Glossary Archive

John the Baptist was a cousin of Jesus. He became a Nazarite at 14 and later served as the advance herald of Jesus' mission on earth. In appearance and manner, he emulated the prophet Elijah and, in thought, was influenced by the prophet Daniel. John began preaching on the Jordan in AD 25. He baptized...

John Zebedee was the fourth apostle, following his older brother, James. His greatest strength was dependability—he was prompt and courageous, faithful and devoted. His greatest weakness was conceit and intolerance. Later, in exile, John wrote the Book of Revelation, and eventually became the bishop of Ephesus. He died there at the age of 101.

Judas Iscariot was the twelfth apostle, being chosen by Nathaniel. He was appointed treasurer and was a good businessman. He came from Judea, being the only son of unwise parents who pampered him. As a result, he had exaggerated ideas about his self-importance and was prone to brooding, suspicion, and revenge. He was often critical...

Lanaforge is a primary Lanonandek Son who succeeded Lucifer as the System Sovereign of Satania. He earned distinction by remaining faithful to Michael in an earlier upheaval in the universe of Nebadon. He is a gracious and brilliant ruler and a rebellion-tested sovereign.

Lanonandeks are the third order of the local universe Sons of God. They are divided into primary, secondary, and tertiary orders. The primary Sons serve as System Sovereigns, the secondary as Planetary Princes, and the tertiary function in subordinate and assistant roles.

A legion of angels consists of almost 500,000 individual angels. Twelve legions equals one host of angels, almost six million individuals.

Life Carriers are local universe Sons of God who formulate and establish physical life on the evolving worlds. They are permitted to manipulate the life environment and favorably affect the course of biologic evolution until the appearance of the first humans. Afterwards, they may choose to remain on the planet as future advisers.

Life experiment worlds, also known as life-modification worlds or decimal planets, are inhabited worlds on which the Life Carriers are allowed to modify and improve the standard Nebadon life designs. Every tenth planet, including Urantia, is a life-modification world. In Nebadon, these worlds are linked together and constitute a special domain of universe affairs.

Life plasm or germ plasm are terms (now obsolete) used in The Urantia Book for inheritable genetic material. We may loosely think of it as DNA and RNA. The book adds to our knowledge by stating that the original life plasm implantation on earth carried the designs for all future evolutionary changes and modifications, including...

A local system is an administrative grouping of (eventually) 1,000 inhabited planets. At its center is a large headquarters world with surrounding morontia worlds. This is where mortals go after they die and, from here, they continue to improve on their long journey to Paradise. There are 100 systems in a constellation. Our local system...