PAPER 53
THE LUCIFER REBELLION
53:0.1 LUCIFER was a brilliant primary Lanonandek
Son of Nebadon. He had experienced service in many systems, had been a high
counselor of his group, and was distinguished for wisdom, sagacity, and
efficiency. Lucifer was number 37 of his order, and when commissioned by the
Melchizedeks, he was designated as one of the one hundred most able and
brilliant personalities in more than seven hundred thousand of his kind. From
such a magnificent beginning, through evil and error, he embraced sin and now
is numbered as one of three System Sovereigns in Nebadon who have succumbed to
the urge of self and surrendered to the sophistry of spurious personal liberty
-- rejection of universe allegiance and disregard of fraternal obligations,
blindness to cosmic relationships.
53:0.2 In the universe of Nebadon, the domain of
Christ Michael, there are ten thousand systems of inhabited worlds. In all the
history of Lanonandek Sons, in all their work throughout these thousands of
systems and at the universe headquarters, only three System Sovereigns have
ever been found in contempt of the government of the Creator Son.
1. THE LEADERS OF REBELLION
53:1.1 Lucifer was not an ascendant being; he was a
created Son of the local universe, and of him it was said: "You were perfect
in all your ways from the day you were created till unrighteousness was found
in you." Many times had he been in counsel with the Most Highs of Edentia. And
Lucifer reigned "upon the holy mountain of God," the administrative mount of
Jerusem, for he was the chief executive of a great system of 607 inhabited
worlds.
53:1.2 Lucifer was a magnificent being, a brilliant
personality; he stood next to the Most High Fathers of the constellations in
the direct line of universe authority. Notwithstanding Lucifer's
transgression, subordinate intelligences refrained from showing him disrespect
and disdain prior to Michael's bestowal on Urantia. Even the archangel of
Michael, at the time of Moses' resurrection, "did not bring against him an
accusing judgment but simply said, `the Judge rebuke you.'" Judgment in such
matters belongs to the Ancients of Days, the rulers of the
superuniverse.
53:1.3 Lucifer is now the fallen and deposed
Sovereign of Satania. Self-contemplation is most disastrous, even to the
exalted personalities of the celestial world. Of Lucifer it was said: "Your
heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because
of your brightness." Your olden prophet saw his sad estate when he wrote: "How
are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you cast
down, you who dared to confuse the worlds!"
53:1.4 Very little was heard of Lucifer on Urantia
owing to the fact that he assigned his first lieutenant, Satan, to advocate
his cause on your planet. Satan was a member of the same primary group of
Lanonandeks but had never functioned as a System Sovereign; he entered fully
into the Lucifer insurrection. The "devil" is none other than Caligastia, the
deposed Planetary Prince of Urantia and a Son of the secondary order of
Lanonandeks. At the time Michael was on Urantia in the flesh, Lucifer, Satan,
and Caligastia were leagued together to effect the miscarriage of his bestowal
mission. But they signally failed.
53:1.5 Abaddon was the chief of the staff of
Caligastia. He followed his master into rebellion and has ever since acted as
chief executive of the Urantia rebels. Beelzebub was the leader of the
disloyal midway creatures who allied themselves with the forces of the
traitorous Caligastia.
53:1.6 The dragon eventually became the symbolic
representation of all these evil personages. Upon the triumph of Michael,
"Gabriel came down from Salvington and bound the dragon (all the rebel
leaders) for an age." Of the Jerusem seraphic rebels it is written: "And the
angels who kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, he has
reserved in sure chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day."
2. THE CAUSES OF REBELLION
53:2.1 Lucifer and his first assistant, Satan, had
reigned on Jerusem for more than five hundred thousand years when in their
hearts they began to array themselves against the Universal Father and his
then vicegerent Son, Michael.
53:2.2 There were no peculiar or special conditions
in the system of Satania which suggested or favored rebellion. It is our
belief that the idea took origin and form in Lucifer's mind, and that he might
have instigated such a rebellion no matter where he might have been stationed.
Lucifer first announced his plans to Satan, but it required several months to
corrupt the mind of his able and brilliant associate. However, when once
converted to the rebel theories, he became a bold and earnest advocate of
"self-assertion and liberty."
53:2.3 No one ever suggested rebellion to Lucifer.
The idea of self-assertion in opposition to the will of Michael and to the
plans of the Universal Father, as they are represented in Michael, had its
origin in his own mind. His relations with the Creator Son had been intimate
and always cordial. At no time prior to the exaltation of his own mind did
Lucifer openly express dissatisfaction about the universe administration.
Notwithstanding his silence, for more than one hundred years of standard time
the Union of Days on Salvington had been reflectivating to Uversa that all was
not at peace in Lucifer's mind. This information was also communicated to the
Creator Son and the Constellation Fathers of Norlatiadek.
53:2.4 Throughout this period Lucifer became
increasingly critical of the entire plan of universe administration but always
professed wholehearted loyalty to the Supreme Rulers. His first outspoken
disloyalty was manifested on the occasion of a visit of Gabriel to Jerusem
just a few days before the open proclamation of the Lucifer Declaration of
Liberty. Gabriel was so profoundly impressed with the certainty of the
impending outbreak that he went direct to Edentia to confer with the
Constellation Fathers regarding the measures to be employed in case of open
rebellion.
53:2.5 It is very difficult to point out the exact
cause or causes which finally culminated in the Lucifer rebellion. We are
certain of only one thing, and that is: Whatever these first beginnings were,
they had their origin in Lucifer's mind. There must have been a pride of self
that nourished itself to the point of self-deception, so that Lucifer for a
time really persuaded himself that his contemplation of rebellion was actually
for the good of the system, if not of the universe. By the time his plans had
developed to the point of disillusionment, no doubt he had gone too far for
his original and mischief-making pride to permit him to stop. At some point in
this experience he became insincere, and evil evolved into deliberate and
willful sin. That this happened is proved by the subsequent conduct of this
brilliant executive. He was long offered opportunity for repentance, but only
some of his subordinates ever accepted the proffered mercy. The Faithful of
Days of Edentia, on the request of the Constellation Fathers, in person
presented the plan of Michael for the saving of these flagrant rebels, but
always was the mercy of the Creator Son rejected and rejected with increasing
contempt and disdain.
3. THE LUCIFER MANIFESTO
53:3.1 Whatever the early origins of trouble in the
hearts of Lucifer and Satan, the final outbreak took form as the Lucifer
Declaration of Liberty. The cause of the rebels was stated under three heads:
53:3.2 1. The reality of the Universal
Father. Lucifer charged that the Universal Father did not really exist,
that physical gravity and space-energy were inherent in the universe, and that
the Father was a myth invented by the Paradise Sons to enable them to maintain
the rule of the universes in the Father's name. He denied that personality was
a gift of the Universal Father. He even intimated that the finaliters were in
collusion with the Paradise Sons to foist fraud upon all creation since they
never brought back a very clear-cut idea of the Father's actual personality as
it is discernible on Paradise. He traded on reverence as ignorance. The charge
was sweeping, terrible, and blasphemous. It was this veiled attack upon the
finaliters that no doubt influenced the ascendant citizens then on Jerusem to
stand firm and remain steadfast in resistance to all the rebel's proposals.
53:3.3 2. The universe government of the Creator
Son -- Michael. Lucifer contended that the local systems should be
autonomous. He protested against the right of Michael, the Creator Son, to
assume sovereignty of Nebadon in the name of a hypothetical Paradise Father
and require all personalities to acknowledge allegiance to this unseen Father.
He asserted that the whole plan of worship was a clever scheme to aggrandize
the Paradise Sons. He was willing to acknowledge Michael as his Creator-father
but not as his God and rightful ruler.
53:3.4 Most bitterly did he attack the right of the
Ancients of Days -- "foreign potentates" -- to interfere in the affairs of the
local systems and universes. These rulers he denounced as tyrants and
usurpers. He exhorted his followers to believe that none of these rulers could
do aught to interfere with the operation of complete home rule if men and
angels only had the courage to assert themselves and boldly claim their
rights.
53:3.5 He contended that the executioners of the
Ancients of Days could be debarred from functioning in the local systems if
the native beings would only assert their independence. He maintained that
immortality was inherent in the system personalities, that resurrection was
natural and automatic, and that all beings would live eternally except for the
arbitrary and unjust acts of the executioners of the Ancients of Days.
53:3.6 3. The attack upon the universal plan of
ascendant mortal training. Lucifer maintained that far too much time and
energy were expended upon the scheme of so thoroughly training ascending
mortals in the principles of universe administration, principles which he
alleged were unethical and unsound. He protested against the agelong program
for preparing the mortals of space for some unknown destiny and pointed to the
presence of the finaliter corps on Jerusem as proof that these mortals had
spent ages of preparation for some destiny of pure fiction. With derision he
pointed out that the finaliters had encountered a destiny no more glorious
than to be returned to humble spheres similar to those of their origin. He
intimated that they had been debauched by overmuch discipline and prolonged
training, and that they were in reality traitors to their mortal fellows since
they were now co-operating with the scheme of enslaving all creation to the
fictions of a mythical eternal destiny for ascending mortals. He advocated
that ascenders should enjoy the liberty of individual self-determination. He
challenged and condemned the entire plan of mortal ascension as sponsored by
the Paradise Sons of God and supported by the Infinite Spirit.
53:3.7 And it was with such a Declaration of Liberty
that Lucifer launched his orgy of darkness and death.
4. OUTBREAK OF THE REBELLION
53:4.1 The Lucifer manifesto was issued at the
annual conclave of Satania on the sea of glass, in the presence of the
assembled hosts of Jerusem, on the last day of the year, about two hundred
thousand years ago, Urantia time. Satan proclaimed that worship could be
accorded the universal forces -- physical, intellectual, and spiritual -- but
that allegiance could be acknowledged only to the actual and present ruler,
Lucifer, the "friend of men and angels" and the "God of liberty."
53:4.2 Self-assertion was the battle cry of the
Lucifer rebellion. One of his chief arguments was that, if self-government was
good and right for the Melchizedeks and other groups, it was equally good for
all orders of intelligence. He was bold and persistent in the advocacy of the
"equality of mind" and "the brotherhood of intelligence." He maintained that
all government should be limited to the local planets and their voluntary
confederation into the local systems. All other supervision he disallowed. He
promised the Planetary Princes that they should rule the worlds as supreme
executives. He denounced the location of legislative activities on the
constellation headquarters and the conduct of judicial affairs on the universe
capital. He contended that all these functions of government should be
concentrated on the system capitals and proceeded to set up his own
legislative assembly and organized his own tribunals under the jurisdiction of
Satan. And he directed that the princes on the apostate worlds do the
same.
53:4.3 The entire administrative cabinet of Lucifer
went over in a body and were sworn in publicly as the officers of the
administration of the new head of "the liberated worlds and
systems."
53:4.4 While there had been two previous rebellions
in Nebadon, they were in distant constellations. Lucifer held that these
insurrections were unsuccessful because the majority of the intelligences
failed to follow their leaders. He contended that "majorities rule," that
"mind is infallible." The freedom allowed him by the universe rulers
apparently sustained many of his nefarious contentions. He defied all his
superiors; yet they apparently took no note of his doings. He was given a free
hand to prosecute his seductive plan without let or hindrance.
53:4.5 All the merciful delays of justice Lucifer
pointed to as evidence of the inability of the government of the Paradise Sons
to stop the rebellion. He would openly defy and arrogantly challenge Michael,
Immanuel, and the Ancients of Days and then point to the fact that no action
ensued as positive evidence of the impotency of the universe and the
superuniverse governments.
53:4.6 Gabriel was personally present throughout all
these disloyal proceedings and only announced that he would, in due time,
speak for Michael, and that all beings would be left free and unmolested in
their choice; that the "government of the Sons for the Father desired only
that loyalty and devotion which was voluntary, wholehearted, and
sophistry-proof."
53:4.7 Lucifer was permitted fully to establish and
thoroughly to organize his rebel government before Gabriel made any effort to
contest the right of secession or to counterwork the rebel propaganda. But the
Constellation Fathers immediately confined the action of these disloyal
personalities to the system of Satania. Nevertheless, this period of delay was
a time of great trial and testing to the loyal beings of all Satania. All was
chaotic for a few years, and there was great confusion on the mansion worlds.
5. NATURE OF THE CONFLICT
53:5.1 Upon the outbreak of the Satania rebellion,
Michael took counsel of his Paradise brother, Immanuel. Following this
momentous conference, Michael announced that he would pursue the same policy
which had characterized his dealings with similar upheavals in the past, an
attitude of noninterference.
53:5.2 At the time of this rebellion and the two
which preceded it there was no absolute and personal sovereign authority in
the universe of Nebadon. Michael ruled by divine right, as vicegerent of the
Universal Father, but not yet in his own personal right. He had not completed
his bestowal career; he had not yet been vested with "all power in heaven and
on earth."
53:5.3 From the outbreak of rebellion to the day of
his enthronement as sovereign ruler of Nebadon, Michael never interfered with
the rebel forces of Lucifer; they were allowed to run a free course for almost
two hundred thousand years of Urantia time. Christ Michael now has ample power
and authority to deal promptly, even summarily, with such outbreaks of
disloyalty, but we doubt that this sovereign authority would lead him to act
differently if another such upheaval should occur.
53:5.4 Since Michael elected to remain aloof from
the actual warfare of the Lucifer rebellion, Gabriel called his personal staff
together on Edentia and, in counsel with the Most Highs, elected to assume
command of the loyal hosts of Satania. Michael remained on Salvington while
Gabriel proceeded to Jerusem, and establishing himself on the sphere dedicated
to the Father -- the same Universal Father whose personality Lucifer and Satan
had questioned -- in the presence of the forgathered hosts of loyal
personalities, he displayed the banner of Michael, the material emblem of the
Trinity government of all creation, the three azure blue concentric circles on
a white background.
53:5.5 The Lucifer emblem was a banner of white with
one red circle, in the center of which a black solid circle
appeared.
53:5.6 "There was war in heaven; Michael's commander
and his angels fought against the dragon (Lucifer, Satan, and the apostate
princes); and the dragon and his rebellious angels fought but prevailed not."
This "war in heaven" was not a physical battle as such a conflict might be
conceived on Urantia. In the early days of the struggle Lucifer held forth
continuously in the planetary amphitheater. Gabriel conducted an unceasing
exposure of the rebel sophistries from his headquarters taken up near at hand.
The various personalities present on the sphere who were in doubt as to their
attitude would journey back and forth between these discussions until they
arrived at a final decision.
53:5.7 But this war in heaven was very terrible and
very real. While displaying none of the barbarities so characteristic of
physical warfare on the immature worlds, this conflict was far more deadly;
material life is in jeopardy in material combat, but the war in heaven was
fought in terms of life eternal.
6. A LOYAL SERAPHIC COMMANDER
53:6.1 There were many noble and inspiring acts of
devotion and loyalty which were performed by numerous personalities during the
interim between the outbreak of hostilities and the arrival of the new system
ruler and his staff. But the most thrilling of all these daring feats of
devotion was the courageous conduct of Manotia, the second in command of the
Satania headquarters' seraphim.
53:6.2 At the outbreak of rebellion on Jerusem the
head of the seraphic hosts joined the Lucifer cause. This no doubt explains
why such a large number of the fourth order, the system administrator
seraphim, went astray. The seraphic leader was spiritually blinded by the
brilliant personality of Lucifer; his charming ways fascinated the lower
orders of celestial beings. They simply could not comprehend that it was
possible for such a dazzling personality to go wrong.
53:6.3 Not long since, in describing the experiences
associated with the onset of the Lucifer rebellion, Manotia said: "But my most
exhilarating moment was the thrilling adventure connected with the Lucifer
rebellion when, as second seraphic commander, I refused to participate in the
projected insult to Michael; and the powerful rebels sought my destruction by
means of the liaison forces they had arranged. There was a tremendous upheaval
on Jerusem, but not a single loyal seraphim was harmed.
53:6.4 "Upon the default of my immediate superior it
devolved upon me to assume command of the angelic hosts of Jerusem as the
titular director of the confused seraphic affairs of the system. I was morally
upheld by the Melchizedeks, ably assisted by a majority of the Material Sons,
deserted by a tremendous group of my own order, but magnificently supported by
the ascendant mortals on Jerusem.
53:6.5 "Having been automatically thrown out of the
constellation circuits by the secession of Lucifer, we were dependent on the
loyalty of our intelligence corps, who forwarded calls for help to Edentia
from the near-by system of Rantulia; and we found that the kingdom of order,
the intellect of loyalty, and the spirit of truth were inherently triumphant
over rebellion, self-assertion, and so-called personal liberty; we were able
to carry on until the arrival of the new System Sovereign, the worthy
successor of Lucifer. And immediately thereafter I was assigned to the corps
of the Melchizedek receivership of Urantia, assuming jurisdiction over the
loyal seraphic orders on the world of the traitorous Caligastia, who had
proclaimed his sphere a member of the newly projected system of `liberated
worlds and emancipated personalities' proposed in the infamous Declaration of
Liberty issued by Lucifer in his call to the `liberty-loving, free-thinking,
and forward-looking intelligences of the misruled and maladministered worlds
of Satania.'"
53:6.6 This angel is still in service on Urantia,
functioning as associate chief of seraphim.
7. HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
53:7.1 The Lucifer rebellion was system wide.
Thirty-seven seceding Planetary Princes swung their world administrations
largely to the side of the archrebel. Only on Panoptia did the Planetary
Prince fail to carry his people with him. On this world, under the guidance of
the Melchizedeks, the people rallied to the support of Michael. Ellanora, a
young woman of that mortal realm, grasped the leadership of the human races,
and not a single soul on that strife-torn world enlisted under the Lucifer
banner. And ever since have these loyal Panoptians served on the seventh
Jerusem transition world as the caretakers and builders on the Father's sphere
and its surrounding seven detention worlds. The Panoptians not only act as the
literal custodians of these worlds, but they also execute the personal orders
of Michael for the embellishment of these spheres for some future and unknown
use. They do this work as they tarry en route to Edentia.
53:7.2 Throughout this period Caligastia was
advocating the cause of Lucifer on Urantia. The Melchizedeks ably opposed the
apostate Planetary Prince, but the sophistries of unbridled liberty and the
delusions of self-assertion had every opportunity for deceiving the primitive
peoples of a young and undeveloped world.
53:7.3 All secession propaganda had to be carried on
by personal effort because the broadcast service and all other avenues of
interplanetary communication were suspended by the action of the system
circuit supervisors. Upon the actual outbreak of the insurrection the entire
system of Satania was isolated in both the constellation and the universe
circuits. During this time all incoming and outgoing messages were dispatched
by seraphic agents and Solitary Messengers. The circuits to the fallen worlds
were also cut off, so that Lucifer could not utilize this avenue for the
furtherance of his nefarious scheme. And these circuits will not be restored
so long as the archrebel lives within the confines of Satania.
53:7.4 This was a Lanonandek rebellion. The higher
orders of local universe sonship did not join the Lucifer secession, although
a few of the Life Carriers stationed on the rebel planets were somewhat
influenced by the rebellion of the disloyal princes. None of the Trinitized
Sons went astray. The Melchizedeks, archangels, and the Brilliant Evening
Stars were all loyal to Michael and, with Gabriel, valiantly contended for the
Father's will and the Son's rule.
53:7.5 No beings of Paradise origin were involved in
disloyalty. Together with the Solitary Messengers they took up headquarters on
the world of the Spirit and remained under the leadership of the Faithful of
Days of Edentia. None of the conciliators apostatized, nor did a single one of
the Celestial Recorders go astray. But a heavy toll was taken of the Morontia
Companions and the Mansion World Teachers.
53:7.6 Of the supreme order of seraphim, not an
angel was lost, but a considerable group of the next order, the superior, were
deceived and ensnared. Likewise a few of the third or supervisor order of
angels were misled. But the terrible breakdown came in the fourth group, the
administrator angels, those seraphim who are normally assigned to the duties
of the system capitals. Manotia saved almost two thirds of them, but slightly
over one third followed their chief into the rebel ranks. One third of all the
Jerusem cherubim attached to the administrator angels were lost with their
disloyal seraphim.
53:7.7 Of the planetary angelic helpers, those
assigned to the Material Sons, about one third were deceived, and almost ten
per cent of the transition ministers were ensnared. In symbol John saw this
when he wrote of the great red dragon, saying: "And his tail drew a third part
of the stars of heaven and cast them down in darkness."
53:7.8 The greatest loss occurred in the angelic
ranks, but most of the lower orders of intelligence were involved in
disloyalty. Of the 681,227 Material Sons lost in Satania, ninety-five per cent
were casualties of the Lucifer rebellion. Large numbers of midway creatures
were lost on those individual planets whose Planetary Princes joined the
Lucifer cause.
53:7.9 In many respects this rebellion was the most
widespread and disastrous of all such occurrences in Nebadon. More
personalities were involved in this insurrection than in both of the others.
And it is to their everlasting dishonor that the emissaries of Lucifer and
Satan spared not the infant-training schools on the finaliter cultural planet
but rather sought to corrupt these developing minds in mercy salvaged from the
evolutionary worlds.
53:7.10 The ascending mortals were vulnerable, but
they withstood the sophistries of rebellion better than the lower spirits.
While many on the lower mansion worlds, those who had not attained final
fusion with their Adjusters, fell, it is recorded to the glory of the wisdom
of the ascension scheme that not a single member of the Satania ascendant
citizenship resident on Jerusem participated in the Lucifer
rebellion.
53:7.11 Hour by hour and day by day the broadcast
stations of all Nebadon were thronged by the anxious watchers of every
imaginable class of celestial intelligence, who intently perused the bulletins
of the Satania rebellion and rejoiced as the reports continuously narrated the
unswerving loyalty of the ascending mortals who, under their Melchizedek
leadership, successfully withstood the combined and protracted efforts of all
the subtle evil forces which so swiftly gathered around the banners of
secession and sin.
53:7.12 It was over two years of system time from
the beginning of the "war in heaven" until the installation of Lucifer's
successor. But at last the new Sovereign came, landing on the sea of glass
with his staff. I was among the reserves mobilized on Edentia by Gabriel, and
I well remember the first message of Lanaforge to the Constellation Father of
Norlatiadek. It read: "Not a single Jerusem citizen was lost. Every ascendant
mortal survived the fiery trial and emerged from the crucial test triumphant
and altogether victorious." And on to Salvington, Uversa, and Paradise went
this message of assurance that the survival experience of mortal ascension is
the greatest security against rebellion and the surest safeguard against sin.
This noble Jerusem band of faithful mortals numbered just 187,432,811.
53:7.13 With the arrival of Lanaforge the archrebels
were dethroned and shorn of all governing powers, though they were permitted
freely to go about Jerusem, the morontia spheres, and even to the individual
inhabited worlds. They continued their deceptive and seductive efforts to
confuse and mislead the minds of men and angels. But as concerned their work
on the administrative mount of Jerusem, "their place was found no more."
53:7.14 While Lucifer was deprived of all
administrative authority in Satania, there then existed no local universe
power nor tribunal which could detain or destroy this wicked rebel; at that
time Michael was not a sovereign ruler. The Ancients of Days sustained the
Constellation Fathers in their seizure of the system government, but they have
never handed down any subsequent decisions in the many appeals still pending
with regard to the present status and future disposition of Lucifer, Satan,
and their associates.
53:7.15 Thus were these archrebels allowed to roam
the entire system to seek further penetration for their doctrines of
discontent and self-assertion. But in almost two hundred thousand Urantia
years they have been unable to deceive another world. No Satania worlds have
been lost since the fall of the thirty-seven, not even those younger worlds
peopled since that day of rebellion.
8. THE SON OF MAN ON URANTIA
53:8.1 Lucifer and Satan freely roamed the Satania
system until the completion of the bestowal mission of Michael on Urantia.
They were last on your world together during the time of their combined
assault upon the Son of Man.
53:8.2 Formerly, when the Planetary Princes, the
"Sons of God," were periodically assembled, "Satan came also," claiming that
he represented all of the isolated worlds of the fallen Planetary Princes. But
he has not been accorded such liberty on Jerusem since Michael's terminal
bestowal. Subsequent to their effort to corrupt Michael when in the bestowal
flesh, all sympathy for Lucifer and Satan has perished throughout all Satania,
that is, outside the isolated worlds of sin.
53:8.3 The bestowal of Michael terminated the
Lucifer rebellion in all Satania aside from the planets of the apostate
Planetary Princes. And this was the significance of Jesus' personal
experience, just before his death in the flesh, when he one day exclaimed to
his disciples, "And I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven." He had come
with Lucifer to Urantia for the last crucial struggle.
53:8.4 The Son of Man was confident of success, and
he knew that his triumph on your world would forever settle the status of his
agelong enemies, not only in Satania but also in the other two systems where
sin had entered. There was survival for mortals and security for angels when
your Master, in reply to the Lucifer proposals, calmly and with divine
assurance replied, "Get you behind me, Satan." That was, in principle, the
real end of the Lucifer rebellion. True, the Uversa tribunals have not yet
rendered the executive decision regarding the appeal of Gabriel praying for
the destruction of the rebels, but such a decree will, no doubt, be
forthcoming in the fullness of time since the first step in the hearing of
this case has already been taken.
53:8.5 Caligastia was recognized by the Son of Man
as the technical Prince of Urantia up to near the time of his death. Said
Jesus: "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world
be cast down." And then still nearer the completion of his lifework he
announced, "The prince of this world is judged." And it is this same dethroned
and discredited Prince who was once termed "God of Urantia."
53:8.6 The last act of Michael before leaving
Urantia was to offer mercy to Caligastia and Daligastia, but they spurned his
tender proffer. Caligastia, your apostate Planetary Prince, is still free on
Urantia to prosecute his nefarious designs, but he has absolutely no power to
enter the minds of men, neither can he draw near to their souls to tempt or
corrupt them unless they really desire to be cursed with his wicked presence.
53:8.7 Before the bestowal of Michael these rulers
of darkness sought to maintain their authority on Urantia, and they
persistently withstood the minor and subordinate celestial personalities. But
since the day of Pentecost this traitorous Caligastia and his equally
contemptible associate, Daligastia, are servile before the divine majesty of
the Paradise Thought Adjusters and the protective Spirit of Truth, the spirit
of Michael, which has been poured out upon all flesh.
53:8.8 But even so, no fallen spirit ever did have
the power to invade the minds or to harass the souls of the children of God.
Neither Satan nor Caligastia could ever touch or approach the faith sons of
God; faith is an effective armor against sin and iniquity. It is true: "He who
is born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one touches him not."
53:8.9 In general, when weak and dissolute mortals
are supposed to be under the influence of devils and demons, they are merely
being dominated by their own inherent and debased tendencies, being led away
by their own natural propensities. The devil has been given a great deal of
credit for evil which does not belong to him. Caligastia has been
comparatively impotent since the cross of Christ.
9. PRESENT STATUS OF THE REBELLION
53:9.1 Early in the days of the Lucifer rebellion,
salvation was offered all rebels by Michael. To all who would show proof of
sincere repentance, he offered, upon his attainment of complete universe
sovereignty, forgiveness and reinstatement in some form of universe service.
None of the leaders accepted this merciful proffer. But thousands of the
angels and the lower orders of celestial beings, including hundreds of the
Material Sons and Daughters, accepted the mercy proclaimed by the Panoptians
and were given rehabilitation at the time of Jesus' resurrection nineteen
hundred years ago. These beings have since been transferred to the Father's
world of Jerusem, where they must be held, technically, until the Uversa
courts hand down a decision in the matter of Gabriel vs. Lucifer. But no one
doubts that, when the annihilation verdict is issued, these repentant and
salvaged personalities will be exempted from the decree of extinction. These
probationary souls now labor with the Panoptians in the work of caring for the
Father's world.
53:9.2 The archdeceiver has never been on Urantia
since the days when he sought to turn back Michael from the purpose to
complete the bestowal and to establish himself finally and securely as the
unqualified ruler of Nebadon. Upon Michael's becoming the settled head of the
universe of Nebadon, Lucifer was taken into custody by the agents of the
Uversa Ancients of Days and has since been a prisoner on satellite number one
of the Father's group of the transition spheres of Jerusem. And here the
rulers of other worlds and systems behold the end of the unfaithful Sovereign
of Satania. Paul knew of the status of these rebellious leaders following
Michael's bestowal, for he wrote of Caligastia's chiefs as "spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places."
53:9.3 Michael, upon assuming the supreme
sovereignty of Nebadon, petitioned the Ancients of Days for authority to
intern all personalities concerned in the Lucifer rebellion pending the
rulings of the superuniverse tribunals in the case of Gabriel vs. Lucifer,
placed on the records of the Uversa supreme court almost two hundred thousand
years ago, as you reckon time. Concerning the system capital group, the
Ancients of Days granted the Michael petition with but a single exception:
Satan was allowed to make periodic visits to the apostate princes on the
fallen worlds until another Son of God should be accepted by such apostate
worlds, or until such time as the courts of Uversa should begin the
adjudication of the case of Gabriel vs. Lucifer.
53:9.4 Satan could come to Urantia because you had
no Son of standing in residence -- neither Planetary Prince nor Material Son.
Machiventa Melchizedek has since been proclaimed vicegerent Planetary Prince
of Urantia, and the opening of the case of Gabriel vs. Lucifer has signalized
the inauguration of temporary planetary regimes on all the isolated worlds. It
is true that Satan did periodically visit Caligastia and others of the fallen
princes right up to the time of the presentation of these revelations, when
there occurred the first hearing of Gabriel's plea for the annihilation of the
archrebels. Satan is now unqualifiedly detained on the Jerusem prison worlds.
53:9.5 Since Michael's final bestowal no one in all
Satania has desired to go to the prison worlds to minister to the interned
rebels. And no more beings have been won to the deceiver's cause. For nineteen
hundred years the status has been unchanged.
53:9.6 We do not look for a removal of the present
Satania restrictions until the Ancients of Days make final disposition of the
archrebels. The system circuits will not be reinstated so long as Lucifer
lives. Meantime, he is wholly inactive.
53:9.7 The rebellion has ended on Jerusem. It ends
on the fallen worlds as fast as divine Sons arrive. We believe that all rebels
who will ever accept mercy have done so. We await the flashing broadcast that
will deprive these traitors of personality existence. We anticipate the
verdict of Uversa will be announced by the executionary broadcast which will
effect the annihilation of these interned rebels. Then will you look for their
places, but they shall not be found. "And they who know you among the worlds
will be astonished at you; you have been a terror, but never shall you be any
more." And thus shall all of these unworthy traitors "become as though they
had not been." All await the Uversa decree.
53:9.8 But for ages the seven prison worlds of
spiritual darkness in Satania have constituted a solemn warning to all
Nebadon, eloquently and effectively proclaiming the great truth "that the way
of the transgressor is hard"; "that within every sin is concealed the seed of
its own destruction"; that "the wages of sin is death."
53:9.9 Presented by
Manovandet Melchizedek, onetime attached to the receivership of
Urantia.
