A COURSE IN MIRACLES


  AN EXAMINATION

A letter to Steve Zebielski, dated November 5, 1997.

 

Dear Steve:

 

This is a response on your recent assertions about A Course In Miracles.  You stated:

 

"Being a reader of the UB since 1977 and the Course since 1984 I have never been ashamed of or embarrassed by any matter related to the UB with the one exception of this that Matt states above, that some UB readers think the Course is written by the devil.  I have stated many times on urantial that a superficial look at the Course cannot reveal the depths of its profound spirituality.  Words are redefined and then used according to the redefinitions throughout the Course.  If one jumps in and begins to read here and there the Course will seem contrary to some of the ideas we hold dear as UB readers.  But this is simply a result of not understanding the true meaning of the words used.  I would like to challenge anyone to send me any idea the Course teaches which he or she thinks is an erroneous idea and I will interpret it as I believe Jesus, who is the real author of the Course, means for it to be interpreted.  And please, one "erroneous idea" per post."

 

(UB refers to The Urantia Papers.)

 

This is my response.

 

Several years ago I did a detailed study of ACIM.  That study left no doubt in my mind of the origin of that work, or of its ultimate purpose.

 

For reader convenience, ACIM is divided into three complementary volumes.

 

Volume 1.  The TEXT.  622 pages.
Volume 2.  WORKBOOK FOR STUDENTS.  478 pages.
Volume 3.  MANUAL FOR TEACHERS.  88 pages.

 

I have copies of all three volumes.

 

I also have two computer search programs.  One is a Folio Views NFO file on Volume I only.  The second is an ASCII file on all three volumes using a Brigham Young University search program.

 

I shall list some facts for you.

 

The name Jesus never occurs in the the TEXT or in the WORKBOOK FOR STUDENTS, except for one biblical quote on page 67.

 

The name Jesus is limited to 16 other uses on five pages in the MANUAL FOR TEACHERS.

 

Therefore, the name Jesus is limited to six of 1188 pages, all concentrated at the end of ACIM.  An essential question is this:  If Jesus is the author of ACIM, why does he not identify himself?  Why does he exclude reference to himself to these six pages, concentrated to the very end of the three-volume set?

 

ACIM uses the word Christ in 365 paragraphs.  130 of those are in the TEXT.

 

(The Folio Views search program identifies words based on folios.  For both ACIM and The Urantia Papers those are paragraphs.  If a word occurs more than once in a paragraph Folio does not report such multiple use.  Therefore the statements I make must be understood on the basis of this word recognition.)

 

The Urantia Papers never use the word Christ for Jesus except in historical or date references.  The word Christ in The Urantia Papers is limited to a title for Michael.  Refer to my paper on "Christ Names in The Urantia Papers."

 

Unknown to most students/believers of The Urantia Papers, the word Christ is not applied to Jesus because of the identity of the Messiah.  The word Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Messiah.  Jesus was not the Messiah.  Therefore, The Urantia Papers avoid identifying Jesus as the Christ.

 

ACIM never uses the word Messiah.

 

I attempted to understand why the text of ACIM does not use the word Jesus.  This word is used in 3,073 paragraphs in The Urantia Papers.

 

I also wanted to know why it avoids the word Messiah, used in The Urantia Papers in 121 paragraphs.

 

Upon further study I noted that never, in any of the text of 1188 pages is a direct claim made that Jesus is the author of ACIM.  Such notion is a myth, and is a deduction based on interpretation of the text.  It is also based on the idea that Jesus and Christ are equivalent.  Since the word Christ is used so many times, all students assume this means Jesus.

 

The Christ in ACIM is not the Christ of Christian religious tradition.  The Christ of ACIM is a modern, New-Age, abstruse concept divorced from the idea that the Christ (the Messiah) will be our future planetary ruler.  Such traditional views are not admissible within the conceptual framework of ACIM.

 

The Urantia Papers are definite that Melchizedek will be our future planetary ruler, serving as vicegerent for Jesus-Michael.  See pages 514, 611, 632, and so on.  Therefore, the Old Testament prophecies on the Messiah must apply to Melchizedek, not to Jesus.  Note Psalm 110, Psalm 2, Psalm 72, and so on.

 

The name Melchizedek, so important to our planetary future never occurs in ACIM. This name occurs 528 times in The Urantia Papers.  The name Machiventa Melchizedek, the specific designator for our future planetary ruler, occurs 112 times in The Urantia Papers.

 

This glaring absence of the name of our future planetary ruler is due to the fact that this planet has no future in ACIM.
 

ACIM, Page 6: "‘Heaven and earth shall pass away' means that they will not continue to exist as separate states." 

 

Note that ACIM defines heaven and earth as states of being, not as places.
 

Page 70: "The Holy Spirit is your Guide in choosing.  He is in the part of your mind that always speaks for the right choice, because He speaks for God.  He is your remaining communication with God which you can interrupt but cannot destroy.  The Holy Spirit is the way in which God's Will is done on earth as it is in Heaven.  Both Heaven and earth are in you, because the call of both is in your mind."

 

I shall return to the theme that the "Holy Spirit" is in the mind.  Since Heaven and earth are within human mortals, according to this teaching, they must be states, and not places.
 

Page 194: "The world as you perceive it cannot have been created by the Father, for the world is not as you see it.  God created only the eternal, and everything you see is perishable. Therefore, there must be another world that you do not see. The Bible speaks of a new Heaven and a new earth, yet this cannot be literally true, for the eternal are not re-created." 

 

Here ACIM teaches that the world we perceive is not as we see it.  It is an illusion.  This illusion was not created by the Father.  (Or his vicegerent Creator Son representing the Father.)  The Father could not have created the world we perceive because it is not real.

Note how this compares with teachings in The Urantia Papers.
 

p.599 - "It was of the conclusion of the terminal mission of the Teacher Sons (at least that would be the chronology on a normal world) that John wrote: ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth and the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a princess adorned for the prince.'" 

 

p.600 - "All the worlds of Satania can join in the hope of the one who wrote: ‘Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.'" 

 

ACIM rejects these concepts.  All teachings within ACIM concentrate on self, and on the perceptions of illusion.

 

Curiously, Jesus-Michael remained aloof from the revelation of The Urantia Papers.  Although the Papers teach that nothing takes place within the domain of a Master Michael without his approval, he was not directly involved in the presentation of the Papers.

 

In further study of our historical revelations I discovered that Jesus-Michael was not directly involved in any of those.  The Old Testament prophecies were the work of Melchizedek in collaboration with the prophets and seers of Israel.  John's Apocalypse was presented by divine beings other than Jesus-Michael, except where the text has been perverted by a later Christian editor.  The first Isaiah was taken to visit Jesus-Michael on Salvington, and Paul had a direct visitation, but the statements of those two men were from their understanding, not as direct words from God.  (For celestial visitations, refer to my recent papers on Seraphic Transports.)

 

Putting all of this together I reached the conclusion that Jesus-Michael never becomes directly involved in revelations to this world, except for the teachings he gave us while he lived here as a man.  Given the fact that ACIM never directly invokes Jesus as the author of that work, I am left to conclude that Jesus was not the author of ACIM, and that the author styled his statements for all readers to infer that Jesus was the author.  He used the modern abstruse concept of Christ to induce this inference.

 

In other words, ACIM is a pretense on authorship.

 

Could ACIM have come out of the subconscious of Helen Schucman?  I cannot believe so.  Conceptually it is complex, and seductive.  It is directed toward a purpose which it plainly states.  I cannot believe Helen Schucman would have had such a conscious purpose.  But more, subconscious minds do not fabricate such complex and organized material.  The products of marginal consciousness, as William Sadler preferred to call it, are not sophisticated logically; they ramble, hazily, as do dreams.  They also do not show construction with deceptive purpose.  They are simplistic in their constructions.  I could only conclude that ACIM came from the mind of another being with definite malicious intent.

 

What is the nature of that intent?  As I said, it is plainly stated.
 

Page 13: "This is a course in mind training." 

Page 1: "Miracles are habits, and should be involuntary.  They should not be under conscious control." 

Page 24: "My control can take over everything that does not matter, while my guidance can direct everything that does, if you so choose." 

Page 25: "This is controlled by me automatically as soon as you place what you think under my guidance."

 

WKBK Page 1: "Second, be sure that you do not decide for yourself...  This will interfere with transfer of training...  Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may seem quite startling.  You are not asked to judge them.  You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do." 

 

Nothing, in all creation, could be such a blatant denial of human choice.

 

There is only one purpose behind such teaching: The human mortals who submit to this training will lose their human will and their human dignity.

 

The submission of the human mind to this mind can only take place if those human mortals permit the entry of this mind into their mind.  The Course is designed especially to accomplish that purpose.

 

The Workbook For Students encourages human mortals to engage in practices to deny reality, and to submit to this insidious mind.

 

The student's first lesson is to condition his perception of reality, and to repeatedly admit:
 

Lesson 1: "Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] means anything." 

 

Ten items are listed on this page.  Among them: "The body does not mean anything."

 

He is aiming for the human body.
 

Lesson 3: "I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place]. 

 

Two paragraphs follow in which the student is urged to apply this to all things seen, which includes human bodies, "without making distinctions of any kind."  "These are not exercises in judgment."  "For this purpose one thing is like another (which includes human bodies); equally suitable and therefore equally useful."

 

Lessons 7 and 8 concentrate on preoccupation with past thoughts and associations.  The student is urged to let go of those.
 

Lesson 10: "My thoughts do not mean anything."

 

The Lessons go on and on, reshaping perceptions of reality.  God is in everything.  "God is in everything I see because God is in my mind."  The emphasis is mine.  This is not a teaching that a Thought Adjuster dwells within us, respecting our decisions and will, but that this "God" is in the mind, directing what this person will think and do.
 

Lesson 35: "My mind is part of God's; I am very holy." 


When he enters their minds, and they submit to him, they will truly feel holy.  He will induce such feelings; those feelings will absorb their state of being.
 

36: "My holiness envelops everything I see." 

 

Those human mortals who experience these feelings, through his induction, will truly see holiness in everything they gaze upon, including their brothers and sisters.


 

37: "My holiness blesses the world."

 

This is the ultimate deception.  The holiness which his agents will feel will take them to absolute belief that their holiness can bless the entire world, including their brothers and sisters, who will be the targets of his purpose.
 

38: "There is nothing my holiness cannot do."

 

This mind means exactly "nothing."  Everything is accessible to him through the mind of the human mortal who submits to him.
 

40: "I am blessed as a Son of God."

 

The Course is specific that human mortals are equal to the divine Son of God.
 

42: "God is my strength.  Vision is his gift." 

 

All human mortals with whom I am personally acquainted, or who have published their experiences with "Spirit" entry into their minds, report their visionary experiences.  This phenomenon is convincing proof to them that the "Spirit" is real.

 

Importantly, he does not today display the full strength of his power.  He is preparing a cadre of people for his service, and cannot bring them to his full state of being until the time comes to act.  He is holding them in reserve, just as the members of the Cosmic Reserve Corps of Destiny are momentarily being held in reserve.

 

He will take his agents into the "Light."
 

44: "God is the light in which I see."

 

He will induce in their minds beautiful and glorious light.  They will not question that he is God.

 

He will direct their thoughts.
 

45: "God is the mind with which I think."

 

The Course has these purposes: To get the students of this "God" thoroughly imbued with the fact of his presence in their minds, to alter their perceptions of reality, and to bring them divine light and feelings of divine holiness.  From there he redefines "holiness" and goals to move them to a place where he can accomplish his purpose.

 

He must redefine his presence to condition their minds to his replacement of a real God to the "God" now present in their minds.  Note the deep blasphemy:
 

Page 58: "The First Coming of Christ is merely another name for the creation, for Christ is the Son of God. The Second Coming of Christ means nothing more than the end of the ego's rule and the healing of the mind.  I was created like you in the first, and I have called you to join me in the second.  I am in charge of the Second Coming, and my judgment, which is used only for protection, cannot be wrong because it never attacks..." 

 

Here it is obvious that the word "Christ" has been redefined to remove it from the traditional Christian sense.  It now serves a totally different purpose.  He is this "Christ."  All references to Christ in ACIM are references to him.  The First Coming of Christ is no longer the human birth, life, and death of our Creator, but a redefinition, "another name for the creation," the creation of this "God."  The Second Coming of Christ does not mean the return of Jesus, but is redefined as "the end of the ego's rule."

 

Teachings on "ego" dominate much of the text of ACIM.  In those teachings the spirit author dispels any notion that human mortals, in their present state, have dignity.  As part of his mind conditioning he blasts away self-respect to replace it with notions that are compatible to his mind control.
 

Page 37: "Consciousness, the level of perception, was the first split introduced into the mind after the separation, making the mind a perceiver rather than a creator.  Consciousness is correctly identified as the domain of the ego.  The ego is a wrong-minded attempt to perceive yourself as you wish to be, rather than as you are.  Yet you can know yourself only as you are, because that is all you can be sure of. Everything else IS open to question." 

 

Plainly evident of concern to this sprit author is the "separation."  He separated himself from his God, from creation, and from reality.  He became insane.
 

From The Urantia Papers, p.754  - "In all the administrative work of a local universe no high trust is deemed more sacred than that reposed in a Planetary Prince who assumes responsibility for the welfare and guidance of the evolving mortals on a newly inhabited world.  And of all forms of evil, none are more destructive of personality status than betrayal of trust and disloyalty to one's confiding friends.  In committing this deliberate sin, Caligastia so completely distorted his personality that his mind has never since been able fully to regain its equilibrium." 

 

He knows it.  But his personality is so distorted, he cannot now connect to reality.  He must redefine reality as illusion, and teach such to his human students.

 

Consciousness now becomes identified as the domain of the ego.  His ego expression brought the origins of sin.  He was first in this path.  And he expresses it so accurately.  "The ego is a wrong-minded attempt to perceive yourself as you wish to be, rather than as you are."  He is talking about himself.  "Yet you can know yourself only as you are, because that is all you can be sure of. Everything else IS open to question."

 

This was the great horror he created when he went into ego rule.  Because his mind is so distorted he could never again be sure of reality.  Everything is now open to question.  He can now only be sure of himself, AS HE IS.  And this is what he teaches those mortal fools who follow him.

 

But he has not lost his spiritual power.  The Second Coming is his presence in their minds.  They will truly believe this is the Second Coming.  They will not be able to deny the miracles he performs in their minds.

 

He has an ultimate purpose.  That purpose is the Atonement.

 

He is going to make God's people atone for the judgment that was placed against him.

 

In that manner he will bring healing to the world.  His healing.
 

Page 19: "Our emphasis is now on healing.  The miracle is the means, the Atonement is the principle, and healing is the result." 

 

The TEXT continues:

 

"To speak of ‘a miracle of healing' is to combine two orders of reality inappropriately. Healing is not a miracle. The Atonement, or the final miracle, is a remedy and any type of healing is a result. The kind of error to which Atonement is applied is irrelevant. All healing is essentially the release from fear. To undertake this you cannot be fearful yourself. You do not understand healing because of your own fear." 

 

The word "Miracles" is his method of describing the actions he will induce his mortal agents to perform.

 

Again, he repeatedly mentions fear because he must condition his agents to overcome the instinctive fear they will feel as they performs their acts of murder.

 

But murder is redefined also.  Including the ‘sacrifice' of other human mortals.  All reality is redefined.

 

Page 384: "This is the value that you think peace would rob you of.  This is what you believe that it would dispossess, and leave you homeless.  And it is this for which you would deny a home to peace.  This "sacrifice" you feel to be too great to make, too much to ask of you.  Is it a sacrifice, or a release?  What has the body really given you that justifies your strange belief that in it lies salvation? Do you not see that this is the belief in death? Here is the focus of the perception of atonement as murder.  Here is the source of the idea that love is fear." 

 

He rationalizes his purpose, and redefines reality, in order that his agents not focus on "the perception of atonement as murder."  He asks, "Is it a sacrifice, or a release?"  He want his human servants to recognize that murder of their brothers and sisters is "release" and not "sacrifice."

 

The deep deception of these teachings is striking time and again.

 

Page 2: "Miracles are part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, when completed, is the Atonement."

 

Note his emphasis on forgiving.  All is love.  All is forgiven.  When his mortal agents dispatch their brothers and sisters it will be because of the love they feel for those brothers and sisters.  The will not do it out of hate, but out of love.  The Teaching Mission today emphasizes love.  Unconditional love.  In the delusions of those who follow such teachings they believe they are the new frontier for a new world.  They will bring a world of love and forgiveness.  They are the new Teachers and Leaders.

 

Little do they know.
 

Page 2: "Atoning means undoing." 

 

This is his method of describing the retribution he will bring upon God's people, as the expression of his vengeance upon his God.
 

Page 6: "I am in charge of the process of Atonement...  My part in the Atonement is the canceling out of all errors that you could not otherwise correct."

 

He will strive to cancel out all those past errors of judgment brought against him.
 

Page 7: "The forgiven are the means of the Atonement.  (The forgiven are his agents.) 


 "Being filled with spirit, they forgive in return."  (That is, being filled with his spirit.) 
 

 "Those who are released must join in releasing their brothers, for this is the plan of the Atonement."  (The forgiven will release their brothers from this life.  That is the plan of the Atonement.) 
 

 "Miracles are the way in which minds that serve the Holy Spirit unite with me for the salvation or release of all of God's creations."  (The miracles will be performed by the forgiven.  When their minds serve the "Holy Spirit," his spirit, they will unite with him in the salvation of all of God's creation, including especially their brothers, whom they will release by dispatching.) 

 

Page 9: "The miracle joins in the Atonement by the mind in the service of the Holy Spirit."

 

The forgiven, his agents, will truly believe he brings the Holy Spirit.  They will have no doubt when he transforms them through penetration of their minds, and the altering of their moods and thoughts to deep spiritual feelings.

 

Page 17: "The Atonement can be accepted within you only by the releasing of the inner light."

 

He will bring light - vivid, brilliant, glorious light.  The will fully believe he is "God."

 

But he knew full well what God's true people would think about him.
 

Page 499: "So do they think the loss of Sin a cause.  And flee the Holy Spirit as if He were a messenger from hell, sent from above, in treachery and guile, to work God's vengeance on them in the guise of a deliverer and friend.  What could He be to them except a devil, dressed to deceive within an angle's cloak.  And what escape has He for them except a door to hell that seems to look like Heaven's gate?" 

 

In his insanity, this is an explicit description of the actual situation, accurately stated, once again.

 

He cannot restrain himself.  He must vent his frustrations.

 

Many of the statement within ACIM, when viewed as expressions of his personal situation, offer startling insights.

 

This truly is an insane mind at work.

 

Never, ever, did I encounter such devious desecration as is found in ACIM.  Indeed, what escape is there for any of us except a door to hell that looks to his agents like Heaven's gate?

 

A Course In Miracles becomes important when we recognize that his servants will need some form of reassurance after their deadly onslaughts.  They will have good cause to refer to it, to give them solace for their murderous acts.  It is truly a Devil's Bible.

 

I do not wish to write a book.  Therefore, I limit further comment.  Numerous aspects of presentation exist in A Course In Miracles which reinforce this assessment in multiple ways.  For example, he explicitly describes his "plan."  Regardless of which illustrations we chose, we would end with the same judgment of this dreadful work.

 

No, Steve.  This is devil's work, straight out of an insane and tortured mind who has a purpose of wrecking vengeance upon his Creator, and using the fools of this world to do it.  He will use all those who have given themselves to him.  He will be able to do so because they permitted him to enter their minds.

 

The fools were children in accepting the aliases of a being who pretends to be "midwayer" or an "agondonter" or an "angel" or a "finaliter."   And they have no way to know.

 

Ernest