CONTENTS

Prince of Darkness?

God and the Bible

Haunted Nation

Our Night of Terror

Conspiracies - Alien Evidence Review

Apollo 11: The Untold Story

The Alien: Friend or Foe?

Why Is Earth So Special?

Was I Abducted By Aliens?

The 10,000BC Enigma

The Rendlesham Forest Incident

UFO Files - China's Roswell

UFO Files:

China's Roswell

History Channel, 6th August, 2006

UFO Files: China's Roswell explores one of the most controversial aspects of ufology – the Dropa Stones. Yet again using the Roswell analogy, the programme attempts to link the two, very different stories because both contain crashed spacecraft, alien survivors and governmental cover-ups, albeit thousands of years apart (except for the government cover-up).

The story of the discovery of the Dropa Stones begins in 1938, when a Chinese professor of archaeology, Chi Pu Tei, sets off to explore a cave system in the mountains of Bayan-Kara-Ula, close to the China-Tibet border. The story goes that in these caves, Chi found rows of small skeletons with large heads. Nearby there were 716 stone discs, each with strange markings and spiral grooves. The stones were taken back to Beijing and were not seen again until the late 1950s.

Dr Tsum Um Nui found the discs and began examining them, finding that the markings were an unknown form of hieroglyphic writing. Somehow he deciphered the symbols and claimed they told of a race of aliens, known as the Dropa, which crash-landed on Earth 12,000 years previously. Obviously, the professor had trouble publishing his findings. He became so frustrated that he emigrated to Japan.

The first the outside world heard of the Dropa was in the early Sixties, when a Russian magazine called Sputnik released the story. Soon afterwards, a German publication, Vegetarian Universe, also ran the story. With the Chinese Cultural revolution of the early 1960s, travel to the country became difficult and the tale of the Dropa Stones was soon forgotten to many. The location of the caves in which they were found has also been lost.

What was discovered by researchers was that there was an oral tradition from the Bayan-Kara-Ula region of ‘small people’ that crash-landed from the sky. The legends say that the Dropa came from the star, Sirius. This coincides with many other myths from around the world, such as the Egyptian Isis and the Dogon story of the Nommu.

Matthew Hurley, author of The Alien Chronicles and founder of the UFOartwork .com website, claimed that all through history, ancient man may have been leaving behind representations of alien beings in the forms of cave paintings, pictographs, sculptures and other forms of art. If aliens landed and interacted with our ancestors, it is entirely possible that they may have ended up being worshipped as gods.

Matthew admits that there are three explanations for what is often depicted in ancient pictograms:

• The depictions are real and do record ancient man’s interactions with alien beings and their craft.
• The drawings come from the ancient artists’ imaginations
• They represent ritual ceremonies with priests or shaman wearing masks or ritual headgear.

Only two photographs of the Dropa Stones exist. Matthew believes that what was photographed were either hoaxes created to perpetuate the story or jade Bi discs. The Dropa Stones closely resemble the well-known Bi discs, which were buried with the well-to-do ancient Chinese.

What of the strange hieroglyphics?

If the writing on the discs is 12,000 years old, as alleged by Dr Tsum Um Nui, then how did he translate them? Doing so would have been a greater achievement than Champollion’s deciphering of the Egyptian Rosetta Stone. He took years translating the hieroglyphics, despite two other languages, Demotic and Greek, being present on the stone to help him. How could Tsum Um Nui have translated the markings on the Dropa Stones without a similar frame of reference?

Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine agrees that Tsum Um Nui could not know the difference between an ancient human language and an ancient alien one. As far as he is concerned it means nothing and is just a story.

In the late 1960s, it is said that Russian scientists were allowed to examine the Dropa Stones. They found that they had peculiar properties. Thinking that the spiral grooves on the discs’ surfaces resembled the grooves on a long-playing record, the Soviets placed them on a turntable and began rotating. They found that when this was done, a distinct electrical charge was detected. The conclusion was that the discs had once been inside a very strong, electrical field.

It has been suggested that the spiral grooves were a form of vibrational message, designed to be transmitted back home, much like the squat alien in Steven Spielberg’s movie, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.

Peter Lu, of Harvard University, explained that spiral forms are very common in nature, from sea shells to plants to hurricanes. The same applies to ancient man. Spiral patterns have been found at ancient sites in Ireland, China and Egypt. In fact, they are found all over the world.

The way the story of the Dropa Stones has grown has been compared with how the legend of the Roswell Incident developed. Michael Shermer took up the story at this point. Largely unheard of for decades, the Roswell story began to gain momentum after a television documentary was released in 1978. Afterwards, books and magazine articles appeared, followed by films and more documentaries, and then the eyewitnesses began to come out of the woodwork. That, he said, was when the Roswell Incident really began.

Sensationalist news stories in publications such as The National Enquirer seriously damaged any credibility the Roswell Incident. The same applied to the Dropa Stones. The early articles in Sputnik, Vegetarian Universe and a Belgian UFO magazine had a sensationalistic style and immediately dissuaded serious research into the mystery.

Another way in which the Roswell Incident and the Dropa story converge is in the rumours of government conspiracy. It has been said that both the US and Chinese governments have recovered alien technology and are covering it up.

The region of the Bayan-Kara-Ula Mountains is vast and not easily accessible. The mountains are up to 20,000 feet in height and only one major road traverses the area. The local people are mostly farmers and herdsmen, living simple lives with little contact with the outside world. Legends abound in the region of a tribe of dwarves.

German researcher, Hartwig Hausdorf, believes that a tribe of human-alien hybrids may live in a Chinese village called Huilong. He suggests that survivors from the crash 12,000 years ago interbred with local people and their descendants today live in Huilong.

The Chinese government claimed that the dwarfism in Huilong was caused by contaminants in the water. The Chinese Academy of Science published a report that confirmed this and measures were taken to clean up the pollution. According to media reports in 1997, no new cases of dwarfism have occurred.

The Dropa waters were further muddied in 1978, when a book entitled, Sungods in Exile: Secrets of the Dzopa of Tibet, was released. It was alleged to have been written by a British explorer called Karyl Robin-Evans and edited by David Agamon. According to the book, Dr Robin-Evans travelled to the Dropa region in 1947 and encountered a tribe of dwarves. They told him that their ancestors came from the stars.

It came to light years later that David Agamon had fabricated the story himself and that Karyl Robin-Evans never existed. He revealed in Fortean Times that the book, Sungods in Exile, was a hoax.

UFO researcher, David Sereda, believes that footage from NASA cameras in orbit have captured alien spacecraft that resemble the Dropa Stones. He claimed that the famous ‘tether’ footage from STS-75 reveals these spacecraft. Professor of Astronomy, Stephen Walton, from California State University, stated that the objects in the footage are nothing but small pieces of debris from the broken tether. Their shape is nothing but an optical effect from the camera itself. The objects are so far out of focus that they appear as round ‘discs’. Sereda is not convinced and maintained that the objects cannot be simple debris.

In 1974, an Austrian engineer called Ernst Wegerer saw two discs in a case in a museum in Xian. He asked the curator what they were and she told him that they were ‘cultural relics’. Wegerer took two photographs of the discs and these are the only solid evidence for their existence that remains.

Unfortunately, the Polaroid images do not show any of the grooves or hieroglyphic markings that were reported on the Dropa Stones.

In 1994, Hartwig Hausdorf visited China and found the museum where Wegerer had taken his photos. He asked the curator about the discs and he was told that only a few days after the Austrian had taken his photographs, the then curator and the discs disappeared. Hausdorf believed that a cover-up was underway.

Michael Shermer claimed that conspiracy theories are the easy way out for people who have no proof for their own stories.

The mystery is compounded because all of the key players in the story cannot be found. The paper supposedly written by Dr Tsum Um Nui also cannot be located. The discs themselves are nowhere to be found.

Hausdorf believed that the stones were lost or destroyed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, when Mao rose to power. In those turbulent days, many of China’s irreplaceable artworks were destroyed by the revolutionaries in their effort to eradicate the excesses and decadence of China’s imperial past.

After Mao died, the Communists still held power (and still do), but eventually, China opened up a little and western influences began to trickle into the country. UFO stories began to emerge and groups were formed all over the nation. Nowadays, more UFOs are reported in China than anywhere else in the world. The most popular UFO-based magazine sells over 400,000 copies and there are more UFO clubs than any other country.

But what of the story of the Dropa Stones? Is it China’s Roswell? UFO researcher, Richard Dolan, is of the opinion that the story is not true and is, basically, a hoax. Michael Shermer stated that it is a nonsense, mythical story. Hartwig Hausdorf thinks that there is some truth to the story.

Perhaps the only way to know one way or the other would be to locate the caves in the Bayan-Kara-Ula Mountains and see if those tiny skeletons or, perhaps, more stone discs could be found.

UFO Files: China’s Roswell was another excellent programme in the series. It was interesting, informative and allowed all viewpoints to be heard. Did the Dropa Stones exist? Who knows? The photos by Ernst Wegerer don’t particularly match the descriptions given. To me, they look more like the other Bi discs we have seen. The connection with NASA footage is also spurious, in my opinion, and I agree with Professor Walton when he says that the ‘UFOs’ are nothing more than optical effects.

Despite all the negativity, however, we must remember that legends from the Bayan-Kara-Ula region do speak of tribes of small, large-headed, long before modern pollution was blamed for any deformities. That is, if we are to believe that the legend is true. Perhaps it is time a modern expedition to the region was undertaken to find out the truth behind the Dropa Stones.

All images are the property of their respective copyright holders and are used her for review purposes only.

© Steve Johnson - 2006

Apollo 11:

The Untold Story

The story of humanity’s first landing on the Moon is an oft-told tale of heroism, technological wizardry and a nation at the peak of its power. Of course, there is more to every story than you might think and the story of Apollo 11 is no different.

On Monday, 24^th July, 2006, thirty-seven years and four days after that historic touchdown, Channel 5 (UK) aired Apollo 11: The Untold Story. This documentary not only celebrated the astonishing achievements of NASA’s ground crews and astronauts, but also revealed that the mission almost ended in disaster, with some details released to the public for the very first time. This was the story told by those involved with the mission.

Oh, and there was a UFO too, but more about that later…

On July 16^th, 1969, disaster almost struck from the start, only hours before blast-off. A fuel valve on the 364-ft (111m) Saturn V rocket developed a leak. Unaware of the danger, the astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins, continued their preparations for the mission. The countdown continued and NASA engineers managed to fix the leak with a ‘special monkey wrench’!

The mission was given a go for launch and the astronauts waited patiently in their module as the seconds ticked down. Aldrin remarked that he felt they had a 99% chance of survival during launch.

What he didn’t know at the time was that NASA had lied to them. They had been told that if one of the Saturn V’s engines failed to ignite, their module would be jettisoned and parachute to safety. The truth was that no such safety precautions had been implemented, as the technology did not exist to separate the module quickly enough in the event of a catastrophic incident with the 5.6 million pounds (2.5 million kg) of fuel.

Thankfully, the sixth launch of a Saturn V went as planned (in all, there were thirteen launches of this type of rocket, all successful).

The launch was controlled from the ground at Mission Control in Houston. We have all seen the rows of technical-looking consoles with monitors and flashing lights. This array of gizmos, though, is not as complex as you might first think. The flashing lights merely told the operators which switches in the spacecraft were being used. The computer screens were not computer screens, they were television screens with the data printed onto slides and then filmed and transmitted onto the screens. All this was controlled by the mainframe computers that filled an entire floor of the building. Jack Garman, one of Apollo 11’s computer engineers, explained that the entire computing power of the Houston mainframe was probably equal to a modern laptop. The computers aboard the spacecraft were, he said, between a digital watch and a cell phone, but probably closer to the watch.

As Apollo 11 prepared to leave Earth orbit, it jettisoned the final stage of the Saturn V, the S-IVB, after a six minute burn to achieve Trans Lunar Injection (TLI). Man was on his way to the Moon.

As they zipped through space, constant communication was maintained with Mission Control. The babble of chatter was so intense that to the untrained ear, it sounds like gibberish. Apollo 11 Flight Director, Gene Kranz, said that, with practice, you learn to listen for the important stuff.

One communication, however, has become legendary in UFO folklore. For the first time, those who were present described what happened.

This part of the story occurred as Apollo 11 neared the Moon, three days into their voyage. The astronauts saw something outside and asked Mission Control:

“Do you have any idea where the S-IVB is with respect to us?”

Aldrin explained that something was close enough to their ship to be observed and they had no idea what it was. Collins viewed the object through the telescope and reported that in one position, the UFO (for that is what it was, an Unidentified Flying Object) consisted of a series of ellipses, while in another position, it appeared L-shaped.

Dr David Baker, a senior Apollo 11 scientist, told us very frankly that UFOs were not an uncommon sight by NASA astronauts. Several flights had reported unexplained objects both in Earth orbit and beyond.

Aldrin remembered that they decided not to tell Mission Control that they had an unknown object travelling alongside them, because civilians on the ground would pick up the signal and ‘demand that the mission turn back because of aliens’! Instead they decided to cautiously ask the location of the S-IVB. The answer came back that it was six thousand nautical miles behind them. Obviously what they were looking at was not a part of their own launch vehicle!

After watching the object for some time, the astronauts decided to go to sleep and not to discuss what they had seen until after the mission and they were debriefed on the ground.

Dr Baker rounded off this segment by telling us that the possibility of encountering aliens on space missions had to be approached in a ‘very sensitive and positive and realistic way’. He said that there were a lot of people in the Apollo program that later became convinced that UFOs existed. That caused concern at NASA, who ordered that such things were not discussed publicly for fear of ridicule.

The crew of Apollo 11 were in for another surprise. Aldrin began seeing flashes inside the module and feared that something had penetrated the skin of the spacecraft. He asked Armstrong if he had seen anything and the reply came that the commander had seen about a hundred of them. The crew only reported what they had seen on returning to Earth and the conclusion was that the flashes were caused by high-Z particles passing through the spacecraft and its crew. Z-particles are heavy cosmic particles that can cause damage to living nerve cells if exposed for a prolonged period of time. Even today, though, little is known about these mysterious effects from cosmic rays.

The time came for the most dangerous part of the mission – the descent to the lunar surface.

With the spacecraft orbiting 80 miles above the surface of the Moon, Armstrong and Aldrin entered the Lunar Module (LM). The skin of the LM was extremely thin, in places, as flimsy as two layers of aluminium foil. This design aided in reducing the overall weight of the module. It also meant that a sharp object in the wrong place could spell disaster and the end of the mission.

There were other concerns with the LM, however, and the major one was with the engines. In testing, NASA used two prototypes to test landing the LM, the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) and the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV). The LLRV was suspended by wires and had no engines and was completely safe, but the LLTV flew under its own power and was extremely unstable. Armstrong had almost lost his life flying the LLTV, ejecting to safety seconds before the craft flipped over and crashed to the ground. Paradoxically, it was this disaster that probably made Armstrong a shoe-in for the Mission Commander’s role on Apollo 11, due to his quick reactions in the accident.

As soon as the LM appeared from behind the Moon, Mission Control began receiving telemetry, telling them that the module was on the wrong trajectory. Then all communications with the module failed. It came back online, but as Gene Kranz asked his ground staff for a ‘Go No-Go’ reading for the descent phase, communications went down again. Eventually, he decided to tell his teams that they should refer back to their last complete set of data and give him the ‘Go No-Go’ readings.

The LM was given a Go for descent and it began its journey down to the lunar surface. The landing radar switched on, telling the astronauts and the computer how fast they were going and how far the ground was. Unfortunately, the on-board computer controlling the landing radar overloaded and failed. They had no idea how fast they were falling or how far above the surface they were. All they had on their display was the code ‘1202’.

Jack Garman was the only technician at Mission Control who knew what this code meant. He had encountered it once before during a training exercise and had noted down the correct course of action to deal with it. He advised that if the alarm did not occur again, they could continue with the landing.

Of course, it happened again!

With the mission in danger of plunging into chaos, Armstrong decided to override the computer and switch to manual control. By this time, the LM was way off course and the surface was rushing up to meet them. To make matters worse, the descent engine’s fuel tanks were running low.

As Armstrong controlled the throttle, he tried to locate a suitable landing spot. Back in Mission Control, the only thing that could be heard was a countdown of fuel remaining in seconds.

At a hundred feet, a large, boulder-strewn crater loomed before the LM. Armstrong had to use more fuel to allow them to glide over the crater. Time was running out. In the simulations, it had been decided that if only thirty seconds of fuel remained, then the mission was aborted. This was not a simulation, though!

Armstrong set the ‘Eagle’ Lunar Module down in the Sea of Tranquillity with only fifteen seconds of fuel remaining.

The official order of business once on the surface was for the astronauts to sleep, but with adrenalin running high, Armstrong and Aldrin decided to immediately go outside. They donned their bulky spacesuits and tried to open the hatch. Unfortunately, it was stuck fast. The atmospheric pressure inside the LM was still too high to allow the hatch to open. Aldrin explained that when they equalise the pressures, not all of the internal atmosphere is vented. Aldrin was forced the slightly bend the hatch to allow it to open! 

What happened next is perhaps the single most historic event in human history. Armstrong descended the ladder, stepped onto the surface of the Moon and uttered the immortal words:

“This is one small step for… man. One giant leap for mankind.”

Aldrin followed him a few minutes later and their mission continued. As Armstrong set about collecting Moon rocks and dust samples, set up seismic monitors and other tasks, Aldrin was seen skipping and running about aimlessly, having a great time. It turned out he was experimenting with lunar locomotion. He found that the best way to get around was to ‘bunny hop’.

Aldrin’s gallivanting was interrupted by the most famous long-distance call in history. President Richard Nixon called them from the Oval Office of the White House, congratulating them for their staggering achievement.

Unknown to the two astronauts, however, was that the politicians in Washington DC had drafted a speech for Nixon in the event that they never returned to Earth. They may have landed on the Moon, but danger and disaster still loomed.

The ascent engine of the LM had caused problems all through testing. It had only worked fifty percent of the time, so Armstrong and Aldrin only had a one-in-two chance of ever leaving the lunar surface!

Things got worse when the men returned to the module. After removing their suits, Aldrin noticed something on the floor that should not have been there. It was the circuit breaker switch that controlled the firing of the ascent engine! Of all the things that could break, what were the odds of that particular switch snapping?

Aldrin still treasures the object that saved their lives – a plastic pen. He jammed the writing implement into the circuit breaker and hoped for the best. Armstrong fired the ascent engine and, thankfully, they rocketed into the sky, leaving the lower section of the LM far below.

After redocking with the orbiting Command Module, the crew began their three-day journey home.

As they module entered the Earth’s atmosphere, the intense fireball that surrounded it caused a four-minute communications blackout (this is quite normal). Then the parachutes opened. Aldrin made a curious statement then:

“At somewhere, I guess, below ten thousand feet, we could smell salt air. That was quite a ‘welcome home’ sensation.”

They could smell salt air? They were in a sealed spacecraft weren’t they?

Anyway, they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and the mission had been a resounding success. NASA felt invincible. They had achieved the impossible.

With thirty years of hindsight, many of the Apollo team members feel, though, that they were extremely lucky to have accomplished their goals without losing a mission. Harold Loden, Apollo 11 Mission Controller, said that if they were to approach somebody today and propose that they execute their missions in the same way, they would be laughed at and told that there were not enough safety precautions in place. David Baker agrees and suggests that if they had continued the Apollo missions after Apollo 17, lives would definitely have been lost.

Aldrin, on the other hand, puts down the successes of the Apollo Project to the bold decisions they made and the dedicated people behind the astronauts.

Apollo 11: The Untold Story was a terrific programme that showed how close to disaster that first landing on the Moon came. What fascinates us at UFOData, though, is the frankness with which the encounter with an unidentified object was described. There was not a hint of levity in the descriptions given and Aldrin told it like it was – an object that sometimes appeared to be made up of ellipses and sometimes appeared L-shaped. What the heck was it?

It was not their own S-IVB booster, as that was far, far behind them. Could it have been an S-IVB from Apollo 10, which orbited the Moon, but didn’t land? Or perhaps it really was an alien spacecraft watching as mankind took its first steps off-planet! Who knows?

The images used are the property of the copyright holders and are only used here for review purposes.

© Steve Johnson - 2006

CONSPIRACIES

ALIEN EVIDENCE

Sky One – Wednesday 26^th October 2005

Oh, dearie, dearie me! A programme that started off with such promise ended up leaving such a sour taste in my mouth that I felt like drinking a cup of battery acid to ease the pain.

Sky One’s Conspiracies series may not be the zenith of investigative journalism (it is Sky after all), but last night’s programme about the alleged alien cover up since 1947 somehow managed to reach a staggering nadir in the aforementioned field.

It all started off so well, sort of, with a jokey segment in which presenter, Danny Wallace, stops passers-by in Camden to ask if they believe in aliens. Most of the people he questioned expressed an opinion that aliens do exist and that it is possible that they visit our planet from time to time.

Nick Pope, former MOD UFO officer and, as Wallace smirked, Britain’s Fox Mulder, explained that if the public could see some of the UK’s real X-Files, they would be astounded by the evidence for extra-terrestrial intrusions into our island’s airspace.

It was time for a history lesson. Wallace jetted across the Atlantic and told us all about the famous 1947 sighting by pilot, Kenneth Arnold (cue the first of many excerpts from cheesy B-movies). Historian, Richard Dolan, recited Arnold’s description of the ‘flying saucers’ as travelling at about 1700mph, an incredible rate of speed back then. The USA, he said, became gripped by the possibility that aliens were visiting the Land of the Free (cue the showing of several newsreel clips of slightly odd people describing their ET encounters).

UFO researcher, Dave Clarke, told us that at that time, the world was on the brink of World War III as the superpowers of the USA and the USSR rattled their respective sabres from across the globe. It was thought that the western powers were being spied upon from the air by the Soviet Union and that the UFO sightings were some kind of advanced reconnaissance aircraft.

Then Roswell happened.

Roswell researcher, Dave Thomas, declared that Roswell became the new Mecca for UFO aficionados. Wallace picked up the story that we all know about Mac Brazel (which he constantly pronounced as ‘Bray-zel’) finding the famous debris and Roswell Army Air Field’s (RAAF) intelligence officer, Major Jesse Marcel, ordering that the base press officer issue a press release stating that a flying saucer had been found (even though it was the base commander, Colonel Blanchard, that gave the order). The debris was removed to Wright Field and we were told that it was nothing more than a weather balloon, much to Marcel’s embarrassment. Roswell slipped off the radar for thirty years.

The next segment covered the infamous ‘Men-In-Black’ (MIBs). Nick Redfern explained that many UFO witnesses had received visits from these sinister agents and had been warned off, even given threats against their lives. It was noted, though, that many witnesses were credible, military people.

1952 saw Washington DC at the centre of a huge UFO flap. Radar picked up seemingly solid objects over the US capital and jets were scrambled, only to find nothing. Local residents saw lights in the sky and panic gripped the streets. A major press conference calmed public fears and the subject died down once more.

Project Blue Book was created to dispel the myths about UFOs, but in reality it was more of a public relations exercise than a serious investigative unit. It closed in 1969 and the powers-that-be hoped that that would be the end of the UFO ‘problem’.

Jenny Randles, famous UFO researcher, told us about the Rendlesham Forest Incident of December 1980, when a group of US airmen from the twin bases of RAF Woodbridge/Bentwaters ventured into the trees and saw inexplicable lights. We were treated to the actual audio of the event recorded by the deputy base commander, Lt. Colonel Charles Halt. He wrote a memo of the event and it was filed away by the USAF and the MOD.

The Ministry of Defence ignored Jenny Randle’s requests to see the memo for two years, until she decided to retrieve a copy via the USAF, using the American Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The memo created a media sensation, but the MOD refused to comment and still do to this day.

Wallace made the cryptic remark that the intelligence agencies wanted to control the UFO movement from within – and then we went to a break…

In 1978, nuclear physicist and researcher, Stanton Friedman, resurrected the Roswell case by a chance meeting with Jesse Marcel Sr. The result was a best-selling book (note that Wallace mentions the ‘best-selling’ bit. It’s important for later…) and Friedman’s catapulting into the role of the ‘high priest of ufology’. Wallace caught up with Friedman at a lecture and admitted that he was out of his depth with Stanton’s talk.

Friedman explained that during his meeting with Major Marcel, he found out that the wreckage from the ‘weather balloon’ was not of this earth. The resulting ‘best-selling’ book put Roswell on the map and researchers descended upon the New Mexico town. Suddenly, tales of retrieved saucers, live and dead aliens and a huge government cover-up ensued.

The alien avalanche became big business for Roswell and Wallace demonstrated this by purchasing various ET-themed items from Roswell’s many alien stores. He chatted with the town’s mayor, who was not really impressed with the whole alien ‘thing’, and gave him a ‘lifesize, biologically accurate representation of a large, blue, inflatable alien’.

In 1994, the USAF released their ‘final report’ on Roswell in which they put it down to the infamous Mogul balloon project, experiments with test dummies dropped from planes and balloons, V2 rocket tests, hapless monkeys sacrificed in the name of science, the list goes on. They even used the Viking space probe test footage from the 1970s!

That’s that, then. It was all nothing more than a combination of top secret projects that happened to all be found at the same time and mistaken for flying saucers and live and dead aliens! The UFO mystery was all a handy smokescreen for the intelligence agencies to get up to their cloak and dagger escapades without fear of being discovered.

Wallace then made the remarkable statement that since the end of the Cold War, there has been a sharp dip in reported UFO sightings. “I guess that we’re just not testing as much stuff as we used to,” he mused. Of course, we know this is all nonsense and that UFO sightings actually increased during the nineties and continue to do so to this day!

It was up to Richard Dolan to defend ufology by explaining that not all UFO sightings can be of U2’s etc., given the flight characteristics described by incredibly reliable witnesses.

The final segment was the real icing on the cake.

Wallace (aided by Dave Clarke) propounded the notion that being a UFO researcher is a nice money-spinner. Researchers make their fortunes through books, videos and those extremely lucrative lectures. They’re all rolling in money, while sceptics such as Dave Thomas are so poor because nobody wants to listen to them. Awwwww! Pass me a hankie!

Wallace made the astonishing claim that ufologists keep the ‘conspiracy’ going to keep the money rolling in. If it all came out in the open, he suggested, UFO researchers would be the biggest losers, as their ‘careers’ would go up in smoke and all that lovely lolly that they had been raking in would evaporate!

Perhaps somebody should explain to Messrs Wallace and Clarke that the vast majority of UFO researchers make no money out of their work and many end up out of pocket, especially on the lecture circuit.

Once again a UFO documentary has scored a massive own goal by dismissing the subject in spite of the vast amounts of evidence they broadcast (and ultimately ignore). Constantly, we are given the opportunity to see and hear first hand accounts from the people that were there, credible people like Charles Halt, but time and again, these programmes dismiss their testimony in favour of ‘towing the line’ and declaring that there is nothing to the subject.

When will they wake up and see that the UFO enigma is not going to go away? It is a real phenomenon and millions of eyewitnesses around the world are testament to that fact.

© Steven Johnson – 2005

All images are the property of Sky Television and Redback Productions and are reproduced here solely for review purposes

Prince of Darkness?

by Steve Johnson

Before I start, I want to categorically state that I am in no way a Satanist, diabolist, devil-worshipper or anything else for that matter. All the views stated here are my own personal observations and I have no wish to insult or demean the established church in any way.

From the very beginnings of Judaism over five thousand years ago, Satan has been portrayed as the true epitome of evil. A being of such immense ignoble power that he has been likened to a negative version of Jehovah himself. This belief has been carried over into the Christian faith, where Satan even had dealings with Jesus, the alleged son of God.

However, if you read the Bible it soon becomes clear that Satan plays a relatively minor role in the book. Sure, he tempted several people (Eve, Jesus etc.), but did he actually do anything that could be classed as pure evil?

In my view, no.

Satan makes his first appearance in the Garden of Eden, where he allegedly has Eve eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Actually, the Devil's name is not mentioned in this passage. It was the serpent, "the most cautious of  all the wild beasts of the field that Jehovah God had made", that tempted Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. Even after his misdemeanour is exposed and Jehovah confronts him, the serpent is still not recognised as Satan. Clearly, this story is simply a mythical part of the creation fable. People needed to know how evil had come about, so the priests decided to lay the blame squarely on the slim shoulders of the snake.

Now, Bible scholars will say that Satan, the Devil used the serpent as a mouthpiece, an act of ventriloquism, so to speak. If that was the case, then why did Jehovah punish the serpent to forever crawl the earth on its belly?

Satan keeps something of a low profile until Job catches his eye. Job was a very wealthy man with a large and prosperous family. He was also blameless and worshipped Jehovah vehemently. Satan voiced his concern to Jehovah that Job only worshipped Him because of the good life that Jehovah had allowed him. "Not so," replied Jehovah and to prove it, he gave Satan the power to destroy this poor man's life (was it not in Satan's power to do this anyway?). The two spirit beings spat and shook, sealing the bet and off Satan went to wreak havoc on the family of Job.

The Devil goes on to wipe out not only Job's wealth and holdings, but also kills his entire family! All of this with Jehovah's approval! Unfortunately for Satan, Job continues to worship God and he loses the bet. Jehovah rewards Job with a new family and renewed wealth. Fair enough, but it does little for the poor people that were murdered by Satan!
This one act is the single most violent thing that Satan does in the whole of the Bible and it is still only a story, a fable concocted to prove that Jehovah rewards loyalty and punishes disobedience. It also shows that God might punish you even if you have done nothing to offend Him.

Remember, Jehovah GAVE Satan the power to destroy Job's family and chattels.

Satan's next appearances occur in the Christian Greek Scriptures (The New Testament), but as most of this book was written to facilitate the divinity of the Nazarene Christ, much of it can be discounted. Jesus was NOT the Son Of God and was only elevated to this position when the Roman emperor Constantine The Great was converted to Christianity. The divine ruler of the Roman Empire could not worship a mere man. That man would have to be divine also. Thus huge chunks of the scriptures were re-written placing Jesus firmly in the bosom of Jehovah. In fact, Constantine was only a Christian in name only, as he remained a worshipper of Sol Invictus.

Jesus would have been horrified at this. He was not called the Nazarene because he was raised in Nazareth. If that was the case, he would have been dubbed Nazarite. The Nazarene were a fundamentalist Jewish sect obsessed with forcing the Romans from Judea. They were not averse to using violent means to get their views across and this can be seen when Jesus ejects the so-called money changers from the temple in Jerusalem. In actual fact, the money changers were doing something that had been approved by the high priests for centuries. When the Jews began to live more in the cities than in the countryside, it became difficult for them to offer livestock for sacrifice at the temple, as dictated by the scriptures. With the blessings of the high priests, enterprising business men set up stalls selling livestock to people who wished to offer sacrifices at the altar. As time passed, the livestock salesmen were replaced by temple employees who accepted monies as the sacrificial offering instead of livestock.

Jesus, being a fundamentalist wanted a return to the old days of live sacrificial offerings. The sight of people essentially giving money to God enraged him and he kicked up a bit of a stink.

This has nothing to do with Satan, but it is an interesting historical aside and insight into the mind-set of people living in biblical times. Even today, the collection plate is passed around church. A modern echo of those bygone days. What would Christ think of that?

The Christian Greek Scriptures tell of how Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. he offered Christ the whole world if he renounced Jehovah and followed him. Needless to say Jesus refused and Satan went away, obviously unable to exact vengeance on the "divine" Son Of God.   THIS DID NOT HAPPEN. It is simply another myth that arose to give Jesus this air of divine goodness.

That's about it for Satan's appearances in the Bible. The rest of his mentions are references to how bad he is and how he will be cast into Gehenna on Judgement Day. Stuff about him, but not actually involving him at the time of writing.
Right, onto the good stuff. Evidence. We have already seen that Jehovah does a lot of stuff off his own back. I mean, millions had been killed in his name in the first few books of the Bible. he even wiped out all life on Earth with the Flood at one point. Hardly the actions of " a god of loving-kindness, slow to anger". Even Satan's demolition of Job was done with Jehovah's blessing.

Jehovah created Satan as a perfect spirit being, an angel. If he was so perfect, why did he turn against Jehovah? Only when he turned against God did he become Satan. The word means "resister" and "adversary". God wiped out millions of humans at the drop of a hat, why did he not destroy Satan when the angel rebelled against him? Was he unable to?

Early in the Bible, references are made to the Nephilim. These were apparently the offspring of divine beings that descended to Earth and mated with the daughters of men. What happened to them is unclear, but it is suggested that they existed on Earth until the Flood, when they were wiped out in that terrible cataclysm. The Bible says that Jehovah brought the Flood because of man's evil, it is strange that the powerful Nephilim also walked the Earth at the same time and were "mighty ones" and "men of fame". "Men of fame" NOT "Men of infamy".

Another name for Satan is Lucifer. This is from the Latin "Lux Fare" which means "Light bringer". Strange how the so-called Prince Of Darkness could be called a light bringer.

Another god that was around during the time of the Hebrew Scriptures (The Old Testament) was Baal. He/it was a deity of some importance and is mentioned often in the Bible. Baal is often associated with Satan and more properly with Baal'zebub (Beelzebub), one of Satan's lieutenants. You see, Satan had quite a following amongst Jehovah's angels, so it is apparent that the Host is far from perfect as the Bible would have us believe.

Interestingly, the Hebrew word "Baal" can mean, among other things, "Owner of arrows", "false gods" and most bizarrely "Jehovah".

If Jehovah was the all-powerful, omnipotent deity that the scriptures lead us to believe, then how could he allow a large number of His own angels to act against Him. Surely, He would have known what they were plotting.

I know what a lot of you are thinking - Jehovah gave all of His creations free will, so that they could act independently of one another and God, if they wished. But we are not talking about a minor rebellion here, Satan had supposedly avowed himself to the destruction of all that Jehovah had created. Why, then, was he still allowed into the presence of Jehovah, as when the wager with Job took place?

It seems obvious to me that Satan was (and still is, if either beings actually DO exist) in the employ of the Almighty. It was Satan's task  to test Jehovah's creations, a bit like a Quality Control inspector. God gave us all free will, but He wanted us to use it sparingly. It was Satan's job (no pun intended) to weed out those who overused their sense of individuality.
Satan would tempt and bait the poor mortals that inhabited this little blue-green world. He would try and get them to follow him or some of the other false gods (that were wholly condoned by Jehovah). If they succumbed, Jehovah knew that these people were not worthy of salvation and will not be resurrected  when His New Kingdom begins (if you take the Scriptures literally).

If Satan was working against Jehovah, why would He allow him to continue his existence?

Why was Satan allowed into the presence of Jehovah and the other, righteous angels when he was supposed to be an outcast, a liar and deceiver?

If God does work in mysterious ways, then they don't come more mysterious than the way He has treated His arch-nemesis, Satan.

© 2000 Steven Johnson

God and the Bible

by

Steve Johnson

Why in the early books of the Bible are God and his angels depicted as solid, physical beings? Only after the Israelites enslavement in Babylon did God become a non-corporeal entity.

I have scoured through the Bible (the definitive version of God's word) and found many instances that, in my view, prove that God or Jehovah was once a living, breathing, humanoid life-form.

All of the extracts are taken from the 'New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures', the bible of Jehovah's witnesses and generally regarded as the most accurate and user-friendly version of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures.

Genesis 2:8

Further Jehovah planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

God 'planted' the garden. He didn't make it appear magically. He didn't will it into being. God physically planted the garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:21

Hence Jehovah had a deep sleep fall upon the man and, while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and then closed up the flesh over its place.

Why did God have to give Adam a general anaesthetic? Why did he have to physically open up the man's chest? Surely an omnipotent Jehovah could have taken the rib without the need for surgery. Why did he require one of Adam's ribs to make Eve in the first place? Was Adam's DNA necessary to create a female clone of the newly engineered human race?

Genesis 3:8

Later they heard the voice of Jehovah walking in the garden about the breezy part of the day, and the man and his wife went into hiding from the face of Jehovah in between the trees of the garden.

Jehovah was walking in the garden. He was physically placing one foot in front of the other! You might say that it only states the 'voice of Jehovah' was walking in the garden, but Adam and Eve went on to hide from the face of Jehovah. How could they hide from God's view if he wasn't actually there?

Genesis 3:9

And Jehovah kept calling to the man and saying to him: "Where are you?"

God is all-seeing. Surely he would have known where the man and woman were concealing themselves.

When Cain Kills Abel in Genesis 4:8, the following verse reads:

Later on Jehovah said to Cain: "Where is Abel your brother?" and he said: "I do not know. Am I my brother's guardian?"

Why didn't God know that Cain had killed Abel? Why didn't he know where Abel was? It is possible that Jehovah was testing Cain, to see if he would admit to the murder himself. That does not seem to be true, because later the bible states that Abel's blood called out from the ground. Did Jehovah have some form of scanner that detected Abel's remains after Cain had buried him?

Why does man only start worshipping Jehovah as a god from Genesis 4:26 onwards?

...At that time a start was made of calling on the name of Jehovah.

Was Jehovah not viewed upon as a deity before this time? If not, why not?

Enoch fathered Methuselah at the age of sixty-five. Then the Bible goes on to say in Genesis 5:22-24:

And after his fathering Methuselah Enoch went on walking with the [true] God three hundred years. Meanwhile, he became father to sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch amounted to three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch kept walking with the [true] God. Then he was no more, for God took him.

Enoch 'walked' with the '[true] God'. The term [true] God comes from the Hebrew ha-'El, which literally means 'true God'. Surely at this early stage of history (if you take the biblical accounts of history as the truth), with only a relative (sic) handful of people on the planet, there were no other deities apart from Jehovah. Not any to force the scripture writers to refer to him as the 'true God'. Or were there?

Enoch 'walked' with Jehovah for three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah. Does this mean that he worshipped God only after the birth of his son? Why? Did he die after Methuselah was born and spiritually walk with God? Apparently not, because the Bible states that Enoch had other children and lived for a total of three hundred and sixty-five years. Actually, did Enoch die at all?

In Genesis chapter 5, the lives of nine men are briefly detailed. They are Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah and Lamech. All of these men died, according to the scripture - except for Enoch. The others lived well into their nine-hundreds (except Lamech who was seven hundred and seventy-seven when he died), while Jehovah took Enoch at the spritely age of three hundred and sixty-five.

Of this nonet, only Enoch 'walked' with Jehovah.

I suggest that he physically travelled with God for three hundred years, returning now and again to father his other sons and daughters for his clan. Then, when he was deemed ready by Jehovah, he was taken into his full-time employ. Enoch never returned to his family, so , as far as they were concerned, his life had ended when he was three hundred and sixty-five when God 'took' him.

Genesis chapter 11 proclaims the building of the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar. Verse 4 relates:

They now said: "Come on! Let us build ourselves a city and also a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a celebrated name for ourselves, for fear we may be scattered over the surface of the earth."

Verses 5 and 6 describe Jehovah's awe! He proclaims that man can do anything he sets his mind to. So what does he do? Instead of fatherly pride, Jehovah displays despotic resentment. He feels that his godhood is threatened by his creations' technological prowess and takes steps against the Shinarites.

As the humans had foreseen in verse 4, Jehovah scatters them across the face of the earth and confuses their languages so that they cannot speak to one another.

If you read deeper into this story, take a little time and think. Read between the lines. It appeared that humanity had reached an incredibly sophisticated level of technology. They decided to build a tower that would enable them to reach the heavens. Today, we build towers that can reach the heavens - rockets.

If, as many people believe, God was an alien, then he and his kind may have seen humankind's rapid technical progression as a threat to their plans for our planet (whatever they were or are!). Was an air strike called in to destroy the Shinarites 'tower'? Was a pogrom begun to eradicate the suddenly dangerous barbarians? The subjugation of our race may have been so great that we survived only in small isolated pockets, unable to communicate with other survivors. Was humanity's greatest experiment of antiquity also our greatest blunder? It clearly says in the Bible that man knew the consequences of the Babel project. He was aware that Jehovah might retaliate. But the chance to touch the stars and be equal to God was too great a temptation for the ambitious people of Shinar - our ancestors. Were they at the same technological level that we are at now? What does this mean for us?

It does not say in the Bible how long it took for Jehovah to spread the population to the four corners of the world. If, as I believe is likely, mankind resisted Jehovah's onslaught, then it could have taken years before they were crushed completely by the massively more powerful Jehovan forces.

Would we be able to put up much of a fight if threatened by an alien colonial force? The footage from STS-48 suggests that we may well be very capable of defending ourselves.

In Genesis chapter 17, Jehovah appears to Abram. Presumably, he came down from the sky, because, when he had finished speaking to the now renamed Abraham, Jehovah went up from him (verse 22).

This entire chapter is concerned with Jehovah's order to Abraham that all males of his house should be circumcised, even the slaves bought with money were to be circumcised too. Why would God wish men to do this to themselves? According to the Bible it was simply a sign of the covenant between Jehovah and Abraham.

SURELY THERE WAS AN EASIER WAY OF ILLUSTRATING THAT YOU WERE OF THE HOUSE OF ABRAHAM!

Or did God need the excised skin to be used as genetic markers? Markers used to keep track of Abraham's people. Remember, it wasn't too long after the scattering of humanity. Jehovah may have thought that a new group of humans were ready to receive his counsel and benevolent (!) care.

Genesis chapter 18 contains another of Jehovah's physical appearances. He appeared to Abraham whilst the man was reclining under a tree.

The Lord had two angels acting as escorts. Verse 2 says that Abraham looked up and saw three men standing some distance away from him. Three men? These were the mighty Lord God and two of his divine messengers! However, Abraham recognised Jehovah and offered the trio food, water and foot-baths. Am I losing the plot here? We're talking about the supreme being!! I would have thought a bite to eat and soaking his feet was not at the top of his agenda. Nevertheless, Jehovah eats, drinks and has his feet bathed.

Later, Abraham walked with the three visitors to view the nearby city of Sodom. Yet another instance of God physically walking. Jehovah decided to send his angels to see what was going on in that infamous town. They set off, leaving Jehovah standing with Abraham.

Jehovah and the angels appeared to Abraham during the heat of the day, i.e. around noon. They ate and chatted for a while, then the angels set off for Sodom. They arrived at the city in the evening time. This suggests that they walked to the city as it was the height of the day when they began their journey and Sodom was clearly visible from Abraham's dwelling.

Why would angels have to walk for hours to a nearby city if they were not physical entities? Another clue that it had taken the angels a long time to reach Sodom is illustrated in Genesis 19:3. Lot met them at the city gate and took them to his house where gave them something to eat. Their long walk must have given them an appetite because they ate with Abraham remember. Verse 2 also suggests that angels sleep at night:

And he (Lot) proceeded to say: "Please, now, my lords, turn aside, please, into the house of YOUR servant and stay overnight and have YOUR feet washed. Then YOU must get up early and travel on YOUR way..."

It stands to reason that if they were to get up early, then they must have slept before getting up.

Angels must also be fragile. Genesis 19:4-11 relates how Lot attempts to protect his divine visitors from a lustful mob. He even offers his daughters to the drooling crowd and begs them not to hurt his angelic guests. They refuse the offer and begin to break down the door. The angels (described in verse 10 as men) strike the mob blind thus saving themselves.

Telling Lot that they (verse 13) were going to destroy the city, the angels urge Lot and his family to leave. The next morning, Lot dithers and the messengers of the Lord are forced to drag the man, his wife and his two daughters physically from the town.

Obviously, the angels waited for quite a while before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, because Lot and his family reached the safety of the city of Zoar and night had fallen when the fireworks began.

Unfortunately, Zoar was not quite far enough for Lot's wife. She was transformed into a pillar of salt when she looked at the distant conflagration.

Genesis 32:24-30 recounts an extraordinary wrestling match:

Finally Jacob was left by himself. Then a man began to grapple with him until the dawn ascended. When he got to see that he had not prevailed over him, then he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh joint; and the socket of Jacob's thigh joint got out of place during his grappling with him. After that he said: "Let me go, for the dawn has ascended." To this he said: "I am not going to let you go until you first bless me." So he said to him: "What is your name?" to which he said: "Jacob." Then he said: "Your name will no longer be called Jacob but Israel, for you have contended with God and with men so that you at last prevailed. In turn Jacob inquired and said: "Tell me, please, your name." However he said: "Why is it that you inquire for my name?" With that he blessed him there. Hence Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, because, to quote him, "I have seen God face to face and yet my soul was delivered."

An incredible tale! Was Jacob in a physical fight with God? My source material is taken from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, regarded by many as the most accurate and straight forward translation of the scriptures. The heading above this story says that 'Jacob is lamed by an angel'. Jacob is quoted as saying that he has seen God face to face - not his angel.

Why would Jehovah wish to fight with someone and then commit the unsportsmanlike act of divinely injuring Jacob's thigh socket when he was losing? God cheated and it's right there in the Bible!!!

In Exodus chapter 3 Moses is impressed by the fact that an angel of Jehovah appears in the form of a burning thornbush. However, he is unimpressed with the angel and more concerned with the fact the the bush is not burned to the ground. Moses begins to inspect the bush and this obviously worries Jehovah. He could not have a mere mortal human inspecting his work too closely, so he orders Moses to remove his sandals and stay away from the bush.

Exodus 4:24-26 reads:

Now it came about on the road at the lodging place that Jehovah got to meet him and kept looking for a way to put him to death. Finally Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and caused it to touch his feet and said: "It is because you are a bridegroom of blood to me." Consequently he let go of him. At that time she said : "A bridegroom of blood", because of the circumcision.

This passage baffles me!!! Jehovah has chosen Moses as his messenger to the Pharaoh and he has set off with his wife, Zipporah, and his sons back to Egypt.

If he is to do God's will, then why is Jehovah trying to kill him? Why would touching Moses' feet with the severed, bleeding foreskin of his son save him from God's unexplained wrath? Why would God be so angry that he would execute Moses simply because he neglected to have his son circumcised? I thought that Jehovah was a God of love and compassion!

Exodus chapter 12 tells of the Passover, when Jehovah travelled throughout Egypt killing the firstborn of each house. The Israelites were ordered to paint the doorframes of their dwellings with ram's blood so that the Lord would know not to enter there.

Surely Jehovah knew where his chosen people were living? He can look into the hearts of men and see if they worship him or not. There were hundreds of thousands of Israelites in Egypt. Why was it necessary to slaughter thousands of male sheep and goats so that Jehovah would know where not to go with his wrathful gaze?

Anyway, God's terrible belligerence did the trick. Pharaoh released the Israelites and they headed into the desert.

Exodus 13:21-22:

And Jehovah was going ahead of them in the daytime in a pillar of cloud to lead them by the way, and in the nighttime in a pillar of fire to give them light to go in the daytime and nighttime. The pillar of cloud would not move away from before the people in the daytime nor the pillar of fire in the nighttime.

This is regarded as probably the first description of a UFO in the Bible and I agree. UFOs today have been described as cloud-like or concealing themselves in cloud formations of their own design. Hundreds of nighttime sightings report dazzling multi-coloured lights which could have been interpreted as fire in the sky in biblical times.

Another of Jehovah's ungodlike acts occurs in Exodus chapter 14. When the Israelites were well on their way, Pharaoh and the Egyptians expected them to be lost in the wilderness. Verse 4:

So I shall indeed let Pharaoh's heart become obstinate, and he will certainly chase after them and I shall get glory for myself by means of Pharaoh and all his military forces... (my emphasis)

Why would the almighty Jehovah wish glory for himself? Yes, the sight of Jehovah wiping out thousands of Egyptian soldiers would impress the Israelites, but was it really necessary to provoke Pharaoh into pursuing them in the first place? (see also Exodus 14:18)

Exodus 14:24-25:

And it came about during the morning watch that Jehovah began to look out upon the camp of the Egyptians from within the pillar of fire and cloud, and he went throwing the camp of the Egyptians into confusion. And he kept taking wheels off their chariots so that they were driving them with difficulty; and the Egyptians began to say: "Let us flee from any contact with Israel, because Jehovah certainly fights for them against the Egyptians. (My emphasis)

Jehovah was looking out from within the pillar of cloud and fire? I had always been led to believe that God was everywhere. Why did he restrict himself to simply removing the chariot wheels of the Egyptians? Surely he could have really impressed the Israelites by making the entire Egyptian army wink out of existence.

I propose that at this time, Jehovah was not widely seen as a mighty god. He had to perform some extraordinary feats to win over the Israelites. The plagues against Egypt are a good example of this. The final, decisive act against Pharaoh's army, when the Red Sea closed over them, killing them beneath millions of tons of water, terrified the Israelites and they began to fear him. (Exodus 14:31)

Did Jehovah display any mercy to the Egyptians who managed to scramble to safety after the Red Sea closed over them? Exodus 14:27:

...All the while the Egyptians were fleeing from encountering it (the Red Sea), but Jehovah shook the Egyptians off into the midst of the sea.

With this terrifying display of power, Jehovah brutally allowed thousands of men to die horribly. Those who sought the safety of the shore were thrown back in a cruel fashion. Yes, they were probably wicked men, but Jehovah had no need to act so viciously. Those who would have dragged themselves, choking and spluttering, from the sea were no threat to the Israelites, who were safely on the far shore when the waters consumed their pursuers.

In an interesting footnote, the Aid to Bible Understanding (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania) declares that when Jehovah parted the Red Sea, he did so by making the waters congeal, i.e. to turn into jelly. Many UFO abductees and experiencers have noticed that some alien entities use water aboard their crafts, but that the water they employ is strangely jelly-like. Having solid water would be a great advantage over the liquid form. A craft executing severe manoeuvring exercises would be less stable if it had large, partly-filled tanks of water sloshing around inside it. The volume of water moving around would make the craft more difficult to control. If the water could be congealed or solidified, then it would not move around and the flight capabilities of the craft would be unimpaired.

Did God the alien use his technology to jellify the Red Sea, then parting it somehow and allowing the Israelites to cross, only to reliquify it once the far shore had been reached.

Exodus 15:3:

Jehovah is a manly person of war. Jehovah is his name.

Exodus 16:16:

...Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

God liked a good fight by the look of it!

Exodus 19:16-19:

And on the third day when it became morning it came about that thunders and lightnings (sic) began occurring, and a heavy cloud upon the mountain and a very loud sound of a horn, so that all the people who were in the camp began to tremble. Moses now brought the people out of the camp to meet the [true] God, and they went taking their stand at the base of the mountain. And Mount Sinai smoked all over, due to the fact that Jehovah came down upon it in fire; and its smoke kept ascending like the smoke of a kiln (see also Genesis 19:28), and the whole mountain was trembling very much. When the sound of the horn became continually louder, Moses began to speak, and the [true] God began to answer him with a voice.

Why did Jehovah have to descend onto Mount Sinai pluming fire, lightning and dense, dark clouds? If it was some sort of flying machine or spacecraft descending to earth, then that would explain the phenomenon - exhaust fumes billowing around the vessel. As for the sound of the horn, that would indeed grow louder as the craft descended. Could the horn be representative of the whine of vast engines or could it depict a public address system being switched on and whistling with feedback? Whatever caused the fire, smoke and noise, Jehovah's descent onto Sinai was pretty impressive. See the arrival of the mothership at the end of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' for what must have been a similar event. How much did Spielberg borrow from the Scriptures?

In Exodus chapter 21, Jehovah sets down some pretty draconian laws:

>He condones slavery, i.e. the selling of people, but only for six years. After that the slave must be set free. Fair enough, not too bad.

>If you strike a man and he dies, you are to be put to death.

>If you plot to and then kill a man, you are to be put to death.

>If you strike your mother or father, you are to be put to death.

>Kidnapping is punishable by death.

>Speaking evilly to your parents is a capital offence.

>Killing a slave is punishable by death, unless the slave does not die for a day or two (!!!??)

>If you attack a pregnant woman and kill her, the same attack is to be performed upon you. If you do not die as a result of it, then that's good for you!!!

>If you own a bull that is in the habit of attacking people, and you have been warned about it, and the bull kills somebody, then both you and the bull are to be stoned to death.

>Sorceresses are to be killed. Period.

>Bestiality is punishable by death.

>Sacrificing to 'false gods' is punishable by death.

These are very serious crimes and there are more in the same chapter, but why would Jehovah want men to be put to death in his name? If the person who committed the crime shows genuine remorse (Jehovah would know), then why not show mercy?

No! The God of the Hebrew Scriptures was a hard, vengeful deity who DEMANDED complete and total loyalty from his flock.

Yet another sign that Jehovah was a physical being is described in Exodus 24:9-11:

And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the older men of Israel proceeded to go up, and they got to see the God of Israel. And under his feet there was what seemed like a work of sapphire flagstones and like the very heavens for purity. And he did not put out his hand against distinguished men of the sons of Israel, but they got a vision of the [true] God and ate and drank. (my emphasis)

Jehovah's vessel must have been huge if seventy-four men could enter it. They saw God standing on 'sapphire flagstones' which were 'like the very heavens for purity'.

Could these have been impeccably cleaned and sterilized blue-white floor tiles or deck plates? Jehovah would not want filthy human germs swarming through his ship, so a sterile meeting area was a most prudent precaution.

Jehovah had a wickedly short temper. In Exodus 32:10, he threatened to destroy the Israelites because they had made a golden calf in his honour. Moses had to talk him out of it! However, by verse 35, Jehovah was plaguing the Israelites again because of their calf idolatry. What form this plaguing took is unclear.

Exodus 33:11 states that Moses spoke to Jehovah face to face, yet in verse 20, God says:

...You are not able to see me and yet live.

Did Moses and all the other men in the Bible see Jehovah or not? They say they spoke with him face to face, yet they did not see his face, because they did not die. Was Jehovah wearing something that concealed his features? A helmet, perhaps, or maybe a full-face oxygen mask?

Exodus 34:14:

...because Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, he is a jealous God.

God is jealous? What does he have to fear from the other 'false gods' if they ever did exist? Or were there others like Jehovah at large on Earth at that time?

Remember, Jehovah's face was covered from sight. He stated that nobody saw him and lived. When Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the second set of 'stone tablets' (which were carved by Moses, but written upon by God) his face was described as having rays coming out of it. He was so incredible to look at, that people feared him and he was forced to wear a veil thus hiding his features. Many have speculated that Moses was subjected to a light dose of radiation during his communion with Jehovah, resulting in his glowing skin and white hair. Jehovah may have equipped him with a protective headcovering for future meetings and to protect his kinsmen from his affliction.

Leviticus 10:1-3 relates the peculiar tale of an unauthorised offering:

Later on Aaron's Nadab and Abihu took up and brought each one his fire holder and put fire in them and placed incense upon it, and they began offering before Jehovah illegitimate fire, which he had not prescribed for them. At this a fire came out from before Jehovah and consumed them, so that they died before Jehovah. Then Moses said to Aaron :"This is what Jehovah has spoken, saying, "Among those near to me let me be sanctified, and before the face of all the people let me be glorified." And Aaron kept silent.

Why would Jehovah kill two men making an innocent offering to their beloved God? Sure, they made a mistake - the fire was the wrong type. How can you have a wrong type of fire? Why did merciful Jehovah have to kill them for one unfortunate error? I believe that the answer lies in Leviticus 16:3-4 and 23-24. Jehovah God tells Moses that Aaron can only enter the presence of the Ark of the Covenant if he wears a specific type of clothing: 1> a holy linen robe. 2> linen drawers and a linen sash. 3> A linen turban upon his head. Before dressing in these clothes, he must wash his body. Back in chapter 10 verse 6 Moses tells Aaron that the garments must not be torn or death will ensue. After he leaves the presence of the Ark, he must remove the linen garments and bathe in holy water.

These instructions sound to me like the precautions taken when handling radio-active material. Could it be that whatever was inside the Ark of the Covenant was highly charged with lethal radiation? Certainly Nadab and Abihu would not have known of the danger they were placing themselves in. Perhaps they had donned their radiation suits improperly and the lethal energy killed them instantly.

Exodus chapter 26 tells us that the entire tent that contained the Ark (the tabernacle) was to be made of the same linen as the suits. The tent also had what was termed a tent of meeting. This was where Aaron was to take off his suit upon leaving the presence of the Ark (presumably, he donned the suit here as well). Before he left, he was ordered to wash, ensuring he carried no radiation outside.

The tent of meeting sounds to me like an airlock, a safety precaution common in nuclear power stations today.

How did Moses survive bringing the radio-active tablets down from Mount Sinai? Remember, his face was emitting rays and he was forced to wear a veil when in the presence of his people. Moses lived for another forty years, so Jehovah must have afforded him some protection against the otherwise instantly lethal radiation.

Numbers 11:21-22 tells of the Israelites crying out for meat. Moses tells Jehovah that he had promised meat yet had not delivered. Numbers 11:23:

At this Jehovah said to Moses: "The hand of Jehovah is cut short, is it? Now you will see whether what I say befalls you or not."

Jehovah sounded a bit miffed didn't he? He later causes quails to fall around the camp. In their hunger, many Israelites gather up the quails and eat them immediately.

Numbers 11:33:

The meat was yet between their teeth, before it could be chewed, when Jehovah's anger blazed against the people, and Jehovah began striking at the people with a very great slaughter.

No mercy, no remorse. The people were hungry for meat. They had been stuck in the wilderness for years, promised salvation by Moses and Jehovah. When Jehovah supplied the quails, he could have sent instructions that they were not to have been eaten immediately. He did not. Jehovah simply wipes them out without warning. The God of Love? The God of Forgiveness?

Numbers 12:4-5:

Then Jehovah suddenly said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam: "Go out, the three of YOU, to the tent of meeting." So the three of them went out. After that Jehovah came down in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam. At this both of them went out. (my emphasis)

Prior to this, Aaron and Miriam had asked why Jehovah spoke only to Moses. God obviously decided to show himself to them and explain himself. He explains that to the prophets he speaks in dreams and visions. Verse 7 continues:

"Not so my servant Moses! He is being entrusted with all my house. Mouth to mouth I speak to him, and not by riddles; and the appearance of Jehovah is what he beholds. Why, then did YOU not fear to speak against my servant, against Moses?"

Before they have time to respond, Jehovah strikes Miriam down with 'leprosy'! Moses and Aaron plead with God to cure her, but he simply tells them to quarantine her for seven days. Was Miriam struck down with radiation poisoning?

Jehovah had told them to go to the tent of meeting. Remember, this was where Aaron had to don his special clothes before entering the tent of the Ark. Moses had been conditioned against the radio-activity (advanced drugs, perhaps?) by Jehovah. This makes sense to me. Moses is virtually immune to the radiation emitted from Jehovah, Aaron would have donned his radiation suit inside the tent of meeting by force of habit, but Miriam, being a woman and not a member of the priesthood, would have been open to the deadly energy pouring from the unearthly visitor.

She was to be quarantined for seven days before being allowed back into the camp. The period of quarantine was obviously inadequate, because she died shortly afterwards.

A point of interest which I believe to be related to this story is told in Numbers chapter 4. This chapter relates how Moses is ordered by Jehovah to register all those who serve in the tent of meeting, including their families. Altogether, 8580 people are noted. A lot of people were connected with the tent of meeting! Why did they all have to be registered?

Perhaps the answer lies in Chapter 5. Immediately after ordering the register, Jehovah tells Moses that all leprous persons are to be quarantined outside the camp. This order also includes people with a running discharge or people who have been in contact with a dead body.

These precautions could have been enforced in case anybody contracted radiation poisoning. Sever cases would appear like leprosy, with loss of hair, bleeding gums and orifices and fluid discharges. Anybody directly handling the corpse of a radiation victim would themselves become contaminated.. Therefore, they were to join their unfortunate countrymen outside the camp.

In Numbers chapter 14, the Israelites begin to speak against Moses and Aaron. They suggest returning to Egypt. In verse 11, Jehovah threatens to strike them all with pestilence because they show him no respect. Moses is forced to beg for mercy with Jehovah once again. It seems that Moses spent half of his life rescuing his people from the wrath of God!

Moses makes a remarkable statement in verses 17-18:

And now, please, let your power be great, O Jehovah, just as you have spoken, saying, "Jehovah, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, pardoning error and transgression..."

Slow to anger? Abundant in loving-kindness? Pardoning error? I am only four books into the Bible and the merciful Jehovah has already slaughtered millions!

Despite Moses' pleas. Jehovah went on to destroy 15000 people! (Numbers 16:49)

Numbers 21:14 refers to the mysterious 'Book of the Wars of Jehovah'. What is this book? Does it refer to the battles fought by Jehovah himself or by men in Jehovah's name? Nobody is certain.

In Numbers 22:20, God tells Balaam to go with the princes of Balak, a neighbouring ruler. The very next verse relates how Jehovah became enraged because Balaam had gone. He sends an angel to block his path with orders to kill Balaam if he succeeds in getting by.

They say that God works in mysterious ways, but they don't get much more mysterious than that!

Jehovah kills another 24000 Israelites in Numbers 25:1-9 because they had committed immoral acts with the women of Moab and began praying to false gods.

Everybody who has read the Bible thinks that the Pharaoh who ordered the deaths of all newborn babies to be a cruel, evil man. The same applies to Herod who issued a similar order. What about Moses, the meek servant of Jehovah?

Numbers chapter 31 relates the grisly tale of twelve thousand Israelite warriors plundering the cities of Midian. They killed all the men and took the women and children captive. When Moses saw what they had done, he grew angry. This is what he said in Numbers 31:17:

"And now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has had intercourse with man by lying with a male."

An act of divinely approved genocide! Of the entire Midian people only virgin females were spared. Even infant males were slaughtered!

Another reference to Jehovah's military might is found in Deuteronomy 33:2:

And he proceeded to say:

"Jehovah - from Sinai he came.

And he flashed forth from Seir upon them.

He beamed forth from the mountainous region of Paran.

And with him were holy myriads.

At his right hand warriors belonging to them."

'Holy myriads' was one of many terms used to describe angels, or Jehovah's messengers. Look at the last line: "At his right hand warriors belonging to them." Warriors belonging to Jehovah's angels? Was there a military wing (no pun intended) to the Host?

Far from being a god of love, Jehovah seems, so far at any rate, to be a militaristic dictator with little regard for his minions. Even his own angels are sent on missions with little regard for their own safety. The pair at Sodom and Gomorrah were almost overpowered by a lustful mob.

Deuteronomy states in chapter 34 that Moses went into the mountains to meet Jehovah. God showed him all the land and then he died:

After that Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab at the order of Jehovah. And he proceeded to bury him in the valley in the land of Maab in front of Beth-peor, and nobody has come to know his grave down to this day.

If Moses was alone and Jehovah himself buried him, how are we to be sure that Moses died at all? Nobody knows to this day where his grave is, despite the Bible telling us exactly where it is! Perhaps he could have been taken into the service of Jehovah, as Enoch had been many years earlier.

The book of Joshua relates the Israelites' destruction of Jericho. Before reaching that city, the masses of Israel must cross the Jordan River. Jehovah orders Joshua to take the Ark of the Covenant into the river and the waters will part, allowing his people to cross. Joshua 3:3-4:

"...As soon as you see the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah YOUR God and the priests, the Levites, carrying it, then YOU yourselves will pull away from YOUR place, and YOU must follow it, - only let there pove to be a distance between YOU and it of about two thousand cubits by measure; do not get near it - in order that YOU may know the way by which YOU should go, for YOU have not passed over that way before."

The waters of the Jordan must have parted a long way. The people of Israel had to cross the river, passing the priests who held the Ark, but were ordered not to get closer to the Ark than two thousand cubits. This distance is equivalent to about 890 metres or 2917 feet. This could have been due to the radiation flowing from the holy chest. No doubt, the priests were wearing their protective, holy garments.

Joshua 5:13-15 explains how Joshua met a strange man bearing a sword. Joshua walks towards the stranger and asks if he is a friend or foe. The stranger replies that he is neither:

"...I - as prince of the army of Jehovah I have now come."

At this, Joshua prostrates himself before the mystery visitor and is told to remove his sandals because this place is now holy.

What is a 'prince of the army of Jehovah'? The 'Aid to Bible Understanding' claims that the visitor is an angel of the Lord. Why did he say that he was neither for Joshua or his enemies? I suggest that he was merely an observer, sent by Jehovah to watch the Israelites destroy Jericho. Declaring the place where he stood holy ground would have kept the anxious and adrenaline-filled humans away from the angel, thus ensuring his safety in the ensuing battle.

Everybody knows what happened next. The Israelite army marched around the city, carrying the Ark and blowing trumpets. After they had marched around Jericho for the seventh time, a shout went up from the warriors and the walls fell. (Note: Frank Herbert's semi-religious Dune also had the Muad'Dib killing word.) Jehovah then ordered the army into the city and told them to destroy every living thing, except for one family who had given shelter to two Israelite spies earlier. Curiously, the only things that were to be saved were objects of gold, silver, copper and iron. These things were to be placed into the 'treasure of Jehovah'. What did Jehovah want with plundered booty? Gold, silver, copper and iron. Spare parts for Jehovah's fleet?

Jehovah shows a certain amount of greed when Achan, an Israelite soldier keeps some of the loot for himself (one gold bar, some silver and a fine garment. Not a lot after an entire city has been ransacked.). Angrily, God orders Joshua to locate the thief and have him put to death upon recovering the stolen articles. Jehovah's wrath was only satiated when Achan and his family were stoned to death and burned!

By the way, Jericho translates as Moon City.

Next on Jehovah's hitlist was the city of Ai. On God's command, all the people of that doomed city, twelve thousand in all, were killed. The city was totally destroyed. Ai translates as 'heap of ruins', thus I propose that it was given this name after its destruction by the Israelites.

Does Joshua 10:11 tell the story of an extraordinary meteorite storm?

And it came about that while they (the warriors of Gibeon) were fleeing from before Israel and were on the descent of Beth-horon, Jehovah hurled great stones from the heavens upon them them as far as Azekah, so that they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.( my emphasis)

Immediately after, the sun and the moon stayed motionless in the sky for a whole day. Could this be an exaggerated account of meteorite shower during a total solar eclipse? Or Perhaps the aftermath of a massive volcanic eruption and the darkening skies that follow many such occurrences.

Afterwards, the great military campaign continued and a total of 31 kings were defeated and their cities and people destroyed; the whole land subjugated under Joshua.

Judges chapter 4 tells of the victory of the Israelites over the chief, Sisera. The Israelites were greatly outnumbered and less well equipped. Jehovah intervened to help them and all of Sisera's army was destroyed. Judges 5:20:

From heaven did the stars fight.

From their orbits they fought against Sisera.

Did Jehovah send an airborne force against the enemy of the Israelites?

Judges 5:23:

"Curse Meroz," said the angel of Jehovah.

"Curse its inhabitants incessantly,

For they did not come to the assistance of Jehovah,

To the assistance of Jehovah with the mighty ones."

Where was Meroz? Nobody knows. Why would the angel expect them to assist Jehovah? Were they a powerful race allied with the God of the Israelites? Were the 'mighty ones' with Jehovah, or does the last line mean that the allies from Meroz should have brought the 'mighty ones' to assist Jehovah? They must have been impressive if Jehovah classed them as mighty. Finally, why would Jehovah require assistance in the first place? Did the well-armed troops of Sisera fight back harder than God expected, so he needed back-up?

Not long after, Jehovah fell out with Israel and allowed it to be defeated and enslaved by the Midianites.

Judges 6:11-16:

Later Jehovah's angel came and sat under the big tree that was in Ophrah... while Gideon... was beating out wheat in the wine press so as to get it quickly out of the sight of Midian.

Then Jehovah's angel appeared to him and said to him: "Jehovah is with you, you valiant mighty one. At this Gideon said to him: "Excuse me, my lord, but if Jehovah is with us, then why has all this come upon us, and where are all his wonderful acts that our fathers related to us, saying, "Was it not out of Egypt that Jehovah brought us up?" And now Jehovah had deserted us, and he gives us into the palm of Midian. Upon that Jehovah faced him and said: "Go in this power of yours, and you will certainly save Israel out of Midians palm. Do I not send you?" In turn he said to him: "Excuse me, Jehovah. With what shall I save Israel? Look! My thousand is the least in Manasseh, and I am the smallest in my father's house" But Jehovah said to him: "Because I shall prove to be with you, and you will certainly strike down Midian as if one man."

First, Jehovah's angel appears to Gideon, calmly sitting under a tree no less. Then, halfway through the passage, the angel turns out to be Jehovah himself. This is another example of God physically showing himself to men. Only a corporeal entity could sit on the ground or turn to face someone. Jehovah was a real person, not some will'o'the'wisp.

In the first book of Samuel, the Ark of the Covenant is stolen by the Philistines. Almost immediately, they are struck with piles. We think of piles as being a painful anal disorder, but not exactly life-threatening, but the Hebrew translation says that they were tumours or plague-boils. Obviously the Philistines did not wear the proper protective clothing before the Ark and its deadly rays consumed them. Needless to say, the Philistines returned the Ark to the nearest Hebrews, the Bethshemites. Unfortunately, they had no protective clothes, either and fifty thousand of them died before the Ark could be sent to be stored safely at Kiriath-jearim.

1 Samuel chapter 15 tells how Jehovah orders King Saul's army to destroy the Amalekites, killing every man, woman,child and animal in their city. The Israelites felt pity for Agag, the ruler of the Amalekites and spared his life. They also saved the best livestock to act as sacrifices to Jehovah. Was Jehovah pleased by his subjects' acts of compassion?

No! He strips Saul of his kingship and has Samuel hack Agag to pieces!

2 Samuel 6:6-7 says that Uzzah grabbed hold of the Ark of the Covenant because he was afraid that it would be overturned by some cattle. Guess what? yep, Uzzah was killed as soon as he touched the Ark. Verse 8 says:

And David became angry over the fact that Jehovah had broken through in a rupture against Uzzah...

Had Uzzah's radiation suit become torn? Seeing the dange