Reaching out at Roswell
For the first time, “Roswaliens” get to hear the evolution connection
Published: 14 July 2009(GMT+10)
by Gary Bates
The author, Gary Bates, in Roswell, July 2009. Every July 4 weekend, the town of
Roswell gets invaded by aliens. Not the little green men type, but by people from
all over the world as they come to celebrate the time that many believe benevolent
visitors from another planet met their demise in the deserts of New Mexico.
Roswell, New Mexico (USA) is generally regarded as the UFO capital of the world.
This is because in June 1947 rancher Mac Brazel found debris of an unknown origin
on the property he was managing. In early July he took some of the pieces into town
to the local sheriff who, thinking they might have some military significance, duly
forwarded them to the local Army Air Base.
Then on July 8 a sensation occurred when the front page of the local Roswell Daily
Record newspaper reported that a “flying disk” had been found.
Although the newspaper later reportedly retracted the claim that it was a flying
saucer, it was too late to retract the imaginations of readers. News spread
around the world, and subsequently many people suspected a military coverup of the
facts.
Things remained quiet for many years, but in 1980, a book called The Roswell Incident
seemingly blew the lid off
what really happened at Roswell. With its heavy conspiratorial overtones
and claims that the government had captured alien bodies from the wreckage, it helped
change the dynamic of this small town forever.
Roswaliens
Every July 4 weekend, the town of Roswell gets invaded by aliens. Not the little
green men type, but by people from all over the world as they come to celebrate
the time that they believe benevolent visitors from another planet met their demise
in the deserts of New Mexico. These annual visitors have become known as “Roswaliens”.
Although the UFO phenomenon has been around for many years, most people, and in
particular the church at large, seem unaware that this is a rapidly growing phenomenon.
Quite simply, it’s not going away! The so called “loopy” claims
of the tens of millions of people who have seen strange objects in the sky, or even
the claims that up to 4 million
Americans have been abducted by aliens,1
is increasingly being given seeming scientific validity.
Photos by Gary Bates
Roswell—a town like no other—with a Coke machine, like no other, and
humorous t-shirt.
Beliefs in evolution occurring all over the alleged 14 billion year old universe
have led to extrapolations that older (on the evolutionary scale), wiser and therefore
more technologically advanced aliens have been visiting the earth for possibly millennia
in their hyperdrive spaceships and so on. The sheer weight of claims would indeed
suggest something
is going on and indeed there is, although it is not extraterrestrial in
nature.
Increasingly, some of the world’s best-known scientists, struggling to find
a naturalistic explanation for the encyclopedias’ worth of complex coded information
found on the DNA molecule of every living creature on this planet, have even suggested
that aliens may have deliberately seeded the earth with life from their own home
planets. This is known as directed panspermia.
What was once flaky is now being seriously considered
Photo by Gary Bates
In the main streets even the streetlamps are dressed up as aliens.
Indeed, the ardently atheistic
Sir Francis Crick, who won a Nobel Prize (along with colleague James Watson)
for their discovery of the DNA molecule in 1953, makes such a claim. Also, the world
renowned physicist Paul Davies has suggested
that our DNA contains hidden messages from aliens and we humans only need
to develop the technology via our own evolution to be able to unravel them.
Photo by Gary Bates
Modern billboards and advertising hoardings depict the iconic stylized image of
the little “gray” alien (sometimes he was depicted as green too!).
In our rapidly changing culture the belief in “alien creators” is yet another issue, extrapolated from a materialistic worldview with evolution at its
foundation. It’s one that the church needs to get up to speed with answers
for, or it will be increasingly viewed as irrelevant in the shadow of this
growing belief system. Many people come to Roswell on this holiday weekend looking
for meaning and purpose, trying to find their place in the universe. Such seekers are open to
the gospel message. It is a great opportunity for the church, but so far it has
failed to address or embrace this significant group of people.
On our way to Roswell, the miles seemed endless as we drove across the flat New
Mexico desert. In the distance we could see a town. As we made our approach it became
abundantly clear which town it was. It is like no other. What confronted us seemed
incongruous with the dusty and inhospitable desert surroundings, because we were
immediately ambushed by modern billboards and advertising hoardings depicting the
iconic stylized image of the little “gray” alien (sometimes he was depicted
as green too!).
Photo by Gary Bates
Many people come to Roswell on the July holiday weekend looking for meaning and
purpose.
As we drove down the main streets even the streetlamps were dressed up as aliens.
The hotels, the fast food chains, including one
McDonalds restaurant in the shape of a flying saucer, are all riding the
UFO wave that brings millions of dollars to this town each year. Roswell knows only
too well that UFOs and aliens means big business. For example,
the most popular entertainment genre bar none is science fiction, and polls
suggest that
80% of Western populations believe in extraterrestrial life and that it
may also be visiting our planet.
As we visited the UFO Museum and Research Centre, it was disturbing to hear the
conversations going on with numerous people about their views on UFOs and aliens,
and in particular, how they are given over to it. It had become their substitute religion. We certainly felt like the odd
ones out in this environment. Even more disturbing was seeing the large numbers
of children who were being exposed to the UFO propaganda—their parents blissfully
unaware of the potential danger in desensitizing young minds to what is a powerful
spiritual deception. Even the UFO mardi gras that takes place down the main street
on a Saturday night mixed alien figures with Snow White and other children’s
characters. It was just more evidence that aliens are now mainstream culture that will cause future generations to just simply accept that ET life exists.
Chipping away at the edges
Photo by Gary Bates
The hotels, the fast food chains, including one
McDonalds restaurant in the shape of a flying saucer, are all riding the
UFO wave that brings millions of dollars to this town each year.
Yet, in this seemingly impenetrable wave of euphoria (more like “UFOforia”)
that sweeps over the town, a little known group of Christians has been swimming
against the tide for 10 years. Guy Malone and Joe Jordan have many years of experience
in dealing with people who believe they have had alien encounters.
I have known Joe Jordan for several years now and his research helped me blow the
lid off the abduction phenomenon in my book
Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection. He described
himself as a former “crystal-ball-gazing New-Ager”, when, a few years
ago while working as a field investigator for MUFON2 he (and a former colleague) tried to think “outside
the square” when trying to figure out what was really happening to people
who were claiming to be abducted by aliens. He discovered something significant.
It was that “abductions” were being halted in their tracks by
people who called out in the name of Christ. Further investigation also revealed
that people who professed to be practicing born-again Christians seemed to be generally
immune from such experiences. He noticed that many in MUFON had already realized
this, but were ignoring the seeming aberration in their alien hypotheses, because
it did not fit in with their preexisting belief that such experiences were of an
extraterrestrial nature. Not satisfied, Joe wanted to find out what it was about
Christians that “aliens didn’t like”. After being led to a Bible
study as part of his research Joe became a Christian and realized that he was ultimately
dealing with a spiritual phenomenon and not an extraterrestrial one. (For the full
story of Joe and the abduction phenomena in general read
Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection.)
Guy Malone and his wife Nicole are former “experiencers” (we don’t
like to use the word “abductee” because this is not what really happens
to people). When exposed to the gospel of Christ their experiences ceased. They now
live in Roswell and feel called to help other experiencers realize that they are
being seduced by spiritual encounters of the “ungodly” kind. That is,
by fallen angels masquerading as glorious “space brothers”. Each year
with the assistance of Joe, they organize an event utilizing Christian speakers
to coincide with the annual Roswell Festival.
The first Christian symposium on the UFO phenomenon
When exposed to the gospel of Christ their ‘abduction’ experiences ceased.
After trying a number of formats over the years, this year they decided to conduct
the very first Christian symposium on aliens, inviting speakers from a number of
fields (including myself), to reveal the truth behind the UFO phenomenon. In fact,
I was privileged to be the “keynote” speaker and I took the opportunity
to explain that foundational worldview presuppositions are the key to understanding
why significant proportions of the population believe that life evolved on other
planets.
By advertizing this as a Christian explanation of the phenomenon and dealing with
the subject matter head on, the Christian attendance was the best ever. And the
excitement level was palpable. Many had never heard about the problems
with evolution theory as I explained that it was really a whole-of-life philosophy
that sought to explain the evolution of the cosmos, the geological record and all
biological lifeforms whether here on Earth or elsewhere in the universe. Towards
the end of my talk I showed evidence for the spiritual nature of the UFO phenomenon
and gave a strong challenge to those present to consider their own spiritual fate
for the eternity to come.
Photos by Gary Bates
The UFO mardi gras that takes place down the main street on a Saturday night draws
a crowd—and some colourful characters.
My wife and daughter accompanied me to the event and manned the large array of creation
resources we had on display. At the end of each day (prior to my talk—which
was two hours long!) they would mention that many people looked at the titles with
bewilderment as they received questions and comments such as, “So you don’t
believe we came from apes?”, or “Are you those people who believe the
Earth is only thousands of years old?” The main question that kept popping
up was “Couldn’t
God have created life on other planets?” This same topic was a matter
of conjecture among the speakers present, but something that I feel very strongly
about because of its implications for the very gospel of Christ and the potential
violation of Scripture. Many interesting discussions ensued after I outlined the
problems during my presentation. On a live radio broadcast from Roswell, Joe Jordan
commented that “Since he got here, Gary Bates has been like a bulldog on this
creation issue and the age of the earth”. He also mentioned how my own book
had filled in the missing piece of the puzzle and had finally helped him understand
the big picture properly.
After my talk, it seems that many wrong beliefs and assumptions were overturned.
Indeed, I and my family felt overwhelmed by the numbers of people who warmly expressed
their appreciation on how the presentation had helped, including one lady who said
that her “thinking had been turned around 180 degrees” on the subject.
Deception
Gary Bates with fellow UFO researcher Joe Jordan.
Because so many people had so many differing views about so many different aspects
of the UFO phenomenon, conversations, discussions and debates were prolific. I took
exception to one older man who was clearly an evangelist for the UFO cause as he
went around the gathered throng handing out literature encouraging people to “channel”
alien entities. I challenged him about his beliefs in evolution and although he
claimed to be a Christian, he revealed that at least 3 times a week he believes
that he is in contact with alien beings who told him that there is truth about the
space gods in all the great religions and that Jesus Christ is really an advanced
extraterrestrial. Robust discussion ensued as I felt it necessary to challenge the
illogic of his statements. He avoided answering the questions that would cause his
answers to obviously undermine his own foundational assumptions, and he eventually
left. It is incredibly tragic that such blatant spiritual deception is going on
around us. The area of spiritual warfare is something that really should be “bread
and butter” for the church. I was disappointed to find out that not a single
church in Roswell (and there are over 70) makes an effort to engage or reach the
tens of thousands who visit Roswell each year.
Exhausted and excited
It is no exaggeration to say we were literally exhausted after the event due to
all the interactions. It was thrilling to present the creation message and truth
that Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe to such a fertile audience (the expression
“like a kid in a candy store” comes to mind). It was simply exhilarating.
I am also incredibly excited at the potential to reach significant numbers of people
in Roswell who are very open and looking for the truth.
Joe Jordan discovered something significant: “abductions” were being
halted in their tracks by people who called out in the name of Christ.
I commend the efforts of Guy Malone and Joe Jordan in trying to do what they can
to uncover the deception behind the UFO phenomenon and bring the gospel to those
who desperately need it. They need the support of the wider church and as much help
as they can get. Next year, the Lord willing, I have committed CMI to assist them
in lifting the profile of their Christian symposiums to be held in Roswell each
year. Hopefully, together
we can educate and equip the church with answers and show that there
is nothing to be scared of in confronting this phenomenon and embracing many
of the seekers who are following it.
If you think you can make it to Roswell next year to attend the lectures and help
your own church understand the UFO culture, and to also assist in some local outreach
(like handing out brochures to promote the symposium during the weekend of the festival), then please send me an email via the
contact us section on this site. I’ll forward it to Guy and Joe. You
can also sign up to our free Infobytes
to be alerted about next year’s event.
Some readers’ comments:
Ewan M., Australia
A brilliant article. Well done Gary for this report and your work at Roswell.
Theunis J., South Africa
Excellent article. Thanks for all your efforts! God bless all you guys!
Jim G., United States
Congratulations! I commend you for both coming up with the ideas that worked AND
for having the courage to deliver the message. Good job!
One thing that I noticed in your article that wasn’t mentioned is the enemy’s
propensity to use partial truths as a way of gathering his followers. Satan is a
master at the partial truth. We see examples of it every time he is mentioned in
Scripture.
The thing I noticed about the Roswell gathering is how close he has gotten to the
real truth. In a manner of speaking, there ARE aliens (demons, according to your
book any any amount of non-deluded common sense). They truly ARE "extra-terrestrial",
since they are spirt-beings.
In fact, there really COULD be some hidden "code" in our DNA that might have been
left there by the Designer, but note that I’ve capitalized "Designer": The
Triune God!
They’re so close to the truth, but missing the mark by what is still are large
margin.
Some day, I think you should write a follow-up book to "Alien Intrusion", and specifically
deal with the half-truths, how they are used to twist reality (in the minds of those
willing to accept it), etc.
Satan’s mastery of the half-truth is second-to-none. He knows full well that
extremely wacky concepts will quickly be discarded, so he will gain only a few from
them. But, a half-truth, now THAT is a lot less likely to be probed, especially
if people are already pushing away from God anyhow.
Similar half-truths exist all over the issue of Biblical authority. For example,
evolution itself is fundamentally a half-truth: Things DO change over time (a common
definition), they just change in the wrong direction.
Thanks for the good work! Keep it up! (And, I may try to add Roswell to my vacation
plans next year! :)
Judy S., United States
Is it possible that this aliens visitation are demons making contact with humans
… and in doing so make mankind becoming more familiar with them.
Annette F., Australia
Hi. Thank you for your very interesting article. I have always wondered where the
alien bodies that were found at Roswell came from. It didn’t make any sense. Because
I knew they weren’t aliens. Nice to find out that there never were any bodies at
all. And that the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding! Most Christians don’t
realize how serious the situation is. We know that Satan is going to fake the second
coming and more than likely will stage some kind of alien invasion where he will
impersonate Christ along with performing miracles. The Bible says that most will
be deceived. This is very dangerous stuff.
Jane B., Canada
Blessings and more empowerment to Gary and family, Joe, Guy and Nicole, and others
who supported/participated, for being faithful and loving enough to reach out to
‘blinded’ but searching people, with the TRUTH in CHRIST.
This article has helped me to see that we, the church, must reach out in His Spirit
and Truth in love to harvest those searching, without regard to the “differentness”
of their beliefs, nor to our own pride, insecurity, or comfort.
Thank you CMI workers and supporters for equipping us and our families with the
knowledge of and answers to questions that unbelievers may have, so that we may
be prepared to have an answer for our faith in Christ.
Byron LeBeau (host of an internet radio program)
Dear Gary,
Joe Jordan was not kidding when he said your presentation was the best of such a
great great group of inspired Christians this past July at Roswell.
I just had the opportunity to see your presentation, and speaking as a former teacher
who prided himself in always being professionally prepared, I can honestly
say that that was the best God-centered talk I ever had heard over close to two
hours-with non-stop Biblical references, and "cute" little visuals to make one salient
point: WE ARE GOD’S SPECIAL CREATION AND HE SO DESIRES FOR US TO JOIN HIM
FOR ALL ETERNITY THAT HE DID NOT EVEN SPARE HIS ONLY SON TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOT COMMA,,,,,,,,,, BUT period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My hat goes off to you in the way that you so professionally honored God and most
likely changed a few prejudicial minds out there:-)
With the deepest respect,
Byron LeBeau
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Related resources
References
- Bates, G.,
Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection. Master Books, Greenforest,
pp. 252–253, 2005. Return to text.
- MUFON is an acronym for Mutual UFO Network, the world’s
largest clearing house for UFO investigations and reports based in the US.
Return to text.
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