Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

The Baffling Mystery of UFOs

by HOIM Staff

UFOs have baffled the public and scientists alike for the past fifty years, especially since an incident in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, when allegedly a strange alien craft crash-landed, and according to reports, the body of an "alien" was found. In film footage shown on Fox TV network in the summer of 1995, the actual surgical autopsy of the alien was depicted in a film called "Alien Autopsy." Was the film an actual documentary? Or an elaborate, remarkably clever hoax? The subject is hotly debated. One thing is for certain, however. Something crashed in 1947 near Roswell, New Mexico, and the Army Air Corps put out a press release that very day that called the crashed vehicle a "flying disk." This created quite a commotion, and eight hours later the Army backtracked and said they had made a mistake, saying it was a "weather balloon."

If indeed something unexplainable by normal human means was found, the government would be very concerned to prevent fear, panic, and anxiety among the citizenry. That would be true whether or not the "evidence" indicated extraterrestrial beings, or some other inexplicable phenomena, were observed and encountered.

But what is the latest evidence regarding UFOs? After fifty years of study, observation, and research, what are leading Ufologists now beginning to conclude?

In a nineteen-year span of time more than 10,000 "UFO sightings" were recorded, analyzed and classified by the United States Air Force in "Project Blue Book." The report concluded: "In our experience, the persons making reports seem in nearly all cases to be normal, responsible individuals. In most cases they are quite calm, at least by the time they make a report. They are simply puzzled about what they saw and hope they can be helped to a better understanding of it. Only a very few are obviously quite emotionally disturbed, their minds being filled with pseudo-scientific, pseudo-religious or other fantasies."

A Strange and Baffling Phenomena

Around the world, hundreds of millions of people believe UFOs exist. No less than fifteen million Americans -- 1 1 percent of the adult population -- claim to have seen a UFO. Among them are a former President, Jimmy Carter, who filed two reports of UFO sightings while Governor of Georgia. Other notable men who were convinced UFOs needed serious investigation are General Douglas MacArthur, President Dwight Eisenhower, Senator Barry Goldwater, Lester Pearson, former Prime Minister of Canada, and many others.

Some 5 to 10 percent of all UFO sightings remain truly unidentified. A leading UFO researcher, and the scientist who headed "Project Blue Book," is Dr. J. Allen Hynek. Dr. Hynek commented, "An expert has studied UFOs long enough to realize he is utterly ignorant. The UFO phenomena is the outstanding strange dilemma of our age. We don't know what they are."

Dr. Hynek asserts that he possesses a computerized list of some 63,000 sightings. The Australian computer bank passed the 80,000 mark, as of 1977. Many of these sightings were seen by dozens, even hundreds and thousands, of people at the same time. In 1954 there were numerous reports of UFO landings in France, witnessed by multiple witnesses 85 percent of the time. Says Dr. Stanton Friedman, nuclear scientist and UFO researcher, a "close encounter of the Third Kind' occurs somewhere on planet earth every day.

Dr. Allen Hynek, who began studying UFOs as an acknowledged skeptic and who believed all such talk was "nonsense" and "nonscience," twenty years after beginning his study was compelled by the evidence to adopt a totally different viewpoint. He declared:

"It is no longer possible to sweep away thc whole subject. It reminds me of the days of Galileo when he was trying to get people to look at the sun spots. They would say that the sun is a symbol of God; God is perfect, therefore the sun is perfect; therefore spots cannot exist: therefore there is no point in looking."

Today, Dr. Hynek says, "1 can establish beyond reasonable doubt that they [UFOs] are not all misinterpretations or hoaxes."

But what are they? Could they be visitors from outer space, from another galaxy, or another planet?

Visitors from Space?

The most common explanation offered to account for UFOs is, of course, the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis. According to this belief, UFOs come from amazingly advanced civilizations out in the cosmos which are seeking to study, contact, and influence mankind on the earth. However, editor Gordon Creighton of the British journal Flying Saucer Review, a widely hailed leading UFO publication which has investigated the phenomena for forty years, founded in 1955, and which has viewed the subject objectively and thoroughly, now says: "There seems to be no evidence yet that any of these craft or beings originate from outer space."

Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark agrees. He says, "One theory that can no longer be taken very seriously is that UFOs are interstellar spaceships."

Two of the most highly respected and qualified researchers, Jacques Vallee and Allen J. Hynek, have discarded the "Extraterrestrial Hypothesis" completely. They point out with sense and rational logic:

"If UFOs are indeed somebody else's nuts and bolts hardware, then we must still explain how such tangible hardware can change shape before our eyes, vanish in a Cheshire cat manner (not even leaving a grin), seemingly melt away in front of us, or apparently 'materialize' mysteriously before us without apparent detection by persons nearby or in neighboring towns. We must wonder too, where UFOs arc 'hiding' when not manifesting themselves to human eyes" (Hynek, Edge of Reality, p. xii-xiii).

Many people, however, seem to desire to believe the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs. Some scientists use this as a means to gain funding for research to look for "life out there" in space. There has been no evidence whatsoever that such extraterrestrial life exists, however.

Other theories include the ideas that UFOs are simply the result of misunderstanding natural phenomena, or are in some cases deliberate hoaxes.

A third theory, which is beginning to receive much study and analysis, is that UFOs represent contact with another dimension of reality -- what could be called a "parallel universe" or a "spiritual/psychic dimension."

Tens of thousands of UFO reports involve "close encounters" with UFOs, where the observers actually see UFOs or even their occupants at close range. Thousands of more reports actually claim incredibly bizarre and life-changing experiences, that literally shake up the individual in a powerful manner. Many of these include the individual actually reporting that they were "abducted" and taken aboard UFO craft for "medical experiments" and often involve "sexual" research of one kind or another. Thirdly, thousands of other people report that they actually are in personal contact with UFO aliens or entities. These are called "contactees" in the literature.

Interestingly, those who have studied the subject in detail report that UFOs appear to be slowly, in a calculated manner, deliberately revealing themselves to the world more and more, as we approach the end of this millennium. UFO reports occur in most all nations, and many major countries are engaged in official secret and serious investigation of the phenomena. Government agencies and the military are often involved.

Declare John Ankerberg and John Weldon, in Behind the Alien Abduction Syndrome,

"In the U.S. alone, tens of millions of dollars have been spent in official UFO investigations by the CIA, FBI, Defense Intelligence Agency, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army Intelligence, Naval Intelligence and other organizations. Lawsuits filed under the Freedom of Information Act prove this in spite of the denials by such agencies (published in After Dark magazine, originally titled "UFO Encounters" and published by the Spiritual Counterfeits Project in Berkeley, California. SCP publishes a nationally award-winning journal that addresses today's latest spiritual trends. Their address is: SCP, Inc., Box 4308, Berkeley, CA 94704).

Behind the Close Encounters

UFOs are a concern for the governments of France, Russia, Britain, and other nations. Many years ago, French Foreign Minister of Defense, Robert Galley, stated that the number of reliable UFO sightings and landing-occupant reports was "very great" in his country and "quite disturbing." He declared: "The ubiquitous UFO phenomenon [is] a phenomenon that has caused grave concern at high levels of many of the world's governments, despite their statements to the contrary" (ibid.).

Say Ankerberg and Weldon, UFO Encounters are classified into seven major categories:

1. Distant sightings -- anomalous lights in the sky, etc.

2. Close Encounters of the First Kind -- sighting of a UFO itself and/or occupants at a distance of 500 feet or less.

3. Close Encounters of the Second Kind -- UFOs that leave physical evidence such as burned "landing" sites, broken limbs of trees, etc.

4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- seeing UFOs with occupants at close range, including landed craft.

5. Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind -- involving UFO abductions of human beings, taken aboard UFO craft for experimentation, consultation, communication, etc. Such events are generally forgotten until revealed later through "hypnosis."

6. Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind -- involving "contactees," people who claim to be in personal contact with UFO entities.

7. Close Encounters of the Sixth Kind -- involving injuries or deaths resulting from a close UFO encounter (their own classification).

But what are these strange phenomena? What have we learned concerning these bizarre and baffling phenomena?

Far From "Friendly"

Author Whitley Strieber, in his best-selling book Communion, tells of his own weird UFO abduction and claims that he experienced harrowing contact with strange and terrifying beings, who, he said, "are already having a staggering but largely hidden impact on our society." He says "their presence should be taken with the utmost seriousness."

After more than fifty years of observation and research, what have we learned about UFOs? Are they benevolent "aliens" from outer space, a far-flung galaxy, studying mankind in hopes of "helping" us through future world crises? There is a serious problem with this quaint, naive viewpoint. Say Ankerberg and Weldon:

"Yet we have a problem here. The truth is that the UFO phenomenon simply does not behave like advanced but supposedly benevolent aliens who will 'save' our planet from destruction. Their purpose seems to be anything but open contact -- in the sense that we would expect friendly contact from advanced civilizations in space. Rather their goal seems to be psychological and social manipulation. A few of the leading UFO researchers have recognized this, among them Vallee (Messengers of Deception), as well as John Keel (The Eighth Tower; UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse). These researchers believe that the UFO entities are deliberately programming their human observers with false information in order to hide their true nature and purpose" (After Dark, p. 10).

Dr. Vallee, who has written eight books on UFOs, and has spent two decades in serious UFO research, "has put his finger on the lowest common denominator of UFO contacts -- deception -- and also on the most common parallel to UFO phenomena -- paganism and demonology. Vallee puts forth the idea that UFOs are purposely hoping to 'change our belief systems' and that they are engaging in a 'worldwide enterprise of subliminal seduction'" (ibid.).

Says Dr. Vallee, UFOs are putting "human beings under the control of a strange force that is bending them in absurd ways, forcing them to play a role in a bizarre game of deception." They are not only making an impact on our social reality, but also seem bound to change our "political realities as well."

Masters of Deception

Brad Stieger, another UFO researcher, believes that very likely "we are dealing with a multi-dimensional paraphysical phenomenon which is largely indigenous to planet earth." Many researchers now believe that the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis is impossible. They point out that most believable UFOs conform to the following theory:

1. They are an intelligent life form.

2. They have been with mankind from the beginning of time, although assuming different forms throughout history.

3. They do not originate from advanced civilizations in outer space, but rather come from another dimension of reality that coexists with mankind in an unseen world invisible to human eyes.

4. They represent a psychic phenomenon with the capacity to operate, at least at times, on a physical level.

In fact, Ankerberg and Weldon declare:

"Indeed, few unbiased researchers can logically deny that UFO experiences are of an occult nature. If we catalogue the basic characteristics of the occult and compare them to UFO phenomena, we discover an essential similarity.

"Consider just a few parallels between classical demonology and ufology. An examination of 19th Century literature on the occult, such as Francis Barret's authoritative work The Magus, Book 2 (1801 ), describes FALLEN ANGELS OR DEMONS in the following manner:

"'...some that are near to us wander up and down in this obscure air; others inhabit lakes, rivers and seas; others the earth and terrify earthly things ... and vex not only men but also other creatures; some being content with laughter and derision only, do contrive rather to weary men than to hurt them; some heighthening themselves to the length of a giant's body, and again shrinking themselves down to the smallest of pygmies, and changing themselves into different forms, do disturb men with vain fear."'

In another book dealing with the occult written in 1876, G. H. Pember says that the occultist is "brought into intelligent communication with the spirits of the air, and can receive any knowledge which they possess, or any false impression which they choose to impart" (from Earth's Earliest Ages and Their Connection With Modern Spiritualism and Theosophy, quoted by Ankerberg and Weldon).

UFOs and Classic Demonism

A growing number of researchers formerly committed to believing the Extra-terrestrial Hypothesis, are now leaning toward the psychic, occult explanation for UFO phenomena. Raymond Fowler; who has written five books on UFOs, admits that he has watched with dismay as a number of respected UFO researchers have moved from a physical to a parapsychological explanation of the phenomenon. He adds, "Now I am being forced to re-examine the UFO phenomenon in light of its apparent paraphysical nature."

Says Dr. Vallee, "I do not believe any more that UFOs are simply the spacecraft of some race or extraterrestrial visitors. This notion is too simplistic to explain their appearance, the frequency of their manifestations throughout recorded history, and the structure of the information exchanged with them during contact." State Ankerberg and Weldon:

"In Vallee's third book, Passport to Magonia, he describes 923 UFO landings from 1868-1968. Again and again we discover references to a wide variety of OCCULTIC phenomena while the DEMONIC NATURE OF UFOs is evident throughout. In Messengers of Deception he observes that an 'impressive parallel [canl be made between UFO occupants and the popular conception of demons' and that UFOs can 'project images or fabricated scenes designed to change our belief systems.' In The Invisible College he argues that the source of power behind UFOs constitutes a powerful worldwide force that has been influential in shaping human beliefs throughout history; 'Human belief...is being controlled and conditioned,' 'man's concepts are being rearranged' and we may be headed toward 'a massive change of human attitudes toward paranormal abilities and extraterrestrial life.' In Confrontations he points out: The 'medical examination' to which abductees are said to be subjected, often accompanied by sadistic sexual manipulation, is reminiscent of the medieval tales of encounters with DEMONS. It makes no sense in a sophisticated or technical or biological framework: any intelligent being equipped with the scientific marvels that UFOs possess would be in a position to achieve any of these alleged scientific objectives in a shorter time and with fewer risks" (ibid., p. 11).

Dr. Vallee concludes, "The UFO beings of today belong to the same class of manifestations as the entities that were described in centuries past." That is, DEMON MANIFESTATIONS!

John Ankerberg and John Weldon point out that the typical UFO encounter may include the following paranormal aspects -- the subject himself or herself has an occult background; dramatic manipulation of mental experiences; poltergeists; the experience of supposedly "missing time"; mental terror; profound and drastic personality changes in the person involved; social stigma; after-effects and continuing contact with the entities; an initial intuitive sense of tremendous fear and frequently evil; and numerous correlations to ancient PAGANISM which 'haunt' the relationship."

The Harrowing Story of Whitley Strieber

A vivid example of one who experienced UFO contacts is Whitley Strieber. He wrote of his personal experience with UFO entities:

"I became entirely given over to extreme dread. The fear was so powerful that it seemed to make my personality completely evaporate... 'Whitley' ceased to exist. What was left was a body and a state of raw fear so great that it swept about me like a thick, suffocating curtain, turning paralysis into a condition that seemed close to death....I died, and a wild animal appeared in my place."

Streiber went on, "I had an awful feeling. I felt their presence. It was palpable. Most upsetting, I could smell them." They smelled, he said, like sulfur. He went on to describe one of the alien entities as "what seemed almost to be a demon with a narrow face and dark, slanted eyes. It spoke to me in a high, squeaky voice." He wondered about their motives and purposes in contacting him. He asked himself:

"Why were my visitors so secretive, hiding themselves behind my consciousness? I could only conclude that they were using me and did not want me to know why. Frankly, I found this idea deeply disturbing. What were the visitor's motives?...What if they were dangerous? Then I was terribly dangerous because I was playing a role in acclimatizing people to them."

Streiber eventually realized he was involved in a battle of life and death. He declared, "So far the word demon had never been spoken among the scientists and doctors who were working with me." He asserted, "Alone at night I worried about the legendary cunning of demons." He met many others who have had similar hellish experiences with the UFO "entities." He declared, "Those who have had the experience must learn to ride a sort of psychological razor."

Declare Ankerberg and Weldon regarding people like Streiber:

"There are thousands of them -- and they too have sensed something evil and demonic. And even years after such an experience it continues to haunt and influence these people in harmful ways; they have become brutalized. They have been mentally (and sometimes physically) raped at the impersonal whim of alien forces. Never again in their lives do they feel security. They fear any time they may be manipulated at will by forces beyond their control" (p. 14).

The authors point out, "Not everyone can successfully integrate the kinds of horrors that UFO experiences may bring. Strieber himself confesses that the experience of contact is so stressful that people who are unable to integrate it 'are often shattered.' The terror, confusion and permanent insecurity can break people; indeed many people have gone insane from pressures less than these. But the UFO entities themselves don't seem too concerned."

A Different Dimensional Reality

Writes Jacques Vallee in Messengers of Deception:

"Why is it, I wondered, that the occupants of UFOs behave so much like the denizens of fairy tales and the elves of ancient folklore? Why is the picture we can form of their world so much closer to the medieval concept of Magonia, the magical land above the clouds, than to a description of an extraterrestrial planetary environment? And why are UFOs becoming a new religious form?" (p. 8).

Vallee declares, in summation of the facts concerning UFOs and their existence:

"The UFO phenomenon represents a manifestation of a reality that transcends our current understanding of physics. . . The UFOs are physical manifestations that cannot be understood apart from their PSYCHIC and symbolic reality. What we see in effect here is not an alien invasion. It is a control system which acts on humans and uses humans" (ibid., p. 209-210).

I. D. E. Thomas, author of a fascinating book entitled The Omega Conspiracy: Satan's Last Assault on God's Kingdom, agrees that there is far more to UFOs than mere visitors from other planets and galaxies in outer space. He notes that there is more and more consensus that these strange and weird "visitors" are actually "spiritual entities" -- and that UFO phenomena is a "spiritual" or "paraphysical phenomenon." He notes:

"Scientists of late...are referring more and more to these visitors as spiritual entities -- and indeed to the whole UFO activity as a spiritual or paraphysical phenomenon" (pp. 70-71).

This was also the conclusion of the Condon Report, a document published by the Air Force at the University of Colorado in 1969. Although criticized widely at the time by UFO buffs and believers, this prestigious report arrived at three salient and significant conclusions:

1) It demolished the idea that earth was being visited by creatures from other planets and galaxies, concluding that there was no hard evidence that UFO space ships were from extraterrestrial civilizations.

2) It concluded that the objects seen in the sky and sometimes on the ground were just as "material" as any other physical objects, although maybe only temporarily so -- i.e., a "material" manifestation.

3) It further concluded that UFOs and their occupants should be attributed to paraphysical phenomena, and belong in the same category as spiritist movements, seances, etc. -- that is, they are "paraphysical."

Declares I. D. E. Thomas in The Omega Conspiracy:

"Since 1959, there has been an accumulating mountain of evidence that would place UFO activity within a spiritual and religious framework. Many of the contactees when asked to describe what happened to them, referred to occult mysticism, psychic manifestations and telepathic communications. So pronounced have been the religious and cultic references, that a number of religious and semi-religious groups have crystallized around these alleged UFO sightings and communications. Some of these groups go by such names as the Aethesious Society, the Urautia Group, the Solar Cross Foundation, the School of Thoughts, plus hundreds of smaller and more secretive groups " (ibid., p. 72).

In the preface to an official document compiled by the U.S. Air Force titled UFOs and Related Subjects: An Annotated Bibliography, Lynn E. Catoe summarizes existing UFO literature in these words:

"A large part of the available UFO literature is CLOSELY LINKED WITH MYSTICISM and the METAPHYSICAL. It deals with subjects like mental telepathy, automatic writing, and invisible entities, as well as phenomena like poltergeist manifestations and POSSESSION...many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to DEMONIC POSSESSION AND PSYCHIC PHENOMENA which has long been known to theologians and parapsychologists. "

What are these "UFO aliens," then? Scientists and doctors don't know. Researchers see similarities to occult phenomena but are also baffled. This sort of encounter goes beyond their own experience. A woman who attended a meeting held in Los Angeles by Streiber, Elaine Morganelli, came up with a chilling answer. When she arrived at Streiber's rented house in Hollywood, she said she felt a "sense of evil" in the room. She concluded he was being contacted by demons and said, "People can be duped by devils. A spirit can tell you anything. They love to fool you. These people [the UFO abductees] are being taken over. The more you go along with it, the harder it is to get away from it."

She declared, "I think they're being used to get an anti-Christian movement going." She added, "What got me was when he [Whitley] referred to the Lord and his angels as 'Nazis of the air.' When he said that I thought, 'Oh boy, that's it. I'm out of here.'"

Los Angeles journalist Stuart Goldman, who has talked with Whitley on several occasions, and reported the Elaine Morganelli episode, observes:

"Certainly, one could write Morganelli off as some sort of Christian fanatic. However, she's not the only one who's come to the conclusion that Strieber's visitors -- and in turn the beings who are abducting countless thousands of people -- are nothing more than good, [sic] old-fashioned demons, doing what they do best. Stealing souls."

Goldman, a skeptical, hard-nosed reporter and journalist. concludes:

"...the unpleasant fact is, fifty thousand people cannot be lying. Something is here -- probing people, inspecting them, and planting thoughts in their minds, manipulating their bodies -- treating them, in a sense, like so many cattle. Is it all simply a gigantic cosmic joke, or is there a more sinister PLOT at hand? Are we seeing the formation of a new and highly destructive CULT, one whose view posits the ELIMINATION (the New Agers call it 'spiritual cleansing') of people who are 'unfit' to exist in the coming New World?....Are there really demonic entities hovering about, searching for likely candidates whose brains and minds they can invade, filling them full of fairytales and lies -- fattening them for the kill?" (p. l5).

Goldman wonders, and questions, and searches for the answers. Scientists can't explain UFOs and their mysterious behavior, and the bizarre accounts of "contactees" with alien beings which seem to mimic occult phenomena of parapsychology.

But there is a revealed answer which explains the widespread increase in UFO activity around the world. The true answers concerning UFOs are contained in the Scriptures. It's time we look into YEHOVAH God's Word, to see what in actual fact is going on, why it is happening, and what the future really holds.

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Taking the Lead in the Search for Truth!

Hope of Israel Ministries P.O. Box 853 Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A. www.hope-of-israel.org

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