Balaam, the Gray Prophet

A Dystopian Sci Fi Biblical Mashup

The ancient biblical story of Balaam and his talking donkey unfolds once again in a distant apocalyptic future. Here, gaps are filled, details inserted, and spiritual mysteries revealed.

The world finally broke, shattering into small autonomous units. Small tribal communities, not nations, composed the world's social order. Life was simplified, not by plan, but by necessity. The unbearable complexity and multitude of laws that governed nearly every aspect of human behavior were enforced by tyrannical, warring states. This situation eventually brought down the world. The social monster consumed itself. The wisdom humankind struggled so hard to win, was lost. Now the world must start anew and rediscover timeless truths. Ancient wisdom was once again new.

In the circle of time, God used unlikely men and women to accomplish His ends. Balaam the prophet was one of them. He was a broken man, yet he was chosen to be an instrument of the Lord, furthering the divine plan in a decaying world. Balaam was God’s instrument - despite himself.

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Bible Review: The Excessive Personal Pronoun user, "Apostle" Paul

Paul uses more personal pronouns than any other author in the New Testament. He turns everything into a spiritual pissing match. He often writes starting off with an extremely humble statement, then ends up with how thankful he is to be greatest of them all.

Paul makes reading the New Testament a chore. To me, he comes of as a deluded, argumentative, extremely bigoted,  judgmental egotist who knew little, if anything, about what Jesus taught. He had little contact with anyone that lived with Jesus, then ended up being contentious with the few he did.  At least this is the conclusion I've reached from reading the Bible alone. With the aid of the Urantia Book, I've read that Paul had knowledge of Jesus' teachings, but from existing records, he seems to have written little about them. Remember, in Paul's time the four gospels were not written out as we have them now; they did not exist as part of scripture.

Paul went about spreading his personal conversion experience as if it were absolute truth, and unfortunately, this has become the foundation for most of Christendom. For those of us that want to share the true teachings of Jesus, this makes things difficult. I've gone to various local churches and listened to contemporary sermons and what I find is there seems to be a trend away from Paulism. These are not the sermons I heard preached as a young man. These sermons, to a greater or lesser degree, touch on Jesus' original gospel. Thank God. The church  needs Jesus. The real one.

For those of us that have read the Urantia Book and the Bible and desire to share the original gospel, Paul's influence has made things difficult, and at the same time have given us the advantage of an existing institution. A river of truth flows through the Christian churches. How does one utilize the churches, stay true to what we believe, and reach out to people lost in a disturbing world?

I believe there is a way to present the gospel and not conflict with  many churches evangelistic outreach, a way to join with them and remain honest to the Jesus we Urantia Book reader's have discovered.