An Orthodox Take On UFOs

My proposal is that, as Christians, we do not have to discount people’s experiences with UFOs, nor do we have to necessarily deny the integrity of the report the Pentagon will be releasing June 25, 2021. We have a commission from the apostle Peter to, “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you… (1 Pet. 3:15).” When the world around us presses us to change our beliefs, or otherwise relinquish them because of strange or difficult-to-explain phenomenon, we can rest assured that our theology is robust enough to actually answer the challenge rather than offering cop-outs or punting to mystery.

I submit that the sightings of UFOs, as popular as they have been, have been a mixture of sightings of perhaps experimental aircraft, but also of demonic persons which have determined to make themselves known for whatever reason. It has been a very, very long time since demons have behaved in these ways. The Greeks and the Romans experienced this. Demons, whom they revered as gods, would often stir up political strife by taunting military and provoking rulers in this same kind of overt and visible way. But with the full revelation and propagation of the gospel beginning in the first century, these demons were eventually forced into obscurity. Athanasius, writing in the 4th century against the heathens, says—

For if after the Cross all idolatry was overthrown, while every manifestation of demons is driven away by this Sign, and Christ alone is worshipped and the Father known through Him, and, while gainsayers are put to shame, He daily invisibly wins over the souls of these gainsayers—how, one might fairly ask them, is it still open to us to regard the matter as human, instead of confessing that He Who ascended the Cross is Word of God and Saviour of the World?

The idea here, of course, is that gospel has had a conquering effect upon the boldness of the demons. They have, in that sense, experienced some measure of binding. Again, Athanasius also alludes to the heathen worshiping what they esteemed or pretended to be gods but were actually either men or demons—

For seeing that men, having rejected the contemplation of God, and with their eyes downward, as though sunk in the deep, were seeking about for God in nature and in the world of sense, feigning gods for themselves of mortal men and demons…

And on the expulsion of demons at the presence of the gospel, he says—

For where Christ is named, and His faith, there all idolatry is deposed and all imposture of evil spirits is exposed, and any spirit is unable to endure even the name, nay even on barely hearing it flies and disappears.

Augustine also mentions the defeat of the demonic stronghold through the means of grace, prayer and the advancement in the knowledge of the gospel—

For the devil cannot conquer or subdue any but those who are in league with sin; and therefore he is conquered in the name of Him who assumed humanity, and that without sin, that Himself being both Priest and Sacrifice, He might bring about the remission of sins, that is to say, might bring it about through the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, by whom we are reconciled to God, the cleansing from sin being accomplished.

John Brown of Haddington wrote of demons in this way, “But many angels, abusing the freedom of their will, by pride or some other sin, quickly fell from that holy and happy state in which they were created… They are real persons, not horrors of conscience.” He goes on to comment concerning the nature of their punishment—

Their punishment began with the first moment of their sinning, in their being expelled from heaven and shut up in chains of darkness; but they were not so confined to hell, as to hinder their acting on earth… [The punishment] was increased by the incarnation, public ministrations, and death of Christ, by the spread of the gospel, and the erection of the Christian church… and will be completed at the last day.

Commenting on their present activities, he says, “In this world, these fallen angels, or devils, exert themselves to their uttermost.” He says they take away the truths of God’s Word from men; tempt, accuse, and molest saints; seduce the wicked and retain them in their corruption and miserable estate; they enter into men’s bodies and render them delirious and furious, as with the demoniac at the Gadarenes in Mark 5, Matthew 8, and Luke 8. Lastly, he leaves room for their influence on weather patterns and diseases, “Nor do we know,” he concludes, “what influence they have in raising storms, producing diseases, etc.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “Christ in His life, His death and His resurrection, has already vanquished the devil. And we, as Christian people, should be enabled by the Lord to resist, and we can, for James tells us, ‘Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’” Yet, as our world increasingly draws away from God and His gospel, so too does it invite, rather than resist, the devil; so much so that the devil and his soldiers now feel comfortable enough to quarter here visibly and boldly. And while they quarter here, as they did in the ancient world, they will provoke the nations and deceive those who have not the Rock of Christ to look to.

Robert Latham, a contemporary theologian, answers the question, Whether there is extraterrestrial life? with a resounding, “Yes,” but construes that extraterrestrial life in terms of Christian angelology, occupied by both good and bad (fallen) angels.

The point is this: For the Christian, UFOs are but the maneuvers, for whatever reason or goal, of fallen angelic beings. And their increase represents a peeling back of God’s common grace, and with the continuous and ever-growing rejection of the gospel, the influx of sin that follows it, and the boldness with which things like murder and adultery are carried out in our world, the more friendly, personable, and at liberty demons will feel in our world. And especially as the West turns more from Christianity to atheism, and from atheism to superstition and supernaturalism, the more influence demons will have if they shift their strategy from working behind the scenes, to now boldly and confidently making themselves known to a population groomed and ready to receive some kind of antichrist leadership.

This is a time, therefore, not to shrink back as a coward draw back from a fight, but to all the more press into Christ Jesus, to look to Him; and if you have not yet looked to Him in faith, to look to Him for the first time. The time is now, more than ever in your lives, to embrace the living Christ who is Lord over the whole world, and who has the keys to the abyss. Is He your Master? If not, then something or someone else will be your master. The question is not whether or not you have a master, but which master you have. If you do not have Christ, you will have another master, a master sure to hate Christ, and all goodness and virtue which flows from Him. And soon, as there always has been to one extent or another, there will be deceptions and cunning reasons the world will give you to have nothing to do with Christ, and everything to do with them. The devils and the world will sell you gods, whether they be gods in space, gods on your iPhones, or gods in your friends and family, you will be asked, pressured, compelled to serve these gods. And if you have not Christ you will serve them. And if you have not Christ you will also be damned with them.

The time is now to repent. These days have been so odd, so unprecedented, and such is the boldness of sin and of rebels against God to go from bad to worse. The festering and confidence of the evil as of late is pressing you to either worship the gods of this world or to repent from idolatry and worship the one true God, through the Son, by the Spirit in truth. There will be no in-between. You serve Satan, or you serve Christ. And as Satan becomes more and more bold to torment the world and lead her astray, the time to seek asylum in Christ is growing shorter and shorter. One day, it will be too late, the flood will begin, and the door to the Ark will be shut and sealed. Repent now, for the Day of the Lord is at hand.