The Late Great Urantia Revelation

bucksplasher said:

54:5.14 There are an equal number of reasons for not arbitrarily stopping the Lucifer rebellion which would be partially comprehensible to you, but which I am not permitted to narrate. I may inform you that on Uversa we teach forty-eight reasons for permitting evil to run the full course of its own moral bankruptcy and spiritual extinction. I doubt not that there are just as many additional reasons not known to me.

"we teach forty-eight reasons for permitting evil to run the full course of its own moral bankruptcy and spiritual extinction"

tWINs

Click to expand...

Oh, i see, the narrator of from Uversa, he is speaking of reason’s that they have compiled as to why the universe rulers would allow Lucifer to have rebelled and lead our world into sin. They do not disclose to us what they have concluded.

A writer on Truthbook.com answers the evil question like this:


Why does God permit suffering and evil?

"You may wish to begin by reading here: (148:5.1).
All evolutionary creature life is beset by certain inevitabilities. Consider the following:

Is courage--strength of character--desirable? Then must man be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to disappointments.

Is altruism--service of one's fellows--desirable? Then must life experience provide for encountering situations of social inequality.

Is hope--the grandeur of trust--desirable?Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties.

Is faith--the supreme assertion of human thought--desirable? Then must the mind of man find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it can believe.

Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable? Then must man grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always possible.

Is idealism--the approaching concept of the divine--desirable? Then must man struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty, surroundings stimulative of the irrepressible reach for better things.

Is loyalty-- devotion to highest duty--desirable? Then must man carry on amid the possibilities of betrayal and desertion. The valor of devotion to duty consists in the implied danger of default.

Is unselfishness--the spirit of self-forgetfulness--desirable? Then must mortal man live face to face with the incessant clamoring of an inescapable self for recognition and honor. Man could not dynamically choose the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake.
The Urantia Book, Page 51, (3:5.5)

One of the reasons for the gift of The Urantia Book is there is a clear misunderstanding of God throughout all religions and theologies.

Everything that Jesus tried to instill in his apostles and believers was replaced by superstition and tradition very soon after he was made politically correct by the Roman Emperor, Paul's Christian re-working of Mithraism and Judaism put God in control of all things, and made God to be a stern judge who demanded his son's death.

Nowadays, although heaven and hell are thought to be largely fantasy realms, it is assumed that there is a God somewhere. It is assumed that God is in control of everything, and that God is to blame for everything, therefore, good luck and bad luck depend upon God's favor; those who perish in massive disasters were not under God's protection at that time. Therefore, as a primitive tribe of superstitious half-hearted believers, whenever major tragedy strikes, God gets the blame.

It is difficult to formulate theology that is appealing concerning a loving and forgiving heavenly Father. The preferred method is to provide rules by which one can bribe one's way into heaven, or at least avoid the tortures of hell. And, as long as God is seen as angry, jealous, judgmental, and all too human, people are being frightened into specious belief as a survival technique."


Caino

Caino said:

Oh, i see, the narrator of from Uversa, he is speaking of reason’s that they have compiled as to why the universe rulers would allow Lucifer to have rebelled and lead our world into sin. They do not disclose to us what they have concluded.

A writer on Truthbook.com answers the evil question like this:


Why does God permit suffering and evil?

"You may wish to begin by reading here: (148:5.1).
All evolutionary creature life is beset by certain inevitabilities. Consider the following:

Is courage--strength of character--desirable? Then must man be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to disappointments.

Is altruism--service of one's fellows--desirable? Then must life experience provide for encountering situations of social inequality.

Is hope--the grandeur of trust--desirable?Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties.

Is faith--the supreme assertion of human thought--desirable? Then must the mind of man find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it can believe.

Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable? Then must man grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always possible.

Is idealism--the approaching concept of the divine--desirable? Then must man struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty, surroundings stimulative of the irrepressible reach for better things.

Is loyalty-- devotion to highest duty--desirable? Then must man carry on amid the possibilities of betrayal and desertion. The valor of devotion to duty consists in the implied danger of default.

Is unselfishness--the spirit of self-forgetfulness--desirable? Then must mortal man live face to face with the incessant clamoring of an inescapable self for recognition and honor. Man could not dynamically choose the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake.
The Urantia Book, Page 51, (3:5.5)

One of the reasons for the gift of The Urantia Book is there is a clear misunderstanding of God throughout all religions and theologies.

Everything that Jesus tried to instill in his apostles and believers was replaced by superstition and tradition very soon after he was made politically correct by the Roman Emperor, Paul's Christian re-working of Mithraism and Judaism put God in control of all things, and made God to be a stern judge who demanded his son's death.

Nowadays, although heaven and hell are thought to be largely fantasy realms, it is assumed that there is a God somewhere. It is assumed that God is in control of everything, and that God is to blame for everything, therefore, good luck and bad luck depend upon God's favor; those who perish in massive disasters were not under God's protection at that time. Therefore, as a primitive tribe of superstitious half-hearted believers, whenever major tragedy strikes, God gets the blame.

It is difficult to formulate theology that is appealing concerning a loving and forgiving heavenly Father. The preferred method is to provide rules by which one can bribe one's way into heaven, or at least avoid the tortures of hell. And, as long as God is seen as angry, jealous, judgmental, and all too human, people are being frightened into specious belief as a survival technique."


Caino

Click to expand...

You might want to investigate Catholicism. Much less difficult than your book. tWINs

bucksplasher said:

You might want to investigate Catholicism. Much less difficult than your book. tWINs

Click to expand...

I''m not looking for an easier softer way, i prefer the adventure of real faith living.


Answer:



Pointing out each of the twenty-four and calling them by name, Jesus said: “And now, which one of you would prefer to take this easy path of conformity to an established and fossilized religion, as defended by the Pharisees at Jerusalem, rather than to suffer the difficulties and persecutions attendant upon the mission of proclaiming a better way of salvation to men while you realize the satisfaction of discovering for yourselves the beauties of the realities of a living and personal experience in the eternal truths and supreme grandeurs of the kingdom of heaven? Are you fearful, soft, and ease-seeking? Are you afraid to trust your future in the hands of the God of truth, whose sons you are? Are you distrustful of the Father, whose children you are? Will you go back to the easy path of the certainty and intellectual settledness of the religion of traditional authority, or will you gird yourselves to go forward with me into that uncertain and troublous future of proclaiming the new truths of the religion of the spirit, the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men?”

155:5.14 All twenty-four of his hearers rose to their feet, intending to signify their united and loyal response to this, one of the few emotional appeals which Jesus ever made to them, but he raised his hand and stopped them, saying: “Go now apart by yourselves, each man alone with the Father, and there find the unemotional answer to my question, and having found such a true and sincere attitude of soul, speak that answer freely and boldly to my Father and your Father, whose infinite life of love is the very spirit of the religion we proclaim.”155:5.15


The evangelists and apostles went apart by themselves for a short time. Their spirits were uplifted, their minds were inspired, and their emotions mightily stirred by what Jesus had said. But when Andrew called them together, the Master said only: “Let us resume our journey. We go into Phoenicia to tarry for a season, and all of you should pray the Father to transform your emotions of mind and body into the higher loyalties of mind and the more satisfying experiences of the spirit.”

155:5.16 As they journeyed on down the road, the twenty-four were silent, but presently they began to talk one with another, and by three o’clock that afternoon they could not go farther; they came to a halt, and Peter, going up to Jesus, said: “Master, you have spoken to us the words of life and truth. We would hear more; we beseech you to speak to us further concerning these matters.”


6. THE SECOND DISCOURSE ON RELIGION

155:6.1 And so, while they paused in the shade of the hillside, Jesus continued to teach them regarding the religion of the spirit, in substance saying:



155:6.2 You have come out from among those of your fellows who choose to remain satisfied with a religion of mind, who crave security and prefer conformity. You have elected to exchange your feelings of authoritative certainty for the assurances of the spirit of adventurous and progressive faith. You have dared to protest against the grueling bondage of institutional religion and to reject the authority of the traditions of record which are now regarded as the word of God. Our Father did indeed speak through Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea, but he did not cease to minister words of truth to the world when these prophets of old made an end of their utterances. My Father is no respecter of races or generations in that the word of truth is vouchsafed one age and withheld from another. Commit not the folly of calling that divine which is wholly human, and fail not to discern the words of truth which come not through the traditional oracles of supposed inspiration.

155:6.3 I have called upon you to be born again, to be born of the spirit. I have called you out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition into the transcendent light of the realization of the possibility of making for yourselves the greatest discovery possible for the human soul to make—the supernal experience of finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself, and of doing all this as a fact in your own personal experience. And so may you pass from death to life, from the authority of tradition to the experience of knowing God; thus will you pass from darkness to light, from a racial faith inherited to a personal faith achieved by actual experience; and thereby will you progress from a theology of mind handed down by your ancestors to a true religion of spirit which shall be built up in your souls as an eternal endowment.

155:6.4 Your religion shall change from the mere intellectual belief in traditional authority to the actual experience of that living faith which is able to grasp the reality of God and all that relates to the divine spirit of the Father. The religion of the mind ties you hopelessly to the past; the religion of the spirit consists in progressive revelation and ever beckons you on toward higher and holier achievements in spiritual ideals and eternal realities.

155:6.5 While the religion of authority may impart a present feeling of settled security, you pay for such a transient satisfaction the price of the loss of your spiritual freedom and religious liberty. My Father does not require of you as the price of entering the kingdom of heaven that you should force yourself to subscribe to a belief in things which are spiritually repugnant, unholy, and untruthful. It is not required of you that your own sense of mercy, justice, and truth should be outraged by submission to an outworn system of religious forms and ceremonies. The religion of the spirit leaves you forever free to follow the truth wherever the leadings of the spirit may take you. And who can judge—perhaps this spirit may have something to impart to this generation which other generations have refused to hear?

155:6.6 Shame on those false religious teachers who would drag hungry souls back into the dim and distant past and there leave them! And so are these unfortunate persons doomed to become frightened by every new discovery, while they are discomfited by every new revelation of truth. The prophet who said, “He will be kept in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on God.” was not a mere intellectual believer in authoritative theology. This truth-knowing human had discovered God; he was not merely talking about God.

155:6.7 I admonish you to give up the practice of always quoting the prophets of old and praising the heroes of Israel, and instead aspire to become living prophets of the Most High and spiritual heroes of the coming kingdom. To honor the God-knowing leaders of the past may indeed be worth while, but why, in so doing, should you sacrifice the supreme experience of human existence: finding God for yourselves and knowing him in your own souls?

155:6.8 Every race of mankind has its own mental outlook upon human existence; therefore must the religion of the mind ever run true to these various racial viewpoints. Never can the religions of authority come to unification. Human unity and mortal brotherhood can be achieved only by and through the superendowment of the religion of the spirit. Racial minds may differ, but all mankind is indwelt by the same divine and eternal spirit. The hope of human brotherhood can only be realized when, and as, the divergent mind religions of authority become impregnated with, and overshadowed by, the unifying and ennobling religion of the spirit—the religion of personal spiritual experience.

155:6.9 The religions of authority can only divide men and set them in conscientious array against each other; the religion of the spirit will progressively draw men together and cause them to become understandingly sympathetic with one another. The religions of authority require of men uniformity in belief, but this is impossible of realization in the present state of the world. The religion of the spirit requires only unity of experience—uniformity of destiny—making full allowance for diversity of belief. The religion of the spirit requires only uniformity of insight, not uniformity of viewpoint and outlook. The religion of the spirit does not demand uniformity of intellectual views, only unity of spirit feeling. The religions of authority crystallize into lifeless creeds; the religion of the spirit grows into the increasing joy and liberty of ennobling deeds of loving service and merciful ministration.

155:6.10 But watch, lest any of you look with disdain upon the children of Abraham because they have fallen on these evil days of traditional barrenness. Our forefathers gave themselves up to the persistent and passionate search for God, and they found him as no other whole race of men have ever known him since the times of Adam, who knew much of this as he was himself a Son of God. My Father has not failed to mark the long and untiring struggle of Israel, ever since the days of Moses, to find God and to know God. For weary generations the Jews have not ceased to toil, sweat, groan, travail, and endure the sufferings and experience the sorrows of a misunderstood and despised people, all in order that they might come a little nearer the discovery of the truth about God. And, notwithstanding all the failures and falterings of Israel, our fathers progressively, from Moses to the times of Amos and Hosea, did reveal increasingly to the whole world an ever clearer and more truthful picture of the eternal God. And so was the way prepared for the still greater revelation of the Father which you have been called to share.

155:6.11 Never forget there is only one adventure which is more satisfying and thrilling than the attempt to discover the will of the living God, and that is the supreme experience of honestly trying to do that divine will. And fail not to remember that the will of God can be done in any earthly occupation. Some callings are not holy and others secular. All things are sacred in the lives of those who are spirit led; that is, subordinated to truth, ennobled by love, dominated by mercy, and restrained by fairness— justice. The spirit which my Father and I shall send into the world is not only the Spirit of Truth but also the spirit of idealistic beauty.

155:6.12 You must cease to seek for the word of God only on the pages of the olden records of theologic authority. Those who are born of the spirit of God shall henceforth discern the word of God regardless of whence it appears to take origin. Divine truth must not be discounted because the channel of its bestowal is apparently human. Many of your brethren have minds which accept the theory of God while they spiritually fail to realize the presence of God. And that is just the reason why I have so often taught you that the kingdom of heaven can best be realized by acquiring the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. It is not the mental immaturity of the child that I commend to you but rather the spiritual simplicity of such an easy-believing and fully-trusting little one. It is not so important that you should know about the fact of God as that you should increasingly grow in the ability to feel the presence of God.

155:6.13 When you once begin to find God in your soul, presently you will begin to discover him in other men’s souls and eventually in all the creatures and creations of a mighty universe. But what chance does the Father have to appear as a God of supreme loyalties and divine ideals in the souls of men who give little or no time to the thoughtful contemplation of such eternal realities? While the mind is not the seat of the spiritual nature, it is indeed the gateway thereto.

155:6.14 But do not make the mistake of trying to prove to other men that you have found God; you cannot consciously produce such valid proof, albeit there are two positive and powerful demonstrations of the fact that you are God-knowing, and they are:

1. The fruits of the spirit of God showing forth in your daily routine life.

2. The fact that your entire life plan furnishes positive proof that you have unreservedly risked everything you are and have on the adventure of survival after death in the pursuit of the hope of finding the God of eternity, whose presence you have foretasted in time.

155:6.17 Now, mistake not, my Father will ever respond to the faintest flicker of faith. He takes note of the physical and superstitious emotions of the primitive man. And with those honest but fearful souls whose faith is so weak that it amounts to little more than an intellectual conformity to a passive attitude of assent to religions of authority, the Father is ever alert to honor and foster even all such feeble attempts to reach out for him. But you who have been called out of darkness into the light are expected to believe with a whole heart; your faith shall dominate the combined attitudes of body, mind, and spirit.

155:6.18 You are my apostles, and to you religion shall not become a theologic shelter to which you may flee in fear of facing the rugged realities of spiritual progress and idealistic adventure; but rather shall your religion become the fact of real experience which testifies that God has found you, idealized, ennobled, and spiritualized you, and that you have enlisted in the eternal adventure of finding the God who has thus found and sonshipped you.
155:6.19 And when Jesus had finished speaking, he beckoned to Andrew and, pointing to the west toward Phoenicia, said: “Let us be on our way.”



Caino

Investigate all.................

Investigate all.................

bucksplasher said:

You might want to investigate Catholicism. Much less difficult than your book. tWINs

Click to expand...

Investigating 'Non-duality' is an even more simple direct path to reality, especially via 'Self-inquiry' as taught by Ramana Maharshi Here. Other religious varities, cultures, traditions and theological structures have their place, according to their own concepts.

The reality of one's true nature as 'pure consciousness' remains the fundamental truth. When we inquire what our true Self is,...we discover that nothing exists apart from this "I" that I Am. Therefore the truth of existence is in the core of one's being, the only place where 'God' exists or can be known(the Heart), as that which 'knows' and 'sees' all,...the Silent Witness.

~*~*~

The UB is a cosmological revelation of universe relationships. One can explore it or not,....all must go their own way, and choose those paths that correspond with their soul's inclination and divine inspiration. - such is life........

In-joy!


Paulie

What Is Paradise?

What Is Paradise?

THE ETERNAL ISLE OF PARADISE​

11:0.1 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.

11:0.2 The material beauty of Paradise consists in the magnificence of its physical perfection; the grandeur of the Isle of God is exhibited in the superb intellectual accomplishments and mind development of its inhabitants; the glory of the central Isle is shown forth in the infinite endowment of divine spirit personality—the light of life. But the depths of the spiritual beauty and the wonders of this magnificent ensemble are utterly beyond the comprehension of the finite mind of material creatures. The glory and spiritual splendor of the divine abode are impossible of mortal comprehension. And Paradise is from eternity; there are neither records nor traditions respecting the origin of this nuclear Isle of Light and Life.......

http://www.truthbook.com/index.cfm?linkID=1256#U11_0_0



Caino

the Heart of all.......

the Heart of all.......

Caino said:

THE ETERNAL ISLE OF PARADISE​

11:0.1 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.

11:0.2 The material beauty of Paradise consists in the magnificence of its physical perfection; the grandeur of the Isle of God is exhibited in the superb intellectual accomplishments and mind development of its inhabitants; the glory of the central Isle is shown forth in the infinite endowment of divine spirit personality—the light of life. But the depths of the spiritual beauty and the wonders of this magnificent ensemble are utterly beyond the comprehension of the finite mind of material creatures. The glory and spiritual splendor of the divine abode are impossible of mortal comprehension. And Paradise is from eternity; there are neither records nor traditions respecting the origin of this nuclear Isle of Light and Life.......

http://www.truthbook.com/index.cfm?linkID=1256#U11_0_0



Caino

Click to expand...

Thus, the movement Godward is also 'inward' toward the divine center as it also an 'ascension' upwards, as it were.


In-joy!


pj

Caino said:

11:0.1 PARADISE IS THE eternal center of the universe of universes...

Click to expand...

Universes... :rotfl:

smile! Merry Christmas TO YOU!,

Greetings....Now that we have discovered the planet 600 light years away that will support Life, you all are aware an know of your mission! Go forth with every seed; DNA; Vatican documents; an all manner of knowledge to make them eat; cause Gods Love an purpose for Man kind vessels never to perish! hehe

Enjoy your holiday season my friends!
Starwars head charity.

Getting to know our Universe........

Getting to know our Universe........

Aimiel said:

Universes... :rotfl:

Click to expand...

Yes,....'Paradise' is the center of the 'Universe of universes' referring to the Grand Universe which comprises the 7 Super-universes (which extend out from Paradise and surround it) and all universes therein, plus those universes yet to be born in the outer-space regions beyond. A basic knowledge of the cosmology of our unvierse revealed in the UB would grant you this

Check out the Universe Tour (see tour-chapters on right column).

Also -

Universe of universes
The Seven Superuniverses

No exuse for ignorance here......

In-joy!


pj

shine your light......

shine your light......

Charity said:

smile! Merry Christmas TO YOU!,

Greetings....Now that we have discovered the planet 600 light years away that will support Life, you all are aware an know of your mission! Go forth with every seed; DNA; Vatican documents; an all manner of knowledge to make them eat; cause Gods Love an purpose for Man kind vessels never to perish! hehe

Enjoy your holiday season my friends!
Starwars head charity.

Click to expand...

Be the 'star' you are

And just think...according to the UB we each have an individual fragment of the Infinite 'God' himself in us, the Thought-adjuster, that pre-personal presence of the Universal Father indwelling man's soul. Awesome eh?

In-joy!


pj

freelight said:

Yes,....'Paradise' is the center of the Universe of universes" referring to the Grand Universe which comprises the 7 Super-universes (which extend out from Paradise and surround it) and all universes therein, plus those universes yet to be born in the outer-space regions beyond. A basic knowledge of the cosmology of our unvierse revealed in the UB would grant you this

Check out the Universe Tour (see tour-chapters on right column).

Also -

Universe of universes
The Seven Superuniverses

No exuse for ignorance here......

In-joy!


pj

Click to expand...

smiles, oh yes, be sure to watch out for the Satan s, they will be in flight beside you an against you! their desire will be to conquer your good to all Mankind an preserve their own RULING!

seasons greeting dear one of cosmic sight!

freelight said:

Yes,....'Paradise' is the center of the Universe of universes" referring to the Grand Universe which comprises the 7 Super-universes (which extend out from Paradise and surround it) and all universes therein, plus those universes yet to be born in the outer-space regions beyond. A basic knowledge of the cosmology of our unvierse revealed in the UB would grant you this

Check out the Universe Tour (see tour-chapters on right column).

Also -

Universe of universes
The Seven Superuniverses

No exuse for ignorance here......

In-joy!


pj

Click to expand...

Freelight, with middle school being closed for the holidays giving Aimiel more time to access his mom's computer don't just assume that he knows how to click on the links. He also has to dodge the demons and devils under his bed so be sensitive.


Caino

There's plenty devils like yourself and Freelight here on TOL to keep a Bible-believer busy fighting an up-hill battle. \o/

smile.. if the ignorant children return an come again against the Son of Man an the kingdom of David rising, God may as well give the Ape's dominion over all the Animals, an they shall till the ground while we swing in the zoo tree going Banana's.

christmas cheer an happiness to you Dear Caino.

oh dear

oh dear

Caino said:

Freelight, with middle school being closed for the holidays giving Aimiel more time to access his mom's computer don't just assume that he knows how to click on the links. He also has to dodge the demons and devils under his bed so be sensitive.


Caino

Click to expand...

Giggles. Careful now, u know there's a 'demon' behind every bush...and watch out for those monsters in the closet too.


pj

freelight said:

Giggles. Careful now, u know there's a 'demon' behind every bush...and watch out for those monsters in the closet too.


pj

Click to expand...

Merry Christmas to all.



Caino

The Birth of Jesus

The Birth of Jesus

All that night Mary was restless so that neither of them slept much. By the break of day the pangs of childbirth were well in evidence, and at noon, August 21, 7 B.C., with the help and kind ministrations of women fellow travelers, Mary was delivered of a male child. Jesus of Nazareth was born into the world, was wrapped in the clothes which Mary had brought along for such a possible contingency, and laid in a near-by manger.

122:8.2 In just the same manner as all babies before that day and since have come into the world, the promised child was born; and on the eighth day, according to the Jewish practice, he was circumcised and formally named Joshua (Jesus).

122:8.3 The next day after the birth of Jesus, Joseph made his enrollment. Meeting a man they had talked with two nights previously at Jericho, Joseph was taken by him to a well-to-do friend who had a room at the inn, and who said he would gladly exchange quarters with the Nazareth couple. That afternoon they moved up to the inn, where they lived for almost three weeks until they found lodgings in the home of a distant relative of Joseph.


http://www.truthbook.com/index.cfm?linkID=1374#U122_8_0


Caino

Smile....

Life wasn't created with a remote control
rise up an change it your selves.

Charity said:

Smile....

Life wasn't created with a remote control
rise up an change it your selves.

Click to expand...

Thanks Charity, have a nice Christmas.opcorn:

Caino

Demons and pigs

Demons and pigs

THE KHERESA LUNATIC​

"Although most of the near-by eastern shore of the lake sloped up gently to the highlands beyond, at this particular spot there was a steep hillside, the shore in some places dropping sheer down into the lake. Pointing up to the side of the near-by hill, Jesus said: “Let us go up on this hillside for our breakfast and under some of the shelters rest and talk.”
151:6.2 This entire hillside was covered with caverns which had been hewn out of the rock. Many of these niches were ancient sepulchres. About halfway up the hillside on a small, relatively level spot was the cemetery of the little village of Kheresa. As Jesus and his associates passed near this burial ground, a lunatic who lived in these hillside caverns rushed up to them. This demented man was well known about these parts, having onetime been bound with fetters and chains and confined in one of the grottoes. Long since he had broken his shackles and now roamed at will among the tombs and abandoned sepulchres. *

151:6.3 This man, whose name was Amos, was afflicted with a periodic form of insanity. There were considerable spells when he would find some clothing and deport himself fairly well among his fellows. During one of these lucid intervals he had gone over to Bethsaida, where he heard the preaching of Jesus and the apostles, and at that time had become a halfhearted believer in the gospel of the kingdom. But soon a stormy phase of his trouble appeared, and he fled to the tombs, where he moaned, cried out aloud, and so conducted himself as to terrorize all who chanced to meet him.

151:6.4 When Amos recognized Jesus, he fell down at his feet and exclaimed: “I know you, Jesus, but I am possessed of many devils, and I beseech that you will not torment me.” This man truly believed that his periodic mental affliction was due to the fact that, at such times, evil or unclean spirits entered into him and dominated his mind and body. His troubles were mostly emotional—his brain was not grossly diseased.

151:6.5 Jesus, looking down upon the man crouching like an animal at his feet, reached down and, taking him by the hand, stood him up and said to him: “Amos, you are not possessed of a devil; you have already heard the good news that you are a son of God. I command you to come out of this spell.” And when Amos heard Jesus speak these words, there occurred such a transformation in his intellect that he was immediately restored to his right mind and the normal control of his emotions. By this time a considerable crowd had assembled from the near-by village, and these people, augmented by the swine herders from the highland above them, were astonished to see the lunatic sitting with Jesus and his followers, in possession of his right mind and freely conversing with them.

151:6.6 As the swine herders rushed into the village to spread the news of the taming of the lunatic, the dogs charged upon a small and untended herd of about thirty swine and drove most of them over a precipice into the sea. And it was this incidental occurrence, in connection with the presence of Jesus and the supposed miraculous curing of the lunatic, that gave origin to the legend that Jesus had cured Amos by casting a legion of devils out of him, and that these devils had entered into the herd of swine, causing them forthwith to rush headlong to their destruction in the sea below. Before the day was over, this episode was published abroad by the swine tenders, and the whole village believed it. Amos most certainly believed this story; he saw the swine tumbling over the brow of the hill shortly after his troubled mind had quieted down, and he always believed that they carried with them the very evil spirits which had so long tormented and afflicted him. And this had a good deal to do with the permanency of his cure. It is equally true that all of Jesus’ apostles (save Thomas) believed that the episode of the swine was directly connected with the cure of Amos.

151:6.7 Jesus did not obtain the rest he was looking for. Most of that day he was thronged by those who came in response to the word that Amos had been cured, and who were attracted by the story that the demons had gone out of the lunatic into the herd of swine. And so, after only one night of rest, early Tuesday morning Jesus and his friends were awakened by a delegation of these swine-raising gentiles who had come to urge that he depart from their midst. Said their spokesman to Peter and Andrew: “Fishermen of Galilee, depart from us and take your prophet with you. We know he is a holy man, but the gods of our country do not know him, and we stand in danger of losing many swine. The fear of you has descended upon us, so that we pray you to go hence.” And when Jesus heard them, he said to Andrew, “Let us return to our place.”

151:6.8 As they were about to depart, Amos besought Jesus to permit him to go back with them, but the Master would not consent. Said Jesus to Amos: “Forget not that you are a son of God. Return to your own people and show them what great things God has done for you.” And Amos went about publishing that Jesus had cast a legion of devils out of his troubled soul, and that these evil spirits had entered into a herd of swine, driving them to quick destruction. And he did not stop until he had gone into all the cities of the Decapolis, declaring what great things Jesus had done for him." UB


Caino