68 lines
3.3 KiB
Plaintext
68 lines
3.3 KiB
Plaintext
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MINISTER SAYS SIX SOLDIERS ARRESTED IN FLA. MAY BELIEVE IN UFOS, ANTI-CHRIST
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PENSACOLA, FL (JULY 20) UPI - Six soldiers who some say came to Florida to
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destroy the anti-Christ may believe that a human can be impregnated by UFO
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"demons" and give birth to the evil one, a minister said Friday.
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Barry Downing, author of "The Bible and Flying Saucers," said there is a belief
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in some evangelical literature that UFOs are demons and that a rash of
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sightings will usher in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
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The Pensacola area, which has had some 200 UFO sightings since 1987, is so
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well-known that a private group that investigates UFO sightings chose the area
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for a symposium earlier this month.
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"Fundamentalists would say that if UFOs are active and demonic, then the
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ultimate demonic force may be roaming around Pensacola," said Downing, a
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clergyman from Endwell, N.Y., who spoke at the symposium. He said one author
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refers to the demons as "ultraterrestrials."
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A day after the symposium ended, six soldiers - five men and one woman -
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arrived, said the police chief of Gulf Breeze, a suburb where the majority of
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the purported sightings have taken place.
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The six, all AWOL from their military intelligence unit in West Germany, were
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arrested Friday and Saturday and sent to Fort Benning, Ga., for questioning.
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They have been charged with desertion. The Army said indications are they were
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not involved in espionage.
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What brought them to Pensacola has been the key question. They were staying at
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the home of a woman one of the soldiers had met while attending cryptology
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school at the Navy's Corry Station in Pensacola. A television station
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identified her as a psychic.
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The Stars and Stripes newspaper reported the soldiers came to destroy the
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anti-Christ, a Biblical figure that will supposedly lead the world into seven
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years of turbulence before the coming of Christ.
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They left behind burned books and records and gave away possessions. There were
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doodled references to the "End of the World." The Army at first called it a
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cult but now says no such organization appears to exist. The Army said it is
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probably a "clique" involving the six.
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Downing, who studies the impact of UFOs on religiion, said one theory about
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UFOs holds that they are demonic, here to torment mankind before the coming of
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a savior.
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Downing said UFO researchers without a religious bent have long held that UFOs
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are kidnapping and impregnating humans. He said that for those with a Christian
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fundamentalist belief, extraterrestrials impregnating humans "is a good way to
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get the anti-Christ here."
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"I think this is a serious dimension to the whole UFO phenomenon," said
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Downing, who himself believes that UFOs are angelic, and claims they have done
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more good then harm.
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Ted Peters, author of "UFOs - God's Chariots?," said the idea that UFOs are
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demons arose in the 1970s among some fundamentalists. It holds that the devil
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wants people to believe in evolution by creating UFOs.
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"It's in the literature. It's a general theme but I don't know of a cult or
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sect that would have that as a major tenet," said Peters, who teaches Christian
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theology at the graduate theological union at Pacific Lutheran Theological
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Seminary in Berkeley, Calif.
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aches Christian
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theology at the |