All Christians, as well as all mortals around the world, who strive daily to live according to the will of God, look forward to their resurrection in heaven. What kind of future awaits mortals who choose eternal life?
     Following is information regarding the educational program that surviving mortals from our planet will pursue.

     1. Planetary Mortals. Mortals are all animal-origin evolutionary beings of ascendant potential. In origin, nature, and destiny these various groups and types of human beings are not wholly unlike the Urantia [earth] peoples. The human races of each world receive the same ministry of the Sons of God and enjoy the presence of the ministering spirits of time. After natural death all types of ascenders fraternize as one morontia family on the mansion worlds [heaven]. [30:4:3]

     2. Sleeping Survivors. All mortals of survival status, in the custody of personal guardians of destiny, pass through the portals of natural death and, on the third period [day], personalize on the mansion worlds. Those accredited beings who have, for any reason, been unable to attain that level of intelligence mastery and endowment of spirituality which would entitle them to personal guardians, cannot thus immediately and directly go to the mansion worlds. Such surviving souls must rest in unconscious sleep until the judgment day of a new epoch, a new dispensation, the coming of a Son of God to call the rolls of the age and adjudicate the realm, and this is the general practice throughout all Nebadon [Our local universe]. It was said of Christ Michael [Jesus] that, when he ascended on high at the conclusion of his work on earth, "He led a great multitude of captives." And these captives were the sleeping survivors from the days of Adam to the day of the Master's resurrection on Urantia. [30:4:4]

     The passing of time is of no moment to sleeping mortals; they are wholly unconscious and oblivious to the length of their rest. On reassembly of personality at the end of an age, those who have slept five thousand years will react no differently than those who have rested five days. Aside from this time delay these survivors pass on through the ascension regime identically with those who avoid the longer or shorter sleep of death. [30:4:5]
     In Paper 114 Section 7 the author [the Chief of Seraphim stationed on earth] describes the mortals who are enrolled in The Reserve Corps of Destiny. It is my understanding that it is the mortals enrolled in this corps who will be resurrected in heaven on the third day following death. All other surviving mortals must rest in unconscious sleep until the next group resurrection. [114:7]
     How many persons are currently enrolled [November 2006] in The Reserve Corps of Destiny I do not know. Nor do I know how many of these persons are actively working with celestial beings in preparation for the soon forthcoming [visible] events of the End Times.
     During the mid-1930s there were about one thousand persons worldwide enrolled in this reserve corps. [114:7:10]

     3. Mansion World Students. All surviving mortals who reawaken on the mansion worlds belong to this class.
     The physical body of mortal flesh is not a part of the reassembly of the sleeping survivor; the physical body has returned to dust. The seraphim of assignment sponsors the new body, the morontia form, as the new life vehicle for the immortal soul and for the indwelling of the returned Adjuster [Indwelling Spirit]. The Adjuster is the custodian of the spirit transcript of the mind of the sleeping survivor. The assigned seraphim is the keeper of the surviving identity--the immortal soul--as far as it has evolved. And when these two, the Adjuster and the seraphim, reunite their personality trusts, the new individual constitutes the resurrection of the old personality, the survival of the evolving morontia identity of the soul. Such a reassociation of soul and Adjuster is quite properly called a resurrection, a reassembly of personality factors; but even this does not entirely explain the reappearance of the surviving personality. Though you will probably never understand the fact of such an inexplicable transaction, you will sometime experientially know the truth of it if you do not reject the plan of mortal survival. [30:4:8]

     The plan of initial mortal detention on seven worlds of progressive training is nearly universal in Orvonton [the name of our superuniverse]. In each local system of approximately one thousand inhabited planets there are seven mansion worlds, usually satellites or subsatellites of the system capital. [The name of our system is Satania. Jerusem is the capital of our local system.] They are the receiving worlds for the majority of ascending mortals. [30:4:9]
     Sometimes all training worlds of mortal residence are called universe "mansions," and it was to such spheres that Jesus alluded when he said: "In my Father's house are many mansions." From here on, within a given group of spheres like the mansion worlds, ascenders will progress individually from one sphere to another and from one phase of life to another, but they will always advance from one stage of universe study to another in class formation. [30:4:10] [John 14:2]

     4. Morontia Progressors. From the mansion worlds on up through the spheres of the system, constellation, and the local universe, mortals are classed as morontia progressors; they are traversing the transition spheres of mortal ascension. As the ascending mortals progress from the lower to the higher of the morontia worlds, they serve on countless assignments in association with their teachers and in company with their more advanced and senior brethren. [Most mortals from our planet will proceed through all seven mansion worlds from number one to number seven.] [30:4:11]
     Morontia progression pertains to continuing advancement of intellect, spirit, and personality form. Survivors are still three-natured beings. Throughout the entire morontia experience they are wards of the local universe. The regime of the superuniverse does not function until the spirit career begins. [40:4:12]
     Mortals acquire real spirit identity just before they leave the local universe headquarters [Salvington] for the receiving worlds of the minor sectors of the superuniverse. Passing from the final morontia stage to the first or lowest spirit status is but a slight transition. The mind, personality, and character are unchanged by such an advance; only does the form undergo modification. But the spirit form is just as real as the morontia body, and it is equally discernible. [30:4:13]

     Before departing from their native local universes for the superuniverse receiving worlds, the mortals of time are recipients of spirit confirmation from the Creator Son [Jesus] and the local universe Mother Spirit [Creative Spirit]. [Jesus and the Creative Spirit are our parents. We can be viewed as grandchildren of God the Father.] From this point on, the status of the ascending mortal is forever settled. Superuniverse wards have never been known to go astray. [30:4:14]

     5. Superuniverse Wards. All ascenders arriving on the training worlds of the superuniverses become the wards of the three Ancients of Days; they have traversed the morontia life of the local universe and are now accredited spirits. [Each of the seven superuniverses is ruled by three Ancients of Days.] As young spirits they begin the ascension of the superuniverse system of training and culture, extending from the receiving spheres of their minor sector in through the study worlds of the ten major sectors and on to the higher cultural spheres of the superuniverse headquarters [Uversa]. [30:4:15]
     There are three orders of student spirits in accordance with their sojourn upon the minor sector, major sectors, and the superuniverse headquarters worlds of spirit progression. As morontia ascenders studied and worked on the worlds of the local universe, so spirit ascenders continue to master new worlds while they practice at giving out to others that which they have imbibed at the experiential founts of wisdom. But going to school as a spirit being in the superuniverse career is very unlike anything that has ever entered the imaginative realms of the material mind of man. [30:4:16]

     Before leaving the superuniverse for Havona, these ascending spirits receive the same thorough course in superuniverse management that they received during their morontia experience in local universe supervision. Before spirit mortals reach Havona, their chief study, but not exclusive occupation, is the mastery of local and superuniverse administration. The reason for all of this experience is not now fully apparent, but no doubt such training is wise and necessary in view of their possible future destiny as members of the Corps of the Finality. [30:4:17]
     The superuniverse regime is not the same for all ascending mortals. They receive the same general education, but special groups and classes are carried through special courses of instruction and are put through specific courses of training. [30:4:18]

     6. *Havona Pilgrims. When spirit development is complete, even though not replete, then the surviving mortal prepares for the long flight to Havona, the haven of evolutionary spirits. On earth you were a creature of flesh and blood; through the local universe you were a morontia being; through the superuniverse you were an evolving spirit; with your arrival on the receiving worlds of Havona your spiritual education begins in reality and in earnest; your eventual appearance on Paradise will be as a perfected spirit. [30:4:19]

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     *Havona is far distant from the local universe of Nebadon. It is of enormous dimensions and almost unbelievable mass and consists of one billion spheres of unimagined beauty and superb grandeur, but the true magnitude of this vast creation is really beyond the understanding grasp of the human mind.  [14:0:1]
     There is a definite task to be achieved on each of the one billion worlds of Havona.   [14:5:1]
     Life on the divine worlds of the central universe is so rich and full, so complete and replete, that it wholly transcends the human concept of anything a created being could possibly experience.  [14:5:2]
     There is nothing in common between the billion worlds of Havona. Every one of these planets is an original, unique, and exclusive creation; each planet is a matchless, superb, and perfect production.  [14:5:6]
     Your astonishment will be inexpressible as you progress from planet to planet within each [of the seven] circuits. Each of these billion study worlds is a veritable university of surprises. Continuing astonishment, unending wonder, is the experience of those who traverse these circuits and tour these gigantic spheres. Monotony is not a part of the Havona career.  [14:5:9]
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     The journey from the superuniverse headquarters to the Havona receiving spheres is always made alone. From now on no more class or group instruction will be administered. You are through with the technical and administrative training of the evolutionary worlds of time and space. Now begins your personal education, your individual spiritual training. From first to last, throughout all Havona, the instruction is personal and threefold in nature: intellectual, spiritual, and experiential. [30:4:20]

     The first act of your Havona career will be to recognize and thank your transport seconaphim for the long and safe journey. Then you are presented to those beings who will sponsor your early Havona activities. Next you go to register your arrival and prepare your message of thanksgiving and adoration for dispatch to the Creator Son [Jesus] of your local universe, the universe Father who made possible your sonship career. This concludes the formalities of the Havona arrival; whereupon you are accorded a long period of leisure for free observation, and this affords opportunity for looking up your friends, fellows, and associates of the long ascension experience. You may also consult the broadcasts to ascertain who of your fellow pilgrims have departed for Havona since the time of your leaving Uversa. [30:4:21]
     The fact of your arrival on the receiving worlds of Havona will be duly transmitted to the headquarters of your local universe and personally conveyed to your seraphic guardian, wherever that seraphim may chance to be. [30:4:22]
     The ascendant mortals have been thoroughly trained in the affairs of the evolutionary worlds of space; now they begin their long and profitable contact with the created spheres of perfection. What a preparation for some future work is afforded by this combined, unique, and extraordinary experience! But I cannot tell you about Havona; you must see these worlds to appreciate their glory or to understand their grandeur. [30:4:23]
     Perhaps this would be a good time to quote Paul's statement in I Corinthians 2:9: But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

     7. Paradise Arrivals. On reaching Paradise with residential status, you begin the progressive course in divinity and absonity. Your residence on Paradise signifies that you have found God, and that you are to be mustered into the Mortal Corps of the Finality. Of all the creatures of the grand universe, only those who are Father fused are mustered into the Mortal Corps of the Finality. [Elijah is a Father-fused mortal as he fused with his Thought Adjuster while still in the flesh.  (2 Kings 2:11)  Most surviving mortals fuse with their Thought Adjuster after reaching the mansion worlds.] Only such individuals take the finaliter oath. Other beings of Paradise perfection or attainment may be temporarily attached to this finality corps, but they are not of eternal assignment to the unknown and unrevealed mission of this accumulating host of the evolutionary and perfected veterans of time and space. [30:4:24]

     Paradise arrivals are accorded a period of freedom, after which they begin their associations with the seven groups of the primary supernaphim. They are designated Paradise graduates when they have finished their course with the conductors of worship and then, as finaliters, are assigned on observational and co-operative service to the ends of the far-flung creation. As yet there seems to be no specific or settled employment for the Mortal Corps of Finaliters, though they serve in many capacities on worlds settled in light and life. [It will be many ages before the mortals on our planet achieve the requisite levels of intellectual and spiritual development that will usher in the stage of light and life.] [30:4:25]

     If there should be no future or unrevealed destiny for the Mortal Corps of the Finality, the present assignment of these ascendant beings would be altogether adequate and glorious. Their present destiny wholly justifies the universal plan of evolutionary ascent. But the future ages of the evolution of the spheres of outer space will undoubtedly further elaborate, and with more repleteness divinely illuminate, the wisdom and loving-kindness of the Gods in the execution of their divine plan of human survival and mortal ascension. [30:4:26]
     Is Paul saying in 1 Corinthians 15:42-54 that those who have "died in Christ" shall "in the twinkling of an eye" be raised incorruptible? It is evident from the foregoing information that billions of years will be required for surviving mortals to progress from our planet to Paradise. Thousands--perhaps millions--of years will be required for surviving mortals to become incorruptible. Resurrection in heaven does not transform mortals into perfect spirits.

     In 50 words or less, our activities during the next few billions of years can be summed up as follows:
     Evolutionary mortals are born on the planets of space, pass through the morontia worlds, ascend the spirit universes, traverse the billion Havona spheres, find God, attain Paradise, and are mustered into the primary Corps of the Finality, therein to await the next assignment of universe service.  [31:1013]

     The following information is taken from Paper 31: "The Corps of the Finality."
     The Corps of Mortal Finaliters represents the present known destination of the ascending Adjuster-fused mortals of time. [Elijah fused with his Thought Adjuster [Indwelling Spirit] during his lifetime in the flesh. He disappeared in "chariots of fire." (2 Kings 2:11)]  [31:0:1]
     We can immediately discern, in communicating with a finaliter, whether he is an ascendant mortal, Havona native, adopted seraphim, midway creature, or Material Son. [The midway creatures can be viewed as a type of angel. The Adams and Eves are Material Sons and Daughters. Question: Does this mean my Texas drawl follows me throughout eternity?]  [31:0:3]

     During the present universe age the finaliters return to serve in the universes of time. They are assigned to labor successively in the different superuniverses and never in their native superuniverses until after they have served in all the other six supercreations. Thus may they acquire the sevenfold concept of the Supreme Being.  [31:0:4]
     One or more companies [a company = one thousand finaliters] of the mortal finaliters are constantly in service on Urantia [earth]. There is no domain of universe service to which they are not assigned; they function universally and with alternating and equal periods of assigned duty and free service.  [31:0:5]
     We have no idea as to the nature of the future organization of this extraordinary group, but the finaliters are now wholly a self-governing body. They choose their own permanent, periodic, and assignment leaders and directors. No outside influence can ever be brought to bear upon their policies, and their oath of allegiance is only to the Paradise Trinity.  [31:0:6]

     The finaliters maintain their own headquarters on Paradise, in the superuniverses, in the local universes, and on all the divisional capitals. They are a separate order of evolutionary creation. We do not directly manage them or control them, and yet they are absolutely loyal and always co-operative with all our plans. They are indeed the accumulating tried and true souls of time and space--the evolutionary salt of the universe--and they are forever proof against evil and secure against sin.  [31:0:7]
     [You may be interested to read Paper 31: Section 3: Glorified Mortals.]

     Following is some information regarding our mortal education taken from Paper 48: "The Morontia Life."
     Mortals will be subject to many a disappointment in their age-long ascent to Paradise.
     But we can take comfort from Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

     There are billions upon billions of teachers in our local system: glorified cherubim and sanobim, and their numbers constantly increase. They are inherently sympathetic teachers of the ascending mortals and most efficiently conduct the programs of study on the mansion worlds. [48:5:3-5]

     In the schools of the morontia life [on the Mansion Worlds] these teachers engage in individual, group, class, and mass teaching. On the mansion worlds such schools are organized in three general groups of one hundred divisions each: the schools of thinking, the schools of feeling, and the schools of doing. When you reach the constellation, there are added the schools of ethics, the schools of administration, and the schools of social adjustment. On the universe headquarters worlds you will enter the schools of philosophy, divinity, and pure spirituality. [48:5:6]

     Those things which you might have learned on earth, but which you failed to learn, must be acquired under the tutelage of these faithful and patient teachers. There are no royal roads, short cuts, or easy paths to Paradise. Irrespective of the individual variations of the route, you master the lessons of one sphere before you proceed to another; at least this is true after you once leave the world of your nativity. [48:5:7]

     One of the purposes of the morontia career is to effect the permanent eradication from the mortal survivors of such animal vestigial traits as procrastination, equivocation, insincerity, problem avoidance, unfairness, and ease seeking. The mansonia life early teaches the young morontia pupils that postponement is in no sense avoidance. After the life in the flesh, time is no longer available as a technique of dodging situations or of circumventing disagreeable obligations. [48:5:8]

     You should understand that the morontia life of an ascending mortal is really initiated on the inhabited worlds at the conception of the soul, at that moment when the creature mind of moral status is indwelt by the spirit Adjuster. And from that moment on, the mortal soul has potential capacity for supermortal function, even for recognition on the higher levels of the morontia spheres of the local universe. [48:6:2]

     On the mansion worlds the seraphic evangels will help you to choose wisely among the optional routes to Edentia, Salvington, Uversa, and Havona. If there are a number of equally advisable routes, these will be put before you, and you will be permitted to select the one that most appeals to you. These seraphim then make recommendations to the four and twenty advisers on Jerusem concerning that course which would be most advantageous for each ascending soul. [48:6:5]

     You are not given unrestricted choice as to your future course; but you may choose within the limits of that which the transition ministers and their superiors wisely determine to be most suitable for your future spirit attainment. The spirit world is governed on the principle of respecting your freewill choice provided the course you may choose is not detrimental to you or injurious to your fellows. [48:6:6]

     The seraphic evangels are dedicated to the proclamation of the gospel of eternal progression, the triumph of perfection attainment. On the mansion worlds they proclaim the great law of the conservation and dominance of goodness: No act of good is ever wholly lost; it may be long thwarted but never wholly annulled, and it is eternally potent in proportion to the divinity of its motivation. [48:6:7]

     Even on Urantia they counsel the human teachers of truth and righteousness to adhere to the preaching of “the goodness of God, which leads to repentance,” to proclaim “the love of God, which casts out all fear.” [Romans 2:4] Even so have these truths been declared on your world:
     Then is related Psalm 23 as it was whispered in the night season to the shepherd boy. He could not retain it word for word, but to the best of his memory he gave it much as it is recorded today. [48:6:8,9]

"The Third Heaven."
     You should consider the statement about “heaven” and the “heaven of heavens.” The heaven conceived by most of your prophets was the first of the mansion worlds of the local system. When the apostle [Paul] spoke of being “caught up to the third heaven,” he referred to that experience in which his Adjuster was detached during sleep and in this unusual state made a projection to the third of the seven mansion worlds. Some of your wise men saw the vision of the greater heaven, “the heaven of heavens,” of which the sevenfold mansion world experience was but the first; the second being Jerusem; the third, Edentia and its satellites; the fourth, Salvington and the surrounding educational spheres; the fifth, Uversa; the sixth, Havona; and the seventh, Paradise. [48:6:12] [II Corinthians 12:2]

     You will learn that you increase your burdens and decrease the likelihood of success by taking yourself too seriously. Nothing can take precedence over the work of your status sphere—this world or the next. Very important is the work of preparation for the next higher sphere, but nothing equals the importance of the work of the world in which you are actually living. But though the work is important, the self is not. When you feel important, you lose energy to the wear and tear of ego dignity so that there is little energy left to do the work. Self-importance, not work-importance, exhausts immature creatures; it is the self element that exhausts, not the effort to achieve. You can do important work if you do not become self-important; you can do several things as easily as one if you leave yourself out. Variety is restful; monotony is what wears and exhausts. Day after day is alike—just life or the alternative of death. [48:6:26]

     From the time of graduation from the mansion worlds to the attainment of spirit status in the superuniverse career, ascending mortals are denominated morontia progressors. Your passage through this wonderful borderland life will be an unforgettable experience, a charming memory. It is the evolutionary portal to spirit life and the eventual attainment of creature perfection by which ascenders achieve the goal of time—the finding of God on Paradise. [48:8:1]

     There is a definite and divine purpose in all this morontia and subsequent spirit scheme of mortal progression, this elaborate universe training school for ascending creatures. It is the design of the Creators to afford the creatures of time a graduated opportunity to master the details of the operation and administration of the grand universe, and this long course of training is best carried forward by having the surviving mortal climb up gradually and by actual participation in every step of the ascent. [48:8:2]

     The mortal-survival plan has a practical and serviceable objective; you are not the recipients of all this divine labor and painstaking training only that you may survive just to enjoy endless bliss and eternal ease. There is a goal of transcendent service concealed beyond the horizon of the present universe age. If the Gods designed merely to take you on one long and eternal joy excursion, they certainly would not so largely turn the whole universe into one vast and intricate practical training school, requisition a substantial part of the celestial creation as teachers and instructors, and then spend ages upon ages piloting you, one by one, through this gigantic universe school of experiential training. The furtherance of the scheme of mortal progression seems to be one of the chief businesses of the present organized universe, and the majority of innumerable orders of created intelligences are either directly or indirectly engaged in advancing some phase of this progressive perfection plan. [48:8:3]

     In traversing the ascending scale of living existence from mortal man to the Deity embrace, you actually live the very life of every possible phase and stage of perfected creature existence within the limits of the present universe age. From mortal man to Paradise finaliter embraces all that now can be—encompasses everything presently possible to the living orders of intelligent, perfected finite creature beings. If the future destiny of the Paradise finaliters is service in new universes now in the making, it is assured that in this new and future creation there will be no created orders of experiential beings whose lives will be wholly different from those which mortal finaliters have lived on some world as a part of their ascending training, as one of the stages of their agelong progress from animal to angel and from angel to spirit and from spirit to God. [48:8:4]

Will Mortals On Occasion Be Permitted to See Spirit Beings?
I quote from Paper 50, Section 2, Paragraph 7:
     The controllers and transformers of planetary assignment are also able to collaborate with angels and other orders of celestial beings in rendering these latter personalities visible to mortal creatures. On special occasions the seraphic helpers and even the Melchizedeks can and do make themselves visible to the inhabitants of the evolutionary worlds. [50:2:7]
     Just when might mortals be permitted to actually see spirit personalities? Before or after the Day of Armageddon?

Note: Most statements in this paper were quoted verbatim from the source.