The Two-Hundred-Ninety-Eighth (Other Worldly)

I didn’t plan on spending any time on this topic for our studies, but based on something mentioned in passing in last week’s study I realized it might be useful for us to think through the meaning behind some of the things that have crept into the mainstream recently.  We’re going to look at UFOs this week, what potential connections they have to scripture, and a general method of analyzing things like this that come up in the world as a believer.  That’s not to say we have a definitive answer on UFOs or anything else, but as these “viral” things come up we can determine possible meanings behind them and be better prepared for what the enemy has planned.

First off, we must remind ourselves of how to determine the source of these things.  When you look at UFOs, in particular, what is a common theme behind the topic?  The biggest one I can identify is the element of secrecy.  Who these “aliens” are and what their “spacecrafts” are have always been something not fully known/revealed.  Just by recognizing that, we can be rest-assured that whatever these things are, they are not from YHWH.

As we’ve identified before in our studies, YHWH is light, not darkness (1 John 1:5).  In fact, there is no darkness in Him at all.  Darkness has multiple meanings in scripture: sin (1 John 1:8) or obscuring/deception (Luke 1:79, John 11:9-10).  Therefore, we know that if there is any active obscuring or secrecy regarding something, it is not from YHWH.

That is not to say YHWH does not have mysteries that man does not immediately know.  Obviously, we know that is not the case because multiple times in the New Testament there are mysteries of YHWH mentioned.  However, there is a huge difference between YHWH’s mysteries and man’s secrets.  The biggest difference is that man hides physical secrets, tangible things, from specific people, while YHWH’s mysteries He reveals to anyone, in His time, who is obedient to Him, worships Him, and seeks Him with a humble heart.

That’s not the full picture of things though, because man is actually just a cog in the wheel of what’s really going on in the world, particularly in the case of UFOs.  Despite what man thinks, we are not the source of what we create.  As we have seen time and time again in our studies, everything physical has its origin in the spiritual and is affected by it.  While someone might invent some new machine or some new chemical, the only way he or she could do that is by using what YHWH created, both spiritually and physically, to do that.  On the spiritual side, it’s wisdom and knowledge to know and understand what to do in order to achieve whatever they’re desiring to achieve, and even if that comes through an evil spiritual entity it all ultimately comes from YHWH since He is the Creator of all things.

The other thing to recognize is that there are many different people and many different groups of people in the world, all with their own idea of what should be done with the wisdom and knowledge they obtain.  Naturally, based on the structures of governance and organization that man has created, we tend to give some sort of higher precedence to things that certain groups like governments or organizational entities reveal.  However, just because these groups have collected data on certain things like UFOs over time, doesn’t mean they know or understand the truth behind them.

We can’t give them any more credence than we would the guy next door.  In fact, we should probably give them less credence than the guy next door because once they have that collection of data, on a grander scale they then decide what parts of it to keep secret and what parts to reveal versus the guy next door that likely only has one, maybe two experiences to share.  In doing that, they can craft whatever narrative they desire, or leave it to the masses to speculate on what it all means.

Any organization is simply made up of people.  In the case of UFOs, you’ve got people collecting the data, whether it’s letters written to their organization, eyewitness testimony obtained through interviews, videos of unexplained phenomena, etc.  Then you’ve got the people that analyze that data.  Above both of those groups, you’ve got managers that decide what to do with what’s been collected an analyzed, and then usually, at the top, there’s the ultimate decision maker that takes the inputs of those managers to make a final decision on what to do.  

In each of those layers, with each of those people, there are backgrounds, worldviews, and spiritual beliefs that drive their decision making.  An analyst decides it’s a hoax based on their understanding of spiritual and physical things and how they operate.  A manager decides an analysis gives too much credit to an eyewitness with a questionable background and tells the analyst to rewrite it.  There are an infinite number of ways that this collection of data could be put together.

Furthermore, you have to consider the motivation of both the ultimate decision maker as well as the one who decides what to reveal and when.  Sometimes this is the same person, but in the case of UFOs they are different.  While certain government organizations have collected the data over time, with a progression of multiple directors as ultimate decision makers during that time, the decision to reveal whatever it is they are revealing (whether they’re fully disclosing everything or not) seemingly came from outside these organizations at this particular time, for some particular reason.

Can you start to see all the different layers that have crafted this ultimate revealing of data?  And we haven’t even gotten into the fact that in this particular case, all the UFO talk has ramped up significantly over the past year or two in the public realm.  From news articles and videos to congressional hearings to government space organizations suggesting the potential for asteroids/comets being alien spacecraft, they have all led up to this next step of revealing collected data on the subject.

Remember awhile ago in a previous study when we mentioned what’s called the “Overton Window?”  This is the term used to describe the span of what’s “acceptable” to talk about on any given topic.  Really, what it means is what “window” of sub-topics people will be willing to accept when the overall topic is spoken about publicly.    

In relatively recent history, prior to the Roswell Incident of 1947, UFOs were not a thing.  While you may hear theories today about the Germans being associated with UFO ideas and UFO sightings, even these theories started being developed after the Roswell Incident.  Of course, now you also have TV shows like Ancient Aliens that suggest alien beings and alien crafts were recorded in writings and pictographs of ancient history.  

While the Overton Window was once very narrow, kept to fringe, “outlandish” discussions and front pages of such reputable sources as The National Enquirer, with stories like alien babies born to women, nowadays it has expanded to be talked about on mainstream media, publications, from scientific groups, and even from our national government.  Whenever you see something like this occur, especially in such rapidity as it has in the past couple years, you must ask yourself why.  Why expand the Overton Window?  Why expand it now?  Why expand it so quickly?  What is the purpose of all this?

The thing about trying to answer these questions, is that there may be multiple reasons for why and what purpose depending on where you look.  For example, there is a war going on right now that has become wildly unpopular (if it was ever popular to begin with).  Perhaps the releasing of the UFO documents by the government was to distract from that war, our role in it, and the status of our military because of it.  Perhaps it was to flood the mainstream with the UFO topic in order to distract from something else entirely, something that we still don’t know about yet.

I’ll tell you one thing, it certainly has distracted mainstream Christianity.  The recent news about some group of pastors being “briefed” by “government officials” about the revealing of UFOs and associated alien beings is being talked about all over the place.  Here’s another pattern you need to recognize about these types of things.  If something comes out of seemingly nowhere but suddenly is almost everywhere all at once, you need to be suspicious.  As far as my experience, I heard nothing about this until a few weeks ago and then it was everywhere.  It was in my social media with multiple posts by many different (I assume) people and in many different groups, it was being discussed in podcasts and youtube videos, etc., all at once.  

Am I saying that this meeting with pastors never happened?  No, it very well could have.  Am I saying that it’s suspicious that news about it was everywhere all at once for some reason rather than slowly growing and gaining traction over time?  Absolutely.    

As people do, they’re all trying to explain it and determine what it all means, from the pastor meeting to just UFOs and aliens in general.  I recommend taking a different approach.  You can certainly read and watch/listen to what other people think, but there is no way to know definitively what the end game is for this subject.  The best we can do is to look at the different possibilities of end games and be prepared for any of them.  If you decide on one and that one doesn’t happen to come to fruition, you’re going to be caught off guard and potentially deceived.

If you recall from previous studies of mine, you know that I don’t necessarily ascribe to the view that the whole world is controlled by a handful of “elites.”  While I could be wrong and that certainly could be the case, to me it doesn’t even matter if it is or not.  The thing we really should be focused on is who is the spiritual force behind the control of the world.  

We know for a fact that the “god/ruler of this world” is Satan, the Adversary, the Devil (2 Corinthians 4:4, John 12:31, 1 John 5:19, Ephesians 2:2, Revelation 12:9, John 14:30).  While Yeshua sits at the right hand of YHWH in power and authority, this enemy, and all who work for him, must be placed under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:25).  The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:26), and Paul wrote all these statements after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, so as far as Paul was concerned that hadn’t happened yet.

Satan is the spiritual force controlling the worldly people, whether that’s through a handful of elites or not.  We have to ask ourselves what is his end game, not what is the end game of the people being controlled.  We cannot know for sure what his end game is, but we do know that not only has he always wanted to make himself equal with YHWH and have all mankind worship him, he also has the same scriptures YHWH’s people have and likely knows them better than YHWH’s people (Matthew 4:1-17, Luke 4:1-13).  We also know that he is more than willing to disguise himself as good in order to achieve his goals (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).

Last week, we mentioned in passing that there is a possibility that Satan will establish a third temple, making it seem holy and instituted by YHWH, based on the fact that a majority of Christians believe that a third temple is prophesied to be built and subsequently desecrated in the “abomination of desolation.”  We know based on our studies that this abomination was the events of 70AD which resulted in the destruction of the temple since that’s what Yeshua Himself said (Luke 21:5-24, and specifically verse 20).  The dispensational theology that has taken a stranglehold of Christianity has explained this verse as a future event somehow, and as a result there is a possibility that Satan will use this misinterpretation to deceive the majority of Christians into believing a third temple that he creates is one that YHWH ordained to be built.  

Subsequently, when Yeshua does return from heaven as what’s seen by the world as an “other worldly alien” and destroys the abomination of that unsanctified temple, after which He would begin His reign on earth, it would look like He is the antichrist that, according to dispensationalism, will set himself up to rule the world.  Mainstream Christianity, still in deception, would then be more than willing to join Satan and his forces, which include all the other pagan nations who would rather die than let someone rule over them, to attack Yeshua and anyone following Him.  While I lean towards this possible end game, if nothing else because I don’t believe it’s a widely held view, it is simply that: only a possibility.

The other possibility is a view more widely held, both by non-believing “conspiracy theorists” and by believers alike.  In that view, all the world’s nations join together to form a “one world government” that exercises complete control over every individual on earth, forcing them into subjugation where they kill off the “useless” ones and keep the remaining few only to serve the “elites” who run everything.  For believers, that view includes a YHWH-ordained third temple which gets desecrated by the antichrist, which would be Satan or his version of our Yeshua, and that world-wide government is ultimately run by him.  Both believers and many non-believing “conspiracy theorists” include other worldly beings in their views.  For non-believers, the governments either join together to fight against them or join together to create an alliance with them, and for believers, those aliens are just demons or Satan’s angels in disguise.

While there may be other variations on these two possibilities, I believe they are the core, key aspects of what could happen.  The way I see it, today with how the world operates, there needs to be some sort of unifying event that gets everyone working together, whether they are completely worldly or deceived Christians.  This is the only way to create a real, definitive, world-wide dividing line between those who are for Yeshua and those who are not for Yeshua.  Whether or not you believe Revelation 20:7-9 is yet to be fulfilled (right now, I believe it is still future), when Yeshua returns physically the same way He left (Acts 1:9-11) there has to be a clear way to identify those that are His from those that are not.  That way, those that are His can join Him in His rule, and those that are not can know why those few were allowed to join Him and they can have an opportunity to repent and follow Him or continue in disobedience and be destroyed.  If it’s clear that those in power and ruling are all faithful and obedient believers, it’s easy for those that weren’t His to realize they had been wrong or deceived and to know what they need to do if they want salvation.

As stated in the beginning, there is no final answer yet on what all this UFO and alien talk is leading to.  There’s even a possibility that we get five, ten, maybe fifteen years down the road and it all dies off and it never meant anything but being a distraction!  Regardless, we need to actively be identifying these things that show up in the world, trying to figure out what they mean and preparing for those possibilities, but not letting any of it distract us from doing YHWH’s will, serving Him and having a relationship with Him by studying His word and communicating with Him.  

We hope you have a great week!  Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!  

-Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)