The notion that flying saucers can be inferred when reading certain passages of the Old Testament is not a new one, but, like the Bible itself, it is an inexhaustible subject, meaning we can never know the complete truth of that correlation in spite of how hard we work to understand it all. But Timothy Green Beckley comes to the aid of the curious reader seeking to learn more about this marvelous relationship between miracles many millennia old and the advanced UFO technology we have seen in our skies at least since the 1947 sighting by Kenneth Arnold.
Beckley has recently released an updated edition of the classic “Flying Saucers In The Holy Bible,” which consists mostly of an older work by the Reverend Virginia F. Brasington, who offered flying saucer interpretations of stories from both the Old and New Testaments. This article will concern itself primarily with incidents from the Old Testament.
In his introduction to the new reprint, Beckley discusses the little known Reverend Brasington thusly: “Hers was a relatively obscure manuscript that had been picked up by ‘flying saucer promoter’ Gray Barker and published by his Saucerian Press. Before she became an angel in heaven herself, I met the petite woman while a guest on an all-night talk show hosted by, of all people, the Amazing Randi. The lady minister had set about to promote her work and she so impressed me with what she had uncovered that I later reissued her book in 1982. At the time it was well received, but unfortunately there was only a limited audience for its controversial content. Unlike other more authoritative figures in the same genre, Reverend Brasington touched upon her own fertile ground.”
If you’re wondering just what kind of reverend Virginia Brasington was, Beckley writes that she was licensed as a minister in the State of North Carolina by the Church of the Nazarene. But it is unlikely that many of her fellow clergy members at the time were seeing the Bible quite like she did.
Regular contributor Sean Casteel has long approached the Bible as an historical UFO record.
For example, Brasington takes up the story of the Pillar of Cloud that guided Moses and the Israelites through the desert.
“In Exodus 14:19-20,” she writes, “we read how the Pillar of Cloud would change position as the circumstances warranted it. It glowed at night and made a light for the whole camp of Israel, but in the daytime it was a thick grey mass that protected them from the hot burning desert sun. In the 20th verse mentioned above, it tells us how when they were engaged in battle, or when the Egyptians drew too near the Israelites, this huge object moved between the enemy and the Israelites and would glow on the side of the Israelites, thus giving them light to perform their camp duties; while on the side of the Egyptians it was dark. It was just as though God put His great big hand between them.”
Brasington also provides a comprehensive list of the many references to clouds in the Old Testament, specifically God appearing at various times to be using “clouds” as a form of transportation. Like this incident recorded in the 16th chapter of Exodus:
“When the Children of Israel had been murmuring and complaining,” Brasington recounts, “and Aaron had called them together to deliver a lecture on ingratitude, we are told in the 10th verse that ‘they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.’ So, evidently, this was some kind of vehicle that hovered over them, stood on end beside them, glowed when necessary, and put out some kind of vapor that condensed and kept a continual cloud over them to protect them from the sun – and maybe to protect the people from radiation burns – and, somehow, God was aboard.”
Further examples of clouds are listed. The following are both from Exodus 19.
“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Lo! I come unto thee in a thick cloud, and the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever.’”
“And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud came upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that were in the camp trembled.”
Since the early days of UFO sightings, Christian fundamentalists have taken the approach that all UFOs are hosted by demonic entities.
But clouds are not the only symbolic representation of God’s celestial modes of transportation. Also included in the updated “Flying Saucers In The Holy Bible” are some remarks by Biblical scholar and television personality Gary Stearman, who says, “The Bible speaks of fiery chariots. The chariot in Hebrew is called the ‘merkavah.’ It has been suggested – in fact, several modern Israelis have suggested – that UFOs in the Hebrew be called ‘merkavah mophtim.’ And mophtim means ‘wonder.’ So what you have in the Hebrew would be ‘chariots of wonder’ or ‘vehicles of wonder.’
“The Bible speaks of the fiery chariots being like heavenly ambassadors, or sometimes they’re called heavenly messengers, or angels. You can call them beings from another dimension. They’re commonly called aliens. But the prophets said that these were the watchmen watching over Israel. And they were acting on the behalf of Israel, according to the will of God.”
During the interview I conducted with Stearman for the book, he made reference to a story in the Bible from Second Kings 6, beginning with verse 15.
“And when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth,” Stearman read aloud, “Behold, an host – that’s an army – encompassed the city, both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him – of course, ‘he’ being Elisha – the servant said unto him, ‘Alas, my master, how shall we do?’ In other words, we are in deep trouble. And he answered, ‘Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.’ And Elisha prayed and said, ‘Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see.’ And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, who saw and behold the mount was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”
Stearman then illuminated the text a bit more.
“Now what was going on here in Second Kings, Chapter Six,” he explained, “is that there was a great battle being fought in which Israel was threatened, deeply threatened. And the prophet Elisha went out on behalf of Israel. The king of Syria had invaded Israel, and Elisha went down to deliver God’s message to the leaders of Israel. And he had a servant with him. And the servant was deathly afraid that they were going to be killed. Elisha prayed and the servant’s eyes were opened and he was able to see they were surrounded, the Israelites were surrounded, by these chariots of fire, these merkavim. I believe this is an Old Testament reference to what we could call UFOs today, fighting on behalf of Israel.”
The same chapter in which Stearman is quoted also includes material on Israeli UFO researcher Barry Chamish and the flying saucer phenomenon in the Holy Land in recent times. The same alien presence that drove the stories of the Old Testament is still present today, watching over a Promised Land divided by racial conflict and warfare, and may offer an assurance of a future peace being established in that troubled part of the world.
Part II of the article continues tomorrow: Monday, November 25, 2013! https://www.ufodigest.com/article/old-testament-1125
SUGGESTED READING
FLYING SAUCERS IN THE HOLY BIBLE
Flying Saucers In The Holy Bible: Modern, Revised Interpretations
UFOS, PROPHECY AND THE END OF TIME
UFOs, Prophecy and the End of Time
SIGNS AND SYMBOLS OF THE SECOND COMING
Signs and Symbols of the Second Coming
NEW CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE BIBLE AND THE UFO PHENOMENON
http://www.seancasteel.com/bible.htm