The UFO/UAP Phenomena and the Occult

This is my seventh article examining matters related to the occult and this time we touch on the connection between the UFO phenomena and the occult.  Although the study of mysterious flying objects has undergone several makeovers during recent decades, it was in 1947 that the US Government officially began using the term “flying saucer” and by the 1950s, pop culture embraced the concept. These rudimentary discs appeared in film, television, literature, music, toy stores and advertising. Reports of their sightings influenced religious movements and were the subject of military investigations. But the public wasn’t just interested in the vessels themselves – the flying saucer also became visual shorthand for alien invaders.

So far as new religious movements were concerned, in the mid-1950s a man by the name of George King founded The Aetherius Society.  Still in operation today, the stated goal of The Aetherius Society is as follows: “Our purpose is to help as many people as possible to prepare themselves for the coming New Age. We do this mainly by radiating spiritual energy to improve world karma and raise global consciousness – often in direct cooperation with the Cosmic Masters.”  The word “Aetherius” is a pseudonym, which comes from a Greek word meaning something like “traveler through the ethers of space”.

As a medium, George King relied heavily on yoga to enter a trance state in order to supposedly receive cosmic messages.  In fact, he was a Master of Yoga and fanatically dedicated his life to its practice.  His particular version of yoga (referred to as King Yoga) is supposedly vital to the spiritual path promoted by The Aetherius Society.  According to their website: “King Yoga enables you to live every day with greater meaning and purpose, selflessly serve others in the light of truth, and know that you are an aspect of God – because God is all!”  It is said King practiced yoga for an average of 8 to 10 hours per day, seeking mastery of psychic abilities and ultimately enlightenment. 

According to the teachings of George King, “Cosmic Masters” have been assisting humanity for thousands of years, sometimes appearing in terrestrial bodies.  He names Master Jesus, the Lord Buddha, Sri Krishna, St Peter, Confucius, Lao Zi and Moses as those who are extraterrestrial in origin and sometimes referred to as “Gods from Space”.  Their purpose, according to King, was to “…give us spiritual teaching and perform certain other metaphysical tasks vital to the survival of our civilization on this planet.”  Although the Society mentions the name of Jesus, to them He is not the Second Person of the Trinity.  They claim that: “The Master Jesus is not the one and only Son of God, but a Cosmic Master from a higher material plane of the planet Venus, who, some 2000 years ago chose to be born among us in an Earth body to be of assistance to suffering humanity at that time.”

During his life, King claimed that he was contacted many times by the Cosmic Masters.  The Aetherius Society claims: “He was chosen by the Cosmic Masters - advanced intelligences from other worlds - for his outstanding yogic abilities and dedication to truth. They designated him their ‘Primary Terrestrial Mental Channel.’ He wasn’t their only channel, but he was their most important one. He was in communication with Cosmic Masters - beings from higher levels of existence on other worlds - from the time they first contacted him in 1954 through to his death in 1997.”

It is often the case that occultists will attempt to legitimize their “religion” by claiming that the Bible supports their claims.  According to King the Bible contains some of the oldest UFO sightings on record including what he views as the most famous of them all, the Star of Bethlehem.  They also claim (as do many others) that “Ezekiel’s Wheel” in chapter 1 of the book of Ezekiel refers to cosmic spacecraft and that in Exodus 13 “This description of pillars of cloud and fire is very close to the cigar-shaped description of a UFO.”  Furthermore, they claim that Elijah went to heaven in a space vehicle and Zechariah gave a precise description of a UFO. 

Although many people would have openly scoffed at King’s claims to be in contact with nonhuman intelligences (NHI) it was in 1960 that the US Government formally commissioned a program to contact NHI from extraterrestrial civilisations.  Led by astronomer Frank Drake in 1960, the world’s first search for extraterrestrial life was through Project Ozma and used a radio telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia to search for radio signals from outer space.  Although the initial search reportedly did not yield any results, last year Retired Army Col. Karl Nell sensationally claimed that NHI not only exist and have been to Earth but have been actively interacting with humanity.  In fact, over the last few years, it has become quite normal for governments and militaries around the world to openly talk about UAP’s (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena – the new term for UFO) and NHI.  Former CIA agent, John Ramirez claims there is a reason for that – it forms part of an intentional narrative to prepare the population for the day the aliens show up.  When will they show up?  According to Ramirez it will be in 2027.

Gary Bates, who wrote “Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection”, obviously undertook a serious amount of research in preparation for writing his book.  He says of the experience: “It was necessary for me to attend UFO conferences, where I witnessed, first-hand, people in trance-like states claiming to be ‘channelling’ messages from aliens. I discovered deliberate and insidious attempts by dark spiritual forces to deceive mankind. Just like people who were converted to Christianity, these ‘experiencers’ were having life-changing experiences that altered their perception of the universe and their place in it.” 

An examination of the beliefs of many UFO/UAP cults reveals that there is a distinct spiritual aspect to their movement.  That was certainly the case with George King, who constantly refers to obtaining spiritual truth from the “Cosmic Masters”.  Gary Bates affirms this, going so far as to highlight a counterfeit spiritual mechanism as follows: “A close examination of the phenomenon shows that it also provides a perfect substitute ‘replacement theology’ for the big picture Creation > Fall > Redemption > Restoration aspects of Christianity. Much of the UFO literature seeks to:

• Replace the Creator God with aliens, even claiming the Bible is actually referring to these ETs and not God.

• Substitute the Fall for an environmentalist catastrophe or message (i.e. the aliens will not allow us to destroy ourselves and ‘mother earth’ as we are allegedly doing).

• The ETs will be the saviours of mankind and will rescue the earth in the process. They even have rapture-type events predicted for the future.

• There will be a restoration of the Earth or the ‘true (UFO) believers’ will be transported to a new Edenic or Nirvana type planet that has not yet been corrupted.”

Some years ago, secular UFO/UAP researcher, John Keel, claimed this: “The UFO manifestations seem to be, by and large, merely minor variations of the age-old demonological phenomenon.”  In fact, he called mysterious NHIs “ultraterrestrials”, capable of taking on whatever form they want in order to manipulate our senses and reality.  Although he earned much ridicule amongst the UFO community, John was among very few people who claimed that NHIs were paraphysical or paranormal in nature, rather than extraterrestrial and physical.  But John was also smart enough to note the connection between UFO/UAP obsession and the occult.  He wrote: “The UFO waves of the 1960s were accompanied by the occult explosion – the rapid spread of witchcraft and magical practices. An interesting side effect of the flying saucer phenomenon is that many of the people attracted to the subject, people with very materialistic and pseudo-scientific outlooks, gradually drift into the study of psychic phenomenon, abandoning the extraterrestrial theory along the way. In retrospect, flying saucers were partly responsible for the occult explosion.”

Many trusted Bible teachers point to the UFO/UAP phenomena as the deception that the Antichrist will use to explain the rapture.  As Billy Crone surmises, “as we ascend, they descend”.  Although “they” are certainly NHI, they are not some superhuman intelligence from another part of the universe.  They are in fact demons who will seek to deceive those left behind. Considering the rapture is imminent it is no surprise to see Satan increase mankind’s interest in UFO/UAP, NHI and the occult (being a counterfeit of divine revelation).  It is, we believe, all part of his plan to deceive the entire world into believing something other than the rapture has taken place.