On returning from Hong Kong in 1977, I felt like a complete change from teaching. After discussing various options, we decided to try our hand at being Guest House Proprietors. We scoured the papers, and finally found a place well suited to our needs, and it turned out to be in Warminster, Wiltshire. Warminster had been the busy centre of UFO activity for some 20 years, even though by the time we moved there in July, most of the activity had died down. In fact Wiltshire has been the English County most famed for UFO sightings, and other strange phenomena, and it is widely accepted by some that this is due to the ancient religious sites so abundant in the County, such as Stonehenge, Avebury Ring, Silbury Hill, and the Long Barrow. Ufologists (as they call themselves) maintain that the beings who man the flying objects have some particular interest in these ancient sites. They talk about “earth energies” and sound very learned. However, after my own understanding, set forth in No.4 of this series, I tended to look upon all such interpretations as the groping of the human mind, trying unsuccessfully to tackle something from a higher dimension.
During our stay in Warminster, I spent an evening with journalist Arthur Shuttlewood, whose book on the “Warminster Mystery” (Spearman, 1967) had crossed the globe and created intense interest in the subject. I spoke of my own understanding, based on actual events, and tried to interest him from a spiritual angle, but although he was extremely interested in my testimonies, he remained in a position of neutrality, saying that he liked to see everyone’s point of view. This bothered me, because I had found it to be a common attitude adopted by many people concerning all things mysterious, the highly acclaimed attitude of “fence sitting”, very much promoted by the BBC in their programmes. It is almost as though it’s a bad thing to find answers. Far better to “keep an open mind,” and enjoy dabbling in the mysterious. However, when it comes to our salvation in Christ, we dare not approach the Gospel records with that attitude. There is only one way, and how better to express it than the Apostle Paul, when he said, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded . . .”
I was not to be put off by Arthur Shuttlewood’s neutrality. I presented my findings to Rev. David Parker, of Warminster’s Baptist Church, where we attended for Sunday worship, and he was persuaded by the testimonies I shared. In fact, he suggested having a public meeting in the Church, in which I should present this information to the Warminster residents, who had been regaled in the press for years by all the out-of-this-world activity. And so we had flyers printed and distributed to announce a lecture by Arthur Eedle on “The Christian Answer to the UFO Menace.” on Monday 29th January 1979. It was well attended, and included members of the Press. Question time afterwards alerted me to the fact that a number of those who attended were into New Age Philosophy. They showed interest in what I declared, but there was no movement of the Holy Spirit to convict. However, David assured me that the meeting had not been without purpose. The local Press certainly did a good job, writing up a good factual account of the meeting with no side-swipe or mockery.
Nothing further was done on this subject during our stay in Warminster. We turned our attention to publishing warnings to the nation that 1980 was going to be a “Year of Decision”. Pamphlets were produced and sent out, based on a word received from the Lord, and it started a fire across the nation. Further pamphlets were written, and by the end of the year some 50,000 had been sent out, causing a great deal of interest and (sadly) quite a lot of backlash from Christian groups.
But then a new phenomenon appeared. To begin with it was only advertised as a small item that could easily have been missed. It appeared in the Wiltshire Times of 15th August 1980, and referred to the discovery of unexplained circular depressions in a field of oats owned by John Scull at Westbury, near Warminster. The field in question was the one that overlooked the famous White Horse, carved in the chalk of the downs. We went to have a look. They were amongst the first circles to appear in the long procession that has followed, where to date there have been tens of thousands of crop designs in most countries of the world. To be accurate, they were not the first such rings. Scull had failed to mention a singular ring that he found earlier in May. There had been isolated occurrences before, but seemingly disconnected. The Westbury rings were certainly the beginning a something new.
Upon examination, these rings, each of which was about 20 yards in diameter, showed a clockwise spiral effect, with the grain being flattened almost to ground level. There were no tracks in the field to indicate any human cause for the indentations, other than those of Mr Scull and two investigators who entered the rings to observe. It was impossible to find a rational explanation for the rings, although a great deal of discussion was raised, and this discussion continued unabated as further rings began to appear in Wiltshire. The UFO phase had seemingly passed, and a new phase had begun. Whereas before there were “Ufologists”, now we began to hear about “Cereologists”. And just as Wiltshire had been the centre of the Universe for UFO activity, it has ever since been the centre for crop circles.
In the years from 1980 to about 1995, most of the shapes that appeared in crops were simple, and consisted of circles or groups of circles in formation. Certain jokers started to work at this, their activities becoming known as “pranks with planks”. They tried to explain the origin of the circles using a plank of wood, and string. They insisted that every circle had been of human origin, and many people believed them. There were two such men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, who became quite expert in such activities, and were used by the BBC in aprogramme about Crop Circles in 1993. We have seen a film of these men at work, and the results of theirlabours certainly show spiral ring formations, but they are never so neat as the “unexplained” ones. I have read a book on “Crop Circles”, written by Jenny Randles and Paul Fuller in 1990, and revised in 1993. After 238 pages of quite interesting material, they conclude that all such rings result from types of atmospheric activity.
All this has since had to be revised because of what began to occur after 1993. The simple circles gave way to more complicated designs, which could never have been attributed to whirlwinds or other atmospheric activities. There was obviously an “Intelligent Design” being shown, which required an “Intelligent Designer.” Books and articles have appeared, each purporting to have some credible answer to the mystery of their formation. However, it is more or less universally agreed that there is no full-proof answer to how the patterns were formed.
Mathematicians have examined large numbers of designs, and have seen evidence for Euclidean geometry, some of them well-known theorems, but some showing evidence for quite complex geometry. Others have seen evidence of ratios being found that express the ratios found in the diatonic musical scale, ranging over four octaves. Much of this would have been missed by the casual observer, who would be fascinated by the geometrical designs without appreciating the finer points. And then in 1993 a much more complex pattern was found, a very exact depiction of the Mandelbrot figure, derived from mathematical Chaos theory. Are we to believe that the human beings responsible for making these patterns are all professors of mathematics, who spend their leisure time perpetrating hoaxes? This is hard to believe.
In more recent years the complexity of crop formations has grown to such an extent as to boggle the mind. Before reading further, try this web site, just to see a selection of the amazing patterns.http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=crop+circles&hl=en&um=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title
Doesn’t it make your mind boggle? The sheer beauty of some of them is quite breathtaking. Furthermore, the size is sometimes so great that to contemplate human beings making them during the few brief hours of darkness in midsummer is out of the question. The Stonehenge Julia set, for example, was first reported on 7 July, 1996. It measured 900 by 500 feet, with 151 circles.
If it is necessary to conclude that some intelligence other than human was responsible for these amazing artistic designs, then we have to ask ourselves who could have been responsible. Furthermore, it is not good enough to shrug one’s shoulders and just dismiss the matter as of little or no concern to the human race. Just because radio and television give hardly any coverage to the phenomenon doesn’t mean that it is of no relevance to life, or no serious threat to global security. Something has started to invade our world since about 1980, and each year it is growing numerically, internationally, and in complexity. Reports arrive from almost anywhere in the world that during the summer months when crops are growing, patterns suddenly appear in fields. An answer has to be found.
I pointed out in Part 3 of this series the intense rage that is developing towards those who hold to Creation these days. The result of this is to flatten all thought of Intelligent Design in the world and universe. We are not supposed to believe in a Creator any more, neither are we to look for supernatural origins for life mysteries. The spin off from this mental pressure is causing people to approach problems such as Crop Circles in a direction that only allows of three possibilities, (a) a human origin, (b) some influence such as wind or other atmospheric phenomenon, and (c) an invasion by extraterrestrials, who have (like ourselves) evolved and are now trying to make contact with us pictorially. If (a) is now being discarded due to the impossibility of human beings creating such magnificent designs in such a brief period of time, and (b) is no longer credible due to the “intelligence” witnessed in the designs, then we are faced with (c). By examining some of the web sites on this subject there is a considerable, and growing body of opinion that we are indeed being contacted by extraterrestrials. This creates excitement in some, and dismay in others.
But we, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, are of necessity required to approach this subject from a spiritualangle. Regardless of current opinion, and the derision cast upon anything spiritual or supernatural, Christians must of necessity examine Crop Circles from a spiritual point of view. And yes, we also dismiss the human element as being totally incapable of managing such amazing feats. Likewise we look upon atmospheric phenomena as an impossibility. But we also have to dismiss the thought of extraterrestrials contacting our planet, simply because they don’t exist! Regardless of all the books and films that create an interest in extraterrestrial life forms, those who maintain a solid belief in Biblical revelation must reject all such as fiction and nothing more. But the Bible does give us a sufficient warranty for assuming an invasion, not of extraterrestrials, but of those from a higher dimensional level, simply because it has happened once before, when some of the angels transgressed God’s command and forsook their higher dimensional level to live on the earth, cohabit with human women, and generate a race of giants. This happened in Noah’s day, created untold violence, and led to the judgment of the Flood.
Didn’t our Lord predict that in the days immediately preceding His return, there would be conditions similar to those in Noah’s day? He mentioned conditions such as eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Elsewhere, when likening it to the days of Sodom, He also mentioned such ordinary activities as buying and selling. All these everyday happenings were to emphasise the lack of watchfulness, the lack of belief in revealed truth, and the mockery of those who dismiss everything spiritual and supernatural. Certainly we understand why the Lord spoke in this way. But could it be that He also had in mind other similarities between Noah’s day and our own? Suppose Satan has been initiating another invasion by fallen angels? How would it appear? It doesn’t have to be exactly the same as in Noah’s day, but it would be for the purpose of destroying the earth, and turning people away from revealed truth. In Part 4 I gave testimony to the fact that UFO sightings are just such an injection from the higher spiritual world. I believe Crop Circles are yet another manifestation of interference from the fallen angelic world.
Some may say that the designs are so beautiful, so intriguing, that surely they must be from the Lord, rather than from a fallen source. But if this is so, then all the designs must comply with essentially good material. If that is so, then why do we find the Yin Yang pattern amongst them, for example? This is connected with Eastern Religion, where Good and Evil are considered as everlasting inter-reacting principles of life, where neither ever gains ascendancy over the other. Such teaching is a violent contradiction of Bible truth, that God is good, and Evil will ultimately have to be destroyed.
Furthermore, I believe that the Apostle Paul spoke of these days when he said that the Man of Lawlessness would initiate a season in which we would observe “Signs and lying wonders.” (2 Thess.2:9) Crop Circles are certainly “signs”, and many people have batted their wits against them to find out what form of intelligence is being imparted to earth. And Crop Circles are certainly “wonders”, especially in more recent years, when the patterns have become so beautifully crafted. But Paul said that these wonders do not present truth but a lie. The Greek reads “Signs and wonders of a lie.” The enraged evolutionists are forcing people in the direction of this lie, in making them believe that we are being hoodwinked by hoaxers, or being visited by extraterrestrials, anything to deflect us from the truth that we are being attacked in a very subtle way by powers of darkness.
Paul said that these signs would be to drive people to destruction “because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.” This is where we must conclude this article, because if I have removed the lie, the mystery, of the Crop Circles, then we are driven to the necessity of making known what Satan is doing, in order to help people know the truth about Jesus, about His death and resurrection, and about His expected return. Why not use Satan’s own devices to turn people to the truth? Convince them that Crop Circles are indeed “Intelligent Design,” but show them that the Intelligence is warped, twisted, and calculated to prevent people from being saved. That should add a new dimension to preaching the Gospel these days, and I recommend it to my readers as a healthy way of overcoming the Devil’s latest ploy. Please let me know what you think of this solution to a very perplexing phenomenon.
