Ezekiel's Wheel and the Extraterrestrial Question

 



There is a story in Ezekiel chapter 1, known as “Ezekiel’s Wheel”. This story is believed by many people both Christian and non-Christian alike, to represent an alien encounter experienced by the prophet Ezekiel. The four beasts in this story are often interpreted to be aliens, and the wheels are often interpreted to be flying saucers. However, the vision seen by the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 1, is likely a reference to the “Four Conquering Empires” of the Holy Bible namely Babylon, Persia, Macedon, and Rome. It should be noted that there are similar visions of four beasts had by the Prophet Daniel in the book of Daniel chapter 7, which turn out to be these same empires. In the book of Revelations Chapter 4, the Apostle John also documents his own visions that are similar to Ezekiel and Daniel’s visions in regards to beasts representing empires. Because of these similarities in representations concerning the dreams and visions had by prophets and apostles, I encourage the historical study of biblical narratives before reading and attempting to interpret dreams, visions, and revelations as they are presented in the Holy Bible.

With the advent of the science fiction genre of entertainment, namely comic books, video games, television shows, and movies, the human imagination is more creative and vibrant than ever, making concepts such as aliens seem less impossible. The Bible does not address the existence of extra-terrestrial beings as we know them in the science fiction genre of entertainment. There are however, reports in the Bible of Angels appearing to man in modern times; Hebrews 13:2 tells us that these angels assume the appearance of everyday mortal men and that a person would not know that these men are of a divine nature. In my opinion, a person needs devout faith to believe in aliens, namely beings from distant galaxies that possess intelligence.

In my estimation, the sketchy photographs and imaginative artistic renderings of aliens and their spacecrafts and technology are not reliable as factual. Imagine if concrete evidence of Alien life was found. Whatever that evidence was, would be the centerpiece of every political address, film documentary, news story, magazine cover, religious sermon, and scientific inquiry all over the world. Museums would acquire the rights to these discoveries and charge healthy prices to the general public in order to view them. If living aliens were found, they would be placed in specialized zoos, open to any and all who could pay the money required to observe them. Scientists would dissect the bodies of deceased aliens and publish their findings in academic journals, and academic textbooks all over the world. The trajectory of human life would be forever changed based on these findings. Due to the absence of any of these historical, commercial, and scientific events, I conclude that the existence of extraterrestrials and their technology is a matter of personal belief, not much unlike the faith and personal belief that it takes to believe in angels or demons, albeit without the guidance of a holy book to contextualize the existence of such beings.