It was a dark and stormy night in 1997 when the Aetherius Society came to town.

For those who don’t know what the Aetherius Society is (I’m guessing about 99.999% of the people reading this), it is a UFO cult.

This was the same year that 39 members of Heaven’s Gate, another UFO cult, committed ritual suicide believing it was the only way to ‘evacuate earth’ and be rescued by a giant UFO hiding behind Comet Hale–Bopp.

I was a zealous (and tactless) Bible College student and thought that I could save the world by Bible bashing one soul at a time – so armed with my NIV Study Bible (told you I was tactless), a wad of “Aliens: Demons in Disguise” tracts, and my 6’4″ friend (you can never be too careful), I made my way into the venue.

The giant-crystal-adorned usher welcomed us into the room, and we sat down with about ten other people. 

Very. Strange. People.

For the next hour, two Atherius devotees spoke about the belief they had committed their lives to, and its founder, George King (not to be confused with King George).

George King was born in England in 1919. He dedicated his life to the practice of Eastern Mysticism. One day he heard a loud voice saying…

“Prepare yourself! You are to become the voice of Interplanetary Parliament.”

Apparently, the voice belonged to one of the ‘Cosmic Masters of the Solar System’, and George King became their ‘Primary Terrestrial Mental Channel’, bringing their message to Earth.

George King channelled thousands of aliens in his lifetime – and even Jesus apparently (ahem).  Many of these messages have been preserved on tape and film.  I have no doubt King channelled something, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t ET, and I’m definitely sure it wasn’t Jesus.

I always find it amusing (in a sad way) how so many New Age religions claim that Jesus Christ is ‘a way’, when Jesus Christ Himself said that He was ‘The Way’ (John 14:6). There is a huge difference between ‘a’ and ‘the’.

At the end of the video (below), King channels a message from Jesus? saying:

“Even if you do not believe in God, then believe in good, please. It is the same thing.”

Sure it is.

Anyway, back to the story…

After the presentation, the well-meaning reps asked if anyone had any questions. I stood up and asked them to explain what the Bible meant when it talked about end-time deception and doctrines of demons. I even read out the relevant verses – my NIV Study Bible came in handy. As you can imagine, it didn’t go down too well.

Awkward.

The Q&A time ended, much to the hosts’ relief, and I handed out the tracts to the kind but bewildered folk leaving the building.

I sometimes think back to that time and wonder – what on earth was I thinking?

Did I do the right thing in my challenging confrontation? Did I rightly portray Jesus, or did I push searching people further away from Him?

Lord, help me speak the truth in love, not truth in arrogance, not truth in judgement.

Featured image by Pete Lomas