Chapter Eight

CLARENCE BOWMAN, A MEMBER of the Forum since 1923, told his family that the Forum and the Contact Commission looked forward to the end of World War II, when they were convinced The Urantia Book could be published at last.¹ When the war ended, it seemed the planet had passed through a nightmare that had threatened its very existence, and peace at last could be achieved. However, near the end of the conflict, a series of atomic blasts had signaled a new menace to civilization. And on the heels of that, Communism began its relentless campaign of world conquest.

Dr. Sadler related to Meredith Sprunger that the Contact Commission was informed immediately after the war that the Revelators believed Communism represented one of the most serious threats to the religion of Jesus and the freedom of humankind that had ever existed. The Revelators were alarmed that the specter of World War III was emerging, and preventing such a conflict was their immediate priority. In January of 1946, the Contact Commission was informed that the "United Midwayers of Urantia" had declared an intention to defeat Communism. The Contact Commission learned to their disappointment that the anticipated immediate postwar publication of The Urantia Book was not to be.²

The formation of Urantia Foundation

For more than five years the cast plates of The Urantia Book had been in storage at the Crawfordsville, Indiana plant of R.R. Donnelley & Sons, awaiting the order to print.³ Histories One and Two report that in January, 1950, these plates became the material basis for the formation of an organization that was designed and intended to publish the Papers and to perpetually preserve the integrity of the original text:

"The plates of the Urantia Book which had been previously made constituted the basis for the creation of the Urantia Foundation by a Declaration of Trust under the laws of the State of Illinois, dated January 11, 1950. This is a non-profit organization.

"One of the objects for which the Foundation was created was to perpetually preserve inviolate the text of the Urantia Book and to disseminate the principles and teachings of the Urantia Book."⁴

The Declaration of Trust

A Trust is a legal title to a property to be assumed by one party for the benefit of another. The Trust document traditionally defines the property and conditions under which the property is transferred to the care of another party. The purpose of the Trust document is to establish the parameters of the Trust, and to prevent human prerogatives and folly to do damage to the property which is held in trust. A Declaration of Trust is a legally binding agreement between the two parties to this effect. To reflect these objectives, a Declaration of Trust was created for Urantia Foundation by the Contact Commission in liaison with attorneys. It provided for five Trustees who would have lifetime tenures. New Trustees, as needed, would be elected by the remaining Trustees.

In the case of the Declaration of Trust that established Urantia Foundation, the "property" that was to be protected by the terms of the Trust is the original text of The Urantia Book. The "original text" is defined in the Trust document as the plates that had been etched and cast from galleys that had been typeset from the typewritten text. The manuscript had been destroyed prior to the end of World War II, after the plates were made. The plates were to be used to publish The Urantia Book, and three copies of this original text were to be preserved in perpetuity. Thus, under the Declaration of Trust, Urantia Foundation provisionally assumed full responsibility for the text and would eventually become the publisher of The Urantia Book. The first Board of Trustees of Urantia Foundation were William Hales, President; Bill Sadler, Jr., Vice President; Emma L. Christensen, Secretary; Wilfred C. Kellogg, Treasurer, and Edith Cook, Assistant Secretary.

Note that the Contact Commission was being cautious. Three Contact Commissioners were also Trustees on the first Urantia Foundation board: Bill Sadler, Jr., Emma L. Christensen, and Wilfred C. Kellogg. Bill Sadler and Christy were residents at 533, and Wilfred lived in an apartment house a few blocks away. The Declaration of Trust established that Urantia Foundation was clearly recognized as the party now responsible for the preservation of the original text, but the Contact Commissioners held the majority of votes on the board. Any celestial "advice" to Urantia Foundation could be passed along informally through the still functioning Contact Commission. The other two Trustees, William Hales, President and Edith Cook, Assistant Secretary, had the honor of being the first "outsiders" to be involved with the administration of the original text. However, they obviously could exercise little influence over the policies of Urantia Foundation. Some Urantians believe that this arrangement of an "inner group within the inner group" seeded the original culture of Urantia Foundation, and continues until this day. See Chapters Nine and Ten.

Although three Contact Commissioners were Foundation Trustees, Dr. Sadler and Anna Bell Kellogg were not. According to the Declaration of Trust, Urantia Foundation was organized to eventually function autonomously; it was not a successor to the Contact Commission. The first three paragraphs of the Declaration of Trust make this autonomy clear:

"KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, THAT WHEREAS, there has been written a manuscript of a book entitled `THE URANTIA BOOK,' and there have been produced from this manuscript approximately two thousand two hundred (2,200) nickel-plated stereotype plates⁵ of patent base thickness for the printing and reproduction of such book; and

"WHEREAS, certain persons, hereinafter referred to as the `Contributors,' being desirous that a foundation be created for the objects herein expressed to be known as `URANTIA FOUNDATION,' have contributed certain funds to that end, and said funds have been expended for the production of said plates for the printing and reproduction of THE URANTIA BOOK; and

"WHEREAS, the Contributors, being desirous that their identity remain unknown in order that the creation of such foundation shall have no limitations by reason of its association with their names, coincident with the execution of this Declaration of Trust and with full knowledge and in consideration thereof, have caused their nominees to deliver and turn over to the undersigned the said plates for the printing and reproduction of THE URANTIA BOOK, to be held in trust to make possible the accomplishment and fulfillment of such desires and to carry out and perpetuate the objects herein expressed . . ."

Dr. Sadler remained the leader of the Contact Commission. Although the Contact Commission had provisionally transferred responsibility for the text to Urantia Foundation, it retained control over the Forum-Study Group and the Seventy Group. The Contact Commission continued to function for five years after the January, 1950 establishment of Urantia Foundation.

The Declaration of Trust states the primary duty of the Trustees "shall be to preserve inviolate" . . . "the original text of the Urantia Book" . . . "from loss, damage, or destruction, and from alteration, modification, revision, or change in any manner or particular."

The "Substantive Estate" that was entrusted to Urantia Foundation is described in the Declaration of Trust as representing the original text of The Urantia Book and is defined in two parts: [1]. "plates and other media for printing and reproduction of The Urantia Book" and [2]. "authenticated copies of the original text of The Urantia Book, but no less than three (3) such copies." (At the time of the formation of Urantia Foundation, the copies of the book had not yet been published from the plates.) The document gave Urantia Foundation discretionary control of Substantive Estate with the exception of the "three copies of the original text" that would be printed by the plates. These three books the Foundation is to "preserve from loss, damage, or destruction, and from alteration, modification, revision, or change in any manner or particular."

To achieve their primary duty of preserving the original text inviolate, Urantia Foundation was also entrusted with publishing the original text, and thus were given total authority over the "plates and other media" for "printing and reproduction of the Urantia Book." They are permitted to transfer the plates with the provision they be "returned to the Trustees when the purposes for which it was transferred has been accomplished" (presumably printing the book). Finally, they are granted permission to destroy the plates provided all the Trustees agree the plates are "no longer required for accomplishing the purposes for which the Foundation is created" or if "the Trustees are prevented from preserving such portions of the Substantive Estate [the plates] by reason of circumstances beyond their control." These stipulations would allow the Trustees to create new plates when the original plates had worn out, a situation which would occur after a million copies had been printed, or if the plates deteriorated over time and could not be used. Duplicate plates could be produced when needed from the monotype tapes, as explained in Chapter Seven, or perhaps by some advanced technology that would allow the continued inviolate reproduction of the original text. It should be noted, however, that all the Trustees would have to agree before any portion of the Substantive Estate was destroyed. Chapter Nine will discuss how, after only 10,000 copies were printed, part of the Substantive Estate was destroyed in 1967 -- very probably without concurrence or even knowledge of all the Trustees.

The Trustees accepted their responsibilities with this statement:

"We the undersigned herewith accept for ourselves and our successors in trust as herein defined, do hereby acknowledge that there have been transferred and delivered to us approximately two thousand, two hundred (2,200) nickel-plated stereo type plates of patent base thickness prepared from the manuscript of THE URANTIA BOOK for printing and reproduction thereof, which plates are presently stored in the plate vaults of R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company at Crawfordsville, Indiana . . ."

Note that the original typed manuscript is not mentioned as part of the Trust. It had been destroyed when the plates were etched, and the plates were now the text of The Urantia Book that is referred to in the Declaration of Trust. It was the plates that the first Trustees swore to "accept for ourselves and our successors in trust." After 1945, the Seventy Group and the Forum-Study Group members used the proofing copies that were made from the plates -- not the typed manuscripts -- to study the Papers.

Some Urantians have examined the Declaration of Trust and pointed out that, although the Contact Commission had been permitted to standardize spelling, capitalization and punctuation in the original typewritten text, Urantia Foundation had no such latitude with the plates. The "primary duty" of Trustees described in the Declaration of Trust of Urantia Foundation was to preserve the original text of The Urantia Book (the plates) from "loss, damage, or destruction, and from alteration, modification, revision, or change in any manner or particular." These readers see the authority to control the publication and reproduction of the Book as granted in the spirit of protecting the text from change, not to establish the authority of the Trustees to make changes in the text. Naturally, if one is to be responsible for the preservation of the original text one must also be given authority to print it inviolate. However, there is no statement in the Declaration of Trust that even suggests allowing any changes in the original text. In fact, in the eyes of nearly all readers who are familiar with this document, both the spirit and the language of the Declaration of Trust clearly forbids any changes whatsoever.

We have noted that, years before, Clyde Bedell and a few others in the Forum harbored strong reservations about the manner in which Foundation Trustees would be selected and replaced. These early Urantians were disturbed about the establishment of a self-appointed oligarchy that would (for a period of a generation at least) totally control the text of the Revelation. (See Chapter Seven, "The Sherman Tempest.") Dr. Sadler told Meredith, Clyde Bedell and others that once a draft of the Declaration of Trust was drawn up by attorneys, it was submitted by the Contact Commission to the Midwayer Commission for their reaction. It may have been submitted more than once. According to Meredith's statements in a video interview, and what Clyde told me personally, the Midwayers refused to give specific suggestions for the document. However, they finally stated: "If that is the best you can come up with it will have to do." Meredith and Clyde quoted virtually the same words.

A shift of responsibility

The amount and nature of the contacts after 1952 were greatly changed, according to Mark Kulieke, and the "organizations were largely on their own."⁶ Presumably, these organizations included Urantia Foundation, the Seventy Group, and the Sunday Forum-Study Group. There were provisionary restrictions, however. Urantia Foundation had not yet been given permission to actually publish the Book.

In November of 1951, the Seventy and the Sunday Forum-Study group were read an important communication from the "Acting Planetary Prince of Urantia." It had been delivered to the Contact Commission by his personal Regent. No doubt there was great suspense, because the group had been anticipating an announcement that The Urantia Book would now be printed. The announcement informed the group that the Acting Planetary Prince had made several decisions. Some of these involved angelic responsibilities for the Urantia Revelation. The status of the newly formed Urantia Foundation was discussed:

"The human aspects of the Urantia Book will be placed in the hands of the Trustees of the Urantia Foundation, subject to the advisory suggestions and veto power of the Revelatory Commission of the United Midwayers of Urantia. When, as, and if, the Midway Commission fails to communicate with the Trustees of the Foundation for a period of three years, then shall such Trustees deem that the affairs of the Urantia Book are wholly and exclusively in their hands and under their jurisdiction. For the time being, mediation between the overall and superhuman supervision of this Commission and the directly human functioning of the Trustees of the Urantia Foundation shall be vested in the Midwayer Commission, the successor of the original Urantia Revelatory Commission. This Commission shall continue to function as advisor to both the Celestial Overseers and the Trustees of the Urantia Foundation, but their veto powers shall extend only to the decisions and acts of the human Trustees."⁷

Note that, with the casting of the plates now completed and responsibility for their preservation transferred in trust to Urantia Foundation, the celestial team that was communicating through the Contact Commission had changed. The "Urantia Revelatory Commission" was now succeeded by a group called the "Midwayer Commission." Note also the comment that this guidance would continue "for the time being," and preparations were being made to place the affairs of The Urantia Book "wholly and exclusively" under human supervision. This seems clearly to indicate that special celestial guidance was winding down. In the same alleged message they heard the statement that seemed to foreshadow the news the early Urantians had been waiting for:

"In the absence of Midwayer intervention after February 11, 1954, the Trustees of Urantia Foundation shall proceed in accordance with their own judgment."

Nearly a year later, on the date of Jesus' Birthday, August 21, 1952, another message from the Regent of the Acting Planetary Prince was received and read to the groups. The Forum-Study group was to remain under the direction of the still operational Contact Commission. A Constitution for a new Urantia Brotherhood organization was provisionally approved, with the comment that the document "provides for its own emendation." It was left up to the discretion of Urantia Foundation when to launch the new, autonomous Urantia Brotherhood. As to the fate of The Urantia Book, the Regent for the Acting Planetary Prince conveyed this announcement:

"I, and I alone, will direct the time of the publication of The Urantia Book. If I do not provide such instructions on or before January 1, 1955, then the Trustees of the Urantia Foundation should proceed with plans for publication in accordance with their own judgment."⁸

A provisional date was set! The message also approved plans to publish an index to The Urantia Book in a separate volume. The Seventy Group was directed to terminate independent activities with the inauguration of Urantia Brotherhood.

The Contact Commission did not hear from the regent by the deadline date of January 1, 1955. Accordingly, the Trustees of Urantia Foundation acted upon their own judgment. The Urantia Brotherhood began officially on January 2, 1955. On that date, Dr. Sadler read a directive to the Seventy Group explaining how the Brotherhood was to be inaugurated. Then William Hales, who was presiding at the meeting, called for nominations for the officers of the Brotherhood. Bill Sadler, Jr. was elected president of the Brotherhood. He then took over the meeting and invited nominations for the nine committee chairmanships.⁹ Thus, 36 members of the original Wednesday evening group called "The Seventy" became the Urantia Brotherhood.

Shortly after the deadline for intervention passed, on February 11, 1955, the Trustees of Urantia Foundation signed their "Declaration of Intent to Publish The Urantia Book," and read it to the Forum. At last, ten years after etching and casting, the plates were dusted off and soon the printing presses in Crawfordsville were rolling. It should be noted once more that, although the Trustees were aware of a list of "errors" that had been discovered since the casting of the plates, there was no provision in the Declaration of Trust to "correct" them by altering the original text. Moreover, five of the original six Contact Commissioners were still functioning, and three of them were Trustees. I am not aware of any documentation about an inquiry made to the Midwayer Commission, nor of any concern at that time about the "errors" in the cast plates.

The mandate to publish The Urantia Book

The first recorded public mention of the specific wording of the mandate to publish The Urantia Book was in Dr. Sadler's 1958 Paper, CONSIDERATION of SOME CRITICISMS of the URANTIA BOOK. In the 26-page document the Doctor seems to be as energetic and intellectually acute as ever.

Dr. Sadler also tells us that the mandate to publish the Book was accompanied by some admonitions by the Midwayer Commission, which was successor to the original Urantia Revelatory Commission. Here is a complete list of those admonitions that Dr. Sadler elected to make public:

"Before taking up these individual criticisms, allow me to call to your attention some admonitions given us in connection with the mandate for the publication of the Urantia Book. Among other things we were advised:

`You are called to a great work and yours is to be a transcendent privilege to present this revelation to the peoples of this strife-torn world.

`Supercilious scientists will ridicule you and some may even charge you with collusion and fraud. Well-meaning religionists will condemn you as enemies of the Christian religion and accuse you of defaming Christ himself.

`Thousands of spiritually hungry souls will bless you for the message you bring, and thousands of others will condemn you for disturbing their theologic complacence.

`Are you ready for your baptism of joys and sorrows which will certainly attend upon the early distribution of the Urantia Revelation?'"¹⁰

Later, in History One, further reference was to be given to these admonitions. This time they were referred to as "suggestions." This additional information about them was supplied:

"At the time of the publication of the Urantia Book suggestions were given by the revelators respecting the methods to be employed in the work of its distribution. These instructions may be summarized as follows:

"1. Study the methods employed by Jesus in introducing his work on earth. Note how he worked quietly at first -- very often after a miracle, he would admonish the recipient of his ministry saying: `Tell no man what happened to you.'

"2. It was suggested that we avoid all efforts at getting early, and spectacular recognition.

"During the first five years these suggestions have been followed and the distribution increases yearly. The vast majority of the Brotherhood have concurred with this sort of quiet and gradual presentation of the book. However, one thing should be made clear: While it is the policy of the Brotherhood to work slowly in the distribution of the book, nothing is done to interfere with the energetic and enthusiastic efforts of any individual to introduce the book to his friends and associates."¹¹

Contrary to some questionable apocrypha, there never was a set of permanent "mandates" given to the Contact Commission relating to distribution of the Urantia Revelation. There was a publication mandate for The Urantia Book, and this was accompanied by several "admonitions" or "suggestions" very clearly referenced to its early phases of distribution. To my knowledge, the excerpts above are the only references to these suggestions that were published for the general Urantia Movement while Dr. Sadler was still living. History Two (which was never published) devotes a page to the "Publication Mandate," and quotes from its introduction. Generally, this page (23) cautions that: "The Book belongs to the era immediately to follow the conclusion of the present ideological struggle." It also advises that the Book is provided early "to be on hand for the training of teachers and leaders" and to allow for early translations into other languages. (See Bill Sadler, Jr.'s comments below, which paraphrase the same material that is on page 23 of History Two.) There is no reliable documentation that the Revelators were in contact with the Urantia Foundation, all communication was with the Contact Commission.

The suggestions that accompanied the mandate to publish the Book were paraphrased, edited and selectively used and adopted in several Brotherhood internal memos. Bill Sadler, Jr. prepared a paper in 1955 titled: "Timing of The Urantia Book" for the files of the Executive Committee of Urantia Brotherhood. In this paper he paraphrased the suggestions, calling them "wise sayings." He also read his paper to the Forum-Study Group. About that time, the Communist menace seemed to be gaining momentum. The Soviets had acquired atomic weapons, and American school children were routinely given instructions on what to do in case of an atomic attack. Bill Sadler, Jr. reminded the group that the Revelation was being distributed early, and was really intended for the era after the "present ideological struggle." He said, in part:

"The Book belongs to the era immediately to follow the conclusion of the present ideological struggle. That will be the day when men will be willing to seek truth and righteousness. When the chaos of the present confusion has passed, it will be more readily possible to formulate the cosmos of a new and improved era of human relationships. And it is for this better order of affairs that the Book was made ready.

"But the publication of the Book has not been postponed until that (possibly) somewhat remote date. An early publication of the Book has been provided so that it may be in hand for the training of leaders and teachers. Its presence is also required to engage the attention of persons of means who thus may be led to provide funds for translations into other languages. You who dedicate your lives to the service of the Book and the Brotherhood can little realize the import of your doings. You will doubtless live and die without realizing you are participating in the birth of a new age of religion on this world."¹²

Indeed, Contact Commissioners and the original Forum members had grown old waiting for the publication and propagation of the Revelation. Very few who heard this message would live to see the sudden collapse of Soviet Communism nearly 35 years in the future.

The copyrighting of The Urantia Book

It seems clear that the Contact Commission was directed by the Revelators to get an international copyright for The Urantia Book. Both Histories state The Urantia Book was published under an international copyright on October 12, 1955. Dr. Sprunger clearly recalls both Christy and Dr. Sadler stating that they were directed to get an international copyright.¹³ An international copyright permits the listing of Divine Authorship, such as is the case of The Urantia Book. Neither History mentions a United States copyright. A United States copyright can only be obtained for works authored by U.S. citizens.

The 1955 United States copyright application for The Urantia Book listed Urantia Foundation as the author. Many Urantians maintain that the Revelators would never have directed the Contact Commission to obtain a United States copyright by means of such a fraudulent application. Some believe that, although the international copyright was likely suggested by the Celestial Revelatory Commission, the acquisition of a United States copyright was a human idea. There is some documentary support for this. In 1973, Martin Myers and Christy collaborated closely on a speech Myers made to the general readership. It was titled "Unity, not Uniformity!". The speech was carefully phrased, and was copyrighted by Urantia Foundation. It contains these statements on page 5 of the original manuscript:

"The early leaders of the URANTIA Movement devised an ingenious plan. Their strategy was twofold.

"In order to protect the text from editing, alterations, and distortions, they foresaw the necessity of placing The URANTIA Book under the United States and international copyrights, thus guaranteeing future generations the privilege of having the unadulterated Fifth Epochal Revelation. To that end The URANTIA Foundation was formalized and the Book was lawfully copyrighted in its name."

Many readers who have studied these comments are disturbed by their implications. Why did Myers (in collaboration with Christy) state that it was the "early leaders," and not the Revelators, who devised an "ingenious plan?" What was so "ingenious" about obtaining an ordinary copyright? Was the technique used to obtain the United States copyright by listing Urantia Foundation as the author considered ingenious by Myers? This is the first mention of a United States copyright. Why did Myers mention theUnited States copyright at all, when both histories and Dr. Sprunger's recollections support only the idea that the Revelators suggested obtaining an international copyright? And why did Myers state the Book was "lawfully" copyrighted? Would we not presume the copyright was lawful? (See the Epilogue for a discussion of the purported 1942 "message" which was claimed to have been discovered by Myers and Christy in 1980.)

The original copyright was renewed in 1983 on the basis that The Urantia Book is an anthology, a collection of writings by various authors, and the questions asked by the Forum constituted co-authorship. During the Kristen Maaherra litigation in the 1990's both the original and the renewal of the United Statescopyright were severely challenged. Maaherra maintained that if Urantia Foundation had submitted truthful applications, the United States Copyright Office would never have accepted them. As a result of the Maaherra litigation, both the original and the renewal of the U.S. copyright now exist in a greatly weakened condition. See Chapter Ten for additional discussion of the Maaherra litigation, which was terminated in February, 2000.

Urantia Books are delivered at last

One can imagine the joy of the early Urantians when the first Urantia Books were finally delivered. Mark Kulieke reports the excitement when his father came home on that Wednesday night in 1955 with four Urantia Books.¹⁴ Carolyn Kendall related that her father believed The Urantia Book was going to be "the biggest hit in hundreds of years, and it was going to be reviewed in all the major newspapers." It was his plan to buy copies of all of these newspapers with their historic reviews of the great new Revelation.¹⁵

Shortly after the publication of The Urantia Book, a final message from the Midwayers was received by the Contact Commission:

"You are now on your own."

After nearly fifty years, the connection between the mortals of our planet and the unseen Midwayer Commission was severed and went dead.

"They didn't even say goodbye," remarked Dr. Sadler.¹⁶

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Footnotes

^1. The PLAN FOR THE URANTIA BOOK REVELATION, by Carolyn B. Kendall, Paper distributed January 18, 1996, page 4.

^2. The PLAN FOR THE URANTIA BOOK REVELATION, by Carolyn B. Kendall, Paper distributed January 18, 1996, page 2. Also statements by Dr. Sprunger in video interviews. There are a number of similar commentaries on the world political situation of the time that have surfaced in written form. Most of these are very questionable. However, this particular story regarding an intention to defeat Communism was given to Dr. Sprunger by Dr. Sadler, and I also heard it from Clyde Bedell and Berkeley Elliott. However, David Kantor is very doubtful about the veracity of this story. He believes such a casual comment about human affairs would have been a violation of the revelatory mandate. [The Plan for The Urantia Book Revelation]

^3. Very probably the original tapes and negative films were also in storage. In the old monotype process described in Chapter 7, the typesetter did not cast the type directly, there was a two stage process. His keyboard punched holes in a paper tape, which was then fed into a caster. Reference for this information was the 1958 edition of The World Book Encyclopedia.

^4. HISTORY OF THE URANTIA MOVEMENT ONE, by a Group of Urantian Pioneers, assisted by Members of the Contact Commission, 1960, page 9. The actual wording of the Declaration of Trust, page 8, is also "to perpetually preserve inviolate the text of THE URANTIA BOOK . . ." David Kantor has pointed out that the term "inviolate text" does not appear in the Declaration of Trust or the Histories. The Trust uses the term "original text" when referring to the plates and the 1955 printing. Urantia Foundation uses the term "inviolate text" generically to refer to any version of the text of the Papers they may publish. This will be discussed in Chapter Nine. [The last sentence of the original History One document read: "One of the objects for which the Foundation was created was to preserve perpetually inviolate the text of the Urantia Book and to disseminate the principles, teachings, and doctrines of the Urantia Book."] Dr. Sadler apparently changed "perpetually preserve" to read "preserve perpetually" and circled "doctrines," recommending its deletion stating: "the U. B. seems to me to avoid using these words."

^5. The number of "plates," 2,200, roughly correspond to the number of pages in The Urantia Book, including the preliminary material in the front. Those who prepared the Declaration of Trust evidently considered each page as a "plate," although each plate actually included 16 pages.

^6. BIRTH OF A REVELATION by Mark Kulieke, second edition, 1992, page 24.

^7. See David Kantor's timeline on the Fellowship website, for 1951 and 1952,  where this message is reproduced. In "THE PLAN FOR THE URANTIA BOOK REVELATION," by Carolyn B. Kendall, on page 3, Carolyn produces the same "message" with an instructive omission. The missing statement is: "When, as, and if, the Midway Commission fails to communicate with the Trustees of the Foundation for a period of three years, then shall such Trustees deem that the affairs of the Urantia Book are wholly and exclusively in their hands and under their jurisdiction." This omitted sentence clearly supports those who believe special celestial guidance for the Trustees ended in 1955, with the message: "You are now on your own." See Chapter Nine for a full discussion of the issue of continuing special celestial guidance. Also see the Epilogue for additional discussion of the questionable use of apocryphal "messages," and how they have too often had the appearance of being edited to support a political, philosophical, or legal position.

In this case, "THE PLAN FOR THE URANTIA BOOK REVELATION" (dated January 18, 1995) was submitted to the members of the Fellowship General Council in an effort to persuade them to reconsider their vote to publish The Urantia Book, which was then in the public domain. With her paper, Carolyn also wrote a cover letter to the Councilors. Some of her comments are interesting. She writes: "Regardless of how one might wish the old messages would go away, the fact is that they did exist, they did exert a powerful influence and they are still relevant" . . . "As a former Forum member, I was constrained by promises not to discuss the origin of the book or anything that happened before publication." [The Plan for The Urantia Book Revelation]

Whether the old "messages" are relevant or not may be arguable. What is difficult to understand is Carolyn's statement that she was a "former Forum member." According to History One (page 6) and History Two (page 10),the last meeting of the Forum took place on May 31, 1942, when Carolyn was about ten years old. In 1951, what she joined was the Sunday study group. Carolyn was 23 when The Urantia Book was published. Also see the Epilogue, where Carolyn's history, The Golden Years, is discussed. The same critical passage is omitted in that document.

^8. IBID, page 3.

^9. April, 1992 paper titled AD HOC COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH: PRINCIPLES, PATTERNS, AND STRUCTURES IN THE URANTIA BOOK AND RELATED SOURCES by Carolyn Kendall, page 9. [Ad Hoc Committee Report by Carolyn Kendall]

^10. CONSIDERATION OF SOME CRITICISMS OF THE URANTIA BOOK by Dr. William S. Sadler, a paper produced in 1958, page 1.

^11. HISTORY OF THE URANTIA MOVEMENT ONE, by "a Group of Urantian Pioneers, assisted by Members of the Contact Commission, 1960," page 14. [See "History of the Urantia Movement" (one)]

^12. The PLAN FOR THE URANTIA BOOK REVELATION, by Carolyn B. Kendall, Paper distributedJanuary 18, 1996, page 4. [The Plan for The Urantia Book Revelation]

^13. AFFIDAVIT of Dr. Meredith Sprunger, dated October 24, 1998. (See pp: 316 -320). [See Meredith Sprunger's affidavit]

^14. BIRTH OF A REVELATION by Mark Kulieke, second edition, 1992, page 24.

^15. WITNESSES TO A REVELATION by Polly Friedman, Summer, 1993, page 4.

^16. A MONOGRAPH ON A VITAL ISSUE CONCERNING THE URANTIA BOOK AND MOVEMENT by Clyde Bedell, January, 1981, page 19. Also Clyde Bedell personally related the story of this message to me. Dr. Sadler reported the message to Dr. Sprunger, and added the comment about the sudden severance of the connection: "They didn't even say goodbye." [See "Monograph on a Vital Issue" by Clyde Bedell]

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