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by Tom Slemen recovered through WayBackMachine Website
The gospel of St Matthew opens the New Testament with a frightening visit from a skyborne being who descends from the starry heavens to proclaim a sensational message to terrified shepherds attending their flocks:
This event - if it happened at all - would have occurred between
four and eight years before the era which came to bear 'Christ''s name
Anno Domini - which is Latin for 'in the year of our Lord.'
The ufological angle certainly seems to fit the account of this guiding light in the sky which is depicted on millions of Christmas cards all over the world. It is sung about in carols, it shines down from the tops of Christmas trees, and foil imitations of it twinkle over Nativity scenes.
For centuries, theologians and scientists have argued over their interpretations of the celestial event, which was recorded only by the apostle Matthew.
In the second chapter of his gospel, Matthew tells us:
According to Matthew, Herod summons the mysterious Wise Men and tells them that if they should find the newborn king, they must divulge the child's whereabouts to him.
Later, the Wise Men see the guiding star
in the East and it leads him to the stable where the babe Jesus is
sleeping.
After Kepler's heretical attempts to explain away the Star of Bethlehem as a natural phenomenon, many other scientists also tried to formulate theories to rationalize the stellar oddity.
Halley's Comet was blamed but astronomers have calculated that the comet had already visited and left the heavens before 'Christ''s birth.
Another theory proposed that the star
that hovered over the stable was actually a distant star that had
exploded - or gone supernova, to use astronomers' jargon. Such
explosions do occur from time to time and can remain visible in the
sky for weeks, even during the daytime.
Moreover, a supernova cannot hover in
the sky as the star of Bethlehem did over the manger.
Whatever their number, most Biblical scholars agree that the Wise Men were students of astrology, which was very popular among the Jewish community at the time.
This theory was strengthened by the
discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. Among the timeworn Hebrew
and Aramaic texts - some of which date back to the birth of 'Christ'
there are astrological charts depicting signs of the Zodiac and
mystical texts referring to the influence of the stars and the
planets on the newly-born. The Scrolls also mention an unnamed
individual who lived at the time of the Jesus who was known as the
Teacher of Righteousness.
If it wasn't a comet, nor a planetary conjunction, then surely there is only one logical hypothesis which can explain a light in the sky which behaves as if it is controlled by an intelligence:
The Christians have longed claimed that the arrival of 'Christ' at Bethlehem had been predicted centuries before.
In the Book of Micah 5:2 (written in the 8th Century BC), it states that the Messiah - Hebrew for "the anointed one" - would be born in Bethlehem, and in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 (also written in the 8th century BC) scripture specifically asserts that the person who will come as God's representative in the flesh would be born of a virgin. In the Book of Malachi 3:1 it is foretold that someone would go ahead of the Messiah to prepare the way.
Most Christians have interpreted this as being John the Baptist.
In Isaiah 9:1-2 it predicts that the Messiah would live and work around Galilee in a northern province remote from the centers of power, and that he would heal people. The Book of Zechariah foretells that the long-awaited Messiah who would restore his people to a position of power and prosperity which they enjoyed under David and Solomon would ride into Jerusalem humbly, on a donkey, and not on the war-horse of a military conqueror.
In that same book a passage eerily
maintains that the Messiah will be betrayed to his enemies for
thirty pieces of silver. This prophecy seems to have been fulfilled
by one Judas Iscariot.
The passages say his hands and feet will
be pierced, and that his executioners would mock him and gamble for
his clothes. All of the incidents foretold by the Jewish scriptures,
if applied to the life of Jesus, are astoundingly more accurate than
the prophecies of Nostradamus.
Curiously, in May 1999, Israeli historians researching ancient copies of the Apocrypha told the newspaper National Midnight Star that one translation of the Virgin Mary's conception after a visitation from God described a chilling tale which sounded very similar to the accounts of people who had undergone gynecological examinations in UFO abduction experiences.
When reporters pressed the codex
researchers to comment further on their intriguing claims, but the
historians were evidently advised by the religious authorities to
withhold further interpretations of the timeworn texts.
In this age of scientific and medical marvels, it is possible through the techniques of artificial insemination to produce a child in the womb of a woman who is a virgin.
In Japan and America, scientists are making rapid progress with the development of artificial wombs which will allow the development of a fertilized egg into an embryo and finally a nine-month-old baby. These 'baby hatcheries' were described in 1932 within the pages of Aldous Huxley's far-sighted novel Brave New World, although Huxley confidently assured his shocked readers that cloning and mechanical wombs were three centuries away.
In 1962, the year before Huxley died, the English physicist Francis Crick and American biochemist James Watson, shared the Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology for discovering the double-helix structure of DNA - the genetic code of the human body.
Five years later, the British biologist John B. Gurdon cloned a South African clawed frog.
Eleven years after that, British Doctor
Patrick Steptoe and his colleagues overcame the problem of sterility
in women by producing the first test-tube baby outside the womb in
July, 1978. Twenty years after that, scientists had cloned sheep and
higher mammals, and it was recently claimed that cloned humans in
America and Korea had been allowed to develop to an embryonic stage
before being destroyed.
This higher race implants the embryo of Jesus into a peasant woman's womb so she becomes a surrogate mother. Jesus is born in an obscure village, and as he grows he probably becomes aware of the psychic superhuman talents he possesses. He works in a carpenter's shop in Nazareth until he his thirty, then embarks on a three-year mission which will sow the seeds for the most momentous sociological and philosophical revolution in world history.
Immediately the authorities realize that he is not an average prophet, for he raises three dead people:
The Jews believed that only God could control the weather to induce storms and stop them, so they were amazed when Jesus stopped a storm (Matthew 8:23-27).
There are also accounts of Jesus - or
Yeshua - as he was known - walking on water, exorcising evil spirits
from possessed people, healing the sick and crippled, restoring the
sight of blind people, turning water into wine, and feeding the
multitudes (on two different occasions).
Perhaps this was the rendezvous point for meeting his extraterrestrial kin. There are many instances of luminous objects descending onto Jesus and shining rays at him. All of these incidents are interpreted as religious omens among the primitive people of the time, but what can we make of them?
For example, in Luke 3: 21-22, it is recorded:
What was this thing which resembled a luminous dove? We are none the wiser now. Nor can we explain the significance of the following episode, mentioned in detail in Matthew 17: 6-9:
So many intriguing, but alas, unanswered
questions.
Mark relates that Jesus of Nazareth was scourged and treated brutally by the Roman guards, who crowned him with thorns, mocked him, then crucified him at the ninth hour (3 p.m.) of the day. Jesus had to be buried before the Sabbath began at 6 p.m., so that his corpse should not profane the holy day.
A secret disciple of Jesus named Joseph of Arimathea, bravely asked the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate if he could bury 'Christ'.
Pilate was surprised that Jesus had died
so quickly, and after checking with his centurion to see if 'Christ'
had indeed passed away, he allowed Joseph to take charge of the
preacher's body.
There can be no doubt that at this point, Jesus was not faking death, although some researchers have claimed that he had not died on the cross, but had only swooned.
But the facts say that was not possible, for a Roman scourging was so terrible and traumatic, many victims died before being crucified. Then there is the graphic account of John, who says a soldier named Longinius thrust a spear into Jesus's side while he was on the cross and that 'blood and water' came out.
This is a medically accurate description
of what happens when the pericardium is pierced, and such a wound is
always fatal.
In John 20: 1-9 it states:
The events of that first Easter morning soon came together like a mystical jigsaw puzzle.
The Jewish Council, the Sanhedrin, trembled when they heard the news of the empty tomb. They heard strange accounts of how, in the early hours of that Sunday morning a being in 'snow-white clothes' with a light on its head as bright as lightning had descended from the low oppressive clouds and terrified the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb of 'Christ' into stupefaction.
This strange figure - assumed by the Jewish priests to be a heavenly being - an angel of some order - proceeded to push away the stone blocking the tomb's entrance with superhuman might. It was later revealed that two unearthly-looking men dressed in white clothes had been seen at the entrance of the tomb by Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome.
The three women said one of the eerie figures said:
The enigmatic men in white later vanished into the skies as mysteriously as they had appeared. Did they return to some mothership in Earth orbit? The ship that had been interpreted as the Star of Bethlehem?
The doubter, Thomas
inspects the wounds of the resurrected Jesus The resurrected Jesus later reappeared to his faithful disciples, but seems to have undergone a 'transfiguration'.
Although he was apparently solid and tangible enough to eat food and to allow the disciples to touch his wounds, doors did not have to be opened before he could enter a room full of people. He bilocated on several occasions (allowed himself to be seen in several places at once simultaneously), and seemed slightly different.
Some people who had been familiar with him prior to the crucifixion did not recognize him immediately; in fact even Mary Magdalene mistook him for a gardener. Luke mention this intriguing facial metamorphoses when he relates the two disciples' walk to Emmaus, seven miles outside Jerusalem. 'Christ' joins them but says 'there eyes were holden that they should not know him'.
The disciples told the bemused Jesus about the crucifixion and of the empty tomb he had been laid in. Jesus then revealed his identity be expounding the scriptures concerning himself.
The overawed disciples shared their
evening meal with him, and he blessed them and broke the bread. He
subsequently performed a vanishing act, and the disciples hurried
back to Jerusalem to tell of their emotional and heart-lifting
encounter with the risen 'Christ'. The eleven Apostles, meanwhile were
giving their accounts of meetings with the returned Jesus, when
their Lord suddenly appeared in their midst.
The Christian Bible doesn't go into any detail about what this ascension was like, but we possess thought-provoking accounts of the event in the Apocryphon Jacobi, and the Epistle of the Apostles. These books, which were suppressed by the Church for centuries, give us a full description of the Ascension. They tell us that at the ridge, east of Jerusalem, known as the Mount of Olives, where Jesus often prayed and meditated in the evenings, there was a great stir.
The resurrected Jesus of Nazareth was talking to his followers, when his words were interrupted by a clap of thunder and lightning. The roll of rumbling thunder shook the entire mountain, and a chariot descended through the clouds. The Jews of old called this chariot a Merkaba - a celestial vehicle of the angels which is mentioned in the ancient Kabbals.
The texts describe how Jesus entered the Merkaba and was welcomed by the angels within who were dressed in 'white apparel'.
One of these heavenly beings said to the apostles:
And the Apostles watched in wonderment
as Jesus rose higher and higher into the heavens until he and his
angels in the Merkaba were lost to sight.
Then there is the futuristic philosophy Jesus propounded which predates the doctrines of Communism formulated by Marx and Engels by centuries. Jesus said that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, and he also said that in his kingdom, the underdog and the wretched would be put first (which enraged the self-righteous Pharisees).
He told his astonished followers that pacifism was the only way to live; if their enemy should strike them them, they must turn the other cheek, ready to be hit again. This seemed to be the exact opposite of the Old Testament's suggestion of 'an eye for an eye' and more in keeping with Ghandi's philosophy of non-violence which lay nine centuries in the future.
Jesus also preached that those who wished to follow him would have to love their enemies and pray for them, and abandon all worldly wealth. The strange philosophy of 'Christ' seems so alien to the selfish nature of the human race; was this because 'Christ' was an alien? Because the whole subject of Jesus and his teachings is still surrounded with so many blind dogmas and taboos, it is difficult to see beyond the religion and analyze just who or what the carpenter from Nazareth really was.
The extraterrestrial interpretation does not denigrate 'Christ' in any way, but shows him in another, wider role in the cosmos.
The next time you gaze up into the night sky at the stars, consider that somewhere out there, for all we know, an interstellar 'Christ' may be preaching the word of Yahveh to the multitudes of some alien world.
A Renaissance
painting of the Magi visiting the manger;
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