When my father’s 4th grade science project on aliens received the equivalent of an eye roll and a sigh, my father was perplexed. His research included well-documented phenomena by many authorities. Why did so many people discount the evidence?
Almost half a century later, I viewed the subject with the same skepticism as my father’s teachers. Aliens? More like the hallucinations of a drug-induced high or wishful thinking, or the easy answer for people (like Richard Dawkins in Ben Stein’s documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”) who would rather believe in an alien designer than a divine one.
Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection by Gary Bates changed my viewpoint—but not in the way that you may think. Yes, I now no longer place alien phenomena in the same category as insanity, but the category I do place it under may be surprising (explanations to follow).
As Mr. Bates points out, with the advent of space exploration and the explosive popularity of science fiction books and films, the idea of extraterrestrial life is no longer greeted with as much skepticism as before. Writers like H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke have contributed to the alien culture, as well as films or TV shows like Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek, and more. Roswell and Project Blue Book, both involving the U.S. military, remain mysteriously connected to aliens. Well-known public figures such as President Jimmy Carter, astronaut Gordon Cooper, and Marine Corps Major Donald Keyhoe famously acknowledged their own UFO sightings. NASA even has an Origins Program which actively seeks for extraterrestrial life (hence the excitement over evidence of water on Mars).
In order to answer the questions arising from the popularity of aliens, the author then backs up far into distant history. How did this all start? Where and how did life—whether terrestrial or extraterrestrial—have its origin? Given the size of the universe, is it even possible for aliens to visit Earth from, say, another galaxy? Here is where the hard-core scientist will rub his hands with glee, for the discussion gets technical, but no less interesting. The topic turns to the Big Bang theory, wormholes, “folding space,” the redshift of light from distant galaxies, background microwave radiation, gravitational forces, and more. I can’t reproduce the entirety of Mr. Bates’ extensively researched discussion, but I can say this: Had I been a proponent of macroevolution when I started, there was no chance that I could have remained so after the presentation of the evidence. The origin of life in the universe simply cannot be explained by modern science without the presence of a designer. Don’t believe me? Read the book.
Laying aside the whole origins question, what if alien life did somehow arise? Could they have seeded life on earth? Could they have introduced genetic mutations to boost the evolution of mankind? Enter another in-depth scientific discussion, this time on macroevolution and genetics. Again, had I been a staunch evolutionist at the start of my venture into Alien Intrusion, and retained even a smideon of evolutionary belief up until this part, the evidence of biology would have fully convinced me. A quote from Richard Lewontin, world-famous evolutionist and genetics professor, adds the nail to the coffin: “We take the side of [evolutionary] science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs…in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstatniated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment to materialism [the belief that matter is all there is]… Moreover, that materialism is absolute for we cannot allow a Divine foot in the door” (p. 141).
From here, Mr. Bates gets back to the UFOs. What sightings can be explained by natural phenomena? What hoaxes have muddied the waters? And, when all explanations have been made, how many stories can’t be proven to be hoaxes or misinterpretations? Mr. Bates discusses the truths and the myths behind the Lubbock lights of Texas (August 1951), the Mexico City mass UFO sighting (January 1993), the Roswell incident (June 1947), Area 51/Hangar 18, the secret KGB papers, and more. Does history point to extraterrestrial visitors (the Mayan carving from Palenque, Mexico, or the Nazca lines of Peru)? What about crop circles? What is the evidence, both in the past and in the present, for alien visitors to Earth?
And what about “close encounters of the fourth kind,” better known as alien abductions? Why do so many abductees have strange sexual encounters with their abductors? Is there really an alien “breeding program”? The experiences of Barney and Betty Hill, Travis Walton, Whitley Striber, and others are explored, as well as the concepts summed up in the study of CAS, Classic Abduction Syndrome. The occult connection to abduction and the New Age-type messages of the “space brothers” are examined extensively.
At this point, the book takes a startling twist: “Far from the abductee population including all those with religious beliefs, there is one group of people that, by and large, is noticably absent. They are Christians. Here we have to be careful about the definition of what constitutes a Christian. Many people in the world claim to be a Christian; that is, they have Christian ideals or morality, and may even regard themselves as good people. Some in this group still regularly claim abduction. But I am talking about those who are known as ‘born again,’ Bible-believing Christians—those who are often (these days unflatteringly) described as ‘Christian fundamentalists.’ It is as if ETs tend to avoid this select group of people. This reality has been largely ignored by many UFO researchers. But one group gets credit for discovering this startling fact” (p. 256). Thereafter follows the results of in-depth research done by Joe Jordan and Wes Clark of CE-4, an alien abduction research group, which uncovered one startling fact: Not only are born-again believers absent from the ranks of the abducted, but they also are able to instantly halt any abductions by shouting one name: Jesus.
Mr. Bates then explains the evidence that alien encounters are really encounters with spiritual forces who come with an agenda for the human race and with a message that distorts the Bible’s message. As far-fetched as this may sound, his arguments are disturbingly thought-provoking. The reader learns why a surprising number of abduction experiences involve both implicit and explicit references to the Bible, Jesus, and God, and why so many abductees become fascinated with reinterpreting the Bible to mesh with their alien experiences. From the practice of “channeling” an alien’s voice and message through an abductee’s body, to the self-indulgent orgies of the Raelians, Mr. Bates shows that the time has come for mass deception—the satanic gospel according to ET. It is true: We are not alone. Demons are real, and they are actively involved in deceiving us. As Mr. Bates says, Look to the sky; change is coming.
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