Showing posts with label Noah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noah. Show all posts

Sunday, May 24, 2020

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE UFO CONNECTION


UFO’s – Unidentified Flying Objects – it seems that almost everyone is intrigued by them, and people want to know what UFO’s are and where they come from.  Hundreds, even thousands, of sightings of unknown objects in the sky have fascinated people all around the world since ancient times, even until now.  Interestingly, there seems to be quite an increase in UFO experiences today, but there are still many people who are skeptical of these sightings. 

Undoubtedly, some of these sightings are hoaxes, pranks, illusions, or imaginations running wild and I’m sure that at least some of the stories out there are wildly exaggerated.  However, because of the sheer multitude of documented cases, not only in the U.S., but worldwide, and because of the consistency of many of these events and their descriptions, it is hard to dismiss them all as mere illusions.  Something is indeed out there.

So what exactly are these Unidentified Flying Objects?  Could they simply be comets or meteorites falling from the sky?  Could they just be hallucinations or the product of someone’s vivid imagination?

Some have suggested that they may be weather balloons or drones, while some will say that these are some type of unusual military aircraft.  This is not always the case, since many of these objects have been caught on multiple sources of radar at the same time by airports and planes (both civilian and military), by sober, experienced aviation personnel, Navy and Air Force pilots and even astronauts.  Many sane and respected people have seen these unearthly objects in the sky with no reason to lie about it. 

Also interesting is the government cover-up in some of these events, for example, the strange “flying saucer” crash that happened at Roswell, New Mexico back in 1947 and the recovery of “bodies.”  Some of that is still classified today.

Identified

So, if these entities flying these UFO’s are real, should we reach out to them or should we shun them?  Should we embrace them or avoid them like the plague?

My personal opinion is that these beings are demonic in nature.  Let me explain why.  They defy our natural laws.  They can move faster than the speed of sound, yet, make no sonic “boom” when the sound barrier is broken.  These aircraft often appear to make no noise at all, and there are often no detectable exhaust fumes.  They turn at right angles effortlessly at extremely high speeds.  They are able to evade our fastest military jets.  Some have even been observed travelling from the air, then into the ocean without any change in speed.  There is literally nothing on earth like them.  They break our natural, physical laws, therefore they are obviously supernatural.   Something is certainly going on and I am convinced that only supernatural beings (beings from another dimension) can do these things.

The Bible tells us of only two categories of supernatural beings – those that are godly and those that are evil.  Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). There are good ones (those that obey God – Hebrews 1:14) and there are evil ones (those who have been cast out of Heaven – Isaiah 14:12-15; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Revelation 12:4, 7-9).     

Intelligent creatures (including humans) are either “on God’s side” or not.  There is no third option.  Those on God’s side will obey Him and do His will, spread the gospel, help God’s people, etc.  But these strange, intelligent beings flying superior aircraft are not pointing to Scripture or spreading good will, they are not pointing us to God or sharing the gospel.  In fact, they seem to be eerily watching us and will generally evade people, but when they do “make contact,” there is usually a fearful or threatening situation, with some people even claiming abductions.  I have never heard of a story where aliens meet humans and say, “Fear not,” as good angels do in Scripture (e.g., Daniel 10:12; Matthew 28:5; Luke 2:9-10).  If they were from God, they would no doubt say this and encourage people to embrace Jesus Christ and His gospel.

But it seems that these sightings and occurrences never point to Jesus Christ, but rather, these beings seem to have a different agenda.  So, since they are not bringing the gospel, nor any godly message, but rather fear, confusion, paranoia, and general creepiness (and in some cases, harm), I think that we can safely conclude that the motives of these other-worldly beings are not pure. 

Watching Outer Space

Many people don’t know that the Catholic Church has an observatory with giant telescopes in Rome and another one in Arizona with a team of astronomers.

An interesting question would be: “Why would the Catholic Church spend millions of dollars on a giant telescope to stare into outer space when their primary mission is supposed to be spreading the gospel and keeping the Catholic faith alive?”

Perhaps this is a bit of over-compensation for what happened to Galileo (the guy who the Catholic Church imprisoned because he “foolishly” thought that the earth revolved around the sun [heliocentrism])? At that time, the Church believed that the earth was the center of the universe, and therefore accused Galileo of heresy, holding him under house arrest until the time he died.  

We know that the Catholic Church is trying really hard to forget that incident and is trying to prove to everyone that they are now more interested in science.  But isn’t spending millions of dollars for a telescope a bit of overkill?  How will this telescope help the average Catholic grow closer to God?  This money could have been better spent spreading the truth of the gospel (Matthew 28:18-20).

The Catholic View

But what does the Catholic Church say about these creatures from “outer space”?  There don’t appear to be any official statements from the Vatican about UFO’s or aliens, but some in high places within the Catholic Church would welcome the idea of extraterrestrials here on earth. 

Father Chris Corbally, S.J., a high-ranking Catholic astronomer and scientist at the Vatican Observatory said of the search for extraterrestrial life, “We would be open to that sort of thing.  Certainly, some of our efforts should be directed toward that.”


According to Monsignor Corrado Balducci, a retired Catholic priest and former member of the Roman Curia (a high-level body of offices that govern the Catholic Church), “It is reasonable to believe and to affirm that extra-terrestrials exist.  Their existence can no longer be denied for there is too much evidence for the existence of extra-terrestrials and flying saucers as documented by UFO research.  To assert categorically that they are illusions and hallucination, or that eyewitness testimony accounts are not credible, is wrong…” See here:


An article in The Telegraph states, “Highly evolved extra terrestrial lifeforms may be living in space and would be welcomed into the church – ‘no matter how many tentacles [they have],’ one of the Pope’s astronomers has said.”

And that astronomer is Brother Guy Consolmagno, curator of the pope’s meteorite collection, and senior Vatican scientist, who said he “would be happy to baptize them [speaking of aliens].”  See here:


Jesuit priest Jose Gabriel Funes, head of the Vatican Observatory and scientific adviser to Pope Benedict, told the Vatican newspaper (L’Osservatore Romano) in 2008 in an interview headlined, The Extraterrestrial is my brother, that he saw no conflict between belief in such beings and faith in God.  He stated, “Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings, even intelligent, created by God.  This is not in contrast with our faith because we can’t put limits on God’s creative freedom… Why can’t we speak of a ‘brother extraterrestrial’?  It would still be part of creation.”


Although Funes’ statements in his interview with L’Osservatore Romano (above), were not official Vatican statements, a National Catholic Register article states:

“However, the fact that they were published in the Vatican newspaper signifies support of the wider Church for the acceptability of his position regarding the possible existence of intelligent aliens…”  And Brother Guy Consolmagno added, “Essentially, it [the fact that the article was printed] is evidence that the Vatican hierarchy agrees that there’s no problem [with these aliens].”  See here:


Pope Francis, himself, stated:

“If – for example – tomorrow an expedition of Martians came, and some of them came to us, here… Martians, right?  Green, with that long nose and big ears, just like children paint them… And one says, ‘But I want to be baptized!’ What would happen?… Who are we to close the doors to the Holy Spirit?... baptism is open to everyone…” See here:


A different source states that, “Monsignor Corrado Balducci made similar news when he said ETs [Extra-Terrestrials] were actually already interacting with earth and that some of the Vatican’s leaders were aware of it.”

This source also said that maverick Catholic theologian, Father Malachi Martin, when asked why the Vatican was heavily invested in the study of deep space at Mt. Graham Observatory in southeastern Arizona, replied, “Because the mentality… amongst those who [are] at the… highest levels of Vatican administration and geopolitics, know that, now, knowledge of what’s going on in space, and what’s approaching us, could be of great import in the next five years, ten years.” (Emphasis added)
 
One has to wonder, what did he mean by “and what’s approaching us.”  The article continues, “People familiar with Malachi believe he may have been referring to a near-future arrival of alien intelligence.”
 
The article also states that after Funes’ interview with L’Osservatore Romano, Muslim and Jewish leaders joined to say their religion could accommodate an ET reality…”  See here:


Is this a hint of the move toward a one-world religion (Revelation 13:8)?  In the quest for this one-world religion, some people believe that an alien “mediator” would be the ideal “person” to bring together all the world’s religions.

An Alien Savior?

Ok, so the Catholic Church seems to be willing to embrace these aliens / extraterrestrials.  Wouldn’t that be a good thing, you know, unity, world peace and all that?  No, I certainly don’t believe that.  This would no doubt be a very, very bad move. 

The movie, Independence Day comes to mind, with the large spaceship hovering over the city… and the people on rooftops are in awe and want to welcome these beings.  It is a moment of beauty, excitement and anticipation… until they are suddenly thrust into reality when the ship starts to fire on them and to brutally destroy their city.  Now, I’m not saying that this type of thing is going to actually happen, my point is simply, don’t trust these “alien” supernatural beings.

Many seem to have this view that, with all our problems, maybe these advanced beings could teach us a few things… find cures for diseases, solve political problems, or maybe they could even be our saviors! 

The pope’s astronomer, Guy Consolmagno, echoes this same sentiment of some people in another article:

“…Brother Consolmagno suggested the idea of discovering extraterrestrial life may be so appealing to humanity, with all its pain, injustice and disease, that there is hope that ‘any race advanced enough to cross the stars to visit us must also be advanced enough to show us how to overcome all those human ills.  They look to the aliens to be saviors of mankind.’”


Thanks, but no thanks, ET.  We already have a source of hope, a Savior, to help us with all our ills.  And His name is Jesus Christ:

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

“As in the Days of Noah”

It is interesting that Jesus warns us that the end times before His return will be like “the days of Noah” (Matthew 24:37).  Here, Jesus is alluding to people in those days as having a “business as usual” mindset, i.e., people were eating, drinking, marrying, etc. (v. 38-39).  All the normal everyday stuff we do. 

But many believe that there is more to this passage than just that.  The passage could very well also be pointing to the days of Noah in the book of Genesis, where the “sons of God” took “daughters of men” as wives, and produced giants as offspring, called “Nephilim” (Genesis 6:1-4).   Verse 4 says that the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, “... and also afterward.”  This means after the flood, as well, that they ("the sons of God") would somehow return to earth to populate it with these strange (and wicked) hybrids.  After all, this was the reason that the flood came in the first place – to cleanse the land of these hybrids and their wickedness in the land.
 
This passage of Scripture could very well tie into our present-day “alien” activity.  By the way, many, if not most, of the alien abduction stories have something to do with aliens experimenting with human sex organs and reproductive systems.  Could this tie in with Noah’s time and this interest in producing this unusual offspring in humans?

Could the Catholic Church (with its alien agenda) play right into the coming strong delusion of 2 Thessalonians 2:11?

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”

I think that this will be the case for many Catholics (and others).

Conclusion

So when the pope says that “baptism is open to everyone,” does he really think that we should baptize these demonic beings?  Why would he think that they would ever even want to be baptized?  The answer to the question as to why couldn’t we speak of a “brother extraterrestrial” is obvious.  Yes, they are indeed part of creation, but so is the devil.  Would the pope baptize Satan, as well? 

This is a warning to Catholics, Protestants, and anyone else.  We should use biblical discernment and we should not trust these particular supernatural entities.  It is my sincere conviction that this “UFO connection” is a part of the great deception of the end times. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-11; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:13)

See this link for a very interesting and informative video on aliens and the last days:


Here also is an excellent article on alien deception in the end times:




Sunday, September 21, 2014

THE RAPTURE AND CATHOLIC ESCHATOLOGY



Eschatology is the study of end time events, which seems to be a popular topic today.  It appears that the Catholic Church does not have an official dogmatic teaching specifically on the topic of “the Rapture,” but this topic does come up often in Catholic / Protestant discussions.  What is the Rapture?  It is the Christian belief that Jesus Christ will return from Heaven in the clouds to take His church back to Heaven with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53).  Those taken will include all true Christians who are living at that particular time, as well as the bodies of those who have already died in Christ.  It is also known as the Resurrection.
 

Problems with the Catholic View


Some Catholics believe that there is no Rapture at all, but many who do acknowledge it will consider it to be the same exact event as the Second Coming of Christ.  Closely related to all this is the Millennium, or the one-thousand year period in which Jesus Christ reigns in peace and righteousness.  It will be a time in which Satan is bound / chained and unable to deceive the nations (Revelation 20:3).  But although the Bible mentions a thousand year period, i.e., the Millennium (Revelation 20:1-7), Catholics generally hold to the Amillennial (“no Millennium”) view.  This view (CCC #676) teaches that there is no literal 1000-year reign of Jesus Christ on earth.  They believe in a more allegorical, or symbolic, view which says that we are living in the Millennium now, and Christ is sitting on the throne in Heaven, where He “reigns through the Church” (CCC #668).  The church is the “kingdom” of His reign and the devil is bound during this time.  As far as the meaning of the phrase “1000 years” mentioned in Revelation, they’ll say it is just a term that is symbolic for “a long time.”
 

Ok, first of all, if one wants to claim that the Millennium is happening now, then he would also have to believe that Satan is now chained and is NOT deceiving the nations today (Revelation 20:3).  But can any honest person really believe this?  There is more deception today than ever (2 Timothy 3), even in many churches!  2 Corinthians 11:14 says that the devil disguises himself as an angel of light, and is therefore a deceiver by nature.  Scripture is full of passages demonstrating that he is still at work today, deceiving mankind.  If he really were isolated and locked up (as described in Revelation 20), the great majority of people on earth today would be saved, and the world would be a far better place than it is.  The idea that Satan is not deceiving the nations today is itself a great deception. 
    

Furthermore, if the Millennium is happening today, then one is forced to ask, where is the worldwide peace and righteousness promised during this period (Jeremiah 23:5-6; Isaiah 9:6-7)?  Where today can you find the wolf that dwells together with the lamb (Isaiah 11:6)?  Or the bear and the cow happily feeding together (Isaiah 11:7)?  Or has anyone casually allowed their children to play near the hole of the poisonous snake lately (Isaiah 11:8)?  Do we see everyone in the Middle East beating their swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4)?  No, the world we live in today is full of deception, danger, injustice and wars.  Just watch the evening news on any given day, and anyone can see that we are certainly not living in the Millennium that the Bible speaks about.
  

Secondly, why should anyone believe that the Bible’s prophecies of the First Coming of Jesus Christ (a past event) were literal, yet interpret so many of His Second Coming prophecies (future) as symbolic or allegorical?  This is an inconsistent hermeneutic (principle of interpretation) which causes much confusion.  A literal fulfillment of these prophecies (such as the Millennium) would actually bring to pass God’s desire to restore His creation (e.g., Romans 8:18-23; Acts 3:21).


Third, for God to keep His promises to Israel, there must be a literal kingdom on earth for the Jews, according to these - Jeremiah 23:5-8; Ezekiel 47 and 48; Amos 9:11-15 - and many other passages.  The promises God gave to Israel were not taken away from them and given to the church.  Each has their own set of promises that must be fulfilled.  Notice that we are NOT saying that each has a different way of salvation, because there is only one way that anyone will ever get saved… by grace through faith.  But what we are saying is that there is no “replacement theology,” where the church replaces Israel.  Both have their specific time and role; and after the church is raptured, God will surely again focus on Israel (Romans 9, 10, 11).


These are just a few of the issues we have with this Catholic view.  See this article refuting the Amillennial view in more detail:




Who Goes and Who Stays?


Concerning the Rapture, we would also like to address some verses about Noah and Lot (Matthew 24:36-42; Luke 17:26-29).  There seems to be some confusion with some Catholics over who is “taken” and who is “left behind” in these passages.  We’ve often seen Catholics say that it was actually Noah and Lot who were “left behind,” meaning that they survived God’s judgment; and those who perished in the flood and those who perished in Sodom were “taken” (in death).  But lest anyone attempt to play word games here, we would stress that the “taking” and the “leaving” was done by God BEFORE the wrath or judgment was poured out.  The point is that in both cases one group (the believers) is removed from the “danger zone,” and the other (the unrepentant) stays in the “danger zone.”  One group is safely relocated, and the other stays behind and suffers God’s wrath.  Also, interestingly, in Lot’s case the angel said that he couldn’t do anything (i.e., bring down the judgment of God) until Lot and his family were safely removed (Genesis 19:22).  Since Jesus gave us this as an example of His return, this surely points to a Pre-Tribulation Rapture.  See more details on this in our new blog here:


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