© 2024 Jean Lapierre
© 2024 Urantia Association of Quebec
Jean Lapierre
Bromont
(Editor’s note: According to the information provided by Gaétan Charland, it would seem that the story of Larry Mullins and Dr. Meredith Justin Sprunger is marked by more or less exact interpretations, we prefer to warn you of this!)
Good morning,
Recently, I read the book entitled: “A History of the Urantia Book” by Larry Mullins and Dr. Meredith Justin Sprunger. I particularly appreciated the historical background of the facts concerning the arrival of this revelation to us and also the events leading to what was called the Sherman storm which led to the schism between the Urantia Foundation and the Brotherhood. I will hereby focus mainly on the first point.
A) First meeting between Dr. William S. Sadler and the sleeping subject.
It was around 1908 in Lagrange Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, where the Sadlers were temporarily living in an apartment while waiting for their Chicago residence, which would become the headquarters of the foundation, to be built. The wife of the sleeping subject who lived in an apartment immediately below the Sadlers’, knocked on the Sadlers’ door to ask them to come to their apartment because her sleeping husband was acting strangely (the wife was apparently a client of Mrs. Sadler, also a doctor). They found the husband asleep, but who seemed to be breathing strangely. When he woke up on his own, he had no memory of what had happened to him. Dr. Sadler had been unable to wake him, so he persuaded him to come to his office to examine him, which he did, but nothing abnormal was found.
B) A few weeks later, the wife again informed Sadler that her husband was in this strange state again. This state occurred several more times. This couple decided to move to Chicago as well.
C) In Chicago, the Sadlers were brought in again for the same reasons and this time the subject spoke, but it was not his familiar voice. To the question: “how are you?” the subject replied: that he was a student visiting on an observation mission from another planet.
D) Life continued between 1911 and the early 1920s and the subject seemed to have no interest in what was happening to him. In the meantime, Dr. Sadler had formed a forum to review the interview process between himself and the subject. In 1924, Dr. Sadler, during one of these meetings, challenged this so-called student and asked him this question: “How can you prove what you say?” He replied: “How could he prove that he was not?” and he went on to say: “I have just been given permission to answer 46 of your 52 questions which you have prepared and kept in mind” (Dr. Sadler was known to have an excellent memory). Sadler’s wife Lena mentioned to her husband that he had no such questions. Dr. Sadler was forced to admit that he had indeed prepared 52 questions. This personality then answered the 46 questions as promised, but added this comment: “If you only knew with whom you were in contact you would not ask me such trivial questions. On the contrary, you would rather ask me questions of supreme value to the human race.”
It is important to point out here that in addition to the forum, there was a contact committee of 4 to 5 people who were in contact with the subject and of which the Sadler couple and the Kellogg couple were notably members.
E) Dr. Sadler brought this harsh remark made by the personality to the attention of the forum and suggested that much more substantial questions be formulated. Also in 1924, the result was a formidable list of questions to be put to the celestial being, and these were held in reserve for the next meeting.
F) At 6 o’clock one morning the telephone rang at the Sadlers’ house: the sleeping subject’s wife said that her husband was still in that state, but something special had happened, and that they should come. They went there and discovered the sleeping subject and on a table a voluminous manuscript of 500 pages. The sleeping subject after waking up was questioned and had no knowledge of what had happened: this manuscript had simply materialized. Graphologists were called in and they declared that it was not the sleeping subject’s handwriting.
G) On orders from the midwayers, the manuscript was typed, placed in a safe and when opened, it was dematerialized. At a meeting on January 18, 1925, the typewritten manuscript was presented to the forum. Dr. Sadler read a pamphlet and the forum was asked to submit questions in writing. It was at this point that the forum became official and members were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. However, only members of the contact committee knew the sleeping person.
H) This process of new questions continued as such until 1929. Basically, the same process as for the large manuscript was imposed: typing the responses received to the forum questions in handwritten form, placing them in the safe and dematerializing them when the safe was reopened, submitting this new material to the forum, and the cycle continued.
This destruction of the materialized handwritten messages received is explained by the fact that the secondary mediators did not want us to consider the manuscripts as possible relics which could have been unduly venerated later. This process which lasted until 1929 succeeded in leading to the production of 57 fascicles totaling 1700 typewritten pages.
I) This process continued further with an additional in-depth revision starting in 1929, to finally print the book as we know it today in 1955 with its introduction, its fourth part: the life of Jesus (thanks to a request from the Midwayers), its 2097 pages and its 196 fascicles. But the war of 1939-45 greatly delayed its publication. Note that this fourth part was written entirely by midwayers without intervention by members of the Forum. This part of the book was materialized entirely in manuscript form. Once again, it was typed, the manuscript was put in the safe and when it was opened again it had been dematerialized.
J) I would like to draw attention to point I described above, that on May 31, 1942, the last meeting of the forum in its primary role was finished because the revelation was completed. This forum was informed of this and became a study group. It had also been informed some time before that a trust would be created to ensure the benefit of the revelation and its protection. It was this last element that provoked among some, including the Sherman couple, a questioning relating to the fact that the group had to be informed about this trust in order to possibly give their comments and suggestions. It was in this context that Caligastia used this couple to create chaos and attempt to considerably harm the revelations. Fortunately, the revelation was not affected, but there was the split that we know between the Urantia Foundation and the Brotherhood which still persists today. There does not seem to be any difference in content between the two however: the two coexist in parallel.
K) An interesting fact to note: immediately after publication in 1955, the Contact Committee received this message from the midwayers: “You are now on your own’”. These communications have since ceased.
Now a few words about the authors:
- Larry Mullins served the Urantia movement as president in Oklahoma. He also served the Brotherhood as General Councilor for 8 years. He is a renowned speaker and author of numerous books. He firmly believes that the Urantia revelations were made possible by a team dedicated to the truth.
- Dr. Meredith Justin Sprunger had a distinguished career as a college president, professor, therapist, and religious minister. He was head of the psychology department at the Indiana Institute of Technology. He was a close colleague of Dr. Sadler. He served in multiple capacities in Urantia Brotherhood. He is the author of numerous books on psychology and spirituality. He founded The Spiritual Fellowship Organization in Fort Wayne.
