The recent media attention given to "trance channeling" (See, Shirley MacLaine's two best-selling books, Out On A Limb and Dancing in The Light) has also led to a resurgence of interest in trance revelations. Among these "New Age" revelations is a weighty volume called The Urantia Book.

This four-pound, 2097 - page to me (with 7-inch by 10-inch pages), purports to be a history, cosmology and theology of the central and superuniverse, the local universe and the history of our own planet, which is properly named "Urantia." The last -- and most important for Christians -- section of the book is a purported revelation of the true life and teachings of Jesus.

According to the Urantia Brotherhood, which is "a voluntary and fraternal association of believers in the teachings of The Urantia Book," (Letter from Urantia Brotherhood dated Sept. 1977.), "The account of the life and teachings of Jesus in The Urantia Book is much more complete than that of the New Testament, but not contradictory." (Basic Concepts of The Urantia Book, Urantia Brotherhood, Sept. 1975, pg. 2)

An analysis of that section, however, shows not only contradiction of the New Testament, but a systematic denial of all the basic tenets of Orthodox Christianity. That Urantia doctrine and Christian doctrine are contradictory can best be demonstrated by analyzing the book's origin and its claims about Christ and His teachings.

The Urantia Foundation filed as a tax-exempt common law educational foundation in 1950 in Cook County, Illinois. This group holds the copyright to The Urantia Book and is committed to "perpetually preserve inviolate the text of The Urantia Book and to disseminate the principles, teachings and doctrines of (that book)." (Letter dated May 1978) The book was first published in 1955. Its beginnings, however, go back to the early 20th century.

Dr. William Samuel Sadler (1875-1969), psychiatrist, surgeon, theologian and author, appears to be the primary force behind the compilation and publication of what was then known as the Urantia Papers.

Sadler was baptized into the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in 1888. He rose to a position of prominence in that church and held various appointments in church hospitals and sanitariums. There is ample evidence that Sadler enjoyed a personal relationship with SDA prophetess Ellen G. White, and was called on to write articles for and speak to SDA groups.

As a result of the strong teachings of Adventism against Spiritualism, Sadler spent a great deal of time debunking spiritistic phenomena. He chronicled his findings in two books: The Truth about Spiritualism (1923) and the more comprehensive The Mind at Mischief: Tricks of the Subconscious Mind (1929).

In these two volumes, Sadler recounts his work with numerous psychics, mediums, trance talkers, and automatic writers. He concludes that with "... one or two exceptions ... all cases of psychic phenomena which have come under my observation have turned out to be those of auto-psychis" (i.e. tricks of the subconscious mind or outright fraud). (Mind at Mischief, pg. 382) It is to one of these exceptions that our attention is drawn.

In the appendix of The Mind at Mischief Sadler recounts a story of one investigation into the psychic realm that he could not debunk. From the summer of 1911 until the time of his writing in 1929 he had a subject under observation who would go into a deep sleep out of which he could not be awakened. Sadler wrote: "This man is utterly unconscious, wholly oblivious to what takes place, and, unless told about it subsequently, never knows that he has been used as a sort of clearing house for the coming and going of alleged extra-planetary personalities" (Mind at Mischief, pg. 383). Of the communications themselves "I can only say that I have found in these years of observation that all the information imparted through this source has proved to be consistent within itself. ... Its philosophy is consistent. It is essentially Christian and is, on the whole, entirely harmonious with the known scientific facts and truths of this age." (Mind at Mischief, pg. 384.) Sadler wanted to say more on the subject, but the person under investigation would not give his permission to do so.

Enter Harold Sherman.

Harold Sherman, author, screenwriter, and psychic investigator, came into contact with Sadler and the original Urantia Forum in 1942. In his book How to Know What to Believe (Fawcett Publishing House, Greenwich, Conn. 1976) Sherman gives an account of his years as a Forum member and recounts some details of the origin of the papers as told to him by Sadler. Sherman recalls that "It was an evening appointment, and we found the doctor to be in an unusually amiable, talkative mood, disposed to give us a more complete version of the origin of the papers than we had ever heard of before or since. As soon as the long session was over, Martha (Sherman's wife) and I crossed the street to our apartment in the Rutledge Hotel and worked into the early hours to make a detailed written record of the information that the doctor had imparted." (How to Know, pg. 62) The details of Sherman's account essentially fit within the framework established by Sadler's account above and has the ring of authenticity.

After recounting the details of how Sadler and his wife came into contact with the "subject," and after observing on several occasions the subject's apparent desire to talk while in a trance, Sadler began asking him questions. It was then that they learned that the subject was being used by extra-terrestrial entities. (How to Know, pg. 64) Apparently, this question-and- answer format accelerated with the appearance of newer and higher entities. As these events were happening with the sleeping subject, the Sadlers began having a few friends over for Sunday afternoon tea to discuss topics of religion and other mutual interests. The year was 1923 and the Forum was born.

The subject of Sadler's encounter with extra-terrestrial entities became the focus of the group meetings. Eventually, Forum members were called upon to submit questions for the intelligences to answer. In November 1923 the members put together a list of 4,000 questions. These questions were submitted to the "higher intelligences." After several weeks Sadler called to the home of the subject and there he found a manuscript of 472 hand-written pages. According to the wife of the subject, the entire manuscript had been written in one night. Sadler wrote: "I took a look at the manuscript and saw to my great astonishment that it was the answer to all of the questions that had been formulated by ourselves in our forum group!" (How to Know, pp. 65-67)

Of course these questions led to further questions and more papers came through. The first stage of the revelation came to a close late in 1934. It was several years later when the last group of papers were revealed. Sherman recalls Sadler's words: "It was finally decided by those controlling transmission of The New Revelation Book (The Urantia Book) to permit seventy-five papers giving a detailed and comprehensive account of Jesus' life on earth, from His birth to His death, to be added." (How to Know, pg. 68)

Sadler supposedly summed up by saying "The book is eventually to be published without any human personalities to be identified with it in any way and no authorship to be ascribed to it. These higher beings have refused to use their own names and have only specified their type of being in the universe.

"There are only a few of us still living who were in touch with this phenomenon in the beginning, and when we die, the knowledge of it will die with us. Then the book will exist as a great mystery, and no human will know the manner in which it came about," Sadler said. (How to Know, pg. 68-69)

This position of trying to divorce the book from all human origin has been taken by the Urantia Foundation to this day. Any inquiry as to the origination of The Urantia Book brings a copyrighted form letter titled, The Urantia Book: The Question of Origin. While the above accounts of the transmission of the book are alluded to, the main thrust of the form letter is: "Don't be concerned with the mechanics of how the revelation came to us, only judge the revelation on the basis of experiencing its internal truths."

"First of all, let us acknowledge that no human being knows many of the details and specifics regarding the origin of the Urantia Papers." (The Urantia Book: The Question of Origin, Urantia Brotherhood Corp., 1978, pg. 1)

"Only a first-hand experience of the superlative message of the book can confirm the spiritual source of its origin. In reality, information about its origin has nothing to do with the truth or spiritual quality of the book." (The Urantia Book: The Question of Origin, pg. 2)

Subtle psychological pressure is brought to bear to try to make the investigator guilty for even raising the question of origin. "Upon reflection, you will recognize the persistent questions about the unrevealed details concerning the origin of the book as a psychological parallel to the recurring demand put to Jesus: 'Show us a sign.'" (The Urantia Book: The Question of Origin, pg. 3)

Repeated attempts on my part to have the Foundation either confirm or deny Sherman's account of The Urantia Book's genesis have met with silence. In a letter to me from the foundation I was essentially told the same thing that the Question of Origin paper advised, "...we hold the issue of the authenticity or validity of the teachings of the book to be a matter determined on the basis of personal faith and belief. Only the individual, by reading the book and contemplating its teachings, can determine for him/herself whether the teachings are valuable. The wise person does not question, but they determine truth for themselves and do not ask an authority to validate truth for them. (Letter from Urantia Foundation to author dated Dec. 11, 1980)

Despite the foundation's position, the question of origin is important. With so many purported divine revelations available, it is necessary to examine the origin of each.

The Bible is clear in stating that any "revelation" is to be examined in light of what has been already given in the Bible and the Person of Jesus Christ. (Acts 17:11) We are cautioned to test supposed spirit communication (1 John 4:1). If these communications do not square with the already established Good News, we are to have nothing to do with them, even if they come from angels. (Galatians 1:8)

By their desire to keep the origin of The Urantia Book a "mystery", the foundation tries to make it more difficult to properly evaluate this revelation and surround the book with an aura of mystical spirituality. Once the facts are known about how the original papers came to be, however, we can see that their origin is really no different than any number of other communications from "extra-terrestrial" sources,i.e., channeling information, while in a trance, from alleged extra-terrestrial beings who have possessed a subject. From Shirley MacLaine to L. Ron Hubbard, bookshelves are loaded with knowledge and wisdom from our supposed brothers from the stars, most of which is contradictory, confusing and often downright silly.

In all such communications this author has examined, The Urantia Book included, religion is brought up and Christianity is dismantled.

The Urantia Book on Jesus

The Urantia Book's section on the life of Jesus and his religion is claimed to be much more complete than the New Testament but not contradictory to it. A brief examination of the book proves that claim to be false.

To say that The Urantia Book takes a dim view of the Bible is an understatement. On page 1767, The Urantia Book quotes Jesus saying to Nathaniel: "Nathaniel, you have rightly judged; I do not regard the Scriptures as do the rabbis. ... These writings are the work of men, some of them holy men, others not so holy. ... The Scriptures are faulty and altogether human in origin, but mistake not, they do constitute the best collection of religious wisdom and spiritual truth to be found in all the world at this time."

There goes the authenticity of the Old Testament.

The New Testament is dismissed on page 2091 as "a discussion of Paul's religious experience and a portrayal of his personal religious convictions."

With the Judeo-Christian Scriptures out of the way, the stage is set for denial of orthodox Christianity.

Saying at one point that it was deliberate, at another that it was unintentional, The Urantia Book maintains that early Christianity was transformed from the religion of Jesus to a religion about Jesus. (The Urantia Book, pg. 2075) First, Jesus taught the "true" gospel of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. This message was corrupted by the Apostles Paul and Peter (The Urantia Book, pg. 2091) and then further changed by other apostles. (The Urantia Book, pg. 1825) The Christian churches are the chief obstacles to the true teachings of Jesus (The Urantia Book, pg. 2085) and Christianity is an obstacle to the spiritual advancement of human civilization. (The Urantia Book, pg. 2084) The two greatest mistakes of Christianity are: 1) The organization of Christian teachings so completely around the person of Jesus and 2) "...to connect the gospel teaching directly onto Jewish theology, as illustrated by the Christian doctrine of the atonement." (The Urantia Book, pg. 1670)

The blood atonement of Jesus Christ appears to be the doctrine most rigorously attacked by The Urantia Book. Paul and Greek philosopher Philo were the chief misinterpreters of the significance of the atonement, The Urantia Book says, and it was these two who blended in the pagan ideas of atonement with the religion of Jesus. (The Urantia Book, pg. 1339) The Urantia Book maintains that the very idea of blood atonement is barbarous, puerile, primitive, and pagan. "It is an affront to God to believe, hold, or teach that innocent blood must be shed in order to win his favor or to divert the fictitious divine wrath." (The Urantia Book, pg. 60)

Despite clear biblical passages to the contrary, (Romans 5:8-9; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:22) The Urantia Book tells us that Jesus did not die to atone for man's sin (for there is no real sin, The Urantia Book, pp. 984, 1739, 2093). The Urantia Book also says that man does not obtain salvation through Christ's sacrifice. (The Urantia Book, pg. 2016) "All this concept of atonement and sacrificial salvation is rooted and grounded in selfishness ... Salvation should be taken for granted by those who believe in the fatherhood of God." (The Urantia Book, pg. 2017)

The rejection of this key doctrine of blood atonement leads the authors of The Urantia Book to denials of other key doctrines. If there is no real sin (as noted above), then there is no need for any atonement. No atonement is needed because there was no fall of man. (The Urantia Book, pg. 846) Man is ever evolving to higher and higher planes. Also, since Christianity teaches blood atonement, then Christianity must be denied. (The Urantia Book, pg. 1011) If no real blood atonement (physical) was needed, then no physical resurrection was needed. (The Urantia Book, pp. 2020- 2021) And, if there was no need for the purity of the Messiah's bloodline, then there was no need for the virgin birth of Jesus. (The Urantia Book, pg. 1327)

How one can read the above and draw the conclusion that this does not contradict the New Testament defies both reason and logic. Moreover, how one can say that despite the systematic denials of The Urantia Book that this volume is "essentially Christian" stretches the imagination to the breaking point.

It is apparent that one can either accept the teachings of The Urantia Book or one can accept the Bible. One can't accept both. Their teachings are opposed.

On the one hand is the Bible, which has been substantiated as to its historicity, authenticity, and authority by internal bibliographical, archaeological and philological tests. On the other hand is The Urantia Book, which was given to us by trance channeling through an unknown subject supposedly possessed by extra-terrestrial spirits named Manovandet Melchizedek and Vorondadek Son.

One can choose the real Jesus Christ, the only manifestation of God in human flesh who was miraculously born of a virgin, who suffered the shedding of his blood to cleanse us all from real original sin, and who rose bodily, physically from the grave to give a sign to everyone that he was who he said he was -- God Incarnate. Or you can choose the Jesus of The Urantia Book: Michael of Nebadon; a son of the Eternal Son of the Paradise Trinity, "grandson" of God the Father, one of over 700,000 creator Sons. This Jesus was born naturally into the world to show us that "We must earn every inch of progress by study and training under the guidance of angels and other competent teachers, and chiefly by service which we give to those following us." (Basic Concepts, pg. 2)