Brigham Young and Other Inhabited Planets

By Lynn E. Rhoderick

In 1963 I began my sojourn as a Mormon convert. My LDS experiences lasted until my excommunication almost two decades later. During those years I submerged myself in the study of Mormon history and theology while serving as a Branch President and a High Councilman. It was my disillusionment with the revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants that led to my defection from the Mormon faith.
 
My most satisfying study was the life of Brigham Young. Without doubt he was the George Washington of Mormonism. Ironically, there are no revelations attributed to Brigham Young except Section 136. All of his speeches and sermons are recorded in his Discourses. In 1926 selected excerpts from his sayings were compiled by John A. Widtsoe. A second edition was-published in 1941. It has been published numerous times in the decades since.
 
An example of Brigham Young's profound thinking is the following excerpt from volume seven, page 285: "Here let me state to all philosophers of every class upon the earth, when you tell me that Father Adam was made as we make adobes from the earth, you tell me what I deem an idle tale. When you tell me that the beasts of the field were produced in that manner, you are speaking idle words devoid of meaning. There is no such thing in all the eternities where the Gods dwell. Mankind are here because they are offspring of parents who were first brought here from another planet, and power was given them to propagate their species, and they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth ... We all belong to the races which sprung from Father Adam and Mother Eve; and every son and daughter of that God we serve, who organized this earth and millions of others, and who holds them in existence by law."
 
In 1976 I was introduced to a unique book claiming to have an origin no less spectacular than The Book of Mormon. Angels, likewise, played a role in the birth of The Urantia Book published in 1955. Since I had abandoned my Baptist faith, that steadfastly holds to the belief that all revelation outside the Bible is Satanical, for a Mormon faith that believes in continuous revelation, how could I refuse to examine the divine claims of this book? My dilemma was that Mormons believe new revelation must come from their prophets in Salt Lake City. In this matter my wife and Mormon friends were no more open minded than Baptists. I'd had the courage to make an honest study of Mormon beliefs, why couldn't they be equally reciprocal?
 
The Urantia Book has four parts containing more than 2000 pages. The first two parts explain the organization and administration of the entire cosmos. Teachings from these sections confirm Brigham Young's contention that Adam and Eve were brought here from another planet and that there are millions of other inhabited planets. Part three relates the history of our planet known to the authors as Urantia. Part four embodies the last seven hundred pages of the book and is entitled "The Life and Teachings of Jesus." Its author claims to be the Secondary Midwayer who was assigned to the watch-care of the Apostle Andrew. Midwayers are divine personages who were created to serve as messengers between angels and humans in special circumstances. Why shouldn't any Christian, of whatever denomination, want to know what these pages say about Jesus?
 
In 1982, even though I'd been excommunicated, I paid for my youngest son to serve a church mission in Japan. In his absence I decided to attempt a reconciliation with the church. I wanted some one in a high place of authority to converse with me concerning the contents of the Urantia papers. In response to my request I received a letter from the office of President Ezra Taft Benson. The letter stated that since the church takes "no position on the authorship or authenticity of the Urantia papers," any meeting with me would be unproductive. Were the General Authorities afraid to take a stand for or against the claims being made by the papers? Yes, for if they had done so, they would have contradicted their own scriptures
 
In the twenty ninth chapter of Third Nephi the following is written: "And if ye had all the scriptures which give an account of all the marvelous works of Christ, know that these things must surely come. And woe be unto him that will not hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also to them whom he hath chosen, and sent among them; for whoso receiveth not the words of Jesus and the words of those whom he hath sent receiveth not him; and therefore, he will not receive them at the last day; And it would be better for them if they had not been born"
 
My excommunication trial was held in Gallup, New Mexico on my oldest daughter's thirteenth birthday-November 6, 1980~Several weeks before my trial I'd been interviewed-by a local official in my home ward of Grants, New Mexico. He'd been assigned to make a list of the charges of apostasy against me. The two most serious were that I believed Joseph Smith had become a "fallen prophet," and that I believed The Urantia Book to be a divine book having higher authority than the Bible and all Mormon scriptures. I pled guilty to both charges.
 
After having received the church's official position concerning the Urantia papers, I saw no justification for my wife to ban the book from our home. In 1987 my wife of thirty-one years decided it was "God's will" she divorce me. I hold no ill will against her for shortly after our divorce a beautiful and loving lady became my second wife. We accept our differences and allow one another to be ourselves.
 
Mormons, as do other Christian faiths, try to justify their theological dogmas by using Biblical scriptures as proof. They use the words of Jesus, "Other sheep I have that are not of this fold," to support the Book of Mormon. The Urantia papers explain this statement by Jesus as referring to other inhabited planets in the Local Universe of Nebadon which he was assigned to organize and administer. Jesus, Michael of Nebadon, is but one of 700,000 Paradise Creator Sons given such an assignment in God's kingdom.
 
Through study and prayer, I have come to believe that the "White Stone" Jesus spoke of in The Book of Revelation, chapter two, verse seventeen is the Urantia Book. The new name of Jesus spoken of in Revelation, chapter three, verse twelve is Michael of Nebadon.
 
In chapter ten of Moroni it is written "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true: and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."
 
Although expressed in different terminology, the Urantia papers make the same promise:
"The keys of the kingdom of heaven are: sincerity, more sincerity, and more sincerity." For more information, e-mail, or visit http://urantiapapers.freeurantia.org/