Review of Hugh Ross, Kenneth Samples, and Mark Clark, Lights in the Sky & Little Green Men: A Rational Christian Look at UFOs and Extraterrestrials (2002, Navpress)

Review by Jeffrey Stueber

In the American lexicon, the phrase "little green men" denotes extraterrestrials who travel to Earth in their spaceships of many shapes to either inaugurate mankind into a New Age, kidnap humans so as to perform experiments on them, or buzz radar screens while irritating military aircraft. Such is the description of a fantastically real unknown.

Ross et. al. have tackled the possibility of such craft visiting us and raised several common objections to aliens visiting us. Samples introduces us to two hypotheses explaining UFOs: the ETH (the extraterrestrial hypothesis) and IDH (interdimensional hypothesis). The ETH suffers from several flaws including the impossibility of traversing such a long distance in space, the illogic of aliens traveling such distances to perform such insignificant tasks, the fact supposedly-solid alien craft disobey the laws of physics (which suggests these craft are not physical craft at all), and others. Ross, an astronomer in good standing, debunks the idea that alien craft can traverse through space using wormholes like you might find on Star Trek. Wormholes cannot hold promise for alien craft because by nature they would be short in length and thus not provide a usable shortcut through space. Also, an alien craft cannot safely navigate through a wormhole because entering the wormhole would by nature tear an alien craft apart.

The authors then engage other topics such as the idea of a government conspiracy to suppress evidence of an alien landing (there is no such coverup), the possibility of life on other planets (there isn't much chance of it), and UFO cults (there's plenty of them). Certainly this book is worth buying because of the breadth of the material, and because, for a Christian, the authors make the demonic interdimensional hypothesis a valid explanation for UFOs and their actions. This hypothesis states UFO aliens are really Biblical demons and UFO sightings are caused by these same demons, a hypothesis which is not new to Christian scholarship. It was first suggested to me by Zola Levitt and John Weldon in their 1975 book UFOs: What on Earth is Happening, a book that began to clarify the issue for me as I began to wonder if these aliens were really little green men. Ross et. al. at least have their finger on the pulse of scholarship regarding ETs.

This isn't to say their writing makes an airtight case for the demonic hypothesis. Samples lists several criticisms of IDH, such as the criticism that some UFO events are best explained by the presence of a real physical craft and not a demon. For instance, sometimes UFOs appear on radar as a craft would do if it was flying in the sky. Some UFO contactees report items embedded in their body after a contact, and occasionally burn marks appear on vegetation at a UFO landing site. Samples doesn't list these last two but certainly one must realize a physical manifestation can be a sign that a real UFO has made its appearance.

Ross rather forcefully suggests the demonic hypothesis and I must admit this hypothesis has much to recommend itself. Yes, those who are involved in the occult do see more UFOs, and, yes, UFOs do disobey the laws of physics. It is also true angels and demons do demonstrate physical effects to which the Bible attests. And, as Levitt and Weldon have reminded us long before Lights in the Sky was published, UFO encounters resemble experiences with demons and occult-generated beings. Ross does pronounce the issue solved, but hasn't fully tackled the physical manifestations UFOs generate. Used too loosely, the demonic-physical-manifestation theory can be a catch-all explanation to explain anything that a UFO does that creates a physical effect. Is it really true that demons are appearing on radar, and burning the grass where a UFO landed, and slaughtering cows, and so forth? Certainly a line must be drawn between supposing an alien ET created these effects and a demon did them. A thorough answer that Ross supposes he and his fellows have given demands more research and explanations in this area.

Samples doesn't do a good enough job of tackling the issue of alien abductions either. He quotes from several scientists and researchers such as Philip Klass, Carl Sagan, and Michael Persinger who propose explanations of abductions ranging from hallucinations to hoaxes. Samples concludes his list by stating that whichever explanations of these researchers is correct, people sometimes form irrational beliefs. That's true, but this sounds like too quick a dismissal of abductee claims when these claims are numerous. One can't be blamed for wondering why these abductions are most likely hoaxes are brain effects. Samples gives us little to go on.

Despite these objections and faults in the book, it has much merit. Continuing research still needs to be done to explain many of the abductee claims and residual UFOs. For instance, I would like a more detailed expose cataloging people who see radar images of UFOs and those who do not to see if it is true, as Ross stated in his video on UFOs, that only occultists see UFOs. I'd also like to see more written on the abductee phenomenon besides the paltry chapter Samples gives us. We may indeed see more on this topic and until then the fantastically real unknown area of UFOs will remain still somewhat unknown although better comprehended, thanks to Ross and company.

Jeffrey Stueber