TO: _____

FROM: Elijah                                                                            Vancouver, Sept 19/89

 

SOME NOTES AND THOUGHTS RE: THE SHEKHINAH (Also spelled Shekinah)

 

While I have had brief oral conversations with you about the role of the Shekinah in my mission, I think you also need to see the larger picture as well, if you are to integrate it into the larger drama of the end of the world and the coming of the New Earth.

 

The prophetic revelation atop page 1866 establishes that another prophet is coming, and spells out in some considerable detail and with some explicit warnings just exactly what this prophet is to do.

 

Let’s touch on the warnings for a minute. You’ll notice he is told not to criticize Christianity, and not to touch the second coming with a ten foot pole. As you are no doubt aware, the Personalized Adjuster of Nebadon/Urantia appeared on the scene here during the preparation of part 4 of the Papers and made available to the midwayers not only the Master’s internal ideation, but the internal ideation of other key players in the Jesusonian drama, like Judas. Often the midwayers tell us what is going on in Judas’ mind. For example: “Many times had he entertained such ideas subconsciously, but now he dared to think such wicked thoughts in his open and conscious mind.” (1879:39-41)

 

Only a Thought Adjuster could make such an observation, the midwayers can’t read minds. And the only Adjuster they were talking with was Jesus’. And we learn this little gem when the midwayers casually remark on 1844: “...we have access to the registration of the combined human emotions and divine thoughts, as of record in the mind of the Personalized Adjuster.” (1844:6-8)

 

Whew! Powerful! So I deduce that the warnings you see above concerning my mission and how I carry it out on page 1866 actually came from the future-seeing Personalized Adjuster of Jesus, who, while he was here, and at the request of the midwayers, took a look at my future and issued these warnings. Now this is heavy!

 

So far, I have received permission to mention the second coming only in the context of pointing out to people that nobody on earth, Christians included, KNOW when it will occur. Only the Father knows. And I must walk on eggs in doing this, just this little, so as not to unnecessarily discourage Christians, turn them away from this fulfillment of their fondest hopes and dreams.

 

My problem is, they also believe Jesus is coming back personally to deliver us and rule the New Earth. And I am constrained, as the forerunner of Lord Machiventa, to say to these same Christians: “No, Jesus is sending a deputy Prince to rule in his name.”

 

Anyhow, this is my problem. I mention it only so that you can see that I approach the Shekinah too with caution and thorough deliberation. You can also see on page 1866 that they clearly task me to restate Jesus religion in its highest idealistic framework, the idea of world familial brotherhood, amidst religious diversity, acknowledging a common Father Deity. Exactly as Jesus wanted it in the first place. And they make it clear on page 966:5-6 that I must work not merely as an announcer of the coming New Age and heaven-sent son-ruler, I must also give heed to the social aspects, the sociology of religion, for they write: “the restatement of the religion of Jesus ( my work) must develop a new and appropriate symbolism.”

 

On this page and elsewhere in the Papers, different beings go to some length to guide me, and my associates in this business, in formulating this new cult framework.

 

SHEKINAH … PAGE 2

 

This advice clearly directs me to create an artful mixture of “old and new.”

 

For example, within the realm of creativity, they say our symbolism (i.e. how we put a worship service together, its liturgy, among other aspects of religious function) must embrace “new and expanding ideas, ideals and loyalties.” (966:7) Our worship must satisfy the four requirements atop page 1013:

 

establish loyalties, a sense of belonging, and devotion, so that people will keep coming back for more

 

exalt the idealistic in the sense of “meanings” -- this assembly MUST BE the worldwide family of God, an inter-faith fellowship, all God’s children of every race and color worshipping together. Wherefore the preamble statement in our constitution: “WHEREAS, this group also believes that the people of this world, delivered at its end to an emergency evacuation world, GRACELAND, will there encounter an inter-faith fellowship, etc”

 

consecration intensity demands that our worship conduces to actually LIVING the truth of Divine Fatherhood and human familyhood - friendliness, love, and service

 

exalt the ascension life, the purpose of the whole grand creation

 

They guide me somewhat with their  observations on present worship styles: “…worshipful customs are confused and discredited by... accelerated social metamorphosis (probably referring to worldwide TV) and unprecedented scientific developments. (The ‘bomb?) Thinking men and women want religion redefined...” (1013:26-29) Remember, they were writing before Vatican 2.

 

While such words seem to evoke the removal of religious-showmanship to create awe, wonder and mystery, they turn right around and tell us that’, no, the mystery STILL has to be there, somehow... “…modern men, as a group, adhere to the scientific attitude, eschew superstition, and abhor ignorance, while as individuals they all crave mystery and venerate the unknown” !!!

 

So they warn me: “NO CULT CAN SURVIVE UNLESS IT EMBODIES SOME MASTERFUL MYSTERY AND CONCEALS SOME WORTHFUL UNATTAINABLE.” (966:27-28) 1 can pretty much figure out the idea of a “masterful mystery.” I haven’t a clue what a “worthful unattainable” is, except an ideal in the general sense of that word. Worldwide brotherhood soon is, for example, certainly a “worthful unattainable.” Our Shekinah will be the “masterful mystery.” Then they tell me that the cult symbolism I do select must go right for the gut, it must get you right there in the pit of the stomach...: “a symbolism for the preservation and stimulation of moral sentiments and religious loyalties.” (965:24-25)

 

A cult IS “a symbolism of rituals, slogans, or goals.” (966:34) It MUST “foster sentiment, satisfy emotion, and promote loyalty.” Now that’s some worship service! It has to evoke emotion and sentiment, BE emotional, yet we can’t have people jumping up and speaking in tongues, for that, say the midwayers, is nothing more than “foolish outbreaks of rampant emotionalism.” (2062:32) God forbid! We have to get people emotional, but not TOO emotional!

 

So that means some kind of religious “show,” a ceremonial, but it has to keep changing, it would appear, for we are not to have “cramping, deforming, and stifling stereotyped ceremonials.” (966:37-39)

 

SHEKINAH ... Page 3

 

So we have to make people emotional, but not too emotional. And we cannot, must not use fear, frighten them. The midwayers warn: “But religious leaders are making a great mistake when they try to call modern man to spiritual battle with the trumpet blasts of the Middle Ages. Religion must provide itself with new and up-to-date slogans.” (2077:28-30) What does this mean? “GRACELAND, GRACELAND, HERE I COME. DO DAH. DO DAH!”

 

Then, as if this wasn’t challenge enough, they want do-at-home, do-at-church compatibility, a sort of “take-out” Shekinah. “The forms of any serviceable symbolism must be those which the individual can carry out on his own initiative, and which he can also enjoy with his fellows.” (966:29-31) Indeed, one “carries” the Shekinah home, as one brought it, AS the indwelling Thought Adjuster.

 

“The old cults were too egocentric -- i.e. the priests’ egos -- I think this is what they are talking about when they say: “Only with revealed religion did autocratic and intolerant theologic egotism appear.” (1012:26-27) I guess someone who claimed to be the “authority” on just what WAS revealed or not revealed. Papal infallibility.

 

Our cult and its worship must “...facilitate spiritual progress, enhance cosmic meanings, augment moral values, encourage social development, and stimulate a high type of personal spiritual living...provide supreme goals of living which axe both temporal and eternal -- social and spiritual.” (966:14-16) That’s easy for them to say!

 

They want the “family” high up in the list of priorities in designing the cult. It must be family-oriented, for: “No cult can endure and contribute to the progress of social civilization and individual spiritual attainment unless it is based on the biologic, sociologic, and religious significance of the HOME.” (966:18-20)

 

This emotional aspect-need in our worship must somehow exceed the dead level of theologic precision for: “...the power of any idea lies, not in its certainty or truth, but rather in the vividness of its human appeal.” (1005:46-47)

 

So this is no easy challenge, formulating a new-old religion (the Master’s religion) in the forms and styles of 20th century thought and living.

 

They help us in formulating the Family of God, an example of a religion which is to be “suddenly revealed,” (1012:21) by telling us to be aware of tradition. They suggest that somehow we must have “the old...mixed with the new.” (1012:22-23)

 

Logic tells me that such an umbrella religion does not, cannot just throw but all existing religions and replace them with a new one. Rather, it must TAKE-IN and CONSERVE all existing religions. Preserve them for posterity.

 

Still, this is a challenge, if only because of the plethora of sects, cults and religions. They warn us: we “...Can never hope to attain a uniformity of creeds, dogmas, and rituals -- these are intellectual; but they can, and some day will, realize a unity in true worship of the Father of all, for this is spiritual, and it is forever true, in the spirit all men are equal.” (1012:37-40) Our worship service must create the EFFECT of worshipful unity, amidst differing creeds. Then they throw a few more clues on how best to proceed. They repeatedly suggest this blending of old and new idea: “Religion can never become a scientific fact. Philosophy may, indeed, rest on a scientific basis, but religion will ever remain either evolutionary or revelatory, or a possible combination of both, as it is in the world today.” (1012:17-20)

 

Eclecticism is also the order of the day: “Religionists would do better to borrow the best in their neighbor’s living spiritual faith rather than to denounce the worst in their lingering superstitions and outworn rituals.” (1012:33-35)

 

Ezekiel gets a pat on the back for doing all this correctly: “In place of destroying all ritual, they would do better to reform it. In this respect Ezekiel was wiser

 

SHEKINAH ... page 4

 

than his contemporaries; though he joined with them in insisting on personal moral responsibility he also set out to establish the faithful observance of a superior and purified ritual.” (1076:24-28)

 

I touch upon some of these things, as Ezekiel saw them in GRACELAND on pages 58 to 60 of my “End of the World etc” paper.

 

So now as we approach this composite end-times omni- religion which I must proclaim to a very frightened world, we -review Section 5 on page 1005, THE NATURE OF EVOLUTIONARY RELIGION.

 

ON to their shopping list of “cardinal religious ideas” from 1005:33-40, we can add a few more, and from this expanded shopping list do we have to formulate our “ritual”:

 

Processionals, and Recessionals -- i.e. “ceremonial” goings-in and comings-out of the conductors of worship with exaltation of an iconographic item like a crucifix

 

Incense

 

Statuary and other iconography, like Stations of the Cross (in Roman Catholicism)

 

In-temple shrines

 

Ringing of bells

Blowing of trumpets (Elijah is supposed to blow the Shofar to signify the return of the Shekinah)

 

Vigil lamps, or other ritual uses of fire (Zoroastrianism)

 

Choirs

 

Organs

 

Orchestras

 

Religious pageants acted out

 

Group prayer aloud -- group prayer response

 

Incantation by conductors of worship

 

Time for silent worship as a group

 

Various and sundry passings of hands, e.g. the “blessing” symbol of Roman Catholicism Splashing or dipping of holy water, even baptism

 

Hand-greeting to fellow worshippers eg Rev. Robert Schuller’s: “God loves you, and so do I!”

 

Partaking of the sacrament of bread and wine, “without ecclesiastical sanction”

(1943:3)

 

Speaking in tongues

 

Rolling in the aisles (I’m kidding!)

 

Processions with “Monstrances” as in Roman Catholicism or the parading of the scroll as “law” in Jewry

 

Laying prostrate by the conductors of worship

 

Group hymn singing

 

Performances by performers

 

Praying on carpets in standing, kneeling and prostate poses (Muslims)

 

And if we tried to do all this: group -vomiting based on cult-fear!

 

The list is endless. In the latter case, must we provide prayer carpets for Moslems in attendance, facing east toward Mecca? Will they refuse to attend if required to sit in seats? Must our seats have kneeling benches as in many Catholic and Protestant churches, but which might freak out those accustomed to just “sitting”?

 

Any group activity or movement in which the congregation is expected to  participate, like the Roman Catholic practice of “genuflecting” -- quickly kneeling, and then just as quickly, jumping up again -- is going to be rejected by those unfamiliar with it or disinclined to do it because “it’s too cultish.”

 

Hugging has become a big thing in the Urantia movement, along with circular group hand-holding. But I can see some people objecting to this, or to a handshake greeting, especially if it is say, a Muslim greeting a Jew. Still, I like the random handshake greeting as Rev. Schuller uses it in the Crystal Cathedral at Garden Grove.

 

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I have taken you on this round-about-route to an understanding of the Shekinah _____ , so that you can see where it fits in to the larger scenario.

 

Christianity began with a potluck supper at somebody’s home. An apostle or leader probably “spoke” homiletically (i.e. a sermon) and with exhortation to righteous living. Then they solemnly remembered the Master with a special toast of bread and wine. In time, this changed... “his simple spiritual symbolism of that last night in the flesh has been reduced to precise interpretations and subjected to the almost mathematical precision of a set formula. Of all Jesus’ teachings none have become more tradition-standardized.” (1942:32-35) Sometimes, they’d read letters, like those of Paul or Peter.

 

They seem to me to ‘be pointing us back in this direction. The Midwayers are almost, snide on page 2067 when they observe: “In these days they celebrated the Lord’s Supper after the manner of its establishment; that is, they assembled for a social meal of good fellowship and partook of the sacrament at the end of the meal.” So there!

 

A Melchizedek (I think Lord Machiventa) repeated this, or had earlier stated this same principle as to the MEANING of the Remembrance Supper: “Jesus did not require of his followers that they should periodically assemble and recite a form of words indicative of their common beliefs. He only ordained that they should gather together to actually DO SOMETHING. -- partake of the communal supper of the remembrance of his bestowal life on Urantia.” (1091:43-46)

 

Now you must also remember _____ , that in doing all these things, particularly attempting to formulate a new “cult” which will carry us over to the FACT of the religious social ambience of Graceland, i.e. inter-faith fellowship, I have some other circumstance to bear in mind.

 

When the Urantia Papers were completed Doctor Sadler was told that in the planetary governing councils, the Angels of the Churches had been given custody of the revelation for its first period on earth (I heard “100 years,” Clyde Bedell thought it was more like 50, and I’m inclined to believe him) Then, the Progress Angels take over and we’re off to the races.

 

Any damn fool can see that this transition IS GRACELAND. Now look at the philosophical framework in which these conservative Religious Guardians work. (Page 1255) They are “earnest contenders for that which is and has been ... maintain the ideals of that which has survived for the sake of the safe transit of moral values from one epoch (the fourth - now) to another (the fifth - Graceland). They seek to ease the shock of transition by preserving “the imperishable values of the old and passing forms into the new and therefore less stabilized patterns of thought and conduct.” Then they tell us one of the ways they do this...”These angels do contend for spiritual forms” (by which I assume they mean at least partially, rituals, ceremony.) Finally, these “forms” seek to breakdown inter-religious barriers, or are designed to: “they are not the source of ultrasectarianism and meaningless controversial divisions of professed religionists.”

 

As you will recall from the copy of a part of the pre-inaugural-board-meeting letter I sent to the board of Elijah Ministry, I have six bosses in my work, including these Religious Guardians. So it behooves me to well note the above “philosophy” of theirs, and try to follow it as best I can.

 

Remember, in this prophetic job, I do not act in my own right, but only as an AGENT of these beings in whose hands these things are actually placed for administration and human guidance.

 

I think you can now see _____ the direction in which I HAD TO GO, in attempting to formulate the eschatological religion, the re-stated Jesusonian religion delivered from 19 centuries of dogmatism.

 

SHEKINAH ... PAGE 6

 

As I surveyed the prophetic literature of old, I well noted the importance the Messianic Banquets would have in Graceland. I will spend a whole chapter on them in my book GRACELAND: PARADISE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

 

I concluded that we must first re-establish this idea of dining together. We must assemble and encourage people of all faiths to come to a non-denominational evening of good food, libation, even a religious “floor show” of hilarious entertainment, as well as inspirational thoughts -- all of it well-produced, so that people look forward to the Sunday Night Messianic Banquets at our temples.

 

Without any great ceremony, we end the meal with a toast to the Master.

 

This idea forms itself nicely into a “Celebrate Graceland” television broadcast which I expect will be the broadcast vehicle for this ministry, if the board goes along. The broadcast effectively begins with the after-dinner floor-show while people are-finishing their coffee and aperitifs.

 

The “commercials” in this show -- four two-minute spots per half hour  are Elijah’s actual message of deliverance by faith into a New Earth.

 

Still, this left me with a temple that would be solely used for “partying” which I wasn’t completely happy with. And people have become accustomed in a religious sense to “solemn assembly to worship and pray.” I had to provide as well for these people who may not take well to the idea of religion-as-Sunday-night-partying.

 

One thing was certain  the temple worship service must do and be all the above things, but especially it must preserve and conserve the great truths of the world’s religions. One week we should focus our service on “the religion of Judaism” or “the truths of Judaism.” The next week “the religion of Buddhism.” Then “Islamic beliefs” and so on, for all the world’s major religions, including the, sect-divided Christianity (there I go criticizing Christianity. Yes? I have to watch out. You can see why they warned me!)

 

The “iconography” of the temple is something else I have given thought to and this is where the Shekinah comes in. I want the center circle of the triconcentric temple to include three crosses, with statuary on them, everything just as it looked that day on Calvary. I can see one section where we have a statue of Maitreya Buddha, the so-called “smiling Buddha” because he is an embodiment of Melchizedek. We might have a statue or painting of Kalkin of Hinduism, for he too is a prophetic embodiment of the coming of Machiventa. And other symbols borrowed from different religions.

 

From the Urantia Papers, I want to use the idea of three concentric lighted domes (i.e. glowing) for this is the precise physical circumstances of the Paradise Deities in their abode. If we axe going to have a tabernacle or “holy of holies” idea, the in-temple focal point of Deity-location, as it were, then what better than an actual representation of how they exist in reality where they live? Paradise-as-pattern.

 

In order to evoke the idea of the future universe broadcasts and to improve viewability” in such a massive temple, I also see’,” the possibility of three triangularly-mounted projection screens also centrally located (so that the people in the back can better see what is going on down front in the sanctuary pf the Bestowal Son --the centermost circle).

 

But there is more to the presence of these screens. In many ways, in the design and operation of this temple(s), I feel we should anticipate the morontia temple which is only about one thousand years away. (Page 622, Sec. 1) Yet, in describing this temple, ironically, they sort of imply by inference JUST WHAT should go on in

 

SHEKINAH … PAGE 7

 

the humanly constructed temples which pre-exist it. On 622 they say the morontia temples are NOT “used for worship, play, or for receiving broadcasts.” From this I infer they are saying that precisely these things are what OUR temples should be used for.

 

Worship comes easily into the imagination. But a temple for “play”? A temple for watching the universe “broadcasts”?

 

Okay, the play idea I develop into family and child-oriented activities, a portion of the temple reserved to that end, as well as the use of the second or “Son” ring as a vast dining hall for the banquets, or “Lord’s Suppers.” Again, here is a need for broadcasting-type screens. People sitting 180 degrees around the ring from the head table can hear the speeches, but certainly not see the speaker. This too can be solved by strategically located projection screens with a camera on the speaker.

 

I felt the screens were also needed in the temple proper, particularly if the architects thereof plan on sitting people in the Spirit ring, a long ways away from events going on in the Sanctuary of the Bestowal Son. Besides, these screens anticipate the projection of the universe broadcasts in the Jerusalem and other local temples of Graceland, which these words on page 622 seem to suggest.

 

So in the midst of all this, the Shekinah, which we have “borrowed” from Judaism in our “something borrowed, something blue” eschatological religion becomes the focus of attention.

 

The Shekinah is our embodiment of “some masterful mystery” (966:27) It evokes a sense of cosmic citizenship, the shaft of light appearing or seeming to be coming in through the roof from the cosmos. The “sound” of the Shekinah, which I will take up in a minute, evokes the omnipotence of God, but also through its characteristic tones, His harmony. The music of the spheres.

 

The masterful mystery is achieved, or will be effected, by the SECRECY in which I would like us to surround the Shekinah. Everyone and anyone who goes to work on the Shekinah Development Team, or whatever name it shall be known by, will take an oath of solemn secrecy not ever to disclose ANYTHING about the operation of the Shekinah, even if they should subsequently leave the team. The oath is binding throughout their mortal lives, under penalty of Divine sanction. Gulp!

 

I wish to see the Shekinah developed so skillfully in its technical design and operation, that when it is turned on, it immediately evokes miracle-like awe, a profound reaction in the depths of the soul redounding to truth, beauty and goodness.

 

The Shekinah is a SYMBOL and only a SYMBOL of the Divine Presence in a social, objective sense. The FACT of the Divine Presence IS the Thought Adjusters, but these are subjective, personal, inside each worshipper. The Shekinah externalizes the Adjusters into a shaft of visible and powerful light, in a symbolic sense.

 

The Shekinah is an EFFECT, but a powerful and transformative effect. Even the most cynical empirical scientists observing it may be inclined to say: “This is nothing but a gimmick. But what a gimmick! My God!”

 

The Shekinah is THE mechanism that enables us to do all these things called for above like fostering emotion, satisfying sentiment, Promoting devotion and loyalty, and all of this amidst a setting and gathering of human brotherhood and sistership. (sisterhood? sisterliness?)

 

At some point in the worship service, I see the conductor of worship take the Great

Censer with its glowing coals made ready by acolytes or the equivalent, deposit the incense and then cense in a full circle round about the domes and into the now fluxing Shekinah (i.e. gradually increasing in intensity of brilliance).

 

SHEKINAH … PAGE 8

 

Now, the conductor of worship, acolytes and anybody else with him in the sanctuary assume a pose of humble submission, kneeling, sitting with head bowed, and on profound occasions, even lying down full prostrate.

 

As the Shekinah reaches full brilliance, the incense smoke rising within its precinct of light and narrowly delineating its shaft-like quality, a second light projector (slide or animation) operating from the side, projects an image onto the column of rising smoke.

 

What image? The Hook lithograph of Jesus? (The one which hangs in my living room, and now, Norm Du Val’s). Perhaps Lenard Faller’s beautiful and colorful prismatic construction of the relationships of trinities, triodities, triunities, and so on? Perhaps some -other animation of color or movement which EVOKES a sense of Deity Presence? I’m not sure.

 

As the Shekinah rises in light brilliance, an attendee will also become aware of a base note, its CHARACTERISTIC rest-sound, if you like. A barely audible and very low base note. To find the appropriate tone, I have toyed with the idea of cyclic multiples using Deity numbers, three and seven, to achieve the base note. Humans can’t hear anything much below 20 Hertz or cycles per second, so that means just about the lowest possible note would be 21 Hertz (3 times 7).

 

On the other hand, the scales of present day music are developed up through powers of 2. Middle “C” is 256 cycles per second or ~56 Hertz. That’s 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2, or 2⁷. This would seem to suggest a lowest possible base note of 32 Hertz. Somewhere there is a tone that will have an almost mystical or magical resonance quality. And THAT’S the tone we want. In any case, the “sound” show associated with the Shekinah now goes into beautiful tonal relationships, based on the Trinity idea, three tones related to three tones related to three tones, for a “grouping” of nine tones, symbolizing the Paradise Trinity. The sound will also have the effect of symbolizing God’s “entrance,” i.e. announcing His arrival or Presence.

 

This tone-show occupies only a few seconds, I would say no more than 30 to 45 seconds at the most, and then falls silent, except for the base note signifying the ongoing Presence. In this period of comparative silence, lasting perhaps a minute or more, people present engage in solemn worship, each person perhaps with head bowed, or on knees, or prostrate in the case of the Muslims on their carpets (assuming we install them).

 

Even for those who prefer to just stare at the Shekinah, they have the lingering rising smoke from the censer, and the lingering associated image projected onto the smoke. As the smoke clears, the projected image begins to vanish, we sense that the Shekinah-show is over with.

 

One by one, starting with the smallest innermost or “Father” dome, the domes flux their light, gradually brighter and then gradually returning to their base “glow.” At the same time the Shekinah begins to dim. What we have done in effect, is to duplicate the “pattern” of Paradise worship, “the threefold fluctuation of the light of the Deity abode, signifying that the divine heart of the Gods has been fully and completely satisfied by the sincere worship of the residents of Paradise...” (304:49 - 305:2)

 

This will be a tough act to follow, so I see it coming at the conclusion of the inter-faith service, followed perhaps only by closing prayers for the world or for Kingdom Come, whatever, and the recessional hymn, or whatever mechanism we then choose to wrap things up.

 

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Now all this should give you a pretty good feel _____ about just HOW I NOW see the Shekinah operating in our temples. I am open to suggestions and counter thoughts from the board, so that we can perfect the w-hole system into a deeply moving and divinely profound experience. Remember, we are to promote loyalty and devotion, i.e. “keep ‘em coming back each week,” whether to watch this spiritual-extravaganza in the flesh in the temple, or via television in some foreign land.

 

People must see the Shekinah as something amazing to behold in its power over their imaginations.

 

The Shekinah is thus pseudo-miraculous, just like the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven will be. And the secrecy, the mystery creates the subliminal impression that there JUST MIGHT BE something REALLY miraculous connected with it, I mean why are Elijah and his people so secretive about this, oaths and everything?

 

I like to compare the Shekinah to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation in the Roman Catholic faith in which I grew up. Transubstantiation declares that something profound, something amazing happens when a priest reaches the consecration in the Catholic mass. It was even more dramatic in the old days, before Vatican Two brought in the colloquial. With sundry waving of hands and elevations of host and chalice, the priest would intone in Latin the “magic words,” and somehow this chalice no longer contained common wine, the wine had become the blood of the Master. And the little hosts, crafted by so many nuns in their little convent bakeries, were no longer discs of unleavened bread, they had been CHANGED into the body of Jesus Christ awaiting the solemn and head-bowed taking-on-the-tongue of the faithful, now coming to the altar call of communion.

 

This was the EFFECT of transubstantiation -- the substance of bread and wine magically transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus through the religious “Power” of the ordained priest. You can see why this “religion of authority’; as the Papers call it, has such a holding power on its devotees.

 

The Shekinah must give us the same holding power, but not to the end of evoking religious “authority,” but religious brotherhood, the family of God’s children worshipping Him together, in anticipation of the great days of deliverance into Kingdom Come, Graceland. AND God coming to BE WITH these children of His salvation.

 

Now I have enclosed a number of entries from the Encyclopedia Judaica which will give you some background on the Shekinah as it was seen in Jewry.

 

God tells Moses: “I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.” (Lev 16:2)

 

It is from these words that I partially derived the idea of attempting to project perhaps a face onto the rising smoke within the Shekinah, God appearing “in the cloud.” Problem is, we can’t be sure about what he looked like (Michael), until we see his face in Graceland on the universe broadcasts. We are forced to evoke an image of what he “might have” looked like, which can only be at most a partial truth.

 

Remember the mercy seat was “the golden covering of the ark of the covenant, in which the tables of the law were deposited.” Crudens p. 429 (cf. Exodus 25:17-22)

 

The ark was kept in the innermost sanctuary of the tented tabernacle (of the wandering

days of the Mosaic Jews) or of the Solomonic or Herodian temple structures of later

days in Jerusalem. It was within the “holy of holies” behind the veil of separation, an area to which only the priests had access.

 

We are told of the 12-year old Jesus on his first visit to Jerusalem, that he was

fascinated and wide-eyed about this secret place for he made “a few visits to the holy of holies to gaze in wonder as to what really was behind the veil of separation.” (1380:4-5)

 

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The Shekinah WAS God, re-located if you like, from the Sinai volcano where he normally “lived” moving and dwelling with his “people,” Israel, as they wandered in the desert and eventually settled in Palestine. God dwells (shakhen) in the milieu of His people in the tabernacle (mishkan) and eventually in His house on Mount Zion, the “temple mount” in Jerusalem, where today stand two Islamic mosques.

 

The tabernacle in effect, was God’s “tent” pitched in the midst of the tents of His people.

 

It’s easy to see that the “secrecy” associated with the Shekinah, its “off limits” quality to the ordinary Jew and privileged access to Aaronic or Levitical priests only, enabled these same priests to MAINTAIN the mystery. You can be sure that if asked whether they actually “saw” the shaft of light between the seraphim at each end of the mercy seat, the priests would acknowledge that they DID, that the Shekinah was real and WAS present. And who could argue? The priest himself believed it somehow MUST be there, just as Catholics believe that Jesus is INSIDE the host. The Shekinah also served as the Divine instruction giver for Moses: “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.” (Ex 25:22)

 

In our application of the Shekinah, the ark has become replaced by the dome symbol of Paradise Deity dwelling BECAUSE Elijah’s mission includes the task of Messenger of the Covenant. And the New Covenant of my proclamation is awareness of the Thought Adjusters, the “law written upon men’s hearts” as Jeremiah prophesied. of my work, rather than stone tablets of “law” carefully kept in an ark or chest. The law IS God. This is what they mean in the Papers when they say, “Law is life itself and not the rules of its conduct.” (555:5) God is life, IS law. And this is manifested IN REALITY as a Father sitting at the head of, and very much loved by, His family. The family of Israel has become the worldwide Family of God.

 

So the Shekinah was mysterious and secret, but it was real, at the level of genuine faith, even as transubstantiation is REAL for a Catholic, even though to our outward observation the priest is still holding a disc of bread and a chalice of wine.

 

“And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.” Numbers 7:89

 

There are other references in the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible supposedly written by Moses himself -- actually many of the words axe his) to the Shekinah at Ex 26:34, Ex 29:43-46, Ex 37:6 ff, and Ex 40:34 ff) Note especially in Ex 40:34 in the long discourse on the cloud: “the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night.” See also Ex 33:7-11

 

This brings us to the pillar of fire idea. When you read my GRACELAND chapter “The Real Flight of the Phoenix,” you’ll recall my revealing that the ancient writers (Jewish sages today call them the “Deuteronomists”) who re-wrote the Pentateuch during the captivity in the sixth century (when Genesis hadn’t even been written yet) came upon an apocalypse about the end of the world, written by Moses, and mistakenly incorporated elements of the apocalypse into the miraculous Red Sea deliverance story of Exodus. And the lingering beliefs in the Shekinah probably had something to do with this.

 

SHEKINAH … PAGE 11

 

As Moses saw the nukes of the end-times with eye of prophetic insight, he described them as “pillars of fire” or “pillars of cloud” a very apt description for the central rising column of the mushroom clouds.

 

At the hands of the Deuteronomists, these got transformed in Exodus into the means by which God (the Shekinah) led the wandering Israelites through the desert:

 

“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.” Ex 13:21-22

 

In Jewish tradition the cloud also came to be an indicator of JUST WHEN Yahweh was visiting and talking with Moses, a signal to ALL the people of Jewry:

 

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Lo, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.’” (EX 19:9)

 

And this supposed fact would evoke a worshipful response in the people:

 

“And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, every man at his tent door. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Ex 33:10-11

 

Concerning the “sound” of the Shekinah:

 

“On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled .... and Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.” Ex 19:16-19

 

Holy smokes! This is grand spectacle straight out of Stephen Spielberg or George Lucas epics. Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Cecil B. DeMille all wrapped up in one.

 

The story becomes all the more dramatic as the people panic and in effect say nervously to Moses: “This is too much! Look, you talk to God, and then tell us what He said”:

 

“Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off, and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.’” Ex 20:18-19

 

Moses showed extraordinary understanding of human nature when he picked this camping spot at the foot of a fulminating volcano! Little wonder the authors of the Papers call him “The Matchless Moses.” With all this natural volcanism going on, he didn’t need any matches! Remember _____ , to some degree, we are leading the second Exodus to the Promised

 

SHEKINAH … PAGE 12

 

Land. Graceland is the “land of milk and honey” that will be our deliverance from the slavery of materialism and destructive war.

 

If Moses and Jewish tradition can evoke so powerful a sound-light imagery for the Mount Sinai theophany or “Divine manifestation,” you can imagine the challenge we have. When this Shekinah comes on, the temple should feel like it is about to lift off itself and fly us to Graceland! This Shekinah MUST evoke profound awe, and inspiring devotion. It must SEEM like what God IS. Powerful, awe-inspiring.

 

Now on comes the captivity, the exile. In 587 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon invades Palestine just as Jeremiah predicted, razes the temple and mass deports the Jewish people into Babylon where they will remain until Cyrus II frees them around 538 B.C.

 

“When the Temple was destroyed and Israel went into exile, the Shekhina [another acceptable spelling] went with them and lamented the fate of her children [I’ll explain the “her” in a minute] and of her desecrated sanctuary.” Patai, “The Messiah Texts” page 182

 

I’m not exactly sure how or why, but while the Shekinah traditionally is believed to have gone into exile with the Jews, a point is reached where it seems to just disappear.

 

Did it return with the returning Jews of 538 B.C. under the high priest-ruler Zerubbabel? If so, did it withdraw during the Greek atrocities in the temple around 168 B.C. which saw the death of Onias the High priest then?

 

I don’t know the answer, except to say that by Jesus’ day it had become generally accepted that the Shekinah had abandoned Israel and would not return until the end of time. The Midwayers note:

 

“The Jews had been brought up to believe in the doctrine of the SHEKINAH. But this reputed symbol of the Divine Presence was not to be seen in the temple. They believed that the coming of the Messiah would effect its restoration.” Urantia Book 1510:11-13

 

Note the reference to it as merely a “reputed symbol.” They could have just written “symbol.” That would have been enough to tell us it was not the real thing, only a representation. “Reputed” as an adjective almost demeans it. In any case, we must be careful in all our ministrations, use of, and references to, the Shekinah NEVER, absolutely NEVER to call it the “Actual Presence of God,” for this it is NOT. It is the collective symbol of His Presence which IS REAL inside the minds of every worshipping mortal. The temple building is rendered Divine NOT by the presence of the Shekinah or the symbolic glowing domes, it is rendered Divine when a single human being sets foot in its precincts. For THEN, God IS ACTUALLY PRESENT INSIDE THAT PERSON.

 

On occasion the Talmud or collection of authoritative interpretive writings of the Jews of just before Jesus’ days and just after, frankly admits the symbolic level or quality of the Shekinah. Note the words in the Ency. Jud. article I have enclosed entitled SHEKHINAH:

 

“It is also possible to take a somewhat demythologized view of the rabbinic conception of the SHEKHINAH, for such a view is even expressed in the talmudic literature itself, albeit as the opinion of a single individual; “R. (-Rabbi) Yose said, ‘The SHEKHINAH never came down to the world below, nor did Moses ... ascend on high.’” (Sukkoth 5a tractate) A symbol is a symbol is a symbol and is not the real thing.

 

SHEKINAH … PAGE 13

 

The POWER of the symbol lies in its ability to evoke a reaction TO the real thing it symbolizes. The symbol sets the stage, the imagination enacts the play.

 

In time, the Shekinah symbol grew into something larger. It became the Matronit, what Patai calls “the personified female aspect of God, who is also identified with the community of Israel.” (Patai, The Messiah Texts, p. 123)

 

This is interesting, because it has a lot of parallels with the Eternal Mother Son of Paradise idea, as the second person of Eternal Deity is so described in the Papers.

 

Patai calls the Matronit, as this idea was developed in the Kabbala (Jewish mystical literature) “the spouse of God the King. The passage describing the Matronit’s misery as she laments over her desolate bedchamber, the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem temple, is one of the - most moving scenes contained in the entire Kabalistic literature.” (p. 181)

 

Moses had presented the Jews with the idea that they were the “bride of Yahweh,” as such, the Shekinah became the “divine archetype of KNESSET YISRAEL (the community of Israel)” as Seltzer notes in “Jewish People, Jewish Thought.” (page 430)

 

Indeed Seltzer further notes that the idea in time became panhistorical, pancultural, panmoralistic:

 

“The most important rabbinic designation for God’s presence in the world is Shekhinah, based on the biblical expression that God dwells (shakhen) in the midst of his people, in the Tabernacle (mishkan) during the wilderness wanderings and in his house on Mount Zion. But the application of Shekhinah is enlarged to apply to God’s relation to history and to all moral-religious behavior.” (Seltzer pp. 287-88)

 

Similarly, Ringgren notes in “Israelite Religion”:

 

“God’s presence is referred to by the word ‘Shekhina’ (lit. ‘dwelling’). It - originally referred to God’s presence in the Temple; it therefore comes to be used when God enters into relationship with men.” (P. 308)

 

Bear in mind, that Elijah’s duty of Messenger of the New Covenant the proclamation of the reality of the Thought Adjusters is to some degree, a representation of God entering into a new “relationship with men.”

 

As Patai has recorded:

 

“At the third blast of the Great Shofar (trumpet) by the prophet Elijah, the Shekinah will appear.” (P-182)

 

The “feminine divine entity” idea, may also make it easier for me to introduce the other two Persons of Deity, the Eternal Mother Son and the Infinite Spirit to the Jews:

 

“The Shekhina (‘Dwelling’) is the personified Presence of God. In the Talmudic period, the Shekhina was identified with the ‘Holy Spirit.’ These concepts, originally imagined as hypostatic (personality of the Godhead) aspects of the Deity, gradually assumed an independent character and cane to be conceived as something like a feminine divine entity. (Both Hebrew terms are of the feminine gender.) Still in Talmudic times, the Shekhina became identified with the ‘Community of Israel’ (also a feminine term), and as such represented Israel in its relationship with God.” (Patai, Page 181-182)

 

SHEKINAH … PAGE 14

 

_____, I now come down to a few final remarks about the Shekinah, especially the “fire from heaven” idea, which bear worthy note.

 

Recall that fusion of a mortal is described in such terms as a blinding flashing light:

 

“This fusion during physical life instantly consumes the material body; the human beings who might witness such a spectacle would only observe the translating mortal disappear ‘in chariots of fire’” Urantia 1212:22-24

 

They are of course, referring to Elijah’s translation described in 2 Kings 11.

 

This is some light, some energy! Consider the morontia temple of our millennial future:

 

“It is because the translation temple is composed of morontia material that it is not destroyed by the blazing glory of the consuming fire which so completely obliterates the physical bodies of these mortals who therein experience final fusion with their divine Adjusters.” 622:35-39

 

“A circle of intervening celestial personalities is arranged to protect the material mortals from the action of the energies manifest at the instant of the ‘life flash’ which delivers the ascension candidates from the bonds of material flesh...” 623:27-30

 

Now you can see _____, why I am telling you the indoor Shekinah is going to have to have a megawatt power comparable to that used to generate the Sign in heaven.

 

The Shekinah, in its faith tradition, also seemed to be the agency of consuming the divine sacrifices in the Mosaic tabernacle days:

 

“And fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” Leviticus 9:24

 

Well I guess so! Far out!

 

Around the 10th century B.C. Elijah, in his “demonstration” sacrifice described in 1 Kings 18, calls down the “fire of the Lord” to ignite the drenched sacrifice and wood, to the legendary amazement of all. (1 Kings 18:38)

 

The Chronicler’s account of the dedication of the first temple, the Solomonic temple in Jerusalem in the later tenth century, reads:

 

“When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.” (2 Chron 7:1)

 

The latter words describe the EFFECT we too are attempting to achieve, a manifestation of the “glory of the Lord.”

 

When the Jews dedicated a Jerusalem-like temple in Leontopolis Egypt circa 160 B.C. legend has it that a Phoenix appeared and self-immolated along with the sacrifices.

 

SHEKINAH … PAGE 15

 

Van den Broek, in his seminal work “The Myth of the Phoenix,” which was immensely valuable to me in writing the chapter about our big bird friend in Graceland, notes:

 

“The fire from heaven is a sign that the event has divine approval; it legitimizes the sacrifice. The appearance of the Phoenix indicates that the event in question is by God’s will the beginning of a new time, of a new era in the history of salvation.” P. 121

 

We are at just such a crossroads right now. To some degree the power and meaning of our Shekinah manifestation is to assist in legitimizing the third Elijah, yours truly, in his eschatological explanations. The Jews for example, will be quick to reason: “if the Shekinah has come, and THAT sure looks like what I would EXPECT the Shekinah to be like, then we must conclude the end and the Messiah have also come, or will arrive soon.”

 

Van den Broek had earlier noted:

 

“If the first sacrifice in the desert, the first sacrifice in the temple (i.e. Solomon’s), and the highly significant sacrifice of Elijah were all sanctioned by the divine fire from heaven, it was obvious to assume that the first sacrifice would also have been lighted in the same manner ... a divine omen at first sacrifice.” P. 20

 

So you can see _____ , the Shekinah is no high-priced gimmick. It is the long prophesied fulfillment of end-times circumstances, legitimizer of the eschatological Elijah who would appear from all the traditions to be its custodian, as it were. It is a majestic symbol of the coming of the Divine Presence realized IN FACT in the universal outpouring of Thought Adjusters since Jesus left this world. It is certainly a worthy “ritual” aspect of the worship planned for the third temple to the Father on Urantia, destined albeit, like the first two to perish.

 

But it will be nice while we have it!

 

[Apologies for any remaining scan/ocr errors. –Norm]