The picture above depicts Jesus and Mary on what appear to be lenticular clouds. The painting is entitled "The Miracle of the Snow" and was painted by Masolino Da Panicale (1383-1440) and hangs at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Florence, Italy.
Barry H. Downing's The Bible and Flying Saucers (1968)
The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is filled with accounts of encounters with divine beings. Abraham and the 'smoking firepot' and a flaming torch that appeared in the sky as a sign of acceptance of his sacrifice (Genesis 15:17), the 'pillar of cloud'by day and the 'pillar of fire' by night that led Moses and the Israelites (Exodus 13:22), God landing on Mount Sinai in smoke, with a sound of a trumpet before them (Exodus19:18-19), Elijah being 'carried up to heaven' in a 'chariot of fire&..39; which created a whirlwind (II Kings 2:11), and of course, Ezekiel's famous close encounter. (Ezekiel 1:1-28).
The New Testament likewise contains many familiar-sounding sightings. Foremost is famous Star of Bethlehem which Matthew records that the Wise Men - probably Zoroastrian astronomer-priests - followed till it came to rest over the place where the child was (Matt. 2:9) - most unusual behavior for a supernova, comet, or planetary conjunction!
The birth itself had been immediately announced by the appearance of a messenger shining with the glory of the Lord to shepherds in the fields at night. (Luke 2:9)
Downing, himself a minister, argues that many of the terms describing such glorious and shining lights could be descriptions of UFOs. Even the shape believed to be the Holy Spirit that was seen to descend like a dove at Christ's baptism and the bright cloud at the Transfiguration, (Matt. 17:1-8) might have been extraterrestrial craft. The men in shining clothes, such as those the disciples believed were Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration, would then have been their occupants.
After the Crucifixion, yet another of these fellows came out of the sky, rolled the stone away from the tomb and announced the Resurrection. And of course, at the end of Jesus mission on Earth, he rose into the air and a cloud took him out of their sight while two of those mysterious Men in White consoled the disciples (Acts 1:6-11).
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