This is the third in a short series of articles on what the Bible says about UFOs and aliens.

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Read part 1 and/or part 2.

There are several theories that seek to explain UFOs and alien encounters. First, the skeptical view. Since 95 percent of reported UFO and alien sightings are explained naturally, many people write off the other five percent and deny the possibility of extraterrestrial life. They place UFOs and aliens in the same category as Bigfoots, skunk-apes, vampires, and other subjects of folklore.

Proponents of a second view contend that these unexplained phenomena are the products of secret technology governments are developing, primarily for use as weapons. Or, they say, the creators of these phenomena are corporations or private empires testing products they hope to commercialize. 

Third, there’s the extraterrestrial hypothesis. This is perhaps the most popular view, which a growing number of scientists embrace. Just watch an episode of Ancient Aliens on the History Channel to get a taste of salivating scientists who say we’re on the cusp of contacting intelligent life from galaxies far, far away. 

The argument goes like this: If current scientific methods can’t account for every UFO sighting or alien encounter, we must consider advanced civilizations from other planets, solar systems, or galaxies. Since most who hold this view are materialists – believing only physical reality exists – they deny the possibility of beings from an unseen, or spiritual, realm.

There are problems with the extraterrestrial view. Hugh Ross, a former Cal Tech astronomer, argues in his book, Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men, that the distance between Earth and other planets that might support life is too great. The nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, is more than four light years away. The fastest spacecraft humans have developed so far would take 75,000 years to reach it. 

It also requires an absurd amount of energy to travel this far, or this fast. As objects approach the speed of light, they take on increasing mass, demanding volumes of energy beyond currently known capabilities.  

That’s not all. Approaching the speed of light leads to peculiar effects, like time dilation, which means time slowing down for the traveler compared to a stationary observer. And then there’s length contraction, which means distances shortening in the direction of motion. These effects make interstellar travel impractical within a human lifespan. The response that alien life spans must be longer than ours is an argument from silence.

Further, these craft need to beat the improbable odds of dodging space dust and space debris. Currently, there are more than 7,000 manmade objects orbiting the Earth alone, from loose screws to dead satellites.

Finally, prolonged exposure to radiation, microgravity, isolation, and the challenges of sustaining life support systems for generations on end pose significant obstacles to biological beings engaged in space travel.

Respected ufologists like Jacque Vallee make yet another point: The main argument against extraterrestrial visitors is that the concept simply isn’t strange enough. Vallee and others find that religion and folklore involving alien beings and their spacecraft are found in nearly every culture dating back to the dawn of human history.

A fourth view is the inter-dimensional hypothesis, which holds that UFOs fundamentally are physical but can move through various space-time dimensions that earthlings haven’t figured out yet. 

A fifth view is the spiritual, or extra-dimensional view. This view holds that while UFOs are real, they’re not physical. Rather, what we perceive as aliens are in fact evil spirits attempting to draw people away from faith in the one true and living God.

But why would Satan and demons want to make us think they’re extraterrestrials? 

First, they want to challenge the Christian worldview. Some atheists believe in aliens, so there’s no need to bring God or the occult into the picture. Other alien pursuers embrace witchcraft, the New Age movement, the hidden arts, and mind-altering drugs. Still others form religious organizations like Heaven’s Gate, engaging in a type of alien worship. For Satan and his minions, any of these belief systems works because not one of them is true.

A second reason demons want us to think they’re aliens is to attack the Christian worldview. When discussing theories of UFOs and aliens, you rarely, if ever, hear about the Christian God, or his work to create people in his image. Nor do you hear about sin, salvation, or a personal relationship with Christ. These are considered irrelevant points of view – or worse, damaging beliefs that prevent us from finding our true selves and realizing our untapped potential.

However, the view that aliens are, in fact, demons most closely aligns with Scripture. The Bible teaches that Christ is the creator of all things – visible and invisible (Col. 1) – and there’s a real unseen realm that the triune God, angels, and demons inhabit. At times, those in the unseen realm break into the physical world. 

For example, the Old Testament offers us theophanies – rare events in which God breaks into the physical realm: a smoking firepot and a flaming torch (Gen. 15), a voice from a burning bush (Exod. 3-4), and a brilliant figure riding a cherubim-propelled chariot throne across the skies (Ezek. 1), to name a few. Angels also break through, normally appearing as men (e.g., Gen. 18-19). 

But God restricts the attempts of Satan and demons to appear in the physical world. Satan is seen in heaven as an accuser (Job 1-2), and he appears in some form to Jesus during the Lord’s temptation in the desert (Matt. 4; Luke 4). But nearly every other time in Scripture, Satan must possess a willing human being (think Judas Iscariot and the antichrist), and demons seek to possess other people (like the Gadarene demoniac). 

It appears evil spirits can alter the physical world when God grants them permission. Consider Satan’s attacks on Job, and the physical illnesses demons cause in some humans as recorded in the New Testament. But they mainly stay in the unseen realm and cause people harm through temptation, mental and emotional anguish, and, sometimes, physical ailments.

So, accounts of alien abductions may be both real and spiritual. Abductees report being taken into spacecraft, or levitated, or sexually violated. Yet during these encounters, other eyewitnesses tend to report that the aliens’ victims never leave the room — a clue that they may be witnessing the effects of an intense spiritual battle.

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