It seems that the subject of aliens and UFOs is becoming more and more popular in the news and media lately. NASA's recent discovery of many other planets [1] (including one the right distance from it's star to perhaps be habitable [2]) has prompted several interesting announcements, such as the UN appointing a designated person to act as a representative for earth if aliens are contacted [3], as well as the Pope's astronomer saying he would baptise an alien if it asked [4]. The Vatican has already declared that the discovery of extraterrestrial life is not a problem for Catholic beliefs [5]. But is this theologically correct? Does the Bible say anything about aliens?
Possible Evidence for Aliens in the Bible
Ezekiel's Vision
There are several places in the Bible that could refer to aliens. One of the most famous is Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel 1-3) where he describes something that may have been a "UFO". In his description it starts with a windstorm, lighting, and a cloud with a center as bright as "polished metal". There are four creatures in the center that are somewhat humanish but have four wings, four faces representing different animals, and they can fly in any direction without turning. Ezekiel sees a torch or fire passing between them, and the creatures glow like hot coals. Then he sees wheels beside each creature that can go in any direction without turning. The last description is of a dome over the four creatures which sparkled like ice. It says when the creatures wings moved they made a noise like an ocean or a large army.
Some people have interpreted this passage metaphorically using Biblical and ancient middle-east myths [6], and others have tried to interpret it in a way that it appears to be a sort of high technology that Ezekiel could not understand (see picture reference in [6]). I tend to go with the metaphorical interpretation of this one. The mechanical interpretation takes a lot of imagination, and I don't see how reference to "creatures" can be interpreted as machinery. But I have seen many UFO proponents who like to use this part of Ezekiel to back up their beliefs.
The Nephilim
There is another obscure reference in the Bible which may point to aliens even living and interbreeding with humans in the ancient past. In Genesis 6:4, there is a mention of a category of people called "Nephilim". These people were the offspring of human women and "supernatural beings", and became great warriors. This story is possibly confirmed in the book of Jude which mentions angels who "didn't do their work and left their proper places. God chained them with everlasting chains and is now keeping them in dark pits until the great day of judgement." (Jude verse 6). It is mentioned again in 2 Peter 2:4 "God did not have pity on the angels that sinned. He had them tied up and thrown into the dark pits of hell until the time of judgement.". Some scholars have interpreted these angels that God threw into the pit to be the same as those who mated with the women in Genesis.
I have read one very interesting book, called "The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse"[7] which compares these references of these supposedly half-supernatural Nephilim creatures to descriptions of the Egyptian and Greek gods, and finds some interesting matches. They are usually portrayed as larger than a regular man, which could also explain the reports of giants in the land of Israel before the Israelites moved in (Deuteronomy 1:28). The author references a non-Biblical book of Enoch which gives more descriptions about the angels which married women and created these strange offspring, who may have been these Giants. The author also speculates that perhaps these creatures had advanced scientific knowledge, and possibly became involved with genetic engineering (this may explain the Egyptian gods with heads of birds, reptiles, etc). He speculates that perhaps this corruption of animals and humans led to God destroying all life except for Noah and a few animals in the Flood (Genesis 7). Although it does seem that a few more angels may have tried to start it up again after the flood, leading to the races of giants in the Old Testament. Perhaps this is why God threw these angels into a dark pit - to prevent any other angels from getting ideas to try it again. One interesting theory is that Satan devised this scheme to prevent the coming of Jesus. If Satan could corrupt humanity's DNA to the point where it was no longer really human, then the "seed of the woman" which was prophesied to "crush Satan's head" (Genesis 3:15) could not exist and could not defeat Satan.
I thought this line of reasoning was ridiculous the first time I heard it. How could humanity have such a strange history? But the more I thought about it, the more it seems to make sense. It would certainly explain the Egyptian and Greek gods, the possibly advanced scientific knowledge required to build the pyramids, the reason behind why God had to send the Flood, and also the strange reports of giants throughout the Old Testament, such as Goliath, who was nine feet tall (1 Samuel 17:4).
Angels appearing as Humans
To round off this line of reasoning, there is interesting evidence in the Bible that angels can appear to take on human form. This happened several times in the Old Testament. Abraham meets three men, one of which is "the Lord", and the other two are most likely angels (Genesis 18:10) who tell Abraham that his wife Sarah will have a son. Later, these two angels travel to meet Lot and tell him to get out of Sodom before it is destroyed (Genesis 19:1). The other townspeople are so convinced the angels are men that they demand for Lot to bring them out so the townspeople can have sex with the angels (Genesis 19:4). It is also told that Satan often appears as "an angel of light" (Corinthians 11:14). This may be metaphorical, but I believe when compared with the other two events above, that it may well be a physical manifestation also.
Conclusion
After looking at this evidence, I believe that it is reasonable to draw some conclusions about the possibility of aliens. We have seen that the Bible does mention earth being visited by beings not from this planet (i.e. God's angels and also "angels who sinned" - usually referred to as demons) who can appear in physical forms. Whether or not they have advanced technology and performed genetic engineering is an interesting side note, and may be useful when we compare with modern UFO stories.
What about modern UFOs and Aliens?
Now that we have looked at possible evidence for "aliens" in the Bible, let us compare this with the modern reports about aliens, alien abductions, and UFOs, and see if we can find any similarities.
UFOs
Most sightings are of either a metallic craft, sometimes saucer or cigar shaped, which can do amazing flight manoeuvres which outperform any aircraft that we have. They accelerate and change direction at an instant, and can move extremely fast, and suddenly appear and disappear. Other times UFOs are reported as glowing balls of light which move in unexplainable ways. This leads to a few different possibilities:
- They are some sort of extremely advanced technology from another planet or dimension.
- They are human-made technology which is still top-secret.
- They are simply natural phenomenon or aircraft which are mis-identified.
- They are hoaxes, done by people with video-editing skills.
- They are a supernatural phenomenon.
While some have certainly been proven to be hoaxes or mis-identified top-secret aircraft, there are some which cannot be explained this way. I personally believe that perhaps Ezekiel's description of a bright object with spiritual creatures which can "move any way without turning" may match the behavior of these UFOs. Even though the one Ezekiel saw was a messenger from God, it could be that the demons also have this ability to appear and move in this manner. Since angels can appear and disappear at will, and change their appearance to be men or "angels of light", it is not difficult to imagine they may appear as glowing balls of light, and move in ways which are not subject to traditional physics. If they can appear as a man, perhaps they could also appear as a metallic object if they are intent on deceiving humanity.
Additionally, some people have reported that electronics sometimes malfunction around UFOs. This would make sense because if demons are manifesting as UFOs, it shows they can manipulate their energy to appear to be solid. If they can control their energy, they can probably influence other forms of energy as well, and affect these devices.
Abductions and Alien Contact
Another category of alien behavior is most often the "abduction". Usually an abductee will claim that during the night they were taken to an alien spacecraft where they met and interacted with aliens. These interactions are sometimes positive and sometimes negative. I have watched several documentaries on alien abductions, as well as read some forums about people who feel they have been abducted. Sometimes these people claim the aliens are good, and are here to help enlighten humanity and help us evolve. They feel positive after meeting them and feel compelled to tell others about how we are really "all one with the universe" or similar themes. Other times, people report horribly disturbing stories of being raped, probed, or psychologically tortured. In the book "To Hell and Back"[8], the author discusses the phenomenon of UFOs and how they seem much more likely to be demonic. Some of the more disturbing quotes from this book [8, p.222] are:
- "One woman, who vividly recalls when she was abducted by an alien craft when she was five years old, states that aliens placed her on a table for examination 'with much time spent around my genitals'"
- "Another, also then at age five, recounted instruments being 'inserted vaginally and rectally' before she returned to her own bed at home 'screaming' then finding it difficult to sleep for the next fifteen years."
- "A thirty-one year old college graduate said her kidnapping aliens showed her 'no compassion' for experiments that were 'dreadful, terrifying'.
- "A man, recalling a UFO abduction at age ten, said one of the aliens was a 'dark green woman' who manipulated him to sexual orgasm."
Additionally, the author speculates that this seemingly reproduction-focused experimentation may be for "humanoid and alien coupling for the alleged purpose of birthing and hybridization to improve the alien race."[8,p.222]. He interviews a psychologist who notes: "Physically, the abduction experience can leave its victims with a wide range of aftereffects. Scars, eye problems, muscle pains, bruises, unusual vaginal and navel discharge, genital disorders, neurological problems... and so forth. Other psychological consequences include sleep disturbances, fears, phobias, panic disorders, obsessions, bizarre 'bleed-through' memories, out-of-body contacts with the 'dead', and damage to psycho-sexual development in children"[8 p.223]. Alien "possession" can even occur: "In my own view, many of the claims made by 'mental patients' that they are possessed by alien entities are best understood as representing a perfectly accurate assessment of what has happened to them."[8 p.224].
There are also reports of cow mutilations which may be UFO-related. Ranchers in the US have reported that cows are sometimes found dead with eyes missing, intestines removed, etc. that seems to be done with surgical precision. Some suspect the US government is doing it for experimentation, but this does not make sense as the government could find its own animals and would not return them to scare the ranchers. I believe this is another indication of the alien/demon intention of experimentation, perhaps with hybridization or genetic engineering - perhaps they need the animal parts for their experiments. A recent investigation into the phenomenon was shown on a program called UFO Hunters, shown in August 2010 on the Outdoor Life Network [9] which interviewed experts on the subject and nearly all concluded it was not natural predators or diseases which killed these animals and must have been something else.
I believe that the descriptions of this behavior seem to match with the descriptions of the Nephilim and/or demonic intentions. These aliens sound horribly cruel and have no empathy for humans, and seem to be involved in sexual experimentation. I believe perhaps they are trying a different method than directly mating with women, as they did in Genesis to create the Nephilim. Since God has forbidden that behavior (by throwing the demons that did it into "supernatural jail") they may be trying to go about making hybridized humans in another way. Additionally, the few positive experiences with alien abductions usually convince the abductee that there is no God, and typically lead them into new-age philosophies. It is part of Satan's agenda to convince people that there is no God. UFOs could try to demonstrate that life evolved on other planets and so Earth and humanity is not special, and that perhaps people were even created by aliens instead of God [10]. If he can throw in some nice new-age beliefs about us "being one with the universe" it adds nicely to the whole deception.
What are the Aliens' intentions?
As discussed above, it seems the aliens/demons are involved in some sort of human reproductive experimentation. I suspect this is to continue their work to create Nephilim but not in a way that will make God throw them into supernatural jail, as he did with the ones in Noah's time. Also, they seem to try to convince people that humans are not special in the universe and were not made by God, but by evolution or by aliens seeding Earth with DNA (see theory of Panspermia [10]). Their promotion of new-age theology also tricks people into thinking God does not exist. These all match up with the intentions of Satan to keep as many people as possible from believing in God and accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
False Rapture Explanation
I believe there is another reason why Satan may want to convince humanity of there being extraterrestrial life. The sci-fi idea of "aliens" is a relatively new phenomenon which has become very popular in the last half of the 20th century, probably since reports of the crash at Roswell and the famous fictional "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. I believe Satan has chosen this time to ramp up his alien deception because we are rapidly approaching the time called the Tribulation or "Daniel's 70th week". This is a period of seven years where humanity will be united into a one-world government headed by the Antichrist, where God will send many disasters to convince humanity to turn back to Him. However, before this 7 years begins, there is an event called the Rapture, where all Christians will be instantly teleported to heaven to escape this horrible time.
Now, when this happens, you would think a large proportion of people who are remaining would realize "Oh, hey, maybe the Bible was right." and would convert to Christianity. However, if the Antichrist is instead able to convince people that "No, it wasn't the Rapture. We've been in contact with aliens for a while now, and they know that we are about to go through a period of 'earth changes', and so have decided to evacuate some of our people for preservation or relocation to another planet. But of course, if you listen to me I can tell you exactly what to do to make it through this coming time of changes and we can build a human utopia on Earth. Now just take this nice Mark here and pledge to follow me, and it will all be good!". Of course, he won't be this obvious, but it most likely go something like that. And I believe that the alien abduction explanation would be most plausible way to explain away the Rapture.
In fact, this idea of alien intervention to "save" humanity has already been announced by some new-age proponents [11] [12]. Some interesting research also leads to Project Bluebeam [13] , which is supposedly a top-secret US military project which will use satellites to project holographic images and sounds into the upper atmosphere. Some conspiracy-theorists suggest this may be used to fake an alien invasion [14]. This faked alien invasion could be done right after the Rapture, not only to convince people the Rapture did not happen, but also to scare them into accepting the New World Order, the Antichrist, the Mark of the Beast, and probably a Big-Brother like society with huge amounts of surveillance and unrestricted police/military powers. The Bible even predicts there will be some sort of huge deception which most of the population will believe (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11). I believe aliens will be part of that deception.
Satan has many other means to convince humanity of this besides the use of demons and UFOs. Lately there has been a lot of speculation over "disclosure" and when the governments of the world will finally admit to us that aliens exist. Famous scientist Steven Hawking has already said that aliens probably exist [15], and as shown in [3] and [4], major organizations such as the UN and the Vatican are seeming to prepare people for that reality. Instead of being restricted to a lunatic-fringe group, the idea of aliens and disclosure is becoming more mainstream every day. Pop culture with the huge amount of sci-fi alien movies such as Independence Day (1996), District 9 (2009), and Knowing (2009) all seem to be trying to get the idea of alien invasions, contact, or intervention into the public's sub-conscious mind to make it more easily accepted.
As a side-note, it is somewhat interesting that some Bible scholars have suggested that during the Tribulation/Daniel's 70th week, the Nephilim may once again return to Earth [16]. This is based on Jesus' warning that before his return it would be like the "days of Noah" (Luke 17:26) when the Nephilim were alive on the Earth. If this is true, it could suggest that the aliens/demons will be successful in creating new Nephilim through their experiments, and may release them on Earth during the Tribulation.
But couldn't God make Aliens if He wanted to?
It is certainly possible that God could have made aliens. However, I find it highly unlikely. I don't think there would be any problems if we discover microbes or even a species as intelligent as dolphins on another planet. I would celebrate God's creativity at having created new life for us to discover and appreciate. However, I do not believe that God created any other beings (apart from angels/demons) with our level of intelligence and spirituality. This comes from the idea of original sin and free will in the book of Genesis. Any creature that God desires to have a spiritual relationship with (humans or angels) is given free will. The angels had free will to choose God or Satan. Humans are also given the same choice. However - it was only Humanity's decision which had an impact on the state of the universe.
Before Adam and Eve sinned, there was no death or decay in the universe. But since they sinned, the entire universe was subject to death and decay (i.e. the law of Entropy) (Romans 5:12 and 8:20-21). Now, if Adam and Eve's sin affected an entire universe, that would also affect any aliens who lived on another planet in a galaxy far far away, even though it was not the aliens' fault. I believe God would not punish all other races of extraterrestrials with death and decay for a humanity-only mistake. Additionally, the Bible says Jesus died once for ALL sin (Romans 6:10). Therefore, if extraterrestrials have sinned, their sins would have been paid for by Jesus. They would not need their own "Jesus" or "Zordox" to save them, as Jesus' death paid for it all. It would be redundant for Jesus to have to die again for every single species of Alien in the entire universe. Christian missionaries have seen how hard it is to convince people who live only a continent away that Jesus is God. Imagine how hard it would be trying to convince an alien that "You know your entire race has messed up, and if you don't follow the teachings of this guy who was born as a human on this planet way over here a long time ago, then you're going to hell". It wouldn't happen.
For these reasons, I believe that God has only created one planet - Earth - with life capable of having a relationship with God. God has indeed made the universe and billions of galaxies and planets, but just the number alone does not guarantee there will be aliens. I believe that perhaps in the future after the Tribulation during the Millennium people will explore space, and during eternity afterwards we will have time and the ability to explore God's vast and amazing creation.
Conclusion
It seems that the modern phenomenon of aliens, abductions, and UFOs match well with the Biblical descriptions of the Nephilim who populated the Earth before Noah's Flood. Since angels can appear as men, it is not unlikely that demons could appear as aliens or as UFOs. The UFO phenomenon has a dual purpose - it makes it easier to deceive humanity into believing God does not exist, and will also provide an excellent alternate explanation for the Rapture. Based on the Biblical story of the first sin and it's effects on creation, as well as the theology of Jesus' death and atonement for sin, I do not believe alien life that is equivalent to or more advanced than humans will ever be found. God made only angels and humans to have relationship with him.
We are very special, and need to take advantage of our unique position in the universe to know God personally. God even loved us so much that he came and lived as a human for 33 years in the form of Jesus. God knows exactly what it's like to be human and live here, and Jesus will stay in a human body and will live with us on Earth for all eternity! (Matthew 25:31, Revelation 21:3). That's a privilege even the angels don't receive. In fact, God wants to know you personally - you can actually talk to and get to know the creator of the universe! If you'd like more direction on how to do this, please see my article here.
References
[1] science.nasa.gov - "Kepler Discovers Five Exoplanets "
[2] www.nasa.gov - "NASA and NSF-Funded Research Finds First Potentially Habitable Exoplanet"
[3] www.news.com.au - "UN to appoint earth contact for aliens"
[4] guardian.co.uk - "Pope's astronomer says he would baptise an alien if it asked him"
[5] www.catholicnewsagency.com - "Believing in aliens not opposed to Christianity, Vatican's top astronomer says"
[6] www.skeptic.com - "The Spaceships of Ezekiel" by Tim Callahan
[7] Patrick Heron - The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse (2007)
[8] Maurice S. Rawings - To Hell and Back (1996)
[9] Youtube.com - UFO Hunters Gayland Jones Ranch case
[10] wikipedia.org - Panspermia
[11] www.redmoonrising.com - The Rapture according to New Age Channelers
[12] www.galacticmessaegs.com - "Galactic Federation Update for 9 March-2010 by Sheldan Nidle"
[13] http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/hoax/bluebeam.htm
[14] www.rumormillnew.com - "Has Project Bluebeam Begun?"
[15] www.msnbc.com - "Hawking: Aliens may pose risks to Earth"
[16] www.raptureready.com - "As it was in the days of Noah" by Jack Kelly