APOCRYPHA/ALIEN-GOSPEL: FACT OR FICTION? – 2

 

1 – What is the Alien Gospel?
2 – Invasion by the Forces of Darkness
3 – Invasion by the Forces of Light? UFOs? Hybrids/Giants?
4 – Apocryphal Works: Old and New
5 – Reverse-Engineering/Embellishment of Artistic Works
6 – “As the Days of Noah. . . Seed of the Woman”
7 – Staying on Track
8 – Where to Draw the Line
APPENDIX 1: “Mingle themselves with seed of men” (Daniel 2:43)
APPENDIX 2: Why the Book of Enoch was not written by Enoch

APPENDIX 3: What’s wrong with the Book of Jasher
APPENDIX 4: How Canon Scripture Differs from Apocryphal Literature

2 – Invasion by the Forces of Darkness

Regarding the infiltration of demonic spirits (mentioned in the previous section), Revelation 12 tells us the following:

His tail [of the Devil] drew a third of the stars of heaven [demonic angels] and threw them to the earth… And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.  (12:4,7-10)

Now the “infiltration” of planet Earth by the rebellious angels has already happened, as anyone can see by looking at the miserable state of our world. They have been here since the beginning of time and created their hell on Earth in place of the Paradise that once existed in the Garden of Eden. But what the Scriptures quoted above reveal is the complete expulsion of Satan and his hordes from having any access at all to the Heavenly Realm. “Nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.”

Apparently, these demons, or some of them at least, are still permitted a small degree of access to that Realm. (This we can understand from the Book of Job, chapters 1-2, where Satan is portrayed appearing before the throne of God to plead his case against mankind.) But their total banishment from that Realm will come in the very End Time. In fact, the Scriptures seem to be quite specific about this, pinpointing the exact timing: 3½ years prior to Christ’s Second Coming. (Revelation 11:2-3, 12:6, 13:5)

Naturally, such an “invasion” by the forces of Darkness will bring great distress upon the world of mankind.

Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time [3½ years]. . . So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman [followers of Christ], that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. . . And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:12,15,17)

There is much reason then to believe that our world will become more violent, war-ravaged, and just plain miserable prior to the Second Coming. For those who stand up for truth in that era – those “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” – life is going to become difficult. (Revelation 12:17)

The time will be ripe then for God to intervene directly, not only because of human society’s unresolved problems with war, pollution, food and water scarcities, and so on, but now Earth will have become the temporary home for an angry Devil and his marauding hordes. Their invasion will be their last-ditch assault on planet Earth and will precipitate the return of Christ to rescue the human race and creation from destruction.

During this final dark period in Earth’s history, there is reason to believe that demons could materialize in order to wield greater influence over the course of events. To what extent God will allow that, we don’t know. Certainly, those demons will try to organize the forces of the world to persecute the true followers of Christ and of God. The Scriptures do seem to indicate that their approach will have to be indirect mostly – confined to influencing the world by working through the Antichrist and the False Prophet and their followers.

In the Scriptures they are portrayed as “agents” or “spokespersons” for their master the Dragon:

The dragon [Satan] gave him [the beast from the sea, the Antichrist] his power and his throne, and great authority… And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months… It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. [And the] beast from the earth [the False Prophet, who] spoke like a dragon [caused the image of the beast to] both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13:2,5,7,11,15)

In addition to their persecution of the people of God, the demonic forces will even go so far as to call the armies of the world to Armageddon to fight against the forces of God Himself:

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty…. And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon… And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. (Revelation 16:13,14,16; 19:19)

Now it is important to understand here that these are spirits of demons”. They are disembodied, not physical beings; nevertheless, being powerful demons, they are able, even in their invisible form, to perform “signs” and to influence the “kings of the earth” to wage war at Armageddon.

Up to this time, the kings of the earth probably have not had much of a clue as to what is really going on. In Luke 17:26-29 and Matthew 24:37-39 we learn that the world’s inhabitants will be unaware of the “coming of the Son of Man”.

By this time, however, they will be aware. . . because the Messiah Jesus has made His initial appearance – at the end of what is known as the “Great Tribulation”:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days… Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and… they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. [This is that great day in history when Christ] will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet [to] gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31)

During this margin of time “after the tribulation” comes the period of God’s “indignation”. The Dragon, Beast, and False Prophet will be preparing to war against the next ruler of planet Earth, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. And this is the time when they will try to rally the forces of the world to resist Christ’s coming.

So if the demons are going to masquerade as fake “saviors” from another planet, then this is when they will have to do it. For at this time the world is starting to realize that the “end of the Age” is coming upon them. Christ has made His initial appearance, and the world has seen Him – easy to happen in modern times with our extensive media broadcasting services.

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him… Immediately after the tribulation… they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Revelation 1:7, Matthew 24:30)

At this point in time, because of the Antichrist and False Prophet’s prior propaganda campaigns, a great many of the world’s people will feel it is in their best interest to fight against the forces of Christ. But how or where it fits in – the scenario of demons masquerading as aliens – is still hard to fathom.

Will demons be able to materialize, which would make their job much easier? Well, that we don’t know. But, judging by the passage in Revelation 16:13-14 mentioned above, it doesn’t seem likely that they are allowed to have much of that kind of ability. In this age demon influence happens indirectly – they can only influence our thoughts and in many cases can go so far as to possess people – take over their spirits. The same rule applies to the angels of God.

Now testimonies do abound of angels materializing in special times of need to help in disastrous situations. So there is no reason why demons could not do the same, but like angels, on a limited scale. Still, in the days of the very End, things are likely to change. Because of the intensity of the spiritual warfare then, it is likely that both angels and demons will materialize more frequently.

In days to come, many (a majority perhaps) of nations will be following the Antichrist and False Prophet, two flesh-and-blood human beings – leaders who are visible to the eyes of the world. That is why the Dragon has had to give them so much power (as was mentioned in the Scriptures from Revelation 13), because he can’t do it himself.

Certainly, the Dragon will be able to take over and influence the minds and bodies of the Antichrist and False Prophet and other leaders of the world at that time. That in itself will empower them to persuade a large portion, if not most, of the world to get behind the persecution of the “saints” (those who pursue righteousness, peace, and truth).

Judging by what the Revelation Scriptures say, these personages, who will be leading their armies later to fight at Armageddon, are not actual demons, or demons pretending to be aliens. But then, could they be offspring of human-demon procreation? Perhaps, but the prophetic Scriptures do not give any solid indication of anything along those lines. Whether or not God will allow demons to have this capacity to procreate with humans and produce offspring, we don’t really know.

Other revealing passages on this subject appear in Revelation 12 and 13 about the Dragon and the Antichrist. Strangely, both figures are portrayed in almost identical terms as “having seven heads and ten horns.” (12:3, 13:1) It is easy to understand the Antichrist’s “seven heads and ten horns” from chapter 13 as a symbolic representation of the Antichrist’s earthly empire, an outwardly visible one that has ruled from ancient times, and will rule, much of the world in its last days.

But then what about the Dragon’s “seven heads and ten horns” in Revelation 12? Are we to believe there will be another outwardly visible empire with the same configuration of heads and horns? It seems clear enough that this description was meant to illustrate the spiritual kingdom existing behind-the-scenes, like some kind of parallel universe, and controlling the visible empire of the Antichrist and False Prophet.

So, even though the Dragon (and his angels) do not appear visibly, the vision of him in chapter 12 does show that the Dark spiritual forces are intimately connected to the visible empire of the Antichrist. And here is where the influence of the False Prophet is crucial; he is described as speaking “like a dragon” who “causes the earth. . . to worship the first beast” and “deceives those who dwell on the earth.” (Revelation 13:11,12,14) This implies that he is a fairly direct “channel” that the Dragon will use to influence and manipulate the world and its final demagogue, the Antichrist.

Another question: Will the peoples of the world even realize they are being marshalled to fight against Christ and His armies? We may even wonder how much the Antichrist and False Prophet will be aware of this. Certainly, the Dragon knows, and he will be gearing up for that. But probably he is not just thinking in terms of fighting against the forces of Christ; his Antichrist and False Prophet will have earthly enemies – anti-Antichrists we might call them – nations who will oppose them.

It may be that Armageddon is not solely a battle of the Antichrist forces versus the celestial forces of Christ. It may also be a battle involving those earthly forces who are resisting the Antichrist forces. In Revelation 16:12 we learn “the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.” These “bowls” are supposed to be judgments that will trouble the Antichrist and his empire.

Thus it would follow that the “kings of the east” are enemies of the Antichrist coming to war against his forces. And in that case, the Second Coming of Christ (at Armageddon) would be a supernatural intervention to rescue those who are resisting the Antichrist’s armies. (Were it not for Christ’s intervention, these anti-Antichrist forces might suffer defeat at the hand of the Antichrist Beast’s superior forces.)

According to Matthew 25:37 and Luke 17:26-29, the world will not be aware that the End of Days is upon them. And if the nations are being dragged into this war by demonic influence to fight against Christ at the Battle of Armageddon, it could be a case where the demons know what’s coming, but earth-people don’t, or may have only a dim awareness.

The armies of the world will come to Armageddon to go into battle against earthly enemies, but the possibility of having to wage war against the forces of Heaven may seem too fantastic. If the world does have some idea by this time of what’s going on, it is probable also that the Antichrist and False Prophet will have used their powers of persuasion to alienate the world against God.

They may propagandize the world into thinking that God and His people have been causing too much trouble; therefore it will be necessary for human society to make its own way without God and not to allow any interference from the Supreme Being whom, they will try to convince the world, does not know what He’s doing.

It will be a losing battle for them, of course, and the Dragon may even know that. To understand this, an example from World War 2 is helpful to consider: as Hitler’s armies were being forced to retreat, it seems that all he could understand was destruction, a scorched-earth policy; he is purported to have said, “If we cannot win, then we shall drag half the world into the abyss with us.” Satan is known as the Destroyer; and as the example of Hitler (this man who was quite in tune with the forces of Darkness) shows, Satan’s main interest is to destroy as much of God’s Creation as he can before God pulls him out of action.

But for the world and the Antichrist’s armies, they may not be aware, or fully aware, of what is going on. If they thought that Christ would re-appear with the armies of Heaven, such an awareness might scare them off. At their level, the war may be nothing more than a battle against earthly enemies.

Now one thing that should be understood at this point: how these future events will play out is impossible to fully understand right now. Hopefully, the above scenario is not too speculative and reflects some kind of accurate picture of those days to come.

So back to the question, will these demonic intruders materialize, procreate with human beings, or pretend to be extra-terrestrial beings? At this point in the game these possibilities are only matters of conjecture, and probably, it is better not to promote such scenarios too forcefully since, as we have seen and will continue to see, there doesn’t seem to be much support for it in the Scriptures.

(NEXT)  3 – Invasion by the Forces of Light? UFOs? Hybrids/Giants?

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