© 2023 Zshonette Reed
© 2023 International Urantia Association (IUA)
| Getting To Know Ourselves Better | Journal — May 2023 — Index | Birth of the Spirit and Spiritual Maturity |
In the Publication Mandate for The Urantia Book, we are told that we must have an army of teachers and leaders at the ready for a grand educational work after the conclusion of the present ideological struggle. We believe this struggle is the same struggle raised by the Lucifer Rebellion – that is, true liberty versus false liberty, or liberty versus license.
While the rebellion was crushed by Michael upon the successful completion of his bestowal mission, the effects of the rebellion remain. And this residual effect is why we continue to experience the ideological struggle on our world. If we are correct that this struggle is the struggle between liberty and license as presented by the Lucifer Rebellion, then it is imperative that we take our stand on the right side of the struggle.
Since the struggle is celestial in origin, maybe it’s up to celestials to resolve it. Maybe all we need to do is be good people and work on our own personal relationship with the Father. As The Urantia Book explains, Michael chose to remain aloof from the rebellion until he completed his bestowal mission. In fact, that was the counsel given to him from the Paradise representatives. But this does not imply that others who support Michael should remain aloof. Let’s look at the record.
Gabriel did not take a hands-off approach. While it was not incumbent upon him to crush the rebellion or judge the rebels, it was within his job description as Chief Executive of the Universe to take a stand for righteousness. And that is what he did. Once Lucifer established his counter revolution, Gabriel took his stand upon the World of the Father and relentlessly countered the rebel propaganda. He showed why Lucifer’s so-called Declaration of Liberty was faulty, blasphemous, and destructive.
The Constellation Fathers likewise did their part. While they did not have authority to crush the rebellion or judge the rebels, it was within their power to cut off the circuits from Satania to confine the rebels to the local system and prevent them from infecting neighboring systems.
Then there was Manotia, the second in command of the Satania seraphim, who refused to participate in what she called “the insult to Michael.” While her superior fell victim to the sophistry, Manotia assumed control of her seraphic group with the help of the Melchizedeks, a majority of the Material Sons, and the ascendant mortals on Jerusem. Through their combined efforts, many personalities were saved.
We have the account of Ellanora, a young woman of the neighboring planet of Panoptia, who grasped the leadership of the human races, and prevented her world from falling victim to their rebellious planetary prince.
And, of course, we have the account of the mighty Van and his mortal associate Amadon who maintained loyalty to the universe government and preserved the remnants of civilization until the arrival of Adam and Eve.
So what about us? Should we take a hands-off approach to the Lucifer rebellion? Should we stand idly by while the ideological struggle rages? Or is there something we can do, something that is within our power, and incumbent upon us as mortal faith sons of the heavenly Father?
It seems there is something we can do. Like Gabriel, we can take a stand to counter the rebellious sophistry. Gabriel’s method is set forth in Paper 53. It says:
In the early days of the struggle Lucifer held forth continuously in the planetary amphitheater. Gabriel conducted an unceasing exposure of the rebel sophistries from his headquarters taken up near at hand. The various personalities present on the sphere who were in doubt as to their attitude would journey back and forth between these discussions until they arrived at a final decision. (UB 53:5.6)
Gabriel’s method was education. He provided a space and a place for conversation. Many beings were misled because they could not comprehend that it was possible for such a dazzling personality as Lucifer to go astray. They were misled because they were adoring personalities. The solution, as presented by Gabriel, was to examine ideas, not personalities. Like Gabriel, we can provide a place where people can hear Michael’s point of view. TheChristExperiment.org is one place where Michael’s side of the ideological struggle can be heard.
Some may view taking such a stand as being too controversial – maybe even judgmental. But what we would be judging are theories and ideas, not people. The judging of ideas and theories is part and parcel of any ideological struggle. It really cannot be avoided. True liberty and false liberty cannot peacefully co-exist. One will prevail and one must be defeated. In the heavens, this is called “war.” And there will be casualties.
Then there is the matter of justice. When we think of the tremendous damage that has been caused by the rebellion, and the many ways we continue to suffer, it is understandable that we would long for the annihilation of the arch rebels. But could it be that we have a share in the delay? Could our actions or inaction be contributing to the delay?
This question arises because of what is recorded in Paper 54:
. . . . the Ancients of Days refuse to annihilate any being until all moral values and all spiritual realities are extinct, both in the evildoer and in all related supporters and possible sympathizers. (UB 54:3.3, emphasis added)
Consider also what is recorded about Satan in Paper 43:
Since the triumph of Christ, all Norlatiadek is being cleansed of sin and rebels. Sometime before Michael’s death in the flesh, the fallen Lucifer’s associate, Satan, sought to attend such an Edentia conclave, but the solidification of sentiment against the archrebels had reached the point where the doors of sympathy were so well-nigh universally closed that there could be found no standing ground for the Satania adversaries. When there exists no open door for the reception of evil, there exists no opportunity for the entertainment of sin. The doors of the hearts of all Edentia closed against Satan; he was unanimously rejected by the assembled System Sovereigns, and it was at this time that the Son of Man “beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven.” (UB 43:4.9, emphasis added)
From this, we can infer that until the Luciferian concepts are wholly rejected on our world, the Ancients of Days may refrain from annihilating the rebels. Thus, a delay in exposing the poisonous proclamations of Lucifer may prolong our planetary agony.
It is obvious that a large part of our society consciously or unconsciously adopts, sympathizes, or tolerates Luciferian ideas. And it seems that many people are not aware of what is in play on our world. Luciferian ideas are stitched into our government, our entertainment, our culture. Even our religious and so-called spiritual ideologies are unwittingly falling under the influence of Luciferian ideas, just as did millions of angels, and celestial beings.
But where is the counterbalance to all of this? Who is standing on the Father’s side showing the error of these ideas? Practically the entire readership in the Urantia Book community bear the banner of Michael – the three azure blue circles on a white background. We post it on nearly all of our websites and social media. We wear it on our clothing and jewelry. But do we understand the implications?
Bearing that standard means we are on Michael’s side of the controversy. We are not mere bystanders and onlookers. We are the ones with the knowledge and understanding of the depth and the breadth of the rebellion. We know its origin and we know its destiny.
It is therefore incumbent upon all who bear the standard to make the truth known with respect to the ideological struggle. We should not limit our discussions to cosmology. We cannot passively co-exist with Luciferian ideas. We must take a real stand on Michael’s side of the controversy, until the struggle is won, and the rebellious ideas are wholly and completely rejected.
What can you do to take a stand on Michael’s side of the ideological struggle? How can you hasten the rejection of Luciferian ideas?
In taking a stand on the ideological struggle, which is liberty vs license as instigated by the Lucifer rebellion, it is imperative that we understand what we are dealing with.
Lucifer began his rebellion by publishing his manifesto – the so-called Declaration of Liberty. In it, he makes three basic charges:
The second and third charges are ancillary. They hinge on the truth of the first charge such that if the first charge is not true, the other charges fail. In other words, if the Universal Father is real, then the Local Universe administration is fair, and the ascension plan is real. So I will focus our attention on Lucifer’s first charge.
Lucifer asserted that the Universal Father did not really exist, and that physical gravity and space-energy were inherent in the universe – in essence, that there was no need for a Creator. He charged that the Father was a myth invented by the Paradise Sons to enable them to maintain the rule of the universes in the name of a fictitious Father.
This charge is very enlightening. Lucifer claimed the Universal Father does not exist. You might wonder, how can a celestial being who lives in the heavens not believe in God? We can accept that a twisted mind might not want to worship God or want to obey God. But for a celestial being to not believe God exists? How can that be?
Well, we must remember that Lucifer was a local universe creation. He may have on occasion ventured out of the local universe, and he is certainly aware of the Ancients of Days. But he has never been outside of the superuniverse. He’s never visited Havona and certainly never reached Paradise. So, he has no personal knowledge of the existence of the Universal Father. He, along with all other local universe creations, have to have faith that the Universal Father exists. And Lucifer, and all who followed him into rebellion, lost theirs. Yes, faith in the existence of God is not limited to the mortal experience. Even after our resurrection, we will need faith in the existence of the Paradise Father until we meet him “face to face.”
Lucifer was willing to acknowledge Michael as his Creator-father but not as his God and rightful ruler. We find a parallel in atheism. Atheists acknowledge that they are the creation of their mortal mother and father. They do not deny that they come from a long line of mortals. But they reject the idea of a First Father – an uncreated personality. Like Lucifer, they believe life is inherent in the universe and does not require the actions or intervention of a personal God.
They want the advantages of having been created – the joy of being alive and living. But they do not want the responsibility of acknowledging a Creator. This concept has infiltrated our science, our social philosophies, even our spiritual philosophies by presenting what we call “half-truths.” And half-truths can be just as deadly as outright lies. Here is an example of how half-truths have infiltrated our spiritual philosophies.
You have no doubt heard of the teaching that: ‘We are all gods. We are all part of the oneness that makes up the universe. We and the rest of the world is what God is. God is consciousness that is expanding. Source energy.’ All of that sounds great but it is only partially true. We ARE a part of the oneness of the universe, and we DO have a fragment of God inside of us. But the half that is missing is the reality of the great personal God. Much of these philosophies exclude or omit the idea of a personal God to whom we are accountable. For them, the story ends with the “deification” of the self. Some of these theories go so far as to reject the belief in God and ridicule faith as foolish and delusional.
This is no different from Lucifer’s claim in his manifesto. Lucifer does not deny the great source energy. He denies the great personal God, just as many atheists and pseudo-science tend to glorify nature, yet deny the one who created “nature.” These philosophies are half-truths. They take you halfway to the truth and stop there. They omit the most important half – the existence and reality of a great personal God – the First Source and Center of all things – including the source of both energy and nature. If we can be deluded into adopting these half-truths, then Lucifer has won a convert in the ideological struggle.
These types of godless philosophies are subtle deceptions. And they are seductive. Who doesn’t want to see himself as a powerful being who has conquered his fears and his circumstances. Who doesn’t want to feel the power of deity? Now, if you have prayed to God and felt a surge of power and confidence, then you may have felt that power yourself. We have felt it and it is very real. But what we are feeling is not Godhood. The power we are feeling is sonship.
There is a divinity in sonship with God. There is a power of oneness with the universe. There is a relative co-creativity with it. It is dynamic and, in some ways, intoxicating. But the power of sonship exists only because of the reality of the Father. The power we experience as a son of God is a divine gift, for which we can be thankful. But let us not forget to acknowledge the wise and loving Father who gave it. And we must be careful.
Paper 111 refers to the danger of yielding to the temptation to deify one’s self, which is what is happening to those who ascribe to this half-truth of godship. Here’s the excerpt:
The courage required to effect the conquest of nature and to transcend one’s self is a courage that might succumb to the temptations of self-pride. The mortal who can transcend self might yield to the temptation to deify his own self-consciousness. The mortal dilemma consists in the double fact that man is in bondage to nature while at the same time he possesses a unique liberty—freedom of spiritual choice and action. On material levels man finds himself subservient to nature, while on spiritual levels he is triumphant over nature and over all things temporal and finite. Such a paradox is inseparable from temptation, potential evil, decisional errors, and when self becomes proud and arrogant, sin may evolve. (UB 111:6.2)
This quote tells us that transcending our mortal frailties and temporal challenges takes real courage. But those who are able to transcend them are faced with a new problem – the temptation to become proud and arrogant which may lead to sin. It is not saying that such a person WILL become proud and arrogant. It is saying that such a person will inevitably be presented the opportunity to prove who he or she really is. Is that person a courageous spiritual son of God? Or has that person deluded himself believing he IS God? That is the danger of half-truths.
It is good to gain the confidence and courage to conquer our mortal existence. But when we attempt to experience this divine sonship without a recognition of the loving First Source and Center, we are teetering on delusion and self-destruction.
There is another reason why this particular half-truth is so dangerous. It takes away our spiritual rights. Notice what is written Paper 54 where it says:
. . . Lucifer’s crime was the attempted creative disenfranchisement of every personality in Satania, the unrecognized abridgment of the creature’s personal participation — freewill participation — in the long evolutionary struggle to attain the status of light and life both individually and collectively.
. . . The Lucifer rebellion thus threatened the maximum possible infringement of the freewill choice of the ascenders and servers of the system of Satania — a threat forevermore to deprive every one of these beings of the thrilling experience of contributing something personal and unique to the slowly erecting monument to experiential wisdom which will sometime exist as the perfected system of Satania.
Thus does the Lucifer manifesto, masquerading in the habiliments of liberty, stand forth in the clear light of reason as a monumental threat to consummate the theft of personal liberty and to do it on a scale that has been approached only twice in all the history of Nebadon.
In short, what God had given men and angels Lucifer would have taken away from them, that is, the divine privilege of participating in the creation of their own destinies and of the destiny of this local system of inhabited worlds.
No being in all the universe has the rightful liberty to deprive any other being of true liberty, the right to love and be loved, the privilege of worshiping God and of serving his fellows. (UB 54:2.3-5 emphases added)
These passages reveal the danger of philosophies that exclude God from the equation. So it is not just a question of whether God exists or does not exist. It is a question of whether WE exist as freewill creatures, and whether we will allow another creature to close the door to opportunities and possibilities. Such half-truths are not only atheistic. They are Luciferian.
But how many people who adopt these philosophies of half-truths are aware of that fact? How many people believe that they are self-realizing when, in fact, they are self-inhibiting and self-annihilating? They don’t understand that they are on the wrong side of the ideological struggle when they exalt their own spirituality but exclude the Grand Universal Father – the loving personal God.
But how will they know that they must progress beyond half-truths and complete the journey all the way to the personal God? How will they know without qualified skilled teachers and leaders who can reveal it? It therefore rests upon each of us who hold the banner of Michael to become those skilled teachers and leaders who can stand on Michael’s side of the ideological struggle and provide an alternative to Luciferian ideas.
Paper 54 says this about liberty and license:
Of all the perplexing problems growing out of the Lucifer rebellion, none has occasioned more difficulty than the failure of immature evolutionary mortals to distinguish between true and false liberty. (UB 54:1.1)
Clearly, if we are going to find ourselves on the right side of the ideological struggle, we must be able to distinguish the difference ourselves. Recall that many celestial personalities of long faithful standing failed to distinguish the difference and were swept along in the Lucifer Rebellion. So it might not be as easy as one might think.
Let’s take time to sharpen our faculties of discernment so that we can distinguish the difference between liberty and license and find ourselves on the right side.
The Mighty Messenger who authored Paper 54 enumerated the differences by juxtaposing true and false liberty. Here’s the first one:
True liberty is the quest of the ages and the reward of evolutionary progress.
False liberty is the subtle deception of the error of time and the evil of space.
Enduring liberty is predicated on the reality of justice—intelligence, maturity, fraternity, and equity. (UB 54:1.2, emphasis added)
In this paper, the Mighty Messenger compares time and space. Time, as used here, is the natural flow of events, the natural evolutionary process. Space is referring to our place, or our status, or where we are in the universe.
He writes that true liberty is achieved by earning your place in the universe and going through the evolutionary process to attain it. And it requires intelligence, maturity, fraternity, and equity or fairness. Whereas false liberty proposes that time is error and space is evil. In other words, false liberty says “I don’t want to wait for things to occur by the natural evolutionary process. I want it now and I shouldn’t have to do anything to achieve it. Making me wait and earn is evil and unfair.” That is false liberty.
With that distinction in mind, we should be able to identify ideologies that promote license as opposed to liberty. We can conclude that any ideology that rejects waiting and earning is a product of false liberty.
It manifests itself in:
All of these are manifestations of license. And there are plenty more examples.
The Mighty Messenger’s next points are:
Liberty is a self-destroying technique of cosmic existence when its motivation is unintelligent, unconditioned, and uncontrolled.
True liberty is progressively related to reality and is ever regardful of social equity, cosmic fairness, universe fraternity, and divine obligations.
Liberty is suicidal when divorced from material justice, intellectual fairness, social forbearance, moral duty, and spiritual values. (UB 54:1.3-4)
These distinctions tell us that freedoms that are without intelligent thought as to the consequences they would impose on others, or that are exercised without restrain, are false liberties. Whereas freedoms that take into account the effects our actions will have on others and are tempered by fairness, are true liberties.
Examples? How about these:
These are further examples of false liberty or license. And you can probably list a few more of your own.
The Mighty Messenger next tells us that:
Unbridled self-will and unregulated self-expression equal unmitigated selfishness, the acme of ungodliness. Liberty without the associated and ever-increasing conquest of self is a figment of egoistic mortal imagination. (UB 54:1.5)
Here, he is telling us that ideas that promote self-expression without regard to the feelings of, or consequences to, others are examples of selfishness which is ungodly and self-delusional. An example of such an ideology is the Luciferian expression:
“Do what thou wilt”
This phrase was made popular by many in the contemporary and rock music genres. It may sound like a harmless phrase, but it originated as an objection to Jesus’ words:
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The Luciferian expression – do what thou wilt – is used throughout modern society, and promoted by an infamous 20th century Luciferian. Many don’t know that. But those who adopt this ideology may very well find themselves on the wrong side of the ideological struggle.
The Mighty Messenger also explained the contrast between liberty and license as:
Sometimes it is hard to see the contrast in modern society. So it might be helpful to recall what happened early in man’s history on Urantia when license was taught, as opposed to liberty. From Paper 67, it says this:
Very soon after the rebellion the entire staff of sedition were engaged in energetic defense of the city against the hordes of semisavages who besieged its walls as a result of the doctrines of liberty which had been prematurely taught them. And years before the beautiful headquarters went down beneath the southern waves, the misled and mistaught tribes of the Dalamatia hinterland had already swept down in semisavage assault on the splendid city, driving the secession staff and their associates northward.
The Caligastia scheme for the immediate reconstruction of human society in accordance with his ideas of individual freedom and group liberties, proved a swift and more or less complete failure. Society quickly sank back to its old biologic level, and the forward struggle began all over, starting not very far in advance of where it was at the beginning of the Caligastia regime, this upheaval having left the world in confusion worse confounded. (UB 67:5.2-3)
Toying with false liberty has had, and will continue to have, a devastating affect on our world. So there is reason to be vigilant and keenly discerning, lest we find ourselves on the wrong side of the struggle.
In summary, true liberty is the way of the universe. And it has resulted in an orderly, fair, peaceful, and friendly universe. On the other hand, false liberty, or license, is what caused the rebellion and the resulting ideological struggle that we are now living through. Only a restoration of true liberty will bring about the longed-for peace on earth and good will toward all men and women.
Those who stand on Michael’s side can do a great service by promoting true liberty and exposing license through our words and conduct. Ask yourself:
These are things to personally consider.
While this article reflects our understanding of liberty vs license, those of us at The Christ Experiment are open to the views of others. Feel free to write to us with your thoughts, and maybe together, we can make a difference. We have also created The Christ Experiment’s School of Ambassadors for the development and enhancement of ministry skills and supporting Michael’s side of the ideological struggle.
May the Spirit of Truth be with you.
| Getting To Know Ourselves Better | Journal — May 2023 — Index | Birth of the Spirit and Spiritual Maturity |