Paper 45 Overview: The Local System Administration

The administrative center of Satania consists of a cluster of fifty-seven architectural spheres, with Jerusem as the system capital, along with seven major satellites and forty-nine subsatellites. Jerusem, nearly one hundred times the size of Urantia (earth) but with slightly less gravity, serves as the headquarters for the local system government. The seven mansion worlds where ascending mortals begin their afterlife journey are positioned as subsatellites of the first transition world.

This entire system of architectural worlds functions with independent lighting, heating, water systems, and energy supplies coordinated by the Satania Power Center and the Master Physical Controllers. These specialized beings maintain the physical organization of these specially created spheres according to established techniques. The native spornagia assist in the physical maintenance of these worlds, helping to care for their material and energetic needs.

The administrative center of Satania is comprised of a cluster of fifty-seven architectural spheres, including Jerusem itself (the system capital), seven major satellites, and forty-nine subsatellites. Jerusem is approximately one hundred times larger than Urantia, though its gravity is slightly less. The seven mansion worlds, where ascending mortals begin their morontia journey after physical death, are positioned as the seven subsatellites of transition world number one.

This entire system of fifty-seven architectural worlds operates with independently generated light, heat, water, and energy, all coordinated by the Satania Power Center working together with the Master Physical Controllers. These specialized beings maintain these systems according to established techniques for the physical organization of these specially created spheres. The native life-forms called spornagia assist in the physical maintenance of these worlds, caring for their material and energetic requirements.

The seven major worlds that orbit around Jerusem are generally known as the transitional culture spheres. Their rulers are appointed periodically by the Jerusem supreme executive council, and each world serves a specific purpose in the system's organization. Number 1 is the Finaliter World, which serves as headquarters for the finaliter corps and is surrounded by the seven mansion worlds where mortal ascension begins. Transport seraphim carry ascending personalities between these worlds on pilgrimages designed to cultivate faith in their ultimate destiny as transition mortals, allowing them glimpses of the finaliters who have completed the Paradise ascension.

The other six transition worlds include: Number 2, the Morontia World (headquarters for supervisors of morontia life); Number 3, the Angelic World (headquarters for seraphic hosts); Number 4, the Superangel World (home of the Brilliant Evening Stars); Number 5, the World of the Sons (headquarters for divine Sons of all orders); Number 6, the World of the Spirit (system rendezvous for high personalities of the Infinite Spirit); and Number 7, the World of the Father (a silent sphere with a central temple of light but no visible beings). The seven satellites surrounding the Father's world are currently used as detention spheres for those involved in the Lucifer rebellion, which ascending mortals on the seventh mansion world can visit as a solemn warning.

The chief executive of a local system of inhabited worlds is a primary Lanonandek Son known as the System Sovereign, who is entrusted with significant executive responsibilities and personal prerogatives. In the local universe of Nebadon, these sovereigns have been granted unusually wide powers of personal discretion in directing system affairs. Throughout Nebadon's history, only three System Sovereigns have exhibited disloyalty, with the Lucifer rebellion in Satania being the most recent and most widespread.

The current System Sovereign of Satania is Lanaforge, who succeeded the rebellious Lucifer with all the power and authority of his predecessor, except for certain matters now supervised by the Constellation Fathers. Lanaforge is described as a gracious and brilliant ruler who has been tested by rebellion, having served loyally to Michael during an earlier upheaval in Nebadon. During the second system rebellion, when the System Sovereign fell into darkness, Lanaforge as first assistant seized control and minimized the losses, earning him the distinction of being the only primary Lanonandek Son in Nebadon who functioned loyally in such circumstances. Although not all affairs of the isolated worlds of Satania have been returned to his jurisdiction, Lanaforge takes great interest in their welfare and frequently visits Urantia.

The chief executive of Satania, the System Sovereign, is supported by a staff of seven Lanonandek Sons who administer the system. This staff includes: Lanaforge, the System Sovereign; Mansurotia and Sadib, the first and second assistant Sovereigns; Holdant, the custodian of the system who controls interned spirits; Vilton, the system recorder; Fortant, the bestowal director; and Hanavard, the high counselor who functions as acting chairman of the executive council. This group of seven constitutes the expanded emergency administration made necessary by the exigencies of the Lucifer rebellion.

The Lanonandek administration is supported by the Jerusem executive council, which consists of twelve members from various orders of beings. This council periodically chooses three members to represent the local system on the supreme council at universe headquarters, though this representation remains suspended due to the rebellion. Since Michael's bestowal, Satania has resumed sending ten members to the Edentia legislature, having been permitted to elect these representatives to the constellation governing body.

At the center of the seven angelic residential circles on Jerusem is the headquarters of the Urantia advisory council, known as the four and twenty counselors, whom John the Revelator called the four and twenty elders. The central throne belongs to the presiding archangel, serving as the judgment seat for resurrection roll calls, while the twenty-four surrounding seats were installed about nineteen hundred years ago after Christ Michael attained full sovereignty of Nebadon. These counselors are Michael's personal agents on Jerusem with authority to represent him in matters concerning the roll calls of Satania and in executing special requests from Gabriel.

These twenty-four counselors were recruited from the eight Urantia races, with the last members assembled at the time of Michael's resurrection roll call nineteen hundred years ago. The council includes prehistoric spiritual leaders (Onagar, Mansant, Onamonalonton, Orlandof, Porshunta, Singlangton, Fantad, Orvonon), Adam and Eve, Enoch, Moses, Elijah, Machiventa Melchizedek, John the Baptist, and 1-2-3 the First (leader of loyal midway creatures). Eight seats are either temporarily filled or held in reserve for future great teachers and representatives from coming ages on Urantia, including the ages of Magisterial Sons, Teacher Sons, and the ages of light and life.

The central abode of the Material Sons is the chief temple of the Material Sons, located in an enormous area consisting of one thousand centers. Each family of Material Sons and Daughters lives on its own estate until they depart for service on evolutionary worlds or begin their Paradise-ascension career. These Material Sons are the highest type of sex-reproducing beings found on the training spheres of evolving universes, and they are truly physical in nature, visible to the mortal races of inhabited worlds.

The Material Sons serve as the physical link in the chain extending from divinity down to humanity, providing inhabited worlds with a mutually contactable intermediary between the invisible Planetary Prince and the material creatures of the realms. At the last count, there were more than 161 million Material Sons and Daughters registered in Nebadon, with their numbers constantly increasing through natural reproduction. These beings occupy vast estates on Jerusem and participate extensively in managing the capital sphere, administering most routine affairs with the assistance of midwayers and ascending mortals. On Jerusem, they are permitted to experiment with ideals of self-government similar to the Melchizedeks, achieving a high type of society with nearly complete autonomy.

The Material Sons and Daughters, along with their children, present a fascinating spectacle that always arouses curiosity and interest among ascending mortals. They are so similar to material sex races that mortals find many common interests to engage their thoughts during fraternal contact. Mortal survivors spend much of their leisure on the system capital observing and learning from these superior semiphysical sex creatures, who serve as their immediate sponsors and mentors until they leave for Edentia.

Ascending mortals on the mansion worlds are given opportunities to compensate for any experiences they missed in their worlds of origin, particularly regarding family and social relationships. Many mortals reach the mansion worlds without having benefited from healthy family or social experiences, and the Material Sons and Daughters help them compensate for these deficiencies. This experience is crucial because the relationship between parent and child is fundamental to understanding the Universal Father and his universe children. No surviving mortal, midwayer, or seraphim may ascend to Paradise without experiencing parental relationship to an evolving child or an equivalent experience, making this training with the Adams and Eves an essential part of the universal ascension plan.

The Melchizedeks direct a large corps of instructors who function on Jerusem and its associated worlds, particularly the seven mansion worlds. These mansion worlds serve as detention planets where mortals who failed to achieve fusion with their Thought Adjusters during physical life can be rehabilitated and given extended opportunities for spiritual attainment. The Brilliant Evening Stars and Trinity Teacher Sons collaborate with the Melchizedeks in these progressive training schools, though their activities are not exclusively devoted to ascending mortals but also serve the native spirit personalities of Nebadon.

The Melchizedeks conduct more than thirty different educational centers on Jerusem, beginning with the college of self-evaluation and culminating in the schools of Jerusem citizenship. In these latter institutions, the Material Sons and Daughters join with the Melchizedeks in their supreme effort to qualify mortal survivors for the responsibilities of representative government. The entire universe is organized on the representative plan, and every one hundred years each system selects ten representatives to sit in the constellation legislature. Under the supervision of the Melchizedeks, ascending mortals – especially those who are delayed in their personality unification on the new morontia levels – are given intensive training by the Material Sons to rectify any deficiencies before leaving for the more extensive socialization of the constellation.