THE FIFTH EPOCHAL REVELATION
Origin of the Urantia PapersThe Urantia Papers, which comprise the Fifth Epochal Revelation, were preceded by four previous epochal revelations:
[1] Caligastia [the Planetary Prince, invisible to mortals] and his Staff of One Hundred [visible to mortals]. They arrived about 500,000 years go.
[2] Adam and Eve, who arrived about 38,000 years ago.
[3] Melchizedek, the Sage of Salem, who arrived about 4,000 years ago.
[4] Jesus of Nazareth who lived on our planet about 2,000 years ago in fulfillment of the requirements of his seventh and final bestowal mission.The process of producing the Urantia Papers was not an overnight event. Documentation and testimony of Forum members [mortals] indicate that the actual Revelation process took place continuously from January 18, 1925 until May 31, 1942, when the text was frozen by the Revelators [celestial beings]. The Forum was told at that time that no additional questions would be entertained. The Revelation was complete.
The book A History of The Urantia Papers by Larry Mullins and Dr. Meredith Sprunger describes in detail the long process that resulted in the Fifth Epochal Revelation.
To read their book online. Click here.
The following information is taken from the Epilogue of their book.
The authors of the Urantia Papers were not visible to the group of people in Chicago who worked with the celestial beings for many years to produce the Papers. Here we promptly run head on into a problem: Can we prove that the beings were who they said they were? No. That seems to present at least three options for a potential reader of The Urantia Book: He can read the book and choose to believe its teachings; he can reject it altogether; he can read it, find the papers interesting, but have no desire for prolonged study of them.
There are numerous sources which document in considerable detail the method used by the Revelators [celestial beings] and the mortals to produce the Papers and put them into the English language. [See Sources at end of this paper for a list of four of these documents.]
Although Larry Mullins and Dr. Meredith Sprunger did not participate in the process of producing the Urantia Papers, they wrote the marvelous book A History of The Urantia Papers. Their book provides a comprehensive account of the history of the Urantia Papers. [See Sources, Item 4] Therefore, some biographical information about them is included.
The celestial Revelators made many comments describing the difficulties involved in presenting enlarged concepts and advanced truth to mortals when they are restricted both to [1] the use of a circumscribed language of the realm and [2] the information they are permitted to reveal.
The following references are from The Urantia Book, published by Uversa Press, Second printing, Indexed version, 2005:
Foreword: Page 1, Paragraphs 1-4 ~ Foreword: Acknowledgment, Page 14: Paragraphs 10-12 ~ 1:7:9 = Paper 1, Section 7, Paragraph 9 ~ 2:0:3 ~ 19:1:4-12 ~ 77:8:8,10,13 ~ 92:4:9 ~ 101:4:1-5 ~ 101:5 ~ 110:5:7 ~ 114:7:6 ~ 121:8:12-14 [Sources, Item 2]Hundreds of persons worked with the Celestial Revelators over a period of several decades to bring the Urantia Papers to the mortals of earth. However, in this paper only two persons will be considered: the Contact Personality and Dr. William S. Sadler, Sr.
The celestial author of Paper 114, the Chief of Seraphim stationed on Urantia [earth], tells us that the [mortal] Contact Personality was a member of The Reserve Corps of Destiny.
The reserve corps of destiny consists of living men and women who have been admitted to the special service of the superhuman administration of world affairs. This corps is made up of the men and women of each generation who are chosen by the spirit directors of the realm to assist in the conduct of the ministry of mercy and wisdom to the children of time on the evolutionary worlds.
It is the general practice in the conduct of the affairs of the ascension plans to begin this liaison utilization of mortal will creatures immediately they are competent and trustworthy to assume such responsibilities. Accordingly, as soon as men and women appear on the stage of temporal action with sufficient mental capacity, adequate moral status, and requisite spirituality, they are quickly assigned to the appropriate celestial group of planetary personalities as human liaisons, mortal assistants.
When human beings are chosen as protectors of planetary destiny, when they become pivotal individuals in the plans which the world administrators are prosecuting, at that time the planetary chief of seraphim confirms their temporal attachment to the seraphic corps and appoints personal destiny guardians to serve with these mortal reservists.
All reservists have self-conscious Adjusters [Indwelling Spirits sent by God], and most of them [the mortals] function in the higher cosmic circles of intellectual achievement and spiritual attainment.Mortals of the realm are chosen for service in the reserve corps of destiny on the inhabited worlds because of:
[1] Special capacity for being secretly rehearsed for possible emergency missions in the conduct of various activities of world affairs.
[2] Wholehearted dedication to some special social, economic, political, spiritual, or other cause, coupled with willingness to serve without human recognition and rewards.
[3] The possession of a Thought Adjuster of extraordinary versatility and probable pre-Urantia [earth] experience in coping with planetary difficulties and contending with impending world emergency situations.Mortal members of this reserve corps have been rehearsed for numerous crucial positions on earth and are held in readiness to act in possible planetary emergencies. In the mid-1930s when Paper 114 was presented there were about one thousand persons in the reserve corps. They are trained and rehearsed in the deep mind by the combined technique of Thought Adjuster and seraphic guardian ministry.
Some midwayers [an order of celestial beings] are able to attain varying degrees of contact with the Thought Adjusters of certain favorably constituted mortals through the skillful penetration of the minds of the mortals. [And it was by just such a fortuitous combination of cosmic adjustments that these revelations were materialized in the English language on Urantia (earth).] A member of the reserve corps possesses an insight of cosmic citizenship that far transcends the sphere of his terrestrial abode.
[See Paper 114 Section 7 of The Urantia Book for additional information about the Reserve Corps of Destiny.]All accounts indicate that the [mortal] Contact Personality was an ordinary person who was somehow involved with the materialization of the Urantia Papers. We know only that he was not a so-called medium, and although the entire text of the Urantia Papers was originally in written form, we can reasonably declare that he was not the author nor did he "channel" or "automatic-write" the text of the Urantia Papers. The Urantia Papers tell us that a part of God [a Thought Adjuster] indwells each normal and morally conscious mortal, and this Divine Fragment somehow participated in the materialization of the Papers, but the mind of the human sleeping Contact Personality was not used. Dr. William S. Sadler, Sr. [1875 - 1969] emphatically and repeatedly stated that no known psychic phenomena were associated with the materialization of the Urantia Papers. [Item 4, Introduction]
Dr. Sadler, a key individual connected with the materialization of the Urantia Papers, and individuals that he consulted agreed that the phenomena connected with the Contact Personality could not be classified as one of various types of psychic phenomena such as automatic writing, telepathy, clairvoyance, trances, spirit mediumship, channeling, or split personality. For eighteen years he diligently attempted to discover the psychic origin of the messages that resulted in the Urantia Papers. He could never prove that the messages had their origin in the mind of the Contact Personality. [Sources, Items 2 and 3]
Dr. Sadler, a physician, surgeon, psychiatrist, and professor, was a nationally prominent psychiatrist and the author of 42 books. He is sometimes referred to as the father of American psychiatry.
He had a well-deserved reputation as a debunker of psychic phenomena. In his book, The Mind at Mischief, he refers to those who engage in such esoteric phenomena as generally fraudulent mediums or self-deceived psychics. Bill Sadler, Jr., stated that one of his father's hobbies was spook-hunting. He delighted in exposing mediums. (Apparently, Dad did not suffer fools gladly.) [Sources, Items 1 and 3]The sleeping subject [Contact Personality] has never been, and will probably never be, identified for the following reasons:
1. The main reason for not revealing the identity of the Contact Personality is that the celestial revelators do not want any human being by any name ever to be associated with The Urantia Book. They want this revelation to stand on its own declarations and teachings. They are determined that future generations shall have the book wholly free of all mortal connections. They do not want a mortal by the name of St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Luther . . . to ever be connected with the book.
2. There is much about the appearance of the Urantia Papers which no human being can fully understand. No one really knows just how this phenomenon was executed. There are numerous missing links in the story of how this revelation came to appear in the English language. If anyone should tell all he really knows about this technique and the methods employed in getting this revelation, such a narration would satisfy no one because there are too many missing links. [Sources, Items 2 and 4:Chapter 2]
The people involved over a period of many years in producing the Urantia Papers were neither psychics nor dilettantes: they were people from all walks of life, including professionals such as doctors, lawyers, dentists, ministers and teachers, as well as housewives, secretaries, farmers, and laborers. [Sources, Item 4, Chapter 2]
[There are currently thousands of persons around the world who diligently study and believe the teachings of The Urantia Book. They, too, are a very diverse group.]
Statements by Larry Mullins
[Sources, Item 4, Introduction][A] I have spent more than thirty years studying the Urantia Papers. I have had dozens of discussions with many people who had personal knowledge about the events that culminated in the materialization of the Papers. As a result, I am utterly convinced that, circa 1906 - 1955, non-material beings of super-human intelligence and maturity interfaced regularly with a group of (eventually) six mortals for the purpose of providing a religious revelation of epochal significance.
[B] I would not attempt the writing of this history without the help of Dr. Meredith Justin Sprunger. He is an ordained minister with an educational background in philosophy and theology, a social scientist with a doctorate in psychology, and has had a distinguished career as a college professor and administrator. He has also had an extensive writing career, and is currently [August 2005] the editor of The Spiritual Fellowship Journal. Dr. Sprunger was acquainted with three of the six individuals who made up the team (known as the Contact Commission) that interfaced with the celestial Revelators.
[C] When I met Dr. Sprunger in the mid-1970s, I had many questions about the origin of the Urantia Papers. Information was extremely difficult to come by in those days. I knew that he had written several papers on the origin, content and the significance of the Urantia Papers, and had authored the only "official" material that was published by Urantia Foundation (one of the publishers of The Urantia Book) on the origin of the Revelation. I was certain that Dr. Sprunger knew more than he was allowed to present in his official pamphlets. To my surprise, I found him to be open and candid about what he knew. Unlike most individuals in the "inner circles," his explanations were clear and refreshing. He supplied me (as he has many seekers) with his own writings about the Papers, and also prudently disclosed many interesting things Dr. Sadler had told him. My apprehensions were soon dispelled, and I followed Dr. Sprunger's advice and continued to evaluate the Urantia Papers on the basis of their content. Over the years I have become completely convinced that the Urantia Papers are exactly what they purport to be: a Revelation of epochal significance.
From the dust jacket of the book A History of The Urantia Papers by Larry Mullins with Dr. Meredith Justin Sprunger:
Dr. Meredith Justin Sprunger has had a remarkable career as a college president, professor, and executive administrator, a licensed psychologist and therapist, and an ordained minister. He has served congregations in the Midwest and taught at Elmherst College and the Indiana Institute of Technology, functioning as the head of the Department of Psychology, Chairman of the Division of Liberal Arts, and as President. He is the only living colleague of Dr. William S. Sadler, a prominent Chicago psychiatrist and debunker of psychic phenomena. Dr. Sprunger is a devoted Urantian, serving in numerous capacities including President of Urantia Brotherhood. He is author of many secondary works, including his book Spiritual Psychology (Jemenon, 1988). Dr. Sprunger is probably the most reliable source of first-hand information about the intriguing origin and history of the Urantia Papers. He is founder and executive editor of The Spiritual Fellowship Journal and lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana with his wife, Irene.
About Larry Mullins:
Larry Mullins was handed a 1955 first printing of The Urantia Book in 1968 by an advertising colleague, Clyde Bedell. Bedell was a member of the original Forum that helped publish the Urantia Papers as a book. Larry is author of Jesus: God and Man (1976), the first derivative work to be accepted for publication by Urantia Foundation. He has served the Urantia movement as President of the First Urantia Society of Oklahoma, and eight years as a General Councilor for Urantia Brotherhood. He is a noted public speaker and the author of several books on the Self-Actualization process, including Immature People with Power: How to Handle Them, and most recently: Get Real. In reference to writing this book, Larry believes A History of the Urantia Papers is the achievement of a team of dedicated Urantians who agreed to follow truth wherever it led. He adds that he is fortunate that his wife, Joan Batson Mullins, so enthusiastically contributed to this project.
Joan and Larry live in Boulder, Colorado with Larry's youngest daughter, Michelle. [Michelle is a devoted student of the Urantia Papers.] Larry is CEO of UltraSales, Inc., a nationally syndicated advertising and marketing business.
The Urantia Book is one of the most promising sources of creative thought in philosophy, religion, and culture in our contemporary world. It has extremely broad ramifications. The celestial authors' overarching grasp of the dynamics of civilization and culture shed wisdom in almost every area of human endeavor. Although we are confident the church will one day view The Urantia Book as an authentic and enlarged source of spiritual truth, it will only gain such recognition through critical evaluation by laypersons, ministers, and theologians. [Sources, Item 3]The events associated with the origin of The Urantia Book have nothing to do with its verification of truth or spiritual quality. This the reader must judge by its contents and the spiritual fruit it produces. The message of The Urantia Book has amazing self-authentication and historical-philosophical consistency. But, in the final analysis, the indwelling spirit of God is the ultimate reality which must evaluate its message. [Sources, Item 2]
A person who is truly interested in understanding the mechanics used in the materialization of the Urantia Papers must wait until the day he can view the documentary after he is resurrected in heaven [Mansion World Number One].
Note: Most of the statements in this paper were quoted verbatim from the source.
SOURCES:
Much information of a detailed nature is available which presents the story of the origin of the Urantia Papers. Following are four sources:[Item 1] How The Urantia Book Came Into Existence. This is a tape recorded talk by William S. Sadler, Jr., on February 18, 1962.
[Item 2] The Meredith J. Sprunger Archive, The Origin of The Urantia Book, April 1979. Revised December 1997.
[Item 3] The Meredith J. Sprunger Archive, The Historicity of The Urantia Book, January 21, 1986. Revised January 21, 1998.
To read Items 1, 2, and 3 online. Click here.[Item 4] A History of The Urantia Papers by Larry Mullins with Dr. Meredith Justin Sprunger. Published August 21, 2000. This book contains ten chapters plus an Introduction, an Epilogue, and A Personal Note To Our Spanish-Speaking Brothers and Sisters. It provides a wealth of detailed information describing the origin of the Urantia Papers.
To read their book online. Click here.The Urantia Book, published by Uversa Press.
To read The Urantia Book online go to the website of:
The Urantia Book Fellowship. Click here.
OR the website of
The Urantia Revelation. Click here.Send email to Urantia Book Fellowship. Click here.
Revised November 18 2006
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