Saints, Prophets, Seers, and Heralds: Who is who, what is what, when, and why?

[Work-in-progress. Most recent revisions and expansion: 4/12/23.]

Saints, Prophets, Seers, and Heralds:
Who is who, what is what, when, and why?

Introduction [Revised 4/11/23]
Prologue [Revised 4/12/23]
Saints [Cross-reference redo posted 1/12/23]
___Mystics
___From shamans to saints
___Saints of secondhand religion
___Saints of the Most High
Prophets
___What is a prophet?
___Jesus, prophets, and politics
___Christianity’s default
___Musican-prophet
___Urantia Book prophets
Seers
___Evolution, rebellion, and entheogens
___Judeo-Christian culture
___Urantia Book culture
___Current possibilities
______Q of Qanon
Heralds
___Function and value
___Past and present contenders

Introduction

For thousands of years, religious people have been on the lookout for a contemporary prophet, seer, or herald of the new age. In a world filled with injustice and brutality, naturally, faithful people want to be hopeful and are looking for guidance and leadership.

For Urantia Book students, there are hopeful expectations about the future and possibilities beyond those considered by Judeo-Christian scholars. As well, the unique history of the Urantia movement raises new questions. Specifically, with The Urantia Book, the role of seer was played by an unwilling participant in two respects. The “sleeping subject” did not engage the process from a state of consciousness; it occurred independently of making a conscious choice. And, once informed about the circumstances, the sleeping subject chose to remain anonymous. That’s different.

This new revelatory procedure, this new use of a seer, necessitated the creation of a “Contact Commission.”

Who anticipated that before it happened? This is nothing like stories about God’s law written on stone or gold tablets. Consider the new opportunities and problems inherent with the new communication modality, bearing in mind that choosing a seer requires picking someone who somehow can get some social traction.

New opportunities arise and shine, if you will, when a seer cannot be unfairly treated, personally maligned, threatened, brutalized, or killed. This happens to seers and prophets sometimes when social traction develops. The prophets of old were resurrected during the times of Jesus. Maybe they had some good ideas for how to improve the process of making contact and getting the message out to the world.

Does The Urantia Book establish a new general pattern for working with a seer? A prophet? A herald?

What implications does this new process have when considering post publication developments? How might the implications change, if the originating organizations default in carrying out their assigned roles? Given Caligastia’s betrayal and the default of Adam and Eve, can we fairly expect this humanly led effort to fair better?

Predictably, in large measure, personal criticisms related to Urantia Book content have been projected on to Dr. William Sadler, the most notable person involved with bringing The Urantia Book into publication. Sadly, this trend also comes from within the Urantia Book culture. Would-be adherents, who ride popular social trends, reject the teachings about family, race, and eugenics, giving rise to a new breed of false prophets! From one perspective, it could be said that such individuals more powerfully defame the revelation and discourage honest consideration of its contents than those who reject it outright.

From one perspective, prophets (known for being unpopular) can be seen as people who get pushed into leadership roles because leaders interfere with their ability to act as teachers. Good leadership not only creates a safe space for free speech, which is required for teaching progressive (minority) views, it also fosters the development of progressive ideas. When there is bad leadership, teachers need to become leaders for anything progressive to get accomplished.

But, teachers tend to make reluctant leaders, which makes it hard to get anything accomplished with them. The Most Highs have the challenge of needing to work with leaders, who lose sight of the role of teachers, and working with teachers, who get pushed into leadership roles.

There are distinct communication skill sets related to teachers vs. leaders. They do not mix well because teachers encourage better thinking, which requires open mindedness. In contrast, leaders encourage specific thoughts, which requires a fixation of beliefs.

Appreciating these differences is not intellectually challenging. The thoughts can be expressed clearly and concisely enough. Wisely and tactfully living out this understanding is another matter entirely, of course, especially in a religious context.

Hopefully, this study aid can help with that.

Prologue

This subjectd is challenging to analyze from an historical perspective because it involves overlapping and evolving roles. Plus, we need to consider how these terms take on new meanings within a The Urantia Book context.

On top of that, the terminology overlaps in a manner that invites confusion. Seers prophesy based on revelatory insight. Prophets speak in terms of the karmic consequences of wrongdoing. People wear more than one hat, but the hats are different.

Cross-reference studies are incorporated to help manage the scope and complexities of the material. Bold is used both for editorial emphasis and as a visual cue for term identification.

Saints

The cross-reference study: Saint(s) also functions here as the Saints section.

Prophets

What is a prophet?

The depiction of prophets in The Urantia Book goes considerably beyond the dictionary definition. Dictionary definitions for prophet, prophecy, and prophesy reveal that the personal role does not specifically mention anything about the future, whereas the thing and the act do specify such a characteristic.

Prophet: noun 1. A person regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. “the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah” 2. (in Christian use) the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve minor prophets.

Prophecy: noun a prediction.

Prophesy: verb say that (a specified thing) will happen in the future.

By comparison and consistent with Urantia Book usage, the role of a seer is to make predictions about the future.

Seer: noun 1. A person who is supposed to be able, through supernatural insight, to see what the future holds. “a seer had foretold that the earl would assume the throne” 2. ARCHAIC a person who sees something specified. “a seer of the future”

Why the conspicuous absence of anything about making predictions in the definition of prophet? Presumably, this leaves the door open to include those who criticize without making specific predictions about the inevitable consequences that do attend the failure to correct bad behavior. As well, the roles of seers and prophets can be more readily distinguished when we respect the limited definition of a prophet.

Why do we need prophets?

We need prophets because people attempt to police thought and suppress freedom of speech, an effort which, by its nature, opposes general education and scientific progress. We need prophets because people try to attain and maintain power in ways that are uncivilized.

The phrase freedom of speech is used twice:

(71:2.8) The measure of the advance of society is directly determined by the degree to which public opinion can control personal behavior and state regulation through nonviolent expression. The really civilized government had arrived when public opinion was clothed with the powers of personal franchise. Popular elections may not always decide things rightly, but they represent the right way even to do a wrong thing. Evolution does not at once produce superlative perfection but rather comparative and advancing practical adjustment.

(71:2.9) There are ten steps, or stages, to the evolution of a practical and efficient form of representative government, and these are: …

(71:2.11) 2. Freedom of the mind. Unless a free people are educated—taught to think intelligently and plan wisely—freedom usually does more harm than good. …

(71:2.13) 4. Freedom of speech. Representative government is unthinkable without freedom of all forms of expression for human aspirations and opinions.

(97:9.19) New trouble started when King Ahab tried to buy land from Naboth. His Phoenician wife forged Ahab’s name to papers directing that Naboth’s land be confiscated on the charge that he had blasphemed the names of “Elohim and the king.” He and his sons were promptly executed. The vigorous Elijah appeared on the scene denouncing Ahab for the murder of the Naboths. Thus Elijah, one of the greatest of the prophets, began his teaching as a defender of the old land mores as against the land-selling attitude of the Baalim, against the attempt of the cities to dominate the country. But the reform did not succeed until the country landlord Jehu joined forces with the gypsy chieftain Jehonadab to destroy the prophets (real estate agents) of Baal at Samaria.

(97:9.20) New life appeared as Jehoash and his son Jeroboam delivered Israel from its enemies. But by this time there ruled in Samaria a gangster-nobility whose depredations rivaled those of the Davidic dynasty of olden days. State and church went along hand in hand. The attempt to suppress freedom of speech led Elijah, Amos, and Hosea to begin their secret writing, and this was the real beginning of the Jewish and Christian Bibles.

Of course, freedom of speech is directly related to education and science is a subset of education.

(90:2.9) Ever and anon, true prophets and teachers arose to denounce and expose shamanism. Even the vanishing red man had such a prophet within the past hundred years, the Shawnee Tenskwatawa, who predicted the eclipse of the sun in 1806 and denounced the vices of the white man. Many true teachers have appeared among the various tribes and races all through the long ages of evolutionary history. And they will ever continue to appear to challenge the shamans or priests of any age who oppose general education and attempt to thwart scientific progress.

Note that Tenskwatawa is not referred to as a seer. In fact, there is substantial evidence to suggest that he was aware of the coming eclipse through contacts with the British. As well, information about the upcoming eclipse was being distributed in New England, under the title: Darkness at Noon.

If Tenskwatawa got information about the eclipse from the white man, then the story is rich with irony. Christopher Columbus in 1504, in an effort to extract food and other material provisions from the Jamaican natives, used the work of a Jewish astronomer from Spain to predict a full lunar eclipse, which turns the moon “blood” red. Columbus successfully used this to assert that the white man’s God was angry with the Jamaicans for not helping Columbus.

To secure the blessings of peace, The Urantia Book teaches:

(71:8.2) The evolution of statehood entails progress from level to level, as follows:

(71:8.3) 1) The creation of a threefold government of executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

(71:8.4) 2) The freedom of social, political, and religious activities.

The general rule is that interfaith dispositions are a good. Freedom of religious belief and thought go hand-in-hand with embracing interfaith values. But when the system has become corrupted, then all bets are off and a prophet has got to do what a prophet has got to do.

(97:1.3) Samuel was a rough-and-ready type of man, a practical reformer who could go out in one day with his associates and overthrow a score of Baal sites. The progress he made was by sheer force of compulsion; he did little preaching, less teaching, but he did act. One day he was mocking the priest of Baal; the next, chopping in pieces a captive king. He devotedly believed in the one God, and he had a clear concept of that one God as creator of heaven and earth: “The pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he has set the world upon them.”

(97:2.1) In the tenth century before Christ the Hebrew nation became divided into two kingdoms. In both of these political divisions many truth teachers endeavored to stem the reactionary tide of spiritual decadence that had set in, and which continued disastrously after the war of separation. But these efforts to advance the Hebraic religion did not prosper until that determined and fearless warrior for righteousness, Elijah, began his teaching. Elijah restored to the northern kingdom a concept of God comparable with that held in the days of Samuel. Elijah had little opportunity to present an advanced concept of God; he was kept busy, as Samuel had been before him, overthrowing the altars of Baal and demolishing the idols of false gods. And he carried forward his reforms in the face of the opposition of an idolatrous monarch; his task was even more gigantic and difficult than that which Samuel had faced.

So, freedom of speech issues started the whole process of writing down the thoughts of prophets and the visions of seers. Church and state becoming entwined is mentioned. And now, modern society experiences the separation of church and state.

Who are the secular “shamans or priests of any age who oppose general education and attempt to thwart scientific progress” and freedom of speech? Who are the priests of materialism and agnosticism? Who are the New Age shamans that now compete for social status through social media and/or start personality cults and/or divining for money? Who are the high priests of the universities? Certainly, the issues with education and science are widespread across the spectrum of modern-day leadership.

What are the forces and who are the people working against freedom of speech and Urantia Book teachings about race and gender? How do these questions help us answer who is who, what is what, when, and why?

With respect to a prophet being an “inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God,” consider what one interviewer got as last words from Bob Marley to his fans:

“The voice to the people that love life, inside of them that talks to them, you know, that is the voice that these people must listen to. Because in everything you’re going to do, there’s a wrong way and a right way. And if you listen good, you will know the right way. You know? Because there’s a voice inside talking to everyone … seeing … seeing …”

Seers

This section includes all ten references (five each) to seer(s).

Evolution, rebellion, and entheogens

Entheogen: noun

A psychoactive substance, usually one derived from plants or fungi but also from the secretions of animals such as toads, that is ingested by a shaman or another participant in a ritual in order to produce visions or gain mystical insight.
A psychoactive substance used for the purpose of inducing a mystical or spiritual experience.

The questions and commentaries being provided here for educational purposes are not to be taken as reflecting personal beliefs, practices, experiences, (dis)encouragements, opinions, etc.

However, some questions needs to be asked. For example, are entheogens preprogrammed into the evolutionary development of plant life to spiritual development (for some, if not generally)? And/or are the especially important as part of a back up plan for rebellions and defaults?

The Urantia Book teaches that the early evolution of shamans tended to go in one of two directions. They either became a priest-king or a medicine man/seer.

(90:1.1) The shaman was the ranking medicine man, the ceremonial fetishman, and the focus personality for all the practices of evolutionary religion. In many groups the shaman outranked the war chief, marking the beginning of the church domination of the state. The shaman sometimes functioned as a priest and even as a priest-king. Some of the later tribes had both the earlier shaman-medicine men (seers) and the later appearing shaman-priests. And in many cases the office of shaman became hereditary.

(90:2.2) Ancient black art, both religious and secular, was called white art when practiced by either priests, seers, shamans, or medicine men. The practitioners of the black art were called sorcerers, magicians, wizards, witches, enchanters, necromancers, conjurers, and soothsayers. As time passed, all such purported contact with the supernatural was classified either as witchcraft or shamancraft.

What medicines and methods might the medicine-men have used to foster prophetic consciousness?

(90:4.4) Disease was treated by chanting, howling, laying on of hands, breathing on the patient, and many other techniques. In later times the resort to temple sleep, during which healing supposedly took place, became widespread. The medicine men eventually essayed actual surgery in connection with temple slumber; among the first operations was that of trephining the skull to allow a headache spirit to escape. The shamans learned to treat fractures and dislocations, to open boils and abscesses; the shamanesses became adept at midwifery.

For a quick and valuable understanding of what temple sleep means, see Wikipedia: Sleep temple.

For an excellent understanding of how this topic relates to the development Judeo-Christian culture, here is an interview by professor and well-known author Jordan Peterson. He starts with author Brain Muraresku—The Immorality Key. And then he brings in author and professor Carl Ruck—The Road to Eleusis.

Some combination of hypnosis and entheogens seem to be involved as catalysts in this process—at least for some seers to some degree. The chemistry behind this seems related to the pineal gland, which relates to the pine cone and handbag often seen held-in-hand on stone carved images of ancient Egyptian and Sumerian Godheads. (For examples of handbags, see the UBtheNEWS: Gobekli Tepe Report. For the pine cone, see the annotation at 49:5.19. Text at: 49:5.19.)

Traditions related to the use of psychoactive substances are widespread and go back to ancient times. Sometimes complex processes are required to create the effect. Perhaps we should speculate more about the degree to which this type of activity has been used during ancient times and how they can be used beneficially today. For instance, promising studies are being conducted with psilocybin mushrooms involving a range of conditions, including terminally ill cancer patients.

Consider that those who “divine for money” and otherwise foster a secondhand experience of religion outside of institutionalized religion are tapping into a disenchanted attraction to the institutional experience of secondhand religion.

In contrast, some people take money for assisting people with their efforts to use psychoactive substances as part of a spiritual and healing process. Are “guides” used in the context of gaining a firsthand experience in some sort of a hybrid category?

Judeo-Christian culture

Machiventa Melchizedek worked with prophets and seers. Exactly how he worked with them remains a mystery.

(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.

Beyond being mysterious, the process clearly lacked clarity. Even Jesus was challenged in his efforts to interpret the texts available to him:

(126:3.6) In the course of this year Jesus found a passage in the so-called Book of Enoch which influenced him in the later adoption of the term “Son of Man” as a designation for his bestowal mission on Urantia. He had thoroughly considered the idea of the Jewish Messiah and was firmly convinced that he was not to be that Messiah. He longed to help his father’s people, but he never expected to lead Jewish armies in overthrowing the foreign domination of Palestine. He knew he would never sit on the throne of David at Jerusalem. Neither did he believe that his mission was that of a spiritual deliverer or moral teacher solely to the Jewish people. In no sense, therefore, could his life mission be the fulfillment of the intense longings and supposed Messianic prophecies of the Hebrew scriptures; at least, not as the Jews understood these predictions of the prophets. Likewise he was certain he was never to appear as the Son of Man depicted by the Prophet Daniel.

(126:3.7) But when the time came for him to go forth as a world teacher, what would he call himself? What claim should he make concerning his mission? By what name would he be called by the people who would become believers in his teachings?

(126:3.8) While turning all these problems over in his mind, he found in the synagogue library at Nazareth, among the apocalyptic books which he had been studying, this manuscript called “The Book of Enoch”; and though he was certain that it had not been written by Enoch of old, it proved very intriguing to him, and he read and reread it many times. There was one passage which particularly impressed him, a passage in which this term “Son of Man” appeared. The writer of this so-called Book of Enoch went on to tell about this Son of Man, describing the work he would do on earth and explaining that this Son of Man, before coming down on this earth to bring salvation to mankind, had walked through the courts of heavenly glory with his Father, the Father of all; and that he had turned his back upon all this grandeur and glory to come down on earth to proclaim salvation to needy mortals. As Jesus would read these passages (well understanding that much of the Eastern mysticism which had become admixed with these teachings was erroneous), he responded in his heart and recognized in his mind that of all the Messianic predictions of the Hebrew scriptures and of all the theories about the Jewish deliverer, none was so near the truth as this story tucked away in this only partially accredited Book of Enoch; and he then and there decided to adopt as his inaugural title “the Son of Man.” And this he did when he subsequently began his public work. Jesus had an unerring ability for the recognition of truth, and truth he never hesitated to embrace, no matter from what source it appeared to emanate.

(126:3.10) The great confusion of Jesus’ younger days now arose. Having settled something about the nature of his mission on earth, “to be about his Father’s business”—to show forth his Father’s loving nature to all mankind—he began to ponder anew the many statements in the Scriptures referring to the coming of a national deliverer, a Jewish teacher or king. To what event did these prophecies refer? Was not he a Jew? or was he? Was he or was he not of the house of David? His mother averred he was; his father had ruled that he was not. He decided he was not. But had the prophets confused the nature and mission of the Messiah?

(126:3.11) … If he were a new teacher and not the Messiah, then how should he recognize the Jewish Messiah if such a one should appear in Jerusalem during the time of his earth mission; and, further, what should be his relation to this Jewish Messiah? And what should be his relation, after embarking on his life mission, to his family? to the Jewish commonwealth and religion? to the Roman Empire? to the gentiles and their religions?

(137:5.3) That night Jesus did not sleep. Donning his evening wraps, he sat out on the lake shore thinking, thinking until the dawn of the next day. In the long hours of that night of meditation Jesus came clearly to comprehend that he never would be able to make his followers see him in any other light than as the long-expected Messiah. At last he recognized that there was no way to launch his message of the kingdom except as the fulfillment of John’s prediction and as the one for whom the Jews were looking. After all, though he was not the Davidic type of Messiah, he was truly the fulfillment of the prophetic utterances of the more spiritually minded of the olden seers. Never again did he wholly deny that he was the Messiah. He decided to leave the final untangling of this complicated situation to the outworking of the Father’s will.

This review of Jewish history acknowledges the historic challenge confronting them.

(97:8.3) But five hundred years of the overlordship of alien rulers was too much for even the patient and long-suffering Jews. The prophets and priests began to cry: “How long, O Lord, how long?” As the honest Jew searched the Scriptures, his confusion became worse confounded. An olden seer promised that God would protect and deliver his “chosen people.” Amos had threatened that God would abandon Israel unless they re-established their standards of national righteousness. The scribe of Deuteronomy had portrayed the Great Choice—as between the good and the evil, the blessing and the curse. Isaiah the first had preached a beneficent king-deliverer. Jeremiah had proclaimed an era of inner righteousness—the covenant written on the tablets of the heart. The second Isaiah talked about salvation by sacrifice and redemption. Ezekiel proclaimed deliverance through the service of devotion, and Ezra promised prosperity by adherence to the law. But in spite of all this they lingered on in bondage, and deliverance was deferred. Then Daniel presented the drama of the impending “crisis”—the smiting of the great image and the immediate establishment of the everlasting reign of righteousness, the Messianic kingdom.

Consider these passages from the Book of Daniel 7:

Daniel’s Vision of the Ancient of Days
⁹I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. ¹⁰A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

¹¹I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. ¹²As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

¹³I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
¹⁴And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Daniel’s Visions Interpreted
¹⁵I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. ¹⁶I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. ¹⁷These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. ¹⁸But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

¹⁹Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; ²⁰And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. ²¹I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; ²²Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

²³Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. ²⁴And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. ²⁵And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. ²⁶But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. ²⁷And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

²⁸Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.

In contrast, note how this epochal revelation guides us to specific passages of importance from the Old and New Testaments and contextualizes them for us:

(52:7.11) 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.”

(52:7.12) This is the same renovated earth, the advanced planetary stage, that the olden seer envisioned when he wrote: “‘For, as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall you and your children survive; and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another all flesh shall come to worship before me,’ says the Lord.”

(52:7.13) It is the mortals of such an age who are described as “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, an exalted people; and you shall show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into this marvelous light.”

(52:7.14) No matter what the special natural history of an individual planet may be, no difference whether a realm has been wholly loyal, tainted with evil, or cursed by sin—no matter what the antecedents may be—sooner or later the grace of God and the ministry of angels will usher in the day of the advent of the Trinity Teacher Sons; and their departure, following their final mission, will inaugurate this superb era of light and life.

(52:7.15) All the worlds . . . [in our region of the cosmos] 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.” [Note: Melchizedek means “king of righteousness.” Might this allude to the return of Melchizedek?]

The olden seer referenced above is Isaiah. Here are some of the verses that precede what was quoted:

Isaiah 66:
⁷“Before she was in labor, she gave birth;
Before her pain came,
She delivered a male child.
⁸Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children.
⁹Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the Lord.
“Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.
¹⁰“Rejoice with Jerusalem,
And be glad with her, all you who love her;
Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;
¹¹That you may feed and be satisfied
With the consolation of her bosom,
That you may drink deeply and be delighted
With the abundance of her glory.”

¹²For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.
Then you shall feed;
On her sides shall you be carried,
And be dandled on her knees.
¹³As one whom his mother comforts,
So I will comfort you;
And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” …

²²“For as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord,
“So shall your descendants and your name remain.
²²And it shall come to pass
That from one New Moon to another,
And from one Sabbath to another,
All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord.

This use of the word seer comes from Revelation:

(38:2.5) You do well to love them, but you should not adore them; angels are not objects of worship. The great seraphim, Loyalatia, when your seer “fell down to worship before the feet of the angel,” said: “See that you do it not; I am a fellow servant with you and with your races, who are all enjoined to worship God.”

Revelation 19:
The Marriage of the Lamb
⁶And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
⁷Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. ⁸And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
⁹And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. ¹⁰And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Revelation 22:
The Time Is Near
⁶Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.
⁷“Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
⁸Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.
⁹Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” ¹⁰And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. ¹¹He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”

Even though being a seer is generally about visions of the future, they also function as revelators of the nature of God.

The first use of the word seer is in Paper 1. It does not provide the seer’s name, but the quote is apparently from the Book of Job.

(1:3.2) Said the seer of old: “Lo, he goes by me, and I see him not; he passes on also, but I perceive him not.”

Job 9 Then Job answered and said,
²I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
³If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
⁵Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.
⁶Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
⁷Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
⁸Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
⁹Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
¹⁰Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
¹¹Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.

Who might have written that portion of Job?

(96:7.5) The variegated picture of Deity presented in the Book of Job was the product of more than a score of Mesopotamian religious teachers extending over a period of almost three hundred years. And when you read the lofty concept of divinity found in this compilation of Mesopotamian beliefs, you will recognize that it was in the neighborhood of Ur of Chaldea that the idea of a real God was best preserved during the dark days in Palestine.

(96:7.6) In Palestine the wisdom and all-pervasiveness of God was often grasped but seldom his love and mercy. …

(96:7.7) Only at Ur did a voice arise to cry out the mercy of God, saying: “He shall pray to God and shall find favor with him and shall see his face with joy, for God will give to man divine righteousness.” Thus from Ur there is preached salvation, divine favor, by faith: “He is gracious to the repentant and says, ‘Deliver him from going down in the pit, for I have found a ransom.’ If any say, ‘I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not,’ God will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and he shall see the light.” Not since the times of Melchizedek had the Levantine world heard such a ringing and cheering message of human salvation as this extraordinary teaching of Elihu, the prophet of Ur and priest of the Salem believers, that is, the remnant of the onetime Melchizedek colony in Mesopotamia.

(96:7.8) And thus did the remnants of the Salem missionaries in Mesopotamia maintain the light of truth during the period of the disorganization of the Hebrew peoples until the appearance of the first of that long line of the teachers of Israel who never stopped as they built, concept upon concept, until they had achieved the realization of the ideal of the Universal and Creator Father of all, the acme of the evolution of the Yahweh concept.

Given the records that we have, The Urantia Book seems to confirm that Elihu, an acknowledged contributor to the Book of Job, was responsible for this quote.

(44:2.11) The higher intellectual teachers and the transition ministers freely and effectively utilize these various groups of reproducers in their morontia educational activities. But not all of their efforts are devoted to transient illustration; much, very much, of their work is of a permanent nature and will forever remain as a legacy to all future time. So versatile are these artisans that, when they function en masse, they are able to re-enact an age, and in collaboration with the seraphic ministers they can actually portray the eternal values of the spirit world to the mortal seers of time.

The authors devote an entire section to the Teachings of Amenemope, referring to him as a seer in the first paragraph:

(95:4.1) In due time there grew up in Egypt a teacher called by many the “son of man” and by others Amenemope. This seer exalted conscience to its highest pinnacle of arbitrament between right and wrong, taught punishment for sin, and proclaimed salvation through calling upon the solar deity.

Of note is a 1933 publication by James Henry Breasted titled The Dawn of Conscience. In it he states:

“This new attitude is revealed to us in a remarkable treatise which we may call the `Wisdom of Amenemope.’ Written by a sage named Amenemope, it is now preserved to us in a papyrus in the British Museum. [Published by Sir E.A. Wallis Budge. Facimiles of Egyptian Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, etc., Pls. I-XIV, Columns I-XXVII, “The Admonition of Amenemapt, the Son of Kanekht.” Second Series, London, 1923.] As so often in such counsel of the Egyptian wise men, these utterances of Amenemope are said to have been delivered by the sage to his son …

“To his son, therefore, Amenemope constantly holds up this attitude towards life, that it is to be lived both in personal and official relations, in full ecognizen of momentary responsibility to God. This ultimate intensity of conscience and God-consciousness in the teachings of an Egyptian thinker in the Tenth Century B.C., before any of the Old Testament was written, is the more remarkable, because we now know that the `Wisdom of Amenemope’ was translated into Hebrew, it was read by Hebrews, and an important part of it found its way into the Old Testament …

“In the wise conclusion that riches `make themselves wings’ and fly away, Amenemope’s graphic picture of the uncertainty and perishability of earthly good, we ecognize a figure which has come down to us through the editor of the Hebrew Book of Porverbs …

“The contrast is obviously between `the words of men’ and `the acts of God,’ and when it is stated that they both `diverge’ the meaning evidently is `from each other.’ We thus have here in its oldest form the world-wide proverb, `Man proposes, God disposes.’” (pps. 320-330)

From Wiki:

Instruction of Amenemope (also called Instructions of Amenemopet, Wisdom of Amenemopet) is a literary work composed in Ancient Egypt, most likely during the Ramesside Period (ca. 1300–1075 BCE); it contains thirty chapters of advice for successful living, ostensibly written by the scribe Amenemope son of Kanakht as a legacy for his son. A characteristic product of the New Kingdom “Age of Personal Piety”, the work reflects on the inner qualities, attitudes, and behaviors required for a happy life in the face of increasingly difficult social and economic circumstances. It is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of ancient near-eastern wisdom literature and has been of particular interest to modern scholars because of its relationship to the biblical Book of Proverbs. …

It was [Adolph] Erman who used Amenemope to emend a difficult reading in the text of Proverbs 22:20, where the Hebrew word shilshom (“three days ago”) appeared to be a copyist’s error that could be meaningfully translated only with difficulty. Erman pointed out that substituting the similar word sheloshim (“thirty”) not only made good sense in context, but yielded the following close parallel between the two texts, with the now-restored “thirty sayings” in Proverbs 22:20 corresponding exactly to the thirty numbered chapters in Amenemope:

Proverbs 22:20: “Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge?” (ESV)
Amenemope, ch. 30, line 539: “Look to these thirty chapters; they inform, they educate.”

Erman also argued that this correspondence demonstrated that the Hebrew text had been influenced by the Egyptian instead of the other way around, since the Egyptian text of Amenemope explicitly enumerates thirty chapters whereas the Hebrew text of Proverbs does not have such clear-cut divisions, and would therefore be more likely to lose the original meaning during copying. Since Erman’s time there has been a near consensus among scholars that there exists a literary connection between the two works, although the direction of influence remains contentious even today. The majority has concluded that Proverbs 22:17–23:10 was dependent on Amenemope; a minority is split between viewing the Hebrew text as the original inspiration for Amenemope and viewing both works as dependent on a now lost Semitic source.

Saints, Prophets, Seers, and Heralds: Who is who, what is what, when, and why?