12^th June saw the release of the third batch of declassified Pentagon files relating to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). (For brevity I’ll class all these sightings as UAPs)

A rational person is naturally sceptical of such reports, and justifiably so. The idea of ‘little green men’ visiting Earth from distant star systems and stories of alien abductions make for great entertainment, but surely they shouldn’t be taken seriously … should they?

Fact Check

There are a few facts that we need to keep in mind when we consider these declassified files:

1. A UAP is exactly what it says – unidentified. Calling an unknown object a UAP is not concluding that it came from another planet. Some UAPs that were later identified turned out to be a balloon, a missile, or a natural atmospheric phenomenon. The name does not automatically scream “Aliens”.

2. The existence of unexplained and unidentified objects is well documented by multiple sources. Having watched some of the released video footage, it is clear that actual physical objects are present, often moving through the air in unnatural or seemingly impossible patterns. By definition they are difficult to distinguish, but they vary greatly in shape: cylinders, orbs, blobs, discs, eight-pointed stars, etc. Remember that these images and videos come from official government sources, not some backroom of the “Tin-Foil Hat Society”.

3. Ancient inscriptions and artifacts include examples of images that some have described as ‘alien-like’, including figures with elongated or inverted-egg-shaped heads and enlarged eyes. These are similar to modern reports, although this does not automatically mean there’s a connection, despite the similarities.

4. The Bible states that God created the Earth to be inhabited, that is, capable of supporting life:

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
Isaiah 45:18

This would be a strange verse for God to include in Scripture if He had created other habitable worlds and the life forms that fill them. We can only conclude that the only planet with indigenous life is planet Earth. There are no alien life forms in this physical creation.

5. Even if we accept evolutionary assumptions (and we don’t), aliens would not have had much more time than us for technological development or to overcome the limitations of the physical laws of the universe to travel through space to reach us.

6. If there were aliens, would they be sinless? Would they have souls? Did Jesus die for them? Only man was made in the image of God, so would aliens be little more than animals? And if God knew that aliens would reach us, why is there no revelation of them in Scripture, considering how monumental a moment it would be for mankind?

7. Christians do not deny the existence of beings beyond this world. We believe in a spiritual realm that is mostly unseen but still very real. That spiritual realm exists in a dimension of reality beyond our own physical experience, and it is populated with spiritual beings: cherubim (Eze 10:8-16), seraphim (Isa 6:2-3), evil spirits of varying ranks (Eph 6:12), etc.

Supernatural, not stellar

If we consider all these facts, and if UAPs do not have a natural or human explanation, the only alternative is that these are physical manifestations from the spiritual realm whose intention is to confuse and deceive humanity. Since God cannot lie and is not the author of confusion, the supernatural source must be demonic, a strategy of Satan.

But why? And what is the significance of all these documents being released now?

Satan is far from stupid. In fact, the Satan-filled serpent in the garden of Eden is described as being “more subtil [cunning, crafty, devious] than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made”. Satan knows what the prophecies from God teach, and he’s wise enough to know that he can’t stop the rapture from happening. So he plans on using the rapture to his own advantage, sowing a lie to explain it away and, at the same time, deceive humanity into following his puppet, the Antichrist, to give a sense of stability and control.

While many alien-centred movies and TV programmes have aggressive invaders trying to wipe out or enslave humanity, there are many others in which the aliens are trying to help or even save humanity.

One of the most recent additions to the genre is Disclosure Day, directed by Stephen Spielberg. According to a synopsis of the movie (spoilers!), the aliens are benevolently trying to bring about world peace and prevent an imminent nuclear holocaust. Their message is revealed as one word – “Listen”.

In a recent interview about the movie Spielberg said, “What does this do to the fundamental beliefs that many of us have? Is God our God only on this planet or is God a God for every system where there’s civilisation, intelligent life, and even developing life?”

Those are indeed the questions that bona fide aliens would raise, yet even the fact that Spielberg refers to “developing life” reveals that there an assumption of the truth of evolution, which is incompatible with the clear and obvious teaching of Scripture. The entire belief in alien life assumes evolution.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but this movie is getting a lot of attention at the same time that the Pentagon is releasing declassified reports of UAP sightings. The notion of benevolent aliens coming to rescue humanity has captured the public’s imagination. What a novel way for Satan to explain away the disappearance of millions in an instant and raise his man to lead the world to a new era of “peace”. Because of course, if humanity can be saved from the brink of destruction by benevolent aliens, what need have we for God?

Deception and delusion

In 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, Paul speaks of the revealing of “that Wicked” (v8) – literally, “that wicked one” – that is, Antichrist, aka the Beast. He will be empowered by Satan “with all power and signs and lying wonders” (v9). He will exhibit “all deceivableness of unrighteousness” (v10) which he will use to propagate the “lie” (v11).

God, in turn, will send strong delusion upon those who heard but rejected the gospel prior to the rapture so they will believe this lie of all lies.

Imagine the world’s population softened toward accepting benevolent aliens as a reasonable concept for rescuing humanity, an idea reinforced by decades’ worth of declassified material documenting encounters with aliens. All this is etched into minds by the media industry, legitimised by Antichrist’s lie, and sealed by strong delusion sent by God.

Such a population will easily and willingly accept a story in which all the climate-change deniers, homophobes and transphobes, islamophobes, extreme right wing opponents of globalism, and supporters of the “genocidal Zionist entity” become the scapegoats for all the world’s problems, but the kind aliens came and got rid of them with their highly advanced technology.

If we truly believe the return of Christ for His Church is imminent, even right on the threshold, it is no big leap to see how the demonic power, signs, and lying wonders masquerading as “aliens” for millennia could be used to deceive the world.

The truth is in there

The hit TV show The X-Files was accompanied with the tagline “The truth is out there”. The reality is that God’s Word is truth. It’s in there that we’ll find the answers we need to this issue and all others.

James exhorted believers:

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
James 5:8

As the benevolent aliens rhetoric continues, remember that God’s Word gives us a firm foundation and secure principles that help us understand even this so-called alien phenomenon.

Satan, his demons, and evil spirits are real. Let these phenomena be a reminder to us that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” – even in the skies above us.

But never lose heart:

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1 John 4:4
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Romans 8:37
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57

Keep looking up – not to spot the aliens, but to expect the coming of our Lord to the air. Satan may be the prince of the power of the air, but Jesus is still King of kings and Lord of lords!