These weekly programs began in July of 2008 and are archived (just take the above link or select a show from the following list); they can be listened to at any time.
The hosts and guests appearing on The Cosmic Citizen program are presenting their own views — there is no official interpretation of the teachings of The Urantia Book. Guests who not part of "the Urantia community" aren't expected to endorse the book or its teachings, and are not required to agree with its precepts or to have any knowledge of its contents.
Cosmic Citizen hosts Paula Thompson and Andre Traversa
Programs without special guests:
• 2008/08/23 — Open mic with Paula and Andre
• 2008/09/27 — Open mic with Paula and Andre
• 2008/10/18 — Open mic with Paula and Andre
• 2008/11/15 — Open mic with Paula and Andre
• 2008/12/27 — Open mic with Paula and Andre — [Chat session text]
• 2009/01/31 — Open mic with Paula and Andre (Adopt-a-Person discussion) — [Chat session text]
• 2009/02/28 — Open mic with Paula and Ann Garner (Efficacy of Rest, Motas) — [Chat session text]
• 2009/04/11 — Open mic with Paula and Andre (New Readers Featured) — [Chat session text]
• 2009/05/23 — Open mic with Paula and Andre — [Partial chat session text]
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Cosmic Citizen program guests:
• Anonymous 1 • Anonymous 2 • Banton, Pato • Belitsos, Byron • Blackstock, Sara • Choquette, Tom • Cira, Sheryl Bellman • Dreier, Steve • Duin, Julia • Garner, Ann • Green, Earlene • Halvorson, Chris — (500+ downloads 10/08) • Horn, Merritt • Isaacs, Susan • Jasser, Dr. Zuhdi • Jameson, Gard • Kalk, Bob • Kantor, David • Katzen, Halbert • Klimesh, Michelle |
• Knott, Paul • Labrecque, Diane • Lockett, Al • Keene-Lund, Sheila • Mullins, Larry • Nash, David • Ondis, Arnie • Orjala, Thomas • Pearson, Bishop Carlton • Sarmast, Robert • Siegel, Jennifer • Siljander, Mark • Snyder, Patricia • Strang, Brother Dave • Strawser, Patricia & Thomas • Tenney, Meredith • Traversa, Andre • Ware, Donald • Weimer, Buck & Arlene • Woodward, James — (500+ downloads 7/08) • Zoba, Jonathan |
Saturday, July 18, 2009 —
Comedian Susan Isaacs Takes God to Couples Counseling
in New Memoir Angry Conversations with God
Jobless, loveless and living over a garage at age 40, actor-writer-Lutheran Susan Isaacs hit spiritual bottom. Her rocky relationship with God needed professional help, so she took Him to couples counseling. She chronicles her “middle class white girl’s dark night of the soul” in Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir. Originally staged as a solo show in New York and Los Angeles, it’s a cheeky account that even at its rawest is a heartfelt affirmation of faith.
An alumnus of the acclaimed Groundlings comedy troupe who has appeared in movies such as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and TV shows such as Seinfeld, The Drew Carey Show, and My Name is Earl, Susan cast herself as a neglected wife who confronts the ridiculous expectations she has for her spouse. Only after divorcing her perceptions of “drill sergeant Father, wimpy Jesus and drive-by Holy Spirit” does she move on to a mature faith.
Susan’s Lutheran childhood infused her with a love of God, but her church experiences were detrimental to her spiritual health. In high school, the people who represented God were threatened by her burgeoning gift for comedy: “They acted like Woody Allen, Monty Python, and John Lennon led to sex, drugs, and atheism.” The pull between art and faith continued into adulthood, with Susan feeling “too wild for the church, too tame for the world.”
In hilarious, poignant detail, she recounts her flailing attempts to find peace. Struggling with her career, an eating disorder, alcoholism, and relationships complicated by her desire to remain chaste until marriage, Susan tried everything: Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Rock-n- Roll Slackers 4 Jesus, Actors for Yahweh, and any support group on offer, including one “to heal gays of their gaiety”— though she’s not gay.
“Through that insanity, even if pastors hurt me or friends let me down or entire denominations went Shiite on my ass, I still believed God was good,” she says. “I just needed to find out where he went.”
An encounter with controlling, abusive people and strange practices drove her away from church: “I had been violated by the people of God,” Susan writes. “Maybe I had Stockholm Syndrome. I’d been held hostage by wimpy Lutherans, parroting Pentecostals, fascist counselors, and rock-n-roll slackers. I blew off friendship and love; I turned down movies and abandoned a career-making comedy troupe. For what? To honor God with wild animal noises, gold teeth and Roidheads?”
At her lowest—a period that included breaking up with her almost-fiancé, her father’s death, her mother’s stroke, and her once-promising career on life-support—Susan’s faith unraveled. Who was this God who’d called her into a relationship? Had he ever had a plan for her life? Or had she imagined all of it? Did he care anymore? Had he ever? Counseling—getting God into a room with a third party—helped her rethink her beliefs and expectations, and return to what she once knew: “that God was good and that Jesus loved me.”
Now, whenever Susan tells her “God story” in her writing and performances, she finds that “regardless of their religious beliefs, people are looking for the same things: a connection to God, a desire for meaning and a way to stay alive even when dreams die.” That “dark night” sparked a turning point for Susan: “God torched my life and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. But I don’t like to say that too often. You know, in case he gets any snarky ideas.”
Susan has read her essays on public radio’s Weekend America and is a contributing writer to Donald Miller’s Burnside Writers Collective. She wrote DirecTV’s Songs of Praise specials, hosted by NASCAR champ Darrell Waltrip, featuring singers Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith.
For more information, visit Susan’s website: www.susanisaacs.net and blog susanisaacs.blogspot.com
Jonathan Zoba
discovered The Urantia Book while at "Gordon" Christian College on the Northshore of the Boston area in 2003. Jonathan soon got his fellow students, including his brother, to read it as well.
Jonathan grew up as the son of an American Baptist Pastor Father and a Christian Journalist Mother. He had lived four years as a missionary kid in Honduras, and after discovering an interest in 'Sustainable Tropical Agriculture' at the afore-mentioned Christian Liberal Arts College, he returned to Honduras to work with a sustainable ag program for about the last year. He returned to the US this Spring, after hitchiking back from Central America - he now lives in Salem MA.
This program continues our further discussion of the Urantia Book's relation to Christianity, and the fertile soil for outreach that exists in Christian circles. The topic is "Sharing The Urantia Book at a Christian College".
• 2009/07/11 — Sharing The Urantia Book at a Christian College — [Chat session text]
Andre Traversa is working as a life-coach — visit his website at www.ControversialCoach.com and see his more complete bio on our host's bio page at www.urantiabook.org/blogs/CosmicCitizen/Bios.htm Andre's topic for this program is "How We Change." How do we form new habits? Are willpower and self-discipline enough to get us to keep commitments?
• 2009/07/04 — How We Change — [Chat session text]
Sheryl Bellman Cira
is a lifelong truth seeker and devoted Urantia Book student since 1975. A licensed clinical social worker in private practice, her passion is the pursuit and encouragement of personal growth.
• 2009/06/20 — Spending Time With God — [Chat session text]
David Kantor,
has been an avid reader of The Urantia Book since 1966 and has been actively involved in study groups and various aspects of the readership since 1968. David has worked professionally as a technical software developer and currently manages IT services for The Urantia Book Fellowship.
• 2009/06/13 — Virtual Christian Urantia Book Society — [Chat session text]
Bob Kalk,
founder of
Ascension University,
has been a reader of The Uranita Book since 1972. Bob's goal is to build a university with a comprehensive curriculum which seamlessly integrates The Urantia Book and its concepts with existing disciplines. Rather than a comprehensive study of the papers, the papers will instead be integrated into the course content. For example, The Urantia Book's religious content will be well represented in comparative religion courses, while it's physics and astronomy will be a part of the science courses. Both explicitly and implicitly, Urantia Book content will be woven throughout the curriculum.
This program was originally broadcast on June 6th but due to technical difficulties it was edited by Bob and replayed as a broadcast on 06/27.
• 2009/06/27 — Ascension University with Bob Kalk — [Chat session text]
David E. Nash
has Civil, Industrial and Mechanical Engineer degrees with a Master’s Degree in Organizational Behavior and is a specialist in ‘Scheduling’ which has helped hundreds of major companies over past 30 years, spearheading ‘Fatigue Solutions’ to help manage employee safety and health. David is the founder of the National Association for Shift-work Health being further developed by the US government. In over 30 years in the industry he also designed and developed over 100 copyrighted modules, three software programs and also holds the patent rights to PRISM, a software system developed to save thousands of lives and prevent accidents, whose proceeds will go towards full support of Urantia University.
Meanwhile he has been an avid student of the Urantia Book for more than thirty years, but only recently published an educational initiative with the creation of a virtual Urantia University as can be viewed at www.urantiauniversity.org. As David puts it, Urantia-University (U2) has been in progress for over 25 years and the timing is now to draw together the next level of Didactic Administrative Structure (DAS) with the assembly of 12 Elders, 24 Masters, and 144 Teachers. He recently moved from Pawley’s Island, South Carolina to Denver, Colorado to collaboratively manifest this new initiative with many other long-term Urantia Book readers, and to fulfill the development of PRISM with Data Connect Corp CEO, Tim Hobbs.
In its attempt to blend revealed and human educational models, the design of Urantia-University has three primary purposes, to offer another mechanisms for gaining the deepest understanding of God, to provide each student with as much depth of knowledge of the truths revealed in The Urantia Book as he or she seeks and is capable of understanding and to gain human academic respect, not only for the value of the material studied, but also for the depth, breadth, discipline, and integrity of its educational structure and purpose.
• 2009/05/30 — Interview with David Nash and the Urantia University — [Chat session text]
Byron Belitsos
is a universe romancer and has been a student of the revelation since 1974. After an eclectic early career as a teacher and professional writer, he turned to business and founded several companies, most notably Origin Press
(www.originpress.com)
Byron has edited and published two previous books about the Urantia revelation:
The Center Within,
coedited with Fred Harris, and
The Secret Revelation,
by Stella Religa. Two of his books were also directly inspired by the Urantia text:
Discovery of Atlantis
by Robert Sarmast, and
One World Democracy: A Progressive Vision for Enforceable Global Law
(Origin Press, 2005), which he also coauthored, and which culminated 20 years of activism in the movement for world federation. He is just now releasing
A Return To Healing,
which he coauthored with Len Saputo, MD. Byron’s own forthcoming book is
Radical Wisdom—due
out in 2010. Byron has spoken widely on the Urantia Book’s teachings in venues that include Russian TV and on George Noory’s Coast-to-Coast AM Radio. He also served on committees for the Urantia Brotherhood and the Fellowship, and in a variety of visionary undertakings related to the revelation. Byron has a B.A. in intellectual history from the University of Chicago; his graduate studies have embraced humanities, literature, and religious studies and were conducted at Naropa Institute, where he studied with poet Allen Ginsberg, and at University of California (Berkeley and Santa Cruz) and at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He was also an inaugural member of Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute. He resides today in Fairfax, California.
• 2009/05/09 — Global Government and World Democracy with Byron Belitsos — [Chat session text]
A panel featuring African-American readers discusses The Urantia Book's provocative statements regarding the evolution of the various human races. Do racial differences persist today? Is it still accurate to suggest that one race is superior to another, or are the races so blended that all generalizations about them are inconclusive? How many of the problems afflicting the African-American community are cultural, and how many are due to racial or genetic factors?
To address these and other issues is a distinguished panel of guests, including Earlene Green, Al Lockett, Patty Snyder, and a guy who just calls himself John. Earlene and Al have written extensively on the subject and all four are longtime UB readers.
• 2009/05/02 — Race and The Urantia Book panel discussion — [Chat session text]
Earlene Green:
On p. 2097 of my Urantia Book, I recorded the following:
Completed 5-17-77 at 4:46 pm in the U.S. Attorney's office, Bldg. B, Washington, DC. Commenced appx. 11-30-76.
About four other independent readings followed along with at least seven to nine completions of the book in our study group, ten years of which I was the host.
I was introduced to the Urantia Book by Troy Bishop, the author of "starwind -- a study of space, time, deity, and the multilevelate nature of...." God sent me a genius to be my spiritual mentor. By the time I had finished Paper 51.5, I threw the Urantia Book from my position in bed clear across the room. I was in spiritual crisis. Troy had given me his phone number which I used for the first time at 10:30 that same evening. For over two hours, he guided me through other papers and sections which gave some continuity to the subject of the six evolutionary races of color.
I was one of about ten black people I had met at conferences who read The Urantia Book. I bought and gave away books to my other friends. I found it difficult to verbally explain to the unread in fifteen minutes or less how God really did love his black children equally with all of his children. Suddenly I was inspired to write about the subject and thus was born my paper called Race and The Urantia Book, (copy available here) April 1979, and addendum, August 1990. It was well-received in the Urantia community. Consequently I became a workshop leader, a speaker, a moderator, at a number of local, regional, and international conferences. I reached my pinnacle when I was a plenary speaker at IC96 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The title of the speech was: We're All Connected.
Now I enjoy the status of a senior in the Urantia movement. I attend only a few conferences now, the last one being IC08 in Los Angeles. It was most gratifying to see so many serious minded young people with a new attitude and a new way of spreading the teachings of The Urantia Book. For this, I give thanks to God. And so it is!
• Brief video containing interview of Earlene Green
Patricia Snyder:
I was born in, Oklahoma, but brought up in the segregated south in North Carolina. My grandmother was a person of strong faith, who lived by the “Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” We were members of the Baptist Church, which was a big influence in my life for two main reasons. Firstly, the sermons were by and large political, which emphasized the senselessness of segregation and nourished the idea that things could be changed. My half brother was the leader of the “lunch-counter sit-down movement” in Winston-Salem: he sat down alone three days after the “Greensboro Five” that started the movement to desegregate public food counters in the south. I, and a few others, joined him the next day. I was 15 years old, the others were college students. We stayed the course—when everyone else was giving up—and Winston-Salem, N. C. was the first in the liberated-lunch counter cities of the southern United States.
In the sit-down movement, we were joined by students from Wake Forest College (now University), which had recently moved to Winston-Salem. Wake Forest was a segregated Baptist College. My association with people from Wake Forest led to me being the first African American admitted to the college, which was the second reason for the Baptist Church’s influence in my life. I was also the first African American to be expelled, which made me a hero on campus in later years, but that’s another story. I left home at an early age, looking for truth. My mother died; I returned home and attended Wake Forest, was expelled and left North Carolina for California, where I stayed for about a year. After traveling throughout the US and to many countries for many years, I found that Truth, the Urantia Book, for which I was looking, in my own backyard, but not without drama.
I entrusted the money for a much-needed bank deposit—way before the ATM was a reality—to a neighbor, so I could leave with friends for a weekend in the islands. When I returned—a little later than I had anticipate—my bank account was in chaos. The neighbor to whom I had given my money was, unknown to me, a high-class-junkie heroin addict, who disappeared when I returned. One day, a couple of months later, he knocked on my door and asked, “Have you ever heard of the Urantia Book?” He handed me a big blue book and disappeared. As I touched the Book, it triggered a memory of a dream in which I was celebrating and dancing around a printing press, so happy that the “Papers” were finally being printed! That was in 1972. It took me 28 years to read the Book, cover to cover, the first time. When I finally stopped jumping around in the Book and opened to the Forward, I was stymied. The first paragraph was practically incomprehensible; I had only a high school education and less than a year of college. Because of the UB, I decided to continue my formal education, got accepted at UCLA in 1980 and was awarded a Ph.D. from UCLA (anthropology major) in 1995. My second reading took much less time. I have recently begun my third reading.
While at UCLA, I championed the cause of African Americans by serving in student government and bringing attention to the minimal number of minorities, especially African Americans, there were on campus. I promoted affairs to bring isolated African American graduate students together with faculty, administrators and each other to facilitate and establish networking opportunities to promote academic success for graduate students and retention for undergrads. I attended committee meetings and promoted women’s issues, such as, being on the University Policy Committee that for the first time, made a positive recommendation for UCLA to begin to award the PH. D. in Nursing. I worked on numerous projects regarding minority education. My focus in anthropology was linguistics.
My life project is a little program which I piloted—and hope to continue one day—in which I paid Fourth and Fifth Grade students to tutor First and Second Grade students in learning the alphabet and/or learning to read. Students from minority neighborhoods have figuratively a one-in-a-million chance of reading the UB; students who can not read have less than a snowball’s chance on the sun of reading the Book
Donald M. Ware,
LTC (USAF Ret.)
has studied UFOs since he saw seven alien vehicles over Washington, DC on July 26,1952. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University in 1957 and an MS in Nuclear Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1972. After serving his country as a fighter pilot, staff scientist, test manager, and teacher, he retired from the Air Force at the end of 1982. He served as State Director and Eastern Regional Director for MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) and since 1993 has been a Director of the International UFO Congress, www.ufocongress.com. He is now on an Advisory Board of the Exopolitics Institute trying to move formal interaction with those from other planets to an unclassified level below that of MJ-12. His search for truth has led to physical, mental, and spiritual interactions with the larger reality represented by the alien presence. Fifteen papers documenting his findings while seeking truth are at www.freewebs.com/donware
Don says, “I purchased the Urantia Book at a UFO conference in about 1990. I used it as an occasional reference in my studies of the larger reality of our alien visitors. It remained on the bottom of my reading stack, because I had reason to read many smaller books first. During my meditation on New Years resolutions for 1999 I knew I had to move that book from the bottom to the top and not read any other book until I finished it cover to cover. My only regret is that I did not read it sooner.”
Arnie Ondis
received the Urantia Book in 1972 during his second year of college. Although it mostly stayed on the shelf in those early years, he realized that it had become his touchstone and that led him eventually to become a dedicated reader. Arnie has become very active in sharing the Revelation with others, individually and in groups, using creative approaches that honor their truth and establish common ground. He is currently working to establish a Urantia Society in Florida, which is envisioned as a network of mentors and study groups designed to reach college students and sustain them in their spiritual development. Arnie has facilitated a study group for six years in Gulf Breeze, Florida, where he lives with his family.
• 2009/04/25 — Unique Approaches to Outreach with Don Ware and Arnie Ondis — [Chat session text]
Thomas J. Strawser,
the author and creator of Living Solutions, was born in West Virginia. He holds a B.S engineering degree and a graduate degree in Psychology.
For about twenty years Thomas has spoken to groups worldwide on Spiritual Engineering and emotional health. He has taken his unique ability to find solutions for complex technical challenges from his engineering and managing career and transformed it to finding logical solutions to improve physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional well being.
Thomas has been through his own trials and tribulations in life including the death of a teenage stepdaughter, his mother, nine siblings, loss of his wife of twenty-one years to cancer and his own diagnosis of total blindness (from which he totally recovered). Through the use of his spiritual engineering program, he has been able to survive all of these difficulties situations without fear or worry. Thomas has helped hundreds of people to find similar extraordinary results by applying the Living Solutions guidelines to their emotional problems.
Patricia Strawser is a native of Colombia, South America. She gained extensive experience in her home of Cali, Colombia as a school counselor and teacher.
Patricia immigrated to the US in 1988, in pursuit of the “American Dream”. Like many immigrants, she left behind a large supportive family and age-old customs to embrace a new culture and traditions. In 1993 she earned a B.A degree in Psychology. She has worked as a pre-school teacher and as a family counselor for neglected children. This valuable experience trained her to recognize the lack of parenting skills that contribute to problems in families. She applied this knowledge as a Parent Educator when she designed and provided training to help parents become more understanding and responsive to their children’s needs.
Currently Patricia is working with the Latino community in the Denver area. She provides weekly mentoring thru the radio in a local Hispanic station. Also she assists people into the implementation of the Spiritual Engineering Program.
As an immigrant facing family separation, cultural isolation, and language barriers, Patricia’s practical spirituality provided a source of strength. Through all these challenges she believed that when human spirit is strengthened by a higher spiritual power, transformations and miracles are possible.
OUR STORY: OUR COMMITMENT TO HUMANITY
One such miracle occurred in 2002, when we came from two corners of the country, Wyoming and Florida to attend a spiritual retreat in Estes Park, Colorado.
Near the end of the event, we met and within minutes we became entangled in a fascinating spiritual conversation and how to use our talents to serve other people.
We walked for a while contemplating the beauty of the Rocky Mountains’ skyline and continuing our conversation about the practical concepts of Living Solutions. After sharing for few more moments, we held hands, closed our eyes and prayed. We instantly experienced a powerful spiritual and mental communion. We both knew that we had discovered our soul mate.
We were laughing; just enjoying the restful awareness that follows prayer when all of a sudden a hummingbird flew towards us.
It came first to Patricia. She saw the amazing fluttering of his little lavender, blue, and pink wings as he hovered just six inches from her face as the time seemed to stretch into minutes. Then it flew to Thomas and lingered just inches from his face. The beautiful bird repeated this back-and-forth bonding action three times.
This happened in moments but we were frozen in time. As rapidly as it came, it flew away and left us with an open-mouthed wonder. We looked at each other in disbelief. Both of us had seen hummingbirds many times and knew what elusive and solitary birds they tend to be. Neither of us could offer a logical explanation of what had just happened.
This amazing episode marked the beginning of an extraordinary relationship. Within six hours, we fell in love and committed to share our lives and help others find a better life through a practical faith and intelligent spirituality. Then, we looked back and realized that perhaps the hummingbird symbolized a blessing and confirmation of our union.
We were married a year later and started our lives and loving service together. We have done lectures to present these concepts to many people in the Middle East, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas and Florida. In 2006, we had the great opportunity to introduce the concepts of the Living Solutions and the Spiritual Engineering process to the people in China. Now we work side by side to ensure a better and more productive life for hundreds of people, to transform humanity “One Person at a Time”
• 2009/04/18 — Interview with Patricia and Thomas Strawser — [Chat session text]
Two of the Co-founders of Interlife International (ILI) are the Guest Speakers on Cosmic Citizen, Saturday, April 4, 2009. InnerLife International, a 501 (c)(3) non profit organization, was formed to act as a catalyst in forming new programs and paradigms that would train and develop leaders while accomplishing specific service goals. The focus is on younger readers although any can and do participate in the various programs offered.
Meredith Tenney
is a visionary program developer and interfaith minister with degrees in law, public health, and nurse-midwifery. She co-founded the East Coast Women‘s Corps. and was the creator/Director of Adolescent Preventive Services, an innovative program for at risk youth. She co-founded InnerLife International, Inc. in 2005, and spearheaded a women’s Sewing Machine Project in Kenya in 2006. Meredith offered a presentation called "The Garden Project" at the IC08 Conference which stirred a lot of interest. She recently co-anchored the Garden Conference in Valle Crucis, NC, focused on building interfaith models of spiritual community.
Meredith has been a contributing author to a book, Spiritual Awakening and been a guest panelist at the World Brotherhood Union Symposium in Istanbul. She works internationally to energize the connection between feminine spirituality and women’s global leadership, and launch a dynamic force of women to promote peace, combat poverty, reduce environmental degradation, and create transformational change.
Thomas Orjala
began reading The Urantia Book in the late 60’s and has since had a passion for introducing the book to others. He volunteered with the Family of God in the early 80’s and has been introducing the book at holistic fairs, colleges, churches and anywhere someone would listen to him. He has been a member of the General Council of the Urantia Book Fellowship since 2003 and is the chair of the Outreach Committee. He has put in place new outreach programs that are motivating the readership to go beyond what was previously thought possible.
A co-founder of InnerLife International, he has helped design new programs such as the Cosmic Café and has held a Cosmic Café in his home town for 5 years sharing the Urantia book with people from all walks of life who attend the meetings. Thomas and his partner, Aurora Hill, created the Ambassador Program of Urantia a year ago and now have 6 Ambassadors working on various service projects. His passion is that all the people of the world have access to the gifts we now enjoy. To accomplish this goal requires training an ever growing group of dedicated second-milers who will go all the way through with this great endeavor. Much of Thomas’ training comes from a ten year involvement with Landmark Education’s course work.
Thomas has 2 young adult sons who are both active in Urantia Book activities.
• 2009/04/04 — Interview of Meredeth Tenney and Thomas Orjala — [Chat session text]
Tom Choquette
started out with a "paper route" and now is an Author, Businessman, Entrepreneur, Community Builder and Civic Leader. Tom is a success in several fields such as a Contractor, Developer, various Retail business, and developing educational systems to promote creative thought in young people, as well as numerous other fields. He has been on the Board of five Foundations, including the Governor's Task Force on Youth in Washington State, but is most well known to many UB readers as the guy who takes our kids on adventures, both physical and spiritual, at conferences as the co-founder of the "Truth Seekers" program for the UB youth.
Youths at risk and in crisis have been Tom's service focus for many years. Working with homeless and street kids (providing food, hope, love and friendship) and at risk youth in the Seattle area, Tom and his lovely wife Jannie co-founded "Teen Hope," an emergency youth shelter, and "Peace Table," which was a peer mediation program, and "University Street Ministries" with Teen Feed, Teen Shelter, and Skate Park, where he was President of the Board and a volunteer for many years.
Tom is a passionate speaker about issues concerning young people today. Jannie and Tom have raised three terrific children of their own and they have all been instilled with the "Thrill of Loving Service." Tom has been a leader in the Urantia movement for many years in their local community of Seattle WA, as well as in their previous home in Alaska where he helped co-found the "Northern Lights Urantia Society" and "The Pilot Light Urantia Society of Seattle." He has started of facilitated several study groups and has been a dedicated Urantia Book reader since the early 70's.
Not only passionate about kids, Tom is also a very entertaining speaker and will be talking about the numerous pressures on our youth today and what he believes are some of the most effective ways to reach and mentor them. He will discuss his new book "Children of The Lie."
Christilyn will be co-hosting the show again this week (and next week) while Paula is on vacation with her family.
• 2009/03/28 — An interview with Tom Choquette — [Chat session text]
Jennifer Siegel has been running a study group for children for nearly 18 years and shares her insights about sharing Urantia Book concepts with little ones and young people with hosts Christilyn Biek, sitting in for Paula Thompson, and Andre Traversa.
• 2009/03/21 — An interview with Jennifer Siegel.
The voice of the Uversa Press audio DVD of the Urantia papers... Merritt Horn, is the guest of this week's program. A reader of the Urantia Book for 40 years, founder of the Boulder School for the Study of the Urantia Book, author or the book,
The Call of the Spirit
and scholar extraordinaire. Merritt discusses challenging issues that confront Urantia Book readers; speculation such as, if Dr. Sadler wrote the papers would that change the truth content of the revelation? What should our faith be based on anyway? and other faith-stretching exercises.
• 2009/02/21 — An interview with Merritt Horn — [Chat session text]
Al Lockett
is the President and CEO of Learning4Today Corporation, Quality After-School Programs LLC and Academic School Turnaround LLC, and brings more than 20 years of experience in developing Mastery Learning systems in both the corporate and academic environments.
Al is a published researcher and developer of the One2One™ Mastery Tutoring methodology and continues to evaluate and refine current technology-based programs for low performing and low motivated students. His philosophy is that “every child can learn if given the right tools, proper instruction and enough time”. This philosophy he put into practice with his work as a mentor to young elementary school boys in Syracuse NY at the CNY Charter School. Prior to Learning4Today, Al served as Vice President of Educational Technology and Business Development for Knowledge Delivery Systems Inc., a NY based educational firm. That position lead him to Arkansas where he secured a state assessment contract and eventually moved there. Today he guides Learning4Today’s growth and expansion with his senior management team, Regional Directors and over 94 employee’s and150 contract employees.
From his corporate office in Little Rock Arkansas to offices in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, Al advances the company’s vision for closing the achievement gap and building successful motivated lifelong learners. His work includes research, assessment strategies, instructional methodology, training, and professional development.
Mr. Lockett went to Hampton Institute and holds undergraduate degree in Psychology from Rutgers University, a Master in Education in Instructional Technology from American Intercontinental University, and currently completing dissertation work for a doctorate in Educational Technology and Cognitive Development from Walden University.
Al started reading the Urantia Book in 1972 and his story appears in the book “How I found the Urantia Book”. He published “Disguised Blessings” a paper on race and the Urantia Book. He was the first instructor/ facilitator and assisted in the early development of UBIS Online School and taught for 6 years before serving on the Board of Directors. In addition to many published articles, he is also an accomplished musician and recorded on Arista records. Al recorded his own CD “Life Dance” and continues to record and perform concerts throughout the country as part of his music ministry. Two current recording projects include, “In Front of Angels” and “Agondonter, Believe without Seeing”.
Al is divorced and has two sons, Bradford, 27, the oldest and recently married, is a graduate of University of Maryland with a degree in Information Systems and works for the US Dept.Of Commerce. Matthew, 25, is engaged to be married and works for the Hartford Insurance while he finishes a degree in Business in Oklahoma City.
• 2009/02/07 — An interview with Al Lockett — [Chat session text]
• 2009/05/02 — Race and The Urantia Book — [Chat session text]
Gard Jameson,
a Urantia Foundation trustee and Urantia Book reader since 1971. Gard is a professor of Asian philosophy and religion at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received his PhD from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Comparative Mythology with emphasis in Depth Psychology. He is married to Dr. Florence Jameson with two children, Michael and Julia.
The topic of these programs is the life and teaching of Karl Gustav Jung, a psychologist with a decidedly spiritual bent. Jung's interests included mythology, comparative religion, dream analysis, and even alchemy. The first of these two shows serves as an introduction to Jung. The second show integrates Jung's thought with the teachings of the UB.
• 2009/01/24 — An interview with Gard Jameson on Karl Jung — [Chat session text]
• 2009/02/14 — Karl Jung and The Urantia Book, Gard Jameson — [Chat session text]
Dr. Paul Knott received his PhD in psychology from Vanderbilt University and served as a professor at the University of Denver. He is also the founder of Denver Academy, a private school known for it's service to special-needs students.
A longtime UB student, Dr. Knott is author of the book Remaking America, the Values Reolution, which he will discuss on our broadcast.
• 2009/01/17 — An interview with Dr. Paul Knott — [Chat session text]
The Good Doctor, anonymous guest 2. A PhD. in Pauline theology and a professor of religion at a major university. A longtime Urantia Book reader, he has successfully integrated insights gleaned from the UB with credible Christian scholarship, and is an authority on the Atonement Doctrine, which is the topic of this program. He has authored several books on the subject, and is currently working on a book about the teachings of Jesus.
• 2009/01/10 — An interview with the Good Doctor — [Chat session text]
Brian, anonymous guest number 1. Brian is a psychotherapist in private practice, and a longtime Urantia Book reader since his college days. The topic of this program is true and false guilt, the purpose of legitimate guilt as opposed to false, or neurotic guilt. Brian also touches on issues of New Year's resolutions, and what truly motivates people to change.
• 2009/01/03 — An interview with Brian — [Chat session text]
Robert Sarmast
is a writer and explorer who has traveled the world in search of clues for solving some of the world’s most enduring mysteries. His research over the last fifteen years has targeted the location of Atlantis and uncovered groundbreaking evidence first reported in his book
Discovery of Atlantis: The Startling Case for the Island of Cyprus,
published in 2003, and now updated.
In 2004 he founded First Source Enterprises, LLC, to promote more extensive research in this area, which led to the world's first scientific Atlantis expedition and yielded sufficient evidence to ignite a global sensation. He is the leader of the Cyprus-Atlantis Project and organized a second underwater expedition from the island of Cyprus that included a documentary film series about this extraordinary discovery.
Robert gives his unique perspectives on Jesus, Adam and Eve, Magisterial Missions, ancient mythology vs The Urantia Book, his adventures in the Holy Land and other topics of interest. About this interview Robert says, "If you have questions about the Eden/Atlantis project, this is the time to ask. I've given over 100 interviews over the years but this is the first time I won't be omitting any information and will tell all I know."
Robert's website is located at www.discoveryofatlantis.com
Link to an article on Wikipedia about Robert Sarmast.
• 2008/12/20 — An interview with Robert Sarmast — [Chat session text]
Sara Blackstock
has been working with elementary age children beginnin over 40 years as a public school teacher, and for the last 20 years the Executive Director of a large school age day care program. She is especially interested in the spiritual development of children and in guiding parents to nourish the innate spirituality of children. She was the co-ordinator of three Jerusalem Marketplaces for three international Urantia conferences, where she loved to set the stage for children to experience life in the times of Jesus.
Sara has given a number of workshops at Urantia conferences; the latest was at the 2008 conference at UCLA called Parenting with the Spirit - Raising Cosmic Citizens. She considers this workshop to be a start for a book coordinating truths of The Urantia Book with scientific research in the fields of Child Psychology, Neuro-sciences, Nutritional Sciences, Educational Research, and Social Research dealing with the emotional and social development of children.
• 2008/12/06 — An interview with Sara Blackstock — spirituality, parents and children
— [Chat session text]
Buck and Arlene Weimer
met and fell in love on the island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean in 1965. After marriage in 1970, we experienced many adventures while backpacking around the world for 2 years. During a year of teaching in Florida in 1972, Arlene was handed the UB by one of her students, a disoriented Vietnam veteran, who urged her to continue pursuing the course topic of “personality”. We both completed our first reading of the UB in a tent near a mountain top in Costa Rica and were compelled to make life-changing decisions: to return to our culture, have a family, and dedicate our lives to loving God and serving humanity.
We settled and lived in Pueblo, Colorado for the past 34 years, where we raised 3 sons (our greatest achievement) and developed careers in psychotherapy: Arlene in private practice, Buck at a local hospital. We continue to host a study group, participate in many forms of outreach, attend conferences, present workshops, and travel internationally for the cause of the Revelation. We invented and have a business based on our patented medical underwear, have written a book, and look forward to the Morontia adventure.
• 2008/11/29 — An interview with Buck and Arlene Weimer — parenting issues
Brother Dave and his wife, Georgia,
were given a copy of The Urantia Book in 1975. Being a life-long Truth-seeker, he realized, in a few hours of intense, critical study of the Foreword, that this Revelation was written by a definitely super-human intelligence. But is the purpose of this massive tome for good or evil? Careful perusals of all of TUB over the next 14 months fully confirmed to him that it is for the long-term good of all mankind. Over 33 years of Spirit-led reflective study of TUB (full readings about 18 times) and doing thousands of topic studies have convinced Brother Dave that The Urantia Book is just as it so states, no more and no less! This is a mighty Revelation of Truth, but not a mightly Revelation of Spirit until our One Holy Father-Son-Spirit of Truth, Who is known as our Sovereign Savior Jesus Christ Michael, lovingly burns these deep eternal Truths into your soul, and you have a glimpse of your final Paradise Destiny in and with Him. May 24, 1977 - is the date of his sudden and profound spiritual Birthday. Charles G. Finney's and Blaise Pascal's famous sudden Visions of God and Jesus as One combined Coordinate Light of Life seems to Brother Dave to be the closest kindred-spiritual experiences known to date. One must allow many years of study and ongoing experiences for the mind to slowly catch-up intellectually to the super-conscious experiences of our loving Father God here in our Spirit-led soul.
Dave taught electronics and math while in the US Army, then as a civilian taught for the US Navy, and then worked over six years as a Field Engineer at the NASA satellite tracking station in Madagascar (Malagasy Republic) for the Gemini and Apollo moon missions. He and his family then returned to the USA and owned hardware and music stores over six years. He was then Spirit of Truth-led to devote the rest of his life to active evangelism of sharing the Living Gospel of Jesus to many, often with selected gems from TUB. He suggests perusing this Fifth Epochal Revelation to only a very few who seem to be fully ready for such a tremendous illumination of Reality. He is married 43 years, has three adult children, and five grandchildren to date. Part-time professional jazz, (classic, big band, blues, funk) rock, concert band drummer-teacher over 45 years so far. Has Jesusonians Family Fellowship (TUB study) Group in his home in the greater Chicago area for many years.
Any persons interested may immediately join my Yahoo Group: Christian-Philosophy http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Christian-Philosophy/
Come visit and contribute content material to my large Jesusonian Christian website http://www.PureChristians.org/
• 2008/11/22 — Guest Bro Dave discusses the divinity of Jesus.
• 2009/03/07 — Guest Bro Dave discusses Sonship. — [Chat session text]
Mark Siljander
is an experienced statesman at home and abroad. He represented Michigan for 15 years, including three terms as a Member of the United States Congress, where he served on the International Relations Middle East Subcommittee and was Ranking Member of the Africa Subcommittee. He was the primary sponsor of the African Famine Relief Act. Mark was later appointed by President Reagan as a US Ambassador (Alt. Delegate) to the United Nations in New York, where he served as a member of the Middle East and Africa Strategy Group of permanent representatives.
Ambassador Siljander is a student of several languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew, and has spent over ten years studying the three Holy Books of the Abrahamic faiths. With over 26 years serving in the power circles of Washington and semi-official travel to nearly 130 countries, he has generated unique opportunities for frequent access to world leaders.
Reprint of article from World Magazine: "2008 Daniel of the Year" Facing Islam 12/13/2008
• 2008/11/08 — Continuation of the 2008/11/01 interview below with Mr. Siljander
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser
is the Chairman of the Board, founding member, and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). He is the son of Muslim-Syrian immigrants and is a native of Wisconsin. Dr. Jasser received his B.Sc. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1988 and graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin on a U.S. Navy scholarship in 1992. He completed his specialty training in internal medicine at Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1996. His tours of duty included Medical Department Head aboard the U.S.S. El Paso ('93-'94) which deployed to Somalia (Operation Restore Hope), Chief Resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital ('96-'97), and Staff Internist for the Office of the Attending Physician to Congress in Washington, D.C ('97-'99). He has since been in the private practice of internal medicine and nuclear cardiology in Phoenix. Dr. Jasser is the immediate-Past President of the Arizona Medical Association (ArMA) and also chairs the Bioethics Committee for Banner Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.
As a devout practicing Muslim, Dr. Jasser has always been very active in the study of Islam and its intersections with American culture. He has been active in multiple local efforts at interfaith work. In 2000 he and a leading local Rabbi founded the Children of Abraham, an active Muslim-Jewish dialogue group in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Jasser has also serves as the Muslim representative on the Board of the Arizona Interfaith Movement since December 2001.
Dr. Jasser is a moderate Muslim concerned about radical infiltration of American mosques. His video, "The Third Jihdad," available at www.thethirdjihad.com, deals extensively with this topic. Also visit the American Islamic Forum for Democracy website.
Topics for this program include Mr. Siljander's recent book A Deadly Misunderstanding, a Congressmans' Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide available at Amazon.com and Dr. Jasser's Christian/Muslim perspectives.
• 2008/11/01 — Guests Siljander and Jasser discuss Christian/Muslim perspectives.
Raised up as a voice of reason and moderation in a world of extremes, Reverend Carlton Pearson made a choice. He chose to tell the world that God's love is absolute and complete. A choice boldly declaring that God wants relationship with all of humanity; Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Hispanics, gays and any and all who have been marginalized by the dominant culture and considered unacceptable and unworthy by the Christian church at large. Furthermore, Pearson, through scriptural study, research, and heartfelt conviction, is absolutely convinced that God is not sending people to Hell at the rate proclaimed by the moral majority. And even maybe more earth-shattering, he believes God's love is not being represented anywhere near the fullness that the Almighty intends. In essence, Pearson is simply saying that "God loves on a global basis, not just an American or Christian basis."
What Pearson intended to be comforting, resulted in being controversial. While his message is good news to the world, it caused religious leaders across America to revolt. Pearson had been a longstanding associate of The Joint College of African American Pentecostal Bishops Congress, who has deemed him "heretical" for preaching a Gospel that included everyone and excluded no one. Several other evangelicals issued harsh press releases and statements distancing themselves from Pearson, many of whom had been given their very first chances at national exposure through Pearson's ministry.
Currently the Senior Pastor of New Dimensions Worship Center located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he has pastored for over 30 years, and has been the host and overseer of the annual AZUSA Conferences, held each year in Tulsa and across America, for more than 15 years. AZUSA became known for its high-energy music, powerful preaching, integrated crowds, and for exposing a number of now well-known ministries to the world.... (Excerpt from Bishop Pearson's website.)
Bishop Pearson's latest book, The Gospel of Inclusion, available on Amazon.com, is the focus of the program.
For more information, more complete biography, photos, and contact, Carlton Pearson's website is located at www.bishoppearson.com
• 2008/10/25 — Interview with guest Bishop Carlton Pearson, author of The Gospel of Inclusion.
Julia Duin
(pronounced "Deen") is an accomplished writer and journalist who has worked for 5 newspapers, written four books, along with more magazine articles than she can count. Julia doubles as a senior writer for The Washington Times, covering events ranging from inner city ministries in Brooklyn, N.Y. and a church/state conflict in northeastern Alabama to a famous child abuse case in eastern Washington state and the 2005 election of Pope Benedict XVI.
Julia has won several national awards for her religion reporting. She has covered Pope John Paul II, the Lambeth Conference for Anglican Bishops in England, religious persecution in Egypt and Jordan and the millennial celebrations in Israel. She has covered other international events as well, including events in Italy, France, Canada, India, Greece, Spain, Iceland, Guatemala, Ecuador and the Caribbean, which is why she is fluent in French, conversant in Spanish and German and speaks portions of Kurdish, Arabic and Italian.
A native of Baltimore, Julia has been to nearly every state in the union, as her travels started at the age of six weeks when her family moved to Hawaii. She received her bachelor's degree at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., and her master's degree at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, a seminary near Pittsburgh. She began magazine writing in high school, and gained national recognition as a correspondent for evangelical publications such as "Christianity Today" and "Charisma.
Julia likes to ski, hike, bike and play the Celtic harp. She pursued her harp studies at a worldwide gathering for folk harpists in 2001 in Edinburgh and has attended many other harp conferences. She has even won a few blue ribbons in harp competitions.".... (Excerpt from Julia Duin's website.)
Julia's most recent book, Quitting Church, available on Amazon.com, is the focus of the first hour of this program.
For more information, more complete biography, photos, and contact, Julia Duin's website is located at www.juliaduin.com
• 2008/10/11 — Interview with guest Julia Duin, author of Quitting Church.
• Brief video containing interview of Pato Banton
Pato Banton is a Urantia Book reader who combines award-winning reggae music with UB Ministry.
Known for delivering a message that is food for both mind and soul, some have considered Pato's charismatic performance as live theatre. He mixes music with audience dialog on a range of topics including spiritual freedom and religious commitment while keeping the vibes upbeat and fun! Many have said that the positive outlook generated from the stage has changed their lives forever.
Sometimes Pato invites his fans to join him in a prayer circle after the show, where some have cried while sharing their stories of contemplated suicide, isolation after losing a loved one, struggles with substance abuse or how their personal connection with Pato has given them the strength to "Stay Positive" & "Never Give In."
In the mid-1990s, after six years of chart success and continuous touring, Pato decided to step away from the commercial music business and continue on his path of Positivity. In his home studio, Pato recorded his tenth album “Life is a Miracle”, which gained him a Grammy Nomination and clearly defined his lyrical, musical, and spiritual growth.
In early 2000, Pato decided to take a 7 year break from music to create more opportunities for young people in his local community. His venture was a huge success and became a region wide example of how to engage young people and reduce gang violence in inner city areas. Pato was duly awarded with the BBC’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication and commitment to positive change. In the same year Pato received the Black Music Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his contribution to the British Music Industry.
A period of deep reflection and meditation left Pato feeling guided to continue his musical journey. In early 2005 Yahe Boda (a consecrated spiritual teacher and forerunner) invited Pato to do a short tour across America to “Gather the People in Praise.” This led to Pato phasing out his community commitments and with renewed energy to take on the challenge of recording the inspired double album entitled “The Words of Christ.” (a narrated album of Christ’s teachings taken from the Urantia Book).
Although Pato had been away from the live concert circuit for many years, he had a place in the minds and hearts of the masses; his remarkable reputation as being a first rate showman was evidenced in the grand reception to his comeback and the rave reviews from the media and fans alike. After two short tours Pato joined forces with the very popular, Mystic Roots Band (voted top Reggae Band by the Los Angeles Music Awards). In order to participate and open the International Urantia Conference at UCLA in July of 2008, Pato chose to cancel a major performance in London with Beyonce.
In 2009, Pato will embark on a major tour of all 50 states of America and offer his spoken word performances on the college circuit while spreading the good news and uplifting the masses with a message of peace and love.
Pato's CDs are available on Amazon.com. For more information, itinerary, more complete biography, photos, and contact, Pato's website is at www.patobanton.com
• 2008/09/20 — Interview with guest Pato Banton
Steve Dreier
has studied The Urantia Book for over thirty five years, participated in numerous conferences, and held a variety of positions in
The Urantia Book Fellowship.
He currently serves as Secretary of The Fellowship.
In the last two decades great progress was made in identifying the so-called “human sources” that various authors of The Urantia Book employed as the basis of their work. The majority of these discoveries come from the pioneering work of Matthew Block. Steve has studied many of these “human sources” and in this program he will share his findings and attempt to answer questions.
• 2008/09/13 — Guest Steve Dreier discusses human sources of The Urantia Book.
• Brief video containing interview of Sheila Keene-Lund
Sheila Keene-Lund was born to an English father and a Puerto Rican mother in Vigo, Spain. The family lived in Cuba, England, and Puerto Rico before moving to the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia, where she grew up and eventually married and had three sons.
She completed corporate management and finance training with the London Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and later became Chief Operations Officer of Carib Touring Limited. Moving her family to Fairfield, Iowa, Keene-Lund worked as a Marketing Manager for a local software company before starting her own business and developed a set of twelve standard operation procedure manuals pertaining to all aspects of nursing home and assisted living environments.
While in Fairfield, Sheila started a non-profit organization, the Adopt-a-Grandparent Foundation whose mission was to promote meaningful relationships between the elderly and the youth of the community. She developed a unique program for matching grandparents to youth and documented the system so that it could be introduced in any city. During her two years as Executive Director, she arranged and managed the "adoption" of over 200 elderly citizens in nursing homes and assisted living settings, with over 225 volunteers.
Introduced to Transcendental Meditation practice in 1977, Sheila became a certified teacher in 1980. In Iowa she also became a Server in the St. Gabriel's Liberal Catholic Church of Fairfield and eventually a Deaconess. In that capacity she developed workshops on spiritual care for the living and dying. These programs served to expand the understanding of the dying process and complimented her work as a Hospice volunteer.
Sheila was raised as a Catholic and after two near death experiences at a young age, she began to search for more complete answers about life after death than those provided by Catholic doctrines. She embraced Eastern mysticism at the age of 18 and for over twenty years these blended beliefs co-existed in her spiritual repertoire until she honestly questioned their effect on her life. Sheila found The Urantia Book in 1992 and has devoted much of the last fifteen years to writing Heaven Is Not the Last Stop which reflects her journey to reconcile the differences. It has been a journey of research and reflection, of theoretical and creative insight—putting the Big Picture of Existence together.
Sheila lives with her husband Bart Lund. They divide their time between Florida and California.
• 2008/09/06 — Guest Sheila Keene-Lund discusses her soon-to-be-released book Heaven Is Not the Last Stop.
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 & 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.
His newest book, The MetaValues Breakthrough, will be published in late 2008. In reference to writing
A History of the Urantia Papers,
Larry states it is the achievement of a team of 15 dedicated Urantians who agreed to follow truth wherever it led. He adds that he is fortunate that his wife, Joan Batson Mullins, has a remarkable knowledge of the Urantia Papers and so enthusiastically contributed to this project.
Joan and Larry live in St. Augustine, Florida. Larry’s youngest daughter, Michelle, lives in Boulder and is a devoted student of the Urantia Papers. Larry is CEO of UltraSales, Inc., a nationally syndicated advertising and marketing business.
• 2008/08/30 — Discussion of the early history of The Urantia movement with guest Larry Mullins.
• Brief video containing interview of Diane Labrecque
Diane Labrecque was born in Quebec city of French speaking parents and raised as a catholic in a family of 10 children including 5 boys and 5 girls. While living in Toronto at the age of 20, Diane studied Fashion Design at Sheridan College of applied arts and sciences. Upon returning to Montreal, she founded the High Fashion Knit Design Program at LaSalle College and enjoyed a successful 15 year career as a freelance fashion designer, professor and director of the program. While teaching in the fashion field, she avidly studied natural medicine in her spare time and later became a specialist in Natural Health Care.
While on a one year sabbatical from teaching in 1990, Diane had deeply transforming spiritual experiences which culminated in her receiving The Urantia Book as a gift in 1991. By the summer of 1993 she was serving as the MC for the International Urantia Conference in Montreal. In the first six months of 1993 she hosted a weekly television program on The Urantia Book that aired across the Province of Quebec. Later that same year she moved to Boulder, Colorado to fellowship with the lively community of UB readers there and although she eventually moved back to Canada, she still considers Boulder a second home. In 1998 she graduated from the Institute of Holistic Nutrition and started practicing as a nutritional consultant using the Quantum Energetic Medicine System. As someone who has actively promoted healthy eating and living, it was only natural that Diane would found her own company http://www.osauna.com/ in 2004. O' Sauna specializes in manufacturing high end infrared saunas to help rid the body of various impurities and promote overall health. Diane often says, "When the human temple is pure and healthy, the indwelling divine spirit can manifest itself in a free flowing harmonious expression."
In 2007, Diane received her DTM degree as a Distinguished Toastmaster. In July of 2008, she served again as MC for the International Urantia Conference IC'08 that was held at UCLA. Diane is an accomplished speaker and leader who devotes herself to a holistic ministry of health and spirituality with a special focus on actualizing the Living Faith of Jesus.
Diane can be contacted for speaking engagements at dianelabrecque@osauna.com;
In December, 2008 Diane is listed as the featured graduate from the Institute of Holistic Nutrition in December, 2008.
• 2008/08/16 — Discussion of the last paper in the Urantia Book, the "Faith of Jesus" with guest Diane Labrecque.
• 2008/08/16 — With Ann Garner, the meaning of the incarnation of Jesus and of God becoming man. — [Chat session text]
• Brief video containing interview of Ann Garner
Ann Garner was introduced to The Urantia Book in 1979. Over the years she has been a study group facilitator and currently co-hosts (with hubby, Steve) a "Third-Sunday Gathering," as well as a weekly study group. During the 90s she was a member of The Urantia Book Fellowship General Council and Director of North America Area Coordinators. She also served at Whole Life Expos throughout North America introducing the book.
Ann brings a truly diverse background to audiences. She is an ordained Christian Minister and Thanks-Giving Square Interfaith Council member. In addition to her interfaith ministry, Ann has conducted seminars around the US, is a computer software instructor/consultant and an English as a Second Language Instructor. Her reflections also span 30 years of experiences drawn from top level executive management (Vice-President of two national companies), entrepreneurial endeavors in marketing and publishing (founder of SAGE, International), and certification in Whole Brain Technology by pioneer Ned Hermann. Ann embodies a lifetime of varied business and spiritual experiences as well as a fulfilling family life and ongoing friendships with outstanding leaders and teachers from around the world.
• 2008/08/09 — Part IV of The Urantia Book, "The Life and Teachings of Jesus" with guest Ann Garner
• 2008/08/16 — With Diane Labrecque, the meaning of the incarnation of Jesus and of God becoming man. — [Chat session text]
• 2009/02/28 — Open mic with Paula and Ann Garner (Efficacy of Rest, Motas) — [Chat session text]
Halbert Katzen
created the UBtheNEWS project and continues to spearhead its development on a full time basis.
He provides an excellent grasp of current science and its relation to the revelation in this program.
• 2008/08/02 — Part III of The Urantia Book, "The History of Urantia" with guest Halbert Katzen.
Michelle Klimesh
is the author of a condensed version of The Urantia Book titled
The Story of Everything.
She is a member of the General Council of
The Urantia Book Fellowship
and currently serves as Secretary-General. Michelle has been studying the revelation since 1973.
• 2008/07/26 — Part II of The Urantia Book, "The Local Universe" with guest Michelle Klimesh.
Chris Halvorson
has a PhD in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has worked as a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder since 1987. He discovered The Urantia Book in 1990 and has been a student of its revelation of truth ever since. Starting in 1995, Chris has led a weekly study group that is devoted to expanding readers' understanding of The Urantia Book; these sequential weekly studies are being recorded on video and are available at his New Horizons Study Group site at
www.perfectinghorizons.org beginning with Paper 57, recorded in May of 2007.
• 2008/07/19 — Part I of The Urantia Book, "The Central and Superuniverses" with guest Chris Halvorson.
• 2008/10/04 — Truth, fact, error; etymology; scientific fallacies; Large Hadron Collider; time and space.
• 2009/03/14 — Survival; how many? who avoids survival? — [Chat session text]
• 2009/05/16 — Understanding eugenics in The Urantia Book — [Chat session text]
James Woodward
discovered The Urantia Book in 1973. In the early nineties he began attending study groups and social activities in Southern California, joining
Urantia Association International
in 1993. Following a variety of volunteer assignments in UAI, James was recruited to Chicago in 2000 to join the staff at Urantia Foundation. He served in the Reader Services Department for five years and then accepted the position of Executive Administrator of UAI, serving until July 2008. He is currently a free-lance writer and editor and continues to be active in Urantia outreach and volunteer projects.
• 2008/07/12 — Guest James Woodward provides a general overview of The Urantia Book.
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