Waking dream, December 25, 1994

For the first time in my life, one of them simply stands there, not moving, only looking at me, both inviting and somehow imploring me to choose to commune with him, rather than walk through the doorway and into the light. This is totally unprecedented, for one of them to offer himself for close examination to me in this way (usually it’s the other way around). It’s a last-ditch effort on his part though; the ironic symbolism lies in the fact that the only reason I can see him so clearly at this moment, is because of the light coming through the open doorway. Still, I can’t help but study him for several long seconds as I continue walking ... the all too familiar big black eyes that go on forever, his unproportionately large head, the skinny pale body. From only about two feet away now, and I can actually make out the texture of his skin. It’s almost leathery looking - not parched or scaly, but smooth, dry and powdery.

I so want to stretch out my hand and touch him, to prove that he’s really there. I am aware that in this moment I am free to ask him anything and everything, and he will answer, if only I will stay there with him a little longer. An almost irresistible part of me wants to. He seems so helpless, so beautiful, and so alone. He wants me to believe that he loves me.

It’s the ultimate temptation, for there are so many unanswered questions still. And unlike any of the times from my childhood, now I’m the one in control. I actually have the power to choose, rather than being the victim of an encounter I never asked for.

Finally the decision comes easier than I would imagine, for The Light is my home now, my friend. I don’t stop, but I tremble as I start to pass by him. I’m still a little afraid that at any moment he’s going to put his hand (?) on my shoulder, or that a dozen more of them will step out from of the darkness to grab me before I can get free. It wouldn’t be the first time, but I was without The Light then... now they do not have that power.

As I walk through the door, The Light - The True Light - totally engulfs me, filling my every molecule to the point of bursting. There is no fear in me now, only peace. Peace, love, and joy.

An impossibly loud, clear voice vibrates through whatever I am made of at this moment. It’s the same words Jesus used in Revelations, addressing the church at Thyatira, "You have not learned Satan’s so-called dark secrets..." (Revelation 2:24 NIV)

Those words still echoing through me, His Light still filling me, three and a half years after my conversion, I wake up.

It’s Christmas.

Well, there can be little doubt these days that something is going on. We’re not in Kansas anymore. For fifty years now reports from sources both reliable and not-so-reliable have been filing in from every part of the planet. Reports about strange lights in the skies, about beings that abduct people for reasons as yet undetermined, and reports of government cover-up continue to fill not only our newspapers and tabloids, but our "mysterious phenomenon" television shows, our radio call-in hours, and especially the internet. Polls show that over 50% of Americans believe that the U.S. government currently withholds evidence and information about these "sightings," and an almost equal number believe that they’ve personally seen a UFO.

Scientific inquiry, which once regulated such stories to the realm of fantasy, has recently geared up to an all-time high, as many credible researchers now add their names to the list of "believers," or at least as those who will now approach the subject with an open mind, to study an increasingly large amount of data. Something not yet fully explained is definitely happening to our society, and more and more people are telling their stories, with more and more acceptance. Furthermore, more and more otherwise unrelated people are telling the same story. Final proof notwithstanding, to a large portion of the American public, the verdict may as well be in.

The phrase "We are not alone in the universe..." has escaped the realms of science fiction, and while we may still be afraid to say it individually, collectively, we believe it. The enormous financial success of books, movies and television shows dealing with space travel and alien races bears testimony to this belief, as well as to the desperate longing in our hearts; we want a plausible explanation for the paranormal activity that surrounds us. If you belong to the group that still holds to the opinion that nothing is really happening out there, that it’s all in the minds of a delusionally paranoid few, then you’re a dinosaur - and you’re fading fast. Like it or not, E.T. has come home.

Science has long held the upper hand in answering almost every question posed by modern man. For nearly every problem, disease, malady, and necessity of the human condition, we have for too long been able to find a solution in the laboratory. Bubonic plague? Cured it. Dark in here? Invented it. Can’t get there from here? Faxed it. No doubt the inventive, creative, problem-solving mind is one of the greatest gifts our race has been given. We have advanced scientifically in the past century of human history more than perhaps all the rest of our years put together, leaving many of the most mundane tasks and pressing problems of humanity in the memories of our grandparents, even buried with our ancestors. However, we have forgotten that for most of our time on this planet, we did not have the technology god to meet our needs, to solve our problems, to answer our prayers. We had a creator.

Modern civilization has become so adept at producing our own solutions, we forget that the gift of the creative mind is just that, a gift. The ultimate designs for all of our machinery were given to us, and released through us, to bless us, and to relieve pain and suffering. However, we have forgotten that "our" technology was never really ours to begin with. Rather than viewing science as a tool given to us by God, we have allowed our science to replace our God. Our mindset nowadays can be described as deus ex machina - "The god out of the machine" - rather than the other way around. So naturally, when faced with so great a mystery as the question of "visitors," we have all too easily allowed ourselves in this case to seek out a "scientific explanation." We now demand it of science to explain this to us, never imagining in this day and age that there are some things that science cannot, and will never be able to answer for us. Every new frontier of the planet now conquered and mapped, but with no answers to this question in sight, all science has left to offer is the "final" frontier. The best science has to offer us is science fiction, and I dare say that we are all too eager to believe it.

Throughout the 2000-year history of the church, a certain doctrine has been with us. While the Bible is hard to understand concerning the exact timing of this event, most Christians have been taught that at some point in the future, sometime before the "end of the world as we know it," every born-again believer will be snatched off the face of the Earth. The New Testament makes many references to this occurrence:

Some have believed that none of this could happen until after all the events from the Book of Revelation have fully transpired, but Paul plainly speaks of those who will still be living at the Lord’s coming. It is clear from these passages that there will be a group, or generation, of Christians who will not see physical death.

This will happen supernaturally at a specific moment in time; we will simply disappear from right in front of the eyes of many -- millions of us at once, gone.

It seems that Jesus also made reference to this event in the following passage:

"For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other "..."It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed ... I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left..."
Luke 17:24, 30-36 also in Matthew 24:39-41

While many Christians study and debate as to exactly when this will happen (before, during or after the seven-year tribulation period of the Book of Revelation), the fact that it will happen is pretty universally agreed upon. In fact, we are actually discouraged in the scriptures from trying to pin down the timing precisely (1 Thess 5:1-3, Matthew 24:36, Acts 1:7). Besides, we have more important things to do in the meantime, anyway.

To get into that, I must first take a detour into "eschatology," or "end-times theology," if only to describe what (I believe) the Bible teaches the world will look like at the time of the rapture. I also believe that between now and then, the government will have released most of its information on UFOs to the general public, and by then the world will be just swarming with "alien visitors."

Many UFO researchers believe this also, as well as believing that it’s going to happen sooner than we may think.

At present our world is undergoing a gradual, but definite change in regard to world politics, religion, and even currency. It would seem that we are on the way to having a "one-world" system of government. There are two distinct "camps," or points of view in regard to this happening - those that ask, is it a good thing or a bad thing? No doubt - it is a logical thing. The world is getting smaller, travel and communication have become ridiculously simple, our resources are dwindling, and governments do need to work together to ensure the mutual survival and peace of all the world’s inhabitants. A worldwide belief in life on other planets, whether they pose a threat or not, demands that we become a united world (a theme common in pulp fiction). Where this is all going sets the stage for the issue at hand - the role of UFOs in our present, and future, society.

Christians generally believe that the book of Revelation teaches that in the end-times (during the last seven years of history before the return of Jesus Christ), that we will have both a one-world leader, and system of government. The thirteenth chapter of Revelation mentions two "beasts" that will have power over the people the earth. When reading Revelation, note that in earlier Biblical writings, the kingdoms of the earth, and their political rulers, are described symbolically, as fictional wild beasts. Revelation owes much of its symbolism to the interpretation of a dream God had given Daniel (Old Testament, late 500s B.C.) about kingdoms yet to come.

"So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever ... I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head, and about the other horn that came up ... He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear upon the earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth..."

(It is possible that we who are alive today are witnessing the fulfillment of this 2500-year old prophecy, as a one-world government begins to evolve before our eyes, just as the Roman Empire once "devoured" the ancient world.)

"The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he we will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints ... the saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time (a year, two years and half a year, or 3 1/2 years.)."
Daniel 7:15-25

One would be hard-pressed today to find a well-grounded Christian who interprets Revelation as meaning that literal beasts and dragons will arise to destroy the earth. With the above key to interpretation, we can more clearly understand what is going on in the earth at the time of Revelation chapter thirteen.

"And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads ... The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion (also in Daniel 7:1-14). The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne of great authority ... Men worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshipped the beast ... The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months (3 1/2 years)... He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And (as ruler of the one-world government) he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation."
Revelation 13:1-8

Ask yourself a question - If at some point in the future, assuming you hadn’t read this article, or had no training or belief in Christian doctrine, and millions of people instantly disappeared from the face of the earth, while driving, flying airplanes, from right in front of your eyes or from your bed, where would you think they all went?

As a brand new believer (at age 23), I was introduced to the teaching, or doctrine, of the rapture a few years ago. I asked myself the same question. The whole concept seemed pretty hard to swallow. Yet there it was, spread all over my Bible (technically, the word "rapture" is not in the Bible. It comes from the Latin "rapturos," which means, "catching away;" found in 1 Thess 4.)

My life and way of thinking had changed a lot already in the past year. I’d spent most of the spiritual portion my life in the pursuit of knowledge of all sorts of supernatural phenomenon - astrology, Eastern religions, meditation, Native American sorcery, psychic powers, karma, reincarnation, astral projection, and of course UFO research. Anything New Age and I was into it. In fact after I became a Christian, one friend candidly said to me that Christianity was just my flavor of the month, and predicted I’d be onto something else in no time (Well B, six years later, and here I am!).

You’d think I’d be pretty hard pressed to find something that startled me.

No, I wouldn’t walk away from my belief in Jesus, nor could I dismiss a portion of the Bible just because I had trouble with it. I prayed for revelation, for understanding. Where would the world governments say all the people went? Then one day, it hit me. Standing outside of a grocery store, while running an errand with my older brother, God answered.

 "They’ll say the UFO people took them away..."

 It was too obvious. I’m far from the only believer to have figured this one out. But to work, it would have to be the greatest deception ever pulled on the face of the earth...

PART 2: THE GREATEST DECEPTION EVER

"The Spirit clearly says
that in later times some will abandon the faith
and follow deceiving spirits and
things taught by devils..."
1 Timothy 4:1

The Bible clearly states that deceiving spirits are sent out into the world to lead people away from a knowledge of God, and to cause people to resist the preaching of the gospel.

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
2 Corinthians 4:4

Upon becoming a new believer, many people say, "My eyes have been opened for the first time." For example, the New Testament records the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, a Jew, who persecuted the early church. He even gave consent to the first recorded public murder of a Christian (Acts 8:1).

"Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes ... He got up and was baptized ... At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God." Acts 9:18-20

Saul became known as the Apostle Paul, Christianity’s "greatest" missionary, as well as author of two-thirds of the New Testament. Indeed, even the well-known lyric from the song Amazing Grace, "I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see," bears witness that this opening of the eyes, this release from darkness, is a common testimony of those who now follow Jesus.

These "strongholds" of "evil in the heavenly realms" manifest themselves often as "rulers" over certain geographic areas, keeping populaces tied to a particular area of sin, bondage, addiction, or even a philosophy, which opposes the "knowledge of God". For example, what do you think of when you see or hear the words Las Vegas? or San Francisco? Sodom and Gomorra? In the book of Daniel, Chapter 10, a "power struggle" between an angel and such a demon is detailed. After three weeks of prayer and fasting, Daniel has this experience.

In addition to geographic locations, these demonic spirits (such as greed, ambition, lust, racism, witchcraft, hatred, false doctrine) and their deceptive philosophies, can influence outlets to the public, such as the newspaper, music, or entertainment industry.

A few months before beginning work on this article, I heard an interview on the Art Bell Show (talk radio), with Dr. Richard Boylan, noted researcher and author of many books on UFOs (he has also appeared on Larry King Live, and other respected media venues). He is a definite believer that our government has made "contact." It seems that he gets kicked off of the now well known "Area 51" more often than agents Scully and Mulder. There are also, he claims, times that he doesn’t get kicked off, but remains undetected to observe whatever may be going on there at the time.

For such a thing to happen out of the blue would most likely cause widespread panic. But in the past two decades, our society has become softened to the shock such a happening could produce. Boylan believes that our government has had a hand in movies like E.T., Star Trek: First Contact, and countless others (you know the list as well as I do - Contact, Men in Black). The whole point being to prepare us (or brainwash us, if you like) for such an occurrence. Outside of the movie industry, we have been influenced by our popular culture in general. In music, twenty years ago, not only did the STYX hit, Come Sail Away, have a generation singing the UFO national anthem, but rock’s BOSTON had us drawing flying saucers on our desks at school, even wearing the T-shirt. Anybody remember Billy Thorpe’s Children of the Sun? (Do you notice the role drugs plays in this?) Sci-fi novels, television shows, even commercials too numerous to count have pounded us time and time again, sweeping us away to other worlds, or brought the other worlds home to Earth. And we love it!

Whether or not our government has been involved, I submit to you that a spiritual plan to "help us believe" has been underway for some time. And whatever forces are propelling this "de-sensitization," it has worked incredibly well! We are not only prepared to believe in UFOs, and aliens in general, but as a whole, our society is becoming more and more eager to meet them…

The word is not even in the book of Revelation, anywhere. The word is used only in John’s letters. It means simply "against Christ." The antichrist is not a particular person. It is described as a powerful spirit, which deludes multitudes. Would you care to know who "the" antichrist is? Straight from the Bible?

"It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah). Such a man is the antichrist -
- he denies the Father and the Son."
1 John 2:22

The antichrist is any philosophy, any religion, or anybody, who denies Jesus.

Anybody.

Everybody’s right. Nobody’s wrong. It all depends on how you look at it. All roads lead to the top of the mountain. I got my spirit guide, you get yours.

The true issue at hand here is not whether UFO and "visitor" happenings are real or not. I believe that they are. The question is whether they really are extra-terrestrial life forms, here to help us, or demons, with the express purpose of deceiving multitudes.

So what's the test?

Almost all the books on UFOs are found in the New Age section of your local bookstore. Examine the fruit of the UFO culture. Does it lead people to Jesus? Do you know of any strong adherents to the UFO culture, who believe aliens are among us, that are also strong, well-grounded, church-going, Bible-believing Christians? How about yourself?

If you have a strong interest in UFOs, (or memories of), are you a Christian? What is your attitude toward Christians? Toward Jesus? Generally, those who have a strong "faith" in UFOs, also have a non-Christian belief system that would be described as New Age. Is this you? Is there a voice in your head or an attitude of your heart that says, "Christianity is an archaic, extinct religion! It’s a New Age!"

More accurately, it’s an old age recycled.

As King Solomon declared almost 3000 years ago, "What has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10)"

They died out because all their followers got saved. They died out because they were false. But the deceptive forces behind them - those "spiritual forces of evil; powers, principalities and rulers in the heavenly realms" - now exorcised, lived on. But because of the wide-scale success of the gospel, they had to wait over a thousand years to influence society again. They had to wait until everybody had forgotten about them.

If the doctrine of the rapture has been with the Church throughout the ages, and UFO phenomenon is fairly a recent occurrence, what if "the end had come" 100 years ago? Or 500 years ago? Or a thousand? Wouldn’t that blow the demonic deception theory right out of the water? After all, there were no space people around to blame the disappearance on, right?

Well, yes and no. And I have another well-known UFO person to thank for help on this one.

Honestly though, I kind of doubt it.

But again, what if?

Actually, that one can be answered without the Bible. In the late 80s Whitley Strieber topped the New York Times best-seller list with his book, Communion: A True Story. He told what was, at the time, the most widely believed and accepted account of "visitor" abduction to date. In many ways, his work broke tremendous ground for UFO researchers and casual tabloid followers alike, bringing a new degree of credibility, as well as scientific, spiritual and philosophical insight to the subject. Additionally, he included transcripts of himself and his wife recounting their "visitor" experiences while under hypnosis. Score one for the New Age! He is absolutely one of the fathers of the modern UFO culture, and I respect both his work, and willingness to come forth to share his experiences (which I do believe happened), and putting them to the scrutiny of the public at large.

But did you know he wrote a sequel?

Yes, Whitley, they’ve always been with us. And like us, they’ve changed with the times, too. They’ve changed from being the undisputed masters of sorcery, to that of science and technology.

If the church had been snatched away, if "the end" had come by now, there would have been another group of supernatural visitors from the fringes of our fantasy realms, a different face on the same old recycled demons, to accept credit for the work of God, persuading us to believe in, and to trust and follow them. And we would have, golden calf and all. Despite our science, we really haven’t gotten any smarter.

 
"In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent..."
Acts 17:30

 
These words were spoken by the Apostle Paul in the city of Athens. At the time, Athens was the religious and intellectual center of the known world - the "place to be" to worship at the very best temples, to see every idol to every god known, or to catch up on the absolutely freshest philosophies ("All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas." Acts 17:21). Every guru, philosophy or teaching from every age known to man had a home in Athens. It was the "New Age" capital of the "Old World."

Anybody associated with the current, trendy New Age movement would claim that we are only now "re-discovering" the wisdom of the ages. I submit to you that you are simply believing today the same ideas your ancestors rejected when they first heard the gospel. And I’d also be willing to bet that you’ve never really heard the gospel, only a watered-down version of what once changed the world, and forced demonic powers and principalities to have to wait centuries before they could be en vogue again.

 PART 3: THE GRAND DELUSION

In the beginning, when the serpent approached Eve, he used a deception to convince Eve that it was okay to eat from the tree God had said not to. The Bible states that this act (referred to as The Fall of Man) separated Adam, Eve, and subsequently all of mankind from the close union God had originally set up. The exact same lies "the serpent" used then, are still being used with great effectiveness today, and can be found in some fashion in every - yes, every - fundamental principal of New Age doctrine (detailed in depth in Appendix B - New Age, Ancient Lies).

The Fall results in a downward spiral of morality, as all humans are born into this "fallen" state. The Flood of the ancient world is the result of God’s decision to wipe out all of mankind, except the family of Noah, because of the great wickedness on the Earth. Just before this, we see the reference to the Nephilim. As the human family begins to increase in number, Genesis 6 reads...

" ... the Sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose ... The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown." Genesis 6:1-4

But in short, there are those who speculate that the "visitors" many of us label as extra-terrestrial, are really from Earth - either the "Sons of God" - or the children from their union with early humans - the Nephilim. These people maintain that Christianity is ignorant of the reality of their modern existence.

It is possible that the Nephilim did escape the earth before The Flood. Perhaps they have even returned from time to time, to keep tabs, and even "help us" technologically. Perhaps they built the Pyramids. Or Stonehenge. Or the "face" on Mars. Who can say? Regardless of one’s religious beliefs (and this is where far too many of my fellow Christians fall short in relating to thinking non-Christians), one cannot deny that these things do exist, and that there is no known explanation for the technology that inspired them. The church needs to wake up to the fact that there really is some amazing and unexplainable stuff out there, and the world is fascinated past the point of obsession with it!

How often have we heard that life on other planets might disprove the Bible? Like the apologetics of old, we must be prepared for this issue if we are to impact today’s culture.

Noah spent 120 years building the ark. What do you suppose the Nephilim might have spent their spare time building?

However, realize, if one is to refer to Genesis 6 to support the existence of the visitors, one must note also, that like all of mankind at the time, they were so evil that God chose to wipe them out, and to not replenish the earth with more of their kind (he chose Noah’s family to replenish humanity, and to keep land dwelling species alive). This cannot be ignored or understated. The Nephilim, these fallen angels, and their frequent visitations of humankind, were a major cause of the evil state mankind was in, resulting in the judgment of destruction from God.

If indeed, the visitors of today’s UFO culture are mentioned in the early pages of the Bible, before any speculation as to the intentions of the Nephilim, or the "offspring," and especially their current relation to humans can be made, it must be noted that the only reason they might still exist today is that they escaped the judgment of God ...

So far.

Just because they are mentioned in the Bible does not alone make them good. If, the Nephilim from Genesis 6 are the visitors of today, I am submitting to you that their agenda for "helping" us is merely an effort to deceive us into thinking that we, too, can escape God’s final judgment of the earth. Whether or not Genesis 6 provides their ancient origins, today’s visitors are intent in offering the false hope that, through technology (deus ex machina), we can build an escape route to the heavenlies where God can’t get to us.

Except that we tried that one already, remember?

The Tower of Babel never made it to its destination, but those who inspired its building have been waiting an awful long time to get us to try it again. Only this time they’re offering passenger service - complete with one heck of an advance marketing campaign.

But come on! Aside from the possibility of demonic influence in the construction of the Tower of Babel, am I really stretching this thing too far in suggesting that demons could have a role, or a purpose, for guiding our technology? For somehow influencing our government and scientists? In other words, does the Bible make any mention of any such demonic use of technology?

You know me by now - would I have brought it up if it didn’t?

Shortly after the beast assumes his place of "... authority over every tribe, people, language and nation (Rev 13:7)," he is mortally wounded, and a second "beast" arises.

"Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men ... " Revelation 13:11-13

At this time, the second beast institutes a worldwide financial system which one must be part of in order to conduct any type of business, including, presumably, grocery shopping.

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name ...
His number is 666." Revelation 13:16-18

To understand how the world’s entire economy could be tied into a mark on one’s flesh would be a completely unimaginable miracle - a near impossibility - inconceivable to most Christians throughout the ages. This has left some events of the book of Revelation a little hard to piece together into a believable probability, much less an immediate future.

In order to accomplish such an incredible thing, you’d have to have some way to access a person’s bank account from anywhere in the known world; all financial institutions would have to have some way of talking to each other through some sort of, of, machinated "net," or a "web," or something; you’d have to come up with some sort of mark, or magnetic strip, or some "barred code" that some futuristic "scanner" could read; surgical or laser-tattoo technology capable of implanting it, and a "personal secret code" so that no one could ever rob you in this "cashless society." Any-time machinery, for financial transactions, would have to be everywhere. Everyone would have to be assigned a separate number at birth. These "scanner devices" would have to be in every grocery, hardware, department and convenience store, and every product would have to be marked with this computerized bar-code…

Yup, you’d need all that…

Get that in place and you’re ready to go.

As Jeff Goldblum, somewhat prophetically, points out in the enormously successful movie Independence Day, while describing the invaders’ relaying of their countdown with our communication satellites...

It was the greatest deception ever, but guess what? It worked. In the story’s concluding chapter, Russia and America cease their hostilities toward one another, and world leaders begin to agree to finally cooperate. The reader is treated to scenes of flags joined together, and a new dawning for mankind as we approach the millennium. A New Age.

In Independence Day, we saw the same scenario repeated, but this time, with "real" alien invaders. World leaders joined forces, uniting the planet, giving us the feel-good ending we all really wanted (again, despite the massive death toll).

To our collective unconscience, it seems that our world stands on the brink of destruction. But through our popular fiction, and the New Age movement in general, there is an audible whispering to our souls, to our collective mind, that that the current path of the human family has us on a collision course with a brave new world - one that involves the death of unprecedented millions to bring about, one that involves our entire planet joining as one, one that involves ancient karma and a New Age upon the earth - one that will finally achieve world peace, a utopia, for those who will make the jump.

If you are an adherent to the UFO culture, you probably believe much of the following (even if you’re not, subconsciously, you’ve been exposed to much of this from popular culture, and might already believe most of it as well):

They are obviously more advanced technologically. They are highly evolved spiritually, as well. They have achieved peace on their home-world(s). They are here to help us. They are greatly concerned about stopping the certain ecological destruction of the planet, which we have callously unleashed. They will unite us. They will save us from nuclear holocaust. They will lead us into the ‘next step’ of our species’ evolution. They are perhaps even ‘old souls,’ some maybe even from Earth who have ‘moved on.’ They love us. They will show us the way. They will give us the secrets of space travel technology, and possibly allow us to join them. If it’s too late for our planet, they will invite us to come sail away...

One might be tempted (especially Christians) to believe that God would not send a delusion. However, the following example from the Old Testament illustrates this principal, as well as depicts God’s sovereign use of even evil spirits.

"Micaiah continued… the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ ... a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ the Lord asked. ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it." So now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you." 1 Kings 22:19-23

I believe this passage illustrates the nature of the delusion God will release upon the earth in the final days. For all those who refuse to love the truth, "and so be saved," a greatly convincing falsehood will permeate the whole of society. Chief among the "prophets with lying spirits in their mouths," in our time, will be those telling us to trust in visitor intervention to solve our problems…

The Bible predicts that at the end of this age, and before the new one begins, natural disasters and ecological collapse will be widespread.

"There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains..."
Jesus, quoted in Matthew 24:7-8

Even before their mass "arrival," human society is becoming all too willing to believe that the space people will be able to help fix these things for us, with their advanced technology. We will believe the lie, and put our faith in evil spirits. The "presence" of aliens and UFOs is intended to capture the hearts and attentions of those who refuse the gospel’s message, to so completely draw them away from the Lord Jesus that there will be no "gray area" as to where their hearts are at the time of the final Judgment. The Bible emphatically says though, that this world will pass away, and its ecology will be ruined.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea..." Revelation 21:1

During the final years before this happens, the world will seem to fall to pieces anyway, as judgments worse than The Flood are progressively unleashed. Nothing will stop or "fix" them.

"I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague ... " Revelation 6:8

"There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black ... the moon turned blood red ... and every mountain and island was removed from its place." Revelation 6: 12-14

" ... hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up ... something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed ... a great star fell, blazing like a torch, from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water --- the name of the star is Wormwood.
A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died..." Revelation 8:7-11

 
Realize that these disasters happen over a period of time, perhaps years, not all at once. We will be desperate for any solution - we will be prone to swallow any lie, provided it’s big enough.

"At that time if anyone says to you ‘Look, here is the Christ (or Messiah)! or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For many false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect - if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time."
Jesus quoted in Matthew 24 also in Mark 13:21-23

"If that were possible," he said. To those who are unlearned of what Jesus taught, it will be very possible, easy even, to deceive through false signs and miracles. Demonically inspired technology, producing alien craft, landing on the White House lawn (complete with fallen angels smiling for the cameras) would fit this bill. The ultimate message of the visitors is, and will be "... that we are here to help your people in these times of troubles."

"During those days men will seek death, but will not find it: they will long to die, but death will elude them."
Revelation 9:6

Death notwithstanding, during those days, men will also be longing to hitch a ride off-planet.

 

If one assumes the events of the book of Revelation to occur in chronological order of the chapters, history still continues after this first series of plagues, and God sends two true prophets with miraculous powers (Rev 11:1-13). After their deaths the one-world ruler emerges, forcing everyone to receive "the mark." Christians, however, are specifically warned not to receive this mark - not to be associated with Satan’s one-world political and religious dictatorship, no matter the cost.

"If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed : ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury ... He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.’ This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus." Revelation 13:10 and 14:9-12

At this point, the world as a whole will be turned against Christians, in a violent way. Not only will we refuse to comply with "the system," but there will be "false prophets," New Age teachers claiming that it’s the "dogmatic refusal" of Christians to unite with everyone else that’s holding our species back from evolving - from "moving on" to the next "higher plane." They may even say that it is precisely this refusal of so many, to join with the whole that is causing the disasters. You’ll want us gone, and dead will work.

And the death toll for utopia has already been deemed acceptable…

At some unknown point - before, during or after these first judgments - Jesus will intervene to take his people, those who have "born again," away from the Earth. The Rapture will occur.

Millions of Christians will disappear, leaving a stunned world to wonder, where to? But the answer you will believe, is the one you’ve been prepared to believe for some time - we got beamed up.

"For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie" 2 Thessalonians 2:12

And you’ll believe it.

You already do.

The question now is, are you going to continue to believe it?

"The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons ... Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts." Revelation 9:20-21

"As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man ... "
Jesus, from Matthew 24

(The Noah/Nephilim thoughtline concludes in Appendix B, but for now I’ll leave it by noting that some "ufologists" have speculated that the visitors have been genetically altering mankind for a long time, "for our own good." There is also much speculation among the UFO community that there are many "hybrid humans" walking the earth today. This fits with the Genesis 6 passage, as well as the many reports of sexual "experiments" connected with modern abduction stories. Actually when you get right down to it, the alien abduction stories of today’s culture boil down to kidnapping and rape. And we’re actually willing to grant them diplomatic immunity, just because they claim to not be from around here?)

At this point, with fully half the world’s population wiped out, those remaining are lulled, or forced, into compliance with the one-world system. False prophets will teach that the aliens’ removal of the Christians signifies the end of the old era, and the "official" beginning of the New Age. Spurred on by false Christs and New Age gurus, working amazing miracles, the remainder of the population will be called to firmly unite as one world (and to ignore, by the way, that one lone angel preaching the gospel to the whole earth - Revelation 14:6).

"The worst is over," they will say - the necessary death toll has now been taken, and the final vestiges of Christianity have been "cleansed" from the earth. Now that our alien "spirit guides" are here to show us the way, our race is finally ready to "evolve," to make the jump, into the next phase of peace and prosperity, into our utopia...

 
Oh well, they had their chance.

" ... for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly..." 1Thessalonians 5:2-3

" ... you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come ... They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?’ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare." 1 Peter 3:3-10

God’s final judgment is loosed. Revelation chapter 16 details seven more plagues to come - ugly sores break out on all of those with the mark; the sea turns to blood and everything in it dies; the rivers and springs also; the sun scorches and sears people with fire; the beast’s kingdom is plunged into darkness; the Euphrates River dries up; and the most severe earthquake in world history occurs.

Since they received credit for The Rapture - that is, for getting so many people off the earth once already - the visitors will generously offer, for those who want to go, the chance to escape the end of the world, the chance to sail away. They’ll offer the Tower of Babel all over again - a technological marvel designed to ascend to the sky, pretending to be able to escape God’s judgment.

And the response will be phenomenal. You’d get on board. Seating may become limited, however, but for those truly "advanced souls," there will surely be a more "spiritual" way out provided - such as killing yourself and boarding the next available comet (hey, it worked once already, and that was just a trial run!).

But they can only take you to where they came from.

And that’s been the whole point of this mass deception in the first place, for Satan to take as many people to hell with him as possible... Misery loves company.

"And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented forever, day and night : Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:10 and 14-15

Friend, I hope reading this has made some difference in your way of thinking about the UFO phenomenon. Do you realize how completely duped we’ve been? The belief that the visitors are gods, or aliens, or angels, or spirit guides, has deceived mankind, in one form or another, for all of human history. They have led age after age of society away from the true and living God, and will continue to deceive multitudes into following them, wherever they propose to take us, and ultimately, where they themselves are going…

The Styx lyric quoted at the beginning of this writing, from the song Come Sail Away, more accurately portrays the truest nature of this deception better perhaps than this entire article does. (No, I don’t think they’re "in on it." As popular artists though, their words are an apt expression of the age, and of what our society already believes.)

"I thought that they were angels ... "

It’s practically a confession.

But it’s a grand delusion, the greatest deception ever! It’s as old as the three lies the original serpent spoke to Eve (see Appendix B). The same lie was continued at the Tower of Babel, then in medieval Europe, and is today propagated by a new reign of demonic powers - extremely popular, and user-friendly demons! Warm, fuzzy, and oh-so lovable movie-star demons! This ancient lie has been played out on our movie and television screens more often than anybody can count anymore, and we’re all so used to it, so desensitized to the idea now, that we like it. We love it. And we pay top dollar for it.

That was just the warm-up band.

The songs, the people, the movies and books mentioned here barely qualify as stage-props and promotional posters for what’s about to be unleashed upon our planet. But as of now, consider the stage set and the audience primed, and your belief in benevolent alien spirit- guides has won you a front-row seat.


So go ahead, fire one up, then look up in the sky…

The killer light show should be starting any minute now…

"By this gospel you are saved ... For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve ... " 1Corinthians 15:2-6

" ... that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:10-11

"That if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

If the faith to believe the gospel has grown in your heart for the first time, call to Him now,
and you will be born again - destined to live forever, to rule the universe and reign with Christ for all eternity ...

"...in Jesus’ name! Amen."

Feel free to contact me with any questions about salvation,  seekye1@earthlink.net ,
or write me at 116 East 2nd Street  Roswell NM  88203. (Also, my newer site is www.alienresistance.org)

Yours because His,
Peace,

December 25, 1994

It's another day in my new life. Occasionally I still forget that I'm a Christian now, and a dream like that one is a sure way to take me back. Outside, in keeping with normal Nashville "mild winters," we are given just a show of flurries to mark the day, to answer the prayer of many hearts for a white Christmas.

My waking dream still in the forefront of my mind, a surreal reminder of what I was, I'm especially joyful today to be able to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas... I went so long without knowing. This is the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Messiah. This is the day the whole world remembers that God became flesh, and dwelt among us. It's because of this day that I was called out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And it's because of this day, that I finally know peace.

But despite my waking joy, there's also this stirring in my soul this morning that won't leave me alone. It's the Lord, reminding me of my calling; he's reminding me that I still have a story to tell...

Of all the great things that could be said about my life as a Christian up to this point, I'm still not quite complete.     I haven't broken the silence. I haven't told anyone about the dreams that still come every now and then, or the memories that remain plain as day.

You see, I'm happy now. I like my life, a lot. I don't want to risk that by telling people any "mad tales of visitor abduction." And yes, every now and then there'll be some goofy show on TV about a ufo sighting, and I'm reminded that I've got the perspective that no one else does. I've got the answer. And once every blue moon someone at work actually asks me, as a Christian, what's my opinion about ufos. And I so want to tell them, but I can't.
So yes, I know ... I've still got a book to write, a story to tell.

But not today, Lord. I'm still not ready yet, okay?

June 22, 1997

Earlier this year, thirty-nine intelligent people committed suicide in order to rendezvous with aliens. Could I have made a difference? Two weeks ago, USA TODAY, ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN reported, three months after the fact, that a mile-wide ufo was observed over Phoenix, Arizona*, and video-taped for two hours, with thousands of witnesses. The movies are coming out quicker, the public is more and more fascinated with "them" than even I would have thought possible, and a public "landing" or announcement could be only weeks away. The gates of hell are prevailing.

Okay. I'm sorry. No more hiding.

Damn the torpedoes.

Gotta go be Noah, now. Gotta go be a lunatic, and tell the world what's coming ... see who wants in.

August 16, 1997

Out of the closet

So for the last two months, that's all I did. I got me a webpage (www.mindspring.com/~seekye1) and started writing. Once the first page, the "waking dream" portion, was out in the open, apart from finding the time the rest came easily. I'd been writing it in my head for years. Now it gets a little hard again, but I'm more sure of my calling now, as well. "There is no fear in me now, only peace. Peace, love, and joy." I write now in the hope that there are those out there deep in the ufo culture, perhaps even those struggling to make sense of memories, who are searching for truth. This part is for you who need to hear from another who's been there, and who knows the way out - who knows the way home.

Guy Malone, BC

For the first time, I wish to write down the memories, dreams and perceptions that have, as an adult, caused me to believe that, as a child, I experienced what the world calls a "close encounter." And probably more than once.

If you've read Come Sail Away, by now you know that I believe the experience in general is real, but demonic in origin. (The purpose of these demons dressing up and playing E.T. is but one way to keep people from embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ, by attracting our spiritual attentions elsewhere. Let me be very plain here, and downright offensive: if one does not receive Jesus Christ in a personal way, as Lord and Saviour, "one" will spend eternity in hell. That is why they do it. "Misery loves company.")

And not nearly as friendly as they'd made themselves out to be, either.

 

Random and free memories

I believe that probably the chronologically first incident happened when I was four or five, and it was nighttime. I was crying, and running through my house, being chased by (what I later described as) big cats. Not just one or two, but it seemed the house was full of them. Every room that I would run into would bring me face-to-face with another set of these giant eyes that were after me. I would run from one, and straight toward, or into, another one. They were trying to hold me down so they could eat me. I was terrified and it went on and on.

In the morning, I told my grandmother, who lived with us then, about the "cats" in the house, and I remember being furious with her, full of that five-year old sort of righteous anger, for telling me that it was just a bad dream. I hated being dismissed, because I was still scared and she didn't believe me. (I suppose I could tell a joke here about always wanting a dog from then on, but we had two.)

Yes, maybe it was a dream, but it was a dream that I would have again.

 
Sometimes in dreams we see ourselves from a slight distance, as if in the third-person (a case for astral projection, to some). This one is like that. I hate to admit it, but from somewhere in my childhood, a dream perhaps, there's an image, or memory, of seeing myself standing in my front yard at nighttime bathed in a light coming from "above." My grandmother is standing in the front doorway, unable to move. There's this impression that she's very proud of me, except that she's also very scared.

But this time, I'm doing okay. Things seem to be going pretty well actually. I'm the center of attention, standing out there wearing what seems to be some kind of white pullover robe, open only at the neck, sleeves and feet. The kids from next door are also in the picture, as well as other "people." They’re taller than the kids, but not grown-ups either, and all in the peripheral. The visual image-memory-whatever, of the neighborhood kids and other figures is also from my own eyes, not only a third-person view. The two images are almost transposed - I'm seeing both at the same time, or very close to the same time. I'm around seven or eight now.

 Probably the most vivid memory (or "lucid" dream) was simply me having a conversation with a praying mantis. That's just the best way to describe it. I say praying mantis because that's what it looked like - these big, black eyes, it's insect-like quick, short movements, and matter-of-factness while talking to me. Make that communicating; I really can't say for sure whether its mouth moved.

This one happened in broad daylight, outside in my driveway (I'm about the same age as above; we moved a lot then, and I can pin down my age by which house we were living in). There's no conscience memory of what was said between us, or for how long we spoke, but I was definitely being taught something. I was its pupil, sitting somewhat impatiently still for my lesson.

There's no other memories of real, or normal, life that associate with this event; what I mean is that I don't remember what I was doing before our little talk, and nothing special that happened afterward. This could suggest that it was a dream, since there's no chronology to fit with it, but the overall feeling is that it was simply so normal to me that the memory just doesn't stand out. I didn't run crying to anyone, and there's no feeling of fear or trauma. Once it left, I most likely went back to playing by myself in the front yard. While I do know that I didn't particularly care for them, it's as if I was just used to it by then.

At the beginning of the dream, many of the neighborhood kids (the same ones) and I are running through the woods that bordered our back yards, just playing. We come out into an open area that leads us into a futuristic looking city. The people in the city are both human and non-human (that is, they're four to five feet tall or so, skinny, big white heads with big, black eyes; you know, those guys) and their presence was no big deal to the human inhabitants of the city.

The group of us either wanders, or are led, into a room where we all sit down in a semi-circle to watch a TV set. It seems like we watched it for several hours. When whatever we were watching was over, we were allowed to leave, and run back into the woods.

I don't remember where it fits into the action of the dream, but there was a strong impression that water was very important in this "city of the future." It was rare (possible reference to Revelation 8:11?), and had to be protected. In fact, water was almost a religious object and the society seemed to be preoccupied with finding more - not in a war-like way though, very communal.

The circumstances that caused me to finally remember this dream are strange in themselves. During the time that I was eighteen to twenty years old, I lived in Knoxville, Tennessee. For part of that time I had a roommate, and great friend, named Darrin. Make no mistake about it, we were new-agers, not to mention heavy partiers. We worked in the same restaurant together, lived together, and got high twenty-six hours a day together.

One day, he brought home the hard-backed edition of Whitley Strieber's "new" book, Communion : A True Story. I believe it was the Times' #1 best seller at the time. The cover portrayed the now familiar "artist's rendition of the alien" drawing. I'd gone through my teenage years without any conscience memory of what I've written here, but having that book in the house made me very uneasy, and I didn't know why. I would look at the cover drawing sometimes, and chills would crawl up and down me. "Now I wasn't scared or anything..." but I did wish he'd hurry up and give it back to his girlfriend and get it out of the house.

Around that same time a group of us party-all-night people from the restaurant rented a movie to watch together. Soon into the movie, I was sure that I'd seen it before, years ago. They said that there was no way I could have, as it had just come out on video; but I'd never even heard of it when it was playing at the theaters. To my friends' annoyance though, I was able to describe what was going to happen in many of the scenes, to the point that I had to quit because I was ruining the story for everybody else. I sort of thought that I'd seen it as a child, perhaps watching it from down the hallway when my parents thought I was asleep. I was totally perplexed when the end of the movie came and the copyright date revealed that the movie was only a year old, and rated "R" to boot. It had never been on television.

But I knew that I'd seen it on television at some point in my childhood.

A week later, it happened again - a new movie that I'd seen on television years before. I knew what was happening before it happened, and since we were alone at home, Darrin let me talk about it some, although it made him a little uneasy. I had the same "forbidden knowledge" feeling, as though I wasn't really supposed to be watching the movie as a child. I said it made him uneasy; it downright freaked me out, not to mention frustrated me to no end.

You can guess where this is going. A few days later in a Pizza Hut, stoned and talking about who- knows-what, I stopped myself in the middle of a sentence and drifted out of the conversation. Staring into space, I silently began to remember the details of a dream I'd forgotten well over ten years ago. It was a dream about a viewing room, a city, the kids, the woods, and water.

Not to mention aliens - just like the one on the book I hadn't read yet, but soon would.

It was as if I'd viewed the movies as a kid in the dream(s), and seeing them in real time, perhaps along with the book cover, triggered the memory. I thought then that it was almost like some weird post-hypnotic suggestion, such as "When you see these images, you will remember…"

And remember I did. Within a few short days, the three incidences detailed above came to the forefront of my memory, in addition to the memory of the long dream. Were these real memories of mine? Where did they come from, and could they possibly mean what they seemed to?

It was a great mystery, and Darrin was there as I began putting it together. Usually, I was more thinking outloud than anything. That was how I got my first lesson in the "distancing effect" telling one’s alien abduction stories can have on a relationship.

Despite this, I had to know. Other miscellaneous facts about myself began to fall into an eerie synchronicity. When I was a small child, between the ages of five and ten, what I most wanted to be when I grew up was an astronaut. My reports at school were always about the solar system and the planets. I was a walking elementary school encyclopedia of raw data, such as the temperature on Venus (it's got both a hot side and a cold side, you know?), and the number of moons each planet has. I was always drawing pictures of rocketships, and myself in a spacesuit as the first man to walk on Mars.

And in my fantasies, I was there to make contact.

In my drawings, there was always a little green man behind the rock waiting for me to come say hi.

I once even wrote a story, complete with pictures, about an alien invasion of gigantic robot animals that finally got beaten when the world united as one to fight them (now that's spooky, that I would have that idea in my head in the second grade). Somewhere along the line a certain teacher mentioned, trying to help guide me, that I would have to join the Air Force to get to go to space, to be an astronaut. Whatever my fifth grade reasoning was, it didn't require a boy genius to know that a military career was not for me (besides, that would clash with my later career as a pothead). So that was the end of that. However, my interest in things not of this world continued, and I think that I was the only kid in my high school to have a subscription to Omni magazine.

Probably the oddest single fact that came to mind for me during that time was remembering my reaction to the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The first thing that was odd was that, as a child, I was specifically forbidden to see it. Now, without going into great detail, we were not your stereotypical Christian home. To date, I'm the only one in the family who even goes to church (I'm sort of the black sheep), and I can count on my hands the number of times I went as a child. The point is, I was never, before or after, forbidden to see any movie. But I was told then that it might be too scary, my mother didn't want me to see it, and my dad sure as hell didn't care to go see it (he hates that stuff - anything science-fictioney, but my older brother and I were hounds for it). Nevermind that we saw Jaws, that wasn't "too scary" for us, and my dad would even take us to see rated "R" movies sometimes, while I was still in elementary school, as long as they had Burt Reynolds or Clint Eastwood in them, anyway. Nevermind all that, I was not allowed to see Close Encounters. Peculiar in itself.

Now I wasn't the kind of kid who went out of my way to do things just because I was forbidden to, so the anti-climactic end to that story is that I never saw it - until my senior year of high school, that is. In 1985 or 86, it came on TV, and I watched it with what I thought was a normal level of interest ... nothing else to do, never seen it, gotta watch it in my bedroom in black and white because, out in the living room, my dad would rather watch a blank screen than a space alien movie.

I was absolutely disgusted. They weren’t that stiff when they moved! They weren’t that skinny, either! They seemed a little tall, too. Geez, where were these guys getting their information? Everybody knows that’s not what they look like… well, sort of, but they’ve got it all wrong! I was actually offended for the aliens. I never once thought that it was odd that I would think that I knew what they looked like. I thought everybody knew.

Seriously, I did.

So these were among the thoughts and memories that I was now processing, and trying to put together into a conclusion that would still allow me to be a normal human being. You can probably imagine that I wasn't having much luck, though. Of course I read Communion, and that sort of made things worse. Everything I knew about myself was pointing to a conclusion that I wasn't sure I wanted to be true. Finally, I had to face up to what was at least a distinct possibility. I'd been visited.

It's not that I was totally opposed to the idea, new age kinda guy that I was. In many ways it was quite exciting - but I was opposed to the idea of being insane. If I was wrong, but believed it anyway, then that would definitely qualify me. But if I was right, and Whitley was also right, then to accept this automatically allowed for another distinct possibility. Eventually, I would be visited again.

While the implications and possibilities of life on other planets is one of the most exciting topics of our age, it's really only exciting as long as it's happening to someone else. When it's you who have to wonder if tonight's the night you're going to be dragged from your bed, when it's you who have to think about getting married and settling down, only to know that at any time your serene family existence could be shattered by beings of unknown origin and purpose, then come tell me how exciting it is. The excitement wears off rather quickly, and for a twenty-year-old single guy who was trying desperately to have a ball with his life, I was too young to become a paranoid.

So I did what your average abduction victim does. I forgot about it, and tried to get on with my life. Just a few months later, I finally moved back to Nashville to start over. I was constantly on the move, keeping as busy as I could. I worked two jobs, drank a lot, and stayed stoned (not to mention wrecked one car). In between all of this fun, I attempted my first crack at "fulfilling my calling," by self-publishing a book of my poetry and artwork from over the years, entitled I'm Not Sure How I Got Here, But I Think I Flew.

Only nine months after arriving in Nashville, I moved all the way to Florida to start again, becoming a spring break bartender in Daytona Beach. That only lasted a few months, too, and before I knew it, I was back in Nashville. All the while, my past was chasing me, and I was doing everything I could to keep one step ahead of it.

Only in Florida, it finally did catch up with me, and I had the first two visitor dreams of my adult life. Except now, someone else was chasing me, too.

God.

Honestly, I think I preferred the aliens.

Spring Break, 1990

For a now twenty-one year-old single guy who was trying desperately to have a ball with his life, I made one big mistake; I fell in love. And with a Christian, no doubt.

Actually, one would say that she was a back-slidden Christian, a believer who was not living the Christian lifestyle. I don't say this as a judgment against her; it's just that I knew it for a fact. I was there, helping her not live the Christian life.

While I was still in Nashville, just before moving to Florida, we worked together at the same restaurant, slowly falling for each other over a period of several months. We actually repelled each other when we first met - her with her shiny, happy countenance, and me at the absolute height of my sarcastic, cynical New-Age paganhood. I read Carlos Castenada novels during my breaks, carried crystals with various "properties" around my neck and in my pocket, and would often show up at the restaurant to go out with others in ripped-up blue jeans (before they were mainstream) and a big peace-sign on my T-shirt. You could say that I went out of my way to offend.

But as we worked together and got to know each other, "safe" in the knowledge that we would never go out together, our strong attraction became more and more apparent, both to us and to those around us. The long story short of it is that she dumped her fiancée just in time for me to tell her that I'd just made arrangements to move to Daytona Beach. We really shouldn't have, but we made the most of the month we had together.

The one part of our whirlwind relationship that was less than blissful would be the times that we would discuss religion. I would always criticize how someone as intelligent as her (she had a degree from Vanderbilt University!) could believe that only Christianity was "right," and eventually she became fed-up with trying to intellectually convince me of it. I've long forgotten most of what was actually said in those arguments, except for one thing that has remained with me to this day. She put the Word on me.

One night, some four in the morning in a Krystal's parking lot, I pulled the old "... if that works for you great, but there are many paths to the top of the mountain..." At that, her eyes lit up, she turned to me, and said with a determination not her own, "I am the way! I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father except through me." After that, she was almost embarrassed by her own boldness, and explained to me that that was what Jesus had said about himself in the book of John (14:6). I blew it off at the time as meaningless, but months later I would be up late nights in my bed in Florida, rolling around, the phrase still bouncing through my mind, not letting me sleep.

Was Jesus really the "only way?"

The last time we saw each other before I left, she asked if she could pray for me. I said of course she could. It couldn't hurt to have someone praying for me while I was gone, right? Well, she did something that I didn't expect. She prayed for me, right then and there. She put both hands on my stomach, and started asking God to keep me safe, to protect me on the drive down, to provide for me, and to reveal himself to me.

Now some Christians may have trouble with the theology of what happened next, especially considering her back-slidden state, but I can only report what I experienced. The car we were in began to fill with some sort of presence, a mild electricity passed through my body, and my stomach felt as if someone had turned on a cuisinart inside of me. I could only tell her that "something happened" to me as she prayed, and was curious as to "... what had she done to me?"

None of this surprised her in the least. She prayed in faith and God showed up. No big deal.

Somehow, that was okay. Sure, I'd drink or get high whenever the opportunity arose, but overall, I enjoyed my times of being sober. I spent a lot of time walking alone on the beach, clear-headed, experiencing the glory of God as revealed in nature, and remembering with more clarity than ever the "visitor" experiences that I'd tried to forget, struggling to make sense of them...

I wanted to confront the visitors now, and would sometimes stand outside at night, looking to the stars, telling them that I was "ready" now. I would call to them, asking them to come back, and visit me again, so that I could know for sure if they were real. Whether I wanted to fight them or join them I can't say, but I would not live in fear of them. I wanted to meet them on my terms, with an open and adult mind, to explore their mysteries, to get to the truth, and to decide for myself whether they were good guys or bad guys. I wanted communion...

During that same time, on a totally different track, I would occasionally read a page from the Bible at random, to see if God cared to reveal himself to me either. Whoever showed up first would have probably won my loyalties. But the closest God came to revealing himself to me at that time was a passage I came across that seemed to reference a certain spiritual practice that I'd been "working on" for about a year (you wouldn't catch it to read it now; it was just something that spoke to me at the time). The passage said that people like me were an enemy to the cross of Christ, and would be destroyed.

Now that hurt my feelings.

True, I was not a follower of Jesus', but I thought he was probably a pretty cool guy overall, and meant the man no ill will. But his own book said that I was his enemy, and I can't explain it fully, but you've no idea of the sadness that overtook me at knowing that.

Something else began to gnaw at me also. In the time that I was "of age" before remembering any of my visitor experiences, I had what would probably be considered a normal sex-drive. During my non-Christian, late teenage and young adult years, I'd had my share of experiences with the complimentary sex, and was eager enough to continue on that path. I didn't make the connection then, but after I began to remember these things (or become delusional, if you prefer), the act of sex began to hold an unknown fear for me.

My girlfriend from Nashville and I met once in Atlanta to spend the night together, and it did not go well. While my desire was unaffected, the actual moment of intimacy scared me, and actually brought me to tears once. I wanted to, but was afraid to. By then, she didn't even want to. But we were friends, nonetheless, and again, without making the connection, I decided to tell her what I believed about my visitor experiences that next morning.

That was my second lesson in keeping these things to myself.

She said that she worried that I was not sane, and should get help.

And she was right on both counts. But I was not born that way; something had happened to me, and I wanted to know what. So I sought help from the only source I trusted.

I remembered her once telling me that she had had certain problems herself sexually, and as a teenager, she’d asked God to show her what was wrong with her in that area. She told me that later that week, while eating in the very restaurant we'd later meet in, a "movie" about her childhood began to play right in front of her eyes. As a child, she was sexually abused and had forgotten about it. She asked, and God had revealed to her the details of the event.

It worked for her, so I decided that I would give it a try. Back in Daytona, walking along the beach, I asked God if he would tell me what was wrong with me.

In the first, I was in a white room sitting on a table, unable to move, undergoing some sort of medical examination. I was a boy. The nurse was a very odd looking woman, with extremely short blonde hair, pale skin, dark oval eyes, and a mas