Book of Saphah
THE BASIS OF THE EZRA BIBLE
1. IN the time of Moses, the people of Arabin'ya worshiped many Gods and Lords, whose high heavenly Captain was Osiris. Four chief Gods were under him; they were: Baal, Ashtaroth, Dagon and Ashdod. There were seven and twenty other Gods also, known to mortals.
2. When the Israelites traveled forth amidst the different tribes, they were beset to know what Lord or what God they worshiped, and by what Lord or what God they were led forth.
3. The Light in wisdom and words came to Moses to say to the nations, ALAS, HIS NAME, WHOM WE WORSHIP, MAN DARE NOT UTTER.
4. Within the commune families, were certain signs and pass-words belonging to the different degrees. There were also oral rules of life and worship, but these were kept secret from the multitude, but the instruction of the commune fathers to the families was by this method made to harmonize all the people.
5. For general behavior, Moses gave ten commands, which were not only made public but were incumbent on the commune fathers to teach orally to their respective families. The following are the commandments thus taught, that is to say:
6. I AM THE I AM that brought thee out of Egypt.
7. Thou shalt have no Gods nor Lords but the I AM.
8. Thou shalt not make any image of the I AM out of anything that is in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters.
9. Thou shalt not bow down thyself before idols nor images, nor anything having the form of anything in heaven, or on the earth, or in the waters.
10. Thou shalt not speak My name in public, for I will not hold him guiltless that giveth it to idolaters and lovers of evil.
11. Remember the sacred days and keep them holy. Six days shalt thou labor; but the seventh day is the Sa'abbadha.
12. Honor thy father and mother.
13. Thou shalt not kill (any living thing).
14. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15. Thou shalt not steal; nor bear false witness; nor covet anything that is another's.
16. In those days it so happened that one Koetha, an Egyptian woman, a su'is, went into the lodge at noon, no person being within the lodge save herself. Now, whilst she was examining the remnants of shew-bread and basins, and the candlestick, a Voice spake to her, saying: TOUCH NOT THESE, THEY ARE SACRED. But the woman, knowing it was a spirit, said: If I tell what I have heard, I will be accursed; for was it not the multitude of seeresses that brought the plagues on Egypt?
17. Again the Voice spake, saying: I will give thee the signs and pass-words of the High Fathers, that they may also know that thou knowest. Now, thereupon the Spirit told her the secrets; and he likewise said: Say thou to Moses, THE I AM SAITH (and Moses will wonder at thy speech): Behold, these implements are sacred. Hide thou them by day, for they who have spirit perception, perceiving them, will obtain the signs and pass-words.
18. The woman, Koetha, did as commanded, and Moses commanded workmen to make a tabernacle (a model or image of a place of worship, a portable temple), and the sacred implements were kept within said tabernacle, and this was the corporeal base of the ark of Bon, a locality in the etherean heaven, by which the light of the sacred heaven reached the earth to Moses and his people, in a pillar of cloud by day and of light by night.
19. The secret ceremonies commanded vegetable diet for fathers, prophets, seers, and wanonas (trance subjects), and many of Koetha's people followed their example. After some years of experience, those who fasted from flesh murmured, saying: What have we gained for our sacrifice?
20. So they broke their fasts by hundreds and by thousands; and there came by their camps numberless birds, and they caught and killed and ate them freely; but, being unaccustomed to such diet, they were taken with fever and died, upward of sixty thousand of them, men, women and children, and the place was called Kibrath-Hattaavah, the place of lusters.
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21. In the year 3269 B.K., the Israelites began to marry with the Canaanites, who were under the control of Baal.
22. Ashtaroth, whose dominions extended jointly with Baal over Western and Southern Arabin'ya, sent spirit emissaries to the handsomest of the women of Canaan, and by impression led them into the camps of the Israelites, to tempt the young men, for by these means did the heathen Gods determine to destroy the worshipers of the GREAT UNSEEN. And many of the Israelitish young men were tempted by the beauty of the heathen women and thus took them for wives; and said wives brought with them their own familiar spirits, who were slaves to Baal and Ashtaroth.
23. The ark of Bon immediately sent Jerub, an etherean angel, into the Israelites' camp, giving him two thousand inspiring spirits to counteract the labors of Baal and Ashtaroth.
24. Nevertheless, it so came to pass that when the half-breed children were grown up, having Canaan mothers, they began to murmur against the peace policy of the Israelites, saying: As other people have kings and emperors, why not we? As other people raise up soldiers, declare war, and go forth possessing themselves of lands and cattle, why do not we?
25. For three hundred and ninety-seven years after going out of Egypt, the Israelites lived without a corporeal king, or other government, save the community of fathers; and they attained to the number of six millions of souls, men, women and children.
26. But in the three hundred and ninety-seventh year, the Gods Baal and Ashtaroth triumphed, through their familiar spirits, and caused the Israelites to anoint a king to rule over them. This king was called Saul, signifying OF THE LORD GOD. Prior to this the Israelites acknowledged no God nor Lord, but covenanted with the Great Spirit, E-O-Ih. The name had been kept secret with the fathers, and the commandments were announced from the Great Spirit, I AM.
27. The familiar spirits now inspired Saul to change the words of the commandments to the LORD THY GOD, as a conciliatory strategem to please the nations and tribes of people who worshiped Baal, Dagon, Ashtaroth, Haughak, and other Gods and Lords of the lower heavens.
28. Thus was substituted Lord God (Land God) for Jehovih (called sacredly, E-O-Ih), and as the Great Spirit had been heretofore taught to the Israelites as an inconceivable entity, WHOSE FORM AND EXTENT no man could attain to know, so was He now transformed and declared to be in the form of a man, and having a residence in the firmament of heaven. Thus they made the Great Spirit merely an idol; thus they began the overthrow of the holy doctrines of Moses.
29. Jerub, the etherean angel in command, sought to preserve the old tenets, and amongst mortals sought out one, Samuel, and inspired him to establish a college of prophets, and this was done at Naioth, and hither congregated the inspired; and they established a crescent Tablet, and made prophecies from etherea for a period of seventy years.
30. Hereupon the Israelites were twain, those of the king and those of E-O-Ih, the prophets, and these placed them at a disadvantage before neighboring tribes and nations. Having sacrificed the name of the Great Spirit, and made him into a man figure, the heathen said: What better is their Lord God than our Lord or our God? and they made war against the Israelites on all sides; and the latter having stooped to a corporeal king, went further on and raised armies of soldiers and went to war.
31. In the four hundred and ninth year after the departure out of Egypt, the entire PEACE POLICY and NON-RESISTANCE of the Mosaical Inspiration was overthrown, and the Israelites became warriors, and even warred against one another.
32. The Israelites not only worshiped the imaginary idol, Lord God in heaven, but built representatives of Him in stone and wood, and worshiped them also.
33. And now, one Ahijah, a young man from the college of prophets, foretold the coming captivity of the Israelites as a consequence of their idolatry.
34. In the year 2768 B.K., a young man, Elijah, was raised up from the branch of the college of prophets, and, under the inspiration of the angel Jerub, went forth preaching amongst the heathen, preaching not the Lord God, but Jehovih.
35. Ahab, a king, a worshiper of Baal, said to Elijah: What better is one God than another, or more powerful? Are not all Gods but the spirits of men raised up in heaven?
36. Elijah answered him, saying: I preach neither Lord nor God, but Jehovih, the Creator, who is Ever Present and Potent over all things.
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37. Ahab said: Then thy Master hath neither eyes nor ears, knowing nothing, like the wind. He is foolish, and without intelligent answer to thy prayers.
38. Elijah said: Summon thou thy priests, and thy high priests, who have power through Baal and Ashtaroth and Dagon, and they and their Gods shall try in a tournament against Jehovih.
39. Ahab caused the tournament to take place, and when the priests and high priests of Baal had spread the sacrifice they repeated their invocations for a miracle to prove the power of Baal and the other Gods; but lo and behold, Jerub, the etherean angel, with ten thousand spirits to assist him, prevented any sign or miracle being accomplished by the familiar spirits of Baal and Ashtaroth.
40. And now Elijah stretched forth his hand unto Jehovih, saying: If it be Thy will, O Father, give these people a sign of Thy Power!
41. And Jerub and his etherean host of angels, caused a flame of fire to descend on the altar and consume the sacrifice. The people feared, and many fell down, exclaiming, Jehovih is mighty! Jehovih is mighty!
42. When the tournament was ended, Elijah went upon Mount Carmel, and prayed for rain, and Jerub, with ten thousand times ten thousand angels, brought the winds from the north and south and east and west, and the moisture in the air above was converted into rain, and thus the long drouth was ended.
43. In the year 2635 B.K., the college of prophecy raised up Jonah, and Amos, and Hosea.
44. In the year 2574 B.K., the kingdoms of Israel perished, and they became a scattered people, and fell into bondage again.
45. 2439 years before kosmon, Manasseth, son of Hezekiah, established idol worship, and, by law, abolished the worship of Jehovih. He caused the prophet Isaah to be sawn in twain; and the judgment was, because he worshiped Jehovih.
46. For three hundred years following, the only Faithists amongst the Israelites were the prophets, and the followers of the prophets, who had never affiliated with those of the kingdoms and armies.
47. The Faithists proper were a small minority, and scattered in many lands. The rest, who were called Jews, lived under written laws and ceremonies, which were compiled and established by Ezra, in Jerusalem, which combination of books was called the Bible, and was completed in the year 2344 B.K.
48. From that time forward, the Jews became worshipers of THE LORD AND THE GOD, but the scattered tribes of the Faithists still held to the Great Spirit, Jehovih, keeping their service secret. These latter were without sin, doing no war nor resistance of evil against evil, but returning good for evil, and loving one another as one's self.
49. From the Faithist branch sprang the Asenean (Essenean, or Es'eans) Association, cultivating prophecy and purity of spirit. For further light, read of Pharaoh in the lower heavens, and the migration of the East Indian Gods westward, in another part of Oahspe.
50. The angels of Jehovih now dwelt with the Aseneans, who were the true Israelites in fact. Though many of the Jews also professed Jehovih under the name of God and Lord God.
51. In three hundred and fifty years after this Jehovih raised up from the Aseneans, one Joshu, an iesu, in Nazareth. Joshu re-established Jehovih, and restored many of the lost rites and ceremonies.
52. In the thirty-sixth year of Joshu's age he was stoned to death in Jerusalem by the Jews that worshiped the heathen Gods.
53. Forty years after Joshu's death, a false God, Looeamong, with millions of angel emissaries, obsessed the inhabitants of all those countries and plunged them into war and anarchy.
54. The Faithists were scattered to the four ends of the earth.
55. Jehovih said: Never more shall My chosen have kings. I alone am King.
56. And so it is to this day.
57. Looeamong, the false God, now changed his name and falsely called himself Christ, which is the Ahamic word for knowledge. And he raised up tribes of mortal warriors, who called themselves Christians, who are warriors to this day.
58. The doctrine of these warriors was, that knowledge, which implieth general education, was the best preventative against crime and misery. Neither understood any man in those days that the word Christ had any reference to a man or person. Now, from the time of Moses to Ezra, there was an interval of four hundred years, in which the Jews had no written record.
59. The age of the Ezra Bible is not, therefore, from the time of Moses, but from the time of Ezra, 2344 years B.K.
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Urantia Book, 44:0.11 - The Celestial Artisans
Never in your long ascendancy will you lose the power to recognize your associates of former existences. Always, as you ascend inward in the scale of life, will you retain the ability to recognize and fraternize with the fellow beings of your previous and lower levels of experience. Each new translation or resurrection will add one more group of spirit beings to your vision range without in the least depriving you of the ability to recognize your friends and fellows of former estates.
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Princess Bride 1987 Wallace Shawn (Vizzini) and Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya)
Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. -
Urantia Book, 117:4.14 - The Finite God
And here is mystery: The more closely man approaches God through love, the greater the reality -- actuality -- of that man. The more man withdraws from God, the more nearly he approaches nonreality -- cessation of existence. When man consecrates his will to the doing of the Father's will, when man gives God all that he has, then does God make that man more than he is.
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Urantia Book, 167:7.4 - The Talk About Angels
"And do you not remember that I said to you once before that, if you had your spiritual eyes anointed, you would then see the heavens opened and behold the angels of God ascending and descending? It is by the ministry of the angels that one world may be kept in touch with other worlds, for have I not repeatedly told you that I have other sheep not of this fold?"
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Urantia Book, Foreword - 0:12.12 - The Trinities
But we know that there dwells within the human mind a fragment of God, and that there sojourns with the human soul the Spirit of Truth; and we further know that these spirit forces conspire to enable material man to grasp the reality of spiritual values and to comprehend the philosophy of universe meanings. But even more certainly we know that these spirits of the Divine Presence are able to assist man in the spiritual appropriation of all truth contributory to the enhancement of the ever-progressing reality of personal religious experience—God-consciousness.
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Urantia Book, 1:4.3 - The Mystery Of God
When you are through down here, when your course has been run in temporary form on earth, when your trial trip in the flesh is finished, when the dust that composes the mortal tabernacle "returns to the earth whence it came"; then, it is revealed, the indwelling "Spirit shall return to God who gave it." There sojourns within each moral being of this planet a fragment of God, a part and parcel of divinity. It is not yet yours by right of possession, but it is designedly intended to be one with you if you survive the mortal existence.
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Urantia Book, 1:4.1 - The Mystery Of God
And the greatest of all the unfathomable mysteries of God is the phenomenon of the divine indwelling of mortal minds. The manner in which the Universal Father sojourns with the creatures of time is the most profound of all universe mysteries; the divine presence in the mind of man is the mystery of mysteries.
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Urantia Book, 1:4.6 - The Mystery Of God
To every spirit being and to every mortal creature in every sphere and on every world of the universe of universes, the Universal Father reveals all of his gracious and divine self that can be discerned or comprehended by such spirit beings and by such mortal creatures. God is no respecter of persons, either spiritual or material. The divine presence which any child of the universe enjoys at any given moment is limited only by the capacity of such a creature to receive and to discern the spirit actualities of the supermaterial world.
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Urantia Book, 11:0.1 - The Eternal Isle Of Paradise
Paradise is the eternal center of the universe of universes and the abiding place of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and their divine co-ordinates and associates. This central Isle is the most gigantic organized body of cosmic reality in all the master universe. Paradise is a material sphere as well as a spiritual abode. All of the intelligent creation of the Universal Father is domiciled on material abodes; hence must the absolute controlling center also be material, literal. And again it should be reiterated that spirit things and spiritual beings are real.
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Urantia Book, 50:6.4 - Planetary Culture
Culture presupposes quality of mind; culture cannot be enhanced unless mind is elevated. Superior intellect will seek a noble culture and find some way to attain such a goal. Inferior minds will spurn the highest culture even when presented to them ready-made.
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Urantia Book, 54:1.6 - True And False Liberty
True liberty is the associate of genuine self-respect; false liberty is the consort of self-admiration. True liberty is the fruit of self-control; false liberty, the assumption of self-assertion. Self-control leads to altruistic service; self-admiration tends towards the exploitation of others for the selfish aggrandizement of such a mistaken individual as is willing to sacrifice righteous attainment for the sake of possessing unjust power over his fellow beings.
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Urantia Book, 54:1.9 - True And False Liberty
How dare the self-willed creature encroach upon the rights of his fellows in the name of personal liberty when the Supreme Rulers of the universe stand back in merciful respect for these prerogatives of will and potentials of personality! No being, in the exercise of his supposed personal liberty, has a right to deprive any other being of those privileges of existence conferred by the Creators and duly respected by all their loyal associates, subordinates, and subjects.
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Urantia Book, 54:1.8 - True And False Liberty
There is no error greater than that species of self-deception which leads intelligent beings to crave the exercise of power over other beings for the purpose of depriving these persons of their natural liberties. The golden rule of human fairness cries out against all such fraud, unfairness, selfishness, and unrighteousness.