The Paranormal is Normal

On April 28, 2020, an article on CNBC's website began, "The Department of Defense released three videos taken by U.S. Navy pilots revealing mysterious flying objects that to this day remain unidentified." For centuries humanity has looked to the heavens with intrigue and the desire to explore. The interest in space is often fueled by the search for the "origins" of life on Earth. Some believe that space aliens came to Earth thousands, if not millions, of years ago and "seeded" the planet. This belief has led to people being glued to the skies and peering deep into space in hopes to one day be "reunited" with their supposed ancestors. In 1984, an organization called SETI was formed. SETI is an acronym for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe and apply the knowledge gained to inspire and guide present and future generations. There are countless anecdotal stories, photographs, and videos of UFOs, supposed encounters with aliens, and even abductions. The more popular of these apparent interactions have found their way into the culture with movies, books, and television adaptations. The phenomenon is here to stay. Add to that all the other paranormal activity related to things like ghosts, cryptids, etc., and you will never climb out of the rabbit hole once you start down it. Sadly, some people believe that the possibility of the existence of UFOs, aliens, ghosts, etc., or the revelation that they are real, would undermine the authenticity of the Bible and its truth. There are even people who claim the Bible speaks of these things as if they are real. In truth, what is happening is that they are interpreting scripture through their eyes rather than using the lens of the Bible to interpret their beliefs. Let us look at some examples.

UFOs in the Bible

In Ezekiel 1:4, it reads, "Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire." To some, this is "a beautiful description of a UFO." To me, it is a description of what Ezekiel witnessed when he said the "heavens were opened and I saw visions of God (Ezekiel 1:1)." The focus of the passage is the visions of God not UFOs or alien spacecraft. Furthermore, you can make imagery say whatever you want it to when you read the scriptures with a bias. A whirlwind coming out of the north tells me that its origins are earthly since the north is a reference often used to describe a region of the planet rather than coming from outer space. A cloud with raging fire engulfing it and an amber-colored brightness radiating from it could mean anything. However, Bible scholars say it could mean anything from a description of thunder and lighting, a reference to the army of Nebuchadnezzar, to the glory of God. But, nowhere does it mention alien ships from outer space. But, the key is found in continuing to read. Ezekiel describes the beings he saw. Beings that looked like humans with four faces and four wings. They had bronze-colored feet that looked like a calf. They had human hands. In Ezekiel 1:10, he says, "Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle." This doesn't sound like the description of any space alien I have ever read about. All these references he gives to describe these beings are earthly in origin; a human face and the faces of a lion, ox, and eagle are things that come from the earth. This is what happens when you take verses in isolation instead of in context. You go from a vision of God to alien spacecraft to whatever the mind can imagine.

Cryptids in the Bible

If you are not aware of what a cryptid is, it is "an animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated." Some common names of cryptids are Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, the New Jersey Devil, and others. For the purposes of this article, I will focus on Bigfoot.  Bigfoot is said to be a very large, human-like creature purported to inhabit the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Although, there are reports of similar creatures all over the world dating back hundreds of years. Now, we could just leave it there and take it or leave it. Unfortunately, some believe that the origins of Bigfoot and, subsequently, proof of their authenticity, are found in the Bible. Bigfoot are said to be an average of seven or eight feet tall, and between 300 and 400 pounds. The Bible indeed speaks of giants. Most notably is Goliath, the Philistine giant who was killed by David. Goliath is said to have stood as tall as 9.5 feet. Therefore, it is possible that some race of giants could have eeked out an existence in the world to this day, However, the problem comes when people start trying to use scripture as proof beings like Bigfoot exist. The most popular scripture is Genesis 6:4. It reads, "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown." People will say that Bigfoot are the descendants of the Nephilim. Like we see with UFOs, people are guilty of reading into the text what they want it to say. Nobody knows who the Nephilim were exactly. The most popular theory is they were fallen angels who were having children with human women and this is one of the reasons God flooded the earth. Well, without getting sidetracked, the verse tells us who the Nephilim were. They were "men of renown." They were men. That is all we know about them for certain. Everything else is just speculation combined with our human incapability to admit we don't have enough information on a subject. So, we make stuff up and then defend it as if it is infallible truth. We come to rock-solid conclusions based on zero information. A wise person once said, "If the Bible is silent on a subject, so should we." 

Strong Delusion

According to a 2014 article from Mysterious Universe, "We’ve only explored about 0.4% of the Earth’s total mass." If this is true, the question to ask is, "Are we mistaking UFOs, cryptids, and other mysterious creatures for not being of this world when they might be from earth?" This, of course, is assuming they are real and cannot be explained by conventional wisdom. If UFOs are spacecraft piloted by beings from outer space then they are no longer unidentified. If creatures like Bigfoot exist, perhaps they are descendants of giant human beings but managed to stay relatively hidden from us and are not some angel-human hybrid. However, I take the position that none of these explanations hold the truth. What we call paranormal may be normal when you consider another explanation originating from the Bible. Could this all be a form of spiritual deception from the devil or even the Lord? In Genesis 3:1, it says, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." The serpent, better known as the devil, was able to walk around and have conversations with Adam and Eve. We don't see anything like that today, but could the devil or one of his demonic allies take the form of beings that we call aliens, Bigfoot, or ghosts? Exodus7:22 says, "But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said." The magicians were able to change their staffs to snakes and turn water into blood just like Moses and Aaron did. If they could do this, with the help of the devil, is it farfetched to believe that the devil could fool us today by making us see strange objects in the sky, giant hairy men in the forests, and apparitions bumping around in the night? Then we have Paul saying, "The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)." Could all of this be the strong delusion Paul mentions? The devil has the ability to create false signs and wonders to deceive "those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." 

Conclusion

The apostle Paul was writing to the Corinthian church when he said, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14)." When you are not a born-again Christian through faith in Jesus Christ, you won't accept the things of the Spirit of God. You are a "natural person." This is why you have people talking about things like the 'paranormal' and who try to explain their lack of understanding by substituting their own ideas and beliefs instead of turning to God for answers. If you see an unidentified object in the sky your immediate response is to say it is an alien spacecraft. Perhaps, what you see is of human origin, but you are just not aware of its existence. If you see a giant, hairy man walking through the forest perhaps he has always been there but is foreign to you. When that strange apparition appears, it could be nothing at all or again have natural origins you are not knowledgable of. However, if all these things are unknown and are not of human origin, perhaps they all come from the devil and are used to deceive you into keeping your eyes off the things of God. Jesus Christ told His disciples, "I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it (John 16:12)." There are things that the Lord would like to tell all of us, but it requires us to first understand other things. First and foremost is that we must accept Jesus as our savior. This results in our receiving of the Holy Spirit of God being restored to us. It is the Spirit of God that leads us into all truth. The most important thing in life is to know your God through faith in Jesus Christ. If you want to know the truth about paranormal activity, you start by knowing the God of truth. When you go before the Lord and He doesn't know you, the last thing on your mind is going to be what the truth is surrounding UFOs, cryptids, ghosts, and the paranormal. If it is, then the devil has done his job. Perhaps you can talk to him about these things because you won't be with God. The paranormal is normal when you realize that the Lord has already shed light on these subjects for us. Why not get to know Him instead of trying to get to know the answers to these secondary questions? Grace and Peace.