There are 22 religions in the world today with Christianity claiming the largest number of adherents (2.1 billion) followed by Islam (1.3 billion).  Other religions with a large number of followers are Hinduism (900 million) and Buddhism (376 million).  Included in the above 22 is a group referred to as Secular/ Nonreligious/ Agnostic/ Atheist (1.1 billion).

The last category is diverse and represent religious views (or lack thereof) rather than a religion.  Atheists represent only one-half of one percent of the population in many countries where much larger numbers claims no religious preferences; therefore, this category is not synonymous with atheism.

The above figures are far from being accurate as shown by the following examples.

Contemporary figures for Islam are usually between 900 million and 1.4 billion.

World Hinduism adherent figures are usually between 850 million and one billion.

Worldwide there are between 230 and 500 million Buddhists.

Source:  www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

Hopefully, I won’t confuse my readers if I added that many Buddhists will tell you that Buddhism is neither a religion nor a philosophy.  They follow the teachings of the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama).  They believe in neither God nor gods.  It’s a peaceful movement and Buddhists will proudly inform you that no blood has ever been spilled in the name of Buddhism.  (How many other religions can make the same claim?)

According to the Urantia Book:

1.  Hinduism is the most ancient religion, and Sikhism is the most recent.

2.  The most advanced religions of ancient times were Judaism and Hinduism.

3.  “The Christian religion is the religion about the life and teachings of Jesus based upon the theology of Judaism, modified further through the assimilation of certain Zoroastrian teachings and Greek Philosophy, and formulated primarily by three individuals:  Philo, Peter, and Paul.”

What is the origin of our existing religions?

Machiventa Melchizedek

Thousands of years ago, our planet was starting to evolve.  The belief in the one God was beginning to happen. A civilization of sort was being established.  But then, a series of disasters struck.  First, there was the Lucifer rebellion.  Next, our Planetary Prince, Caligastia, joined the rebellion.  Finally, Adam and Eve defaulted.  Darkness descended upon Urantia.  We are still nursing our wounds even after all this time.  I will briefly talk of those events in future sections.  For now, I’ll proceed with the Melchizedek mission on Urantia.

First of all, a Melchizedek is a glorious Son of the Local Universe (our part of the universe).  You probably have many questions:  Why is he called a “Son?”  Who are the parents? and so on.  Well, it would be impossible for me to go into details.  If you’re curious, go to the Urantia Foundation site:
www.urantia.org
The whole book is online.  There is also a search area.  You can enter:  Sonship in the Local Universe, Sons of the Local Universe, Melchizedeks, Administration of the Local Universe, etc.  You can also check the Table of Contents.  By the way, the name of our Local Universe is Nebadon.

In those days, on our planet, there was twelve Melchizedek planetary receivers.  These glorious Beings were very worried about the spiritual status of Urantia. They consulted with their Superiors, and, while it took some convincing, their concerns were eventually addressed.

What follows is passages from the Book describing a momentous visit to our planet.

“… 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.”

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.”

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.

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.”

Within a few years Melchizedek had gathered around him 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.

One of the most gifted student of Machiventa was Abraham.  On him was placed a heavy responsibility.

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.

The selection of Abraham was not accidental.

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.

It was very difficult for the early inhabitants of the planet to accept Machiventa’s message.  And it was no different for Abraham.  As a mortal of the realm he had his own earthly concerns, chief among them was the fact that he had no children.  And it is this card that Melchizedek played as we can see from these two beautiful passages from the Book.

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.

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.

The Book tells us that Abraham was not the only teacher to come out of Salem.

The early teachers of the Salem religion penetrated to the remotest tribes of Africa and Eurasia, ever preaching Machiventa’s gospel of man’s faith and trust in the one universal God as the only price of obtaining divine favor.  Melchizedek’s covenant with Abraham was the pattern for all the early propaganda that went out from Salem and other centers.  Urantia has never had more enthusiastic and aggressive missionaries of any religion than these noble men and women who carried the teachings of Melchizedek over the entire Eastern Hemisphere.  These missionaries were recruited from many peoples and races, and they largely spread their teachings through the medium of native converts.  They established training centers in different parts of the world where they taught the natives the Salem religion and then commissioned these pupils to function as teachers among their own people.

We may be a planet that had fallen on hard times.  We may be isolated from the rest of the universe.  We may be one among thousands of other inhabited planets in Nebadon.  But despite these handicaps, visitors to Nebadon from other universes always ask about Urantia.  Why is that?  Because Jesus chose Urantia to incarnate in the flesh.  As we all know, He was born like any other baby of the realm; He did not suddenly appear as a grown man like Machiventa.

It would be beyond the scope of this narrative to go into details.  There are some 800 pages at the end of the book describing Jesus’ life on Urantia.  And there is more in the rest of the book.  If you still want to learn more, go to www.urantia.org and enter in the search area:  Michael of Nebadon, Christ Michael, etc.  You will have hours of reading, if not days!

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