New Ager's and their UFO theories
(This is a brief writing about the history of New Age theories and alien abductions as spiritual
or occult experiences)
UFO's have been the subject of fascination here in America and abroad for decades. A 1993 secular book called, "Angels and Aliens" by Keith Thompson, is but one of many such books out there on the subject. Keith Thompson is the consulting editor of the quarterly journal "ReVISION." I was unable to verify what type of journal 'ReVISION' is, but it is clear that Keith Thompson has New Age connections. After all, the book jacket states that he did the original New Age magazine interview with Robert Bly that brought the "men's movement" to wide attention.
Typical New Age theories of the years past includes the idea of physical 'aliens' interacting with humans throughout man's history, guiding or influencing cultural and religious, and perhaps even technological development. Likewise, Keith Thompson's book contains plenty of references to gods and myths as they may relate to the development of human UFO fascination, yet he introduces a new twist to the typical New Age theories on UFO's. He proposes in his book that UFO sightings and experiences are the result of interactions with spiritual, perhaps other-dimensional beings rather than physical aliens. In other words, he proposes that UFO experiences are wholly spiritual experiences.
Whether physical aliens or spiritual (other-dimensional) beings, I believe that the presumption that these beings replace the divine is an insult to the Christian faith in God. This insult is the linchpin of the New Age UFO theories. For instance, Joseph Blumrich's 1973 book called, "The Spaceships Of Ezekiel", proposed that the prophet Ezekiel's vison of the "wheels within wheels" was in reality, a metallic spaceship. This book has become so well known that Keith Thompson could not help but mention "The Spaceships Of Ezekiel" and its theory on pages 70-71 of his book, "Angels and Aliens" So what if Ezekiel saw spaceships, we may ask? It's entirely possible, we might say. Yet New Agers are not satisfied with this. They do not stop at just making the occasional Biblical vision into a physical or 'metaphysical' (as Keith Thompson would call it) spaceship. Instead, they continuously make just about everything and anything a case for some type of UFO or alien intervention. The reason for these interventions are usually said to be for the benefit of mankind.
This is typical of how many New Agers unconsciously develop theories that discount divine intervention in human history. That is, by believing or equating UFO's and aliens with a 'higher power,' they can seem open-minded to the supernatural or the extraordinary. Yet, at the same time it is all 'scientific' and so it can remain essentially athiestic. If (usually benevolent) aliens are somehow responsible for man's evolution or existence, we have no need for a Creator to create man and woman from scratch. Mankind was just a lab experiment or accidental genetic alien/human crossbreed. Anything goes, it seems, when it comes to cutting God out of the picture. But then who really needs God if, as in the 1997 book "The God Hypothesis" by Joe Lewels, humans are on their way to becoming little 'gods' themselves (with the help of aliens, of course)? The author of that book considers himself a Christian yet is really a New Ager. The contents of his book prove it. He marginalizes the Biblical text and the basic faith tenets of Christianity into something that he can contradict, discount, or reinvent according to his own pet UFO theories.
These subtle New Age 'anti-Christian' theories are now frequently found in secular lore, too. As an example, the movie, "Mission To Mars," (year 2000) promoted the idea of people being evolved from aliens. At the end of the movie, we find out that benevolent Martians were really the ones who 'seeded' the Earth with DNA just before they took off for other galaxies. Therefore, it was really aliens who were responsible for leaps in evolution. Even my 15 year old daughter was insulted by this idea! Not because she is a Christian (which she is), but because the movie did not make sense to her. She noted, "How could the Martians who already left Mars eons ago, place an accurate 'puzzle' on Mars for the people to solve? If there was evolution because of what they did, their puzzle of the human DNA construct could not be solved by people later, because human's DNA structure of the future would have totally changed!" I noted that this was indeed a big difficulty with the movie--basically destroying the whole premise of the plot. But as for religious considerations: If we came from alien stock, where did the aliens come from? Who created them?
And so the beat goes on. As some seek the higher truth and the higher power, they stop short a bit because they reach for their binoculars instead. Distracted from prayer, study, and other worthy pursuits, they start looking into the night sky for a UFO. I am not trying to put down people who are not New Age and who still take an interest in UFO's. I am only pointing out that New Agers interpret the phenomenon in light of their own anti-Creator or anti-Jesus-as-Diety religion. This is what they tend to do with any mysterious phenomenon.
Of even more interest though, is exactly how and when the UFO craze began here in America. This is a story most people don't know, because they have visions of Area-51 dancing in their head. The story goes back further than the 1950's though, and shows how it really all began.UFO abductions
One of the earliest and well-known 'abductee' stories emerged from the California occult scene in the mid-1930's. George Adamski was the author of an unsuccessful science fiction novel called, "Pioneers In Space," and was a person of no particular job success. So, he founded a religious occultic group called the Royal Order of Tibet. He was known as 'professor' by his cultish followers even though he lacked formal education. He lectured often on what he called 'universal law' before live audiences and on radio programs.
George Adamski, who for his own reasons anticipated a meeting with a flying saucer and perhaps its passengers, drove out to the California Desert with six of his followers and waited. Soon, according to he and his followers, they were rewarded by a large cigar-shaped craft that rose up from the distant mountains, accompanied by a smaller craft that announced its arrival with a bright flash of light. At this point, Adamski set off by foot to meet the occupants of the craft. He returned with blurry pictures from his camera and a tale of meeting a blond-haired humanoid from Venus, who warned that humans should halt nuclear testing.
For years afterwards, Adamski claimed that he continued to meet these Nordic-looking Venusian "Space Brothers" (as he called them), some of whom he met in local Los Angeles bars and cafes. Soon he was an author of two best-selling books and a popular speaker by radio and T.V. Afterwards, there were many others who made bizarre and fantastic claims of traveling and meeting various aliens with various messages for mankind. Because of the numbers of people making these clains, they organized special flying saucer clubs to help share and publicize their stories. (Source: the above mentioned book by Keith Thompson, "Angels and Aliens")
It wasn't until later that abductee claims or visits changed. There were no longer any blond humanoids from Venus, which the public discovered had an average surface temperature of 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Over the decades, people began reporting disturbing tales of medical testing, which evolved into those of a sexual or reproductive nature and/or 'tagging' for supposed future observation and reference. I hate to say it, but one can't help noticing that this transition took place after Americans became less secure in the world (what with World War II and the atom bomb) and after scary sci-fi books and movies became more and more the norm.
After the famous 1961 Betty and Barney Hill case in which hypnotism was used to 'recover' repressed memories, some people made it their full-time work to assist traumatized UFO abductees to recover what 'really' happened to them-- all with the help of hypnotism. Today it is acknowledged that hypnotism does not recover true memories, but more often creates false memories based on an imaginative dream state under the direction and expectation of the hypnotist. Hypnotism can also cause true memories to change into a melting pot of the real memories, influences of the hypnotist (including simply wanting to please the hypnotist), T.V. or radio, or any other memory or influence of daily life or thought. After these discoveries about hypnotism, the Betty and Barney Hill case conveniently slipped from memory and popular media.
In this unfolding development of UFO 'abductee' experiences, some have come forward to say that they now count their experiences as having been created by demonic (evil) spiritual entities rather than by physical aliens. These types of reports will probably never make it to the general media, because they acknowledge a spiritual interpretation that the general public just assume not hear about. After all, it is much more 'uplifting' to think of beneficial aliens rather than tricks of demons. Below are two stories that involve the occult as well as victory by spiritual means. It is important to the victims of that their stories be counted.
Fields of the Nephillim
by Christopher Wickland
A long and disturbing testimony of dissociation symptoms and partial
memory emergence of 'alien' encounters.
The author did not utilize hypnotism to uncover his memories, and concludes
that his victory was found through spiritual means only.
Encounter
By Virginia Miller-Witmer
Posted at the Chrisitian Sentinel website
See also the review of the book, The "God Hypothesis" by Joe Lewels, also at The Sentinel website. According to the review and the many quotes therein, the author of the book, "The God Hypothesis" used Old and New Testament 'inerrancy' as his excuse to go off into left field and beyond. Although the author claims to be a Christian, his book is filled with gnostic, extra-Biblical and anti-Christian beliefs, and his 'hypothesis' is clearly in line with New Age type theories. If you are a Christian, beware of books like these!
