Are extra-terrestrials real? Have we ever been visited by creatures from another planet? Does the Bible ever talk about aliens or UFOs? As a pastor, I am frequently asked a lot of strange questions like these, and the answers might surprise you!
My dad often told the story of an encounter he had with a UFO when he was a teenager. While returning home after a date in 1962 with the girl who is now my mom, he claims something in the sky began hovering over his car as he drove down a rural gravel road in Kentucky. According to my dad, a bright light shown down on his car, and he felt like he was being chased. He said there was no sound of helicopter blades chopping through the night air, and the flight pattern was too erratic to be a plane. Terrified, he drove home and awakened my grandparents who came outside and for several minutes they also saw the unknown aircraft darting through the sky until it finally flew away into the night. Afterwards, they contacted the local television station and learned that several other people had also reported seeing the same strange light in the sky.
I have often wondered what they saw that night: Was it an experimental military aircraft or a planetary visit from extra-terrestrials? My dad could never say for sure. He only knew that he had an encounter with an unknown flying object (UFO). Thousands of other people around the world have reported similar incidents of seeing flying saucers, strange lights, or even experiences of being abducted by aliens. Some people believe there are even stories in the Bible of alien encounters.
You may recall that in 1977, director Steven Spielberg, released the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The title of the film is based upon the classification system created by Allen Hynek, an astronomical consultant for the U.S. Air Force, who describes in his book, The UFO Experience the three kinds of human encounters people claim to have with astronomical aircraft. An encounter of the third kind involves contact with an alien.
So are there any reports of third kind encounters recorded in the Bible? Let us see…
The Biblical View on Aliens and UFOs
Many ufologists (i.e., people who study UFOs) believe the stories in the Bible that describe angelic visits or supernatural visions are really biblical encounters of the third kind. They point to Enoch in Genesis 5:24 as the first recorded alien abduction in the Scriptures because it says, “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
These same UFO enthusiasts also say that the vision of Ezekiel in the first chapter of his prophetic book sounds very similar to the same types of unusual spacecraft people from all over the world claim to have seen in the night sky. Ezekiel writes that he saw four “living creatures” flying in the air in some kind of aircraft which he describes as spinning wheels of light (see Ezekiel 1:15-18). In verse twenty-four he says he heard a deafening roaring sound as the creatures and the wheels moved overhead like flashes of lightning. Ezekiel claims this vision was none other than the Lord Himself coming down from heaven (see Ezekiel 1:28), but some read this eye-witness account and marvel at the similarities between Ezekiel’s description and what other people claim are alien encounters.
Then there is the “abduction account” in 2 Kings 2 of a “chariot of fire” that comes down out of the sky and snatches the prophet Elijah away to Heaven. 2 Kings 2:11 says, “As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.”
Some people believe that rather than supernatural spiritual experiences these stories are evidence of alien encounters of the third kind. Yet, the Bible clearly tells us that there is not just a physical dimension to our world but also a spiritual dimension in which there are beings like angels and demons (see Ephesians 6:12). The Bible further explains that there are occasions when these two dimensions open up and intersect with one another. Luke 2:8-10 is just one example when an angel appears to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem to announce the birth of Jesus. According to Acts 1:9, Jesus, Himself, is said to have ascended to Heaven in the clouds.
In contrast, the Bible never explicitly states that alien creatures from another planet or another galaxy have ever visited earth or interacted with humans. In fact, according to the Drake Equation the probability of such an encounter is highly unlikely even if aliens do exist. This mathematical formula was designed by the US Astronomer Frank Drake who calculated the probability of a close encounter of the third kind by considering all the factors necessary for such an alien invasion on our planet to occur. Considering the fact that no planets have yet to be discovered in the Milky Way galaxy that can support intelligent life along with the time and ability to travel through space which would take thousands of light years, it is highly improbable that we have been visited by any kind of spacecraft or creature from another world.
However, while the Bible never mentions it, that does not mean that somewhere in the vast expanse of outer space there are not some other types of alien creatures that exist. We must acknowledge that there are unknown lifeforms on our own planet that we have yet to encounter or identify. We also limit the infinite power of God’s creative abilities if we claim that alien lifeforms on other planets or in another galaxy are an impossibility.
Surprisingly, the Bible does identify in Hebrews 11:13 one type of alien that claimed, “this earth was not their real home but that they were just strangers visiting down here.” However, these “aliens” are not other lifeforms from some distant planet secretly living among us. Instead, the Bible says that people of faith who believe in God are “looking forward to their real home in heaven” (Hebrews 11:14). Paul the apostle calls this celestial home the “third heaven” in 2 Corinthians 12:2. The Bible says the first heaven is the sky or the earth’s atmosphere; the second heaven is the planets, stars, and galaxies of outer space; and the third heaven is this spiritual realm. In this sense, Christians are “aliens” of the third kind on this planet. This is also true in that followers of Christ are instructed to live differently than the rest of the world, not by invading and conquering this planet, but by sacrificially serving humanity. So yes, the Bible does speak of aliens, they are just not the little green men from those science fiction movies like Close Encounters, but rather people of faith who choose to live for God in this physical world and yet who are longing for the third Heaven.
Dr. Richard Sams is a top Biblical and Religious educator, who holds a Doctor of Ministry degree (Evangelism and Church Growth emphasis) from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. He has two masters’ degrees (Master of Divinity and Master of the Arts of Religion) from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg and also serves on the Pastoral Leadership Advisory Board of Liberty University. Moreover, Richard Sams has been serving as a pastor (Pastoral Ministry) at Calhoun Baptist Church in Calhoun, KY, from the past Nineteen years. He loves practically imparting biblical truths to the next generation, while occasionally conduct spiritual challenges on his facebook page facebook.com/MakeItCountChallenge