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The Reformation Herald Online Edition

One Truth, Many Lies

Aliens vs. Allies
Barbara Montrose
We are native earthlings

What is an “alien”? The term simply refers to someone who is not from a particular group or place—typically in contrast to a “native,” one who was born in that place.

The Latin term for the native species that was designed to dominate planet Earth is homo sapiens, the distinct race known as humans. Holy Scripture unveils the history of the human race from its beginning:

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:27, 28). Humanity was made in the image of its Creator, was generously provided with the ideal conditions to sustain life, and “God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

The Creator does not live on this planet; He assigned it to the human race. The Creator, God, is referred to as “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy” (Isaiah 57:15).

“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). He lives in the third heaven—far away in outer space, and we as humans—the native people of Earth—are still made in His image.

Although the corruption of our race has separated us from our Creator (Genesis chapter 3), He is still intensely attentive and mindful of us. The people of God in ancient times addressed Him in prayer: “Hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)” (2 Chronicles 6:30). He knows our thoughts; He reads our hearts. And although He may be far away in miles, in reality He is “not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). He is sustaining you at this very moment. If it were not for His tender, attentive care for you, your heart would not be beating right now, your eyes would not be able to read this article, nor your mind able to comprehend it. The Majesty of heaven is actively involved in all these processes at this very moment.

You were born on this planet; you are a native earthling, also referred to as a terrestrial (1 Corinthians 15:40–44). But what happens if any of us humans try to go to another planet?

“Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord” (Obadiah 1:4).

Yes, people have traveled to outer space. But sooner or later, they had to come back. Human bodies in their present condition are designed for planet Earth. “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven” (John 3:13). This Son of man who visited this planet is also known as the Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:1–4, 14).

We read the account in Scripture of the birth of the Word made flesh—Jesus Christ—in Bethlehem of Judea, so He is native to Earth through His human mother, Mary (Luke 2:7). Yet His Father was not born on Earth—because He actually created the Earth! This was explained to the mother of Jesus before He was born: “Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. . . . Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:31–35).

“That holy thing” came from the Holy Ghost—who is divine, not human. So, the Word made flesh, the Son of man, the Son of God, Jesus Christ—was human from His mother, but divine from His Father. This is something distinctly unique in all of history!

Meanwhile, the angel that brought the message to Mary was a created being not born on Earth—yet was in perfect harmony with God as a servant of the Creator with a mission to help humanity be reconciled to their Father in heaven. This messenger was one of many angelic beings that are usually invisible to our sight but nevertheless are constantly at work for our protection. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). “Bless the Lord ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure” (Psalm 103:20, 21). These are our angelic allies, protecting and helping us in the battle against evil. Typically, you do not see them, but are nonetheless surrounded by them.

Yes, Jesus Christ and the angelic messengers—our friends, allies—from pure, innocent, unfallen worlds have come to Earth on a rescue mission helping to deliver us from the invader who seeks to destroy us—Satan, the fallen angel, together with the evil alien angels who do his bidding.

Life on other planets

Ellen G. White, the prolific, most-widely translated American author in history (having written over 60,000 manuscript pages translated into more than 160 languages) was endowed with the biblical gift of prophecy. The Bible gives very strict criteria in order to test the validity of a prophet—and amazingly, Mrs. White’s extraordinary gift measures up to them all. We have yet to see in recent generations among any who are purported to have the prophetic gift a single case (besides hers) that passes every one of these biblical tests. The biblical criteria must be complete; there is no middle ground even for what some might come up with as a 99% prophetic gift. It’s all or nothing.

Living as we do in the space age, most people tend to believe that there must be life on other planets, yet they acknowledge that the details surrounding this topic are a mystery. However, back in the mid-1800’s, Ellen G. White shown in prophetic vision all that is essential for us in our sphere to know and understand about life on other planets. She describes:

“The Lord has given me a view of other worlds. Wings were given me, and an angel attended me from the city to a place that was bright and glorious. The grass of the place was living green, and the birds there warbled a sweet song. The inhabitants of the place were of all sizes; they were noble, majestic, and lovely. They bore the express image of Jesus, and their countenances beamed with holy joy, expressive of the freedom and happiness of the place. I asked one of them why they were so much more lovely than those on the earth. The reply was,We have lived in strict obedience to the commandments of God, and have not fallen by disobedience, like those on the earth ‘.’ Then I saw two trees, one looked much like the tree of life in the city. The fruit of both looked beautiful, but of one they could not eat. They had power to eat of both, but were forbidden to eat of one. Then my attending angel said to me, ‘None in this place have tasted of the forbidden tree; but if they should eat, they would fall.’ Then I was taken to a world which had seven moons. There I saw good old Enoch, who had been translated. On his right arm he bore a glorious palm, and on each leaf was written ‘Victory.’ Around his head was a dazzling white wreath, and leaves on the wreath, and in the middle of each leaf was written ‘Purity,’ and around the wreath were stones of various colors, that shone brighter than the stars, and cast a reflection upon the letters and magnified them. On the back part of his head was a bow that confined the wreath, and upon the bow was written ‘Holiness.’ Above the wreath was a lovely crown that shone brighter than the sun. I asked him if this was the place he was taken to from the earth. He said, ‘It is not; the city is my home, and I have come to visit this place.’ He moved about the place as if perfectly at home. I begged of my attending angel to let me remain in that place. I could not bear the thought of coming back to this dark world again.”1

She was then assured that if faithful to the Lord, she would be granted the privilege of eternal life and the opportunity to view the handiwork of God throughout the universe and enjoy fellowship with the innocent, intelligent beings of other worlds.

Here we see a clear explanation as to why we do not have direct contact with the beings of other planets—the Extraterrestrials. We are polluted by sin, but they are not. Planet Earth has had to be in quarantine because of the rebellion of the human race—yet, by God’s merciful grace, our planet will ultimately be remade and inhabited by those natives of this planet who are not rebels, but rather love and obey the One—Jehovah—the Creator who first loved all throughout His vast creation (1 John 4:19; 2 Peter 3:9–13; Revelation 21:1-–4).

Invading aliens

Beautiful Earth is a planet lovingly designed specifically for humanity to thrive—custom built with the necessary water, air, food, and so forth. “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). It has always been the Creator’s intention that this globe would be a haven for the human race to flourish. His ultimate plan is for us to be redeemed from corruption in order to have the chance to be saved for eternity. The root of evil that has tainted our beautiful planet was triggered by lawless beings—the illegal aliens on the globe—Satan and his host, who have victimized the human race, compelling us all to dwell in enemy-occupied territory.

When Jesus Christ was crucified on Calvary’s cross to pay the redemption price for the sins of humanity, “Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the heavenly universe. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. Henceforth his work was restricted. Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts, and before them accuse Christ’s brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken.”2

“The world that Satan has claimed and has ruled over with cruel tyranny, the Son of God has, by one vast achievement, encircled in His love and connected again with the throne of Jehovah. Cherubim and seraphim, and the unnumbered hosts of all the unfallen worlds, sang anthems of praise to God and the Lamb when this triumph was assured. They rejoiced that the way of salvation had been opened to the fallen race and that the earth would be redeemed from the curse of sin. How much more should those rejoice who are the objects of such amazing love!”3

Does Satan, the arch-rebel against God, want us to have the privilege of eternal life without sin and suffering when he already forfeited that opportunity himself? No, he is working against every single one of us out of insane jealousy over the opportunity that we are being offered. So, what is he going to try to do to block us from attaining the glorious, promising future still available to us?

The enemy of our souls has many sinister tools within his vast weaponry—discouragement, temptation, sickness, pain, destruction—just to name a few. But one of his main ploys is deception. Would the archfiend be clever enough to manage to come up with an alternative scenario? How about if he would direct evil angels on this planet to pose as freaky-looking extraterrestrial beings with a false narrative for the human race? With all its decades of imbibing science fiction and ghost thrillers plus the mesmerizing productions pouring out of Hollywood and television, would today’s society be vulnerable and even ripe for such trickery? Absolutely!

The phenomenal sightings of strange, non-human beings are numerous—and the various types sighted have even been categorized!4

These apparitions can rightly be called “aliens” because they are not human beings, born on this planet and made in the image of God. Rather they are manifestations of evil angels adeptly capable of a wide range of supernatural disguisesnever, ever. However benign or even alluring that some may appear, we must realize that evil angels are genuinely friendly to the eternal interests of people. Some may come with special, exclusive, hidden information that may even turn out to be true. (Sure, Satan has access to some information around the world that we as individuals may not be able to get. But do you really want to be ensnared by the occult?) Often they are alluringly attractive to the senses, just as the serpent allured Eve in the garden of Eden. The look, the tone of voice, the flattering words are all enchanting. They may even play an altruistic role. Whatever the pose, we must not allow ourselves to be fooled by such traps! This is a dangerous, delusive path to eternal destruction.

Spiritual warfare

In defending ourselves against hostile agents who may come as alien warriors, it may not be feasible to rely on conventional warfare. Why not? The reality is that the structure of evil angels is not limited to the characteristics of human bodies. Evil angels are known to seamlessly shift from body to body.

A famous example of this is found in Scripture:

“When [Jesus] was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying My name is Legion: for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea” (Mark 5:2–14).

What happened to those evil spirits? They clearly did not have the man’s best interest at heart—they were intent on totally destroying him just as they did the pigs.

But this history, of course, has a happy ending for the man who was wonderfully delivered by Christ. He was later found clothed and in his right mind, and the Lord even bade him go and tell others of his miraculous deliverance.

How was the man freed? Only by the direct intervention of Jesus Christ: “For 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. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:12, 13).

If and when we are confronted by these evil agencies, our only safety is in relying upon the sure promises of the Almighty, declaring in the name of the Lord, “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Matthew 4:10).

Technological illusions

Modern technology has conjured up some additional deceptions of a different sort. The science of cloning human beings is become increasingly sophisticated, as has the production of increasingly advanced holographic imaging.5

Body doubles with state-of-the-art voice alteration are also part of the current spectrum of tools. The science of such things is expanding at an incredible rate, so we are reminded that “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

The ultimate deception of all time

No marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

“Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle-working demons. The spirits of devils will go forth to the kings of the earth and to the whole world, to fasten them in deception, and urge them on to unite with Satan in his last struggle against the government of Heaven. By these agencies, rulers and subjects will be alike deceived. Persons will arise pretending to be Christ himself, and claiming the title and worship which belong to the world’s Redeemer. They will perform wonderful miracles of healing, and will profess to have revelations from Heaven contradicting the testimony of the Scriptures.

“As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. [Revelation 1:13–15.] The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air, ‘Christ has come! Christ has come!’ The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands, and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. Like the Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the multitudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to these sorceries, saying, This is ‘the great power of God.’ [Acts 8:10.]

“But the people of God will not be misled. The teachings of this false christ are not in accordance with the Scriptures.”7

What is our safety—for now and eternity?

We need to speak up about the reality of this phenomenon. Sincere people everywhere are getting duped by the sensational, supernatural things going on. We need to help them, seriously, and we do not need to be ashamed of the real, legitimate scenes of the future:

“The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christpurify; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee” (Titus 2:11–15). [Emphsis added.]

“It was in order that the heavenly universe might see the conditions of the covenant of redemption that Christ bore the penalty in behalf of the human race. The throne of Justice must be eternally and forever made secure, even tho the race be wiped out, and another creation populate the earth. By the sacrifice Christ was about to make, all doubts would be forever settled, and the human race would be saved if they would return to their allegiance. Christ alone could restore honor to God’s government. The cross of Calvary would be looked upon by the unfallen worlds, by the heavenly universe, by Satanic agencies, by the fallen race, and every mouth would be stopped.”8

“Before the worlds unfallen and the heavenly universe, the world will have to give an account to the Judge of the whole earth, the very One they condemned and crucified.”9

Jesus Christ, the crucified One, is coming again. He will come in the clouds and every eye shall see Him—not with a crown of thorns, but with a crown of glory. Those who have trusted in Him will rise to meet Him in the air—and ultimately travel to faraway planets and finally meet pure, holy, intelligent beings that have no taint of corruption. Yes, these have been our faithful, compassionate allies in the battle against evil.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18).

What an amazing privilege is available to each one of us! Let’s not miss it!

References:
1 Early Writings, p. 39. [Emphasis added.]
2 The Desire of Ages, p. 761.
3 Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 104.
7 The Great Controversy (1888), pp. 623, 624. [Emphasis added.]
8 The Signs of the Times, July 12, 1899.
9 Testimonies to Ministers, p. 132.