(1241.1) 113:0.1
Having presented the narratives of the Ministering Spirits of Time and the Messenger Hosts of Space, we come to the consideration of the
guardian angels,
seraphim
devoted to the ministry to individual mortals, for whose elevation and
perfection all of the vast survival scheme of spiritual progression has
been provided. In past ages on Urantia, these
destiny guardians were about the only group of
angels that had recognition. The planetary seraphim are indeed
ministering spirits
sent forth to do service for those who shall survive. These attending
seraphim have functioned as the spiritual helpers of mortal man in all
the great events of the past and the present. In many a revelation " the
word was spoken by angels "; many of the mandates of heaven have been "
received by the ministry of angels. "
(1241.2) 113:0.2
Seraphim are the traditional angels
of heaven; they are the ministering spirits who live so near you and do
so much for you. They have ministered on Urantia since the earliest
times of human intelligence.
Bible References and Comparison
(1241.3) 113:1.1
The teaching about guardian angels is not a myth; certain groups of human beings do actually have personal
angels.
It was in recognition of this that Jesus, in speaking of the children
of the heavenly kingdom, said: " Take heed that you despise not one of
these little ones, for I say to you, their angels do always behold the
presence of the spirit of my Father. "
(1241.4) 113:1.2
Originally, the seraphim
were definitely assigned to the separate Urantia races. But since the
bestowal of Michael, they are assigned in accordance with human
intelligence, spirituality, and destiny. Intellectually, mankind is
divided into three classes:
(1241.5) 113:1.3
1. The subnormal minded—those who do not
exercise normal will power; those who do not make average decisions.
This class embraces those who cannot comprehend God; they lack capacity
for the intelligent worship of Deity.
The subnormal beings of Urantia have a corps of seraphim, one company,
with one battalion of cherubim, assigned to minister to them and to
witness that justice and mercy are extended to them in the life
struggles of the sphere.
(1241.6) 113:1.4
2. The average, normal type of human
mind. From the standpoint of seraphic ministry, most men and women are
grouped in seven classes in accordance with their status in making the circles of human progress and spiritual development.
(1241.7) 113:1.5
3. The supernormal minded—those of great
decision and undoubted potential of spiritual achievement; men and
women who enjoy more or less contact with their indwelling Adjusters;
members of the various reserve corps of destiny. No matter in what circle a human happens to be, if such an individual becomes enrolled in any of the several
reserve corps
of destiny, right then and there, personal seraphim are assigned, and
from that time until the earthly career is finished, that mortal will
enjoy the continuous ministry and unceasing watchcare of a guardian
angel. Also, when any human being makes
the supreme decision, when there is a real betrothal with the Adjuster, a personal guardian is immediately assigned to that
soul.
(1242.1) 113:1.6 In the ministry to so-called normal
beings, seraphic assignments are made in accordance with the human
attainment of the circles of intellectuality and spirituality. You start
out in your mind of mortal investment in the seventh circle and journey
inward in the task of self-understanding, self-conquest, and
self-mastery; and circle by circle you advance until (if natural death
does not terminate your career and transfer your struggles to the
mansion worlds) you reach the first or inner circle of relative contact
and communion with the indwelling Adjuster.
(1242.2) 113:1.7
Human beings in the initial or
seventh circle have one guardian angel with one company of assisting
cherubim assigned to the watchcare and custody of one thousand mortals.
In the sixth circle, a seraphic pair with one company of cherubim is
assigned to guide these ascending mortals
in groups of five hundred. When the fifth circle is attained, human
beings are grouped in companies of approximately one hundred, and a pair
of guardian seraphim with a group of cherubim is placed in charge. Upon
attainment of the fourth circle, mortal beings are assembled in groups
of ten, and again charge is given to a pair of seraphim, assisted by one
company of cherubim.
Please note: all pictures and notes in this book are not part of the original book!
(1242.3) 113:1.8 When a mortal mind
breaks through the inertia of animal legacy and attains the third
circle of human intellectuality and acquired spirituality, a personal
angel (in reality two) will henceforth be wholly and exclusively devoted
to this ascending mortal. And thus these human souls, in addition to
the ever-present and increasingly efficient indwelling
Thought Adjusters, receive the undivided assistance of these personal
guardians of destiny in all their efforts to finish the third circle, traverse the second, and attain the first.
Bible References and Comparison
(1242.4) 113:2.1
Seraphim are not known as guardians of destiny until such time as they are assigned to the association of a human
soul
who has realized one or more of three achievements: has made a supreme
decision to become Godlike, has entered the third circle, or has been
mustered into one of the
reserve corps of destiny.
(1242.5) 113:2.2
In the evolution
of races a guardian of destiny is assigned to the very first being who
attains the requisite circle of conquest. On Urantia the first mortal to
secure a personal guardian was Rantowoc, a wise man of the red race of
long ago.
(1242.6) 113:2.3
All angelic assignments are made from a group of volunteering seraphim,
and these appointments are always in accordance with human needs and
with regard to the status of the angelic pair—in the light of seraphic
experience, skill, and wisdom. Only seraphim of long service, the more
experienced and tested types, are assigned as destiny guards. Many
guardians have gained much valuable experience on those worlds which are
of the non-Adjuster
fusion
series. Like the Adjusters, the seraphim attend these beings for a
single lifetime and then are liberated for new assignment. Many
guardians on Urantia have had this previous practical experience on
other worlds.
(1243.1) 113:2.4
When human beings fail to survive,
their personal or group guardians may repeatedly serve in similar
capacities on the same planet. The seraphim develop a sentimental regard
for individual worlds and entertain a special affection for certain
races and types of mortal creatures with whom they have been so closely
and intimately associated.
(1243.2) 113:2.5
The angels
develop an abiding affection for their human associates; and you would,
if you could only visualize the seraphim, develop a warm affection for
them. Divested of material bodies, given spirit forms, you would be very
near the angels in many attributes of
personality.
They share most of your emotions and experience some additional ones.
The only emotion actuating you which is somewhat difficult for them to
comprehend is the legacy of animal fear that bulks so large in the
mental life of the average inhabitant of Urantia. The angels really find
it hard to understand why you will so persistently allow your higher
intellectual powers, even your religious
faith, to be so dominated by fear, so thoroughly demoralized by the thoughtless panic of dread and anxiety.
(1243.3) 113:2.6
All seraphim have individual names,
but in the records of assignment to world service they are frequently
designated by their planetary numbers. At the universe headquarters they
are registered by name and number. The destiny guardian of the human
subject used in this contactual communication is number 3 of group 17,
of company 126, of battalion 4, of unit 384, of legion 6, of host 37, of
the 182,314th seraphic army of Nebadon. The current planetary assignment number of this seraphim on Urantia and to this human subject is 3,641,852.
(1243.4) 113:2.7
In the ministry of personal guardianship, the assignment of angels as destiny guardians, seraphim always volunteer their services. In the city of this visitation a certain mortal was recently admitted to the
reserve corps of destiny, and since all such humans are personally attended by
guardian angels,
more than one hundred qualified seraphim sought the assignment. The
planetary director selected twelve of the more experienced individuals
and subsequently appointed the seraphim whom they selected as best
adapted to guide this human being through his life journey. That is,
they selected a certain pair of equally qualified seraphim; one of this
seraphic pair will always be on duty.
(1243.5) 113:2.8
Seraphic tasks may be unremitting,
but either of the angelic pair can discharge all ministering
responsibilities. Like cherubim, seraphim usually serve in pairs, but
unlike their less advanced associates, the seraphim sometimes work
singly. In practically all their contacts with human beings they can
function as individuals. Both angels are required only for communication
and service on the higher circuits of the universes.
(1243.6) 113:2.9
When a seraphic pair accept guardian assignment, they serve for the remainder of the life of that human being. The complement of being
(one of the two angels) becomes the recorder of the undertaking. These
complemental seraphim are the recording angels of the mortals of the
evolutionary worlds. The records are kept by the pair of cherubim (a
cherubim and a sanobim) who are always associated with the seraphic
guardians, but these records are always sponsored by one of the
seraphim.
(1244.1) 113:2.10
For purposes of rest and recharging
with the life energy of the universe circuits, the guardian is
periodically relieved by her complement, and during her absence the
associated cherubim functions as the recorder, as is also the case when
the complemental seraphim is similarly absent.
(1244.2) 113:3.1
One of the most important things a
destiny guardian does for her mortal subject is to effect a personal
co-ordination of the numerous impersonal spirit influences which
indwell, surround, and impinge upon the mind and soul of the evolving material creature. Human beings are personalities, and it is exceedingly difficult for nonpersonal spirits and
prepersonal entities
to make direct contact with such highly material and discretely
personal minds. In the ministry of the guarding angel all of these
influences are more or less unified and made more nearly appreciable by
the expanding moral nature of the evolving human
personality.
(1244.3) 113:3.2
More especially can and does this seraphic guardian correlate the manifold agencies and influences of the Infinite Spirit, ranging from the domains of the
physical controllers and the adjutant mind-spirits up to the
Holy Spirit of the Divine Minister and to the Omnipresent Spirit presence of the
Paradise
Third Source and Center. Having thus unified and made more personal these vast ministries of the Infinite Spirit, the
seraphim then undertakes to correlate this integrated influence of the
Conjoint Actor with the spirit presences of the Father and the Son.
(1244.4) 113:3.3
The Adjuster is the presence of the Father; the Spirit of Truth,
the presence of the Sons. These divine endowments are unified and
co-ordinated on the lower levels of human spiritual experience by the
ministry of the guardian seraphim. The angelic servers are gifted in
combining the love of the Father and the mercy of the Son in their
ministry to mortal creatures.
(1244.5) 113:3.4
And herein is revealed the reason why
the seraphic guardian eventually becomes the personal custodian of the
mind patterns, memory formulas, and soul realities of the mortal
survivor during that interval between physical death and morontia
resurrection. None but the ministering children of the Infinite Spirit
could thus function in behalf of the human creature during this phase of
transition from one level of the universe to another and higher level.
Even when you engage in your terminal transition slumber, when you pass
from time to eternity, a high supernaphim likewise shares the transit with you as the custodian of creature identity and the surety of personal integrity.
(1244.6) 113:3.5 On the spiritual level, seraphim make
personal many otherwise impersonal and prepersonal ministries of the
universe; they are co-ordinators. On the intellectual level they are the
correlators of mind and morontia; they are interpreters. And on the
physical level they manipulate terrestrial environment through their
liaison with the Master Physical Controllers and through the co-operative ministry of the midway creatures.
(1244.7) 113:3.6
This is a recital of the manifold and
intricate function of an attending seraphim; but how does such a
subordinate angelic personality, created but a little above the universe
level of humanity, do such difficult and complex things? We do not
really know, but we conjecture that this phenomenal ministry is in some
undisclosed manner facilitated by the unrecognized and unrevealed
working of the Supreme Being, the actualizing Deity
of the evolving universes of time and space. Throughout the entire
realm of progressive survival in and through the Supreme Being, seraphim
are an essential part of continuing mortal progression.
(1245.1) 113:4.1
The guardian seraphim are not mind, though they do spring from the same source that also gives origin to
mortal mind,
the Creative Spirit. Seraphim are mind stimulators; they continually
seek to promote circle-making decisions in human mind. They do this, not
as does the Adjuster, operating from within and through the
soul,
but rather from the outside inward, working through the social,
ethical, and moral environment of human beings. Seraphim are not the
divine Adjuster lure of the
Universal Father, but they do function as the personal agency of the ministry of the
Infinite Spirit.
(1245.2) 113:4.2
Mortal man, subject to Adjuster
leading, is also amenable to seraphic guidance. The Adjuster is the
essence of man's eternal nature; the seraphim is the teacher of man's
evolving nature—in this life the mortal mind, in the next the morontia
soul. On the mansion worlds you will be conscious and aware of seraphic instructors, but in the first life men are usually unaware of them.
(1245.3) 113:4.3 Seraphim function as teachers of men by guiding the footsteps of the human personality
into paths of new and progressive experiences. To accept the guidance
of a seraphim rarely means attaining a life of ease. In following this
leading you are sure to encounter, and if you have the courage, to
traverse, the rugged hills of moral choosing and
spiritual progress.
(1245.4) 113:4.4
The impulse of worship largely
originates in the spirit promptings of the higher mind adjutants,
reinforced by the leadings of the Adjuster. But the urge to pray so
often experienced by God-conscious mortals very often arises as the
result of seraphic influence. The guarding seraphim is constantly
manipulating the mortal environment for the purpose of augmenting the
cosmic insight of the human ascender to the end that such a survival
candidate may acquire enhanced realization of the presence of the
indwelling Adjuster and thus be enabled to yield increased co-operation
with the spiritual mission of the divine presence.
(1245.5) 113:4.5 While there is apparently no
communication between the indwelling Adjusters and the encompassing
seraphim, they always seem to work in perfect harmony and exquisite
accord. The guardians are most active at those times when the Adjusters
are least active, but their ministry is in some manner strangely
correlated. Such superb co-operation could hardly be either accidental
or incidental.
(1245.6) 113:4.6
The ministering personality of the
guardian seraphim, the God presence of the indwelling Adjuster, the
encircuited action of the Holy Spirit, and the Son-consciousness of the
Spirit of Truth
are all divinely correlated into a meaningful unity of spiritual
ministry in and to a mortal personality. Though hailing from different
sources and different levels, these celestial influences are all
integrated in the enveloping and evolving presence of the Supreme Being.
(1245.7) 113:5.1
Angels do not invade the sanctity of
the human mind; they do not manipulate the will of mortals; neither do
they directly contact with the indwelling Adjusters. The guardian of
destiny influences you in every possible manner consistent with the
dignity of your personality; under no circumstances do these
angels
interfere with the free action of the human will. Neither angels nor
any other order of universe personality have power or authority to
curtail or abridge the prerogatives of human choosing.
(1246.1) 113:5.2
Angels are so near you and care so
feelingly for you that they figuratively " weep because of your willful
intolerance and stubbornness. " Seraphim do not shed physical tears;
they do not have physical bodies; neither do they possess wings. But
they do have spiritual emotions, and they do experience feelings and
sentiments of a spiritual nature which are in certain ways comparable to
human emotions.
(1246.2) 113:5.3 The seraphim
act in your behalf quite independent of your direct appeals; they are
executing the mandates of their superiors, and thus they function
regardless of your passing whims or changing moods. This does not imply
that you may not make their tasks either easier or more difficult, but
rather that angels are not directly concerned with your appeals or with
your prayers.
(1246.3) 113:5.4
In the life of the flesh the
intelligence of angels is not directly available to mortal men. They are
not overlords or directors; they are simply guardians. The seraphim guard you; they do not seek directly to influence you; you must
chart your own course, but these angels then act to make the best
possible use of the course you have chosen. They do not (ordinarily)
arbitrarily intervene in the routine affairs of human life. But when
they receive instructions from their superiors to perform some unusual
exploit, you may rest assured that these guardians will find some means
of carrying out these mandates. They do not, therefore, intrude into the
picture of human drama except in emergencies and then usually on the
direct orders of their superiors. They are the beings who are going to
follow you for many an age, and they are thus receiving an introduction
to their future work and personality association.
(1246.4) 113:5.5
Seraphim are able to function as
material ministers to human beings under certain circumstances, but
their action in this capacity is very rare. They are able, with the
assistance of the midway creatures and the physical controllers,
to function in a wide range of activities in behalf of human beings,
even to make actual contact with mankind, but such occurrences are very
unusual. In most instances the circumstances of the material realm
proceed unaltered by seraphic action, although occasions have arisen,
involving jeopardy to vital links in the chain of human
evolution, in which seraphic guardians have acted, and properly, on their own initiative.
Bible References and Comparison
(1246.5) 113:6.1
Having told you something of the ministry of seraphim during natural life, I will endeavor to inform you about the conduct of the
guardians of destiny
at the time of the mortal dissolution of their human associates. Upon
your death, your records, identity specifications, and the morontia
entity of the human
soul—conjointly evolved by the ministry of
mortal mind and the divine Adjuster—are faithfully conserved by the destiny guardian together with all other
values
related to your future existence, everything that constitutes you, the
real you, except the identity of continuing existence represented by the
departing Adjuster and the actuality of
personality.
(1246.6) 113:6.2
The instant the pilot light in the
human mind disappears, the spirit luminosity which seraphim associate
with the presence of the Adjuster, the attending angel reports in person
to the commanding angels,
successively, of the group, company, battalion, unit, legion, and host;
and after being duly registered for the final adventure of time and
space, such an angel receives certification by the planetary chief of
seraphim for reporting to the Evening Star (or other lieutenant of
Gabriel) in command of the seraphic army of this candidate for universe
ascension. And upon being granted permission from the commander of this
highest organizational unit, such a guardian of destiny proceeds to the
first mansion world and there awaits the consciousizing of her former
ward in the flesh.
(1247.1) 113:6.3
In case the human soul fails of
survival after having received the assignment of a personal angel, the
attending seraphim must proceed to the headquarters of the local
universe, there to witness to the complete records of her complement as
previously reported. Next she goes before the tribunals of the archangels,
to be absolved from blame in the matter of the survival failure of her
subject; and then she goes back to the worlds, again to be assigned to
another mortal of ascending potentiality or to some other division of
seraphic ministry.
(1247.2) 113:6.4 But angels minister to evolutionary
creatures in many ways aside from the services of personal and group
guardianship. Personal guardians whose subjects do not go immediately to
the mansion worlds
do not tarry there in idleness awaiting the dispensational roll calls
of judgment; they are reassigned to numerous ministering missions
throughout the universe.
(1247.3) 113:6.5
The guardian seraphim is the
custodial trustee of the survival values of mortal man's slumbering soul
as the absent Adjuster is the identity of such an immortal universe
being. When these two collaborate in the resurrection halls of mansonia
in conjunction with the newly fabricated morontia form, there occurs the
reassembly of the constituent factors of the personality of the mortal
ascender.
(1247.4) 113:6.6
The Adjuster will identify you; the
guardian seraphim will repersonalize you and then re-present you to the
faithful Monitor of your earth days.
(1247.5) 113:6.7
And even so, when a planetary age ends, when those in the lower circles
of mortal achievement are forgathered, it is their group guardians who
reassemble them in the resurrection halls of the mansion spheres, even
as your record tells: " And he shall send his angels with a great voice
and shall gather together his elect from one end of the realm to
another. "
(1247.6) 113:6.8
The technique of justice demands that
personal or group guardians shall respond to the dispensational roll
call in behalf of all nonsurviving personalities. The Adjusters of such
nonsurvivors do not return, and when the rolls are called, the seraphim
respond, but the Adjusters make no answer. This constitutes the "
resurrection of the unjust, " in reality the formal recognition of the
cessation of creature existence. This roll call of justice always
immediately follows the roll call of mercy, the resurrection of the
sleeping survivors. But these are matters which are of concern to none but the supreme and all-knowing Judges of survival values. Such problems of
adjudication do not really concern us.
(1247.7) 113:6.9 Group guardians may serve on a planet
age after age and eventually become custodians of the slumbering souls
of thousands upon thousands of sleeping survivors. They can so serve on
many different worlds in a given system since the resurrection response
occurs on the mansion worlds.
(1247.8) 113:6.10
All personal and group guardians in the system of Satania who went astray in the
Lucifer rebellion,
notwithstanding that many sincerely repented of their folly, are to be
detained on Jerusem until the final adjudication of the rebellion.
Already have the
Universal Censors
arbitrarily taken from these disobedient and unfaithful guardians all
aspects of their soul trusts and lodged these morontia realities for
safekeeping in the custody of volunteer
seconaphim.
Bible References and Comparison
(1248.1) 113:7.1
It is indeed an epoch in the career
of an ascending mortal, this first awakening on the shores of the
mansion world; there, for the first time, actually to see your
long-loved and ever-present angelic companions of earth days; there also
to become truly conscious of the identity and presence of the divine
Monitor who so long indwelt your mind on earth. Such an experience
constitutes a glorious awakening, a real resurrection.
(1248.2) 113:7.2
On the morontia spheres the attending seraphim (there are two of them) are your open companions. These
angels
not only consort with you as you progress through the career of the
transition worlds, in every way possible assisting you in the
acquirement of morontia and spirit status, but they also avail
themselves of the opportunity to advance by study in the extension
schools for evolutionary seraphim maintained on the
mansion worlds.
(1248.3) 113:7.3
The human race was created just a
little lower than the more simple types of the angelic orders. Therefore
will your first assignment of the morontia life be as assistants to the seraphim in the immediate work awaiting at the time you attain
personality consciousness subsequent to your liberation from the bonds of the flesh.
(1248.4) 113:7.4 Before leaving the mansion worlds,
all mortals will have permanent seraphic associates or guardians. And as
you ascend the morontia spheres, eventually it is the seraphic
guardians who witness and certify the decrees of your eternal union with
the Thought Adjusters.
Together they have established your personality identities as children
of the flesh from the worlds of time. Then, with your attainment of the
mature morontia estate, they accompany you through Jerusem and the
associated worlds of system progress and culture. After that they go
with you to Edentia and its seventy spheres of advanced socialization,
and subsequently will they pilot you to the Melchizedeks and follow you
through the superb career of the universe headquarters worlds. And when
you have learned the wisdom and culture of the Melchizedeks, they will
take you on to
Salvington, where you will stand face to face with the Sovereign of all
Nebadon. And still will these seraphic guides follow you through the minor and
major sectors of the superuniverse and on to the receiving worlds of
Uversa, remaining with you until you finally enseconaphim for the long
Havona flight.
(1248.5) 113:7.5
Some of the destiny guardians
of attachment during the mortal career follow the course of the
ascending pilgrims through Havona. The others bid their long-time mortal
associates a temporary farewell, and then, while these mortals traverse
the
circles of the central universe, these
guardians of destiny achieve the circles of
Seraphington. And they will be in waiting on the shores of
Paradise
when their mortal associates awaken from the last transit sleep of time
into the new experiences of eternity. Such ascending seraphim
subsequently enter upon divergent services in the
finaliter corps and in the
Seraphic Corps of Completion.
(1248.6) 113:7.6 Man and angel may or may not be
reunited in eternal service, but wherever seraphic assignment may take
them, the seraphim are always in communication with their former wards
of the evolutionary worlds, the ascendant mortals of time. The intimate
associations and the affectionate attachments of the realms of human
origin are never forgotten nor ever completely severed. In the eternal
ages men and angels will co-operate in the divine service as they did in
the career of time.
(1249.1) 113:7.7
For seraphim, the surest way of achieving the Paradise Deities is by successfully guiding a
soul
of evolutionary origin to the portals of Paradise. Therefore is the
assignment of guardian of destiny the most highly prized seraphic duty.
(1249.2) 113:7.8
Only destiny guardians are mustered into the primary or mortal Corps of the Finality,
and such pairs have engaged in the supreme adventure of identity
at-oneness; the two beings have achieved spiritual bi-unification on
Seraphington prior to their reception into the finaliter corps. In this
experience the two angelic natures, so complemental in all universe
functions, achieve ultimate spirit two-in-oneness, repercussing in a new
capacity for the reception of, and
fusion
with, a non-Adjuster fragment of the Paradise Father. And so do some of
your loving seraphic associates in time also become your finaliter
associates in eternity, children of the Supreme and perfected sons of
the Paradise Father.
(1249.3) 113:7.9
[Presented by the Chief of Seraphim stationed on Urantia.]
Bible References and Comparison
Please note: all pictures and notes in this book are not part of the original book!
Paper 114. Seraphic Planetary Government