But now let’s shift gears. I want to introduce all of you to a fairly hefty amount of peer-review literature (here, in psychiatric / psychological literature) on alleged alien abductions. In 1996 the professional journal Psychological Inquiry devoted an entire issue to alien abductions (vol. 7, issue 2). I have reproduced the contents below, with abstracts of each article. I have PDF files for all the articles, and I want us to begin reading through them together in order. I hope to stimulate some comments from readers, obviously. My goal is to show options for the abduction phenomenon. I hope readers of all persuasions have an open mind, because the spectrum of explanations (other than ETH) is pretty wide. All of the views have their points of coherence and problems.

Two things should be specifically noted in view of where our discussions have been in the recent past. First, there are other explanations for abductions besides the psychological explanations presented in this issue and other literature.As I and others have noted, abduction experiences can be filed in many categories. Second, the work of psychologists in this area does not undermine the demonic option as a possible explanation for some abductions. However, it does undermine the notion that the experiences of people are likely predominantly spiritual or demonic.

Here is the Table of Contents. Note that the first article has a live link, since we’ll start with that article in our reading.

1. Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories. By: Newman, Leonard S.; Baumeister, Roy F. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p99, 28p; Abstract Offers a prototype of the unidentified flying object (UFO) abduction experience and presents an assessment of the frequency of such reports. Cognitive-motivational explanation for the creation of spurious memories of UFO abductions; Parellels between UFO abduction accounts and masochistic fantasies; Elaboration of hallucinations, general knowledge and contextual cues; Role of hypnosis in false-memory creation.

2. Fantastic Accounts Can Take Many Forms: False Memory Construction? Yes. Escape From Self? We Don’t Think So. By: Arndt, Jamie; Greenberg, Jeff. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p127, 6p; Abstract Comments on the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Implausibility of the escape-from-self explanation of UFO abduction memories.

3. The Ordinary Nature of Alien Abduction Memories. By: Banaji, Mahzarin R.; Kihlstrom, John F.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p132, 4p; Abstract Presents comments on the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Psychological explanation of UFO abduction experiences in terms of both cognitive and motivational processes.

4. On the Edge of Science: Coping With UFOlogy Scientifically. By: Bowers, Kenneth S.; Eastwood, John D.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p136, 5p; Abstract Critiques the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Application of intrapsychic determinants of experience and behavior to the UFO abduction experience.

5. The Construction of Space Alien Abduction Memories. By: Clark, Steven E.; Loftus, Elizabeth F.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p140, 4p; Abstract Presents reactions to the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Argument that UFO abductions are a variety of false memories reconstructed with the suggestion of hypnosis.

6. Escaping the Self or Escaping the Anomaly? By: Hall, Robert L.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p143, 6p; Abstract Focuses on the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Newman and Baumeister’s explanation for claims of UFO abductions; Factors that lead to the development of false memories.

7. When Explanations Fail: Science and Pseudoscience in Psychology. By: Hull, Jay G.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p149, 3p; Abstract Presents comments on the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Lack of internal coherence in Newman and Baumeister’s explanation for claims of UFO abductions.

8. Alleged Alien Abductions: False Memories, Hypnosis, and Fantasy Proneness. By: Lynn, Steven Jay; Kirsch, Irving I.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p151, 5p; Abstract Comments on the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Effect of hypnosis on human memory; Relationship between hypnosis and fantasy proneness.

9. A More Parsimonious Explanation for UFO Abduction. By: McLeod, Caroline C.; Corbisier, Barbara; Mack, John E.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p156, 13p; Abstract Presents a critique of the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Arguments regarding the relationship between fantasy proneness, masochistic fantasy and hypnotic elaboration.

10. “Memories” of Anomalous and Traumatic Autobiographical Experiences: Validation and Consolidation of Fantasy Through Hypnosis. By: Orne, Martin T.; Whitehouse, Wayne G.; Orne, Emily Carota; Dinges, David F.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p168, 5p; Abstract Responds to the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Cognitive-motivational explanation for claims of UFO abductions; Validation of fantasy through hypnosis.

11. Distinguishing Memory From Fantasy. By: Ross, Michael; Newby, Ian R.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p173, 5p; Abstract Presents comments on the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Relationship of UFO abduction memories to ‘recovered’ memories of childhood sexual abuse.

12. Abduction Tales As Metaphors. By: Spence, Donald P.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p177, 3p; Abstract Reacts to the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Analysis of UFO abduction tales as metaphors for cultural crisis; Themes of powerlessness, uncertainty and alienation in abduction stories.

13. The Truth Is Out There. By: Strube, Michael J.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p180, 5p; Abstract Presents a critique of the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Limitations of the ‘escape from self’ explanation for claims of UFO abduction.

14. Not Just Another False Memory: Further Thoughts on the UFO Abduction Phenomenon. By: Newman, Leonard S.; Baumeister, Roy F.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p185, 13p; Abstract Responds to various comments made on the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Role of hypnosis in the creation of abduction memories; Characteristics of a fantasy-prone person.

Technorati Tags: abductions, alien abductions, alien greys, extraterrestrials, hypnosis, psychiatry, psychology, religion

Technorati Tags: extraterrestrials, politics, propaganda, religion

Technorati Tags: abductions, alien abductions, alien greys, Christianity, theology

For the Nazis, their religio-mythical base was the Aryan mythology wedded to Germanic folklore. In the hands of Himmler and his ilk, this amounted an amalgam of Blavatsky’s root races mythology and other elements of theosophy, occult bloodline lore, eastern religion, and even ET as a progenitor of the human race. If you’re interested in all this and want to read scholarly material on it, I recommend Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke’s “trilogy” - the first volume of which is his Oxford doctoral dissertation (the ET/UFO connection is in ch. 8 of the third book):

1. The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology

2. Hitler’s Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth, and Neo-Nazism

3. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity

For our purposes, I thought this article could serve as a springboard to how the ET mythology of the 20^th century could serve various constituencies. Anyone who follows “exopolitics” knows that it’s already serving political ends. Let’s list a few that area already present, and some that might surface if there is an ET reality someday-or such a reality is contrived for the masses.

1. The radical political left-wingers - I’m thinking here of people like Alfred Webre and Steven Greer. ET is the answer to global warming and alternative energy. If something happened to sway the masses into believing ET contact had been made - or was genuinely on the horizon, people like Greer, who fancy themselves as some sort of avatar or liaison with ET would be in a position to demand real power and influence-effectively attaining that status. ET would be a political tool for all sorts of global change. Don’t believe me? Look at global warming (which I consider a myth in terms of human causation-and hence human solution-and thousands of scientists do as well, but are effectively silenced). Global warming is really about changing the global economy, redistributing the wealth of the West to the end of government ownership of industry (i.e. socialism and then communism), and keeping the Third World from developing. This is an old agenda, dating back to Marx and the Fabian society. If you want scholarship on this, I recommend the two academic works below:

My point here is that the global warming / climate change agenda has already been merged by some with the ET issue. That won’t change, and will gain momentum if ET becomes official (real or not).

2. The military industrial complex - This one’s easy and also already here (and has been for decades). If you’ve read The Façade, you know that one of my takes on the UFO issue is that the idea of alien craft visiting earth has been a useful lie since the events of Roswell. I was in print with this idea before Nick Redfern, but he’s the guy who’s put the most time into it. The alien crash myth was a carrot dangled before the public to cover up a PAPERCLIP screw-up at Roswell. The science fiction climate was just right for it, and it served as an unfalsifiable mythology that helped deflect attention away from the fact that Nazi and other war criminal scientists were on our payroll helping us fight the Cold War. I frankly wonder if mainstream science could ever come forth with an “ET is real” statement without getting the orders for doing so from the military. It’s a bit scary to think that the military really is in the position of “validating” ET for the scientific community (which wouldn’t be good science). What if there was a selfish, rogue element in our military that cared more for its own agenda than constitutional rule? All that would be needed is for the military to admit (even in private) that all that alien visitation and UFO crash stuff was real, but withheld from the public to avoid panic. The military industrial complex could bring about a new phase of the mythology to accelerate the weaponization of space. It really wouldn’t even need to be public. Admissions, advice, and demands could all be made behind the closed doors of Congress or the Oval Office. ET would be the ultimate enemy for the military to protect us from. Always formidable, always out there, always justifying the need for more. Again, all that’s needed is the BELIEF that ET is real. Just speculation for now, obviously. My point is only how the BELIEF could be used.

3. Radical Islam - Yes, you read correctly. Sound bizarre? Well, there isn’t much about radical Islam that’s very coherent, is there? Nevertheless, it is flourishing. This is in part because, as Muslims who have broken away from Islam (radical and otherwise) have told anyone who will listen, that 99% of Muslims know next to nothing about the contents of the Quran. They know only what their radicalizers tell them. Granted, there’s a lot of content in the Quran that fits their logic and agenda, but there’s also material that doesn’t. My point is that there is no intellectual wave of resistance within Islam against the radical fundamentalists in its ranks because most of the radicalized are ignorant. They are also kept in tow by fear. The educated radicals we read about from time to time typically buy it because they are taught to hate the West, as though Muslims could never be the source and solution for their own problems around the globe. Anyway-did you realize that the Quran allows for, and even suggests, that there is ET life?¹ Moreover, the Quran can also read as having Adam created off planet earth by Allah from blood and clay and even a “sperm drop” - who is spoken of in the plural. (Sounds like Sitchin, doesn’t it?).² I’m not suggesting that this is the correct way to read the Quran, only that it COULD be read this way - and I believe it WOULD be read that way in the wake of an ET revelation. It would be easy for radical Islam to claim that the discovery of real ET life and the relationship of humanity to our “space brothers” was anticipated only by the holy Quran, thereby validating its inspired status. I don’t think that would hurt Islam’s growth and power. Outside of the Al-Qaeda type, these ideas are already being popularized in the urban ghetto ³

4. The most scary group for my money is one that, to my knowledge, doesn’t exist yet in any unified, formalized, intentional body. This is the group that I’ll share some thoughts about in my next post.

Again, to be clear - none of this is about what’s real, only what could be believed, and how such beliefs could be used to manipulate. The ET myth could be a powerful tool to various ends.

Technorati Tags: alien gods, aliens, extraterrestrials, folklore, Islam, Nazis, Quran, religion, theosophy, UFOs

Let’s start with how the Nazis used their pseudo-science to build a mythology that would both fire and control the masses, as well as provide a rationale for the Nazi agenda in all its horror.

There were a number of ideological points to Nazi ideology that needed a supporting mythology - a metanarrative, so to speak, that gave it the ideology legitimacy:

• Racism (especially anti-Semitism) and the belief in the superiority of the White, Germanic, Aryan or Nordic races.
• Euthanasia and Eugenics with respect to “Racial Hygiene”
• The rejection of democracy, along with its corollaries, the control of religion, the press, and the academy
• The “leader principle” - faith / belief in the leader (or the inevitability of the master race producing ultimate leaders)
• Social Darwinism
• Collective identity (as opposed to individualism); everything was about the state

Let’s make some brief comments about these guiding ideas:

1. Racism, Eugenics, Racial Hygiene, Collective Identity - The myth in a master race meant not only that the German people could think of themselves as superior, but it created a binding, unified, transcendent identity to those who were included. It fostered collective identity. The folklore associated with the idea said that racial purification was a way to regain a lost, advanced humanity. The intellectual prowess and superiority of the ascended citizenry of this lost quasi-divine race was worth regaining for all the good it could do. The master race was the hope of humanity, and that ends justified many (really, ANY) means used in pursuit of recovering it. It was too important to fail, and inferior races that stood in the way and threatened purification had to be eliminated.

2. Social Darwinism and Rejection of Democracy - Naturally, those of more pure blood, closer to the folkloric / mythological master race were more advanced. This superiority naturally qualified them as the leaders, the enlightened elite who knew better than most, and whose duty it was to keep the unwashed masses in line while their numbers could grow (remember Himmler’s programs to have the SS membership matched with racially proper “breeder” women; cf. the book, Of Pure Blood). Eventually, inferior specimens could either be killed off or their flawed stock would be replaced generationally. But then again, you always needed the inferior around as worker bees. They certainly have no right or ability to rule those far more advanced and enlightened. And so what? It is survival of the fittest. And who could argue? Himmler believed that the original master race, now preserved in the Germanic stock, was fathered by extraterrestrials. That mythology in place, THIS race had a divine right to rule - and that right needed to be regained, asserted, and entrenched (ultimately, in a globalistic sense). Social Darwinism, of course, borrows and depends upon evolutionary biology. And if naturalistic Darwinism is indeed correct, humans are not “endowed by their creator with inalienable rights” - they have no inherent rights. They are animals like everything else - and the only “rightness” to be had is racial (biological) superiority, which also entail intellectual superiority when you’re talking about the high point, the hairless apes we call humans (see the book, From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany).

3. The Leader Principle (or, the Master Dynastic Principle) - This amounts simply to faith in the race, and faith in the leaders produced by that race. And since the leaders, the enlightened elite, have as their goal a totalitarian utopia, where the elite truly rule (as is their right by heritage and ability), faith in the leader is entirely consistent with faith in the state - or whatever we want to call the larger collective that holds power.

How does all this apply to ufology? Actually, the better question is, How would an intelligent ET reality - or the perception of an ET reality, regardless of whether it was provable or not - affect humanity in the context of the human (governmental) thirst for power? One thing’s for sure - an ET reality isn’t going to rid humanity of the desire to have power over other humans. I would suggest that an ET reality or mere perception of it would be a very useful folkloric tool.

In the rest of this post, I want to take the above three groupings and see how this could work. But as a precursor, I want to unpack the “perception” phrasing I just used. Personally, I don’t think we need actual scientific proof of ET to have a global paradigm change in this area. I also don’t think we need a literal alien visitation that would be undeniable to the mainstream scientific and political communities of the world. I think all that’s needed for this shift is the suggestion, by mainstream science, politics, and media, that intelligent life had once existed elsewhere. This is easily obtainable. Given the propensity of the masses to believe that what is truth is what the media elite put in front of them (the “official” kinds of news sources), it would take only a NASA panel to interpret data in such a way. If NASA went on Larry King and said, “you know, Larry, we’ve found exactly the kind of microbial life on Mars that we know gave rise to higher life forms on earth, including intelligent life. We’re betting that there were genuine ETs on Mars at one time but that their civilization is long gone” that’s all it would take. The extrapolation would begin. The populace does that now at amazing numbers, despite lacking such “confirmation” as this. So what if this shift happened? Back to the usefulness of the ET myth.

Let’s go on one rabbit-trail for now.

It takes little imagination to realize that if it ever became widespread belief that intelligent ET life was actually for real, the assumed ETs would invariably be linked with human life. That has actually already been put forth in the form of undirected panspermia - the idea that life on earth (and life on other planets) was seeded from space by natural, random forces. You and I have already read this sort of thing in connection with the research being done on Mars. In fact, in the first two years of the newsletter I used to write (2002-2004), I personally collected over 200 articles (mostly popular) promoting the idea of panspermia and ET life (in whatever form) as a key to understanding the evolution of life on earth and/or human evolution. This is nothing new.

If the idea caught on with enough people - say, like global warming, so that it became part of school curricula - the result would be felt a number of ways. There would be a sense that we are all human, as opposed to non-human. People would feel it more acceptable to talk about the ETs that are still out there. Credence would be lent to the idea of ancient earth visitation. Commonalities in the genetics of humans and other life forms on earth would be interpretively sifted through the ET life grid (confusing correlation with causation).

This is all somewhat innocuous. But what of people who’d want to manipulate other people with such information? We already have “Indigo children” and those who suspect that they are the first wave of an advance in human evolution. Maybe their connection with space is stronger than most. Maybe the new information about our space connection was just what was needed to explain the Indigos. Or….even better, maybe it’s because enough people who “had more” of the space material in them intermarried so that certain characteristics are now becoming genetically dominant in succeeding generations. Recent media creations (like the series “Heroes”) suggests this trajectory, and it isn’t alone there. Hey, maybe there’s something to the idea of a superior race, and we’re just starting to see that the “ancient wisdom” has validity.

Now, of course, the genetically superior wouldn’t use that superiority to harm anyone - we’d need to study the new advanced stock so that it could be shared. Yes, we could make inferior people better through genetic engineering! (No matter how you slice it, it’s racial hygiene, but it sounds so…”technological” and clinical this way). Bear in mind at this point that I’m describing the “sane” version of these events. Naturally, the more convinced the masses became of an ET reality, the greater the likelihood that some would claim to be part of an ET lineage. Crazy…but what if that person had abilities no one else did (or an elite few)? Why, we “know” that the alien aspects of our DNA have been awakened all over the globe - maybe this fellow really does have some sort of concentrated form of that stock. Maybe that’s why he’s a super genius - and you know, we ought to listen to super geniuses since they’re rare. He could lead us on a more enlightened path. Our collective hope is to be led by him and be like him. He can show us the way. Or, we could at least find out what makes him tick now that the human genome is mapped, and then we can alter succeeding generations to vault our own evolution. Hmmm … Someone needs to be in charge of that, I’d guess.

Now, I know this sounds nutty - but don’t miss the point - I’m talking about MYTHOLOGY as a political tool. In Nazi Germany the folklore and myths propounded by the Nazi occultists were taught as fact (that actually began in the late 19^th century). Their nonsense was the “established fact” of the academy during that time. Millions bought what we look at today as being pure absurdity. People will believe what they are told - as long as they are sufficiently under-educated or uneducated. Don’t get me started on that one. We have a culture (now) in the West that is bent on pleasuring and entertaining itself above all. I used to laugh when Jay Leno would go out on the street and talk to the average person about what you’d think is basic knowledge for anyone who is ambulatory. I don’t anymore. And the problem isn’t that there are so many people who can’t think critically (which is FAR different than technical aptitude), they don’t care. Apathy reigns alongside the longing to entertaining ourselves to death.

No, it wouldn’t take a whole lot to get huge throngs of people to believe in an idea that would redefine how we think of humanity. We’ll pick up on that in a bit.

Technorati Tags: evolution, extraterrestrials, folklore, Nazis, propaganda, religion

The article does two things, fundamentally: (1) it provides a fairly detailed overview of the abduction experience, and even a bit of its history, and (2) it discusses how reports of this experience overlap with other “supernatural kidnapping” stories of the past. It will be obvious to those who read Bullard’s article that there are a number of parallels between alien abductions and pre-technological “supernatural kidnappings.”

Here is a sampling from the article:

Observations and Questions:

1. There are two obvious omissions: the “dying planet” and “apocalyptic warning” theme. With respect to a folklore comparison, we could ask when the “alien experience” in general took up those themes. If you’ve been reading this blog, you know-the late 1940s and 1950s, with the advent of nuclear technology. However, both these themes are part of older theosophical and occult traditions which, as we have seen in previous posts, have significant overlaps with the ET contact and alien abduction narratives.

2. The article also points out that the “dying planet” and “apocalyptic warning” themes also have strong parallels in science fiction literature of the 1950s.

3. If the fairy stories “really” ALSO reflect space alien interventions and contacts (i.e., the fairy stories are attempts by people centuries ago to describe alien contact), why is it that aliens, advanced as they were to come in spaceships BACK THEN lacked modern clinical and surgical procedures for breeding with humans? This is a strange omission if these older stories are really about ETs.

4. Likewise it is strange to not have spaceships in the older fairy stories.

5. If the older stories are about ETs, why do the ETs come from subterranean places, with no mention of coming from outer space?

6. If EITHER narrative is about space aliens, why is paranormal contact (of a “non-outer space” nature - e.g., ghosts) a follow up of the abduction experience?

7. It appears the incongruities between the narratives revolve around advanced technology that we, as moderns in the technological age, would be familiar with. When this is juxtaposed against the greater number of congruent items, it seems as though we have an experience with common features and themes that is played out against “cultural familiarities” or “cultural expectations” at different times. If this was all about space aliens, this would make no sense, since those aliens are supposed to have possessed advanced technology all the way back to our stone age. The point is that, if we are dealing with space aliens here, the pattern should be the same at all points at all times of occurrence (and especially not lacking technological elements) since the perpetrators had such technology at all stages of human history.

8. Number seven in turn suggests that these experiences, if they are perpetrated by a true intelligence, has nothing to do with outer space, but perhaps “inner space” or other dimensional realities. This intelligence (or these intelligences) “adapt” the experience / visitation / mental imagery to the cultural or technological level of the experience.

9. Conversely, if this the experiences through time are all due to sleep paralysis or some other natural stimulation, how is it that the experiencers have so many narrative elements that overlap? Why would someone two centuries ago dream the same narrative elements, often in the same sequence? Is there a part of the brain that governs supernatural kidnapping dreams?

Let’s chat!

Technorati Tags: alien abductions, alien greys, Bullard, folklore

Agree on both counts. Now for the remedy.

One of the stated goals of this blog was to introduce readers to peer-reviewed scholarship that in some way relates to UFOs (or re-introduce for some - I’m guessing the minority). To that end I am posting the following two articles for readers to read, as I’ll be commenting on them in the very near future (I’ll give you all a couple days to read them). The first is self-explanatory. The second will raise some eyebrows and prompt the question of how it relates to UFOs and religion. Oh … it does.  This one won’t make me any new friends in the UFO community. In the immortal words of Richard Hoagland, “stay tuned.”

Please read:

Thomas E. Bullard, “UFO Abduction Reports: The Supernatural Kidnap Narrative Returns in Technological Guise,” Journal of American Folklore 102:404 (Apr-June 1989): 147-170

Christa Kamenetsky, “Folklore as a Political Tool in Nazi Germany,” Journal of American Folklore 85:337 (July-Sept 1972): 221-235

Technorati Tags: alien abductions, alien greys, aliens, folklore, mind control, Nazis, religion, UFOs

The one thing that I really wanted to touch upon though is what some of the researchers said about the name of Yeshua not working for some people. True that maybe this is allowed to happen for some purpose that only Yahweh knows but here is something else. We have to discover who the victim considers Yeshua to be. I will explain further. I had one case where a woman called me for counseling and said that she had called on Yeshua’s name a few times with no result. After talking with her a while she revealed to me that she believed in the New Age Jesus, or just a being who once came to earth with the “Christ Consciousness” and who was on the same par as Buddha, Mohammed and other renown philosophers. When she called on Yeshua, she was calling on that personage. Basically, she was calling on one satanic force to rescue her from the aliens (another satanic force). Might as well have called on Bill Clinton or Howdy Doody because the results would have been the same. We have to wonder, and it is pretty well set in my mind, that if, let’s say that a Muslim called on Yeshua it might not work because he only sees Yeshua as one of many great prophets, and not the Son of God, or God Himself. It is also possible that a Mormon wouldn’t be able to afford the help because they have a warped (by Biblical standards) sense of who Yeshua really is, seeing that they believe that Yeshua and Satan are brothers. This idea can be used with all other religions, and especially if they don’t recognize Yeshua as being Yahweh!

I’ve read the paragraph a couple times now, closely. It appears to me that I could boil this down to “If you are not a Bible-believing Christian, it is useless to invoke the name of Jesus for deliverance in an abduction experience.” Mind you, Dave may not believe this as I’ve summarized it, which is why I want to bring it up for readers. In what follows, I am assuming that Dave might also go beyond the abduction experience in this regard — that is, he might believe it is useless for unbelievers (non-Christians) to invoke the name of Jesus for deliverance in ANY regard - that is, God doesn’t answer the prayers of non-Christians. If I need correcting there, Dave will do so in comments. But I’d like to pursue this issue. I used to believe this. What changed my mind? The Bible.

Now, for sure there are passages that speak to the issue of God not hearing the prayers of the wicked (who would not be a believer). See for example, John 9:31; Prov. 28:9. While it is true that, in biblical theology, someone who is not a believer is “lost” as a sinner (and all humans are described as such) and alienated from God (Rom. 3:10; Rom. 3:12; Rom. 3:23; Col. 1:21-22; Eph. 2:19), and that “the wrath of God remains on the unbeliever” (John 3:36), the Bible DOES make a distinction between unbelievers in general and God-fearing unbelievers — unbelievers who are seeking God in a way that God honors, who are not thumbing their nose at God, so to speak. The best example is Cornelius.

The basic question of whether God answers the prayer of an unbeliever appears to be answered affirmatively in Acts 10, with Cornelius. Cornelius is described as a God-fearing man. More precisely, Cornelius was a God-fearing pagan Gentile, not a Jew - the whole point of Acts 10 in the book of Acts is to show the gospel spreading FROM Jews TO pagans / Gentiles.¹ This is not a contradiction, since MANY pagans were monotheists in the ancient world. The best scholarly study on this is Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity in case anyone’s interested. The biblical text of Acts 10 tells us that this man, who did not worship the God of Moses according to the laws God had laid out for the Jews — the truth of how to approach God in biblical theology — was still “God fearing.” He was, to use today’s parlance, “seeking God as he understood him.” Or maybe we’d say “his heart was in the right place, though his theology left a lot to be desired.” But God saw his seeking heart and heard his prayers BEFORE he was a Christian. Cornelius was NOT a believer in Jesus, since the whole point of Acts 10 is to tell us how he became a follower of Jesus the Messiah, setting off a wave of evangelism to the Gentiles.

Now, someone could argue, “Well, God only heard and answered Cornelius because he was asking God how to go to heaven” or something like that. This argument has two problems. First, the biblical text never actually tells us the content of Cornelius’ prayer, so the argument is based on nothing; it’s an argument from silence (or speculation). Second, even if the argument is on the right track and Cornelius WAS seeking to know the true God and the way of salvation, then what do we have? We have a man who was seeking truth, imperfectly or with a certain amount (maybe a great amount) of theological ineptitude. God didn’t seem to mind.

This is an important point for the “New Age Jesus” crowd. The New Age Jesus is certainly not the Jesus of the New Testament. Reading the material of both views will tell you that pretty quickly. But can God look at the heart of someone whose theology about Jesus is incorrect, or even a mess, and still answer their prayer? I think Cornelius would say “of course; been there, done that, got the toga.” Now, someone could say, “Well, God might answer the prayer of someone seeking him” - after all Hebrews 11:6 says seeking in faith is what God wants - “but he won’t answer the prayer of an unbeliever in other cases, like abductions. The seeker of salvation will get their prayer answered but that’s the only exception.” We’ve already seen that we actually don’t know that Cornelius was praying for. But let’s put him in the seeker box and address this related question: Does God hear the prayer of a non-Christian in some other circumstance besides seeking salvation?

I would suggest that there is evidence for the idea that a non-Christian can pray a prayer that is not STRICTLY the “prayer of salvation / repentance.” The key seems to be that the non-Christian is one who respects God, as opposed to being in open rebellion against God. John 9:31 (cited above) gives us this insight: “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.” Psalm 145:19 gives the same general principle. Here’s the point: If a non-believer / non-Christian is trying to know God in sincerity, God takes notice and, in his will and at his discretion, can respond to that person. Here are some interesting passages that, while not as explicit as the case of the God-fearing pagan Cornelius, still point in the same direction:

2 Chron. 6:32-33 (Solomon’s prayer at the temple dedication): 32 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, 33 hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

Gen 30:25 As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.” 27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.

The first example is pretty straightforward. Solomon, at the height of his walk with Yahweh, prays that Yahweh will hear and answer when foreigners who come to visit the temple (now there’s something odd - Gentiles in or near the temple) out of reverence for the name of Yahweh and offer prayer to him. There seem to be no other theological preconditions except reverence for the God of Israel. And Solomon doesn’t restrict the prayer to one of repentance or “becoming an Israelite” - he asks Yahweh to answer “according to all” the stranger asks. Pretty wide latitude for the prayer request! Now, we could be cynical and say God rolled his eyes at this request and Solomon was wrong to pray this, but then we’d be judging the passage by our own assumptions and silence of the text — hardly a sound hermeneutic.

The second passage is interesting because Yahweh answers the divinatory request of Laban, hardly a shining example of a God seeker. The word for “divination” here is, incidentally, also occurs in Deut. 18:9-14 (cf. vv. 10, 14). I’ve recently written an article on how it is that followers of Yahweh at times use the same divination techniques condemned in Deut 18 (but that’s off track here). At any rate, God answers Laban’s request and gives him information only he and Jacob knew, since God had spoken to Jacob about blessing him and his herds. It was really Yahweh, Laban really did use divination to contact God, and God really did answer. I wouldn’t call Laban a believer. Was he a seeker? Maybe. Hard to know what he is. It’s true that Jacob’s wife Rachel steals the “household gods” (teraphim) from her father Laban when Jacob leaves town, but teraphim aren’t necessarily idols (they may or may not be used in idolatry - again, veering off topic). I don’t see any evidence that Laban was a Yahweh-follower, but it’s hard to tell “how pagan” or how theologically misguided he was. He at least had respect for Jacob’s God and tried to contact him.

So how does this relate to the bigger issue raised by Dave Ruffino’s post? It should be apparent. Here’s what we can say with confidence (and humility) with respect to the Bible. It is quite possible for a non-Christian to pray and be answered by God. This would include a prayer for deliverance in an abduction experience. However, even if the victim is a Christian, an answer of deliverance depends on God’s will in the matter. God is no vending machine. However, God will not hear the prayer of the wicked, the person who is in rebellion and disrespectful of God, unless the prayer offered is a prayer of repentance (something the Bible says God always hears). What this means for the abduction discussion is that an affirmatively-answered prayer for deliverance in the name of Jesus from the abduction experience is not proof positive that the delivered person is a Christian, nor is an unanswered prayer for such deliverance proof positive the victim is not a Christian. If the non-Christian victim has been seeking God sincerely, but ineptly with respect to biblical theology, God can hear that prayer and may answer it. Those who work with abductees and are Christians should do that work with humility, not assuming their own omniscience as to whether a non-Christian is seeking God “enough” or “in the right way” so as to be delivered. Discerning the heart of the seeking non-Christian vs. an unrepentant and wicked heart of a non-Christian (or believer!) is part of God’s job description, not ours. If the abduction experience is demonic, in whole or in part, Jesus is Lord over that evil. And in dealing with that evil, Jesus may surprise us. If we believe he is God the Son, then we need to let him be God and not build a box for him to work in. To borrow a line from C. S. Lewis about Aslan, the Christ figure of the Chronicles of Narnia, “he is not a tame lion.”

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