Saturday, August 12, 2006

SETI--The Search for a New "God"

I came across an article1 recently about the connection between SETI and the evolutionary search to find meaning in life apart from God. Normally, one would associate NASA and scientists such as those involved in SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) with those who would distance themselves from anything resembling UFOs, aliens, and that sort of thing. After all, these are supposed to be the logical, intelligent, scientific scholars, not wacky fanatics that claim UFO sightings and believe in Atlantis.

And indeed, these researchers do claim to have strong basis in science for their work. After all, "if life evolved here on earth, why could it not also evolve on another planet somewhere in the universe?" Their goal is to make contact with any such intelligent civilization that might be out there, and they attempt to do this by scanning the skies (using radio telescopes) for anything that would be considered an intelligent message from outer space.2

Yet behind the cool, collected, "scientific" facade there lies the hope that maybe somewhere out there someone or something exists that could give hope and provide answers for the human race, answers that people all over the world have been looking for since time began.

Sadly, this quest has little to do with real science, and a lot to do with the emptiness modern society brought upon itself by denying the existence of God and refusing to acknowledge Him as Creator and Master of their lives and destinies. Refusing to acknowledge the real God and accept and believe what He tells us in His Word, they are forced to look elsewhere for meaning and purpose in life, and for someone or something to worship and obey. Whereas others look within themselves (humanists) or at the world around them (naturalists), these people look into outer space.

Ironically, despite their effort to distance themselves from UFOs and all the associated mythology and just plain weirdness, SETI-ites end up in the almost identical position of relying on supposedly more intelligent and advanced (in the evolutionary sense) civilizations to provide the answers to humanity's problems.3

Unfortunately, in doing so they open themselves wide to Satan's deception. Just as Satan and his demons have used the popularity and allure of UFOlogy to gain a foothold in many people's lives (and through those people spread his deception even further), he is using the lie of evolution and the false hope of extra-terrestrial "saviors" to turn people away from God and lure them within his grasp.

As C.S. Lewis' demon Screwtape tells his nephew Wormwood in The Screwtape Letters4, "I have great hopes that we shall learn in due time how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, a belief in us [demons] (though not under that name) will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy [God]." I am afraid that they have succeeded, since there remains little doubt in my mind that "aliens" are nothing more than demons "though not under that name". Furthermore, "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness;"5 The stretch between believing in advanced civilizations in outer space to advanced beings in another dimension is not insurmountable, and would allow the "logical, scientific" mind to believe in demons while denying the existence of God. But, of course, demons would not represent themselves as what they truly are, but rather as "angels of light", or to use more modern terms, "spirit guides". They would, and do, claim to be here to help man achieve a higher evolutionary stage. But of course, there would be some requirements that need to be met. With the state of the post-modern mind, befuddled by "tolerance" and multiculturalism and relativism and New Age ideas, any objection to those requirements would not stand for long.

This is not something theoretical that I am making up, by the way, but is actually happening.6 SETI is looking for intelligent extra-terrestrials. Many ufologists claim they have found them. And that they have messages for us. And those messages are not at all friendly to Christians or Jews [wonder why, of all religions, these two would be singled out?].

Make no mistake about it--Satan is at work in the modern UFO/alien obsession, and more subtly so in the SETI. While they may deny it, SETI is in reality a search for a new god, one to replace the God they "killed". Satan is only too happy to oblige.

Let's not fall for his deception by going along with it, or denying that it exists, or ignoring it. It is a real threat to us as Christians and, in fact, as humans. There is intelligent life out there, and it comes in two "flavors". If you choose to ignore or deny the existence of Him who communicated with us thousands of years ago His express will, the only intelligent life left for you to find, to your detriment, is the same serpent that Eve found when she decided she knew better than God and denied His word. The results were not pretty then, and they won't be now either.

It's up to us to "choose you this day whom ye will serve."7 Will you look to SETI for the answers to life questions, or will to look to God, who has revealed to us all we need to know in His Word? The choice is yours.



  1. Patrick J. Burwell, "Of Faith and Fantasies: S.E.T.I is of the Religion of Evolution" on the Christian Worldview Network 8/12/06

  2. Gary Bates, "SETI--Coming In From the Cold of Space" from Answers in Genesis 11/3/03

  3. For more articles discussing these issues, check out the following:

  4. C.S.Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961), 33.

  5. 2 Corinthians 11:14, KJV

  6. For a detailed discussion of the many aspects of this issue, read Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection, by Gary Bates (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2004).

  7. Joshua 24:15, KJV

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