A Celestial Ambassador Inner Circle (Part I)

Dear Inner Circle Members,

Here is a very special teacher for me who has now become an Ascended Master according to Lady Orda the Queen of Venus. As the Venusian “Historian” Raymond Keller has given me permission to share with my Inner Circle over 80 pages of this yet unpublished book. Dr Keller as of the date of this post has finished 8 books chronicling the Venusian presence on earth. 7 are published and this will be number 9 because #8 is at the printers.

Dr Frank took time to teach me personally in the last few year of his ministry. He was very biblically oriented and now that I have written the introduction The Gospel of Thomas I understand his worship of Christ much better. Dr Keller has provided me with these some odd pages of this 9^th book.

There are many images throughout this book but due to time consideration in posting you will only see the top image. You will be able to see the rest of the Biographical account of Dr Stranges Life when it is finally published in due time. You certainly buy this book on my site as well when it is published. Enjoy this trip back into the early days of the Flying Saucer movement as we learn about one if the most powerful representatives of the Venus on earth Dr Frank Stranges.

Rob

 Raymond Keller to

God’s Celestial Ambassador: 

The Life and Times of Dr. Frank E. Stranges (Part I)

By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising book series, available on amazon.com, while supplies last

From Keller Venus Files:  In his father’s footsteps, Dr. Frank E. Stranges (1927-2008) in the mission field at Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1950. 

Introduction

Dr. Frank Ernest Stranges was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 6 October 1927, the son of Reverend Natale Anthony Stranges and Mrs. Catherine (nee Filardo) Stranges.  His father Natale was born in the mountainside village of Nicastro in the Catanzaro Province of Italy on 1 February 1895; and in 1912 his father, and Dr. Stranges’ paternal grandfather, Anthony Stranges, brought his immediate family to the shores of America.  The Stranges family ultimately settled in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City.  Dr. Frank Stranges’ path in life led him to become the director of the International Evangelism Crusades, headquartered in Van Nuys, California.  In this career dedicated to service to the Lord Jesus Christ, Dr. Frank E. Stranges was following in the footsteps of his father Natale, who was also an ordained Pentecostal minister of the gospel in the Independent Assemblies of God.

Tribulations Befall Natale A. Stranges

Natale returned to Europe during the course of America’s participation there in freeing that continent from German conquest in World War I, being drafted into the United States Army.  Following the war, he received an honorable discharge and returned home to Brooklyn in 1919.  One year later, he started suffering from severe backaches that persisted for a period of ten years.

In 1929, the pain was enhanced when he fell down in the nursery of their home after lifting up his then two-year old son Frankie from his crib.  Years later, in explaining this incident to his son Frank, Rev. Natale said that, “I was in such pain and agony that all I could was just lie there on the floor.  After a long while, I managed to crawl to the door of my store.  A friend of the family happened to be passing by; and when she saw the condition I was in, she called my father-in-law and he immediately called the nearest doctor.  When the doctor came in, he gave me a shot of morphine to deaden the pain.

“After a few days, I went with my wife in a taxi to the Brooklyn Hospital.  I was kept under observation for a few days.  The hospital authorities then asked for mine and my wife’s consent to operate on my right leg, as this is where the pain mostly was.  By this time, my right leg was growing shorter than my left one.  We did not consent to the operation, so they put me in a plaster cast from my waist down.  I was in this position for three weeks.”

Jesus Opened a Door

          While Natale was in the hospital, Jesus was working behind the scenes, opening a new door for the Italian immigrant to the United States to walk right on through to a wonderful future in the work of the ministry.  A group of Pentecostals opened up a mission next door to Natale’s Brooklyn home.  “Soon after,” Natale continued, “I had to leave the hospital for lack of funds.  I went out, cast and all.  The doctors also said that my being in the hospital was to no avail.  I might just as well stay in my own bed at home, for all the good they were doing.

“The very same day I came home, the Pentecostal minister, who was a painter by trade, started to paint my kitchen.  As he looked at me, he said, ‘Young man, what is the trouble with you?’

“I, being so depressed and discouraged, poured out my heart to him.  I told him of all the doctors and specialists and hospitals I had been to, all for nothing; and I said that I wished I were dead.”

But the minister answered Natale with sound advice: “You have not tried the best specialist of all!”

Natale could not quite figure out this man, not thinking him to be pragmatic.  However, he liked his optimism.   In the previous months, he had been seen by every medical authority in New York City, and every one of them agreed that treating him would be a waste of Natale’s money and their time.  “OK, then,” inquired Natale, “humor me and tell me who this specialist is that is going to help me.”

“His name,” replied the minister, “is Jesus.  Hallelujah to His name!”

Natale then thanked the evangelist for at least trying to cheer him up, but informed him that he was a good Roman Catholic and would rather put his trust in St. Anthony, the patron saint of his village back in Italy.  “When I was well, I sent money regularly over to Italy for St. Anthony,” the proud Italian-American declared.

Natale Finds Jesus Christ

          Now Natale’s wife Catherine would sprinkle his body with holy water every day, praying for a miracle from St. Anthony for her ailing husband, but to no avail.  But one night while she came down from their second-floor residence and was sitting in front of the family store, the minister’s wife was singing a solo hymn in the mission next door and she heard her pleasing voice.  After the church service, the missionary wife came out of the mission hall and asked Catherine and Natale if they would go to their church the following Thursday night, insofar as they were going to have a Divine Healing service.

From Keller Venus Files:  The Stranges Family of Brooklyn, New York

“Although my mother-in-law warned us not to go to that church because it was against our religion,” explained Natale, “yet there was something which constrained us to go.  Therefore, we decided to go, knowing we couldn’t be anymore miserable than we were already.  We didn’t understand at all what Divine Healing meant; but we decided to go.  We went into the church and at the close of the sermon entitled ‘Darkness to Light,’ an invitation was given for the sick to come forward.  It was difficult for me to kneel because of the cast which was on my leg; but once I reached the altar I fell down and cried out, ‘LORD, have mercy upon my soul!  Save me from all sin!  Then, if it is in your mercy to do so, please heal my sick body.’

“This brief prayer was uttered from the very depths of my soul, remembering that all the prayers that I had ever prayed before this time were prayers written by one who is long dead…. Prayers written in some prayer book.  But this one prayer caused me to realize that written prayers do not count for much in the sight of God.”

It was then that the miracle began to take place.  Natale could noticeably feel that a change was taking place both in his body physically and in his soul spiritually.  Natale immediately began to praise God and rejoicing as never before.  “It seemed as though I was now walking in a light, a light which I never saw before.  Yes, dear friend, this was the Light that I never saw before; this was the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Natale was completely healed by the power of God and from that day forward, he made up his mind to be a living witness to the healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ, as manifested by the Holy Ghost.  “Remembering that these were the days of the Great Depression, things were not easy for anyone.  But it seemed as though with the Lord Jesus as my companion, everything was made easier,” remarked Natale Anthony Stranges, the evangelist who inspired his son Frank to follow in his footsteps.

From Keller Venus Files:  Rev. Natale A. Stranges, considered to be a “living testimony for God,” outside his home in Brooklyn, New York. 

God’s Celestial Ambassador: 

The Life and Times of Dr. Frank E. Stranges (Part II)

By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising book series, available on amazon.com, while supplies last

From Keller Venus Files:  Dr. Frank E. Stranges took up the fight for UFO disclosure as early as 1958, following his move to Southern California.

Ministerial Work

          Dr. Frank E. Stranges’ years of service to the Lord Jesus Christ began at the age of 13 when he and his father Natale were called upon to preach in a number of Spanish churches in Brooklyn.  Young Frank continued to work in missionary endeavors with his father up to his graduation from Bushwick High School, at which time he enrolled in the Eastern Bible Institute in Irvington, New Jersey.  There he met Bernice C. Raab and they were married at the Pentecostal Church in Newark, New Jersey, in May of 1948.  In 1949, Frank E. Stranges graduated from the Eastern Bible Institute with a Bachelor of Theology degree and a license to serve as a minister of the gospel.  And following his graduation, Frank and Bernice embarked upon Christian pioneering work and helped to establish the Spring Lake Assembly of God Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Initially, church services were held in members’ homes, then in a high school gym, and finally in a tent erected on a vacant lot.

From Keller Venus Files:  Bernice C. Raab, also a student at the Eastern Bible Institute of Irvington, New Jersey, married Dr. Frank Sranges in May 1948 at the Pentecostal Church in Newark, New Jersey, and from there helped him establish his ministerial career.

All the while preaching in Minnesota, Frank enrolled in night classes at North Central Bible College, for the purpose of continuing his theological studies.  The college is now known as North Central University, a private Christian institution in Minneapolis, Minnesota, associated with the Assemblies of God.  It is owned and operated by eleven Assemblies of God districts in the upper Midwest.  It was founded in 1930 and is fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.  Frank E. Stranges graduated from North Central Bible College in 1951 with a Master’s degree in Theology.

Having received the Master’s degree, he resigned his pastorship in the Spring Lake Church and affiliated himself with the Independent Assemblies of God, laboring for the next two years at the recently constructed Revival Center in Boston, Massachusetts.  He also enrolled in his denomination’s School of Theology in Merrimack, New Hampshire, where he received his Doctor of Divinity degree in 1956.  Of course, working for a church organization is not always the most lucrative occupation, so Dr. Frank Stranges had to supplement his income with employment as a special agent for a number of detective agencies.  The knowledge he gained and proficiency he developed as an investigator, would later help Dr. Stranges substantially as went on to become one of the world’s preeminent researchers of UFO phenomena.

By 1956, Dr. Stranges had moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he served as the first editor of the Independent Assemblies of God Church’s monthly periodical, Vision Magazine, as well as vice-president and professor at the Baltimore Bible College.  He served in these positions for the next two years, before moving with Bernice to Los Angeles, California, where he established and became president of the International Evangelism Crusades and a minister of the New Age Cathedral in Los Angeles.  He also became a well-known voice on the radio with his Sunday morning Truth on the March broadcasts aired on numerous stations throughout California and the surrounding states.

Newspaper cartoon from the early 1950s mocks the official position of the United States Air Force that “Flying saucers don’t exist.”

Involvement in Ufology

          Towards the end of the decade of the 1950s, the reality of UFOs or “flying saucers,” as they were more popularly known back then, had been thoroughly questioned by the public at large, especially out in Southern California, which was recognized as the epicenter of the flying saucer phenomenon.  There was also a plentitude of Southern California residents actually claiming contact with the flying saucer occupants, usually out in some isolated desert location in Riverside County.

The all-important question concerning the origin of the mysterious flying saucers had been hurled at the government leaders in numerous countries around the free world; but no one in any position of authority was forthcoming with any satisfactory answers.  In the United States, it was the responsibility of the Air Force to investigate reports of flying saucers.  In 1953, the Air Force’s UFO investigative body, Project Blue Book, was established at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and headed up by Major Edward J. Ruppelt.

Following the appearance of a fleet of flying saucers over the Washington, D.C., national airport in the summer of 1952, Ruppelt opined that the Air Force had “fouled up in not fully investigating the sightings.”  Of course, in December of 1953, the Central Intelligence Agency-commissioned special panel headed up by Howard P. Robertson, that had been looking into this matter of UFOs for the past year, and was known as the Robertson Panel, recommended that, “A public education campaign should be undertaken in order to reduce public interest in the subject, thereby minimizing the risk of swamping air defense systems with reports at critical times, and that civilian UFO groups should be closely monitored.”  Sadly, the more objective Ruppelt did not last the year, and was replaced as the Blue Book director in favor of the more compliant Captain Charles Hardin, whose philosophy from the very beginning of his tenure was that, “Anyone who is even interested in UFOs is crazy.”

Of course, this kind of subterfuge on the part of the Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency was unsatisfactory to Dr. Frank E. Stranges, the Assemblies of God minister who always demanded to know the truth with regard to any matter, not just UFOs.  Dr. Stranges wasn’t alone in his outrage against the Air Force brass and Central Intelligence Agency operatives who were hiding the facts from the public about the appearance of flying saucers in our skies and the occasional reports about the landing of these objects and the disembarkation of their occupants who were communicating with persons from all walks of life throughout the world.  Private airlines were investigating UFO reports in addition to several newly organized civilian flying saucer research groups and organizations.

Said Dr. Frank E. Stranges of those critical times, “But unbeknownst to many, the church world is also asking questions that are, for the most part, being avoided by the ministry.  As President of the International Evangelism Crusades, my position has taken me across the United States several times fulfilling invitations from churches of various denominations.  We have also been busily engaged of late in UFO lecture work in theaters and auditoriums.  This has brought me to the attention of many religious-minded people.”

Dr. Stranges continued, “My files are full of letters from these people who have asked the question concerning UFOs and who have given the same answer throughout the United States.  Some ministers have even caused fear to take the place of common sense and truth.  People have also been threatened into forgetting all about the UFO subject, otherwise they would find themselves dabbling in mysteries that would result in the ‘loss of their soul.’  This, indeed, is typical of the narrowness and lack of insight of many members of the clergy.  Many church people today, in reality, are still walking in the shoes of fear and superstition.”

Clergy Criticized

The doctor of divinity noted that some of his fellow clergy members, in their own strange way, were contributing to the ignorance of many, with respect to the matters of the existence of the flying saucers and life beyond the Earth.  According to Dr. Stranges, “It would be of incalculable value if these men would permit themselves to be open for truth.  Jesus Christ himself stated, ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” 

God’s Celestial Ambassador: 

The Life and Times of Dr. Frank E. Stranges (Part III)

By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising book series, available on amazon.com, while supplies last

Dr. Stranges did not hesitate to talk about flying saucers from the pulpit, insofar as those in his congregation expressed a great deal of interest in the subject, especially with the phenomenon’s relationship with the scriptures.  In ufology circles in the late 1950s, he was one of the few ministers speaking out on this important matter in the emerging space age. 

In a sermon entitled, “A Man of the Cloth Looks at Flying Saucers,” Dr. Stranges stressed the importance of his subject matter as being a “phenomenon that could affect the human race.”  What follows is a transcript of Dr. Stranges’ initial sermon on flying saucers as it was given from his pulpit in the period of 1958-1969, and updated as necessary, while he continued to personally investigate UFO reports from various areas of the United States that he visited in the course of his ministerial work.  It has been edited by me and reconstructed in parts that have been lost, were unclear or grammatically incorrect.  I have also taken the liberty of adding footnotes where clarifications of the text may require it.  Nothing of the content or context has been altered.   In this manner, I have tried to accurately present Dr. Frank Stranges’ evolving opinions concerning the UFO presence on our planet. 

-Cosmic Ray

Typical flying saucer as frequently reported in the 1950s.  Illustration from Channel 9 Bay News, Spectrum Cable Television, Tampa Bay, Florida.

A Man of the Cloth Looks at Flying Saucers

By Dr. Frank E. Stranges

          “If the 21^st century is going to be the century of the Moon, the 22^nd is likely to be the century of the asteroids.”  -Dr. Isaac Asimov

UFO Phenomenon

          Heretofore, the subject of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) has been treated as ridiculous.  The United States Air Force maintains that they still have not one iota of tangible evidence that proves the existence of unidentified flying objects.  Yet, the records show otherwise.  The ramifications of the UFO mystery are varied and complex.  The far-reaching effects of this mystery certainly are a tremendous challenge to this and generations to come.  The United States government budget for the investigation of UFOs has far exceeded 200 million dollars.  To state that these things do not exist would indeed be a slap in the face to the masses of intelligent people who inhabit this planet and claim to have seen these objects, some of these even coming in contact with the flying saucer occupants.  Also, what could have Christ inferred when he said, “Other sheep I have that are not of this fold?”[1]

Local Stars in the Galaxy

Our Sun is a small star.  If we consider the twenty brightest stars in the sky, our Sun would be the least luminous.  The star which is nearest to the Sun is called Alpha Centauri.  It is a little more than four light years from the Sun and is about one-third brighter than the Sun.

            The next nearest star among the twenty brightest is Sirius, which is eight light years from the Sun and thirty times brighter.  Then we would have to go out into space eleven light years to find Procyon, which is about seven times brighter than the Sun.

Vega is 27 light years from the Sun and 63 times more luminous.  In order to take in all twenty of the brightest stars, we would have to go as far as 540 light years into space, where we would find Rigel, which is 21,000 times more luminous than the Sun.

These distances become somewhat fantastic when you consider that one light year is 5,800,000,000,000 miles.

Two of the twenty brightest stars have surfaces that are comparatively cool and so give off very little light.  The reason they are among the twenty brightest stars is their tremendous size.  Betelgeuse is larger than the orbit of the Earth.  It is 300 light years away.  When you consider that the nearest star is about 23 trillion miles away from the Earth, and the rest of the stars in our galaxy many times that, you begin to see how isolated is our solar system.

For any being on a planet near any star to find our Earth is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  In the universe, our Earth is a tiny speck.  When John the Revelator speaks of seeing a “new heaven and a new Earth,”[2] he must be talking about something much nearer than the nearest star.  Even in our solar system distances may become fantastic.

Dr. Frank E. Stranges was one of the first to note that reports of flying saucers multiplied substantially when the orbit of the planet Mars was in conjunction with the orbit of the Earth.  Artwork source:  British UFO Research Association (BUFORA).

Solar System

          If you were on one of the more distant planets, such as Uranus or Pluto, the Sun would appear as a very tiny star.  It would give little in the way of light or heat, yet that tiny star throws out such a tremendous magnetic field that it holds the planets captive and controls their movements.

Scientists are now making intensive investigations to determine, if they can, how this power can be used to counteract or reverse gravity, thereby making interstellar flight possible.  This investigation has been sparked by the thousands of persons who have filed reports of unidentified flying objects in the sky.

The planets nearest the Earth are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.[3]  Mercury is so close to the Sun that we can learn very little about it.  The same is true, to a lesser extent, of Venus.  Those two planets have orbits smaller than the Earth’s.  They travel between the Earth and the Sun.

We can see Venus when it rises a few minutes before the Sun or when it sets a few minutes after the Sun.  Therefore, even though it is a planet, sometimes it is seen as the “Morning Star” and sometimes the “Evening Star.”  It is about the same size as the Earth.  It travels around the Sun in 225 days.  Venus is the only celestial object mentioned in the Bible by name in connection with the new heavens and the new Earth: “And I will give him the Morning Star” (Revelation 2:28).[4]   This would suggest that something is going to happen on Venus in connection with the new heaven.[5] 

            Mars has an orbit larger than that of the Earth, so Mars is an easier planet to study.  Instead of looking toward the Sun when we look at Mars, we are looking away from the Sun.  The orbit of Mars is one and a half times larger than the orbit of the Earth.  When Mars and the Earth are on the same side of the Sun, then Mars is only half the distance to the Sun away from the Earth (about 45 million miles).

The orbits of the planets are not perfect circles, but are somewhat elongated, so there are times when Mars is even nearer the Earth.  When two heavenly bodies are in close proximity, they are said to be in “conjunction.”

Mars is about one half the size of the Earth.  It moves around the Sun in 687 days.  It is in conjunction with the Earth every 26 months.  At rare intervals, the conjunction comes at a time when the Earth is farthest away from the Sun and therefore nearest to Mars.

It is at these times that astronomers become very excited about the opportunities of studying the surface of Mars.  Telescopes have been improved; and the great new discoveries of the amplification of light will make it possible, eventually, to bring objects on the surface of Mars into a larger focus.  It will then be possible to determine whether life exists there.

The interest in Mars has been heightened by the appearance in the sky of flying objects unknown in this world.  These have come with greater frequency each time Mars approaches the Earth.

The discovery of a means to amplify light is probably the greatest invention of our day, if not all time.  Light may be amplified as much as 20,000 times.  Brilliant pictures can be made of objects that are in almost total darkness.

The efficiency of telescopes may be increased hundreds of times.  We will know with certainty what is going on in the heavens.  Whenever the possibility of life on other planets is discussed, the principal factor has always been the matter of atmosphere, whether or not there is air in sufficient quantities to support life.

The Earthlike conditions do not exist on Venus or Mars; and therefore, it has been supposed that life could not exist on those bodies.  But, as we shall see, such conditions are not necessary for life.  They only raise the possibility that a different kind of life exists.

            At an extension course in astronomy held by the University of Minnesota at Duluth, the instructor was once discussing the theory that flying saucers are coming from some planet farther away than Mars.

In some amazement, Rev. A. E. Bloomfield, a local minister and editor of the Prophet Ensign magazine, asked, “But the astronomer believes in flying saucers?!”

“Oh, yes!” she declared.  “My only question is where they are coming from.”

Rev. Bloomfield then said, “You mean that flying saucers actually exist and are coming from outer space?”

She answered: “I think that they are too perfect to be coming some place as near as Mars.  If they had been coming from Mars, they would have gotten here before they had been brought to their present state of perfection.”

One of the strongest pieces of evidence in favor of the reality of flying saucers is the attempt by the government to keep information from the public.  There is a stiff penalty for any member of the armed forces who reveals a saucer report without authority.  Fortunately, this does not apply to civilians.

United States Armed Forces and Flying Saucers

There is every evidence that the armed forces take flying saucers very seriously.  This can be seen in the reports that follow.  You will notice that there is an “explanation;” but the explanation never adequately explains what the people saw.

It has been said, time and again, that we are not alone in this vast, uncharted universe.  The very thought of other “intelligent beings” watching us has stirred the heart of many a good person.

The world of religion has been a bit shaken because several religious leaders have voiced opinions for the case of the UFOs.  The suggestion of a superior religion replacing the present theology has drawn fire from many ecclesiastical headquarters.

But, let us examine a few facts.  Statements of outstanding authorities have been making headlines.  Among these, those made by Dr. Wernher von Braun, the rocket scientist from the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, who said, “There is a rational and rather straightforward explanation for the great majority of sightings of unidentified flying objects, or flying saucers.  Since the first mysterious objects were reported in 1947, the United States Air Force official investigators have tabulated thousands of sightings.  They can account for about 98 percent of these as balloons, aircraft, reflection of ground lights, meteorites, planets, hoaxes perpetrated by pranksters, ball lightning or plasma cloud phenomena observed and photographed near high tension power lines.”[6]

Artist’s conception of the Prophet Ezekiel’s “Wheel Within a Wheel” UFO, observed near the river Chebar in the Middle East, circa 600 B.C.E.  Artwork source:  Martian Herald.

Bible and Flying Saucers

          The Bible scholar, along with the serious pastor, has often considered the Bible as more than a mere book.  It is truly the inspired word of the living God, as written by men who, in turn, wrote as the Spirit of God so moved them.  The first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel has been quoted many times in an effort to ascertain the possibility that the prophet actually experienced a sighting of an unidentified flying object.  Let us examine this treatise.

To begin with, the purpose in pointing out the following is to stimulate, if not awaken you, to the unusual similarity in the ancient record of the round flying craft of Biblical times and the circular UFOs that are reported seen today.

Ezekiel’s prophecy is enveloped in a twofold ministry:

1. To denounce the sins of professing children of the Kingdom of God.
2. To sustain the faithful ones with the promise of God’s faithfulness both to deliver them and to judge their oppressors.

Not only is Ezekiel a prophet, but he is also a priest who pleads and beseeches God on behalf of the sins of his people.

Now Ezekiel slowly and dramatically begins to unfold the essence of his tremendous account of his “vision:”

He says, “I was among the captives by the river Chebar.[7]  The heavens opened and I saw visions of God.  Behold, a whirlwind came out of the north….”

Isaiah 14:13 indicates that “the sides of the north” is the location of God’s throne.  A scientist recently made the statement that, “The whole universe of stars and celestial bodies is traveling through space in a northward direction.”

There are scriptures that indicate that God’s throne is northward, such as the one referred to in “the sides of the north,” as mentioned above.  In Psalm 75:6-7 David declares, “For promotion cometh neither from the east nor the west nor from the south.  But God is the judge:  He putteth down one and setteth up another.”  This scripture is vividly indicative of the location of God’s glorious throne.

Ezekiel continues, “Behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and fire enfolding itself, and a brightness was about it and out of the midst thereof, as the color of amber,[8] out of the midst of the fire (Ezekiel 1:4).”

An unusual characteristic of UFOs is the manner in which they change color in flight.  First, let us examine the subject of the neon effects (Aurora Borealis-like) of saucers from the standpoint of the visible spectrum or that portion of the “octave” sensitive to our visible apparatus.

Colors are nothing more than a series of differing wavelengths of which the human visual mechanism is only capable, on average, of perceiving those lying between 3,800 and 8,000 angstrom units.  For example, “red” is evoked upon our visual apparatus by waves measuring 760 millimicrons in length,[9] while “yellow” is 574.5 millimicrons in length and “violet is 385 millimicrons.

Therefore, in spacecraft, we only see color changes our eye mechanisms are equipped to see.

The same holds true of our colorful advertising displayed by neon tubes.  We mention the neon tubes because the principle of it is the same as that which applies to the color changes emitted by saucers.

Neon is an inert gaseous element found in our atmosphere that when put under electrical pressure in a partial vacuum, such as found in a tube, emits a reddish glow.  This tells us what is happening when you see a flying saucer surrounded by a red glow.  It also indicates that there is an invisible, partial vacuum-like tube, or screen, surrounding the craft.

It has been generally accepted that as the speed of the craft increases, so does the luminosity, in effect producing brighter colors.[10]  Therefore, it is not too unusual for UFO sighting reports to be accompanied by stories of the craft “changing color” while in flight.  The military recorders should remember the words of Abraham Lincoln on 29 May 1856, “You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

Ezekiel saw an immense cloud of fire whirling and rolling out of the north or out of the heavenly realm.  From out of that cloud emitted a golden light (amber).  Then he beholds a light that surrounds four living creatures, because he then said, “Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures (Ezekiel 1:5).”

He goes on to say, “They sparkled like the color of burnished brass (Ezekiel 1:7).”  The implication here denotes that this event has something to do with the judgement of God.  Not that they themselves are being sent to the judgement; but they appear at that time when judgement has been poured out upon those who are unfaithful and rebellious to His Holy Word.  Brass, throughout the Bible, is symbolic of judgement.

Ezekiel proceeds to explain the peculiar characteristics of the living creatures that he is looking at when he says, “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, the face of a lion, on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle (Ezekiel 1:10).”

Naturally, these are four face symbols.  They certainly represent something valid.  In Revelation 5:9, we note them again with the same faces, but now they are bowing before the Lamb of God crying, “Thou hast redeemed us to God and Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation.”  Could these be symbolic representatives of redeemed humanity?  Their number is the number of physical existence- “four,” and it is also the number of “man.”

Ezekiel continues: “And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by[11] them.  And when the living creatures were lifted up from the Earth, the wheels were lifted up.  Withersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go.  And the wheels were lifted up over against them:  for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.  When those went, these went.  And when those stood still, these did:  And when those were lifted up from the Earth the wheels lifted up over against them, for the spirit (life) of the living creatures was in the wheels (Ezekiel 1:19-21).”

This would suggest that the “wheels” are actually a heavenly craft.

Some scholars have hinted that the wheel is merely a halo of glory, while others have considered this to be an actual craft.  Verse 16 attempts to present a more vivid explanation: “The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of beryl:  And they four had one likeness:  And their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.”

Please note that beryl is a silicate of aluminum; and although it contains a great deal of color, yet it is metallic in appearance.  Ezekiel strongly suggests that what is seen is no doubt an actual round symmetrical dome in the center of a wheel in which the living creatures are present during the time that the “wheel” is in actual flight.

He definitely indicated that they move through the air horizontally (Ezekiel 1:17).  He goes on and states, “As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful:  And their rings were full of eyes round about them four (Ezekiel 1:18).”  He states here that around the living creatures, upon the wheel, are eyes, or actually portholes, as we would interpret them today.  This would also explain the idea of the dome on the top side center of the wheel.

From 1600 A.D., early problems with satellite television reception: “They want their MTV.”

A point to examine is the significant manner in which these wheels motivate.  “Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went (Ezekiel 1:20).”  Also, “As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burned coals of fire,[12] and like the appearance of lamps:  It went up and down among the living creatures: and the fire was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning (Ezekiel 1:13).”  In addition, we find, “And the living creatures ran[13] and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning (Ezekiel 1:14).”

1897 UFO Flap:   Cigar-Shaped “Airship” Surveys the United States

          The writer has reviewed each of the following incidents in their complete coverage, but likes the concise, itinerant chronicling superbly handled by the Reader’s Digest in their July 1952 issue:

            “In April 1897, United States newspapers from coast to coast gave front-page space to a huge, cigar-shaped ‘airship’ cruising around Chicago.  Late in March, dispatches from the West described a ‘cigar-shaped’ object, with no motive power, ‘certainly not steam,’ first reported near Sacramento, California, then Denver, Colorado.  On March 29, according to the New York Herald, it was seen ‘by a majority of the residents of Omaha.  It was in the shape of a bright light, too big for a balloon.’  The New York Sun stated that, ‘Kansas City trolley cars stopped,’ and soon the whole population was watching it from the street and rooftops.  The light was as big as that produced by twenty stars.  Stories poured into the Chicago Tribune: ‘Reputable citizens of Eldora, Iowa, say they observed the gigantic airship.  One man said it resembled an immense bird of polished silver.  In Milwaukee thousands of people saw it.  The machine floated over the City Hall, where it stopped for a quarter of an hour.’”

As we continue the exploration of this question, we must first be ready to admit that there is something to talk about hovering above us in the skies.

Russia and the Flying Saucer Mystery

          The saucer mystery has in many cases pierced the Iron Curtain.  Many letters to Russian newspapers, quoted by Agence France Presse, told of a “flying cigar” sighted by many Soviet citizens, and “colored lights” spotted by the inhabitants of Gomel.  While the newspapers printed the letters, their respective editors warned the readers severely about the “power of imagination.”  Leonard H. Stringfield, the editor of the Civilian Research- Interplanetary Flying Objects Newsletter (Cincinnati, Ohio), stated that these reports leave much to be said for United States secret weapons.

The same issues regarding UFOs and Russia, brought up by Dr. Frank E. Stranges in the late 1950s, continue to be brought up in contemporary American media.  Source:  Fox News.

The long arm of Russian intelligence misses little or nothing.  As a matter of fact, their agents have stolen TOP SECRET “stuff” in the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), where the security is the strictest.  Paralleling AEC security is UFO research; but while the American public is occasionally taken into confidence on nuclear matters, it has not been officially informed concerning the flying saucer mystery.  It seems almost unfair that John Q. Public must get his information from indirect sources, even for a time, from cheap girlie magazines.  This is one of the reasons why Christians today are not “in the know” when it comes to UFO information.  During my travels through the United States and other countries, I have found but a handful of Christians who are informed on this subject.

I am very happy that many bold writers have ventured forth to join the ranks of those who are not afraid to speak up on the subject of flying saucers. It is gratifying to realize that men of intelligence and men of courage are writing and commenting on the UFO mystery.  Yes, these men are not silent!

However, silence on the part of the authorities has lulled many into believing saucers are entirely American.  On the other hand, a closer look at the facts, relative to the “Russian menace,” should rule out, once and for all, this fallacy:

1. Saucers have been on parade, in clear photographic view, over every nation on Earth since 1944 and earlier.  Let me ask, “Why advertise a super-secret device when the testing could be confined to the Western States, the Central Pacific, or, if need be, the interior of Australia?”
2. Saucers on parade would suggest a flagrant violation of the world’s sensitive national boundaries.
3. Saucers on parade, if secret, would act as a tipoff for Russian espionage agents, already successfully at work.
4. Saucers on parade, if executed as bait for Russia, would represent a slap in the face to Americans, honest and qualified, who are ridiculed for sighting something that is theirs to begin with.

Then again, if the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were in command of flying saucers, isn’t it probable that they would have destroyed America by now?  Let’s examine the power of the UFO.

It has been given such names as cosmic ships, extraterrestrial vehicles, outer space rocket ships, flying saucers, and, of course, the name given by the United States Air Force, unidentified flying objects.

The speed of the UFO has been clocked at about 19,000 miles per hour.  Electromagnetic or electro-gravitational force fields, according to most scientists and researchers, have the greatest potential for future space travel; and they seem to indicate that this type of propulsion is now directly related to the various characteristics of flying saucers.

Observations suggest that flying saucers are capable of transcending the force of gravity.  It is doubtful, at this writing, that anyone on Earth has found the means to do so.  Then again, if the UFO were a Russian secret device, it is hardly likely that the risk of allowing one to be shot down and captured by the Americans would be taken.  The possession of a UFO would make it possible for the Russians to build gigantic telescopes in the universe which would magnify a millionfold.  Placed at a height of 26,400 miles above the center of the Earth, they would take exactly one day to circle the Earth once.  They could bring the Earth’s surface to view as near as forty miles and entirely replace reconnaissance flights over large American cities and arms centers.  The safe workings of the UFO, attested by a long series of reports, clearly indicate a very old invention which has disposed of the troublesome “bugs” of early stages of development.  It is a space machine capable of outdistancing and outmaneuvering any Earth-inspired aerial device or vehicle.

Russians have gone on record as declaring themselves, for the most part, atheistic in their beliefs.  The teachings of communism clearly point where they stand on the Bible and Christian teachings.  They claim that the Bible is a pack of lies, the Christian is grossly misled and the church is an obstacle.  On the other hand, the Bible speaks for itself in Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

It is the opinion of this writer that Russia is absolutely not the answer to the riddle of the flying saucer.

Of late, the authorities in the USSR have released the following statement: “UFOs are an invention of the United States government to keep the minds of the people off of their current problems.

God’s Celestial Ambassador: 

The Life and Times of Dr. Frank E. Stranges (Part IV)

By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising book series, available on amazon.com, while supplies last

Photo source:  https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/apocalypse.html.

Perilous Times

In early 1959, many of the theologians in Evangelical circles, much like Dr. Frank E. Stranges, were of the opinion that the days of the Earth were numbered, that the long-predicted “Doomsday” was just around the corner.  The doctor of divinity wrote, “I dare not deny the fact that the Bible teaches that when that time shall come, even the time of the end, those who have received the ‘truth’ in their hearts shall be saved and shall further be invited to enter into the heavenlies to dwell with the Master and Creator of all humankind.  Then, on the other hand those who have constantly refused to walk in the light, yet persisting to do evil continually, shall be condemned to dwell eternally in the place called ‘Hell,’ which was originally made for the devil and his angels (those fallen from Heaven).”[14]

As any Evangelical knows, an individual condemns herself or himself by failing to take heed of the great truths revealed in the Bible, God’s word.  The astute Bible reader will come to an understanding of the marvelous provisions God has in store for the benefit of all who come to Him with a humble heart and a contrite spirit.  Through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, God has provided us with a way of salvation.  In Jesus, healing and a deep spiritual experience is available to every believer; and for the one walking in faith, they need not fear the coming doomsday.  Dr. Stranges wrote, “The Lord Almighty is beginning to do a great work before our eyes, even in this generation.  It is mighty evident that He is preparing all of us for signs and wonders that have been thought long expired.”[15]

In the Old Testament verse of Isaiah 42:9, the Hebrew prophet declared, “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare:  Before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”  Isaiah was not just addressing the so-called “spiritual elite” of his day, but anyone who loved God and desired to hold on to His promises.  Dr. Stranges remarked that, “We will note in days to come, that our Heavenly Master will reveal Himself to whomsoever he chooses.  Therefore, the meek, humble, honest truth-seekers will find that a closer walk with God will indeed reap great far-reaching dividends.  I believe that before doomsday is ushered in, we will see the promises of Christ come to pass.”[16]

Action Urgently Needed

          Dr. Frank E. Stranges was of the opinion that, “Actions speak louder than words,” especially when it came to the life of the Christian.  Dr. Stranges explains exactly what he considers possible for the contemporary follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish in her or his walk with the Savior:

“By greater works, did the Master imply that we would far surpass His mighty acts?  Remember what He did.  He opened blind eyes, loosed deaf ears, caused the lame to run, even raised the dead.  He performed mighty acts called miracles before the very eyes of doubters and mockers.  Jesus said that, ‘Greater works shall ye do.’  If this is true, it is wrong to look for this time to take place?  Today the world is in need of seeing the Christian in action.

“They have been listening to our boasts for a long time.  Now is the time to either lay hold of the promises of God or else stop telling the world that we have something that we do not indeed.   Also, God tells us, ‘Whatsoever ye bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven.  Whatsoever ye loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven.’  Have we yet discovered the laws of binding and loosing?  It is possible that today we can command the hand of God?  I believe that the whole world will see the power of God in action ‘in His people’ before the Earth is visited by doomsday.  I believe that this new thing will bot be governed nor controlled by humankind.  It will be of God and my God to usward who believe and dare to live in such a place in Christ that we can be the recipients of this great outpouring of God’s power.  A new age of spiritual awakening and spiritual power is upon us.  Let us claim it in Jesus’ name.”

This fresco, titled “Crucifixion,” by an unknown artist, was applied to the back wall of a Serbian chapel in Kosovo back in 1350, A.D.  Clearly, extraterrestrial spaceships have been visiting our planet down through the ages.  Enlargements of upper left and right flying objects depicted in the mural are found in two bottom frames.

Flying Saucers and the New Age

          Clearly, in this modern age there are still horizons of depth and height which have yet to be explored.  The hand of God, in all of His creative acts, seems to extend far beyond that which are feeble minds are even capable of comprehending.  Perhaps theology, the science of spirit, may provide more answers to future questions certain to arise in the circles of hard, material scientists about our mysterious universe.  Fearing that theology bordered more on the realms of fear and superstition, the concoction of theories to explain the universe from religious fanatics of more medieval ages, contemporary scientists have failed to even consider the spiritual nature and implications of observed phenomena.  The doctor of divinity explained why the arrival of the flying saucers held particular importance in these perilous times:

“Nevertheless, the Lord, who has promised, by His spirit, to lead and guide us in all truth, will certainly not expect you and I to die first with the sincere hope that somewhere in the far distant future, Christ will sit down and explain to us the mysteries of the universe.  I believe that these are days of revelation.  The coming of the saucers is perhaps only one phase of this great New Age in which you and I have the privilege of living.

“Now, you can completely close your mind to everything that you hear, read and see in connection with this thought.  You can crawl back into the shell and quietly close it and sit in the darkness, feeling sorry for everything and everybody, or you can bask in the wonderful sunlight that God is abundantly granting to those who love the ‘light.’”

From Dr. Frank E. Stranges, one learns how to depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ as never before.  In these first decades of the 21^st century, we especially note that politics has failed to bring lasting peace on Earth.  Therefore, we should follow Dr. Stranges’ admonition to look to the Author of Peace, He who is the Prince of Peace.  Dr. Stranges boldly declared, “Let not your hearts be troubled concerning wars, bombs, missiles, international or national difficulties, but may your heart and mind be eternally stayed upon God.  Think pure.  Abstain from evil opinions.  Net result, if you walk with Him, He will walk with you.  You will draw close to Christ.  Your mind will be quickened to receive that which God has for you in these days.”

That the subjects of flying saucers and extraterrestrial life will find further illumination during these times of quickening I have no doubt.  As Dr. Stranges might say, “May God bless you, dear one, is my earnest prayer.”

God’s Celestial Ambassador: 

The Life and Times of Dr. Frank E. Stranges (Part V)

By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising book series, available on amazon.com, while supplies last

“Flying Saucerama”

          Once Dr. Stranges and his wife Bernice were situated in Southern California in 1958 and active in the work of their evangelical ministry, it soon became apparent that many in their congregation were particularly concerned about the flying saucer phenomenon.  Of course, Dr. Stranges had been studying the appearance of UFOs and their association with strange beings in the pages of the Bible.

Dr. Stranges firmly believed that there was a spiritual significance to the UFOs and their occupants, but he felt that it in order to substantiate this theory he would have to collect more data.  He asked the members of his International Evangelism Crusades, Inc., to send him everything clipping they could find in newspapers and magazines about the subject of UFOs, and also to keep him informed of any personal encounters they may have had about UFOs or even any occupant sightings as well.  As word got out in the Southern California ufology community, others came to Dr. Stranges from throughout the United States with more information, and the reverend doctor even went out on personal field investigations of particular UFO cases.  He also began to build up his own UFO library, which soon became one of the more extensive in California.

From all of this collected UFO material, Dr. Stranges put together his first book on the subject, which he titled Flying Saucerama (New York City:  Vantage Press), which was published in the following year.  The book is lavishly illustrated and peppered with photos of UFOs and prominent ufologists from the 1950s.  The doctor still hadn’t made up his mind about the contactees, however, so he limited his book to a rundown on UFO sightings only.  He held in high esteem the retired Marine Corps Major Donald E. Keyhoe, then the director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena in Washington, D.C., who believed that some UFOs were extraterrestrial spaceships, but most likely unmanned reconnaissance vehicles, and that the United States Air Force, and the government as a whole, were concealing this fact about the UFO origins from the public under the pretext of safeguarding national security and preventing panic from sweeping the country.  Keyhoe did not think too highly of the contactees; but Dr. Stranges, who became quite familiar and made friends of many of them in Southern California, was at least willing to hear them out.  With many of the contactees, Dr. Stranges had a sneaking suspicion that they really met certain entities out in the Mojave Desert that they were speaking and writing about, but he wasn’t all that certain that they were coming from other planets, at least such orbs as can be physically seen through telescopes by astronomers in our own solar system.

In the acknowledgments and credits to Flying Saucerama, Dr. Stranges wrote: “The author desires to express his sincere appreciation to the following for their cooperation and advice in the compilation of material for this volume:

“Major Donald E. Keyhoe, United States Marine Corps, Ret., director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), Washington, D.C.; Leonard H. Stringfield, director of the Civilian Research Investigation, Flying Objects (CRIFO) and editor of that organization’s Orbit newsletter; August C. Roberts, flying saucer researcher and photographer; Rev. Arthur E. Bloomfield, editor of the Prophetic Ensign magazine of Burket, Indiana; the staff of the Voice of Healing magazine in Dallas, Texas; Bradford Chambers, author of the book, Interplanetary Space and Travel (New York City: Stravon Publishers, 1956), Max Miller, author of the book, Flying Saucers:  Fact or Fiction (Los Angeles, California:  Trend Books, 1957); and the staff of True or False magazine (New York City).”

Testimony of August C. Roberts

As noted in the acknowledgments above, August C. Roberts of Jersey City, New Jersey, is listed among those who had greatly aided Dr. Frank E. Stranges in his research that he conducted while writing Flying Saucerama.  Roberts, like some 20,000 other Americans who from the period of 1947-1959, was not afraid to go on record and state, even in the face of a torrent of adverse criticism, that not only had he sighted a flying saucer, but even took a photograph of it.  “Many have attempted to take advantage of Mr. Roberts’ good nature,” wrote Dr. Stranges, adding that, “but I wish to state that I deeply appreciate his sincerity and truthfulness in all matters pertaining to the flying saucer mystery.”

Now here is August C. Roberts’ story in his own words:

“I Saw and Photographed a Flying Saucer”

By August C. Roberts

What first aroused my interest in flying saucers was the lack of information on the subject.  I had been following the case right along with mild interest:  most of the information coming from the newspapers, magazines and books.  Who was right regarding the flying saucers seen in the sky?  Was it the reasonable and intelligent person who supposedly spotted them, or the United States Air Force, which endeavored to “explain away” what they saw?

Almost everyone by now knows or has read about the following cases:

1. Kenneth Arnold’s sighting of nine flying disks in the state of Washington in 1947.
2. The Tacoma affair, in which two men were killed in the crash of a B-25 carrying what was supposed to be parts of a flying disk.
3. On 7 January 1948, Captain James Mantell, with a flight of three F-51s passing near Goodman Air Force Base in Kentucky, was requested by the field control tower to investigate a strange object over the field; and in so doing was killed and his plane demolished.

What really happened?  The United States Air Force decided that Captain Mantell was chasing the planet Venus, which is a fairly good explanation, except that Venus was not in that vicinity at that particular time.  There are hundreds of more cases of the sighting of flying disks on record.  I could go on and on, but since time and space does not permit, I will cite only a few of the more interesting ones.

First, a New Jersey pilot with years of experience fired his guns at a flying disk, but no reasons were given or information concerning the outcome.  Why?  Then, an Eastern Airlines captain and his co-pilot, on their early morning flight, were amazed when a huge, wingless, tube-shaped aircraft traveling at tremendous speed zoomed past them and disappeared into a cloud, trailing a red-orange exhaust flame thirty feet long.  Its wash rocked their DC-3.  Was that Venus too?  Another time, Lieutenant George Gorman chased a mysterious light in the sky in a twenty-minute flight at speeds varying from 300 to 400 miles per hour, outmaneuvering him at every twist and turn.  Was this his imagination?  The one I liked best, and which stimulated my interest in the subject, happened on 10 July 1948, in Phoenix, Arizona.  William A. Rhodes took two photographs of a flying disk overhead, using an ordinary box camera.  After they had been printed in the newspapers, not another word was mentioned about flying saucers for a long time.  As the story goes, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sent investigators to Rhodes’ home and requested the negatives.  Three days later, when he asked for their return, he was told they had lost them.  What I could say about this particular incident is not fit to print.  I am wondering how they are going to explain away my own flying saucer photographs.

Two years ago, I signed up with the Civil Defense in Jersey City as a ground observer, more commonly known as a “plane spotter.”  I thought my chances of seeing a disk would be much greater by doing so, although the flying saucer reports were few and far between, until early this year, when they began coming in from all about us.  I began to take my camera with me whenever on duty and was at the observation post every spare minute, especially when a flying saucer was reported nearby.  By now almost everyone at the post was flying saucer conscious.

During June 1952, Jersey City Police Inspector Joseph B Foley, supervisor of the Jersey City Ground Observation Post, had us on a “dry run” for a month getting us properly trained for 24-hour active duty, which commenced on 14 July.

On 19 July 1952, I read in the newspaper that a Mrs. Josephine Hetzel of 17 West Street, West Brighton, Staten Island, had spotted five flying disks.  The newspaper clipping said, “I almost fainted when I saw what looked like five large dinner plates flying through the sky.  They were in V-formation.”  Mrs. Hetzel’s neighbor, Frank Gondar, of 15 West Street, described the objects as “flying like geese, bright in color, as fast as jet planes.”

When I read the article, I called our observation post to see if anything had been reported in our area.  It was then I learned that we had seen them, too.  When I checked the time, I found out it was only five minutes from the time Mrs. Hetzel had seen them.

I asked Leo Murphy, a spotter, what he had seen, and he told me he had only seen four, but about a mile behind them was another going in the same direction.  He said he had not been too sure what it was, so he had not recorded it.  It was listed like this in our logbook: “20:10- four flying saucers spotted by Observer Leo Murphy flying in a straight-line one-half mile apart.”

The following Sunday, a friend and I went to see Mrs. Hetzel and hear her story firsthand.  In this way, we planned to compare reports.  She said, “I was sitting in front of my house when suddenly five silver-colored disks with dark red rims, about as large as dinner plates, came right over the trees, over my head.  I thought they were going to hit me, so I screamed.  They flashed by, and my neighbor, Frank Gondar, who also was sitting in front of his house, came over to aid me.  I was so shaken up by what I saw!”  She said she had never believed in flying saucers before, and never again wanted to see them.  From now on, she was convinced they really existed.

When the reports of saucers became localized, the Jersey Journal, our local newspaper, sent reporters to visit our post and get a story about flying disks for publication.  Someone told them I was there with my cameras, a 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ Speed Graphic and a Leica.  Since it is a job of “Operation Skywatch” to protect some of the most valuable real estate in the country- Manhattan as well as neighboring Jersey communities- anything that would happen on the Eastern Seaboard would eventually break loose here; and everything sighted is reported.  They then published a small item about my waiting to see and photograph this phenomenon or disprove its existence, since it had been questioned considerably.

On 24 July 1952, George Conger, an observer, spotted a disk overhead heading for New York.  Thus, it was listed in our logbooks: “10:05- flying saucer spotted by Observer George Conger.  One- unknown- high overhead- flying southeast- looked like a shiny new dime.”  Detective Ray Blascak, who was on the tower at the time using the phone, was called to come and look.  However, it disappeared in about four or five seconds, before Detective Blascak could get there, so Conger was the only one was saw the object that morning.

As soon as I learned that Conger had spotted a saucer, I went to see him on the tower during his next shift.  I asked him how he had come to spot the “unknown object.”  He said he was looking straight overhead when he noticed the glint of the Sun on a metallic object in the sky.  It was definitely round, and appeared about the size of a dime.  As it flew along it was in a “tilted” position, i.e., with the lowest edge leading in its flight.  There was absolutely no sound and no vapor trail.  I asked I it could possibly have been a jet plane; and he said he could easily have identified any known type of aircraft.  Furthermore, he said no jet plane or any other kind of plane could ever move with the tremendous speed of the disk.  And I would like to point out, for the benefit of the skeptical, that George Conger is also a section leader of the Civil Defense Organization, a thoroughly qualified aerial observer.

From the files of the now defunct International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB), this drawing by Dominick C. Lucchesi depicts the Civilian Defense Skywatch Tower observers (from left to right) George Conger, Jim Leyden and August C. Roberts, with a borrowed F3.5 Lens 120 folding camera, at 12:11 a.m. on Monday, 28 July 1952.

I had spent quite a few weekends at the tower, including all-night shifts from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., since the reports of flying saucers had begun to come in from nearby localities.  Inasmuch as Conger was now more than interested, having seen a saucer himself, I invited him to join Jim Leyden, another spotter, and myself on some night watches.  He was happy to do so.  Nothing was seen for three nights.

Early on the night of 27 July 1952, it was raining.  So as not to get my cameras wet, I left them home.  I arrived at the tower about 10 p.m., and Leo Murphy, who was just going home, gave us his camera, a F3.5 Lens 120 folding, with a bad shutter which stuck on slow speeds.  James Leyden came on duty a little before midnight and George Conger at midnight.  The shift supposed to be on duty did not arrive until 12:20 a.m.  The three of us were alone on the tower- Leyden sitting inside reading and waiting for Conger or myself to spot a plane and call out to him.  He, in turn, would call the filter station.  George and I were sitting side by side on the highest part of the platform, he looking at anything in the sky that moved from the northeast, east and southeast, and I watching the southwest, west and northwest.  He watched one-half of the sky and I the other.  We had nothing in particular to look for, since the reports we had read in the newspapers differed, and every disk seen ha been reported to be traveling too fast.

We half expected to see only a streak of light, but not anything like what we saw at 12:11 a.m., Monday, 28 July 1952.

We were sitting there chatting when George suddenly said, “Hey, Roberts, lend me those glasses a minute.  I’ve been watching a light there in the east by the Empire State Building, and it is acting funny.  It doesn’t resemble a plane.”  After studying it through the glasses, he called out, “Hey, Jimmy, come out and take a look at that damn light out there,” and started walking towards him.  He handed Jimmy the glasses.  Looking at the object, Jimmy said, “What the devil is it?”  We thought it might be a light from a building, since it just hung there brightly.  Then Jimmy handed me the glasses, and I too took a look.  We did not know how to explain what we had seen, except to define it as a “flying saucer,” but George suggested we call it in anyway.  Perhaps the filter station could confirm it.  While he was talking, I had taken Leo’s camera out and was balancing it on the railing.  Just as I opened the shutter of the camera, Jimmy jumped the three steps into the tower and jarred the whole platform railing.  George raised the glasses again and remarked that it was the “oddest-looking thing.”  When Leyden got the filter station on the phone, instead of calling in the message in a routine manner, he told them he did not know how to explain what we had just witnessed, except to say that there was a ball of light hovering in the east, orange in color, with a dark-brownish rim, very bright and flickering.  The person on duty at the filter station must have checked his list and found that no planes were listed in that area, because he immediately had an Air Force officer talk to Leyden and question him about it.  Leyden asked if any other reports had come in, to which he said, “Three so far- one from Plainfield, one from Tarrytown, and yours.”  Leyden hung up and was called right back, I believe from an air base, from the way the man talked to him.

George kept watching the object while I was trying to look at the back of the camera in order to turn the film.  It was too dark to see, so I just spun the knob a few times, placed the camera on the rail, called to the boys to stand still a few seconds, and took the second photo of the disk as it moved upwards a distance of its own length, as if undecided which way to go.  Conger noticed that a searchlight beam was trying to catch it.  Van, inside the tower, grabbed the phone from Leyden and told them about it.  I took the 9 x 35-power binoculars and watched it until it was out of sight.  I have already mentioned that it had a reddish-brown dot in the center and the rim was the same color.  As it started to move a little faster to the southeast, the rim turned to a brighter red, like glowing metal.  It moved up and away from us at the same time.  As it turned, I got a good look at the depth of its edge, which I will mention later on.  George, standing next to me, tried to find it, but it went into a cloudbank and was gone.  When I asked him if he had seen it leave, he replied negatively.  Leyden, still on the phone, told them we could no longer see it.

Shortly afterwards, I suggested to the fellows that we call the New York Daily News and find out if they had seen it, as it had been so close to their building, and also learn whether they had received any other reports.  Leyden called.  He was told that they had received two reports but were not interested in any more.  He did not mention that we had seen it or had taken photographs.  I suggested to Leyden that he record this in our logbook as soon as he could.  (I have a photograph of the item as it appears.)  Just about that time, the next group came upstairs.  We told them what we had seen.  They said they had been chatting together downstairs for a while before coming up and were sorry not to have come up on time at midnight, as they would have liked to have seen it too.  We stayed on a while, hoping to see it again, but it never returned.  At 3:00 a.m., two of the three recent arrivals went home, but one stayed on, thinking it might become visible again.  At 3:30 a.m., we called in a plane which was zigzagging back and forth at about the same spot where we had seen the disk over New York.  Nothing else happened, so I went home about 6 a.m. to develop the film.

Everyone was asleep, so I tried not to make any noise as I went into my darkroom and developed the film; but between overdeveloping and getting too close to the safe light, the film fogged up a little.  I am not used to handling roll film, and it twisted up on me until it got wet and soft.  Anyone who has ever tried to develop roll film will realize what I mean.

When I saw what the film contained, I felt heartsick- one frame was of a dancing light and the other registered just two spots; but I made a few prints anyway after washing the film.  They did not look as bas as I first thought.  I went back to the tower, arriving before Leyden and Conger went home.  When they saw the prints, they were surprised that they turned out as well.  Detective Blascak asked what the pictures were about.  The boys had never mentioned them, because they had not expected them to come out.  When Detective Blascak saw them, he immediately phoned Inspector Foley, who said he would come over as soon as he could.

Shortly afterwards, I left for home again to get some sleep, asking Leyden to warn me by phone if the Air Force came and “requested” the negatives, so that I could make a dozen or so prints before they took them over.  Detective Blascak phoned the Air Force, and they sent a man out immediately to pick up the prints.  I had been in bed only a short time when Jimmy called, telling me to work fast if I wanted those extra prints before the Air Force arrived.  I made ten copies of each; and since I figured I would not get much sleep I went back to the police station and gave them a better set of prints.  (The first ones had been made with wet negatives and done hurriedly.)

Told that they wanted the negatives, I was taken home by radio patrol car to get them.  We went to the main police headquarters, where the police photographers checked the negatives and made a few prints for the newspapers.  I was then driven back to the tower, where I had left my car, and headed for home and a little sleep.

In the afternoon I went back to the tower.  Two men from our local newspaper came up with my prints, which they checked with the New York skyline.  They told me they were double-checking the prints and had discovered that I had made the mistake of printing the negatives backwards.  I told them I had better copies at my home.  Naturally, they wanted the better ones, so we set out to get them.  Once they saw them, they tried to talk me out of every one I had made.  When they left, I was told I would be paid for the use of the prints, but I never have been.

Back at the tower, one of the newspaper men phoned me and asked if I had a camera.  After replying in the affirmative, he told me to take a few photos of New York and bring the film down to him; the paper would then develop and print the film.  This I did.  When I tried to leave the newspaper office, I was detained until the prints were made.  While waiting, another newspaper called to see if a spare flying saucer print could be secured.  The fellow answering the phone said, “No;” and when I quite loudly stated that I had one, and held it up, I never saw anyone move so fast to “shut me up.”  This newspaper had the only really good prints, and did not want any other paper to share the scoop or know that I, the photographer, was there.  All the papers were trying to reach me, but without success.  The prints of New York were not too good, so they took a few pictures of me with the Leica; and about midnight, after retelling the whole story in detail, having been informed not to talk to any other reporter, I was allowed to go home to bed.

The next day the story broke in the newspaper.  From then on for a few days the family lived in a nightmare.  The phone never stopped ringing.  Everyone was calling- newspapers, radio, television, newsreels and magazines.  You name it, we had it.

About 48 hours after the negatives had been taken from me, I asked for them.  Inspector Foley returned then, and I still have them now.  One evening a week later, while we in the tower crew were filming a television newsreel, a call was received about 10:00 p.m. from the filter station stating that another disk had been sighted.  A few of the cameramen dashed upstairs to the tower with movie cameras but could see nothing.

From Keller Venus Files:  The photographs, top and bottom, by August C. Roberts, are purportedly the first ever taken on the East Coast of a UFO.

When the strain got too much for me, I called a friend of my sister in Westwood, New Jersey.  I wanted to spend a few days out there fishing and resting- just to get away from all the hectic times I had undergone.  She told me my sister had not yet returned from Florida.

While chatting with her, I learned that she had been driving with her sons toward River Edge, and they had seen a disk a few days before we had seen it here.  It was early in the evening.  Suddenly her eldest son told her to look up, and there she saw an orange ball, twice as large as a silver dollar but with the darker rim moving towards New York.  They saw it only about four seconds when the light suddenly blinked out.  Although they looked hard and long, they did not see it anymore.

Later, while speaking to a friend of mine, he mentioned a lady who had seen a disk about 9:30 p.m., 27 July 1952.  When I spoke with her, she said she just happened to be looking up when she saw this strange orange ball of light moving towards New York.  I did not place too much stock in it then; but later, when another person, an auxiliary policeman, told me he had seen a large orange ball of light moving overhead as large as a silver dollar- also on the night of 27 July 1952, at about 9:30 p.m., it set me to thinking.  These people do not know each other although they live five blocks apart, and yet each had seen the same thing at the same time.

On 31 July 1952, my married sister (with whom I reside) told me that she, my brother-in-law, and a friend had been driving in the vicinity of the Palisades Amusement Park when she spotted an orange ball in the sky.  Jokingly, she exclaimed, “Oh, look, a flying saucer!”  Was she surprised when it faded out about six seconds later in a cone-shaped manner similar to fireworks displays!  This had happened about 8:45 p.m.  When she returned home, at about 11:30 p.m., she called the New York Daily News to find out whether they had received any other reports.  They confirmed her suspicions, stating they had had four reports from different vicinities for the same time, and all the disks had been sighted over the same area.

The following week I entered St. Mary’s Hospital in Hoboken, New Jersey, where I had to undergo an immediate operation because of a condition aggravated by staying up on the tower in the dampness and cold of all-night sessions.  After my release six days later, I went away for a rest to my sister’s home in Westwood.  I was told later that the Air Force had been looking for me on two different occasions.  I suppose they wanted to look at the negatives, but no member of the Air Force or anyone of importance has sought me at any time since.

A few weeks later, I received an observer questionnaire which I answered as best I could and returned to them.  One question, which I believe had been answered wrong, was about the changing color of the disk.  At the conclusion of this testimony, I shall describe the disk as I saw it.

The next report I received was a letter from Mrs. Josephine Hetzel of Staten Island stating that she had read in her local paper, The Advance, on 6 October 1952, that three men had seen two saucers at 7:10 p.m. on the evening before.

The latest event happened while I was at our skywatch post.  Our logbook records it as follows: “At approximately 20:00 hours on 14 October 1952, John Stemming, Irving Edersheim and I saw a missile fly through the sky from the northeast to the east, then to the west at a height of 1,000 to 1,500 feet.  It traveled in a flat trajectory and almost passed over our post.  It resembled a very bright ball resembling a tracer bullet, but was many times larger.  At the time we saw the missile, a plane which we believed to be a single-motor military plane, was traveling northeast and seemed to be about one-quarter mile from the missile.  The same was reported to the filter station.  (Signed) Andrew J. Gisondi.”

Although at the tower that Tuesday evening, I was not upstairs at the time I was informed of it.  I noted that the time was about 7:39 p.m., not 20:00 (8 p.m.), as was written in the logbook.  I told Andy to make a note of it so that it could be written in the book, but he must have put down the time he wrote the item instead.

The next day the Daily News ran the following story:

“Blue Flame Still Mystery”

          The Civil Aeronautics Administration yesterday still lacked an explanation of the “blue flame” that reportedly flashed over International Airport at a high speed at 7:33 p.m. Tuesday.  Katherine Barry, Assistant Astronomer at Hayden Planetarium, said it probably was “the fire ball of a tremendous meteor.”

Several North Jersey communities reported seeing a “fiery white ball” passing overhead a few minutes after the phenomenon had been sighted from the airport.

On 18 October 1952, there was a skyquake over Glen Cove, Long Island, that broke windows, split sidewalks and knocked children off of their feet.  It could have been a jet plane breaking through the sound barrier, but all air fields reported their planes had been accounted for.  Or it could have been an experimental plane which was not listed.  If you were to go back a few years, you would find that on 18 February 1948, in Stockton, Kansas, there was also a skyquake which has never been explained, but a disk was seen just before the explosion!

Now for the description of what the disk looked like to me.  It was clearly circular in shape, slightly smaller than a ten-cent piece to the naked eye.  Through my binoculars, however, it approximated the size of a half-dollar.  Also, it had depth.  About the best way to describe it is to visualize two half-dollars held together at arm’s length, turning them slightly to the edge.  The rim appeared to be as thick as the edge was wide.  The whole disk was flat.  It appeared to be anywhere from 50 to 100 feet in diameter.  (Note:  A plane in the same area appears to us to be about the same size, including wingspread.)

When I first saw the disk, the rim (outside top and a small part of the inner surfaces of the rim) was a brownish color.  The inner part of the disk was a bright orange color with a dot in the exact center, of the same brownish color at the rim.  It was like looking at a small moon with a rim around it, and just as bright.  The whole object was glowing and flickering.  Through the 9×35-power binoculars, it could be seen clearly that the rim was spinning in a clockwise direction.  As the disk moved, the outer rim began to change color to a reddish brown and the dot in the center changed color along with the rim, while the center became a lighter orange color.  I noticed that while the rim was spinning there was less flickering.  When the thing finally departed, the colors change again somewhat with the rim and dot in the center becoming a glowing red and the orange color in the center becoming a still paler orange.  As it left, it turned so that the outer edge was facing us; and I could see the thickness of it very clearly.  During the three to five minutes that the disk was visible, it was “standing on edge” in the sky.  I only saw light on two sides, that is on one side and the rim.  I never saw the opposite side of the disk for it never turned towards me.

While watching it, I had an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach that here was something everyone was searching the sky for, and I had a “box seat.”  I have seen quite a few planes as a spotter, but this machine certainly beats them all.  It did not make a sound, and looked powerful and deadly if it chose to be so, although it appeared to be just observing.

I did not believe the Air Force has a flying disk; and I feel they are not revealing all they know for very good reasons.  If the disks do not belong to any country on the Earth, then they must come from outer space; and if they do, can you visualize what would happen if Washington suddenly announced we had visitors from outer space?  It would probably cause quite an outbreak of nerves.  In a few years we may learn the answer.  The government may be conditioning us for the big news later on, and then the shock might not be so great.  Already there is talk about putting a space platform 1,700 miles out in space as a jump-off station to reach the Moon.  In time, it might materialize; but right now, the one prohibiting thing is a lack of funds for such a project.  If we could accomplish this in a few short years, what is to keep the inhabitants of another planet from doing the same thing?

Many years ago, things were seen in the sky.  On pages 361 and 362 in the book Altai-Himalaya, by Nicholas Roerich (New York:  Frederick A. Stokes, 1929), the author says that while on an expedition in 1926 he saw a large oval object in the sky moving at a great speed.  He spent time watching it through field glasses.  If he had not seen it, why would he write about it?  This is just one case, and many more have happened throughout the years.  Many more cases are yet to come.

Should anyone like to see a flying saucer, just join your local Skywatch Station if your city has one.  There you will have a chance to help your country, which needs help now for plane-spotting in case of an enemy attack.

Photo on left of pioneer ufologist and UFO photographic expert, August C. Roberts, from Keller Venus Files as posted with Rense Radio.  Photo on right first appeared in the 4 July 1969 issue of the Allentown, Pennsylvania, Morning Call newspaper. 

Reports from Thailand

Thus concludes August C. Roberts’ interesting report.  Another incident of note in Dr. Stranges’ Flying Saucerama, however, took place further afield in the Amphur District of the Songkhla Province in Thailand at 10:10 a.m. on 20 June 1955, where residents in the Songkhla City suburb of Sadau witnessed a strange UFO, round in shape and white in color, that was rotating and flew from the southwest to the northeast at a great speed.   The observers were able to maintain the object in view for about one minute.  They reported a trail of smoke stretching behind the UFO that reached to the horizon.

A little more than one month later, on 22 July 1955, there were more UFO reports coming out of Thailand, but this time centered over a strategic tin mine.  The UFO apparently was seen sailing above some scattered clouds.  It was described as being “round but elongated” and traveled with the speed of a meteor.  What particularly made this saucer stand out was that it made a loud noise, “like a coughing motor.”  Some of the witnesses said that the UFO was somewhat similar in appearance to wide-brimmed hat which had a small crown, like a coffee cup on top, as a cupola.  This was not the first time an object like this had been seen in the area.  Dr. Stranges commented that, “There can hardly be serious doubt that some types of UFO are interested in the sites of our mineral resources.”

God’s Celestial Ambassador: 

The Life and Times of Dr. Frank E. Stranges (Part VI)

By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising book series, available on amazon.com, while supplies last

Venus shines brightly in the star fields of outer space.  Original artwork from Flying Saucers magazine, Amherst, Wisconsin, in Dr. Keller’s Otto Binder files. 

The Outer Space Connection

In considering the many high quality UFO reports that he had compiled in his Flying Saucerama, Dr. Frank E. Stranges began to consider the possibility of an outer space connection to the phenomenon.  Initially, he thought it would be difficult, at least for Americans in the late 1950s, to bring themselves to the realization that flying saucers may well be our first introduction to beings from another planet.  We have to remember that the opinions expressed by the powers-that-be in government and media in 1959 were trending toward a severe criticism of ufologists in general, and the contactees, specifically.  Dr. Stranges made a comparison of this situation to a state of war, “where clouds of smoke are often laid in order to hide certain activities such as troop movements, battle maneuvers, etc.  In the case of the flying saucer, the United States Air Force has really overdone itself in attempting to disprove that which actually exists.”

According to Lieutenant Colonel John O’Mara, the Deputy Commander of Intelligence for the United States Air Force, throughout the last half of the decade of the 1950s, his military branch’s UFO investigative organization, Project Blue Book, was receiving over 700 flying saucer reports per week.  In light of this avalanche of UFO reports, Dr. Stranges naturally wondered how long the Air Force could continue with the contradiction of denying the existence of flying saucers.  Even General Douglas MacArthur had voiced sober and thought-provoking words concerning the UFO phenomenon.  On 7 October 1955, the mayor of Naples, Italy, Achille Lauro, was visiting the United States and staying at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, where he had been meeting with General MacArthur earlier that day.  In the afternoon, when questioned by a reporter from the New York Times about anything the prestigious Army officer may have told him about the nature of any future conflict, the Italian mayor blurted out that, “He thinks that another war will be double suicide; and that there is enough sense on both sides of the Iron Curtain to avoid it.  He also believes that because of the developments of science, all countries on Earth will have to unite to survive and to make a common front against attack by people from other planets.”  In addition, the mayor declared that, “In the general’s opinion, the politics of the future will be cosmic, or interplanetary.”

Regarding these alleged statements by the general, Dr. Stranges remarked, “This, in my humble opinion, is certainly a statement to read and read again, carefully considering the fact that a man such as General MacArthur would not make wild statements, thus jeopardizing his standing as a soldier respected both for his military prestige and his civilian leadership.”  The doctor and UFO researcher then continued to elaborate on several encounters with anomalous objects by United States military pilots.  The speed and maneuverability of the flying saucers in these cases certainly exceeded, technologically, anything that we or the Soviets had on the drawing board at that time.  The only logical conclusion was that these UFOs were real, physical objects arriving at Earth from another world.

From Keller Venus Files:  Major Donald E. Keyhoe, USMC, Ret. (1897-1988), was America’s foremost authority on UFOs during the latter half of the 1950s.  Dr. Frank E. Stranges worked closely with Keyhoe during this period. 

Major Donald E. Keyhoe, USMC, Retired

The impressiveness of the UFO reports made by the military pilots convinced Dr. Frank E. Stranges that flying saucers are not all connected to Earth-based phenomena or manufactured devices from either the United States or the competing superpower of the Soviet Union.  The doctor’s assessment of the UFO situation paralleled that of Donald E. Keyhoe, a retired Marine Corps major and pilot, as well as the author of the then bestselling book, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy (New York:  Henry Holt and Company, 1955).  Keyhoe, who in 1959 was directing the largest civilian UFO research group, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), headquartered in Washington, D.C., was claiming that there was no doubt about the truth of the existence of flying saucers.  Keyhoe was critical of the United States Air Force and asserted that many startling reports of UFOs were being held from the public, largely because the military brass in the highest echelons of the Pentagon feared the spread of nationwide hysteria that would surely follow the release of such information.

Keyhoe did recognize that the UFO reports made by most United States Air Force pilots maintained a worldwide reputation for an unbiased objectivity.  In his book, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy, he reports the following aerial encounters by such seasoned military aviators:

“A B-29 clocked three formations of flying objects at 5,240 m.p.h., over the Gulf of Mexico.  Then a giant machine showed up on the B-29’s radar scopes.  The three mysterious formations converged toward the big object and then disappeared into it.  Then it raced of at 9,000 m.p.h.  At Kinross, Michigan, an Air Force F-89 took off from the base to chase a UFO that had been picked up by ground radar.  On their radar screens, the radar men could see the fighter’s blip merge with the unidentified blip.  Then both disappeared and the F-89 never returned.  To this day, no trace of that F-89 or its pilot has been found.”

From numerous reports such as those cited above, Keyhoe came to the conclusion that flying saucers are neither American nor Soviet secret weapons.  After all, back in 1955 when Keyhoe’s book was published, there was no known metal that could withstand the heat created at such speeds within our atmosphere.  Therefore, the retired Marine Corps pilot felt that perhaps the intelligences behind the flying saucers may be using the anti-gravity field principle as it was reported in 1955 by Ansel Talbert, the military and aviation editor of the New York Herald Tribune, and from which I compiled an extensive series of articles for Lon Strickler’s Phantoms and Monsters blogsite in 2020 and 2021.  Basically, the utilization of an anti-gravity drive system as outlined by Talbert encompasses an understanding that electricity and magnetism are related to gravity in definite ways, but as yet not known, unfortunately.  Or should I say, “fortunately,” as far as any extraterrestrials are concerned.  Who knows what kind of havoc humans might wreak in the cosmos with anti-gravity ships facilitating the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other planets in our own solar system and beyond!

Keyhoe and other UFO investigators maintained that, “The finger of fact points in only one direction:  outer space.”  Based on Keyhoe’s extensive research into the reality of the flying saucers as interplanetary spaceships, Dr. Stranges signed up as one of the early members of NICAP and became a close associate of the retired Marine Corps major and the world’s then leading authority on the subject of UFOs and the conspiracy of the United States government to hide the truth about these mysterious objects.

[1] John 10:16 (KJV)

[2] See the entirety of Revelation Chapter 21 (KJV).

[3] These are the planets of our solar system that can be viewed from the Earth without the aid of a telescope.

[4] All scriptural references in the text are from the authorized King James Version.

[5] Italics/emphasis mine.  -Cosmic Ray

[6] This was one of the earlier statements made by the German rocket scientist, in 1953, only eight years following his arrival in the United States courtesy of Operation Paper Clip, while working at the TOP SECRET Army missile command at Redstone Arsenal.  In later years, while working for NASA, outside of military restrictions on what he could say, and after he was retired, Dr. von Braun affirmed his personal belief that some UFOs were extraterrestrial spacecraft conducting a reconnaissance of our planet.

[7] This could be the modern “Khabour,” which rises near Nisibis and flows into the Euphrates near Kerkesiah, 200 miles north of Babylon.  See “Ezekiel,” in H. D. M. Spence, D.D., and Joseph S. Exell, M.A., eds., Pulpit Commentary (London, United Kingdom:  Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Company, Ltd., 1895), 25.

[8] From the Hebrew chashmal, called “electrum” in the Vulgate, used to indicate a metallic substance, a compound of four parts gold and one part silver.  See Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 12, p. 3; and compare with Dante’s vision in his Paradiso, xxxiii, 55.

[9] One millimicron equals one billionth of a meter.

[10] Credit for this theory of flying saucer luminosity induced changing colors goes to the Honorable Brinsley Le Poer Trench of Anglo-Dutch-Irish nobility (1911-1985), the Eighth Earl of Clancarty and author of the Flying Saucer Story (New York City:  Ace Books, 1966).  This section was later edited for inclusion of this theory and reference in the International Evangelism Crusades published edition in 1969 (Venice, California).

[11] The Revised Version of the Bible states “beside them,” i.e., moving in parallel lines with them.  This certainly conforms to what might contemporarily be seen as a type of landing gear deployment for landings and retraction for takeoffs.

[12] The reader’s attention is invited to the accounts of the “burning bush” in Exodus 3:2, the “pillar of fire by night” in Exodus 13:22 and the “fire on Mt. Sinai” in Exodus 19:18.

[13] This may indicate sudden movement, startling to the observer because of the overwhelming nature of the sighting.

[14] Dr. Frank E. Stranges, My Friend from Beyond Earth (Venice, California:  International Evangelism Crusades, Inc., 1960), 14.

[15] Ibid, 14.

[16] Pay special attention to John 14:12 (KJV): “Verily, verily, I say unto you:  He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also:  and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.”