The bible talks about UFOs. Now that the government has acknowledged their existence, what are we to do with this information?
In the 1900s, the Christian church was faced with the scientific approach to the paranormal. This lead some parts of the church to distance themselves from the entire phenomena by ascribing it all to demonic forces or mental instability. In the tradition I grew up within, it was all demonic.
Yet, reading Ezekiel one is faced with the startling realization that Ezekiel was attempting to describe some phenomena that made no sense. The spinning wheels, the "eyes" around the edges. The "wheel within a wheel".
Some UFO enthusiasts, generally dismissed as nutcases, of course latched onto this with wild websites full of every imaginable symbol, conspiracy, and tapestries that made one reminisce of a witches scene in a Disney movie. They then mixed in the Ezekiel story as one more piece of evidence in the woo of paranormal research, decoupling it from the history of the Hebrews and the Judeo-Christian tradition.
It feels to me that in an effort to retain a level of sanity, quite a few Christian denominations began to distance themselves from the entire topic. This went so far that some UFO experiencers who attended churches were subsequently disbarred from their parish due to their experience. It was all just too weird.
But let us be realistic here. If the UFO phenomena goes back as far as many have suggested, it has been with humanity since at least the Ezekiel story, and quite earlier.
If there were flying objects in ancient times, what words would be used to describe them? The natural conclusion would be they would co-opt an existing word to describe something they did not understand. Perhaps coupling the words together in an effort to describe the phenomena.
UFO experiences in the modern day have described UFOs merging into and out of clouds. They have described them as "starlike", zipping across the sky. They have seen "triangle" UFOs. These flying craft tend to blend in and mirror natural phenomena. In fact, if we consider Fatima, the mass experience involved a seeming replacement of the sun with a flying object that performed an incredible dance in the sky.
Now, if you were living in the ancient near east, and people were experiencing things like this, this would be the most incredible experience anyone had ever encountered. First, it would imply that humans are beneath some other beings that have greater power than us. They tend to move where they want, they fly, they manipulate people, they communicate, they are up high with the mountains and the clouds and the heavens. What do they want? Why are they here?
Cattle mutiliations have often been reported around UFO sightings. Now imagine if cattle mutilations were occurring back in the ancient near east. Cattle were super important. Why would these beings take the cattle?
Well obviously they want cattle for some reason. Why not offer up cattle to these beings? But how will we get their attention. They are up high, they are not down here with us.
What if we build tall temples and structures, and sacrifice the cattle on or near these structures? Perhaps this will get their attention?
This line of reasoning is not unreasonable, and follows rather naturally. Since the UFO beings mimic things in the heavens, perhaps the things in the heavens are the gods. So we start worshipping the stars, the sun, the moon, and other heavenly things. These beings are clearly more advanced than we are, if we can get their attention perhaps they can help us out and "bless" us with their knowledge and their power.
This would explain why the entire ancient world - from South America to Asia - were transfixed with sacrifices and things in the heavens.
Is there evidence for this?
I realize what I am about to present is rather controversial, but I do not care. It answers to many questions I cannot escape it.
It is well-known that the Jewish story begins with Abraham, but was officially first brought to its maxima with Moses.
In the story of Moses, we have a "cloud by day" and a "pillar of fire" by night guiding the Hebrews away from their captivity in Egypt. People have reported that UFOs look like silvery round objects during the day and a glowing orb at night. Calling this a coincidence is stretching things in my opinion.
Consider the following verses as a small sampling of the history on the subject:
Psalm 78:14 "He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night."
Exodus 16:10 "And it came to pass as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they looked toward the wilderness and behold the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud"
Exodus 34:5 "The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD."
Exodus 16:2 "And the LORD said unto Moses Speak unto Aaron thy brother that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat which is upon the ark that he die not for I will appear in the cloud upon [also above] the mercy seat"
Psalm 104:3 "He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind."
Clearly the idea here is that clouds are like a chariot. What do you do with a chariot? You ride in them to go from one place to another. A chariot was an ancient thing that mimicked a vehicle of transport for war. So why would God use normal clouds for this?
Daniel 7:13 "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him."
Why is this passage such a phenomenal and poignent vision? Because it was a "son of man" (human) who was riding in the "clouds". In the context of our discussion, Daniel is saying that in his vision a human being would be in charge of these chariots of the gods, which means a human being would need to be promoted to a position to be in charge like this. Daniel is saying that some future human being would be "promoted" to a position where he could drive the vehicles of the gods. This is an insane claim, because everyone knew these "chariots" were not driven by humans and instead were driven by beings that were above mankind. So the claim that at least one human would eventually "ascend" to such heights was the reason this vision was so phenomenal.
So in Mark, when Jesus says that the high priest would see Jesus coming on the clouds, this was the most arrogant and blasphemous thing to say if it was not true. Jesus was claiming that he was going to be the one promoted to this position. And this is why Jesus calling himself the "son of man" throughout the gospels was such an important title.
Two other phrases used to reference these beings in the heavens were "star" and "host of heaven". The idea here is that these craft often look like stars. If we think about it, one of these "stars" up close might look like a "pillar of fire". Far away, it would just look like a bright dot in the sky. And in either case, we are talking about an "orb" or a "flying vehicle" of intense light. The idea of "host of heaven" simply means the entire collection of the beings that are driving these things.
In both Luke and Matthew we have reference to the fact that Jesus' birth was announced and marked by these beings. The shepherds saw the "host of heaven" announce the birth of Christ.
I find it amusing that UFO enthusiasts often say they want the beings to announce themselves and have "disclosure" and they have myths about the beings showing up and making peace signs and what not. The reality is this already happened:
Luke 2:14 ""Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
If we think about this sentence, it is pretty profound. If this indeed happened, it was contact. It was not only contact, but it was saying the following:
What more of a simple message of contact would we expect? And then they instructed the shepherds to go see the foundation of this plan: Jesus in a manger.
Matthew 2:9 "After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
Here the star moves and stops over where Jesus was born. Basically a UFO floated over and "marked" the person of Jesus and his birth location.
During the transfiguration on the mount with Peter, we see this:
Mark 9:7-8 "Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!” All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone."
As if to drive this home. After the resurrection of Jesus, we find the ascension working like this:
Acts 1:9 "And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight."
The greek in this passage literally means "to receive". Some of the translations are uncomfortable with this and say "hid" but the literal meaning is "to receive".
So Jesus's birth was marked by things that by all accounts appear to be UFO-like. The message from God that he was the chosen one and should be listened to came out of a "cloud". And then during his ascension, he went back up into a "cloud". Hello!
And as if to top it off, the passage ends with this:
Acts 1:11 ""Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.""
In other words, Jesus - the "son of man" (human) - was taken into one of these "clouds" and the pronouncement that he would return "on the clouds of heaven" would be fulfilled when he returns with an entire collection of UFOs as the human leader of the expedition.
At this point the evidence is so overwhelming I fail to see how it cannot be avoided. The Judeo-Christian religion is a religion of contact with beings that want peace on earth, they want the best for mankind, and have guided and chosen a human being (Jesus) as the leader of humanity.
Hebrews drives this home:
Hebrews 4:14 "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess."
The idea of a priest is as a representative/intercessor. Basically a priest is a representative of the community toward the heavenly beings.
Quite simply, Jesus was chosen by these beings at his birth (Magi, Shepherds, Mary's conception announced by an angel), confirmed by these beings during his life (transfiguration), and then went to be with these beings as a leader during his resurrection and ascension.
And I have not even touched on the spirit "descending in bodily form like a dove" on Jesus. Or the idea of the Star of David, or the prophecy of Balaam about a "star rising out of David". We have only gotten started.
The entire point here is that I am convinced there is an extensive connection between the Judeo-Christian tradition and the UFO phenomena. The Jewish people did not have a stigma against the phenomena, but instead embraced one aspect of it - the aspect of the guidance of their people by these beings - as if their history was part of a grand saga. They used a variety of words to describe it, and in some places seem perplexed in their language, but the theme is consistent.
The evidence of interaction was when these beings made close, personal contact with a person. So this is why they would listen to someone like Ezekiel, or why Mary was to be so revered, or why the shepherds and the magi made it into the Bible.
Consider also the Apostle Paul. Paul was blinded and knocked down by a flash of light. If you are keeping up with the Travis Walton UFO incident, in that incident he encountered a flying craft that knocked him to the ground with a flash of light. However in Travis Walton's case there was no message.
Except in Paul's case, there seemed to have been a larger plan, as he received a message that it was Jesus in the craft who was communicating with him. The reason Paul was so convinced in his letters that Jesus had already ascended into heaven and was already "riding on the clouds" was because he had experienced it personally. As such, he saw it as a personal revelation to himself and not as necessarily something that just came from the other apostles (apostle means "sent one"). And naturally, he saw himself as an apostle.
In other words, the standard of evidence in the ancient near east for a message from God was direct contact with the beings in heaven.
And this is the reason why I consider UFOs in the Bible to be such an important topic.