The Cosmic Citizen

We are back this week to continue our study of The Universal Father, the first source and center of all things. We will be exploring Section 4 of that paper, The Mystery of God. We likely will also be able to cover Section 5, Personality of the Universal Father. So far, in this study we've learned that God is a creator, a controller, and an upholder, and that all enlightened beings worship God the Father and have one supreme ambition-to become like him. Also that the enlightened worlds all recognize and worship God as the eternal maker and infinite upholder of all creation. In the starry realms, God has been referred to as First Creative Source and Divine Center, Father of Universes, Divine Controller, Father of Lights, the Gift of Life, the All-powerful One, the Father of Fathers, the Paradise Father, the Havona Father, and the Spirit Father. We are blessed to know God through Jesus, and so often refer to God as "Our Father." We also learned that, "God is a universal spirit; God is the universal person." Also that we humans must strive to yeild our mind to the leadings God's indwelling Spirit. In this week's episode we'll discover that God is an eternal power, a majestic presence, and a glorious ideal. He is a perfect personality, a person who can know and be known, love and be loved. Personality is not just an attribute of God, it is the revelation of God to the universes. Human personality is the shadow cast by the divine personality. Mortals view personality from the finite toward the infinite, but God's perspective moves from the infinite to the finite. The Urantia Book truly reveals the divine reality and true nature of the infinite personality that we call God. Whether you are familiar with The Urantia Book or not, and whether you believe in God or not, we invite you to join us and experience this sublime revelation! We hope you can join us!

This week we continue our study of The Universal Father, the first source and center of all things. We will be exploring Section 3 of that paper, God is a Universal Spirit. In the last two weeks, we've learned that God is a creator, a controller, and an upholder, and that all enlightened beings worship God the Father and have one supreme ambition-to become like him. Also that the enlightened worlds all recognize and worship God as the eternal maker and infinite upholder of all creation. In the starry realms, God has been referred to as First Creative Source and Divine Center, Father of Universes, Divine Controller, Father of Lights, the Gift of Life, the All-powerful One, the Father of Fathers, the Paradise Father, the Havona Father, and the Spirit Father. We are blessed to know God through Jesus, and so often refer to God as "Our Father." We learned that, "The name he is given is of little importance; the significant thing is that you should know him and aspire to be like him." This week we will continue to Section 3 of Paper 1, GOD IS A UNIVERSAL SPIRIT. 1:3.5.God is a universal spirit; God is the universal person. The supreme personal reality of the finite creation is spirit... 1:3.6.In the universes God the Father is, in potential, the overcontroller of matter, mind, and spirit. Only by means of his far-flung personality circuit does God deal directly with the personalities of his vast creation of will creatures, but he is contactable (outside of Paradise) only in the presences of his fragmented entities, the will of God abroad in the universes. The Urantia Book truly reveals the divine reality and true nature of the infinite personality that we call God. Whether you are familiar with The Urantia Book or not and whether you believe in God or not, we invite you to join us and experience this sublime revelation! We hope you can join us!

This week we continue of study of The Universal Father, the first source and center of all things. We will be exploring Section 2 of that paper, The Reality of God. Last week, as we began with Paper 1 of The Urantia Book, we covered the preamble and Section 1, The Father's Name. We learned that God is a creator, a controller, and an upholder, and that all enlightened beings worship God the Father and have one supreme ambition-to become like him. Also that the enlightened worlds all recognize and worship the Universal Father as the eternal maker and infinite upholder of all creation. We also learned that the Father is known throughout creation by many names, but reveals himself only by nature. God the Father has been referred to as First Creative Source and Divine Center, Father of Universes, Divine Controller, Father of Lights, the Gift of Life, the All-powerful One, the Father of Fathers, the Paradise Father, the Havona Father, and the Spirit Father. Because we are blessed to know God through Jesus, we often refer to God as "Our Father." This week we will continue to Section 2 of Paper 1, THE REALITY OF GOD.  1:2.1 God is primal reality in the spirit world; God is the source of truth in the mind spheres; God overshadows all throughout the material realms. To all created intelligences God is a personality, and to the universe of universes he is the First Source and Center of eternal reality. God is neither manlike nor machinelike. The First Father is universal spirit, eternal truth, infinite reality, and father personality. How real is God to you? The Urantia Book's explanations and depictions of the divine reality we call "God" are transcendent and sublime. Whether you are familiar with The Urantia Book or not and whether you believe in God or not, we invite you to join us and experience, what we believe is a genuine revelation of God. We hope you can make it!

Cosmic Citizens! We have, in all these long years of the webcast, never undertaken a series on our Universal Father—he, without whom, no person or thing would exist. In an age on our world, when in developing countries few can imagine the reality of the God portrayed in the Abrahamic religions, we would take a few months, with an interruption here and there, to study the first five papers of The Urantia Book depicting Our Father, who was best revealed 2,000 years ago by the life and teachings of Joshua ben Joseph, Jesus of Nazareth. These first five papers are exclusively devoted to the First Person, First Source, and Central Reality of all creation. It is a new "pentateuch" of the Father revealed authoritatively, not to create a new dogma about God but, rather, to reveal the True God of Love who is our approachable Creator Parent. Not even in a scientific age but especially do we need a rebirth of new and personal religion—the fostering of each person's relationship with God. This will be an engaging and, we hope, revealing study of the personality and character of God divested of the evolutionary "baggage" of the past millenia that tend to drive modern men and women away from relationship with God. The Urantia Book's portrayal, on the contrary, invites us in to closer relationship with Our Universal and Loving Father. 1:0.2 (21.2) The myriads of planetary systems were all made to be eventually inhabited by many different types of intelligent creatures, beings who could know God, receive the divine affection, and love him in return. The universe of universes is the work of God and the dwelling place of his diverse creatures. “God created the heavens and formed the earth; he established the universe and created this world not in vain; he formed it to be inhabited.” Please join us!  http://tobtr.com/12187587

We are back this week to finish our study of Urantia Paper 38 - Ministering Spirits of the Local Universe, with Section 9: The Midway Creatures. So far, we have learned about the Seraphim, that are created by the universe Mother Spirit. We've explored how they appreciate human efforts in music, art, and humor and that they truly love human beings. Paper 38 reveals a long ladder of vital and living beings who serve in our universe. Section 9 of this paper reveals the beings who, on that ladder, come the closest to human beings. The Urantia Book calls them Midwayers, because they come midway between men and the angels. In most cases, they are vital to the success of the efforts that the spirit realm engages in on behalf of the humans who live on the inhabited worlds. They are absolutely fascinating creatures and they help humanity in countless ways. 38:9.12.The primary midwayers are the planetary historians who, from the time of the arrival of the Planetary Prince to the age of settled light and life, formulate the pageants and design the portrayals of planetary history for the exhibits of the planets on the system headquarters worlds. The Midwayers are our resident planetary custodians and historians. They work tirelessly to bring our world from chaos to order and from darkness to light. This is no easy accomplishment, and especially not on a confused world like ours.  For example, was Midwayers who authored Part IV of The Urantia Book, The Life and Teacings of Jesus. Who better to keep these records than beings who actually stay on this world through its most critical evolutionary phases. We owe them our profound gratitude and it is amazing to learn who they are and how they function.  We will no doubt have many great cross references in this episode. We hope you will join us for a fascinating discussion on the Midwayers, as revealed by The Urantia Book.

Happy New Year from The Cosmic Citizen! This week we continue our study of Urantia Paper 38 - Ministering Spirits of the Local Universe, with Section 6: Seraphic Organization, and Section 7: Cherubim and Sanobim. So far, we have learned that Seraphim are created by the universe Mother Spirit. They are just outside the mortal range of vision and they appreciate human efforts in music, art, and humor. They truly love human beings, and only good can result from our efforts to understand them. This week we'll find out that upon the completion of their training, they are commissioned as ministering spirits of time. They gather in groups of 24, companies of 288, battalions of 3,456, units of 41,472, and legions of 497,664. Twelve legions constitute a host and twelve hosts make an army of 71,663,616 angels. In addition, we'll read about cherubim and sanobim. These angels are slightly lower than the seraphim spiritually. They assist the seraphim in routine spiritual matters on individual worlds but never attend to human beings. Every fourth cherub is nearly material. These quasi-material types are able to perform many indispensable tasks. Cherubim and sanobim may become ascension candidates; some achieve full seraphic standing. (38:7.1) In all essential endowments cherubim and sanobim are similar to seraphim. They have the same origin but not always the same destiny. They are wonderfully intelligent, marvelously efficient, touchingly affectionate, and almost human. They are the lowest order of angels, hence all the nearer of kin to the more progressive types of human beings on the evolutionary worlds. In the Urantia Papers, Mortals are considered sons of God, even if they are female, and all Angels are referred to as daughters of God. We hope you will join us for another fascinating discussion of angels as revealed by The Urantia Book. http://tobtr.com/12180891

We continue our next installment of Ministering Spirits of the Local Universe! In this paper the word “angel” is purposely limited to the designation of those seraphic and associated offspring of the Universe Mother Spirit who are so largely concerned with the operation of the plans of mortal survival. There serve in the local universe six other orders of related beings, the unrevealed angels, who are not in any specific manner connected with those universe activities pertaining to the Paradise ascent of evolutionary mortals. These six groups of angelic associates are never called seraphim...38:3.1 (420.1) The ninth group of seven primary spheres in the Salvington circuit are the worlds of the seraphim. 38:4.1 (420.2) These headquarters worlds are among the magnificent realms of Nebadon; the seraphic estates are characterized by both beauty and vastness. Here each seraphim has a real home, and “home” means the domicile of two seraphim; they live in pairs.  Though not male and female as are the Material Sons and the mortal races, seraphim are negative and positive. In the majority of assignments it requires two angels to accomplish the task.(420.3, 4) 38:4.2, 3 Seraphim spend their first millennium as noncommissioned observers on Salvington and its associated world schools. The second millennium is spent on the seraphic worlds of the Salvington circuit. Their central training school is now presided over by the first one hundred thousand Nebadon seraphim, and at their head is the original or first-born angel of this local universe. The first created group of Nebadon seraphim were trained by a corps of one thousand seraphim from Avalon; subsequently our angels have been taught by their own seniors. The Melchizedeks also have a large part in the education and training of all local universe angels ... 38:5.1 (420.6) Please join us!  http://tobtr.com/12175810

We begin a new study this week, Ministering Spirits of the Local Universe! The angels of the local universe are among those who come closest to us in our material and mortal sojourn. We are told that "only good can result from your efforts to understand and love them." The Creator Son and the universe representation of the Infinite Spirit collaborate in the creation of a large number of Sons and other universe personalities. Following the completion of this united effort, the Son engages in the creation of the Material Sons, the first of the sex creatures, while the Universe Mother Spirit concurrently engages in her initial solitary effort at spirit reproduction. Thus begins the creation of the seraphic hosts of a local universe. ... Seraphim are still being periodically created; the universe of Nebadon is still in the making. The Universe Mother Spirit never ceases creative activity in a growing and perfecting universe. (418.4,6) 38:1.1,3 Angels do not have material bodies, but they are definite and discrete beings; they are of spirit nature and origin. Though invisible to mortals, they perceive you as you are in the flesh without the aid of transformers or translators; they intellectually understand the mode of mortal life, and they share all of man’s nonsensuous emotions and sentiments. They appreciate and greatly enjoy your efforts in music, art, and real humor. They are fully cognizant of your moral struggles and spiritual difficulties. They love human beings... Though seraphim are very affectionate and sympathetic beings, they are not sex-emotion creatures. They are much as you will be on the mansion worlds, where you will “neither marry nor be given in marriage but will be as the angels of heaven.” (419.1,2) 38:2.1,2  Angels are...are not your judges or accusers. .” (419.4) 38:2.4  http://tobtr.com/12173377

We conclude our study of various local universe orders, denominated the Universe Aids of Paper 37, facilitating the mortal ascension career, including the "stationary" permanent citizens of the local universe, the spironga, the sagia, well-nigh ideal animals, and others. These orders of beings are by and large neither ascending nor descending. They are all experiential creatures, but their enlarging experience continues to be available to the universe on their level of origin. While this is not wholly true of the Adamic Sons and midway creatures, it is relatively true of these orders. ... The Susatia. These marvelous beings reside and function as permanent citizens on Salvington, the headquarters of this local universe. ... The Univitatia. ...These children of the Creator Son and the Creative Spirit constitute the permanent population of the constellation headquarters worlds. They are nonreproducing beings existing on a plane of life about halfway between the semimaterial status of the Material Sons domiciled on the system headquarters and the more definitely spiritual plane of the Spirit-fused mortals and the susatia of Salvington; but the univitatia are not morontia beings. ___ As Urantia has its midwayers, Jerusem, your system capital, has the Material Sons and Daughters; Edentia, your constellation headquarters, has the univitatia, while the citizens of Salvington are twofold, the created susatia and the evolved Spirit-fused mortals. ... the Uversa headquarters spheres are continuously fostered by an amazing group of beings known as the abandonters, the creation of the unrevealed agents of the Ancients of Days and the seven Reflective Spirits resident on the capital of Orvonton. (414.11–13, 415.4) 37:9.6–8,12 Please join us for what will prove to be an intriguing study of these local universe aids. http://tobtr.com/1216918

We continue our study of various local universe orders facilitating the mortal ascension career, Paper 37, including some high orders who function within the local universe but are not created there, and about certain "stationary" permanent citizens of the local universe and others. (413.7) 37:8.4 The Nebadon Census Director, Salsatia, maintains headquarters within the Gabriel sector of Salvington. He is automatically cognizant of the birth and death of will and currently registers the exact number of will creatures functioning in the local universe. He works in close association with the personality recorders domiciled on the record worlds of the archangels. (414.1) 37:8.6 The Universal Conciliators are the traveling courts of the universes of time and space, functioning from the evolutionary worlds up through every section of the local universe and on beyond. These referees are registered on Uversa; the exact number operating in Nebadon is not of record, but I estimate that there are in the neighborhood of one hundred million conciliating commissions in our local universe. (414.12) 37:9.7 The Susatia. These marvelous beings reside and function as permanent citizens on Salvington, the headquarters of this local universe. They are the brilliant offspring of the Creator Son and Creative Spirit and are closely associated with the ascendant citizens of the local universe, the Spirit-fused mortals of the Nebadon Corps of Perfection. (415.4) 37:9.12 ...But the Uversa headquarters spheres are continuously fostered by an amazing group of beings known as the abandonters, the creation of the unrevealed agents of the Ancients of Days and the seven Reflective Spirits resident on the capital of Orvonton. Please join us! http://tobtr.com/12164251