, this is further complicated by Michael’spromise to return. Regardless of the misunderstandings about the Urantian sojourn of Michael of Nebadon, one thing is certainly authentic—his promise to come back to your world. In view of this prospect, only time can reveal the future order of the visitations of the Paradise Sons of God on Urantia. (UB 20:4.5)
“After his elevation to settled sovereignty in a local universe a Paradise Michael is in full control of all other Sons of God functioning in his domain, and he may freely rule in accordance with his concept of the needs of his realms. A Master Son may at will vary the order of the spiritual adjudication and evolutionary adjustment of the inhabited planets. And such Sons do make and carry out the plans of their own choosing in all matters of special planetary needs, in particular regarding the worlds of their creature sojourn and still more concerning the realm of terminal bestowal, the planet of incarnation in the likeness of mortal flesh.” UB 21:5.9
The rebellion has ended on Jerusem. It ends on the fallen worlds as fast as divine Sons arrive. We believe that all rebels who will ever accept mercy have done so. We await the flashing broadcast that will deprive these traitors of personality existence. We anticipate the verdict of Uversa will be announced by the executionary broadcast which will effect the annihilation of these interned rebels. Then will you look for their places, but they shall not be found. “And they who know you among the worlds will be astonished at you; you have been a terror, but never shall you be any more.” And thus shall all of these unworthy traitors “become as though they had not been.” All await the Uversa decree. (UB 53:9.7)
This world has never seriously or sincerely or honestly tried out these dynamic ideas and divine ideals of Jesus’ doctrine of the kingdom of heaven. But you should not become discouraged by the apparently slow progress of the kingdom idea on Urantia. Remember that the order of progressive evolution is subjected to sudden and unexpected periodical changes in both the material and the spiritual worlds. The bestowal of Jesus as an incarnated Son was just such a strange and unexpected event in the spiritual life of the world. Neither make the fatal mistake, in looking for the age manifestation of the kingdom, of failing to effect its establishment within your own souls. (UB 170:4.14)
Although Jesus referred one phase of the kingdom to the future and did, on numerous occasions, intimate that such an event might appear as a part of a world crisis; and though he did likewise most certainly, on several occasions, definitely promise sometime to return to Urantia, it should be recorded that he never positively linked these two ideas together. He promised a new revelation of the kingdom on earth and at some future time; he also promised sometime to come back to this world in person; but he did not say that these two events were synonymous. From all we know these promises may, or may not, refer to the same event. (UB 170:4.15)
His apostles and disciples most certainly linked these two teachings together. When the kingdom failed to materialize as they had expected, recalling the Master’s teaching concerning a future kingdom and remembering his promise to come again, they jumped to the conclusion that these promises referred to an identical event; and therefore they lived in hope of his immediate second coming to establish the kingdom in its fullness and with power and glory. And so have successive believing generations lived on earth entertaining the same inspiring but disappointing hope. (UB 170:4.16)
Before considering the next Urantia Book passages, suggesting we may get another Adamic infusion to assist us with our urgent and insurmountable genetic issues, re-consider Isaiah 66:11-13, which states: 11 For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.” 12 For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
Machiventa continued as a planetary receiver up to the times of the triumph of Michael on Urantia. Subsequently, he was attached to the Urantia service on Jerusem as one of the four and twenty directors, only just recently having been elevated to the position of personal ambassador on Jerusem of the Creator Son, bearing the title Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia. It is our belief that, as long as Urantia remains an inhabited planet, MachiventaMelchizedek will not be fully returned to the duties of his order of sonship but will remain, speaking in the terms of time, forever a planetary minister representing Christ Michael.
As his was an emergency bestowal on Urantia, it does not appear from the records what Machiventa’s future may be. It may develop that the Melchizedek corps of Nebadon have sustained the permanent loss of one of their number. Recent rulings handed down from the Most Highs of Edentia, and later confirmed by the Ancients of Days of Uversa, strongly suggest that this bestowal Melchizedek is destined to take the place of the fallen Planetary Prince, Caligastia. If our conjectures in this respect are correct, it is altogether possible that MachiventaMelchizedek may again appear in person on Urantia and in some modified manner resume the role of the dethroned Planetary Prince, or else appear on earth to function as vicegerent Planetary Prince representing Christ Michael, who now actually holds the title of Planetary Prince of Urantia. While it is far from clear to us as to what Machiventa’s destiny may be, nevertheless, events which have so recently taken place strongly suggest that the foregoing conjectures are probably not far from the truth.
We well understand how, by his triumph on Urantia, Michael became the successor of both Caligastia and Adam; how he became the planetary Prince of Peace and the second Adam. And now we behold the conferring upon this Melchizedek of the title Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia. Will he also be constituted Vicegerent Material Son of Urantia? Or is there a possibility that an unexpected and unprecedented event is to take place, the sometime return to the planet of Adam and Eve or certain of their progeny as representatives of Michael with the titles vicegerents of the second Adam of Urantia?
And all these speculations associated with the certainty of future appearances of both Magisterial and Trinity Teacher Sons, in conjunction with the explicit promise of the Creator Son to return sometime, make Urantia a planet of future uncertainty and render it one of the most interesting and intriguing spheres in all the universe of Nebadon. It is altogether possible that, in some future age when Urantia is approaching the era of light and life, after the affairs of the Lucifer rebellion and the Caligastia secession have been finally adjudicated, we may witness the presence on Urantia, simultaneously, of Machiventa, Adam, Eve, and Christ Michael, as well as either a Magisterial Son or even Trinity Teacher Sons. (UB 93:10.5-8)
When such an era is attained on your world, no doubt Machiventa Melchizedek, now the vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia, will occupy the seat of the Planetary Sovereign; and it has long been conjectured on Jerusem that he will be accompanied by a son and daughter of the Urantia Adam and Eve who are now held on Edentia as wards of the Most Highs of Norlatiadek. These children of Adam might so serve on Urantia in association with the Melchizedek-Sovereign since they were deprived of procreative powers almost 37,000 years ago at the time they gave up their material bodies on Urantia in preparation for transit to Edentia. [Emphasis added.] (UB 55:7.3)
Aside from Daniel being the only prophet to introduce the doctrine of resurrection of dead, an essential element of Jesus’ gospel message (See UB 137:7.6.), Daniel also prophesied in ways that allude to the return of Adam and Eve’s children for additional genetic uplift. What is also interesting to note is that the passages in The Urantia Book that call attention to this prophecy are discussed in the context of how John the Baptist felt about them.
Elizabeth kept John posted about Palestinian and world affairs, and his conviction grew deeper and deeper that the time was fast approaching when the old order was to end; that he was to become the herald of the approach of a new age, “the kingdom of heaven.” This rugged shepherd was very partial to the writings of the Prophet Daniel. He read a thousand times Daniel’s description of the great image, which Zacharias had told him represented the history of the great kingdoms of the world, beginning with Babylon, then Persia, Greece, and finally Rome. John perceived that already was Rome composed of such polyglot peoples and races that it could never become a strongly cemented and firmly consolidated empire. He believed that Rome was even then divided, as Syria, Egypt, Palestine, and other provinces; and then he further read “in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And this kingdom shall not be left to other people but shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” “And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom never shall be destroyed.” “And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” [Emphasis added.] (UB 135:3.2)
John was never able completely to rise above the confusion produced by what he had heard from his parents concerning Jesus and by these passages which he read in the Scriptures. In Danielhe read: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom.” But these words of the prophet did not harmonize with what his parents had taught him. Neither did his talk with Jesus, at the time of his visit when he was eighteen years old, correspond with these statements of the Scriptures. Notwithstanding this confusion, throughout all of his perplexity his mother assured him that his distant cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, was the true Messiah, that he had come to sit on the throne of David, and that he (John) was to become his advance herald and chief support. [Emphasis added.] (UB 135:3.3)
“One like the Son of Man” is not the Son of Man. Jesus was the Son of Man and he did not come down out of the heavens but rather was born as a child of the realm. If Melchizedek returns (perhaps with Adam and Eve and/or some of their children), this would match up well with the prophecy of Daniel. Even more intriguing are the passages from Daniel 2. Consider that “iron” refers to superhuman beings who come to help us and that “clay” represents mortals.
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Anticipation of a return of Adam and Eve’s children for additional genetic uplift is also supported by the following passages.
After all, the real jeopardy of the human species is to be found in the unrestrained multiplication of the inferior and degenerate strains of the various civilized peoples rather than in any supposed danger of their racial interbreeding. (UB 82:6.11)
For many thousands of years, so the records of Jerusem show, in each generation there have lived fewer and fewer beings who could function safely with self-acting Adjusters. This is an alarming picture, and the supervising personalities of Satania look with favor upon the proposals of some of your more immediate planetary supervisors who advocate the inauguration of measures designed to foster and conserve the higher spiritual types of the Urantia races. (UB 110:4.6)
From a world standpoint, overpopulation has never been a serious problem in the past, but if war is lessened and science increasingly controls human diseases, it may become a serious problem in the near future. At such a time the great test of the wisdom of world leadership will present itself. Will Urantia rulers have the insight and courage to foster the multiplication of the average or stabilized human being instead of the extremes of the supernormal and the enormously increasing groups of the subnormal? The normal man should be fostered; he is the backbone of civilization and the source of the mutant geniuses of the race. The subnormal man should be kept under society’s control; no more should be produced than are required to administer the lower levels of industry, those tasks requiring intelligence above the animal level but making such low-grade demands as to prove veritable slavery and bondage for the higher types of mankind. (UB 68:6.11)
If human beings are not willing or able to manage these issues, perhaps justice and mercy require sending other beings who are up for the challenge? Until a visitation resolves some of these question, the following thoughts for managing our expectations and providing guidance are offered:
But while the pure-line children of a planetary Garden of Eden can bestow themselves upon the superior members of the evolutionary races and thereby upstep the biologic level of mankind, it would not prove beneficial for the higher strains of Urantia mortals to mate with the lower races; such an unwise procedure would jeopardize all civilization on your world. Having failed to achieve race harmonization by the Adamic technique, you must now work out your planetary problem of race improvement by other and largely human methods of adaptation and control. (UB 51:5.7)
¶ What about trump(ets)?
Serious Bible scholars or perhaps more accurately, Bible scholars who take themselves too seriously, tend to be immediately dismissive of making connections between revelations from the Bible and “coincidences” with the English language. They point out that the Bible was not originally written in English and that various translations will translate words differently. What they say is right but is it right thinking? Notwithstanding that certain conventions develop in the collective study of something like this, are there really any rules for how to do it? Is it God’s creativity, power, and foreknowledge that is limited or are these the limitations of man?
For open minded people who do not take themselves too seriously, the coinciding of the Trump presidency (especially if a second term is won) with the eclipses is noteworthy, as is the use of the word trump in the KJV of the Bible, where trumpet is used in many other versions.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote of a dispensational roll call, KJV 1 Corinthians 15:
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. [Emphasis added.]
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Also consider KJV 1 Thessalonians 4:
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Will President Trump be the last United States president during the current dispensation?
The Urantia Book teaches in Paper 114: Seraphic Planetary Government, Section 4: The Master Seraphim of Planetary Supervision:
When the first governor general arrived on Urantia, concurrent with the outpouring of the Spirit of Truth, he was accompanied by twelve corps of special seraphim, Seraphington graduates, who were immediately assigned to certain special planetary services. These exalted angels are known as the master seraphim of planetary supervision and are, aside from the overcontrol of the planetary Most High observer, under the immediate direction of the resident governor general. . . . (UB 114:6.1)
The twelve corps of the master seraphim of planetary supervision are functional on Urantia as follows: . . . (UB 114:6.4)
- The angels of nation life. These are the “angels of the trumpets,” directors of the political performances of Urantia national life. The group now functioning in the overcontrol of international relations is the fourth corps to serve on the planet. It is particularly through the ministry of this seraphic division that “the Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of men.” UB 114:6.8
¶ Additional related Urantia Book teachings on the Second Coming and the afterlife.
Teachings about Jesus’ return:
The apostles sat in silence in the moonlight for a considerable time while these astounding predictions of the Master sank into their bewildered minds. And it was in conformity with this very warning that practically the entire group of believers and disciples fled from Jerusalem upon the first appearance of the Roman troops, finding a safe shelter in Pella to the north. (UB 176:1.5)
Even after this explicit warning, many of Jesus’ followers interpreted these predictions as referring to the changes which would obviously occur in Jerusalem when the reappearing of the Messiah would result in the establishment of the New Jerusalem and in the enlargement of the city to become the world’s capital. In their minds these Jews were determined to connect the destruction of the temple with the “end of the world.” They believed this New Jerusalem would fill all Palestine; that the end of the world would be followed by the immediate appearance of the “new heavens and the new earth.” And so it was not strange that Peter should say: “Master, we know that all things will pass away when the new heavens and the new earth appear, but how shall we know when you will return to bring all this about?” (UB 176:1.6)
When Jesus heard this, he was thoughtful for some time and then said: “You ever err since you always try to attach the new teaching to the old; you are determined to misunderstand all my teaching; you insist on interpreting the gospel in accordance with your established beliefs. Nevertheless, I will try to enlighten you.” (UB 176:1.7)
See Paper 176, Section 2: The Master’s Second Coming.
As they gathered about the campfire, some twenty of them, Thomas asked: “Since you are to return to finish the work of the kingdom, what should be our attitude while you are away on the Father’s business?” As Jesus looked them over by the firelight, he answered:
“And even you, Thomas, fail to comprehend what I have been saying. Have I not all this time taught you that your connection with the kingdom is spiritual and individual, wholly a matter of personal experience in the spirit by the faith-realization that you are a son of God? What more shall I say? The downfall of nations, the crash of empires, the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, the end of an age, even the end of the world, what have these things to do with one who believes this gospel, and who has hid his life in the surety of the eternal kingdom? You who are God-knowing and gospel-believing have already received the assurances of eternal life. Since your lives have been lived in the spirit and for the Father, nothing can be of serious concern to you. Kingdom builders, the accredited citizens of the heavenly worlds, are not to be disturbed by temporal upheavals or perturbed by terrestrial cataclysms. What does it matter to you who believe this gospel of the kingdom if nations overturn, the age ends, or all things visible crash, since you know that your life is the gift of the Son, and that it is eternally secure in the Father? Having lived the temporal life by faith and having yielded the fruits of the spirit as the righteousness of loving service for your fellows, you can confidently look forward to the next step in the eternal career with the same survival faith that has carried you through your first and earthly adventure in sonship with God.
“Each generation of believers should carry on their work, in view of the possible return of the Son of Man, exactly as each individual believer carries forward his lifework in view of inevitable and ever-impending natural death. When you have by faith once established yourself as a son of God, nothing else matters as regards the surety of survival. But make no mistake! this survival faith is a living faith, and it increasingly manifests the fruits of that divine spirit which first inspired it in the human heart. That you have once accepted sonship in the heavenly kingdom will not save you in the face of the knowing and persistent rejection of those truths which have to do with the progressive spiritual fruit-bearing of the sons of God in the flesh. You who have been with me in the Father’s business on earth can even now desert the kingdom if you find that you love not the way of the Father’s service for mankind. (UB 176:3.1-3)
See Paper 176, Section 4: The Return of Michael [Jesus]
Visions by John and Paul about the life to come:
John the Revelator saw a vision of the arrival of a class of advancing mortals from the seventh mansion world to their first heaven, the glories of Jerusem. He recorded: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who had gained the victory over the beast that was originally in them and over the image that persisted through the mansion worlds and finally over the last mark and trace, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and singing the song of deliverance from mortal fear and death.” (Perfected space communication is to be had on all these worlds; and your anywhere reception of such communications is made possible by carrying the “harp of God,” a morontia contrivance compensating for the inability to directly adjust the immature morontia sensory mechanism to the reception of space communications.)
Paul also had a view of the ascendant-citizen corps of perfecting mortals on Jerusem, for he wrote: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the grand assembly of Michael [Jesus], and to the spirits of just men being made perfect.” UB 47:10.2-3
Paul learned of the existence of the morontia worlds and of the reality of morontia materials, for he wrote, “They have in heaven a better and more enduring substance.” And these morontia materials are real, literal, even as in “the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” And each of these marvelous spheres is “a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” (UB 48:1.7)
¶ Other articles, resources, and websites.
- Website by a group aligned with early Seventh Day Adventist teachings: Signs of the end times.
- Jewish Voice: article on signs of the times.
- Latter-Day Saints: list of Biblical references for signs of the times.
- Jehovah Witnesses: article and references on signs of the times.
- An Irish saint’s eerie prophecy that Pope Francis will be the last Pontiff.
¶ How does all of this relate to the Unity Treatise?
In 2016, Nicholas Scalzo circulated a document that is often referred to as the “Unity Treatise.” It purports to be from our planetary government, our “unseen friends.” In brief, it says the organizations entrusted with The Urantia Book are in default because the original publisher and the main social group did not get along, resulting in two publishers and two main social groups. The Unity Treatise provides lengthy analysis, a corrective, and says getting reunified needed to happen by August 21, 2017.
I found it to have merit on a “truth from any source” basis and am inclined to believe it to be legitimate. You can learn more about all of that on the Unity Treatise page.
I openly and actively encouraged people to consider the Unity Treatise and then, not long afterwards, learned about the eclipses and their relationship to The Urantia Book. Some of the people interested in the Unity Treatise also got interested in going to Bald Knob Cross of Peace for the eclipse.
A certain amount of intellectual dovetailing was done in some of my 2017 writings. Consideration of whether the primary Urantia Book institutions are in default seemed to relate to getting a visitation because a visitation would address the lack of sound institutional leadership at the human level of participation.
But after taking some additional time with this subject, I now consider that, if the eclipses are “signs of the times” and we should expect a visitation sometime during this period, then this would be true whether or not the primary Urantia Book institutions are in default.
I found it especially comforting to read in Isaiah 66 about how God does not tease us with signs. It also gives re-assurance that things can change for the better relatively quickly on a large scale.
Do we dare turn a blind eye, as Urantia Book reader representatives, to such a startling understanding of this ancient prophecy from the olden seer Isaiah? Are we to make light of the fact that the authors of this revelation put the necessary facts into The Urantia Book for making sense of what was said by Isaiah or are we to bring the facts to light?
Note how the revelations of Isaiah anticipate everything that has occurred in terms of Jesus being put to death and The Urantia Book itself. Consider that there is nothing I am saying, of course, that the Revelatory Commission would not already be aware of. Consider that if a visitation is planned for this time period and our celestial supervisors knew it, then how well Urantia Book institutions happened to have done with spreading the teachings of The Urantia Book and keeping us functioning as a unified community, while certainly important (especially to the souls of the reader-believers involved), becomes enormously less significant to how things unfold on Urantia. From this perspective, everything related to controversies about whether we are “on our own” and whether the Unity Treatise is authentic becomes rather insignificant. I can feel the love and see the wisdom in this type of plan, no problem.
I can also see the love and wisdom in “keeping this hidden in plain sight” from the community. In other words, I think it is very good for reader-believers to take seriously the possibility of a visitation at Bald Knob Cross at this point in time. I doubt very much that it would have been a good thing for this to have been on our minds prior to more recent times. Seems like we had enough trouble staying on track as it was and thinking about this type of stuff would have only made us worse off as a community.
Some reader-believers may feel that certain “prophetic forecasts” need to occur first that have not yet transpired, like a “greater John the Baptist.” Consider that such things may come to pass in the seven-year period and also that, unlike the prophetic revelations found in Paper 52 and from Jesus’ own mouth, some “prophetic forecasts” in The Urantia Book are qualified by the word may.
For instance, this is how the section at UB 170:5.1 starts: “Having summarized the teachings of Jesus about the kingdom of heaven, we are permitted to narrate certain later ideas which became attached to the concept of the kingdom and to engage in a prophetic forecast of the kingdom as it may evolve in the age to come.” [Emphasis added.]—before it goes on to say this:
Sooner or later another and greater John the Baptist is due to arise proclaiming “the kingdom of God is at hand”—meaning a return to the high spiritual concept of Jesus, who proclaimed that the kingdom is the will of his heavenly Father dominant and transcendent in the heart of the believer—and doing all this without in any way referring either to the visible church on earth or to the anticipated second coming of Christ. There must come a revival of the actual teachings of Jesus, such a restatement as will undo the work of his early followers who went about to create a sociophilosophical system of belief regarding the fact of Michael’s sojourn on earth. In a short time the teaching of this story about Jesus nearly supplanted the preaching of Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom. In this way a historical religion displaced that teaching in which Jesus had blended man’s highest moral ideas and spiritual ideals with man’s most sublime hope for the future—eternal life. And that was the gospel of the kingdom. UB 170:5.19
This passage is also qualified by the word “may”:
If Adam and Eve had only survived, then would you have had music in reality; but the gift of harmony, so large in their natures, has been so diluted by strains of unmusical tendencies that only once in a thousand mortal lives is there any great appreciation of harmonics. But be not discouraged; some day a real musician may appear on Urantia, and whole peoples will be enthralled by the magnificent strains of his melodies. One such human being could forever change the course of a whole nation, even the entire civilized world. It is literally true, “melody has power a whole world to transform.” Forever, music will remain the universal language of men, angels, and spirits. Harmony is the speech of Havona. [Emphasis added.] UB 44:1.15
¶ Additional contributions by Urantia Book readers.
Carlos Leite da Silva’s Apocalypse Now: Are We The “End Time” Generation, along with providing an incredibly cogent and intriguing interpretation of prophecies in the Bible, also does a beautiful job of contextualizing the topic from a psychosocial perspective. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!
Ken Keyser presented on this topic at a celebration of Jesus’ birthday in 2017 in the Chicago area, which was subsequently published by Urantia Foundation.
¶ Archaeological discoveries related to Jesus’ life.
Stephen Shanahan and Martin McBurney used The Urantia Book to discover the site of Jesus’ home and tomb. Here’s an excerpt from a book by Joanna Kujawa about the discovery, Jerusalem Diary: Searching For The Tomb And House Of Jesus.
How the discovery of “Jesus’ Boat” relates to The Urantia Book, by Saskia Praamsma Raevouri (2010).
¶ External links
- This report in UBTheNews webpage
- Other reports in UBTheNews webpage
- Topical Studies in UBTheNews webpage