God's Book of Eskra
Chapter LI
1. FOR five hundred years more, the wars lasted between the four false Gods, Looeamong, Thoth, Ennochissa and Kabalactes. And then they came to terms, and ratified a division of the earth and her heavens into four great parts, with fixed boundaries.
2. And it was stipulated by them, that the spirits of all mortals at time of death, should go to the heaven which reigned on the portion of earth where they had lived. (Unless carried away by God, Son of Jehovih, to Paradise.)
3. So comparative peace reigned in the heavens of the earth. And after this, there was nothing in common between them. Their respective heavens and their earth possessions were under each one in his own way.
4. And they now fell to work in earnest to adorn and glorify their heavenly kingdoms, their cities, their palaces, and thrones. And each of them exalted their great war captains who had fought so long for them, and they all had councils of millions and millions; and marshals and heralds, and masters of ceremonies, and musicians, hundreds of millions.
5. And they all had thousands of millions of subjects; but as for themselves, they kept aloof from their people. The private palaces of these Gods, and their private heavenly seats of splendor were exclusive to themselves and their favorite Lords and high officers.
6. And all angels else, who desired to see these Gods, were obliged to pass through rigid examinations, and solemnly bind themselves in oaths and castigations before they were permitted to pass the outer columns of fire. After this, they were permitted to walk on their knees to the second columns of fire.
7. Here they were obliged to repeat a thousand prayers and a thousand anthems ere they could pass within. And now, when within the arena, they were obliged to crawl on their bellies; and, for every length crawled, they had to repeat seven new prayers. And it was a thousand lengths from the inner pillars of fire to the arches of the palace, especially of Kabalactes' and Looeamong's. Of these arches, there were three million three hundred and thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three in number. And there were four marshals for each arch, and these four had two relief watches for each twenty-four hours.
8. To pass the arches, another examination had to be undergone; and, after this, the person must again crawl on the belly till merging into the under arch, where stairs began, of which there were seven steps. On each of these steps he must lay one day, repeating prayers and praises to his God. On the upper step, however, he was not required to pray, but might look in silence at the throne, on which, at times, his God came and sat, his Holy Council sitting to the west, facing to the east, to the throne.
9. From the place of the person on the upper step to the throne, was five hundred lengths, nearer than which none were permitted to come, save by the God's special decree.
10. And, if the God was not on his throne, and his Holy Council sitting,
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then the person must wait, not moving from his place, perhaps for a day, or more.
11. But, after he had observed his God, he was not permitted to remain longer than to say seven prayers. After this he must return, and depart in the same way he came.
12. Now, as to the throne and its brilliancy and grandeur, no mortal words can convey a knowledge thereof to mortal understanding; for it was so vast, and withal adorned with elements not found on the earth. Thousands of millions of which gems had been captured from the dispossessed false Gods of centuries before, and even from heavens from other star worlds.
13. And equally astonishing and overwhelming were the seats and places and robes of the Holy Council, which also baffleth mortal words to convey an idea of. Only to look on, to be overcome with emotion, to remember what great effects can be accomplished by concentrated labor, and to feel the insignificance of isolation, one's wonder was swallowed up in silent awe before the scene.
14. Such was the magnificence of each of the four heavenly places of the four hadan Gods, and not differing but little from one another.
15. In order to obtain the privilege of thus going to look upon the throne and the God thereof, one had to first serve a hundred years in the labors of that heaven, and to have his record good during all the while.
16. If, in the mortal life, a man had served his God, by preaching and praying, or by fighting battles for him, and had thus attained a good record, one hundred years' servitude in heaven entitled him to visit his God on the throne, at the distance named above.
17. But if the mortal had been an enemy to the God during his earth-life, he could not attain to approach the throne in less than three hundred years' servitude. Which servitude consisted in laboring in building mansions, or in paving roads in heaven, or in bringing produce up from the earth, or in bringing up other atmospherean elements for the gratification and glory of the God and his tens of millions of high officers.
18. So great and grand and far-reaching were these four kingdoms, that angels dwelt therein, hundreds of millions of them, never even hearing of any other heaven than the one they were in.
19. Now, for the most part, the Brahmins of the earth, on entering the es world, went to the Brahmin heavens (Eta-shong), ruled over by the false Brahma, alias Ennochissa.
20. And the Budhists of the earth, on entering the es world, went to the Budhist heavens, ruled over by the false Budha, alias Kabalactes.
21. The Kriste'yans of earth, on entering the es world, went to the heavens of Looeamong, the false Kriste.
22. The Mohammedans went to Gabriel's heavens.
23. God, Jehovih's Son, said: Behold the stubbornness of the angels of the heavens! To whom they bound themselves on earth, they were bound in heaven. Neither would they admit they were bound, though they were slaves. Their priests and monks and bishops, arch-bishops and popes, marched in the processions of heaven, praying, singing, and even carrying burdens, hundreds of years, for the privilege of ultimately approaching the throne of Ennochissa, or Kabalactes, or Looeamong, or Thoth, honestly believing they were to look upon the very Creator.
24. God said: Their minds were in bondage to so great an extent, that even after they had attained to view their God (at such a distance and in such artificial splendor), they could not receive truth.
25. And when an angel of Jehovih came to the, and said: Behold, this is only one heaven, of which there are millions, they would not believe. And when he said to them: Behold, this heaven, with all its magnificence, is only one of the lowest of heavens, they would not believe. And when he said to them: Behold, this God, with all his glory, is only one God, of which there are many, they would not believe. And when he said to them: Behold, there are higher Gods than this, they would not believe. And when he said to them: Behold, the All Highest God is not thus, but One not in shape of man, they would not believe.
26. These subjects would say: I want not your Jehovih! Behold, I can see my God; he is the Creative element personified. This is the all highest heaven; here is the place and person of the Lord!
27. God said: Man sinned not in this; neither sinned the angels of the heavens.
28. The fault was with these false Gods.
29. Because they had taught men that the Creator was in the image of a man, and sitting on a throne, behold, their subjects would not believe otherwise.
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30. And it came to pass, on earth, when a man died, his neighbors said: Behold, he hath gone to see the Lord, who sitteth on the right hand of God.
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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.