UFOs, Channeling, Quasi-Religion, and Cults
“Salvation Will Come from the Cosmos! I Have Been Chosen, So Pledge Your Lives to Me!”
Most people feel a deep need to believe in something: God, Mother Earth, or quantum physics; the Chicago Cubs, pyramid power, or Charlize Theron; atheism, cold cash, or the scientific method. For many, UFOs promise a reconciliation of Earth’s frights and uncertainties. Alien visitors may be wiser than we, and perhaps, via human messengers, they can lead us to the redemption of our souls.
God, salvation, channeling, and UFOs have a long and discomfiting relationship. Since the Arnold incident of 1947, and particularly since the mid- 1950s, various persons have appointed themselves the human “voices” of godlike extraterrestrials, or as prophets whose special relationships with the Almighty empower them to lead other, lesser individuals to truth and salvation.
Frequently, the otherworldy source of the body-and soul-saving wisdom is unclear: is God Himself engaging in channeling, or do space aliens speak for Him? Perhaps aliens and human prophets are sent to Earth because no human can withstand the sight of God. Or it could be that God and benevolent extraterrestrials are one and the same? Perhaps the creatures that come to Earth in the guise of space aliens are God’s angels. Whatever truth exists among the conflations, we are made to understand that intercessors are required.
William Ferguson, for example, a Chicago mail carrier and self-trained relaxation expert, found himself unexpectedly transported to the Sixth and Seventh dimensions in 1938, and subsequently wrote about relaxation techniques. In 1950, Mr. Ferguson earned a two-year sentence for misbranding (fraud), after conducting interstate mail-order sales of a relaxation gadget called Ferguson’s Zerret Applicator. Product literature described the device’s “therapeutic potency of atoms,” which produced “positive Life Energy” and promoted healing. (Ferguson’s female associate received a one-year sentence.) Taken to Mars in 1947 by an angel-alien named Khauga, and later to Venus, Ferguson developed his channeling abilities, and laid plans for the Second Coming. In 1955, he established the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship, a group that alluded to “rays of life” and “pure universal substance.” Ferguson channeled instructions given by Khauga, whom Ferguson identified as the leader of the Universal Brotherhood of the Sons of the Father, a benevolent fraternity comprised of extraterrestrials.
After a Swiss woman named Erika Bertschinger fell off a horse and landed on her head in 1973, she gained the ability to converse with Jesus. As “Uriella,” she gathered followers, establishing a formal group, Orden Fiat Lux, in Germany’s Black Forest in 1980. Blessed with clairvoyance, she tagged 1998 for the unpleasant arrival of Nazi flying saucers and worldwide natural disasters. Uriella reassured her followers, though, by promising that benign extraterrestrials would lead the group to paradise on Earth.
Tempelhofgesellschaft (Temple Society), a Vienna-based neo-Nazi group established in the 1990s, traces the origins of its members to the planet Aldebaran. Naturally enough, those ancient aliens were Aryan, and later developed links to Sumeria and Atlantis.
Other alien-centric religions have promoted communism, disarmament, crystal meditation, and material prosperity. As cheerful as some of that sounds, messages received from aliens caused many cults to become unhealthily preoccupied with Armageddon. A downbeat Texas group, Orville Gordon’s Outer Dimensional Forces, prepared for extraterrestrial destruction of Earth by constructing a UFO “Time Ark” base to accommodate the UFO expected to spirit group members to safety. The sect had little tolerance for obstacles, and earned a raid from federal agents after an ODF member planted a pipe bomb at the home of a local politician.
Are alien advisers motivated by nihilism, or is it simply that the joy of cleansing and salvation must be preceded by annihilation? That sober question is leavened, happily enough, by Earthlings channeling messages that are essentially upbeat.
