All this Prophet Yahweh stuff is very wild. In case you’re not familiar with him, he’s a Las Vegas man who claims that the Bible taught him to summon UFO’s. He now acts as some kind of servant of the Most High, and has summoned unidentified objects in the sky on commands for at least one TV station.
The Bible-UFO connection, as far as I know, was first brought to light by Erich Von Danniken’s 1970’s cult classic: Chariots of the Gods. Since then, there’s been nothing less than an endless parade of theories involving ancient astronauts and Biblical aliens such as the Nephilim or the Sumerian equivalent Annunaki.
The thing about the ancient astronaut myth is that it’s so tantalizing. It’s almost possible to actually believe that it’s literally true. Reading ancient stories and myths in that light, you can really see how such an explanation would gain traction. It’s sort of a handy “rational” explanation for religious events which we no longer really understand in their original context. Most of us no longr believe that God is an old man sitting on a cloud. But many of us do believe in at least the possibility of extra- (or ultra-) terrestrial life visiting Earth.
I think the trick to understanding religion in the “old days” is that people had a different relationship with the stories than we do now. To most of us, religion is “just a myth”, and if it does contain some moral value, it certainly doesn’t contain much of any scientific (ie, “real”) value. To them though, religion was real. It was their science, their cosmology, their worldview. Many people who understand this will accuse the ancients of holding superstitious views about the nature of things. But really, their worldview was inclusive enough to allow not only for physics, but for metaphysics. And their metaphysical explanations not only described the world at large, but fused it together with the world inside of us. There was little differentiation between outward Fact and inner Truth.
The modern urge to bring things like UFO’s into the Bible represents an attempt (one of many) to move back into this type of religious understanding - but through the back door. For today’s believers, agnostics and even skeptics, the UFO is the type of myth which has simultaneously both inner and outer truths fused together. Outwardly, it represents the reaching hands of scientific understanding spreading ever-outward to incorporate and explain everything. Inwardly, it represents the continuing love-affair in the human psyche with all things mysterious. As I’ve written about elsewhere, if you study UFO lore, you’ll find countless conflicting sets of data - some of which say it’s exclusively an outwardly “real” phenomenon, and some of which say it’s most certainly an internal visionary experience. The fact is though that it draws its power precisely from it’s inability to be categorized into an either/or framework, instead requiring a both/and structure of understanding.
In a sense then, applying UFO’s to ancient religious myths allows us to see them more closely to how the ancients did. It’s not exactly the same of course, as our cultural context is inescapably different. But this translating and updating of religious to paranormal imagery allows us to once again tap the well of symbolic power and wisdom which are contained within these stories. So it’s no wonder that when a strange man calling himself Prophet Yahweh announces he will call down UFO’s to hover over Sin City, those of us tuned into such things will sit up and take notice. Even though likely nothing will happen in outward reality, we’ve already experienced the psychic effects and have been brought more closely in sync with the ancient knowledge contained within the Chariots of the Gods.
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8 Comments
I seriously recommend watching a little of the Babylon 5 TV series (or at least read a summary of the events and characters, then watch the final episode of season 4). Very, very philosophical in a Gnostic/Taoist sense, and also very balanced in terms of sci-fi and fantasy.
The final episode of season 4 can be applied metaphorically in numerous ways and is almost completely “grey-robed” in meaning.
I suggest people check it out
i watched a few episodes of it when it was out at the time, but never got too into it. but i was also not into all the stuff that i am now though… so if i have a chance at some point, ill try to check it out
According to some recent New Age UFOlogists, all the sacred sites of the world are landing sites/navigational markers for ancient spaceships, aligned along precisely defined interdimensional grids. Among a certain segment, the idea seems to be converging around the idea of a “Christ Consciousness Grid” around the planet, by which various entities can navigate space-time by utilizing sacred geometry. In this conception, the Great “White” Brotherhood has always been involved in various Space Wars. Humanity’s discovery and use of The Grid marks our collective ascension into the next dimension. A good source of clearinghouse (i.e. take it or leave it) info on The Grid can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/dv96t
I can’t honestly say I think any of it is literally true, without altering my current definition of “literalness.” But it is tantalizing to imagine that the ongoing militarization of space is a part of a literal Star War. Someone should make a movie out of it…oh no wait, never mind, that’s only the plot of EVERY alien-invasion movie ever made!
I’m looking for opinions on that UFO video here if you’re interested.
I’d say to avoid the mysterious mysts of mysticism lying between the difference between the symbol and the symbolized just look at the final sort of message or spirit of any story.
Sacred geometry…that’s long been thought of, I suppose. There were the Pythagoreans and Plato’s notion of a whole world of purer Forms/symbols. The modern scientist reduces all things down to matter in motion and there is actually a security in that, which they will cling to. Yet if it is true then their notions are little more than the biochemical state of their brain in the moment they think so. I just wonder if they are thinking that their brain just happens to match an accurate perception of reality or if they secretly assume that they are a mind thinking through a brain (provided its neural nets work well) yet also enjoying the confort and simplicity of Naturalism in which all is the physical and there is no transphysicial or metaphysical that must be dealt with.
Anyhow, later…
actually, this article above *does* express my opinion about the prophet yahweh video. perhaps its not conclusive enough for you though…?
You say, “It’s almost possible to actually believe that it’s literally true.”
But, is it?
I do not think his claim is literally/physically true. Instead I think that in one way or another it will turn out to be a hoax or a deception. But like I said, I’m interested in other opinions.
do you mean youre interested in other opinions that support yours? cause thats what it seems like. what im saying is it doesnt matter much to me if its real or not. whats interesting is what happens to people when something is on the edge of being real/fantasy. do people get excited, do they get worried? what makes you think its a hoax? is it because you dont think UFOs exist, or because you don’t trust him as a source, or because you don’t like the religious aspect of his message? my article is also about the similarity to UFOs and religious experience. whats your opinion of religious experience? does it match or not match how UFO’s make you feel? thats what im interested in.
I think it’s a weather balloon, perhaps coated with a gold reflective sheen, released with the winds to arrive at generally the right time. Apparently there was another instance in which this fellow said he would get a UFO to appear for some reporters but it didn’t. (I.e., that would be the balloon getting caught in the wind the wrong way.) In one section of the video the reporter says, “It’s coming back.” and the “prophet” says something like, “Huh?!” with concern in his voice, as he expected the winds to keep carrying it away to the airport. But it turned out okay for him because the balloon was not blown down to be seen clearly, etc. If he really was of one mind with some superpowerful aliens then it is doubtful that they would be such poor planners as to give the appearance of a weather balloon, a well known UFO. It seems that he didn’t know which way the higher winds of the atmosphere was going to blow the thing.
There is a blip where the object appears to skip from one place to another. I can’t explain that other than perhaps the compression codec of windows media video (wmv) that was used to compress the video. I suppose I could be wrong, but I doubt it. It seems to me that the UFO is rather “floaty”….and not really as zippy as some interstellar craft, even if it appears so with the camera jerking all around.
So, I say weather balloon and hoax. If not that, I’d still say it was a deception.
(I just wrote this in my comments on it.)
“my article is also about the similarity to UFOs and religious experience. whats your opinion of religious experience? does it match or not match how UFO’s make you feel? thats what im interested in.”
I’ve never been much on going with subjective feelings alone. Instead, I want to resolve and explain things based on both subjective and objective evidence.
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[...] 221; into it. My interpretation of it is more along with what I wrote in an article called Chariots of the Gods. People like Erich Von Danniken and Zecharia Sitchin have [...]