Tag: jesus

Casting Pearls Before Swine

Published on by Jim WatkinsLeave a comment

You want to know what I think about the Urantia Book? I think the world is crying out for this book and they don’t even know it.

I think people in this world are lost and hopeless, and the ones who have great comforts are not bothered by it so much because they are distracted by things, but the overall trajectory of humanity, based on current events, does not look good, and it has nothing to do with climate change or political corruption, or illicit moral decadence. These are symptoms of a greater disease, which is global nihilism.

The Urantia Book is telling us, “hey, don’t you realize you are part of a much larger universe, an ecosystem, if you will, than you even realize?”

And here we are, sitting in darkness.

Evil really does rule the day, and there is rampant evil increasing, but not only evil, but an almost cultish embrace of selfish and exalted humanism that stands to strip every single soul from the bodies in whom they are possessed.

There is less harmony among us. It is even more dire when you consider the rise in the tyranny of oppressive governments and regimes who enslave people, either by ideology or by restrictions of liberty, where we have hundreds of millions of people dying or being deprived right now of basic human needs every single day

“The complete secularization of science, education, industry, and society can lead only to disaster. … And this is only the beginning of the dire harvest of materialism and secularism; still more terrible destruction is yet to come.” (UB 195:8:13)

On the one hand we have excelled in science, The arts, technology and communications, but on the other hand, people are lonely and sick, hungry, for food, and for truth, and here you have this wonderful book that contains the entire picture of reality—truth in beautiful form.

The Urantia Book puts forth thousands of spiritual concepts that provide real human insight into the cause and purpose of our existence.

Many have said the Urantia Book is arguably one of the best constructed documents on the planet, replete with scientific, philosophical and religious truths that stir the soul and imagination, but yet, owing to its unique nature and mysterious origins, remains unknown while life on earth continues to be a living hell for so many.

This book, the Urantia revelation, offers not only a much wider view of reality which gives relief to the complexity of life, but it also presents a living revelation of Jesus, the exhaustive and complete narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus that is destined to resurrect a resurgence in our curiosity of his actual, unabridged teachings.

“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! “ (UB 196:1:2)

I challenge you.

Pick it up, read it online.

Spend a half hour reading just one section of a paper in the Jesus section.

Put your preconceived notions aside. Be open to the idea of having something in your hands that has substance and value, and it will touch with its authenticity, as so many others have experienced when perusing the words.

The Urantia Book is a revelation no less important than Adam and Eve, Melchizedek and Jesus, in the sense of this fact: It comes from above.

Now, many of us modern humans scoff at that idea completely. We have accepted the fact that there is no “above.”

300 years of secularism has convinced most of us that belief in heaven and God, or eternal life is not rooted in science, so then you have to kind of ‘sort of believe,’ just because it might give you some comfort. This is how most of us approach religion, almost like a custom. It has become unimportant.

Many say that because we have lost faith we have lost hope.

But.

What if the question of the afterlife and of life in the universe could be satisfactorily answered?

Would that merit some interest?

So hete is the challenge.

You say the world deserves an answer from God, a new message, a new and clear idea of what is going on here, what is the meaning of our life – both here in the flesh and afterwards?

Then if you are sincerely looking for that answer, I strongly urge you to read the Urantia Book.

Not from the beginning, but from a part that interests you.

There are 196 papers, pick one.

It’s not fiction. Consider it God’s history book, the history of God and the future of God’s creation; our world and also a road map to the future.

If the world adopted this book, seriously, we would end wars because we would see the futility of them; we would end the sickness of modernity and the loneliness that comes with it, the moral ambiguity of it all, the feeling that no matter how hard we try, we fail.

We would begin to serve each other.

The Urantia Book reconnects you with a living God, and a living path that inspires you to get up in the morning because you know you are part of something eternal and meaningful.

This new spiritual infusion would provide new grace with accepting the creature-Creator kinship, and people would have hope again.

It would also go along way in preparing us for the next visit of great spiritual importance, whether it be the Son of Man or some other Divine being.

The Urantia Book says to expect this, even multiple times. It has been 20 centuries since people have heard this message.

Will it fall on deaf ears?

We are not alone, we never were.

The universe is filled with angels and ascended beings of all shapes and sizes. Right now there are at least 600 planets within 30- to 50 light years from us that have spawned life, and they too, have a spiritual yearning, and they too, have emerged from savagery, just like us, and we all ascend to be a part of God’s creation which is the expanding universe.

Read about all of this, and your life will be changed because you will know the truth about God’s plan, a real plan that makes sense and doesn’t ask you to give up your intellectual integrity in order to believe it. Faith will make sense, instead of making you feel apprehensive.

There is our challenge. Humanity wants a revelation? We got it.

Now what are we going to do?

James Watkins is the editor and creator of UrantiaRadio.net and the Urantia Radio Podcast

What Exactly Is A Urantian?

Published on by Jim WatkinsLeave a comment

What is the difference between the Christian and Urantia Worldview?

By James R. Watkins

In that I was brought up in what I consider to be a typical Judeo-Christian culture, and having spent the better part of forty years studying the Urantia papers, I think I can offer some perspective on the differences between what a Christian believes and what a Urantian believes, as well as what similarities there are between a person who is Christian and a person who believes the Urantia Book is a divine revelation.

For example, most Urantians completely agree with the concept that Jesus was the Son of God, that he was sent here as a human being, and was and is the Lord Jesus Christ. Both Christians and Urantians’ believe that we all have eternal life, that Jesus is our savior, and that when Jesus taught about God, he was personally representing God the Father in the flesh. This is the bedrock of the Christian faith, and the Urantia Book, which declares that Jesus was a revelation of new spiritual truth to mankind.

Where we begin to differ, or separate our views are discussed below. It is also pertinent to the greater discussion that people in the future should probably know what exactly a Urantian is, so as to differentiate itself from mainline Christianity, so that people don’t think the Urantia Book is some off-shoot, or New Age fringe element of the Christian church.

So what are the primary differences between what a Christian believes and what a Urantian believes? Before we answer this question, let me first share the commonalities between Christians and Urantian faith, and they are:

  1. The belief in the divinity of Jesus
  2. The belief that there is a God, a father of all creation, that life – and our existence – is part of God’s plan
  3. The belief in an eternal life where we become spirit beings who continue to worship God in the afterlife
  4. That the Jewish people were chosen to introduce monotheism into the world, and they were the first to recognize the one true God above all other Gods
  5. That there is sin and evil
  6. That Adam and Eve were real
  7. People possess souls

Where we differ would require volumes of text, but in a nutshell, here are the primary differences between what Christians believe and what Urantians do not believe:

  1. That you have to accept Jesus as your savior in order to be “saved”
  2. That there is a hell
  3. That Jesus was the only Son of God
  4. That Adam and Eve were the first humans
  5. That evolution is false
  6. That the Bible is the “Word of God,” thereby the final spiritual authority in book form.
  7. That no other writings or revelations can be added to Scripture
  8. That all other religions are false
  9. That Jesus had to die in order for our sins to be forgiven by God
  10. That the Church is the mediator between God and Man
  11. That Mary was a virgin
  12. That the Devil is the creator of sin in our world
  13. That man “fell” from Grace because of the knowledge of eating the forbidden fruit
  14. That Eve was the mother of sin and her sin cursed humanity

Here the basic tenets of the Urantia faith, or ideology:

  1. That God is a spiritual creator of all spirit-indwelt human beings
  2. That everyone has soul-potential
  3. That Jesus came to show us a new revelation of God the Father
  4. The Atonement Doctrine (the belief of Jesus dying for our sins) is wrong
  5. That there are angels and other spiritual beings who co-exist with us, but that we are limited by material vision so we don’t’ see them, though they do see us and try to minister to us
  6. That as long as you have some level of belief, you will survive mortal death and be given a new body in which to continue on (and that you will remember your life and your fellows from this world when you get to the next)
  7. That there are trillions of worlds just like ours, filled with beings like ourselves who also have the same spirit in them
  8. That evolution is the technique God uses for life to progress
  9. That the Urantia Revelation was not written by humans, but really did come from spiritual beings who were given the task of introducing new spiritual truth to mankind
  10. . That Science and Religion should co-exist. One measures facts, the other, truth.

Now when you compare something like this to biblical teachings and “the sacred history” of the last few thousand years, you begin to appreciate the vast gulf that exists between what the Urantia Book presents and what Christianity presents in its present form.

Comparing the Bible to the Urantia Book is like comparing Aesops Fables with Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.

The Bible, written between 800 BC and 400 AD, had a fixed viewpoint on reality, one extremely limited by the lack of scientific knowledge, and produced mostly by men who were searching for God and spiritual truth, but were still vastly backward in their understanding of the universe at large, not to mention the ignorance of their own history.

This is not to take away from the spiritual truths of the Bible, and there are thousands of them; the Bible represents the history of man searching for God, and finding him, and also captures enough of the essence of Jesus‘ teachings to immortalize it.

But the Urantia Book brings those truths and many other relevant concepts into much clearer focus by declaring, first and foremost, that God is at the center of all things, but also that scienctific discovery of the great truths of reality is not contradictory to the premise that the universe is a spiritual enterprise, and not random.

The Urantia Book teaches us something of the nature and growth of the Supreme creator and preaches truth, beauty and goodness as beings Gods nature.

Most religions avoid Science, the Urantia Book embraces it.

Most religions focus on tradition and cultural inheritances and practices. The Urantia Book clarifies where those traditions came from, and the purpose they served in helping to develop man’s spiritual quest.

Most religions represent man’s desire for knowledge and truth, The Urantia Book tells us what that truth is and why we desire it.

Not a bad thing at all. But Christians makes a huge mistake when they declares its supremacy over all spiritual truths, even to not recognizing when new truth has been revealed, as in the case of The Urantia Book.

Some have said the Urantia Book is to the New Testament what the New Testament is to the Old Testament, a fulfillment of the ages, a confirmation that the truths in the Bible are in fact, based on an essential truth, which is we are divinely endowed and that life has real spiritual purpose, even beyond the flesh.

And so this statement is really a declaration of my hope that someday, future Christians will begin to see that Urantians’ are really fighting the same fight, which is to reveal God to our brothers and sisters so that they can rejoice in the realization that they too, are citizens of this new reality that encompasses not just our planet, but the entirety of creation.

Think about that the next time you are sitting alone at night gazing up at the stars, that is creation, and you are a part of it.

Motivation is Everything

Published on by Jim WatkinsLeave a comment

I recently attended the National Radio Broadcasters Convention in Anaheim, California.

People from all over the country attended to meet and discuss whatever projects they were involved with in spreading the Gospel. I called it being “in the Jesus business.”

   Over the years I have attended other broadcast conventions for commercial radio, or what we call “General Market” radio, which means everything but religious or non-commercial radio. The difference between regular radio people and people who are involved with religious broadcasting is remarkable.

   The thing that impressed me the most about the NRB was the relaxed, almost gleeful vibe I felt about the people in attendance. You could tell that, while all there were just trying to make a living, they were also dedicated to their beliefs and were motivated because of their faith. They believed what they were doing was for the right reason and for a good and worthy cause.

   Contrary to mainstream radio conventions, where there are people who act more like cynical opportunists, the NRB not only reminded me of my own passion for broadcasting (which got me into the business at the age of 19), but even more exciting was the fact that Jesus has an army of people who, to this day, are “winning souls for the kingdom.” Communications people who love the Lord are doing great things – and they know it!

   In regular broadcasting, people are solely motivated by financial success, the art form is secondary (which was not always the case before broadcasting became overtly corporatized).

   In religious broadcasting today, what started out with Jesus and twelve Apostles in Galilee two-thousand years ago is now a full-fledged budding industry of people who use their skills and knowledge to continue to teach Christs’ message of salvation to the world.

   If one were disposed to believe that Christianity is losing its impact or is less relevant today, this convention would have set you straight. There is an army of people out their doing incredible things for God in every corner of the earth.

   For example, I saw several independent film companies introducing a slew of full-length television and theatrical films about Faith, the Bible, etc. If you are a Christian you are going to be impressed and excited by the numerous faith-based films about to be released.

   I met several pastors who use radio in foreign countries to spread the Gospel. I met other ministers who use broadband to recruit missionaries that are needed to help teach Christ in communist countries (where you can be killed for doing so). I met evangelists who simply wanted to grow their programs across networks; one particular man, who hails from Bangladesh and who specifically tries to introduce Jesus to Muslims, spoke to me about his experiences in trying to introduce Christ to Muslims (which as you can imagine, are fraught with danger).

   But the greatest lesson for me was the reminder that, no matter what your profession or duty, if you are motivated by God or Christ (or divine principles) when doing your work, then even secular things become spiritual, as stated by Jesus in paper 155 of the Urantia Book (155:6:11) from his ‘Second Discourse on Religion’:

 

“And fail not to remember that the will of God can be done in any earthly occupation. Some callings are not holy and others secular. All things are sacred in the lives of those who are spirit led; that is, subordinated to truth, ennobled by love, dominated by mercy, and restrained by fairness — justice.” (UB 155:6:11)

   The experience was thrilling and for a Urantian like myself, I left with no doubt that Jesus continues to have a major impact in the lives of millions and millions of people, many of whom came to Anaheim to hone their secular skills for a truly divine purpose.

James Watkins is the host of Candidly Speaking on UrantiaRadio.Wordpress.com

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Gabriel – The Fixer

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by James Watkins

It is interesting to note that, throughout human history, Gabriel seems to make his mark.

This mighty angel, the chief executive, the Bright and Morning Star who serves at the pleasure of Michael, dots the timeline of humanity from the age of Enoch, to Daniel, to the appearance before John the Baptists’ mother Elizabeth to inform her she will bear a son who will pave the way for the Son of Man, and to Mary, the mother of Jesus, again to inform her she will bear the Son of God. But it doesn’t end there. Gabriel, it is said, also appeared before Mohammed, and still later, had his hand in other affairs we find in the narrative of the Book or Mormon, and lastly, he is the one who commissioned the work of the Urantia Book. 

Gabriel, according to the Urantia Book (where his name appears 125 times) is one-of-a-kind. Gabriel is the offspring, the first-born of Michael and the Daughter of the Infinite Spirit, therefore and perhaps even literally, the grandchild of the 2nd and 3rd Person of the Trinity:

“Gabriel of Salvington is the chief executive of the universe of Nebadon and the arbiter of all executive appeals respecting its administration. This universe executive was created fully endowed for his work, but he has gained experience with the growth and evolution of our local creation.” (Paper 33)

In the Kabbalah it is written:

“Gabriel is portrayed as working in concert with Michael as part of God’s court. Gabriel is not to be prayed to because only God can answer prayers and sends Gabriel as his agent.

In the Book of Enoch, he is described as:

“Gabriel, who is set over the repentance unto hope of those who inherit eternal life, is named Phanuel.’ And these are the four angels of the Lord of Spirits and the four voices I heard in those days.” (Enoch 40:9)

… and also, in some modern sects of Catholicism, Gabriel is “the patron saint of messengers,” those who work for broadcasting and telecommunications such as radio and television.”

It appears that Gabriel, in the hierarchy of the spiritual world, is not only a major personality of the highest order and executive power, but a divine being who commands great respect, from us especially, for having made a lasting impression through the annals of human history on our little world. He always seems to show up at a crucial time, a fixer of sorts, who attempts to put things right and prepare for us something new and exciting.

The Urantia Book states very clearly that it was the Ancients of Days AND Gabriel who made it possible for the Urantia Book project to be undertaken – this was his project as well as his gift to modern man.

Pretty cool when you think about it.

The Real Miracle of Jesus

Published on by Jim WatkinsLeave a comment

“The power of any idea lies, not in its certainty or truth, but rather in the vividness of its human appeal.” – The Urantia Book, Papers 92:3.3

As a closing thought to this years Easter celebration, I have given much consideration as to why we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, with the biblical emphasis centered around his death, but perhaps not so much on his life and teachings.

In the Urantia Book the authors distinguish between the fact of Jesus’ life and of his resurrection, the tenet of Christian doctrine. Christianity is about his divinity, whereas the Urantia Book presentation is about his mortal life and his teachings.

In the vividness of the appeal of Jesus, we think about it in terms of what has had more impact; which is the better headline: “Jesus of Nazareth Upsets Local Religious Leaders,” or “Jesus of Nazareth has Risen from the Dead.”?

The answer seems obvious.

The vividness of the risen Christ is undeniable. It is that story that has captivated the hearts, minds and souls of people for two-thousand years. And yet his resurrection can almost be seen as being a normal event.

Jesus knew man, and he knew his death and resurrection would arouse the soul of mankind quite effectively, it would get far more attention down through the ages, and God knew this as well, which is partly why we must see that Jesus laid down his life, in addition to the other things that came from his death on the cross, to make sure we got the message that had its most impressive appeal.

But remember, it is the vividness of the its appeal that gets attention, and not the truth, necessarily. The truth of Jesus’ life, his day-to-day living among men, is the more important story. Many people who would otherwise love to know the life-story of Jesus are redirected to the miracle of his death. Christianity has focused on the more miraculous aspect, and it has been the vividness of that story that has continued to bring new believers into the kingdom. One wonders how many more people would be attracted to, and be inspired by, the teachings of Jesus, which sometimes gets lost in the miracle of his divinity.

Jesus himself tried to refrain from the use of miracles to win souls to the kingdom, instead, wanting his appeal to be about service, and the love of the Father, to win souls.

The resurrection surely proves we all have bright futures if we only have faith, but there are great lessons to be learned from examining the life of Jesus.

It is the hope of this author that an emphasis on the Life and Teachings of Jesus will be more fully presented and studied in the ages to come, and with less emphasis on the atonement aspect of Jesus death.

Perhaps this is why the Revelators thought it wise to present the entire story at this time and in this age, as we transition from the Age of Miracles to the Age of Reason.

The real miracle of Jesus wasn’t that he rose from the dead. He had already foretold of that event. No, the real miracle, if you think about it, is that the highest representation of Deity, lived life as a mortal being.

A Story We Need to Hear

Published on by Jim WatkinsLeave a comment

This week we celebrate the lead up to Easter. It was the last week of Jesus’s life on earth, and it deserves contemplation. The story is still relevant. A man who preached the Good News is a shock to the Jewish system of Religious law. The people love him, then they turn on him, and alas, Jesus is tried and convicted, and then the resurrection, mission complete.

Backed up against the superficial and vacuous list of superhero’s we have on the silver screen, it was encouraging for me this past weekend to see so many people show up to see the new Christian film St. Paul the Apostle. For a movie that saw little mainstream promotion, it is clear to me that people are hungry for biblical stories because they contain so much heroism, reflection and conviction, qualities sorely lacking from movies like Dark Water, Pacific Rim or the latest blockbuster Black Panther.

Real heroes inspire, and this is a great week to be inspired. So this week on my radio station LISTEN HERE we are airing/streaming the UB Narrative of the final week of Jesus’ life on earth (UB Papers 190 to 194). In full and rich detail, you can hear the day-by-day account of the Masters’ final week on earth and those who came into contact with him.

Please share the link with others, tweet about it, post it, give the story away to people you think need to hear the good news. People are hungry.

Happy Easter!

By James R. Watkins

Well respected Urantia Book speaker David Kantor posed an interesting question at a symposium on the subject of Christianity and The Urantia Book. He said, “there are two paths: the Urantia Book could develop its own “religion,” or the Urantia Book teachings could become a part of Christianity.

In the first scenario, the growth of the UB would be hampered, slowing down the eventual embracing of the book by perhaps hundreds of years, whereas, if the Church began to adopt and integrate the Urantia Book teachings in mainstream, awareness and adoption would yield real results much faster.

It’s an interesting question, and one which deserves some consideration.

How might the teachings of the Urantia Book grow if it became an offshoot, a religion on its own path, of Christian thought? (since so much of its teachings correlate with Christian principles).

Or, conversely, what if the Christian Church announced todaythat it “sanctioned” the Urantia Book as a revelation of new truth, and was adopted as a relevant adjunct to The New Testament, a continuation, as it were, of newly revealed spiritual truth to mankind?

History shows us two examples of what happens when a former religion merges with a newer teligion.

The Hebrew religion discarded Christs‘ teachings, and so the followers of Jesus went thier own way, forming the Christian Church. Christianity borrows from the Jewish religion, but it carries forth the newer revelation of Jesus’ teachings. Obviously it set out on its own path, and while similar, it is clear the Jewish faith and the current Christian faith may never fully reconcile its differences, owing to Jesus.

In more recent times, the Mormon faith has become an offshoot of Christianity because it dared to introduce a new revelation that was rejected by mainline Christianity. Though both religions recognize the divinity of Jesus Christ, the history is dissimilar, and therefore has never been fully reconciled. The relationship between Mormons and fundamentalist Christians is one that can best be described as tentative, but not adversarial.

We should also remember that Christianity has absorbed many an old religion, including many pagan religions and most especially Mithraism, which was highly popular in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries.  It’s why we celebrate Christmas on December 25th.

In its infancy Christianity has shown itself to be flexible, and more than welcoming to other faiths and beliefs, But not so much in recent times.

Christians today are very guarded, very sringent of any notion that God continues to speak, especially in the form of a 2,200 page book called The Urantia Book.

I agree with Kantors’ assessment that the Urantia Book could grow much faster in awareness if mainline Christianity embraced it, but I also don’t see it happening. The power of Church authority is just too great. Already have Christians been taught that no other record can be added to the Bible. The Bible is a finished document, and any one who dares to look at some new book as a “revelation,” is obviously committing heresy, at least in the mainstream.

In the end, the Urantia Book will embark on its own path, and it’s followers will be attracted to it because in part, of the stringent regulations imposed by the Christian Church which has driven people away from its more crystallized truth-presentation of eternal reality. People need a religion which comprises an integration of science, spirituality and philosophy consistant with our intellectual and scientific growth, all three of which are perfectly blended in the Urantia Book.

It’s not that the Christian church needs to embrace the Urantia Book, it’s whether people who believe in the Bible as the only “word of God,” will eventually be standing in a room by themselves in the ages to come, as more people seek for advanced truth. This fact alone will determine the further growth and acceptance of The Urantia Book – with or without the help of Christians.

I invite you to view the full video of David Kantors’ excellent presentation, click below.

Where are the Modern Day Prophets?

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by James R. Watkins

Most, if not all, of our contemporary leaders are political or social-justice warriors serving an ideology rooted in mortal gain. But where are our spiritual prophets? What of those generational personalities who arrive on the scene from time to time to inspire us to seek for spiritual gain?

Every generation, stretching back in time, has benefitted from its spiritual leaders. From Elijah to Abraham, from Samuel to Moses, on down to China’s Confucius and Tibet’s Gautama Siddhartha, who later became known as The Buddha, even Jesus and moving forward through time to the later appearances of Martin Luther and John Calvin in the West, to Mohammed and later, Gandhi in the Middle and Far East, these spiritual ‘prophets’ brought us a new revelation of God and what it means to be a faith son of the Almighty. 

Conspicuously, and but with the exception of some Christian evangelists like Billy Graham, possibly Joyce Meyer or Joel Olsteen, there is nowhere to be found a truly galvanizing spiritual leader who inspires us to seek for spiritual gains, instead of material ones; someone who can literally change the course of history, as so many have done before.

People are spiritually hungry, and while the embracing of traditional religious teachings appear to be on the decline, people, now more than ever, are devoid of spiritual direction, as if we don’t even want one.

But being a spiritual prophet is more than someone saying just the right words, it is also about having a persuasive personality, someone who can be trusted, someone who is infectious in their teachings, someone who can “win the crowd.”  

Is the 21st Century no longer capable of producing such stalwartl candidates? Is there no one alive today who can speak for God in such a way as to inspire the masses towards positive social and spiritual change en masse?

Even the Pope, loved by millions, has succumbed to putting the Church’s emphasis on repairing social ills, not necessarily spiritual ones. While these efforts are noble and praiseworthy, I have yet to hear or read anything from the pontiff (or the Catholic Church) that has filled me with spiritual hope, or has inspired me to want to ‘labor for the kingdom.’

Perhaps God has put a pause button on sending any new prophets, at least until mankind can decide if it wants one. Perhaps it is premature to judge too harshly on the seemingly vacuous times we live in when such spiritual prophets might be absent from humanity, after all, we are only 18 years into the new millennium.

Perhaps there will be a Jesus renaissance, or maybe the next prophet will carry further the message of Jesus, promoting a true spiritual kinship among the children of a loving Father. It was this message in ancient times that gave so much hope to so many who were lost in a myriad of pagan rituals, mystery cults and secular pessimism (sound familiar?).  Where today is that message that can unite, rather than divide?