DAVE STRICKLAND replies to the recent expressions of Christian concern that the crop circles might be ‘evil’…
Swirled News was intellectually fair and balanced enough to publish the critiques of born-again Christians Ricardo Gomes and Clive Harmsworth. Their argument is that anyone who embraces crop circles as essentially benevolent is misguided because the phenomenon is an evil masquerading as good. Your response to that was to leave them with the last word because it involves delving into arguments on deep spiritual issues which have never been resolved.
But it shouldn’t be left at that, because the views of these two gentlemen are misleading and do a great disservice to those searching for wisdom, understanding, and truth about the crop circle phenomenon. I want to reassure all such people that the phenomenon is indeed essentially benevolent and demands that we humans pay close attention to it with open eyes, ears, and hearts. It is not here by accident but for extremely important reasons, and one day we will discover what those reasons are.
Please allow me to demonstrate what is wrong with the orthodox Christian viewpoint in these matters. It must first be noted that it is the same as that expressed towards other phenomena such as out-of-body experiences and the nature of heaven and hell. My particular reason for feeling so strongly about it is because I too am a “born-again” Christian believer. However, and sad to have to confess, to a great extent I am embarrassed to be identified with the label “born-again Christian.” I am not embarrassed over belief in Jesus as my Saviour, but over the stance taken by orthodox Christianity to issues which demand the exercise of one’s intellectual capacities.
The basic mistake it makes is to embrace the veracity of the Holy Bible and then immediately to stop there. Orthodox born-againers say “We have the Bible. It contains all we need to know about life and death. We do not need any other sources of information; moreover we deliberately avoid non-biblical sources simply because other holy books and documents are deceiving. They are deceiving because they differ from the Christian Bible [a circular argument?]. If there is a secular or non-Christian spiritual phenomenon – whether it be crop circles, ghosts, astral travel, UFOs, or the theory of evolution, it must be of the Devil because it is not mentioned in the Bible.”
This is the mindset of orthodox Christians and of the seminaries and books which are their mentors. It is exactly like school children refusing to acknowledge the learning available to them in higher education. They say: “We know it all and we are satisfied: we don’t need anything more. We don’t need to exercise the brains in our heads because we are happy exercising the faith in our hearts. We frankly don’t care about 2012 because we are safe in the arms of Jesus.” This frame of mind shows itself in the two letters you published, and it needs countering lest unchecked it disturbs or unsettles the minds of honest and sincere seekers of truth concerning crop circles. Here is but one example from their statements:
“Crop circles are simply another way to deceive us” - but has the writer failed to notice that the message on the ASCII-coded disc held by the extraterrestrial in the 2002 Crabwood formation expressed the very same thing: “Beware the bearers of false gifts…We oppose deception”. That wise being would have every right to feel aggrieved at being painted as part of a huge devilish plan to deceive us. But that is how orthodox Christians think. We mustn’t tread unknown waters because there is deception in the universe (very true), and that unless the Bible briefs us about a phenomenon instead of being silent on it we are disobedient children (not a pun) of God to explore down these avenues (very untrue).
This intellectually-deficient outlook is to an extent a legacy handed down from the past when Popes and priests forbade the common man from learning spiritual things on his own without their “guidance”. It is good old human nature at work seeking to control people’s thinking. And so scientists and proponents of other disciplines have nothing to say to us because of the great risk of us being deceived. Far better to be as trusting children and content ourselves in the worship of Jesus, leaving all the grown-up things to Him. On this I have a personal note to add. I have a birth-chart of Jesus Christ (shock horror!). Astrologers won’t touch it because they feel victimised (with reason) by anyone embracing Christianity. Christians won’t touch it because Astrology is “of the Devil”. Even historians look askance at it because they insist no one knows when Jesus was born or even if He really existed. Meanwhile I’m the one in possession of surprising discovered knowledge which these others have missed out on. It is their loss. After years of being a spiritual maverick delving into crop circles and UFOs and astral travel, I have yet to encounter my brain or spirit being fried by any satanic being posing either as a devil with horns or as an angel of light. Moreover, my faith in Jesus as the Son of God remains undiminished. And hasn’t that got a lot to do with one’s MOTIVES for seeking out knowledge?
My deep experience with crop circles has taught me that there is a beautiful universe to explore and at the same time that this planet of ours has a lot wrong with it. To those who are open-minded (note: open-mindedness is not the same as gullibility), crop formations have a lot to give and teach us. Their beauty and balance are often breathtaking and are certainly not from any Great Deceiver. Yes, we are right to be warned about being deceived, but there is a limit to what devils and demons can do to anyone who sincerely seeks for truth and enlightenment. Paying close attention to the different aspects of the phenomenon is effective in teaching us how to discern the bad from the good. And it becomes easily apparent that the sources of many crop formations (good examples being the angel or dolphin glyphs) are benevolent spiritual powers who have deep and genuine concern about our own human race. But if you don’t spend time exploring and searching, and making an effort to study and learn, you will miss out on what there is to discover. Take it from a full believer who believes in the essential basics of the Christian message, that Jesus is our Saviour from sin, and gives eternal life to those who follow Him: many crop circles are essentially a timely message from advanced and godly spirit entities, and we desperately need to hear and to listen. But orthodox Christians will never realise that there are indeed non-human and NON-DECEPTIVE extraterrestrial races of beings inhabiting a NON-EMPTY universe. Some exhibit material realities, others spiritual: yet other races demonstrate both. Seeing no room for such races to fit into their theology, instead of rising to the challenge of how to reconcile their fundamental beliefs with what they see in front of their eyes (huge crop formations which are impossible for humans to have made), orthodox Christians refuse to entertain any such ideas. And so in their eyes any manifestation of such beings must constitute a huge deception being foisted on the human race.
The question of deception aside (which I agree is a legitimate and urgent concern for the times we live in), the important thing to realise is that crop circles are harbingers of cosmic changes which no doubt are on the horizon. These upheavals will affect every human being on this planet in profound ways for good or ill. If we ignore the crop circle phenomenon, even to the preposterous point of labelling it fraudulent because deceptive, it will be for ill and not for good.
The lack of mention of ETs in the Bible does not mean they don’t exist. Does the lack of mention of Japanese cars in a British car manual mean that Japanese cars don’t exist?? Using the same car manual analogy, orthodox Christianity can be likened to people who never get beyond Chapter One on how to change the oil or inflate the tyres. They never step out into the more rarefied atmosphere of the chapters following.