Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 67
THE PLANETARY REBELLION
1. The problems associated with human existence on Urantia are impossible of understanding without a knowledge of certain great epochs of the past, notably the occurrence and consequences of the planetary rebellion.
2. For three hundred thousand years Caligastia had been in charge of Urantia when Satan, Lucifer’s assistant, made one of his periodic inspection calls…In the course of this inspection Satan informed Caligastia of Lucifer's then proposed "Declaration of Liberty," and as we now know, the Prince agreed to betray the planet upon the announcement of the rebellion...In committing this deliberate sin, Caligastia so completely distorted his personality that his mind has never since been able fully to regain its equilibrium.
3. Error suggests lack of intellectual keenness; evil, deficiency of wisdom; sin, abject spiritual poverty; but iniquity is indicative of vanishing personality control.
4. Shortly after Satan's inspection... Caligastia...proclaim himself absolute sovereign of Urantia...appeal was taken to Jerusem, and forthwith came back the orders designating Caligastia as supreme sovereign on Urantia...And it was in reply to this amazing message that the noble Van made his memorable address of seven hours' length in which he formally drew his indictment of Daligastia, Caligastia, and Lucifer as standing in contempt of the sovereignty of the universe of Nebadon; and he appealed to the Most Highs of Edentia for support and confirmation.
5. For more than seven years this struggle continued. Not until every personality concerned had made a final decision, would or did the authorities of Edentia interfere or intervene. Not until then did Van and his loyal associates receive vindication and release from their prolonged anxiety and intolerable suspense.
6. On Urantia forty members of the corporeal staff of one hundred (including Van) refused to join the insurrection... There was a terrible: loss of' personalities among seraphim and. cherubim ...Forty thousand one hundred and nineteen of the primary midway creatures joined hands with Caligastia, but the remainder of these beings remained true to their trust.
7. During the times of this struggle the loyalists dwelt in an unwalled and poorly protected settlement a few miles to the east of Dalamatia, but their dwellings were guarded day and night by the alert and. ever‑watchful loyal midway creatures, and they had possession of the priceless tree of life.
8. The spiritual insight and moral steadfastness which enabled Van to maintain such an unshakable attitude of loyalty to the universe government was the product of clear thinking, wise reasoning, logical judgment, sincere motivation, unselfish purpose, intelligent loyalty, experiential memory, disciplined character, and the unquestioning dedication of his personality to the doing of the will of the Father in Paradise.
9. Education, training, and experience are factors in most of the vital decisions of all evolutionary moral creatures. But it is entirely possible for the indwelling spirit to make direct contact with the decision‑determining powers of the human personality so as to empower the fully consecrated will of the creature to perform amazing acts of loyal devotion to the will and the way of the Father in Paradise.
10. Amadon is the outstanding human hero the Lucifer rebellion ...it was an inspiring sight to behold this child of the evolutionary races standing unmoved by the sophistries of Daligastia...Caligastia, with a maximum of intelligence and a vast experience ....Amadon, with a minimum of intelligence and utterly devoid of universe experience, remained steadfast.
11. The sixty members of the planetary staff who went into rebellion chose Nod as their leader…In an effort to increase their numbers, Daligastia ordered immediate resort to sexual reproduction…Their descendants were long known as the Nodites, and their dwelling place as "the land. of Nod." The presence of these extraordinary supermen and superwomen…easily gave origin to those traditional stories of the gods coming down to mate with mortals.
12. Immediately upon the arrival of the Melchizedek receivers the loyal personalities (except Van) were returned to Jerusem and were reunited with their waiting Adjusters. We know not the fate of the sixty staff rebels; their Adjusters still tarry on Jerusem.
13. The vast majority of all human and superhuman beings who were victims of the Lucifer rebellion on Jerusem and the various misled planets have long since heartily repented of their folly; and we truly believe that all such sincere penitents will in some manner be rehabilitated and restored to some phase of universe service when the Ancient of Days finally complete the adjudication of the affairs of the Satania rebellion, which they have so recently begun.
14. Very soon after the rebellion the entire staff of sedition were engaged in energetic defense of the city against the hordes of semisavages who besieged its walls as a result of the doctrines of liberty which had been prematurely taught them ... The Caligastia scheme for the immediate reconstruction of human society in accordance with his ideas of individual freedom and group liberties, proved a swift and more or less complete failure.
15. One hundred and sixty‑two years after the rebellion a tidal wave swept up over Dalamatia, and the planetary headquarters sank beneath the waters of the sea, and. this land did not again emerge until almost every vestige, of the noble culture of those splendid ages had been obliterated.
16. The followers of Van early withdrew to the highlands west of India, where they were exempt from attacks by the confused races of the lowlands ...Before the arrival of the Melchizedek receivers, Van placed the administration of human affairs in the hands of ten commissions of four each, groups identical with those of the Prince's regime.
17. These Amadonites were derived from the group of 144 loyal Andonites to which Amadon belonged, and. who have become known by his name. This group comprised thirty‑nine men and one hundred and five women. Fifty‑six of this number were of immortality status, and all, (except Amadon) were translated along with the loyal members of the staff.
18. Van was left on Urantia until the time of Adam, remaining as titular head of all superhuman personalities functioning on the planet. He and Amadon were sustained by the technique of the tree of life in conjunction with the specialized life ministry of the Melchizedeks for over one hundred and fifty thousand years.
19. It should be recorded that, when Van appealed to the Most Highs of Edentia...the Constellation Fathers dispatched an immediate decision sustaining Van on every point of his contention. This verdict failed to reach him because the planetary circuits of communication were severed while it was in transit. Only recently was this actual ruling discovered lodged in the possession of a relay energy transmitter where it had been marooned ever since the isolation of Urantia.
20. By fifty thousand years after the collapse of the planetary administration, earthly affairs were so disorganized and retarded that the human race had. gained very little over the general evolutionary status existing at the time of Caligastia's arrival three hundred and fifty thousand years previously.
21. Sin is never purely local in its effects. The administrative sectors of the universes are organismal; the plight of one personality must to a certain extent be shared by all…Sin on Urantia did very little to delay biologic evolution, but it did operate to deprive the mortal races of the full benefit of the Adamic inheritance. Sin enormously retards intellectual development, moral growth, social progress, and mass spiritual attainment. But it does not prevent the highest spiritual achievement by any individual who chooses to know God and. sincerely do his divine will.
22. While we cannot fathom the wisdom that permits such catastrophes, we can always discern the beneficial outworking of these local disturbances as they are reflected out upon the universe at large.
23. The Lucifer rebellion was withstood by many courageous beings on the various worlds of Satania; but the records of Salvington portray Amadon as the outstanding character of the entire system in his glorious rejection of the flood tides of sedition and in his unswerving devotion to Van—they stood together unmoved in their loyalty to the supremacy of the invisible Father and his Son Michael.
24. From Edentia up through Salvington and even on to Uversa, for seven long years the first inquiry of all subordinate celestial life regarding the Satania rebellion, ever and always, was: "What of Amadon of Urantia, does he still stand unmoved?"
25. And let me assure you, this has already done more good in the universe of Nebadon and the superuniverse of Orvonton than can ever be outweighed by the sum total of all the evil and sorrow of the Lucifer rebellion.
26. And all this is a beautifully touching and superbly magnificent illumination of the wisdom of the Father's universal plan for mobilizing the Corps of Mortal Finality on Paradise and for recruiting this vast group of mysterious servants of the future largely from the common clay of the mortals of ascending progression—just such mortals as the impregnable Amadon.
Discussion Questions
1. How does sin distort personality?
2. How is coercion in education and legal rules related to our free will?
3. Why do you think so many of the corporeal staff, seraphim, and primary midwayers joined the rebellion?
4. What do you think will happen to the sixty staff rebels?
5. What might have been the “doctrines of liberty” that were taught to the Urantia peoples?
6. Why do you think the thirty-nine loyal corporeal staff were translated back to Jerusem?
7. Which of the resources of Van do you think was most important in his defense of universe loyalty?
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship