Angels from Heaven or Aliens from Outer Space?

In a prior article, I wrote about a time when someone asked me, “Do you believe in aliens?” I answered, “Yes, I believe that.” Then he asked another question, “Do you think they are here now?” Once again, I answered, “Yes.”

He was, of course, not talking about legal or illegal migrants from other countries living here in the United States, but was inquiring about alien creatures from some other place, besides Earth, now living on our planet. “Well,” he continued, “how do you justify believing in God and still believe in aliens from outer space?”

Now to me, whether believing in God or not should make little difference in one’s belief in life elsewhere in the universe. But to him, and many like him, a belief in one cancels a belief in the other. I guess I should give him some slack, because I’ve met many older people (like me) that were brought up attending Christian churches, who believe humans are the only living creatures in God’s universe. At one time, people were killed for thinking otherwise.

My current belief is that we may be the only humans, but not the only intelligent entities among all the galaxies of stars in the vastness of heaven. This article will present a different perspective to this idea. I pray that you, too, will become a true believer in other intelligent life in this universe. And of course, besides expressing my own opinions, I will be using the Bible to support my position.

In Today’s World

I think many of us only see a future of righteousness in our day dreams, but it turns out that reality is never what we expect it to be. We cheer and marvel at our technological advancements, but later regret how they are used. Even if someone isn’t religious, sooner of later they realize our destiny is skewed to that of malice and that most leaders of this world, as a whole, are a depraved lot. Unless this changes, our destiny is bleak.

This uncertainty drives us to find some trace of hope. Some people were raised in a strongly religious household, one that knows and believes in the promises mentioned in the Christian Bible. To them, faith in Christ’s return is the hope that keeps them going. To others, they must look elsewhere, as I did at one time, being a member of this latter group.

In my youth, I looked to new technological knowledge as the savior of our world. Surely, advancements in science, technology, and medicine would lead to a better world, one without wars, one that supplied all our needs, one that would give us peace and happiness. I was too young to realize each new advancement in knowledge, which contributed to freedom and benefit of humanity, would also be used as a tool of evil for the control and destruction of humankind.

I was born in the early 1940s. That was prior to the end of World War II, the atomic bomb, the famous Roswell UFO event, and the advent of digital technology. In the previous article mentioned above, I tell about my interest in the sciences in my youth, and the things I thought of, and about the new knowledge that helped change people’s minds in accepting UFOs and aliens. Since you are reading this treatise, you might enjoy reading that one, too. See the link for “God, Aliens, & UFOs” in References & Notes at the end of this article.¹

During those early years, I was a science fiction addict. The future looked to be exciting, but as I matured I realized that evil would, probably, never be eliminated. No matter how righteous our species is in some ways, it is also infected with deep-rooted morally objectionable behavior. Maybe, I thought, a more highly-developed species could help us solve this problem. I hoped for some mature alien intelligent life to guide us to a possible solution — to help save us from ourselves.

Opinion polls in the United States indicate that a majority of people believe in alien life and expect human contact with extraterrestrials² within this century. “Moreover, we anticipate that the aliens will be ‘friendly’ and ‘superior.’” Major scientific figures, including Nikola Tesla, Stephen Hawking, Francis Crick, and Carl Sagan, have popularized such ideas.³

But what, or who, is it that we expect to encounter? “Perhaps, the advanced and benevolent extraterrestrials, who in Star Trek: First Contact (1996), speedily usher in an earthly utopia free of poverty and warfare. Or, maybe the childlike aliens of Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), who disembark from their space-faring city of light, as a human priest reads from Psalm 91: ‘He will give his angels charge over you.’” This would seem appropriate, for angels did accompany the arrival of Christ, our savior and redeemer.⁴

From science fiction, I moved onto what some call pseudo-science nonfiction. For instance, Swiss writer Erich von Däniken’s notion of paleocontact — prehistoric alien visits to Earth. “In his popular ‘nonfiction’ books, such as Chariots of the Gods? (1968) and Gods from Outer Space (1970), von Däniken propagated an idea that has proved irresistible to later science fiction writers and directors: kind extraterrestrial guides visited Earth in ancient times and helped establish human civilizations.”⁵

What kind of aliens could we encounter?

All life here on earth is considered carbon-based. This is understandable, since it is the most abundant element in earth’s crust and has the ability to connect with many other elements to form some very complicated compounds. It is also the fourth most abundant element in the universe,⁶ but even so, I always found it odd that the majority of science fiction stories only involved carbon-based life. Could there be other forms?

As a matter of fact, it appears that is a possibility. Scientists have suggested life elsewhere in the universe could be based on other elements, such as silicon, boron, sulfur, or maybe arsenic or other metals — possibly even methane-based life. Life forms of these natures would be rather exotic. However, these would be but carbon substitutes, of a sort, for similar self-replicating life.

But visionaries have also suggested several ‘far out’ possibilities, even more exotic than a gaseous life-form such as methane. One such theory is machine-based life. This envisions a machine having self-control and self-repair mechanisms with an ability to self-replicate. “They would not only build replicas of themselves, but also potentially improved or altered versions, allowing for evolution and increased complexity over time.”⁷

Some of you may have already noticed where this article is headed, so I’ll ‘let the cat out of the bag’⁸ right now. We will windup discussing God’s angels, those matter-less but intelligent spiritual entities. Angels and other spirit creatures are mentioned throughout the Bible, but it is very hard for people, even Christians, to grasp this fact as being a part of reality. I mean, how can you believe in something you can’t see, hear, feel or understand?

So, is there really any feasible way to have an intelligent life-form that may be invisible, or unnoticeable, like that of an angel? Scientifically, could such an alien life-form exist? How can we imagine such a bizarre possibility? Is there any scientific basis for such a thing? Yes, some scientists believe so.

One nano-technologist formally presented the possibility of non-biological life established with the four fundamental forces of nature: gravity, the weak force, electromagnetism, and the strong force.⁹ This is a real quantum possibility of a ‘star-treky’ nature.¹⁰ In discussing ideas revolving around this possibility, someone suggested to me that maybe this type of life could procure some carbon-based life-form for a visibly physical presence. Or, that it could use a computer or machine-based life-form for a similar reason.

Another kind of life has been envisioned by observing the dynamics of something called a ‘dusty plasma’.¹¹ This extraordinary idea evolved from research by the Russian Academy of Science. There scientists found that with “the correct conditions, particles of inorganic dust can become organized into . . . structures, which can . . . interact with each other in a manner very similar to organic chemistry. This behavior occurs in a state of plasma, the fourth state of matter beyond solid, liquid, and gas, where electrons are torn from atoms, leaving behind a mass of charged particles.”¹²

The team reporting this discovery “found that as electronic charges became separated and the plasma became polarized, particles in the plasma self-organized into . . . structures electrically charged and attracted to one another. They could also divide to form copies of the original structure, much like DNA, and induce changes in their neighbors.”¹³ One of the latest ideas is of an electrical or digital life-form and I’m sure people are currently working on these ideas in the lab.

How would such invisible spirit-like beings communicate? I don’t know, there are probably a number of ways, but I imagine maybe through some form of telepathy. God and angels may already be communicating with you by this method. Have you ever had a ‘gut feeling’ or the vague notion of intuition about something? That may have been a heavenly message. For an interesting article on this subject, see “Is that Gut Feeling a Message from God?”, which is listed in References & Notes at the end of this article.¹⁴

Maybe they could communicate using some advanced technology to produce speech and hearing. Or, maybe they can shape-shift. After all, angels can already do all these things, as demonstrated in the Bible. When we use modern terminology to describe angel’s characteristics and abilities, it doesn’t seem much different than what we imagine off-world life may be like.

Okay, what kind of world could these invisible creatures live on? Maybe none! Being spiritual in nature, they could live anywhere, including in another dimension, universe, or realm — like heaven. Scientists are on the verge of discovering proof of other physical universes, in complex particle physics experiments, with the particle accelerator (atom smasher) at CERN.¹⁵

Scientists at CERN soon expect to expose a new universe, which will not only modify physics books, but philosophy books, as well. Researchers have already created anti-matter and proved the existence of a mysterious particle called the Higgs boson (the ‘God particle’),¹⁶ but are now on a quest to create black holes and, possibly, transfer gravity from our own universe to a parallel universe.¹⁷ These are mind-boggling experiments into God’s creative processes.

These are just the ideas and research originating in the minds of scientists. They may be very smart by our standards, but next to God they are not even close. Definitely, God can create intelligent invisible spiritual creatures along with a place for them to dwell. But what attributes would God give them?

Aliens are in the Bible, you say?

I’m not the only Christian minister who believes in alien life, both physical beings living on other planets, as well as nonphysical spiritual beings living in some other realm (dimension, universe, or heaven). But, most religious leaders and church members will not publicly address this fact, so there will be few chances of hearing any of this in churches, today. Scriptural evidence is quickly breezed over, or entirely skipped, in sermons, but it is in the Bible, none-the-less. When angels are mentioned, there is no thought that they could also be called aliens. They are thought of as only some messengers flying back and forth between heaven and earth.

So here is the main lesson. Angels are spirit beings that live in heaven, and that is much the same thing as saying angels are alien creatures that live somewhere in outer space. I believe angels are nonhuman extraterrestrials; some are righteous and some are evil. How do I know this? Because, it is in the Bible. For those that don’t see this relevance, you need a new perspective and learn to ‘think outside the box’. Let’s take a look at what scripture says and you can compare it to what churches have taught you.

Angels are real. They are spirit beings who also have the ability to take human form. Examples of biblical characters who have seen angels as humans are: Abraham, Sara, Hagar, Lot, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Daniel, and more. And since they can appear as human, it is advisable to take the following counsel seriously: “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” (Hebrews 13:2, NLT).¹⁸

God’s angels “are only servants — spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation,” (Hebrews 1:14). There are many different kinds of angels, and in the arts they are all generally depicted with wings, but not all really have them. They don’t marry (Matthew 22:30), but they do express emotions (Job 38:7) and they do not die (Luke 20:36).

Although there is a common belief that all good Christians become angels when they die, that is not scriptural, as we are two different life-forms created at different times and for different purposes. Angels were created by God (Genesis 2:1; Colossians 1:10) at sometime before the creation of Adam and Eve, for they witnessed the creation of the first human couple as it happened (Job 38:4-7).

Speaking of humans, the Bible states, “you made them a little lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7). But God’s word also says that after Christ returns, humankind will become superior to the angels, in some ways — we will, one day, have authority over them. “Don’t you realize that we will judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:3).

We once had direct contact with spiritual beings. This is evident with the story of Adam and Eve in the garden in Eden. That is because God created us with a large measure of his own spirit when he breathed life into the first humans, “Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath [spirit¹⁹] of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person,” (Genesis 2:7). He did not personally breath his spirit into any other living creature on earth.

After being exiled from the garden, by disobeying one simple command (Genesis 3:17), Adam and Eve lost much of their spiritual connection with the heavenly realm. Since they lost a direct connection, they also lost their eternal life and eventually died. This death sentence was passed along to us through heredity. With the arrival of Jesus, we are slowly regaining and growing that lost spirituality by following his teaching. And in the near future we will once again regain the everlasting life we lost. This is all promised in the New Testament.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

There are, of course, evil angels, too. Just as Jesus said there are angels in heaven (Matthew 22:30), he also said there are angels (and demons) of the devil (Matthew 25:41). From where and when did these evil angels and demons come from?

The handsome angel, Satan, was not always evil, but was once anointed by God (Ezekiel 28:12-14). But he became corrupt, deciding to rebel against the Almighty’s sovereignty, and was expelled from heaven (Ezekiel 28:17). Satan had many angel followers and they were cast out of heaven with him (Revelation 12:4). Satan and his ‘fallen angel’ agents are now trying their best to turn human’s alliance away from God and toward Satan. It is known that Satan and his cronies use lies (John 8:44), deceptions (2 Corinthians 4:4), tricks (2 Thessalonians 2:9), along with masquerading as producers of good (2 Corinthians 11:13–15) to accomplish their goals.

Sometime after Adam and Eve were created, these fallen angels created a new and different life-form here on earth by an abominable method performed by a group of these evil agents of Satan. This detestable act is recorded in Genesis and in other books of the Bible. If this is the first time you are hearing about this, hang onto your hat.

The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. (Genesis 6:2, 4, ESV).

You can also find more details about this angelic crime of illegal sexual intercourse in some Jewish literature: the Book of Enoch, and the Book of Jubilees. Both books are considered as valued texts by Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some Protestant organizations.

The offspring created by sexual union between fallen angels and humans were creatures called nephilim. They were giants in size, as well as powerful and intelligent hybrid beings — an angel-human half-breed creature. This was done in order to sabotage God’s creation of a human with spiritual abilities. This was quite an accomplishment, for angels to create a new type of living being.

Some people believe that angels perform feats using miracles or magic. But remember, a miracle or magic trick is only manipulation by some means we do not yet understand. Everything in this universe must exist and perform according to the natural laws established by God, so we can assume angels accomplished their miracles using these same laws. Certainly there was some sort of scientific influence, and possibility it involved advanced technology.

Anyway, these creatures — the nephilim — were a primary reason why the great flood was necessary. The result of the flood, however, was not as you might expect. Because humans die and angels do not, the flood only destroyed the visible human half of the creature. Noah’s flood destroyed their bodies, but then they became disembodied spirits looking for a body through which they might once again affect their evil ways.²⁰ These disembodied evil or unclean spirits are earthbound. Any grotesque or dreadful pictures of demons in movies and books must all be false, because the fact is that they have no body of their own.

So demons were not made by God, but created by renegade angels using methods far more advanced than the ancient humans had in the early Bible days. They were engineered by crossbreeding and genetic manipulation. Since they don’t die, they are still alive on earth today, as incomplete and tortured spirit creatures seeking partial or complete control of willing human hosts.

Just think of how many government and corporate officials, as well as other world leaders that may now be possessed. And if they are possessed, they still look like humans, but controlled by an invisible evil spirit.

Think about it, there is current research and experimentation in cloning and genetic engineering going on in scientific labs around the world, probably producing ungodly things. Doesn’t this make today just like it was in the days of Noah? Yes, Satan’s fallen angels and demons are real and they are here on earth doing harm. God’s angels are here, too, and there is a real ongoing battle between good and evil right now. What side are you on?

This information is needed to fully understand the evil we experience on earth today. For an extended and detailed study on this topic, see “What are Demons and the Nephilim? — and that Mayhem before the Flood of Noah?” listed in References & Notes at the end of this article.²¹

The Bible gives us good information on how to deflect Satan’s evil advances. The Apostle Paul tells us what we need. “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly place,” (Ephesians 6:11-12). Notice our enemy on earth is not human and is from an invisible world of another place.

Jesus had wrestled with the devil and won, but as imperfect humans we cannot win unless we have help, so Paul the Apostle gave instruction because he knew we must be aware and prepared. He recognized the unseen powers and influences at work in the world’s human rulers and institutions.

The war against Satan is God’s war, put he does want us to defend ourselves from evil influences, and scripture imparts detailed instructions on how to do this. Read the study on this subject titled “Ephesians 6: Evil Cosmic Powers & the Armor of God” listed in References & Notes.²²

The song selected for this article is “Get Thee Behind Me Satan” by The Perrys, a Southern gospel quartet based in Hendersonville, TN (USA). This recording is from 1986 and is presented from practice in their living room to performance on stage. The title is a reference to Jesus’ rebuke to Peter in the King James Version of Matthew 16:23 and Mark 8:33. See the music video listed at the end of this article in References & Notes.²³

Copyright © 2020, Dr. Ray Hermann
OutlawBibleStudent.org

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Reference & Notes

1. Hermann, Ray, “God, Aliens, & UFOs”, (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 16 June 2019), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/god-aliens-ufos/
2. extraterrestrial: of or from outside the earth or its atmosphere; a being from outer space.
   Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., (USA: Oxford University Press, 2008).
3. Herrick, James A., “Sci-Fi’s Brave New World: How the Genre Draws Us to Its Own Views of Redemption,” (Christianity Today Magazine, 2009), vol. 53, no. 2, p. 23.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. “Carbon-based life”, (Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., 5 October 2020), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-based_life
7. Tormsen, David, “10 Hypthetical Forms of Life”, (Listverse, 17 July 2015), https://listverse.com/2015/07/17/10-hypothetical-forms-of-life/
8. “let the cat out of the bag”, for those in other countries who are unfamiliar with this phrase, it is a figurative expression meaning ‘revealing a secret’ or the surprise of what is coming.
   Jones, Meghan, “Where Does the Phrase ‘Let the Cat Out of the Bag’ Come From?” (Reader’s Digest, 10 June 2020), https://www.rd.com/article/let-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-origin/
9. Rehm, Jeremy, “The Four Fundamental Forces of Natue”, (Space, Future US, Inc., 1 October 2019), https://www.space.com/four-fundamental-forces.html
10. Tormsen, David, “10 Hypthetical Forms of Life”, (see above).
11. dusty plasma: a dusty plasma is a plasma containing millimeter to nanometer sized particles suspended in it.
    “Dusty plasma”, (Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., 24 August 2020), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_plasma
12. Tormsen, David, “10 Hypthetical Forms of Life”, (see above).
13. Ibid.
14. Hermann, Ray, “Is that Gut Feeling a Message from God?”, (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 21 October 2018), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/is-that-gut-feeling-a-message-from-god/
15. CERN: this acronym refers to the laboratory ‘Conseil européen pour la recherche nucléaire’ (French), or the ‘European Organization for Nuclear Research’ in English. It’s location is in Switzerland.
    “CERN”, (Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., 30 October 2020), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN
16. “Higgs boson”, (Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., 10 November 2020), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson
17. “Researchers At Large Hadron Collider Are Confident To Make Contact With Parallel Universe In Days”, (Science World, 10 October 2020), https://www.sciencenatures.com/2020/10/researchers-at-large-hadron-collider.html
18. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT), ©2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
19. Strong’s #5397: נְשָÑמָה, neshâmâh; divine inspiration, intellect, spirit (and other words).
    Strong, James, The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996).
20. Quarterman, C. K., “The Book of Enoch and Demons,” (Fallen Angels & The Watchers, 31 March 2012), https://www.fallenangels-ckquarterman.com/the-book-of-enoch-and-demons/
21. Hermann, Ray, “What are Demons and the Nephilim? — and that Mayhem before the Flood of Noah?”, (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 29 October 2018), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/what-are-demons-and-the-nephilim-and-that-mayhem-before-the-flood-of-noah/
22. Hermann, Ray, “Ephesians 6: Evil Cosmic Powers & the Armor of God”, (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 17 February 2019), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/ephesians-6-evil-cosmic-powers-the-armor-of-god/
23. “Get Thee Behind Me, Satan” Artist: The Perrys; Album: At Home with the Perrys (circa 1986); perrysministries.com; Adapted from Irving Berlin’s song written in 1936; (no licensing information given to accompany the YouTube upload [will add if someone supplies it]. Used under ‘fair use copyright’ for teaching under Section 107 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976 — MUSIC VIDEO: https://youtu.be/EKD4jcVkSdk