Recently the television show "V" on ABC has brought this idea to prime-time television, as well as "The Event" currently airing on NBC.
In the real world, we also have common sightings of UFOs and then actual eye witness reports of flying saucers hovering over places like O'Hare International Airport in Chicago in 2006, and other reports of flying saucers in Iran (including a recent report that Iran had even developed it's own un-manned flying saucer), as well as reports of UFOs appearing near nuclear missile silos in America.
Not only did these UFOs appear near nuclear missile silos, but -- as claimed by former U.S. Air Force officers -- they even "tampered" with the electronic controls of the missiles, shutting them down for a brief period of time.
WIKIPEDIA - 2006 O'Hare International Airport UFO sighting
AOL NEWS (3/11/11) - New Treaty Would Ban Space Weapons for Earthlings and ETs
AOL NEWS (9/25/10) - Former Air Force Officers: UFOs Tampered With Nuclear Missiles
If they're here making appearances with UFOs, why are they waiting so long to show themselves?
Could they be waiting to intervene in the affairs of men, should we ever bring ourselves to the point of World War III and the use of nuclear weapons around the globe, which would be devastating for the human race as a whole, as well as the air and water life on Earth needs to survive?
Shock waves of fear would echo across the planet, but we would understand what was happening. Why? Because Hollywood and reports of UFOs and flying saucers over the years have "groomed" us in advance for an event of this magnitude.
What if this was all a deception? What if the "aliens" that appear in the skies aren't really "aliens" in the same way that we typically think of them?
The Bible gives many prophecies that have taken place, for example prophecies from the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament, given centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, that predicted his coming, and who he would be, this son of man born in the line of King David, who would also be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6 - "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. "
What believers have found in the Bible is prophecies of future events that God gave to man to record in advance, so that when these events took place, we would know that God knows the future and that the Bible contains the truth about what is to come.
A few more prophecies have yet to take place though, described in books like Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Revelation, reserved for the end times of the present world.
Because one of these prophecies given by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament gives a warning of a vast world-wide deception that will take place in the end times, causing many to believe the lie, rather than believe the Word of God (the Bible).
If this prophecy about a powerful delusion that God will send to all who believe the lie includes a perceived "alien invasion" or "alien appearance" well, this would give a great explanation to another much anticipated Biblical event that is still to come ... the Rapture.
If you're new to the Bible, the Rapture is the term coined by many Christians to describe an event prophesied to occur in the end times at a point the Bible never reveals a date on. In the Bible, the actual words used refer to believers being "caught up" into the clouds to "meet the Lord in the air".
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 - According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. (16) For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
The rapture is the gathering of faithful believers in Christ (believers "true" in the faith, pre-chosen and adopted sons and daughters of God), who are alive at the coming of Jesus Christ, when he unleashes the power of God to somehow "transport" his people to the Kingdom of Heaven as the Tribulation either begins or is already taking place on earth.
The one thing that each would have in common is this: They're all believers in Jesus Christ, and they're all truly Christian in their beliefs. What about infants and small children to young to make that kind of commitment to God? Those who are taken likely have a parent or parents that are Christian by faith, and God honors the faith of their parents by including these little ones. We see that with Noah and his family, when God allowed Noah to bring his wife, his sons, and sons' wives on to the Ark before the flood hit and wiped out the world.
One reason that the U.S. has not been attacked by nuclear weapons is the threat-deterrent posed by it's own nuclear missiles. In other words, throughout the cold war Russia was thought to be kept at bay by "mutually-assured destruction" and the same thought still exists today. Mutually assured destruction is this: If you launch nukes at us, we launch nukes at you, and it's the end of both our countries.
Which is one reason (of many) that keeps both the U.S. and Russia from attacking each other, to date.
But what if a foreign government that does not like the U.S. were able to shut down our nuclear defences, long enough to launch an attack that wiped out a few key cities and military installations?
So, for a foreign government to have a hand in the shutting down of our nuclear defences, it stands to reason that they could somehow be working in cooperation with UFOs (or what the world may perceive to be UFOs).
And I come to this line of reasoning by a study of Revelation, the last chapter of the Bible, as Revelation lays out future events that will terrify the world and cause the destruction of much of the earth and the deaths of many hundreds of millions of people.
Revelation 13:11-17 - Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. (12) It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. (13) And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. (14) Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. (15) The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. (16) It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, (17) so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
In the Bible, Revelation describes a number of nations under the power of Satan which is where we get the terms "Beast Kingdom" as well as "Anti-Christ". Christians who believe that Revelation is going to take place in the world, believe that a "Beast Kingdom" will rise up and come to power, much in the same way that perhaps Hitler and the Nazis surprised the world with their sudden rise in the early days of World War II.
In the passage above, verse 13 reads, "And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people".
I think the possibility is there. Not because I have a fascination with UFOs, but because it could provide an understanding of why there have been so many UFO sightings over the years and where this might be going.
Verse 13 in the passage above could reflect many things in fact, things that we don't have any true understanding of because these things haven't happened yet, and also because Revelation is written in language that is sometimes difficult to get a real picture of (some prophecies we are able to get a picture of -- for example, "the beast with seven heads and ten horns" in Revelation 17, which is revealed in later passages to simply be an alliance of evil nations under the power of Satan -- in other words, the "Beast Kingdom").
So, in Revelation 13, the "Second Beast" leads the world into worshipping the "First Beast", and has the power to perform "great signs", even calling fire down from the sky and "it deceived the inhabitants of the earth".
Could people really be that naive around the world, to not realize that supernatural events were taking place, and that the explosion of evil and violence (murder, death, and mayhem on a global scale) could only have one cause: Satan?
The reason why so many people aren't likely to realize this is that they're going to be under a delusion passed on them by no other than God, as punishment on them for so easily believing the lie (ultimately, because they never found the truth in Jesus Christ).
On top of that, if a few million people (or more) from around the Earth suddenly disappear in the Rapture, non-Christians would have a convenient lie for explaining the disappearance: They were taken by aliens.
Then consider that God is going to send a "powerful delusion" so that those doomed to destruction "believe the lie".
In 2 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul addresses this specifically, giving writers like myself more scripture to cite as evidence in presenting ideas, such as those presented here. Before you read this prophecy, please consider that the Apostle Paul had received direct "revelation" from Jesus on events to come in the future, as well as God's plan for this world, and for those who would be adopted as sons and daughters of God -- see Galatians 1:11-12):
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 - Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, (2) not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us""whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter""asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. (3) Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. (4) He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
(5) Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? (6) And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. (7) For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. (8) And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. (9) The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, (10) and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (11) For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie (12) and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
The stage is set for deception and delusion on a global scale.
ABC NEWS (5/5/10) - Russian Governor Tells Tale of Alien Abduction, President asked to Investigate
EXAMINER (3/30/11) - Iran film says Muslim messiah is near