A Comparison of Angels and “Aliens”
In February of 2002, The History Channel flew Guy Malone to Los Angeles to interview him as part of a special entitled “Ufos in the Bible.” Producer Gabe Vandervort sent Malone a list of 10 questions he would like Guy to discuss.
While grateful for the opportunity at first, please note that the special which aired DID NOT IN FACT faithfully represent Malone’s answers, but instead merely spliced in certain things said to affirm the flawed premise of the show. They did this with others who have likewise gone on record saying the same was done to them. That story and Malone’s response is here.
Question: In the Bible, angels are mentioned hundreds of times, often exhibiting super-human characteristics like the ability to walk through walls, read minds and communicate telepathically. How do these accounts compare with the mysterious beings of other cultures? What might be the explanation? How do angels compare to aliens? (NOTE – The opening portion of this reply “corrects” the question itself; scroll down for comparison.)
This (first statement) is perhaps a popular assumption – and just because of that I’m glad you brought it up – but it is very incorrect. I stayed up late one night and counted appearances of angels in the Bible. While you can type in the word angel or angels into a computer Bible and get “hundreds” of matches, reading through with a Concordance I got just over 2 dozen actual appearances in the Old Testament, and less than that in the New (not counting Revelation). While I did count the same angel appearing over several verses as “one,” I also gave credit for the same story being told by different people as two or more to even it out.
About half of these appearances in the Old Testament specify “the angel of the Lord,” which is also known as a theophany – when God appears as an angel, before the Incarnation in Jesus Christ. So these instances are not really “angels” in the sense we’re discussing. Many more times, the angel appears in a dream or a trance or some other heavenly vision, which means the human witness was now “on their turf” and the idea of supernatural characteristics becomes moot, simply because they were not interacting in the physical realm at this time. (There is Biblical evidence to suggest that angels do have the ability to induce a trance, or deep sleep, to bring the human into their realm. This is very interesting in regard to the abduction phenomenon.) But no matter how you count them, angels actually appear not much more than 50 times in scripture, and certainly not even one hundred times, much less hundreds.
While angels certainly do have supernatural abilities, you’re also going to be hard-pressed to show me any instances in the Bible where they, “walk through walls, communicate telepathically or read minds.” They sometimes appear inside of a room, which may be said to have walked through the wall, but that’s not the way scripture describes the process, ever. They just appear. If you can show me even one instance where they walk through a wall, read someone’s mind or deliver a telepathic message – no matter how far you have to stretch the interpretation – I’ll give it to you for the sake of argument. But leaving out detailed dreams recounted by the scribe, I don’t think you can show me two.
All of THESE properties and abilities are very like what the “mysterious beings of other cultures” are reported to do however (as well as so-called aliens), so with that said I think we’re already well on the way to distinguishing that they are not reporting the activities of true Biblical angels – at least not the good ones whom the scriptures give detailed accounts of. All of these abilities may be true of angels, however, but we are already far from saying that UFO aliens, Jinns or Jenies of the Koran, or any of the other entities in question actually can be directly classified as Biblical angels, serving God.
But now lets compare angels and aliens :
In the Bible, when they appear on earth, angels appear as human and they are quite beautiful – even Lucifer is described as an angel of light. Aliens appear as humanoid, and (by all accounts) are pretty ugly. They are the thin greys, the monstrous Reptillians, and then the less reported but overall very attractive Nordics.
Biblical angels typically appear in glowing white robes. Greys and Reptillians are either unclothed, or when they are clothed, they are wearing “space-suits” or uniforms with symbols on them. These symbols, when remembered or drawn by a contactee, are often found to be occult related, or symbolic of “pagan” religions – in short symbols no true Biblical angel would be “caught dead” wearing!
Angels typically either deliver a quick message, then leave, or they briefly assist, and leave (broke Peter out of prison, warn people in dreams, smite God’s enemies…). In either case, the angel gives instructions that will turn the human or his hearers toward faith in, or greater obedience to, (specifically) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Aliens deliver sometimes hours of teachings at one sitting, and repeatedly communicate with the same person, adding to their knowledge day after day, year after year, and even generationally. The knowledge delivered by aliens is usually extremely contrary to scriptural teachings of spirituality. They tell people that “we” are gods, that we are divine when we become self-realized, that we should look to them (not God) for help, and that Jesus was just a self-realized human (or one of them even, or a hybrid), but NOT the Incarnate deity which scripture – AND ALL ANGELS IN SCRIPTURE – proclaim him to be. *
Angels often appear in human form. The Bible even says we may entertain them unaware (or not knowing we are in the presence of an angel). The main account in the Bible where angels appeared as humans for a very extended period, is when they came to Lot’s family before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were so “human” that they ate dinner with Lot – physically ate it – and they were mistaken as potential sex partners by the locals. Many people saw them, and assumed they were human. The only instances I know of where an “alien” appeared and “hung out” with a human for days at a time, the person in question was the only one who could see him.
The actual job description of an angel, according to Hebrews 1:14, is that they are “…ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.”
That is to say that they assist born-again Christians in times of need, or especially those who will become Christians. “Aliens” typically appear to 95% non-Christians, and teach doctrines that will lead them into unbiblical, New Age practices, occult forms of spirituality, and to UFO cults. In short they instill mental strongholds that will essentially “sabotage” that person’s likelihood of ever becoming a Christian.
The fact that angels can appear as human indicates they have the ability to cause a person to perceive them to effectively shape-shift. Abductees often report that their captors do this as well, often shifting from the appearance of a tall grey, to a beloved or deceased relative, to perhaps Jesus, to a Reptilian. Then abductees report they have sex with the person, or going through sadistic medical examinations. Women abductees sometimes report symptoms of pregnancy afterwards, and that the aliens seem to return within about 2 months claiming to collect the fetus. At which time the symptoms disappear. We believe this is actually a “visionary” experience – perhaps taking advantage of or causing a false pregnancy medical condition – but NOT that angels or aliens are actually impregnating women today. (See The Bible, Physics, and Abilities of Fallen Angels for more on the nature of the biblical “vision” experience caused by angels, and them manifesting in physical reality, and the Q/A Video on this phenomena.)
True biblical angels would help, not harm, an individual, but aliens are notorious for leaving people physically injured, confused, scared, and paranoid. The conclusion is that Biblical authors were not mistakenly calling extra-terrestrials “angels” or “gods”, but the other way around. Many today are mistakenly calling the angelic hosts extra-terrestrials. “Aliens” are indeed angels, but they are not the good angels which scripture tells of. Their actions, abilities and doctrines most resemble that of the fallen angels who have deceived and spiritually enslaved mankind at different points all throughout history – who work against the purposes of God, and the interests of all humanity.
* Biblical angels – serving God – will confess that Jesus Christ is God in the Flesh
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God … every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is the spirit of the antichrist…” 1John 4:1-3
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8
Note: Many UFO researchers prefer to distance their findings from the testimony of “contactees” or “abductees,” mainly to “avoid spirituality” or “kooks,” and to allegedly keep their published works in the realm of “science.” However, it is simply against logic to not ascribe the teachings of the ufonauts to the UFOs.