Back in the 1970's a major sensation was brought about by a television show entitled "In Search of Ancient Astronauts." The source of this program watched by millions of people was the book Chariots of the Gods?, authored by Erich von Daniken. Needless to say, the presentation stimulated, shocked, excited, and even enraged, but surely did not leave any thinking person uninterested.

The television show and the book postulate that extraterrestrial intelligent life landed on Earth one or more times in the distant past intervening in the affairs of early man. According to von Daniken the evidence demonstrating this contact between beings from outer space and humans is found in the vast reservoir of Earth's unexplainable historic and prehistoric phenomena. Challenging most of the classical archeological and anthropological explanations of ancient human history, von Daniken boldly reinterpreted the artifacts, the myths, the "prehistoric" drawings, the ancient documents, the monoliths, the ruins of antiquity, and so on, as evidence indicating a time millennia ago when beings from other worlds descended to Earth making contact with earthinians and changing the course of history. Since many undoubtedly viewed the program without having read Chariots of the Gods, or its sequel, Gods from Outer Space, which expanded upon the author's original premise, many were no doubt confused by the viability of his interpretations. Regardless of the controversial nature of von Daniken's writings, they have captivated a very large audience and have had an enormous influence on the thinking of many in regard to extraterrestrial life.

The following two paragraphs, briefly quoted from Chariots of the Gods?, summarize von Daniken's basic thesis:

"Dim, as yet undefinable ages ago an unknown spaceship discovered our planet. The crew of the spaceship soon found that the Earth had all the prerequisites for intelligent life to develop. Obviously the 'man' of those times was no homo sapiens but something rather different. The spacemen artificially fertilized some female members of this species, put them into a deep sleep, so ancient legends say, and departed. Thousands of years later the space travelers returned and found scattered specimens of the genus homo sapiens. They repeated their breeding experiment several times until finally they produced a creature intelligent enough to have the rules of society imparted to it. The people of that age were still barbaric. Because there was a danger that they might retrogress and mate with animals again, the space travelers destroyed the unsuccessful specimens or took them with them to settle them on other continents. The first communities and the first skills came into being; rock faces and cave walls were painted, pottery was discovered, and the first attempts at architecture were made.

These first men had tremendous respect for the space travelers. Because they came from somewhere absolutely unknown and then returned there again, they were the 'gods' to them. For some mysterious reason the 'gods' were interested in passing on their intelligence. They took care of the creatures they bred; they wanted to protect them from corruption and preserve them from evil. They wanted to ensure that their community developed constructively. They wiped out the freaks and saw to it that the remainder received the basic requirements for a society capable of development."

Such a history seems shocking indeed to our sensibilities. Yet, it has had an inestimable influence on modern thinking. Certainly it demands investigation, especially in a Biblical light. At the outset, von Daniken assumes the correctness of evolution and constructs his ideas around that premise. The theory of evolution, although, stands in direct contradiction to Biblical truth as well as scientific laws such as the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Thus his premise is untenable from either a Biblical or scientific perspective.

Equally important as von Daniken's underlying presupposition of evolution is his statement that the aliens interbred with the earthinians. Repulsive as it may sound, von Daniken records legend upon legend from one civilization to another whose records tell of the 'gods' interbreeding with humans. The reasonable question is where did such a universal idea come from? It came from actual historic fact!

Von Daniken is correct in some areas, i.e., that the Earth was indeed visited. Furthermore, these beings did, in fact, arrive on at least two different occasions; and their visitation truly did significantly influence the course of human history, and they did interbreed with humans. These beings, however, were angels, not "aliens from outer space". The specific account involving them is recorded in the sixth chapter of Genesis. From the account in Genesis 6:1-4 reams of mythology have been generated. The New Testament also makes note of this event in three key passages: I Peter 3:19, 20; II Peter 2:4-6; and Jude 1:6-7. The facts of the case are simple and the supporting arguments are too many and varied to detail each one in this writing, but the event may be summarized as follows:

1. Angelic beings ("sons of God") came to Earth, lustfully desiring the attractive daughters of men (Genesis 6:2).

2. They took whomever they chose as wives (Genesis 6:2).

3. This angelic intervention occurred not only before but also after the time of Noah's Flood (Genesis 6:4).

4. The offspring from these unlawful unions were physical giants (Nephalim - "fallen ones" - in the Hebrew) (Genesis 6:4).

5. The fallen angels who committed this sin were incarcerated in Tartarus where they now await judgment (II Peter 2:4 Greek).

6. Only a portion of the angels who originally fell with Lucifer committed this atrocity, since all who thus sinned were imprisoned, but there are other fallen angels who are not bound (Jude 1:6).

7. The sin of the angels was the same as that of Sodom and Gomorra; i.e., they gave themselves to fornication, specifically going after a different kind of flesh (Jude 1:7).

Occupied by those fallen angels not incarcerated, the heavenly sphere stands polluted and in need of cleansing (Job 25:5).

This is the event von Daniken interprets as ancient astronauts from outer space. As was said before, he is right about beings coming from "other worlds" to interbreed with humans, and the legacy of mythology he records or alludes to is a most impressive display of the universality of this belief in the ancient world. His assertions, though, are at best, part truths, and they only succeed as a masterful counterfeit of the real truth of the Bible. In contrast to von Daniken's concepts the following list shows what the Bible teaches regarding such matters:

3. The aliens were intelligent but depraved beings on a mission of destruction and opposition to God; they were not beings of superior morality who desired to impart their concept of godliness to a struggling, embryonic world.

4. The learning and wisdom which these evil angels imparted to men doubtless took many forms - art, science, architecture, etc. The revelations of these beings primarily served to elevate them into the place of receiving worship as gods. Their intervention directed men away from the true God; it was not designed to facilitate social development.

5. According to von Daniken, the aliens destroyed humans who "reverted" to such evil practices as cohabiting with animals. The fact may well be that the aliens taught men to do this by example! In any case, why should the aliens condemn and kill men for doing the same thing that they themselves did with humans?

6. Legends recorded in Chariots of the Gods? say that these ancient astronauts promised to one day return from the stars, as they came the first time...a perfect counterfeit of the second coming of Christ.

7. In preparation for their return, the gods taught men to prepare for corporeal rebirth, i.e., that their physical bodies would be awakened from death unto new life by the gods when they returned. The counterfeit of Biblical life after death and the uniqueness of Christ's power to resurrect is evident. From this demonic doctrine we understand the elaborate preparations of the Egyptians and others for restored physical life after a long death.

8. The angels evidently directed the attention of men to the stars - not as a demonstration of the glory of the true God (Psalms 19:1), but because that was their home. Specific deities became associated with certain astronomical bodies, their motions became important, and thus their influence over humans would always be remembered. Today, it is called astrology.

9. According to von Daniken, the aliens returned to the stars. According to the Bible, the aliens were imprisoned in Tartarus, in the center of the Earth, and will have no more activity until they are released for judgment after the Millennium.

10. Mythology records that the aliens came to Earth in "spaceships" of various designs: and why not? It would seem that spirit beings would not need such crafts to reach Earth, but what better way to counterfeit such Biblical events as Elijah and the fiery chariot, Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 6), Ezekiel's "air transportation" from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8), Daniel and the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7), Paul's trip to the third heaven (II Corinthians 12), John's trip to heaven (Revelation 4), and others.

In summary it must be said that von Daniken has done a good service in compiling such a long list of the world's puzzling phenomena. How accurate his facts are, how careful his translations of various texts, legends and myths are, etc. cannot be readily known, since most of his specific assertions are undocumented. Nevertheless he records a stimulating and exciting list of oddities.

From a Biblical perspective, though, the interpretations von Daniken proposes in both his books can only be regarded in one way - as a subtle and elaborate counterfeit of the truth. He has succeeded in turning the treacherous and abominable demonic activities in the days of Noah into a respectable, exciting, and intellectually feasible explanation of ancient human history. Multiplied pages of his books are filled with anti-Biblical, anti-God ideas. Sometimes they are guised in intellectual hypothesizing; sometimes they are so blatant that the God of Israel is nothing more than a loudspeaker on an electrical communications box designed by the astronauts (the Ark of the Covenant).