© 1998 Larry Mullins
© 1998 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
Although relatively few mortals know about it to this day, one of the most astounding events ever to take place on Urantia was set into motion nearly a century ago. Circa 1910 , celestial beings began to interface with a small group of mortals in Chicago. The mission of these celestial beings was to materialize and to place into the evolutionary mainstream, by means of this small group of mortals, an epochal revelation of supreme spiritual significance. The process that was used has never been fully known, and certainly not understood.
Generally, however, we can surmise there was a long period of preparation and adjustment for those involved. Then there began a series of supernatural materializations of written matter authored by celestial beings. The mortals swore a “sacred oath” to copy (as precisely as was humanly possible) the materialized manuscript — which had been authorized, authored, translated, and arranged by celestial beings. Once an acceptable level of human duplication of the materialized manuscript had been achieved, the original manuscript was destroyed.
The entire unprecedented, astonishing encounter took nearly five decades, culminating in the publication of the Urantia Papers as The Urantia Book in 1955. Then, it is said that the mortal beings were told: “You are now on your own.” Abruptly, as unceremoniously as it had began, all traces of the celestial intrusion vanished, and there was only silence.
Upon this staggering, overwhelming premise, the Urantia Movement was founded.
I doubt that many thinking persons who have not studied the Urantia Papers to some degree would accept so extravagant a premise on face value. Certainly most prudent people would, at best, reserve judgment. Dr. Meredith Sprunger has often told the story of his initial rejection of the Urantia Papers as a result of reading the list of celestial authors in the front. It was not until he elected to read Part IV: The Life and Teachings of Jesus that he changed his mind. Yet, Meredith has also told us that it was not until he read the entire contents of The Urantia Book that he began to perceive the actual scope and purpose of the Urantia Papers.
In a single prodigious stroke, the Urantia Papers placed the life and teachings of Jesus in a cosmological context that geometrically surpassed current theological thinking. Meredith was uniquely equipped emotionally, intellectually, and academically to grasp — at least to a remarkable degree — the scope of the Papers. He is an open-minded academic, with a balanced education and experience grounded in religion, philosophy and science. He could see the Urantia Papers constitute a religious book but not a religion any more than Jesus himself was a religion. Dr. Sprunger could see the Urantia Revelation as the wondrous coordinator-unifier of virtually all existing human knowledge with enlightened religious insight. This was a thrilling discovery, and one he was most anxious to share.
Dr. Sprunger enlisted several colleagues and began a systematic study of the Urantia Papers. These men went to Chicago in 1957 and met with Dr. William Sadler, who was the key human protagonist in bringing the Urantia Papers to publication. They became satisfied that The Urantia Book had been printed and was being distributed by sincere people who were not out to exploit it as an economic power base. There ensued a friendship between Dr. Sadler and Dr. Sprunger that was to last until the death of Dr. Sadler in 1969. For this reason, Dr. Sprunger has been perhaps the most reliable authority on the origin of the Urantia Papers and the inevitable apocrypha which surrounds it. Meredith became quite active in the Urantia Movement and served as President of the original Urantia Brotherhood. Yet the culture of the movement was often frustrating for Dr. Sprunger.
Meredith perceived that what he believed to be the enormous paradigm of the Urantia Papers was not readily grasped by many other Urantians. The Urantia Papers state on page 2063 that “The spiritual forward urge is the most powerful driving force present in this world; the truth-learning believer is the one progressive and aggressive soul on earth.” Attempts by Meredith to suggest outlets for spiritual worship and expression for Urantians were generally discouraged. Urantians were content to call themselves “readers,” and a fear of religious “churchification” permeated Urantia organizations and activities.
After years of fruitless efforts to encourage religious practices and outreach activities, Meredith reasoned that he could find more fertile ground in the Christian Churches for establishing an appropriate spiritual representation in the Urantia Movement. So reluctantly, in 1979, he left his office in the Urantia Brotherhood and began a quest to interface with his fellow ministers of many Christian faiths. Dr. Sprunger sought, by means of individual evangelistic efforts, to bring the Urantia Revelation into the religious mainstream. To this end he founded The Spiritual Fellowship Journal. The scholarship and quality of the Journal have been designed to attract serious scholars from the clergies of Christianity.
Meredith maintained a study group and sent out thousands of letters offering ministers a free copy of The Urantia Book for examination. Gradually, over many years of arduous effort, it became obvious that the paradigm leap from mainline Christianity to the cosmic profoundness of the Urantia Papers was too vast for most professional clergy.
If you are not a positive and missionary evangel of your religion, you are self-deceived in that what you call a religion is only a traditional belief or a mere system of intellectual philosophy. (UB 160:5.3)
However, the Journal continued, its intellectual standards undiminished, and it attracted ministers and Urantians. The numbers were not large, but there was a general shared-grasp among its readership of the need for a spirit of evangelism in the Urantia Movement. Indeed, it seemed inevitable that, one day, there would emanate a widespread urge toward religious-evangelism in the Urantia Movement. As Rodan commented in the Urantia Papers, “If something has become a religion in your experience, it is self-evident that you already have become an active evangel of that religion since you deem the supreme concept of your religion as being worthy of the worship of all mankind, all universe intelligences. If you are not a positive and missionary evangel of your religion, you are self-deceived in that what you call a religion is only a traditional belief or a mere system of intellectual philosophy. If your religion is a spiritual experience, your object of worship must be the universal spirit reality and ideal of all your spiritualized concepts.” [UB 160:5.3] Amodern-day philosopher, Mortimer Adler, has more recently observed: “ … while each of the world’s great religions claims truth for its factual or moral beliefs… only some religions undertake missionary activities and attempt to make converts, while others do nothing of the kind, and some even operate under the obligation not to proselytize or convert. If a religion claims truth for its beliefs, why does it not seek to universalize itself? Should not the truth its communicants espouse be shared as widely as possible?”[1]
Recently, the long awaited change began taking placenot in the established leadership, but among the rank and file of the Urantia Movement. There arose from several areas at once a desire among many Urantians to call themselves believers. Meredith was invited to address a group of Urantian “believers” at a worship service in Boulder, Colorado on November 16, 1997. The Urantians in Boulder had passed a unanimous “Believer’s Resolution,” and many wanted to craft a formal religious organization. On the day he spoke, Dr. Sprunger gave a ringing address that challenged these “believers” to achieve yet another level of commitment, that of Urantian Evangelism. At last, many ears were opening to hear the theme he had so long advocated. Meredith painted a vision of a world that desperately needs the enlarged reality paradigm of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. He called for a new Urantian Evangelism with a clarity and fire that few of us who were there will ever forget.
No longer could all Urantians be satisfied with reading the Papers and discussing them in private study groups. Not even believing the Urantia Papers was enough. Something new seemed to be in the air. More and more Urantians, from all over the country and beyond, seemed to hear the call to service and evangelism. Over forty years ago the Urantia Papers heralded a message: “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] After four decades of quivering, Urantians were called by Dr. Sprunger to take the plunge:
“After over forty years of preparing for the time when we will have an intentional outreach program, the world, generally, is oblivious to [The Urantia Book’s] existence. I think it is time to initiate a wise, but open, outreach ministry to the world. Obviously, it will not be easy. ‘The religion of the spirit means effort, struggle, conflict, faith, determination, love, loyalty and progress.’ [UB 155:5.11] I would remind you that virtually all the major spiritual advances in history were made by laypersons… We can transcend the cultocentric predicament through a courageous attempt to share these great truths with all of humankind.”
On that Sunday in Boulder many in the audience of Urantians were awakened by the “certain trumpet” that Meredith Sprunger was sounding. He continued:
“I recognize that such open ministry is not for timid souls… Spiritual pioneering is a rigorous and lonely path of service. Do not imagine that opposition and oppression are only obsessions of the past. New and enlarged presentations of truth have always been, and will always be, attacked by religious traditionalists and fundamentalists. Nevertheless, those who have the courage, guided by wisdom, to bring a knowledge of the Fifth Epochal Revelation to the individuals and the institutions of our world, are engaging in one of the most important ministries of our times. Such missionary evangels will open the door to a spiritual dynamic that will transform our planet in the next thousand years.”
It is now time to establish the first spiritual/evangelical medium for Urantians. To serve this purpose, The Spiritual Fellowship Journal will redirect its primary outreach from established Christian clergy toward the fledgling Urantian ministries. A team of Urantians has been selected from a wide geographic area to serve as adjunct editorial and resource consultants to augment outreach. We are pledged to maintain the quality content and format of the Journal. The new target of the Journal is to serve all Urantians. It will provide a spiritual network for those who desire to use the Urantia Papers as a resource for evangelism, creative service, teaching, writing and outreach. It will offer a platform for Urantian bselievers who want to share the greatest treasure ever offered to humankind through wise yet vigorous evangelical outreach, loving service, and by living the teachings of Jesus.
We should make it clear that the new adjunct team of editors and resource consultants of the Journal do not seek to define “religion” beyond that which our group wisdom tells us resonates with the teachings of the Urantia Papers. Within these broad parameters, we expect Urantian religious expression to take many wholesome forms as the Spirit of Truth leads the “children of light into new realms of spiritual reality and divine service.” Each Urantian’s “revelation of truth must be so enhanced by passing through [their] personal experience that new beauty and actual spiritual gains will be disclosed to all who behold [their] spiritual fruits and in consequence thereof are led to glorify the Father who is in heaven.” [UB 176:3.7] Thus, the Urantian Religion is the religion of the spirit, and as the Master so often declared, the religion of personal experience.
Personally, I am honored to take my place among those editors and resource consultants all over the country who will augment and assist in the publication of the “new” Spiritual Fellowship Journal. I presume to speak for us all in acknowledging that the evangelistic Urantian corps is small. We take heart in being reminded by Dr. Sprunger that the original evangelists were a handful of lay men and women, and they turned the Roman Empire upside down. The “empire” we modern Urantians confront is an invisible, crystallized edifice — a confused culture — that accommodates all forms of human fear, avoidance, lethargy, pride, and indifference. As the Master cautioned Peter and James long ago, we pray for wisdom to equal our zeal, and courage to atone for our ignorance.
Larry Mullins is a consultant in advertizing and marketing. He is an editorial consultant for the Journal and author of Immature People with Power and Jesus: God and Man. Larry will continue writing the “Creative Outreach” column for the Journal.
Truth in Religion, The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth by Mortimer J. Adler, MacMillan, 1990, page 79 . ↩︎