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Creation 39(3):16–19, July 2017

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The alien intrusion

A creation-based movie like no Other!

by 

the-alien-intrusion

Science fiction is a wildly popular genre, accounting for many of the highest grossing movies of all time. Movies like Star Wars and sci-fi TV series such as the Star Trek franchise abound.

Like many, I enjoy sci-fi, but I also realize it is more like science ‘fantasy’. However, not everyone understands this. Visual media are especially powerful and can promote ideas that may shape a person’s worldview.

Evolution is assumed in most science fiction today, even if is not immediately obvious. Because of the belief that the universe began via a big bang 14 billion years ago, it is believed that older, more evolved species have proliferated throughout it. As such, they would have had more time to develop advanced technology and can flit around the universe in their faster-than-light spaceships. Evolution is also the reason Chewbacca or Mr Spock look different to us—evolution on their planet went in a different direction.

The evolution connection

Realizing the obvious evolution connection to sci-fi1 made me think that addressing this ultra-popular cultural phenomenon would be a good way to lead people to creation apologetics. This spurred me on to write a book, Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the evolution connection in 2005. We’ve been blessed to see it become one of the most popular books in CMI’s extensive range of resources; it is the only creation resource to be an Amazon Top-50 best-seller. It is thus likely that more unbelievers than Christians have read the book—confirmed by the testimonies we’ve received over the years.

Gary-at-entrance-to-crash-site-farm
Author and producer Gary Bates at the farm entrance to alleged crash site of the Roswell incident

However, in entering that field, I got more than I bargained for. Since it was going to be a serious look at the science behind evolution on other worlds, space travel, and UFO sightings, I needed to truthfully present what people really believe. It meant a lot of reading and even attending UFO conferences. I was confronted by and exposed to all sorts of weird ideas and spiritual ‘goings-on’.

Even Christians are not immune to being influenced by the culture in this area, and many pastors and leaders have no idea that their churches contain professing Christians who’ve seen things in the sky they didn’t understand. And when I do speak in churches on this topic, there are others who seek me out to gain better understanding of their firsthand experience with an entity they believed was an alien.2 Christians are just part of the general population who see such things, which can sometimes be seen by hundreds or even thousands at a time. And often Christians are reluctant to share with their family or fellow Christians because of the ‘spiritual stigma’ associated with ‘UFO’ experiences. So, when they tell their experiences to me, for some, it’s actually the first time they’ve shared it with anyone. So, it’s important for them to gain some closure over these events.

Gary-jumps-a-fence-near-the-Roswell-crash-site

Noted UFO author, Ronald Story, relates the following story: “I asked my [5-year-old] son Brian, ‘What is a UFO?’ He answered without hesitation, ‘a flying saucer.’ So, I rephrased the question this way: ‘What is inside a flying saucer?’ To which he replied, matter-of-factly: ‘People from other planets.’ Nothing could better illustrate to me that ‘UFO’ had become a living symbol in our culture for the vehicle that carries ‘humanoids from another planet.’” 3

I believe this illustrates how seductive this popular cultural phenomenon has become.

However, most UFO sightings are quite benign. People mistake stars, planets, lightning, satellites, clouds, and even flocks of birds for spaceships due to this ‘cultural conditioning’. But not all are easily explained.

Outreach potential

Though CMI’s main focus is obviously dealing with creation vs evolution, the Lord has created a secondary mission field like no other within our ministry. When researching my book, I quickly realized that for some, ‘UFOlogy’ has become a substitute religion. The idea that aliens seeded life on Earth and are our creators has also become mainstream science for some, because for many it solves the ‘origin of life’ problem by attributing it to older, more advanced aliens. For example, over 60 years ago, Francis Crick, who was one of the co-discoverers of the DNA molecule, realized he was looking at volumes of encyclopedic information. Information only comes from an intelligent source. But he was an atheistic evolutionist, so rather than believe in the God of the Bible, he postulated that older, wiser aliens seeded life on Earth. This is known as ‘directed panspermia’.4

A new feature-length movie

murphy-thelen
Gary Bates and Murphy Thelen with pioneer of the JPL/NASA space program, Dr Henry Richter

CMI’s newest project is a feature-length movie based upon the book. For many years, readers have prompted us to do this. I was initially daunted by the prospect of another major project so soon after producing our award-winning documentary Evolution’s Achilles’ Heels. However, for many months, my ‘production partner’ Murphy Thelen and I have been filming, travelling across the US as well as overseas to interview scientists, specialists, pastors, and experts associated with the UFO phenomenon.

The movie will contain new content that shows how the serious movers and shakers in the secular UFO movement are aligning their views more closely with the findings of Christian researchers like myself. These experts are concluding that aliens are not travelling here from distant planets and that they are not who they claim to be. In the movie’s launch trailer,5 UFO researcher Norio Hayakawa, who helped start two major UFO research groups in the US, states, “These alleged aliens coming to us from distant star systems are nothing of the sort, rather they are deceptive supernatural entities emanating from another dimension.”

Norio-Hayakawa
UFO researcher Norio Hayakawa: “These alleged aliens coming to us from distant star systems are nothing of the sort, rather they are deceptive supernatural entities emanating from another dimension.”

The Father of Lies

Of course, when one sees something in the sky that seems to defy the laws of physics one cannot pull it in with any ‘tractor beams’ to do scientific tests upon it. So how does one determine the source of the phenomenon? A big part of the answer comes from ‘experiencers’—that is, people who claim they were once abducted or had contact with alien beings.

The footage of these experiencers was seen by CMI-US staff writer, Lita Sanders, who said, “It’s gut-wrenching to watch and hear their stories and the lies they were told by the ‘aliens’.” These were people who realized they had been used and abused. They were not visited by highly evolved benevolent aliens, but instead had contact with malevolent spirit beings from the supernatural realm. It’s strong stuff, but the joy soon comes with realization when, one after one, these people give testimony about how they were delivered by calling on the name of Jesus and/or becoming Christians.

alien-autopsy
Gary at a mock-up recreation of the alleged ‘alien autopsy’ documentary in the Roswell UFO Museum

This is information that most people have never heard, so it’s vitally important to ensure that this movie has the widest possible circulation to help change lives. The good news is that one Christian movie distributor believes in the project so much, that, at the time of writing, they have undertaken to get a general theatre release, not only in the US, but hopefully around the world.

In closing

The Bible is clear that the enemy, Satan, is engaged full-time in deception. Revealing the truth about this phenomenon presents an incredible opportunity for the church—a mission field right in our own back yard.

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (2 Timothy 4:3).

This article was written while the film was in production. It is now available from CMI’s webstore. See resources on the right hand side.

Posted on homepage: 14 January 2019

References and notes

  1. See creation.com/evolution-scifi. Return to text.
  2. On how to deal with such ‘experiencers’, see creation.com/experiencers. Return to text.
  3. Ronald D. Story, editor, The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters (London: Constable & Robinson, 2002), p. 739–740. Return to text.
  4. Science shows us that life would not form by natural processes anywhere in the universe. See: creation.com/ool#probability. Return to text.
  5. Go to AlienIntrusion.com to view all the trailers. Return to text.