Category: Politics

Which Side is God Rooting For?

Published on by Jim WatkinsLeave a comment

A recent article by Cameron Hilditch in National Review on July 2nd talks about how there is an assertion of dominance going on between the West and the East, between what is referred to as a civilization-state, like Russia and China, and a nation-state, like the U.S., Mexico, or Canada.

Cameron writes, when describing the difference, “The nation-state, properly defined, is a territory in which a single sovereign government wields the geographic monopoly on violence.” and further, “Whereas Westerners think of their countries as nations, men such as Putin and Xi think of their own as civilizations. The idea of the civilization-state allows a polity to extend the story of its own history back to a time before its current constitutional settlement.”

“The role of the government in a civilization-state is therefore different from its role in a nation-state. In the former, the purpose of government is to maintain the unity of the civilization across time and space and prevent its dilution, rather than secure the individual rights of its citizens.”

“The very different relationship between conscience and coercion envisaged by America’s enemies demonstrates what is at stake in the coming great-power struggle,” he concludes:

“In the coming clash of civilizations, the United States would appear to be at a severe disadvantage EXCEPT for the fact that the beliefs about human nature and religious freedom that underpinned American Revolutionary thought have a rich and hard-won history that reaches back to the earliest days of Christianity.”

In other words, what distinguishes us from the rest of the world is our foundational Christian heritage.

When one asks, “Does God have a special mission for the U.S?. It would appear we have an answer.

Dennis Prager stated recently in an Interview for The Epoch Times, that “if something as powerful as the 10 commandments isn’t relevant, then what’s the point? It has to be relevant for it to matter.”

By the same rule, if the Urantia Book isn’t relevant, what’s the point? But in this discussion about the U.S., about the differences between a godless-Civilization State, and a nation-state that treasures the human spirit, we can ask an important and relevant question. Does God, or at least what we might imagine to be the principles of Godliness, favor one kind of nation or another?

From this we can find and answer in paper 69  on the Human progress, we can read specifically that communism is NOT the ideal form of government, at least beyond its earlier stages in the earlier times of human evolution…pause to consider the following passages:

“Communism was indispensable scaffolding in the growth of primitive society, but it gave way to the evolution of a higher social order because it ran counter to four strong human proclivities:

1. The family. Man not only craves to accumulate property; he desires to bequeath his capital goods to his progeny. But in early communal society a man’s capital was either immediately consumed or distributed among the group at his death. There was no inheritance of property—the inheritance tax was one hundred per cent. The later capital-accumulation and property-inheritance mores were a distinct social advance. And this is true notwithstanding the subsequent gross abuses attendant upon the misuse of capital.

2. Religious tendencies. Primitive man also wanted to save up property as a nucleus for starting life in the next existence. This motive explains why it was so long the custom to bury a man’s personal belongings with him. The ancients believed that only the rich survived death with any immediate pleasure and dignity. The teachers of revealed religion, more especially the Christian teachers, were the first to proclaim that the poor could have salvation on equal terms with the rich.

3. The desire for liberty and leisure. In the earlier days of social evolution the apportionment of individual earnings among the group was virtually a form of slavery; the worker was made slave to the idler. This was the suicidal weakness of communism: The improvident habitually lived off the thrifty. Even in modern times the improvident depend on the state (thrifty taxpayers) to take care of them. Those who have no capital still expect those who have to feed them.

4. The urge for security and power. Communism was finally destroyed by the deceptive practices of progressive and successful individuals who resorted to diverse subterfuges in an effort to escape enslavement to the shiftless idlers of their tribes.

And then there is this specific statement where, as the revelators state, from paper 70, paragraph 12, where they state the following exhortation to us on the best path for civilization to take, on what they offer to us as the way for humans to live:

“The universe administrators have learned from experience that the evolutionary peoples on the inhabited worlds are best regulated by the representative type of civil government when there is maintained proper balance of power between the well-co-ordinated executive, legislative, and judicial branches.”

It would appear then, that the Revelators, indeed, the Most Highs whole rule in Kingdoms of Men, are absolutely specific on what provides the best impetus for a truly progressive civilization.

What makes this comment most intriguing is its clarity. Rarely does the Urantia Book proffer specific advice on how we should manage our earthly affairs., preferring for us to find our own way.

Amidst the current global tension, its nice to have some good avice.

America is on the right track. The question now is whether we can maintain this path.

…

Race Reconciliation

Published on by Jim Watkins1 Comment

There can be no question mankind must mete out our social stigmas as they have accumulated over time; one of these imperfections is our racial discrimination, and it isn’t just one race doing it to another, to be sure.

We can all admit that there is racial discord. Thank God we have moved out of the barbaric times of our not-so-distant past where there was such a thing as legal slavery.

Today the scars still run deep, and there is still racism, an inherent reflex to judge someone based upon the color of their skin. Reconciliation doesn’t happen overnight, but great strides will be made as Black Americans and White Americans learn to come to grips with the fact that they must co-exist as equal partners. Let us recognize our differences, but let us also share in the appreciation of what our ancestors did to pay the heavy price for us to get to where we are today. This country belongs to all of us, to everyone who believes in the strength of ‘Of many, one.”

We are all God’s children, and if we start there great things can and will continue to happen. If we can find our spirit-commoness, true reconciliation can be achieved.

For now, our common enemy are those forces who would like to see the United States fail, who would like to see our liberty and our free speech diminish. The United States belongs to all of us who cherish true liberty, the right to exist unfettered.

The Urantia Book tells us that the different colored races wer eintended to provide stimulative co-operation, to learn tolerance and trust, to learn how to get along and to become stronger as one progressive race as time moves forward, that is our shared destiny.

History is replete with racial strife, most of it pretty ugly, which is why when we see honest protests as we are witnessing today, we can be joyous that better times are ahead; already mankind has made great strides towards settling his dfferences peacefully instead of picking up a sword, a knife or a gun to solve his problems as was the old fashion way.

Let us be encouraged in that recognition as we continue to find common ground on what brings us together as Americans; and as we do so through intelligent discourse and a desirous pursuit of mutual understanding, we remain a beacon of hope for the world.

The Urantia Book clearly outlines racial reconciliation as the better way, the more advanced way for any progressive society seeking to establish goodwill and peace on earth.

Urantia Book 52:6:4

“Brotherhood is impossible on a world whose inhabitants are so primitive that they fail to recognize the folly of unmitigated selfishness. There must occur an exchange of national and racial literature. Each race must become familiar with the thought of all races; each nation must know the feelings of all nations. Ignorance breeds suspicion, and suspicion is incompatible with the essential attitude of sympathy and love.”

We Have To Be Hungry For the Truth

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There is an argument to be made that the world may not ready for this revelation, the Urantia Book, or for that matter, any revelatory message that might come down from God, and the immediate task is to continue to grow the revelation quietly, just as the Salem Missionaries spread monotheism throughout the world, inspiring and influencing all of the major religions that would emerge right down to the times of Jesus.

It was the work of Machiventa Melchizedek, “the Sage of Salem,” an emergency Son who rescued the truth of God from being extinguished, to keep the light burning in the hearts and minds of men and prepare the way for the Son of Man. In this same way our work in spreading the new revelation will be slow, but sure.

Most of the current readership will never see the fruits of our labor translated into the lives of millions of people who found the revelation. Most of those who study this revelation now will never see mainstream acceptance of this book until such a time when people are spiritually and intellectually prepared to accept the premise of the revelations’ message, which is that we are part of a much larger reality beyond our brief mortal life in the flesh.

China is actually the future for the world as the dominant form of government unless there is a spiritual revival, or else through some revelation, something akin to, or even perhaps the Urantia Book itself, that will create a push-back to this emerging nihilistic throughout Asia, one in which every individual is reduced to a “netizen,” giving total submission and loyalty to the State who controls every move through technology.

China is a living model of a world that lives in spiritual darkness. Just this month the ruling party of China, the Chinese Communist Party, ruled that all religions must enforce the States’ central ideology or they will not be allowed to exist. All religious ceremonies will need to be approved by the government. In a society that is fast-becoming 100% monitored, there will be no dissenters. This ideology should send a shock wave to every human being, but it doesn’t.

And there are even some leaders in this country who advocate even now for this kind of a system in the U.S.. Secular progressives also want God out of humanity; they deem religion moot in the age of science, and see no value in its heritage, or its contributions to human knowledge or culture.

More and more nations are beginning to adopt policies that do not allow for spiritual or religious expression. Once people in free countries give up on faith and religion and its valuable contributions to society, the desire to push back against secularism becomes lessened.

From the West there is little, if any, outrage to the slaughter of thousands of Christians every month worldwide. We don’t care because secularism marginalizes religion, ignores it without regard. We have become desensitized to religious oppression.

America only represents 5% of the worlds population. Yet our influence is great. Perhaps this is the Urantia Book was given to us?

And because our country uniquely allows for religious pluralism, because its liberties are premised on the very teachings of Christ himself, as well as the great truths going all the way back to Greece and Rome, America, the United States. remains the sole country that promotes – by law – the exercise of individual free will, and this makes America in the 21st century a unique place to be, especially when you consider the other secular forces that exist.

Despite the U.S. being the shining beacon on the hill, Today’s Christianity seems powerless to fight back against the secularist tyranny that is on the rise.

In the Middle East and Africa, religious minorities, mostly Christians, are being slaughtered. In China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and elsewhere, religious freedom are strictly controlled. In the West religion faces a different, more subtle enemy: Atheism.

Atheism is cleverly disguised in the West as Materialism, the belief that only the physical reality exists; that there is no spiritual process or ‘plan’ behind any of life other than what we make of it. It is ‘Big Bang’ science that has replaced Deism, the belief in a spiritual power or force for all that is good, true and holy.

Religion is now portrayed in the West as bigoted, oppressive, part of a patriarchy that is both racist and sexist. Religious instruction is disallowed in public schools; in media religion is ignored on television, and in movies, hero-worship is extended to many celebrities themselves are proud secularists who give glory to themselves.

In the West great emphasis is put on material pursuits, so, as the Urantia Book states, “while the atheist denies the reality of existence of God, secularism simply ignores him.”

But what happens when a planet whose very existence was planned by God, denies God? What happens to a people who forget eternal realities, forgets the language of faith and all of the great truths we learn from Scripture, from the other great religious books, including the Urantia Book? What happens when our very language is unable to find expressions for words like God, the soul, spiritual living, because there is no context to what those words mean anymore? Our modern culture has sought to elimnate the classics from our academia, authors who long sought for truth, but who are ignore in the neo-modernist age where only the NOW is regarded as having value.

How can world progress towards peace and spiritual unity when the very word God has little value? What happens to a people when they turn their backs on the idea of eternal life or even of eternal values, when the vary notion of God is seen as silly or against Reason itself.

The answer is a dark world has already come.

In order for truth to spread, truth must be desired, truth must be wished for. Only an enlightened people can embrace ideas of free will and self determination and not be self-destructive.

As Urantia Book readers, our goal is simple: to keep the light of truth burning, just as did the Salem Missionaries, just as the early Disciples of Jesus. But just like the early beginnings of the Christian church, there was also a long period of darkness that followed after Jesus’ truth were proclaimed. The Urantia writers ponder what would have happened had Rome embraced Christianity sooner, would it have survived?

We have to accept that we may be entering a dark age of Atheism and Humanism, where powerful governments take the place of the Church, the place of even God.

Only when the people have grown weary and seen the worst of materialism will they be willing to turn to Deity. Only when man is fully disgusted with his own hubris will he be willing to seek a better way. As it has always been.

Why We Fear Climate

Published on by Jim WatkinsLeave a comment

by James Watkins

If you said that we have religion because we have the bad weather, you would be partially correct. Man first began negotiating with the gods when there was thunder, lightening, hurricanes, even full moons and an occasional volcano, all which triggered the same reaction in man: we must do something. So we prayed, offered sacrifices and demanded something be done.

Sound familiar?


You hear it all of the time from climate change folks. We need to ‘do something.’ We need our leaders to do something, anything, to make sure the weather doesn’t harm us.

During the later part of the Mayan Empire, we know that they experienced a harsh drought. It was warm and dry from 800 to 1000 A.D. in Central America. We also know that these people were so desperate for rain they would try all kinds of things to sway the gods into bringing rain, even if it meant decapitating its citizens one by one (in reality it was a great way for the rulers to eliminate extra mouths to feed).


And when certain Mayan rulers figured out by calculation when periodic solar eclipses would come they used this knowledgae to manipulate a desperate society, by creating these grand spectacles and festivals, ceremonies really, in which the rulers and the people would sit and watch human sacrafice to get relief from climate change.

And when the sun went dark the ceremonies came to their thrilling climax. The sacrifices ended and all was at peace, except for the fact that the rains never came.

It was one of the reason the Spaniards were able to conquer what remained of this once great empire. They had grown weak, defenseless and stupid.

We also know that, about five-thousand years ago there was a tremendous flood in Mesopotamia.

The story in Genesis and the story of Noah, while a matter of faith to be sure, is most likely based on a real flood that occurred during this period of prehistoric history. Millions died. Most cultures speak of a “great flood that destroyed mankind.” Even back then we had climate change, and even back then, we cried for God to “do something!”

As mans’ nature would have it, early Hebrew writings explained it was God’s punishment for sin. It was man being reconciled by God for being evil (stemming from the fall of Adam and Eve).


In reality, though it was climate change; a combination of the Mediterranean sea floors sinking while regional mountain ranges rose, bring more rain in increasing amounts to the flood plains of north Syria and along the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. It was a flood of epic proportions, and man blamed himself, just as we do today.

From the very beginning of man’s recorded history we see this belief has been embraced when the weather effects humanity, we a) are the cause of it, and b) we must also be the ones who must change it by changing our behavior (or confessing our sins).

Flash forward to today. Today, there is vast energy. We are awash in cheap crude oil, natural gas and coal.

And this is a great thing.

Most of our activity is powered by cheap energy. Lives have vastly improved globally, mostly because cheap energy is so plentiful. This past week, when a Saudi oil refinery was bombed, thankfully, America could step in and keep the supply flowing. This is a testament of our ability to harness the earth’s energy and improve our living standards. 40 years ago gas prices would have shot up and people would have panicked.

Do you suppose that many in our society just feel guilty for having it so good, that we must somehow pay for our good graces? I think so, and it’s why so many people feel a need to atone for their guilt. What better way to do so that to blame something we don’t understand on ourselves, especially if there is a way to make money and seize control doing so.

Let’s agree on two things:

,
1) The climate is always changing, something we have NO control over, and

2) We do have a POLLUTION program, of which we can control.


We all recognize there is a problem with waste, overconsumption, and destruction of our immediate environment. Remember the 80’s when you would buy a CD that came in this big, hard plastic container? We waste raw materials, and we also pollute our waters.

I argue that, instead of trying to lower the global temperature, which we cannot do, we should instead, harness our efforts towards cleaning up the planet of the mess we have made, which is what I think is at the core of climate change activism anyway.

Most of us are old enough to remember that Earth Day used to about ending pollution, curbing oil spills and conserve because it s smart policy. Earth Day and climate activism has morphed into a very expensive notion that we are a primary driver of the earth’s environment. The current fear of climate change is also a reminder of how man has always feared nature because he fails to really understand the process, or predict it.

Almost every predictor of global warming is based on models that are premised on a calculation that ties global mean temperatures to carbon output. It sounds reasonable, except when you consider that the earth produces 97% of the global carbon all by itself. Man is only responsible for 3% of carbon output.


Look, we may not feel like we have to negotiate with the Gods like we used to when we have bad weather, but we also need to stop feeling guilt or fear every time there is a bad weather event. People are being scared into feeling personally responsible every time there is a hurricane, a flood, or a drought. Our kids have this tremendous nihilism instilled in them because they feel hopeless that they can’t change the world to make it less frightening.

And that’s when our leaders, just like the Mayan kings and princes did before, will use our ignorance and fear against us, to rule over us even more, and the more we scream “do something,” the more they control our behavior and use political control because they know we would be willing to ‘do anything’ to feel safe.

They won’t tell us they don’t have the answers,  but they do tell us we need to pay ‘for our sins’ by giving them more money, power, or both.

Pollution is the problem. If we just take care of pollution in our backyard, then that is something we we can get all get behind – and should.

But when you start talking about charging carbon tax dollars and having rolling blackouts to “save the planet,” then you know you are being hoodwinked. When “doing something” just means making energy more expensive and not having any impact on the environment, then you know we are being played for fools.

Yes, the climate is changing. We are in a warm period, just like in the a thousand years, and before that, around 100 b.c. to the 4th century a.d., which was also a very warm period.

We do have to prepare for things like more rain, floods, and perhaps a few more hurricanes, all normal weather events when the earth is warmer, just like blizzards, glaciers and frozen crops are the result of global cooling, which by the way, usually kills more people than warm periods.

Pause to consider the  great plague of 1347 which destroyed one third of the entire European continent, and the London Plague of 1666, and even the Potato Famine of 1845 in Ireland, all a result of global cooling).

Don’t believe me. Check the books.

Mankind has always look to the gods when it came to things he couldn’t control because we are fearful. Today is no different, and our leaders know this. 
F

ear is a great motivator and we all need to be diligent in making sure fear isn’t used to get us to do stupid things, like accept without question, when a 16 year old girl becomes the poster child for climate change, as she tells our elected leaders to “do something.”

Believe me, they will. Heads will roll.

The Great Ideological Struggle

Published on by Jim Watkins2 Comments


by James R. Watkins

August 19, 2019

The great ideological struggle of the modern age is between Faith and Secularism, between those who “hold these truths to be self-evident,” and those who believe the world is what we make it, that we are simply human beings whose rights come from the society in which we live, that scientific materialism is where we derive reality from; that there is no such thing as eternal truth, but rather, relative truth that serves the moment at hand.

At the root of Western society is the idea that individuals have liberties such as the right of self-expression, the free exchange of ideas, to congregate and protest, freedom of movement. freedom to own property. But in secularism, we serve the State, the Party, or the greater good as determined by those who are in power.

At the root of communism is secularism. Communism could never exist in a society of deeply religious people because people who have faith would never submit to the State, only to God.

This is why China doesn’t allow formal religion, it usurps authority away from the State.

Socialism, an offspring of secularism, leads to communism because in essence, the State must govern for the greater good. The individual only matters in proportion to the group.

Sadly, millions of people prefer this social construct because it removes responsibility from the individual and moves it to the collective; the individual no longer needs to apply judgement, he merely agrees with the social order, only needs to agree that it is “best for the greater good of society.” This why the Chinese government can remove any citizen who is deemed “an enemy of the State.” Human rights do not come from God, they come from the State.

If you asked our political leaders (who endorse socialism) what they think of religion, they might be dismissive or they will probably give it light mention. To the secularist, as to the communist, Religion is an opiate, and psychological safe space, a distraction.

Sooner or later, as we have seen, the State requires 100% submission.

But here is the danger.

In the West secularism is eating away at religion. Our educational system is completely secularized, advocacy groups are going to extremes to remove religious symbols and history from State and federal buildings, holidays that were once rooted in religious culture have been secularized: Easter has become ‘spring break,’ Christmas is now ‘winter holiday,’ even Thanksgiving has been thoroughly secularized and commercialized.

Secularistic science tells us that such concepts are myths based on a need for man to explain things, and in doing so science disregards the fact of the reality of existence of God, asserting therefore that we exist as a result of random causation, simple cause and effect; that our existence has no discernable divine hand; that good and evil are just relative values we invented mere labels we use to assign people who are bad or good as just being disabled or suffering from mental illness. People of faith, in this system are labeled intolerant, weak-minded, prejudiced, unscientific, homophobic, racist. Religion is marginalized.

Modern society struggles with religion because we are now several generations deep into a culture that has accepted the notion Science explains everything – and that religion is nothing more than a custom of old belief systems that developed long before science started answering all of our questions about life.

And yet, there it is. People have faith, they believe in God, they pray, they worship. They follow Jesus as their lord and do wonderful things. They pray to allah and submit to his grace, they live the law and have faith in the mercy of God, the most high, the Lord God of Israel.

History tells us that religion is not only good for society because it instills and upholds morals and ethics from one generation to another, but because it more importantly instills family-values which lie at the cornerstone of any solid society. But wait, there is more, and this is key.

The idea that maybe there is – now hold on – such a thing as salvation, a furtherance of existence beyond our mortal shell, an idea so foreign to main street and western culture that it is not even talked about, not in public, not in private, except as some sort of myth unworthy of a truly reasonable mind.
(long pause)

Paper 195, section 6, 7 and 8 talks about the dangers of secularism, it warns us that a society based only on securlistic ideals cannot survive, that without God, our society will eventually disintegrate, that secularism betrays man because he goes from being a slave to the church to being a slave to government and to politically tyranny, which we are now seeing.

In 1935 it warns us that more “terrible destruction to come.” And then we remember that the Urantia Book was written just a few years before World War 2, and of course, the hundred or so million people who died in Russia under Stalin and in China under Mao, secularist regimes that rule under tyranny, the offspring of secularism.

The great ideological struggle is between attaining a society that is based on enduring spiritual principles that give value to the individual human spirit, who we believe is self-evident as being a child of God, or we adhere to humanistic, materialistic principles that give no regard to such ideas such as human rights, only of “universal rights,” or social rights and social justice. When you hear those words you’ll know who is speaking.

I know a lot of people who simply don’t believe in religion, they don’t get it. I understand. But I’m warning them, don’t be fooled into believing that God doesn’t matter in a society just because you feel that way, or that faith doesn’t matter in a society because you don’t have faith.

You don’t want a global society that turns its back on spiritual ideals and truth. That’s China, a total surveillance society where anyone who dissents is put to death or taken off and put away in a labor camp.

Say goodbye to freedom of thought, freedom of expression, of freedom itself. These are spiritual principles because they give account to enduring principles of fairness for the individual.


God and the preservation of the rights of the individual vs. Man and the emphasis on group rights as determined by government. This is the great ideological struggle of our times.

The point of all of this is that I believe this current ideological struggle is being waged now, as we speak. We see it being played out in China between the Hong Kong protestors and the dictatorial Chinese government; in America we see it being played out between the progressive and atheistic Left and the Conservative and sometimes religious right who are vying for political power; in Europe between the globalists and the nationalists who are losing rights “for the greater good,” even in some countries in the Middle East between those who want islamic reform, like Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the oppressive regimes that still march to the medieval trumpet blasts of religious tyranny not unlike we saw in the early Christian Church.

The great ideological struggle is all around us.

It is stated that “crisis comes before destruction as well as growth.”

Which outcome will we choose?

China vs God

Published on by Jim WatkinsLeave a comment

While those of us in the West continue to enjoy our modern-day comforts we need to be concerned about what is happening in China, namely a fever-pitch rise in secularism and a new form of totalitarianism injected with modern tools that make resistance almost impossible.

Today, the threat of atheism, which fuels authoritarian rule, is even greater. China contains half of the world’s population. It also has its tendrils throughout the rest of the world as it becomes even more aggressive as a police state at home and industrial mob-boss abroad, employing new technology to monitor and control not only its own “netizens,” but its global partners as well, as detailed in this report you might find most disconcerting.

And this gives me pause to reflect on the subject matter contained in Paper 195 of the Urantia Book, where the authors extensively discuss the dangers of two primary social constructs of the modern age:

  1. Materialism/Secularism
  2. Totalitarianism

In my early years of study I had considered these two subjects directed more at the early 20th Century, as modern secularism through socialism was quite rampant and of course, Russia and China were pursuing communist goals which opened the door to Totalitarian governments in smaller countries like Cuba North Korea, and others, as this horrific ideology spread

Over time Russia seemed to moved towards a more open Democracy (relatively speaking), and China also seemed to be embracing modern open-markets and presumably, seemed more open to democracy.

Wrong.

If you read the news you are becoming aware that human-rights in China are at an all-time low, and religious expression is under full assault by the Communist party. When half of our world is run by a government which has made it against the law to believe in God and only give adherence to Chairman Xi, there is a problem. 

One wonders what our unseen friends make of it.

Urantia Book Historian Larry Mullins mentioned he was informed on one occasion the Revelators, during the early years of World War II, had expressed grave concerns (in the spiritual echelons of planetary government) about the rise of communism, so much so that it delayed the completion of the Urantia Book for almost ten years while celestial and world armies were at busy at war.

Because China wields so much planetary influence, it is easy to contemplate the importance of not letting an atheistic regime such as China’s reign supreme.

In an update, 27 victims of the Chinese government gave testimony today in Washington. These members, many of whom spent years in prison because of their faith in Falun Gong pledged to witness to the world the atrocities that are even now occurring in China against people of faith, and more pressure is mounting, the word is out, at least in the West, and one only hopes that the actual people of China can be made aware of the atrocities that are being committed in their name, the peoples name, as the Communist Party of China seeks to stamp out God in its country, in order to keep its country under lock and key in both mind and spirit.

The Right To Believe Is Under Assault

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by James R. Watkins

Podcast

What is religion and why does it matter?

Religion is based on a singular idea that there is more to life than just the material world. If you go back in history, you will notice that man has always sought knowledge of the “ghost world”; Man at first negotiated with spirits to effect “good luck,” and later, these very same impulses evolved into the things like magic spells, incantations, and finally, to a thing called “prayer,” which led ultimately to worship.

Again, you may be someone who is not particularly interested in religion, but because man has religion, all of our moral codes, our laws, our “rights” have derived from the religious concept of morality. The Greeks were arguing this point 2500 years ago.

Mankind has long debated the existence of a spiritual world, if for no other reason than we have this inclination to seek truth, and if that truth also includes a place, or even just an idea, of something more ennobling than just physical life, one begins to understand that religion on its own, represents an intellectual desire to find and understand truth. 

In other words, people have, to a greater or lesser agree, religion in our DNA. It is hard-wired for us to seek truth and understanding, and these are religious impulses. How we choose to express our religious impulse explains why there are so many religions in the world, and not all of them have bore good fruit, but in its essence, religious is what distinguishes us, more than any other attribute, from our animal cousins. We are the only species on the planet that “worships.”

Now in today’s world, that might not mean as much because of secularism. But what should interest you is that there is a concerted effort by a growing number of people and governments who want to minimize, marginalize or otherwise diminish the importance of religion, and for a number of reasons you need to know. 

Many ex-religious people, or non-religious groups seek to get rid of religion simply because they don’t think religion is important, or necessary in today’s “scientific age,” and thus, they pressure governments under the guise of the separation of Church and State to remove religious symbols and literature from the public domain. I suppose the thinking here is that if we remove religion from society, society will be free of religion. This idea totally disregards the fact that people are born with a desire to be religious (which is the desire to seek spiritual truth). Even if this impulse isn’t equally shared by non-believers, in a pluralistic society such as ours, it is always in everyone’s interest to protect the right of the individual to choose and practice one’s faith openly without fear of persecution.

Still, other groups, like the Communist Party of China, want to eliminate religion because they see it as a threat to the State.

Others still may only want to remove all religions except their own in order to establish a total theocracy, like what Iran and Saudi Arabia attempt to do. And still there are others, for purely selfish reasons, think that religion is nothing more than a barrier to a happy life ( truth is relative, religion is oppressive, etc). And guess what, this should be protected, too!

The point is that religious freedom, the right to have faith, the right to practice one’s faith is part of our collective human culture and more so, may find origination in a spiritual reality. To deny someone the basic right to explore this idea is the most egregious thing you could to do a person. It’s like taking away someone’s right to eat.

Most of the laws that govern society are rooted in original religious belief. To suggest that mankind no longer sees value in religion is to state that religion is nothing more than an outdated cultural phenomena, and yet, the length that people will go to protect religious faith is one of the most ignoble acts one can ever witness. 

And such faith-conviction is but just one sign of religious “staying power.” Without it, many people would be lost, including this author. I stand by my right to believe just as I will arduously defend another person’s right to not believe. To me, it is the battle of human dignity and nothing less.

I shudder to think of a world without religion. I fear that if that day should ever come, a supreme darkness will hover over this land, not because of an angry God, but because of an angry man who now has complete dominion over all, without regard for a higher source or even a higher truth. 

When man becomes God, watch out. Think Hitler, think Mao, think Castro, think Stalin, think of the hundreds of millions of people who have died because these individuals ruled without God. And even today, I am afraid Xi Jinping falls into this category; he is a dictator who rules under the iron fist of oppression, and it is exactly because he has no God, or religion in his heart – that he can exert such pain and suffering to so many, without remorse. Only a godless man could be so cold to the indifference of human suffering.

And it won’t stop there my friends.

Hear my words. We have to stop religious oppression in all of its forms. When you see religion being marginalized, speak out. When you see a religious person being made fun of, or you hear a story of someone being attacked or victimized because of their faith, speak out. When you read a story of a person who has been persecuted because of their faith, speak out, especially if you are not religious. Because when they are done with the religious people, who do you think they will come after next?

Why Urantians’ Should Pay Attention To China

Published on by Jim Watkins1 Comment

As of this writing, it can be confirmed through numerous and reliable sources that the government of China, the largest government on the planet, is routinely harvesting organs, primarily from religious people who have been imprisoned for being found guilty of the egregious crime of displaying their faith in God.

The Epoch Times, for example, documents as many as 3,000 recent cases where people from South Korea, Africa snd Middle East have traveled to Chinese hospitals to recieve organs, with wait times no longer than a few weeks.

For a Urantian, a person who is familiar with the historical roots of spirituality, this is an unprecedented horror. That a country five times more densely populated than the United States, can, with unfettered ability, persecute people in the form of removing their organs simply because the believe in God, Jesus, Buddhist, or Allah, is beyond reprehensible, and marks a very dark chapter in the annals of human history.

Such methods of human governance also perfectly illustrates why it is so neccessary to have God in our conscience. If ours was a secular government which denied that we were “endowed by our creator,” then we too would have a government that puts its own selfish needs before the dignity of the human spirit. And there is always this ever-present danger if we don’t, as a people, protect religious liberties.

Our ignorance, or our unwllingness to confront organ harvesting within China’s borders is a battle cry for every person of faith who believes something should be done to help save every Falun Gong, Christian or Uyghur Muslim alive today who faces this kind of torture.

I will compose a follow up article on what I think could be a viable step towards helping the prisoners of conscience in China if I can reach 1000 interested readers.

I hope you will share this message.

Below is a 4-part audio summation of this report.

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Jim Watkins is 30-student of The Urantia Book, a national media consultant, author and former network talk show producer and host of the Candidly Speaking political blog and podcast