Alien Encounters

A New Cosmology for the Church 
A Book Review 

Part 1: FLYING SAUCERS GO TO CHURCH
Alien Encounters: The Secret Behind the UFO Phenomenon by Chuck Missler & Mark Eastman was published in 1997. At the time the book first came out it would not have been an easy task to review the book, check the facts presented, analyze the credentials of the experts who are cited, authenticate footnotes and delve into original sources. But one can do this now, and with quite a bit of ease, simply because of the vastness of the Internet.

This article series temporarily interrupts the previous series, The Rise of Endtime Occultism. It begins a comprehensive review of Alien Encounters, which is still widely cited, heavily marketed,[2] and even published online.[3] While Alien Encounters is not the first book on the topic of UFOs to be published in the Christian world,[4] it has become the most influential. Many of the Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm (PPP)[5] leaders have said that it was this book – Alien Encounters – that persuaded them to believe new things about the future. Thus it has served as a foundational book for teaching an emergent postmodern eschatology – an endtime scenario that now includes UFOs, space aliens and Nephilim.[6] Below are a few examples of the widespread influence of Alien Encounters.

In a roundtable discussion about Nephilim at the Prophecy Summit 2012 with L.A. Marzulli, Rob Skiba and Douglas Hamp, Derek Gilbert acknowledges the influence of Alien Encounters:

1:44: GILBERT: “I’m like our twelve-year-old Dachshund, I’ve got the gray on the muzzle on both sides. And to my right, the author of the Nephilim Trilogy, and I must say, along with Chuck Missler’s book Alien Encounters, one of the reasons that I am sitting in this chair tonight, um, also the books Politics, Prophecy, and the Supernatural; The Cosmic Chess Match, and now the Watchers series on DVD—which you here in the audience have seen out on the table outside, please welcome L.A. Marzulli. [audience applause] [7]

Tom Horn, who propelled the new prophecy movement to “full steam ahead” by his vigorous online merchandising of the paranormal, has widely credited Alien Encounters. In his book Nephilim Stargates: the Year 2012, and the Return of the Watchers, Horn says that Missler and Eastman were the men who first asked the question: who or what was “mingling with the seed of men” in Daniel 2:43.[8] In this oft-cited question, Missler and his co-author Mark Eastman propose that a non-human species (or space aliens) mixed DNA with human beings. This same passage in Missler’s book is also cited by Terry James whose book The Departure: God’s Next Catastrophic Intervention into Earth’s History was published by Horn’s Defender Publishing.[9] Horn brings the quote up again in his book Apollyon Rising 2012 and the Return of the Watchers,[10] in his book Forbidden Gates: How Genetics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Synthetic Biology, Nanotechnology, and Human Enhancement Herald the Dawn of Techno-Dimensional Spiritual Warfare,[11] and again in his book God’s Ghostbusters.[12] This Missler/Eastman quote, in the context of the other theories espoused in Alien Encounters, thus forms the central core and foundation of the new prophecy movement’s teachings.

Further underscoring the significance of Missler’s book, PPP teacher L.A. Marzulli, in the acknowledgements to his work Nephilim, states: “Chuck Missler has been a source of inspiration. Alien Encounters is a must read for anyone wanting an indepth study of the alien phenomena from a biblical perspective.”[13] Similarly, Doug Hamp, who wrote Corrupting the Image: Angels, Aliens and the Antichrist Revealed, discloses: “The various messages were first compiled by researcher Brad Myers who did much of the research for the bestselling book Alien Encounters by Drs. Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman.”[14] Others associated with this same group of prophecy leaders include Peter Goodgame[15] and Steve Quayle,[16] who both cite Missler’s book. Noah Hutchings, who was quite interested in sensational endtime speculations during his lifetime, in a book published by Horn’s Defender Publishing, also cited Missler’s Alien Encounters as an authoritative work on UFOs.[17] Note that most of these Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm (PPP) teachers have been enabled to spread their message via Tom Horn’s various publishing endeavors.

A Note About this Review:
I determined to approach the book as an intently curious reader – analyzing its contents carefully, one chapter at a time, and openly considering its point of view. I was a novice regarding its subject matter, which seemed to be a good perspective from which to start.[18] I decided to do what any avidly interested reader would do—“google” the Internet to study more about the topics, look into the book’s citations, check out the resources, investigate the experts, locate the conferences, study the publications, and review the documentation. Any curious reader could do what I did, and that is the point of this review. In the process of researching this book, I realized that I was not quite so ignorant of the subject matter as I had first thought, and that my testimony intersects with this book at a number of points. Therefore, on occasion you will learn my own story. I am especially grateful for the helpful research assistance by other members of the Discernment Research Group, especially including Dr. Martin Erdmann, Susan Conway and Gaylene Goodroad.

What follows is an in-depth fact check, following along my research trail, on the subjects discussed in Chapter One of Alien Encounters.

“WHAT IN THE COSMOS IS GOING ON?” 
This is the title of Chapter One of Alien Encounters. The quotation at the front of this chapter boldly proclaims the topic to be discussed:

“A wave of unprecedented appearances of UFOs in the skies of Israel has stirred up UFO enthusiasts and several thousands of other people who have been witnesses to unforgettable sights. The mounting reports in recent weeks leave no room for doubt in the minds of many that UFOs have invaded Planet Earth!” [19]

This fascinating quote is attributed to “Israeli Journalist Iris Almagor, March 1997.” There is no further citation. It appears that Missler’s use of this quote has been published on the Internet on a variety of UFO sites, and it has even taken on Urban Legend status.[20] This was the first of many examples of Alien Encounters research becoming a self-replicating source of documentation, widely re-posted on the Internet. I would quickly learn that Alien Encounters has become very popular as a source of UFO information, and it is frequently quoted or cited on UFO lore websites.

Chapter One is all about UFOs, “unidentified flying objects” or “flying saucers.” I was immediately struck by the strangeness of the subject matter. Why is this unusual topic important to Christians? The answer cannot be found in the first chapter. One of Missler’s first citations is a NASA report, “NASA Scientists Find Evidence of Life on Mars.”[21] Missler acknowledges that there was “considerable doubt regarding the evidence,” but then he made a disparaging remark that “cynics snickered.”[22] Since life on Mars has been the topic of hot scholarly scientific debate for decades, this didn’t seem to be a fair characterization of those who don’t necessarily agree. As I continued reading, I became aware that this type of disparaging remark could be found throughout the book. So, cynics beware!

I was interested to read Missler’s perspective on UFOs. As an eminent evangelical teacher, I presumed that he would take a cautious approach on the subject, maintaining a biblical focus and relying on scholarly science. I was therefore quite shocked when I researched the next section where Missler discusses UFO appearances over Mexico City in 1993. Missler cites a 1994 article by Brit Elders in Connecting Link magazine.[23] I wanted to learn what Connecting Link magazine was all about since I’d never heard of it, so I googled it. I discovered that it was a New Age magazine which focused on UFO topics. I was so amazed that Missler used this magazine as a credible source that I even purchased an old copy of it from a used bookseller online. The exhibits in this post come from advertisements and articles published in Issue 21 of Connecting Link published in 1993, and the cover at the top of this post is from Issue 23 in 1994.

Some of the history of Connecting Link magazine is recorded in the “Acknowledgements and Foreword” of an online book Bringers of the Dawn: Teachings from the Pleiadians (1992) by Barbara Marciniak, “a student of Metaphysics.”[24] In the Foreword, Tera Thomas explains that this magazine’s purpose was to more widely distribute the channeled transmissions she and others were getting from space aliens:

When Barbara Marciniak and I met in 1988, we had both just begun an exciting new phase of our lives: I had moved to Michigan to birth a new magazine, Connecting Link, with publishers Barrie and Susie Konicov, and Barbara was birthing the Pleiadian channelings…. The year 1990, the beginning of the “unnamed decade,” came. Connecting Link was getting well established, and Barbara had made some three hundred tapes with the Pleiadians. [25]

Even more curious about this strange magazine, I discovered that Yvonne Cole, a New Age channeller for a purported space alien(s) called “Ashtar,”[26] wrote an article for Connecting Link in 1994:

One individual, named Yvonne Cole, who claimed to be channeling Ashtar messages from 1986, predicted the destruction of all Earth civilizations and the arrival on the planet of various alien cultures in 1994. Cole claimed that governments were working with extraterrestrials to prepare for contact. [27]

At this point, wanting to give the benefit of the doubt, I assumed these strange citations by Missler were just an anomaly. But then I found a Connecting Link article, “Conversation With The Pleiadians,” which purports to be a transcription of an actual channeled Pleadian transmission[28] to earth via Barbara Marciniak.[29] The channeled messages are about teaching humans change their belief systems, expand their mind, cultivate “energies,” develop an “aura,” tap into the “Universal Mind,” and find their “Higher Selves.”[30] This is very obviously New Age! Why would Missler quote from this?

Who are the Pleiadians? They apparently channeled their own bio:

THE SOURCE: The Pleiadians are a collective of extraterrestrials from the star system the Pleiades. The Pleiadian culture is ancient and was “seeded” from another universe of love long before Earth was created…. The Pleiadians are now here as ambassadors from another universe to help Earth through her difficult transition from the third dimension to the fourth dimension and to assist each of us in our personal endeavors of awakening, remembering and knowing. [31]

Curiously, the title of this transcribed channeled Pleiadian tape is “What Is Going On,” which is reminiscent of Missler’s chapter one title, “What in the Cosmos is Going On?” As I kept reading I discovered that Missler refers to the Pleiadians later in his book, including the channeled communications via Barbara Marciniak.[32] The point in mentioning all of this is that Missler cites this magazine four times as though it is a credible source of UFO information. Since when are any “channeled” transmissions reliable and honest sources of credible information? The New Age content was very evident! I kept hoping to see Missler issue some sort of disclaimer, a warning to believers,[33] or even a rebuttal, but it didn’t happen. So I kept reading, hoping that this was just an accidental or one-time oversight.

Still talking about the Mexico City UFOs, Missler references “Voyagers of the Sixth Sun, produced by Genesis III.”[34] This incomplete citation was curious so I researched and discovered that it was a reference to a video produced by brothers Brit and Lee Elders. (Brit Elders had also been the author of that Connecting Link article cited four times in the first chapter.) I learned that these Elders brothers have a less-than-stellar reputation as researchers. One critic harshly noted that they were not a reliable source of factual scientific information regarding the Mexico City phenomena:

Despite a wealth of evidence that Venus was the likely culprit in many of these videos, the Elders went out of their way to create a story that describes alien visitation. The mixing and matching of Mayan and Aztec myths and then trying to make some form of prediction made by the Maya is another case of the Elders trying to deceive the viewers of real facts. The Mexico City eclipse UFO story is nothing but a new age myth generated by a couple of con-artists, who rely on the viewer to be uninformed and willing to believe the most ridiculous claims. [35]

Missler next refers to UFOs seen over Israel in 1996. He quotes from a “British Journal UFO Reality”[36] as an authoritative source. A online search revealed that “Issue 6” cited by Missler was titled “The Big Invasion,” referring to space aliens. Other issues of this periodical talk about strange UFO events with such titles as “UK UFO Crash,” “The 19th Parallel,” UFO’s Over New York,” “Chinese Pyramics,” and “Crop Circle Special.”[37] This did not sound like a credible periodical. Missler also cites Barry Chamish who during the 1990s was a leading UFO researcher in Israel.[38] Footnote 19 refers to a Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper account, although no article title is provided in the footnote. However I did locate it online.[39]

I began to notice a pattern developing. Many of the footnotes and other references in Alien Encounters were incomplete. Was this intentional or just sloppiness? I worried that it might be on purpose considering the controversial nature of some of Missler’s documentation. Keep in mind that in 1997 it would have been nearly impossible for a reader to locate the remainder of an incomplete original source, but in 2013 I could usually fill in the blanks by googling information online. Perhaps this seems unfair, but since the book is still widely published and listed all over the Internet as an authoritative source, this is something that any reader could do. My point in following the research trail was also, I must confess, to see if it would lead the reader to hear the Gospel of Salvation. Sadly, I did not find it in the first chapter.

Missler quotes extensively from a USA Today report published on June 18, 1997 concerning Phoenix Lights.[40] These sightings are now entrenched in UFO Lore and have received considerable media attention over the years, even including UFO documentaries on the Discovery and History channels, and YouTube videos as well.[41] The perplexing thing about these types of UFO sightings is that there are no ready answers, the government does indeed appear to cover things up, and some people fraudulently profit from altering data (such as film footage). Many use these mysterious events to foment extraordinary conspiracy theories.[42] In his book, Missler footnotes this Phoenix Lights section with a frightening conspiracy theory of his own – a theory which even seems plausible – but which had no documentation:

The authors suspect that this wasn’t a UFO, but an [sic] test exercise in military holography, a ‘non-lethal weapons’ technology that went deeply classified in 1994. [43]

By this time in the book I was wondering why so much time was being spent on recording the various UFO sightings around the world. What does all this have to do with the Gospel? With Jesus Christ? It seemed very far removed from anything Christian. And the credible sources relied upon by Missler seemed to be getting more incredible each time I turned a page. The Korea UFO sightings described on pages 20-21 of Missler’s book were not footnoted but a search online revealed that some of the accounts can be found on UFO lore websites. Missler concludes this section by noting that the Korea story was “reported by mainstream media.”[44] Indeed, when UFO sightings are reported in mainstream publications, it does give it an air of legitimacy. But elsewhere Missler was using some pretty strange sources!

The next section of the chapter sent me on a number of research rabbit trails. On page 23 Missler discusses “Project Starlight,” a congressional briefing sponsored by the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) founded by Dr. Steven M. Greer. I had never heard of Greer before, so I was surprised to learn that he was “trained as a Transcendental Meditation teacher in 1975” and he founded “The Disclosure Project whose goal is to disclose to the public the government’s alleged knowledge of extraterrestrials.”[45] CSETI’s organizational “goal is to initiate contact with extraterrestrials.” Over the years I had noticed how many New Age groups incorporated the mythological evil god “Set”[46] (a reference to Satan) into their acronym. Now I was learning that many UFO organizations do this, too – a chilling fact.

Missler recommends Greer’s www.cseti.org website[47] with instructions on how to obtain copies of these briefings. At the official CSETI homepage one can read about how to get in contact with space aliens. CSETI advocates contacting aliens by remote viewing and other occult meditative techniques. The website has many pages devoted to expeditions that Dr. Greer has taken to try to communicate with space aliens. It also appears that CSETI sees itself as a public relations firm for extraterrestrials and their UFO causes. CSETI’s “The Disclosure Project” webpage documents its many press briefings (such as the one reported on by Missler), and brags that its Public Affairs Office “now has relationships with reporters from every major wire service, newspaper, news weekly, and television network in the nation.”[48]

Dr. Greer is a noted New Ager who advertises his work with “The Self Awareness Institute”[49] that “provides training in Self-Realization
and the enlightenment of the consciousness” along with that of Steven S. Sadleir, “a Kundalini Master in the lineage of Vethathiri Maharishi and Siddha Yogi
and also Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj.”[50] Greer was cited by Missler as an expert and the footnote reveals that Greer’s quotation was taken from Art Bell’s Coast to Coast radio show – hardly a source of credible information. Coast to Coast, now hosted by George Noory, has been famous (or infamous) for its extreme paranormal fascinations, conspiracy theories, New Age channelings, occult activities, Bigfoot sightings, and general kookiness.[52]

This research rabbit trail took me to the “Project Starlight Documents at Clinton Library” webpage. Here I learned that its funding came from Laurance Rockefeller. I found this to be quite interesting since it is well known that Laurance Rockefeller has financed major New Age initiatives for over a generation.[53] An article in Nexus Magazine, “Rockefeller Internationalism,”[54] details Laurance Rockefeller’s funding of these UFO initiatives the 1990s:

•  In March 1993 Laurance, assisted by a former naval intelligence officer, reportedly met with Bill Clinton’s science adviser to discuss UFOs and present a study entitled “Matrix of UFO Belief”. 
• It is alleged that, in August 1995, Laurance discussed the UFO issue at length with President Clinton at his ranch in Wyoming.
 
• From 1993 to 1995, Laurance provided US$500,000 to the CPSC, an organisation run by Dr John Mack, the Harvard psychologist who attracted enormous controversy with his endorsement of the alien abduction theory.

• Laurance paid for at least two meetings with the Starlight Group, an organisation comprising former intelligence officers and military personnel who shared an interest in UFOs.
 
• Laurance once funded a plan to establish contact with aliens, not by radio telescope but by signalling them with banks of powerful halogen lamps. 
• 
Laurance also once held a UFO conference at his ranch in Wyoming.
 
• In 1995, Laurance provided US$30,000 to a project by the BSW Foundation, created by Marie “Bootsie” Galbraith, wife of investment banker Evan Galbraith and one-time US ambassador to France, to prepare a report on the most reliable evidence about UFOs. The report, titled “Unidentified Flying Objects Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence” and prepared with the assistance of CUFOS (Center for UFO Studies), FUFOR (Fund for UFO Research) and MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), went to designated “leaders of the world” only.
 
• In 1999, Laurance provided a grant in the “five-figure range” to the BLT Research Team, Inc. to study crop circles. In 2002, BLT announced its findings that many crop circles were created not by humans but by a “mysterious energy force”. [55]

The author of this Nexus Magazine article, Will Banyan, wrote that although some speculated that “Laurance’s activities serve a more sinister agenda to ‘present an “alien invasion”… as a pretext to fully entrench the New World Order’,”[56] he suspected that Laurance’s intention might be to use the alien threat to create a more New Age mindset for humanity:

it seems more likely that Laurance’s dabbling in the UFO scene, besides reflecting some possible eccentricities on his part, forms part of his broader agenda to try to mould humanity’s ethical outlook. Rather than trying to establish the existence of a negative “alien threat”, the aim is gradually to reinforce the sense that there is a genuine, possibly benevolent, alien presence out there—a presence that by its very existence challenges existing religious, cultural and political frameworks, surely compelling us to coalesce around a single new idea. [57] [bold added]

By this time in my research I was becoming increasingly uneasy. I had just stumbled onto a significant money trail and it led from the New World Order[58] straight into the New Age. Who was funding the UFO initiatives? And why were Christian leaders such as Chuck Missler getting on board this agenda? And why was everyone talking about changing our worldviews and mindsets – clearly a New Age agenda – and one that I was personally quite familiar with! [59]

On pages 24-29 of Alien Encounters Missler gives an account of several U.S. astronauts who say they saw spaceships. NASA cover-ups are alleged. Maurice Chatelain, “former chief of NASA communications” is cited as an expert. In fact, his accounts are now an entrenched part of UFO lore on the Internet.[60] Missler also mentions Chatelain’s book Our Cosmic Ancestors. Our Cosmic Ancestors talks about ancient aliens and the Egyptian Pyramids, Stonehenge, the Maltese Cross, the Sumerian Zodiac, the Mayan Calendar, as well as complicated mathematical coded messages. The book’s back cover states that Chatelain

has compiled compelling evidence to show that a highly advanced civilization had existed on the Earth approximately 65,000 years ago. Further, his work indicates that the knowledge of the advanced civilization has been ‘seeded’ by extraterrestrial visitors who have aided mankind with advanced information in mathematics, electricity, and astronomy. [62]

Missler gives his readers no warnings about the controversial nature of Chatelain, nor his New Age books. But Chatelain’s (and others’) thesis of a NASA cover-up becomes one of the prevailing sub-themes throughout Alien Encounters. This repeated claim of a cover-up becomes problematic. As we have warned previously, “Asserting that there is a cover-up can serve as a way to avoid having to deal with real facts, true science and documentable proof. Anyone can state anything based on the “massive government cover-up” assertion.”[63]

Astronaut Brian O’Leary’s 1994 report to the International Forum on New Science in Fort Collins, Colorado is cited by Missler. O’Leary had alleged that for “nearly 50 years the secrecy apparatus within the United States government has kept from the public UFO and alien contact information.”[64] O’Leary’s report is now an integral part of Internet UFO lore. In a filmed interview archived on this website, Dr. Leary indicates his New Age belief in contacting extraterrestrials via “consciousness” (i.e., New Age meditation). He stated:

Civilizations have been visiting us for a very long time. Their appearance is bizarre… they use the technologies of consciousness…. They can manipulate time and space locally…. [65]

Curious about O’Leary and his obvious New Age leanings, I discovered that he was the co-founder of this International Association for New Science (IANS), and his definition of “New Science” included “topics and phenomena which cannot be explained by traditional science and yet may have the potential for significant benefit to the health and conditions for humanity and the planet Earth.”[66] O’Leary also founded the Institute for New Energy (INE) which promotes esoteric ideas about “inner energy.” His bio indicates his New Age experiential credentials.

Toward the end of the decade of the 1970s, he began to have experiences which shook his assumptions about reality. A remote viewing experience, a near death experience, and a healing of an “incurable” knee led him into new territory which none of his scientific colleagues seemed to want to enter…. 

His earlier books, Exploring Inner and Outer Space and The Second Coming of Science, examine such ‘boat rocking’ phenomena as UFOs and abduction, the face on Mars (popularized by Richard Hoagland), crop circles, near death experiences, reincarnation, healing, psychokinesis, mind over matter, Earth energies and the latest theories on physics and consciousness. [67]

O’Leary believed there is an extraterrestrial presence on Earth, its relationship to those potentially transformative technologies, and their conjoined organized suppression.[68]

Missler lists Astronaut Edgar Mitchell’s involvement with the CSETI team in 1997. Mitchell has been outspoken about the government’s cover-up of the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico “alleged UFO crash.”[69] He is also a leading New Age researcher into human consciousness and psychic phenomena. His bio records his high-level involvement:

Mitchell’s interests include consciousness and paranormal phenomena. On his way back to earth during the Apollo 14 flight he had a powerful Savikalpa samadhi experience, and also claimed to have conducted private ESP experiments with his friends on Earth. The results of said experiments were published in the Journal of Parapsychology in 1971. In early 1973, he founded the nonprofit Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) to conduct and sponsor research into areas that mainstream science has found unproductive, including consciousness research and psychic events. [70]

Interestingly, Willis Harman, leading Theosophist who was president of Edgar Mitchell’s New Age “science” group IONS (Institute of Noetic Science) for over two decades,[71] gave a keynote address at one of Astronaut Brian O’Leary’s IANS forums.[72] All of these men have been leaders in the “global mind change”[73] agenda of the New Age movement. Their activities to explore “human consciousness” have led them to the frontiers of the occult, and guided the formation of the Emergent Church movement in evangelicaldom.[74]

Missler also cites Astronaut John Blaha who had an encounter with a UFO on March 24, 1989 that was allegedly reported by a ham radio operator. Although NASA denied this episode, it has now become part of Internet UFO lore.[75] Missler spends much speculating about NASA’s denial of the Blaha episode, questioning:

Is the government turning a blind eye to these disclosures, or is this part of a gradual release of information to awaken the populace to the reality of UFOs? Is this a precursor to an announcement of UFO reality? We may soon find out. [76]

Missler also mentions Jim Marrs, author of Alien Agenda,[77] who spoke about videotaping UFOs on Art Bell’s Coast to Coast radio show.[78] Marrs’ bio indicates he is yet another UFO expert who is fascinated by the paranormal and occult:

Beginning in 1992, Marrs spent three years researching and completing a non-fiction book [Alien Agenda, ed.] on a top-secret government program called the Stargate Project involving the psychic phenomenon known as remote viewing….[and] investigation of UFOs. [79]

Missler concludes Chapter One by asking whether “these things are real” or if they “bear evidence of a gigantic delusion.” It is obvious that he is seriously entertaining these New Age UFO experts and their accounts. He raises the question whether this “UFO phenomenon is the harbinger of a New Age of spiritual awakening and evolution accomplished with the assistance of our highly advanced space brothers” or if it “represents the return of God’s angels who sometimes visit in ‘chariots of fire,’ who today are returning to herald the dawning of a new millennium and the arrival of the age of Apocalypse.” He concludes by entertaining the notion that this is all real:

There is increasing evidence that what lies behind these strange events will soon affect every living person on this planet. Who are these extraterrestrials? Where are they from? What is their agenda? [80]

This type of apocalyptic language and conspiracy mongering is a theme that continues throughout the rest of Alien Encounters. At this early point in my reading, I still had sincere hopes that Missler would go back to plain Bible prophecy and what Jesus told us about the end of time. I also found myself feeling a bit embarrassed by Missler’s continual use of less-than-credible sources. Surely a Christian leader of his caliber wasn’t going to continue to rely upon flagrantly New Age and unscholarly scientific sources. While zealously attempting to build the case that UFOs are real and pose a real threat to the planet Earth, Missler’s documentation was so obviously based on pseudoscience and New Age Woo[81] that it was discrediting him. But I was to become even more disappointed when I started into the next chapter….

What’s Next: Chapter Two: “Ancient Visitors”…

The Truth: 
Many of these sources employed by Chuck Missler in Alien Encounters involve reports from people who have been openly engaged in practices such as “remote viewing”[82] or mediumistic “channeling.”[83] These are occult techniques popular in the New Age Movement that are also related to clairvoyance.[84] While it is true that the U.S. government was involved in many experiments with these occult practices, that does not make any of them credible, ethical, accurate or truthful.[85] Some of the leaders in these experiments were seeking methods of altering the human brain and changing worldviews. This especially includes those at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) such as Willis Harman, who had influence over evangelical leaders to change their eschatology.[86]

Should a Christian entertain messages that come from these occult sources? Constance Cumbey, a leading evangelical researcher on the New Age, bluntly cautioned:

“Christians should remember that the motive behind the New Age Movement is Lucifer’s desire to be worshipped as God.”[87]

In the Bible these “remote viewing” and “channeling” practices are associated with wizardry, shamanism and connecting to the dead. The Bible’s admonitions are very clear. God gives strong warnings for Christians to avoid these types of communicators and their communications:

Endnotes: 
1. Alien Encounters: The Secret Behind the UFO Phenomenon, by Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman (Koinonia House, 1997), pp 2-3. Foreword by Douglas James Mahr, author of Voyage to the New World, who describes himself a “friend, a colleague, advisor, mentor and pal to Shirley MacLaine,” and who claims he was “recruited” by the “channeled entity” Ramtha “to be his chief writer.” A friend who met Mahr personally informed me that Mahr could give no sound testimony of salvation. And sadly none is in evidence in the Foreword. 
2. See http://www.alienencounters.com 
3. A PDF copy of Alien Encounters is posted online but most of the footnotes are missing: http://www.watchmenfaithministries.com/images/alien_encounters_by_chuck_missler.pdf. See also: http://www.khouse.org/pages/special_events/alien_encounters/, and Missler speaking Alien Encounters via audio at You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo0QAHRsYrQ‬‬‬, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crCY2bGoiBw‬‬‬,
‪http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-k_y9VU8l8‬‬‬,
‪ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpZzDrfSGkA‬‬‬
‪and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxHQFaHlhAo‬‬‬ 
4. See the partial list provided here: http://bibeltemplet.net/bibletemple/pioneer_christian_writings_on_ufos.html 
5. “Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm” (PPP) is a term the Discernment Research Group coined in an attempt to describe the new eschatological teachings. We refer to the leaders as PPP teachers. 
6. Herescope has published many articles on this emerging prophecy paradigm over the past two years. For example, the previous post was 5th in a series: https://herescope.net/2013/06/nephilim-are-from-mars.html and the “Quantum Mysticism” series which included: https://herescope.net/2012/05/quantum-geomancy-and-cryptic-mystic.html. Reading these articles and following the links will take the reader to many of the previous articles. 
7. “L.A. Marzulli, Rob Skiba and L.A. Marzulli, Rob Skiba and Douglas Hamp Discuss Nephilim at Prophecy Summit 2012,” published August 19. 2012, http://www.douglashamp.com/l-a-marzulli-rob-skiba-and-douglas-hamp-discuss-nephilim-at-prophecy-summit-2012/ 
8. Thomas R. Horn, Nephilim Stargates: the Year 2012, and the Return of the Watchers, Ch. 13, “Another Tower of Babel,” Anomalos Publishing, Crane, MO, 2007, p. 203, citing the speculative questions raised on page 275 of Alien Encounters. 
9. Terry James, Ed., The Departure: God’s Next Catastrophic Intervention into Earth’s History, Ch. 8, Thomas Horn, “End-of-Days-Demons in High Places,” Defender Publishing, Crane, MO, 2010, p 399, footnote #124. 
10. Thomas Horn, Apollyon Rising 2012, the Year 2012 and the Return of the Watchers, Ch. 9, “Will Modern Science Play a Role in the Coming of Apollo?,” Defender Publishing, Crane, MO, 2009, pp. 212-214. Most of this quote is exactly the same as the one that appears in Terry James’ The Defender cited above. 
11. Thomas Horn, D.D., Pandemonium’s Engine: How the End of the Church Age, the Rise of Transhumanism, and the Coming of the Ubermensch (Overman) Herald Satan’s Imminent and Final Assault on the Creation of God, Ch. 1, “Pandemonium and ‘HER’ Children, Defender Publishing, Crane, MO, 2011, pp. 45-46. Most of this quote is exactly the same as the one that appears in the two sources cited above. 
12. Thomas Horn, God’s Ghostbusters, Ch. 6, “Do Alien-Human Hybrids Walk Among Us?” Defender Publishing, Crane MO, 2011, pp. 146-148) Most of this quote is exactly the same as the one that appears in the three sources cited above. 
13. L.A. Marzulli, Nephilim (online version), Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1999, Acknowledgments, pg. 8. 
14. Douglas Hamp, Corrupting the Image: Angels, Aliens and the Antichrist Revealed (online excerpt), Ch. 14, “The Counterfeit Rapture,” Defender Publishing, 2011, May 5, 2011, http://www.douglashamp.com/counterfeit-rapture/ 
15. Peter Goodgame, “The Rapture According to New Age Channelers,” http://www.redmoonrising.com/newage.htm discussing pp. 185-200 and the Rapture theories proposed in Alien Encounters. 
16. Steve Quayle, “ALIENS, FALLEN ANGELS, GIANTS & GENETIC NIGHTMARE,” Despatch Magazine, Vol. 21:2 July 2009 37, http://www.despatch.cth.com.au/Despatch/DESPATCH21-2.pdf citing pp. 14-17 of Alien Encounters concerning UFO sightings. 
17. Noah Hutchings, Bob Glaze, & Larry Spargimino, Marginal Mysteries: A Biblical Perspective, “UFOs: The Marginal Mystery that is Becoming a Major Issue,” 2000, 2011, Defender Publishing, pg. 92, citing p. 55 of Alien Encounters. Missler’s Sethite theory that appears in Alien Encounters is also cited on pp. 89-90 of Hutchings’ book. 
18. I saw UFOs. These experiences were repented of, with a long list of other New Age and occult involvement, shortly after salvation, under heavy conviction of the Holy Spirit. Note that in the 1970s UFOs experiences were included in exhaustive lists of occult activities from which former hippies, like myself, needed to repent, and renounce our former involvement. At the time it was acknowledged that what I saw might also have been high tech government experiments. But because I was deep into the New Age at the time and had ascribed occult meanings to this, I repented.
19. Alien Encounters, p. 7. Italics in original. 
20. Searching for Iris Almagor on the Internet only indicates he was a Logistics Manager at MRV Communications in 1997-8, and an Operational Controller for MRV Communications in 1996-7. If he wrote as a freelance journalist during this time period, there is no adequate citation. See http://www.yatedo.com/p/Iris+Almagor/normal/b9233d5caccc89a7ddb5c92ad71f9f26 and http://www.scribd.com/doc/104386276/Hidden-Fields and http://mausoleum.internetarchaeology.org/page1.html, for example. 
21. Alien Encounters, p. 9-10. 
22. An overview of this report with links to original sources can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Hills_84001 
23. Footnote 8 refers to Connecting Link magazine, Issue 27, Spring 1995.
24. http://www.highvibrations.org/archive1/04aconve.htm See Barbara Maciniak’s resume at the bottom, “THE CHANNEL.” 
25. Barbara Marciniak, Bringers of the Dawn: Teachings From the Pleiadians, 1992. Published online at: http://www.cosmic-people.com/english/svetelna_knihovna/htm/en/en_kniha_bringers_of_the_dawn.htm 
26. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtar_(extraterrestrial_being) 
27. Ibid.
28. Volume 1, Issue 4. See also “Pleiades in folklore and literature,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades_in_folklore_and_literature 
29. Posted at http://www.highvibrations.org/archive1/04aconve.htm. 
30. Ibid. 
31. Ibid at the bottom, under the subtitle, “THE SOURCE.” It is evident from the context, that these purported alien entities are self-describing.
32. Missler’s consideration of these supposed New Age Pleiadian space alien entities and their channeled version of endtime cosmology is disturbing, and he cites them again in the book, even though later he makes some qualified remarks. See Chapter 9 of Alien Encounters, and also some of this can be found at PPP leader Peter Goodgame’s website:
http://www.redmoonrising.com/newage.htm 
33. I will issue a warning to believers, especially if you are a new believer, or one who is very sensitive to the occult, to NOT go visit these webpages that are cited in my review. They are horrible deep, dark New Age occult sources that the Bible warns believers to separate from. (2 Cor. 6:17) 
34. Alien Encounters, footnotes 10 and 12 
35. See: http://home.comcast.net/~tprinty/UFO/mexico.htm. 
36. Alien Encounters, p. 15, footnotes 15-17), citing “UFO Reality, Issue 6, February/March 1997, pages 10 and 11. 
37. See: http://www.repatoo.com/public/feedbackdetails.php?user=373602 
38. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Chamish 
39. “Mideast Paranormal Roundup,” webpage includes “The Plain Dealer March 31, 1996 ISRAEL IS HOT SPOT FOR UFO SIGHTINGS By DANIEL BRYNBERG; JERUSALEM REPORT,” at http://www.mt.net/~watcher/sitings.html, and some of it is here, “Aliens in the Holy Land,” http://www.aj6.org/jpbo/302/page2.html. 
40. Alien Encounters, pages 17-20, footnotes 22-27, 
41. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymCmI-MvIeU, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFWMc1RmepA and www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcbQOIr0pLk, for example. 
42. See “The Phoenix Lights,” by Steve D. Am., March 13, 1997, posted at http://www.ufodigest.com/phoenix.html. 
43. Alien Encounters, footnote 27 on page 344. 
44. Alien Encounters, p. 21. 
45. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Starlight. See a description of the CSETI project here: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_projectstarlight.htm. 
46. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(mythology) and see also the scary occult use of this term: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Set 
47. Alien Encounters, footnote 27 
48. http://www.cseti.org
49. www.selfawareness.com 
50. Ibid.
51. Alien Encounters, footnote 30. 
52. See, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Bell. Unfortunately many of the PPP leaders have appeared on the Coast to Coast show.
53. Warren Smith wrote about this in Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel, Chapter 2, citing The Revelation by Barbara Marx Hubbard, p. 350. 
54. Will Banyan, Nexus Magazine (Vol. 11, No. 2), Feb.-Mar. 2004. Article archived at: www.nexusmagazine.com. A special thanks to Dr. Martin Erdmann for calling this to my attention.
55. Ibid. 
56. Ibid. 
57. Ibid. Note that this article also states that Rockefeller funded New Ager Brian Swimme, stating: “Laurance gave the CIIS, for which he is an Honorary Trustee, a grant of US$190,000 for the Institute’s ‘New Story of the Universe’ project. According to the CIIS website, project co-ordinator Professor Brian Swimme ‘sees the amazing the story of the unfolding universe as one that has the potential to unite people of all traditions and faiths’. Swimme himself was quick to thank his benefactor and make the bold claim that his effort to create a ‘new story of the evolving universe’ by combining existing religious and scientific accounts of creation would ‘serve as a link in creating an organizing mythic framework for the new millennium’.”
58. It is a well known fact that the Rockefeller dynasty has been one of the chief funders and promoters of their ideal global society, a New World Order. Dr. Dennis Cuddy has reported extensively on this in his NewsWithViews column and in his many books. See, for example, http://www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis147.htm 
59. Marilyn Ferguson’s landmark 1980 book, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s (J.P. Tarcher) explains that changing mindsets and worldviews is the primary directive of the modern New Age movement. Constance Cumbey warned evangelicals about this New Age deception in her landmark book The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow (Huntington House, 1983.
60. See, for example: http://ufos.about.com/od/nasaufos/p/ufosmoon3.htm, http://ronrecord.com/astronauts/mchatelain.html and http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/luna/luna_moonanomalies02.htm 
61. Alien Encounters, footnotes 37, 38. Chatelain’s book was originally published in 1975. Chatelain authored other books, including Our Ancestors Came from Outer Space. Note that Chatelain has been a controversial figure: http://ronrecord.com/astronauts/mchatelain.html and http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/luna/luna_moonanomalies02.htm
62. http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0929686004/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_1?ie=UTF8&index=1&isremote=0 
63. Excerpted from: https://herescope.net/2013/06/nephilim-are-from-mars.html 
64. Alien Encounters, p. 30, quoting O’Leary’s report. 
65. http://lifebeyondus.wordpress.com/tag/brian-oleary/ 
66. http://www.newphysics.se/archives/keelynet/contact/ians93.txt 
67. http://www.newenergymovement.org/emergings5.php 
68. Bio on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_O%27Leary 
69. Alien Encounters, p. 27. 
70. Bio on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Mitchell 
71. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Noetic_Sciences 
72. Willis Harman stated: “The prevailing scientific picture seems to leave no room for the kinds of inner experiences and deep intuitions on which people and societies base their most basic value commitments…” http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=778 
73. Global Mind Change is the title of a Willis Harman book, and it is reported on by discernment researcher Berit Kjos: http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/007/global-mind-1.htm 
74. Herescope published many articles about this history, including: https://herescope.net/2009/07/quantum-eschatology.html, https://herescope.net/2008/04/emergent-mind-change.html, https://herescope.net/2012/06/quantum-cosmic-christ.html, https://herescope.net/2006/02/emergent-evolution.html and https://herescope.net/2009/05/spiritualization-of-science.html 
75. Missler offers the audio track in his “The Return of the Nephilim” package that he sold at the time of his book’s publishing. But one can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygaICCH0s9w. 
76. Alien Encounters, p. 31. 
77.  Ibid. 
78. Ibid, footnote 41 cites “Art Bell Show, June 1, 1997.” 
79. Marrs’ bio at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Marrs 
80. Alien Encounters, pp. 31-32. 
81. See, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscientific and also our previous Herescope article where we define pseudoscience: https://herescope.net/2013/06/nephilim-are-from-mars.html 
82. One can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing 
83. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channeling_(mediumistic) 
84. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvoyance 
85. The Wikipedia entry for “Remote Viewing” examines this in detail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing 
86. See documentation at footnote 74. 
87. Constance Cumbey, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow: The New Age Movement and Our Coming Age of Barbarism (Huntington House, 1983), p. 25.