The partial failure of the Fourth Epochal Revelation that eventually led to the current stagnation of Christianity, was brought about by two major misrepresentations of Jesus' message to mankind. One of these was actually the primary reason that the message survived at all--the introduction of the concept that Jesus' death on the cross somehow induced God to forgive mankind for their personal and their inherited sin.

At the time of Jesus, many people, Jew and gentile included, carried an enormous burden of guilt. This is not surprising when seen in the light of certain revelations in the Urantia Papers.

There we are informed that morality and virtue are indigenous to human personality, and that moral and spiritual insights are innate in the cosmic mind that endows all will creatures. (192/3)

Morality then, is not simply the result of learned behavior patterns. A moral sense is an ever present part of us, felt by all men and women regardless of race and religion.

Historians tell us that it was an ineffable sense of relief from that burden of guilt that was primarily responsible for Christianity spreading like wildfire throughout the Roman Empire. This was the direct effect of the doctrine that Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross at Gethsemane was accepted by God as the full, vicarious ransom for our sins. For many people, this same doctrine is as powerful today as it was in the first and second centuries.

The second misrepresentation came about through neglect. Three of the gospels, Matthew, Luke, and John, and also the epistles of John and Paul provide incontrovertible evidence the early Christians clearly understood that we humans are indwelt by both the spirit of the Father and the Spirit of Truth to provide direct spiritual insight for all those who are reaching out  for God.

By ignoring these teachings, the ordained ministers of the churches were able to insert themselves as mediators and interpreters between man and God--and so usurp enormous powers unto themselves. Jesus' real teaching differed. It stressed the personal relationship between the individual and their God. This usurpation of power remains entrenched in the rituals, liturgies, and teachings of all Christian churches. Christians are baptized, married, forgiven, and buried by an ordained clergy acting as mediators. Often, this is a cash transaction.

But having recognized that such problems exist, we also need to become thoroughly aware that ranting against the faults of the churches is far more likely to drive people away from both church and God rather than bring them into a closer relationship to the God who indwells them.

Undoubtedly, the authors of the Urantia Papers were fully aware of these difficulties, and the possible means of their cure. Perhaps this is shown by the many repetitions, in different forms, of one basic message, "You may preach a religion about Jesus, but, perforce, you must live the religion of Jesus." (1569, 2043, 2044, 2091, etc.)

At the commencement of Part 4, "The Life of Jesus," in a conversation between Immanuel and Michael prior to Jesus' bestowal, we can read: "Your great mission to be realized and experienced in the mortal incarnation is embraced in your decision to live a life wholeheartedly motivated to do the will of your Paradise Father, thus to reveal God, your Father, in the flesh and especially to the creatures of the flesh….Exhibit in your one short life in the flesh...  the transcendent possibilities attainable by a God-knowing human during the short career of mortal existence. (1328)

Throughout the intervening years, many prominent individuals have dismissed the actual life of Jesus as being an ideal attainable only for a divine being. The Urantia Papers do not permit this interpretation. Instead the authors impose it upon us as a "must" directive from Jesus for all who comprehend his revelation:

"Your mission to the world is founded on the fact that I lived a God-revealing life among you; on the truth that you and all other men are the sons of God; and it shall consist in the life which you will live among men--the actual and living experience of loving men and serving them, even as I have loved and served you." (2043) And the use of "shall" as an imperative emphasizes that this is more of a command than mere advice.

How do we go about living as Jesus lived? To the disciples at Alexandria, he said: "Peace be upon you. That which my Father sent me into the world to establish belongs not to a race, a nation, nor to a special group of teachers or preachers. This gospel of the kingdom belongs to both Jew and gentile, to rich and poor, to free and bond, to male and female, even to the little children. And you are all to proclaim this gospel of love and truth by the lives which you live in the flesh.

"You shall love one another with a new and startling affection, even as I have loved you. You will serve mankind with a new and amazing devotion, even as I have served you. And when men see you so love them, and when they behold how fervently you serve them, they will perceive that you have become faith-fellows of the kingdom of heaven, and they will follow after the Spirit of Truth which they see in your lives, to the finding of eternal salvation." (2044)

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For the eventual transformation of the world (which surely must be the purpose behind the gift of the Urantia Papers), it is not the first mile of compulsion, duty, or convention that will achieve success, but the second milers who give their free and loving service, living and loving as Jesus lived and loved.

How should we start? Well, if we cannot unify the Christian churches which, after all, are so close in their most basic ideals to the reality of Jesus' revelation of God, then how could we possibly expect to attain success with Islam, Hinduism, the derivatives of Buddhism, etc.?

The revelators very obviously wish to see the uniting of Christianity, "'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' The non-Christian world will hardly capitulate to a sect-divided Christendom. The living Jesus is the only hope of a possible unification of Christianity. The true church--the Jesus brotherhood--is invisible, spiritual, and is characterized by unity, not necessarily by uniformity. Uniformity is the earmark of the physical world of mechanistic nature. Spiritual unity is the fruit of faith union with the living Jesus. The visible church should refuse longer to handicap the progress of the invisible and  spiritual brotherhood of the kingdom of God. And this brotherhood is destined to become a living organism in contrast to an institutionalized social organization. It may well utilize such social organizations, but it must not be supplanted by them." (2085)

Who and what is this "Jesus brotherhood" referred to above? What else could it be other than a brotherhood of those whose mission to the world consists in the life that they live, by the gospel, amongst men?

So was there something obviously wrong about the original Brotherhood that later became the Fellowship? Was it somehow becoming institutionalized? If so, can it rise from the ashes to fulfil that destiny of becoming a living organism that will lead Christianity back to the one whose name it bears? Or will something else take its place? These are questions begging for answers.

What are we told about the principles that might unify a Jesus Brotherhood?

Some appear to be:

• Belief in the Fatherhood of the God of love, compassion, and mercy whose spirit indwells all men and women to bring them unto himself.

• Belief in the individuality of our personal relationship with the Father-spirit within.

• Belief in Jesus as our Lord and Master, the one who revealed the nature of the Father for our salvation.

• Whole-hearted acceptance by each individual of their family relationships and obligations as children of God. Each mortal being of whatever race, religion, or status is our brother or sister, deserving and needful of our love regardless of their past--good or bad.

• Recognition that God is no respector of persons. All are equal in the sight of God. To be like God, which is to live as Jesus lived, our love must be extended to all.

• Recognition that the appearance of the fruits of the spirit in the daily living of the Jesus brotherhood displaces disputation, intellectual argument, and condemnation as the means of advancing the cause of the kingdom.

• Being filled with the desire to love and serve God and consequently, to be totally committed  to the unselfish love and service of God's children, our brothers and sisters.

Love is a much abused word in our language. As defined in the Papers, love is the desire to do good to others (648), to seek for others their highest cosmic good. (1950) Thus defined, it is not so difficult to love the apparently unlovable.

What are the consequences of God's universal love for mankind? Firstly that nobody, whether king or queen, pope or priest, rich or poor, male or female, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or what ever, learned or  illiterate, nobody at all is special or favored. God loves us all. God does his utmost not to lose a single soul among us.

One of the greatest hindrances to unity in God's family is the "chosen ones" syndrome. Seeing ourselves or our group as special, as being set apart by God, represents a drastic hindrance to unity for adherents of either the fourth and fifth epochal revelations.

For the recipients of the fourth epochal revelation, the concept of being "saved by the blood of the lamb" set them apart from the rest of humanity as elite, special, and exclusive.

For adherents of the fifth epochal revelation, the very fact of owning a Urantia book appeared to become a substitute icon for individuals to set themselves apart as the new chosen ones, hence special and elite.

We must learn that nobody is special. God's love envelops all. But some may choose, of their own free will, to undertake a special task. However it is the task that is special and not the person.