From the human perspective we tend to think of all “angels”, fallen and unfallen, as etheric, extra-dimensional entities like Lucifer, whose previous residence was in Heaven. Heavenly angels, the kind Lucifer once was, fell into sin and were cast out of Heaven and set up their new dominion here on Earth. However, the Bible is somewhat silent on whether the angels in Heaven and the humans on Earth were the only beings God created. There are many references in the Bible to God’s creation of the “heavens” and the “universe”, but no specific mentions of other worlds. The closest we can find is in the King James Version in the book of Hebrews chapters 1 and 11:
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Hebrews 1:2 – KJV
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Hebrews 11:3 – KJV
When we examine the Greek word that was translated into the English word “worlds” we find that it is aiōn, which according to the Strong’s lexicon could have several different meanings:
- for ever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity
- the worlds, universe
- period of time, age
It’s important to note the context behind the root word used in the translations because some Christians, especially in the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination, tend to point to these verses as proof of the unfallen worlds spoken of by their founder, Ellen G. White. Christians, adventists included, should be careful about using these KJV verses to “prove” that unfallen worlds exist because such assertions, when examined using the original Greek, are flimsy. We don’t need to fabricate Biblical proof of “unfallen worlds” using translational misinterpretation, rather we can establish Biblical reasons based on the overarching narrative of the inspired Scriptures.
The first fact we need to establish before moving on is that there is no conclusive proof in the Bible that God created any life, intelligent or otherwise, aside from the angels in Heaven and the humans on Earth.
Now that we’ve established the lack of Biblical proof, we can move forward with examining some Biblical reasons that support the concept of “unfallen worlds”. Just because the Bible does not explicitly mention a topic does not mean that it doesn’t exist. The Bible doesn’t specifically mention dinosaurs or the planet Neptune, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist – and with today’s technology we can prove that they do in fact exist (or at least that they did exist at some point in the case of dinosaurs). So, let’s examine the Holy Scriptures to determine if they support the concept of “unfallen worlds”.
Angelic Classifications and Residency
First, it’s critical to understand that the term “angel” in the Biblical context simply means “messenger”. It’s a description of job classification rather than a specific race or species of beings. From the Bible we know that there are at least two different classes of angels, Seraphim (Isaiah 6:3, Ezek. 1:27) and Cherubim (Ezek. 41:18, Gen. 3:24, 1 Sam. 4:4, etc.). Lucifer himself is identified as a cherub-type angel (Ezel. 28:14). These classes probably don’t represent different species of angels, rather they likely denote different ranks, roles and responsibilities. The angels referred to in the Bible as “Sons of God” are humanoid, made in the image of God, just like humanity. Non-humanoid angels that are not called “Sons of God” are not members of God’s Family, yet they still are His creation and citizens of the Kingdom.
In Job 38:7 we learn that these elder beings were present to witness the creation of humanity, so we know that angels predate humans. How long before humanity did God create the angels? The Bible doesn’t say. All we know is that God created them before He created us.
Cherubim and Seraphim are the only two specific classes of angels mentioned in the Bible and may also be referred to as “archangels”, “rulers” and “powers” (Ephesians 6:12). What’s important for us to consider here is that there remains the possibility of many different and unmentioned types of non-humanoid, intelligent beings that God also created. The only reason Cherubim and Seraphim are mentioned in the Bible is because they directly interacted with the people in the Bible and are relevant to humanity’s story.
Let’s also examine where these angelic beings resided. Most of the Biblical references of Seraphim, Cherubim and other angels include the term “heavenly” – as in “heavenly hosts”. This implies they live in Heaven, right? Maybe – maybe not. The Bible is an ancient text, written by divinely-inspired writers from the ancient world. In the ancient world they had no concept of other planets or outer space. To them, everything above the Earth was the “heavens”. Granted they did conceptualize different layers of “heavens”, but not in the sense of outer space, solar systems, galaxies, etc.
From the Scriptural texts alone it’s actually difficult for us to fully understand what “Heaven” really is. Is it an actual location somewhere in outer space? Is it another dimension? Another reality outside our known universe? Nobody knows for sure and the Bible doesn’t provide explicit descriptions that fit into our modern understanding of the universe. It is entirely possible that God created many different types of intelligent beings, both humanoid and non-humanoid, all of whom have free will. Some of these beings may inhabit other planets throughout the universe, and others may even possess hyper-dimensional characteristics like the angels described in the Bible, able to shift and travel between seen and unseen realms (dimensions). Before Lucifer’s fall, all these other created beings are considered “unfallen”, meaning that they were loyal to the Kingdom of God.
War In Heaven
Next, let’s examine Revelation 12:4 specifically:
His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.
Revelation 12:4a (ESV)
This whole chapter (in fact the whole book of Revelation) is full of symbols and so we’ll need to do some interpretation to understand the meaning. In this case the symbol of the “great red dragon” is clearly a symbol for Lucifer (“that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” – Rev 12:9). The Bible also clearly defines the symbol of “stars” as being angels (Rev 1:20).
We don’t know for sure whether the “stars of heaven” is referring strictly to the humanoid “Sons of God” angels, or if it could potentially include all intelligent beings across the universe, including non-humanoid angels. If the “stars of heaven” includes all of God’s created beings, then that means that the 33% that joined Lucifer’s rebellion could have come from a wide variety of species and races throughout the cosmos. This possibility would have a significant effect on how we prepare for and defend against the coming Great Delusion.
Possibility of Other Worlds
I am certainly not the first person to claim that “extraterrestrials are actually fallen angels”. Christians have been warning of this deception since the birth of the UFO phenomenon. In fact, today most atheists/agnostics scoff at Christians who dismiss all UFO’s as just being fallen angels or demonic. On the other side of the argument, modern astronomers claim that according to the odds, there ought to be billions of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone! In their opinion, it follows that mathematically-speaking, there should also be dozens, if not hundreds of alien civilizations throughout our galaxy. Here’s the thing – they might be right…
For all we know, God could have created dozens, if not hundreds of other life-bearing planets throughout this galaxy and inhabited these planets with intelligent, free-willed beings. In the loosest of definitions, they are “heavenly hosts” or “angels.” Some of these beings, up to one third of them, could have sided with Lucifer and rebelled against God before the creation of humanity. Lucifer’s rebellion was the inception of what we call “sin”.
Cosmic Quarantine
Instead of living to love God and others, Lucifer sinned by living for himself. Selfishness is the root of all sin. When Lucifer and these other beings sinned by choosing to live selfishly, they became “fallen”. Sin is like a disease, and if left unchecked, it would have spread among all of God’s creation across the entire universe. In order to stop the spread of sin God had to remove (cast out) all the fallen beings, Lucifer included, from their original habitations. By banishing the fallen ones, God spared the remaining unfallen worlds from immediately succumbing to the sin disease.
But the war started by Lucifer still caused a great controversy even after he was banished. Prior to Lucifer’s rebellion the other intelligent beings across the universe didn’t even have a concept of selfishness. The idea of living for yourself was probably so foreign in God’s Kingdom that no one even considered it. But once Lucifer conceived of the sinful concept of selfishness, and started telling the other angels about it, he started planting the seeds of rebellion. In order to resolve this controversy and prove to the entire universe that selfishness was indeed a sin, God created humanity. You can read more about our role in all this in the Humanity section of this website.
Astronomers today are somewhat baffled that given the mathematical odds of life throughout the universe, why haven’t we heard even the slightest sign of extraterrestrial life out there? Are other alien civilizations just too far away to detect our radio signals? If alien civilizations have heard our signals are they ignoring us? Are they already here and secretly observing us? From a Biblical perspective, if God did create other intelligent life out in the universe, and those worlds didn’t fall into sin after Lucifer’s rebellion, then it stands to reason that the planet of Earth, home to sinful humans and exiled fallen angels alike, has been quarantined from the rest of the unfallen universe in order to prevent the spread of sin.
The reason we haven’t detected responses from far-flung alien civilizations might not be because they’re not out there, but because God forbids the unfallen worlds from travelling here or communicating with us until the great controversy of sin is finally resolved through the Plan of Salvation (exceptions are granted to certain holy angels who are dispatched to humanity on specific, divinely-sanctioned missions). Furthermore, if some of the flesh-and-blood fallen beings from other worlds were also banished from the heavens, they may be in hiding right on our doorstep. Some may be hiding deep in Earth’s unexplored oceans, others may be scattered throughout this solar system, hiding behind asteroids, or even living under the surfaces of the various moons and planets. For all we know, this solar system could be littered with sinful fallen beings who were banished from their original homeworlds when they joined Lucifer’s rebellion against God – just waiting for the day when they are allowed to come out of hiding to deceive the whole world.
The Great Delusion
So what does all this have to do with aliens vs. fallen angels and the Great Delusion? You see, when God permits Lucifer and his confederates to kick off their Strong Delusion they will arrive as extraterrestrials claiming to be part of a Galactic Federation that includes many different “alien” civilizations. Not only will they arrive with superior technology and abilities, but they will also possess undeniable physical characteristics. They may also include a wide variety of both humanoid and non-humanoid beings. They were all banished from their original homeworlds when they sided with Lucifer in the Great Rebellion. The existence of real, flesh-and-blood aliens arriving in advanced spaceships will make the delusion all the more powerful.
As a Christian, if your knee-jerk reaction to UFO’s and extraterrestrials is to dismiss them out-of-hand as either being non-existent or fake, you’ll be in for a rude awakening when Lucifer and his legions show up in real nuts-and-bolts advanced spaceships. Even if you believe that all UFO’s and “aliens” are demonic, you may still struggle during the Great Delusion to explain how real and tangible they all seem. However, if you understand that some of the “fallen angels” could potentially be sinful, rebellious flesh-and-blood physical beings from other planets who joined Lucifer in a terrible insurrection against God’s Kingdom, you’ll be able to recognize their deception and defeat the insidious message they plan to bring to humanity.
Regardless of their appearance, superior abilities, technology or physicality, the end goal of these rebel beings will still be the same: to convince as many humans as possible to turn against God and to embrace self-worship. Don’t be deceived!
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