A few weeks ago the famed English astro-physicist, Stephen Hawking, certainly grabbed the headlines! On his new TV show, “Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking,” this brilliant scientist issued a warning that earth inhabitants ought to avoid making contact with intelligent aliens in the universe. You may recall that there have been numerous scientific efforts—such as the SETI project (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence)—that have attempted to communicate with intelligent life forms elsewhere in our universe. While thus far these attempts have not succeeded, Hawkings warned that such efforts could initiate an unwelcomed visit to Earth by extraterrestrials. “Hawkings speculated that such aliens would likely be nomads, living in ships after sucking their own planet dry of resources, and hopping from one interstellar refueling station to the next,” (according to www.physorg.com, a popular science website). “‘If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans,’” he speculated on his show. And with that the scientific community was abuzz, leading the Journal of Cosmology to compile dozens of responses from Hawking’s peers.
But what does it matter? Consider these reflections. First of all, I find it amazing that a bright 21st century mind believes that there are intelligent aliens out there somewhere who one day might visit us. While I’ve happened to believe that to be true all my life (after all, angels are classic extra-terrestrial intelligences, are they not?), to hear such a confession from one who works outside the faith community is refreshing, to say the least. Secondly, one could certainly suppose that sufficient “scientific” support for extra-terrestrial aliens would effectively condition humanity for the appearance one day of intelligent beings, purporting to have received our communiqués and now visiting our home planet in order to “assist” us in our own survival efforts (the BP oil spill could use some help!). Adding credence to the heretofore sci-fi craziness of backwoods UFO proponents could play into an intelligent mind’s strategy to one day dupe the human race. That notion is hardly any crazier than Hawking’s suggestion, is it?
So maybe all of this isn’t about craziness, but timeliness. Maybe it’s one more link in an anaconda-like chain that is tightening its squeeze on the human race. And maybe the intelligent aliens that the Bible calls angels—both good and evil angels—really are streaming unseen to Earth, hurriedly preparing this race for a final cosmic showdown between the forces of the fallen rebel angel and the forces of Christ, the Eternal—a blitzkrieg played out in the lives of all of us earth inhabitants.
Were that true, then the gathering in just a few hours in Atlanta of representatives and leaders of this global community of faith would be much more than just another quinquennial business session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. About such a business session back in 1901 this observation was made: “Who do you suppose has been among us since this Conference began? . . . Who has walked up and down the aisles of this Tabernacle?—The God of heaven and his angels. . . . They have been among us to work the works of God, to keep back the powers of darkness, that the work God designed should be done and should not be hindered. The angels of God have been working among us” (GCB 4-25-01). Intelligent extra-terrestrial visitors—unseen, unobserved—given the dramatically high stakes of this hour in history, will they not also be present in Atlanta? Then shall we not pray and pray and pray for God’s intervening guidance? For isn’t it now more than clear that intelligent minds far brighter than ours are laying plans for an endgame that may not be far away? Then O God, may “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Amen.