2000-04-07-Our Relationship with Michael

Session

Opening

OPENING PRAYER by unknown entity (Bill): Father of lights, to you we owe our allegiance, our very existence. We gather tonight to be in fellowship with each other and with you, aware of your presence, aware of the presence of Christ Michael, that we may cherish the experience of personality existence that we each enjoy, your gift to us all. Help us to have ears to hear, hearts to share and hands to do service. Amen.

Daniel (Bob S): This is Daniel, you teacher, guide and elder brother. My friends, how wonderful it is to gather with you at this time in your busy lives. We cherish these times together for they allow all of us, those on your side and those on our side, to grow spiritually. You are not given the gift of spiritual growth visualization, but you have been given guidelines which allow you to gauge the growth of your individual soul's existence. Once on Morontial World #1 you gain instant visual perspective as to your soul's growth. It is quite a change. You will be amazed how things are different just one level above where you are now. My friends we plan quite a full evening tonight, so let's get with it. (Laughter.) One moment please.

Dialogue

Aaron (Bill): Hello, dear friends. I am Aaron present with you, as I usually am, this evening. I would like to have us interact as we sometimes do, and I would like to pose some inquiries, which you are invited to respond to. I realize that this sometimes makes some of you nervous. You are less comfortable when you are speaking than when you are listening. On the other hand it is perhaps only fair for you to share in the teaching mode of our interaction, for you are in fact being trained as, you know, as both students and teachers. In as much as we are in the Easter season, a time when this world celebrates the Easter event, I would like to inquire how your relationship with Michael, otherwise known as Joshua ben Joseph, Jesus the Christ, has been effected by your involvement with the Fifth Epochal Revelation which includes both the Urantia Book as text and the Teaching Mission participation that each of you has taken part in? I will give you a little time to think about this, and I would appreciate your expression along the lines of my inquiry. Before we begin I would ask you if my question is clear or do I need to elaborate?

Virginia: Please elaborate. I think I heard you say how is Jesus effected by our involvement in the Urantia Book and the Teaching Mission. Is that what you said?

Aaron (Bill): If that is what was said, I will blame it on this TR. (Laughter.) For my intention is to ask, . ..how is your relationship with, and your understanding of, Jesus been effected by your involvement with the Fifth Epochal Revelation including either/or the Urantia Book and the Teaching Movement or both? How's that?

Marty: Is this just in reference to the Easter resurrection or in general?

Aaron (Bill): No, it is not limited to Easter. However, there is a much larger scope of information which the Urantia Book has added to that event, but the answer is your understanding and your relationship with Christ Michael as a result of this latest epochal revelation. I would request that someone offer to start and we will then move clockwise.

Pat: I'll start, to get it over with. How's that? (Laughter and comments.)

Aaron (Bill): Thank you for your bravery, Patricia. (More laughter and comments.) I am eagerly awaiting your words.

Pat: Well, I'll be brief. (More laughter.) I guess I'll start with the Urantia Book, and say that I enjoy very much the life of Christ that I am reading right now. It has made him more human, more real to me, and made me so in awe of him also in the life that he led here. As for the teaching mission I think that it has made me aware that he is very accessible to me, if I so choose. And I am very thankful for both the Urantia Book and for this Teaching Mission.

Aaron (Bill): Thank you for that clear affirmation of value in your life. Kenneth?

Ken: Pass. (Laughter.) Well, I agree with Pat. Not being grounded strongly in the Bible or any other doctrine prior to receiving the Urantia Book, and then subsequently this Teaching Mission that we are in, it has given me an insight into Michael and how human he is, how human God is. The combination of the two is overpowering. They carry details. I don't know what (else) I can say. I find myself talking to Michael more and more.

Aaron (Bill): Yes, and this has been our hope, that the actual contact that you are undergoing with our interaction with you makes it more believable and feasible to actually communicate with Christ Michael himself. Thank you for your words, my friend. Marty could you reply to my question, please?

Marty: I don't know that I have a lot to add. It seems that Pat and I seem to come up on the same track a lot of the time, and I think her two points are pretty well the same for me. Christ Michael seems much more real. I guess you think that in traditional Christianity he was almost unreachable. I felt he was out there, but he was not somebody you could talk to, let alone hear a response from. I don't know why, but he didn't seem like a personal-type person. But now he seems much more reachable.

Aaron(Bill): So for you also the Urantia Book and the Teaching Mission have enhanced your contact experience…

Marty: Considerably.

Aaron (Bill): considerably. Thank you very much. Carol, can you give you give some comments to this question?

Carol: Well, I totally agree with Pat and what she said. We also are reading the life story of Jesus in part 4 of the Urantia Book in our Tuesday (American Falls) reading group, and it broadens the scope immensely because there are so many things that you didn't have contact with before, that you didn't hear about before. To me it's more like an autobiography, because it is much clearer than the Bible. It makes Jesus more of a real person to me; I think, like Marty said, much more reachable, and generally has much more broadened the scope of things for me.

Aaron (Bill): Thank you for your additional comments, that so far have pretty much blended together in terms of all of your experiences. And now my friend Bob, would you please comment on the question?

Bob: Before I was introduced to the book and the Teaching Mission, I spent a lot of time in the organized church. I had heard people, Christians, talk about their (personal) relationship to Jesus, and I never felt that. God and Jesus were beings that were off in the distance somewhere. I certainly believed in them, but they were unapproachable or unattainable, or just over the horizon. I never felt any close kind of relationship, until I got the Urantia Book with the Teaching Mission. It just amplified them, so that now I feel much closer to both of those Deity entities. And I feel, rather than them being off in the distance somewhere, they are right beside me. They are walking along with me, and one can communicate with them just about whenever you want. If you open the door, they'll step in. It's amazing. So as a result I've become a ‘born-again' Christian. (Laughter.)

Aaron (Bill): Those were my very thoughts. I was going to paraphrase what you were saying. (Laughter and comments.) So, yes, I think you have said it very well. I am sorry if my words terminated your comments..

Bob: No, I was finished.

Aaron (Bill): Thank you very much, Bob.

Bob: Maybe I got that idea (of being born again) from you?

Aaron (Bill): It was definitely in the eco-sphere. (Comments.) Virginia, my dear, I await your words.

Virginia: A lot of thoughts have come into my mind. When Pat said that Jesus was more human, I pictured what I had just listened to on the (Urantia Book) tape this morning of Jesus in the city of Nazareth sitting on hill on his third preaching tour, I believe, enjoying the memories of that place he had as a child. And so Jesus really is more human. I can remember that before the Urantia Book I used to argue that his divinity kept him from sinning, that he had no choice because he was divine. And I think that, if nothing else, the book has made me realize that his lack of sin really was the choices that he made, rather than the inability to stray from the Father's will. So I think that is one thing that is very clear for me.

The other thing is the book and the Teaching Mission have so broadened God's love, because growing up I chose a fundamentalist situation. It was very exclusive, and taught that certainly no one had the right path but those that I had identified with at that time. And throughout my years of changing churches and changing belief-systems, the identification of ‘the saved' was different. But the Urantia Book makes it very plain that we are all children of God. So that is a tremendous aspect of the book, and of course the Teaching Mission has replaced my severe conscience with such support, almost daily support from the beings that we hear from. And I know it is not my alter ego, because that person used to always beat me up all the time. (Laughter.) But I don't have that experience any more.

And I don't what to get too wordy here, but I think the other big thing is the Easter story itself. The book has really made that such a big reality; that Jesus did not have to die because it was God's will, but it was because of human beings making choices. But again in the section I am in, it talks about the enemies he had, those who were threatened by the truth that he lived. And of course the big issue that was a major disagreement before the book came into our lives was that I could not believe that God would require one of his children to die to save another child. So there are just so many things I could say I am so grateful for. I know I am a better person, a better wife, a better teacher, a better mother, a better everything because of the Urantia Book and the Teaching Mission.

Aaron (Bill): I thank you with all my heart, Virginia, for your eloquent words, and also my thanks goes out to the rest of you as well. You have in your comments covered major areas, and have brought great joy to your teachers this evening, for you have justified our fondest hopes and dreams that this planet was ready for new truth; that the time was right for an enlarged revelation of the meaning of the Fourth Revelation, viz., the coming of the Bestowal Son, known as Joshua ben Joseph, or Jesus to your world.

The Correcting Time, of which the Teaching Mission is a part, is also a part of the Fifth Epochal Revelation, as well as the next dispensation to this planet. You are the men and women that the Urantia Book speaks of, the new teachers (195:9.4) of the gospel of Michael, of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of humankind. You are, by your own choice, apostles, teachers, evangelists. You are the salt of the earth in this generation. You are witnesses to the Light of the World in these times. Our work is very great, and yet it is very wonderful, for once again, the Christian calendar forces people to pay attention to the inexplicable experiences which brought about the origin of Christianity. Thinking people are more and more coming to understand that the Easter event cannot be dismissed as a myth, but was the cause of the formulation of the religion about Jesus known as Christianity. It is that time for the chrysalis to break forth in resurrection glory and transformation; the gospel about Jesus to become the gospel that he preached, that he taught, that he lived.

What you have said tonight is testimony to the fact that you are sharing his faith. You are experiencing contact with God, and yes, you are ‘born again' without the narrow confines that those words often suggest in the minds of those that hear it. While it is literally true that no one comes to the Father except through the Son, this has been misunderstood to mean no one can be saved except they become a Christian. This is not true, for in each man and women is that true light which enlightens all, that Thought Adjuster, that Mystery Monitor, that contact point with God. It is true that in the ascension career all will first meet the Son in person at the universe headquarters world, having met him spiritually throughout their career prior. It is also true that ascension candidates will meet the Eternal Son before they meet the Universal Father on Paradise. Those words refer to these experiences and not as some Christians have conjectured that all persons must think their patterns of thought and worship in their modalities. The Fifth Epochal Revelation is not limited to Christianity. It is designed to leaven the truth in all religions. And so the book and the Teaching Mission and the Correcting Time are all unified in the effort to bring along this planet in its journey toward Light and Life. We have deliberately asked you all to help us think about these things tonight, so that we can in a sense pause and look at the scenery, and see where we have come, and take pleasure in our progress. And now your have certainly satisfactorily answered my question, and I do heartily thank you all. Isaac, do you wish to add anything?

Bill: Yes, Aaron, I would just say that everything that has been said by everyone else there applies to me as well. I already had a spiritual experience when I was nineteen in which I truly did meet Christ Michael, who I knew as Jesus, and I did experience the sense of forgiveness and reality that is described as being ‘born again'; but I think that what the Fifth Epochal Revelation has done for me is to satisfy all the questions that I had about what the whole, big universe was all about: Are we the only planet with life? Why is this world so screwed up? (Laughter.) Why are we so in the dark about what is going on? All these things have been so well answered by the Urantia Book. And then what the Teaching Mission has done for me is to make me realize that the intensity of spiritual contact that you can see in the New Testament's writings, that happened back there in so-called primitive Christianity, is now happening; and I am as intimately connected as Paul or any of those people with God and with Jesus; and that we are all given the same task, to be apostles, to be teachers, to be bringers of light. That's my answer.

Aaron (Bill): My dear friend, I appreciate your additional comments. I would now return this meeting to Daniel who will offer you the chance to reverse the process and be the questioners, if you so desire. One moment, please.

Daniel (Bob S): This is Daniel. I now open the floor to questions. Are there questions or comments any of you wish to raise at this time?

Ken: Daniel, can you give me a little more insight into the love of God and the grace of God?

Daniel (Bob S): Ah, my friend, ever the inquisitive one.

Ken: I'm sorry. I'm not supposed to ask those type of questions. (Laughter.)

Daniel (Bob S): No, it is a legitimate question. (More laughter and comments.) I shall attempt to give it a legitimate answer.

The love which our father/brother Michael demonstrated during his brief bestowal on Urantia rather adequately describes the love which is characteristic of the Father. And to those of you who now, through the Urantia Book, understand Michael's feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and life purpose, now can grasp rather completely what God's love is like.

Grace on the other hand is a much more illusive concept, for it requires faith as well as intellectual knowledge. The purpose by which the concept of grace was delivered to this planet was to endeavor to bridge the gap that existed in earlier concepts of God's love to that concept characterized by Michael's bestowal. If you can for a moment separate your early experience of what God's love was like as a child or youth, or someone just beginning your religious career, to where you are today, in terms of understanding God's love, you can possibly see why the concept of grace was given to this planet. Those of us from more advanced planets had no need for this initially divergent view of God's view, hence it was not taught to us. So consider what has been said tonight as the possible culmination of your need for understand the concept of grace. Kenneth, how am I doing? (Laughter.)

Ken: Your opening statement that Christ sojourned on the earth, on this planet, was the expression of God's love. Did I get that right?

Daniel (Bob S): Yes.

Ken: And grace goes beyond that to overall love of the Father, the expanding…

Daniel (Bob S): I would say, if I might, (Laughter.) those of you gathered in this room will see no difference between your vision of God's love and God's grace from your more accurate and now more mature view.

(Editor: A few lines were lost in tape breaking.)

Bill: Daniel, my understanding of what you said was a new idea to me, that grace was a concept of God that intervened between more primitive ideas of God and the full presentation of his love by his son, Jesus, our Bestowal Son. And I am thinking the word grace in our English language is kind of in contrast to ferocious, angry, or to be gracious is the opposite of ferocious, angry; and I am thinking that primitive religion conceives of God as angry and requiring sacrificial propitiation and these kinds of things. So the concept of grace would be that God is other that than, that he is kind and loving. Now you didn't say all of that, but it seemed like it was coming out of your thought. Do I understand this correctly, in terms of what you were trying to say?

Daniel (Bob S): I would say that your characterization of my words is accurate. I sense you have a follow-up question.

Bill: Well, its just that, if I heard you correctly just a minute ago, we don't really have to dwell much any more on grace as we have seen the full shining of God's love in the face of Jesus, and this needs to be what we talk about and get out.

Daniel (Bob S): Yes. Again your assessment and characterization of my words is excellent. That is precisely what I was attempting to portray.

Virginia: Daniel, I couldn't sleep Sunday night, as you probably know, and I pulled up on the computer the word grace in the Urantia Book. And I think that what you are saying is the concept that I got, the synthesis, the paragraphs that I read that night, that grace has to do with or is a result of personal growth after having experienced the love of God.

Daniel (Bob S): I would say that this is a generally accepted view of the definition of the word grace in organized Christian religions today. My thought was to lift you beyond the need for that less mature view, to say you no longer need to consider it necessary to even consider what you call grace, for you now have in your minds what was presented in the Fifth Epochal Revelation and it supplants and completes and fulfills what earlier definitions of grace were attempting to portray.

Virginia: Thank you, Daniel.

Bill: Well that, Daniel, reminds me of something in the Urantia Book where it is that we are not to be concerned with personal salvation. That is no longer an issue. We take that for granted, I guess, and what we should be concerned with instead is service.

Daniel (Bob S): Again, my son, your sensitivity to my words is stunning. You have accurately seen what I have attempted to clarify and have in my judgement raised it to the next level. Once you have seen God clearly, you no longer need to rely on his angels for your understanding.

Are there further questions or comments you wish to lift up at this time? (No questions.) Hearing none, it is my sense of culmination. Therefore I suggest we close tonight's meeting and prepare for what you have planned next. Are there final concluding statements?

Ken: Yes. "Thank you, Daniel".

Closing

Daniel (Bob S): And I thank you, Kenneth, my friend. Friends, shall we stand and join hands, and prepare for a time of prayer. I shall pause at this time to see if others wish to close this section of tonight's meeting with a prayer.

Alkon (Bill): I am Alkon. I would like to pray. Let us all unite in worship.

Oh thou great First Source and Center who dwells both in our hearts and on Paradise, we your children offer to you our most sincere thanks for granting us personality existence.

Oh great Second Source and Center, Eternal Son, we your children worship you and thank you for sending your Sons to our worlds of space to reveal the perfection of Deity expressed in humanity.

Oh great Third Source and Center, Infinite Spirit, we thank you for the gift of mind that you given to us through your Divine Ministers, and for our seraphim companions that we value and enjoy so much.

Christ Michael and Nebadonia, you are our actual creators, and we thank you for taking the initiative of creating your own universe were we are privileged to have been born and ascending in. You are ever present with us and we your children are also your companions and apostles and teachers.

For all of these things do we thank you, God the Sevenfold, that we can be part of God the Supreme, that we can play in the great orchestra of the Supreme our own tunes on our own instruments. Therefore, as my brothers and sisters go about their socializing may they truly experience the depth of love that they have as members of this cosmic family, this wonderful orchestra. May it be so. Amen