© 2010 Carolyn Kendall and Barbara Newsom
© 2010 The Urantia Book Fellowship
_Presented by Carolyn Kendall and Barbara Newsom, April 11, 2010, Schaumburg, Illinois _
Introduction: in case you haven’t been paying attention, in the past few years there has been a burgeoning trend in movies, television series, and other fiction, whose plots center around the impending end of our world. According to the conventional scripts, or worst-case scenarios reported by the news media hype, the end will be initiated by either catastrophic natural events, man-made environmental destruction, or by weapons of mass destruction. In the fictional portrayals, earth is overtaken by grotesque creatures or aliens from outer space. Almost none of the fictional catastrophes portray a benign visitation; all are violent, and mankind comes to a cruel end. Possibly they reflect “the garbled dream life” of script writers. [UB 44:4.7]
Shows about archeological exploration allege to uncover evidence on the walls of ancient temples that predict the end of the world. They often include the arrival, or return, of a God-like being who presides over a dying civilization.
Adding to these concerns are proponents of End Time interpretations of the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The second coming of Jesus Christ is linked with the Rapture, the taking up into heaven the literal bodies of the Saved. True believers will be swept up as the time of trouble and tribulation approaches, they believe. The Apocalypse is believed to be close at hand, citing the increasing number of wars, weather disturbances, epidemics and the moral degeneracy of mankind. They preach that God’s judgment against sin, corruption and conflict can’t be far off. Although many interpret the Book of Revelation more positively, especially as the promise of future revelation and establishment of “heaven on earth,” the sensational End Time predictions seem to receive more public attention.
In contrast to these fearful forecasts, the Urantia Revelation promises that the world does have a future! It is our contention that the book projects in considerable detail an increasingly spiritualized planet. Not only will Urantia continue to circle the sun, it is evolving toward an inspiring and radiant future:
Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment. [UB 195:9.2]
In order for all of us, especially leaders, to plan effectively for the future, it would be useful if we reviewed some basic information about The Urantia Book, how it fits into the plans of the celestial beings who watch over our world, and how we should be conducting our affairs in the immediate years ahead:
What is The Urantia Book? The Urantia Book is an “epochal revelation,” the fifth in a series of divine revelations that have occurred at increasingly frequent intervals for the past 500,000 years. Unlike the first four revelations, The Urantia Book was not accompanied by visible celestial personalities who bestowed themselves in human or human-like form. Neither did it coincide with the termination of a planetary dispensation and the beginning of a new epochal age, unlike three of the previous revelations. This revelation is a unique phenomenon in the local universe: it is in written form. The book is probably not a finished revelation—an end in itself; but rather a precursor—the first stage of an on-going revelatory process that will continue to unfold in future years. You can decide for yourselves whether our planet is doomed to oblivion as portrayed in today’s media, or whether it has the wonderful and enthralling future that we believe is the plan of a loving and merciful Creator, God the Father.
This epochal revelation was authorized by the highest beings of the local and superuniverse. The book is the joint effort of a vast range of authors, from Paradise-origin beings down to midwayers native to our world. This superhuman authorship was directed by a Revelatory Commission comprised of the following groups of universe personalities:
Part I: The Central and Supervuniverses, was authorized by the Ancients of Days of Uversa. These papers were formulated by a high commission of twenty-four Orvonton administrators.
Part II: The Local Universe, and Part III, The History of Urantia, were authorized by Gabriel of Salvington, directed by Mantutia Melchizedek, and sponsored by a Nebadon Corps of twelve local universe personalities.
Part IV: The Life of Jesus, was supervised by Gabriel, directed by Mantutia Melchizedek, and sponsored by twelve Urantia midwayers.
How Was Its Arrival Facilitated? The celestial personalities identified above created the text of The Urantia Book, which was communicated to a human Contact Commission through an unnamed human Contact Personality, all members of the Reserve Corps of Destiny. The Contact Commission facilitated the reception of the revelation beginning in 1925, when, after some eighteen years of contact, the Revelatory Commission asked them to invite a larger group of humans known as the Forum to ask questions. Only the Contact Commissioners maintained direct contact with the Revelatory Commission. The Forum members generated questions which the Contact Commissioners submitted to the Revelatory Commission. The papers in the first series (1925 to 1929) numbered fifty-seven, and were received in response to the Forum members’ questions. The Revelatory Commission then expanded the papers in response to further questions from the Forum to create a series of 196 papers. The final refining and polishing of the 196 papers continued until 1942, eventually published by Urantia Foundation in 1955 as The Urantia Book.
Planetary Dispensations: Why now in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries? Our current epoch on Urantia began the day Jesus arose from the tomb, and is known variously as: the Post-Bestowal Son Age, the Christian dispensation, and as the dispensation of the Spirit of Truth. The end of the first dispensation occurred at the arrival of the Planetary Prince 500,000 years ago, when all who had died since the time of Andon and Fonta, and had not previously gone on to the mansion worlds, were resurrected. Our world has been isolated from the cross-currents of universe communication for the past 200,000 years because our Planetary Prince Caligastia participated in the Lucifer rebellion against the Universal Father on Paradise and against the rule of the creator of our local universe, Michael of Nebadon.
The second dispensational resurrection occurred during the time of Adam [UB 76:6.2], [UB 189:3.3] The purpose of the Adamic mission was to improve the quality of the human stocks, to upstep the intellectual capacity of mankind and to accelerate spiritual progress. Our Adam and Eve arrived almost 38,000 years ago, but unfortunately, after only one hundred years, they defaulted their trust, and the mission ended in failure. From a material standpoint, this was a catastrophic loss.
Here is where Urantia departed from the usual schedule. Machiventa Melchizedek bestowed himself at Salem 1,973 years before the birth of Christ Michael, our bestowal Son. Ordinarily, Paradise Avonal Sons begin coming to planets on magisterial missions one or more times after the arrival of the Material Son and Daughter—Adam and Eve—and prior to the bestowal Son’s arrival. Machiventa Melchizedek came instead on an emergency mission which was intended to re-introduce the teaching about the one God in preparation for the arrival of Christ Michael. No dispensational resurrection occurred at the time of Melchizedek. The third and most recent dispensational resurrection occurred on the day of Jesus’ resurrection.
And now, 2,000 years after the bestowal of Michael, and 200,000 years after the Lucifer Rebellion, there are subtle indications that the case against the perpetrators is moving toward adjudication, and that our isolation may be coming to an end in the not too distant future. The Urantia Book reveals the following intriguing details:
The first hearing in the case of Gabriel vs. Lucifer occurred on Uversa, the capitol of the superuniverse, “during the time of effecting this revelation.” [UB 54:4.8] Why is this significant? We are told that immediately after Lucifer and his associates are annihilated, the circuits of communication between our world and the headquarters worlds of the system, constellation, and local universe will be reinstated. Worlds not in isolation ordinarily receive broadcasts of events transpiring in the universe. “That which mercy cannot rehabilitate justice will eventually annihilate.” [UB 21:5.7]
Satan, who was complicit with Lucifer, was detained “during the presentation of these papers.” [UB 53:9.4] & [UB 54:4.8]
An archangel circuit began to operate at the time of Jesus’ resurrection, but an archangel divisional headquarters was established on Urantia “in more recent times.” [UB 37:3.3] This archangel circuit is not accessible to humans and is not to be confused with the circuits mentioned above. Of possible interest in our study, archangels wrote eleven papers of The Urantia Book. “The roll call of a dispensation termination is promulgated by an attendant archangel.” [UB 37:3.6] Archangels are also the advance guard and righthand associates of Paradise Avonal Sons during magisterial missions to the inhabited planets of time. Think about this enigmatic passage:
Do you grasp the significance of the fact that your lowly and confused planet has become a divisional headquarters for the universe administration and direction of certain archangel activities having to do with the Paradise ascension scheme? This undoubtedly presages the future concentration of other ascendant activities on the bestowal world of Michael and lends a tremendous and solemn import to the Master’s personal promise, “I will come again”. [UB 37:3.4]
This hint: “concentration of other ascendant activities” would not only refer to the mass resurrection of our own sleeping survivors of the current dispensation, but it may also be a subtle way of telling us that survivors from other isolated worlds will be brought to our world to be trained after their resurrection on the mansion worlds. If this is true, it could be planned to happen in conjunction with Michael’s promise to return. If that seems like wild speculation, recall that after Jesus was resurrected, the surviving morontia mortals and their associated directors from the seven mansion worlds were brought to Urantia to go through the morontia experience with the risen Jesus here on earth. [UB 191:3] The planet upon which the Creator Son completed his bestowal career will be an important field trip for a new class of morontia beings. Archangels are “dedicated to the work of creature survival and to the furtherance of the ascending career of the mortals of time and space.” [UB 37:3.2] Michael cannot bestow himself a second time in human form, but he could be manifested in some other manner. Add his not-so-veiled promise to return to the mix:
. . . [W]hen this gospel of the kingdom shall have been proclaimed to all the world for the salvation of all peoples, and when the fullness of the age has come to pass, the Father will send you another dispensational bestowal, or else the Son of Man will return to adjudge the age. [UB 176:2.5]
“Urantia is a decimal planet, a life-experiment world. On one world in each ten a greater variance in the standard life designs is permitted than on the other (non-experimental) worlds.” [UB 36:2.15] The supervisor of Nebadon’s decimal planets is Tabamantia, who visited our world on a periodic inspection 38,000 years ago. Within one hundred years of that visit, Adam and Eve arrived. We know from subsequent information that his latest visit occurred just a few months before the first papers of The Urantia Book were transmitted. The Urantia Book is an experiment on an experimental planet. Might we look forward to the arrival of a divine visitor within one hundred years of Tabamantia’s last inspection?
In addition to our status as an experimental planet, we also have working in our favor the Master Son Michael’s special consideration for Urantia:
After his elevation to settled sovereignty in a local universe a Paradise Michael is in full control of all other Sons of God functioning in his domain, and he may freely rule in accordance with his concept of the needs of his realms. A Master Son may at will vary the order of the spiritual adjudication and evolutionary adjustment of the inhabited planets. And such Sons do make and carry out the plans of their own choosing in all matters of special planetary needs, in particular regarding the worlds of their creature sojourn and still more concerning the realm of terminal bestowal, the planet of incarnation in the likeness of mortal flesh. [UB 21:5.9]
“. . . all the worlds of Satania have rested under the spiritual ban of [the constellation of] Norlatiadek in consequence of the Lucifer rebellion” [UB 50:6.5], and the control of the Constellation Fathers—the “Most Highs” who “rule in the kingdoms of men.”—in consequence of the Lucifer rebellion [UB 43:4] We don’t know much about how the other isolated worlds are faring. It is generally not permitted for the revelators to relate “details of the life and environment of your Satania neighbors.” They “are limited by the planetary quarantine and by the system isolation.” [UB 50:6.1] They do tell us that Urantia “has not differed so greatly” from the other isolated worlds; but compared with the loyal worlds, we seem “confused and greatly retarded in all phases of intellectual progress and spiritual attainment.” . . . “[C]ulture cannot be enhanced unless mind is elevated.” . . . “Much depends, also, upon the successive missions of the divine Sons and upon the extent to which enlightenment is received by the ages of their respective dispensations.” [UB 50:6]
In Paper 72, “Government on a Neighboring Planet”, one of our Satania neighbors has a history most like our own— the Planetary Prince joined in rebellion and the Material Son defaulted. One continental nation on that world has achieved a superior civilization, though eleven neighboring continents are inferior. “[I]f a Magisterial Son should soon come to [the most] advanced nation, great things could quickly happen on this world.” [UB 72:12.2] The inference that an Avonal Son would come to a world where only one nation or continent has risen to a requisite level of civilization is both intriguing and reassuring. Apparently, an entire world is not required to reach readiness for revelation as the criteria for a super-mortal visitation.
Also intriguing is the role of the Four and Twenty Counselors, not only in the future of Urantia, but also in the future of “the thirty-six other rebellion-isolated worlds of Satania,” whose advisory boards are subordinate to the “Urantia advisory council.” This supervisory board of former Urantians serves as Christ Michael’s “personal agents” on Jerusem, makes visits to the individual planets, and executes “the special requests of Gabriel and the unusual mandates of Michael.” [UB 45:4] & [UB 114:2]
Pairs of Brilliant Evening Stars, the superangels of the local universe, “frequently go on special missions to the individual planets as [Gabriel’s] personal representatives.” Gabriel was the director of Parts II, III, and IV of The Urantia Book, and Evening Stars authored eight papers in the book. Also, “one of the high duties of the Evening Stars is to accompany Avonal bestowal Sons on their planetary missions,” [UB 37:2.3,8] They aren’t mentioned as accompanying Avonals on magisterial missions, yet they participated in writing The Urantia Book.
Another perplexing passage: “[O]nly a bestowal Son can re-establish interplanetary lines of communication on such a spiritually isolated world.” [UB 35:9.9] We’ve already had our one allotted bestowal Son. Since only a “bestowal Son” can re-open the circuits, and a Magisterial Son cannot come on a “bestowal mission” then who will re-establish the circuits? They tease us with this: “ordinarily only once will a bestowal Son serve on the sphere.” [UB 20:5.4] So, which Son will end our isolation? Will a Magisterial Son be sent on another bestowal mission to terminate the dispensation and reestablish the circuits when the Lucifer Rebellion is settled? Or will our bestowal Son Michael return specifically to “reestablish interplanetary lines of communication?” Michael has promised to return. Did he know when he was here that he would likely be the one to turn the radio back on?
Now and then in the transaction of the affairs of a local creation it becomes wise to withhold certain details, temporarily, from the knowledge of practically all of the native personalities of that local universe. Certain advanced plans and complex rulings are also better grasped and more fully understood by the more mature and farseeing corps of Most High Assistants . . . [e.g., who just happen to be the listed authors of Part I] [UB 37:4.5]
The next visitation. Urantia “is a full dispensation and more behind the average planetary schedule.” [UB 52:3.6] And yet, an Avonal Son on a magisterial mission could theoretically be assigned even before the circuits are re-established; Christ Michael, Machiventa Melchizedek, and Adam and Eve all came to Urantia in its isolated state.
“Magisterial Sons are the high magistrates of the realms, the adjudicators of the successive dispensations . . . . They preside over the awakening of the sleeping survivors . . .[and] reassign the space creatures of planetary ministry to the tasks of the new dispensation,… His presence constitutes a judgment of the realm.” [UB 20:3.1,4] All worlds receive many visits from Magisterial Sons. “When Paradise Avonals come on magisterial missions, at least the initial one, they are always incarnated” [UB 52:4.3] appearing “as an adult of the realm by a technique not involving mortal birth” [UB 20:2.6] and are in “physical contact with the mortal creatures of his day and generation.” [UB 20:4.1] They do not experience birth or death. “They may live on for generations in those cases where they remain as rulers on certain planets.” [UB 52:4.3] “On the second and subsequent missions the Magisterial Sons may or may not be incarnated—the advent of each one marks the end of one dispensation and the beginning of another.” [UB 52:4.9] “These [combined] dispensations . . . cover anywhere from twenty-five thousand to fifty thousand years of Urantia time. Sometimes such an epoch is much shorter and in rare instances even longer.” [UB 52:4.10] Melchizedeks “support the Paradise Avonals on magisterial missions to the inhabited worlds, and . . . are visible to mortal eyes if the Avonal Son is also thus manifest.” [UB 35:2.6] As with the Creator Son, magisterial Sons do not beget offspring. “Avonals may repeatedly serve on the same planet both before and after the appearance of the bestowal Son.” [UB 20:2.6]
They “are planetary ministers and judges . . .[to] all races . . .” [UB 20:2.1] “As teachers [they] are exclusively devoted to the spiritual enlightenment of the mortal races . . .[UB 20:6.4] “In love and devotion, with tender mercy and affectionate consideration, these Magisterial Sons bestow themselves upon the worlds of space. . . . In all their work on the worlds of the local universe the Magisterial Sons are just as divinely effective and all wise as . . . their Paradise brother, the Creator Son.” [UB 20:5.6]
“The postbestowal Son age may extend from ten thousand to a hundred thousand years” [UB 52:5.8] after which the Trinity Teacher Sons are dispatched to the planet for one thousand years to initiate the spiritual age of light and life. On each mission these Paradise Daynal Sons are accompanied by a magisterial Son who terminates the dispensation and initiates the new dispensation. “Eras of the Magisterial Sons and Teacher Sons and the ages of light and life are to be anticipated on Urantia, regardless of unexpected visitations of divine sons which may or may not occur.” [UB 45:4.21]
The Revelators’ Guidance. A few years before the book was published, the human contact commissioners were apprised of developments that occurred after the text was complete. The book had been typeset, when the human partners learned about changes in the superhuman oversight of our world:
A regent of the acting Planetary Prince was appointed to serve on Urantia and to oversee the early publication and dissemination of The Urantia Book. He is of the Melchizedek order of local universe Sonship. The dictionary definition of regent is “one who exercises authority in the absence of a sovereign.” (“When a Melchizedek goes to a remote world in the name of Gabriel, he . . . appear[s] with the full authority of the Bright and Morning Star.”) [UB 37:2.5] In addition to his many rulings concerning publication of the book, and its associated organizations, was confirmation of this earlier notice:
The importance of this seraphic management cannot be overstated. They are two of among twelve groups of the order of Master Seraphim, all graduates of Seraphington, who are the resident managers of our planetary government and oversee vital aspects of human civilization on Urantia. Associated with them are members of the human Reserve Corps of Destiny. The chief of the Master Seraphic Corps is a primary supernaphim who wrote five papers of The Urantia Book. Our Associate Chief of Seraphim, Manotia, is a supreme seraphim of Nebadon, replete in local universe seraphic attainment. The “loyal seraphic commander” on Jerusem at the outbreak of the rebellion. Manotia has served on Urantia since the early days of the rebellion, having been assigned here when Lanaforge was installed as System Sovereign. [UB 53:6.1-3]
“We regard The Urantia Book as a feature of the progressive evolution of human society. It is not germane to the spectacular episodes of epochal revolution, even though it may apparently be timed to appear in the wake of one such revolution in human society. The book belongs to the era immediately to follow the conclusion of the present ideological struggle. That will be the day when men will be willing to seek truth and righteousness. When the chaos of the present confusion has passed, it will be more readily possible to formulate the cosmos of a new and improved era of human relationships. And it is for this better order of affairs on earth that the Book has been made ready.
“But the publication of the book has not been postponed to that (possibly) somewhat remote date. An early publication of the book has been provided so that it may be in hand for the training of leaders and teachers. Its presence is also required to engage the attention of persons of means who may be thus led to provide funds for translations into other languages…
“You must learn to possess your souls in patience. You are in association with a revelation of truth which is a part of the natural evolution of religion on this world. Overrapid growth would be suicidal. The book is being given to those who are ready for it long before the day of its world-wide mission. Thousands of study groups must be brought into existence and the book must be translated into many tongues. Thus will the book be in readiness when the battle for man’s liberty is finally won and the world is once more made safe for the religion of Jesus and the freedom of mankind.”
The meaning of the phrase, “the conclusion of the present ideological struggle” has been a matter of conjecture among Urantia Book students. It has been variously construed to mean Fascism, Communism, terrorism, or even the Lucifer Rebellion. Others see it as an indictment of an overall lack of moral and spiritual development due to isolation.
The Emergency Corps of Mortal Selectmen. In her presidential address to the First Triennial Delegate Assembly in 1967, a Contact Commissioner ended her speech with an excerpt from revelator instructions:
“I have heretofore reminded you that the celestial supervisors of Urantia are mobilizing small groups of spirit-led men and women throughout the world—among all nations—and these truth battalions, these selectmen, are concerned today with scores of vital enterprises which have to do with the rehabilitation of the world following the ending of the present distressing conflicts.”
“And of all the emergency corps of mortal selectmen on Urantia, none is charged with a more solemn obligation than our group. We have been called to the great work of taking the first step of offering to mortal man a new light, a new revelation, of the love of God. The easy jogtrot religion of former days no longer suffices to meet the challenges of today. Following Jesus’ way of life calls for an act of complete commitment, a dedicated intention, a resolute purpose, a trumpet call to a life that will not compromise.”
Goals and Mission. The revelators emphasize the circumstances at the time Jesus was born that determined the readiness of humanity for the fourth epochal revelation:
Jesus did not come to this world during an age of spiritual decadence; at the time of his birth Urantia was experiencing such a revival of spiritual thinking and religious living as it had not known in all its previous post-Adamic history nor has experienced in any era since. When Michael incarnated on Urantia, the world presented the most favorable condition for the Creator Son’s bestowal that had ever previously prevailed or has since obtained. [UB 121:1.1]
If we are correct in our assumption that The Urantia Book is the first phase of a two-stage epochal revelation, then our mission is to prepare for happenings far different than the dark predictions of our media and literature. We must be ready for the advent of a Magisterial Son and the possibility of a return visit by Michael. Although we are advised not to attach Michael’s return to any particular era, as he or others could come at any time, they WILL come; of that there can be no doubt!
We were directed to “train leaders and teachers” and to “establish thousands of study groups” so that millions of humans can assimilate these teachings, the better to anticipate those visitations, the coming of a new dispensation and the reinstatement of intra-universe communication. As the book circulates throughout the world, more translations will be required. Thus will we be ready when the next “demonstrate[or] of righteousness” arrives, [UB 176:2.3] accompanied by visible Melchizedek teachers who will confirm the lessons of The Urantia Book.
The revelators provided an unusual amount of factual information about levels of the universe and the beings who inhabitant them. They have pulled out all the stops and given us more insight than even planets at the Trinity Teacher Son level receive. Among Urantia Book readers, however, there appears to be a lesser amount of interest in Parts I and II than in Parts III and IV. The latter is where the major concentration has been in study groups. Nevertheless, the material in Parts I and II is where our future is foretold. Our eternal lives will be played out on the architectural worlds of space, but our immediate planetary futures are linked with orders of beings who are managing our world behind the scenes. The purpose of The Urantia Book is to:
. . . endeavor to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception” [UB 0:0.2] The quickest way to realize the brotherhood of man on Urantia is to effect the spiritual transformation of present-day humanity. The only technique for accelerating the natural trend of social evolution is that of applying spiritual pressure from above . . . [UB 52:6.7] Religious revelation is essential to the realization of brotherhood on Urantia. [UB 52:6.2]
Many of our fellow humans are seeking for something beyond themselves to enrich their lives, or for a new way to approach the heavenly Father, but they don’t know how. They are all endowed with a Thought Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth which will open them up to possibilities of intellectual and spiritual expansion. Later on the day that Jesus departed from Urantia, the “gift of the Spirit [of Truth] did not come only to the apostles. The one hundred and twenty men and women assembled in the upper chamber all received the new teacher, as did all the honest of heart throughout the whole world.” [UB 194:3.6] “The coming of the Spirit of Truth…signifies that the Jesus of history has become the divine Son of living experience. The joy of this outpoured spirit, when it is consciously experienced in human life, is a tonic for health, a stimulus for mind, and an unfailing energy for the soul.” [UB 194:3.18]
What a transcendent service if, through this revelation, the Son of Man should be recovered from the tomb of traditional theology and be presented as the living Jesus to the church that bears his name, and to all other religions! [UB 196:1.2]
Carolyn Kendall has been a reader of The Urantia Book since before publication; and along with her parents, brother, and late husband, was a founding member of the First Urantia Society of Chicago. She and her husband Tom served in leadership roles in the Urantia Brotherhood/Fellowship and Urantia Foundation, and she is the mother of five and grandmother of seven. Carolyn has lived in the same house on the street “Salvington Place” for forty-eight years.
Barbara Newsom started reading The Urantia Book with her parents in a study group near Wichita, Kansas, in 1965, and has attended study groups ever since. In 1975, she moved to Chicago and joined First Urantia Society. Barbara has served on the Fellowship General Council, Executive Committee, and three standing committees. She also volunteers for Urantia Foundation, Urantia Association International, and The Urantia Book Historical Society,