In Isaiah it says “Don’t fear their fear. The Lord of Heaven, He should be your fear.” (Isaiah 8:12 & 13) Right now it seems that fear is really popular and in demand. It seems like everyone is fascinated by things we are supposed to both believe and fear. But that verse right there is a commandment not to fear some fears.
Yesterday I went to a Sunday school group that studies the specifics of prophecy and the endtime. Virtually the whole class was centered on what are supposed to be scientific studies by the Jesuits of the Catholic church. I am told they are ardently studying about extraterrestrial life in preparation for an announcement that there is such a thing and that groups on earth have been in contact and interaction with “ET” like beings for a long time.
The idea is that this will be a part of Satan’s last fling on earth before the second coming of Jesus. These extraterrestrial life forms will be a part of the sweeping away of faith as they are presented as greater beings than us and that we will be led into a new age through and with these space creatures come to earth.
I have a number of problems with this. For one, all the material I’ve seen is pointed towards the Catholic church and specifically the Vatican as being the ground zero of all this. It is linked to the belief that the Pope will be the fulfillment of Revelations 13:11-18. Those verses say that the Antichrist of the endtime will have a sidekick, a false prophet who will work together with the Antichrist. A popular doctrine around now is that this figure from Revelations 13 will be the Pope of Rome.
I wrote an article about “Sound Doctrine” or Speculation and this whole thing is another example of theological speculation. It is rapt and rampant within prophecy discussion I’ve been a part of.
If you are looking for something solid to base your faith on concerning Bible prophecy and endtime events, don’t buy into “the Pope is the Antichrist” or even “the Pope is the False Prophet” line of teaching. It’s a wonderful thing to stir emotions and get everyone thrillingly theorizing. But it is definitely not something solid, a foundation you can build your faith on, even though it is trumpeted by so many.
But what about ETs? Are they real? Is it really going to happened that sooner or later they are going to be announced as having been around a long time, higher life forms from far away planets or galaxies? Are they going to be here on earth to lead us into the next stage of our evolution and to fulfill our DNA code or even to become one with our DNA and take us into a higher species than we are now? It’s intoxicating stuff. And running in the background is a loud hiss of fear and confusion for anyone who is a Christian.
“I guess we’re just all wrong. There’s no God, Jesus, spiritual world or life after death. ET is here and we are just highly evolved apes who have now been benignly visited by our celestial neighbors who’ve arrived to lead us into all truth. (Sigh) Let’s burn out Bibles in the back yard right now and maybe the local churches while we are at it. We’ve been liberated from God and now we are free to follow our destiny as Evolution would have it.”
I jest. But, what if? It reminds me of what Paul said to the Galatians, “If we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you, than the one we’ve preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8)
The real core question is, what is the nature of our existence? Are we souls with bodies, as C. S. Lewis said? Or are we highly evolved apes? Is there a spiritual world, created by the God of Abraham? Are we destined to leave our bodies and to enter that spiritual world after our death? Or are we just nothing more than carbon and neurons, the greatest progression thus far in the evolution of the universe?
I firmly believe that if I had to face an ET on the street, or a zombie
or a demon or whatever else you can throw up at me, then through the power and Spirit of God I should be the higher and greater life form, not them. Otherwise every Christian, Muslim and Jew who ever lived and trusted in the God of Abraham is proved false and holding on to vanity.
Either the prophecies of the God of Abraham are the foundation truth and revealed path of the evolution of man back to a final reconnection with God and an establishment of His Kingdom on earth. Or, as we are being told, some physical, evolution-based, science-based “higher life forms” are even now walking among us and will be announced to the world soon.
Wouldn’t’ that be a challenge and a showdown? “High Noon” on Main Street between a Spirit-filled man or woman of God and a man from Mars? Either the believers in God have the real thing or the ETs have it. I’m sticking with God.
So don’t fear their fear or their confusion either. “God is not the author of confusion but of peace”. (I Corinthians 14:33) “There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear” (I John 4:18). Stick with your faith. “When the Enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against them.” (Isaiah 59:19).
Interesting article! Thanks.
Without saying anything about the Pope or the Catholic Church do you realize that when you positively state that the pope and the CC has nothing to do with Rev. 13, 11-19 (as neither the antichrist nor the false prophet) then you are saying quite a bit, perhaps more than you intended to. In fact you may even be getting a bit dogmatic on this issue. What if you are wrong?
Once you open up this – somewhat sensitive – issue, you may need to dig in a bit deeper. Remember Jesus’ warning about the nature of the extreme deception of the end-times. It is real. Many people have studied this topic and have arrived at other conclusions.
Many greetings, Andrew