by Gary Bates
I have come to see through my continued study from the 1960s on, that all the world religions have similar descriptions of astral vehicles and supernatural beings and their interactions with humankind. I believe the UFOs to be the “Powers and Principalities” — as stated in the New Testament… .[10]
I believe that she is correct, except for her belief that they are extraterrestrial, which is the viewpoint that these fallen angels are eager for us to believe. Unfortunately, the well-meaning and amiable Steigers have accepted it. Their beliefs are straight out of the New Age textbook. Brad Steiger says the ETs have been guiding us all along:
I believe that, through the ages, they have been provoking humankind into higher spirals of intellectual and technological maturity, guiding men and women toward ever-expanding mental and spiritual awareness, pulling our species continually into the future.[11]
A relatively consistent feature of the Steigers’ prolific writings is that they advocate an almost complete reinterpretation of the Bible. They are not alone. It would be possible to fill volumes with a mélange of creative ideas by contactees and New Age writers on how conventional religions formed as a result of extraterrestrial interference in human affairs. But, particularly, we see in such notions a continual reinterpretation of the Bible according to modern UFO/New Age beliefs.
There is a simple and reasonable question for those who take such liberties with the well-detailed events recorded in the Bible. Quite simply, “Were you there?” It is a touch arrogant for modern people to presume they can reinterpret the Bible authors’ intent on the assumption that those early writers were technologically ignorant or didn’t understand. In fact, they were in some ways savvier than generations today because they were more spiritually attuned. Our understanding of spiritual things has been stolen by our preoccupation with the physical world and our trust in operational science to be our “savior.” In addition, if the Bible mistakes alien interference as the handiwork of God or angels, then why are the Scriptures so clear about having nothing to do with these types of practices (see later)? If the space brothers have been guiding and overseeing mankind’s development, then you would think that the Bible would encourage such contacts. But it does not! God expressly forbids such contacts. This “reinterpretation” fails on its own logic.
The New Age/UFO view of the world precludes its adherents from accepting the Bible for what it claims to be — the very words of God (see 2 Tim. 3:16). But from where do they get such a myriad of strange interpretations? Directly from the horse’s (alien’s) mouth, it would appear. This mode of communication has all the appearances of another age-old occult practice that has been given a technological facelift. It’s now called channeling.
Just tune in — messages from another dimension
Many of the prominent movers and shakers in the UFO movement claim to have had direct and open contact with extraterrestrials. These privileged few are called contactees. Billy Meier and George Adamski are two notables that we have previously mentioned. Like many others, they were told that they had been chosen to spread the cosmic wisdom of the space brothers (this is how the term was first derived) to all mankind. Even in the early days of such contacts, it was clear that the “missions” given to contactees were to “raise a cosmic awareness and consciousness,” sometimes by spearheading new religions. More recently these messages and missions have been imparted to abductees, many of whom have subsequently allowed themselves to become the subject of walk-ins and channeling sessions. Channeling occurs where a being from another source or level supposedly communicates through a human who has entered into a trance-like state. In other words, the human acts as a medium or channel for the other being. Today, there is a plethora of modern gurus who claim to be in contact with extraterrestrial beings, interdimensional ones, and/or both. Whitley Strieber claimed that he came to a point in his relationship with his visitors where he could call upon them almost at will. This reinforces the spiritual nature of his experiences.
This is a dangerous practice. How can one be sure about who or what is transmitting the message? Indeed, Strieber himself remains unsure as to the origin of his visitors. It is often claimed that the sources must be genuine because they impart tales and stories to the recipients that only they could know are true, such as life histories or incidents from their past. This may be true (discussed later), but once again, we should recall that the space brothers have also told people things that we know are demonstrably not true.
Channeling is closely related to the walk-in phenomenon and can incorporate other practices, such as automatic writing (dozens of books have supposedly been written by extraterrestrial beings who control a person while they type or write messages) or remote viewing (where the individual sees pictures or images of an event, sometimes on other planets or in space). Attempts have been made to validate remote viewing as a scientific method. There are many claims that even the U.S. government experimented with remote viewing by predefining categories or questionnaires for the viewers to answer — a bit like filling out a multiple-choice form while “under the influence.” I have heard firsthand claims from self-proclaimed experts that just about anyone can be trained for this task. “It’s just a case of emptying yourself completely of any earthly thoughts before you begin a session, allowing streams of thoughts or pictures to transcend from other sources.” But is it reasonable to allow a powerful, unknown being from an unknown origin to do this to you?
Lynn E. Catoe was a senior bibliographer for the Library of Congress (USA). In 1969 she wrote an insightful document compiled for the United States Air Force called UFOs and Related Subjects. She felt that she had some insight into the origin of such practices, writing:
A large part of the available UFO literature is closely linked with mysticism and the metaphysical. It deals with subjects like mental telepathy, automatic writing and invisible entities as well as phenomenon [sic] like poltergeist manifestations and possession. Many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to demonic possession and psychic phenomenon that have long been known to theologians and parapsychologists.[12]
Although Brad Steiger does not use the term “walk-in,” he takes this a step further by suggesting that many people alive on Earth are in fact from other worlds. In his early books, he says he started to look for similarities among people who claimed extraterrestrial contacts that resulted in increased paranormal ability (which is usually a subsequent sign of contact). He claims that many of these people started to feel that their “soul essences” were from another place. UFO researcher Randall Fitzgerald comments about the Steigers’ book, The Star People (1981):
Brad and Francie Steiger not only believe that many humans are descendants of space beings who mated with our species to prepare Earth for transformation, but they themselves are Star People here to assist the aliens in that work.[13]
In a later book called Starborn (1992), the Steigers used information derived from questionnaires completed by thousands of people. Steiger, and his second wife, Sherry, claimed they found a pattern of physical and psychic similarities that were initially triggered by what they described as an “activating incident” at a very young age in their subjects. They say this could have been an encounter with an alleged angel, elf, holy figure, or a UFO entity. The idea then ballooned to suggest that even children’s invisible playmates were indicators of their childhood ET experiences. The Steigers’ New Age conclusions were summarized as follows:
Currently, the Steigers state that the greatest single commonality among the Star People is a desire to be of service to the planet and all of Mother earth’s children. It is such a sense of mission that seems to distinguish those who believe that they have interacted with some facet of a Higher Intelligence or with an extraterrestrial or multidimensional being.[14]
History redefined
On the surface, these appear to be noble ideals, but once again, where is the God of the Bible? Surely th
e highest goal is to attain knowledge about the Creator of the universe, but if the Steigers, who claim they come from Christian backgrounds, had taken the Bible at face value, they would have found the answers without the need for their continually “evolving” ideas. Besides recognizing their countless falsehoods, what else can we glean about these deceptive entities?
Interestingly, in Brad Steiger’s 1989 book The Fellowship, he wrote about contacts with an alien by the name of Semjase — the very same name of the blond alien who supposedly visited Billy Meier. It is claimed that Semjase also visited another famous contactee by the name of Fred Bell to inform him, among other things, that the Bible has been edited incorrectly. She also told him about the future — apocalyptic events to come — in similar fashion to the Book of Revelation in the Bible. It is no coincidence that all three became decidedly anti-Christian and anti-biblical in their outlook, especially after their contact with Semjase, who told them that the Bible had “holes.”
Francie Steiger, Brad’s first wife, claimed to have channeled messages from an angelic being named Kihief. UFO researcher William Alnor writes:
Kihief gave her an alternate history of the world and explained a way of salvation — a different gospel — from the one outlined in the Bible and believed by Christians for twenty centuries… . According to Kihief, the serpent people, who, he says, were represented by the serpent described in the biblical Garden of Eden, helped create humankind. Francie Steiger says we should believe him because “he speaks only of God and of goodness.”[15]
Is it any coincidence that Kihief appears as a good guy? Note that he even redefines the serpent in the Garden of Eden, who for centuries has been the embodiment of the evil angel known as Satan or Lucifer. To a Christian, this version of Bible history is reminiscent of Holocaust-deniers who rewrite history by saying, “The Holocaust never really happened,” and “Hitler was just a misunderstood genius.” Many channelers and contactees report similar “corrections” of history (see example in the next chapter). Kihief also told her that humans were being conditioned for change and being prepared for a transformation into the New Age.
One of the most prominent New Age religious leaders on the planet is a man by the name of David Spangler. It is little known that he also claims to be in contact with alien entities. He has even reinvented the role of Lucifer:
Spangler teaches that Lucifer is an agent of God’s love. He believes that Lucifer is the angel of man’s inner evolution, that “the light that reveals to us the path to Christ comes from Lucifer … the great initiator. Lucifer comes to give us the final initiation that many people in the days ahead will be facing, for it is an initiation into the New Age.[16]
Spangler claims this information was dictated to him by spirit entities, and he calls this the “Luciferian Initiation” and says that those who follow this path will become “light” bearers. The aliens seem to be obsessed with (masquerading as) light!
Apart from Semjase, who keeps popping up to visit contactees, there are some other names of space brothers that warrant further investigation. Ashtar is supposedly an ET who commenced his visitations in the 1950s, which have continued to the present day. On one occasion he appeared and apparently spoke through an author by the name of T. James (by literally taking over the vocal chords), claiming that people lived with Satan on the moon (demonstrably wrong, yet again!) Billy Meier also claims to have been told by his Pleiadean visitors about a being called Ashtar, who used to be an evil alien but is now a good guy working with Jesus. Ashtar also visited another “world-famous” contactee, George Van Tassel, and gave him a mission to save the world from itself. World-renowned UFOlogist and archaeologist Dr. Clifford Wilson is only one of several who have pointed out how this entity “Ashtar” keeps appearing in the UFO literature as well as in ancient texts. John Keel, one of the world’s most published and well-respected UFOlogists, also noted this, and highlighted the element of deception, when he wrote:
Thousands of mediums, psychics, and UFO contactees have been receiving mountains of messages from “Ashtar” in recent years… . Ashtar is not a new arrival. Variations of this name, such as Astaroth, Ashar, Asharoth, etc., appear in demonological literature throughout history, both in the Orient and Occident. Mr. Ashtar had been around a very long time, posing as assorted gods and demons and now, in the modern phase, as another glorious spaceman.[17]
In addition to the demonological literature Keel spoke about, we can trace the ancestry of some of these space beings/gods from the Bible. That Book is full of instances where people turned away from worshiping the true God to follow false gods and deities based around the stars and planets. Ashtaroth appears in the Old Testament several times as an evil object of worship condemned by God. On several occasions, when the ancient Israelites started to worship foreign gods and false deities, instead of the one true God, God let them have their own way and removed His protection from over them. This resulted in many calamities befalling them until they realized the error of their ways, repenting and returning to worship the true Creator. In
1 Kings 11:33, God says:
… they have forsaken me and worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws… .
Ashtoreth was the female consort of Baal (just one of many names for the devil — also called Baalzebub, who was sometimes worshiped as a sun god). Some Bible scholars claim her name literally means “star.” There is no doubt that she was also worshiped as a moon goddess and also the goddess of the planet Venus (an object of fertility). In other passages, similar names appear in various forms and often in the plural (Ashtaroth, Baalim), probably signifying modifications of the original form. Ashtoreth was the Ishtar of the Accadians, Astarte of the Greeks (1 Kings 11:5, 33; 2 Kings 23:13), Ishtar of the Assyrians, and Astarte of the Phoenicians, and she was also called the “queen of heaven” (Jer. 44:25).
In addition, we see Chemosh, a “god” which Strong’s Bible Concordance says is associated with “Baal-peor” and “Baal-zebub” (also mentioned in the New Testament in several instances), which signifies the worship of Mars and Saturn. The idol Molech (associated with evil and cruel practices) was also an Assyrian-Babylonian god of the planet Saturn, and is transliterated as Chiun in Amos 5:26, and as Remphan (or Repham in some translations) in Acts 7:43. In Egypt, the worship of the “creator” sun god Ra is well known. As Keel noticed, they have been deceiving mankind for a long time.
The worship of heavenly bodies is also common throughout Asia, where mystical religions abound, and in ancient North and South American beliefs, particularly the Mayan culture, which incorporated human sacrifices. New Age UFOlogy is linked to spiritism, a practice found all over the Western countries, but which is even more pronounced in “developing” countries.[18]
Well-known Christian author Dave Hunt, when presenting a paper at the “Human Potential Foundation” conference, was reported as saying:
What we are seeing is staggering, not only spirit mediums, psychics, yogis and kooks, but now top scientists are seriously attempting to contact “spirit beings” whom they believe are highly evolved, godlike entities with great knowledge and more powers than humans possess. It takes little insight to realize that the attempt to contact non-physical entities opens the door for all kinds of satanic deception… .[19]
Nothing new under the sun
In Ecclesiastes 1:9–11, the wise Israelite king Solomon wrote:
What has been will be again, 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. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.”
As already pointed out, the modern UFO/New Age movement has as a major source of influence the practice of chan
neling, or communicating with “spirits,” “a higher evolution,” “vibration,” “frequency,” or whatever technological pseudo-speak they care to call it. However, the Bible speaks very openly about things that are unmistakably the same practices. In Deuteronomy 18:10 God commands:
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire [the worshipers of Molech sacrificed their own children in a fire that burned in the belly of this bronze god], who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord… .
On numerous occasions it is made clear that God detests such practices. One of these practices is also called divination (foretelling the future by supernatural means). God tells us why He does not want people to dabble in these things:
Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. They say, “The Lord declares,” when the Lord has not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled (Ezek. 13:6).