ON THE WINGS OF ANGELS The Extraterrestrial Theology of the Hebrew Recordã 2000 by W. L. Graham Revised and Edited 2005 Reproduced gratefully from: http://www.biblerealityche ck.com/WingsT reatise.htmTHIS DOCUMEN T MAY BE COPIED OR QUOTED FOR PERSONAL OR GROUP S TUDY ONLY. Table of ContentsIntroduction CosmicTheol ogy — The Extraterrestrial Paradigm The Elohim — G ods, Angels and Spacemen The “Miracles” O f Technology Jesus and the “Ki ngdom of Heaven” Star Wars Demythologizing Religion In Conclusion
This new work is presented as a treatise on the authenticcosmological worldview of the ancient Hebrew writers of the Judeo-Christian Bible, particularly as relates to the UFO phenomenon and
extraterrestrial contact. Although previously explored by manywriters this subject is still virgin territory for many serious students othe Bible, having been shrouded in religious mystery for centuries.
We shall endeavor to show that, historically, it is simply the imprecistranslation of the biblical texts, guided more by religious bias than bysound linguistic scholarship, that is responsible for the perpetual,unenlightened recitation of many familiar Bible stories having aclearly discernible extraterrestrial context. With a modern perspectivon Bible translation, a paradigm shift relative to many assumptionspertaining to human history, the sciences, world religion, and the
Judeo-Christian faith in particular, could give rise to a whole newtheological dynamic.
Because of the degree of uncertainty and discomfiture that hasalways existed in religious and academic circles with regard tobiblical translation, students should carefully and critically examine,with analytical objectivity, the non-traditional interpretations of Biblescripture presented in this treatise. Thoughtful—or prayerful—
consideration of this work may indeed serve to reinforce onesreligious faith even while holding many traditional interpretations of scripture in tension.
Though not representative of institutional biblical scholarship, thisbody of work contains well over two hundred scriptural excerpts andreferences and is currently the most thorough biblical exegesis on thsubject ever offered to lay Bible students and the general public.Readers may also be reassured that considerable care has beentaken to present the subject in a simple, straightforward and easily
accessible style uncluttered by unscholarly, far-flung speculation.
Researchers, commentators and sci-fi writers in the "ancientastronauts" genre have used familiar Bible stories in numerous booktelevision documentaries and even feature films. Today, there arealso a growing number of public personalities and self-appointed newage prophets who use the Bible and UFO’s as the backdrop to
promote some personal or cultic agenda. This is especially commonwith regard to eschatology, the study of apocalyptic Bible prophecy.While public notoriety has increased in recent years for such vocalcommentators and authors, provoking lively debate within religiousand secular circles alike, sound theological scholarship that addressethe Hebrew extraterrestrial worldview presented in the Bible, thesubject of this present work, has been minimal.
At the time of this writing, the only acknowledged theological scholalecturer and clergyman who has dared to put his respectablecredentials and reputation on the line is Dr. Barry Downing, author oThe Bible and Flying Saucers, a bold book written in the sixties thatpioneered scholarly exegesis of Bible scripture on this controversialsubject. Sadly, the neglect of such an important area of study notonly inhibits the advancement of Bible theology but also has seriousimplications for world history, the sciences and modern UFO research
Allowing that there are a few high-profile writers, preachers and talk-show personalities within the larger Christian community whooccasionally weigh in on the UFO/ET discussion, there remains aunique problem with respect to most commentary coming fromreligious fundamentalists, that being an unstudied lack of familiaritywith the extraterrestrial theology of the Bible. In the absence of goodscholarship in this domain, we have recently begun to see an alarmis
religious sophistry that characterizes all UFO’s and their occupants a"demonic". As one studies the Hebrew record more closely, howeverone is delighted to discover a bounty of historical evidence of extraterrestrial contact that is not as frightening as it is enlightening
Although this evidence bears great significance for Judeo-Christianreligious belief as well as modern UFO research, it has been obscuredfrom full view by a biblical translation process that has subjected thetexts to the arcane interpretations of religious clerics not exactlyreputed for intellectual tolerance. Early in Christian literary history,
the "sky gods" of antiquity were dethroned by the Bible’s transcriberwhose minds were closed to the wonders of a vast living cosmos thaspace technology has brought to the modern era. A theologicalmythos that places Earth at the center of the universe andhumankind as God’s primary concern was thus crafted byscientifically unenlightened religious men with a myopic view of thebiblical literature that has left an imprint on theology to this day.
This is not intended as a broad indictment of institutional Biblescholars who are, after all, strictly accountable to the consumers of traditional biblical curricula who demand that the most widelyaccepted religious interpretations be applied to the translations.Historically, whenever Bible scholars have dared to more accuratelytranslate a scripture here or there, they have often been met withsuch hostility and resistance to any literary tinkering with the "holywrit" that they are understandably reluctant to venture far from thesafe harbor of orthodoxy. Despite four centuries of archeologicaldiscovery and improved translation of ancient texts and codices, theoriginal c.1611 King James English Bible version is still regarded assacrosanct by millions worldwide, defying numerous attempts atrevision and refinement.
One of the greatest tragedies of this centuries-old translation bias isthat the reality of the Hebrew writers’ extraordinary interrelationshipwith their extraterrestrial "gods"—a resplendent central theme of thebiblical texts—has been all but lost. Meanwhile Christian ecumenismhas devolved into a highly competitive and materialistic churchculture, steeped in institutional mediocrity.
The humanistic pop-myth religion being professionally marketed totoday’s fast food consumer bears little resemblance to theextraterrestrial theology communicated so simply by the writers of
the Bible. Indeed, there has never been a point in history that hasseen more Bible-based institutional religion, or "churchism", practicewith such disregard for this most fundamental biblical precept. In thisnew age of enlightenment, the very idea that the Bible, correctlytranslated, is a repository of amazing first-hand reports of extraterrestrial contact may seem preposterous to modern"churchists" simply because it hasn’t been taught that way in SundaySchool.
Taken in its entirety, the Bible may be the most complete and
trustworthy historical account of extraterrestrial contact everrecorded. The problem one encounters in attempting to decipher theavailable biblical literature and expose the ancient Hebrew worldviewis that, with respect to many technical word translation rules andcontextual accuracy, the English Bible is something of a mess. Thiscriticism, while perhaps fair in a general way, should be properlyviewed in relation to the subject matter at hand and not with regard
to the extensive body of work pertaining to all biblical scholarship.After all, regardless of any flaws of translation, the Bible is still one othe most reliable literary works extant pertaining to historicalextraterrestrial contact in addition to its value as the primary moraland spiritual source of wisdom for millions the world over.
There are many learned scholars out there who certainly couldprovide a better academic analysis that accurately reflects theHebrew writers experience with extraterrestrials, but for the presentwe must work with the resources we have. By attempting to moreaccurately transliterate the available biblical texts we hope todevelop a baseline reference methodology that will enable one tocorrectly differentiate between and understand the variouscosmological beliefs and extraterrestrial persona represented in thetexts. We are thus attempting to lay the foundation for a reasonableextraterrestrial worldview that is both scientifically and theologicallysound while being easy to grasp for the average reader.
While this treatise is considerate of Christianity’s regard for a properliterary exegesis of the Hebrew and Greek Bible texts, it reliesentirely on the most widely available biblical reference sources foundin any Christian bookstore or library. Only the most common EnglishBible translations have been used (KJV, NIV, NASB, Phillips New
Testament, etc.) and are quoted randomly without annotation simply
out of personal preference, the intent being to provide the most easyto-grasp and contextually accurate rendering of a given passage.
The familiar apocrypha and other "fringe" works have been purposelignored in this treatise in order to remain focused on the "authorizedBible texts, hopefully avoiding the accompanying controversies oftenassociated with extraneous manuscripts. Anyone having access to acommon English version of the Bible, a Concordance and aHebrew/Chaldean and Greek Bible Dictionary will have no troubleconfirming the accuracy of any alternative translations offered or
their relative context.
Without apologies to Jewish and secular scholars, it is understandablthat in presenting a Bible commentary that includes and values theNew Testament it may appear that this work targets a largelyChristian readership in some narrow way. However, this treatise may
just as well stir a lively discussion and provoke further scholarly work
within many scientific and theological circles. Perhaps even moreimportant from a larger perspective, it may provide some freshmortar for the foundation upon which each of us can build a soundextraterrestrial worldview that connects us to a common ancestralsource as we consider the authentic religion of the Bible.
The closer we look at exactly what the ancient Hebrew scribesactually have to say about their extraterrestrial encounters, the morewe are compelled to re-examine the identity, nature and intentions othese marvelous celestial beings and "He" whom we call "God".Ironically, it may ultimately be demonstrated one day that it wasthrough humankind’s belief in God that science was finally able toadequately explained the UFO phenomenon, discovered the trueorigin and history of our species and unraveled many of the greatestmysteries of the universe.
The reader is not being asked to abandon his or her religious beliefsin order to make the paradigm shift referred to. One must simply bewilling to "boldly go where no one has gone before", if you will, on ashort biblical journey into humankind’s mysterious ancestral pastwhen primitive men, perhaps wiser than we, consorted with mightygods who rode across the heavens "on the wings of angels". As weembark upon this voyage of discovery, may we not fear the unknownbut desire it as we gaze out into the vast ocean of stars, comforted in
the knowledge that faith is not negated by truth, it is deepened.
COSMIC THEOLOGY —THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL PARADIGM
Regardless of any religious or secular school of thought one mayascribe to, those seeking a rational explanation for the myriad of incontrovertible reports of UFO/ET encounters should not overlook thextraterrestrial theology present in the biblical record of the Hebrewsand other writings of the ancient East. It may come as somewhat of ashock to the Western mind untrained in Semitic languages and theculture of the ancient East to discover that within the classic, all-time
best seller we know as The Holy Bible is the incredible assertion thatwe humans are an alien-hybrid species genetically spawned by anancient race of extraterrestrial beings right here on planet Earth, latein its multi-billion-year evolutionary history.
The Hebrew scriptures inform us in innocently simplistic terms thatwe uniquely endowed human beings are a genetically engineeredspecies—the special children of alien parentage. We have beenwatched, protected, directed and corrected in our developmentthroughout the ages as, quite suddenly, we became the planet’sdominant life form, subduing and exploiting the entire biosphere forourselves. Yet, unlike all other life forms native to our Edenic blueplanet, it has forever been the driving ambition of the "human alien"to depart terra-firma, as if we were somehow genetically predisposedto freely roam Earth’s heavenly canopy and beyond.
As the Bible, and virtually every other record from the ancient world,boldly asserts with unfeigned certainty, we humans are thedescendents of a vast citizenry of extraterrestrial beings, the "skygods" of both primitive legend and modern religion, geneticallyseeded here long ago in Earth’s distant past. Were this an acceptedtruth, then perhaps credible UFO sightings and encounters withotherworldly beings reported throughout history until this very day,might be viewed with scientific objectivity as actual contact with our
extraterrestrial cousins who, always and already, have establishedup-close and personal contact with human beings.
The Bible manuscripts clearly show us that the Hebrew scribes firmlybelieved in the personal accounts of extraterrestrial contact reportedsince the dawn of human civilization, inspiring their most sacredreligious traditions pertaining to God(s) and other off-world beings.But it is only due to our very recent exploration of outer space thatwe now possess the scientific rationale that permits re-evaluation of the primitive sky god religion of our ancestors. We need only apply a
reasonable literary interpretation of the Hebrew record that is bothsimple and logical while employing a modern cosmologicalperspective denied to us prior to the birth of aeronautic technology amere century ago.
As we enter the new millennium, a certain degree of fear, anxiety anconfusion exists concerning the dramatic rise in UFO sightings and
reports of alien abductions. Some urgency would appear to bewarranted, should such activity portend an open public contact evenwith an advanced extraterrestrial race, especially in religious circles.Developing a "cosmic theology" paradigm that is sensible to bothreligious and secular scholars would seem to be an appropriatelaunching point for further enlightened discussion and preparation.
It is true that wherever we find preferred traditions and entrencheddogma held in tension with new discovery and scholarlyenlightenment, controversy inevitably arises. Nevertheless, as wesearch for a better understanding of ourselves and our universe wemust be willing to allow many of our long-cherished assumptions towander off to graze with other sacred cows of the past—longabandoned to childhood memory—and begin to replace yesterday’schurch-speak with a more accurate, contemporary communication oftheological concepts. Unbiased intelligent inquiry and honestscholarship must begin to sort things out so that a new, scientificallycredible and biblically authentic cosmic theology can emerge.
Presented in the Bible are a range of theological concepts, religiouslaws and rituals, divine commandments and chastisements, poetryand song, and numerous prophecies subject to endless interpretationand debate. Predominately depicted, however, is the early Hebrewpeople’s interaction with otherworldly or extraterrestrial beings from
an historical perspective, including first-hand accounts of directpersonal contact, both physical and telepathic.
While contact with extraterrestrial beings may have beencommonplace in the religious culture of the Hebrews and otherpeoples of the ancient world, and therefore thematic in theirscripture, the church culture of the modern era embraces a moresanitized view with respect to "personal contact". Admittedly, thereare widely differing beliefs relative to communication or interactionwith divine and evil extraterrestrial persona within the Judeo-Christia
religion (subjective personal experience with charismata is alsowidely encouraged) but, for the most part, "contact" is limited toprayer and spiritual feelings of a divine or evil presence.
Since it is commonly believed that the Bible is mute on the subject oinhabitants of other worlds, or "spacemen", who possess interstellarflight technology, discourse pertaining to UFOs and extraterrestrials
not normative within fundamentalist religious circles. Absentsomething like the cosmic theology paradigm presented here,theologians and the clergy are ill-equipped to adequately address thesubject and, as we have observed throughout history, new ideas thatlie outside the boundaries of doctrinal orthodoxy are too often hastilydecried as the work of the devil.
If widespread UFO encounters are not to be quickly dismissed as amass hallucination or the product of some form of mentalimpairment, they are usually regarded, theologically, as an encountewith divinity, angels, demons, evil spirits or Satan, or some form of spiritual manifestation, holy or evil. Such religious mystery andguesswork as this, supported by fuzzy theology, appears intellectualrisky for anyone seeking a straight answer. Thus, much confusion anan awkward uneasiness attends most religious discussion pertainingto UFO/ET encounters.
It was not, however, the Bible’s authors who originated the confusionIndeed, the Hebrew record is very consistent and quite plain in itspresentation of a sound theological construct, one that is particularlyrelevant to our own time, which teaches that there are real, physicalvery powerful and highly advanced extraterrestrial beings who havemade and continue to make contact and interact in various ways withuman beings. In unquieted contradiction to the traditional worldview
taught in most churches today, the distant voices of our biblicalancestors tell of a vast race of beings (or "gods") who came fromouter space and directly impacted their lives.
Such tales have entertained and mystified mankind from generationto generation while providing colorful religious subject matter, yet,until the modern era, a literal interpretation of such stories haseluded Bible scholars in the absence of relevant technology.Reasoning men have thus tended to dismiss ancient stories of skygods as the mythological personification of natural forces and human
moods, or else simply diffuse these marvelous beings into spirits orforces relegated to some other dimension where they are perhapsmore easily managed.
From a twenty-first century perspective, however, it is no longerrational to regard the theory that describes our genetic link to anextraterrestrial civilization more advanced than our own as science
fiction or religious myth. In light of our expanding knowledge of theuniverse, genetic science, space flight technology and closeencounters with UFOs, we simply must get beyond the problem of literary correctness with respect to the traditional biblicaltranslations.
While the translation problems are well known among scholars, forthe sake of lay Bible students a simple re-translation technique isclearly called for that more accurately expresses the cosmologicalworldview conveyed by the Hebrew writers, using modernterminology. We shall, therefore, observe the practice of using themost literal definitions for key Hebrew or Greek words to provide amore accurate rendering. As we shall see, this approach is necessaryin order to do justice to the language and embrace the most obviousmeaning of the biblical texts we will examine.
The reader is also encouraged to take a step back in time and framethe texts within their proper historical, cultural and technologicalcontext in order to better appreciate the Hebrew writers’ simplicity othought and expression. Realizing that simple answers often resistcomplex questions, it is hoped that both theological and secularscholars alike will not quickly dismiss the simple interpretation of atext presented merely out of sentimental preference for the morethoroughly developed traditions.
Let us begin with our use of the noun extraterrestrial, a familiar termwidely used in popular culture that is understood to refer to intelligenbeings from beyond Earth. It is, therefore, an acceptablecontemporary term that can be easily applied to the Hebrew God,gods, angels, devils, and spirits, portrayed in the Bible as having theorigin and abode above or beyond our world. But, if beyond this world, where?
The Old Testament Hebrew word "shamayim" and the New Testamen
Greek "Ouranos" (after the Greek sky god) are almost alwaysrendered "heaven" in the English Bible translations, some 700 timesA term burdened with misconceived religious sentiment, heaven,literally defined, has little or nothing to do with any of the populardoctrinal themes pertaining to an after-life experience, realm orcondition. Even the most cursory research of off-the-shelf referencesources reveals that heaven is not synonymous with "paradise" (a
park or garden), "glory" (radiance or bright light), or John’s vision of a"Holy City" (streets of gold, pearly gates, etc.) described as "comingdown out of heaven" (see Rev 21).
Accurately defining the word heaven throughout the biblical texts is
simple matter. Both the Hebrew word shamayim and the Greekouranos are correctly translated in English as sky , outer space,cosmos or universe and should be so rendered wherever the word"heaven(s)" appears in order to avoid any unintended or ambiguousinferences. In so doing, we are brought instantly to grasp the truemeaning of a given passage wherein the writer’s use of these wordsin his own language was intended to communicate the observation osomething, or someone, extra-terrestrial.
Communicating the extraterrestrial theology of the Hebrew recordhas been exacerbated, until now, by the repetition of traditionalHeaven and Hell terminology throughout the English Bibletranslations, regardless of any differences in definition and context.
Yet, try as we may to clarify such important word translations,traditional after-life mythology has become so cherished andenduring from ancient times until now that strong emotionalfortresses will surely continue to oppose the authentic cosmologicalworldview presented in the Bible.
Both popular culture and religion alike have successfully persuadedthe masses that immortality, abundant pleasure and freedom fromdisease and all worldly care awaits the worthy soul on the "otherside" of death where one is reunited with deceased loved ones in aheavenly paradise. Variations on a simplistic heaven theme havebeen preached from church pulpits and marketed to the consumers opop-culture literature and film for so long that, regardless of religiouspersuasion, one naturally attributes such a concept to the Bible.
Heavenly fiction, limited only by one’s imagination and materialistic
fantasy, is routinely sold in the marketplace of institutional religion aa kind of afterlife insurance policy with an escape hell clause.Admittance to this mystical wonderland in the "great by-and-by" mayhave a strict "members only" policy according to various and sundryreligious edicts, but with so many fanciful beliefs and religiousteachings having little or no doctrinal consensus, believers areallowed considerable latitude to choose whatever depiction of an
afterlife reward that personally suits them. Who among us hasn’tseen Heaven depicted as having bejeweled gates, streets paved withgold and stately mansions attended by vestal virgins and plump,winged infants?
It is also commonly believed that the Bible teaches that all goodpeople go straight to heaven immediately at the point of mortaldeath. While this belief has become a well-established tradition, it isin direct contradiction to the distinctive Hebrew doctrine of thecollective Resurrection of the Dead at the end of the ages, taught inboth the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, as well as theChristian doctrine of Salvation reserved in eternity exclusively forfaithful devotees of Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ).
Replacing the archaic rendering "heaven" with a more accurateHebrew-English and Greek-English translation is essential tounderstanding the extraterrestrial theological paradigm, or the"cosmic" quality of Bible theology, by very definition. Inasmuch as thponderously burdensome word heaven has become so immortalizedand directly impacts our analysis of other texts, the following samplepassages of scripture are offered to clarify the authentic cosmologicaworldview of the Hebrew writers.
(Note: The words shamayim and ouranos are shown in parenthesis to
demonstrate the consistent, contextual reference to the sky and/orouter space. No other meaning is implied by the texts).
"And God called the expanse heaven (shamayim)." Gen 1:8
"…and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of theheavens (shamayim)." Gen 1:20
"…and the rain from the sky (shamayim) was restrained." Gen8:2
"And he took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward theheavens (shamayim) and count the stars, if you are able tocount them’." Gen 15:5
"For the stars of heaven (shamayim) and their constellations..."Isa 13:10
"And after he (Jesus) had said these things, he was lifted upwhile they were looking on and a cloud received him out of theisight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky (ouranos)while he was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stoodbeside them; and they also said, "Men of Galilee, why do youstand looking into the sky (ouranos)? This Jesus who has beentaken up from you into heaven (ouranos), will come in just thesame way as you have watched him go into heaven (ouranos)."
Act 1:9-11
Although Hebrew and Greek language scholars do translateshamayim and ouranos as sky , outer space, cosmos or universe inother works besides the Bible, the transcribers of the biblicalmanuscripts remain stubbornly committed to the traditional renderinheaven. Perhaps the most adverse result of such a sentimentalapproach to this particular word translation is that the immediatecontext and a sense of reality can be lost in the reading.
In the following passages from the Old Testament, selected fromamong hundreds, we see how a correct translation of shamayim reveals the true origin and habitat of the Bible’s extraterrestrials. TheNew Testament also contains hundreds of such examples (indeed the"kingdom of heaven", or cosmic empire, is one of the key features ofthe gospel as taught by Jesus) but for now we shall concentrate on
the Old Testament that forms the foundation for early Christianbeliefs relative to this ancient Hebrew theological view. With theHebrew shamayim accurately re-translated, the Bible’s cosmictheology becomes quite evident while the unique literary quality of the texts is also, arguably, adequately maintained.
"Is not God in the height of outer space? Look at the distant stars, how high they are!" Job 22:12
"The Lord is in his Holy Temple; the Lord’s throne is in outer
space." Psa 11:4
"And the universe will praise thy wonders, O Lord; Thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. For who inouter space is comparable to the Lord?" Psa 89:5,6
"The Lord of hosts is mustering the army for battle; they arecoming from a far country at the end of the universe." Isa 13:4,
These selected passages are, in definition and context, completelyand substantively accurate. If a translator wishes to substitute the
word heaven in such texts it is certainly within his or her right to doso, however there is no rule of translation that governs such adecision. It may be argued that there is some traditional value attached to the word heaven, nevertheless personal preferences donot justify overriding accepted standards of accuracy in linguistictranslation. Archaic and potentially misleading terminology shouldeither be avoided entirely or else carefully qualified as an alternativetranslation, with the proper annotation.
A reasonable case can and should be made for scholarly restraint inthe use of the word heaven inasmuch as it is so ill defined as to bemisleading and open to subjective interpretation. It is a rarely usedterm in conversational and written English when speaking of the skyor outer space, and could be easily replaced in our modern lexiconwith more accurately translated and unambiguous words. This can bdone without the slightest harm to the biblical texts, allowing for afew rare exceptions (e.g., "the heavens") in certain poetic passagesthat are not likely to be misleading.
Perhaps most importantly, heaven should cease to be incorrectlyassociated with primitive, after-life doctrinal themes that areunsupported by an unbiased analysis of the texts in which the wordappears. By using simple, universally understood, modernterminology in translation, coupled with a fresh and contextuallyaccurate exegesis of scripture, the Bible’s cosmic theology becomesreadily apparent, revealing mankind’s historic connection to a vastand wondrous universe populated by the most extraordinary beings.
Having clarified the Hebrew perspective on "heaven", or outer spacewe will now examine a significant translation discrepancy regardingthe rendering "God" in the biblical texts. "God" has become such acommon catch-all term for deity used by people of all faiths that it isoften given a casual affirmation of presumed agreement as to theidentity of God, irrespective of any theological differentiations. In theEnglish translations of the Hebrew and Greek Bible texts, the overuseof "God" as a singular proper noun has led to its almost universalacceptance as the proper name for principal deity throughout the
Judeo-Christian religious culture, both in literature and commonspeech, obfuscating some very important distinctions in the Hebrew.
The lengths to which Bible translators are apparently willing to go topreserve and perpetuate the traditional rendering God is apparent inthe official definition given in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of theBible, a primary biblical reference source for Christians. It states thatthe Hebrew national god Yahweh (alternately rendered Yehovih) is "…
pronounced by Jews as [elohim] in order to prevent the repetition of the same sound, since elsewhere they pronounce [Yahweh] as[Adonay] – God" (Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, ref. no. 3069). Yetit is a simple fact of Hebrew linguistics that these three words, spelletotally different, have their own distinctive pronunciation (or "sound"in addition to having altogether different meanings.
Such a strange and blatantly incorrect comment in the reveredStrong’s Concordance stands as an extraordinary example of thefailure of biblical scholarship to confront with literary honesty suchtraditions that have gained firm root in the English Bible translationsover time. It should not come unexpected either to find thatdiscrepancy and error relative to a range of theological conceptspermeates all common biblical reference and commentary literatureinasmuch as such material has been built upon the same foundationof flawed translation scholarship. Bible students are therefore forcedto grapple with traditional biblical literature, closely comparing the
Hebrew and Greek texts to the English translations, in order to fullygrasp the authentic Hebrew worldview relative to extraterrestrialdeity and other theological concepts.
"God", the principal deity of the Bible who reigns supreme over theHebrew nation, hereinafter referred to as "Yahweh", was personallyintroduced to the Exodus Jews by Moses at Mount Sinai where he
became known to the people by the name spelled with the Hebrewletters YHWH. Over time, vowels were added to this mysterious
Tetragrammaton to form "YaHWeH" (alternately "YeHoViH") which, bthe twelfth century AD, evolved to "JeHoVaH" or Jehovah, the mostcommon English rendering of the name of the chief Hebrew godbesides Yahweh. Time would not permit a presentation of the variouscontroversial theories and esoterica surrounding the "Holy Name" of the Hebrew national god, but his identification in the texts isimportant and should not be ignored.
Despite numerous explicit commandments regarding the importanceof recording and honoring this distinctive name, and its appearance the Hebrew texts more than 6,400 times, it is rendered simply asLord, Lord God or Sovereign Lord in most versions of the EnglishBible, a practice said to be upholding a "tradition of reverence" forthe name of God by, oddly, avoiding its use entirely in the biblicaltexts and in common speech. Thus, the personal identity of the"Almighty God" of the biblical religion has been displaced andobfuscated through the arbitrary substitution of vague monotheisticterminology in the texts. Not to put too fine a point on the subject,but one might well speculate how strange the biblical texts wouldread if the same standard were applied to the Bible’s other principlecharacters and translators simply substituted "man" or "woman" fortheir proper given names.
The other frequently used Hebrew term of great respect for theauthority of Yahweh is the word adon, or Adonay (emphatic),approximating the English title "Master" or "Lord". In addition to itsusage in reference to Yahweh and also his highly revered emissariesthis title of respect was an accepted reference and formal address foa human authority figure, according to Hebrew culture of biblicaltimes. Adonay (or Adonai) is, however, most frequently associatedwith Yahweh, either by direct attachment to his name or bycontextual reference, in order to identify him as the extraterrestrial
Lord of the Hebrew nation and accord him supremacy above all othegods.
Many otherwise literate Bible students may be unaware that theHebrew writers of the Bible believed in and taught the existence of avast race of extraterrestrial gods whom they called the "elohim"(pron. ello-heem). First, to correct a very common misconception,
elohim is neither the proper name nor an exclusive designation forthe principle Hebrew god, Yahweh. While this distinctive plural noun is well known by scholars to be correctly translated "mighty ones"and is found throughout the Hebrew texts some 2,570 times, it hasbeen consistently translated as "God", singular proper noun, in all bua few instances where it is arbitrarily rendered gods, angels, sons of God, and (rarely) mighty ones.
It should be emphasized that elohim is a term used by the Hebrewwriters regardless of whether the particular beings referred to areseen as benevolent or malevolent, and also for specific pagan gods(see Jdg 2:11-13; Jdg 10:6; I Kgs 11:33; II Kgs 1:2). It is also the verysame word used in reference to all of the un-named "strange gods" o"other gods" found throughout the Bible texts, the worship of whomwas strictly forbidden. Such "gods" are frequently associated withcarved or molten idols (i.e. "graven images") and outlawed religiouspractices, including animal and human ritual sacrifice, and are alsoportrayed in several passages as living, active extraterrestrial beingsor "mighty ones", as in "…new gods (elohim) who came recentlywhom your fathers did not dread" (Deu 32:16-17) and inferred fromnumerous references to certain miscreants who "followed after"various gods (elohim) "to serve them". The important point being thathe plurality of extraterrestrial elohim (or "gods", high and low)identified throughout the Bible reveals the authentic theological
perspective of the original Hebrew writers.
Thus, in ancient Hebrew thought, besides Lord Yahweh, multiple godreferred to in the Bible (e.g. Baal-zebub, Dagon, the goddessAshtoreth, angels Gabriel and Michael, and also the one commonlycalled "the devil" or "Satan") were all considered elohim, whetherdivine or evil. Basic research of common reference sources will reveathis little-known Bible fact. To further clarify the correctness of thediverse and plural usage of elohim, the singular form of the word iseloah (rarely used), or simply el, most often used conjunctively to
form compound words and names that denote divine power or might(e.g. el shaddai, Isra-el , Beth-el, etc.).
The only permissible usage of elohim as a singular noun, despite itsplural word form or the absence of a grammatically proper adverb orpreposition, is when elohim is definitively identified, by name ordesignation, with the principle elohim authority figure, Lord Yahweh.
In such cases this usage may be viewed as both a personal and"racial" identification in the same way that an extraterrestrial mightintroduce the former English Monarch as "Humankind’s King James",or simply "James, humankind". Thus also do the biblical textsalternately refer to the Hebrew god as Adonai Yahweh, Yahweh-Elohim, or Elohim Adonai (i.e. "Lord Yahweh", "Yahweh of the Elohimand "Elohim Lord", respectively).
Unfortunately, until such time as biblical translation is addressed witmore forthright scholarship, we are forced to deal with such definitioproblems through independent research of the translations using themost common reference sources available. Allowing that there areminor differences among the various English translations, as ageneral rule of thumb whenever "God" is found in the Old Testamentwe may safely read elohim, meaning "mighty ones", always plural except where directly identified with Lord Yahweh or another nameddeity. Likewise, the title "Lord God" or "Sovereign Lord" should berendered Yahweh, the supreme ruler of the vast cosmic empire of thelohim, in every instance. In the following examples, a correct re-translation of the words "God", "Lord", "Lord God" and "heaven",reveals the literal meaning of the texts.
"In the beginning the mighty ones created the cosmos and theearth." Gen 1:1
"Then the mighty ones said, ‘Let us make man in our image,according to our likeness...’and the mighty ones created man in(their) own image, in the image of the mighty ones (they)created him; male and female (they) created them." Gen 1:26-27
"I am Yahweh of the mighty ones who brought you out of Egyptout of the house of slavery. You shall (place) no other mighty ones before me." Exo 20:2,3
"For Yahweh of the mighty ones is the mightiest of the mighty ones and the master of masters; the great, the powerful, theawesome mighty ones..." Deu 10:17
"The mighty ones take their stand in the congregation of mightyones to judge among the mighty ones...I said you are mighty
ones and all of you children of the highest, nevertheless you widie like humans, and fall like one of the princes." Psa 82:1,6,7
"For you are Yahweh, highest over all the earth; you are exaltedfar above all the mighty ones." Psa 97:9
"Yahweh has established his throne in outer space and hassovereign rule over the universe. Bless Yahweh you his mighty ones...Bless Yahweh all you his troops...in all places of hisdominion..." Psa 103:19-22
"But our mighty ones are in outer space..." Psa 115:3
It should also be pointed out that the widely held view that ascribesomnipresence (present infinitely and everywhere) to the Hebrew god
also contradicts the greater body of biblical texts. God as an etherea"force", "spirit" or the quality of "oneness" often described as existinin and through all persons and things, or as one’s "Self", is not aHebrew concept. Although superior consciousness, power andauthority are attributed to Yahweh he is described by the writers of the Bible as a humanoid being (having humanlike physicalcharacteristics) as are other prominent elohim. This view is madeobvious in the earliest Hebrew texts that portray him as a physical"man", such as in the following passages.
"Now Yahweh appeared to him (Abraham)...and when he(looked up) behold, three men were standing opposite him; andwhen he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them,and bowed himself to the earth, and said ‘My lord, if now I havefound favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest
yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves (etc.)’...and he placed (the food)before them and was standing by them under the tree as they
ate." Gen 18:1-8
"Then the men rose up from there and looked down towardSodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.
And Yahweh said, ‘shall I hide from Abraham what I am about todo...?’" Gen 18:16,17
"Thus Yahweh used to speak to Moses, face to face, just as aman speaks to his friend..." Exo 33:11
"Then Yahweh said, ‘Behold, there is a place by me, and youshall stand there on the rock; and... I will put you in the cleft of
the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by;then I will take my hand away and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.’" Exo 33:21-23
The dramatic Exodus encounter with Yahweh also includes themysterious warning to Moses "You shall not see my face, for no mancan see me and live!" (Exo 33:20) which, at first glance, appearsincongruent. Yet, since Moses is said to have spoken with Yahweh"face to face" and obviously survived, we can fairly assume that thiswarning is similar to many others issued by Yahweh for Moses to keethe people away from him "lest they break through to gaze and manof them perish" (e.g. Exo 19:12; 19:21).
Exodus does record that other Hebrew elders besides Moses wereselectively permitted to ascend Mount Sinai for an audience with
Yahweh. The general impression one gets from this series of meetings is that Yahweh, a) was identified as the "Creator God" andsupreme authority figure among the elohim, b) instituted the newbiblical religion of the Jews with strict moral laws and complex
religious rites and observances, and c) possessed extraordinaryextraterrestrial powers and characteristics but was seen as human-like in form and appearance, otherwise we should expect the texts todescribe him differently.
Angels
Not unlike other religious beliefs pertaining to deity, angels have ahistory replete with speculation, myth and fantasy. For example, evethough there is no such concept offered in the Bible, a great many
people believe that righteous human beings become heavenly angelat death, a tradition owing to the Greek influence that nudged its wainto Christianity as the "gospel" was preached throughout the Greco-Roman empire. Originating from the Greek concept of the soul (Gr.
psuche, or Psyche) it was believed that the indwelling human "spirit"or mind, exits the body at mortal death to return to an astronomicalstar-point associated with various Greek gods. By the thirteenth
century, Greek spiritism was so pervasive that even St. ThomasAquinas was led to speculate as to how many such "angels" could fiton the head of a pin!
With the advent of modern astronomy, Copernicus and Galileo shook
many of the religious beliefs of the Greek influenced Christian worldrelative to the universe. During the reformation, the biblicalworldview rebounded for a time, thanks to such brave thinkers as SirIsaac Newton, one committed as much to theology as science whobelieved in both the Hebraic doctrine of a bodily resurrection of thehuman dead at the "end of the ages" and anthropomorphic angelshaving a cosmic residence.
Then, from the art and literature of the Renaissance until today wesee the emergence of a kind of childlike mythology that has gainedcultural popularity where angels are depicted as super-humans withbird wings and brilliant halos gracefully frolicking in the clouds,strumming golden harps. Such fanciful notions contrast sharply withthe Bible’s portrayal of angels as extraterrestrial elohim who, as werecall from Genesis, genetically created human beings in their ownform and likeness. While "wings" certainly can have a symbolicrelevance to space flight, the depiction of biblical angels as bird-likecreatures, or in some other fantastic ghostly form, is erroneous andmisleading from a biblical perspective
The English word "angel", translated from the NT Greek aggellos orthe OT Hebrew malak, meaning "one sent" as in a messenger oremissary, human or extraterrestrial, most often refers to a mightyelohim emissary of Yahweh. In some Bible texts elohim actually hasbeen rendered "angel", which, while technically a mistranslation,does represent the correct Hebrew worldview relative to angels asbeing among the elohim kind. An "angel", then, is simply the biblicalterm used to describe an extraterrestrial elohim emissary on amission, sent to Earth from another world, realm or station
somewhere in outer space.
The Hebrew scribes primarily record their own independent contactwith extraterrestrial anthropomorphic "gods" and "angels" (theelohim), not disembodied spirit-entities. Whenever a rare biblicalpassage does use the term "spirit" to describe an "angel" it need notbe viewed as a significant departure from the greater body of texts
that describe them in anthropomorphic terms. To a simple peoplesuch elusive beings who wing their way through the cosmic vaporsmay indeed have seemed like supernatural "spirits" that were ever-present, in the skies or psychically, though seldom seen.
There is an intrinsic problem embedded in the biblical translationsthat confounds the authentic Hebrew worldview concerning all things"spiritual" that is worth noting. The frequent, random and arbitrarilyinterchangeable terms "soul" and "spirit" creates a uniqueinterpretive challenge for Bible students. It would be a daunting taskto sort out the confusion created by such misunderstood terminologysince traditional spiritual belief stubbornly prevails over accuracy of translation, regardless. We should observe, however, that the Hebrewauthors did not originate many of the spiritual concepts common tothe Judeo-Christian religious culture of today even though theabundance of spiritual terminology in the English translations of theBible leads the reader to assume so.
The term "soul" (Heb. nephesh and Gr. psuche) is correctly translateas a living-breathing creature of any species. In other words, a fish, apig, a cockroach, and a human being can be said to have the same "soul" (biological life) in the most literal sense, from a true biblicalperspective. Yet, as an embarrassing example of dishonesty intranslation, these two distinctive words that are arbitrarily rendered
"soul" throughout the Bible are only correctly translated "life" or"living creature" in certain texts where the rendering "soul" mightresult in theological controversy (e.g. Gen 2:7, Pro 12:10, Mat 16:25,Rev 8:9).
The word "spirit" (noun or pronoun) comes from the Hebrew ruach orthe Greek pneuma. Both words are literally defined as wind and, byextension, the indwelling breath or act of breathing. Nowhere in theBible texts do we find "soul" represented as the disembodied "spirit"of a human being or any creature. The literal definition of ruach or
pneuma does not, however, disallow a broader interpretation of a texin which the word "spirit" appears since a writer may occasionally usthe words nephesh and ruach figuratively, the immediate and broadecontext being the primary rule guiding a correct interpretivetransliteration.
It is merely a translation bias that reinforces spiritual mysticism thataccounts for much of the confusion and doctrinal controversysurrounding the interpretation of many Bible texts. One of theunfortunate results of over spiritualizing the biblical texts is thatalmost any point of view can be subjectively argued using the same,frequently mystifying, passages of scripture that refer to things"spiritual". With a more literal and non-mystical interpretation of thetexts, applying the extraterrestrial paradigm, many former conflictsover difficult spiritual concepts and doctrinal issues are easily laid torest.
Religion, the occult and popular culture is rife with subjectiveexperience with the paranormal and sightings or contact with variouangelic beings, ghosts, spirit guides, aliens, poltergeists and assortedhobgoblins. The Hebrew biblical texts, however, warns that anyfocused effort to contact the dead or otherworldly beings thatinvolves witchcraft, necromancy, angel worship, sorcery, conjuring, o"channeling" various entities, and idolatry in any form, is potentiallydangerous and strictly forbidden. Any references to spiritism or occupractices in the biblical texts are therefore either purely anecdotal orare presented in a negative way.
It would be a serious error in judgment to presume that all "angels"are inherently guided by the purest virtues with the best of intention
toward humankind. At least from the ancient Hebrew perspective,such is not the case. Biblical "angels" and "gods" (i.e. elohim) arebroadly represented throughout the texts and seem to differ as muchin character, motives and activities, high and low, as do humanbeings. Adversarial elohim are also mentioned throughout the Bible,including "Satan" who is said to appear as a "radiant angel" (see IICor 11:14). As one begins to grasp the ancient Hebrew worldviewrelative to the vast diversity of extraterrestrial "mighty ones" and thecosmic conflict being waged among them, such warnings take on anominous tone (see chapter entitled "Star Wars").
Historically, Jews and Christians have shared some of the non-biblicamythology and beliefs of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks andother cultures with whom they have lived and so refer to variouspagan "gods" (often depicted in the art and culture of the ancientEast as having some unusual human, animal, reptilian or hybrid formthroughout the biblical texts. However, elohim "angels" sent by
Yahweh, while sometimes unique enough in appearance to be easilyrecognized by the contactee (e.g. Jdg 13:6; Dan 10:5,6; Mat 28:3; Lu24:4), are always described as human-like extraterrestrial beings, orspacemen, who can even pass unnoticed as an average-lookingperson (see Heb 13:2).
There are, however, a few references to extraterrestrial entities unde Yahweh’s direct command and control that are described muchdifferently, such as those called "cherubim" and "seraphim". Althougcommonly depicted as plump, infant-like winged beings in religiousart, a "cherub" (pron. keroob) is an ancient Chaldean word of unknown derivation that is never defined as an angelic beinganywhere in the Bible, yet is associated with flight. Only Ezekiel(Chapter 10) definitively identifies a "cherub" as the incrediblespaceship he encountered by the Chebar River in the opening chapteof his prophecy (see chapter entitled "Miracles of Technology"). Anunbiased analysis of all other texts pertaining to "cherubim" indicatethat this is most likely some type of exotic aircraft, perhaps distinct iappearance from other common UFO shapes (ref. Gen 3:24; Exo 37:17; II Sam 22:11; I Kin 6:23-28; I Chr 28:18; Psa 18:10; Eze Ch.1&10).
The Bible makes two references to "seraphim" (Lit. fiery ones) aunique word rendered from the Hebrew seraph, meaning "on fire".Elsewhere though, it has been translated into "fiery flying serpent".
Not described in any detail, these "seraphim" are associated withflight and may be an entirely different class of being (i.e. not identicato the humanlike elohim), but also could represent a type of spacecraft of radiant, or "fiery", appearance. Religious art andtradition may depict cherubim and seraphim as anthropomorphicangelic beings but the Bible does not, leaving one to speculate (seeNum 21:8; Isa 6:2; Isa 14:29; Isa 30:6).
Within an apparent hierarchy of responsibility or rank, Yahweh’semissaries often speak with such authority, as in passages which
identify an "Angel of the Lord" (e.g. Gen 22:11 & 31:11; Exo 3:2 &23:20,21; Jdg 2:1-5) that some Bible students have been led tospeculate about their identification with principal deity. Angels arealso said to possess highly evolved psychic and telepathic abilities(e.g. Gen 18:12-15 & 20:6; Num 11:17; Exo 28:3; Deu 2:30; I Sam16:14; I Kin 22:19-23), and scientific technology so advanced as to
dwarf the greatest human achievements of the modern era (see nexchapter).
While these extraterrestrial beings take care to guard themselvesfrom unwanted human contact (e.g., Gen 19:1-11; Exo 19:20-25),
they are obviously not shy about making unannounced appearancesor involving themselves directly in human affairs. It is quite clear thathey have, from the beginning, monitored their human experimentwith intense personal interest and not merely as passive observers.From the first "seeding" of human beings on planet Earth the elohimhave authoritatively manipulated their creation, even geneticallyenhancing the species through unnatural pregnancies that resulted ithe birth of special elohim offspring (e.g. Gen 18:9-15 & 21:1-7; Jdg13:2,3; Mal 2:15; Mat 1:18-25; Luk 1:5-15). At least one passage evesuggests their sexual union with human females to procreate a hybriprogeny (see Gen 6:1-4).
In the Old Testament, elohim emissaries were frequently sent toassist Israel in times of national peril and to help defeat her enemiesbut they also appeared to protect and defend esteemed individuals.What is significant in such instances is not only their zealous concernwith Israel but also their willingness to employ extraordinaryresources and capabilities to intervene in life-threatening situations,such as in the following selections.
"Then (King) Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and hisfacial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego. He answered with orders to heat the furnace seventimes more than it was usually heated. And he commandedcertain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up ShadrachMeshach, and Abednego...[and] cast them into the midst of thefurnace of blazing fire...[and] the fire slew those men whocarried [them] up...Then Nebuchadnezzar the king wasastounded...and said "Look! I see four men loosed and walking
about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearanceof the fourth is like a son of the mighty ones!"...[Then] heresponded and said [to them] "Come out, you servants of thehighest mighty ones, and come here!"...Then [they] came out othe midst of the fire...and the king’s high officials gatheredaround and saw [that] the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men, nor was the hair of their heads singed, nor were
their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even comeupon them. [The king then] responded and said, "Blessed be thmighty ones of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent their emissary to deliver their servants!..." Dan 3:19-28
"Then the king (Darius of the Medes) gave orders, and Danielwas brought in and cast into the lions’ den. The king spoke andsaid to Daniel, "Your mighty ones whom you constantly servewill deliver you." And a stone was brought and laid over themouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet rinand [those] of his nobles, so that nothing might be changed witregard to Daniel…[When] the king arose with the dawn…andwent in haste to the lions’ den...he cried out to Daniel...[and]Daniel spoke to the king, "O king live forever! My mighty onessent an emissary to shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was innocent before them"...[then]Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever wasfound on him, because he had trusted in his mighty ones." Dan6:16-23
"And when [King Herod] had seized [Peter], he put him in prisondelivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him...[but thanight] Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with twochains; and guards were watching over the prison. And behold,
an emissary of [Yahweh] suddenly appeared, and a light shonein the cell; and he [roused Peter] and the chains fell off hishands. And the emissary said to him, "Dress yourself and put on
your sandals...and follow me." And [as he did so] he did not know if what was being done by the emissary was real [or adream]. And when they had passed [the guards] they came tothe iron gate [of the prison] and it opened for them by itself,and they went out...and immediately the emissary departedfrom him; and when Peter came to his senses, he said, "Now Iknow for sure that [Yahweh] has sent forth his emissary and
rescued me from the hand of Herod…And when the day camethere was a great disturbance among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter; and when Herod had searched for him [invain] he examined the guards and ordered them [executed]."
Elohim emissaries were indeed so active in the affairs of Israel andthe lives of numerous individuals that we may conclude that, cover-to-cover, the Bible is an extraordinary repository of first-hand reportsof close encounters with powerful extraterrestrial beings. Yet, aftercenturies of tampering with the texts, these amazing testimonialshave been trivialized as simplistic mythology by the Bible’s detractorand over spiritualized by the neo-charismatic church culture of Western Christianity.
Respect for the elohim emissaries of Yahweh is further emphasized ithe New Testament with regard to one called the "Holy Spirit" or"Holy Ghost". Alternately referred to as "The Helper", "The Comforterand the "Spirit of Truth", it is said that he alone is the only being,
Yeshua included, toward whom blasphemy (i.e., a cursing insult) isdirected that automatically results in eternal condemnation withoutmercy (see Mat 12:31,32). Though not described as having humanoidphysical characteristics, as are Yahweh and other elohim emissaries,the Holy Spirit is referred to as a being rather than a "mystical force"But, since the New Testament only ascribes certain extraordinaryspiritual phenomena to the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit, theactual form of this uniquely commissioned being remains a biblicalmystery.
While it may appear that the highly venerated and powerful "Holy
Spirit" is unique to Christian teaching, upon closer examination itcould be reasonably argued that this extraordinary being may be thesame mighty emissary of Yahweh, or "Angel of the Lord", who helpeddeliver the Exodus Jews from Egypt as in the following samplepassages offered from among several.
"And the elohim emissary (of Yahweh) who had been goingbefore the camp of Israel moved and went behind them; and th‘pillar of cloud’ moved from before them and stood behindthem." Exo 14:19
"...And the emissary [from Yahweh’s] presence saved them...buthey rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit..." Isa 63:9,10
In the Gospel of John this unnamed Holy One is said to have beensent by Yeshua "from the Father" to personally communicate theFather’s will concerning judgment of the world, to glorify and "bear
witness" to Yeshua, to guide faithful believers "into all the truth" andreveal "things to come" (Jno 14:16,17; 14:28; 15:26; 16:7-15).Uniquely empowered to communicate and act on behalf of the Fatheand the Son, the un-named "Holy Spirit" is included in Christianity’s"Holy Trinity" doctrine (three distinct Gods, Father, Son and HolyGhost, equal one Triune Godhead), however there are no texts thatspecifically designate him as principle deity. The following may helpclarify the relationship between "The Father", Yahweh, "The Son",
Yeshua, and the "Holy Spirit".
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in mname, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." Jno 14:26
"The Helper will come…the Spirit who reveals the truth about [elohim] and who comes from the Father. I will send him to youfrom the Father and he will speak about me." Jno 15:26
"But I am telling you the truth: it is better that I go away,because if I do not go, the Helper will not come to you. But if Igo away, then I will send him to you." Jno 16:7
"When however, the Spirit of Truth comes, who reveals the trutabout [elohim], he will lead you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own authority, but he will speak of what he hearsand will tell you of things to come. He will give me glory,because he will take what I say and tell it to you." Jno 16:13,14
Such identity distinctions may well be a matter of traditional doctrineversus scholarly exegesis of the texts where conflicts and confusionoften arise relative to Trinitarian theology, but that is not the subjectof this present study. The aim here is to focus on the original andauthentic beliefs and teachings of the Hebrew writers of the New
Testament texts regarding these three unique persona who are,
rightly or wrongly, commonly worshiped as "God" by most Christians
Those wishing to examine this doctrine more closely may, however,find some historical insight of value. Although Trinitarian theologywas completely unknown to Christianity prior to its fabrication by thearchitects of the Nicino-Constantinople Creed under the direction of the Roman Catholic Council of Bishops, led by Emperors Constantine
and Theodosius in the fourth century A.D., it has always been anorthodox doctrine throughout Christian history. This difficulttheological construct is clearly intended to controvert any appearancof pantheism (belief in multiple gods) found in the biblical texts,perhaps revealing an underlying motive behind the traditionaltranslation bias we see.
What should concern every intelligent person regardless of religiouspersuasion is that the proscription of the Bible’s authentic worldviewwith respect to the extraterrestrial "mighty ones" deprives the worldof an important historical insight into the origin of our species as welas the character and intentions of these beings regarding PlanetEarth. Given their obvious technological superiority and our ownvulnerability, it would seem to be wise for us to learn everything wecan from such an impressive reference source as the Bible about justwho and what we are dealing with.
The Hebrew writers clearly lived in fear and awe of Yahweh and hismighty ones, teaching strict obedience to their every command. Thebelieved that, as their direct creation, Earth and all of humankindbelong to these elohim and, thus, our fate is in their hands. Theelohim did not hold open court to consider the counsel of humans anrarely altered their judgments and plans, intervening authoritativelyto direct, not merely observe, the course of human history for their
own purposes.
Significantly, the Hebrew writers paint a picture of a paramilitaryvertical command structure descending from Yahweh downward andappear to have been quite impressed with the warlike nature of theelohim. Not only were they actively involved in Israel’s earthlyconflicts and conquests, but they also engaged in battles of cosmicproportions, "star wars" if you prefer, with certain extraterrestrialadversaries who are always portrayed as inherently malevolent.
"Now as Jacob went on his way, elohim emissaries met him. And Jacob said when he saw them, "This is an elohim garrison!" Sohe named that place, "Mahanaim" (meaning "companies" or "regiments"). Gen 32:1,2
"Who is the radiant king? Yahweh, strong and mighty! Yahweh,mighty in battle!" Psa 24:8
"Indeed, I (Yahweh) lift my hand to the universe and say, "As Ilive forever, if I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes
hold of justice, I will render vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me." Deu 32:40,41
"...a man was standing opposite [Joshua] with his sword drawnand Joshua went to him and said to him "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" And he said, "No, rather I indeed come now acaptain of the troops of Yahweh". And Joshua [bowed low]..." Jos5:13,14
"For my sword is satiated in outer space..." Isa 34:5
"And there was war in outer space, Michael and his angels[elohim squadrons] waging war with the dragon [Satan] and hisangels [elohim squadrons]" Rev 12:7
The Old Testament also contains numerous stunning accounts of Yahweh and the mighty ones ordering or personally carrying out theannihilation of multitudes of human beings. One such instanceconcerns the familiar report of the total mass destruction of the citieof Sodom and Gomorrah, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki of the ancientworld, for their gravely offensive behavior (see Gen 18:16-19:29).
Yahweh and the mighty ones were obviously greatly distressed withthe state of affairs here on Earth and were, for whatever reasons,unwilling to let nature run its course with respect to the evolution of those primitive civilizations of the Old Testament era. Indeed, it is thconsistent claim of the Hebrew writers of the Old Testament that
Yahweh personally directed the wholesale slaughter of the barbaricoutlaw nations who stood against tiny Israel, spanning centuries of wars, in order to establish Israel as a "chosen people" and to asserthis singular authority over our planet.
Beside the chosen few with whom Yahweh interacted personally, weare reminded that millions of eyewitnesses reportedly observed, firsthand, the awesome deeds of these mighty spacemen. Yet,throughout their history, Israel continued to practice the lifestyle andreligions of the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, and Greco-Roman
cultures, which so provoked their "jealous" god that he often rainedterrible calamities upon them as punishment for their unfaithfulness.
The extent to which guilt and fear is seared into their nationalconscience (perhaps the principal mood of the Old Testament) leavelittle doubt about the reality of Israel’s experience with theseextremely powerful and authoritarian beings.
Although certain Old Testament texts, especially the Psalms, praise Yahweh for his mercy and magnanimity, one is nonetheless left withthe overall impression that the far-from-perfect nation of Israelobeyed Yahweh (whenever they did obey him) more out of the fear othe consequences of disobedience than from a sincere desire toplease him. It would not be until the appearance of Yeshua of Nazareth that the Jews would be treated to the concept of a moremerciful and compassionate god who not only rules as the all-powerful monarch of a vast cosmic empire but also dearly loves hisEarth children as a kind and caring Father.
One of the more interesting examples of the interrelationshipbetween the Old and New Testament worldview regarding the elohimis a reference in the Book of Hebrews to a highly esteemed ancient"priest king" named Melchizedek, ruling on earth during the time of Abraham. This biblical address to Christian Jews presents a technicalargument, which holds that Yeshua, as the Messiah, both fulfills and
surpasses the Jewish religion with its "old covenant", Law of Mosesand Levitical priesthood and confirms his authority in a mysteriousancient order of royal high priests (see Heb 5:5-10; 6:13-20; Ch.7). Itis also clearly stated in Hebrews 7:3 that Melchizedek was animmortal being without human heredity, implicitly of extraterrestrialelohim origin, who was so extraordinary that the Hebrew writerdeclines to give further details about him since, in his view, readerscouldn’t handle it (Heb 5:11).
Given the Bible’s characterization of elohim in military terms with
references to cosmic warfare, coupled with the NT commentary on aroyal high priesthood, one may view Yahweh’s cosmic empire as aRoyal House served by an Ancient Order (or caste) of great warriorpriests. Absent more precise information in the texts, this simplifiedportrayal of the Hebrew family of extraterrestrial gods and angelsshould suffice to overcome many long-standing misconceptions while
clarifying the Bible’s cosmic theology that provides an exciting "newtestament" for modern times.
THE "MIRACLES" OF TECHNOLOGY
As the twentieth century dawned in America, Simon Newcomb andother brilliant minds of the day were busy proving that heavier-than-air machines could not possibly fly. Such theories were suddenlyshattered on December 17, 1903, when two bicycle mechanics inSouth Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright, took off from Kill Devil Hillin their flying machine, the "Kitty Hawk".
When those first American aviators launched the pursuit of a flighttechnology that would speedily evolve to the point where explorationof outer space (humankind’s ancient quest) would become routine,their bold but simple achievement was heralded throughout the worlas a true miracle of technology. Succeeding generations wouldcontinue to pioneer even greater technological "miracles" at such adizzying exponential rate of achievement that a shocked religiousculture became irresistibly propelled into a futuristic brave new worldready or not.
Indeed much of the world has not been ready. Today, one mayventure to remote regions of our planet which has seen little changefor thousands of years and discover confined social groups utterlydevoid of scientific knowledge and modern technology. Virtuallyuntouched by the outside world, such peoples seem quite contentwith the daily rigors of a very primitive existence.
History has shown that whenever such primitives are contacted by aunknown civilization far more advanced than their own, their firstreaction is one of fear and awe. They may even submit themselves tservitude and worship their superiors as gods upon witnessing theirapparently supernatural technology. Although crude by modernstandards, the technology of sixteenth-century Europe seemed quiteawesome to the native peoples of the New World as entirepopulations were easily subdued by the invading "white gods" with
their killing "fire sticks", that is until the primitives acquired the sameequalizing magic for themselves!
Science and technology which may thus seem miraculous to oneobserver may be easily explained and regarded as common by
another depending solely on the scientific knowledge and state of technology that exists within a respective culture at any given pointalong a developmental timeline. This concept becomes veryimportant to our understanding of the Hebrew record under study aswe fairly analyze the texts within their proper historical and culturalcontext. We must take care to view the events described in the Biblethrough the eyes of the simple people who recorded them, peoplewhose science and technology was at a very primitive level.
Let’s imagine for a moment that we are time travelers journeying tothe Middle East five thousand years ago. Just for fun, let’s say we’regoing there in a high-tech DeLorean time-travel automobile such asseen in the movie Back to the Future. Of course we’ll need to wearprotective clothing so we’ll be outfitted in a shiny silver space suit. Awe are about to zoom in on a tiny primitive village, we see that theresidents are busy attending to the duties of personal and socialsurvival—herding animals, tilling fields and gardens with crude tools,carrying (dirty) water from a common well—as they do each day.
As we screech to a halt in the middle of town quite unexpectedly wita flash and sonic boom, the startled peasants scatter and hide in amaddening panic. We then step out of our shiny, gull-winged vehicleand attempt to communicate that we mean them no harm. Aftersome time, the village chief is shoved forward by the gatheringthrong of trembling onlookers and, prostrating himself before us,humbly begs for mercy for his village. Perhaps he even orders a burnoffering, the "fatted calf" or some other sacrifice appropriate to theoccasion.
Seeing that any real dialogue is probably impossible under thecircumstances and not wishing to create further chaos, we graciouslyaccept the offering and politely give the chief a colorfully wrappednutrition bar in return. Then we get back into our time car, flash ourheadlights, honk the horn, and fly off in the blink of an eye. Not a bigdeal, really, from our perspective.
Centuries later, a contemplative scribe sits cloistered in a dark, quietcandle-lit room in a stone temple or monastery, papyrus and quill inhand, penning an age-old tale which might go something like this:
"And the heavens were rent with fire and thunder in the sight o
God’s people; and behold, there appeared a great beast in theirmidst, and its appearance was like behemoth and it shone likeburnished bronze; and its eyes were as flaming fire, and itsvoice was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle with whicit flew like the wind. And behold, the mighty ones came forthunto God’s people and their appearance was radiant; and they calmed the beast and shut its mouth. And Boaz the Elder took atender kid and cut it and laid it before them on the fire. And themighty ones received his offering and spared the city. ThenBoaz the Elder put forth his hand and received the Jewel of Wonder from the Angel of the Lord upon which sacred wordswere written by the finger of God; and this is the sacred Jewel oWonder which was devoured by Morg the Philistine. And beholdthe mighty ones mounted the great beast and a whirlwindreceived them up into heaven as the sound of a trumpet washeard by God’s people. And an altar was built unto God which isnamed "Jewel of Mercy" unto this day".
This modestly humorous illustration is simply an attempt to show how
a primitive scribe might report an encounter with beings possessing form of technology beyond his experience and therefore quite difficuto explain. With respect to airborne conveyances, for example, wemight well expect such a one to use descriptive language symbolsassociated with the sky (wind, storms, clouds, stars, birds, etc.), aswell as vehicular terms familiar to him, such as horses and chariots.Any brilliant external lighting or radiating beam from a spacecraftwould appear as "blazing fire" or "lightning", and be described assuch for lack of any conventional terminology in his own languagethat would be more accurately descriptive. Certainly nothing commo
to the Hebrew writers world would be much help in describing aspaceship.
What is most significant to this present study is the Hebrew writersconsistent attempt to describe a means of extraterrestrialtransportation using contemporaneous symbolic terminology. The keto interpreting such language symbols lies within the context of a
particular passage wherein we simply ask ourselves whether thewriter is referring literally to an earthly object or phenomenon, or notIn the case of an airborne "chariot of fire" or "flaming horses", forexample, we know that real horses and chariots do not fly throughthe air with the greatest of ease, nor would they survive beingengulfed in flames. Also, vaporous weather phenomena such asclouds and whirlwinds are probably not the common mode of vehicular travel for technologically advanced extraterrestrials.
Let us assume that these "mighty ones" (consistently described asflying through the atmosphere or "coming down" from the sky toearth, as noted throughout the Bible) travel to Earth from theirresidence somewhere in the cosmos. From today’s technologicalvantage point, we may logically reason that the probable means of transport they employ is some type of spaceship. Besides flying in"clouds" and "fiery chariots" which are frequently used languagesymbols, there are other possible vehicular terms that appearoccasionally in certain texts. The Hebrew writers may not haveunderstood exactly what it was they were seeing but they clearlyattempted to describe, as best they could, some sort of flyingtransportation for the mighty ones.
As we continue the practice of correctly re-translating key words forclarification, readers must also begin to judge for themselves by the
immediate context and the use of symbolic terminology, whethersuch passages might reasonably refer to extraterrestrial space flighttechnology. We begin with some examples that quite obviouslydescribe airborne transportation (note the frequent use of the word"ride").
"There is none like the mighty ones of [Israel], who ride fromouter space to your help and through the skies, majestically."Deu 33:26
"To Him who rides through the distant cosmos which is fromancient times...His strength is in the skies." Psa 68:33,34
"Behold, Yahweh is riding on a swift cloud..." Isa 19:1
"And He rode upon a cherub and flew; and He sped on the wingof the wind." Psa 18:10 & II Sam 22:11
"Who are these [mighty ones] who fly like a cloud, and like thedoves to their perches?" Isa 60:8
"He lays the beams of his upper chambers in the [cosmic]waters; He makes the clouds his chariot; He walks upon the
wings of the wind; He makes the winds his emissaries and blazing fire his servants." Psa 104:3,4
"Behold, Yahweh will come in fiery chariots like the whirlwind."Isa 66:15
"Behold, he goes up like clouds; his chariots (are) like thewhirlwind and his horses are swifter than eagles." Jer 4:13
"The chariots of the mighty ones are myriads, thousands upon
thousands; Yahweh is among them." Psa 68:17
Many of the Bible’s most familiar stories reveal an excitingtechnological relevance. One interesting example is found in the Booof Exodus where the extraterrestrial paradigm holds great historicalas well as religious significance. Beginning in chapter three of ExoduMoses relates his own personal close encounter with an emissary of
Yahweh who appeared to him quite unexpectedly as he was tendinghis father-in-law’s sheep. The familiar story of God addressing himfrom a "burning bush" is not, however, well translated. A moreprecise interpretation of the event when accurately translated fromthe Hebrew reveals that an emissary appeared to him in the midst ofa bright blaze (of light) which engulfed a thicket .
It should be pointed out again that what is often termed the "glory" o"fire" of Yahweh in our English Bible translations may certainly be areference to the intense brightness of a beam of light projected froma spacecraft. In the aforementioned case the entire thicket or grovewhere Moses stood was engulfed in a radiant light as the emissaryspoke to him. This recorded encounter also mirrors many othersimilar reports of contact with UFOs emitting intense beams of light,with or without personal extraterrestrial contact, which lends thestory a more modern and plausible authenticity perhaps missing inthe traditional "burning bush" rendering.
Continuing in Exodus with the story of the Hebrew peoples’ escapefrom Egypt, Moses records how a spectacular pillar-shaped flying
object led perhaps one million liberated Jews on a nomadic journeythrough the desert wilderness of the Middle East, guiding andprotecting them for an astonishing forty years! The object is said tohave moved slowly or hovered overhead in a stationary position sothat the vast throng of wilderness wanderers could follow wherever iwould lead them. In the Hebrew language the word used here isammud, which is defined as "a stationary solid column or pillarcommon to architectural construction" and is obviously meant todescribe the shape or form of the extraterrestrial object theyobserved. It is alternately referred to as both cloud-like by day andglowing like "fire" at night.
This definitive description happens to coincide with reports of one of the most frequently sighted UFOs in history, besides the saucer-shaped craft. In his Anatomy of a Phenomenon: Unidentified Objectsin Space; A Scientific Appraisal, Jacques Vallee says of this class of UFO, "(they) appear as huge cylindrical forms surrounded by cloud-like formations, often vertical". Eyewitnesses have also reportedvarious smaller objects flying to and from a cylindrical "mother ship"of this class and a great many sightings report a cloud-like halo orcorona of light surrounding such craft. Also, included in many nighttime encounters are accounts of intense beams of light radiating fromUFO vehicles which has been described by some observers asappearing like a "fire in the sky", further reinforcing the Exodus
report.
Another important observation must be made as we examine thisremarkable biblical story. It remains an accepted historical fact that amillion or so unsophisticated desert nomads apparently considered itthe most important calling of their lives to keep a written record of this compelling report of a mass sighting of an extraordinary UFOupon which future generations would build the Jewish religion. Theidea that so many eyewitnesses would have permitted an inaccurateor flawed record of such a momentous extraterrestrial encounter to
go unchallenged for thousands of years is unreflective at best.
Had these simple people not have fled the relative security of civilized life in Egypt to follow a pillar-shaped aircraft leading themtoward an uncertain and potentially perilous future in the desert thermight possibly be no biblical religion for us to scrutinize today.Scientists and scholars may debate certain details of the record but
they can hardly claim analytical objectivity if the reality of the reportis discounted simply because a primitive scribe makes an error in hiswilderness geography or uses peculiar language symbols to describea technology totally unfamiliar to him. The best scholarship demandsthat we allow for the possibility that a high degree of historicalaccuracy exists in the Hebrew record.
"And Yahweh was going before them in a "pillar of cloud" by dato lead them on the way, and in a "pillar of fire" by night to givethem light, that they might travel both day and night. [And the"pillar" did not depart from them]." Exo 3:21,22
"And it came about, whenever Moses entered the tent, the"pillar of cloud" would descend and stand at the entrance of thetent; and [Yahweh] would speak with Moses. When all the
people saw [this event, they would] arise and worship..." Exo33:9,10
"And the [airborne] emissary of the mighty ones who had beengoing before the camp of Israel moved behind them and the"pillar" moved from before them and stood behind them; so it [was positioned] between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there [stood] the "cloud" [in] the darkness, yet it gave light at night [so] the one [camp] did not come near the
other all night. Then...Yahweh turned the sea into dry land, sothe waters were divided. And the sons of Israel [crossedover]...and the waters [stood] like a wall on their right [and] leftThen the Egyptians took up the pursuit...into the midst of thesea; and it came about…that Yahweh looked down on the armyof the Egyptians [from] the "pillar of fire and cloud" and brough[them] into confusion; and he caused their chariot wheels to[swerve and break off]...so the Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee fromIsrael, for Yahweh is fighting for them against [us]’...ThenYahweh [caused] the sea to return to its normal state...while th
Egyptians were fleeing right into it; [and] Yahweh overthrew[them] in the midst of the sea...even Pharaoh’s entire army tha[pursued Israel]..." Exo 14:19-28
At no point is the Exodus story unremarkable. With a total lack of regard for the fantastic nature of the events described, the Hebrewsdetailed their encounter with the mighty ones in their floating, pillar-
shaped "cloud" vehicle, even reporting that it dispensed a mysteriounutritional substance from the sky (Heb. manna, Lit. "What is it?" ahard-to-describe food of the gods) to feed a million hungry people(e.g., Exo 16:13-21; 16:31; Psa 78:23-25). If such a story is fictitious,then it is darn good science fiction coming from simple nomadicshepherds in 1490 BC!
Such extraordinary tales as these have generated ample speculationand controversy among Bible scholars and historians for centuries.While some have dismissed the Exodus stories as imaginative fictionothers involve themselves in endless arguments over whether thebody of water the Jews crossed was actually the Red Sea or merely aswamp and whether or not the mysterious Mt. Sinai even existsgeographically. Some brave thinkers have even opined that Mosesaccount of his encounter with the extraterrestrial Yahweh at the topof Mt. Sinai, where he received the Ten Commandments inscribed onstone tablets, might really have been just a creatively told story of h[certainly dangerous] experience with an active volcano!
A fair consideration of the texts demands that a literal interpretationof this truly amazing extraterrestrial encounter, personally witnessedand recorded by Moses and the most highly esteemed elders of Israel, be consigned to posterity as a historically accurate andscientifically reasonable report.
"And Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Behold, I shall come to you in a"thick cloud", in order that the people may hear when I speak with you...and let them be ready...for on the third day Yahwehwill come down on Mt. Sinai in the sight of all the people’. So it came about that there were loud sounds, flashing lights, and a"thick cloud" upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet soundso that all the people...trembled. And Moses brought [them] tomeet the mighty ones...at the foot of [Mt. Sinai, which wascovered in smoke] because Yahweh descended upon it in
"fire"...and the whole mountain trembled. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and themighty ones answered him with a loud noise. And Yahweh camedown on Mt. Sinai, to the top of the mountain...and Moses wentup. Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Go down, warn the peoplelest they break through to Yahweh to gaze and many of them
"Then Moses went up [on the mountain] with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,...and they saw themighty ones of Israel; and under their feet there appeared to bea "pavement of sapphire", as clear as the sky itself...and to theeyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the radiance of Yahweh was like a consuming fire on the mountain top;…AndMoses entered the midst of the cloud…[where he remained]forty days and forty nights." Exo 24:9-18
Following this extraordinary encounter, Exodus relates how thepeople marveled and were afraid when they observed that Mosesface "shone" with a radiant light (Exo 34:29-35). It is also recorded insome detail that for a protracted period of time Moses and the tribalelders continued to have such personal contact with Yahweh and themighty ones who would descend in the pillar-shaped craft to aspecial, elaborately constructed "tabernacle" (Lit. a tent "meetingroom") that radiated with bright light, or "glory" of Yahweh (see Exo33:7-11; 40:34-38).
Under the leadership of Moses who was personally appointed by Yahweh, Israel received the Ten Commandments and various moral,social, and religious laws that form the foundation of the Jewishreligion. In a broad, historical context within the suggested paradigmit would be very reasonable to say that the Judeo-Christian belief
system is fundamentally rooted in these early Hebrew reports of extraterrestrial contact. To fairly embrace this premise we need onlyallow the Hebrew writers reasonable literary license and, as a goodscholarly rule of thumb, whenever more than one interpretation of agiven text is considered, we should prefer the simpler one. Thus,many more reported encounters with "divine" extraterrestrials seemto leap from the pages of the Bible, as in the following examples.
"Then Manoah [offered to prepare food for the emissary of Yahweh, who said,] "...I will not eat your food, but if you prepare
a burnt offering, then offer it to Yahweh". For Manoah did not know that he was the emissary of Yahweh [and asked], "What is
your name, so that when your words come to pass [re: the birthof a "special child"] we may honor you?" But the emissary of Yahweh said to him, "Why do you ask my name seeing that it isincomprehensible?" [Then] he performed wonders while Manoa
and his wife looked on [before ascending within a "flame" intothe sky and disappearing from their sight]." Jud 13:15-20
"Now when the servant of [Elisha] had risen early and gone outbehold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city.
And his servant said to him "Alas, my master! What shall wedo?" So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with usare more than those who are with them." Then...he saw; and,behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire allaround Elisha….And when they descended to him, Elisha prayedto Yahweh and said, "Strike this people with blindness, I pray."So he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha." II Kgs 6:15-23
"Then it came about as [Elijah and Elisha] were going along andtalking, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horsesof fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by whirlwind to outer space. And Elisha saw it and cried out, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!" Andhe saw him no more." II Kgs 2:11,12
As we apply our extraterrestrial paradigm to the story regarding thedisappearance of the prophet Elijah, another age-old mystery appearto be solved. Learned Bible students will recall that Elijah’s departure
from Earth was not only rumored among his disciples but in fact hadbeen pre-arranged as he was instructed to go to Beth El (Lit. house oa mighty one) on a specific day prior to his being taken.
Many other biblical events also take on a new significance whilerevealing extraordinary details with a technological relevance, suchas the previous association of the term "whirlwind" with a "fiery"vehicle that took Elijah up and away or the "cloud" that carried Lord
Yeshua into outer space (see II Kgs 2:11; Act 1:9-11). With suchsymbolic terminology repeated throughout the Hebrew texts without
any reasonable alternative explanation, a modern interpretation thatallows for an encounter with extraterrestrial technology is the mostplausible one if we are to accept the validity of such stories as actuahistorical events.
One might also safely assume that any extraterrestrial civilizationcapable of developing stealthy spacecraft that would transport them
across the galaxy would almost certainly possess advanced computesystems and weapons technology. Reports of powerful weaponrycapable of totally vaporizing physical objects should come as nosurprise then, such as in the following texts which refer to both handheld and ship-fired devices that leave little room for alternativeinterpretations.
"Then Gideon went in and [prepared food for the emissary of thmighty ones, who said to him,] "Take the [food] and lay [it] onthis rock"...then the emissary [pointed the end of a hand-held"staff" at the food] and fire sprang up from the rock andconsumed [it]. Then [he] vanished..." Jud 6:19-21
"And Elijah came near to all the people [on Mt. Carmel] andsaid, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If Yahweh is the mighty one, follow him; but if Baal, followhim...give us two oxen [prepared as a sacrifice on analtar]...then you call on the name of your mighty one, and I willcall on the name of Yahweh, and the [one] who answers by fire,he is the [true] mighty one"...[but, after much ceremony by the
prophets of Baal, they failed]...And Elijah [constructed his altar and poured volumes of water over it, then he called uponYahweh to respond]...then the "fire" of Yahweh fell, anddisintegrated the burnt offering and the wood, the stones, the
dirt, and [all of the] water." I Kgs 18:21-38
"Then David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to Yahweh and heanswered him with "fire" from the sky on the altar...[then]Yahweh commanded his emissary to put his "sword" back in itssheath." I Chr 21:26,27
"Now when Solomon finished praying, "fire" came down fromthe sky and disintegrated the [sacrifices] and the radiance of
Yahweh filled the house." II Chr 7:1
In addition to the technologies already mentioned, we also note thatIsrael’s gods occasionally used their superior biological sciences to kas well as heal "miraculously". Besides the deadly plagues leveledagainst Egypt that hastened the Jewish Exodus, there are severalother disturbing accounts of toxic biological contamination of masses
of human beings which are directly attributed to the extraterrestrialelohim (e.g. Deu 7:15; I Sam 5:6-12; I Chr 21:14). At times, even
Yahweh’s "chosen people" were said to be the victims of suchhorrors, no doubt contributing as much to the Hebrew peoples fear othe gods as any of the heavenly wonders which they observed in awe
Yahweh’s distress with the elohim’s human experiment is punctuatedby many accounts of genocide attributed to him throughout the Old
Testament. Numerous writers recorded that Yahweh effectedcataclysmic weather phenomena, from the Great Flood to severedrought lasting for years, and employed weapons of mass destructiothat included biological contamination producing devastatingplagues. Moses writes that Yahweh so regretted having createdhumankind at one point that he considered permanently destroyingall life on the planet (see Gen 6:5-7). It is interesting that all of Earthancient cultures, some predating the Hebrew record, reportextraterrestrial contact with events of destruction that are strikinglysimilar (see chapter: "Demythologizing Religion").
The final text which we shall examine in this chapter contains themost detailed, and perhaps the most remarkable, eyewitness reportof a UFO encounter in the entire Bible. In his vivid account, theprophet Ezekiel not only describes the spacecraft he saw but alsorecounts his own on-board flight. This amazing text which so baffled
Bible scholars for centuries can finally be interpreted in its properlight due to the present state of scientific knowledge and ourrealization that a superior extraterrestrial technology might indeedhave predated the invention of the wheel.
This text from Ezekiel is not only informative in itself but is withoutquestion very compelling proof of the Hebrew writers use of primitivesymbolic language to describe their encounters with advancedextraterrestrial technology. A common skeptical criticism of Ezekiel’stestimony is that he was either "dreaming" or hallucinating a "vision"
however a closer examination of the Hebrew language text revealsthat Ezekiel was reporting an actual object "of fine craftsmanship"that he "saw" with his own eyes. After first documenting the exact date and location of his encounter, Ezekiel records the amazing evenas follows.
"And as I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from thenorth, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and abright light around it, and in its midst something like glowingmetal in the midst of the fire." Eze 1:4
Ezekiel attempts to describe in some detail the shape andconfiguration of the shiny metal craft with its various moving partsand appendages that to him resembled some sort of incredibleanimated "creature". Yet, significantly, the Hebrew word he uses todescribe the rotating object is not nephesh (Lit. a living creature) butchay , a Hebrew word that describes the action or motion of something. Understandably, it is difficult to visualize the exactappearance of the airborne craft from his highly animated symbolismbut there are some aspects that we can easily recognize from familiatechnology, such as its hovering movements, bright lights, andlanding gear. For the sake of clarity this lengthy text is offered here ian abbreviated form.
"And within [the glowing metal object] there were figuresresembling four creatures...[having] human form [each with]four faces and four wings. And their legs were straight [with]feet like a calf’s hoof [which] gleamed like burnishedbronze...and their wings touched [and] they did not [rotate]when they moved...their faces [resembled various
creatures]...wherever the wind was about to go, they would go,without turning...in the [center] was something that looked likeglowing embers of fire [appearing] like torches darting back andforth among the [four creatures]. The fire was bright, andlightning was flashing from the fire. And the [four creatures]darted around [extremely fast, and]...there was a wheel on theearth [for each of the four creatures]...[whose] workmanshipwas like [a fine jewel]...[and it appeared as if] the wheels werein the midst of a wheel. And whenever they moved, they movedin any...direction without turning...their rims were lofty and
awesome...and full of eyes all about. And the [four creaturesand the wheels hovered and moved together] and wherever thewind was about to go, the [wheels would rise and go]...for thewind of the creature was in the wheels. Now [above thecreatures] was something like an arched expanse [having] theawesome gleam of crystal...I also heard the sound of wings likethe sound of [rushing] waters [or other loud noise]...Now above
the arched expanse...there was something resembling a [jewel-like throne, upon which was] a figure with the appearance of aman…[partly] like glowing metal [which radiated] like fire allaround and within it...like a rainbow [of radiant light]...like theradiance of Yahweh. And when I saw it, I fell on my face andheard a voice..." Eze 1:5-28
In Chapter Ten, Ezekiel records another encounter with the samespacecraft where he further marvels at the appearance of therotating "wheels" with their bright lights. Here he identifies anddefines both "cherubim" and the "glory" (or, radiance) of Yahweh asreferring specifically to the spacecraft described, giving us aninvaluable guide to a correct interpretation of other biblical textswhere these words appear.
Ezekiel also reports that he was lifted up by the "spirit" (Heb. ruach) into the spacecraft and physically transported to other geographiclocations (see Eze 3:12-15; 11:1; 11:24). In this text, and others, theHebrew ruach (Lit. wind or breath) is apparently a common techno-term used to describe the unseen force or power associated with theelohim and their spacecraft. It is worth noting that numerousobservations of extraterrestrial spacecraft include reports of a so-called "tractor beam", presumably a directed anti-gravity force fieldutilized for levitation and transport of people or objects between two
points such as the earth’s surface and an airborne craft.
As the Ezekiel text turns to a harsh chastisement of Israel for theirdisobedience and sternly warns them of impending doom, one finalobservation is offered. It would be reasonable to conclude that thestory of Ezekiel’s encounter with Lord Yahweh in an incrediblespacecraft, passed down from generation to generation, was takenvery seriously by the Hebrew people and that, rather than producingdisbelief and skepticism, his prophetic message was perhaps givengreater credibility because of it. It certainly would be fair to say that
such records were considered to be an important testimonial to the"mighty ones".
There are many more exciting possibilities to explore as we arechallenged to reconsider other religious traditions and doctrinal viewthat have been unapproachable in the past but are now, in themodern era, beginning to hold forth a scientifically rational
explanation. One such biblical teaching worthy of further examinatiois the Hebrew doctrine of the "Resurrection of the Dead". Thoughseldom the subject of a thorough review and exegesis from the pulpi(perhaps shunned because of its peculiarity) the subject of whathappens to human consciousness, or ones "state of mind", during thedeath experience has always held fascination for even the mostskeptical scientific minds, throughout human history.
A corporate resurrection of the human dead has always raiseddifficult questions as is obvious from the Apostle Paul’s allegoricalcommentary on the subject to the Corinthian Christians (see I Cor15:12-24; 12:35-54). Here Paul strongly reaffirms this doctrine’scentrality to the belief in Yeshua as the resurrected Messiah anddiscusses mortality and beyond as an altered state of existence.Significantly, the death state is referred to here and throughout theBible as "sleeping", implying that the collective resurrection of everyhuman being (to be judged at the "end of the ages") is the conditionof "awakening". For Christian believers, this "awakening" holds thepromise of being transformed into a new, immortal and"incorruptible" form, living in the realm and presence of Lord Yeshua
The "how" and "when" of this resurrection process has been thesource of considerable speculation and sectarian doctrinal debate,being shrouded in religious mystery. From a modern perspective on
science and technology, however, this theological concept maycontain more information than previously thought. Computer sciencein the twenty-first century foresees the day when a microbiologicaldata processing system will be created at the DNA level that maybecome the next generation of supercomputers. Is it not, therefore,also conceivable that an advanced extraterrestrial intelligence couldhave the means to upload human consciousness, or the essence of ahuman sentient experience, into a file storage system to be openedfor review (subject to being saved, transferred or deleted) at somefuture point in time? And, might such a "supercomputer" be
reasonably thought of as the "Mind" of an Almighty God?
As science and religion collide on such issues, it is time to start askinthe difficult questions. Secular scholars in many fields of study maywant to give a new, open-minded consideration of the Hebrew recordand other religious texts from the ancient world that documenthistorical contact with extraterrestrials and their technology. Given
our current knowledge of the vastness of the universe it is widelyacknowledged that there could be innumerable civilizationsthroughout the cosmos that may be far more advanced than our ownWe’ve done the math. There are also thousands of irrefutable reportsof extraterrestrial contact and observations of UFO’s throughout thecourse of human history. The empirical evidence is there.
For believers, truth must be mined from the biblical texts andcenturies of debris discarded before theology can be refined. Theanswers to the most important questions are there but some presenta challenge to traditional religious teaching. While there is hope inthe promise "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set youfree", there is also a warning in the words of the prophet, "My peopleare destroyed for lack of knowledge." Smart people ask questions,study for themselves and are not content to let others do theirthinking for them. Intelligence and reason is a divine gift that shouldbe present at every Bible study. Yet, while our brightest theologyscholars do embrace scientific inquiry and are not bound in ignorancto the mystery traditions of old, many also continue to give tacitconsent to archaic Bible translations inherited from the dark ages of scholarship.
The Hebrew record gives both science and religion an extraordinaryinsight into the nature and character of our extraterrestrial relatives,
as well as some much needed intelligence regarding theirtechnological capabilities. The hope for science may be that such"miracles of technology" will one day be shared with us in a spirit of peaceful cooperation that will benefit our world of shrinking resourceand global decay. Or, will they use their fearsome weaponstechnology against us before we can venture farther into space toexploit and pollute other worlds as we have our own?
Perhaps even more awe inspiring than the technologies employed bythe elohim is their apparently highly evolved psychic and telekinetic
powers. A fair analysis should, therefore, allow that there might bethings "spiritual" attributed to the elohim that exceeds our mostrational attempts at scientific explanation. It is the supernatural ortrans-rational nature of many of the miraculous works demonstratedby the elohim and certain gifted individuals (Lord Yeshua beingprominent among the Bible’s miracle workers) recounted with such
exuberance and reverence that gives one pause with regard toapplying a purely technological construct to the biblical worldview.
Ultimately, both the religious and scientific communities sharesomething very important in common, a fragile habitation. From the
Bible’s prophetic texts pertaining to the "last days" of planet Earthand the recent dramatic increase in UFO activity, everyone, whetherfaithfully optimistic or cautiously skeptical, should consider thepossibility that some sort of extraterrestrial intervention in our affairsmay be imminent. Yet, should the mighty elohim simply decide towatch a little longer from a safe distance as we continue on ourpresent course, we will surely reap the consequences of our owntechnological sin against the earth and her inhabitants which, morethan anything else, reveals just how primitive we truly are.
JESUS AND THE "KINGDOM OF HEAVEN"
As we turn to the New Testament for further insight into the Hebrewextraterrestrial worldview, we continue the practice of transliterationof the corresponding Greek-to-English texts in the same manner asbefore, with a few exceptions. The New Testament’s references to th
Hebrew god as "Father" is understood to be an implicit reference to Yahweh and needs no further comment as to his identity. It isapparent that "Father" was deliberately chosen by Jesus (Heb.Yeshua, and throughout this chapter) to introduce his relationship to
Yahweh as well as an intimate, familial concept of his kingdom, acentral theme of New Testament teaching.
The Greek translations present a unique challenge over the Semiticlanguage texts. For example, with respect to the common practice ofrendering the Greek theos as "God", a presumed reference to theHebrew Lord Yahweh, determining the plural form (i.e. Heb. elohim,"gods" or "mighty ones") or rendering it as an adjective or adverb("divine", "godlike", "godly", etc.) is complicated. One must ascertainfrom the context of a particular passage of scripture which usage ismost accurate and if a problem arises concerning a specific wordtranslation, maintaining a Hebrew rather than Greek perspective will
facilitate the best interpretation of a text. One must keep in mind thathe New Testament was written by Jews who were well acquaintedwith and communicated the Hebrew extraterrestrial worldview, asdiscussed in preceding chapters, frequently quoting OT Hebrewscriptures.
An analysis of the New Testament worldview with respect toextraterrestrials should properly begin with its principle character,
Yeshua of Nazareth. Through his assertion of intimacy with the Fatheand the mighty ones of his "heavenly kingdom", or cosmic empire,
Yeshua encountered immediate hostility from the Jewish religiousleaders of his day. They interpreted this as a blasphemousdeclaration that he himself was one of the elohim (e.g. Jno 5:18;10:30-39; 14:6-11). While numerous statements attributed to Yeshuaand his disciples make it clear that he claimed a divine birthright andauthority as the prophesied Hebrew messiah, the New Testamentdoes not emphatically assert that Yeshua is principle deity, theFather, or Almighty God, a dogmatic position nevertheless embracedthroughout history by many Christians.
It is clearly evident in New Testament scripture that Yeshuaacknowledged the Father as superior to himself (e.g. Jno 5:22,24;5:30; 5:43,44; 12:49,50; 14:28; Mat 24:35,36; Mar 13:32; Act 1:7),always prayed to or personally addressed the Father with praise and
gratitude (e.g. Jno Ch.17; Mat 6:5-15; 11:25,26; Luk 10:21, 22:42; Jno11:41), and repeatedly said that the Father resided in outer space (o"heaven") while he was on earth. Yeshua also specifically instructedhis disciples to likewise pray only to the Father with the right toinvoke his own name as a form of personal introduction. In theHebrew culture of the day, this was a great honor that bestowed avenerated master’s own status and authority upon a beloved discipleor household member.
It is not the goal of this work to delve into Christology however
clarification of the authentic views of the Hebrew writers of the New Testament pertaining to deity, including the identity, authority anddeification of Lord Yeshua, is relevant to this study. That the New
Testament writers clearly understood and believed in Hebrewtheology, as previously examined, could not be represented anyclearer than in the following unambiguous statement by the ApostlePaul.
"For though there are so-called gods both in heaven and onearth, as indeed there are numerous gods and numerous lords,for us there is only one God, the Father…and one Lord, YeshuaMessiah…" I Cor 8:5,6 (excerpted)
Significant to the Hebrew record of humankind’s extraterrestrialgenesis and the genetic enhancement of "special" human babiesbirthed throughout the ages, is the New Testament’s claim that thebaby Yeshua was uniquely procreated as "God’s only begotten (orsired) son". In other words, the New Testament writers assert that
Yeshua of Nazareth was the only elohim-human (technically a genetihybrid) offspring of Father Yahweh.
In apparent total disregard for any resulting controversy or skepticismthat it might create, the New Testament boldly states that the FatheGod’s extraterrestrial emissaries chose a young Jewish virgin girlnamed Miriam (or "Mary") who was already betrothed according to
Jewish custom, to birth and nurture this unique child. Given currentknowledge of non-sexual in vitro fertilization and gestation this storywould appear to suggest that a select ovum was artificially fertilizedand then re-implanted into the young woman’s womb, a clinicalprocedure common to modern obstetrics yet well beyond theknowledge of even the most learned physicians of that time. Twotexts specifically record that an elohim emissary of high rank
personally oversaw or administered Miriam’s conception of the baby Yeshua (see Mat 1:18-25; Luk 1:26-38).
Advanced genetic science being completely unknown to the writers othe story who were striving for credibility, it would seem to beinexpedient for anyone to fabricate or embellish such an incredibletale at the expense of the stories highly esteemed central characters
To say that the report of a "virgin conception" might create amonumental scandal for the respective families of the betrothed andthe community in which they lived is to grossly understate the
repercussions that such an event would have within the Jewishculture of their day.
Further complicating the problem of Miriam’s "divine" pregnancywould be the anticipated reaction of a humiliated fiancé. Yet, insteadof suffering the kind of hostility which, in their day, could havebrought about a public stoning for young Miriam, her betrothed Yose
(or Joseph) overcame what one might reasonably assume would havbeen extreme suspicion, embarrassment, and anger, and wed hispregnant virgin bride anyway. His decision, we are told, was basedwholly upon his own personal encounter with, and instructions from,another elohim emissary who appeared to him soon after Miriam’sconception. Yosef and Miriam then raised Yeshua along with othernatural-born children, although they clearly always considered himunique.
Standing alone, the story of Yeshua’s conception and birth is, in itselso offensive to Hebrew sensibilities within the culture of the day as toseem to beg for its omission from the texts. It certainly could easilyhave been regarded as an embarrassing family secret and rationallyexcluded as being detrimental to the public’s perception of Yeshua, oat the very least considered unnecessary to mention. Instead, theNew Testament writers unabashedly dignify this remarkable storyrepeatedly as an important testimonial to Yeshua’s extraterrestrialgenetic origins and divine destiny.
The story of Yeshua’s birth is surrounded by other extraordinaryevents as well. For example, it is reported that a "bright star" wastracked across the sky by numerous observers, including learned meof science serving great kings of the Eastern realms. This star-likeobject was followed to a point where it is said to have hovered above
Yeshua’s birthplace at Bethlehem before disappearing completely(see Mat 2:9,10). It is an easily verifiable fact that studies of constellations and conjunctions of that time show that no naturalastronomical star ever behaved in such a manner. One needs only anelementary knowledge of celestial astronomy to know that any truestar which can be viewed from earth does not have the ability tomove across the sky and then position itself at a very specific locusdirectly above a tiny village on earth!
We are therefore led to conclude that the so-called "bright star" whic
many witnesses observed hovering above Bethlehem was more thanlikely a radiant spaceship transporting a contingent of extraterrestriaelohim who reportedly had direct contact with many of the locals (seLuk 2:8-15). We are further informed that these elohim emissarieshad protective charge over the infant Yeshua and even alerted hisparents to hasten their escape from an impending slaughter of Bethlehem’s infant male children, a heinous act perpetrated by the
reigning King Herod in an attempt to slay the prophesied newborn"King of the Jews" (see Mat 2:13-23).
As we closely examine this story and the testimony of his followers,the implication seems to be that the baby Yeshua was created as a
genetic hybrid (possibly cloned) from Father Yahweh’s own DNA, or"seed". Thus, according to the Christian New Testament, Yeshua of Nazareth was the world’s most historically prominent extraterrestriahuman, genetically created to become the Messiah in fulfillment of ancient Hebrew prophecy. Regardless of opinions to the contrary, heis certainly acknowledged the world over as an extraordinary humanbeing gifted with extraordinary powers and having a mostextraordinary destiny.
"...the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, thevery works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hassent me." Jno 5:36
"Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enoughfor us." And Yeshua said to him, "Have I been so long with you,and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? He who hasseen me has seen the Father; why do you say, ‘show us theFather’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and theFather is in me?..." Jno 14:8-10
"And (Yeshua) was saying to them, "You are from (Earth) belowI am from (outer space) above; you are of this planet, I am not of this planet." Jno 8:23
"My kingdom is not of this planet. If my kingdom were of this planet, then my servants would be fighting, that I might not bedelivered up to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not fromhere." Jno 18:36
"Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he willat once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of extraterrestrial troops?" Mat 26:53
(Note: Paraphrased texts)
Briefly, the New Testament gospels written by Yeshua’s disciplesportray him as a unique individual of divine parentage. They tell us
that Yeshua demonstrated remarkable powers wherever he went,often seemingly defying physical laws, having a miraculous impactupon the lives of numerous severely handicapped, diseased andimpoverished people throughout Palestine. Such miracles were the"works" to which he referred that should have convinced even thecoldest skeptic that he was indeed a "mighty one" sent from Yahweh
Yet, it was that very evidence which proved to be an offense to thereligious authorities of his day.
Having spent his brief life on earth healing the sick, feeding thehungry, ministering to the oppressed poor, and instructing thecommoners of Palestine in the principles of love and compassion forone another (principles of his extraterrestrial kingdom) Yeshua wasfinally forced to surrender himself to the Roman authorities. Havingbeen accused by Israel’s rabbinical rulers of heresy, he was promptlytried in a mockery of justice and sentenced to a torturous andhumiliating execution by crucifixion. Despite having manyopportunities to flee capture, the New Testament writers insist that
Yeshua willingly submitted himself to this terrible death in order tofulfill a mission of self-sacrifice, demonstrate his own resurrectionfrom mortal death, and "purchase" eternal salvation for faithfulbelievers, whether Jew or Gentile, thus creating a "new and bettercovenant" between Father Yahweh and all of humankind.
It should be mentioned that while orthodox Jews and secular religiouhistorians may respectfully acknowledge Yeshua of Nazareth as a Jewish rabbi and/or prophet, he is usually rejected as the prophesiedMessiah outside Christianity. Yet, even his rejection, persecution andexecution by his own ethnic kinsmen is portrayed in the New
Testament as a kind of twisted irony, said to confirm several keymessianic prophecies of the Old Testament (see Mat 26:56; Luk24:44-47). Many are indeed remarkably accurate, as in Isaiah’sprophecy penned five hundred years earlier that details the tortureand execution of the Jewish Messiah (Isa 52:13-53:12).
The argument offered by Yeshua’s disciples that portrays him as "astumbling stone to the Jews" leads to a startling conclusion. It wastheir belief and teaching that the long prophesied Messiah who wouldbring a message of peace and hope to mankind from the stars wasdestined to be betrayed and killed as the final ritual blood sacrifice(the "Lamb of God" without blemish) performed by Israel’s temple
priests. While there are many more, perhaps even bolder, claimsmade by the New Testament writers pertaining to the propheticdestiny and supremacy of Yeshua as relates to our world, it is not thepurpose of this treatise to expound upon Christian doctrine, norpresent the New Testament faith over and against Judaism. Our focushall remain, instead, directed toward the testimony of Yeshua’sorigin and the notable events surrounding his death and resurrectionas relates to the cosmic theology paradigm.
Significant to this study is the story that, following his confirmeddeath by crucifixion and burial for three days inside a tomb that hadbeen secured and "sealed" by the government authorities, Yeshua’selohim guardians resuscitated and freed him from the tomb. As amatter of historical record, Roman guards stationed at the tomb sitewere interrogated by their military commanders but, even underpenalty of death, were unable to say what had occurred on theirwatch and were summarily executed. During the days that followed,
Yeshua is reported to have appeared alive in the flesh, bearing thescars of his crucifixion wounds, to personally interact with andinstruct many of his disciples. Then he was transported off world toanother location somewhere in the cosmos (see Mar 16:19; Luk24:51; Jno 20:17; Act 1:9-11).
Whatever minor differences there may be in the individual accounts
of the events, clearly all of the New Testament writers believed that,a) Yeshua was both human and extraterrestrial by birth, b) hedemonstrated super-human powers to the masses, c) he submittedhimself sacrificially to an unjust execution, d) he was physicallybrought back to life and, e) he ascended, accompanied by attendantelohim, into outer space to be with his Father, leaving his faithfulfollowers with the promise that he would return one day in the futureto take them to a new home world somewhere among the stars. Thefollowing passages are offered as an accurate alternative translationof the Greek.
"Simon Peter asked, ‘Lord where are you going?’ Yeshuaanswered, ‘Where I go, you cannot follow me now; but you shalfollow me later...In my Father’s domain are many dwelling
places...and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again,and receive you to myself that where I am you may be also.’"
"According to his promise we are looking for a new world in anew part of the cosmos in which righteousness dwells." II Pet 3:13
"We, however, are cosmic citizens, and we eagerly await our
Savior to come from outer space, the Lord Yeshua Messiah." Ph3:20
"...Set your hearts, then, on cosmic things above, whereMessiah sits on his throne at the right side of Yahweh. Keep youminds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth." Col3:1,2
"And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the cloudswith great power and glory. And then he will send forth the
mighty ones to gather together his elect from the four winds,from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of theuniverse." Mar 13:26,27
This very brief outline of Yeshua’s extraterrestrial connection doesnot pretend to do justice to the gospel teachings nor fully explore thequestion of his relationship to the elohim or the extent of his cosmicauthority. Clearly the New Testament writers ascribe superiorauthority to Yeshua while also revering other prominent elohimemissaries in much the same way as did the writers of the Old
Testament whenever referring to the special emissaries of Yahweh.
Finally, any commentary on the New Testament account of the parthuman, part extraterrestrial "Prince of Peace" would be incompletewithout the testimony of Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as theApostle Paul, author of the main body of New Testament literaturethat defines the Christian faith.
This extraordinary intellectual, thoroughly literate in rabbinical law awell as the culture and philosophy of the Greek world, was areputable merchant and prominent member of the Jewish religion’sruling class known as Pharisees, the group primarily responsible forthe eventual persecution and slaughter of Yeshua and his followers.As a respected, legal citizen of Rome it is fair to say that Paul wasprecisely the sort of individual who would be taken very seriously as witness in any court proceeding of the day. The fact that he was also
a hostile opponent of Christianity should lend further credibility to hismost extraordinary conversion testimony, a testimony that wouldeventually cost him his life.
Though ostracized by his Hebrew kinsmen, Paul stubbornly persisted
in recounting the incredible story of his own personal close encountewith the post-resurrection extraterrestrial Yeshua as he spread the"good news" of the Christian faith throughout the Greco-RomanEmpire. Undaunted by the severest of persecution and innumerablehardships, he was ultimately imprisoned and executed, neverthelesskeeping his faithful testimony, courage and dignity wholly intact tothe very end.
What could have occurred that was so profound as to utterly andforever alter the life of this once-noble Pharisee? Paul’s testimony tothe young Christian churches which he founded during his arduous
journeys throughout the Near East and southern Europe (his letters tthem comprise half the "books" of the New Testament) recounts thestory. He happened to be journeying with several companions on theDamascus Road around noon one day when, suddenly and withoutwarning, an airborne Yeshua hit him with an intense blast or beam oflight, hurling him to the ground and rendering him temporarily blind(see Acts Ch.9, et al).
The unique purpose of this startling encounter, we are told, was Yeshua’s stern command to Paul that he cease his persecution of innocent Christians and instead begin to spread the "good news" of the New Testament faith throughout the Gentile world. Being theastute Hebrew scholar that he was, there was obviously no questionin Paul’s mind that he had had a "close encounter of the elohim kindeffecting his immediate and faithful conversion. At once a devoutdisciple of Yeshua he quickly became a prominent and oftencontroversial spokesman for the movement referred to simply as "ThWay", forsaking his worldly reputation and fortunes.
As perhaps the most influential and visible "Apostle" of the ChristianFaith, Paul endured numerous bitter hardships, imprisonment, andultimately death, for preaching the "good news" and repeating theremarkable story of his personal close encounter wherever he went.As one reads his letters, sometimes written from prison, one cannothelp being impressed by Paul’s lucidity, intelligence and courage. Th
is not the ranting of a madman with a death wish. Indeed, it becomequite impossible to simply dismiss the dramatic testimony of hisconversion that so profoundly altered his former life as a staunchopponent and severe persecutor of Yeshua’s followers as merefabrication or hallucination. Nor does it appear in any way to havebeen self-serving.
With an open mind and without prejudice, one can easily concedethat something quite extraordinary did indeed occur that day to acertain sojourner traveling along the Damascus Road. Theology,philosophy and institutional religion being another matter, one mayrationally believe in the extraterrestrial "God(s)" of the Bible basedsolely on the testimony of such reliable witnesses even whilequestioning some of the details of biblical translation with intellectuacuriosity.
STAR WARS
In this chapter we will undertake a brief analysis of those texts thatrefer to the Bible’s most prominent malevolent beings. Commonlyreferred to as Satan, devil(s) and demons, these dominantly evil
beings are depicted as having destructive intentions towardhumankind and are also, presumably, the principal extraterrestrialadversaries at war with Yahweh’s empire.
Time would not permit us to address the lengthy history of superstition pertaining to the subject, but we should note that thefolklore of almost every culture on earth is replete with dark tales of malevolent creatures of every conceivable description who prey upovulnerable human beings. While some of these frightening tales maysimply be born of irrational fears and superstition, others may indeedhave had their origin in actual encounters with otherworldly beings.
Although it is difficult to identify a specific hierarchical orgovernmental structure among these "dark forces" from the Bible’ssomewhat sketchy commentaries, the activities and motivations of adversarial extraterrestrial beings appears quite varied. Of particularconcern to this study is the existence of aggressive extraterrestrial
predators identified in the Bible texts that pose a threat to humanbeings, either through direct physical or psychic harm or throughdeception with malevolent intent.
Modern psychologists and paranormal researchers have observed
and recorded many unusual and difficult to diagnose cases of extreme mental and emotional disturbances that are oftenaccompanied by inexplicable phenomenological effects that parallelbiblical accounts of "demonization". Without arriving at a consensusas to the origin of or treatment for the phenomenon referred to as"possession" or "demonization" (all known physical effects andclinical disorders having been considered), many researchers doreport that certain subjects have appeared to be "possessed" bysome external entity or unknown force.
The causal theories offered are as diverse as the techniques of exorcism employed by the priests and witch doctors of almost everyreligion on earth. What emerges as the most common observation ofthose who have witnessed such cases is that the mind of the"possessed" appears to be taken over by an alien persona who thendemonstrates bizarre or destructive behavior through the hostsubject, behavior which may even appear to defy physical law.
This would seem to confirm those biblical texts previously referred to
concerning the psychic power of the elohim who can telepathicallyenter or control the human mind. On the positive side, a benevolententity can produce welcome effects such as "spiritual" healings,prophecy, cognitive dreams, inspiration, and so forth. Malevolentinfluence or control, on the other hand, can have serious negativeand harmful results, as in the case of "demonization" which may eveproduce extreme, often violent, behavior in the one so "possessed".
Equally common is the observation that such an invasive malevolententity can be successfully resisted by the target subject or driven
away by willing observers who have the spiritual authority or powerto do so (i.e., "deliverance" or "exorcism"), which parallels the NTtexts pertaining to Lord Yeshua’s ministry (see Mat 9:32-34; 12:22;Mar 1:34; 5:1-20; Luk 4:33-37 & 41; 9:38-42; 11:14-26). Such"deliverance" was a central feature of his healing ministry that hisdisciples and others also tried to imitate with some success (see Mat7:22,23; 10:8; Mar 3:14,15; 16:17; Luk 9:49,50; 10:17).
Though it is not clear from the biblical texts precisely what kind of beings are involved in human "demonization" or the exact nature anextent of their powers and predatory motives, what is made veryclear is that they are not friendly to human beings and must beresisted with all of one’s mental strength and faith. Presumably, theyare among the adversarial elohim waging cosmic warfare with
Yahweh’s kingdom and, for reasons not fully explained, also havemalevolent and destructive intentions towards Earth and humankindin general.
Certain passages seem to suggest that the chief adversary referredto as "Satan" or "the devil" is allowed certain latitude to harm,influence, tempt and deceive people and seems to take a specialinterest in testing Father Yahweh’s most righteous servants. Forexample, in Genesis we have the account of the temptation and fallfrom grace of "first man" (Heb. adam), and in the Book of Job we findthe story of one righteous man’s extraordinarily severe persecutionby the devil. Then we have the fascinating story of the devil’stemptation of Yeshua found in Luke 4:1-13.
Apparently, this notorious adversary also has occasional direct accesto Yahweh, as do other prominent elohim, with at least some tacitapproval to engage in his evil activities (e.g. Job 1:6-12). In the New
Testament this adversarial being is even referred to as "the ruler" or
"god" of our world (see Jno 12:31; 14:30; II Cor 4:3,4). One possiblereason for this loathsome creature being permitted such destructiveliberty is suggested in Paul’s Second letter to the Thessalonians in aprophecy pertaining to Yeshua’s future reappearance or "secondcoming" (see II Ths 2:8-12).
This might be a good opportunity to briefly examine one colorfultradition that may be in need of clarification. The legend that hasLucifer as the personal name of the devil first arose in the middleages from a misinterpretation of an old Latin Bible text. The word
lucifer , from the Latin lux fero (Lit. light bringer) referred to the planeVenus, the bright "morning star", and was also an Old English termfor a common sulfur-tipped match. Beginning with the earliest Englisversion of the Bible, the sole reference to "Lucifer" is found in Isaiahchapter fourteen. Even a casual reading of this passage reveals thatIsaiah’s scathing prophecy addresses the reigning king of Babylon(v.4) and not the devil as the centuries-old legend goes.
In the Hebrew, satan (pron. sah-tahn) literally means any attacker oradversary (battling human beings or the righteous elohim) but iscommonly used as a proper name to identify the chief adversarydepicted in the Bible. There is, however, another identification offerefor the biblical adversary in the name "Beelzebub" (see Mat 10:25;12:24-27; Mar 3:22-26; Luk 11:15-19) or "Baal-zebub", the notoriouselohim "ruler" or "prince" also mentioned in the OT (see II Kgs 1:2).
This interesting compound name is formed from the Chaldean Baal (Lit. ruler , as in an adversarial elohim overlord) and Zebuwb, denotina fast-flying biting insect, hence the tradition of "Lord of the Flies".Rather than a literal reference to an insect "fly", one might speculatethat such terminology may originally have been used to ascribeaerospace flight capability to this particularly detestable "god".
Among the various accounts of adversarial beings in the Bible is thefascinating story of certain elohim emissaries who have fallen intodisrepute among their own kind and are either now imprisoned orfacing imprisonment by Yahweh for unspecified grave misdeeds (seePet 3:19,20; II Pet 2:4,5; Jud 6). One may reasonably infer that thesecriminal beings are the ones identified in the aforementioned Genesichapter six reference to the "Nephilim" (Lit. "those who cause to fall[as from a great height]"), certain beings who may have hadforbidden sexual relations with human women. There is simply noaccounting for the traditional rendering of "Nephilim" as "giants" in
this text, a poor word choice indeed given their suggested matingwith human females of the ancient world who were, anthropologicallspeaking, quite small in stature compared to women of the modernera. The Bible does not develop this story in any detail nor furtheridentify the "Nephilim" however some infer from two NT texts thatthey are the "angels who sinned" in the ancient world now imprisoneawaiting the "day of judgment" (II Pet 2:5; Jud 6).
A question that often arises among students of the Bible as well asresearchers into UFOs and extraterrestrial life is how one can proper
distinguish between benevolent and malevolent extraterrestrials, anascertain their motives. Especially alarming to some is the recent risin cases of UFO abductions and reports of encounters with hostilebeings of varying form and appearance. It would be nice if the Biblewere to sort out this problem for us but, unfortunately, it does notprovide an easy distinction such as "the good guys wear white hatsand the bad guys wear black hats". Indeed, given the fact that the
Bible includes adversarial beings that are quite deceptive by natureamong the elohim kind, some anxiety appears warranted.
Clearly, the Old Testament writers considered themselves no matchfor the elohim and therefore submitted themselves with pleas for
mercy, completely and fearfully dependent upon the intercession of pious prophets and devout priests to intercede on Israel’s behalf with
Yahweh to spare them from their enemies, above and below.
The New Testament offers a somewhat more hopeful solution to theadversarial elohim problem. Through the power of faith and trust inthe messianic authority of Yeshua who became the Empire’s "CrownPrince", if you will, following his resurrection and ascension into outespace, believers are granted the power and authority to resist thedevil and may even repel or cast out invasive demonic beings. Yet,the New Testament repeatedly warns believers to be alert fordeception and also to "test the ‘spirits’" to determine whether theyare "of God" or are perhaps a clever, even disguised, adversary (see
Jno 4:1-6).
Generally, Yeshua’s devotees are instructed to exercise dependent,child-like faith in Father Yahweh and are told to use wisdom andsound judgment to differentiate between the righteous anddeceptively evil elohim. Beyond this, certain faithful believers may
also acquire special "spiritual gifts" including a gift of discernmentcalled "distinguishings" (see I Cor 12:10) and all are instructed toavail themselves of defensive "spiritual armor and weapons" in thewar against the extraterrestrial forces of the dark side (see Eph 6:1017). Note in the following passage found in Paul’s letter to the churchat Ephesus, this striking commentary on human involvement in thestruggle against the extraterrestrial forces of evil.
"For our struggle is not against [human beings], but against therulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this
darkness, against the spiritual [dark forces] of wickedness inouter space." Eph 6:12
Particularly noteworthy is the biblical worldview pertaining to beingsin the elohim class (righteous or evil) who have their abode in outerspace but frequently visit or travel to earth. This contradicts anotherpopular myth that has the devil and demons residing in the notorious
nether-region called "Hell". Irrespective of the popular traditionpertaining to Hell that is incorrectly assumed to be biblical teaching,we shall attempt to expose the true Hebrew worldview, throughunbiased exegesis of the Hebrew and Greek texts, to determine thebiblical origins of this tradition.
With its powerfully frightening imagery supported by centuries of unscholarly manipulation of the biblical texts entwined with paganunderworld myth and fictional literature, art and drama that spinsvivid, hellish tales of torture and woe, today’s religious cultureappears, sadly, hell bound to endure the curse of this awful fiction.From the perspective of Hebrew theology and correctly defining theword "hell", we shall see that the true origin and abode of the Bible’smalevolent elohim beings who visit earth is extraterrestrial, notsubterranean.
Briefly, there are three primary words, Sheol, Gehenna and Hades,each having a different definition, which are almost universallyrendered hell in the English translations, giving this common myththe appearance of scriptural authenticity while obscuring manyimportant distinctions in the texts. A fourth word, Tartaros, likewisetranslated hell, is used only once in II Peter 2:4 to refer to theaforementioned imprisoned "angels who sinned". Here, "Tartaros" ismerely Peter’s symbolic reference to a familiar tale about the Greek
god Saturn imprisoning the rebellious gods known as Titans in a darkand foreboding region by that name.
Most common is the Hebrew word sheol, used sixty-five times in theOld Testament, approximating the meaning of tomb or undergroundgravesite, which, according to the custom of the day, was often aburial cavern, used as a mass grave. Home to decaying corpses,skeletons and detestable creatures, sheol was understandably afrightful place to be avoided. Yet, it was simply regarded as theunderground abode of the buried dead. Over time, sheol may have
taken on some of the superstition and religious beliefs pertaining to ahellish underworld from the Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek and othercultures with whom the Hebrew peoples interacted throughouthistory. However, sheol was never thought to be the abode of living beings (human or extraterrestrial) and should not be equated withany of the prevailing myths that depict a subterranean dungeon of
fire where lost souls are tortured alive by grotesque demoniccreatures.
In the New Testament there are also two distinctive Greek wordshaving very different meanings that are also translated hell. The first
Hades (pron. hah-dace), used ten times by three writers, is borrowedfrom another Greek legend of an underworld where gods andmonsters are involved in nefarious dramas. One must take care not tinfer from this unfortunate word choice that the Hebrew writers of thNew Testament intended to endorse any Greek mythos incontradiction to the prevailing Hebrew thinking pertaining to thewhereabouts of their buried dead. The Greek Hades is, therefore,correctly rendered "grave", corresponding to the Hebrew sheol, theaccuracy of which is confirmed by certain cross quoting between theOld and New Testaments (see Acts 2:27-31 quote of Psalms 16:8-11where both sheol and Hades are used interchangeably).
The second NT word translated "hell" is Gehenna (Heb. Ge Hinnom), valley outside of Jerusalem where the city dump was located. Thisterm was obviously chosen by Yeshua, quoted eleven times (once bythe Apostle James), to convey a specific message regarding theultimate fate of the wicked, certain Jewish religious authorities and"the devil and his angels". In using the name of the waste disposalsite of Ge Hinnom, or "Gehenna", where mounds of garbage burned
continuously, Yeshua was describing symbolically, in terms quitefamiliar to his listeners, that all wicked beings (human orextraterrestrial) would one day be disposed of like garbage andincinerated.
Nowhere does Yeshua (or any other biblical Jew) expound upon anafterlife doctrine resembling the classical Greek inspired hell mythnor does he state that "Gehenna" is an actual netherworld location,above or below, where condemned beings are incarcerated andtortured alive. By choosing the name of a well-known waste disposal
site he communicated the concept of a fateful annihilation of thosereprobate beings considered to be the garbage of the universe. Wereit his intention to describe a fiery dungeon within the bowels of theearth where wicked beings are kept alive to be tortured throughouteternity, instead of incinerated like garbage, the infamous institutionof torture existing in his time certainly offered other very graphic
analogies upon which he could draw to better communicate a concepmore closely resembling the classic hell myth. But he did not.
Clearly, the New Testament promises immortality only to those whoare "in Christ", whether alive or dead at his reappearing (the "second
coming") coinciding with the resurrection of the human dead at the"end of the ages". All other beings, terrestrial and extraterrestrial, ardestined for Yahweh’s "everlasting judgment" that can result in totaland eternal destruction in a "lake of fire", not an eternal life of torturin "hell" or anywhere else, despite all of the familiar old arguments tothe contrary.
The term "lake of fire" is found only in the Book of Revelations (Rev20:14,15 et al) but mirrors several other prophetic texts thatspecifically point to a final disposal of all evil and corrupt things,including "death and the grave", following a lengthy "last days"scenario. Interestingly, wherever the familiar "fire and brimstone"terminology is found in those texts, the Greek word used is theion,derived from theos, to mean a godly or "divine fire" and not themineral "brimstone", or sulfur, as it is commonly mistranslated. Amore accurate rendering of such texts may also provide a new insighinto the Hebrew expression, "God is a consuming fire" (see Due 4:24Isa 33:14; Heb 12:29).
While still the subject of considerable religious debate, it neverthelesremains a difficult undertaking to ascribe to the Hebrew writers of thBible our favorite underworld hell myths, irrespective of one or twounusual passages that appear in parable form and are not inthemselves expositive. Setting aside the most dreadful "hellfire anddamnation" doctrines enshrined in the annals of Christian tradition,most important to this study is the view of adversarial elohim asdangerous and powerful extraterrestrial predators on a mission toconquer and rule earth. Rather than being confined to some mythicaunderworld "hell", they appear to be at liberty to roam the cosmos,
including Earth. As the cosmic battle rages against Yahweh’skingdom, they seem to have a special interest in the fate of humankind, even to the point of attempting to gain strategicgeopolitical control over particular regions of the planet (e.g. Dan10:20).
One of the most interesting texts in the Bible pertaining to the cosmconflict between biblical extraterrestrials is found in Daniel, Chapter
Ten. Here, the highly esteemed Hebrew prophet records in revealingdetail how an unidentified elohim emissary of Yahweh was opposed ibattle for "twenty-one days" delaying his mission to contact Danieluntil he received reinforcement from the great "Chief Prince" of theEmpire called Michael (Lit. "godlike", or "one who is the mightiest of the mighty ones"; also called an "archangel" in the NT). From this another similar testimonies in the Bible we may reasonably concludethat the battle for control over Earth and its inhabitants is botharduous and strategically important to both sides of the conflict.
The biblical texts are replete with prophecies telling of a climacticend-game scenario wherein the forces of light engage the forces of darkness in a final battle of epic proportion. The New Testament’sprophetic message of salvation at Yeshua’s reappearing, or the"Second Coming", describes mankind’s rendezvous with anapocalyptic destiny that includes global catastrophic events andunparalleled human suffering following which the armies of Lord
Yeshua successfully overcome what could be described as a full-scalinvasion of our planet by Satan’s minions and a world ruler commonlreferred to as the "Anti-Christ".
Apocalyptic themes have been dramatized in a variety of ways both
in literature and film wherein mankind is depicted as mounting aheroic military style resistance of an alien invasion that saves theworld. But, if one is to believe biblical prophecy, especially the New
Testament, our survival is not assured by any human endeavor apartfrom actualizing one’s faithful allegiance to Father Yahweh’s kingdomand relying upon Lord Yeshua and the great "warrior priests" of theEmpire to rescue faithful devotees and deliver them safely to anotheworld. For Bible students devoted to eschatology, the cosmic theologparadigm holds an important interpretive key to biblical prophecyrelative to impending geopolitical and cosmic events. (Authors note:
This subject is explored in much greater detail in a separate workcurrently in development)
Since malevolent elohim are portrayed as using psycho-spiritual mincontrol and "temptation", inspiring various immoral or evil behaviorthat undermines humanity and leads to civil disorder and socialdecay, the Bible advises exercising discipline over the mind and
"flesh" along with faithful meditation, prayer and devotion to YahwehWhile the New Testament offers a distinctly joyous message of hopeand salvation through faith in the Resurrected Messiah, the threatfrom the adversary, Satan, and the urgency of resistance is notunderstated (see I Pet 5:8,9).
Faithful believers are repeatedly warned to beware of deception wheencountering adversarial elohim who can, and often do, masqueradeas the "good guys" (i.e. "false Christ’s", "false prophets", "an angel olight", etc.) and advises all to use caution, sound judgment, and faithwhen confronting any extraterrestrial, as in the following samplepassages.
"You must not revile the mighty ones..." Exo 22:28
"But I would remind you that even the archangel Michael whenhe was contending with the devil in the dispute over the body oMoses did not dare to condemn him with mockery. He simply said, "the Lord rebuke you!" Jud 9
"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge withrighteous judgment." Jno 7:24
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to seewhether they are from [Yahweh]..." I Jno 4:1
Finally, in each and every instance of a recorded personal encounterwith benevolent extraterrestrial elohim in the Bible, they are alwaysdescribed as recognizably human-like in appearance. If the Hebrewwriters had contact with other advanced extraterrestrial biologicalentities (EBE’s), such as those referred to as "greys" or other non-humanoid alien species that would meet the basic criteria to be calle"mighty ones", there are simply no specific references to be found inthe biblical texts. Encounters with other off-world species may,however, be accounted for in the writer’s use of such terminology as"strange" or "new" and "unknown" elohim. Yet, since, according toHebrew religious law, it was forbidden to give attention to orassociate oneself with any "foreign elohim", or even speak theirnames, such possible encounters remains a biblical mystery.
In this final chapter we will briefly examine other historical religious
texts besides the Bible that offer evidence of extraterrestrial contactsimilar in tenor to the biblical account of the elohim. Since the subjecof "ancient astronauts" in world religion has been extensivelyresearched and ably set down by many others, we shall limit thisexamination to a very small sample of ancient religious texts fromaround the world. In so doing, we shall not concern ourselves withcompeting theologies relative to the mission, intentions, oridentification and deification of any particular "sky god(s)" noraddress the highly controversial and subjective opinions of thenumerous "experts" in this field.
We shall begin by making the objective observation that theappearance of highly advanced space explorers in world history is noconfined within any geo-religious boundaries. It must certainly bemore than mere coincidence that the devotees of every diversereligion in Earth’s ancient history, separated by time, geography, andculture all ascribe to their sky gods similar attributes and behavior.Extraterrestrial origin, vehicular space travel, humanlike form andtraits, awesome power and technology, the genetic creation of humabeings and the supervised development of earth’s ancientcivilizations are common themes.
Centuries before Moses penned Genesis, the same story of creationwas told in India’s Days and Nights of Brahma and the story of Noahparalleled in the tale of Vaivasvata who was warned by the godVishnu to build a ship for the impending Great Flood. Such legendsadorn the religious texts of every great civilization in antiquity withonly minor distinctions in the plot or characters, as does other first-hand testimony of encounters with sky gods and their spacecraft.
Indeed, the very universality of the belief in humankind’s geneticdescent from and interaction with a highly advanced extraterrestrialrace suggests that it arose spontaneously and experientially,overwhelming all discussion pertaining to the origin of world religion
One cannot reasonably regard the similarity of such reports fromhistory’s divergent peoples as owing to some larger influence withou
at least conceding the possibility of worldwide extraterrestrialcontact. While it is reasonable to speculate that at least some of thedistinctions found within the various accounts of both benevolent andmalevolent "gods" may have arisen from encounters with different extraterrestrial species having quite different contact objectives, itcan just as easily be reasoned that all of Earth’s ancient civilizationshad their own independent encounters with the same race of humanoid extraterrestrials serving as the foundation for the worlds’prominent religions.
The veracity of the extraterrestrial testimony which so distinguishesthe great religions of the world is further reinforced by the fact that ievery period of recorded history (notably pre-flight history) therehave been continuous sightings of extraterrestrial flying craft andencounters with extraterrestrial beings reported from reliable non-religious sources. Still, we are taught by mythologists to considersuch stories as little more than the emotional fantasy of simpleminds. They would have us believe that the sky gods are merely theprogeny of humankind’s imaginative psyche seeking to explain life’smysteries and earth’s natural forces through fantastic heroicarchetypes.
Certainly, if one begins with the assumption that all recordedaccounts of extraterrestrial contact are inherently false—that the
"gods" do not exist—then such circular reasoning serves thediscussion of religious history quite well. But, if that basic assumptionis incorrect and highly advanced extraterrestrial beings not only exisbut have taken more than a casual interest in our world from thebeginning, then a great deal of historical scholarship is in serioustrouble.
By "demythologizing religion" our aim should not be to lay the axe tothe root of all good scholarship pertaining to mythology. We begin byrealizing, as we must, that the traditions of storytelling which exist
within world culture, while perhaps having their origin in actualhistorical events, have become seasoned with superstition, folkdrama, and religious dogma over time. Yet it would be the worst kindof intellectual hypocrisy to accept and even depend upon theaccuracy of our ancient religious texts when it comes to archeology,history, human culture and customs, language and other details of life in the ancient world, but then dismiss detailed reports of
extraordinary encounters with extraterrestrials and their technology,simply because it is odd.
Most of us are familiar with the Greek, Roman, and Norse legendsthat spin grand tales of sky gods who interacted with human beings
in a variety of heroic dramas. The Olympian gods and goddesses,recalled from stories like Homer’s Odyssey were said to have hadtheir abode in the "pure upper air". These colorful legends, full of intrigue, betrayal, and battles of cosmic proportions, often depict thewarring sky gods as firing "lightening bolts" and "sun rays" at eachother from their sky chariots and flying ships. Yet, such relativelyrecent European mythological dramas are merely the survivingremnant of much older legends to be found in the texts of the ancienEast.
In India, for example, we can find a bounty of literature replete withreferences to the space flight technology of their gods. Take thefamiliar Ramayana, an epic poem 24,000 verses in length thatweaves a colorful tapestry of heroic passion, intrigue, and cosmicconflict. This classic work has delighted and enthralled the Indianpeople for thousands of years, inspiring the art and culture of thatenchanting country to this day. The story centers around Prince Ramand his adored bride Sita.
When the evil Ravana kidnaps Sita, Rama, assisted by Hanuman, Lorof the Monkeys, launches an all-out war against him and his legionsto rescue the princess. Significantly, the war involves many air battlefought from bird-like craft and "flying cars". Many verses refer to atwo-storied flying vehicle with windows and several compartments fopassengers and crew called a "Pushpa chariot", depicted in Indian arbrightly painted and adorned with flags and flowers. Fascinatingdescriptions of flight propulsion and weapons systems can be gleanefrom the Ramayana texts, as in the following sample passages.
"Brave Matali drove the chariot drawn by steeds like solar ray,Where the true and righteous Rama sought his foe in fatal fray.Shining arms and heavenly weapons he to lofty Rama gave,When the righteous strive and struggle, gods assist the true andbrave. Take this car!" so said Matali, "Which the helping gods
provide; Rama, take these steeds celestial, Indra’s goldenchariot ride!"
The story goes on to describe a lengthy extraterrestrial battle foughtbetween the two adversaries before Ravan is finally vanquished byLord Rama, apparently blown out of the sky by some sort of missile!
"Still the dubious battle lasted until Rama in his ire
Wielded Brahma’s deathful weapon flaming with celestial fire;Weapon which the Saint Agostya had unto her hero given,Winged as lightening dart of Indra, fatal as the bolt fromheaven.Wrapped in smoke and flowing flashes, speeding from thecircled bow,Pierced the iron heart of Ravan, lain the lifeless hero low."
Reunited with his princess, the victorious Rama returns home in hisspaceship to a hero’s welcome.
"Sailing o’er the cloudless ether Rama’s Pushpa chariot came And ten thousand jocund voices shouted Rama’s joyous name.Silver swans, by Rama’s bidding, soft descended from the air
And on earth the chariot lighted—car of flowers divinely fair."
Beside the Ramayana, other ancient texts reveal even greater detailregarding the flight technology of India’s sky gods. From histranslation of the Samar in War in Ancient India, RamachandraDikshitar notes the capabilities of what are described as various typeof "flying machines", saying that they could transport many persons,fly great distances in any direction throughout the stellar regions, anattack invisibly with awesome weaponry. The lengthy epicMahabharata, which forms the foundation of the Hindu religion, alsocontains an inexhaustible treasure of information on the subject, sucas in the following verses selected at random.
"And the gods in cloud-borne chariots came to view the sceneso fair,
Bright Adityas in their splendor, Maruts in their moving car...Bright celestial cars in concourse sailed upon the cloudless sky"(From Book One, Ch. 4)
"Bright immortals robed in sunlight sailed across the liquid sky And their gleaming cloud-borne chariots rested on the turretshigh.
Ida, adja, homa offerings pleased the Shining Ones on high"(From Book Three, Ch. 2)
"Devas from their cloud-borne chariots, and Ghandarvas fromthe sky
Gazed in mute and speechless wonder on the human chiefsfrom high." (From Book Eight, Ch. 2)
The picture we get from many of the Indian texts is one of a "StarWars" epic wherein heroic battles are waged among the sky gods forpersonal, political, and planetary conquest. In the following selectionwe are treated to some insightful details regarding the weaponscapabilities of the extraterrestrial spacecraft.
"O King, in the battle between the gods and the Asuras in the
days of old, [the "celestial car"] displayed a circular, forward,backward, and diverse other kinds of motion...And then he shotthe weapon called Tashiva that is capable of slaying largebodies of foes together." (Samsaptabadha Parva, p.58)
"In that dreadful battle, those shafts, O King, like the very raysof the sun, in a moment shrouded all the parts of the compass,the welkin (creation) and the troops. Innumerable "iron balls"also, O King, then appeared like resplendent luminaries in theclear [sky]. Shataghnis, some equipped with four and some withtwo wheels and innumerable "maces" and disci with edgessharp as razors and resplendent like the sun also appearedthere." (Drona Parva, p.661)
"...[Bhisma] took up and hurled at them with great force a fierce[weapon] of destruction of hostile ranks. That [weapon]...crushed, O King, thy soldiers in battle. And it seemedto fill, O King, the whole Earth with a loud noise. And blazingforth in splendor, that fierce (weapon) inspired thy sons with
fear. Beholding that (weapon) of impetuous course andendowed with lightening flashes coursing towards them, thy warriors fled away uttering frightful cries." (Ibid., p.383)
"On one occasion assailed by Valadeva, Jarasandha, excitedwith wrath, hurled for our destruction a [weapon] capable of slaying all creatures. Endued with the splendor of fire, that
[weapon] coursed toward us...with the impetuosity of thethunder...[then] the Son of Rohimi hurled the weapon calledSthunakarma for baffling it. Its force destroyed by the energy oValadeva’s weapon, [it] fell down on the Earth splitting her [withits might] and making the very mountains tremble." (Ibid.
p.592)
And from page 677 of the Drona Parva, comes a chilling account of aultimate weapon of destruction, the "Agneya", which is said to beindefensible.
"The valiant Adwatthaman...invoked the Agneya weapon,incapable of being resisted by the very gods. Aiming at all hisvisible and invisible foes...[he] inspired with mantras a blazingshaft of the effulgence of a smokeless fire and let it off on allsides..."
The writer then continues at length to describe a frighteninglydetailed scenario of mass destruction as the intense energy blastfrom the "Agneya weapon" scorched the earth and "all points of thecompass were enveloped in a darkness". Everywhere there was fierychaos and death as even "the very elements were perturbed" by whawe may reasonably surmise was some form of devastating nuclearradiation weapon from such passages as follows.
"...showers of sharp and fierce arrows fell and issued [from thesky] on the wind...burnt by those shafts...the hostile warriors fedown like trees burnt down by a raging fire. Huge elephantsburnt by that weapon fell down on the earth all around, utteringfierce cries...The steeds, O King, and the [chariots] also burnt bythe energy of that weapon, looked, O Sire, like the tops of treesburnt in a forest fire."
Given our present scientific knowledge it is not difficult to envision
from this report a horrifying nuclear holocaust in ancient India thatmay have rivaled the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra or evenHiroshima. There can be no doubt that such a detailed report of theeffects of a nuclear weapon would have been beyond even the mostimaginative story-telling abilities of one familiar only with primitiveweapons hand crafted of wood and iron.
Perhaps even more than the Hebrews, the ancient Indians wereextremely fascinated with the flight technology of their gods as isevident throughout their art and literature. Among numerousarchaeological finds in India are depictions of countless airbornedeities and their conveyances such as carvings at the Konarak thatdepicts eight "flying wheels" said to be the aerial transport for theSun goddess Surya. Throughout the ancient texts of India their godsare always portrayed as superior physical beings (never disembodied"spirits") that wing through the cosmos in physical aircraft.
In one ancient Sanskrit text, great detail regarding the "flyingmachines" of India’s sky gods is recorded. From a translation byMaharshi Bharadwaja, entitled Aeronautics, a Manuscript from thePrehistoric Past published by the International Academy of SanskritResearch in Mysore, India, comes the following fascinating extract.
"In this book are described...the art of manufacturing varioustypes of [aircraft] of smooth and comfortable travel in thesky...That which can go by its own force like a bird, on earth, orwater, or in air, is called "Vimana". That which can travel in thesky, from place to place, land to land, or globe to globe, is calle"Vimana" by scientists in Aeronautics. The secret of constructin[aircraft] which will not break, which cannot be cut, will not catch fire, and cannot be destroyed. The secret of making
[aircraft] motionless. The secret of making [aircraft] invisible.The secret of hearing conversations and other sounds in enemy[aircraft]. The secret of receiving photographs of the interior of enemy [aircraft]. The secret of ascertaining the direction of approach of enemy [aircraft]. The secret of making persons inenemy [aircraft] lose consciousness. The secret of destroyingenemy [aircraft]...Metals suitable for [aircraft], light and heat absorbing, are of sixteen kinds...these sixteen metals alone arethe best for [aircraft] construction."
Among India’s most frequently invoked gods are the twin Aswins("Sons of Heaven") who rode in bright aerial cars armed withthunderbolts. On one particular occasion, so the story goes, they aresaid to have flown over the ocean in a "tri-columnar, triangular, tri-wheeled, and well constructed" vehicle to rescue Bhujya from the sewhere he had become stranded in a "ship" that he had flown to Earthfrom outer space.
Another interesting example of the Indian fascination with the flyingcraft of their gods is a report found in a selection from the Brihat Katha that tells of Queen Vasavadotta’s obsession to go for a ride in "flying machine". Since, from the stories context, such aircraft wereobviously a familiar sight, she ordered the king’s chief artisans toconstruct one for her. But of course even the best craftsmen in theland did not possess such "secret knowledge" and failed to produceone, whereupon an unidentified stranger appears suddenly in thestory, orders some materials, and constructs a "Garuda" or bird-likeaircraft. Her dream fulfilled, both king and queen then embark upon pleasant journey "in the air around the Earth".
In other East Asian literature, such as the Feng-shen-yen-i of Chinaand Japans Nihongi, we also find dramatic accounts of both good andevil sky gods who descend to Earth on flying "silver dragons", "bird-ships", or "wind-fire-wheels" and fight fierce air battles using "globesof flame" and "lightening darts". Though far too numerous to quotehere, such powerful language symbolism found throughout thesetexts serves to further reinforce the idea that extraterrestrial contactoccurred throughout the ancient world laying the foundation of worldreligion.
While it may be true that many Eastern religious traditions involvemysticism, shamanism, nature and ancestor worship, and various an
sundry superstitions, perhaps more so than in the West, itnevertheless remains that much of what was reported by the scribesof the ancient East can and should be studied from a historicalperspective as actual extraterrestrial contact events. Just as we havedone with respect to the biblical texts presented in previous chaptershere, one must decipher the simple and poetic language symbolismemployed by an ancient scribe and note the careful manner in whichsuch extraterrestrial encounters were recorded.
In an excerpt from Egypt’s Annals of Thutmosis III, circa 1500 BC, as
translated by Prince Boris de Rachewiltz from the original papyrusdocument found in the archives of the Egyptian Museum of theVatican, as in many other documents, the scribe was careful to recorthe exact date and time of day the following event occurred.
"...In the year 22, of the third month of winter, sixth hour of theday, the scribes of the House of Life found that there was a
circle of fire coming from the sky...One rod long was its body and a rod wide, and it was noiseless. And the hearts of thescribes became terrified and confused and they laid themselvesflat on their bellies…They reported to the Pharaoh...Now after some days had gone by, behold these things became morenumerous in the skies than ever. They shone more than thebrightness of the sun and extended to the limits of the four supports of the heavens. Dominating in the sky was the stationof these fire circles. The army of Pharaoh looked on with him intheir midst...Thereupon these fire circles ascended higher in thesky towards the south...what happened was ordered by thePharaoh to be written in the annals of the House of Life...so thait be remembered forever."
As we focus once again on the Near East we are moving closer andcloser to the very birthplace of recorded history. While scholars stilllabor to analyze the bounty of data already unearthed from ancientMesopotamia, often called the "cradle of civilization", the discoveriesthus far have been extraordinary. The grand empire of Babylon, forexample, and the nearly identical culture of the Assyrians to thesouth, consisted of a high civilization spanning 1,500 years untilBabylon fell to Cyrus (called "the anointed of Yahweh" by the Biblicaprophet Ezra) in 539 BC.
Besides priceless artifacts which adorn the museums of the world,Babylonian and Assyrian digs have produced volumes of writtenrecords containing cosmological tales and epic poems, templerecords, dynastic histories, astronomical and astrological data,mathematical formulas and scholastic texts, government, public andcommercial records, and detailed texts concerning the names,genealogies, powers and duties of their sky gods.
During archaeological excavations at Ninevah, the royal capitol of Assyria, certain clay cylinders from the Library of King Assurbanipal
were found to contain a remarkably vivid account of King Etan’s journey in a spaceship. On that particular occasion five thousandyears ago, we are told that the "Good King" was taken as an honoredguest aboard a spaceship in the form of a rotating "flying shield"surrounded by "flames" and piloted by "gods" described as "tallblonde-haired men with dark complexions, dressed in white".
Against the protests of his advisors, the king departed amidst a"whirlwind" and "flames", soaring high above the earth where heobserved the seas and continents. He then continued on a journeyaround the planets of our solar system for a period of two weeks,during which time his distressed subjects began to prepare asuccessor to the throne, believing him abducted. But, alas, King Etanreturned in the "fiery ship" to his palace where the "blonde gods"remained as his guests for several days.
The grand cultures of Babylon and Assyria are considered byMesopotamian scholars to be a branch of the much earlier Akkadiannation. Capping several decades of work in the latter half of thetwentieth century, scholars discovered that the Akkadians werepreceded by yet another great civilization, the ancient realm of Sumer. One of the most ambitious archaeological digs undertaken inmodern times has unearthed the Sumerian cities of Lagash, Kish,Nippar, Ur, Shurupak, Eshunna, Adab, Umma, Uruk, Eridu, and more.
Akkadian-Sumerian lexicons found in Babylon and Assyria havebecome instrumental in deciphering the Sumerian cuneiform scripttaken from innumerable clay tablets unearthed from vast libraries atthese sites. Utilizing sophisticated computer programs, Sumerologistnow routinely translate volumes of data that have been entombed fomillennia. Fortunately for us, these first citizens of the ancient world
were diligent to record every detail of their life, culture, technology,the origin of their civilization and, of course, their own relationshipwith their "sky gods".
To briefly summarize the work of many eminent scholars, humanhistory began a sudden ascent within sophisticated farmingcommunities located in the fertile mountain valleys bounded by the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the region we now know as northernIraq. Those first humans were soon domesticating animals,propagating many new species of grains, fruits, and nuts, and vinting
wine, things the Europeans would only discover thousands of yearslater. From that fertile birthplace in ancient Mesopotamia wherehumankind flourished in a kind of genetic-botanic laboratory - theBiblical Eden - we began our advancement into new territories, farand away.
We developed better tools, weapons, implements, and utilitarianpottery as we went, all in the relatively brief span of five or sixthousand years, beginning around 11,000 BC. Then, following adistinct decline around 5,000 BC that resulted in a near total culturalimpoverishment, a truly amazing thing happened. Mired in aregressive state with seemingly no hope for advancement,humankind’s decline was abruptly halted and the great civilization ofSumer literally burst forth out of nowhere, around 4,000 BC, with aflourishing culture more advanced than many others which antedateit.
That unexpected leap from the Stone Age to become the model forcivilization, as we know it, has often left scholars baffled as theyattempt to reconstruct Earth’s historical time line in light of relativelynew evidence. Many now believe the Sumerian texts to be the key tothe origin of many ancient legends pertaining to extraterrestrialcontact for it is the Sumerian testimony that a race of mightyextraterrestrials personally directed the development of theircivilization prior to the Great Flood.
Scholars have been amazed and excited by many features of theSumerian civilization that reveal a remarkable state of culture andtechnology given the age in which they appeared. According to thework of many noted Sumerologists, these mysterious people gave us
the worlds first written language, the first public school system andthe first historians and librarians. They had the world’s first advancedmathematics, unquestionably superior to that of the Greco-Romansystem, enabling them to calculate square roots and fractions,multiply to several powers numbers into the millions and performcomplex geometric equations. They had the first extremely accuratecalendar and possessed a knowledge of astronomy that far surpasselater civilizations. Their scientists developed the world’s first medicalscience, the first chemistry science, and the first botanical andagricultural sciences.
The Sumerians also established the world’s first bicameral congress,had the first legal codes and judiciary and developed the first systemof commerce, trade, and transportation. Particularly relevant to ourcurrent study, they also gave us the world’s first philosophypromoting world peace and a theology that honored the sky gods asthe progenitors of humankind and credited them with direct tutorial
supervision over their cultural development. Indeed, they went togreat lengths to record every detail of their life and interaction withthe "sky gods", leaving behind one of the most important testimoniaextant pertaining to extraterrestrial encounters in the ancient world.
Such discoveries have been undeniably troubling to many popularscientific theories regarding natural evolution, placing anthropologistin the awkward position of trying to explain away many apparentcontradictions. If one adheres strictly to the Darwinian model, forexample, human beings should not be any further advanced than theprimitive tribes of New Guinea or Amazonia for at least another two othree million years. Yet, here we are a mere six thousand yearsremoved from Sumer exploring outer space! It is this sudden leapfrom bushmen to astronauts which is perhaps the most troublingcontradiction to the theory of "natural selection" with regard to thehuman species.
From our observation of primitive societies and analysis of newarchaeological data, anthropologists note that pre-literate humansare not nearly as superstitious or prone to flights of fantasy as oncethought. Indeed, they must be quite practical-minded to survive inthe wild, so that in their daily lives religion and mysticism must take back seat to logic, pragmatism, and experimentation. While we woulnot presume to say that the religious beliefs of today’s primitive
societies are analogous to those of the ancients, some principles doappear to evolve within all developing cultures that requires religiousexperience to have some sort of practical benefit and that it becommunicated simply and truthfully.
Whether defenders of the Darwinian model attach any historical orscientific value to it or not, the fact remains that humankind’s earlieshistorical records do go to great lengths to describe first-handexperiences with our extraterrestrial progenitors who set humanity oa civilized course with all of the knowledge needed to survive and
flourish. That said, we should also observe that there cannot be founso much as a single historical text from the ancient world whichdescribes humankind’s evolution from an ape-like ancestry nor onewhich depicts the rise of human civilization as a gradually occurringachievement unassisted by extraterrestrials.
The story of creation told by the Hebrews, the Sumerians and manyother ancient civilizations, is briefly and poetically summarized byMoses in the first chapter of Genesis. There, and in other sacredwritings from around the world, we find the amazing story of thegenetic engineering of human beings by extraterrestrial "gods", aconcept that, if true, begs a scientific reappraisal of the origin of manand the universe. If this extraterrestrial genesis paradigm is to beembraced as fact, then not only must science come to terms with anatural selection scenario in which human beings are the exceptionbut a reconsideration of human history that allows for extraterrestriainfluence is also called for.
Irrespective of one’s scientific or theological predisposition, it is timefor all inquiring minds to re-think many previously held assumptionspertaining to the religious experiences recorded by the simple-minded citizens of the ancient world. At the very least we shouldvalue, if not celebrate, that uniquely human quality which has alloweus to recall, with childlike wonder, mankind’s personal encounterswith a vast living cosmos. For it is the discovery of a simple truth, thetruth of a shared human experience with our extraterrestrialrelatives, that remains the goal of "demythologizing religion".
IN CONCLUSION
History has witnessed a bitter conflict between science and religionthat has seen devout religious clerics stubbornly resist some of themost important scientific discoveries and scholarly achievements of the modern age, often to the point of crucifying true genius. On theother hand, many astute scientists and secular scholars often tend toregard the world’s sacred religious texts as offering little more than
mystical hocus-pocus. Lost within this vitriolic contest of willsbetween the vocal reactionaries of both camps is the distant voice ofour ancestors proclaiming an exciting message for our own time.Perhaps it is the radical nature of that message from the past thatnow seems so threatening to the positions of science and religionwith equal severity.
As we re-evaluate mankind’s origin and the evolution of civilizationfrom a "cosmic theology" perspective, we have a new opportunity togain a deeper understanding of the universe and ourselves as sciencand religion become more reconcilable. In light of the overwhelmingevidence of extraterrestrial contact throughout human history onemarvels at how institutional scholars have so skillfully managed toignore the "cosmic theology" equation present in the world’s greatreligious literature and negate even the possibility of intelligentgenetic engineering of human life in ancient earth history.
Judeo-Christian scholars have also been notoriously hostile to mostscientific theory pertaining to the origin of the universe and theevolution of life on our planet, with a few exceptions. Enlightenedtheologians now routinely proffer an "intelligent design" paradigmthat does allow for an evolution scenario (i.e. "creation science")wherein human beings are the evolutionary exception to theDarwinian model. It has been widely acknowledged by theologicalscholars for some time that Moses’ Genesis is but a "six-day" creatiosynopsis based upon a common oral tradition passed down fromancient times (possibly originating in Sumer) that leaves ample roomfor speculation as to many details.
One popular view holds that Moses provides, in an abbreviatedsymbolic way, a scientifically valid sequential progression that
accurately accounts for millions of years of Earth’s evolution (from agaseous to solid state, then vegetation, sea life and higher forms of creatures, etc.) in the Genesis declaration that "God" (Heb. theelohim) said, "Let the earth bring forth...(vegetation and all livingcreatures)", suggesting a biological evolution scenario. A significantdeparture from traditional scientific thinking only occurs in Genesis’ assertion that on the final "day" of Earth’s evolution the elohimgenetically engineered human beings.
As skeptical minds acquire a greater esteem for humankind’s ancien
religious texts, a new and scientifically credible cosmic theology maybe found to contain more historical and scientific fact than myth. Thiarea of study could also prove valuable to a new generation of dedicated, if eccentric, researchers known as "UFOlogists" who arefrequently discredited simply because they are seen to lack thecredible scientific and philosophical relationships which might invite
more open-minded examination of some very persuasive empiricalevidence.
Likewise, the purveyors of simplistically reductive Bible story-mythneed to be challenged to develop a more accessible, reality-based
theology for the times. Certainly one of the most importantresponsibilities of pious clergy and theologians entrusted withaccurately communicating "God’s Word" to the faithful masses is toensure that the Bible is, at the very least, correctly translated andfairly interpreted using the best scholarship and scientificallyobjective analysis available in the modern era. Bible scholars mustnot allow millions of trusting souls to wander about in a darkwilderness of antiquated religious tradition built upon misinformationcultural bias and inaccuracies in the Bible translations while a lamp oknowledge that could shed new light upon an old path remains"hidden under a bushel".
The Bible certainly contains much more than just the earthly record othe Jews or the moral wisdom of venerable sages, pious prophets andsaints. It is a timeless collection of stories depicting mankind’srelationship with his extraterrestrial relatives. Within its accuratelytranslated and demystified texts, the Bible offers us a message of warning and hope that may very well be the key to understanding ouplace in the vast living cosmos populated by an ancient and powerfu
citizenry. Whether one prefers to think of them as "gods" or"spacemen" who come from an advanced civilization somewhere inthe universe, all serious students of biblical history would be wellserved by becoming better acquainted with the distinctiveterminology used by the Hebrew writers to describe theirextraordinary experiences with the "mighty ones".
