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Subscribe to the patreon for more bst.pngTowels... towels never changes. it's hard to imagine a life without them. Rectangles, squares, no matter what shape they take, I think we can all agree that we thank these absorbent bastards for all they do. Thank you, towels. And thank you to the patient wives who teach us the meaning of each one in turn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Originally broadcast January 30, 2025. Noted healthcare leader Dr. Sachin Jain has been publicly releasing his annual predictions for the sector for five years and is proud of his “pretty accurate” track record. He's out now with his list of top 10 predictions for the healthcare industry for 2025. Dr. Jain states that “Heretofore fringe ideas about wellness and disease causation and medications will continue to go mainstream.” Dr. Jain has held top positions at the Centers for Medicare and... Read More Read More The post Do Your 2025 Healthcare Predictions Match Up With What an Expert Says? appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

Noted healthcare leader Dr. Sachin Jain has been publicly releasing his annual predictions for the sector for five years and is proud of his “pretty accurate” track record. He's out now with his list of top 10 predictions for the healthcare industry for 2025. Dr. Jain states that “Heretofore fringe ideas about wellness and disease causation and medications will continue to go mainstream.”Dr. Jain has held top positions at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. More recently, he's been a leader in the nonprofit health world, so he has a unique perspective on the entire field. Listen in as he discusses his ideas with “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Noted healthcare leader Dr. Sachin Jain has been publicly releasing his annual predictions for the sector for five years and is proud of his “pretty accurate” track record. He's out now with his list of top 10 predictions for the healthcare industry for 2025. Dr. Jain states that “Heretofore fringe ideas about wellness and disease causation and medications will continue to go mainstream.” Dr. Jain has held top positions at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. More recently, he's been a leader in the nonprofit health world, so he has a unique perspective on the entire field. Listen in as he discusses his ideas with “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Christmas Revival with the Harris Brothers. Singing & Preaching.

Psalm 110 introduces the idea of a priestly king. Heretofore priests have come from Levi and kings from either Judah or Ephraim. This change and the reasons therefore are explained in the Book of Hebrews.

Heretofore, this podcast has largely examined the blame that neo-liberals, neo-conservatives, and neo-populists on the Right bear in causing our era of global enduring disorder. Now is the turn to set our crosshairs on the disorder that comes from the ideas of the Left. Recent events reveal that the Left lacks a coherent vision of the global economy, of global institutions, and possibly of the objectives of Western foreign policy in general. To be intellectually honest, we must ask is the progressive Left as guilty as the neo-populist Right in disordering the globe?     These days, many on the progressive left are outraged with Biden, Sunak, and Starmer's centrism and demand a more humanitarian approach to Anglo-American foreign policy, but are those progressive voices sufficiently concerned about whether or not their preferred approach will lead to global order? Jason is joined by Professor Megan Stewart of the University of Michigan to discuss the implications of her co-authored essay in Foreign Affairs, ‘The Progressive Case Against Retrenchment'.    Megan explains that progressive American scholars have largely characterized their ‘progressive vision of foreign policy' as one where the US and the West restrains its exercise of hegemonic power abroad. She explains that for these progressive thinkers, the U.S. is the greatest source of imperialism, war, and insecurity. Megan explains why they think this way and Jason shares his feelings that this train of thought is a recipe for further disorder. Megan concludes with a dose of hard nose realism arguing that force MAY be justified on progressive grounds, and that a truly progressive foreign policy means grappling with inevitable tradeoffs and trying to minimize them.     Twitter: @DisorderShow    Subscribe to our Substack: https://natoandtheged.substack.com/     Website: https://natoandtheglobalenduringdisorder.com/     Producer: George McDonagh  Exec Producer: Neil Fearn    Show Notes Links      Read Megan's co-authored article The Progressive Case for American Power  https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/progressive-case-american-power   For more on Megan: https://www.meganastewart.org/bio    Her book Governing For Revolution: Social Transformation in Civil War:  https://www.meganastewart.org/book-project   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of my absolute new favorite people is Stephanie Harrison, author of the book New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That's Got It Wrong, which came out this past Tuesday, May 14. This book is being billed as “the definitive guide to happiness” and is packed full of a decade's worth of research that leads us to a proven path of happiness. Who among us doesn't want to be happier, and who among us hasn't struggled with happiness? In this book, Stephanie—who has potentially the coolest job title in the world, happiness expert—walks us through the counterintuitive secrets to happiness and gives us a practical guide to help us all learn how to live a happy life. As Stephanie writes, we all want to be happy—but happiness always seems out of reach. Well, until now anyway. Stephanie draws on hundreds of studies to help us find happiness and makes it clear that it's not our fault we're unhappy. See, we've as a society been told three damaging lies: that we aren't good enough, that we need to achieve wealth, fame, and power, and that we need to do it on our own. This is what Stephanie calls “Old Happy,” or our society's false definition of happiness—and, as you may have noticed, it's making us absolutely miserable. Now, it's time for “New Happy,” which includes the truths that you are enough, you have unique and important gifts, and using them to help other people is what will lead to happiness. I also have to make mention here that, in addition to the obviously very powerful words included within, the book is just full of this artwork that is extraordinary, too, that helps explain the concepts. We learn in the book how to unwind “Old Happy,” and firmly step into “New Happy.” Basically, if you've ever asked the questions “Who am I, really?” or “When will I be happy?” or “What am I supposed to do with my life?”—this book is for you (so, yeah, everyone). In addition to being a happiness expert, Stephanie is a writer, designer, and speaker, complete with a master's degree in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She's devoted her life to the study of well-being—truly, what a noble pursuit—and her company, The New Happy (which Stephanie founded in 2018) has revolutionized the way people understand and pursue happiness. In addition to this new book, there's a podcast, a newsletter, videos, and so many resources that reach millions around the world each month, a science-backed philosophy of happiness. Her happiness expertise has been featured everywhere from CNBC to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, and Architectural Digest, and she is a regular speaker at Fortune 500 companies. Before taking on this happiness work full steam, she was the director of learning at Thrive Global. Speaking of learning, I look forward to you doing just that with Stephanie in this episode. New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That's Got It Wrong by Stephanie Harrison

Paul goes on trial and it starts out resembling recent trials of the SAME rassafrassa!

It's This Week in Bourbon for March 22nd 2024. MGP is getting ready to battle two cities in court, more partnerships in golf are coming from Elijah Craig and Blade & Bow, and Rabbit Hole released the newest member of its Distillery Series, Heretofore.Show Notes: MGP is getting ready to battle two cities in court Thieves got away with bourbon that was inside a parked truck Bespoken Spirits new headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky Flying Ace announced an educational scholarship program with Folds of Honor Barmen 1873 Bourbon is rolling out its first-ever celebrity partnership with Lainey Wilson Blade and Bow Kentucky partners with golf champion Wyndham Clark Elijah Craig welcomes the 2024 PGA Championship Jack & Ginger Ale Knob Creek collaborates on a limited release with LL Cool J Penelope Rio is set to arrive on shelves in March Maker's Mark has now launched the London edition of its Wood Finishing City Series Rabbit Hole Distillery released the newest member of its Distillery Series “Heretofore“ @bespokenspirits @flyingacespirits @foldsofhonor @barmen1873 @bladeandbowwhiskey @elijahcraig @jackdaniels_us @knobcreek @peneoplebourbon @makersmark @rabbithole @raekwon @llcoolj Support this podcast on Patreon

I'm so pleased to share with you a special bonus episode discussing the Oscars, which are quickly approaching this Sunday, March 10. The Academy Awards are the culmination of awards season, and there's so much to discuss when it comes to this year's ceremony. Will Oppenheimer sweep the awards, as is predicted? Why wasn't Barbie's star Margot Robbie nominated for Best Actress, or its director, Greta Gerwig, nominated for Best Director? Will Lily Gladstone of Killers of the Flower Moon make history by winning Best Actress, or will the coveted prize go to Emma Stone, star of Poor Things? There's so much to look forward to, and, in honor of Hollywood's biggest night, I have with me a gentleman who could easily be called an Oscars guru: Dave Karger, author of the new book 50 Oscar Nights: Iconic Stars and Filmmakers on Their Career Defining Wins, which came out on January 23. The anecdotes in this book are absolutely second to none, and Dave talks to everyone for the book, from Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg to Julia Roberts and Martin Scorsese to Jane Fonda and Clint Eastwood; the book features never-before-told stories of the crème de la crème of awards shows and is told through a collection of interviews with actors, filmmakers, craftspeople, and those that helped bring the film to life and then won an Oscar for it. All told the winners included in the book span 60 years of Oscar winners and include quite a few that have achieved the elusive EGOT status, signifying that they've won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and a Tony. Heretofore, only 19 people have done this, by the way, including Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, and John Legend, all of whom are profiled in Dave's book. Dave is a film expert, an award-winning journalist, and a host on Turner Classic Movies. He's been the Oscars expert on the Today Show for nearly a quarter century and has spent over 15 years writing about the Oscars for Entertainment Weekly. He has cohosted ABC's Live from the Red Carpet pre-show and has served as the Academy's official red carpet greeter on Oscar night. So, to put it mildly, Dave knows the Oscars! The stories he was able to get out of some of the most famous people in the world through this book are truly remarkable. In our conversation, Dave reveals if any of the celebrities he interviewed left him starstruck, where most people keep their Oscar statuette, how heavy the statuette is (I was shocked by his answer!), which Oscar moments make his so called Mount Rushmore of iconic moments from the awards show, the relevancy of winning an Oscar today, and, yes, I had to get his Oscar predictions. It's a can't miss conversation that I can't wait for you to tune into.   50 Oscar Nights: Iconic Stars and Filmmakers on Their Career Defining Wins by Dave Karger

Lyons Lanmark Baptist Church

1. Let us Face new Challenges with Confidence-2. Let us Face new Challenges with Consecration-3. Let us Face new Challenges with Conviction-4. Let us Face new Challenges with Consolation-5. Let us Face new Challenges with Courage-6. Let us Face new Challenges with Contentment-7. Let us Face new Challenges with Certainty

In Part One of this episode, we flip the table a bit and try to understand Rome's relationship to her gods *from the inside out* so that we can paint a fuller picture of the religious landscape of Christianity's rise in Late Antiquity. Heretofore, many scholars have argued that early Christianity was able to spread so rapidly because the religion(s) of the Roman Empire had increasingly lost vitality and failed to fulfill emerging soteriological hopes of Late Antique peoples. But, is any of this true? Is this merely the residue of centuries of anti-pagan bias and propaganda? What was Roman religion *really* like; how captivating was it; and why did the fledgling Christian movement cause such concern for some of the brightest Roman minds of the second century?

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Hayyai Sarah [23:1–25:18] is the fifth of the weekly parashiyot in Sefer B'reshit [the Book of Genesis]. It begins with the death notice of Sarah, and continues with the first acquisition of land by Avraham in Canaan. This is the basis of the subsequent Jewish claim to the Land. Canaan is the place where Avraham the Hebrew buried his dead. In fact, this burial is the first mention of burial in the Torah. Heretofore, the death notice was simply a death notice, often accompanied with a note on the years the deceased lived. But now, we find Avraham engaging in negotiations to acquire land to bury his dead. A piece of the land now belongs to him, and to his descendants. The story continues with Avraham now seeking to find a wife for his son Isaac. He sends his servant back east, to the ancestral homeland, to see if he might find a woman willing to come to Canaan. That woman is Rebecca, who we have had occasion to refer to as the Patriarch, so to speak, of the second generation. The parashah continues with the marriage of Avraham to K'turah [later to become the name of a kibbutz in the Negev], and the birth of six subsequent sons. The parashah ends with the death of Avraham, his burial at the Cave of Machpelah attended by both Isaac and Ishmael, and a genealogical line of Ishmael. In these difficult times we turn to Torah not only for learning and wisdom, but also for comfort. Jeremy spent several days in Israel as part of a mission under the auspices of the Masorti Movement, and he shared his impression of Israel a month after October 7th. We focused our discussion on נחמה [n'hamah, comfort] and ברכה [b'rakhah, blessing]. It has been said that it is not easy to be a Jew, and these days have made that clear yet again. We turn to the Torah, our people's quest for the eternal, in the hope that in some way the eternal might conquer the temporary, that in the image of Psalm 126, what we sow in tears we might yet reap in joy. Shabbat Shalom.

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As the episode title suggests Episode 78 is The Very Special ‘Jason finally got Covid 19' Special episode of the TM pod. A solo thang recorded straight from my sick bed, in it I share some body sounds and assorted horror, tales of the virus, live music reviews, thoughts on my own musical journey and our entertainment saturated culture and some of my current flix pix from the streaming services. I also celebrate the lives and music of Tina Turner and Elliot Smith. Heretofore and furthermore I share an account of an algorithmic journey I took on YouTube that went from researching my Covid related ear-clicking condition middle ear myoclonus to exploring the culture and music of Newfoundland where I encountered the music of NF folk revivalists The Dardanelles and the much celebrated keeper of the flame of NF folk music the late Rufus Guinchard. All this by way of via Brian Johnson of AC/DC. It's a hell of ride and we live, love, laugh and (almost) cry along the way. So mask up and strap in for the ride. Thank you SO MUCH for listening and for supporting the pod. If you don't currently but would like to: PATREON If you can't contribute but you like what I do PLEASE TELL A FRIEND about the pod. Much love and gratitude to you all, each and everyone. LINKS: Rufus Guinchard His music The Dardanelles Saloli Deja Bleu You can just look up 'middle ear myoclonus' if you want to go deeper into my ear situation. Music:  Plain Wrap ‘Red Light' The Dardanelles: (doing a tune from a live performance on Youtube, no title was given) Rufus Guinchard: (also doing an unnamed tune from a short CBC news documentary from the early 80's on YouTube) TM pod theme REMIX by Jason --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-traeger/support

Jesus began His triumphant journey from Jericho (Lk. 18:35 – 19:40) to Jerusalem as the Children of Israel did many years before. Joshua (O.T. name for Jesus “deliverer”) began with Jericho and David completed the journey with his triumphant entry into Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant. Palm Sunday is the beginning of what the Church has called Holy Week or Passion Week. Heretofore, Jesus avoided any public announcement.

Sermon Date: 12/04/2022; Pastor Bill Bryson; Scripture Passage: Joshua 3-4Support the show

Well, Michael had a couple of adventures. Also, there's more porridge talk in this episode than perhaps in any HERETOFORE!!! More PORRIDGE than you can shake a THIBLE at! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I am so pleased and proud that the inaugural edition of the State of Black America (Encounter Books), published by my organization, CURE, Center for Urban Renewal and Education, in conjunction with the Claremont Institute has just been released. CURE was founded to provide a platform for an alternative vision of what “Black America” is about and what the real challenges are of our citizens of color. Heretofore, the left has dominated the discussion concerning Black Americans. The left has dominated the discussion to such an extent that too many Americans of all backgrounds believe that the view from the...Article Link

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The Magic Camp Manifesto We the head counselors of Magic Camp declare, That a painting is not a painting unless it is made of paint. That the entirety of New York-based abstract expression art is one gigantic op, conceived and carried out by the Congress for Cultural Freedom and Central Intelligence Agency, we name Taos, New Mexico the artistic center of America. That the word moist is fine, you're just stupid. That art is magic and that we need a lot more of it, push comes to shove it, we'll go toe to toe with Jackson Pollock if it's blood you covet. Get it? He bled on his paintings. Or was it piss? We name the following Certified Bald Pimps: Picasso, Michael Jordan, Matt Lucas, Ghandi, Tyrese Gibson, Saul of Tarsus, St. Francis of Assisi, Kelly Slater, and Thomas Merton; and the following Bald Hacks: Jeff Bezos, Vin Diesel, Paul of Tarsus, Damien Hirst, and Martin Luther We the counselors with dreadlocks believe, That churches only want art to say they have it. That pastors in Affliction tees are hot, get over it. That Augustine could turn a phrase now and again but he's not to be trusted, especially considering what he did with those pears. Heretofore it has been regarded that Van Gogh cut his ear off from excessive horniness, whereas the truth is this: that Gauguin broke his heart in the platonic sense, no homo, by ditching him at the Yellow House. He therefore owes Vincent one ear and is a prick, but we forgive him because his paintings are good. We affirm the agenda of those who work in a toll booth all week and paint jungle landscapes on the weekend, of the Sunday painter, the open-minded 90 year old who sketches the bare trees in his backyard and is cool with drag. So long as their art is marketed successfully on instagram or can be segued into a lucrative MLM, it's cool. But actually: we affirm a rigorous and deep art, an art of the earth, of the desert, the jungle, and the cave. We affirm the carnal and the banal, the abstract and academic, the indigenous, the queer, and the bald. The only non-fungible token in life is deez nuts We affirm the merits of productive unemployment, creative truancy, and collaborative disenchantment as prerequisites for new forms. We firmly declare the right to firmly declare, and along with it we acknowledge that to proclaim is to imprison. That if your uncle could have done it he would have done it. Not saying he still can't, though. This is a cult and John Berger is our leader. Immediately after Paris is destroyed in WWIII he will return in a flying saucer and we will all drink a special mixture of absinthe, turpentine and cadmium yellow light and join him in the clouds at his right hand. For more details and a precise timeline of these events, please visit the Sistine chapel. These are the Magic Camp rules for art and life 1. Always paint with a boner; or a semi at leas 2. Make art, not war. Shoot film, not the Taliban 3. Respect the museum 4. Fuck the museum 5. Preach the gospel daily, if necessary, use paint Follow @trevorwelch on twitter and find more of his at: trevor.money and ladyboyrecords.bandcamp/album/onsen

Founder of SmartLiving 360, a national strategy consulting and real estate firm that specializes in the intersection of place and longevity, Ryan Frederick, is proud to announce his first book, Right Place, Right Time: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Home for the Second Half (John Hopkins University Press). With over 15 years of experience in the fields of housing and healthy aging, Ryan Frederick offers readers a strategic and thoughtful guide for anyone who wants to find the best “home” to thrive over a long life.Location plays a significant but often unacknowledged role in health and happiness. The right environment elevates personal wellbeing by promoting purpose, facilitating human connection, catalyzing physical activity, supporting financial health, and inspiring community engagement. Conversely, the wrong place can be detrimental to health, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown. In Right Place, Right Time, Frederick evaluates various regions, metropolitan areas and neighborhoods and explores the pros and cons of living options, from remaining in your home to downsizing, inter-generational living, co-housing, senior living, and more. Combining real-life stories about people selecting places to live with design principles and interactive tools, Right Place, Right Time will appeal to empty nesters, retirees, solo agers, adult children seeking ways to support their parents and loved ones, and anyone with an eye on their second half. “Where you live can substantially impact your health and wellbeing—especially during the second half of your life,” said Ryan Frederick, Author of Right Place, Right Time. “I'm excited to offer tangible tools to help people evaluate their living situations, and determine the best place to call “home” for optimal health and happiness, now and in the future.”Heretofore, place has often been viewed as something separate from overall life planning. However, its role is integral in health and wellness, longevity, healthcare, and financial planning. James Lott jr is the host! smartliving360.com

In today’s subscriber-supported public service announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes and events this fall and winter to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. On October 19, there’s a free class on the Selection, Planting, and Care of Trees from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (register) In early November, there is a three part class on Winter Invasive Plant Identification and Treatment. Information on all the classes and the group can be found at www.charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org. On today’s show:The Charlottesville Planning Commission recommends approval of the update of the Charlottesville Comprehensive PlanA start-up seeking sugar substitutes secures funding for expansion at the State Farm BuildingThe Charlottesville Tree Commission looks forward to the future and a little ReLeafWe begin today with an economic development announcement in Albemarle County. Specifically at the former regional headquarters for State Farm on Pantops. Governor Ralph Northam was on hand to announce that the firm Bonumose will partner with the Hershey Company to research and develop reduced or zero sugar chocolate.“This is a $28 million investment that Bonumose is putting forth in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Northam said. Ed Rogers is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Bonumose, which was formed in 2016 and currently operates out of the University of Virginia’s North Fork research park. Using a $256,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund and $300,000 from the Virginia Investment Performance Grant program, Bonumose will move to a portion of the State Farm site.“It’s an important milestone, 36,000 square foot building,” Rogers said. Bonumose is betting that its technology can provide a healthy sugar substitute that can be produced at a price that can be affordable. Rogers said there’s a lot of hard work to do to prove that the tech will pay off. “We are not so full of hubris that we think that’s going to be easy,” Rogers said. “I mean, sugar is great. Who doesn’t love sugar? I mean even if you hate sugar, you probably love sugar also. It’s the gold standard of sweeteners. It’s natural. It tastes great. It is functional. It provides structure to foods. It helps depress the freezing point so you have creamy ice cream. It caramelizes. It does all of these things in food so when you’re talking about replacing sugar, it’s just not a matter of replacing the sweetness.” Current sugar substitutes do not work as well in cooking, and can be much more expensive than the real thing. Rogers said the product Bonumose will make s based on tagatose, a naturally occurring sweetener. The Pantops facility will serve as a demonstration project and will provide at least 64 new jobs. Rogers said this only came about because the county’s Economic Development office approached the company with options on how to expand. Soon after the pandemic, State Farm said they would shift entirely to a teleworking model and would not return to the 365,000 square foot building. Economic Development Director Roger Johnson is fond of using code names for various projects that they are working on before the deals can be announced. “Albemarle County had begun working with Bonumose well before the state die and we named this project internally Project Leopard, after Def Leppard’s hit song Pour Some Sugar On Me,” Johnson said. This is a story I’ll continue to monitor in the weeks, months, and years to come.New grant programThe City of Charlottesville has launched a new grant program intended to encourage job creation. The GO Hire program run by the Office of Economic Development will be adapted as part of the city’s pandemic recovery efforts. The position must pay $15 an hour. (learn more)“Grant funds can be used for City based businesses hiring a new employee that is a City resident,” reads the application for the program. “[The Office of Economic Development] will reimburse 50 percent of the wages for the initial eight week hiring period.”Grants are capped at $5,000, but the positions are eligible for the Virginia Return to Earn Initiative operated by Virginia Career Works. Comprehensive Plan milestone achieved After four years and ten months of review, the seven member Charlottesville Planning Commission has voted unanimously to recommend approval of an updated Comprehensive Plan as well as the Future Land Use Map. They did so after a long public hearing in which dozens of community members spoke about the plan, which has been drafted by the firm Rhodeside & Harwell as part of the Cville Plans Together initiative. James Freas has only been Charlottesville’s director of Neighborhood Development Services for one month, but had the honor of introducing the public hearing. “The result of this process to date is the draft plan that you have before you tonight which is itself only a first step as we move on to the implementation actions and rulemaking through the zoning ordinance project,” Freas said. That’s the third step in the Cville Plans Together project, but Freas said the Planning Commission had to take into consideration all of the chapters of the Comprehensive Plan. “As we move into implementation, we will be considering this entire plan,” Freas said. “While there has been discussion of the land use map, the strategies in this plan call for environmental protection, historic preservation, recognition of neighborhood context, addressing climate change, and providing affordable housing among many other issues and all of these will go into crafting a new zoning ordinance.”Freas said that densities called for in the future map may be adjusted in places where it is not suitable. He said he is excited to join the team just as this next phase gets underway. Update on Climate Action PlanAfter a presentation on the plan, Commissioners got the chance to ask questions before the public hearing began. One yielded an update on the Climate Action Plan from Kristel Riddervold, the city’s environmental sustainability and facilities development manager. “There’s been sort of some competing priorities that the city has worked on and so we have in some ways given some deference to the comp plan process,” Riddervold said. “There’s been a lot of ground work and climate protection related supporting work that’s been going on for the past year. There is still fully a commitment to develop a climate action plan because that is consistent with Council’s commitment with the Compact of Mayors.”Bill Palmer works in the Office of the Architect at the University of Virginia. He said he supported goals in the draft Comprehensive Plan that refer to the role UVA plays in the community. “And the acknowledgement of UVA’s influence on many aspect of Charlottesville both positive and negative,” Palmer said. “I think continuing the collaboration and cooperation between the city and University is very important and [Albemarle] County as well.”Public hearingThe public hearing lasted nearly two hours and featured competing visions. Some are concerned that additional density in the map could worsen the phenomenon of gentrification.“The process that got us to this point has been incredibly flawed and is now barreling toward a forced premature conclusion,” said Julia Whiting. One former Planning Commissioner agreed with that sentiment. “It feels like we’re driving drunk at night,” said Bill Emory. “Kind-hearted developers will not address our shortage of affordable housing.Third-year UVA student Chloe Estrada said she supports a plan which will hold landlords accountable. “Earlier this year, we conducted a survey of students who have lived off-Grounds to learn more about their housing experiences with specific regard to treatment they have received from landlords,” Estrada said. “Broadly, only 43 percent of student renters were satisfied with their off Grounds housing experience.” One supporter of the plan wanted the implementation phase to begin quickly.“I recommend that you not slow down the process and that you go ahead and adopt this map as a guide for creating new zoning,” said Kathryn Laughon. “We know that changes in status quo are going to create a lot of backlash.”On Monday, Council and the Planning Commission held a two-hour question and answer period on the plan. Kevin Hildebrand had listened and it cleared up one aspect of the plan. “I was encouraged listening to yesterday’s meeting that the up to 12 units is not a by-right development in medium density,” Hildebrand said. “Heretofore that has not been made clear and perhaps the allowable density will be based on lot size.”Commission review and adoptionDozens more people spoke over the next hour or so before the Commission got to their deliberation. There were many discussions of tweaks, and quite a few amendments. Some of this came down to what language should be used. Here’s an interchange about bonus density for providing affordable housing in “sensitive” areas.“I got a new wording,” said Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg. “Consider allowing additional units and height under a bonus program or other zoning mechanism with greater and deeper affordability than non-sensitive areas.” “Is it ‘consider’ or just ‘allowing’ because ‘consider’ means that maybe you can, maybe you cannot,” said Commisioner Taneia Dowell. “‘Allowing sounds like something can happen.”“I don’t think we know yet whether that it should be considered,” said Commissioner Liz Russell. “That’s I think the point.”“In my opinion we can change it to allow and then we can figure out the number in that bonus program,” said Commissioner Karim Habbab. Going forward, NDS Director James Freas will be leading the discussions. If this were a role-playing game, he’s sort of like the dungeon master. “When we say consider, what we mean is that the planning board and the City Council would be the ones doing the considering at the time when you’re moving forward with the adoption of the zoning,”Council will have to take a vote and some of the amendments suggested by the Planning Commission need to be fleshed out by the consultants with more information and specifics. Shortly before the vote, NDS Deputy Director Missy Creasy listed four changes that would be made. One of them was the language we just heard. Here is another:“Require that zoning changes preserve and enhance historic and cultural resources,” Creasy said. Another is to further outline what is meant by a “sensitive” area.“And number four, recommend that sensitive area delineation should continue to be defined and additional means and metrics beyond Census block data need to be considered,” Creasy said. The next step will be the first reading by City Council, scheduled for November 15. In today’s second Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. While Charlottesville does not yet have a specific Climate Adaptation Plan, the draft Comprehensive Plan has several references to the importance of trees to the city’s overall goals. In 2015, a measurement found that the city’s tree canopy was at 45 percent of the land cover. The 2021 draft Comprehensive Plan features more calls for preservation requirements including Goal 6 of the Environment, Climate, and Food Equity chapter which includes many strategies for increasing tree canopy, especially in areas that experience the urban heat island effect due to a lack of shade. “The Comprehensive Plan when it is finally done is going to have significant statements about supporting trees, adding trees, and the environmental health of the city,”  said Planning Commissioner Jody Lahendro at the October 5 meeting of the Tree Commission. The Tree Commission was created in 2010 to advocate for those types of policies, and to recognize specific trees. At the beginning of their meeting on October 5, Chair Brian Menard noted that a landmark tree in Maplewood Cemetery crashed to the ground the weekend before.“There is significant damage to the fabric of the cemetery,” Menard said. “There are a lot of stones damaged, some surely beyond repair.” Menard said the sudden death of the tree has caused an impact and points to the importance of celebrating trees. “Just watching people through the neighborhood react to this, it reminds me that for the last year or so we have especially stressed the functional benefits of trees, the health benefits, the environmental benefits,” Menard said. To help with education about those benefits, a group called Charlottesville ReLeaf has formed to lead efforts to help spread the word and to plant trees in strategic areas. Peggy Van Yahres is one of its members. (learn more)“What we want to do is get kids and families excited about trees and the green industry, so we’re really starting with some educational events,” Van Yahres said. Van Yahres said the group is working on developing a website. One idea is to develop materials that can demonstrate the heat differences between different playgrounds. The one at Venable Elementary features a bit of shade, whereas most others do not. Menard said the Tree Commission should be playing a role in making sure that new public projects will include new trees.“We need to know who and where and when plans are being made to make changes to city property so that we’re in early enough on the conversation,” Menard said. “So whether that is with Public Works or with the school division or whoever.” The Tree Commission also got an update on municipal tree planting on public property. The current capital improvement program has set aside $75,000 for that purpose. Mike Ronaybe is the city’s arborist and he said staff needs to be in place to do the planting and to make sure planted trees are regularly watered. “We usually hire 17 seasonals that work at parks in the summertime,” Ronayne said. “I think we are able to fill three of those positions so that’s just seasonal staff. Our full-time staff we’re down about a third from where we need to be for full-time positions.”In the 2020 State of the Forest report, Ronayne stated there is a city planting goal of 200 trees a year, but that has not been met for four years. The Tree Commission discussed ways to encourage other ways to help meet the goal.Special announcement! Today’s the third day of a new promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Joseph's gentleness and fidelity won the heart of the chief captain, who came to regard him as a son rather than a slave. The youth was brought in contact with men of rank and learning, and he acquired a knowledge of science, of languages, and of affairs—an education needful to the future prime minister of Egypt. PP 217.1But Joseph's faith and integrity were to be tested by fiery trials. His master's wife endeavored to entice the young man to transgress the law of God. Heretofore he had remained untainted by the corruption teeming in that heathen land; but this temptation, so sudden, so strong, so seductive—how should it be met? Joseph knew well what would be the consequence of resistance. On the one hand were concealment, favor, and rewards; on the other, disgrace, imprisonment, perhaps death. His whole future life depended upon the decision of the moment. Would principle triumph? Would Joseph still be true to God? With inexpressible anxiety, angels looked upon the scene. PP 217.2Joseph's answer reveals the power of religious principle. He would not betray the confidence of his master on earth, and, whatever the consequences, he would be true to his Master in heaven. Under the inspecting eye of God and holy angels many take liberties of which they would not be guilty in the presence of their fellow men, but Joseph's first thought was of God. “How ... can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” he said. PP 217.3If we were to cherish an habitual impression that God sees and hears all that we do and say and keeps a faithful record of our words and actions, and that we must meet it all, we would fear to sin. Let the young ever remember that wherever they are, and whatever they do, they are in the presence of God. No part of our conduct escapes observation. We cannot hide our ways from the Most High. Human laws, though sometimes severe, are often transgressed without detection, and hence with impunity. But not so with the law of God. The deepest midnight is no cover for the guilty one. He may think himself alone, but to every deed there is an unseen witness. The very motives of his heart are open to divine inspection. Every act, every word, every thought, is as distinctly marked as though there were only one person in the whole world, and the attention of heaven were centered upon him. PP 217.4Joseph suffered for his integrity, for his tempter revenged herself by accusing him of a foul crime, and causing him to be thrust into prison. Had Potiphar believed his wife's charge against Joseph, the young Hebrew would have lost his life; but the modesty and uprightness that had uniformly characterized his conduct were proof of his innocence; and yet, to save the reputation of his master's house, he was abandoned to disgrace and bondage. 

Hello! All The Segments. Episode #577 Segmented Thusly:    Movie Monologue = E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Private Life, Family (2018) and White Chicks.   Television Talk = Life in Colour   Book Banter =  The Stand by Stephen King   Game Gabbin' = Sheltered Internet Intercourse = Critical Role (Campaign 2 Finale), Some Funhaus in Studio Stuff and Bruce/Lawrence/Jacob/Omar GTFO Gameplay.

By Apostle John Lofton Joshua 1:1-3, Joshua 3:1-5; Joshua 3:14-16 #YouBelongHere

http://make-your-pitch The Sponsor for this Episode is B.E.T A business platform that gives you all the information and tools you need to advance your business as well as the understanding of how to run your business most effectively and profitably. To learn more check out the: Video: https://bit.ly/368rSKk Website: www.yvrbet.com For our listeners, we are offering a 50% Discount on the entire program. Just enter the Code MYP50 Clay Urquhart, CEO and founder of Battle Rhythm Beard Company Clay Urquhart is President and CEO and founder of Battle Rhythm Beard Company specializing in Men's products. The Battle Rhythm Beard Company is a small business specializing in men's care products for beards. Clay's created a line of products that appeal to men that include beard wash and shower gels, brushes, combs hand made of stainless-steel metal. The brushes are on the expensive side, Clay says but last a lifetime. Product lines include conditioning agents such as beard oils, hair and skin oils which are not just masculine scents. Some are gender neutral and some on the feminine side of fragrance. The Battle Rhythm Beard Company is a small company looking to grow in the domestic Canadian market. The company has an established presence in Canada and is exploring methods and options that will expand its presence within North America. Clay readily admits that as a one-person operation his processes in establishing Battle Rhythm Beard Company across from Canada into the United States has not been entirely successful. This is because Clay does not know what he does not know but he readily admits seeking advisors with experiences larger than his own. Assets like barcodes that will help Clay enter the retail segment of American Business Markets. With his established product line, Clay is now ready to look at expansive business models that will facilitate his growth in the coming year, Clay will need to consider US MCA, NAFTA as well as other regulations which govern Canadian exports to the U.S. Heretofore, Clay has leveraged facilities that are run by companies with these models in place. However, spanning into markets where he lacks expertise is part of his learning and growth curves. Clay is very clear on what basics he needs to learn and understand. His sights are set on Shopify because many of the elements required to enter the drop-shipping space, Shopify already offers. Connect with that platform once the essentials are in place will open the pathway Clay will need opened to have the ecommerce entity he wants to build. Keep your eye open and watch for Battle Rhythm Beard Company coming soon. Keywords: Drop ship NAFTA USMCA Battle Rhythm Beard Company conditioning agents beard oils hair and skin oils masculine scents. gender neutral feminine fragrance Legal Barriers to entry

Sometimes people ask if we have an "outside dog" for them. ... There are a lot of reasons to make your dog an inside/outside dog: a dog who gets to come inside to spend time with the family and sleeps indoors at night, and gets exercise and fresh air outdoors when you walk and play together. A home gym is a small convenient spot in someones home. This can replace going to a public gym for workouts. Most home gyms have practical equipment. ... These type of gyms are usually located in the garage, or a spare room in a house. A Japanese futon mattress is a slim, foldable, and rectangular cushion that's filled with just enough cotton batting to provide comfortable support. They're traditionally used in concert with a tatami mat to keep the futon mattress off the floor. Futon (布団) is the Japanese traditional style of bedding. ... "covering futon"). Both elements of a futon bedding set are pliable enough to be aired, folded and stored away in a large closet (押入れ, oshiire) during the day allowing the room to serve for purposes other than as a bedroom. Traditional shikibutons are slim, rectangular, cotton-stuffed sleeping cushions that are more versatile than the thicker futons most people know. In Japan, these simple mattresses are part of a style of minimalist living that goes back centuries. According to Handmade Style: Japan, a shikibuton is usually laid out on the floor atop a straw mat called a tatami and covered with a goose feather duvet and pillows. When not being slept on or used as a sitting cushion, they are folded up and stored in cupboards. A kennel is a structure or shelter for dogs or cats. Used in the plural, the kennels, the term means any building, collection of buildings or a property in which dogs or cats are housed, maintained, and bred. A kennel can be made out of various materials, the most popular being wood and canvas. A studio apartment, also known as a studio flat (UK), a self-contained apartment (Nigeria), efficiency apartment, bed-sitter (Kenya) or bachelor apartment, is a small apartment (rarely a condo) in which the normal functions of a number of rooms – often the living room, bedroom, and kitchen – are combined into a single room. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/chrisabraham/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/chrisabraham/support

Two men wearing leather and nurturing each other through emotional turmoil and self-reflection? That’s right, it’s Starsky and Hutch. Watch the screen light up with some man-on-man support and tenderness as Hutch dates the ex-girlfriend of an obsessed mob boss stalker and gets hooked on horse. Grab yourself a come-down candy bar, and find out who in this ep has the the most math-based acting resumé, HERETOFORE. DEC 1: Charlie's Angles, S1 E15 "Angels on a String"DEC 15: Banacek, S1 E4, "A Million the Hard Way"DEC 29: Cagney and Lacey, S7 E7 “Greed”JAN 12: Hardcastle and McCormick, S3 E1, “She Ain’t Deep But She Sure Runs Fast” JAN 26: Ellery Queen, S1 E8, “The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party”FEB 9: Mannix, S2 E19, “End Game” FEB 23: McMillan and Wife, S5 E3, “Aftershock”MAR 9: The Rockford Files, S2 E14, “The Hammer of C Block”MAR 23: Remington Steele, S4 E6 “Corn Fed Steele”APR 6: Police Woman, S1 E11, “Smack”APR 20: Barnaby Jones, S8 E22, “The Killin CousinMAY 4: Magnum, P.I, S7 E8, "A Novel Connection" (A Murder She Wrote Crossover)MAY 18: Murder, She Wrote, S3 E8, "Magnum on Ice" (A Magnum P.I. Crossover)JUN 1: Moonlighting, S2 E9, "Atlas Belched."JUN 15: OUR ONE YEAR CRIMESTRAVAGANZA. Follow us on social media for screenshots and GIFs, because you have to see it to believe it. Instagram: @BookemCrimetimeTwitter: @BookemCrimetimeSupport the show and get more content!Patreon: @PrimetimeCrimetimeSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/primetimecrimetime)

In this episode, the listener enjoys two poetic tours, through the American Presidents, from George Washington to Donald Trump and a poetic tour of the many historical sites in Washington DC. The experience is educational and entertaining. The tour through the 45 American Presidents is a grand gallop through American history. It is interesting, enjoyable and humorous. Heretofore obscure and unknown presidents become more real. The sites in the US capital all tell different national stories and come to life here. Dull education and mindless entertainment, step aside! The future belongs to entertaining education! Edutainment! Surely we can learn and be entertained at the same time!

The Album Effect episode 49 reviews adventure rock album "Think Well" from, Heretofore, the piano-pop album "By Your Rules" from sister duo, Mustsisters, and "Gonna Be Alright" from reggae artist, Tribe Zion, plus more. The post #49 – Heretofore, Tribe Zion, Mustsisters appeared first on AudioGearz.

Join us as we discuss Shaak Ti and the overload of information on Grand Arena Championships and Geo TB. HowieWan and DarthStevil join us this week as CeliacSarah and SirGeorgeous were predisposed. Heretofore nicknamed as Mr. Radio Voice, DarthStevil, got to join us simply by chatting us up on our discord. You should join too! https://discord.gg/dWAeMww

Secret relatives pop up in both episodes this week on SSHB! First up, the "Enterprise" is visiting the late Tasha Yar's garbage homeworld and discover she has a garbage sister in "Legacy". After that, Worf finds out he has crappy son but luckily the episode is mostly about awesome Klingon skulduggery in "Reunion". Also this week: Rob Liefeld, Gowron and his eyes, and childhood scientists. Timestamps: synopses: 0:43; Legacy: 7:19; Reunion: 27:53

Heretofore titled “Episode X,” the guys pull back the curtain and give you a behind the scenes look at how (and when) they recorded this episode. Basically, if this thing […]

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EP100 - Get to Know Our Listeners To celebrate our 100th episode, we decided to put the focus on the most important element, the listeners.  So we invited three of our most active listeners to be on the show. Radz Mpofu @RadzMpofu Kevin Harmon @imadness Facebook  Ted Fifelski  @ted_gives Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 100 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday, September 7th 2017. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.   New beta feature - Google Automated Transcription of the show: Transcript Jason:  [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 100 being recorded on Thursday September 7th 2017 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot & Guests:  [0:40] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason and Scott show listeners Jason how are you doing. Jason:  [0:47] I am doing awesome it's super exciting to be at episode 100. Scot & Guests:  [0:52] It really isn't before we jump into it too deep I wanted to announce that we will be podcasting again at the shop. Org digital Summit, this year the Summit is being held in Sunny Los Angeles on September 25th to 27th. Jason Scott show listeners receive a 10% discount when they register using the code js-10 that's js-10 and we will put a link to the registration in the show notes where you can enter that code, we hope to see everyone there Jason as we mentioned that we've had a pretty big milestone here with 100 episodes. Jason:  [1:31] I know I know I have to be honest when we started this 100 episodes we're not on my radar screen I had to read a podcast primer and it mentioned that like. If you get past episode 7 you've sort of survived the mortality rate so I think my big goal was, was 7 and I've since then read that the average podcast on iTunes only ever gets 24 episodes. Scot & Guests:  [1:56] Yeah yeah and we officially have more episodes in listeners now just kidding we actually we actually. Jason:  [2:01] Yeah that's that's because I have a small family if I had a bigger family we'd have more listeners. Scot & Guests:  [2:05] That's actually it's kind of fun to break down some numbers so we started this I don't know about you but I really didn't have any expectations I just thought we would do it for, the fun aspect of it and looking back it's kind of, ballon my expectations I would share admittedly low so we've had over 200,000 downloads since we started the show, the record months had over 18,000 that was over the summer in June cuz we had so much Amazon news going on, the most popular episode is the June 17th hot take we did which is episode 89 where we talked about the Amazon and Whole Foods acquisition and then as reminder for every one we actually started this whole Adventure on November 13th 2015 with episode 1, do you have a quiz for you Jason how many how many episodes have we recorded. Jason:  [2:57] This will be our 101 including the one I screwed up and we didn't get to publish. Scot & Guests:  [3:04] Boomkin answer inside info but yeah 100 episode soon so pretty exciting. Jason:  [3:09] I share your Your Enthusiasm seems like we should be doing something special for the hundred show. Scot & Guests:  [3:17] Yeah yeah and couple months ago we were pretty good at math so we kind of saw this coming on the calendar and we started thinking about what we should do to celebrate a hundred episodes. Jason:  [3:28] Yep and obviously one of the first things that come up is is with many listeners know, chupitos is constantly hounding us to be on the show and so for while we're thinking hey that's a perfect opportunity to finally Jeff on the show but then you know we thought about it and the reality is this show is for the listeners it's not really about the fancy guest so we turned him down. Scot & Guests:  [3:51] Yeah you know we, Basils cuz of stuff to talk about both at listeners who who would care so what we did is we decided to really kind of turn the microphone around, so we we went to Twitter and and looked at the social engagement that we get and we really active Community here for the show that we really enjoy and, what causes a lot of back and forth and it went challenges us and recommends things and ask questions so we we thought what we would do is have a listener appreciation event in celebration of episode 100, so we somewhat randomly picked three listeners from different geographies all over the world if you will these folks work at all kinds of different size companies and have different kinds of rolls and we invite them tonight to be on the show, to hear about their e-commerce experience and where they think e-commerce is going and just kind of turn it over to the listeners for, for a bit and give everyone a little bit of break from hearing from us for the last hundred episodes. Jason:  [4:50] Yeah yeah I'm super excited about this idea and you know frankly pleasantly shocked that it when we invited accepted our invitation so Scott who's the first guest. Scot & Guests:  [5:02] Well Jason let's kick it off excited to have our first guest here for the listener appreciation show we know him best by his Twitter handle which is RADS radz and that's at radz mpofu on Twitter, what's up rats not much just wrapping up the day here how about you. We're super excited we hit 100 episodes Jason didn't think we'd make it past 5 and I had the long money on going the long haul in the sinks the red 100 we're pretty excited. Yeah I have to say that I would have to agree with you because when I first remember seeing the Jason and Scott Show come out I was just like oh my gosh I have needed this for so long that was like I'm starting my retail career. Yeah I told you guys 100 I don't know why Jason would say that, check two boxes for us here for the first time you're you're the first kind of super listener we've had on the show and then also you're the first International correspondent so you're you're not in the United States of America. Nope I'm in the Toronto or the six as Drake would say okay and is it snowing there. No not yet but it is raining a lot okay interesting summer where it's just been. I bet Seattle and BC weather where this raining a lot. Jason:  [6:26] And in the long run does that mean it's good or bad for the ice wine this year. Scot & Guests:  [6:31] No idea. Jason:  [6:34] Those are mine I mainly focus on the food of every venue so for me Toronto is ice wine and poutine even though I know pooting is really Montreal but you can get it in in Toronto. Scot & Guests:  [6:47] Yeah that's true but you forgot you got to check out Uncle tetsu's cheesecake as well as smoke smoke signals barbecue those are two really good spots those in the true true true Toronto Staples. Jason:  [7:01] Nice I am adding those to the list that the show has already paid off for me. So Reds you mentioned that you you were start listen to show you were starting a retail career you want to tell us a little bit more about what that was and what you're doing now. Scot & Guests:  [7:20] Yeah for sure so even though like rewind a little bit vacuum before that I actually started my. E-commerce sales career in at a company called Ashley Bridget, so I was there when we were still like in a basement making maybe if you know a few hundred thousand dollars and a scale to over a million so that. Being part of that company like they double grabbing use like every year since after that but that experience I think really. Help me get to become a part of tulip which is where I started started my retail. Retail career that don't know a tulip was founded by the founder of well. CA. Oh yeah yeah yeah he was involved in doing that as well so yeah I started my career at tulip that was in. March 2015 and I think a few months after that you guys started the Jason and Scott show and then where is your career taking you now. So now shifted to a company called pagerduty and a lot of people especially in the it the it and devops were all day they definitely know about picture to be it's almost like a household name. We were actually mentioned on Silicon Valley recently some I think it was Guilfoyle he told the Nash that he was on pager to the until we got back at the house he was leaving to go somewhere. But yeah basically Patriot Duty Autumn eats the incident resolution process from end-to-end so a lot of that stuff is being done manually right now so you know I have like an Excel spreadsheet. [9:01] I'm the psychos down you call somebody on it for there's too many modern tools to. Really get the key incidents that you need to resolve resolved so page Diddy animates all of that. Google every e-commerce site wants to be up 24/7 so I think you know you say you're out of the retail business but I think you just kind of dawn to a broader addressable market and I'm sure our vehicle it's probably interesting to your folks. Oh yeah I know definitely we actually just it's funny that you mention that we just started. Retail all of my coworkers are all pinion me for people's contacts so yeah definitely I am still very much plugged into the retail game only doing it through all my coworker. Get in touch with me get in touch with retail Executives Through Me podcast you can recommend they want to learn more. It's how I've already been said I've been telling them don't worry I would cover. Jason:  [9:56] We we have a vested interest in pagerduty tracking the retail Market because you know it's it's going to be sad to go to the industry shows like shop.org and not see you. Scot & Guests:  [10:07] Exactly I think you needed to tell our CEO and her had some marketing that Jennifer Tejada if you ever end up listen to this please we should go to shop talk next year. Jason:  [10:16] Exactly. Scot & Guests:  [10:17] Shop.org. Jason:  [10:20] That both good shows both good shows. Scot & Guests:  [10:22] Oh yeah both really good shows. Jason:  [10:24] The actually have a photo of you and it I think act technically it's from neither I think it was probably from NRF and you you had your then employers Logo shaved into the side of your head. Scot & Guests:  [10:36] Oh yeah okay okay I thought you were going to go in a different direction with that there's another photo of someone who's on stage didn't Maeve look like me I don't know maybe but that was. That was that was in January and I think Dominique actually mentioned that from bonobos on on the previous show I think I got to shut up because of that. Although we never saw you put Jason and Scott show logo in your in your head. Jason:  [11:09] That's going to take a more talented Barber than the to it. Scot & Guests:  [11:13] I fixed I was always thinking maybe just a j plus s but I don't do it at all. Jason:  [11:21] Yeah I know you need portraits of two portly dudes. Scot & Guests:  [11:24] Two rats two quick ones Have you listened to every episode. I wish I could say that I have but. The last one that I listen to since I've been ramping up at pagerduty was are the one with the Accel partners and then one that was either just before that or just after that was with. The CEO of the CEO of Kohl's and ModCloth I remember listening to those when so I think I'm about 20 episodes behind at this point. Cool you'll have to just drive to Florida and you could pick them all up. Yeah exactly exactly or I'll do it on my next plane trip to San Francisco. [12:10] What were what were a couple of your favorite shows so I think my favorite show obviously I can't, I can't not do it but Danza episode on bonobos that was my favorite one but also the ones with Rob Schmaltz from Talbots as well as Faisal masud, I'm from Staples, those were like really those are I think those are probably with my top three favorite ones all the a lot of the retail executive. Interviews were like I'm on my favorite ones those ones you know I got to learn so much about you know what's going on in retail and all the changes that if you know what happened this year and I'm sure that will continue so I think those are all my favorite ones. Jason:  [12:56] Very cool that being said any as one of our super listeners were we're always looking to make the show better anything you feel like we could be doing better or any tips for things we should think about trying. Scot & Guests:  [13:10] So I thought about this and. I think what you guys have done is really cool you know you have the Deep Dives as well as. The the retail executive interviews so I'd love to see maybe a little bit of a panel you know between and I'll maybe not people that are like opposing and Views but would love to find out. Maybe get like the behind-the-scenes story from what happened at Sears maybe not like. Anything like bad that happened but like to know where did. They live like missile I'm so like maybe a previous executive from there and then you know maybe get somebody from. Walmart or one of the opening or tomorrow off and coming retail brands. Could have done better or there now fallen by the wayside in the ones that are doing really well and see if they can. Meet in the middle and what can be done. [14:13] Where do you where do you see the future of retail and e-commerce. I think right now it's still very much in a state of upheaval. Get out like I'm actually keeping tabs of all the retailers that either went belly-up or like we're struggling really. Really tough out there was like it's the year started off with like BCBG and then the Limited, then actually remember seeing HMV Yonge and Dundas Square here in Toronto that's kind of like the Union Square Toronto onto the San Francisco people out there so I remember seeing that one shut down as well and then all American Apparel. I think all of these a lot of these retail Brands I'm hoping it doesn't continue but it looks like it well I think there's still going to be a lot more. A lot more unfortunate seems like that I put on top of that too kind of. You know balance that I would say that there might even be more consolidation that's going to happen at a lot of people are saying that it might not happen but from. What we've seen from Walmart this year with the acquisition of Moosejaw and the novo's band also more recently with some of the shoe retailers I think. Michael Kors just acquired Jimmy Choo and then on top of that Vince Camuto was acquired by although or vice versa so yeah I think there's definite going to be a lot more retailers that are. Going under if they don't figure out how to go digital and no kind of modernize their with their in-store experience and then on top of that. Jason:  [15:50] That's very cool I don't want to get one question in that we've actually ask every guest but Scott keeps making me edit the answer out so so hopefully for the 100th episode I'll finally get to get it in there. Would you say that you like Jason a little better than Scott or way better than Scott. Scot & Guests:  [16:10] I would say that the two of you I hold you both very near and dear my heart and there's no way I could pick them from the two of you. Jason:  [16:17] So you lied you're willing to be honest about everything else and then you I on that one alright. Scot & Guests:  [16:22] Good answer he's he's texting me right now saying that I'm his favorite. You weren't supposed to say that I have a kind of sales question which is you're there in Canada in Toronto and your imagine. You have territories that are boom across the continent is it hard to be in the sales rep in candidates Ellington us or doesn't feel different at all than if you were in New York or something. No I don't think it's that big it's that different at all I think it actually might even play to your advantage we're kind of seen as the we had this running joke on my previous company and to love that, everybody always sauce in the in the states as the friendly Canadians we are always just really do a comedy versus you know kind of like that. I don't want to generalize but you know the ones that play hard ball in New York or something like that so I definitely plays to word Vantage I would say that it's probably tougher to sell, in Canada versus outside of Canada Canadians sometimes don't like buying from Canadians I will say that much. Jason:  [17:29] Interesting I feel like we do have the perception that that Canadians are super friendly I mean it it's like I'm sorry a sort of a catch phrase for Canadians. Scot & Guests:  [17:39] Yeah I know right I actually had was made fun of in an Uber I took Uber pool for one of the first times, on a recent business trip and the gentleman the back just what he found out that it was from Canada he was just like, or you going to say I'm sorry a lot and even put on the Canadian accents it's definitely known across America. Jason:  [18:03] I totally get it this may offend you but I am frequently mistaken as a Canadian that people feel like I have a Canadian accent. [18:13] Which I have never lived in Canada but. Scot & Guests:  [18:17] Can you say a boat. Jason:  [18:18] I definitely can go a boat but that's because you know did a lot of work in Minneapolis which is little known fact but it's actually north of Canada is a lot of Minneapolis. Scot & Guests:  [18:28] Yeah yeah I've heard that. Jason:  [18:30] Culturally I used to make that joke and then I married a woman from Detroit and I warned that Detroit actually is. Scot & Guests:  [18:37] Canada. Jason:  [18:39] You you drive south to go to Windsor to drink when you're 18 that's the whole that's all gig when you grow up in Detroit apparently. Scot & Guests:  [18:46] Yeah yeah I've heard a lot of people say that and even on the opposite end, back in I'd say what the seventies and eighties a lot of people would drive down from Toronto and Windsor to the states to go check out Hip Hop shows because there was nothing in Canada. Jason:  [19:03] Wow certainly not true anymore Toronto is like that got a lot of great Hip Hop. Scot & Guests:  [19:08] Yeah yeah Drake in the weekend and all those guys. Jason:  [19:14] Very cool what was red we greatly appreciate your. Royal falling and the suggestions you sent all along and we look forward to getting you back in the industry and getting you all caught up on the show so thanks very much for being part of the episode 100. Scot & Guests:  [19:33] Yeah thanks a lot for having me guys and hopefully I'll sing me up a lot more retail shows I'm going to use this as leverage internally at pagerduty. Awesome thanks for as we really appreciate it. Okay Jason are next listener on listener and 100 is Kevin Harmon I've known Kevin 415 of the longest term. Ebayers I've met I think if we met at one of the early eBay live shows and he has been a huge fan of the show welcome to the show Kevin. Text Jason how are you guys. Jason:  [20:14] We are terrific 100 episode what could be better. Scot & Guests:  [20:19] Boom that's right yeah so yeah we really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to join us so I'll let Jason Kick It Off. Jason:  [20:29] Yeah so Kevin Scott mention you been a long time eBay so do you want to give us the the background about how you got into the account Biz and what you're doing today. Scot & Guests:  [20:40] Sure I've been an e-commerce for a long time I think 2001 is when we started and for about 10 years I stayed in the media side we sold DVDs and CDs and video games and books. On eBay and Amazon other places did that for a long time and for some weird reason books and CDs and DVDs of again stop selling so well so. We moved on to another couple things are doing then and then now what we do is I have another company that sells clothing and books now. Jason:  [21:16] Very cool and predominately as a Marketplace seller. Scot & Guests:  [21:20] Yes 100% so we're sort of you know eBay phds Amazon phds we know a lot about both and we do the best we can. Jason:  [21:31] Nice and are you mostly focus on North America so those are the two two big platforms for you. [21:38] Gotcha and we do often talk about the Walmart marketplace as well if you looked at that at all or. Scot & Guests:  [21:46] Yeah we are looking into that Walmart in and Jed as well so we think that that might be a pretty viable saying coming down the road here. Cool so I know you listen to a lot of episodes you can listen to every episode I listen to. Show me episodes of the Jason I'm going to call you out on this I think you said that welcome to the Jason's not show about 6 times now. I didn't even catch that. Jason:  [22:24] That's a special service to the fans that I give to that the loyalist. Scot & Guests:  [22:28] Yep. Jason:  [22:31] That's all I mean to Beyonce it's a it's a Freudian slip my other podcast is called the Jason and snot show. Scot & Guests:  [22:38] Oh that's so strange it's for its for ents. Jason:  [22:40] Deaf deaf. Scot & Guests:  [22:42] What are several times I know it's hard to pick but what are a couple of your favorite shows. I think my favorite one was the one with Melissa Burdick from the Mars agency just because you know my Amazon experience and that she seemed, super knowledgeable about Amazon and it was a really good conversation you guys had with her I really enjoyed the the whole thing about you know crap which is hilarious. It was good crap joke the most I have to have like 6 I can't listen that fast normally get pumped up. Yes you super knowledgeable. Jason:  [23:25] And since we're talking about her I should give her a plug she's actually no longer with the Mars agency Melissa and another of our guests. Have started their own business which is now called the laying verdict which is of an Amazon consultancy so that's Andrea way right Scott am I remembering correctly. Scot & Guests:  [23:47] Yeah I think they should call it like Mel B and Andrea or something help her but I didn't ask me I was debating with Scott. Just trying to find an end and acronym for a crap for that. Amazon Canada and I can't for the great ones got didn't like it but I might tell you guys anyway which is it's it's not crap its poop which is probably only offline profit. Jason:  [24:13] Okay I'll. Scot & Guests:  [24:15] PG-13 know you're gone now. Jason:  [24:22] Well you know. One of the things we're always trying to do is improve the show and so as a one of our best listeners that is heard the majority of our shows any feedback you have anything we should be doing different or the drugs you nuts. Scot & Guests:  [24:40] Know the address to the Scott unbridled enthusiasm for Amazon domination. Minutes I wish I was more Counterpoint to that every once in awhile it's. It's cool to watch a hurricane make landfall not sure unless you want to people on the land as falling on butt. I think it'd be great to have like a I don't know what chat room or I'll take take live Twitter questions except her a little more often just just just involve your audience. Jason:  [25:13] Yeah I know that's great feedback we definitely are looking for ways it's actually one of the the deficiencies of the podcast format is you know. We don't have a way for example to email all of our listeners and get questions or those sorts of things do you have to use a parallel to like Facebook or Twitter and you know it. A very loyal but small subset of our podcast listeners are following us on those other platform so. Love to find more ways to engage more customers and get more feedback but that is only a great suggestion I do feel the need to slightly defend us though. Totally hear you on the Amazon world domination and I would love to be the the Counterpoint more loudly. But I continue to be shocked I work with all these. Our big Fortune 100 retailers and it's still more often than not that I walk into a retailer that dramatically underestimates Amazon as the competition and so like. They absolutely have flaws in their absolutely ways to thrive in in the market against them in all those sorts of things but it still turns out that like more of the people in our industry then I would expect. Underestimate them rather than overestimate them so so you know maybe we err on the side of hitting that a little hard but I, I often feel like I have to be in evangelist for a half serious at threat they are so much so that one of my biggest clients that they think they have a funny nickname for me they call me Paul Revere. Scot & Guests:  [26:48] Know he was right I mean the that is actually very amazing. When you see me look at what I've done I mean they're an amazing amazing company that has effort on their own set of rules they know that. I start unique in the world and yeah they're gone disrupt everything sooner or later probably sooner. That's a good transition you you've been common the marketplace Biz 4. Pussy 2001 you 15 20 years what are some of the big trends that you've seen in and where do you where do you think the marketplace part of the world goes. I think the marketplace continues but it seems to me like it's a lot easier to start a business than it used to be for sure you know 15 years ago when we started that was quite an effort. And now with all the tools available now it's a lot easier to get into a business but I also think that there's a lot of consolidation going on so I think it's harder to grow a business and you know grow into a large business in particular. I think because these large sights Amazon Facebook. Google the beginning on more and more of the entire end and process and so the more pieces they don't have that the lesson Advantage you have. I even if you saw on those platforms it can still sometimes be a disadvantage so. I think e-commerce continues and grows like crazy I don't I have concern for the really small business owners though going forward. Yeah and it's Russian cuz I have that same concern and you know you and I have known. [28:20] Know more people that have gotten out of the business owner still in it and then put then what kind of countercyclical e happens there, is baffalo like some of these small business platforms like Magento Bigcommerce and Shopify there exploding so there's these it seems like there's these Merchants out there that have, yeah that are doing well like Shopify just hit I think the 500,000 small store owner, what's a kind of Wonder like who are those people and you know that that seems to be where things have shifted the marketplaces if that so competitive that the a lot of folks have gone to just creating there a little, but then I don't quite understand how there, going to differentiate themselves and get their name out there wifey that's exactly right so 15 years ago the easiest way to start with on eBay. So every small company in the world start on eBay and then they sorta grew or didn't grow a coordinate the eBay's growth are Amazon's girls and now the Shopify and the other. Consolidated sites we can do a lot of different things on one place now everything is Shifting to calm and that's a that's a big change I don't know. I can't I can't judges level success over anything else yet I being too soon but it's definitely a big change in the marketplace in the last 2 or 3 years. Jason:  [29:42] Yeah it's it is fascinating I mean, play I would argue the eat of your really successful Amazon Seller that like or or any plat Marketplace seller like that that shouldn't be your only platform that you should you should have a presence on a platform you own into the. The extent that you do earn your own traffic and aren't you know and earn your own customers. Like you don't want to be actively driving them to the marketplace you you do want to be driving them to that that platform you own so I totally get why. The the shopify's of the world would be successful alongside the the big marketplaces but is you guys are both aware like. You know painfully difficult and expensive to grow a meaningful audience on that on that digital property that you own versus. Nina taking advantage of the the incredible traffic that that Amazon in particular has belt. Scot & Guests:  [30:40] Is there a true and you know I've always go to Amazon and eBay Caesars. As a market expenses an advertising expense and you're paying those fees they bring you the customers. And so you know on your own. It's you're on your own until you bring customers to you it's a much different situation and much more difficult situation but if you can if you can achieve it I think you have a lot better chance of surviving long-term. Jason:  [31:05] Yeah for sure we will use the I used to have this kind of derogatory term for people that. Brands that tried to use Facebook as their only digital platform in Fitchburg Facebook's a wonderful tool. But I used to call them digital sharecroppers because they're you know you're you're planting your crop shirt you're putting all your equity in this land that you don't own and you know in the early days. Facebook change the terms and conditions of how you could use that land. Very frequently in that you know was a huge disruption to to all those Brands and you know it does feel like. The marketplaces today are are very similar to that like there's huge opportunities there but you are a digital sharecropper like you know if the day that Marketplace decides that they've hit some critical mass and don't need you anymore. You know that your your your business is definitely in Jeopardy so it's. Scary to have all those eggs in that in that one basket is good to own some land of your own. Scot & Guests:  [32:04] Yep and that's been a major change the last couple years as well so so back in the day. EBay wooden Scott can attest to this I think even said one time that it seems like people just kind of flavors over there sometimes wear any 6 months. They can make it a complete change the marketplace that really disrupted louder seller base. Can I get used to that and then or later something else will come along and just kept going like that what you could never really establish eBay presents Amazon. Another hand they watch the products the truck didn't change at all the solid for a long long time. Until the last time say couple years and now Amazon surround to the point with her information. A new Rose new changes that you know can hurt some sellers I can help other sellers but but it's almost like Amazon let you grow your business bigger before they decided I didn't need you and I don't know witches. What the worst scenario is there you know you can get shaken off by eBay or you can get kind of gets trampled on by Amazon at some point. Either either have those risks which again why I'm sure every consultant tells people to sell in multiple marketplaces and make sure the doc is a priority. Jason:  [33:13] Yep. So keeping the fan show light let's turn to a much more important topic I heard a rumor that you rival Scott as a Star Wars fan. Scot & Guests:  [33:29] Boy that depends on what metric you're talking about but I'm a huge Star Wars fan absolutely. I have a big question what's your favorite movie. Thesaurus really starting to warm to that one. Tricky question is what's the best one of the three new ones that's the tough one. Yes another one another tricky 1ru if you could only watch one more movie this year, would you do Blade Runner or pussy we've got is there another Marvel and coming up and then then you have Last Jedi. Is it Last Jedi Bar None or would you consider some the others. Man that's a tough one I mean it's definitely Last Jedi but I am really looking forward to Blade Runner. I think Ridley Scott if you got the right guy I've got the right directors you got the right characters again. I'm really really hopeful that they could do something spectacular with that. Jason:  [34:48] So the question I always like to ask and this may be the the wrong audience for this but so I have A2 year old son what order should I be showing him the movies. Scot & Guests:  [35:00] Machete Star Wars movies I would say 4 5 6 7 8. Jason:  [35:08] Okay I get 456 first a lot but that that's. The skip the prequels is a good one there is like there's some fan edits of the prequels that are much better like I wonder could we replace the could we make one of those the official Canon instead of the the George Lucas versions. Scot & Guests:  [35:28] What you can probably edit those three movies together to make one pretty good movie I mean that's definitely cool things happened but how to pick one that's hard to even recommend them. Jason:  [35:40] I think none of the fan edits that I've seen that are you know some of these have had millions of hits on on YouTube none of them have Jar Jar Binks in the middle. Scot & Guests:  [35:48] But that's alright uh I think the woman Darth Maul I'm sure you guys have seen that at your fan is amazing really good really good fanfiction there. Jason:  [36:00] And I apologize for digressing but like perhaps my the funniest Star Wars thing I ever saw on television as you guys remember when Stephen Colbert did the. The contest for the the lightsaber green screen fight. Scot & Guests:  [36:17] Yeah that's good I did I was good. Jason:  [36:22] So super super quickly for listeners they may not be as big a Geeks as as Scott and Kevin the. Tons of people on the internet where do I. Making your own videos of lightsaber fights and so Stephen Colbert decided hey he would do this funny contest he would pretend to be fighting with a lightsaber in front of a green screen and make the video available this fans. And he would have a contest with prizes for the free the three fans that made the best scene using his. His greensaver is green screen lightsaber fight and so they they show the the two finalists on on this Colbert show and the first one is this you know woman Lisa from. From the you know I like Minneapolis or whatever and she's she's got this great video that she made featuring Stephen Colbert fighting the video and then. The the other finalist is George from. Marin County California and as as they're talking like it becomes obvious that it's George Lucas. Scot & Guests:  [37:31] Yes it was hysterical. Jason:  [37:32] And he's he's like in his own thing and they've like you know they've like. Cut new scenes for the movie this thing but the best question was you know Stephen is asking them both like do you own all the movies and George George's like I own all of them except the first one there's some dispute about the first. [37:53] Which I thought was a funny line. Scot & Guests:  [37:55] Yeah that that in like that the SNL auditions for Star Wars 7 was great too that's so cool. Star Wars is the entire ecosystem around it is also awesome. Jason:  [38:08] Would you say that something that Star Wars has in common with a Jason and Scott show that it's a sort of that kind of cultural phenomenon. Scot & Guests:  [38:15] Yeah I think you guys just need to add a conference right you need to have a Jason Scott convention and. Bring a bunch of your gas there and everything else in a certain place and I don't know is there I know Scott's wearing a red jumpsuit right now probably I don't know what you're wearing Jason but you know some sort of attire for the show we could all wear it would be cool. Yeah we get wicked mix in a Star Wars convention at the same time how awesome would that be. Jason:  [38:39] I'm thinking it's going to be at your that that at Scott's new residents which is that that the new hotel. Scot & Guests:  [38:46] Absolutely I can't wait for that. Jason:  [38:51] So I do before we get out I just want to wrap up like we had a good conversation about where the future of marketplaces are going I'd be curious if you had a maybe. SAE more General POV about you know how what what retail looks like in the future like does this digital. Disruption like you don't continue to play out how it's playing out now to see any big changes coming that the other listeners be thinking about. Scot & Guests:  [39:20] Personally I think that we're honestly really only beginning to see the beginnings of the acceleration. Honestly I don't know that's not good news for people but I think these large companies that are getting much larger much faster are described in. On a scale that that we've never seen before and will probably accelerate so I worry about things for example like even Brands themselves you know I worry. I worry that when you get when when is going to come in like Amazon starts doing a ton of private-label stuff I just a time and way more than we even even know about. And then answer to something with that like a voice product like Alexa. The combinations to it is really deadly and when you fit when he think about how deadly it is it's a little scary you know if you ask Alexa to buy something Alexis probably not suggest you it's on Amazon brand suggestions. And when you can when you take those you know brand spend billions of dollars on. On marketing and their packaging and they're looking their feel and when you remove all of that I'm invoice removes all of that so. I get this weird thing that Amazon is attempting to. Accelerates the death of Brands but but taking a lot of that margin that Brands used to enjoy and sort of shipping over to itself. So I definitely that Trend coming and maybe accelerating Scott yeah it's it's their stuff only you know when you ask. Her can't say it cuz she's right here. [40:52] For Alexa when you ask her for her batteries you know that's going to be an Amazon basic battery I think there's definitely rust there I think, brands are not really putting all that together I don't think you know Jason's earlier point they take Amazon seriously it off and then I don't think they get the voice thing and how it really, is a different way to shop where all the packaging and all that looking field doesn't really matter. [41:24] The decisions you have to make tonight bet exciting if you want to space not have toothpaste. I think Amazon is realize that and I think they're going to do their best to sell you Amazon toothpaste instead of your own and by the way they'll give it to an in an hour right so. Amazon has been spending all this time building this gigantic ecosystem in the background and I think you're just now beginning to see if that's it. Yeah yeah and then you know the Counterpoint, to that which I feel is ironic but I'll I'll do this is that you know when we first started Channel advisor it when was kind of like you had to be able to answer the Google question you know, how is Google now you have to answer the Amazon question so these things tend to go and 10:15 year cycle so, we'll see you know I think they'll be there's some company we probably don't know the name of yet you have some some dudes in the garage somewhere and there will be another competitor to Amazon that, the tides so it probably won't be as game over it feels like when you're in the in the heart of it but it is a little scary. [42:30] Yeah I mean if you think about brand searches right so they used to be all Google now it's it's got to be pretty split between Google Amazon and eBay. And in Facebook I should say Facebook in particular so even that even the even way to find products is draft dramatically changing. [42:49] Absolutely well we really appreciate you sharing your thoughts Kevin and and of course being such a long-term listener we really appreciate it and you give us a lot of great feedback, we will try to integrate your feedback here tonight and do more kind of live questions and those kinds of things and we hope you listen to the next hundred episodes. I love the show I love it and thanks for let me find next we be on. Jason:  [43:14] Thanks so much for being on. Scot & Guests:  [43:16] Discontinuing with episode 100 listener preciation we are excited to welcome on to the show Ted for felski Ted is on Twitter as Ted, TD underscored gives gives and he's always one of the first people to start a conversation after we put a show out there so not only is he an avid listener but he's also very, timely on on his downloads mustn'ts, Ted lives in Austin Texas and is part of the e-commerce startup Community there he is the father of 3 boys and co-founder of simplytapp welcome to the show 10. Hey guys will thanks for having me I always enjoy your show so I'm glad to be here on your podcast as well. Jason:  [43:58] We are thrilled to have you Ted Scott mentioned that you're currently the co-founder simply tap and we're going to get to that in just a minute, do you know when we have guests on the show we always like to get a little bit of the color about their career matriculation and how they got where they are so can you. Can you give us the Reader's Digest of a of how you got here. Scot & Guests:  [44:20] Yeah definitely so my career kind of started. You're out of college with a degree in finance going straight into International Business Development for the World Trade Center so I did that for about a year-and-a-half and then found my way. Down to Texas on a Consulting gig which. Ultimately led me to my actual degree in finance over the boutique firm here in Austin Texas called Arthur Financial Services. Doing technology evaluation for the energy and oil and gas Industries. And so I always knew I wanted to start my own company and you know. God willing and gave me a opportunity when my co-founder of simplytapp move down here from Knoxville in about 6 years ago and so we. Yeah we kind of met. Online it away before tender was big or before meet up with big I just threw some some blogs and we hit it off and he had a great idea I had a great idea we mashed them together and started a company in off at once. Cool what would really appreciate you listening to the show when when did you hear about the show and when did when did we kind of pick you up as a listener. Well I've been I think I've listened to every episode for the last say. Maybe April 2016 so coming up on a year and a half or so and. [45:50] What I was looking for when I found your your show was some smart guys with some opinions around the. E-commerce and commerce space so when I found yours not only did I find it interesting but I also enjoyed listening to. Take the given take you both hat and so obviously you guys spend a lot of time covering the world of Amazon because it's such a big part of the current ecosystem right now. At least how it affects everyone both from an employment standpoint to an idea standpoint to it infrastructure standpoint and so. I thought that was something that I had necessarily heard the level of detail and so that's really gravitated me towards Georgia podcasting. You would come out with with good episodes one after another and so I can listen to them. At normal speed where is most of them they you know you stood him up a little bit you get to about 1.7 maybe 2 x. And you get some faster but I've set through a regular speed with you guys since the beginning so and then obviously I started following guys on Twitter. And your website reached out to try to. Find out as much about you guys as possible to make sure the stuff I'm hearing your podcast is legitimate and I think it is, devious plan is working with pulled you into the the evil web that we have one. [47:32] And it your your diction to. Starbucks though Jason is a little bit over-the-top I hear that mentioned every so often and I just wonder how much Starbucks this guy drink if he takes it with him on trips and mouth isn't it everywhere already sell. Jason:  [47:46] Yeah it's it's a little bit of a problem I actually had a moment this morning I huge line at the Starbucks so I thought I'd be really Advanced user and do Mobile Pay to skip the line. So I do Mobile Pay and I'm sitting there waiting and I never comes and never comes and then I go to the phone and realize I sent the mobile pain to a different store. Scot & Guests:  [48:05] Oh yeah I actually saw your Tweet there but they were nice enough I thought that was a real. Jason:  [48:09] Oh my God they were rock stars they when they realize what I did they made my drink for me anyway didn't charge me in save my day. Scot & Guests:  [48:17] Bullets I think the price they probably was in your show so they're like. India favorite guess that we've had on the show that that's kind of come to mine favorite guests. You know you guys have had so many good ones over the years while since I posted over the year and a half. Not really you know everyone seems to be pretty good and I'm not a big names guy so. I really don't remember anyone that jumps jumps out that's like why I'm glad you guys had that on there because I was to a couple of them and I always match him up so. So no sorry. Jason:  [49:00] Know where they're all so good that you can't pick up it's like picking when your favorite. Scot & Guests:  [49:04] It's a Neverfull a while honey I can pick that but I'm kidding. You know what one of the episodes I really enjoyed was when you guys decided to put a token name on the new checkout process or shopping experience from Amazon. Seems like every time that they come out with a new way to deliver a product or service. You know you guys come up with another acronym for it that is really hard to explain or or remember or say it but you guys use it as if it's a thing so. Jason:  [49:36] #j Scot & Guests:  [49:37] Appreciate that yes that's the one. Yeah... Was I think here in Texas I think of JJ Watt which is the football. Little bit bigger deal than Jay water itself or maybe someday lumpy you know he'll retire Hill go into the announcer booth and JWoww still be around. Jason:  [50:00] I feel like it's always going to be safer to say to Jeff Bezos the Jay Watts not a big deal than it's ever going to be to say to JJ Watt that he's not a big deal. Scot & Guests:  [50:08] Well you know I mean there for people who follow just Beason Amazon me he has been bulking up there has been a lot of memes lately with him you know looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger so I mean. Jason:  [50:20] Know know know he looks totally fit but he still looks like maybe JJ's right arm. Scot & Guests:  [50:24] Yeah fair enough fair enough so it's working obviously as you guys cover Amazon. An undercut of all the to do and how they affect the rest of the industry is obviously here in Austin Texas Whole Foods has been a staple of one of the corporation's at kind of the Hallmark for what it means to be Austin right it's this. Upstart started neon 25 30 years ago from hey I just want to produce and Supply Wholesome foods that are well. You can't find in general Grocers and so obviously with the news of them acquiring them I was really excited because my office is about a block-and-a-half from their headquarters and I go there quite frequently for lunch so I know the prices of everything another people. Know when the announcement was made that Amazon was essentially going to a choir Whole Foods. I walked in there and the place was some pins and needles but to be fair you know the day that the acquisition actually went through. And I'm sailing back I was expecting maybe a sign or you know everything to be saying free on it because it's. Our delivery for something you know I didn't see any of that but the people. We're in good spirits and so I thought that was at least initially a good sign. The communication between Amazon and Whole Foods is going to be. [51:58] Good enough or you know smooth enough to wear. What makes Whole Foods Whole Foods and experience hopefully won't get washed away by technology day one it's going to maybe gradually going to go in that direction so nice. Turn off people are scared at least here in Austin for the for that acquisition Bill actually go through. Jason:  [52:24] No I think that is true and I only have to say. The day one experience was remarkable I think we've all been super impressed with how much they got done in terms of integration on that on you. That that first day of the. Under Amazon control this Monday. Scot & Guests:  [52:44] I don't know what you guys experience but headquarters never moves you know they put a new payment systems they put in terminal they put in new ideas that app never works like, this'll last post ever touch so it's weird because it is headquarters it should be you know of a flagship you think they would get that one right, straight away but there was nothing integrated in nothing to headquarters was just nothing at all, so except for some commentary about why why the employees couldn't use Alexa for something so. Jason:  [53:19] That's funny it that's a common thing so that the headquarters Store the store that's closest to the headquarters for almost all retailers like. Always has this unique character and like one of the things is it's almost always run by a totally cynical manager who's not impressed by anything right because. Can you think about it every vendor that ever called on Whole Foods has gone to that store and they explore that store and they probably like stopped and talked to the manager about how important they were to Whole Foods and all that sort of stuff. And you know of course all the Senior Management from the company shop there and all those things in like if you were going to be Star Struck by by the executives coming into your store. You wouldn't do very well in that that. Headquarter store so that the surviving manager there 10 tends to usually be a guy that walks to the beat of his own drummer. Scot & Guests:  [54:12] Yeah I think that's definitely true you know I've met quite a few of their their Executives being so close and you calling on them from time to time whether it be something that I would working on that I want to show them we're just in general curiosity they, they've all been pretty open even though they do get solicited constantly but even pretty open I've been able to. Have some pretty good conversations and coffee and what not have lunch with them so I haven't in a while obviously they've had other things on their mind. But they've been really great Bunch for as large as I've become so I'm excited to see what happens to them not to make this an episode about. About Amazon and Whole Foods but. I think it's going to be exciting and I think there's going to be some Growing Pains But ultimately it's going to really Drive. The industry as a whole towards better things from a consumer perspective. Jason:  [55:11] No I totally agree I do want to change topics to we mention you're the co-founder of Simply tap and tell us a little bit more about that. Scot & Guests:  [55:21] Absolutely so simply tap is a cloud-based payments company the idea was born from. My desire to want to do something in a meaningful industry. I'm being in finance specifically in the energy world I thought it was just phenomenal how you can take this material and it just runs everything right and I still looking at the world around me I said you know what there's there's something very similar to, two oil and gas and that is currency that's a meal money basically its Financial systems and so. With a degree in finance I said well that's pretty perfect than I do about three years of research and finally went Doug came down. On to Austin he had been working on us a specific. Not to get too confident but a specific architecture software architecture for doing cryptographic based payments. And today that that system is the one we've created and it's used on over 500 million devices worldwide mainly Android it's called host card emulation or agency in so when we came together. I saw that and I said this is this is what you've made hear your idea here is in phenomenal so I you know put my business development had onto my marketing hat. You know we started the company and since then you know we've had a large Bank clients and small Bank clients around the world. [56:53] But ultimately you know over the last year we've said well there's a whole lot of Green Space here in the United States and so we are going to create a new. A new mobile payment in a new shopping experience called game g a n e and so that's really what we as a company have been working on this past year and so we're looking forward to to launching yet. Star over the next month or so and see where it goes. Know it's it's been fun ride we were venture-backed we have great gravy C's and fries and Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures and blue sky from Canada. It's been fun and it's exciting and I know Scott you have gone down this path in your previous life and honestly now with spiffy and you've been around the block. But it's this is my first time accepting someone else's money and then requiring to return that back to them. 100 fold if you will so it's something that I'm very. Thankful of had the chance to experience and grow team build a product in Market that Prada. It's all been is open very exciting and it's all been very kind of. Nice to do it here in a place like Austin or there so many resources to to learn and to grow and to kind of pull from. That's awesome congrats on the funding the we just had I don't know if you heard it or not but we had Shane from Zola on and I believe Lightspeed was an investor in those guys they're they're very active in the e-commerce space as I'm sure you know. [58:32] We were a core Payments Technology and and the patents we have around it RR. Are very very strong however has a small company it becomes. Delicate to put the least and how you how you handle yourself. So unlike many of the things a light speed run Commerce invests in which is more on on platforms that are to enable Commerce or speed up Commerce or grow Commerce from. Cat facilitating position this one was was more of a linchpin to make Mobile payment actually happen. I'm so it's a very technical technology that we use now Visa NASCAR DMX and everyone around the world leverages. But yeah Lightspeed is a is a wonderful Venture Capital firm how to see the not Basin Austin we are fortunate for them to seek us out at the time. That doesn't usually happen but we were in a space that they really liked I want individual there and. Notice women introduce themselves if we want to give you a bunch of money we said I don't know if we can trust you you know and the dance began you know over 6 months and then finally they convince us that they work or not, we're going to steal everything from us and you Story Goes On so. Jason:  [1:00:09] That that's a great story and just just to make sure I have it right so simply tap. Which is almost a B2B play that would have license technology to other folks that would use it for for mobile cloud-based payments and then game which is Gano is a. Consumer-facing app that you guys have lunch that fits art of the echo system that leverages that technology do I do I have that right. Scot & Guests:  [1:00:35] Yeah you got that right so it's it's Gane . But that's that's fine I mean you got softener so it's just me going to be listening as my own. Jason:  [1:00:49] Now Jeff Bezos isn't going to find your app. Scot & Guests:  [1:00:51] All good I don't need him find anything that you can worry. Jason:  [1:00:55] And when you guys say host card emulation. I'm taking a wild guess but so you're using NFC chip in the Android to sort of spoof the NFC antenna that would be in a nfc-enabled piece of plastic is that. [1:01:12] Kind of true or no am I totally wrong. Scot & Guests:  [1:01:15] Know your you're quite right with a couple technical differences so an NFC radio is simply just a radio it can it can pass just been any protocol NFC. Is a particular protocol that everyone leverages. Or I should say what people know as of NFC and so what we essentially do is we take that cryptographic element which is typically considered a secure element. And we host that in a remote server so at the time you want to make a payment what we've done is we've we've incremented the cryptographic element a number of times. And then sent those essentially loaded transactions ready to be used down to the device for storage, a time of payment over NFC or really any means we deliver that, that cryptographic element that send merged with the transaction itself so it can then be validated on the back and buy a large processor. Stop a process that would process that particular issued product so it works with just about any. Every it's a universal standard now. But yeah it's it's on Android devices it was on Windows devices and blackberry but obviously those aren't around anymore so it's now Android. Jason:  [1:02:44] So one burning question so obviously the newer Apple devices have an NFC radio in them but likes. Heretofore they haven't opened up that radio 2. What are useful things we'd like to do it almost sounds like they're starting to an I thought I had read that they were going to start opening that up in some some Limited Format are you up to speed on that at all is there any any hope in the future of. I'm getting NFC functionality out of the the Apple. Scot & Guests:  [1:03:13] Well I'd like to preface this common by no one knows what Apple do until Apple does it but we do know Apple quite well. And what I would I'd like to say is it was great to see them it help the entire ecosystem when they chose to adopt. NFC technology as for payment. There's great advantages to opening it up and leveraging a architecture that we've you know. What created the industry called height post-credit Malaysian it would offer all the things that you might like to do with that particular type of radio or frequency. Making the experience that you have with the device in the world around you much more interactive and much more powerful potentially now they have recently opened up what they would say the readability for their NFC chip. Which allows you to Simply hit a tag and RFID tag. And then if there's a URL based there it will then pull the oral up just like you were to go to a website or provide you with information. Based off the products so one of the examples of this is RFID lock tags on very expensive bottles of wine typically this is seen in China or areas where. You can simply refill a bottle with bad wine charge the good one prices and so what this. Opening up in the way of Apple allows them to do is now you can just a simply walk up to the the bottle of wine in the store. [1:04:52] Wherever they'll go is to stop hearing about a product and it will then either provide you information about that particular part. Or it can potentially allow your mobile device to download a coupon or a code. Or take you to a website where you can learn more about that particular product where it came from maybe it could be pulled directly into a health app where, hey if scans it says no this is no good for you because it has XYZ and we know you're allergic to XYZ so it's a great step forward. It's going to be used pacifically for marketing and it's not necessarily. Fully opening their NFC stack as as people in the industry. Cool all this fancy payments talk is over my head but, makes me ask how you feel about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency cuz I'm assume you have a lot of time thinking about that when we were giving to last session say. Bitcoin was all the rage on in Silicon Valley and you couldn't get through one meeting without them asking what your Bitcoin play. And I'd scratch my head and say look you know if the government doesn't take it as this is my general stance if the government doesn't take. You can't pay your taxes with it and the government can't regulate it then it will never exist here in the United States as a main form currency not to mention that. [1:06:22] There are very large incumbents like visa and MasterCard on the banking system as a whole that will not allow a cryptocurrency as a de-facto currency to exist because they already have the compute power they already have the infrastructure. So for Bitcoin as a currency to become mainstream and many of my friends with hate me for this because their Bitcoin. I'll put that way it just won't be supporting the ecosystem and the incumbents can simply squash it through regulation what screw do just. Bearing it throughout marketing dollars so. You have the currency know what chain is more interesting there's other Alternatives but you look at and you have to compare the Computing cost of walk chain with the existing cost of computing a cryptographic keys. It's kind of you know it's not Cheaper by any means the decentralized. Essential system is not cheaper here just spreading off the cost across the notes. And if those nodes one day decide that it's too expensive for them will guess what your your network of nodes gets you no crappier. Because now you're losing computer power so I know it's going to be a big fight it's better suited for countries with currencies that are have wild. Deflation or inflation. [1:07:53] So I won't most likely won't hear work here in the United States for ever until these except sit as their defacto. Jason:  [1:08:02] It's interesting in general with wood agreed with you and share your skepticism but the one thing I didn't see coming that seems like it's helping to make it slightly more mainstream is ransomware. Scot & Guests:  [1:08:13] Very fair very fair you know the problem is you can as an organ well I see the problem is and you're right ransomware offers this. This way but you know. Anna silly want to go and find and hold Bitcoin and no one does right so if it if it's not an everyday occurrence and the payment systems as they stand today no this very very well. If you can get someone to change their habits and Amazon in anyone else will notice to then you really have no chance write a one-off purchase from a retailer I'll let Kohl's. Even if they give you a deep discount and you never go back, you didn't win anything you just discounted your products and services and you're not you're not making any moment towards them adopting your brand or knowing your brand any better you just trick them or force them to. Of the economics of it to experience what you want to experience. It's going to be a long fight ransomware will always exist being in people with cryptocurrencies at hopefully. You know I obviously it's not a good use case come mainstream use case your fraud and theft and blackmail but it is a use case and you know it maybe if it keeps growing and. Everyone's like hell yeah I need to have a little jingle of Bitcoin in my pocket. Cuz I know I'm vulnerable and someone's going to hack me and all my pictures are going to be frozen or stolen or my business whatever. [1:09:49] That does a use case. Jason:  [1:09:51] If you had some of the pictures on your phone that Scott has on his you'd want to carry a little bit coin. Scot & Guests:  [1:09:56] I think it wouldn't I think you just leaving locked forever that what you couldn't get back to him because yeah. When one quick, final question you're at you're there and Austin. Quite a hotbed of metal e-commerce but but high-tech can, investing in things like that do you is there a kind of a community of e-commerce people do you get the shipping guys down there like shipstation you've got that coremetrics bazaarvoice, Bret Hart and his kind of crew or down there how does that work in and did you pick Austin or you just kind of ended up there. Well so I didn't pick Austin I was actually living in Chicago before I moved down to Austin and it was College buddy before you got married at 4 months I had some time so I took that Consulting gig here in Texas and I can live anywhere. So he was an awesome I said sure sounds like a good place. But as far as the I mean I'm here there's a ton of opportunity and it's a great great Community but as far as the Commerce Committee goes you know what. It's definitely here. Because the size of Austin is so much smaller more accessible than say so can Valley or New York. It's easy to get in touch with and have conversations with but I can't really say that there is a. [1:11:28] Yeah I don't go out and play poker with with five other you know individuals who are all in the payments or e-commerce space even though it's there's so much of it here it doesn't happen as much as you would think. I've often thought about starting a you know I'm morning Club of some form around e-commerce but what I found is. [1:11:52] There's there's anecdotal stuff that everyone runs into when you're selling things online when your building logistics for whatever product you're selling and everyone has a little bit of different take which is nice but the end of the day Commerce is Commerce, and you know the tools that emerge as as best. Best use case tools or advantageous tools they all seem to be in your hands all the same time. Time for whatever reason the sales guys are getting those tools you know how to the businesses. Have have a good Rolodex to call on in so you know I think that the individuals here in Austin are are quite. You're in tune with the heartbeat of e-commerce and since th

The Bestowal of Michael on Urantia* (1323.1) 120:0.1 ASSIGNED by Gabriel to supervise the restatement of the life of Michael when on Urantia and in the likeness of mortal flesh, I, the Melchizedek director of the revelatory commission intrusted with this task, am authorized to present this narrative of certain events which immediately preceded the Creator Son’s arrival on Urantia to embark upon the terminal phase of his universe bestowal experience. To live such identical lives as he imposes upon the intelligent beings of his own creation, thus to bestow himself in the likeness of his various orders of created beings, is a part of the price which every Creator Son must pay for the full and supreme sovereignty of his self-made universe of things and beings. (1323.2) 120:0.2 Before the events I am about to delineate, Michael of Nebadon had bestowed himself six times after the similitude of six differing orders of his diverse creation of intelligent beings. Then he prepared to descend upon Urantia in the likeness of mortal flesh, the lowest order of his intelligent will creatures, and, as such a human of the material realm, to execute the final act in the drama of the acquirement of universe sovereignty in accordance with the mandates of the divine Paradise Rulers of the universe of universes. (1323.3) 120:0.3 In the course of each of these preceding bestowals Michael not only acquired the finite experience of one group of his created beings, but he also acquired an essential experience in Paradise co-operation which would, in and of itself, further contribute to constituting him the sovereign of his self-made universe. At any moment throughout all past local universe time, Michael could have asserted personal sovereignty as a Creator Son and as a Creator Son could have ruled his universe after the manner of his own choosing. In such an event, Immanuel and the associated Paradise Sons would have taken leave of the universe. But Michael did not wish to rule Nebadon merely in his own isolated right, as a Creator Son. He desired to ascend through actual experience in co-operative subordination to the Paradise Trinity to that high place in universe status where he would become qualified to rule his universe and administer its affairs with that perfection of insight and wisdom of execution which will sometime be characteristic of the exalted rule of the Supreme Being. He aspired not to perfection of rule as a Creator Son but to supremacy of administration as the embodiment of the universe wisdom and the divine experience of the Supreme Being. (1324.1) 120:0.4 Michael, therefore, had a double purpose in the making of these seven bestowals upon the various orders of his universe creatures: First, he was completing the required experience in creature understanding which is demanded of all Creator Sons before they assume complete sovereignty. At any time a Creator Son may rule his universe in his own right, but he can rule as the supreme representative of the Paradise Trinity only after passing through the seven universe-creature bestowals. Second, he was aspiring to the privilege of representing the maximum authority of the Paradise Trinity which can be exercised in the direct and personal administration of a local universe. Accordingly, did Michael, during the experience of each of his universe bestowals, successfully and acceptably voluntarily subordinate himself to the variously constituted wills of the diverse associations of the persons of the Paradise Trinity. That is, on the first bestowal he was subject to the combined will of the Father, Son, and Spirit; on the second bestowal to the will of the Father and the Son; on the third bestowal to the will of the Father and the Spirit; on the fourth bestowal to the will of the Son and the Spirit; on the fifth bestowal to the will of the Infinite Spirit; on the sixth bestowal to the will of the Eternal Son; and during the seventh and final bestowal, on Urantia, to the will of the Universal Father. (1324.2) 120:0.5 Michael, therefore, combines in his personal sovereignty the divine will of the sevenfold phases of the universal Creators with the understanding experience of his local universe creatures. Thus has his administration become representative of the greatest possible power and authority although divested of all arbitrary assumptions. His power is unlimited since it is derived from experienced association with the Paradise Deities; his authority is unquestioned inasmuch as it was acquired through actual experience in the likeness of universe creatures; his sovereignty is supreme since it embodies at one and the same time the sevenfold viewpoint of Paradise Deity with the creature viewpoint of time and space. (1324.3) 120:0.6 Having determined the time of his final bestowal and having selected the planet whereon this extraordinary event would take place, Michael held the usual prebestowal conference with Gabriel and then presented himself before his elder brother and Paradise counselor, Immanuel. All powers of universe administration which had not previously been conferred upon Gabriel, Michael now assigned to the custody of Immanuel. And just before Michael’s departure for the Urantia incarnation, Immanuel, in accepting the custody of the universe during the time of the Urantia bestowal, proceeded to impart the bestowal counsel which would serve as the incarnation guide for Michael when he would presently grow up on Urantia as a mortal of the realm. (1324.4) 120:0.7 In this connection it should be borne in mind that Michael had elected to execute this bestowal in the likeness of mortal flesh, subject to the will of the Paradise Father. The Creator Son required instructions from no one in order to effect this incarnation for the sole purpose of achieving universe sovereignty, but he had embarked upon a program of the revelation of the Supreme which involved co-operative functioning with the diverse wills of the Paradise Deities. Thus his sovereignty, when finally and personally acquired, would actually be all-inclusive of the sevenfold will of Deity as it culminates in the Supreme. He had, therefore, six times previously been instructed by the personal representatives of the various Paradise Deities and associations thereof; and now he was instructed by the Union of Days, ambassador of the Paradise Trinity to the local universe of Nebadon, acting on behalf of the Universal Father. (1325.1) 120:0.8 There were immediate advantages and tremendous compensations resultant from the willingness of this mighty Creator Son once more voluntarily to subordinate himself to the will of the Paradise Deities, this time to that of the Universal Father. By this decision to effect such associative subordination, Michael would experience in this incarnation, not only the nature of mortal man, but also the will of the Paradise Father of all. And further, he could enter upon this unique bestowal with the complete assurance, not only that Immanuel would exercise the full authority of the Paradise Father in the administration of his universe during his absence on the Urantia bestowal, but also with the comforting knowledge that the Ancients of Days of the superuniverse had decreed the safety of his realm throughout the entire bestowal period. (1325.2) 120:0.9 And this was the setting of the momentous occasion when Immanuel presented the seventh bestowal commission. And from this prebestowal charge of Immanuel to the universe ruler who subsequently became Jesus of Nazareth (Christ Michael) on Urantia, I am permitted to present the following excerpts: 1. The Seventh Bestowal Commission (1325.3) 120:1.1 “My Creator brother, I am about to witness your seventh and final universe bestowal. Most faithfully and perfectly have you executed the six previous commissions, and I entertain no thought but that you will be equally triumphant on this, your terminal sovereignty bestowal. Heretofore you have appeared on your bestowal spheres as a fully developed being of the order of your choosing. Now you are about to appear upon Urantia, the disordered and disturbed planet of your choice, not as a fully developed mortal, but as a helpless babe. This, my comrade, will be a new and untried experience for you. You are about to pay the full price of bestowal and to experience the complete enlightenment of the incarnation of a Creator in the likeness of a creature. (1325.4) 120:1.2 “Throughout each of your former bestowals you have voluntarily chosen to subject yourself to the will of the three Paradise Deities and their divine interassociations. Of the seven phases of the will of the Supreme you have in your previous bestowals been subject to all but the personal will of your Paradise Father. Now that you have elected to be wholly subject to your Father’s will throughout your seventh bestowal, I, as the personal representative of our Father, assume the unqualified jurisdiction of your universe for the time of your incarnation. (1325.5) 120:1.3 “In entering upon the Urantia bestowal, you have voluntarily divested yourself of all extraplanetary support and special assistance such as might be rendered by any creature of your own creation. As your created sons of Nebadon are wholly dependent upon you for safe conduct throughout their universe careers, so now must you become wholly and unreservedly dependent upon your Paradise Father for safe conduct throughout the unrevealed vicissitudes of your ensuing mortal career. And when you shall have finished this bestowal experience, you will know in very truth the full meaning and the rich significance of that faith-trust which you so unvaryingly require all your creatures to master as a part of their intimate relationship with you as their local universe Creator and Father. (1326.1) 120:1.4 “Throughout your Urantia bestowal you need be concerned with but one thing, the unbroken communion between you and your Paradise Father; and it will be by the perfection of such a relationship that the world of your bestowal, even all the universe of your creation, will behold a new and more understandable revelation of your Father and my Father, the Universal Father of all. Your concern, therefore, has only to do with your personal life on Urantia. I will be fully and efficiently responsible for the security and unbroken administration of your universe from the moment of your voluntary relinquishment of authority until you return to us as Universe Sovereign, confirmed by Paradise, and receive back from my hands, not the vicegerent authority which you now surrender to me, but, instead, the supreme power over, and jurisdiction of, your universe. (1326.2) 120:1.5 “And that you may know with assurance that I am empowered to do all that I am now promising (knowing full well that I am the assurance of all Paradise for the faithful performance of my word), I announce to you that there has just been communicated to me a mandate of the Ancients of Days on Uversa which will prevent all spiritual jeopardy in Nebadon throughout the period of your voluntary bestowal. From the moment you surrender consciousness, upon the beginning of the mortal incarnation, until you return to us as supreme and unconditional sovereign of this universe of your own creation and organization, nothing of serious import can happen in all Nebadon. In this interim of your incarnation, I hold the orders of the Ancients of Days which unqualifiedly mandate the instantaneous and automatic extinction of any being guilty of rebellion or presuming to instigate insurrection in the universe of Nebadon while you are absent on this bestowal. My brother, in view of the authority of Paradise inherent in my presence and augmented by the judicial mandate of Uversa, your universe and all its loyal creatures will be secure during your bestowal. You may proceed upon your mission with but a single thought — the enhanced revelation of our Father to the intelligent beings of your universe. (1326.3) 120:1.6 “As in each of your previous bestowals, I would remind you that I am recipient of your universe jurisdiction as brother-trustee. I exercise all authority and wield all power in your name. I function as would our Paradise Father and in accordance with your explicit request that I thus act in your stead. And such being the fact, all this delegated authority is yours again to exercise at any moment you may see fit to requisition its return. Your bestowal is, throughout, wholly voluntary. As a mortal incarnate in the realm you are without celestial endowments, but all your relinquished power may be had at any time you may choose to reinvest yourself with universe authority. If you should choose to reinstate yourself in power and authority, remember, it will be wholly for personal reasons since I am the living and supreme pledge whose presence and promise guarantee the safe administration of your universe in accordance with your Father’s will. Rebellion, such as has three times occurred in Nebadon, cannot occur during your absence from Salvington on this bestowal. For the period of the Urantia bestowal the Ancients of Days have decreed that rebellion in Nebadon shall be invested with the automatic seed of its own annihilation. (1326.4) 120:1.7 “As long as you are absent on this final and extraordinary bestowal, I pledge (with Gabriel’s co-operation) the faithful administration of your universe; and as I commission you to undertake this ministry of divine revelation and to undergo this experience of perfected human understanding, I act in behalf of my Father and your Father and offer you the following counsel, which should guide you in the living of your earth life as you become progressively self-conscious regarding the divine mission of your continued sojourn in the flesh: 2. The Bestowal Limitations (1327.1) 120:2.1 “1. In accordance with the usages and in conformity with the technique of Sonarington — in compliance with the mandates of the Eternal Son of Paradise — I have provided in every way for your immediate entrance upon this mortal bestowal in harmony with the plans formulated by you and placed in my keeping by Gabriel. You will grow up on Urantia as a child of the realm, complete your human education — all the while subject to the will of your Paradise Father — live your life on Urantia as you have determined, terminate your planetary sojourn, and prepare for ascension to your Father to receive from him the supreme sovereignty of your universe. (1327.2) 120:2.2 “2. Apart from your earth mission and your universe revelation, but incidental to both, I counsel that you assume, after you are sufficiently self-conscious of your divine identity, the additional task of technically terminating the Lucifer rebellion in the system of Satania, and that you do all this as the Son of Man; thus, as a mortal creature of the realm, in weakness made powerful by faith-submission to the will of your Father, I suggest that you graciously achieve all you have repeatedly declined arbitrarily to accomplish by power and might when you were so endowed at the time of the inception of this sinful and unjustified rebellion. I would regard it as a fitting climax of your mortal bestowal if you should return to us as the Son of Man, Planetary Prince of Urantia, as well as the Son of God, supreme sovereign of your universe. As a mortal man, the lowest type of intelligent creature in Nebadon, meet and adjudicate the blasphemous pretensions of Caligastia and Lucifer and, in your assumed humble estate, forever end the shameful misrepresentations of these fallen children of light. Having steadfastly declined to discredit these rebels through the exercise of your creator prerogatives, now it would be fitting that you should, in the likeness of the lowest creatures of your creation, wrest dominion from the hands of these fallen Sons; and so would your whole local universe in all fairness clearly and forever recognize the justice of your doing in the role of mortal flesh those things which mercy admonished you not to do by the power of arbitrary authority. And having thus by your bestowal established the possibility of the sovereignty of the Supreme in Nebadon, you will in effect have brought to a close the unadjudicated affairs of all preceding insurrections, notwithstanding the greater or lesser time lag involved in the realization of this achievement. By this act the pending dissensions of your universe will be in substance liquidated. And with the subsequent endowment of supreme sovereignty over your universe, similar challenges to your authority can never recur in any part of your great personal creation. (1327.3) 120:2.3 “3. When you have succeeded in terminating the Urantia secession, as you undoubtedly will, I counsel you to accept from Gabriel the conference of the title of ‘Planetary Prince of Urantia’ as the eternal recognition by your universe of your final bestowal experience; and that you further do any and all things, consistent with the purport of your bestowal, to atone for the sorrow and confusion brought upon Urantia by the Caligastia betrayal and the subsequent Adamic default. (1328.1) 120:2.4 “4. In accordance with your request, Gabriel and all concerned will co-operate with you in the expressed desire to end your Urantia bestowal with the pronouncement of a dispensational judgment of the realm, accompanied by the termination of an age, the resurrection of the sleeping mortal survivors, and the establishment of the dispensation of the bestowed Spirit of Truth. (1328.2) 120:2.5 “5. As concerns the planet of your bestowal and the immediate generation of men living thereon at the time of your mortal sojourn, I counsel you to function largely in the role of a teacher. Give attention, first, to the liberation and inspiration of man’s spiritual nature. Next, illuminate the darkened human intellect, heal the souls of men, and emancipate their minds from age-old fears. And then, in accordance with your mortal wisdom, minister to the physical well-being and material comfort of your brothers in the flesh. Live the ideal religious life for the inspiration and edification of all your universe. (1328.3) 120:2.6 “6. On the planet of your bestowal, set rebellion-segregated man spiritually free. On Urantia, make a further contribution to the sovereignty of the Supreme, thus extending the establishment of this sovereignty throughout the broad domains of your personal creation. In this, your material bestowal in the likeness of the flesh, you are about to experience the final enlightenment of a time-space Creator, the dual experience of working within the nature of man with the will of your Paradise Father. In your temporal life the will of the finite creature and the will of the infinite Creator are to become as one, even as they are also uniting in the evolving Deity of the Supreme Being. Pour out upon the planet of your bestowal the Spirit of Truth and thus make all normal mortals on that isolated sphere immediately and fully accessible to the ministry of the segregated presence of our Paradise Father, the Thought Adjusters of the realms. (1328.4) 120:2.7 “7. In all that you may perform on the world of your bestowal, bear constantly in mind that you are living a life for the instruction and edification of all your universe. You are bestowing this life of mortal incarnation upon Urantia, but you are to live such a life for the spiritual inspiration of every human and superhuman intelligence that has lived, now exists, or may yet live on every inhabited world which has formed, now forms, or may yet form a part of the vast galaxy of your administrative domain. Your earth life in the likeness of mortal flesh shall not be so lived as to constitute an example for the mortals of Urantia in the days of your earthly sojourn nor for any subsequent generation of human beings on Urantia or on any other world. Rather shall your life in the flesh on Urantia be the inspiration for all lives upon all Nebadon worlds throughout all generations in the ages to come. (1328.5) 120:2.8 “8. 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. At the same time you will also interpret, with a new enhancement, our Father, to the supermortal beings of all Nebadon. Equally with this ministry of new revelation and augmented interpretation of the Paradise Father to the human and the superhuman type of mind, you will also so function as to make a new revelation of man to God. Exhibit in your one short life in the flesh, as it has never before been seen in all Nebadon, the transcendent possibilities attainable by a God-knowing human during the short career of mortal existence, and make a new and illuminating interpretation of man and the vicissitudes of his planetary life to all the superhuman intelligences of all Nebadon, and for all time. You are to go down to Urantia in the likeness of mortal flesh, and living as a man in your day and generation, you will so function as to show your entire universe the ideal of perfected technique in the supreme engagement of the affairs of your vast creation: The achievement of God seeking man and finding him and the phenomenon of man seeking God and finding him; and doing all of this to mutual satisfaction and doing it during one short lifetime in the flesh. (1329.1) 120:2.9 “9. I caution you ever to bear in mind that, while in fact you are to become an ordinary human of the realm, in potential you will remain a Creator Son of the Paradise Father. Throughout this incarnation, although you will live and act as a Son of Man, the creative attributes of your personal divinity will follow you from Salvington to Urantia. It will ever be within your power-of-will to terminate the incarnation at any moment subsequent to the arrival of your Thought Adjuster. Prior to the arrival and reception of the Adjuster I will vouch for your personality integrity. But subsequent to the arrival of your Adjuster and concomitant with your progressive recognition of the nature and import of your bestowal mission, you should refrain from the formulation of any superhuman will-to-attainment, achievement, or power in view of the fact that your creator prerogatives will remain associated with your mortal personality because of the inseparability of these attributes from your personal presence. But no superhuman repercussions will attend your earthly career apart from the will of the Paradise Father unless you should, by an act of conscious and deliberate will, make an undivided decision which would terminate in whole-personality choice. 3. Further Counsel and Advice (1329.2) 120:3.1 “And now, my brother, in taking leave of you as you prepare to depart for Urantia and after counseling you regarding the general conduct of your bestowal, allow me to present certain advices that have been arrived at in consultation with Gabriel, and which concern minor phases of your mortal life. We further suggest: (1329.3) 120:3.2 “1. That, in the pursuit of the ideal of your mortal earth life, you also give some attention to the realization and exemplification of some things practical and immediately helpful to your fellow men. (1329.4) 120:3.3 “2. As concerns family relationships, give precedence to the accepted customs of family life as you find them established in the day and generation of your bestowal. Live your family and community life in accordance with the practices of the people among whom you have elected to appear. (1329.5) 120:3.4 “3. In your relations to the social order we advise that you confine your efforts largely to spiritual regeneration and intellectual emancipation. Avoid all entanglements with the economic structure and the political commitments of your day. More especially devote yourself to living the ideal religious life on Urantia. (1329.6) 120:3.5 “4. Under no circumstances and not even in the least detail, should you interfere with the normal and orderly progressive evolution of the Urantia races. But this prohibition must not be interpreted as limiting your efforts to leave behind you on Urantia an enduring and improved system of positive religious ethics. As a dispensational Son you are granted certain privileges pertaining to the advancement of the spiritual and religious status of the world peoples. (1330.1) 120:3.6 “5. As you may see fit, you are to identify yourself with existing religious and spiritual movements as they may be found on Urantia but in every possible manner seek to avoid the formal establishment of an organized cult, a crystallized religion, or a segregated ethical grouping of mortal beings. Your life and teachings are to become the common heritage of all religions and all peoples. (1330.2) 120:3.7 “6. To the end that you may not unnecessarily contribute to the creation of subsequent stereotyped systems of Urantia religious beliefs or other types of nonprogressive religious loyalties, we advise you still further: Leave no writings behind you on the planet. Refrain from all writing upon permanent materials; enjoin your associates to make no images or other likenesses of yourself in the flesh. See that nothing potentially idolatrous is left on the planet at the time of your departure. (1330.3) 120:3.8 “7. While you will live the normal and average social life of the planet, being a normal individual of the male sex, you will probably not enter the marriage relation, which relation would be wholly honorable and consistent with your bestowal; but I must remind you that one of the incarnation mandates of Sonarington forbids the leaving of human offspring behind on any planet by a bestowal Son of Paradise origin. (1330.4) 120:3.9 “8. In all other details of your oncoming bestowal we would commit you to the leading of the indwelling Adjuster, the teaching of the ever-present divine spirit of human guidance, and the reason-judgment of your expanding human mind of hereditary endowment. Such an association of creature and Creator attributes will enable you to live for us the perfect life of man on the planetary spheres, not necessarily perfect as regarded by any one man in any one generation on any one world (much less on Urantia) but wholly and supremely replete as evaluated on the more highly perfected and perfecting worlds of your far-flung universe. (1330.5) 120:3.10 “And now, may your Father and my Father, who has ever sustained us in all past performances, guide and sustain you and be with you from the moment you leave us and achieve the surrender of your consciousness of personality, throughout your gradual return to recognition of your divine identity incarnate in human form, and then on through the whole of your bestowal experience on Urantia until your deliverance from the flesh and your ascension to our Father’s right hand of sovereignty. When I shall again see you on Salvington, we shall welcome your return to us as the supreme and unconditional sovereign of this universe of your own making, serving, and completed understanding. (1330.6) 120:3.11 “In your stead I now reign. I assume jurisdiction of all Nebadon as acting sovereign during the interim of your seventh and mortal bestowal on Urantia. And to you, Gabriel, I commit the safekeeping of the Son of Man about-to-be until he shall presently and in power and glory be returned to me as the Son of Man and the Son of God. And, Gabriel, I am your sovereign until Michael thus returns.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * (1330.7) 120:3.12 Then, immediately, in the presence of all Salvington assembled, Michael removed himself from our midst, and we saw him no more in his accustomed place until his return as the supreme and personal ruler of the universe, subsequent to the completion of his bestowal career on Urantia. 4. The Incarnation — Making Two One (1331.1) 120:4.1 And so certain unworthy children of Michael, who had accused their Creator-father of selfishly seeking rulership and indulged the insinuation that the Creator Son was arbitrarily and autocratically upheld in power by virtue of the unreasoning loyalty of a deluded universe of subservient creatures, were to be silenced forever and left confounded and disillusioned by the life of self-forgetful service which the Son of God now entered upon as the Son of Man — all the while subject to “the will of the Paradise Father.” (1331.2) 120:4.2 But make no mistake; Christ Michael, while truly a dual-origin being, was not a double personality. He was not God in association with man but, rather, God incarnate in man. And he was always just that combined being. The only progressive factor in such a nonunderstandable relationship was the progressive self-conscious realization and recognition (by the human mind) of this fact of being God and man. (1331.3) 120:4.3 Christ Michael did not progressively become God. God did not, at some vital moment in the earth life of Jesus, become man. Jesus was God and man — always and even forevermore. And this God and this man were, and now are, one, even as the Paradise Trinity of three beings is in reality one Deity. (1331.4) 120:4.4 Never lose sight of the fact that the supreme spiritual purpose of the Michael bestowal was to enhance the revelation of God. (1331.5) 120:4.5 Urantia mortals have varying concepts of the miraculous, but to us who live as citizens of the local universe there are few miracles, and of these by far the most intriguing are the incarnational bestowals of the Paradise Sons. The appearance in and on your world, by apparently natural processes, of a divine Son, we regard as a miracle — the operation of universal laws beyond our understanding. Jesus of Nazareth was a miraculous person. (1331.6) 120:4.6 In and through all this extraordinary experience, God the Father chose to manifest himself as he always does — in the usual way — in the normal, natural, and dependable way of divine acting.

Machiventa Melchizedek (1014.1) 93:0.1 THE Melchizedeks are widely known as emergency Sons, for they engage in an amazing range of activities on the worlds of a local universe. When any extraordinary problem arises, or when something unusual is to be attempted, it is quite often a Melchizedek who accepts the assignment. The ability of the Melchizedek Sons to function in emergencies and on widely divergent levels of the universe, even on the physical level of personality manifestation, is peculiar to their order. Only the Life Carriers share to any degree this metamorphic range of personality function. (1014.2) 93:0.2 The Melchizedek order of universe sonship has been exceedingly active on Urantia. A corps of twelve served in conjunction with the Life Carriers. A later corps of twelve became receivers for your world shortly after the Caligastia secession and continued in authority until the time of Adam and Eve. These twelve Melchizedeks returned to Urantia upon the default of Adam and Eve, and they continued thereafter as planetary receivers on down to the day when Jesus of Nazareth, as the Son of Man, became the titular Planetary Prince of Urantia. 1. The Machiventa Incarnation (1014.3) 93:1.1 Revealed truth was threatened with extinction during the millenniums which followed the miscarriage of the Adamic mission on Urantia. Though making progress intellectually, the human races were slowly losing ground spiritually. About 3000 B.C. the concept of God had grown very hazy in the minds of men. (1014.4) 93:1.2 The twelve Melchizedek receivers knew of Michael’s impending bestowal on their planet, but they did not know how soon it would occur; therefore they convened in solemn council and petitioned the Most Highs of Edentia that some provision be made for maintaining the light of truth on Urantia. This plea was dismissed with the mandate that “the conduct of affairs on 606 of Satania is fully in the hands of the Melchizedek custodians.” The receivers then appealed to the Father Melchizedek for help but only received word that they should continue to uphold truth in the manner of their own election “until the arrival of a bestowal Son,” who “would rescue the planetary titles from forfeiture and uncertainty.” (1014.5) 93:1.3 And it was in consequence of having been thrown so completely on their own resources that Machiventa Melchizedek, one of the twelve planetary receivers, volunteered to do that which had been done only six times in all the history of Nebadon: to personalize on earth as a temporary man of the realm, to bestow himself as an emergency Son of world ministry. Permission was granted for this adventure by the Salvington authorities, and the actual incarnation of Machiventa Melchizedek was consummated near what was to become the city of Salem, in Palestine. The entire transaction of the materialization of this Melchizedek Son was completed by the planetary receivers with the co-operation of the Life Carriers, certain of the Master Physical Controllers, and other celestial personalities resident on Urantia. 2. The Sage of Salem (1015.1) 93:2.1 It was 1,973 years before the birth of Jesus that Machiventa was bestowed upon the human races of Urantia. His coming was unspectacular; his materialization was not witnessed by human eyes. He was first observed by mortal man on that eventful day when he entered the tent of Amdon, a Chaldean herder of Sumerian extraction. And the proclamation of his mission was embodied in the simple statement which he made to this shepherd, “I am Melchizedek, priest of El Elyon, the Most High, the one and only God.” (1015.2) 93:2.2 When the herder had recovered from his astonishment, and after he had plied this stranger with many questions, he asked Melchizedek to sup with him, and this was the first time in his long universe career that Machiventa had partaken of material food, the nourishment which was to sustain him throughout his ninety-four years of life as a material being. (1015.3) 93:2.3 And that night, as they talked out under the stars, Melchizedek began his mission of the revelation of the truth of the reality of God when, with a sweep of his arm, he turned to Amdon, saying, “El Elyon, the Most High, is the divine creator of the stars of the firmament and even of this very earth on which we live, and he is also the supreme God of heaven.” (1015.4) 93:2.4 Within a few years Melchizedek had gathered around himself a group of pupils, disciples, and believers who formed the nucleus of the later community of Salem. He was soon known throughout Palestine as the priest of El Elyon, the Most High, and as the sage of Salem. Among some of the surrounding tribes he was often referred to as the sheik, or king, of Salem. Salem was the site which after the disappearance of Melchizedek became the city of Jebus, subsequently being called Jerusalem. (1015.5) 93:2.5 In personal appearance, Melchizedek resembled the then blended Nodite and Sumerian peoples, being almost six feet in height and possessing a commanding presence. He spoke Chaldean and a half dozen other languages. He dressed much as did the Canaanite priests except that on his breast he wore an emblem of three concentric circles, the Satania symbol of the Paradise Trinity. In the course of his ministry this insignia of three concentric circles became regarded as so sacred by his followers that they never dared to use it, and it was soon forgotten with the passing of a few generations. (1015.6) 93:2.6 Though Machiventa lived after the manner of the men of the realm, he never married, nor could he have left offspring on earth. His physical body, while resembling that of the human male, was in reality on the order of those especially constructed bodies used by the one hundred materialized members of Prince Caligastia’s staff except that it did not carry the life plasm of any human race. Nor was there available on Urantia the tree of life. Had Machiventa remained for any long period on earth, his physical mechanism would have gradually deteriorated; as it was, he terminated his bestowal mission in ninety-four years long before his material body had begun to disintegrate. (1016.1) 93:2.7 This incarnated Melchizedek received a Thought Adjuster, who indwelt his superhuman personality as the monitor of time and the mentor of the flesh, thus gaining that experience and practical introduction to Urantian problems and to the technique of indwelling an incarnated Son which enabled this spirit of the Father to function so valiantly in the human mind of the later Son of God, Michael, when he appeared on earth in the likeness of mortal flesh. And this is the only Thought Adjuster who ever functioned in two minds on Urantia, but both minds were divine as well as human. (1016.2) 93:2.8 During the incarnation in the flesh, Machiventa was in full contact with his eleven fellows of the corps of planetary custodians, but he could not communicate with other orders of celestial personalities. Aside from the Melchizedek receivers, he had no more contact with superhuman intelligences than a human being. 3. Melchizedek’s Teachings (1016.3) 93:3.1 With the passing of a decade, Melchizedek organized his schools at Salem, patterning them on the olden system which had been developed by the early Sethite priests of the second Eden. Even the idea of a tithing system, which was introduced by his later convert Abraham, was also derived from the lingering traditions of the methods of the ancient Sethites. (1016.4) 93:3.2 Melchizedek taught the concept of one God, a universal Deity, but he allowed the people to associate this teaching with the Constellation Father of Norlatiadek, whom he termed El Elyon — the Most High. Melchizedek remained all but silent as to the status of Lucifer and the state of affairs on Jerusem. Lanaforge, the System Sovereign, had little to do with Urantia until after the completion of Michael’s bestowal. To a majority of the Salem students Edentia was heaven and the Most High was God. (1016.5) 93:3.3 The symbol of the three concentric circles, which Melchizedek adopted as the insignia of his bestowal, a majority of the people interpreted as standing for the three kingdoms of men, angels, and God. And they were allowed to continue in that belief; very few of his followers ever knew that these three circles were emblematic of the infinity, eternity, and universality of the Paradise Trinity of divine maintenance and direction; even Abraham rather regarded this symbol as standing for the three Most Highs of Edentia, as he had been instructed that the three Most Highs functioned as one. To the extent that Melchizedek taught the Trinity concept symbolized in his insignia, he usually associated it with the three Vorondadek rulers of the constellation of Norlatiadek. (1016.6) 93:3.4 To the rank and file of his followers he made no effort to present teaching beyond the fact of the rulership of the Most Highs of Edentia — Gods of Urantia. But to some, Melchizedek taught advanced truth, embracing the conduct and organization of the local universe, while to his brilliant disciple Nordan the Kenite and his band of earnest students he taught the truths of the superuniverse and even of Havona. (1016.7) 93:3.5 The members of the family of Katro, with whom Melchizedek lived for more than thirty years, knew many of these higher truths and long perpetuated them in their family, even to the days of their illustrious descendant Moses, who thus had a compelling tradition of the days of Melchizedek handed down to him on this, his father’s side, as well as through other sources on his mother’s side. (1016.8) 93:3.6 Melchizedek taught his followers all they had capacity to receive and assimilate. Even many modern religious ideas about heaven and earth, of man, God, and angels, are not far removed from these teachings of Melchizedek. But this great teacher subordinated everything to the doctrine of one God, a universe Deity, a heavenly Creator, a divine Father. Emphasis was placed upon this teaching for the purpose of appealing to man’s adoration and of preparing the way for the subsequent appearance of Michael as the Son of this same Universal Father. (1017.1) 93:3.7 Melchizedek taught that at some future time another Son of God would come in the flesh as he had come, but that he would be born of a woman; and that is why numerous later teachers held that Jesus was a priest, or minister, “forever after the order of Melchizedek.” (1017.2) 93:3.8 And thus did Melchizedek prepare the way and set the monotheistic stage of world tendency for the bestowal of an actual Paradise Son of the one God, whom he so vividly portrayed as the Father of all, and whom he represented to Abraham as a God who would accept man on the simple terms of personal faith. And Michael, when he appeared on earth, confirmed all that Melchizedek had taught concerning the Paradise Father. 4. The Salem Religion (1017.3) 93:4.1 The ceremonies of the Salem worship were very simple. Every person who signed or marked the clay-tablet rolls of the Melchizedek church committed to memory, and subscribed to, the following belief: (1017.4) 93:4.2 1. I believe in El Elyon, the Most High God, the only Universal Father and Creator of all things. (1017.5) 93:4.3 2. I accept the Melchizedek covenant with the Most High, which bestows the favor of God on my faith, not on sacrifices and burnt offerings. (1017.6) 93:4.4 3. I promise to obey the seven commandments of Melchizedek and to tell the good news of this covenant with the Most High to all men. (1017.7) 93:4.5 And that was the whole of the creed of the Salem colony. But even such a short and simple declaration of faith was altogether too much and too advanced for the men of those days. They simply could not grasp the idea of getting divine favor for nothing — by faith. They were too deeply confirmed in the belief that man was born under forfeit to the gods. Too long and too earnestly had they sacrificed and made gifts to the priests to be able to comprehend the good news that salvation, divine favor, was a free gift to all who would believe in the Melchizedek covenant. But Abraham did believe halfheartedly, and even that was “counted for righteousness.” (1017.8) 93:4.6 The seven commandments promulgated by Melchizedek were patterned along the lines of the ancient Dalamatian supreme law and very much resembled the seven commands taught in the first and second Edens. These commands of the Salem religion were: (1017.9) 93:4.7 1. You shall not serve any God but the Most High Creator of heaven and earth. (1017.10) 93:4.8 2. You shall not doubt that faith is the only requirement for eternal salvation. (1017.11) 93:4.9 3. You shall not bear false witness. (1017.12) 93:4.10 4. You shall not kill. (1017.13) 93:4.11 5. You shall not steal. (1018.1) 93:4.12 6. You shall not commit adultery. (1018.2) 93:4.13 7. You shall not show disrespect for your parents and elders. (1018.3) 93:4.14 While no sacrifices were permitted within the colony, Melchizedek well knew how difficult it is to suddenly uproot long-established customs and accordingly had wisely offered these people the substitute of a sacrament of bread and wine for the older sacrifice of flesh and blood. It is of record, “Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine.” But even this cautious innovation was not altogether successful; the various tribes all maintained auxiliary centers on the outskirts of Salem where they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings. Even Abraham resorted to this barbarous practice after his victory over Chedorlaomer; he simply did not feel quite at ease until he had offered a conventional sacrifice. And Melchizedek never did succeed in fully eradicating this proclivity to sacrifice from the religious practices of his followers, even of Abraham. (1018.4) 93:4.15 Like Jesus, Melchizedek attended strictly to the fulfillment of the mission of his bestowal. He did not attempt to reform the mores, to change the habits of the world, nor to promulgate even advanced sanitary practices or scientific truths. He came to achieve two tasks: to keep alive on earth the truth of the one God and to prepare the way for the subsequent mortal bestowal of a Paradise Son of that Universal Father. (1018.5) 93:4.16 Melchizedek taught elementary revealed truth at Salem for ninety-four years, and during this time Abraham attended the Salem school three different times. He finally became a convert to the Salem teachings, becoming one of Melchizedek’s most brilliant pupils and chief supporters. 5. The Selection of Abraham (1018.6) 93:5.1 Although it may be an error to speak of “chosen people,” it is not a mistake to refer to Abraham as a chosen individual. Melchizedek did lay upon Abraham the responsibility of keeping alive the truth of one God as distinguished from the prevailing belief in plural deities. (1018.7) 93:5.2 The choice of Palestine as the site for Machiventa’s activities was in part predicated upon the desire to establish contact with some human family embodying the potentials of leadership. At the time of the incarnation of Melchizedek there were many families on earth just as well prepared to receive the doctrine of Salem as was that of Abraham. There were equally endowed families among the red men, the yellow men, and the descendants of the Andites to the west and north. But, again, none of these localities were so favorably situated for Michael’s subsequent appearance on earth as was the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The Melchizedek mission in Palestine and the subsequent appearance of Michael among the Hebrew people were in no small measure determined by geography, by the fact that Palestine was centrally located with reference to the then existent trade, travel, and civilization of the world. (1018.8) 93:5.3 For some time the Melchizedek receivers had been observing the ancestors of Abraham, and they confidently expected offspring in a certain generation who would be characterized by intelligence, initiative, sagacity, and sincerity. The children of Terah, the father of Abraham, in every way met these expectations. It was this possibility of contact with these versatile children of Terah that had considerable to do with the appearance of Machiventa at Salem, rather than in Egypt, China, India, or among the northern tribes. (1019.1) 93:5.4 Terah and his whole family were halfhearted converts to the Salem religion, which had been preached in Chaldea; they learned of Melchizedek through the preaching of Ovid, a Phoenician teacher who proclaimed the Salem doctrines in Ur. They left Ur intending to go directly through to Salem, but Nahor, Abraham’s brother, not having seen Melchizedek, was lukewarm and persuaded them to tarry at Haran. And it was a long time after they arrived in Palestine before they were willing to destroy all of the household gods they had brought with them; they were slow to give up the many gods of Mesopotamia for the one God of Salem. (1019.2) 93:5.5 A few weeks after the death of Abraham’s father, Terah, Melchizedek sent one of his students, Jaram the Hittite, to extend this invitation to both Abraham and Nahor: “Come to Salem, where you shall hear our teachings of the truth of the eternal Creator, and in the enlightened offspring of you two brothers shall all the world be blessed.” Now Nahor had not wholly accepted the Melchizedek gospel; he remained behind and built up a strong city-state which bore his name; but Lot, Abraham’s nephew, decided to go with his uncle to Salem. (1019.3) 93:5.6 Upon arriving at Salem, Abraham and Lot chose a hilly fastness near the city where they could defend themselves against the many surprise attacks of northern raiders. At this time the Hittites, Assyrians, Philistines, and other groups were constantly raiding the tribes of central and southern Palestine. From their stronghold in the hills Abraham and Lot made frequent pilgrimages to Salem. (1019.4) 93:5.7 Not long after they had established themselves near Salem, Abraham and Lot journeyed to the valley of the Nile to obtain food supplies as there was then a drought in Palestine. During his brief sojourn in Egypt Abraham found a distant relative on the Egyptian throne, and he served as the commander of two very successful military expeditions for this king. During the latter part of his sojourn on the Nile he and his wife, Sarah, lived at court, and when leaving Egypt, he was given a share of the spoils of his military campaigns. (1019.5) 93:5.8 It required great determination for Abraham to forgo the honors of the Egyptian court and return to the more spiritual work sponsored by Machiventa. But Melchizedek was revered even in Egypt, and when the full story was laid before Pharaoh, he strongly urged Abraham to return to the execution of his vows to the cause of Salem.* (1019.6) 93:5.9 Abraham had kingly ambitions, and on the way back from Egypt he laid before Lot his plan to subdue all Canaan and bring its people under the rule of Salem. Lot was more bent on business; so, after a later disagreement, he went to Sodom to engage in trade and animal husbandry. Lot liked neither a military nor a herder’s life. (1019.7) 93:5.10 Upon returning with his family to Salem, Abraham began to mature his military projects. He was soon recognized as the civil ruler of the Salem territory and had confederated under his leadership seven near-by tribes. Indeed, it was with great difficulty that Melchizedek restrained Abraham, who was fired with a zeal to go forth and round up the neighboring tribes with the sword that they might thus more quickly be brought to a knowledge of the Salem truths. (1019.8) 93:5.11 Melchizedek maintained peaceful relations with all the surrounding tribes; he was not militaristic and was never attacked by any of the armies as they moved back and forth. He was entirely willing that Abraham should formulate a defensive policy for Salem such as was subsequently put into effect, but he would not approve of his pupil’s ambitious schemes for conquest; so there occurred a friendly severance of relationship, Abraham going over to Hebron to establish his military capital. (1020.1) 93:5.12 Abraham, because of his close connection with the illustrious Melchizedek, possessed great advantage over the surrounding petty kings; they all revered Melchizedek and unduly feared Abraham. Abraham knew of this fear and only awaited an opportune occasion to attack his neighbors, and this excuse came when some of these rulers presumed to raid the property of his nephew Lot, who dwelt in Sodom. Upon hearing of this, Abraham, at the head of his seven confederated tribes, moved on the enemy. His own bodyguard of 318 officered the army, numbering more than 4,000, which struck at this time. (1020.2) 93:5.13 When Melchizedek heard of Abraham’s declaration of war, he went forth to dissuade him but only caught up with his former disciple as he returned victorious from the battle. Abraham insisted that the God of Salem had given him victory over his enemies and persisted in giving a tenth of his spoils to the Salem treasury. The other ninety per cent he removed to his capital at Hebron. (1020.3) 93:5.14 After this battle of Siddim, Abraham became leader of a second confederation of eleven tribes and not only paid tithes to Melchizedek but saw to it that all others in that vicinity did the same. His diplomatic dealings with the king of Sodom, together with the fear in which he was so generally held, resulted in the king of Sodom and others joining the Hebron military confederation; Abraham was really well on the way to establishing a powerful state in Palestine. 6. Melchizedek’s Covenant with Abraham (1020.4) 93:6.1 Abraham envisaged the conquest of all Canaan. His determination was only weakened by the fact that Melchizedek would not sanction the undertaking. But Abraham had about decided to embark upon the enterprise when the thought that he had no son to succeed him as ruler of this proposed kingdom began to worry him. He arranged another conference with Melchizedek; and it was in the course of this interview that the priest of Salem, the visible Son of God, persuaded Abraham to abandon his scheme of material conquest and temporal rule in favor of the spiritual concept of the kingdom of heaven. (1020.5) 93:6.2 Melchizedek explained to Abraham the futility of contending with the Amorite confederation but made it equally clear that these backward clans were certainly committing suicide by their foolish practices so that in a few generations they would be so weakened that the descendants of Abraham, meanwhile greatly increased, could easily overcome them. (1020.6) 93:6.3 And Melchizedek made a formal covenant with Abraham at Salem. Said he to Abraham: “Look now up to the heavens and number the stars if you are able; so numerous shall your seed be.” And Abraham believed Melchizedek, “and it was counted to him for righteousness.” And then Melchizedek told Abraham the story of the future occupation of Canaan by his offspring after their sojourn in Egypt. (1020.7) 93:6.4 This covenant of Melchizedek with Abraham represents the great Urantian agreement between divinity and humanity whereby God agrees to do everything; man only agrees to believe God’s promises and follow his instructions. Heretofore it had been believed that salvation could be secured only by works — sacrifices and offerings; now, Melchizedek again brought to Urantia the good news that salvation, favor with God, is to be had by faith. But this gospel of simple faith in God was too advanced; the Semitic tribesmen subsequently preferred to go back to the older sacrifices and atonement for sin by the shedding of blood. (1021.1) 93:6.5 It was not long after the establishment of this covenant that Isaac, the son of Abraham, was born in accordance with the promise of Melchizedek. After the birth of Isaac, Abraham took a very solemn attitude toward his covenant with Melchizedek, going over to Salem to have it stated in writing. It was at this public and formal acceptance of the covenant that he changed his name from Abram to Abraham. (1021.2) 93:6.6 Most of the Salem believers had practiced circumcision, though it had never been made obligatory by Melchizedek. Now Abraham had always so opposed circumcision that on this occasion he decided to solemnize the event by formally accepting this rite in token of the ratification of the Salem covenant. (1021.3) 93:6.7 It was following this real and public surrender of his personal ambitions in behalf of the larger plans of Melchizedek that the three celestial beings appeared to him on the plains of Mamre. This was an appearance of fact, notwithstanding its association with the subsequently fabricated narratives relating to the natural destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And these legends of the happenings of those days indicate how retarded were the morals and ethics of even so recent a time. (1021.4) 93:6.8 Upon the consummation of the solemn covenant, the reconciliation between Abraham and Melchizedek was complete. Abraham again assumed the civil and military leadership of the Salem colony, which at its height carried over one hundred thousand regular tithe payers on the rolls of the Melchizedek brotherhood. Abraham greatly improved the Salem temple and provided new tents for the entire school. He not only extended the tithing system but also instituted many improved methods of conducting the business of the school, besides contributing greatly to the better handling of the department of missionary propaganda. He also did much to effect improvement of the herds and the reorganization of the Salem dairying projects. Abraham was a shrewd and efficient business man, a wealthy man for his day; he was not overly pious, but he was thoroughly sincere, and he did believe in Machiventa Melchizedek. 7. The Melchizedek Missionaries (1021.5) 93:7.1 Melchizedek continued for some years to instruct his students and to train the Salem missionaries, who penetrated to all the surrounding tribes, especially to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. And as the decades passed, these teachers journeyed farther and farther from Salem, carrying with them Machiventa’s gospel of belief and faith in God. (1021.6) 93:7.2 The descendants of Adamson, clustered about the shores of the lake of Van, were willing listeners to the Hittite teachers of the Salem cult. From this onetime Andite center, teachers were dispatched to the remote regions of both Europe and Asia. Salem missionaries penetrated all Europe, even to the British Isles. One group went by way of the Faroes to the Andonites of Iceland, while another traversed China and reached the Japanese of the eastern islands. The lives and experiences of the men and women who ventured forth from Salem, Mesopotamia, and Lake Van to enlighten the tribes of the Eastern Hemisphere present a heroic chapter in the annals of the human race. (1022.1) 93:7.3 But the task was so great and the tribes were so backward that the results were vague and indefinite. From one generation to another the Salem gospel found lodgment here and there, but except in Palestine, never was the idea of one God able to claim the continued allegiance of a whole tribe or race. Long before the coming of Jesus the teachings of the early Salem missionaries had become generally submerged in the older and more universal superstitions and beliefs. The original Melchizedek gospel had been almost wholly absorbed in the beliefs in the Great Mother, the Sun, and other ancient cults. (1022.2) 93:7.4 You who today enjoy the advantages of the art of printing little understand how difficult it was to perpetuate truth during these earlier times; how easy it was to lose sight of a new doctrine from one generation to another. There was always a tendency for the new doctrine to become absorbed into the older body of religious teaching and magical practice. A new revelation is always contaminated by the older evolutionary beliefs. 8. Departure of Melchizedek (1022.3) 93:8.1 It was shortly after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah that Machiventa decided to end his emergency bestowal on Urantia. Melchizedek’s decision to terminate his sojourn in the flesh was influenced by numerous conditions, chief of which was the growing tendency of the surrounding tribes, and even of his immediate associates, to regard him as a demigod, to look upon him as a supernatural being, which indeed he was; but they were beginning to reverence him unduly and with a highly superstitious fear. In addition to these reasons, Melchizedek wanted to leave the scene of his earthly activities a sufficient length of time before Abraham’s death to insure that the truth of the one and only God would become strongly established in the minds of his followers. Accordingly Machiventa retired one night to his tent at Salem, having said good night to his human companions, and when they went to call him in the morning, he was not there, for his fellows had taken him. 9. After Melchizedek’s Departure (1022.4) 93:9.1 It was a great trial for Abraham when Melchizedek so suddenly disappeared. Although he had fully warned his followers that he must sometime go as he had come, they were not reconciled to the loss of their wonderful leader. The great organization built up at Salem nearly disappeared, though the traditions of these days were what Moses built upon when he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt. (1022.5) 93:9.2 The loss of Melchizedek produced a sadness in the heart of Abraham that he never fully overcame. Hebron he had abandoned when he gave up the ambition of building a material kingdom; and now, upon the loss of his associate in the building of the spiritual kingdom, he departed from Salem, going south to live near his interests at Gerar. (1022.6) 93:9.3 Abraham became fearful and timid immediately after the disappearance of Melchizedek. He withheld his identity upon arrival at Gerar, so that Abimelech appropriated his wife. (Shortly after his marriage to Sarah, Abraham one night had overheard a plot to murder him in order to get his brilliant wife. This dread became a terror to the otherwise brave and daring leader; all his life he feared that someone would kill him secretly in order to get Sarah. And this explains why, on three separate occasions, this brave man exhibited real cowardice.) (1023.1) 93:9.4 But Abraham was not long to be deterred in his mission as the successor of Melchizedek. Soon he made converts among the Philistines and of Abimelech’s people, made a treaty with them, and, in turn, became contaminated with many of their superstitions, particularly with their practice of sacrificing first-born sons. Thus did Abraham again become a great leader in Palestine. He was held in reverence by all groups and honored by all kings. He was the spiritual leader of all the surrounding tribes, and his influence continued for some time after his death. During the closing years of his life he once more returned to Hebron, the scene of his earlier activities and the place where he had worked in association with Melchizedek. Abraham’s last act was to send trusty servants to the city of his brother, Nahor, on the border of Mesopotamia, to secure a woman of his own people as a wife for his son Isaac. It had long been the custom of Abraham’s people to marry their cousins. And Abraham died confident in that faith in God which he had learned from Melchizedek in the vanished schools of Salem. (1023.2) 93:9.5 It was hard for the next generation to comprehend the story of Melchizedek; within five hundred years many regarded the whole narrative as a myth. Isaac held fairly well to the teachings of his father and nourished the gospel of the Salem colony, but it was harder for Jacob to grasp the significance of these traditions. Joseph was a firm believer in Melchizedek and was, largely because of this, regarded by his brothers as a dreamer. Joseph’s honor in Egypt was chiefly due to the memory of his great-grandfather Abraham. Joseph was offered military command of the Egyptian armies, but being such a firm believer in the traditions of Melchizedek and the later teachings of Abraham and Isaac, he elected to serve as a civil administrator, believing that he could thus better labor for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven. (1023.3) 93:9.6 The teaching of Melchizedek was full and replete, but the records of these days seemed impossible and fantastic to the later Hebrew priests, although many had some understanding of these transactions, at least up to the times of the en masse editing of the Old Testament records in Babylon. (1023.4) 93:9.7 What the Old Testament records describe as conversations between Abraham and God were in reality conferences between Abraham and Melchizedek. Later scribes regarded the term Melchizedek as synonymous with God. The record of so many contacts of Abraham and Sarah with “the angel of the Lord” refers to their numerous visits with Melchizedek. (1023.5) 93:9.8 The Hebrew narratives of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are far more reliable than those about Abraham, although they also contain many diversions from the facts, alterations made intentionally and unintentionally at the time of the compilation of these records by the Hebrew priests during the Babylonian captivity. Keturah was not a wife of Abraham; like Hagar, she was merely a concubine. All of Abraham’s property went to Isaac, the son of Sarah, the status wife. Abraham was not so old as the records indicate, and his wife was much younger. These ages were deliberately altered in order to provide for the subsequent alleged miraculous birth of Isaac. (1023.6) 93:9.9 The national ego of the Jews was tremendously depressed by the Babylonian captivity. In their reaction against national inferiority they swung to the other extreme of national and racial egotism, in which they distorted and perverted their traditions with the view of exalting themselves above all races as the chosen people of God; and hence they carefully edited all their records for the purpose of raising Abraham and their other national leaders high up above all other persons, not excepting Melchizedek himself. The Hebrew scribes therefore destroyed every record of these momentous times which they could find, preserving only the narrative of the meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek after the battle of Siddim, which they deemed reflected great honor upon Abraham. (1024.1) 93:9.10 And thus, in losing sight of Melchizedek, they also lost sight of the teaching of this emergency Son regarding the spiritual mission of the promised bestowal Son; lost sight of the nature of this mission so fully and completely that very few of their progeny were able or willing to recognize and receive Michael when he appeared on earth and in the flesh as Machiventa had foretold. (1024.2) 93:9.11 But one of the writers of the Book of Hebrews understood the mission of Melchizedek, for it is written: “This Melchizedek, priest of the Most High, was also king of peace; without father, without mother, without pedigree, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like a Son of God, he abides a priest continually.” This writer designated Melchizedek as a type of the later bestowal of Michael, affirming that Jesus was “a minister forever on the order of Melchizedek.” While this comparison was not altogether fortunate, it was literally true that Christ did receive provisional title to Urantia “upon the orders of the twelve Melchizedek receivers” on duty at the time of his world bestowal. 10. Present Status of Machiventa Melchizedek (1024.3) 93:10.1 During the years of Machiventa’s incarnation the Urantia Melchizedek receivers functioned as eleven. When Machiventa considered that his mission as an emergency Son was finished, he signalized this fact to his eleven associates, and they immediately made ready the technique whereby he was to be released from the flesh and safely restored to his original Melchizedek status. And on the third day after his disappearance from Salem he appeared among his eleven fellows of the Urantia assignment and resumed his interrupted career as one of the planetary receivers of 606 of Satania. (1024.4) 93:10.2 Machiventa terminated his bestowal as a creature of flesh and blood just as suddenly and unceremoniously as he had begun it. Neither his appearance nor departure were accompanied by any unusual announcement or demonstration; neither resurrection roll call nor ending of planetary dispensation marked his appearance on Urantia; his was an emergency bestowal. But Machiventa did not end his sojourn in the flesh of human beings until he had been duly released by the Father Melchizedek and had been informed that his emergency bestowal had received the approval of the chief executive of Nebadon, Gabriel of Salvington. (1024.5) 93:10.3 Machiventa Melchizedek continued to take a great interest in the affairs of the descendants of those men who had believed in his teachings when he was in the flesh. But the progeny of Abraham through Isaac as intermarried with the Kenites were the only line which long continued to nourish any clear concept of the Salem teachings. (1024.6) 93:10.4 This same Melchizedek continued to collaborate throughout the nineteen succeeding centuries with the many prophets and seers, thus endeavoring to keep alive the truths of Salem until the fullness of the time for Michael’s appearance on earth. (1025.1) 93:10.5 Machiventa continued as a planetary receiver up to the times of the triumph of Michael on Urantia. Subsequently, he was attached to the Urantia service on Jerusem as one of the four and twenty directors, only just recently having been elevated to the position of personal ambassador on Jerusem of the Creator Son, bearing the title Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia. It is our belief that, as long as Urantia remains an inhabited planet, Machiventa Melchizedek will not be fully returned to the duties of his order of sonship but will remain, speaking in the terms of time, forever a planetary minister representing Christ Michael. (1025.2) 93:10.6 As his was an emergency bestowal on Urantia, it does not appear from the records what Machiventa’s future may be. It may develop that the Melchizedek corps of Nebadon have sustained the permanent loss of one of their number. Recent rulings handed down from the Most Highs of Edentia, and later confirmed by the Ancients of Days of Uversa, strongly suggest that this bestowal Melchizedek is destined to take the place of the fallen Planetary Prince, Caligastia. If our conjectures in this respect are correct, it is altogether possible that Machiventa Melchizedek may again appear in person on Urantia and in some modified manner resume the role of the dethroned Planetary Prince, or else appear on earth to function as vicegerent Planetary Prince representing Christ Michael, who now actually holds the title of Planetary Prince of Urantia. While it is far from clear to us as to what Machiventa’s destiny may be, nevertheless, events which have so recently taken place strongly suggest that the foregoing conjectures are probably not far from the truth. (1025.3) 93:10.7 We well understand how, by his triumph on Urantia, Michael became the successor of both Caligastia and Adam; how he became the planetary Prince of Peace and the second Adam. And now we behold the conferring upon this Melchizedek of the title Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia. Will he also be constituted Vicegerent Material Son of Urantia? Or is there a possibility that an unexpected and unprecedented event is to take place, the sometime return to the planet of Adam and Eve or certain of their progeny as representatives of Michael with the titles vicegerents of the second Adam of Urantia? (1025.4) 93:10.8 And all these speculations associated with the certainty of future appearances of both Magisterial and Trinity Teacher Sons, in conjunction with the explicit promise of the Creator Son to return sometime, make Urantia a planet of future uncertainty and render it one of the most interesting and intriguing spheres in all the universe of Nebadon. It is altogether possible that, in some future age when Urantia is approaching the era of light and life, after the affairs of the Lucifer rebellion and the Caligastia secession have been finally adjudicated, we may witness the presence on Urantia, simultaneously, of Machiventa, Adam, Eve, and Christ Michael, as well as either a Magisterial Son or even Trinity Teacher Sons. (1025.5) 93:10.9 It has long been the opinion of our order that Machiventa’s presence on the Jerusem corps of Urantia directors, the four and twenty counselors, is sufficient evidence to warrant the belief that he is destined to follow the mortals of Urantia on through the universe scheme of progression and ascension even to the Paradise Corps of the Finality. We know that Adam and Eve are thus destined to accompany their earth fellows on the Paradise adventure when Urantia has become settled in light and life. (1025.6) 93:10.10 Less than a thousand years ago this same Machiventa Melchizedek, the onetime sage of Salem, was invisibly present on Urantia for a period of one hundred years, acting as resident governor general of the planet; and if the present system of directing planetary affairs should continue, he will be due to return in the same capacity in a little over one thousand years. (1026.1) 93:10.11 This is the story of Machiventa Melchizedek, one of the most unique of all characters ever to become connected with the history of Urantia and a personality who may be destined to play an important role in the future experience of your irregular and unusual world. (1026.2) 93:10.12 [Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.]

Planetary Mortal Epochs (589.1) 52:0.1 FROM the inception of life on an evolutionary planet to the time of its final flowering in the era of light and life, there appear upon the stage of world action at least seven epochs of human life. These successive ages are determined by the planetary missions of the divine Sons, and on an average inhabited world these epochs appear in the following order: (589.2) 52:0.2 1. Pre-Planetary Prince Man. (589.3) 52:0.3 2. Post-Planetary Prince Man. (589.4) 52:0.4 3. Post-Adamic Man. (589.5) 52:0.5 4. Post-Magisterial Son Man. (589.6) 52:0.6 5. Post-Bestowal Son Man. (589.7) 52:0.7 6. Post-Teacher Son Man. (589.8) 52:0.8 7. The Era of Light and Life. (589.9) 52:0.9 The worlds of space, as soon as they are physically suitable for life, are placed on the registry of the Life Carriers, and in due time these Sons are dispatched to such planets for the purpose of initiating life. The entire period from life initiation to the appearance of man is designated the prehuman era and precedes the successive mortal epochs considered in this narrative. 1. Primitive Man (589.10) 52:1.1 From the time of man’s emergence from the animal level — when he can choose to worship the Creator — to the arrival of the Planetary Prince, mortal will creatures are called primitive men. There are six basic types or races of primitive men, and these early peoples successively appear in the order of the spectrum colors, beginning with the red. The length of time consumed in this early life evolution varies greatly on the different worlds, ranging from one hundred and fifty thousand years to over one million years of Urantia time. (589.11) 52:1.2 The evolutionary races of color — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo — begin to appear about the time that primitive man is developing a simple language and is beginning to exercise the creative imagination. By this time man is well accustomed to standing erect. (589.12) 52:1.3 Primitive men are mighty hunters and fierce fighters. The law of this age is the physical survival of the fittest; the government of these times is wholly tribal. During the early racial struggles on many worlds some of the evolutionary races are obliterated, as occurred on Urantia. Those who survive are usually subsequently blended with the later imported violet race, the Adamic peoples. (589.13) 52:1.4 In the light of subsequent civilization, this era of primitive man is a long, dark, and bloody chapter. The ethics of the jungle and the morals of the primeval forests are not in keeping with the standards of later dispensations of revealed religion and higher spiritual development. On normal and nonexperimental worlds this epoch is very different from the prolonged and extraordinarily brutal struggles which characterized this age on Urantia. When you have emerged from your first world experience, you will begin to see why this long and painful struggle on the evolutionary worlds occurs, and as you go forward in the Paradise path, you will increasingly understand the wisdom of these apparently strange doings. But notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of the early ages of human emergence, the performances of primitive man represent a splendid, even a heroic, chapter in the annals of an evolutionary world of time and space. (590.1) 52:1.5 Early evolutionary man is not a colorful creature. In general, these primitive mortals are cave dwellers or cliff residents. They also build crude huts in the large trees. Before they acquire a high order of intelligence, the planets are sometimes overrun with the larger types of animals. But early in this era mortals learn to kindle and maintain fire, and with the increase of inventive imagination and the improvement in tools, evolving man soon vanquishes the larger and more unwieldy animals. The early races also make extensive use of the larger flying animals. These enormous birds are able to carry one or two average-sized men for a nonstop flight of over five hundred miles. On some planets these birds are of great service since they possess a high order of intelligence, often being able to speak many words of the languages of the realm. These birds are most intelligent, very obedient, and unbelievably affectionate. Such passenger birds have been long extinct on Urantia, but your early ancestors enjoyed their services. (590.2) 52:1.6 Man’s acquirement of ethical judgment, moral will, is usually coincident with the appearance of early language. Upon attaining the human level, after this emergence of mortal will, these beings become receptive to the temporary indwelling of the divine Adjusters, and upon death many are duly elected as survivors and sealed by the archangels for subsequent resurrection and Spirit fusion. The archangels always accompany the Planetary Princes, and a dispensational adjudication of the realm is simultaneous with the prince’s arrival. (590.3) 52:1.7 All mortals who are indwelt by Thought Adjusters are potential worshipers; they have been “lighted by the true light,” and they possess capacity for seeking reciprocal contact with divinity. Nevertheless, the early or biologic religion of primitive man is largely a persistence of animal fear coupled with ignorant awe and tribal superstition. The survival of superstition in the Urantia races is hardly complimentary to your evolutionary development nor compatible with your otherwise splendid achievements in material progress. But this early fear religion serves a very valuable purpose in subduing the fiery tempers of these primitive creatures. It is the forerunner of civilization and the soil for the subsequent planting of the seeds of revealed religion by the Planetary Prince and his ministers. (590.4) 52:1.8 Within one hundred thousand years from the time man acquires erect posture, the Planetary Prince usually arrives, having been dispatched by the System Sovereign upon the report of the Life Carriers that will is functioning, even though comparatively few individuals have thus developed. Primitive mortals usually welcome the Planetary Prince and his visible staff; in fact, they often look upon them with awe and reverence, almost with worshipfulness, if they are not restrained. 2. Post-Planetary Prince Man (591.1) 52:2.1 With the arrival of the Planetary Prince a new dispensation begins. Government appears on earth, and the advanced tribal epoch is attained. Great social strides are made during a few thousand years of this regime. Under normal conditions mortals attain a high state of civilization during this age. They do not struggle so long in barbarism as did the Urantia races. But life on an inhabited world is so changed by rebellion that you can have little or no idea of such a regime on a normal planet. (591.2) 52:2.2 The average length of this dispensation is around five hundred thousand years, some longer, some shorter. During this era the planet is established in the circuits of the system, and a full quota of seraphic and other celestial helpers is assigned to its administration. The Thought Adjusters come in increasing numbers, and the seraphic guardians amplify their regime of mortal supervision. (591.3) 52:2.3 When the Planetary Prince arrives on a primitive world, the evolved religion of fear and ignorance prevails. The prince and his staff make the first revelations of higher truth and universe organization. These initial presentations of revealed religion are very simple, and they usually pertain to the affairs of the local system. Religion is wholly an evolutionary process prior to the arrival of the Planetary Prince. Subsequently, religion progresses by graduated revelation as well as by evolutionary growth. Each dispensation, each mortal epoch, receives an enlarged presentation of spiritual truth and religious ethics. The evolution of the religious capacity of receptivity in the inhabitants of a world largely determines their rate of spiritual advancement and the extent of religious revelation. (591.4) 52:2.4 This dispensation witnesses a spiritual dawn, and the different races and their various tribes tend to develop specialized systems of religious and philosophic thought. There uniformly run through all of these racial religions two strains: the early fears of primitive men and the later revelations of the Planetary Prince. In some respects Urantians do not seem to have wholly emerged from this stage of planetary evolution. As you pursue this study, you will the more clearly discern how far your world departs from the average course of evolutionary progress and development. (591.5) 52:2.5 But the Planetary Prince is not “the Prince of Peace.” Racial struggles and tribal wars continue over into this dispensation but with diminishing frequency and severity. This is the great age of racial dispersion, and it culminates in a period of intense nationalism. Color is the basis of tribal and national groupings, and the different races often develop separate languages. Each expanding group of mortals tends to seek isolation. This segregation is favored by the existence of many languages. Before the unification of the several races their relentless warfare sometimes results in the obliteration of whole peoples; the orange and green men are particularly subject to such extinction. (591.6) 52:2.6 On average worlds, during the latter part of the prince’s rule, national life begins to replace tribal organization or rather to be superimposed upon the existing tribal groupings. But the great social achievement of the prince’s epoch is the emergence of family life. Heretofore, human relationships have been chiefly tribal; now, the home begins to materialize. (591.7) 52:2.7 This is the dispensation of the realization of sex equality. On some planets the male may rule the female; on others the reverse prevails. During this age normal worlds establish full equality of the sexes, this being preliminary to the fuller realization of the ideals of home life. This is the dawn of the golden age of the home. The idea of tribal rule gradually gives way to the dual concept of national life and family life. (592.1) 52:2.8 During this age agriculture makes its appearance. The growth of the family idea is incompatible with the roving and unsettled life of the hunter. Gradually the practices of settled habitations and the cultivation of the soil become established. The domestication of animals and the development of home arts proceed apace. Upon reaching the apex of biologic evolution, a high level of civilization has been attained, but there is little development of a mechanical order; invention is the characteristic of the succeeding age. (592.2) 52:2.9 The races are purified and brought up to a high state of physical perfection and intellectual strength before the end of this era. The early development of a normal world is greatly helped by the plan of promoting the increase of the higher types of mortals with proportionate curtailment of the lower. And it is the failure of your early peoples to thus discriminate between these types that accounts for the presence of so many defective and degenerate individuals among the present-day Urantia races. (592.3) 52:2.10 One of the great achievements of the age of the prince is this restriction of the multiplication of mentally defective and socially unfit individuals. Long before the times of the arrival of the second Sons, the Adams, most worlds seriously address themselves to the tasks of race purification, something which the Urantia peoples have not even yet seriously undertaken. (592.4) 52:2.11 This problem of race improvement is not such an extensive undertaking when it is attacked at this early date in human evolution. The preceding period of tribal struggles and rugged competition in race survival has weeded out most of the abnormal and defective strains. An idiot does not have much chance of survival in a primitive and warring tribal social organization. It is the false sentiment of your partially perfected civilizations that fosters, protects, and perpetuates the hopelessly defective strains of evolutionary human stocks. (592.5) 52:2.12 It is neither tenderness nor altruism to bestow futile sympathy upon degenerated human beings, unsalvable abnormal and inferior mortals. There exist on even the most normal of the evolutionary worlds sufficient differences between individuals and between numerous social groups to provide for the full exercise of all those noble traits of altruistic sentiment and unselfish mortal ministry without perpetuating the socially unfit and the morally degenerate strains of evolving humanity. There is abundant opportunity for the exercise of tolerance and the function of altruism in behalf of those unfortunate and needy individuals who have not irretrievably lost their moral heritage and forever destroyed their spiritual birthright. 3. Post-Adamic Man (592.6) 52:3.1 When the original impetus of evolutionary life has run its biologic course, when man has reached the apex of animal development, there arrives the second order of sonship, and the second dispensation of grace and ministry is inaugurated. This is true on all evolutionary worlds. When the highest possible level of evolutionary life has been attained, when primitive man has ascended as far as possible in the biologic scale, a Material Son and Daughter always appear on the planet, having been dispatched by the System Sovereign. (593.1) 52:3.2 Thought Adjusters are increasingly bestowed upon the post-Adamic men, and in constantly augmented numbers these mortals attain capacity for subsequent Adjuster fusion. While functioning as descending Sons, the Adams do not possess Adjusters, but their planetary offspring — direct and mixed — become legitimate candidates for the reception, in due time, of the Mystery Monitors. By the termination of the post-Adamic age the planet is in possession of its full quota of celestial ministers; only the fusion Adjusters are not yet universally bestowed. (593.2) 52:3.3 It is the prime purpose of the Adamic regime to influence evolving man to complete the transit from the hunter and herder stage of civilization to that of the agriculturist and horticulturist, to be later supplemented by the appearance of the urban and industrial adjuncts to civilization. Ten thousand years of this dispensation of the biologic uplifters is sufficient to effect a marvelous transformation. Twenty-five thousand years of such an administration of the conjoint wisdom of the Planetary Prince and the Material Sons usually ripens the sphere for the advent of a Magisterial Son. (593.3) 52:3.4 This age usually witnesses the completion of the elimination of the unfit and the still further purification of the racial strains; on normal worlds the defective bestial tendencies are very nearly eliminated from the reproducing stocks of the realm. (593.4) 52:3.5 The Adamic progeny never amalgamate with the inferior strains of the evolutionary races. Neither is it the divine plan for the Planetary Adam or Eve to mate, personally, with the evolutionary peoples. This race-improvement project is the task of their progeny. But the offspring of the Material Son and Daughter are mobilized for generations before the racial-amalgamation ministry is inaugurated. (593.5) 52:3.6 The result of the gift of the Adamic life plasm to the mortal races is an immediate upstepping of intellectual capacity and an acceleration of spiritual progress. There is usually some physical improvement also. On an average world the post-Adamic dispensation is an age of great invention, energy control, and mechanical development. This is the era of the appearance of multiform manufacture and the control of natural forces; it is the golden age of exploration and the final subduing of the planet. Much of the material progress of a world occurs during this time of the inauguration of the development of the physical sciences, just such an epoch as Urantia is now experiencing. Your world is a full dispensation and more behind the average planetary schedule. (593.6) 52:3.7 By the end of the Adamic dispensation on a normal planet the races are practically blended, so that it can be truly proclaimed that “God has made of one blood all the nations,” and that his Son “has made of one color all peoples.” The color of such an amalgamated race is somewhat of an olive shade of the violet hue, the racial “white” of the spheres. (593.7) 52:3.8 Primitive man is for the most part carnivorous; the Material Sons and Daughters do not eat meat, but their offspring within a few generations usually gravitate to the omnivorous level, although whole groups of their descendants sometimes remain nonflesh eaters. This double origin of the post-Adamic races explains how such blended human stocks exhibit anatomic vestiges belonging to both the herbivorous and carnivorous animal groups. (593.8) 52:3.9 Within ten thousand years of racial amalgamation the resultant stocks show varying degrees of anatomic blend, some strains carrying more of the marks of the nonflesh-eating ancestry, others exhibiting more of the distinguishing traits and physical characteristics of their carnivorous evolutionary progenitors. The majority of these world races soon become omnivorous, subsisting upon a wide range of viands from both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. (594.1) 52:3.10 The post-Adamic epoch is the dispensation of internationalism. With the near completion of the task of race blending, nationalism wanes, and the brotherhood of man really begins to materialize. Representative government begins to take the place of the monarchial or paternal form of rulership. The educational system becomes world-wide, and gradually the languages of the races give way to the tongue of the violet people. Universal peace and co-operation are seldom attained until the races are fairly well blended, and until they speak a common language. (594.2) 52:3.11 During the closing centuries of the post-Adamic age there develops new interest in art, music, and literature, and this world-wide awakening is the signal for the appearance of a Magisterial Son. The crowning development of this era is the universal interest in intellectual realities, true philosophy. Religion becomes less nationalistic, becomes more and more a planetary affair. New revelations of truth characterize these ages, and the Most Highs of the constellations begin to rule in the affairs of men. Truth is revealed up to the administration of the constellations. (594.3) 52:3.12 Great ethical advancement characterizes this era; the brotherhood of man is the goal of its society. World-wide peace — the cessation of race conflict and national animosity — is the indicator of planetary ripeness for the advent of the third order of sonship, the Magisterial Son. 4. Post-Magisterial Son Man (594.4) 52:4.1 On normal and loyal planets this age opens with the mortal races blended and biologically fit. There are no race or color problems; literally all nations and races are of one blood. The brotherhood of man flourishes, and the nations are learning to live on earth in peace and tranquillity. Such a world stands on the eve of a great and culminating intellectual development. (594.5) 52:4.2 When an evolutionary world becomes thus ripe for the magisterial age, one of the high order of Avonal Sons makes his appearance on a magisterial mission. The Planetary Prince and the Material Sons are of local universe origin; the Magisterial Son hails from Paradise. (594.6) 52:4.3 When the Paradise Avonals come to the mortal spheres on judicial actions, solely as dispensation adjudicators, they are never incarnated. But when they come on magisterial missions, at least the initial one, they are always incarnated, though they do not experience birth, neither do they die the death of the realm. They may live on for generations in those cases where they remain as rulers on certain planets. When their missions are concluded, they yield up their planetary lives and return to their former status of divine sonship. (594.7) 52:4.4 Each new dispensation extends the horizon of revealed religion, and the Magisterial Sons extend the revelation of truth to portray the affairs of the local universe and all its tributaries. (594.8) 52:4.5 After the initial visitation of a Magisterial Son the races soon effect their economic liberation. The daily work required to sustain one’s independence would be represented by two and one-half hours of your time. It is perfectly safe to liberate such ethical and intelligent mortals. Such refined peoples well know how to utilize leisure for self-improvement and planetary advancement. This age witnesses the further purification of the racial stocks by the restriction of reproduction among the less fit and poorly endowed individuals. (595.1) 52:4.6 The political government and social administration of the races continue to improve, self-government being fairly well established by the end of this age. By self-government we refer to the highest type of representative government. Such worlds advance and honor only those leaders and rulers who are most fit to bear social and political responsibilities. (595.2) 52:4.7 During this epoch the majority of the world mortals are Adjuster indwelt. But even yet the bestowal of divine Monitors is not always universal. The Adjusters of fusion destiny are not yet bestowed upon all planetary mortals; it is still necessary for the will creatures to choose the Mystery Monitors. (595.3) 52:4.8 During the closing ages of this dispensation, society begins to return to more simplified forms of living. The complex nature of an advancing civilization is running its course, and mortals are learning to live more naturally and effectively. And this trend increases with each succeeding epoch. This is the age of the flowering of art, music, and higher learning. The physical sciences have already reached their height of development. The termination of this age, on an ideal world, witnesses the fullness of a great religious awakening, a world-wide spiritual enlightenment. And this extensive arousal of the spiritual natures of the races is the signal for the arrival of the bestowal Son and for the inauguration of the fifth mortal epoch. (595.4) 52:4.9 On many worlds it develops that the planet is not made ready for a bestowal Son by one magisterial mission; in that event there will be a second, even a succession of Magisterial Sons, each of whom will advance the races from one dispensation to another until the planet is made ready for the gift of the bestowal Son. On the second and subsequent missions the Magisterial Sons may or may not be incarnated. But no matter how many Magisterial Sons may appear — and they may also come as such after the bestowal Son — the advent of each one marks the end of one dispensation and the beginning of another. (595.5) 52:4.10 These dispensations of the Magisterial Sons cover anywhere from twenty-five thousand to fifty thousand years of Urantia time. Sometimes such an epoch is much shorter and in rare instances even longer. But in the fullness of time one of these same Magisterial Sons will be born as the Paradise bestowal Son. 5. Post-Bestowal Son Man (595.6) 52:5.1 When a certain standard of intellectual and spiritual development is attained on an inhabited world, a Paradise bestowal Son always arrives. On normal worlds he does not appear in the flesh until the races have ascended to the highest levels of intellectual development and ethical attainment. But on Urantia the bestowal Son, even your own Creator Son, appeared at the close of the Adamic dispensation, but that is not the usual order of events on the worlds of space. (595.7) 52:5.2 When the worlds have become ripe for spiritualization, the bestowal Son arrives. These Sons always belong to the Magisterial or Avonal order except in that case, once in each local universe, when the Creator Son prepares for his terminal bestowal on some evolutionary world, as occurred when Michael of Nebadon appeared on Urantia to bestow himself upon your mortal races. Only one world in near ten million can enjoy such a gift; all other worlds are spiritually advanced by the bestowal of a Paradise Son of the Avonal order. (596.1) 52:5.3 The bestowal Son arrives on a world of high educational culture and encounters a race spiritually trained and prepared to assimilate advanced teachings and to appreciate the bestowal mission. This is an age characterized by the world-wide pursuit of moral culture and spiritual truth. The mortal passion of this dispensation is the penetration of cosmic reality and communion with spiritual reality. The revelations of truth are extended to include the superuniverse. Entirely new systems of education and government grow up to supplant the crude regimes of former times. The joy of living takes on new color, and the reactions of life are exalted to heavenly heights of tone and timbre. (596.2) 52:5.4 The bestowal Son lives and dies for the spiritual uplift of the mortal races of a world. He establishes the “new and living way”; his life is an incarnation of Paradise truth in mortal flesh, that very truth — even the Spirit of Truth — in the knowledge of which men shall be free. (596.3) 52:5.5 On Urantia the establishment of this “new and living way” was a matter of fact as well as of truth. The isolation of Urantia in the Lucifer rebellion had suspended the procedure whereby mortals can pass, upon death, directly to the shores of the mansion worlds. Before the days of Christ Michael on Urantia all souls slept on until the dispensational or special millennial resurrections. Even Moses was not permitted to go over to the other side until the occasion of a special resurrection, the fallen Planetary Prince, Caligastia, contesting such a deliverance. But ever since the day of Pentecost, Urantia mortals again may proceed directly to the morontia spheres. (596.4) 52:5.6 Upon the resurrection of a bestowal Son, on the third day after yielding up his incarnated life, he ascends to the right hand of the Universal Father, receives the assurance of the acceptance of the bestowal mission, and returns to the Creator Son at the headquarters of the local universe. Thereupon the bestowal Avonal and the Creator Michael send their joint spirit, the Spirit of Truth, into the bestowal world. This is the occasion when the “spirit of the triumphant Son is poured out upon all flesh.” The Universe Mother Spirit also participates in this bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, and concomitant therewith there issues the bestowal edict of the Thought Adjusters. Thereafter all normal-minded will creatures of that world will receive Adjusters as soon as they attain the age of moral responsibility, of spiritual choice. (596.5) 52:5.7 If such a bestowal Avonal should return to a world after the bestowal mission, he would not incarnate but would come “in glory with the seraphic hosts.” (596.6) 52:5.8 The postbestowal Son age may extend from ten thousand to a hundred thousand years. There is no arbitrary time allotted to any of these dispensational eras. This is a time of great ethical and spiritual progress. Under the spiritual influence of these ages, human character undergoes tremendous transformations and experiences phenomenal development. It becomes possible to put the golden rule into practical operation. The teachings of Jesus are really applicable to a mortal world which has had the preliminary training of the prebestowal Sons with their dispensations of character ennoblement and culture augmentation. (596.7) 52:5.9 During this era the problems of disease and delinquency are virtually solved. Degeneracy has already been largely eliminated by selective reproduction. Disease has been practically mastered through the high resistant qualities of the Adamic strains and by the intelligent and world-wide application of the discoveries of the physical sciences of preceding ages. The average length of life, during this period, climbs well above the equivalent of three hundred years of Urantia time. (597.1) 52:5.10 Throughout this epoch there is a gradual lessening of governmental supervision. True self-government is beginning to function; fewer and fewer restrictive laws are necessary. The military branches of national resistance are passing away; the era of international harmony is really arriving. There are many nations, mostly determined by land distribution, but only one race, one language, and one religion. Mortal affairs are almost, but not quite, utopian. This truly is a great and glorious age! 6. Urantia’s Post-Bestowal Age (597.2) 52:6.1 The bestowal Son is the Prince of Peace. He arrives with the message, “Peace on earth and good will among men.” On normal worlds this is a dispensation of world-wide peace; the nations no more learn war. But such salutary influences did not attend the coming of your bestowal Son, Christ Michael. Urantia is not proceeding in the normal order. Your world is out of step in the planetary procession. Your Master, when on earth, warned his disciples that his advent would not bring the usual reign of peace on Urantia. He distinctly told them that there would be “wars and rumors of wars,” and that nation would rise against nation. At another time he said, “Think not that I have come to bring peace upon earth.” (597.3) 52:6.2 Even on normal evolutionary worlds the realization of the world-wide brotherhood of man is not an easy accomplishment. On a confused and disordered planet like Urantia such an achievement requires a much longer time and necessitates far greater effort. Unaided social evolution can hardly achieve such happy results on a spiritually isolated sphere. Religious revelation is essential to the realization of brotherhood on Urantia. While Jesus has shown the way to the immediate attainment of spiritual brotherhood, the realization of social brotherhood on your world depends much on the achievement of the following personal transformations and planetary adjustments: (597.4) 52:6.3 1. Social fraternity. Multiplication of international and interracial social contacts and fraternal associations through travel, commerce, and competitive play. Development of a common language and the multiplication of multilinguists. The racial and national interchange of students, teachers, industrialists, and religious philosophers. (597.5) 52:6.4 2. Intellectual cross-fertilization. Brotherhood is impossible on a world whose inhabitants are so primitive that they fail to recognize the folly of unmitigated selfishness. There must occur an exchange of national and racial literature. Each race must become familiar with the thought of all races; each nation must know the feelings of all nations. Ignorance breeds suspicion, and suspicion is incompatible with the essential attitude of sympathy and love. (597.6) 52:6.5 3. Ethical awakening. Only ethical consciousness can unmask the immorality of human intolerance and the sinfulness of fratricidal strife. Only a moral conscience can condemn the evils of national envy and racial jealousy. Only moral beings will ever seek for that spiritual insight which is essential to living the golden rule. (598.1) 52:6.6 4. Political wisdom. Emotional maturity is essential to self-control. Only emotional maturity will insure the substitution of international techniques of civilized adjudication for the barbarous arbitrament of war. Wise statesmen will sometime work for the welfare of humanity even while they strive to promote the interest of their national or racial groups. Selfish political sagacity is ultimately suicidal — destructive of all those enduring qualities which insure planetary group survival. (598.2) 52:6.7 5. Spiritual insight. The brotherhood of man is, after all, predicated on the recognition of the fatherhood of God. The quickest way to realize the brotherhood of man on Urantia is to effect the spiritual transformation of present-day humanity. The only technique for accelerating the natural trend of social evolution is that of applying spiritual pressure from above, thus augmenting moral insight while enhancing the soul capacity of every mortal to understand and love every other mortal. Mutual understanding and fraternal love are transcendent civilizers and mighty factors in the world-wide realization of the brotherhood of man. (598.3) 52:6.8 If you could be transplanted from your backward and confused world to some normal planet now in the postbestowal Son age, you

The Marine-Life Era on Urantia (672.1) 59:0.1 WE RECKON the history of Urantia as beginning about one billion years ago and extending through five major eras: (672.2) 59:0.2 1. The prelife era extends over the initial four hundred and fifty million years, from about the time the planet attained its present size to the time of life establishment. Your students have designated this period as the Archeozoic. (672.3) 59:0.3 2. The life-dawn era extends over the next one hundred and fifty million years. This epoch intervenes between the preceding prelife or cataclysmic age and the following period of more highly developed marine life. This era is known to your researchers as the Proterozoic. (672.4) 59:0.4 3. The marine-life era covers the next two hundred and fifty million years and is best known to you as the Paleozoic. (672.5) 59:0.5 4. The early land-life era extends over the next one hundred million years and is known as the Mesozoic. (672.6) 59:0.6 5. The mammalian era occupies the last fifty million years. This recent-times era is known as the Cenozoic. (672.7) 59:0.7 The marine-life era thus covers about one quarter of your planetary history. It may be subdivided into six long periods, each characterized by certain well-defined developments in both the geologic realms and the biologic domains. (672.8) 59:0.8 As this era begins, the sea bottoms, the extensive continental shelves, and the numerous shallow near-shore basins are covered with prolific vegetation. The more simple and primitive forms of animal life have already developed from preceding vegetable organisms, and the early animal organisms have gradually made their way along the extensive coast lines of the various land masses until the many inland seas are teeming with primitive marine life. Since so few of these early organisms had shells, not many have been preserved as fossils. Nevertheless the stage is set for the opening chapters of that great “stone book” of the life-record preservation which was so methodically laid down during the succeeding ages. (672.9) 59:0.9 The continent of North America is wonderfully rich in the fossil-bearing deposits of the entire marine-life era. The very first and oldest layers are separated from the later strata of the preceding period by extensive erosion deposits which clearly segregate these two stages of planetary development. 1. Early Marine Life in the Shallow Seas The Trilobite Age (673.1) 59:1.1 By the dawn of this period of relative quiet on the earth’s surface, life is confined to the various inland seas and the oceanic shore line; as yet no form of land organism has evolved. Primitive marine animals are well established and are prepared for the next evolutionary development. Amebas are typical survivors of this initial stage of animal life, having made their appearance toward the close of the preceding transition period.* (673.2) 59:1.2 400,000,000 years ago marine life, both vegetable and animal, is fairly well distributed over the whole world. The world climate grows slightly warmer and becomes more equable. There is a general inundation of the seashores of the various continents, particularly of North and South America. New oceans appear, and the older bodies of water are greatly enlarged. (673.3) 59:1.3 Vegetation now for the first time crawls out upon the land and soon makes considerable progress in adaptation to a nonmarine habitat. (673.4) 59:1.4 Suddenly and without gradation ancestry the first multicellular animals make their appearance. The trilobites have evolved, and for ages they dominate the seas. From the standpoint of marine life this is the trilobite age. (673.5) 59:1.5 In the later portion of this time segment much of North America and Europe emerged from the sea. The crust of the earth was temporarily stabilized; mountains, or rather high elevations of land, rose along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, over the West Indies, and in southern Europe. The entire Caribbean region was highly elevated. (673.6) 59:1.6 390,000,000 years ago the land was still elevated. Over parts of eastern and western America and western Europe may be found the stone strata laid down during these times, and these are the oldest rocks which contain trilobite fossils. There were many long fingerlike gulfs projecting into the land masses in which were deposited these fossil-bearing rocks. (673.7) 59:1.7 Within a few million years the Pacific Ocean began to invade the American continents. The sinking of the land was principally due to crustal adjustment, although the lateral land spread, or continental creep, was also a factor. (673.8) 59:1.8 380,000,000 years ago Asia was subsiding, and all other continents were experiencing a short-lived emergence. But as this epoch progressed, the newly appearing Atlantic Ocean made extensive inroads on all adjacent coast lines. The northern Atlantic or Arctic seas were then connected with the southern Gulf waters. When this southern sea entered the Appalachian trough, its waves broke upon the east against mountains as high as the Alps, but in general the continents were uninteresting lowlands, utterly devoid of scenic beauty. (673.9) 59:1.9 The sedimentary deposits of these ages are of four sorts: (673.10) 59:1.10 1. Conglomerates — matter deposited near the shore lines. (673.11) 59:1.11 2. Sandstones — deposits made in shallow water but where the waves were sufficient to prevent mud settling. (673.12) 59:1.12 3. Shales — deposits made in the deeper and more quiet water. (673.13) 59:1.13 4. Limestone — including the deposits of trilobite shells in deep water. (673.14) 59:1.14 The trilobite fossils of these times present certain basic uniformities coupled with certain well-marked variations. The early animals developing from the three original life implantations were characteristic; those appearing in the Western Hemisphere were slightly different from those of the Eurasian group and from the Australasian or Australian-Antarctic type. (674.1) 59:1.15 370,000,000 years ago the great and almost total submergence of North and South America occurred, followed by the sinking of Africa and Australia. Only certain parts of North America remained above these shallow Cambrian seas. Five million years later the seas were retreating before the rising land. And all of these phenomena of land sinking and land rising were undramatic, taking place slowly over millions of years. (674.2) 59:1.16 The trilobite fossil-bearing strata of this epoch outcrop here and there throughout all the continents except in central Asia. In many regions these rocks are horizontal, but in the mountains they are tilted and distorted because of pressure and folding. And such pressure has, in many places, changed the original character of these deposits. Sandstone has been turned into quartz, shale has been changed to slate, while limestone has been converted into marble. (674.3) 59:1.17 360,000,000 years ago the land was still rising. North and South America were well up. Western Europe and the British Isles were emerging, except parts of Wales, which were deeply submerged. There were no great ice sheets during these ages. The supposed glacial deposits appearing in connection with these strata in Europe, Africa, China, and Australia are due to isolated mountain glaciers or to the displacement of glacial debris of later origin. The world climate was oceanic, not continental. The southern seas were warmer then than now, and they extended northward over North America up to the polar regions. The Gulf Stream coursed over the central portion of North America, being deflected eastward to bathe and warm the shores of Greenland, making that now ice-mantled continent a veritable tropic paradise.* (674.4) 59:1.18 The marine life was much alike the world over and consisted of the seaweeds, one-celled organisms, simple sponges, trilobites, and other crustaceans — shrimps, crabs, and lobsters. Three thousand varieties of brachiopods appeared at the close of this period, only two hundred of which have survived. These animals represent a variety of early life which has come down to the present time practically unchanged. (674.5) 59:1.19 But the trilobites were the dominant living creatures. They were sexed animals and existed in many forms; being poor swimmers, they sluggishly floated in the water or crawled along the sea bottoms, curling up in self-protection when attacked by their later appearing enemies. They grew in length from two inches to one foot and developed into four distinct groups: carnivorous, herbivorous, omnivorous, and “mud eaters.” The ability of the latter group largely to subsist on inorganic matter — being the last multicelled animal that could — explains their great increase and long survival. (674.6) 59:1.20 This was the biogeologic picture of Urantia at the end of that long period of the world’s history, embracing fifty million years, designated by your geologists as the Cambrian. 2. The First Continental Flood Stage The Invertebrate-Animal Age (674.7) 59:2.1 The periodic phenomena of land elevation and land sinking characteristic of these times were all gradual and nonspectacular, being accompanied by little or no volcanic action. Throughout all of these successive land elevations and depressions the Asiatic mother continent did not fully share the history of the other land bodies. It experienced many inundations, dipping first in one direction and then another, more particularly in its earlier history, but it does not present the uniform rock deposits which may be discovered on the other continents. In recent ages Asia has been the most stable of all the land masses. (675.1) 59:2.2 350,000,000 years ago saw the beginning of the great flood period of all the continents except central Asia. The land masses were repeatedly covered with water; only the coastal highlands remained above these shallow but widespread oscillatory inland seas. Three major inundations characterized this period, but before it ended, the continents again arose, the total land emergence being fifteen per cent greater than now exists. The Caribbean region was highly elevated. This period is not well marked off in Europe because the land fluctuations were less, while the volcanic action was more persistent. (675.2) 59:2.3 340,000,000 years ago there occurred another extensive land sinking except in Asia and Australia. The waters of the world’s oceans were generally commingled. This was a great limestone age, much of its stone being laid down by lime-secreting algae. (675.3) 59:2.4 A few million years later large portions of the American continents and Europe began to emerge from the water. In the Western Hemisphere only an arm of the Pacific Ocean remained over Mexico and the present Rocky Mountain regions, but near the close of this epoch the Atlantic and Pacific coasts again began to sink. (675.4) 59:2.5 330,000,000 years ago marks the beginning of a time sector of comparative quiet all over the world, with much land again above water. The only exception to this reign of terrestrial quiet was the eruption of the great North American volcano of eastern Kentucky, one of the greatest single volcanic activities the world has ever known. The ashes of this volcano covered five hundred square miles to a depth of from fifteen to twenty feet. (675.5) 59:2.6 320,000,000 years ago the third major flood of this period occurred. The waters of this inundation covered all the land submerged by the preceding deluge, while extending farther in many directions all over the Americas and Europe. Eastern North America and western Europe were from 10,000 to 15,000 feet under water. (675.6) 59:2.7 310,000,000 years ago the land masses of the world were again well up excepting the southern parts of North America. Mexico emerged, thus creating the Gulf Sea, which has ever since maintained its identity. (675.7) 59:2.8 The life of this period continues to evolve. The world is once again quiet and relatively peaceful; the climate remains mild and equable; the land plants are migrating farther and farther from the seashores. The life patterns are well developed, although few plant fossils of these times are to be found. (675.8) 59:2.9 This was the great age of individual animal organismal evolution, though many of the basic changes, such as the transition from plant to animal, had previously occurred. The marine fauna developed to the point where every type of life below the vertebrate scale was represented in the fossils of those rocks which were laid down during these times. But all of these animals were marine organisms. No land animals had yet appeared except a few types of worms which burrowed along the seashores, nor had the land plants yet overspread the continents; there was still too much carbon dioxide in the air to permit of the existence of air breathers. Primarily, all animals except certain of the more primitive ones are directly or indirectly dependent on plant life for their existence. (676.1) 59:2.10 The trilobites were still prominent. These little animals existed in tens of thousands of patterns and were the predecessors of modern crustaceans. Some of the trilobites had from twenty-five to four thousand tiny eyelets; others had aborted eyes. As this period closed, the trilobites shared domination of the seas with several other forms of invertebrate life. But they utterly perished during the beginning of the next period. (676.2) 59:2.11 Lime-secreting algae were widespread. There existed thousands of species of the early ancestors of the corals. Sea worms were abundant, and there were many varieties of jellyfish which have since become extinct. Corals and the later types of sponges evolved. The cephalopods were well developed, and they have survived as the modern pearly nautilus, octopus, cuttlefish, and squid. (676.3) 59:2.12 There were many varieties of shell animals, but their shells were not then so much needed for defensive purposes as in subsequent ages. The gastropods were present in the waters of the ancient seas, and they included single-shelled drills, periwinkles, and snails. The bivalve gastropods have come on down through the intervening millions of years much as they then existed and embrace the mussels, clams, oysters, and scallops. The valve-shelled organisms also evolved, and these brachiopods lived in those ancient waters much as they exist today; they even had hinged, notched, and other sorts of protective arrangements of their valves.* (676.4) 59:2.13 So ends the evolutionary story of the second great period of marine life, which is known to your geologists as the Ordovician. 3. The Second Great Flood Stage The Coral Period — The Brachiopod Age (676.5) 59:3.1 300,000,000 years ago another great period of land submergence began. The southward and northward encroachment of the ancient Silurian seas made ready to engulf most of Europe and North America. The land was not elevated far above the sea so that not much deposition occurred about the shore lines. The seas teemed with lime-shelled life, and the falling of these shells to the sea bottom gradually built up very thick layers of limestone. This is the first widespread limestone deposit, and it covers practically all of Europe and North America but only appears at the earth’s surface in a few places. The thickness of this ancient rock layer averages about one thousand feet, but many of these deposits have since been greatly deformed by tilting, upheavals, and faulting, and many have been changed to quartz, shale, and marble. (676.6) 59:3.2 No fire rocks or lava are found in the stone layers of this period except those of the great volcanoes of southern Europe and eastern Maine and the lava flows of Quebec. Volcanic action was largely past. This was the height of great water deposition; there was little or no mountain building. (676.7) 59:3.3 290,000,000 years ago the sea had largely withdrawn from the continents, and the bottoms of the surrounding oceans were sinking. The land masses were little changed until they were again submerged. The early mountain movements of all the continents were beginning, and the greatest of these crustal upheavals were the Himalayas of Asia and the great Caledonian Mountains, extending from Ireland through Scotland and on to Spitzbergen. (677.1) 59:3.4 It is in the deposits of this age that much of the gas, oil, zinc, and lead are found, the gas and oil being derived from the enormous collections of vegetable and animal matter carried down at the time of the previous land submergence, while the mineral deposits represent the sedimentation of sluggish bodies of water. Many of the rock salt deposits belong to this period. (677.2) 59:3.5 The trilobites rapidly declined, and the center of the stage was occupied by the larger mollusks, or cephalopods. These animals grew to be fifteen feet long and one foot in diameter and became masters of the seas. This species of animal appeared suddenly and assumed dominance of sea life. (677.3) 59:3.6 The great volcanic activity of this age was in the European sector. Not in millions upon millions of years had such violent and extensive volcanic eruptions occurred as now took place around the Mediterranean trough and especially in the neighborhood of the British Isles. This lava flow over the British Isles region today appears as alternate layers of lava and rock 25,000 feet thick. These rocks were laid down by the intermittent lava flows which spread out over a shallow sea bed, thus interspersing the rock deposits, and all of this was subsequently elevated high above the sea. Violent earthquakes took place in northern Europe, notably in Scotland. (677.4) 59:3.7 The oceanic climate remained mild and uniform, and the warm seas bathed the shores of the polar lands. Brachiopod and other marine-life fossils may be found in these deposits right up to the North Pole. Gastropods, brachiopods, sponges, and reef-making corals continued to increase. (677.5) 59:3.8 The close of this epoch witnesses the second advance of the Silurian seas with another commingling of the waters of the southern and northern oceans. The cephalopods dominate marine life, while associated forms of life progressively develop and differentiate. (677.6) 59:3.9 280,000,000 years ago the continents had largely emerged from the second Silurian inundation. The rock deposits of this submergence are known in North America as Niagara limestone because this is the stratum of rock over which Niagara Falls now flows. This layer of rock extends from the eastern mountains to the Mississippi valley region but not farther west except to the south. Several layers extend over Canada, portions of South America, Australia, and most of Europe, the average thickness of this Niagara series being about six hundred feet. Immediately overlying the Niagara deposit, in many regions may be found a collection of conglomerate, shale, and rock salt. This is the accumulation of secondary subsidences. This salt settled in great lagoons which were alternately opened up to the sea and then cut off so that evaporation occurred with deposition of salt along with other matter held in solution. In some regions these rock salt beds are seventy feet thick. (677.7) 59:3.10 The climate is even and mild, and marine fossils are laid down in the arctic regions. But by the end of this epoch the seas are so excessively salty that little life survives. (677.8) 59:3.11 Toward the close of the final Silurian submergence there is a great increase in the echinoderms — the stone lilies — as is evidenced by the crinoid limestone deposits. The trilobites have nearly disappeared, and the mollusks continue monarchs of the seas; coral-reef formation increases greatly. During this age, in the more favorable locations the primitive water scorpions first evolve. Soon thereafter, and suddenly, the true scorpions — actual air breathers — make their appearance. (678.1) 59:3.12 These developments terminate the third marine-life period, covering twenty-five million years and known to your researchers as the Silurian. 4. The Great Land-Emergence Stage The Vegetative Land-Life Period The Age of Fishes (678.2) 59:4.1 In the agelong struggle between land and water, for long periods the sea has been comparatively victorious, but times of land victory are just ahead. And the continental drifts have not proceeded so far but that, at times, practically all of the land of the world is connected by slender isthmuses and narrow land bridges. (678.3) 59:4.2 As the land emerges from the last Silurian inundation, an important period in world development and life evolution comes to an end. It is the dawn of a new age on earth. The naked and unattractive landscape of former times is becoming clothed with luxuriant verdure, and the first magnificent forests will soon appear. (678.4) 59:4.3 The marine life of this age was very diverse due to the early species segregation, but later on there was free commingling and association of all these different types. The brachiopods early reached their climax, being succeeded by the arthropods, and barnacles made their first appearance. But the greatest event of all was the sudden appearance of the fish family. This became the age of fishes, that period of the world’s history characterized by the vertebrate type of animal. (678.5) 59:4.4 270,000,000 years ago the continents were all above water. In millions upon millions of years not so much land had been above water at one time; it was one of the greatest land-emergence epochs in all world history. (678.6) 59:4.5 Five million years later the land areas of North and South America, Europe, Africa, northern Asia, and Australia were briefly inundated, in North America the submergence at one time or another being almost complete; and the resulting limestone layers run from 500 to 5,000 feet in thickness. These various Devonian seas extended first in one direction and then in another so that the immense arctic North American inland sea found an outlet to the Pacific Ocean through northern California. (678.7) 59:4.6 260,000,000 years ago, toward the end of this land-depression epoch, North America was partially overspread by seas having simultaneous connection with the Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic, and Gulf waters. The deposits of these later stages of the first Devonian flood average about one thousand feet in thickness. The coral reefs characterizing these times indicate that the inland seas were clear and shallow. Such coral deposits are exposed in the banks of the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky, and are about one hundred feet thick, embracing more than two hundred varieties. These coral formations extend through Canada and northern Europe to the arctic regions. (678.8) 59:4.7 Following these submergences, many of the shore lines were considerably elevated so that the earlier deposits were covered by mud or shale. There is also a red sandstone stratum which characterizes one of the Devonian sedimentations, and this red layer extends over much of the earth’s surface, being found in North and South America, Europe, Russia, China, Africa, and Australia. Such red deposits are suggestive of arid or semiarid conditions, but the climate of this epoch was still mild and even. (679.1) 59:4.8 Throughout all of this period the land southeast of the Cincinnati Island remained well above water. But very much of western Europe, including the British Isles, was submerged. In Wales, Germany, and other places in Europe the Devonian rocks are 20,000 feet thick. (679.2) 59:4.9 250,000,000 years ago witnessed the appearance of the fish family, the vertebrates, one of the most important steps in all prehuman evolution. (679.3) 59:4.10 The arthropods, or crustaceans, were the ancestors of the first vertebrates. The forerunners of the fish family were two modified arthropod ancestors; one had a long body connecting a head and tail, while the other was a backboneless, jawless prefish. But these preliminary types were quickly destroyed when the fishes, the first vertebrates of the animal world, made their sudden appearance from the north. (679.4) 59:4.11 Many of the largest true fish belong to this age, some of the teeth-bearing varieties being twenty-five to thirty feet long; the present-day sharks are the survivors of these ancient fishes. The lung and armored fishes reached their evolutionary apex, and before this epoch had ended, fishes had adapted to both fresh and salt waters. (679.5) 59:4.12 Veritable bone beds of fish teeth and skeletons may be found in the deposits laid down toward the close of this period, and rich fossil beds are situated along the coast of California since many sheltered bays of the Pacific Ocean extended into the land of that region. (679.6) 59:4.13 The earth was being rapidly overrun by the new orders of land vegetation. Heretofore few plants grew on land except about the water’s edge. Now, and suddenly, the prolific fern family appeared and quickly spread over the face of the rapidly rising land in all parts of the world. Tree types, two feet thick and forty feet high, soon developed; later on, leaves evolved, but these early varieties had only rudimentary foliage. There were many smaller plants, but their fossils are not found since they were usually destroyed by the still earlier appearing bacteria. (679.7) 59:4.14 As the land rose, North America became connected with Europe by land bridges extending to Greenland. And today Greenland holds the remains of these early land plants beneath its mantle of ice. (679.8) 59:4.15 240,000,000 years ago the land over parts of both Europe and North and South America began to sink. This subsidence marked the appearance of the last and least extensive of the Devonian floods. The arctic seas again moved southward over much of North America, the Atlantic inundated a large part of Europe and western Asia, while the southern Pacific covered most of India. This inundation was slow in appearing and equally slow in retreating. The Catskill Mountains along the west bank of the Hudson River are one of the largest geologic monuments of this epoch to be found on the surface of North America. (679.9) 59:4.16 230,000,000 years ago the seas were continuing their retreat. Much of North America was above water, and great volcanic activity occurred in the St. Lawrence region. Mount Royal, at Montreal, is the eroded neck of one of these volcanoes. The deposits of this entire epoch are well shown in the Appalachian Mountains of North America where the Susquehanna River has cut a valley exposing these successive layers, which attained a thickness of over 13,000 feet. (680.1) 59:4.17 The elevation of the continents proceeded, and the atmosphere was becoming enriched with oxygen. The earth was overspread by vast forests of ferns one hundred feet high and by the peculiar trees of those days, silent forests; not a sound was heard, not even the rustle of a leaf, for such trees had no leaves. (680.2) 59:4.18 And thus drew to a close one of the longest periods of marine-life evolution, the age of fishes. This period of the world’s history lasted almost fifty million years; it has become known to your researchers as the Devonian. 5. The Crustal-Shifting Stage The Fern-Forest Carboniferous Period The Age of Frogs (680.3) 59:5.1 The appearance of fish during the preceding period marks the apex of marine-life evolution. From this point onward the evolution of land life becomes increasingly important. And this period opens with the stage almost ideally set for the appearance of the first land animals. (680.4) 59:5.2 220,000,000 years ago many of the continental land areas, including most of North America, were above water. The land was overrun by luxurious vegetation; this was indeed the age of ferns. Carbon dioxide was still present in the atmosphere but in lessening degree. (680.5) 59:5.3 Shortly thereafter the central portion of North America was inundated, creating two great inland seas. Both the Atlantic and Pacific coastal highlands were situated just beyond the present shore lines. These two seas presently united, commingling their different forms of life, and the union of these marine fauna marked the beginning of the rapid and world-wide decline in marine life and the opening of the subsequent land-life period. (680.6) 59:5.4 210,000,000 years ago the warm-water arctic seas covered most of North America and Europe. The south polar waters inundated South America and Australia, while both Africa and Asia were highly elevated. (680.7) 59:5.5 When the seas were at their height, a new evolutionary development suddenly occurred. Abruptly, the first of the land animals appeared. There were numerous species of these animals that were able to live on land or in water. These air-breathing amphibians developed from the arthropods, whose swim bladders had evolved into lungs. (680.8) 59:5.6 From the briny waters of the seas there crawled out upon the land snails, scorpions, and frogs. Today frogs still lay their eggs in water, and their young first exist as little fishes, tadpoles. This period could well be known as the age of frogs. (680.9) 59:5.7 Very soon thereafter the insects first appeared and, together with spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, crickets, and locusts, soon overspread the continents of the world. Dragon flies measured thirty inches across. One thousand species of cockroaches developed, and some grew to be four inches long. (680.10) 59:5.8 Two groups of echinoderms became especially well developed, and they are in reality the guide fossils of this epoch. The large shell-feeding sharks were also highly evolved, and for more than five million years they dominated the oceans. The climate was still mild and equable; the marine life was little changed. Fresh-water fish were developing and the trilobites were nearing extinction. Corals were scarce, and much of the limestone was being made by the crinoids. The finer building limestones were laid down during this epoch. (681.1) 59:5.9 The waters of many of the inland seas were so heavily charged with lime and other minerals as greatly to interfere with the progress and development of many marine species. Eventually the seas cleared up as the result of an extensive stone deposit, in some places containing zinc and lead. (681.2) 59:5.10 The deposits of this early Carboniferous age are from 500 to 2,000 feet thick, consisting of sandstone, shale, and limestone. The oldest strata yield the fossils of both land and marine animals and plants, along with much gravel and basin sediments. Little workable coal is found in these older strata. These depositions throughout Europe are very similar to those laid down over North America. (681.3) 59:5.11 Toward the close of this epoch the land of North America began to rise. There was a short interruption, and the sea returned to cover about half of its previous beds. This was a short inundation, and most of the land was soon well above water. South America was still connected with Europe by way of Africa. (681.4) 59:5.12 This epoch witnessed the beginning of the Vosges, Black Forest, and Ural mountains. Stumps of other and older mountains are to be found all over Great Britain and Europe. (681.5) 59:5.13 200,000,000 years ago the really active stages of the Carboniferous period began. For twenty million years prior to this time the earlier coal deposits were being laid down, but now the more extensive coal-formation activities were in process. The length of the actual coal-deposition epoch was a little over twenty-five million years. (681.6) 59:5.14 The land was periodically going up and down due to the shifting sea level occasioned by activities on the ocean bottoms. This crustal uneasiness — the settling and rising of the land — in connection with the prolific vegetation of the coastal swamps, contributed to the production of extensive coal deposits, which have caused this period to be known as the Carboniferous. And the climate was still mild the world over. (681.7) 59:5.15 The coal layers alternate with shale, stone, and conglomerate. These coal beds over central and eastern United States vary in thickness from forty to fifty feet. But many of these deposits were washed away during subsequent land elevations. In some parts of North America and Europe the coal-bearing strata are 18,000 feet in thickness. (681.8) 59:5.16 The presence of roots of trees as they grew in the

The evidence is in, the "period of dot" is near to it's placement in the superposition. Solutions as handy as Grapes and Keys as answers to many long sought queries. Heretofore, the bouncing ball of search was erratically undependable. A Devil-proof vest that pockets the Urim and Thummin were given by the Holy Spirit as a shield against the Forces Dark.

The Orion Project is an organization created to transform the current energy, environmental and social crisis into a world of sustainability and Enlightened Abundance. Technological progress in the areas of advanced physics and electromagnetic systems, if appropriately supported, will enable humanity to live on the Earth with a minimal footprint with genuine long-term sustainability. For over 100 years, these advanced concepts in energy generation have either been ignored or actively suppressed due to the power of fossil-fuel based economic and industrial interests. Over the past 17 years, Dr. Steven Greer and his team have extensively researched the most promising inventors and technologies available on the planet today. They have traveled the globe investigating scores of inventors, and witnessing an exhaustive range of technologies from the impossible to the miraculous. From this painstaking work they have narrowed their scope to a handful of the most brilliant inventors and the most promising technologies. Heretofore, these inventors have been valiantly struggling forward to bring earth-saving technologies out to the world. Tonight two of Dr. Greers leading team members of The Orion Project join me on the air to discuss the possibilities and the realities of these suppressed technologies. (previously recorded)

Welcome to the CampNation Podcast – One Nation, Under Camp, indivisible. CampNation #3: The one with yet a different name We would love your feedback. We are just getting started and want to know what you, as a camping professional, would like to hear. Please leave us a comment, send us a message on twitter http://twitter.com/ourkidsnet (hashtag #campminds) or email me directly: travis@ourkids.net. Your Hosts: Dan Weir – Frost Valley YMCA (New York) http://twitter.com/danlovescamp Gabrielle Raill – Camp Ouareau (Quebec) Joe Richards – Pearce Williams Christian Centre http://twitter.com/yoyojoer Travis Allison – Our Kids Media http://twitter.com/zoic Show Notes – CampNation – Episode 3 Links http://www.mastersgames.com/cat/pub/pub-games.htm Pub Games to recreate for your summer camp experience. http://www.squidoo.com/ - Squidoo - a better wikipedia created by Seth Godin. Look at http://www.squidoo.com/youtubehd Google Docs as a "store anything" place - http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=50092&hl=en http://basecamphq.com/ - project management, collaboration, and task software News/Discussion Staff Retention Pick of the Week Dan - http://www.directorscamp.com/Joe - http://www.backupify.com/Travis - http://www.Evernote.comGab - Camp is for the Camper by Connie Coutellier (can be purchased on the ACA Bookstore website - http://www.cart-acabookstore.com) **NOTICE:  Thank you to everyone who has been so kind and generous with their feedback on the Podcast.   Keep your ear to the ground because we will be launching the new blog that accompanies our podcast.  We have made the final decisions about the branding for the show: Heretofore this podcast will be known as CampNation.   Episode #4 will be our official launch. What would you like to hear about camp?