I was a young boy when the Gemini and Apollo space programs were in full swing. Man, was it exciting! I had pictures (clippings from magazines) stapled all over the walls in my bedroom. Anything having to do with those programs I just gobbled up. But when they didn’t build a moon station it all started to fizzle out for me. I wanted more than what NASA was able to do. Instead of becoming an astronaut, I went into air traffic control. It was very satisfying for me to watch airplanes takeoff and land. I guess it was the next best thing.
I also was fascinated by the idea of other worlds and peoples that were ahead of us in their technology and who traveled the cosmos. Like every other kid my age I watched Star Trek when I got home from school. But as much as I was captivated by the idea of deep space travel, I was always a bit skeptical about the reality of it — whether for us or some other culture from another planet. And that’s where I was for many years — skeptical but open-minded.
These days, I have more of a solidified take on extraterrestrial life. I’ve pretty much made up my mind about the likelihood of other worlds with life that is highly functioning enough to travel into deep space — and find us (a tiny, blue planet off in the vastness of the universe).
In the first place, I am confident of this: If there is life on other planets, then the same Creator Who put us here must have put them there. I mean, after looking into the theories about a big bang and biological evolution, they have left me convinced that they are utter nonsense. I am completely unconvinced in the reality of either of them at all. And this means that without a Creator, the likelihood of life springing up ANYWHERE, here or there, is pretty much nil. And since the Creator has mentioned nothing of other planets that He has populated elsewhere, I just have to say that I doubt that we will ever meet them if they even exist (which I doubt).
HOWEVER, this post is about “extraterrestrials”. And the term literally means beings that are “out of” or “away from” earth. Now, does the Bible say anything about creatures that are intelligent, humanoid, social, and made by our common Creator? You bet it does! It calls them “angels”.
The angelic race has been largely overlooked when it comes to “sightings” and “experiences” with extraterrestrials. Why is this? Could it be for the same reasons why the academic and scientific communities have largely overlooked God in their search for knowledge about the cosmos and how everything came to be? In their endeavor to run away from the God of the Bible, they have called people who follow God and His word all sorts of unflattering names. And they have tried very hard for a long time to label us as unintelligent, superstitious, fanatical, and any other thing that makes them look smarter and as if they know stuff we don’t. And all the while they have been trying to get us to believe their own superstitious and ridiculous notions of evolution, a big bang, and life from other planets — all of which requiring even more faith than what the Bible gives us.
As a young-earth creationist, I believe that the world, the universe, was created by an all-powerful, infinite, eternal, all-knowing, all-benevolent being, and that He did it not so long ago — perhaps just under 6,000 years ago. I also believe that the old-earth evolutionists, with their millions and billions of years, haven’t given themselves enough time for their theories to be plausible. But that’s another discussion for another time.
Close Encounters of the X Kind
The more that one gets into UFOlogy, the study of UFOs, the more one learns about the different kinds of encounters with extraterrestrials and the levels given to them. Basically, the higher the number of the encounter, the more intense, up-close, and personal the encounter is. And incase you aren’t up on this, the term UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object. That would refer to the Extraterrestrial’s spaceship. And to keep things simple, Extraterrestrials (the beings who fly the UFOs) are called ETs, for short (remember the movie?).
The thing that I find to be most interesting about these encounters is that the highest levels are those that are the most like other encounters that we would call “occult”. In other words, the more real and credible they get, the more like an old-fashioned occultic experience they become.
“Occult” means secret, hidden, not easily understood, mystical, magical, and is associated with demon worship, tarot cards, ouija boards, spiritism, astrology, palmistry (palm reading), witchcraft, mediums (communicating with the dead), satanism, and all of that. So, really, UFOlogy says that in its purest form ETs are the same as what we would expect from demons. They seek to dominate us, make us subservient to them, they want to frighten us into submission. Remember, I’m talking about the highest form of ET encounters here. And most importantly and commonly, they work to draw our attention away from the truth that is in the Bible (which is nothing new).
Therefore, after reading some of what UFOlogists have to say about the ultimate ET experiences, I have come to the conclusion that all of this UFO stuff is nothing more than just old-fashioned evil at work in the world, trying to pull people away from the truth of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the cross of Christ (the way we are made right with God). Until I can be convinced otherwise (always keeping an open mind), I will chock this up to the work and shenanigans of demons. And if you ask me if I believe that angels and demons exist, the answer is “absolutely”. Holy angels do what the Father tells them, and fallen angels do the complete opposite of what He wants. Holy angels are the helpers of man; fallen angels are the enemy of man.
So when people ask me if I believe in UFOs (unidentified flying objects), I say “oh, yeah”. This is an easy one for me, as a former air traffic controller. Pilots (people in general) have reported all kinds of things in the sky that they couldn’t identify (once, it was the moon). Some common examples are hot air balloons (that light up and look strange from a distance), lighted advertisement planes, regular aircraft, weather balloons, etc. Are there aircraft that the government has developed that they aren’t telling us about? Quite likely. Could it be that a supernatural being or beings put ideas or visions into the minds of people? I can’t rule that one out at all. Could a demon manifest himself as an object? Maybe. Could a superior being make an aircraft that looks and performs like nothing we can make? Why not?
As to the existence of ETs, I hope I’ve made it clear that I completely believe in beings that are not of earth. The Bible certainly teaches this, and I believe the Bible. However, the kind that I believe in are not the kind that the world talks about. After all, if Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), and can appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and if angels (of either type) can appear as men (humanoid), then who’s to say that all of the so-called UFO and ET activity is not really just demons at their old games? And, in fact, that is where I currently stand on this issue. I believe that it’s all just the work of anti-God, anti-man demons.
Have no fear, because the One Who is in us is greater that the one who is in the world (or outer space) (1 John 4:4). You might also be interested in reading my post, The Three Realms of Existence.
In Him,
Gary
