A High Percentage Of LDS UFO Encounters

Are the survey results significant? One statistic thatjumps out is thé response to question number II. Thé question does not ask for an opinion but queries, "Hâve you ever seen an alien space craft or UFO?" Eight percent of thé respondents answered "yes." lfthis statistic hoids true throughout thé général LDS population, there are more than a haif million LDS members who hâve personally witnessed a UFO!

Remember that thé national adult average identified in thé Roper Organization survey was seven percent, while thé response rate of those actively participating in thé community (PSAs) was ten percent, l believe that thé statistic accurately représente thé rate ofUFO sightings among LDS Church members. Statistically, many of such sightings are explainable as misidentified flying objects or naturally occurring phenomena. However, as we see below, this still leaves us with a high number of genuine UFO encounters in our own ranks.

Aiso significant is thé response to question number 12, "Do you know anyone that daims to hâve seen an alien space craft or UFO?" Twenty-seven percent ofthe respondents answered "yes" to this question. This translates into approximately two million LDS Church members who personally know someone who bas experienced a UFO encounter.

lt is interesting, yet predictable that thé percentages of "yes" responses declined as more spécifie questions were asked. Most members believe that extraterrestrial life exists millions of miles out in space, but few believe that aliens hâve been in their back yards. What is significant is thé response to questions number 5 and 6, asking about thé respondent's beliefthat "aliens" hâve travelled into Earth's atmosphère or landed on this planet. The "yes" d Extraterrestrial Life Survey, Bountiflil, Utah, 1992.

Responses were a significant 44 % and 39 %, respectively, hovering at about 3.5 million LDS members. Thé "unsure" responses to thèse questions were 16% and 18% respectively (another 1.3 million). Thèse figures show that thé UFO phenomenon bas made a significant impression on LDS Church membership. Thé gréât significance of this fact will become increasingly apparent as you read this work.

How would thé respondents to thé LDS survey hâve differed in their responses to thé Roper Organization survey? We can oniy guess, of course, but some significant issues présent thernselves in thé Roper survey that were not covered in thé LDS survey. For instance, thé commissioners ofthe Roper survey preceded their "UFO" question with two supernatural category questions: seeing a ghost and having an out-of-body expérience. Thèse questions were included to indicate to thé respondentthat unusual, "fringe" types of questions were about to be presented.

A secondary reason for including thèse questions was that such expériences are actually related to thé UFO phenomenon, but in what way, thé commissioners were not sure. Affirmative responses to ail ofthe paranormal category questions were higher than expected, however. Thé pollsters were shocked at thé high number of affirmative responses to ail ofthe questions.

An interesting démographie differentiation in affirmative responses exists in thé Roper surveys. Thé older groups reported fewer UFO-related expériences, while those in their twenties and thirties hâve had significantly more encounters with UFOs, aliens, and night visitors. From my many conversations with LDS Church members, l suspect that even higher numbers would respond affirmatively to thé paranormal-category questions. Thé paranormal encounters seem clearly spiritual in nature. Then, one asks, how are they related to thé UFO phenomenon? That question is thé very reason for thé research and analysis in this book—to attempt to discern how ail of thé "Unsolved Mystery" phenomena that are becoming so prominent in our modem culture are related, and why they are becoming so prévalent in thèse latter days.

No other planete have yet been discovered by astronomers outside of our own solar System, with a possible exception ofone in early 1992. Yet many scientists postulate that there exist numerous planète circling myriad stars in our universe, Of these planète, some estimate that a low percentage (still, thousands of planète) are capable of sustaining life.

Although it would be statistically nearly impossible for life to exist on such planets from an evolutionary viewpoint,7 scripturally, we knaw that many are populated with transplanted human and other life forms. Being armed with this knowledge, it would be easy for us to say "yes," we are most likely being visited by our brethren from one or more of thèse distant planets. There are, however, certain pattems to thé forms of Visitation, thé forms of communication, and the content of such communication from thé bulk of thèse UPO encounters that give us gréât pause.

Reference : Brother Thompson. "ALiens & UFO" Horizon publishing.