© 2004 Olga López
© 2004 Urantia Association of Spain
Juan José Benítez, a renowned Spanish UFO researcher, has expounded in many of his books on insights drawn from The Urantia Book. Some claim that his work clearly demonstrates a before and after, taking the book as a turning point.
Of all the books inspired by The Urantia Book, perhaps the most influential and talked about was Trojan Horse. Following its publication, many of its readers began to question the veracity of the events described and learned of The Urantia Book’s existence.
JJ Benítez has always maintained that he felt deeply attracted to the figure of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, prior to “The Trojan Horse,” specifically in 1979, he published “The Envoy,” which narrates in great detail the ordeal that Michael of Nebadon endured in his final days on Urantia. At the beginning of the book, the author mentions a “mental projection” technique used to understand exactly what happened in those days. There are no major contradictions between the facts as presented in “The Envoy” and the facts narrated in the documents corresponding to Part IV of The Urantia Book.
Here is the list of novels, in chronological order, in which the more or less direct influence of The Urantia Book appears, along with a brief review of each of them, in which we will indicate the parts of The Urantia Book in which they are inspired:
It is a book that consists of a set of short stories, fables, dreams, in short, in which appear knowledge and events that are collected in The Urantia Book, among them the following: the organization of the Creation (the 7 Superuniverses, the Central Universe, the Eternal Isle of Paradise), the Lucifer rebellion and the subsequent quarantine, the true name of our planet (in this book it is called “Urania” instead of “Urantia”), the levels of all that exists (material, “morontial”, spiritual), the Thought Adjusters, etc.
This is not actually a book but a saga that, as of today (August 2004), consists of six books, the last published in 1999. The longest gap between the publication of one part and the next occurred between the fourth and fifth parts, during which 7 years passed. These books narrate the life of
Jesus of Nazareth is described in great detail, sometimes giving a very detailed and meticulous description of what life was like in Palestine at that time. The events described are collected in Part IV of The Urantia Book. The period of Jesus of Nazareth’s public life has yet to be reflected in the “Trojan Horses” series.
As its title suggests, this book deals with the Lucifer rebellion, how and why it began, its repercussions for humanity, and the current status of the rebellion. Before narrating these events, however, a brief overview of the history of Urantia and our place in the administrative organization of the Master Universe is provided. Interestingly, in this book, the author refers to our planet as “Iurancha,” a transliteration of the English pronunciation of the name “Urantia.”
This is, curiously, the only book based on The Urantia Book that expressly acknowledges Urantia Foundation for granting access to this knowledge. This book is dominated by the contents of the first two parts of The Urantia Book; that is, it primarily deals with the Paradise Trinity, the Central and Superuniverses, our local universe, and its ruler, Michael of Nebadon, all narrated in the form of a supposed revelation to the apostle John Zebedee.
Based on a series of experiences lived throughout his travels as a researcher of the UFO phenomenon around the world, JJ Benítez makes a series of reflections directed to his daughter Tirma in which he captures an attitude towards life directly inspired by The Urantia Book.
This book is structured as a series of dialogues with “God” during his journey across the American continent while promoting “Trojan Horse 5.” The conversations always begin when the author’s plane reaches exactly 33,000 feet above sea level. Here again, concepts from The Urantia Book that appear in his other books appear: the superuniverses, the Lucifer rebellion and the ensuing quarantine, life on the mansion worlds, along with the philosophy of life of loving one’s neighbor and doing the Father’s will. As a curious aside, Benítez alludes to the Moon as a star inhabited by non-breathing beings, which would correspond to “the sphere very close to Urantia” to which the revelators refer when they speak of this type of mortals.
Following his father’s death, Benítez published this book, which discusses the mansion worlds and what happens after physical death, which is none other than the continuation of the journey toward Paradise, as explained in The Urantia Book. Curiously, Benítez calls MAT-1 the type of morontial matter that forms the body we have in the first mansion world; MAT-2 the material corresponding to the second world; and so on up to MAT-7.
This book is structured in questions and answers. Questions that readers have sent to Benítez over the years about God, and the answers he offers, clearly based on the teachings of The Book. He talks about the “divine spark” that dwells within us, about the religion of personal experience, about a God-Father far removed from the God of monotheistic religions, about our relationship with God in short. As a novelty, and according to him a “working hypothesis,” he alludes to something that the Book doesn’t consider: that, at “moment zero,” before coming to Earth, we choose the life we will lead.
After a life-or-death heart operation, Benítez, just as he did in “Al fin libre,” once again confronts the theme of death, but this time firsthand. In this book, he explores what it means to “live,” in the fullest sense of the term. He alludes to a “revelation” that appeared in his life, which taught him, among other things, that our world is an experimental one. He repeatedly insists in his book that to live fully, one must savor the small, great things (LGs); there, and not in grand ideals and grand projects, is where the life we are meant to live flows.
This concludes our review of the relationship between The Urantia Book and J.J. Benítez’s books. This relationship won’t end here, but will continue in the future. Not only because the “Trojan Horse” saga isn’t complete, but because Benítez will almost certainly continue to include content from The Book in his novels.