Project Sunshine

 

“Aliens and Demons: Evidence of an Unseen Realm” is an extended interview with Michael S Heiser, a maverick Biblical scholar who doubles as a kind of UFO-logist. I previously reviewed some of Heiser´s books on this blog, one of them indeed titled “The Unseen Realm”. The interview, dubbed a “documentary” on YouTube, gives a good overview of Heiser´s worldview, while also giving a strongly eclectic impression.

In the first portion, Heiser argues – more or less convincingly – that the UFO phenomenon is staged by the American military, and that there is a connection to Operation Paperclip and something called Project Sunshine. The “alien space craft” are military test flights of various exotic human technologies. The “alien bodies” might be bodies of young convicts, perhaps taken from death row and forced to participate in dangerous experiments. But when Heiser starts discussing MK Ultra, he suddenly switches gear and starts claiming that actual demons come through in the abduction experiences, when surely a secular explanation is just as possible here as at Roswell! Why not simply claim that “alien abductions” are an attempt to cover up MK Ultra´s mind-control experiments? In the same vein, contactee experiences are with lesser spiritual beings or outrightly demonic ones. Heiser points out that the notorious Swiss contactee Billy Meier claims to have met a gorgeous female space alien named Semjase, a name clearly related to that of the leader of the fallen angels in the First Book of Enoch, Semyaza or Semyaz…

Theologically, Heiser is somewhat heterodox. For instance, he doesn´t believe in the fall of Lucifer and the “war in the heavens” as an event taking place *before* the creation of Adam and Eve (and their subsequent fall). Instead, he puts most of his emphasis on the fall of the Watchers, the angels who mated with human females and gave rise to the monstrous race of the Nephilim (the Giants). This happened after the fall of Adam and Eve, but before the Flood. I get the impression that Heiser believes this to be an actual historical event. Heiser further argues that there are a number of different demonic beings in the unseen realm. Some of them aren´t actually demonic in the strict sense of the term. However, they are imperfect and have failed in the mission God assigned to them, that mission being to act like “gods” unto the Gentile nations. Other beings are outrightly evil and are probably the disembodied souls of dead Nephilim.

Thus, UFOs and aliens are either secretive military experiments or literal demons (or other entities) from a supernatural dimension. While there might be intelligent life in other solar systems, no evidence for space aliens ever landing on Earth exists. In one section of the interview, Heiser polemicizes against the inordinately popular TV series “Ancient Aliens”. He explains that the famous vision of Ezekiel – often said to be an early UFO observation – is really the Old Testament god sitting on a “Babylonian” chariot, symbolizing that Yahwe is above the pagan gods. Nor is there any evidence for the wild claims of Zecharia Sitchin about Nibiru and what not.

One intriguing point made by Heiser is that the Sumerians also had a legend of fallen angels, but in their version, the Watchers are good gods who want to save humanity from the Flood brought about by gods who hate us! Their way of doing so is to mate with human females, thereby giving their offspring a portion of divinity, while also teaching the human population the arts of civilization. This rather sympathetic myth was turned upside-down by the Hebrew scriptures. But, of course, Heiser doesn´t think it´s sympathetic and expresses support for the Biblical version.

I can´t help thinking that Heiser “should” be even more heterodox than he really is. For instance, what about the Divine Council? Why does God say “let us make humanity in our image”? Heiser clearly believes that the Divine Council exist and that God is addressing other powerful heavenly beings in this version. If the “gods” of the goyim actually exist, doesn´t that make Yahweh into a polytheist high god? And why should we believe that Yahweh isn´t just another national god, anyway? Also, Heiser seem to believe that God did create extraterrestrials, but curiously enough without “God´s image”. Are we *that* unique in the entire cosmos? Why not embrace the Mormon position that there are countless of gods, countless of creators, and hence countless of “divine images”…

With that reflection, I close this review.