Alien Spaceman Jesus-Part 2 of 3By Alvin Miller
CHAPTER THREE
THE MEDIA MESSIAH: LOOKING FOR JESUS ON TV
Let me start with a lengthy list:
PURPLE RAIN COLORED RAIN GREEN RAIN FAIRY RAIN INVISIBLE RAIN BLOWING THE WIND REAPING THE WHIRLWIND IDIOT WIND WEATHER WAR REICHIAN ORGONE RADAR LOVE WEIRD RADIO BIG BROADCAST PLANET WAVES THE CALL BLOWING THE HORN SOUNDING THE TRUMPET MIND WAR FAIRY GOLD FAIRY BLIGHT FAIRY BASEBALL WALLS CRUMBLING DOWN BALLOON GOES UP THE LONG GOODBYE THE BIG SHOOTOUT THE LAST ROUNDUP DROPPING THE VIALS THE POWER AND THE GLORY FIRE AND BRIMSTONE THE FLOOD TWINKLING OF AN EYE THE RAPTURE THE SECRET RAPTURE DROPPING THE BIG ONE THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL THE MACHINE STOPS THE FINAL SOLUTION THE ELEPHANT BURIAL GROUNDS THE BIG SLEEP
I’ll ask some questions about this list to clarify it. At first sight, looking over this by no means exhaustive list, it appears we need to get out our umbrellas (or perhaps a degree in meteorology). The first question to ask is: How many of these phrases have you ever come across before? Try to think where, if anywhere, any of these phrases can be found. After thinking it over, you might decide that some show up in literature, some may be from the Bible, but many of them come from the media.
The next question about the list would be: by grouping all these phrases together as I did, did I thus intend to imply that each phrase is identical or synonymous with each other phrase in the list? No, they are interchangeable in only a few cases, but they are interrelated. What then do the phrases have in common? My answer is that all bear a direct relationship to a single phrase:
MASS PSYCHOSIS
This particular phrase, Mass Psychosis, you are probably less likely to have come across.
Now I’m sure if one had the opportunity to interview rock star Prince and ask him what he meant by Purple Rain that he would not immediately reply, “a codeword for mass psychosis.” Similarly, Bob Dylan wouldn’t be inclined to say, “When I sang about Idiot Wind, I meant mass psychosis.” I would instead expect convoluted explanations involving literary metaphors, etc., if I received any reply at all.
Incidentally, I mentioned Prince deliberately since there was controversy about his ‘explicit ’ lyrics when his songs came out. I note that his critics had nothing at all to say about the other dimension of his songs I am pointing to here - Judgment Day by 1999, etc., of which more later.
Here I want to stop discussion of the list and return at the end of this chapter with more comments. Let me briefly return to the general topic of the media. By media I mean all the conduits by which paid entertainment reaches us - film, radio, television, etc. Because television has such a voracious appetite, I will be using the term media and TV more or less interchangeably. Think of how TV, in order to fill each and every hour, gobbles up the output of the other media, from films to stage plays to even rock music in the form of music videos. Some of us are logging in nearly a third of our lives glued to out sets these days. As a baby boomer, I teethed on TV and took its pervasive influence for granted. But, after decades of exposure we have now had, I feel it is time we should begin a serious examination of the media. Its influence is probably considerably greater than literary sources today.
Already by the sixties we had the McLuhanesque dictum that the medium is the message. This idea is that the content is not particularly important, but rather the existence and ubiquitousness of the medium itself is the most significant fact.
Let me look at media criticism in terms of increasing level of profundity. At the lowest, most abysmal level, the media are seen as providing harmless entertainment. But the billions of dollars we dump into the media demonstrate that much more is going on. Slightly better is the extreme right wing evangelical view that TV and films are the devil’s picture book and rock music is the devil’s music. This approach has the virtue of being factually correct, but has fallen on increasingly hard times as all but the diehards have capitulated and joined in the media cacophony themselves. Massive blocks of radio broadcast time and entire cable networks are devoted to selling Jesus sandwiched in between the ads for soap and used cars.
Slightly more discriminating is the idea that TV is a boob tube and rock music is subversive trash, and exposure to one or both may permanently warp your brain. Is the ultimate objective to produce a race of mindless, godless, zombie giants (the return of the “men of renown” of Genesis as described by Brown in CLOSING TIME)?
What indeed keeps us mesmerized by the flickering images hour after hour? Why are so many of us couch potatoes - practically frozen into stone statues? What are we really watching? The answer from Norman O. Brown is that we are seeing the Oedipal Primal Scene reenacted night after night in endless repetition with slight variations. You object, “I beg your pardon. I watched a game show followed by a situation comedy last night.” What we are really doing here is paying performers to put on the only show we want to see.
Finally, at the highest level of criticism, we also simultaneously get the final verdict on the media. We are watching Jesus get crucified night after night in excruciating detail, although we may not be consciously aware of it. After decades of this, I think it is likely to catch up with us some day. In other words, the lurid violence and evil we see depicted in the media may eventually come to us in real life.
In spite of the blanket condemnation of the last paragraph, I’m going to turn around and list some movies. Ideally you should stay away. But the payoff is going to come to us all, whether or not we individually may or may not have watched. In the meantime, perhaps we can use the opportunity to study both the overt and the subtle techniques being employed.
The primary genre to keep an eye on is science fiction. As Susan Sontag said in the sixties, this is the genre of apocalypse and mass destruction. Typically, as in the prototype FRANKENSTEIN (1932), a man attempts to appropriate the prerogatives of God (technically blasphemy) and reaps madness and disaster. These are rigidly moral parables where retribution is swift and sure.
Look, for example, at Rene Clair’s THE CRAZY RAY (1923) from the infancy of the industry. The elements that were to become cliches with decades of continuous repetition were already present. A mad scientist invents a ray machine that turns the inhabitants of Paris to stone. An aircraft initially out of range of the ray lands, and the passengers are astonished when they disembark. One worthwhile principle of criticism is to pay particular attention to the message of film titles. In this example, the title might bring to mind such questions as: “did the title mean the inventor was crazy? Or did the ray have crazy effects? Or did the ray drive people crazy, implying that to turn people to stone is to drive them mad?”
A quite similar theme is presented in THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960) and its sequel THE CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED (1964) (what questions do these titles bring to mind?). This time a mysterious influence seals off an entire village, the perpetrators in this case being invading aliens. Here, as in THE CRAZY RAY, a geographic area is temporarily circumscribed. The females are impregnated by the aliens and subsequently bear children with glowing eyes and mysterious powers. This aspect of the film echoes the tale in the Book of Enoch of the fallen angels who descended to earth to teach forbidden arts and to mate with the women.
Let me quickly note a few relevant characteristics of paranoid schizophrenia as described by, for example, Norman O. Brown, Geza Roheim or Victor Tausk. The patient believes evil entities such as aliens from another world are secretly conspiring to do him harm. The patient may believe his enemies are employing physical equipment such as beam projectors against him. He is subject to seeing hallucinations or hearing voices attempting to guide his actions against his will. In THE NEXT VOICE YOU HEAR (1950) normal radio broadcasts are interrupted for short periods each night, and the cast seems to hear a message. This message seems to be more or less the Sermon on the Mount. Was this the voice of God? If not, what was it?
Another frequent theme in science fiction is the nomination of candidate (false) messiahs. I say false, since we are merely watching actors playing a fictional role. A real life prototype of these characters if found would not automatically thereby be a messiah. An example is THE MAN FROM PLANET X (1951), which has an alien who is trapped and needs earthly assistance.
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) (note the title) offers another false messiah. An alien descends in a saucer, takes on the interesting name of Mr. Carpenter, is killed and resurrected three days later, etc. In the case of this film, the extensive analogies were conscious on the part of some of the production people and were taken from the novel on which the film is based.
In the BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS (1958) an alien possesses a scientist, who then embarks on a mad quest to rule the world. Ingmar Bergman’s THE MAGICIAN (1958) presents a rather dyspeptic false messiah from a traveling carnival show. The messiah of WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (1962) is a fugitive mistaken for Jesus when discovered in their barn. When apprehended and frisked, he stretches his arms to form a cross. THE FLIM FLAM MAN (1967) is a petty con artist living by his wits. CHARLY (1968) is mentally retarded until chemically transformed into a supermind. In THE RULING CLASS (1971), the candidate is an apparent psychopath. THE OMEGA MAN (1971), a remake of THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964), (note the titles) offers another ersatz messiah. In ZARDOZ (1973), the messiah figure is a barbarian.
HOLOCAUST 2000 (1978) (note the prediction in the title) presents the spectacle of Kirk Douglas wildly running up and down the Middle Eastern oilfields proclaiming the Ten Horns, etc. from the Book of Revelation. The messiah of THE LAST WAVE (1979) is an aboriginal witch doctor. In BEING THERE (1979), a simple-minded gardener who can barely tie his bootlaces and who happens not too surprisingly to be named Mr. Gardiner impresses the President as a sage. At the end of the film he walks on water since no one has told him this is impossible. A not very bright academic in SIMON (1979) is prevailed upon to impersonate a spaceman. After a period of rigorous mental brainwashing and physical conditioning, Simon comes to believe that he actually is an alien. He uses equipment that interrupts regular television broadcasts when he periodically wants to deliver messages.
Woody Allen’s ZELIG (1984) features a schizophrenic chameleon who supposedly hobnobbed with the leading political figures of the thirties. In the PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985), also by Woody Allen, a larger than life hero steps out of the screen and into the squalid life of a New Jersey housewife. CREATOR (1985) has a loony college professor who is attempting to resurrect his dead wife. The students he recruits for the project are lectured on the Big Picture.
Numerous other films with similar themes are listed in the bibliography, but, due to space limitations, I won’t give further examples here. Men play god in the movies, but do they in real life? I point to such research as genetic engineering, or the ‘star wars’ project (laser weapons, beam projectors, etc.) These devices were first predicted in science fiction, but always accompanied by warnings we conveniently ignored that to develop them would be to court disaster. Further, I will shortly point out that while these films depict physical devices, such actual equipment is unnecessary to produce the effects depicted.
As for the entertainment industry, we pour multiple billions into it year in and year out. For what we pay we get back entertainment, but additionally, we also get back social engineering that we didn’t necessarily ask for. I am by no means suggesting a conscious conspiracy or deliberate plot by Hollywood. The fundamental problem is again expressed by McLuhan - the medium is the message. In other words, inherent in the nature of the images produced by the media is a latent potential for subversion and ultimately destruction.
From this point to the end of the chapter, I will again take up the list with which I began this chapter. Upon completing the listing, I said each term was related to the term Mass Psychosis. I now claim we have already had several actual episodes. The first, in late August 1973, lasted nearly two weeks. It occurred during the Watergate period and was done primarily by the ‘hippies’. The April 1983 event occurred during the time of the American embassy bombing in Lebanon. The October 1983 event occurred during the time of the Marine barracks bombing in Lebanon. The most recent event was the broadcast made while the Tower of Babel 9-11 attack (World Trade Center) was simultaneously taking place. These broadcasts lasted only a day or so each and were done by a remnant handful of people.
What is the Invisible Rain like when it is falling? A person walking down the street may stop for a second, look around quizzically, perhaps sniff the air, and then continue on. You’ve lived through it - you tell me what it’s like.
A few comments to wrap up the chapter. These events should not be referred to as a Flood, because of God’s promise in Genesis that there would be no more Flood. The New Testament imagery is always fire. I hold Margaret MacDonald’s Secret Rapture innovation of the nineteenth century correct, since we now have hindsight on these (multiple) events. There may or may not be more before the Messiah returns. After all, no one can predict the weather.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE MESSIAH RETURNS
I’ll begin with another list:
THE SPACE COWBOY THE SKY MARSHAL OF THE UNIVERSE SKY KING KING OF THE ROCKET MEN STARMAN THE LOST PLANET AIRMAN THE MAN FROM INNER SPACE THE MORON FROM OUTER SPACE THE DIVINE IDIOT THE MAN WITH A THOUSAND FACES THE MIRROR MAN THE INVISIBLE MAN THE THIN MAN THE OMEGA MAN THE MYSTERY MAN THE MAN WITH THE POWER THE MEDICINE MAN THE RAINMAKER THE FERTILITY KING WILD-EYED CHAMELEON THE JOKER THE DEMOLITION MAN BIG BROTHER
Let me ask a few rhetorical questions. Are we perhaps involved in a real life version of the children’s game King of the Mountain in order to pick out the Messiah? Consider the paranoid schizophrenic with delusions of grandeur or possibly what is diagnosed as a messianic complex. What has this to do with the Messiah? Am I suggesting the Messiah will be merely a madman? Let me define a fairy or Peter Pan. A fairy is chronologically and physiologically an adult but has refused to assume an adult identity (ego) and has refused to take on adult responsibility. A fairy more or less never outgrows the omniscience, omnipotence and sense of wonder possessed by the infant, and inhabits fantasy mental worlds in preference to the real world. Again, I ask, what has this to do with the Messiah?
I took a brief look in the preceding chapter at some I felt were candidate messiahs being put forward by the movie industry. I wonder if we might be getting practice for recognizing the actual Messiah when He returns. I feel such practice may well be a good idea, since; for one thing, the Messiah won’t be riding the White Horse this time (that was done in A.D. 70). Neither do I expect to see a flying saucer descending from the skies to a world capital.
I suspect it will be an Incarnation in the manner that occurred at Bethlehem. At that time, only the Wise Men and a handful of others could discern the Messiah. One dictionary definition of blasphemy is for a mortal to name himself a god. I feel there could well be an early period when the Chosen One is accused as a blasphemer or the Antichrist. A considerable period of time may elapse before He is acclaimed Lord of lords and King of kings.
At any rate, once the Messiah is actually recognized, it will then become a situation of “when the saints go marching in.” In whichever country He first appears, the Messiah and a motley crew of followers will walk into the capital city and take power. You say you want to be in that number? I suggest you think carefully about it. To the secular eye this will be a Fool’s Parade of a Goon Squad made up of Snake People - the actual ‘meek’ who will then inherit the earth. I repeat - do you want to be in that number?
How, you may object, will a mere handful of such people be able to take over a major capital city? The context is important here. We are dealing at this point in time with a nation under siege internally and externally, soon to fall. Numerous other portentous dire events will be occurring simultaneously that will dilute the significance of the central event. The World Trade Center attack, 9-11, was just the inaugural event of a coming series of catastrophes. We are on an accelerating descending slope. God is against us now for our Godless Wicked ways. This will be confirmed by the disasters coming ahead predicted here.
Initially the Messiah will assume actual secular political power in order to obtain the objective of reinstating theocracy - an archaic form of government long abandoned and forgotten by Western nations. Looking again with secular eyes, whether considered from the political left or from the political right, the government will be a de facto fascist government - no matter what label is ostensibly applied to it. To provide an example of the type of events that will be taking place, if, and I cannot overemphasize the hypothetical, if this occurs in Washington, DC, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights will be abolished and both Houses of Congress dissolved. I find this idea unpalatable, and I feel none of the sources I have mentioned would find this palatable, nor would you. I do not believe these events will occur in the actual Jerusalem, but, as I have indicated, one of the major Western capitals, which will then become a platform for world domination.
W. Reich in the forties prior to even the advent of national TV took a look at popular culture in THE MURDER OF CHRIST. He was acutely aware of the possibility of fascism, having had direct experience with the mass movements of the twentieth century of both the left and the right. What would be his verdict now, some sixty years later? Many science fiction films have dramatized a fascist takeover. Are they a prototype for future real events?
The evolutionary stages the government will undergo can be expressed in the Marxist schemata. The first phase corresponds to the dictatorship of the proletariat (rule by the meek). Then begins the transition period to the withering of the state and the classless society or New Jerusalem. Theologians have previously published outlines of the analogies between Marxist mythology and Christian eschatology. And the return of the Messiah will actually fulfill Marx’s predictions, as well as those of John of Patmos simultaneously. During the transition period, it will be a matter of being forced to do without various items we now take for granted. The entire entertainment industry will be dispensed with - television broadcasts, movies, rock music, etc. Much of the high technology of the West will be abandoned. We will cease constructing aircraft, rockets and probably even automobiles (do only angels have wings?) This will be accomplished with only a minimum of objection because the Messiah will rule with a Rod of Iron as the Book of Revelation predicts. He will be a combination Joe Stalin, Jim Jones, Adolph Hitler and Ayatollah Khomeni rolled into one. Amos in the Old Testament correctly foresaw the gnashing of teeth and tribulation that would come with the Day of the Lord.
Is Western Civilization about to officially end? Are we and our descendants to become almost exclusively concerned with merely staying alive? Don’t go outside to watch the skies for the Advent. Merely stay tuned to your TV set and start paying more attention. Have I seen one to many science fiction movies? Or is the show you never expected to see about to begin?
APPENDIX
Brief excerpts from Margaret MacDonald’s 1830 Secret Rapture prophecy:
It was first the awful state of the land that was pressed upon me. I saw the blindness and infatuation of the people to be very great. I felt the cry of Liberty to be just the hiss of the serpent to drown them in perdition. It was just ‘no God’, ----
I saw the people of God in an awfully dangerous situation, surrounded by nets and entanglements, about to be tried, and many about to be deceived and fall. Now will THE WICKED be revealed, with all power and signs and lying wonders, so that if it were possible the very elect will be deceived.
© Alvin Miller |