For five years—from May 1942 to May 1947—Harold and Martha Sherman were members of the Urantia Forum and lived across the street at 530 Diversey Parkway. During that time they clashed with Dr. Sadler on issues related to future book publication and organization plans, and their stance branded them as "outcasts" and "rebels" by the Doctor and his loyal followers, who believed the Shermans had motives of taking over the project. Through the years leading up to book publication and beyond, among the readership many hush-hush stories were told surrounding the events of those times. In 1976 Sherman published a book, How to Know What to Believe, in which he gave an account of their experience in a chapter titled "Pipeline to God." Many Forumites were still living at the time, so most of the names were changed.

In 1994 it was revealed in Martin Gardner's book Urantia, The Great Cult Mystery, that the Shermans had kept detailed diaries, which were to be released to the public in 2000. Here was the first—and to this day—only detailed eyewitness account of what had transpired during those years. Until then there were only myths, legends, sketchy hearsay and Sherman's own account, told with the hindsight of an old man 35 years later. Saskia Praamsma and Matthew Block of Square Circles Publishing copied the diaries, transcribed and edited them, and published them in five volumes as The Sherman Diaries. Currently these are being revised as The Urantia Diaries of Harold and Martha Sherman, and Volume One is already available in both print and Kindle. (Click here or on the image at right to purchase.)

In the process of researching the diaries, Saskia Praamsma became acquainted with the Shermans' daughters Marcia Lynch and Mary Kobiella, who provided additional material and photographs. In the diaries, reference was often made to a "little black book" which contained dreams and inspirational passages from Harold's "Thought Adjuster" (the Urantia term for the still, small Voice within), whom he named Ara, and these are published separately in a book entitled The Ara Messages.