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UFO
REVELATION 9
Dr.
Barry H. Downing
UFOS
AND CONSERVATIVE PROTESTANTISM: PART I
If
the position of liberal Protestantism in relation to UFOs could be
described as the sound of one hand clapping, conservative
Protestantism can be described as clapping with both hands, but
without enthusiasm, on a limited basis. I listen a lot to Christian
radio, I hear many conservative voices, and UFOs are rarely
mentioned. But there are conservative Protestant Christians who know
UFOs represent a serious challenge to us. Exactly how to understand
the challenge is another matter, and this is not surprising. The
UFOs have not shown themselves openly to us, the governments of the
world have lied to us, for our own good of course, and so it is hard
to get solid information.
My
starting position is this: Whatever UFOs are, they are under the
Lordship of Christ, either directly, or they will be in God’s good
time. John’s Gospel says clearly of Jesus “He was in the
beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him
was not anything made that was made.” (Jn. 1:2) In some sense,
UFOs are part of Christ’s creation. UFOs might carry the angels
of God, who are directly obedient to Christ; or they might be, as
some writers suggest, demons. But Jesus was victorious over the
demons whenever he confronted them in his ministry. If demons are
“loose” in our skies now, Christ can tame them. UFOs might carry
“fallen angels” as some have suggested. They may be like
humanity, sinful, but in due time will face Christ in judgment. Or
UFOs may be Satanic, agents of God (as in the case of Satan with Job)
whose task is to test humanity, to test our faithfulness. Or they
might be some life form from another planet, or universe, who may or
may not know Christ. Perhaps the missionary commandment (Mt. 28:19)
extends beyond planet earth, as the Pope’s astronomer suggests.
Guy Consolmagno has speculated that if we meet aliens, we might offer
them baptism. (Lee Speigel, AOL News, September 24, 2010) But in the
end, Christ will rule all, including the UFOs, whatever they are.
“The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I make thy
enemies a stool for thy feet.” (Acts 2:34,35)
My
second conviction is that Christ is fair. That means he will not
condemn us for not knowing things we cannot know, such as the time of
his second coming. Jesus said neither he nor the angels know of the
time of his coming. (Mt. 24:36) Obviously, Jesus is not going to
condemn us for not knowing what he himself does not know. The
Apostles warned of false prophets to come, many in the name of Jesus,
or falsely proclaiming the end times, and the Rapture. A USA
Today newspaper headline said, “Minister
not seen after doomsday fails.”
The
story told of Minister Harold Camping, founder of the Family Radio
network, who had been predicting the Rapture would begin Saturday,
May 21st, 2011.
It did not. On Sunday, Camping was no where to be found. There is
danger we will fall under a “strong delusion” (2 Thes. 2:11) at
the hands of Satan, and sometimes Satan speaks through the mouth of
Christians, Peter being exhibit “A” (Mt. 16:23), the latest
Satanic Christian voice being Minister Camping. Some people see my
voice as Satanic when I wonder if UFOs carry the angels of God. I
hope everyone understands that wondering about God’s possibilities
is not the same as being certain about them.
When
Christians claim to be certain about things we have no right to be
certain about it is a serious issue, and one way to avoid being
deluded is to admit that we may not really know everything (really!).
This takes humility. My experience with conservative Christians is
that they want to know the truth, and sometimes say they believe
things with total conviction that are not well supported by evidence,
either biblical or scientific. If we say to Christ and each other,
“we do not have enough evidence,” we avoid some of the dangers of
being deluded.
At
the same time I do not think we need to be shy about calling the
church to pay attention to the UFO mystery. UFOs may be some kind of
sign from God, to the church, or to the whole world, or not. But
the whole body of Christ needs to pray and wonder about the challenge
before us.
The
Bible does not tell us how many galaxies are in the universe; how
many planets are in each galaxy; whether or not there is life on
other planets. Christ is a fair judge. Christ does not expect us to
know what is not in the Bible. But if science can figure some of
these answers out, fine. And in regard to the situation we now face,
there is nothing in the New Testament that says the year 2011 would
arrive, or that in 2011 Jesus would not yet have returned. Nor does
the Bible say that in 2011 many people would believe the United
States and other governments are hiding secret information about
UFOs.
What
this means is, Christ expects us to go on faith, to deal with the UFO
situation as faithfully as we can, knowing that, like Abraham, we
cannot be sure where it is we are to go. (Heb. 11:8) This is what
faith is—a journey with God where the path is not clear. Faith is
living with the ambiguity that we face, with many choices about what
UFOs may be. Abraham did not have a Bible to guide him, and the
Bible does not give us clear guidance to the UFO challenge at the
present time. The church by and large is blind to the issue of UFOs.
There are a few of us traveling this UFO road, and some of us have
been called “kooks” and “heretics” more than once. But I
think that somewhere in the future, especially if what Dolan and
Zabel call the “Day of Disclosure” comes, church leaders will be
embarrassed that they did not ask a lot of questions sooner about
what UFOs might have to do with Christ. If we are faithful maidens
of Christ, with oil still in our lamps, we should be asking.
CHRISTIANITY
TODAY REVIEWS MY BOOK
Christianity
Today published a review of my book by Albert
L. Hedrich, in the June 21, 1968 issue, under the heading, “Flying
Saucers in the Bible?” Hedrich was credited with being “assistant
director of research for Page Communication Engineers” in
Washington, D.C. Hedrich said, “The Bible
and Flying Saucers could be judged worthless
but harmless were it not for the distortions it contains and the
credentials of the author. He holds a doctorate in theology from the
University of Edinburgh.” Hedrich suggested it was wrong for me
to connect UFOs to the Bible when I admitted I did not have 100%
proof that flying saucers existed. From the point of view of many,
we still do not have proof. But for people like Dolan and Zabel, the
evidence of a mammoth cover-up is beyond dispute. Indeed, the size
and nature of the cover-up is much more clear now than in 1968. Many
conservative authors such as Clifford Wilson, John Weldon, Timothy
Dailey and Gary Bates understand that, although they might not agree
with my view on what is being covered up.
But
even in 1968, it was widely rumored that there was a cover-up. The
Condon Committee at the University of Colorado had not yet released
their “Scientific Study,” so that one would suppose I would have
the right to “wonder” if UFOs were real, and if so, how they
might relate to the Bible, and to Christ. Christianity is about
faith, science is about proof. It seemed strange to me that the
reviewer did not seem to understand that “faith is the conviction
of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1) And if what Dolan and Zabel call
the “Day of Disclosure” comes, we may not have a clear idea of
UFO purpose even then. It seems clear in light of events like the
Phoenix 1997 sightings that UFOs can show themselves powerfully if
they want to, without landing and making open contact. If UFOs want
to “prove themselves” to us they can, and still leave a lot of
mystery about origin and purpose. Waiting until UFOs land on the
White House lawn before wondering what they mean for Christians is
like waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus to see if we really want
to believe in him. Waiting to touch the wounds in his hands may be
scientifically sound, but it is not justification by faith. The
issue of UFO reality of course also concerned President McCord of
Princeton Seminary. The lack of UFO proof has been the basic
“excuse” for the church to look the other way.
There
is much more in the book review I could complain about, but I do not
want to spend the space here. The key thing that struck me was that
nowhere in the review did Hedrich use the word angel, or discuss how
the angels of God might relate to us in our modern times. If UFOs do
not carry the angels of God, how do we tell the difference between
UFOs and angels?
I wrote a letter to
the editor, Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, dated July 3, 1968, stating that I
thought the review failed in many ways, but especially in regard to
not even mentioning the biblical doctrine of angels. I enclosed an
article entitled “Angels and UFOs,” requesting that it be
considered for publication. The opening sentence of the article was,
“Perhaps at no time in the history of the church has the Biblical
doctrine of angels been more neglected than during the twentieth
century.” The article dealt with the role of angels in biblical
revelation, the relation between angels and the Holy Spirit, modern
UFO reports, and how all these might be connected.
I
received a letter from Janet Rohler, editorial assistant, dated July
18, 1968, which said, “Our editorial committee has read your
manuscript, ‘Angels and UFOs.’ Since the committee is divided
about its use in Christianity Today,
we should like to delay the final decision until fall when Dr.
Lindsell and other new staff members will come.” Many months
later, I received a standard rejection letter, without comment.
One
of my observations in my book was “that Jesus is portrayed in the
Bible in much the same way as our modern-day ‘spy’ stories.
Jesus came from a foreign world into our world and started to gather
together a small band of people who would owe their allegiance to his
world (heaven). Jesus is really an ‘undercover agent.’” (The
Bible and Flying Saucers, p. 145-6)
I
make this reference because after the Christianity
Today rejection of my article, I wondered how
the “unpublished” editorial discussion of my book, and the
rejected article went. I knew that Billy Graham was closely
connected to Christianity Today,
and I found it interesting that in 1975 he published a book with the
title: Angels: God’s Secret Agents.
It has been more than
40 years since my book was published. The United States government
still denies that UFOs exist. And by and large, “respected”
religious journals continue to publish with almost no reference to
UFOs. It seems to be a pleasing arrangement to almost everyone.
But
if UFOs are a gift from God to the church as a sign of God’s
presence and faithfulness, then we are expected to respond. Our
response might very much be like Peter at Pentecost saying, “these
men are not drunk, as you suppose,” (Acts 2:15) except perhaps we
are supposed to say in Peter’s place, “these are not space aliens
as you suppose, but rather they are the angels of God, and of his
Christ.” If that is how we are supposed to respond, then Christ
may not be pleased with how “respected” Christian publications
and leaders have responded to the UFO situation. In fact, I suspect
that if the signs that have been given to our generation had been
given to Sodom, Sodom would have repented. (Mt. 11:23)
The
most basic conservative response to UFOs has been negative, either to
say they have no connection to our biblical faith, or that they are
demons or fallen angels. I would add on the negative side the
Satanic. We will now explore these theories.
THE
DEMONIC THEORY OF UFOS
There
are several books that present the demonic theory of UFOs from a
Christian point of view. I will consider three of them: Close
Encounters: A Better Explanation (1978), by
Clifford Wilson and John Weldon, The
Millennial Deception: Angels, Aliens and the Antichrist
(1995), by Timothy J. Dailey, and Alien
Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection
(2004), by Gary Bates.
(Also
see my article, “Demonic Theory of UFOs,”
The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters,
2001, p. 155-7.)
Clifford
Wilson had previously published UFOs and Their
Mission Impossible (1975), and John Weldon
had published UFO’s: What on Earth is
Happening? (1976). Their basic thesis is that
“demonic powers vary in their capacities. Some are extremely
intelligent entities that are nonphysical in nature but have a
capacity to assume a physical shape and to undertake certain physical
activities.” (p. 35)
They
rely heavily on the research of John Keel, author of books such as
UFO’s: Operation Trojan Horse (1970),
as well as The Mothman Prophecies
(1975). Keel is aware that many UFO close encounters, especially
involving cars, often involve children. People often have
frightening dreams after a UFO encounter, and start getting strange
phone calls. Keel’s argument is not that UFOs come from another
planet, but rather they come from another dimension, and they seem to
play tricks on humans for entertainment. Wilson and Weldon say that
Keel “warns strongly against youth involvement with UFO’s.”
Keel goes on to suggest that poltergeists operate in the presence of
children. (p. 77)
Thus
Wilson and Weldon connect the world of the paranormal with UFOs, and
this is a legitimate connection in some UFO cases. Their book has
an excellent bibliography, and as part of the bibliography they have
a section devoted to “Occult Literature,” including books dealing
with “Astral Doorways,” “I Talked with Spirits,” and “Amazing
Secrets of the Psychic World.”
There
are books published since the work of Wilson and Weldon which
strengthen their argument, such as George P. Hansen’s book The
Trickster and the Paranormal (2001),
including the chapter “Government Disinformation.” The chapter
begins with a quote from President Bill Clinton to Webb Hubbell, “If
I put you at Justice, I want you to find the answers to two
questions for me. One, Who killed JFK? And two, Are there UFOs?”
(p. 219) Likewise the book Hunt for the
Skinwalker (2005) by Colm A. Kelleher and
George Knapp, tells the story of a scientific attempt to nail down
the truth about UFO sightings at a ranch in Utah, an attempt which
fails due to what seem to be paranormal tricks by an unknown entity.
Wilson and Weldon
conclude their book with Appendix C, “The Bible and Flying
Saucers.”
Here
they review three books in order: R.L. Dione’s God
Drives a Flying Saucer (1973), my own book,
The Bible and Flying Saucers
(1968), and Joseph Blumrich’s The Spaceships
of Ezekiel (1974). They are opposed to
connecting UFOs as any form of spaceships with anything that is in
the Bible. In particular, they do not want technological power
substituted for “supernatural” power. Having read Dione’s book
(as well as Blumrich’s), I understand how these books read more
like a science text than a book full of the Holy Spirit, and seem to
have lost a sense of God at work. In regard to my book Wilson and
Weldon say, “We must again face the anti-supernatural bias.” (p.
331) I would in my defense ask Protestants who claim they are guided
by scripture to point to where the word “supernatural” appears in
the Bible. It is a derived theological concept, which may have some
validity, but its roots have to be reexamined.
Wilson
and Weldon complain, in regard to my argument that a UFO parted the
Red Sea (see UFO REVELATION 4) that the Bible states clearly that
“God directly parted the sea” (p. 331), and of course the Bible
does not say God “directly” parted the sea anywhere, but the
Bible does say the angel of God was present at the Red Sea, and the
Lord was present in this angelic form. (Ex. 14:19-30) The
Everywhereness of our invisible God becomes visible only through some
angelic form, and finally through Christ, who is the visible image of
the invisible God. (Col. 1:15) When Christ performs miracles, it is
God performing miracles. When angels carry out God’s work, it is
God’s work. One of the basic problems is that we do not have a
clear understanding of how the Everywhere God connects to his angels,
to Christ, and finally to the church. Thus Eric von Daniken assumes
he can just “disconnect” the angels in the Bible from God, and
make them secular astronauts. Likewise, those like Wilson and Weldon
assume that if the angels of God used technology, rather than the
“supernatural,” to part the Red Sea, they are thereby
disconnected from God. If I fly in a plane it does not disconnect me
from the Everywhere God, or from the Holy Spirit. My major
complaint, as I made it to the editors of Christianity
Today, is that most Protestants do not really
allow for the work of the angels in their theology, and we see this
clearly in the way Wilson and Weldon do their analysis. Also they
place way too much importance on the concept of the supernatural
which is not directly a biblical idea. Nevertheless, Wilson and
Weldon have made a good summary of some of the negative and troubling
dimensions of the UFO mystery. It may be that some UFOs are demonic,
or something like it. I will make further comments after reviewing
the other two books.
FROM
DEMONS TO THE ANTICHRIST
Timothy
J. Dailey connects UFOs, demons, Satan and the Antichrist in his
book, The Millennial Deception.
At the time the book was written, Dailey was “senior editor of
Chuck Colson’s nationally syndicated Break-Point
radio program.”
It
is somewhat surprising to find the opening chapter of Dailey’s book
deals not with UFO sightings, but rather with Betty Eadie’s popular
book Embraced by the Light, which
tells of her near death experience. In her book Eadie meets Jesus,
and angels, which might be a good thing to some, but from Dailey’s
point of view, her experience points to her false Mormon beliefs
about Jesus and angels, and thus her story is one of spiritual
deception.
Dailey says, “Betty
Eadie’s visit to the spiritual realm, though ultimately misleading,
appears to have been for her a positive, uplifting experience. But
such agreeable counterfeits are overlaid with anti-Christian
teachings that lead many astray. And there is a dark side to the
deception in which men, women and children report horrific
experiences of being carried away in sheer terror by dreadful spirit
beings.” (p. 43)
Dailey
then moves on to the story Whitley Strieber tells in his popular book
Communion. In this
book Strieber tells of some type of physical presence coming into his
home, and into his bedroom, and “communing” with him in a largely
non-verbal way.
Dailey
then asks, “Do demonic forces actually exist and are they able to
manifest their presence under certain limited circumstances? The
Bible clearly says yes.” (p. 45) Dailey then goes on to mention
the “Gerasene madman” (Mark 5:1-17), as well as other cases where
Jesus drove out demons.
Did
Strieber’s encounter really happen? Dailey is not sure, but
believes it could have happened. “Researchers into the occult are
well aware of manifold ways by which demonic beings attempt first to
seduce, then to corrupt and finally to terrorize and destroy souls.”
(p. 45)
Dailey
also draws on the work of Raymond Fowler, who has written extensively
about the Betty Andreasson abduction case, published in The
Andreasson Affair (1980), and various
sequels. The basic story is that Betty was in her home with her
children when a UFO landed in her back yard, all in the family saw
it, and beings came through the door of her home without opening it,
taking Betty to the UFO, where she goes through a long process,
including hearing the voice of God. During the abduction, one of
Betty’s daughters witnesses the abduction, while the rest of the
children are “turned off.” Betty believes she is dealing with
the angels of God.
Dailey believes she is dealing with deceptive
demons.
People like Betty
will lead us astray. Dailey worries, “One day the world at large
may indeed witness a mind-boggling public manifestation of UFOs and
their alien occupants. If and when such an event occurs, there will
be little doubt as to the message they will bring. Undoubtedly many
nominal Christians will attempt to view such an unsettling event in
religious terms. Not a few will follow abductee Betty Andreasson in
believing that this is what is meant by the Second Coming of Christ.”
(p. 97)
Indeed,
“nominal Christians” such as myself made this argument in my book
in chapter 6, “Flying Saucers and the Future.” (p. 191 ff.)
Interestingly, while Wilson, Weldon, and Bates all condemn me openly,
Dailey never mentions me or my book. (Whether this represents poor
research on Dailey’s part, or wise editing, I do not know.)
We
have many problems here. Exactly how are we to tell the difference
between a sudden mass sighting of UFOs, and the Second Coming of
Christ? But also, how are we to evaluate the testimony of those who
say they have had a divine or angelic encounter in an “abduction”
experience? If Elijah, after he was taken up in a chariot of fire (2
Kings 2:11), were to come back to earth and tell his story, would
people have said “He has a demon?” Both Jesus and John the
Baptist were accused of being demon possessed of course. (Mt. 11:18;
Jn. 7:20)
Or what do we make of
this statement from Paul? “I know a man in Christ who fourteen
years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or
out of the body I do not know, God knows.” (2 Cor. 12:2) Was this
an out of the body experience, like Betty Eadie, or an abduction
experience like that of Betty Andreasson? And if we follow Dailey
and condemn both Eadie and Andreasson as dealing with demons, on what
basis do we decide their experience is demonic, but Paul’s “occult”
experience was angelic or divine? If God wanted to break through to
our evil and adulterous generation with a sign, how could God do it,
without such a revelation being condemned by Dailey as demonic?
Part
2 of Dailey’s book is entitled “Antichrist Past and Present,”
and here the biblical concept of the antichrist is introduced, with
images from the books of Daniel and Revelation. He explores the
possibility that secret organizations “like the Council on Foreign
Relation, the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderburger Society”
(p. 109) may be related to the Antichrist, but Dailey does not really
accept these possibilities; he knows that some have wondered if the
Antichrist might be Judas Iscariot raised from the dead (p. 127), but
Dailey doubts it. Some of course thought Nero was the Antichrist (p.
135), but although there have been many candidates to wear the title
“Beast” from the book of Revelation (p. 149 ff), no one can
really claim the title without dispute.
In
Part 3, “How Shall We Then Live?” Dailey returns to Betty
Andreasson, making her the model of Christian deception. Betty
claims to be a Christian, tells others she was taken to be a witness
to the world, but Dailey is sure she is deceived. Dailey quotes an
alien speaking to Betty saying that man is now in “Separation,
duality. He has formed that other side. He has made it to happen.
It was all good at one time. Even his choice was good at one time.
He has separated it. In love there is no separation.” (p. 191-2)
Dailey then goes on
to comment, “Salvation, according to Eastern thought, has nothing
to do with biblical teaching about sin and redemption. Rather, man
is inherently divine and has somehow become separated from Brahma,
the impersonal force from which the universe has arisen.” (p. 192)
I
guess Dailey is “free” to interpret the alien statement to Betty
Andreasson this way, if that is how he sees it. But why not see the
biblical imagery here? After Adam and Eve sin, God drives them out
of the Garden. Humanity is now separated from God, and so the
process of God bringing us back to himself is the story of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob , the God of Moses, the God of Jesus Christ. We are
in a duality, what is flesh is flesh, what is spirit is spirit. Jesus
says so. (Jn. 3:6) That which is born of the flesh is self seeking
(seeking domination, see UFO REVELATION 8), that which is born of the
Spirit is self giving. When we are redeemed in Christ, we love God,
and our neighbor as ourselves, and thereby we become one with God and
each other. “In love there is no separation.” Dailey sees the
message from the alien as “proof” that Betty is caught up in some
kind of Eastern mysticism. I don’t see it. I think Dailey has
gone looking for evil in the Betty Andreasson story, as the Pharisees
looked for a legal pretext to destroy Jesus. God calls us to
“repent,” like the Prodigal Son, and “come to ourselves”
(Luke 15:17), the Son returned to his Father, the one I call our
Everywhere God. When the son returns, the duality, the division, is
gone. When we are united with Christ, our redemption is won, our
separation is over.
I
do not have “proof” that Betty Andreasson experienced an angelic
encounter. I do not have proof that her encounter is not demonic,
or Satanic, as Dailey argues. But what I would say is this. I think
Dailey has gone way beyond what the evidence, either biblical, or
scientific, should allow him to say. Dailey is worried about
deception. I am worried that many Christians who are shouting “don’t
be deceived” may be among the loudest deceivers. Why can’t
Dailey just say the modern UFO experience raises many questions for
Christians, some hopeful, some dark and dangerous? Why not say we
need the whole body of Christ to wake up to this challenge, and pray
for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in discerning the truth? I have
met Betty
Andreasson, we were both speakers at the same
conference in Connecticut several years ago. I think she is a
beautiful child of Jesus Christ. What a price people like Dailey
have made her pay for her experience.
ALIENS,
DEMONS AND EVOLUTION
Gary
Bates comes at the UFO issue with a special set of glasses. His book
title, Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution
Connection gives a clue to his real major
concern, which is to protect the Genesis story of creation from the
unbiblical doctrine of evolution. Groups like Creation Ministries
International distribute this book. Bates says that by using the
Bible, and making “simple calculations,” we can estimate that
“the time of creation, as recorded in
the Scriptures, was only
about 6,000 years ago.” (p. 345) Thus Bates rejects modern
scientific evidence even more radically than do the conservative
voices advocating creation by “intelligent design” like Phillip
Johnson (Darwin on Trial,
1993), Michael Behe (Darwin’s Black Box,
1996), or William Dembski (The Design
Inference: Eliminating Chance Through Small Probabilities,
1998).
The
Bates position on creation which holds to a literal Genesis is seen
as a joke in our wider culture. The Sunday, July 10, 2011 edition of
my “Sunday Comics” featured the following “Doonesbury”
cartoon by Garry Trudeau. In the first panel, a science teacher is
saying to his class, “So all the evidence massively supports a
theory of evolution that knits together everything we know about
biology.”
In the second panel,
the teacher says, “However, as high school science students in the
State of Louisiana, you are entitled to learn an alternative theory
supported by no scientific evidence whatsoever!”
The
teacher continues, “It goes like this. 5,700 years ago, a male
deity created the heavens and the earth and all life on it in six
days. . . .unfortunately, he didn’t like his own handiwork, so God
created genocide and drowned everyone on earth except the family of
Noah, a 600-year-old man who was charged with saving animals.”
In the fifth panel, a
student interrupts, “Mr. Stiller?” The teacher responds, “Yes?”
In the final panel,
the student says, “Please stop. I’d like to get into a good
college.” The teacher responds, “Almost done. So Noah took two
of everything including microbes, but forgot the dinosaurs…”
One
of the interesting features of UFO disclosure, as Richard Dolan and
Bryce Zabel envision it, is that if the world were to know UFOs are
real, not only does the literal Genesis of Bates now face a new kind
of doubt, but likewise, suddenly the theory of evolution is no longer
the sure “scientific truth” that Doonesbury assumes it is.
Suddenly biologist Richard Dawkins’ book The
God Delusion, is no longer so scientific.
Maybe life on earth is the result of “intelligent design,” not
evolution. Maybe Christians should pay more attention to the
biblical doctrine of angels; maybe God’s angels have had work to do
in creation, as well as in redemption.
Before he gets to
UFOs, Bates asks in chapter 4, “Did Aliens Create Life on Earth?”
(p. 119 ff.)
The
answer is “No,” as we might expect, but he refers to scientists
like Francis Crick, who speculated concerning DNA and the “seeding”
of life on planet earth. Later, Bates will deal with abduction
researchers like Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs, who believe the
aliens are conducting some type of breeding program. (p. 240 ff)
All of these issues threaten the doctrine of biblical creation as
Bates understands it.
In
the early chapters of his book, Bates traces the idea of “aliens
from outer space” in movies and in television. He places much of
the blame for the development of the “UFO myth” on Donald Keyhoe,
who through hearsay evidence wrote books claiming a government
cover-up.
(p.
165 ff) In regard to Roswell, Bates admits the government made a
mistake, saying a weather balloon crashed, when in fact it was “a
secret project known as Skyhook.” (p. 167) The lie helped make the
Keyhoe “myth” more believable. (Although Dolan and Zabel do not
review the Bates book, they would be amazed at the ease with which
Bates swallows the United States government position on UFOs.) It is
really important to Bates to eliminate any suggestion that the
governments of the world have crashed UFOs in their possession, and
his desire is understandable. He wants to make the argument that
UFOs are only demons, not space aliens. It seems a bit of a stretch
to suppose demons would fly in UFOs that would crash. It is
difficult enough to suppose space aliens would crash one or more of
their craft.
Bates
believes he has eliminated the scientific basis for most UFO reports.
“First, it should be remembered that our investigation of UFOs
(specifically unidentified flying objects) has revealed that there is
no ‘hard evidence’ for ET craft, and that the majority of
sightings could be accounted for as man-made or natural phenomena.”
(p. 226) But of those few cases that remain, researchers such as
“J. Allen Hynek, Jacques Vallee, John Weldon, and John Keel, have
noted that UFOs appeared to behave deceptively.” (Ibid)
What
remains to be explained are UFO abductions. Bates begins with the
Betty and Barney Hill case, suggests how “science fiction” might
have influenced their story. He then goes on to the Travis Walton
story, then follows the work of folklorist Thomas Bullard who
developed a typology of the typical abduction experience—capture,
examination, conference, tour, otherworldly journey, theophany,
return, and aftermath. (p. 235 ff)
How are we to
understand what is going on? “Impartial research shows that most
abductees have, in the past, dabbled in what is commonly known as the
occult, even if it was on a relatively minor basis. For some, they
may not have been aware of the potential of unlocking this doorway to
the supernatural when they dabbled in New Age practices.” (p. 255)
And the occult leads to the demonic.
Bates
refers to several of the New Testament encounters between Jesus and
demons (Luke 11:24-26, Mark 5:1-15), and then remarks in regard to
well known UFO author Whitley Strieber, his “increasing contacts
with spirit beings masquerading as aliens leaves us no doubt about
the progressive nature of the deception that enveloped him.”
“Because of his New Age beliefs, Strieber refused to believe that
the beings were those as described in biblical terms,” in other
words, that Strieber’s “visitors” were demons. (p. 282 ff.)
In
the end, Bates joins Clifford Wilson, John Weldon and Timothy Dailey
in seeing modern UFOs, and UFO abductions as demonic, rather than as
space aliens. What about the views I have published that UFOs might
carry the angels of God? This is apparently unthinkable to Bates,
who describes me as a “former ‘believer’ [who has] been
deceived and fallen away.” (p. 326) He does not seem pleased that
my book “is revered as a benchmark text among the more religious
UFO believers, who hail him as a UFO ‘master.’” (Ibid)
Although he is aware that I have argued that a UFO parted the Red
Sea, he not only does not discuss my biblical exegesis (See UFO
REVELATION 4), he does not even quote a single sentence from my book.
Nevertheless, it is no problem for Bates to condemn my work as
failing to meet “the Scripture test.” (p. 328)
THE
DEMONIC THEORY: SOME OBSERVATIONS
There
are major weaknesses with the demonic theory from a biblical point of
view. None of the four authors (Wilson, Weldon, Dailey and Bates)
give an overview of the biblical doctrine of demons. Demons are
mentioned first in connection with idols, and seem to refer to the
evil spirits behind the idols made of wood or stone. (Deut. 32:17)
This sense of connection between demons and idols continues in Paul
(1 Cor. 10:20, 21), and in Revelation 9:20.
The
major mention of demons is with the healing ministry of Jesus. We
find that Jesus “healed many that were sick and cast out many
demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they
knew him.” (Mk. 1:34) Jesus never met a demon over which he was not
the Lord, the victor.
One
of the most famous exorcisms of Jesus was the healing of the demon
possessed man in the country of the Gerasenes, where the demons in
the man named themselves as “Legion.”
(Lk.
8:30) The demons asked permission to leave the man, and enter a herd
of pigs that was nearby. Jesus gave them permission, the pigs raced
down a hill and drowned in a nearby lake.
A
third dimension of demonology was the nature of Jesus himself. He
was frequently accused of “having a demon,” in a way we might say
someone was crazy, or a little mad. (Like a UFO nut.) In fact, the
only mention of demons in John’s Gospel has to do with Jesus, and
whether he was demon possessed. (Jn. 7:20; 8:48-52; l0:20,21) But
there was a deeper question about Jesus, and that was, did he drive
out demons by the Prince of Demons? (Mt. 12:27; Lk. 11:15)
One
of the things that is clear in the Bible is none of the demons have a
body of their own. They possess the body, or the mind, of a human.
In the case of the Gerasene exorcism, the demons go into pigs, they
do not suddenly appear with their own body. Wilson and Weldon say,
“We shall see that demonic powers vary in their capacities. Some
are extremely intelligent entities that are nonphysical in nature but
have a capacity to assume a physical shape and to undertake certain
physical activities.” (p. 35) There is no biblical text in which
demons take on a physical shape. That does not prove demons could
not take on a physical shape, but they do not in the New Testament.
Nor are there New Testament reports of demons “abducting humans,”
and then returning them to their bedroom.
A
spiritual reality that does take on a physical shape in the New
Testament is the resurrected body of Jesus. Jesus appears to his
disciples in a room with “the doors being shut” (Jn. 20:19), in
somewhat the same manner that beings came through the door of Betty
Andreasson’s house to abduct her.
A
further difficulty with connecting demons and UFOs biblically is that
demons are never connected with UFOs in the Bible. During the
exorcisms of Jesus, UFOs are never reported. UFOs are reported in
divine encounters, such as at the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mt.
17:1-9), or at the conversion of the Apostle Paul (Acts chapters 9,
22 and 26).
Bates
is more careful than Wilson, Weldon and Dailey to make sure we do not
believe UFOs are solid craft. Given the thousands of landing traces,
radar sightings, and fighter jet encounters that those like Richard
Dolan have documented, this point of view of Bates is very dubious.
If the “Day of Disclosure” comes as Dolan and Zabel expect, and
we find that one or more governments of the world have crashed UFOs
in their possession, this will make the Bates point of view even more
unbelievable than it already is. Nevertheless, if you are going to
make the demonic argument, I think Bates is right to hope, if not
believe, UFOs are non-physical.
I
have this fantasy that Wilson, Weldon, Dailey and Bates, the Four
Prophets of the Demonic, are all riding in a car together to speak
at a Christian UFO conference in Roswell, New Mexico. It is a dark
night when suddenly a UFO hovers over their car, their car engine
stops, and a bright light shines down on them. Then they all hear a
voice saying, “Men, men, why do you persecute me?” In unison
they all shout, “It must be demons.” They may be right—or
maybe not.
The
other major theory of conservative Protestants in regard to UFOs is
that they carry “fallen angels,” the Nephilim, of Genesis 6:4.
We will explore this theory, and the nature of the Satanic, in UFO
REVELATION 10.
Dr.
Barry H. Downing
July
17, 2011
http://thestrongdelusion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1574&Itemid=9 Part 1
http://thestrongdelusion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1593&Itemid=9 Part 2
http://thestrongdelusion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1593&Itemid=9 Part 3
http://thestrongdelusion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1621&Itemid=9 Part 4
http://thestrongdelusion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1621&Itemid=9 Part 5
http://thestrongdelusion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1646&Itemid=9 Part 6
http://thestrongdelusion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1659&Itemid=9 Part 7
http://thestrongdelusion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1662&Itemid=9 Part 8
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