UFOs and the Counterfeit Rapture

New Age spirituality exhibits a pronounced intolerance toward biblical Christianity. Despite its emphasis on unity and tolerance, certain New Age authors have openly advocated the necessity of mass violence to achieve their envisioned global transformation.

Dr. Christopher Hyatt predicts that the New Age will come to pass only after bloodletting and pain on a mass scale. Djwhal Khul, Alice Bailey’s ‘Tibetan Master,’ says that one-third of all humanity must die by the year 2000. John Randolph Price was told by his spirit guide that up to two and one-half billion might perish in the coming chaos. Ruth Montgomery’s books predict that turmoil and destruction will be visited on millions who will pass on into spirit. Meanwhile, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi warns that ‘the unfit and ignorant won’t survive.’¹⁾Texe Mars, Mystery Mark of the New Age, Crossway Books,1988, p. 153

Most New Age adherents remain unaware of these violent undercurrents. Many are persuaded they are working toward the betterment of a dying planet, adopting the view that “Mother Earth” is plagued by a destructive “cancer” that must be eliminated. This belief is grounded in the Gaia hypothesis, which views Earth as a living spiritual organism progressing toward higher consciousness. Those who achieve this “enlightened” state—sometimes described in esoteric literature as the Planetary Luciferic Initiation—are expected to remain on Earth, while fundamentalist Christians, considered carriers of “bad karma” and obstacles to planetary evolution, are seen as impediments to humanity’s next stage: homo noeticus (the “new man”) or homo universalis (the “planetary man”).

Some New Age writers reinterpret the Christian doctrine of the Rapture as a planetary cleansing—a removal of individuals whose spiritual vibrations are “out of harmony” with Earth’s evolutionary trajectory. David Spangler, a leading voice in this movement, writes:

Those attuned to the old world [will be] transported through the [cosmic] law of attraction [to] another planet, plane of existence or level of earth’s consciousness where they can be contained… the main point is that they will lose, for the time being, their access to the etheric planes of power and the ability to control or influence the developments upon earth.²⁾David Spangler, Revelation, Birth of a New Age, Findhorn Foundation, 1978, pp.163-164

Within this framework, Earth—personified as the Mother Goddess—removes disruptive human “cells” through a vibrational cleansing process. However, the diversity of New Age revelations, self-styled prophets, and “channelers” ensures internal disagreement over the specifics of this eschatological vision.

For example, Barbara Marciniak, claiming to channel extraterrestrial beings from the Pleiades, asserts that:

If human beings do not change — if they do not make the shift in values and realize that without Earth they could not be here — then Earth, in its love for its own initiation, is reaching for a higher frequency, will bring about a cleansing that will balance it once again. There is the potential for many people to leave the planet in an afternoon.³⁾Barbara Marciniak, Bringers of the Dawn: Teachings from the Pleiadians, Bear and Co., 1992, p.162

She further suggests that:

The people who leave the planet during the time of Earth changes do not fit in here any longer, and they are stopping the harmony of Earth. When the time comes that perhaps 20 million people leave the planet at one time there will be a tremendous shift in consciousness for those who are remaining.⁴⁾ibid, p. 167

Likewise, Kay Wheeler, self-identified as a “Pleiadean star seed” and channeler of “Souls of Light,” reports being told:

There is much happening on your planet at this time. The Mother is cleansing. It is all that she knows to do at this time to clear herself of the pollution that exists within her body. But you as light bearers can help your Mother to cleanse in such a way that does not destroy all life on this planet….

She has moved into this energy pattern, and those upon Earth who plan to stay must be of this vibration.⁵⁾Kay Wheeler, The Time is Now, Connecting Link Magazine, Issue 23, 1994, p. 34

Wheeler encourages those remaining to rejoice at the departure of the “unfit,” a sentiment that starkly contrasts with the Christian understanding of the true Rapture, when the Lord will “call His saints… in the clouds… to be with Him forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17).

The New Age belief in the law of karma asserts that there is no reason to feel sorrow for the misfortunes of others, since such events are the inevitable result of their own bad karma. One channeled message reflects this perspective. Virginia Essene writes:

never attack her [mother earth] or you will attack the feminine nurturer within yourself. This is so critical that I say it many times. What you do to any other living thing [on the earth or earth itself] must result in your own experience of it.⁶⁾The Christ, channeled by Virginia Essene, New Teachings for an Awakening Humanity, S.E.E. Publishing Co., 1986, p. 33

Other New Age proponents claim that there will be a mass evacuation of humanity by alien entities themselves. This “evacuation scenario” is defined as follows:

Evacuation Scenario: Special operation that is precursor to mass landing operation. Will be used to quickly evacuate Earth-dwellers who live in regions exposed to catastrophes created by the coming Earth changes. Specially-created Galactic Federation action teams will successfully carry out this procedure.⁷⁾http://www.paoweb.com/glossary.htm

The term Earth-dweller is contrasted with enlightened Earth-dwellers—those who work with ascended masters or identify as star seeds. These enlightened individuals are also called light workers.

One extraterrestrial entity that has reportedly channeled messages through various mediums over the years is known as Ashtar.

Thousands of mediums, psychics, and UFO contactees have been receiving mountains of messages from Ashtar in recent years…. Ashtar is not a new arrival. Variations of this name, such as Astaroth, Ashar, Asharoth, etc., appear in demonological literature throughout history, both in Orient and Occident. Mr. Ashtar had been around a very long time posing as assorted gods and demons and now, in modern phase, as another glorious spaceman.⁸⁾John Keel, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse, G.P. Putnam’s Son’s, 1970, p. 230

George Van Tassell (1910–1978) was the first to claim contact with Ashtar in the 1950s, recorded in his book I Rode a Flying Saucer (1952). These initial messages warned of imminent self-destruction for the earth if its inhabitants did not disarm, focusing particularly on opposition to atomic weapons. After Van Tassell’s departure from the scene, Ashtar allegedly began communicating in the 1980s with Thelma B. Turrell, who wrote under the pseudonym Tuella. In 1985, she compiled Ashtar’s messages in Ashtar: A Tribute, which also promoted the extraterrestrial evacuation scenario:

[There are] millions of spacecraft standing by (at a moments notice). They are very experienced in the evacuation of populations of planets.”⁹⁾Tuella [pseudonym of Thelma B. Turrell], Ashtar: A Tribute. Guardian Action Publications, 1985., p. 55

Tuella further described the event in language strikingly similar to biblical prophecy of the rapture:

The Great Evacuation will come upon the world very suddenly…. So sudden and so quick in its happenings that it is over almost before you are aware of its presence…. Our rescue ships will be able to come in close enough in the twinkling of an eye to set the lifting beams in operation in a moment. And all over the globe where events warrant it, this will be the method of evacuation. Mankind will be lifted, levitated shall we say, by the beams from our smaller ships. These smaller craft will in turn taxi the persons to the larger ships overhead, higher in the atmosphere, where there is ample space and quarters and supplies for millions of people…¹⁰⁾Tuella, Project World Evacuation, Inner Light Publications, 1993, p. 16

The Bible uses the same phrase “in the twinkling of an eye” to describe the true event known as the rapture: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”  (1 Corinthians 15:51-53) Here we see Satan attempting to construct a counterfeit religion, offering a false explanation for the rapture. While Jesus promises to prepare “many mansions” in heaven for His followers (John 14:2), the New Age narrative substitutes “ample space and quarters” aboard spacecraft for millions deemed unfit for the “enlightened earth.”

Whitley Strieber described one of his alleged abductors as the goddess Ishtar, a variant of the name Ashtar. He also recorded a conversation with another abductee who recounted:

Just a few days before, I had interviewed a person who believed that he had been contacted by people who ‘gosh, just looked like the most beautiful gods and goddesses you ever saw,’ who explained to him that the world was going to end and that the ‘chosen’ would be taken to live on a moon of Jupiter.¹¹⁾Whitley Strieber, Communion, Avon Books, 1987, p. 252

In L.A. Marzulli’s The Alien Interviews, a woman named Lynne Dickie shares a channeled message purportedly received from extraterrestrials. These beings identified themselves as angels and conveyed that she had been chosen by God to photograph UFOs and disseminate these images globally. Additionally, she was informed of three evacuations of select individuals, described as “the Ascensions.” According to this account:

The Ascension of the Christed Ones was what it was called. We would be taken up into the one to three mile wide ships and would be transformed into light bodies, we would be gone for 1,000 years and then we would come back and live side by side with other E.T.s.¹²⁾L.A. Marzulli, The Alien Interviews, Spiral of Life, 2009, Lynne Dickie interview

However, divergent interpretations exist within New Age circles regarding who will be evacuated by these aliens and the capacity of the spacecraft involved. For example, Gabriel Green, as cited by Robb Fulder, stated:

If Armageddon comes, so will the aliens, swooping down in spaceships to evacuate one-tenth of the population in what Christians call ‘the rapture’… Only one-tenth of the population will be spiritually qualified to live in an environment of harmony, and there are some limitations on their [the aliens] ability to provide for us, to house and so forth.¹³⁾Gabriel Green, cited by Robb Fulder, Story of Spacemen Broadcast by Man, in the Oregonian, May 8, 1984, p. 132

While details may vary, it is evident that the notion of imminent, large-scale UFO landings facilitating the rescue of a select few is widespread. Timothy Green Beckley observed that many mystics and sensitives worldwide share the belief that highly evolved extraterrestrials, who regularly communicate with various groups and individuals, will intervene just in time to evacuate chosen persons:

It became quite clear that there is an understanding among many mystics and sensitives that massive UFO landings will take place and will take up a select few just in the nick of time. This same belief is worldwide and comes from many groups and individuals who claim they are receiving regular messages from highly evolved beings who reside elsewhere than our planet.¹⁴⁾Timothy Green Beckley, Psychic and UFO Revelations in the Last Days, Inner Light Publications, 1989, p. 59

Furthermore, New Age cosmology often posits that those labeled as “dark forces” — those refusing enlightenment from the New Age deity, identified as the light bearer Lucifer — will be removed to other planets as part of a cleansing process associated with “Mother Earth.” This concept aligns with Hindu beliefs in a universal consciousness rather than a singular earthly entity. Adherents view extraterrestrials as enlightened beings attuned to this universal consciousness, thereby justifying the removal of obstructive “dark forces” that impede the planet’s initiation into Luciferian enlightenment.

A channeled message purportedly from “The Christ” warns:

An attitude of such violence, hatred, and war has been allowed to permeates your population that earth is now that child — armed and ready to explode. To live in any proximity to you, as a neighbor, is threatening, and I assure you that although you cannot see life in space or in your own solar system, it does exist as higher dimensions and in lighter vibrations. Therefore, any negative movement beyond your own 250-mile boundary injures your own Mother Earth, creates negative weather patterns and causes illegal assaults on God’s other space children who must be guaranteed safety. Who among you would not claim the right to protection if the neighbors brought violence to your domicile?…

That is why the space vehicles you call UFO’s have been monitoring earthly activities…. We of the spiritual realms must tell you that if you do not stop the madness which threatens space, these space brothers may be called upon to intervene — to keep the planet from your path of annihilation.

Be convinced that other solar system life forms will not allow the spread of this insanity into their areas, for although you cannot see them because they reside in the fourth dimension and beyond, they do exist. It is just your limited third dimensional reality that prevents your perception of the higher vibrational life bodies.¹⁵⁾The Christ, channeled by Virginia Essene, New Teachings for an Awakening Humanity, S.E.E. Publishing Co., 1986, p. 6, 145

Regardless of the scenario promoted, one certainty remains: the sudden disappearance of millions of Christians would be interpreted as validation of New Age doctrine. Texe Marrs cautions that the fulfillment of such counterfeit prophecies will constitute a “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:11). ¹⁶⁾Texe Marrs, Dark Secrets of The New Age, Crossway Books, 1987, p. 163