Insanity or Demons?

Kyle Odom and his "space alien"

Because the news cycle has been so saturated with the nonstop presidential election campaign follies, many folks probably didn't hear about the recent shooting of a pastor as he stood outside his church.

The shooting took place last Sunday (March 6) in the town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho when a man named Kyle Andrew Odom walked up to Pastor Tim Remington and shot him six times, including in the head, while Remington was standing in his church's parking lot. Fortunately for Remington, Odom wasn't a good shot and the pastor is expected to make a full recovery.

After the shooting, Odom took off for Washington, D.C. where he showed up at the White House and tossed some items over the fence before the police arrested him. Why did Odom go to the White House? He claims that he wanted to warn President Obama about "space aliens" that are taking over the world.

Why did Odom shoot Remington? Is Odom a radical leftist who hates Christians and believes that they're persecuting minorities, Muslims, gays and women? Or, is he a militant atheist who believes that Christians are an obstacle to world peace and the evolutionary advancement of the human race?

Neither. Rather, Odom claimed in a long rambling 21-page letter that Remington's part of a vast alien conspiracy to take over the planet: From CNN.com:

The letter names Remington, and many others, in wild claims of an alien conspiracy. The letter writer says Remington first texted him Bible messages but then started threatening him through Bible verses he sent. One part of the letter appears to be a message to President Barack Obama, and another page lists "noteworthy Martians." U.S. lawmakers and Israeli government officials are among those listed.Near the end of the letter, the writer refers to taking some actions of last resort as a way to bring the public's attention to "the Martians."

Who's Odom? He's an ex-marine with a history of drug problems and bizarre behavior. Odom claims that while he was meditating two years ago, he encountered "spiritual beings" that changed his worldview and revealed an alleged vast network of aliens that have infiltrated the world. 

Odom's drug use includes crystal meth that's known to cause confusion, hallucinations, anxiety and paranoia. Those symptoms are directly related to demonic influence and possession. And those are maladies that have become quite prevalent in western civilization over the past 50 years with the exponential growth of hallucinogenic drugs such as meth, PCP and LSD.

Odom's been labeled a paranoid schizophrenic. He's now considered a nut who needs extensive, long term psychiatric care. But demons? That's the stuff of ignorant minds and primitive thinking. No one actually believes in that stuff anymore, do they?

No one except those who know how and why Odom came to be the person he is. Odom opened himself up to the demonic via hallucinogenic drugs. Through the drugs, he encountered demons posing as space aliens. And the evil spirits encouraged Odom to kill Remington. Fortunately, the evil spirits didn't teach Odom how to shoot.

Why are these fallen spirits appearing as space aliens to folks such as Odom? Because, having rejected the biblical Judeo-Christian worldview, belief in extraterrestrials has become an essential part of their worldview. And the demons they encounter are encouraging that deception. From rense.com:

A large part of the available UFO literature is closely linked with mysticism and the metaphysical. It deals with subjects like mental telepathy, automatic writing and invisible entities as well as phenomena like poltergeist [ghost] manifestation and ‘possession.’ Many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to demonic possession and psychic phenomena.

Odom claims that he's perfectly sane. And he probably is, although few people are going to believe that after what he did.

Odom and millions of others who've encountered the demonic through hallucinogens or mind religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Transcendental Meditation etc. are fulfilling an ancient prophecy recorded by the apostle Paul who wrote this: "The (Holy Spirit) clearly says that in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons." (1 Timothy 4:1)

And Paul explained why people such as Odom succumb to demonic deception: "They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)

Odom will eventually be forgotten. However, someone else will do something destructive and then blame it on space aliens or extraterrestrials. They'll be classified as lunatics. And the "space aliens?" They'll find someone else to do their bidding. In this day and age, they won't have to look very far.