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Title: Flying Saucers From Hell
Source:
forteantimes.com
URL Source: http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/211_ufosfromhell1.shtml
Published: Jun 31, 2006
Author: Dr David Clarke
Post Date: 2006-10-31 11:16:38 by Destro
Keywords: Halloween, UFOs
Views: 210
Comments: 8
From FT 211 June 2006 Flying Saucers From Hell Ufology often seems to come down to a choice between extraterrestrial visitors and some as yet unknown natural phenomenon but, as Dr David Clarke reveals, a now largely forgotten counter-theory was of infiltration by demons from the fiery pits of Hades. Illustration by Mick Brownfield. "You’d better pray to the Lord when you see those flying saucers It may be the coming of the judgement day…" – Charles Green & Cy Cohen, "When You See Those Flying Saucers" – Oct 1947. Since the 1950s, the dominant, and certainly the most popular, hypothesis in ufological and public discourse has been that flying saucers and their occupants represent highly intelligent visitations from outer space. From an early stage – with a few exceptions – the majority of ufologists appear to have believed the nature and intentions of the "visitors" were benevolent – either to keep an eye on our progress towards joining the ‘intergalactic federation’ or to warn us that our nuclear experiments were "upsetting the balance of the Universe". But even proponents of the Extra-Terrestrial Hypothesis (or ETH) have had to contemplate the effect that open contact with an ET race might have upon human societies, particularly in its spiritual implications. Much speculation has been published on the impact such an event would have upon religion, especially fundamentalism. Oddly enough, theologians – who would appear to be the most obvious experts to offer advice on spiritual matters – have had little to say on the subject. There is, for instance, no rigid Christian dogma on life beyond Earth or on the nature and origin of UFOs. This reluctance to commit has infuriated some Christian groups, particularly those who promote extreme interpretations of the UFO phenomenon. On the one hand there is a group of evangelicals – mainly Americans, such as Dr Billy Graham – who have said the UFO occupants may be angels sent by God to watch over us. The best-known exponent of this idea is the Presbyterian minister Rev Barry Downing, author of Flying Saucers and the Bible. Downing appears to be open minded about aliens as part of God’s creation and to look to the scriptures for evidence of early ET contacts. At the opposite end of the spectrum are some members of the Christian Orthodox Church 1 who find it impossible to accept that there is any goodness in the elusive and contradictory nature of UFO behaviour. The most extreme expression of this view is that there can be no ETs because life on other planets is not mentioned in the Bible. It’s a point of view that leads its proponents to a further conclusion: if there are no aliens in the Bible and the UFO occupants aren’t angels, then UFOs can only be demonic in origin. What the opposing sides in the "UFOs are angels/demons" debate have in common is their acceptance of the notion that if we can have good UFO occupants then we can also have evil ones (and Satan is, after all, according to Christian tradition, a fallen angel). They also share the concepts of the Antichrist and the imminence of the Second Coming of Jesus predicted in the Book of Revelation. Billy Graham, for instance, has been quoted as saying that the angelic UFO occupants have been sent to help us "fight the demons in the prelude to the Second Coming of Christ". Furthermore, a 2002 Time/CNN poll found that 59 per cent of those quizzed accepted the literal truth of the ‘End Times’ predicted in the Book of Revelation. 2 And the poll found that many believe that the final battle with the Antichrist will take place in their own lifetime. While some ufologists have attempted to make out a case for hostile aliens in the tradition of HG Wells, none of these scenarios are as interesting as the ones conjured up in the fundamentalist literature on UFOs, founded as they are upon traditions which date back to mediæval demonology. If you were only to read the ‘serious’ UFO literature you might be forgiven for believing such a theory – in which demonic or evil forces are controlling the UFOs – belongs, like David Icke’s famous reptilians, solely to the ‘lunatic fringe’", just one more crazy idea in a gamut of crackpot notions. However, this would be far from the truth – demonology has played a very influential, and largely overlooked, role in the development of ufology both in the United States and Britain. Probably the best-known books promoting the demonic theory of UFOs are John Weldon & Zola Levitt’s UFOs: What on Earth is Happening? and Dr Clifford Wilson’s UFOs & Their Mission Impossible, both published in the 1970s.3 These three writers represent a very vocal faction of Christian fundamentalists who have written on the subject. Weldon & Levitt pull no punches in setting out their stall: UFOs are manifestations of demonic activity, and the increasing number of UFOs in our skies is the result of demons gathering for the coming of the Antichrist. From this point of view, evidence identifying the UFO occupants as fallen angels is plentiful in the Bible, if you know where to look and how to interpret obscure passages appropriately. More recently, writers in the same tradition have pointed to the wave of alien abduction claims as proof that Satan’s hordes have been let loose on the world. They are out to steal our souls and deceive us into a false religion, especially by promoting such ideas as ancient astronauts and evolution rather than Creation. NOTES 1 The Orthodox Church or Eastern Orthodox Church is defined by the OED as “a Christian Church or federation of Churches acknowledging the authority of the patriarch of Constantinople, originating in the Church of the Byzantine empire”. 2 BBC News Online, 6 April 2003. 3 John Weldon and Zola Levitt, UFOs: What on Earth is Happening?, Harvest, California, 1975. According to the introduction, Weldon is a research editor for the Christian Research Institute and Levitt is a Hebrew Christian who “met the Lord in 1971”; Clifford Wilson, UFOs & Their Mission Impossible, Signet, New York, 1974. by Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose A second example of a new phenomenon, which at first sight one doesn't know what to make of, is the now very common phenomenon of UFOs, flying saucers. There is a particular Protestant evangelist, the above-mentioned Carl McIntire, who is extremely strict and righteous and very Bible-believing. He has a radio program, the Twentieth-Century Reformation, and a newspaper. He is absolutely upright—you have to separate from all people who are in apostasy—and his ideas are very nice. He's anti-communist. He calls Billy Graham an apostate, together with everyone who deviates from the strict line of what he thinks is right. From this point of view he's very strict, and yet you see the strangest things i his philosophy. For example, he's building himself the Temple of Jerusalem, in Florida. He has a model of the Temple, and he wants to build it so as to make it compete with Disneyworld. People will come and pay to see the great Temple which is soon going to be built for Christ to come to earth. This is supposed to provide a good opportunity to witness Christianity. He goes in for the flying saucers, also. In every issue of his newspaper there's a little column called "UFO Column," and there they talk, to one's great astonishment, about all the wonderful, positive things which these flying saucers are doing. The give conferences and make movies about them. Just recently there have been several Protestant books about UFOs, showing quite clearly that they're demons. The person who writes the column in this newspaper got upset about this, and said that some people say that these beings are demons, but we can prove they aren't. He says that maybe a couple of them are demons, but most of them aren't. He cites a recent case in which some family in the Midwest saw a flying saucer. The flying saucer came down, landed, and the family saw inside little men—they're usually four and half feet tall or so—and they sang "Hallelujah." They stopped and looked and then they flew away; I guess they didn't talk to them any more. And that set the family to thinking; they began to think "Hallelujah"; they began to think about Christianity; they looked in their Bibles, and they finally ended up going to a Fundamentalist church and being converted to Christianity. Therefore, he says, these beings must be some kind of people who are helping God's plan to make the world Christian because they said "Hallelujah." Of course, if you read Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, you will know about all the deceptions which the demons perpetrate: the demons "pray" for you, the demons make miracles, they produce the most wonderful phenomena, they bring people to church, they do anything you want, as long as they keep you in this deception. And when the time comes, they will suddenly pull their tricks on you. So these people, who have been converted to some kind of Christianity by these so-called outer-space beings, are waiting for the next time they will come; and the next time their message may have to do with Christ coming to earth again soon, or something of the sort. It's obvious that this is all the work of demons. That is, where it's real. Sometimes it's just imagination, but when it's real this kind of thing obviously comes form demons. This is very elementary. If you read any text of the early Fathers, any of the early Lives of Saints or the Lausiac History, you find many cases where beings suddenly appear. Nowadays they appear in spaceships because that's how the demons have adapted themselves to the people of the times; but if you understand how spiritual deception works and what kind of wiles the devil has, then you have no problems in understanding what's going on with these flying saucers. And yet this person who writes the UFO column is an absolutely strict Fundamentalist Christian. He is looking, actually for new revelations to come from beings from outer space. Alien Abductions and the Orthodox Christian by Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna Most abductees report being taken into spaceships from their homes or from their automobiles while driving. Once in the ship, "the atmosphere may be dank, cool, and occasionally even foul-smelling" (p. 36). Their abductors typically "appear as tall or short luminous entities that may be translucent, or at least not altogether solid. Reptilian creatures have been seen....But by far the most common entity observed are the small ‘grays,’ humanoid beings three to four feet in height....Gender difference is not determined so much anatomically as by an intuitive feeling that abductees find difficult to put into words" (p. 37). (A sketch of typical aliens, made by one of Dr. Mack’s patients, appears at left. It is noteworthy that the morphology of these creatures seems to be universal, as evidenced by reports from abductees worldwide.) Dr. Mack observes that abductees "will often wish to avoid looking directly" into the eyes of the aliens "because of the overwhelming dread of their own sense of self, or loss of will, that occurs when they do so" (ibid.). Communication between the humans and their alien abductors is almost always telepathic. The aliens seldom tell those whom they abduct that they are from outer space or another planet; rather, this is an intuition shared by abductees—a "given" that few ever question. Abductees (and investigators, for that matter) also universally assume that these alien abductors have technical skills far beyond those of human beings—as evidenced by what are assumed to be their spacecraft—, though, again, the beings only rarely state so. Almost universal to the alien abduction experience—which typically entails a number of abductions, not just one—is the physical examination of abductees by the aliens, sometimes leaving lesions and small wounds and inevitably involving experimentation with "the reproductive system" (p. 38). Women often report mechanical impregnation by the aliens, followed, in subsequent abductions, by the removal of alien-human fetuses. Men are frequently subjected to similar mechanical procedures for the removal of reproductive fluids or, in some cases, are forced to mate with their alien abductors. As abduction incidents multiply, abductees usually come to feel "intuitively" that various of the aliens that they see are "their own" (p. 38)—i.e., their offspring. This sense of attachment also generalizes, resulting in an increasing sense of familiarity with their abductors. For example, whereas their first encounters with the aliens and reproductive experiments are "deeply disturbing" and evoke "terror" (though at times the aliens use certain "emotion-extinguishing devices," with varying degrees of success, to "anesthetize" their victims psychologically), abductees eventually "reach new levels of understanding of what is occurring," through increased contact with their abductors, and "their relationship to the beings themselves changes" from a negative to a positive one (p. 39). I should emphasize once more, here, that the data from which Dr. Mack draws his profile of abduction events—which I have briefly summarized—show an astonishing degree of consistency. Nor do any psychological or emotional problems seem to account for his patients’ reports. The observed lesions on, and other physical changes in, the bodies of the abductees interviewed, furthermore, do not follow the psychodynamic patterns that normally account for self-induced physical scarring. Something has apparently acted on these individuals. Noteworthy, too, is the fact that reports of abductions by young children two or three years of age, who would be unlikely or unable to fabricate such detailed accounts, are astonishingly similar to those of Dr. Mack’s adult patients. The effects of these abduction experiences on the personal transformation of abductees are very clearly enumerated by Dr. Mack (p. 48-49) and provide us with clear insight into the psychic and spiritual dimensions of the abduction experience. Once the initial terror of the experience subsides, and with the sense of familiarity or comfort that repeated abductions foster, abductees report profound changes in their philosophical outlook and understanding of themselves, others, and the world around them. Dr. Mack identifies eight stages in this process of change: 1) The individual begins to accept the aliens and experiences what he calls an "ego death." 2) Abductees come to regard their abductors as "intermediaries...between...human beings and the primal source of creation or God." 3) They begin to think of their experiences as trans-temporal and trans-spatial, as "returning to their cosmic source or ‘Home.’" 4) The individual begins to feel that he is himself an alien, when he returns "back" to Earth. 5) Abductees come to understand existence in terms of "cycles of birth and death over long stretches of time." 6) The individual forms a feeling of "identification of consciousness with virtually endless kinds of beings and entities." 7) Abductees develop "a double identity," associating their souls with an alien identity and their personalities with a limited human self. 8) They report functioning beyond what they often call a "veil" and describe "being in multiple times and places at the same moment," among other things. Having examined evidence for the abduction of human beings by alien creatures and Dr. Mack’s description of the apparent spiritual changes that these abductees undergo as a result of their encounters with beings from other planets, how is an Orthodox Christian to understand these data? Do they constitute plausible, if curious and bizarre, evidence that humans are being abducted by advanced beings from other planets—indeed by beings with the ability to expand human consciousness and imbue their victims with new levels of spiritual insight? There is an immediate response to these questions. Whether or not these incidents are believable, as Orthodox Christians we believe that spiritual knowledge, not advanced technology, is the prime factor in the expansion and perfection of human consciousness. We would expect advanced beings from other planets, therefore, to evidence, not mundane powers, but highly developed spiritual sensitivities. Enlightenment and salvation, furthermore, are inspired within us, not by alien beings which seek to breed with us and exploit our fallen sexuality, but by God, as He is known in the Holy Trinity, and by His Angels and Saints. Nor, indeed, do we Orthodox Christians imagine that salvation will come to us from other planets or from super-intelligent beings, but from the Divinity within us, from our transformation in Christ through union, in Grace, with Him. Given what I have said, we must come to understand that there is a decidedly anti-Christian tone in the eight stages that Dr. Mack identifies in the process of personal transformation in abduction victims. Seeing life in terms of cycles of birth and death, identifying with other beings and entities, the cessation of personhood, and looking to the "cosmos" for a "home"—these are all undefined, vague, and eclectic things that violate the precise, Christocentric teachings of Christianity and the life of discipline and obedience that spiritual transformation entails. Indeed, the Fathers of the Church warn us against these "false" teachings: reincarnation, delusion, and spiritual wanderings. The observations of one abductee interviewed by Mack, in particular, fully confirm the anti-Christian dimensions of the post-abduction philosophies and "spiritualities" of those who have come into contact with aliens. This man, called "Joe," reported that after his initial impression that the aliens were "sinister" or "malicious" (p. 186), he eventually embraced his abductors as "his spiritual teachers, peers, and helpers" (p. 192). Rather than grow in an understanding of God and the traditional precepts that we associate with Christianity, after his abduction experiences, he came to think of himself as becoming "more human" (p. 190) and, in a dream, experienced the integration of his "male-female" self through the symbolic birth of a goddess, born in a way too obscene to be repeated. His personal testimony leaves little doubt that the post-abduction "transformation" of individuals who have contacted alien beings is at odds with Orthodox Christian notions of human enlightenment, transformation, and perfection in Christ, but is rooted, rather, as I have argued, in a human-oriented idea of personal growth not dissimilar to that envisioned by the New Age religions. What, then, if they are not advanced beings from other planets, are these alien abductors? Ultimately, one cannot escape the conclusion that they are demons or phantoms created by demonic power. In the first place, they look like demons. They appear to be material creatures, and yet have a transparent character. According to the teachings of the Church, demons are spiritual beings; that is, they are fallen Angels. But because they are corrupt and degenerate, they thrive on the human passions—feed on them. This well explains the almost universal sexual exploitation of their captives by alien abductors. In the second place, in the course of their physical examination of abductees, the aliens inflict pain on their victims and frequently scar them. In spiritual literature, and especially in the lives of the Saints, we repeatedly read of physical attacks against Christian believers by demonic spirits. If these aliens are not demons, how is it that beings so advanced that they can achieve space travel cannot prevent pain and scarring during routine physical examinations? It is not pain which the aliens cannot control, but their demonic passion for inflicting the same on mankind. Moreover, at least initially, abductees experience terror and fright in the presence of their alien abductors; only later, after having been reluctantly won over by the aliens, do they feel secure in the presence of their abductors. This is a classical demonic machination. Demons inevitably strive, in a methodical way, to overcome the initial and natural repulsion that human beings feel in their presence, gaining the confidence of those whom they seek to mislead. Finally, the spiritual effects of abductees’ contacts with aliens, as we have pointed out, are anti-Christian. Abductees are drawn away from the universal teachings of Orthodox Christianity and towards the demonic delusion that underlies modern New Age philosophies. Human transformation ceases, for these victims of alien visitation, to be a God-oriented, Grace-mediated process, but becomes part of a personality-dissolving return to the "elemental" universals upon which the pagan notion of Paradise is predicated. It is worthy of note that the late Father Seraphim Rose, in his book Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future (Platina, CA: Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1990; Revised Edition), has also examined the phenomenon of alien visitations to earth from an Orthodox standpoint. He devotes an entire chapter of this work, "‘Signs from Heaven:’ An Orthodox Christian Understanding of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)," to the true nature and meaning of alien contacts with human beings. Though Father Seraphim, at a superficial level, approaches this matter in a way reminiscent of Protestant fundamentalistic thinking, and while his materials are dated and center only on more sensationalistic abduction reports—deficits compounded by the fact that some of the authorities whom he cites are clearly on the fringes of science—, his deeper analysis of the phenomenon is ingenious and supports much of what I have suggested about alien encounters with humans. He also observes that the aliens in contemporary abduction reports are similar in appearance to the demons which, for centuries, have been described in Orthodox literature (p. 134). In fact, he recounts two cases of demonic "kidnappings" in fifteenth- and nineteenth-century Russia that, in Father Seraphim’s words, are "quite close to UFO ‘abductions’" today (pp. 136-137). It is his conclusion that classical demonic possession, known to the Orthodox Church for centuries, accounts for the alien abductions that we see in modern times and that "...modern men, for all their proud ‘enlightenment’ and ‘wisdom,’ are becoming once more aware of such experiences—but no longer have the Christian framework with which to explain them" (p. 137). This conclusion perfectly reflects what I have said about alien abductions and how they should be understood and viewed by the Orthodox Christian. From Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XIV, No. 1, pp. 57-62. - by Father Alexey Young Webmasters Note: The following is a paper that originally appeared in Orthodoxy America, Vol IX, #8 (issue 88), March '89. A text version can be found on the web, in which permission was giving for the transcriber to post. This is a XHTML version that I've provided. LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU BY ANY MEANS... II THESS. 2:3 It is no coincidence that the ancient pagan mystery religions as well as numerous mystical fraternities (such as the Theosophists and Rosicrucians) speak of an "elite" — sometimes called "the Great White Brotherhood" the "Ascended Masters," or the "Mahatmas" of Madame Blavatsky — a group of beings seeking to guide and control the destiny of mortal man. Sometimes this "elite" is seen as non-human, at other times as "highly evolved" or perfected humans. The ancestor of this "elite" is the daimon of the ancient pagan Greeks — from which, in fact, we get the word demon and which prompted the Holy Fathers to say that "the gods of the pagans are demons". Thus, from the Christian point of view, there can be no doubt that such an "elite" exists, and is known to the followers of Christ as the army of fallen angels, the demonic host. This host enters into our fallen world through sin and heresy, as well as by occult practices of all kinds (from apparently "innocent" things such as ouija boards to the New Age practice of "channeling"). Now however, fallen angels have found a new and particularly dazzling way to enter the world of men. Whereas a generation ago only "cranks" and the mentally emotionally distressed believed in UFOs, today more than half the population of the US, according to surveys, accepts the reality of alien visitors. In particular, "many New Agers believe in unidentified flying objects," according to Time, "crewed by oddly shaped extraterrestrials who have long visited the earth from more advanced planets, spreading the wisdom that they created, among other things, Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt." Although UFO literature is proliferous, the most respected and listened-to UFO "convert" is Whitley Streiber, who has written two recent books on his own experiences, Communion: A True Story (1987) and its sequel, Transformation: A Breakthrough (1988). Both books have been on the best seller list and the author has appeared in numerous television interviews, partly because he writes well and has consulted many members of the scientific community. Although Streiber says that he was never before interested in UFOs and had read practically nothing on the subject, "this is the story," he writes in the first book, "of one man's attempt to deal with a shattering assault from the unknown. It is a true story, as true as I know how to describe it. To all appearances I have had an elaborate personal encounter with intelligent non human beings. But who could they be, and where have they come from? Are unidentified flying objects real? Are they goblins or demons ... or visitors?" Beginning in December 1985 Streiber and his family experienced a series of dream-like lights, voices, touchings and "night visitors" with bug-like heads. "At first," he said, "I thought I was losing my mind. But I was interviewed by three psychologists and three psychiatrists and giving a battery of psychological tests and a neurological examination and found to fall within the normal range in all respects. I was giving a polygraph... and I passed without qualification....The visitors marched right into middle of the life of an indifferent skeptic without a moment's hesitation." The fact that Streiber's first book Communion also contains official medical statements as to his normalcy and sanity, as well as transcripts of hypnotic sessions (used to focus details of his experiences) and that he acknowledges by name the help of prominent scientists in many fields, adds to the veracious tone of his frightening story. Streiber speculates that his "visitors" could be: 1) "from another planet or planets; 2) "from earth, but so different from us that we have not hitherto understood that they were even real; 3) "from another aspect of space-time — another dimension; 4) "from this dimension in space but not in time" — in other words, time-travel by our own descendants into their own past (our present); 5) "from within us; 6) "a certain hallucinatory wire in the mind, or 7) "an aspect of the human species" — perhaps ghosts or, better yet, "maybe you and I are larvae, and the visitors are human beings in the mature form." What makes Streiber's account so compelling is his apparent objectivity: he projects himself as an innocent bystander, in no way responsible for this bizarre encounter. Beyond the pages of these books, however, one discovers that Streiber is also the author of several horror stories, which contain similarities to his real life experience. As one critic pointed out: "Communion seems like the end of a logical progression leading from fiction on the bestseller list to the non-fiction side" (Thomas Dirch in The Nation, March 14, 1987). What is even more revealing, Streiber studied for 15 years with the Gurdjieff Foundation, a cultish group whose teaching stresses "the development of powers latent in the human psyche," and whose spiritual eclecticism is popular among today's New Agers. Obviously, Streiber's role was not as passive as he would lead his readers to believe, he had — unknowingly, no doubt — predisposed himself to cooperate with such an experience. And one can more readily understand why the 'aliens' told him: "you are our chosen one." Although he brings a diverse array of theories from world religion and philosophy to bear on his subject — everything from Hindu mythology to the warfare of St. Anthony the Great with demons — religion and God in the traditional sense are conspicuously absent from his thinking and he comes down in favor of the popular modern idea that SCIENCE is the only "key" — if still primitive — to understanding the experiences. But, as Hiermonk Seraphim (Rose) wrote in his study of UFOs (in Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future): "Science fiction has giving the images, evolution has produced the philosophy, and the technology of the 'space age' has supplied the plausibility for such encounters". Rather than a boundless thirst for God, we have instead a "great thirst for contact with superior minds that will provide guidance for our poor, harassed, hectic, planet" (Jacques Vallee, quoted in ORF, p.138). Indeed Streiber is himself a fervent environmentalist with an apocalyptic sense of destruction man is bringing upon his little earth-home. What is in Streiber's books is that mind or thought control is being exercised on the human race by these "visitors" in a way that can only be described in the classic sense as occult. The Orthodox reader is chilled when, at one point, the author discovers that he can "call up" these "visitors" at will and experience a kind of "communion" with them (thus, the title of his first book) in a manner that is already mediumistic. No Orthodox Christian even slightly versed in the lives of the saints and the writings of the Holy Fathers can fail to understand what is happening here. The similarities between Streiber's experiences (and those of other UFO "contactees") and the demonic warfare of the saints is compelling. The author himself even describes peculiar smells associated with his "visitors" — among them, a "sulphur-like" odor which he compares to the head of a matchstick. His "visitors" have frightening, insect-like heads with enormous eyes that he associates with statues of the pagan goddess Ishtar. In Transformation he writes: "I felt an absolutely indescribable sense of menace. It was hell on earth to be there and yet I couldn't move, couldn't cry out, and couldn't get away. I lay as still as death, suffering inner agonies. Whatever was there seemed so monstrously ugly, so filthy and dark and sinister ... I still remember that thing crouching there, so terribly ugly, its arms and legs like limbs of a great insect, its eyes glaring at me." In his second book Streiber concludes that many of the "close encounters" he has had (and is still having) are for the purpose of "shattering my belief in the accepted paradigm of reality. And it succeeded very well ... I suspect that experiences such as these are the outcome of a fundamental shift of mind. They are what happens when people begin to abandon the old, *false* beliefs..." Truer words were never spoken. Although Streiber now believes that his "visitors" are extraterrestrials and have a physical reality, he also calls them "goblins" and "soul eaters," who have the "ability to enter the mind and affect thought," and much, much worse. He writes: "Increasingly I felt as if I were entering a struggle that might be a struggle for my soul, my essence, or whatever part of me might have reference to the eternal... It was clear that the soul was very much at issue. People [have] experienced feeling as if their souls were being dragged from their bodies. More than one person had seen the visitors in the context of near-death experience." In spite of all this, Streiber's delusion is so great that he can enthusiastically say that "it is up to each one of us to seek our own contact [with the "visitors], develop it if it occurs, and challenge ourselves to use it for... spiritual growth..." By contrast, Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov wrote a century ago: "The perception of spirits with eyes of the sense always brings harm, sometimes greater sometimes less, to men who do not have spiritual perception... He will unfailingly be deceived, he will unfailingly be attracted, he will unfailingly be sealed with the seal of deception...the seal of a frightful injury to his spirit; and further, the possibility of correction and salvation is often lost. This has happened with many, very many. It has happened not only with pagans, whose priests were for the most part in open "communion" with demons; it has happened not only with many Christians who do not know the mysteries of Christianity... it has [also] happened with many strugglers and monks..." (quoted in The Soul After Death, Fr. Seraphim Rose, p.68) When he wasn't "seeing" them, Streiber nonetheless frequently "heard" their voices, "as if a small speaker just to the right of my head." Without any difficulty at all he saw that this was similar to pagan oracles of old: "the oracles at Delphi and many other places in the ancient world were channels answering questions in trance... With the rise of Christianity the voice died...So the voice I was hearing, as also the voices heard by modern channels, was possessed by an ancient and lofty human heritage...I was still well within the tradition of human experience." Streiber also speaks of psychic gifts that also appear, unbidden, in people who have UFO experiences: "precognition, apparent telepathy, out-of-body perceptions, and even physical levitation. Such people often find street lights mysteriously shutting down as they walk down the street." (One wonders if he had ever seen the 1950's film about modern-day witchraft, Bell, Book, and Candle, in which a novice warlock is able to turn out the street lights as he passes by.) Streiber concludes benignly: "I do not think that we have even begun to comprehend the visitors. I suspect that we are a lot farther from understanding them than we are of understanding, say, the songs of whales..." But Fr. Seraphim wrote: "Such stories of demonic activity were commonplace in earlier centuries. It is a sign of the spiritual crisis of today that modern men, for all their proud enlightenment and wisdom are becoming once more aware of such experiences — but no longer have the Christian framework with which to explain them... A true evaluation of UFO experiences may be made only on the basis of Christian revelation and experience, and it is accessible only to the humble Christian believer who trusts these sources" (Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, pp. 137-138) Ever since the phenomenally successful movies, Close Encounters and E.T., we have seen a resurgence of interest in UFO phenomena. It will doubtless continue to grow as Christianity wanes in the West and people instead tune their ears to ancient "voices", once stilled by the Son of God. The Orthodox Christian, however must hold on to the redemption offered by Christ, for as Fr. Seraphim wrote, "he knows that man is not to 'evolve' into 'something higher', nor has he any reason to believe that there are 'highly evolved' beings on other planets; but he knows well that there are indeed 'advanced intelligences' in the universe besides himself: there are two kinds, and he strives to live so as to dwell with those who serve God (the angels) and avoid contact with the others who have rejected God (the demons)... he distrusts his own ability to see through the deceptions of the demons, and therefore clings all the more firmly to the Scriptural and Patristic guidelines which the Church of Christ provides for his life..."(Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, pp. 144-145). O Archangel of God, leave us not defenseless against the spirits of evil in the upper air!
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#1. To: Destro (#0)
I'm Catholic and have no problem believing the possibility that UFOs are manifestations of demons. What do you think?
Science tells us that flights between solar systems is not possible in lifespans we can fathom - nothing can go faster than light and to achieve near light speed would create such mass and inertia it would not be possible. So we ar eleft with two possibilities - human perception/imagination. Or the supernatural (which just means outside of nature- which is the only thing that science can measure.)
"The desire to rule is the mother of heresies." -- St. John Chrysostom
The ex-wife has tried to pass herself off as many things over the years, but "space alien" was never one of them. Besides, the horns on her head would have poked through a rubber alien mask.
"First I'm gonna bother everybody I meet, and then I'll probably go home and get drunk."
That is sooooo three-dimensional.
"First I'm gonna bother everybody I meet, and then I'll probably go home and get drunk."
Anything is possible. We are limited only if we dare not imagine the seemingly unimaginable is possible. Many times people have declared all that can be discovered about various aspect of science has been discovered only to find they have been turned into a buffoon by new things. This was true about physics in the exciting discoveries at the turn of the Twentieth Century. It is true about genetic today ad the Geom Project finds out there are not enough genes to encode everything and new models have to be made and new research advanced. We will reach the stars. I believe it, it will happen.
I'm in no way an astro-physicist, but I do not believe you are correct in this. I remember discussing worm hole theory in my physics classes years ago. IIRC, this theory has been around this Einstein. Of course worm hole theory has not been proven yet, but scientists have been pretty accurate so-far in their theories.
How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments. Benjamin Franklin
2+2 can only equal 4
"The desire to rule is the mother of heresies." -- St. John Chrysostom
There you go then. It's possible but not probable.
"The desire to rule is the mother of heresies." -- St. John Chrysostom
#2. To: Artisan (#1)
#3. To: Artisan (#1)
I'm Catholic and have no problem believing the possibility that UFOs are manifestations of demons. What do you think?
#4. To: Destro (#2)
Science tells us that flights between solar systems is not possible in lifespans we can fathom - nothing can go faster than light and to achieve near light speed would create such mass and inertia it would not be possible.
#5. To: Destro (#2)
"Science tells us that flights between solar systems is not possible in lifespans we can fathom - nothing can go faster than light and to achieve near light speed would create such mass and inertia it would not be possible."
#6. To: Destro (#2)
Science tells us that flights between solar systems is not possible in lifespans we can fathom - nothing can go faster than light and to achieve near light speed would create such mass and inertia it would not be possible.
#7. To: Ferret Mike (#5)
Anything is possible.
#8. To: Fibr Dog (#6)
Of course worm hole theory has not been proven yet,
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