Angels Over Los Angeles
3
It normally requires a high tech war, or at least a huge sporting event, to get the world’s attention. But today, unbelievably, billions of people throughout stopped what they were doing to watch an interview with a minister. Making the moment even more remarkable was the fact that Pastor Avon Carlson had actually delivered on a promised miracle and was not asking for money.
While many viewers wished Daniel Mantle would shut up and get to Pastor Carlson, the newsman artfully took a few minutes to set the stage, allowing the suspense to engulf his viewers. As Mantle concluded his opening remarks the camera panned out to include Carlson, who had been setting just off camera to Carlson’s right in the guest chair.
People watching at home shushed their children and drew closer to their televisions to study the face of the prophet. Those at work forwarded their phones to voice mail and gathered in lunch rooms to watch the interview. The rows of display televisions in electronic superstores conveyed the image and voice of the prophet in unison. Carlson looked and sounded especially impressive in the large, flat panel stereo televisions.
"To a waiting world, then," Mantle declared, "I am pleased to introduce, on behalf of SMN News, Pastor Avon Carlson. Welcome, Pastor Carlson, we are so glad to have you with us in studio this morning."
"Thank you for inviting me onto your show this morning, Mr. Mantle," Carlson responded with genuine appreciation as the two shook hands.
"Having witnessed and reported on many historical events firsthand," Mantle began, "I would have to say that what I saw last night was astonishing. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, I have not slept since."
"Nor have I, my friend," replied Carlson. "For the message God has given me to speak has now been validated by a great sign and wonder."
"It is a controversial message, Pastor. Many are this morning are proclaiming you to be the Antichrist, while others are calling you a Messiah. And then of course there are those who are certain the angels were large-scale holograms, apparently engineered with secret U.S. technology stolen from Cal Tech.
So tell us, please, what do you say about yourself and your angels?"
Pastor Long smiled the confident smile of a man with the answers. "First, let me say that there was no crime, and in fact no projection technology exists which could produce what was seen early this morning. If nothing else, atmospheric distortion would seriously degrade the color and clarity of such large images. Yet the angels were sharply defined, brilliant in color, and impeccable in appearance because they were real and not a criminal special effect.
"I have been watching SMN’s broadcast, and, as some of the expert analysts interviewed earlier on SMN have said, high-powered telephoto lenses revealed a definite structure to the angels which is markedly different from the phantom images generated by holograms or lasers. I think anyone who witnessed them in person will be hard-pressed to deny their reality, especially people who are experts in the fields of optics and laser projection. The angels also were not a result of mass hysteria. They were captured on film and seen by the atheist, infidel, skeptic, believer, and paranoiac alike.
"As for myself, I am a messenger of God whose message people have found difficult to accept. Yet now that God’s angels appeared to baptize my message in the miraculous, it is my hope that the people will consider my message, which is this: Before the Flood, Satan kidnapped a countless multitude of humans and took them to other planets. There, the differing gravities, atmospheres, and dietary changes caused human DNA, already in a state of decay from the Fall, to degrade and mutate further.
"These kidnapped humans, stranded forever on uncharted planets in the starry vastness of the cosmos, lost the knowledge of their home, of the Garden, of earth. Consequently, the religions and mythologies of these peoples came to reflect the various spiritual entities, both good and evil, who visited them.
"When Jesus therefore commanded his followers to take the gospel into all the world, he surely didn’t mean that we should stop at the boundaries of our own atmosphere. The ‘world’ is obviously a metaphor for the whole of the universe wherein our lost brothers and sisters reside."
"But many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians argue that because aliens and flying saucers are an end time deception of Satan, your rather unique version of the gospel is therefore satanic," countered Mantle, a former Pentecostal cleric who had been defrocked for sexual promiscuity and heresy when he was in his twenties.
The Hollywood handsome minister smirked, betraying his contempt for his enemies. He could afford to do this now that he had angels to back his message. "This bit of circular logic comes from the same mind-set which once held that non-Western peoples were utter savages, incapable of being redeemed. Indeed, fundamentalist Christians, with whom I claim no relationship, still insist that God will send people to hell forever if they do not subscribe to the brutish, traditional interpretation of the Bible.
"Yet Jesus taught that tradition kills. He rebuked the Pharisees for holding to the letter of the Law, rather than emphasizing its spirit which is love. Naturally, then, fundamentalists would attack my message of God’s universal love. I find it revealing that they often speak of Satan deceiving others, yet they never once stop to consider that they it is themselves who are being used by Satan to deceive humanity about the nature of sentient beings on other planets."
"Not that I subscribe to the notion of a personal Devil, but for the sake of argument why would the Devil do such a thing?
"Jesus stated that he would not return until the gospel had been preached to every person. While the fundamentalists understand the value of modern technology in spreading the gospel to those of earth, they never stop to consider that that same technology can be used to reach those on other planets. Ironically, the very people who say they want Jesus to return run in fear from the very idea of people on other planets, thus delaying the return of Jesus.
"It is a clever trap and one into which the fundamentalists have fallen because the Evil One has been able to use their own blindness, their own insistence that they alone are right and everybody else is wrong, to prevent them from accepting the reality of lost souls on distant planets. But this is not atypical, for the fundamentalist mind is narrow and ultimately rejects both the truth of its own humanity and the staggering vastness of God."
"There are many people who would agree with that fundamentalism of any stripe is destructive, Pastor. As to your main point though, how do you propose to bring the gospel to those on distant planets?"
"The first phase would begin by correcting the thought of those in the world of science and government responsible for SETI, VLA, the NASA Deep Space Network, and the Big Ear Observatory. Basically, all of these organizations operate, or have operated, linked, wide array dish antennas in a search for life on other planets. They both listen for intelligent radio signals and transmit ‘universal’ mathematical formulas in an attempt to get another civilization to respond.
"Yet such thinking is limited by the Drake Equation which states that any search for intelligent life on other planets must be a search for manifestations of technology, particularly coded pulse trains of mathematical formulas such as pi, or the prime numbers. However, this approach might well be off-putting to other civilizations who have been ravaged by technology, or whose science has lead to them to the inevitable conclusion that there is an intelligent God of love and order.
"We can’t rule out the possibility that an advanced civilization, and by that I mean one that has discovered and profoundly devoted itself to God by embracing principles such as nonviolence and regard for the environment, might fear answering our signals lest they become victims of our technology, violence, or diseases. What I propose to do is to use our antenna technology to transmit the Gospel of John into space in the English language; I would speak to the heart of the fallen universe rather than the mind."
"To this point," Mantle commented, "C. S. Lewis suggested that God had quarantined earth, the ‘silent planet,’ using time and space because of the sin that resides in the heart of man. Yet you are saying that Adam’s transgression affected the entire cosmos?
"Oh, most definitely. It was a cosmic occurrence. I don’t mean to sound geocentric, but God did first create sentient life upon the earth."
"So you’re saying that Satan is therefore responsible for spreading intelligent life to other planets?"
"No, for I know that God created intelligent life on other planets. All I’m saying is that Satan took fallen humans to other planets. You see, Satan, unlike God, can’t speak things into existence. The Evil One is not a creator; he can only change that which has already been created by God. There was, and is, no way that the Devil can create life."
"So this is why he had to kidnap humans?"
"Exactly. The Evil One has a program aimed at developing a race of re-engineered humans who possess the technology, savagery, and loyalty needed to return to the earth and capture control of it. Consequently, he has spent thousands of years teaching these lost humans the art of war, slowly perfecting their technologies and genes to create a race of fearsome, pitiless soldiers towards this end."
"Sort of like Hitler and his S.S.?" Mantle queried.
Carlson pulled himself up straight and paused. He was a man who was about to reveal yet another secret. "Hitler and his armies were the beta test of Satan’s theories, as were the atrocities of Stalin and the Japanese. Had it not been for the two great oceans and the atomic bomb, the Devil may have prevailed in the Second World War."
"It is terrifying to think of World War II as the ‘beta test’ of a larger genocide."
"It is. Yet we wrestle not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers in high places. Even the Catholic Terror Experiment known as the Inquisition was Satan testing his powers in hopes of conquering pre-industrial Europe."
"Pastor, I have a nagging question about your scenario: Why didn’t Satan simply give the Pharaoh, for example, an atomic weapon so that he could destroy God’s people when they were in exile in the Wilderness?"
"That’s a fair question, Daniel, and one I already answered when I said that Satan cannot create, or speak, things into existence. He only change that which has already been created by God. There was, and is, no way that the Devil can speak a nuclear or biological weapon, or the systems needed to deliver such weapons into existence. Otherwise, the Serpent would have nuked the Garden of Eden and been done with it.
"You have to understand that Satan needs flesh to do his bidding. It’s not enough for him to simply appear and tell a nation how to build a weapon of mass destruction, because to use such knowledge requires an advanced technological infrastructure. Even if Satan had given Pharaoh the plans for an atomic weapon, where would Pharaoh have obtained the heavy water, weapons grade uranium, or even a B-29 with the trained pilots, ground crew, or the aviation grade fuel and lubricants required to fly across the desert to deliver the weapon? Further, a person or a nation must be willing to knowingly cooperate in Satan’s wanton destruction."
"The human propensity for violence being more fully realized by a conscious cooperation with Satan?"
"Exactly. That is why the Nazi S.S., for example, had mystical initiations into occult societies pledged to doing the will of the dark gods. Such cooperation amplifies the human propensity for violence. It also make those of a political or scientific bent more receptive to the ideas for nefarious inventions transmitted by Satan through his agency of demonic beings. Conversely, devotion to God amplifies the human propensity for good."
"So the terrible weapons of mass destruction that we began seeing in the twentieth century were the result of Satanically-inspired ideas?"
"Not in every case. Humanity, given enough time, is quite capable of inventing weapons of mass death. But rather than inquiring into the origins of armaments, it is more useful to reiterate the point that Satan is neither all-knowing nor a creator. Simply because he is a powerful demonic entity does not automatically make him a gifted physicist, chemist, or biologist. Do you think Satan understood the mysteries of DNA when God created organic life? Of course not. God does not yield secrets easily, especially to his sworn enemy. Despite the great amount of time the Devil has been alive, he is still far from having mastered the creational fractions of spirit and matter.
"Creational fractions?"
"The Periodic Table of the Elements describes the creational fractions, or elements, of the physical universe. There is an analogous Periodic Table of Spirit which describes the creational fractions of the psychic universe such as love and hate."
"I’ve never seen such a table described or suggested, " remarked the somewhat astonished Mantle.
"God has revealed it to me. It is an example of a radical expansion in spiritual knowledge that will take place prior to the Second Coming and the end of human history. Just as John the Baptist prepared the way spiritually for Jesus’ first coming. I am sent to prepare the way for his Second Coming. And unlike Jesus, I will not speak in parables. Instead, I will speak with miracles and offer those who will listen the breathtaking secrets behind the creation of the universe and human life. I know what happens after death, what the future holds, the purpose of good and evil, and that which needs to be done to bring history to a happy conclusion. I am the man who now stands between Apocalypse and Heaven," Carlson intoned with a matter-of-fact authority that was chilling.
Mantle remembered the proverb, "be careful what you wish for because you might get it" as he felt the eyes of the entire world staring at him. He had madly wanted this interview, and now that it was his he wondered how to respond to a man who had summoned angels and had now just declared himself to be semi-divine.
"Pastor Carlson, you’ll have to excuse me if I seem skeptical, but do you have any proof of this fantastic scenario?" Mantle asked. The question was demanded by his journalistic integrity, yet for the first time in many years Mantle felt himself to be trampling the sacred, for how could he ask such a question to the man whom God had used to prophecy, correctly no less, that a train of angels would appear over Los Angeles? Still, the news anchor felt he had a duty to appear bold in the presence of the special person to whom he was speaking.
Carlson paused for a moment and studied Mantle. The minister knew that he held Mantle’s career and reputation in his hands. An unkind reply on the minister’s part could irreparably damage the anchorman. Conversely, Carlson recognized that he needed Mantle, for a miracle of this proportion required the credibility only a major news anchor could offer. If either man were less than perfect in this interview their mistakes would be forever video-cemented into history.
Carlson understood that the world was looking on, hoping that he would prove equal to the miracle by showing himself to be larger than life, even as it hoped that Mantle would dignify the miracle by resisting any temptation to ruin the timeless by tainting it with the temporal sleaze of the tabloid. Only after allowing Mantle to hang in the silence long enough for the newsman to feel himself twisting alone in stage-lighted anxiety did Carlson speak.
"I am a Sent One, a messenger who has only angels in the sky to offer you as proof," the clergyman replied with a potent declaration whose undertones resonated with an insult to the holy, as if Mantle had just asked the Pope if he ever had nuns stay the night. Carlson then deigned to redeem Mantle from his impertinence by declaring, "However, the question you ask is necessary, for we must give place to doubt if we hope to discover the meaning behind the miracle, for what made this event so important is that it represents the first time in the modern era in which God has visibly broken into human history to reveal his presence."
Mantle, glad for the reprieve, quickly shifted gears. "Pastor, why would God let his angels get so tantalizingly close without letting us see and touch them, maybe even speak with them?"
"God’s angels did not come last night as celebrities to be interviewed."
"But surely last night was divine photo op!" Mantle protested, downshifting without thought into the role of skeptical newsman.
"Yes, I suppose you could say that," Carlson conceded, a concession necessary to help Mantle’s viewers frame the miracle in a context they could understand, "for God did send his angels as a way of getting the attention of the world so that I could speak his message. And his message, to reiterate, is this: God first created intelligent life here on the planet earth. Satan kidnapped our ancestors and took them to other planets. It is our duty to find our lost family and reach them with the gospel, especially our brethren on Mars."
"Why Mars in particular?"
"Because we have a very real chance of reaching Mars in the next five years to begin the liberation of our lost family on that planet."
"Humans who were kidnapped from this planet long ago are living on Mars as we speak?" Mantle asked in amazement.
"They’ve been living there for over twelve thousand years, though they now live underground. The ruins of their once great civilization can be seen on the Cydonia plane."
"You mean the face of the sphinx and the pyramids? You’re saying an ancient race of humans built them?"
"Yes. And as with the pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge, and many other great places of religious initiation and celestial observation, the great monuments on Earth and Mars were built with the help of God’s angels as places of worship and instruction.
However, as has happened with the gospel of Jesus, religious fundamentalists slaughtered the true priests and priestesses of these temples. This freed the fundamentalists to seize the temples and corrupt the truth for the sake of money and power. The seizure and corruption of Christianity by the Catholic Church is another glaring example of evil. And when they couldn’t murder, they turned to lies to gain power; the ideological ruination of early Christianity by the Apostle Paul being a supreme example of such lies.
"But God always brings down the corruption of religious fundamentalists. Jim Bakker’s empire of greed collapsed. Jimmy Swaggart, though he committed no real sin, was nevertheless exposed by God for his hypocrisy in doing in secret what he condemned in public. But these are only lightweight examples of judgment.
"The last serious judgment fell approximately twelve thousand years ago when God visited great destruction upon Mars and Earth because of such corruption. A passing proto-planet damaged the atmosphere of Mars, forcing its citizens to live underground as the atmosphere began to degrade. When the proto-planet passed by earth, it caused a pole shift which decimated many of this planet’s great and advanced civilizations, including the continent of Atlantis. This pole shift plunged our planet and race into a stone age, leaving the relics of our glorious past to sink into the seas, be buried by sand or mud, or simply be decimated by vandals, robbers, and time.
"Yet we are now in a position to reclaim our past, to reunify the human family, and to avert a coming judgment. To do this, however, we need to couple the enormous natural resources of earth with the unbelievable technology God has given to our lost family on Mars. Only then can we bring the forces of religious fundamentalism to heel. "
"How will the technology of Mars help us to accomplish this? After all, to ‘bring the forces of religious fundamentalism to heel’ requires that people change their minds or otherwise be persuaded to give up their religious beliefs. How would that ever be possible?"
"I’m not talking about anyone giving up their religious convictions; that would be contrary to the spirit of Jesus. What I’m talking about is using the power of advanced technology as a force of revelation. When one sees, as I have, the beauty and supremacy of the technology on Mars, then one sees and understands God. After such a realization, one’s religion is given new life. There is no longer any need to enforce one’s beliefs upon others or kill others because of their manner of worship. Everything suddenly makes sense and is in balance. "
"You’re saying that a machine can be a revelation of God?"
"The Great Pyramid is such a revelation to anyone who understands it. Still, the pyramid was a revelation to an advanced age that is long gone. What I am talking about is the revelation for our age. It is technology we will understand. It is God’s machine of understanding."
"What does it look like? How does it work?" Daniel Mantle asked as he leaned forward with genuine interest.
"Until we reach Mars and return it to earth, I am forbidden by God to speak of it further."
"Is it the Ark of the Covenant?"
"Again, that was a machine of God for another time and place. Our destiny lies on Mars. Our failure to reach that planet will result in judgment. "
"What kind of judgment awaits us if we fail to act? Another cataclysm?
"I cannot say what will happen. I can only warn people that we are approaching judgment if we do not begin heading for Mars. This is God’s instruction."
"You paint a truly epic portrait, Pastor Carlson," Mantle countered, "but how can a machine impart spiritual enlightenment to people? "
"Daniel, I tell you that the worlds of spirit and technology have already met. That we have such things as microprocessors, lasers, nuclear weapons, organ transplantation, even television, must surely draw your attention to the fact that we are lesser gods involved in giving expression to the spiritual power of God’s imagination in physical form."
"With all due respect, Pastor, allow me to ask you a rather pointed question. Instead of sending angels to make his case, why couldn’t have God had you simply bring an extraterrestrial onto this morning’s show? Wouldn’t a person from another planet be more persuasive than angels in the sky? Surely such a witness could testify to the truth of what you are saying."
"Mr. Mantle," Carlson said poignantly, "much of the world’s population cannot even acknowledge or accept the reality of gay people, let alone people of other colors or races. How then would you expect them to acknowledge or accept the reality of an extraterrestrial? Compounding this prejudice is the fact that our generation has been so jaded by special effects that even God has a hard time impressing the masses with angels. I should think the public happy, at least those in Los Angeles anyway, that God sent angels rather than, say, an 8.0 earthquake. I don’t claim to understand why God chooses a particular way of showing himself as opposed to another; I simply accept what he gives me. Early this morning he sent angels. Yet I will tell you that the time is coming and soon is when the world will indeed be introduced to the our brothers and sisters from other planets."
"What is preventing this from happening right now, Pastor?"
Carlson smiled. He knew that Mantle was unaware of the people such an act would offend, people who were even now walking onto the SMN set. "The government of the United States would be very concerned. As with my levitation pen, they might well kidnap any extraterrestrial Christians, or what I lovingly call ‘EC’s’ before ever allowing the world to see them or know of their reality."
"That is a provocative notion, and one that is, I’m sure, held by some in our viewing audience. To that point, we will now go live via satellite to Dr. Gustav Mondrain of the Signet Foundation. Dr. Mondrain is considered the be one of the world’s foremost authorities on the covert activities of the United States government. The Signet Foundation is a privately funded research organization opposed to excessive government secrecy. Signet argues that government secrecy is not only a threat to individual freedoms, but that it also, for example, adds between twenty and thirty percent to the cost of a classified government program. In many cases, Signet contends, such expensive secrecy is an unnecessary waste of taxpayer money and has created a vast bureaucracy of secrecy which frequently abuses its authority.
"Dr. Mondrain, welcome."
As the two minute satellite interview with Dr. Mondrain began, SMN’s signal inexplicably went dead. Mantle’s producer suddenly boomed over the studio’s intercom, "Daniel! We’ve just got a bomb threat! The LAPD is here! We have to evacuate the studio! Get all of your people out!"