Global Community Communications Alliance Member Profile

BenDameean

Shalom my brothers and sisters on Urantia!

If we are truly open to God's leading in our lives, He will take us to places far, far beyond our imaginations and expectations. What we expect to happen in our lives usually has nothing to do with our Creator's plans for us. Hence the Yiddish saying, If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

At Global Community Communications Alliance, the First Planetary Sacred Home, each soul is striving to align with God's plan for them, moment to moment. Here, we are working on letting go of our own agendas and allowing our Universe Father, Jesus Christ Michael's agenda to take over our lives. This is not easy to do, but we are striving towards this ideal. If we are able to listen clearly, in the majority of our moments, Christ Michael is calling each one of us to lovingly and selflessly serve someone else. If everyone in the world were selfless in their moment to moment actions, the world would become beautiful. It was Jesus Christ Michael who said, "I declare that he who would be great in my Father's kingdom must first become server of all." ( The URANTIA Book P.1536)

I grew up in a loving family in New York City. During my upbringing, I traveled throughout the world and experienced a life of privilege. I attended the best schools, and was given all the material things I could ask for. I experienced and had access to the best the world could offer. There came a time though, when my soul yearned for more than what the world could give me.

This inner yearning lead to a spiritual awakening that occurred in my life when I was twenty-three, five years ago, when I was able to, with God's help, bring an end to a gambling habit that I had allowed to consume me for over seven years. Keeping the seriousness of my problem a secret from my family, I had wagered daily on everything from sporting events, to horse racing, to various types of casino gambling and risky stock options. Growing up in a wealthy family allowed me access to large sums of money that I would use to satisfy my habit. The compulsion to gamble, like any addiction, dominated the majority of my thoughts and influenced what I spent most of my days doing. Besides my gambling fixation, during these years I managed to graduate from a university with a degree in English, coach high school baseball, and work in a children's summer camp.

One day, a brave friend recommended that I attend a Gamblers Anonymous meeting. My initial reaction was to say that she didn't know what she was talking about. However, over the next few days, the truth of what she had said deeply affected me. Beneath my cheery surface I was in pain, and I needed help. I remember asking myself, "Could I possibly be a compulsive gambler? How had I gotten so deep into this darkness? After all these years of gambling, could I really change my life? "

Over the next few months, I attended many Gambler's Anonymous meetings, and began to reevaluate my life. This was healing, for I was able to bare my soul to others who had traveled down the same road. For the first time in many years, I got real. I looked in the mirror and admitted to myself and others that I was in pain, that I had a serious problem, and that I desired to overcome it. Although this was agonizing to face, and to change, simultaneously, it was healing and purifying. As I shed the darkness of a life of gambling, it allowed for the cleansing light of God, that I had shut out for so long, to enter my longing soul. The healing and comforting presence of the Divine so overwhelmed me that I knew then that I would forever devote my life to following my Creator.

As my desire to gamble waned, my yearning to know God and His plan for my life became my passion. Having been born into a secular Jewish family, I thought that further exploring Jewish spirituality would be a good place to start. I read books on Judaism, studied Torah and Kabbalah, and met with many rabbis. I began to pray, meditate, and seek God with all of my heart, mind and soul.

Months later, one of my closest friends and I, took a trip to a beautiful island in the Caribbean called Anguilla. I had been to this pristine island, with its white sandy beaches, turquoise waters and God-loving people many times on family vacations. On a warm breezy evening, as my friend and I were thanking God for the blessings of that day and asking Him to reveal to us what we needed to know, something awesome happened. In the twinkle of an eye, we both experienced an all embracing presence of Jesus. This exhilarating feeling was new to both of us, for up until that time, neither of us had prayed to or focused on Jesus. The holy light of God, His Spirit of Truth, had been activated within us both, and we immediately knew it was Jesus. It felt like God had personally introduced Himself to us, and this feeling was truly beyond words.

Having been raised in a Jewish family and community, Jesus was never talked about. It is taboo to discuss Jesus with people who practice Judaism, and so as I grew up, it was never a topic of conversation. As I look back in my past though, I can see how God laid the foundation in my heart, through certain people and various experiences, so that when I met the Lord Jesus that night in the Caribbean, I would unquestionably know it was Him.

If any human mortal sincerely and humbly quests for God with all of their being, at some point in their search they will absolutely meet Jesus. If they continue this quest with the same honest fervor, without becoming static in their spirituality, they will discover that Jesus of Nazareth is Jesus Christ Michael, the Sovereign Ruler and Creator Son of the universe that we live in, called Nebadon, as revealed in The URANTIA Book , the Fifth Epochal Revelation given to our planet. This natural expansion of our relationship to God happens, because our infinite Creator wants us to continually draw nearer to Him and to know Him in higher ways. And at this moment on Urantia (the spirit celestial name for planet Earth), if one continues to ascend toward Jesus Christ Michael, allowing His holy gift of the Spirit of Truth to guide him or her, they will find themselves compelled by divine urgings to come to Global Community Communications Alliance in Sedona, Arizona and connect with those Destiny Reservist s who have already heard the call to Divine Administration at the First Planetary Sacred Home.

After coming home from Anguilla, I tried to share my new-found love for Jesus with my friends and family. My father became very angry with me when I shared this with him, and my friends thought I had gone a bit crazy. My friends and family wanted the old Daniel (my birth name) back. They did not want to talk about Jesus or about "the peace that passes all understanding" when we allow Him into our hearts. They did not want to discuss how to bring change or justice to the world. With Jesus in my life, my vision of the world was changing. It was true that with Christ in my life, "old things were passing away; behold, all things were becoming anew".

I then spent a few months with Jews For Jesus, who introduced me to the Gospel and provided support for my decision to follow Christ in the face of family rejection. The New Testament was an inspiring start, but it did not provide me the spiritual depth that my soul was seeking. I also attended lively musical church services in the heart of New York City. I read many books about Jesus, as I yearned to know Him in a deeper way. I prayed for direction.

Within a month, my friend, who I had met the Lord with, and I were moved to take a road trip across the country. Our only plan was that we were heading for California. Throughout this trip we experienced the magical and comforting feeling of totally knowing that we were in God's hands. In Santa Fe, New Mexico we serendipitously met a young woman who had within her possession a book that we had both been looking for. This book featured sacred retreat centers across the western United States. We made photocopies of the centers located in Arizona and California.

A few days later, as we were leaving the Grand Canyon, we decided for the first time to look at the pages we had copied on Arizona. The retreat center that caught our eye was one located in Sedona, Arizona, a place that neither of us had heard of at that time. We left the Grand Canyon and arrived in Sedona that evening.

After we had checked in to this retreat center, I was immediately drawn to walk toward a book laying on a table in the common area. As I started to read this book, the owner of the center was perplexed as he observed me. He said, "Where did you find that book?" I told him that it was lying right on the table. He said, "That's strange, because I always keep it downstairs in my office." This book was called The Keys Of Enoch. It was full of Hebrew terminology and symbols that I could relate to. The information written within its pages contained enough truth from a higher reality that would expand my mind to a point to where God would be able to lead me to the next step in my ascension. Although archaic in its presentation, The Keys Of Enoch spoke of a divine government that would be coming to this planet to bring peace, harmony and spiritual unity, lead by the Melchizedek Order, under the authority of the Order of Michael.

Over the next year, I would be amazed and overjoyed to learn that this Divine Government had actually been a reality on our planet since December of 1989, when Machiventa Melchizedek had become the appointed Planetary Prince. I would learn that two humble souls, Gabriel of Urantia and Niánn Emerson Chase, had been chosen by Divine Mandate to be its human leaders, working closely with celestial spirits to reinstate Divine Administration on our planet, under the mandate given to them by Christ Michael, the Mandate of the Bright and Morning Star. This is a mandate to bring our suffering and rebellion-torn planet back into divine pattern. I would learn that Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation, a continuation of Fifth Epochal Revelation, The URANTIA Book , is coming through this mandate. I would learn that souls from all over the world are gathering here in Sedona, Arizona to learn and teach "aquarian concepts" and become a part of the nucleus for global change, to become a part of our Creator, Christ Michael's plan to bring true peace, true justice and spiritual unity to our planet; to bring the first stage of light and life to Urantia.

As I prayed for God's direction, He made it very clear to me that my next step was to become a part of this movement. Before I made contact with Aquarian Concepts Community, I thoroughly and meticulously studied the material and the community from afar. I then visited the community for a period of time, and I attended a seminar that is offered to those who want to meet the people of the Global Community Communications Alliance and find out first hand what is happening there. I met refreshingly real people, humble people, from all walks of life, who all knew that the only way to change the world was to first change themselves. And if I could share one of the many aspects of Global Community Communications Alliance, it would be that a great focus of this ministry is on inner change; working on removing the lower patterns within ourselves that keep us from being the highest servants and reflections of God that we can be. We help each other do this. This is hard work, but it is a great blessing to be a part of a reality that encourages this.

A day before I would leave for Sedona from New York City, I ran into a stumbling block. I received a loud knock on the front door of my apartment. I was shocked when I opened the door. In front of me stood three plain clothes policemen who barged in and said that they were sent by the District Attorney of New York. They said that they had a mental health warrant on me, and that this meant that I was a potential harm to myself and to others. They said that my father (who I knew was personal friends with and a supporter of the District Attorney) wanted me to be evaluated at New York Hospital, and that they were going to take me there.

At that moment, the only thing I could think of was to call a family lawyer friend. I went quickly into my room and made the call. He would be the wrong person to call because his loyalties were to my father, and because he put great value on his place in the wealthy New York establishment. He was not willing to act on my behalf and take a stand for my religious freedoms. He did not view this situation as a violation of my rights.

I then made a half-hearted attempt to get away. I casually left my apartment and rang for the elevator. As I walked into the elevator, the three policemen caught up with me and violently turned me around and handcuffed me. They escorted me in handcuffs out of the building and into their car. I was driven to New York Hospital and admitted against my will into their psychiatric ward.

I would spend the next five days locked up in this ward. Though traumatic, I would learn many things from this experience. I learned first hand that the psychiatric approach to healing so often used in our world is devoid of spirituality and holistic solutions, yet long on medication and drugs. This is a great tragedy. In the ward that I was in, there was no fresh air, and the surroundings were cold, bare and lifeless. Doctors with no spiritual life or relationship to their Creator were trying to evaluate me, heal me, and understand me. Someone who is nonspiritual and void of faith cannot genuinely understand someone who has faith and spiritual experiences. It is no wonder why the only solution the "doctors" could come up with was to attempt to place me on anti-psychotic medication that would alter my brain. They wanted to change the way I thought to the way they thought. What a sad world that we live in, where one can be diagnosed as psychotic because he/she maintains certain beliefs that do not conform to the mainstream. It was the Nazis who violently seized innocent people from their homes, with the objective of exterminating those who were different from them and who did not think the way they did.

I am confident that the majority of patients who I became friends with, were much healthier than the "doctors" were in that psychiatric ward of New York Hospital. Many of the patients were more spiritually evolved.

I learned that my parents (who I love, and I know love me very much), in their misguided love and overblown fears, would resort to the most desperate of measures to keep me from leaving the fold. They were not going to allow their son to choose a lifestyle that did not fit into their mold of what their son should be doing. Yes, it is true that the life I was being called to lead was extremely different than my parents' lifestyle; however, this gave them no right to violate my freedoms and rights as a human being to make my own choices. Even though my parents have since pursued devious schemes to get me away from where I have chosen to be, I have forgiven them, and I will forever love them. Those factions who they have sought out and listened to are people who mislabel and unfairly persecute all groups that stand for change and represent views that are different from the mainstream. Some are called "exit counselors" or "deprogrammers" who earn their living off of parents like mine and the emotional pain of those parents.

This type of scenario is nothing new to our planet. Those freedom fighters in history who have fought for change and humanitarian justice, and whose views have been opposed to greedy governments, dictatorships, and the affluent elite who all prosper while the masses suffer, have been victims on countless occasions of great persecution and human rights violations.

I am very aware that my five day incarceration in the psychiatric ward of New York Hospital pales in comparison to the harsh injustices that great numbers of innocent men and woman have endured and are enduring at this very moment; but this experience did give me a glimpse into the evil that exists on our planet.

During these five days, I looked to the Lord, Jesus for help. Words cannot capture the calm that overcame my heart and mind during my stay at the hospital. Jesus gave me the strength and wisdom to get through this trial.

Knowing that His earth sojourn was coming to an end, Jesus said to His apostles,

When I have left you, be not discouraged by the enmity of the world. Be not downcast even when faint-hearted believers turn against you and join hands with the enemies of the kingdom. If the world shall hate you, you should recall that it hated me even before it hated you. If you were of this world, then would the world love its own, but because you are not, the world refuses to love you. You are in this world, but your lives are not to be worldlike. I have chosen you out of the world to represent the spirit of another world even to this world from which you have been chosen. But always remember the words I have spoken to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they dare to persecute me, they will also persecute you. If my words offend the unbelievers, so also will your words offend the ungodly. And all of this will they do to you because they believe not in me nor in Him who sent me; so will you suffer many things for the sake of my gospel. But when you endure these tribulations, you should recall that I also suffered before you for the sake of this gospel of the heavenly kingdom. ( The URANTIA Book , pp. 1946:06-1947:0)

I hired an attorney that specialized in first amendment rights, and I received counsel from the in-hospital legal aid. They both were confidant that I would win my freedom in the hospital court. I filed to have a trial as soon as possible, and the date was set. My family did not want to lose in court, or even go to court to keep me hospitalized, for they were beginning to realize that they had made a great mistake to have me hospitalized in the first place. They said that they would have me released if I would agree to a plan that they and the doctors had come up with. The terms of this agreement were that I would have to live with my parents for a year, and during this period take anti-psychotic medication and see a psychiatrist of their choice every day of the week. As much as I love my parents, in order to gain my freedom, I did not have a problem with falsely signing this agreement and acting as if would go along with my parents and the doctors. Within five days of being released from the hospital, I left New York City and headed for Sedona.

Living in Sedona as a member of Global Community Communications Alliance, I have the "peace that passeth all understanding." It is exhilarating to clearly see God's hand in the building of this new society, a holy city. The holy city that we are building is both inside and outside of ourselves. This new culture is and will be the paradigm for the whole planet.

I am experiencing things and growing in areas that I would never have imagined. Here, as a Destiny Reservist , I have the unique opportunity to develop in the highest way the gifts that God has given me, so that I can come closer to actualizing my destiny and become the greatest instrument for God that I can be. This is one of the many blessings and responsibilities of the Mandate of the Bright and Morning Star held by Gabriel of Urantia and Niánn Emerson Chase who I believe to be the highest spiritual leaders on the planet: to nurture the God-given talents of all children on the planet and to make sure that the resources necessary to achieve their destinies are manifested and provided for.

My prayer is that one day we can join hands in this fight for truth. I pray that you will come to know our Creator, Jesus Christ Michael and put your life into His hands if you have not already. And then allow Him to guide you to your highest destiny, no matter where that may take you.

BenDameean, Minister
First Assistant
to Gabriel of Urantia and Niánn Emerson Chase and the Mandate of the Bright and Morning Star

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