The following is taken from the main body of Episode 1 of my NUCLEAR PASTOR: Critical Mass podcast…

In this podcast we’ll explore the issue of extraterrestrial life.  UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) have long been the subject of interest and speculation here on planet Earth, but with the recent release by the U.S. government of previously hidden and/or classified videos and testimony concerning such phenomena (now known as UAPs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), interest in this area has skyrocketed.  Such interest (and, admittedly, it is an amazingly interesting topic), and the conclusions of many in this field can cause a great deal of consternation for those of Biblical faith, and so a truly Biblical exploration of this topic is in order.

First, we’ll take a look at the Biblical case against extraterrestrial life, after which we’ll take a look at the Biblical case for extraterrestrial life.  From there we’ll work at putting all of this in perspective in light of the times in which we live.

SUBJECT

Let’s begin by taking a look at the Biblical case against extraterrestrial life, with my sincerest apologies to Science Fiction fans everywhere.  And I say that because I’m a huge Sci-Fi fan and have been so for decades, as the vast frontiers of our universe are unparalleled as a useful and never-ending canvas for great storytelling.  However, as much as I enjoy it, it is fiction, and so let’s begin with some facts from Scripture.

It may surprise some, but the Biblical case against extraterrestrial life is extremely easy to make, and I’ll begin that case by talking about the idea of human earthly stewardship found in Genesis 1:26-28.  But first let’s read the passage from the English Standard Version: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

So, the first thing we notice is that the original mention of humanity in the Bible puts humanity squarely in charge of planet Earth – all of it.  This not only includes the animal life, but all of nature.  The next point that I need to make is that Biblically speaking, the earth is the center of God’s universe.  Now notice that I’m not saying that the earth is the center of the physical universe (although it wouldn’t surprise me if it were), as I’m not sure we’ll ever have the technology to determine such a thing, but the earth is certainly the center of God’s universe.  So, what do I mean by that?

Well, to begin with, Genesis 1:14-18 makes it very clear that the rest of the universe exists to serve a purpose or purposes for planet earth.  In the case of the sun, moon and stars (which is essentially the rest of the universe), these exist…to separate the day from the night.  And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth (verses 14 & 15).  And so, the bottom line here is that Earth is the main show, and the rest are just supporting elements

Of course, the strongest argument for such a thought is that the Eternal Son lived and died on this planet to save the humanity upon it from the consequence of its sin.  Now, that’s more of a spiritual reason for Earth being the center of God’s universe, but it is valid in the extreme.  However, I’d rather touch more on the physical/terrestrial for now.

The next important point to make is that the universe was originally created in perfect working order.  Meaning that there was no decay, there was no entropy (energy unavailable for work) and there was no death.

NOTE: Since we today have inherited a decaying world, this seems hard to believe, but Genesis 1 is very clear that everything was once perfect, as is made clear in Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.  In fact, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that entropy (energy not available for work) is always increasing, can itself prove this point if we simply reverse it, meaning that if we go back in time far enough, the universe will itself be perfect, with no entropy.  It is the question of when this pesky entropy business started that will now help prove the point against extraterrestrial life.

Genesis 3 records the fall of humanity from its perfection and immortality into the sinful nature and mortality, separated from the One who created them.  And as we see from that passage, all of nature itself was then and there changed and made subject to slow degradation, which we now encapsulate in the Laws of Thermodynamics.  This slow degradation affects not only the earth itself, but also the rest of the universe that was created to serve Earth, as outlined in Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Thus far we’ve seen that Earth and the universe were originally made subject to humanity, but that in the Fall of humanity the entire universe was made subject to decay and death.  But there’s more to that story, because God Himself will one day, abruptly, destroy this universe and begin again with a brand-new universe – something that will take place after the Great White Throne judgment of Revelation 21, and which is promised in 2 Peter 3.  Here’s what we read in 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.  And then we also read in Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth (that’s the whole universe, folks), for the first heaven and the first earth (the one in which we currently live) had passed away, and the sea was no more.

So how does all of this lead to a Biblical case against extraterrestrial life in the universe?  Well, it all hinges on the fairness of God.  First, we’ve seen that the universe was plunged into death and decay because of what happened with humanity in the Garden of Eden.  Second, we’ve seen that the universe will be brought to an abrupt end because God is redeeming the planet and universe from what happened with humanity in the Garden of Eden.

And so, this is a great time to ask the question: How fair would it be of God to subject all of the prospective other life in the universe (extraterrestrial life) to death and decay because of what we humans did in the first place?  But more than that, how fair would it be of God to abruptly destroy all other life in the universe in order to undo what we humans did in the first place?

The answer to both?  It would be extremely unfair of God to do either or both, and we must remember that it was the absolute fairness of God to which Abraham appealed over the upcoming judgment of God upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genesis 18:23-25 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?  Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Man, what a perfect passage, and what a perfect set of questions for the subject matter at hand!

Conclusion?  The very fairness of God precludes the existence of extraterrestrial life in our universe

Now let’s continue with a look at the Biblical case for extraterrestrial life in our universe.  The purest definition of “extraterrestrial life” means “ life apart from terra,” or, literally, “life outside of Earth,” and by that broad definition there is extraterrestrial life in existence.  Now, of course we know that God exists outside of Earth, but let’s leave Him out of this discussion for the time being.

So just what is that extraterrestrial life that exists?  Well, beginning in Genesis 28 with Jacob’s Ladder, and continuing all the way through the Book of Revelation, in the Bible we routinely interact with beings known as angels who, according to Hebrews 1:14 have the earth-centric task of ministering to those who will inherit salvation (humanity).

Well, at some point in history (and my educated guess here is that it happened in the time period between Genesis 2 and Genesis 3), a mighty cherub named Lucifer (from the Latin for daystar/morning star) led an angelic rebellion against God, with fully one-third of the angels following him in that rebellion.  These rebellious angels, who turned completely evil, lost that rebellion and were driven down to the earth, where to this day they exist as fallen angels, demons and/or unclean spirits, depending on your preference of terms.  They now forever exist to thwart the plan of God and to remove every last aspect of good from the universe, and they will use all of their God-given power, intelligence and abilities to do so.

Now, these fallen angels are technically spiritual beings, but we see in the Bible that they can (and have!) affected the physical world in many ways, and here are a few of those:

• In Genesis 3, Satan possessed the body of the serpent in the Garden of Eden
• In Genesis 6, demons were able to manipulate human DNA in order to create a race of evil, God-hating male giants
• In Exodus 7 & 8, the Egyptian sorcerers were able to tap into demonic influence in order to overcome the laws of physics
• In Job 1 & 2, we see that demons (and quite possibly Satan specifically) can control nature
• In the gospels and the Book of Acts we see that demons can possess animals and people
• In the temptation of Jesus, we see that Satan is able to move from place to place on earth with immediacy, with no regard for the laws of physics
• In the Revelation we see that the demonic realm can control the laws of nature and do many counterfeit miracles

Finally, regarding the holy angels, we know that some of them have the ability to appear in physical form (usually that of men), since many have entertained angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2).  And it’s no stretch at all to assume that many of the fallen angels also have that ability.

Conclusion?  Extraterrestrial life in the science-fiction sense doesn’t exist, but extraterrestrial life in the angelic/demonic sense does exist, and the demonic side of extraterrestrial life isn’t bound by the laws of physics and nature.

Now let’s move into putting it all together in light of the UFO/UAP phenomena.  First off, let me say that I believe that much of the UFO/UAP phenomena of today (and of the past several decades) is very real, and the biggest reason I say that is because so many military and non-military pilots have seen and experienced these phenomena, and they are as solid a bunch of folks as you’ll find on planet earth.  They’re highly trained, highly vetted and trustworthy folks not given to flights of fancy (no pun intended).

And in a nutshell, what they’ve seen are aircraft (or some kind of craft) that can outmaneuver anything in any earthly arsenal.  They’ve seen craft able to stop on a dime in midair, or make 90 degree turns in midair at high velocities, etc.  They’ve seen craft that can operate with equal dexterity in both the air and the water, and they’ve seen craft that can just suddenly disappear.

Essentially, they’ve seen craft that seem to pay no heed to the laws of nature and/or physics, just like the demons/fallen angels we’ve already taken a look at.  But then why would they (meaning the demons or fallen angels) be doing this?  The answer is really quite simple.  As pawns and subjects of Satan, they, like he, come only to steal, kill and destroy, and part of that is the ability to lead people away from truth and into lie, for Satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).

Now, Satan and his minions know that someday (and it may be sooner than we think) there will occur an earth-shattering event known as the Rapture, where the potentially scores of millions of born-again followers of Jesus Christ will be instantly taken from this world.  We’ll just disappear in the twinkling of an eye.  Well, Satan’s gonna need a good answer for this, and what better answer for this is there than that our friendly extraterrestrials got rid of all of those pesky Christians who were holding humanity back from achieving our next great step in the process of evolution?  What a favor they’ve done for us!

In this light, I don’t think it a stretch at all to assume that some demons with the ability to take physical form have done so as apparent spacecraft in order to lead humanity astray in this manner.  And personally, although I do enjoy a good sci-fi movie or show, I think this idea (preparing humanity for the Rapture) is part of Hollywood’s push behind so much extraterrestrial life programming – they’re slowly programming humanity to fall for Hell’s lie when the time comes.

Okay, Barry, I’m with you on that, but what about the reports of humanoid, alien creatures?  So, a couple of thoughts on that.  (#1) I’ve yet to see anything verifiable on that, so to me these are just unsubstantiated rumors at this point, but (#2), the descriptions that do make it public all describe beings that are kind of weak, sickly and pathetic – nothing robust like actual humans, or something cool and strong like the aliens in the Alien and Predator movie franchises, and I think that’s telling.

Remember that way back in Genesis 6 we’re introduced to the Nephilim, who were giant human males bent on violence, and who somehow were the offspring of fallen angels and human females.  Now, my first of two Genesis 6 NUCLEAR PASTOR: Into the Word podcasts goes into that in more detail, but in a nutshell, I chalk the Nephilim up to demons possessing the bodies of human men, messing with the DNA now under their control, and then impregnating human women with that DNA, producing a race of giant males.

But we must remember that back in Genesis 6 the human genome itself was far purer than it is today after millennia of decay, and so the raw material with which these demons had to work was far better than it is today.  Now, if there are demons trying the same thing today, the offspring would most likely be sickly and pathetic as compared to earlier attempts in pre-history, giving us a laughable modern version of the Nephilim, while another possibility is that the demons trying this today are far less intelligent and capable than those who tried the same thing long ago, but who were then locked away in Tartarus (the deepest part of Hell) to keep them from doing so again (Jude 6).

But the results in either case seem to be the same – the Nephilim of today are laughable compared to the Nephilim of Genesis 6, Genesis 14, Deuteronomy and 1 Samuel (where me meet Goliath and his kinsmen).

ADDENDUM

So, this is a good time to fill you in on a rule-of-thumb of mine.  In the realm of physics, if you have a Law, that means that there are never observable contradictions to that Law – it’s set in stone.  However, if you have something that’s true a high percentage of the time, but not always, then it’s technically classified as a Rule, from which we derive the term “rule-of-thumb,” which means that something’s true far more often than it is false.

And after decades of ministry, even more decades of walking (however imperfectly) with Jesus and of observing this world, I’ve come up with an important rule-of-thumb for this world, and it is this: If the world is really into something, chances are that God is not.  And the reason for this rule-of-thumb is pretty easy to understand: Ever since the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden and the consequent introduction of the sinful human nature, the thinking of this world (except where the salt and light of Biblical thought intervenes) is controlled by that ancient Enemy of our souls, Satan, of whom it is said in 2 Corinthians 4:4 …the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, and about whom Jesus said in John 8:44 …He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Because of this, the world’s way of thinking tends to go one way (toward Hellish indoctrination), while those who profess to follow God should have thinking that tends to go in the opposite direction (toward Heavenly indoctrination), giving rise to essentially two worldviews: what I call the Evil Kosmos, and what I call the Noble Kosmos.

Now, much of what I’m setting out to accomplish with the Critical Mass podcasts is to make clear the boundaries between these two competing worldviews, and so this is a great time to define the terms.  First, let’s talk about what I call the Evil Kosmos.

In 1 John 2:15-17, the Apostle John tells us: Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Now, the Greek word translated as world in this passage is kosmos, and it’s a very interesting word.  Depending on the context, it can be translated as world (as it is here), it can be translated as universe (essentially the same as our word cosmos), or it can be translated as an orderly system.  It is, in fact, the exact opposite of chaos.  Within the context of 1 John chapter 2, it’s clearly meant in this third and final sense, and essentially means this world’s way of arranging its priorities, or its system of order:

• What it believes is right and what it believes is wrong
• What it believes is good and what it believes is bad
• What it believes is important and what it believes is unimportant
• What it believes is evil and what it believes is good
• What it believes is honorable and what it believes is dishonorable, etc.

And the truly terrifying thing about the Evil Kosmos is that its source is the very nature of the Evil One, the Devil himself.

Now, having defined the Evil Kosmos, we’ll find it quite easy to define the Noble Kosmos.  Whereas the Evil Kosmos has its source in the nature of Satan, the Noble Kosmos has its source in the nature of God, who is forever holy, and so it’s not at all hard to see how easily and how seriously these two worldviews clash with one another, and that they are, in fact, mortal enemies in the realm of thought and human endeavor.

Before getting back to the subject matter, though, some last thoughts on the Noble Kosmos, beginning with a question: How can we define the Noble Kosmos?  And the answer to that is simple – we turn to the pages and principles of Scripture, which are the 66 books that make up what we know as the Holy Bible, and which is collectively called the Word of God.  But I say that with one important caution – we turn to the pages and principles of Scripture rightly divided.

And I say that for a couple of reasons.  Reason #1: A lot of people dabble in the Scriptures, but don’t hold them to be the authoritative and perfect Word of God.  Such people, scripturally speaking, don’t know their rear end from a hole in the ground, and so tend to come to horrific conclusions regarding God’s Word.  Reason #2: Satan wants to keep all people from God’s Word, for it has the ability to set people free of his chains, but if he can’t accomplish that, he’ll do all within his power to get people to view the Scriptures through the lens of his Evil Kosmos when they do turn to the Scriptures.  This is something he tried with Jesus during His temptation, but of course Jesus didn’t fall for such nonsense.

Bottom line: Although penned over thousands of years by scores of different writers, the ultimate Author of all Scripture is the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), and because of that the Bible is actually a consistent, living whole, and is best studied as such, with the greatest commentary on Scripture being other Scripture, for it has an internal, consistent witness from start to finish.

And now back to the subject and our rule-of-thumb, which is that if the world is really into something, chances are that God is not.  Now we know that the world is really into science fiction, and so it’s a good thing to ask if the UFO/UAP phenomena and its close connection to the realm of science fiction are part of the Evil Kosmos or part of the Noble Kosmos.  And the best way to do that is to see what kind of fruit it’s bearing, for we’ll know a tree by its fruit, whether good or evil (Luke 6:44).

So, does the reporting on the UFO/UAP phenomena with its science fiction undertones lead people to the Scriptures, or away from the Scriptures?  Does it lead people to Jesus Christ, or away from Jesus Christ?  Does it lead people into the arms of Evolution, or into the arms of Creation as documented in Genesis?  And the answers to that are perfectly clear: It all bears horrible fruit, and so is pretty much part and parcel of the Evil Kosmos.

CONCLUSION

And so, finally, to our conclusion.  Due to the fairness of God, it’s a certainty that as far as intelligent, sentient, physical life goes, Earth is it.  However, there are demonic forces capable of interacting with the physical and material world, and when they do so it is always with the purpose of leading humanity away from God and the Scriptures, and we should expect more of such activity as we hasten toward the rapture of the Church.

PRAYER

Sir, we thank You for the uniqueness of life on Earth, and especially for the uniqueness of humanity, which alone bears Your image in the physical universe.  When it comes to issues that would lead us away from You and Your perfect Word, help us to be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves.  Help us to understand our ancient Enemy and what he is up to, so that we might stay strong in our faith and that we might help lead others out of the clutches of his hideous darkness.  Amen.