January 16, 2005
By Donald C. Jones, Ph.D.
RNU News Sr. Reporter
RaidersNews
RNU.com – (Raiders News Update) - A growing doctrine within the New Age Movement claims that the origin of the gods, and the human race as we know it today, is the direct result of extra-terrestrial "UFO" activity. In the introduction to his bestselling book, CHARIOTS OF THE GODS?, Erich von Daniken, who, it might be argued, is one of the fathers of the New Age Movement as it relates to ufology, said:
“I claim that our forefathers received visits from the universe in the remote past, even though I do not yet know who these extra-terrestrial intelligences were or from which planet they came. I nevertheless proclaim that these ‘strangers’ annihilated part of mankind existing at the time and produced a new, perhaps the first, homo sapiens.”
As was illustrated in the Hollywood films Contact, and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Erich von Daniken's hypothesis took America by storm in the 1960's with the proposition that mankind was possibly the offspring of an ancient, perhaps ongoing, extra-terrestrial experiment. New Age ufologists like Daniken assert that the gods of mythology may have been themselves evidence of, and a reaction to, an encounter with other-world beings. They claim that ancient men would have considered space travelers as gods and would have recorded their arrival, their experiments, and their departure, in hieroglyphs, megaliths, and stone tablets, as a "supernatural" encounter between gods and men. Mr. Daniken continues:
“While [the] spaceship disappears again into the mists of the universe our friends will talk about the miracle—‘The gods were here!’....they will make a record of what happened: uncanny, weird, miraculas. Then their texts will relate—and drawings will show—that gods in golden clothes were there in a flying boat that landed with a tremendous din. They will write about chariots which the gods drove over land and sea, and of terrifying weapons that were like lightning, and they will recount that the gods promised to return. They will hammer and chisel in the rock pictures of what they had seen: shapeless giants with helmets and rods on their heads, carrying boxes in front of their chests; balls on which indefinable beings sit and ride through the air; staves from which
rays are shot out as if from a sun.”
Von Daniken also claims that the odd appearance of some of the gods as depicted in various hieroglyphs (human-like creatures with falcon heads; lions with heads of bulls, etc) could be viewed as evidence that "aliens" conducted experiments of cloning and cross-mutating both ancient people and animals. Some people accept this part of Daniken's hypothesis as a humanistic alternative to the Biblical account of creation. It's uncertain how many people believe such a theory, but a full eighty percent of Americans claim they believe in the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. Some, like the 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult that committed suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California and believed they were being summoned by a UFO trailing the Hale-Bopp Comet, subscribe to an eerie amalgam of mysticism and conventional religion. Not suprisingly, the growing interest in UFOs and the paranormal has given birth to a host of popular television specials and weekly programs depicting such other-world creatures and those who claim to have encountered them. One of the more disturbing aspects of such UFO phenomena are the reports, which continue to come in from around the world, of nightime abductions by small wide-eyed creatures who supposedly pilot UFOs and conduct various medical experiments on their abductees. The New Age Movement argues that such activity would be proof of an ongoing experiment between humans and aliens, and they note that the radical aspects of such experiments have included impregnating abductees and returning later to remove the hybrid embryos.
Ancient Chinese folklore told of a distant land of "flying carts.” A Sanskrit text—the Drona Parva, documented "dogfights" by gods in flying machines. But men like Von Daniken claim that the Bible is their best advocate and the "greatest UFO book of all time!" The "wheel" in Ezekiel 1:15; the "pillar of cloud" in Exodus 13:21-22; and Elijah's "chariot of fire" (2 Kgs 2:11), are all viewed as examples of "UFO" sightings by New Agers. And, it's true, we do find a biblical record of mysterious celestial creatures invading the earth and conducting procreative experiments. In Genesis 6:4 we read, "When mankind had spread all over the world, and girls were being born, some of the supernatural beings saw that these girls were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked....In those days, and even later, there were giants [nepheli] on the earth who were descendants of human women and the supernatural beings" (TEV). But is Genesis chapter six a description of reproductive experiments conducted by advanced extra-terrestrial creatures? Or is it a record of something even more sinister?
A CHRISTIAN ANALYSIS VS THE NEW AGE VIEW
Regardless of one's interpretation of these and other ancient records, one fact remains. Thousands of years ago heavenly beings visited the earth. They engaged in sexual experiments resulting in a race of mutant beings called nepheli. The final result appears to have been an immediate judgment from God, who ordered Israel to destroy the nepheli and it’s descendants. Thousands of years later Jesus spoke of the events that occured during the days of Noah as being comparable to the days leading up to the rapture of the Church (Matthew 24). This prophecy is remarkable when one realizes that after God judged the celestial beings who cohabited with the Noahtic women, all such comparable activity apparently ceased until about the year 1940. Then, following the infamous Roswell incident which occured in New Mexico in 1947, people from around the world began encountering strange creatures conducting procreative experiments with increasing regularity.
One is forced to wonder: What's going on? Who are these creatures? Are the current "UFO" visitors the same as those of Noah's day? If so, what is this reproductive experimentation about? Perhaps the answer to this question (the Christian's analysis vs the New Age view on "aliens") is hidden in the first six chapters of Genesis. Very soon after the Fall of man we find in Genesis 3:15 the protoevangelium (the promise that the seed of the woman would someday bring forth a child [Jesus] capable of destroying the serpent's [Satan's] power). In response to the promise, supernatural beings (fallen angels?) appeared from the heavens and performed reproductive experiments on human women (Genesis chapter six). Was Satan attempting to intercept, pollute, and thereby destroy the righteous seed? Was he trying to cut off the birth line of the Messiah? Perhaps. Satan's ancient goal included cutting off the line leading to the Messiah. Satan led Pharoah to destroy the Hebrew children so the deliverer might not be born. Herod sought the baby Jesus in the New Testament in order to have Him killed. In Revelation, chapter 12, we see the devil (dragon) waiting to destroy the messianic seed as soon as it is born of the woman. But Dr. I.D.E. Thomas, in his book, The Omega Conspiracy, suggests that Satan had even bigger plans at work in the sixth chapter of Genesis. He claims that Satan (as opposed to aliens) was trying to produce a race of mutant warriors by breeding fallen angels with women in an effort to exterminate the children of God. From a Christian's point of view this could explain how people like the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, who were enemies of Yahweh, appeared from out of nowhere around B.C. 3500, bringing with them a pantheon of deities, the first written language, and a superior knowledge of earthly sciences. This may also explain why many of the religions that followed Sumerian mythology—including Greek mythology—emerged from the original idea that powerful beings, with names like "Zeus" and "Apollo,” visited the earth, intermarried with women, and fathered half-human children. Dr. Thomas believes recent "UFO" abduction activity may point to the birth of a new race of anti-God warriors, as we approach the end of the age and the coming of Armaggedon.
A question arises: Does Genesis chapter 6 support the New Age theory that alien creatures traveled from distant planets in UFOs, performed reproductive experiments on women, and were afterward honored in the images and folklore of the gods of mythology? Or, is Dr. I.D.E. Thomas correct in stating that the story in Genesis is a record of fallen angels acting in accord with Satan? What, if anything, could this tell us about the origin of the gods and the current intersteller phenomena? Are we experiencing an ongoing invasion of earth by intergalactic scientists, or is Satan busy advancing the most sophisticated con in history?
We know that the rapture of the Church will be accompanied by "...fearful sights and great signs...from heaven" (Lk 21:11). Perhaps Satan is contriving an "alien invasion" to explain the disappearance of so many people at once! If eighty percent of the population believes in the possibility of extra-terrestrial intelligence, wouldn't this be a powerful form of deception? And since New Age theology produces a growing belief among some contemporary church groups that flying saucers will be the method "God" uses to retrieve the Christian community during the Rapture, couldn't the UFO sightings phenomenon play a part in the great deception that will pervade the earth following the Rapture? We read in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, "And then shall that Wicked [one] be revealed....whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders....And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." The world authorities remaining to make up the governments of the Antichrist will need an explanation for those taken in the Rapture. People from around the world will be missing! Now imagine: If the Rapture was followed by hundreds of "space craft" landing on earth piloted by creatures who appeared to be advanced humanoids, couldn't these beings claim to have removed the Christians into some kind of a high-tech "rapture,” and simultaneously present their leader (antichrist?) as the messiah? Couldn't they point to ancient mysteries, megaliths, pyramids, and the gods of mythology, as proof of an ancient visitation of planet earth? The late Pulitzer Prize-winning author and agnostic Carl Sagan was, until his death, working on a screenplay about the ramifications of just such a savior who appears in the coming millennium! Humanists like Mr. Sagan argue that evidence such as the meteorite which has been hypothesized as indicating that microscopic life existed on Mars millions of years ago, is proof that prehistoric life forms (E T's) could have moved throughout the universe for untold millennia.
Not long ago people who supported UFO activity were the object of scorn. Because of accumulating evidence and reputable eye-witness accounts, this is no longer the case. That some kind of unexplained phenomenon, called the UFO experience by some, occurs, is beyond question. UFO reports are coming in at the alarming world-wide rate of about six sightings per hour! Whatever or whoever they are, the reality of this activity can no longer be doubted. One concludes that these beings are either advanced humanoids from outer space, or that this activity signals an ongoing deception of demonic design. If the current UFO activity is demonic and indicates Satan has for centuries planned an "alien" visitation in order to, among other things, explain the rapture of the church, wouldn’t it be reasonable to believe that his plans have heretofore included indoctrination and advanced intelligence? Military invasions always involve preliminary and clandestine maneuvers, and one should believe Satan's plans to deceive the past, the present, and the future World Order, would first involve covert strategies of brainwashing, political manipulation, and the positioning of his agents in places of power. While I believe the New Age Movement's interpretation of UFO phenomenon and the origin of the gods is erroneous, I do credit New Agers for recognizing the high possibility that the gods of mythology were a result of—and perhaps a first step towards—the developing of the schemes of a super intelligent force, a power which may energize the UFO phenomenon today. But, what New Agers describe as the goals of a "highly advanced alien civilization," I call the plotting of an evil supernaturalism.
THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF THE ORIGIN OF THE GODS
The biblical (and I believe correct) view of the origin of the pagan gods begins with Original Revelation. This means there was a perfect revelation from God to man at the time of creation. The first man Adam was at one with God and perceived divine knowledge from the mind of God. The human was "in tune" with the mental processes of God, and understood, therefore, what God knew about science, astronomy, cosmogony, geology, eschatology, and so on. After the fall, Adam was "detached" from the mind of God, but retained an imperfect memory of the divine revelation including a knowledge of God's plan of redemption. Two things began to occur in the decades after the Fall: 1) information from the original revelation became distant and distorted as it was dispersed among the nations and as it was passed from generation to generation; and 2) the realm of Satan seized upon this opportunity to receive worship, and to turn people away from Yahweh, by distorting and counterfeiting the original revelation with pagan ideas and "gods". This point of view seems reasonable when one considers that the earliest historical and archeological records from civilizations around the world have consistently pointed back to and repeated portions of the original story.
In their startling book, The Discovery of Genesis, the Rev. C.H. Kang and Dr. Ethel R. Nelson confirm that prehistoric Chinese ideographic pictures (used in very ancient Chinese writing) report the story of Genesis, including the creation of the Man and Woman, the garden, the temptation and Fall, Noah's flood, and the tower of Babel. In his book, The Real Meaning Of The Zodiac, Dr. James Kennedy claims that the ancient signs of the Zodiac also indicate a singular and original revelation—a kind of Gospel in the stars—and that the message of the stars, although demonized and converted into astrology after the fall of man, originally recorded the Gospel of God. He writes:
“There exists in the writings of virtually all civilized nations a description of the major stars in the heavens—something which might be called their ‘Constellations of the Zodiac’ or the ‘Signs of the Zodiac,’ of which there are twelve. If you go back in time to Rome, or beyond that to Greece, or before that to Egypt, Persia, Assyria, or Babylonia—regardless of how far back you go, there is a remarkable phenomenon: Nearly all nations had the same twelve signs, representing the same twelve things, placed in the same order....The book of Job, which is thought by many to be the oldest book of the Bible, goes back to approximately 2150 B.C., which is 650 years before Moses came upon the scene to write the Pentateuch; over 1,100 years before Homer wrote the Odyssey and the Illiad; and 1,500 years before Thales, the first of the philosophers, was born. In chapter 38, God finally breaks in and speaks to Job and to his false comforters. As He is questioning Job, showing him and his companions their ignorance, God says to them: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or
canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" (Job 38:31,32)
We see here reference to the constellations of Orion and Pleiades, and the star Arcturus. Also in the book of Job there is reference to Cetus, the Sea Monster, and to Draco, the Great Dragon. I would call your attention to Job 38:32a: "Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?" Mazzaroth is a Hebrew word which means "The Constellations of the Zodiac." In what may be the oldest book in all of human history, we find that the constellations of the zodiac were already clearly known and understood....Having made it clear that the Bible expressly, explicitly, and repeatedly condemns what is now known as astrology, the fact remains that there was a God-given Gospel [universally acknowledged original revelation] in the stars which lays beyond and behind that which has now been corrupted. “
In his book Dr. Kennedy strongly condemns the practice of astrology, while asserting his view that the constellations of the zodiac were likely given by God to the first man as "record-keepers" of the original revelation of God.
If the primary assumption of the Biblical View is correct—that an original revelation was corrupted after the fall of man and subsequently degenerated into the mythologies of the pagan gods—one should be able to find numerous examples of such corruption from as far back as the beginning of history and within various civilizations around the world. Since the myths behind the gods would thus be "borrowed" ideas, the corrupted texts would be similar to the original truth, and, in that sense, evidence of a singular and original revelation. Furthermore, If the distortions of the original revelation were in fact energized by an evil supernaturalism, the goal of the alterations would be to draw people away from the worship of Yahweh. In certain ancient legends—such as the Enuma elish, the Adapa Epic, and the Epic of Gilgamesh—we discover early traces of the kaleidoscope of the original revelation plagiarized for the purpose of constructing the mythologies of the pagan gods.
EARLY TRACES OF CORRUPTION
Evidence suggests that the earliest legends of mythology were preceded by a belief in "the God" (Yahweh to the Hebrews) as the creator of all things and the "ruler of heaven." Later, Satan was described as "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4), and the prince of the "air" (Eph. 2:2). A fascinating struggle between the "ruler of the heavens" versus the "power of the air" occured in early Sumerian mythology after Enki, the god of wisdom and water, created the human race out of clay. It appears that Anu, who was at first the most powerful of the Sumerian gods and the "ruler of the heavens," was superseded in power and popularity by Enlil, the "god of the air." To the Christian mind this is perceived as nothing less than Satan, the god of the air, continuing his pretence to the throne of God, and his usurpation of Yahweh—"the Lord of the heavens." It also indicates a corruption of the original revelation and perhaps an effort on the part of Satan to trick the pagan Sumerians into perceiving him as the "supreme" god (above the God of heaven) and therefore worthy of adoration. Correspondingly, in the Enuma elish (a Babylonian epic), Marduk, the great god of the city of Babylon, was exalted above the benevolent gods and extolled as the creator of the world. Marduk was symbolized as a dragon (as is Satan in Revelation 12:9) called the Muscrussu, and his legend appears to contain several distortions of the important elements of the biblical account of creation. The Adapa Epic tells of another Babylonian legend that is also roughly equivalent to the Genisis account of creation. In it, Adapa, like Adam, underwent a test on food consumption, failed the test, and forfeited his opportunity for immortality. As a result of the failure, suffering and death were passed along to humanity. Finally, the Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian poem, which, like the Adapa Epic, is deeply rooted in ancient Assyrian and Babylonian mythology. In 1872 George Smith discovered the Gilgamesh tablets while doing research on the Assyrian library of Ashurbanipal at the British Museum. Because of the strong similarity to the biblical account of Noah and the great flood, Bible scholars have viewed the Gilgamesh epic with interest (and suspicion) since its discovery. As the legend goes, Gilgamesh, the king of the city of Uruk, was told about the flood from his immortal friend, Utnapishtim (the Sumerian equivalent of Noah). Utnapishtim described for Gilgamesh how the great god Enlil decided to destroy all of mankind because of its "noisy" sins. A plague was sent but failed to persuade mankind of better behavior, and, consequently, the gods determined a complete extermination of the human race. Enki, the lord of the waters, was not happy with the other gods for this decision and warned Utnapishtim of the coming deluge, instructing him to tear down his house and build a great boat. Utnapishtim obeyed Enki, built a great vessel, and sealed it with pitch and bitumen. The family of Utnapishtim loaded onto the boat together with various beasts and fowl. When the rains came, the doors were closed and the vessel rose up above the waters. Like Noah, Utnapishtim sent out a dove, and later a swallow, to search for dry land. They both returned. Later, a raven was released and it never came back. After several more days the boat came to rest on the top of a mountain where Utnapishtim built an altar and offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods. As the gods smelt the sweet offering, all but Enlil repented for sending the flood.
In my first book, Spiritual Warfare—The Invisible Invasion, I described a interesting example of the original revelation of God as distorted and plagiarized by Satan in order to draw men away from the worship of Jehovah. Concerning Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, I wrote:
“At the base of Pergamums hill stood the shrine of Asclepius, equipped with its own library, theater, sleeping chambers used in healing rituals, and long underground tunnels joining various other shrines to which pagans journeyed to receive the healing powers of Apollo's favorite son. The Christian Church considered these mystical powers as demonic, for the worship of Asclepius focused on the image of a serpent, sometimes called Glycon, an enormous serpent-figure some historians see as the origin for the modern symbol of healing—a serpent winding about a pole. Asclepius carried the lofty title, the hero god of healing.
In Numbers 21, Moses designed the brazen serpent on a pole that was used of God as an oracle of healing. 743 years later, in 2 Kings 18:4, we find that Israel had began to worship the brazen serpent with offerings and incense. From here the image was adopted into Greek mythology where it became the symbol of Asclepius, the Greek god of healing.
Asclepius was reported to have cured untold numbers from every conceivable disease—even raising a man from the dead. This caused Apollo through his Oracle at Delphi to declare, ‘Oh Asclepius!, thou who art born a great joy to all mortals, whom lovely Coronis bare to me, the child of love, at rocky Epidaurus.’ Such a healer was he reported to be, that Pluto, god of Hades, complained to Zeus that hardly anyone was dying anymore, and so Zeus destroyed Asclepius with a thunderbolt. Afterward, Apollo pleaded with Zeus to restore his son and this intercession so moved Zeus that he not only brought Asclepius back to life, but immortalized him as the god of medicine. First at Thessaly, and finally throughout the Greek and Roman world, Asclepius was worshiped as the saviour god of healing.”
Thus we find a glaring example of God's "revelation" plagiarized for demonic purposes. Greek mythology stated that Asclepius had the power to heal the sick and to bring the dead back to life by drawing blood out from the side of the goddess of justice. Asclepius was symbolized by a serpent winding about a pole, and he was called the great "Physician." The obvious intention of the serpent on a pole in Numbers 21 was to focus mankind on the coming Messiah, the true Great Physician, who would hang upon a pole and would deliver His followers from sickness and from death by the blood that ran out from His side.
THE ENERGY OF THE GODS
Time does not allow for a full disclosure of the many other examples of corruption that occurred with regard to the Original Revelation. They include distortions or "knock-offs" of the virgin birth, heaven and hell, the resurrection and final judgement, water baptism, communion, etc. In addition to the corruptions of the original revelation which pre-dated the gods of mythology, the Biblical View of the origin of the gods makes the following important assumptions: 1) that there exists within our universe real and supernatural powers; 2) that these powers are divided by their nature into two separate camps or "kingdoms"—one evil, the other good; 3) that these kingdoms are presided over by rulers—the biblical Satan over the evil and Yahweh over the good; and 4) that the kingdom of Satan provided the historical energy or "life" within and behind the gods of mythology as Satan’s kingdom solicited human worship through the elements of idolatry. Quoting again from Spiritual Warfare—The Invisible Invasion, I conclude:
“...the worship of Asclepius and other such idolatries were, as Paul would later articulate in 1 Corinthians 10:20, the worship of demons. In Acts 7:41-42, we find that when men serve idols they are worshiping ‘the army of heaven’ (Jerusalem Bible). Psalms 96:5 says, ‘For all the gods of the nations are idols’ ('elilim, LXX daimonia). Demons. Many other biblical references indicate evil supernaturalism as the true dynamic of idolatry and reveal that idols of stone, flesh, or other imagery are simply 'elilim (empty, nothing, vanity), but that behind these images exist the true objects of heathen adoration: demons.”
John Milton wrote in Paradise Lost that millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen. The Biblical View of the origin of the gods affirms the idea that "In the beginning" Yahweh created the heavens (celestial beings, planets, etc) and the earth. Lucifer, “the light bearer,” was a crowning achievement of God's heavenly creation and a chief servant of the creative Yahweh. But Lucifer became jealous of the worship Yahweh was receiving from his many creations, and proudly proclaimed, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God....I will be like the most high" (Is.14:13-14). Somehow Lucifer convinced one-third of the celestial creatures to join him in a great rebellion, with the uprising ultimately resulting in Lucifer and his followers being cast out of heaven. Lucifer (now Satan), driven by a quest for worship and thirsty for revenge with Yahweh, tempted Eve, and, after the fall with its resulting separation between man and God, moved to corrupt the divine truths contained within the Original Revelation by proclaiming himself (the god of the air) more worthy of worship than was the God of heaven.
If such an assumption of the Biblical View is correct—that a real and evil supernatural presence exists and has for centuries drawn men away from worshipping Yahweh through the dynamics of various mythologies—the following questions arise: Were the angels that joined Lucifer in the fall also driven by a lust for worship? Did the images and attributes ascribed to the gods of mythology somehow reflect the real and spiritual characteristics of certain unseen personalities operating behind them? More importantly, is the kingdom of Satan still at work in this manner? That is, do the living entities of the ancient gods continue to walk among us? If so, do such spirits embody themselves in trees, earth, and idols of stone, or should we assume that modern idolatry has acquired a more selective sophistication and social manifestation? In THE GODS WHO WALK AMONG US, Thomas Horn and Donald Jones search for the answers to these questions through a comparison of the various aspects of the gods of mythology. But, be warned, their conclusions may startle you.
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