Most Americans living today in any civilized community can look out a window and see the wonders of nature, the beauty of the asymmetric world of flora and fauna that surrounds our cities. Everywhere things appear orderly and under control, all within the harmonious balance of nature. Birds flit about, animals play in the yards, and cats roam the alleys; the social order appears consistent with buses running on time, schools open and operating with children at play, grocery stores stocked with merchandise, newspapers delivered on time and radio and television programs right on schedule; so what's the problem? In general there seems to be the normal ebb and flow of the usual orderly conduct of daily social events, but all is not well at all. One has just to turn on the television or read the headlines in the local paper to recognize things are drastically out of kilter. In fact, nothing appears orderly, rather dysfunction and disorder seems to be the order of the day. Aggregations of people around the globe are at odds with one another to the extent that a genuine malaise and discomfort now pervades all civilized societies. Confusion and uncertainty prevails and extends beyond the ordinary rank and file citizen; indeed to every conscientious leader of the free world there is an alarming concern about the future. For the first time in human history the average citizens of the western world are in great jeopardy, jeopardy of experiencing a declining culture whose very existence is at stake. Cultures within the country and abroad are running amok, devoid of direction and wise leadership. Worldwide strife today is the cause of unprecedented concern among discerning citizens.

We will come to the nuclear threat in a moment, but on the local front I wish to address a problem that should be of great concern to all of us – the gangs of the world, from the Taliban to those in your neighborhood. Animalistic Latin gangs threaten not just their own communities, but are well entrenched in the civilized communities, threatening to terrorize the local neighborhoods. Gangs (MS-13 and F-18) now in 30 states of the union have expanded to Spain, Italy and Central and South America. Last year the deportees back to El Salvador from Los Angeles murdered 13000 citizens in that Latin city alone. They got their start in Los Angeles because they couldn't assimilate with the population, and now control sections of L.A. the way the mafia controlled sections of New York a decade ago. All street vendors in their area of control must yield 50% of their profits to the territorial gang or forfeit staying in business. Impressionable youths often join in as members of the gangs in their pre-teen years and by the age of 21 have been found to have murdered as many as 20 people. They often beat and decapitate their victims. Cities are virtually under siege by gangs running amok, and incapable, under present law, of being controlled by local police forces. The MS-13 is presently the worlds most dangerous gang with a membership comprising over 100,000 worldwide. From a small gang in Los Angeles it has mutated into an international menace.

The intelligent solution would be to outlaw all street gangs. Any affiliation with a known gang member would constitute a crime. As is happening on our neighboring planet all gang members would be transported to a work farm for a specified duration a time. Refusing to work on a self sustaining agricultural farm would constitute a capital offense. But whether or not future societies deem it inappropriate to initiate the death penalty for striking gang members at the very least the street gangsters should never be allowed back into the general population until thoroughly rehabilitated.

The Urantia book mentions in no uncertain terms that the degenerate strains of humanity have to be brought under control, with the implication being either sterilization or extermination. Something society has only agreed upon in the most severe cases (Jeffery Dahlmer, John Wayne Gacey, Ted Bundy,etc). These only comprise the severely criminally deranged. Society has not removed the above from eternity survival – that is left up to the Ancient of Days. There is however a provisional status, even in eternity, for borderline individuals to enter the next set of worlds. The Urantia book although does clearly state that it is a false sentiment to preserve the lives of such degenerates.

The gangs of the world be they Crips, Bloods, (both have moved into the mid west in great numbers) Mafia, Taliban, MS-13, Laraza, F-18, and the thousands of others all lack one criterion for cosmic existence – VIRTUE. They therefore are deliberately abstaining from cosmic conformity, thus limiting their chances for the great adventure into eternity. By their actions their future is forever destroyed – a perpetuation of evil tends to end in its own self destruction.

Virture - the Absence of Evil

(U.B. Pg. 193) “Virtue is righteousness – conformity with the cosmos. To name virtues is not to define them, but to live them is to know them. Virtue is not mere knowledge nor yet wisdom but rather the reality of progressive experience in the attainment of ascending levels of cosmic achievement. In the day-to-day life of mortal man, virtue is realized by the consistent choosing of good rather than evil, and such choosing ability is evidence of the possession of a moral nature.” Gangs are inherently evil for they prey upon the frailties of humanity solely for their own benefit irrespective of the hurt incurred to others. “Morality can never be advanced by law or by force. It is a personal and freewill matter and must be disseminated by the contagion of the contact of morally fragrant persons with those who are less morally responsive, but who are also in some measure desirous of doing the Father's will.”

“When man fails to discriminate the ends of his mortal striving he finds himself functioning on the animal level of existence. He has failed to avail himself of the superior advantages of that material acumen, moral discrimination, and spiritual insight which are an integral part of his cosmic-mind endowment as a personal being.”

In short, gangs in their failure to to avail themselves of higher moral choosing, are somewhat unwittingly evil, ignorant, immature, and delusional – influences that might destroy all chances towards ultimate survival. Evil is invariably the choice of gangs – gangs influenced by the collective actions of each constituent member. They simply have failed to recognize the benefits of virtuous living – they have become animals.

(U.B. Pg. 592) “It is neither tenderness nor altruism to bestow futile sympathy upon degenerated human beings, unsalvable abnormal and inferior mortals. There exists on even the most normal of the evolutionary worlds sufficient differences between individuals and between numerous social groups to provide for the full exercise of all those noble traits of altruistic sentiment and unselfish mortal ministry without perpetuating the socially unfit and the morally degenerate strains of evolving humanity. There is abundant opportunity for the exercise of tolerance and the function of altruism in behalf of those unfortunate and needy individuals who have not irretrievably lost their moral heritage and forever destroyed their spiritual birthright.”

The above does not restrict itself to endogenous factors of genetic defects but rather mentions exogenous traits of social dis-functioning. It specifically implies we are making a big mistake in perpetuating the socially unfit and morally degenerate strains of evolving humanity.

It is not at all a generalization to suggest that the above lack moral values and social ethics and are quite unconcerned with the social milieu outside their own neighborhoods. They have an affinity for gang affiliation with little desire for self improvement and productive living. The concept of social ethics holds no value in their lives. They comprise a degenerate social element that is now running amok in cities all across America. In the mid 1980's five new prisons were built to house the overflow of prisoners in the existing prison system (largely gang members) and all were filled to overflowing capacity within two years. The year I left Los Angeles (1987) 137,000 cars were stolen in Los Angeles county and almost all by Mexican gangs. Very few are recovered.

Unfortunately the present zeitgeist in Europe today runs counter to the Urantia Book in that a death penalty is perceived as a murder initiated by society. One hundred thousand non-rehabilitated gang members under their system would be allowed to sit it out in prison where they could foment trouble for a few years, come out and start over again with even greater costs to society – tremendous ongoing expenses to the normal citizenry. What is really unfortunate is that we seem to be heading in that direction. The Book makes mention that even a violation of the public trust on a neighboring planet is a capital offense. The Ken Lays and Michael Milkins and those of their ilk of the world would already be on their way to the Ancients of Days to determine their worthiness for eternity existence, if we were to view their egregious behavior as as we do murder. I wonder, if one takes the pensions away from thousands of retirees for one's own benefit and at the expense of all company employees, might not a few suicides be the result, and if not, certainly the lives of these people would be completely altered forever. Consider what a tragedy it would be if you were in your late fifties preparing for retirement years, and through sheer greed the CEO's of your company (one of the worlds largest) began supplying phony statistics to the Security Exchange Commission regarding the companies profits to enhance the stocks value. And then when the stock hit all time highs and after encouraging employee participation in purchase of company stock the corporate Heads decide to sell off all their stock and raid the pension fund to cover certain costs to the corporation. And then with company no longer afloat and in bankruptcy declare themselves broke, yet they may have over $ 30,000,000 in personal assets. Your pension has evaporated and it is too late to train for other kinds of work. So you take the Wal-mart job as a greeter. This was the fate of thousands of Enron employees. Teaching ethics in school is a logical starting place. Both the gang member along with the corporate executive lack an appreciable understanding of how their actions really affect their future.

In the world arena conditions are even more insidious, imposing an even greater threat with atomic fusion on the rise in unstable countries which potentially imperil the entire world. Iran, for example, has approximately 15 nuclear plants and a delivery system which in the near future will have the capability of taking out half of Europe. Even the Brazilians have developed enough enriched uranium to export it to other parts of the world, should they desire to do so. These few problems represent of just some of the backwardness alive on Urantia today.

Who is overseeing this panoply of human disarrangement? Not to worry, there are literally billions of unseen beings presently overseeing and engaging in the monitoring of all affairs of human interaction on earth (the asylum). At any given moment they can assume direct control of the planet, but it is unlikely they will do so – the timing being beyond human predictability; the world most likely would have to evolve to a level where it is unmanageable by human sources; until then it looks like the inmates will rule. The first option in emergency conditions might be the activation of the reserve corps of destiny, but whatever the course of action overseers are certain to be involved. Therefore, the effort here is not to frighten the reader with the evils of the world, for while we have much manifestation of evil we know there is far more good going on in the world than the evils which face us, but my concern is rather to convey that no matter how bad things get we are under constant scrutiny by planetary overseers – some of which were onetime human beings from this very planet.

The Overseers

The following are not in any particular order, but all are working or will be working assiduously for the advancement of human kind.

Reserve Corps of Destiny (Pg. 1257)
A corps of mortal destiny consisting of living men and women admitted to the special services of superhuman administration of world affairs. Mortals of the realm are chosen for service in the reserve corps of destiny on the inhabited worlds because of:
1. Special capacity for being secretly rehearsed for numerous possible emergency missions...
2. Wholehearted dedication to some special social,economic, political, spiritual or other cause...
3. Possession of a Thought Adjuster of extraordinary versatility...

Tabamantia (Pg.1189)
The sovereign supervisor of all life experiment planets in the universe of Nebadon. He addresses himself to the planetary chief of Thought Adjusters (Personalized) which are assigned to planets as supervisor of all Adjusters. He makes periodic inspections to Urantia and has been here fairly recently.

Guardian Angels (Pgs.1241-1242)
Are assigned to humans in accordance with human intelligence, spirituality, and destiny. They are devoted to the ministry to individual mortals, for whose elevation and perfection all of the vast survival scheme of spiritual progression has been provided.

Archangels (Pg.408)
There are about 800,000 Archangels in Nebadon. They are the highest type of high spirit being produced in large numbers in a local universe. They are dedicated to the work of creature survival and to the furtherance of the ascending career of the mortals of time and space.

Seraphim (Pg.422)
Seraphim with the associated cherubim and sanobim constitute the angelic corps of a local universe. They are all fairly uniform in design, showing a minimum of variation throughout all seven superuniverses. At the time of the reception of the Urantia revelation (1934-1935) there were about one billion in service on Urantia with an equal number of cherubim and sanobim.

Cherubim and Sanobim (Pg.422)
These are the faithful and efficient aids of the seraphic ministers, and all seven orders of seraphim are provided with these subordinate assistants. They are the routine spirit workers on the individual worlds of the systems. They are by nature very near the morontial level of existence, and they prove to be most efficient in the borderland work of the physical, morontial, and spiritual domains.

Resident Governor General (Pg. 1252)
The governor general is a designee of the 24 planetary supervisors and serves the planet for 100 years as their executive representative. Although the governor general does not possess actual and personal authority of the planet, he hands down scores of rulings and decisions each day which are accepted as final by all personalities concerned. He is much more of a fatherly adviser than a technical ruler. His administration closely resembles that of the Material Sons. The 24 counselors make frequent trips to quarantined planets, especially to Urantia.

Board of Planetary Supervisors (Pg. 1251)
The general management of Urantia has been intrusted to a special group on Jerusem of twenty-four onetime Urantians. All appear to have contributed to the enlarging sovereignty of the Supreme in the System of Satania. They are kept in close and immediate touch with Michael by the liaison activities of a certain Brilliant Evening Star. Presently John the Baptist is chairman of the council.

Planetary Government (Pg.1254)
The twenty-four counselors come the nearest to being the legislative branch of the planetary government. The governor general is a provisional and advisory chief executive with veto power resident in the Most High Observer. The absence of the corporeal staff of a Planetary Prince (Michael) and the material Son and Daughter (Adam and Eve) is partially compensated by the special ministry of seraphim and by the unusual services of the midway creatures. The absence of the Planetary Prince is effectively compensated by the triune presence of the Archangels, the Most High Observer, and the governor general.

Each administrative day on Urantia begins with a consultative conference, which is attended by the governor general, the planetary chief of archangels, the Most High Observer, the supervising supernaphim, the chief of resident Life Carriers, and invited guests from among the high Sons of the universe or from among certain of the student visitors who may chance to be sojourning on the planet.

The direct administrative cabinet of the governor general consists of twelve seraphim, the acting chiefs of the twelve groups of special angels functioning as the immediate superhuman directors of planetary progress and stability.

Most High Observer (Pg.1253)
There is still resident on Urantia a Verondadek Son, an observer for the Most Highs of Edentia, a trustee of planetary Sovereignty. He is the 23rd to serve on Urantia. The race commissioners are very active on Urantia, and their various group chiefs are informally attached to the resident Verondadek observer, who acts as their advisory director. A Most High Observer is empowered, at his discretion, to seize the planetary government in times of grave planetary crises, and it is of record that this has happened 33 times in the history of Urantia. Most Highs can intervene at any time in the affairs of the inhabited worlds, interposing the superior wisdom of the constellation rulers in the affairs of the kingdoms of men.

Master Seraphim of Planetary Supervision (Pg.1254)
These beings comprise a council of twelve corps of special seraphim functioning under the resident governing general which are directed by the seraphic council of twelve, the action chiefs of each group

Planetary Helpers (Pg. 436)
The majority of these seraphim were removed from the planet upon the collapse of the Adamic regime, but those who remain function in the following categories: Voices of the Garden, Spirits of Brotherhood, Souls of Peace, Spirits of Trust, Transporters, Recorders and Reserves. One such being is Vevona (A soul of peace – Pg.437) who when Michael was born, heralded to the worlds, as the leader of the angelic host, “Glory to God in Havona and on earth peace and good will among men.”

In the more advanced epochs of planetary evolution these seraphim are instrumental in supplanting the atonement idea by the concept of divine attunement as a philosophy of mortal survival.

Transition Ministers (Pg. 439)
As their name might suggest, seraphim of transitional ministry serve wherever they can contribute to creature transition from the material to the spiritual estate. They serve from the inhabited worlds to the system capital. These angels serve as: Seraphic Eveangels, Racial Interpreters, Mind Planners, Morontial Counselors, Technicians, Recorders, Teachers and Ministering Reserves.

Frandalanks (Pg. 328)
The most numerous of all the Master Physical Controllers; the number functioning in Satania alone is beyond our numerical comprehension. They are stationed on all inhabited worlds. They are classified as living machines.

In additional to the above we have serving our planet: Material Sons and Daughters,Melchizadek Sons, Life Carriers, all with subordinate staffs, and many others who are too numerous to mention, inclusive in the energy domain alone are about a million Energy Transformers working the planets of Satania (Pg.326). We also have Energy Transmitters functioning on interplanetary levels. (Pg.327) They are an amazing group who function with regard to all forms of communicable perception; they can render a distant scene “visible” as well as a distant sound “audible”.

Whatever societies do on earth they are being watched very very closely by our unseen companions, all working compassionately for the advancement of mortal life on Urantia. The coming decade may yield the most bizarre events ever to take place on our planet, therefore our duty as individuals is to yield to our innermost spiritual strivings in order to stabilize ourselves emotionally, and balance our lives to be in harmonious accord with the spiritual forces just outside our range of vision. The belief in their existence is what constitutes our “agondonter” status (believing without seeing), and it is this status that is the very reason so few of us have had real contact with the other side. Like the Council of 24, we can all do something to improve our own individual contribution to the growth of the Supreme. Therefore, let us all sign on with the program, the program to advance the spiritual reality of human existence. There has to be a counterbalance to the gross secular order which currently is proceeding toward oblivion, paying little heed to any semblance of spiritual values, thus unwittingly destroying ever so slowly, our very civilizations. “A lasting social system without a morality predicated on spiritual realities can no more be maintained that could the solar system without gravity”. (U.B.-2075)
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The following page lists a few excerpts extracted from the Urantia Book along with some of my own thoughts concerning spiritual advancement within our world regarding love, mercy, and ministry – the divine attributes that can be shared in all human experience.

Spirit Dominance (page – 1275)
“In the evolutionary superuniverses energy-matter is dominant except in personality, where spirit through the mediation of mind is struggling for the mastery.” The revelation goes on to say, that “the goal of evolutionary universes is the subjugation of energy-matter by mind, the co-ordination of mind with spirit, and all of this by virtue of the creative and unifying presence of personality.” Therefore since matter is subordinate to spirit, the spiritual always reigns supreme in the universe. And it is the recognition of transcendence of the spiritual domain over the material that acts as the basis of human goodwill and provides the underlying philosophy of our spiritual fraternity in the Urantia Readers International and the Urantia Brotherhood International. But there seems to exist an evolutionary problem- a problem of a dual nature. We are informed that all humanity possesses both an inherited animal nature and that of the urge of innate spiritual endowments, and that the two are not always compatible and in fact often difficult to reconcile. But to the truly God knowing such conflicts are inconsequential.

The Mortal Problem (page – 381)
“In every mortal there exists a dual nature: the inheritance of animal tendencies and the high urge of spirit endowment. During the short life you live on Urantia, these two diverse and opposing urges can seldom be fully reconciled; they can hardly be harmonized and unified; but throughout your lifetime the combined Spirit ever ministers to assist you in subjecting the flesh more and more to the leading of the Spirit. Even though you must live your material life through, even though you cannot escape the body and its necessities, nonetheless, in purpose and ideals you are empowered increasingly to subject the animal nature to the mastery of the Spirit. There truly exists within you a conspiracy of spiritual forces, a confederation of divine powers, whose exclusive purpose is to effect your final deliverance from material bondage and finite handicaps.”

The purpose of all this ministration is, “that you may be strengthened with power through His spirit in the inner man.” And all this represents but the preliminary steps to the final attainment of the perfection of faith and service, that experience wherein you shall be “filled with all the fullness of God,” “for all those who are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God.”

Mortals by necessity have to live, interact, and learn in this experiential/material environment. At this time in our planetary experience we are compelled to interact within a largely materialistic/secular society, all the while trying to understand the divine pattern. It is the incorporation of divine values relative to truth, beauty and goodness into our daily lives that sets us apart from the animal order. In fact our revelation states, “those who cannot know God are reckoned among the animals of any given realm.” There are two great classes of beings discernible in the universe – those who know God and those who do not, those who want to do his will and those who do not. (page-1468)

Love, mercy and ministry are divine attributes that can be shared in all human experience. Divinity can be experienced imperfectly as on experiential and creature levels of time-space evolution or it may be perfect as on existential and creator levels of Paradise perfection, or it may be relative, neither perfect nor imperfect, as on certain Havona levels of existential-experiential relationships. (page-3). The goodness in human life not only augments our personal growth, but deferentially contributes to the growth of the Supreme. No good deed is overlooked – all deeds of human kindness and good, if only in a small way, contribute to the overall advancement of the Supreme Being. This is what we are taught in the Urantia Book and this is the philosophy by which we should live.

Existential Infinite Unification (page-1174)
“Sooner or later all universe personalities begin to realize that the final quest of eternity is the endless exploration of infinity, the never-ending voyage of discovery into the absoluteness of the First Source and Center. Sooner or later we all become aware that all creature growth is proportional to Father identification. We arrive at the understanding that living the will of God is the eternal passport to the endless possibility of infinity itself. Mortals will sometime realize that success in the quest of the Infinite is directly proportional to the achievement of Fatherlikeness, and that in this universe age the realities of the Father are revealed within the qualities of divinity. And these qualities of divinity are personally appropriated by universe creatures in the experience of living divinely, and to live divinely means actually to live the will of God.”

“To material, evolutionary, finite creatures, a life predicated on the living of the Father's will leads directly to the attainment of spirit supremacy in the personality arena and brings such creatures one step nearer the comprehension of the Father-Infinite. Such a Father life is one predicated on truth, sensitive to beauty, and dominated by goodness. Such a God-knowing person is inwardly illuminated by worship and outwardly devoted to the wholehearted service of the universal brotherhood of all personalities, a service ministry which is filled with mercy and motivated by love, while all these life qualities are unified in the evolving personality on ever-ascending levels of cosmic wisdom, self-realization, God-finding, and Father worship.”