CHAPTER 4

CELESTIAL AGENCIES

Two thousand year ago a Jew, writing in Greek, penned these words:

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware."

That truly is an extraordinary remark. If the subjects of his statement are really angels they do not originate from this world; they hail from the celestial realms. The more difficult part is that they walk, talk, breathe, move, eat and in every other way resemble us; otherwise we could not entertain them without recognizing that they are different from us. If they are angels how did they become exactly like us? Were they spirit beings who took on human form? Are they material beings who travel from other worlds? If the former it means they can alter their state of being; if the latter it means they come from other worlds in the sky.

This remark is in the Christian New Testament in the Book of Hebrews, 13:2. Such celestial visits find confirmation in the ancient Hebrew writing of Genesis, 19:1-23. Lot was sitting in the gate of the city one evening when two angels approached him. They wanted to go on their way after delivering a message to Lot, but he urged them to remain for the night. They washed their feet, 19:2, ate, 19:3, and lay down for the night, 19:4. They acted in every way as material beings. It does not seem reasonable that spirit beings taking on mortal forms for a temporary visit would have the same physical needs as mere mortals. If this deduction is correct, these angels must be material beings who traveled to this planet from other worlds in the sky.

Numerous other accounts in the ancient Hebrew writings show physical contact with visitors from the celestial realms. Moses and the elders of Israel "went up" where they saw the God of Israel, and had a banquet with him, Exod 24:9-11. It is totally unreasonable that they really saw God, but they may have visited with a celestial agent who was called the "God of Israel." This Being may have been assigned to the watchcare of the Hebrew people.

Other ancient Hebrew writings show that human mortals may be taken for visits into deep space. The author of the Book of Enoch stated that --

"...in those days a whirlwind carried me off from the earth, and set me down at the end of the heavens," Enoch 39:3.

In another place he said the visions and winds --

"...caused me to fly and lifted me upward, and bore me into heaven," Enoch 14:8.

He visited prison worlds, 18:14, as well as many other places. He was given information about the future of the earth --

"...not for this generation but for a remote one which is to come," 1:2.

Elijah was also lifted into heaven in a chariot of fire, II Kings 2:11. But his was not a temporary visit; he never returned.

A record of other contact by celestial agents is found in Rev 1:12-20.

In these examples we find record of the activities of the agents of God, and not God himself. Our Creator does not come down here to carry on the details of planetary salvation. He assigns those tasks to subordinate divine "gods," to angels, and to other celestial beings. Some of these beings may be of high spirit order, appearing in visionary form. Gabriel came to visit Daniel, 8:16 and 9:21, as well as Mary and Elizabeth, Luke 1:19, 26. Melchizedek visited with Abraham, Gen 14, but apparently in physical form. If Melchizedek is a spirit being this episode shows that he could alter his state of being.

The question before us is this: We know that celestial beings of spirit status, or even of physical form, had contact with this world in the ancient past. Many of those contacts dealt with revelation. Whether it was the saving of Lot from the destruction of Sodom, the promises of the future for this world given to "Enoch," or the forecast of destruction recorded by John in the Book of Revelation -- all such contact dealt with affairs important to this world. The record is clear. But was contact terminated after Jesus left this world? Might new contact be now reestablished to provide new revelations?

Unfortunately, to the great detriment of understanding by both Jew and Christian, we became blind about subordinate beings providing revelations; today we reject such possibilities. This drift away from understanding took place over the past three thousand years simply because our planet was isolated from the celestial realms. Contact was severely limited. But now something new is happening. Contacts are being reestablished once again. New revelations appear. The Urantia Papers are a precursor to the onset of a new planetary regime.

In order to obtain a better understanding of how new revelations can provide insights I shall now illustrate from The Urantia Papers.

Page 865 -- "Many of the more literal phenomena ascribed to angels have been performed by the secondary midway creatures. When the early teachers of the gospel of Jesus were thrown into prison by the ignorant religious leaders of that day, an actual 'angel of the Lord' 'by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth.' But in the case of Peter's deliverance after the killing of James by Herod's order, it was a secondary midwayer who performed the work ascribed to an angel."

 

Here is a term we never heard before. Midwayers are beings of semi-physical but invisible status who were born on this world many ages ago. They are from the progeny of Adam and Eve. But memory of these beings has been lost to the planetary record.

The passages in the New Testament which describe these events are found in Acts 5, 12, and 16.

Acts 12 -- "Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shone in the prison: and he struck Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, 'Arise up quickly.' And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, 'Gird yourself, and bind on your sandals.' And so he did. And he said to him, 'Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.' And he went out, and followed him; and understood not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city; which opened to them of its own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and after that the angel departed from him."

According to The Urantia Papers Peter's deliverance was the work of a secondary midway creature. If the biblical description is correct this secondary midwayer was able to make himself visible in human form. The ability of the secondary midway creatures to make themselves visible is indicated by another passage.

Page 863 -- "These disloyal midwayers were able to reveal themselves to mortal eyes under certain circumstances, and especially was this true of the associates of Beelzebub, the leader of the apostate secondary midwayers."

What is true for disloyal midway creatures surely is true for loyal ones.

We are not sure from the historical record who is a midwayer presenting himself in human form, and who is an angel. In Luke two personalities appeared inside Jesus' tomb, 24:4, as men in dazzling apparel, while in Mark only one is mentioned sitting within the tomb, a young man in a white robe, 16:5.

But other material acts were performed by angels, not by midwayers.

Acts 5 -- "And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, 'Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.' And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and said, 'The prison we truly found shut with all safety, and the keepers standing outside before the doors: but when we had opened the doors, we found no man within.'"

Acts 16 -- "And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, 'Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.' Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas."

 

Note how The Urantia Papers enlighten and ennoble these historical remarks.

Page 124 -- "Seraphim are able to function as material ministers to human beings under certain circumstances, but their action in this capacity is very rare. They are able, with the assistance of the midway creatures and the physical controllers, to function in a wide range of activities in behalf of human beings, even to make actual contact with mankind, but such occurrences are very unusual. In most instances the circumstances of the material realm proceed unaltered by seraphic action, although occasions have arisen, involving jeopardy to vital links in the chain of human evolution, in which seraphic guardians have acted, and properly, on their own initiative."

It is apparent from these accounts, both in The Urantia Papers and in the Bible, that the apostles and disciples of Jesus were aided in their work by celestial personalities. It should be clear also that those men had the blessing and support of Jesus after he left this world. Many who would despise the Christian church should remember the importance of its role in bringing us to the current era.

Page 2085 -- "Many earnest persons who would gladly yield loyalty to the Christ of the gospel find it very difficult enthusiastically to support a church which exhibits so little of the spirit of his life and teachings, and which they have been erroneously taught he founded. Jesus did not found the so-called Christian church, but he has, in every manner consistent with his nature, fostered it as the best existent exponent of his lifework on earth."

Page 2086 -- "Christianity is an extemporized religion, and therefore must it operate in low gear. High-gear spiritual performances must await the new revelation and the more general acceptance of the real religion of Jesus. But Christianity is a mighty religion, seeing that the commonplace disciples of a crucified carpenter set in motion those teachings which conquered the Roman world in three hundred years and then went on to triumph over the barbarians who overthrew Rome. This same Christianity conquered--absorbed and exalted--the whole stream of Hebrew theology and Greek philosophy. And then, when this Christian religion became comatose for more than a thousand years as a result of an overdose of mysteries and paganism, it resurrected itself and virtually reconquered the whole Western world. Christianity contains enough of Jesus' teachings to immortalize it."

 

The emphasis is mine. Indeed, it is a new revelation that is now unfolding upon the world scene.

As we consider the events in the deliverance of Peter, Paul and other early Christian workers who carried the news and teachings about Jesus, we should recognize that those events came at vital moments in the chain of human destiny. It was necessary that those men be saved for the work of the kingdom as it unfolded in Christianity. They were the keys to the continuing river of truth which flowed from the past and which flows on into the future. As such they deserved the intervention and help of our unseen spiritual brothers.

Now a new epoch is unfolding on this planet. Now high-gear spiritual performances once again are about to break forth. A major step in achieving this new episode was the creation of The Urantia Papers. But that creation required contact, once again, of our spiritual brothers with the physical world. As stated within the Papers --

"it was by just such a fortuitous combination of cosmic adjustments that these revelations were materialized in the English language on Urantia," page 1258.

The chief work today of the secondary midwayers --

"is that of unperceived personal-liaison associates of those men and women who constitute the planetary reserve corps of destiny. It was the work of this secondary group, ably seconded by certain of the primary corps, that brought about the co-ordination of personalities and circumstances on Urantia which finally induced the planetary celestial supervisors to initiate those petitions that resulted in the granting of the mandates making possible the series of revelations of which this presentation is a part," page 865.

 

The importance of the secondary midway creatures should not be underestimated. They are close to, and can manipulate the physical world.

Page 583 -- "The secondary midway creatures are indigenous to the Adamic missions. As with the corporeal staff of the Planetary Prince, the descendants of the Material Sons and Daughters are of two orders: their physical children and the secondary order of midway creatures. These material but ordinarily invisible planetary ministers contribute much to the advancement of civilization and even to the subjection of insubordinate minorities who may seek to subvert social development and spiritual progress."

 

Just such divine help may be needed today in the unfolding of these new high-gear spiritual performances.

Page 865 -- "The 1,111 loyal secondary midwayers are engaged in important missions on earth. As compared with their primary associates, they are decidedly material. They exist just outside the range of mortal vision and possess sufficient latitude of adaptation to make, at will, physical contact with what humans call 'material things.' These unique creatures have certain definite powers over the things of time and space, not excepting the beasts of the realm."

Page 424 -- "Primary midwayers resemble angels more than mortals; the secondary orders are much more like human beings. Each renders invaluable assistance to the other in the execution of their manifold planetary assignments. The primary ministers can achieve liaison co-operation with both morontia-- and spirit--energy controllers and mind circuiters. The secondary group can establish working connections only with the physical controllers and the material-circuit manipulators. But since each order of midwayer can establish perfect synchrony of contact with the other, either group is thereby able to achieve practical utilization of the entire energy gamut extending from the gross physical power of the material worlds up through the transition phases of universe energies to the higher spirit-reality forces of the celestial realms."

In the remaining chapters of this book I shall present the details of how contact was established and the methods used to bring this great revelation.

---