When UFOs Arrive

www.popularmechanics.com ^ | February 2004 | BY JIM WILSON

[Momaw Nadon]

The U.S. and other world governments already have detailed secret plans for first contact.

When UFOs land, a series of plans created to deal with nuclear emergencies and biological attacks will be activated.

Within the scientific community, the question is no longer whether extraterrestrial life exists, but if ET is smart enough to do long division. Scientists are of two minds regarding the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Skeptics acknowledge simple life-forms might be found on other planets, but insist that intelligent life is unique to Earth. Their belief is based on the assumption that Earth possesses unique physical attributes, including a magnetic field that deflects cosmic rays and a moon that absorbs asteroids. Together, these protective features make Earth a rare safe harbor--one that nurtured the evolution of primitive life-forms into intelligent beings. The opposing camp sees the prospect for discovering alien life in more mathematical terms. Its touchstone is the Drake Equation, which links the probability of discovering extraterrestrial intelligence to factors such as the size of the universe and the number of stars with earthlike planets. With the discovery of each new planet beyond Earth's solar system--there are now more than 100--the odds of encountering intelligent alien life increase. Governments and international organizations around the world have taken notice of the changing odds. No governmental official has gone on record claiming that UFOs are real, let alone a threat. Yet with little public fanfare, they have begun preparing for the single most important event in human history: first contact. That is, the moment earthlings discover incontrovertible proof that they are not alone.

Early Warning
Unless ET materializes from another dimension in the middle of the Super Bowl, humans most likely will have some advance warning of its arrival. How much time we get to straighten up for extraterrestrial company depends upon who spots ET first.

The privately funded SETI Institute uses radio telescopes owned by observatories around the world to sweep the sky for signals broadcast by advanced civilizations. If ET has read Emily Post, or her intergalactic equivalent, and calls ahead, we could have years, even decades, to prepare for first contact. Unfortunately, the current SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project can afford to look at only small swatches of the sky, so any extraterrestrial courtesy calls probably will be missed.

A more likely scenario is that the U.S. Air Force would spot ET's spacecraft as it traverses the void between the Earth and the moon. Using powerful radar and optical telescopes in Hawaii, Greenland, Florida and the Indian Ocean, the Air Force Space Command tracks satellites, monitors missile launches, and spots baseball- and larger-size bits of orbiting debris with the hope of preventing it from perforating a space shuttle or the International Space Station. If ET turns up on Space Command's radar, it would mean the alien visitors are only hours or minutes away.

A Proposed Welcoming Committee

The International Academy of Astronautics in Paris maintains a list of volunteers willing to help world governments if ET arrives. Most are astronomers. Here is the team that PM would prefer to see on the job. Shown counterclockwise from the center are: Sen. John Glenn, American Representative. As the first American to orbit the Earth and an elected political leader, the senator is the obvious choice to lead the American delegation. Frank Drake, Science Officer. Creator of the Drake Equation and a driving force behind the SETI project, Drake would represent the world's scientific community. Hal Puthoff, Powerplant Engineering. An expert on zero-point energy, a means of extracting limitless power from the quantum vacuum without violating the known laws of physics, Puthoff would understand how ET powers its craft.

Sheila E. Widnall, Weapons Systems. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who served as Secretary of the Air Force in the 1990s, Widnall would be able to assess ET's weapons. Ning Li, Propulsion Systems. A former NASA scientist, Li devised the theory that explains how the electromagnetic force that we use every day might also be harnessed to manipulate gravity. Perhaps ET uses similar technology. K. Eric Drexler, Structural Systems. A trailblazer in the now fast-growing field of nanotechnology--building materials atom by atom--Drexler pioneered the idea of smart materials, which ET would doubtlessly also use in its craft. Jane Goodall, Communications Officer. Having devoted her life to the study of chimpanzees, primatologist Goodall has proved her ability to communicate with intelligent nonhumans.

Countdown To Contact
The broad-brush outline for Earth's response to the first alien encounter is set out in an international agreement called the "Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence." Written by a committee of scientists organized by the SETI Institute, the declaration spells out what astronomers should do, and what they should avoid doing, immediately after first contact.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the agreement is that astronomers who sign on to the declaration agree to keep the news of an imminent contact under their hat until the astronomy community and authorities have been notified.

The declaration also establishes fairly specific guidelines regarding the protection of the radio frequencies that alien civilizations might use to communicate with Earth. As soon as a radio signal is confirmed as originating from an extraterrestrial source, the International Telecommunications Union would ask governments around the world to forbid use of that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is hoped that ET will have sufficiently studied human habits to understand that calling earthlings on the frequencies used for microwave ovens and garage door openers will be interpreted as a belligerent act.

Close Encounter
Around 1999 the first contact protocols were put to the test. For 12 hours, SETI astronomers marveled at the prospect that their golden moment had arrived. A signal that repeated in an organized pattern was detected beaming straight at the Earth from 1 million miles in space.

The first priority was to alert radio astronomers around the world to redirect their telescopes. The signal from the distant stationary object quickly faded as the relentless rotation of the Earth swept it out of the telescope's listening range. Douglas Vakoch, the SETI Institute's social scientist responsible for preparing Earth's reply to an extraterrestrial message, tells POPULAR MECHANICS what happened next: "At this point, all of our discussions were internal to our team. We didn't want to cry wolf. Then, in the midst of the process, we get a call from The New York Times." So much for the secrecy provision of the SETI protocol. Within hours, the story evaporated. The SETI team identified the mystery signal as a data transmission from SOHO, a sun-watching observatory on an almost-stationary orbit about 1 million miles from Earth.

Vakoch says he was not surprised that the story of the possible alien contact leaked so quickly. "These guidelines have no legal force. They have been drafted in the hope of getting broader discussion."

As far as the U.S. government is concerned, that discussion started and ended more than 40 years ago. Regardless of how the world's astronomy community might want to handle first contact, Uncle Sam has ideas of his own. And they rest on the assumption that ET is first and foremost an illegal alien.

Presumed Dangerous
The question of how humanity might react to its first contact with intelligent aliens was officially raised in the late 1950s by the then newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Curious as to how discoveries about the origin of the universe might affect society as a whole, NASA contracted with the Brookings Institution, a leading think tank, to research the question. Only a small part of its 100-page answer, which came to be known as "The Brookings Report," dealt with alien encounter. But it contained a stern warning. "Anthropological files contain many examples of societies, sure of their place in the universe, which have disintegrated when they had to associate with previously unfamiliar societies espousing different ideas and different life ways; others that survived such an experience usually did so by paying the price of changes in values and attitudes and behavior."

In 1972, as engineers prepared the first space mission that would travel outside of Earth's solar system, NASA decided to ignore warnings in the 1960 "Brookings Report" about the dangers inherent in contact with an advanced alien race. Instead, the space agency sent an invitation for extraterrestrials to visit Earth. A gold-anodized aluminum plaque engraved with a map showing the location of Earth was attached to the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. When it sent its last message, in January 2003, it was more than 7 billion miles along on a trip that will take it to the star Aldebaran.

State Of Emergency
If ET turns up at NASA's doorstep bearing that invitation, it is in for a surprise. Instead of getting a handshake from the head of NASA, it will be handcuffed by an FBI agent dressed in a Biosafety Level 4 suit. Instead of sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House, the alien will be whisked away to the Department of Agriculture's Animal Disease Center on Plum Island, off the coast of New York's Long Island. Here it will be poked and probed by doctors from the National Institutes of Health. A Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST) will tow away its spacecraft.

Unfriendly as this welcome may seem, it is the chain of events that most likely will follow the visitor's arrival. Unique as the appearance of an alien-piloted spacecraft may be, the event incorporates elements of three situations familiar to federal emergency response workers: a plane crash, the release of radioactive material, and the capture of an animal suspected of harboring a contagious disease. Responsibilities in these situations are spelled out in Presidential Executive Orders.

Unless it is spewing exhaust, the craft would be assumed to be nuclear powered. This determination would put NEST technicians in charge of securing the craft and moving it to a DOE facility, most likely in New Mexico, where it would be in close proximity to the Sandia and Los Alamos nuclear laboratories and the White Sands Missile Range. International agreements also put NEST on call if the craft lands out of the United States, as happened in 1978 when a Soviet satellite leaking nuclear fuel landed in the Canadian wilderness.

NEST, however, would operate in the background. In a nuclear emergency, the FBI is put in charge of public safety, public health and public information. Those, at least, are the plans. How things might actually turn out is anyone's guess.

Skeptics often ask why UFO sightings seem to take place only in remote locations instead of on busy city streets. Perhaps ET knows what earthlings have in mind when it lands.

[Darksheare]

LOL!
There was a short story up on my bio page once upon a time many months ago with a joking allegorical account of how I ended up in NY state.
(By dimensional warp portal, only it collapsed with a mind shattering shriek.)

But it's become a joke and such among my friends.
(Some humorless types, however, think I'm being serious.)

But they'll get my phaser from my vaporised ahses!

[50sDad]

You know, that six-wheeled assault vehicle in the article reminds me of Ed Bishop and UFT, the great Gerry Anderson live series...

I can sleep better knowing that SHADO is on the job!

[RightWhale]

The only thing about that Shado is there is a human pilot. It will be robotics all the way. Humans will NOT be operating the machines. Humans will be advanced managers, not servants of the machines.

[Darksheare]

Space! 1999.
*chuckle*
Memories..

[JoJo Gunn]

[realpatriot71]

I notice you convienetly left out an explantion of the "sons of god" who came down and came into the daughters of men, from the story of Noah who were these they arent called angels but I suppose there is some strange translation problem eh? And how is it God goes from sons plural to a only singular son ?

The "Sons of God" are the men decnended from Seth - the monotheistic people - those who followed the Lord. The "daughters of men" are the women from the decendants of Cain, who killed his own brother. Cain started the wickedness that eventually leads to the flood. You see, when the men of the monothesistic people would marry a woman from the decendants of Cain, this allowed the corruption to find its way into the people of God, until it was such an evil world that the Lord could find only 8 people to be saved and start over again.

[goldilucky]

That's amusing! Thanks for the laughs.

[goldilucky]

"And, were I in an abduction context wherein my praying in tongues was somehow not so effective, I'd certainly be quoting Scripture to them at every fitting moment."


Such as the Lord's prayer.

"I was reared on the KJV. And my memory work was done in it. But it is so archaic, the younger generations have little appreciation for it. And, a lot of nuance is lost to us because it is not our mother tongue. "

I have been rearing myself on the KJV. In my youth, my folks didn't think it was "appropriate" to force religion down us kids. How wrong they were. Now, I am educating my folks.

[Quix]

OKAYYYYYYYYYY.

Thanks.

[Quix]

There's SOME laughs amidst the topic. Some folks report getting abducted out of their showers or sleeping in the nude. And being alongside a higheway at some point with cars going by and clearly the people in the cars are not seeing them.

Don't recall any other big laughs. Just recall that along the way there have been several.

Maybe some others can relates some funnies.

Most of it is pretty sobering, IMHO.

[Quix]

As you know, THE WORD instructs parents to

TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY THAT CHILD SHOULD GO . . .

I do encourage you to read other translations from time to time. They can add richness, depth to the understanding of The Word.

I think the New Living Translation is worth while, too.

[goldilucky]

It is amusing but even more so to hear about been abducted while in the shower. This is really funny.

[goldilucky]

Thanks for the tip on the New Living Translation.

A few years ago, I purchased "The Defined KJBible Uncommon Words Defined". It is the authorized KJV and is unaltered and translated out of the original tongues. I often refer to it when running into text I cannot decipher.

[realpatriot71]

A few years ago, I purchased "The Defined KJBible Uncommon Words Defined". It is the authorized KJV and is unaltered and translated out of the original tongues. I often refer to it when running into text I cannot decipher.

Stick with your KJ version. Ironically, the KJ versions actually reads at a lower reading grade level, than other "more enlightened" versions. Well meaning or not (it's very debateable), the new versions are like an exploration of the thesaurus. Because new versions are copy-righted Bibles sold for profit, there has to be significant enough change in the wording or structure as to allow money to be made off of each individual version. The is no copyright on the official KJ. Fruthermore the KJ translation is more consistant with the now known majority manuscripts. As well as this, the official KJ's underlying greek codex, The Texus Receptus, is markedly more consistant with the now known majority manuscripts. The underlying greek codex for all new versions is markedly different (altered), when compared to the majority texts or The Texus Receptus - only in agreement with a small minority of ancient texts and manuscripts.

[Quix]

Sounds good. Please check out THE MESSAGE translation by Peterson, too. It's my current favorite.

It really captures the idiom, the vernacular, the nuance and flavor of the original Hebrew and Greek according to the experts. Certainly it has much more of the flavor of God The Father and Jesus that I know.

[PureSolace]

weird

[goldilucky]

I'm sticking with the KJV because many of the new versions and international revised versions have taken and twisted the Word of God around and deleted text.

One time I brought the KJV to class for bible study and the teacher told me that bible was not acceptable in his class. When I told this to the bible bookstore manager, they said that professor didn't know what he was talking about.

So I dropped the class!

[goldilucky]

I'm sorry but I'm not certain I understand what you meant by THE MESSAGE translation by Peterson. Is that the name of the book?

[Quix]

That's the name of the current translation of The Bible I am reading.

I usually mark portions I read with up arrows and down arrows (without the arrow's tail). When I read all of a chapter, I circle the chapter number. Eventually, I read the whole Bible in that translation.

The NIV is the standard reference source for me, though I still also use a DAKE's KJV. One of the NIV's is a Thompson Chain Reference Bible--also a great resources, as, of course is the BIBLE GATEWAY website.

But for my daily reading currently, THE MESSAGE version is wonderful. The Psalms particularly are so much more alive--as are Proverbs and the prophets. They just sound so much more like FATHER GOD in a lot of subtle to not so subtle ways. I encourage you to check it out. It's much more of a FACE TO FACE with God sort of translation instead of a 'lofty, stiff, scholarly' sort of translation. And the accuracy of the translation is wonderful according to experts I've read.

I hope that clarifies it.

[Cvengr]

The destruction of Earth and the heaven above by fire will occur in the future. My understanding is that the particulars point to a post millenial destruction after the Gog-Magog revolt of Armeggedon. This would occur after a thousand year reign of Christ, after His Second Coming, after the Great Tribulation after the Rapture.

There are those who interpret Scripture differently, but I encourage studying Prophecy from this perspective, not reading into the Word of God, but allowing Him to speak to the reader by His Word.

With respect to being 'dead' in the spirit, God is a God of the Living. Whosoever believes in Him through Christ, the Spirit of God abides in him. If the believer then turns away from God, that is if we are separated from God by a postsalvation sin, then we must repent, turn away from that sin and return to Him, in order to return to a fellowship with Him. He is faithful and just and once saved, neither height nor depth, life or death, power or angel or authority will separate His love from us.

Once saved, we are spiritually alive. Once saved, we are tricotomous, composed of body, soul and spirit. Once saved we are positionally sanctified through faith in Christ and royal family members with Christ seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. Even if we are confused or not cognizant of our status, the faith of Christ carries and maintains our status truthfully as royal family members and yes, we are alive in Him.

Now other possibilites exist to also explain certain situations.

Let's begin basically by understanding these groups,...angels, man, and God. All three have volition, free-will, able to decide between divine good and anything that counterfeits God's good. God's policy is grace, the Adversary's policy is evil. Man is a third player, so to speak, in the angelic conflict.

In the Garden of Eden, when man was created perfect, in body, soul and spirit, Adam disobeyed God by choosing to eat the fruit. Eve was deceived. Even after this had happened, they remained alive in the soul and for many years alive in the flesh or body. They became spiritually dead however as did all mankind until the appropriate sacrifice could be made to return man to life in the spirit. Even after the redemption had been made, a change of state is still required which is provided by God through His grace to man, namely to the believer who has returned to God through faith in Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for all sin of man. In the Garden, it's interesting to note that Satan had tempted this creature made in the image of God, God's favorite. Satan, thinking this would be a marvelous coup to make himself as God to God's favorite creature and to corrupt what was perfect, also sustained punishment for his involvement and his sin, worse than man's. Namely, even though man was destined to work and woman to have pain in childbirth and man who might be bruised in the heel by the serpant, the serpant would be bruised in the head by man AND Man would have enmity for the Adversary in his heart.

Care needs to be taken not to blame all sin or evil on Satan. Man also has volition. Lucifer actually was created the most beautiful, most knowledgable, loftiest position of all angels as an intermediary between the Creation and God. When he declared his 5 'I wills' and became Satan and fell with a third of the angels, he sought to counterfeit God's plan and will.

Almost every attack possible of God's decisions has been favored by Satan, although Satan also seeks to advance and exalt himself as God. Accordingly, as a creature, Satan produces some of the most skillful, deceitful, strongly established plans posible independent of God to advance his counterfeit agenda.

Man, as a third party, when he sins or is disobedient to God, even in commiting a morally good act, has that good parlayed into evil by Satan in a counterfeit plan to God's.

God's policy is grace. God allows this to occur even though the counterfeit plan is doomed from the start. But also, man is a third party, even now with enmity in his heart towards Satan as this is now how man is created.

There will be a natural proclivity for man to hate anything satanic, (although we still have an old sin nature which scars our ability to identify when we are not in fellowship with Him) but still unless man believes in God through Christ, he still will remain simply a third player, already condemned unless man by faith receives God's grace. There may be many things man does which even Satan hates, independent of God, because man bumbles into Satan's plans, even corrupting them. Satan hates believers and he really doesn't care for unbelievers. He merely looks for tools to advance his own agenda.

In this light of good and evil, there are basically three players, Angels, Man, and God.

Messengers of God, or angels which didn't rebel, might perform any number of tasks in obedience to God. God still created us, but we have inherited an old sin nature. We are not independent of His ordinances. He still may act upon unbelievers, although He will not violate the free-will or volition of His creatures, but if His will differs from our will, He is still Soveriegn and omnipotent. We would be the only loser.

On the other hand, fallen angels, demons, might also appear to be angels of light. Simply because man rightfully perceives and discerns an angellic being from another man, doesn't mean we've discerned the deceiving angel from the faithful angel. So if a man is en communicato with angels, discernment must also be properly made if those angels are fallen or indeed messengers of God. Again, remember that Satan wills to make himself as God, so to the fallen angels, they might even speak of Satan as though he were God in their counterfeit schemes.

Regardless this discernment, the existence of body, soul, and spirit, does not make it impossible for man to suffer the consequences of actions in any of these domains.

If we are asleep, but dreaming, making decisions in our soul, and somebody stabs us in the heart while we are lying in bed, and we physically die, we don't avoid physical death simply because we were dreaming.

Likewise, we maybe dead in the spirit or separated from God in the Spirit, but hat doesn't mean a spiritual domain doesn't exist.

Death doesn't imply nonexistence. Death is a state of separation. When we die, our souls are separated from our bodies. Those who believe today, upon death are face to face with the Lord. We will receive interim bodies and later a ressurection body.

Nebuchanezzar saw the handwriting on the wall. He was being communicated with, not merely by an angel, but by God. He still wasn't a believer. He still was dead in the spirit or separated from God the Holy Spirit.

There are many, many unbelievers today who still are very, very 'spiritual'. They simply dabble in dead spirits. Ask any Wiccan. They steadfastly refuse to honor God, yet are very fearful of spirits,(...go figure how much more blinded one could ever become).

Demonic possession and influence are both worth studying after one has better understood and received salvation. Another interesting discernment is between demonically inspired behavior vs simple man-inspired behavior. Another interesting discernment is between the types of demonic influence upon man's behavior. A challenging discernment is between a less obvious demonic influence and a human morally good volition, yet independent of God. Keeping things simple, most find it more fruitful to first master or mature through studies in Christ, the Father and the Holy Spirit, than waste time on those things already condemned, although the study of such things might help to fish for believers, so to speak, in the witnessing of the Gospel to unbelievers.

Just as a freemason who ceases to place faith in God through Christ in all things, and turns instead to performing good works in a service organization, might indeed produce many himanly good works, his works are good for nothingness (Poneros) if not performed through faith in Christ. Likewise, there maybe many deceiving spirits, whom are preoccupied with morally good works, but again independent of God and not holy. Where those deceiving spirits might influence man, the man might be perceived as being very good, even labeled as being very saintly, when if not in faith with God, is actually demonically influenced.

In order to discern these things and remain obedient to God, one always must insure they are in fellowship with God on His grounds and continue to grow in faith. As we mature in faith, that further sanctification is brought about by studying Scripture and metabolizing the doctrine or 'written faith' and changing one's thinking more and more as metabolized doctrine or mature faith.

BTW, some of the most powerful displays of God's love and our secure relationship with Him, is performed by the most innocent of all of these things, yet who have simple faith in Him.