© 2020 Vanderlei Martinianos
© 2020 Urantia Foundation
By Vanderlei Martinianos, Sâo Paulo, Brazil
Editor’s Note: Tamara Strumfeld of Urantia Foundation sent Vanderlei some books to distribute in Brazil, and asked him to tell us about what he did with them. The result is this story.
Let me introduce myself: My name is Vanderlei Martinianos (you can call me Van). I’m a Brazilian, born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and currently living in Sâo Paulo. Having lived, studied, and worked abroad in countries like France, the United States, Spain, the UK, Canada, and Portugal, I have been having great experiences sharing The Urantia Book itself—or its message—wherever I go, enjoying giving others access to this golden and unique information.
I am a consultant, a public speaker about the future of education, and passionate about languages and new approaches on educational methodologies. My specialty is advanced technologies for education and strategic management, being quite active as a technological and educational futurist for many years, studying and researching the general implications of transhumanism and exponential or accelerating technologies in this complex society.
Transhumanism is a philosophical movement about how technologies will shape the future and about how artificial intelligence, computational knowledge, and biology are about to create a new paradigm in this world. Many prominent leaders in major international firms are interested in transhumanism. My involvement in these fields brings me into contact with many people who are business and thought leaders.
Those of us who are familiar with The Urantia Book find it a reliable source of information that guides us through a process of self-knowledge and to a deeper understanding of life’s purpose on this earth and in our universe. After reading this book and putting it into practice, we are supposed to be a better person, a more effective Christian (in my case), and much more humble about our role on this planet. It places us far beyond the level of knowledge of the average human being, and refines our spirituality to free us from the bonds of evolutionary religions.
Some of us may also feel an obligation to deliver this book to others who are hungry for new knowledge. So, I would like to tell the Urantia Book community about my sharing of the book with a number of leaders on the national or international level in fields such as religion, psychiatry, education, sports, and business, as well as some who are prominent in their local communities.
In 2013, while living in Europe, I came across The Urantia Book and joined a study group in Paris where I was living. After that, I took advantage of opportunities to travel, meet people, and if I judged it appropriate, offer them a copy of The Urantia Book.
Here is how I briefly describe the book to those who do not yet know of it: The Urantia Book is a collection of documents constituting what we call the fifth revelation on earth, the latest in a set of milestones in the history of humanity. This book tells us intriguing things about cosmology, the history of man, the history of earth, and a comprehensive story of the life of Jesus. This book came into existence through an unusual process, which began about one hundred years ago, involving a group of people in the United States. The content, originated by various superhuman beings, was based on questions from these early readers, and was tested and improved to make sure it was effective in answering their questions.
The impact on someone’s life of discovering this book, even a century after its origins, can be thrilling. People who are looking for answers in the journey of life which they were not able to find anywhere else are quite satisfied with The Urantia Book and the information they find therein. That is how it was for me.
I have introduced the book to people in many places I pass through in my travels. In Brazil alone, I have met and given the book to some quite interesting people, including:
- Ed René Kivitz: He is the leader of a spiritual project called IBAB (Igreja Batista da Água Branca) in São Paulo. Ed is today one of the main intellectuals and Christian philosophers that we have in Brazil. It was a big surprise to me that he, a prominent leader in his field, had never before heard of The Urantia Book.
- Brasilina Passarelli: She is the director of the School of the Future at the University of São Paulo (NACE-USP) and a senior academic who manages the Department of Communication and Arts at USP. An international-class academic, she is respected in Brazil and abroad. She could not resist telling me that she has a crush on The Urantia Book, which is always with her.
- Nadir Bosch: Until last year he was the honorary consul of France in Curitiba. He is a very spiritualized man who was extremely touched by the content of The Urantia Book. He was a renowned athlete in France and is currently a successful soccer talent agent in Brazil.
- Carlos Beutel: He is a Jewish man who, besides running a famous vegetarian restaurant in the heart of São Paulo, is a strong local leader who knows all the most influential businessmen in our town. Carlos asked me many questions about life, and now has the original source of deep knowledge, including an understanding of the origin of his people.
- Ken Winer: One of my best friends in Brazil, Ken was born in the United States and has lived in São Paulo for about 20 years, where he became a respected investor in hotels and real estate. Ken asked me many questions, and we have spent days discussing the mysteries and curiosities in The Urantia Book.
- Christophe van Hamme: He is a Frenchman who lives in both Paris and São Paulo. A brilliant mind, he travels the world working, buying properties, and managing international investment funds. I was surprised to realize that Chris had never heard about The Urantia Book since he was already so aligned with its content.
- Bishop Renato Cardoso and his wife Christiane Cardoso: They are famous TV hosts who, among other things, are active in couples counseling and marriage therapy. They have a weekly program that is seen on Brazilian television. She has also worked on biblical soap operas. Christiane now has a reliable source of information for effective storytelling about Jesus and other characters mentioned in The Urantia Book. This couple also are leaders in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD) in Brazil.
Now that I have had a number of experiences of sharing The Urantia Book such as I describe above, I humbly hope that I may have contributed to the spread of its teachings to more leaders, in Brazil and throughout the world, and that this process may contribute to something more: breaking the paradigm of our planet’s troubled history and setting it on the right path.
If any of you would like to reach out, please email me at martinianos2020@gmail.com.