I think many Christians will fall for the beast and the wonders performed. Look at how theres a growing number of Christians going with the flow of secular ideologies that appear to be nobel on the surface but hide an a political agenda. I would expect the beast to be like this, appealing to sensitivities and popular culture which can be hard to resist even for Christians.
By that time I think what Christians are left many will have weak faith and even knowingly go along with things because its just too hard for them to keep their conviction with the lure of the false promises made by the new world authority and a better tommorrow. Or it may be that it gets to the point where for security and resource reasons that people have little choice but to go along and this is when Christianity will be tested and many will fall.
The trouble with wonders is that because they pass themselves of as aliens rather than supernatural beings, then any wonders are just the result of advanced technology. So any human using their equipment would be able to do the same and we could build machines / equipment to do the same once we understand the science. So nothing supernatural about it. If the 'aliens' want to have us accept them then they should have no trouble sharing some of their scientific knowledge, but whatever it may be that they do, teleportation, levitating etc, it will all be the result of science so nothing to worship there.
It will take time for people to accept and trust them & in that time it should be patently & objectively clear that its science. If they can do something that they can not explain or will not explain that seems like a 'wonder' then that's a door to people saying - these are not who they seem to be. Remember they need to deceive not just Christians but Muslims, Buddhists, all religions. It will be one thing to DISTRACT people from thinking about God for a while (there are already plenty of distractions around so whats 1 more) but quite another for them to set themselves up, or at least their leader, as God which is what the Bible says the antichrist does.
Lastly the aliens should have no problem with people wanting to continue to have their own religions, why would they possibly object to that??
They would need to present an answer to death, sin, afterlife etc and for it TO BE PROVABLE otherwise they are no more 'advanced' in that area of life than we are & that would just be THEIR belief system. They could not come here as friendly and then insist people can not have a religion when they themselves DO NOT have the answers unless they do as per my last sentence.
I am not sure. I would imagine many on earth will be in shock for some time, some sketical not for religious reasons, some just unsure to trust anyone, others wanting to embrace the new vistor/s and their tech. But I don't think we will get to a point where anyone will be insisting too much out of awe and fear.
Maybe certain people with power possibly associated with NATO may get some better insight and be our reps but who knows whether they may do some deal and keep everyone in the dark. They may help convince everyone that theres nothing to worry about and to trust them. But I do think if the beast did come as an alien then they will do whatever it takes to convince people that they are real and are here to make things better.
As Revelations mentions the beast does great signs even healing a mortal wound like which causes people to be decieved to follow him. It also says the people will wonder who can wage war against the beast like its invincible maybe through advanaced tech. So it may imply that some are just convinced by the almost magical powers but I suspect most will be in fear of the great power and authority and just go along.
Yes, it will take time to trust them, THATS the point, the longer it takes the harder it is for them to fool us. Besides if their secret agenda IS for us to trust them them what better way than to be as much of an open book to us possible. So reporters on ships, take reps on flights around the solar system, after all that should be the equivalent of taking your car to the corner shop right??
If they can't even fly a group to hover over Mars, then they are not who & what they say they are.
Satan will PAINT HIMSELF into a corner if he tries to pass himself off as an alien.
As per my last paragraph, great wonders and great healing are to be expected if you have the tech to fly interstellar distances. It would just be meeting expectations. To be seen as an alternative to God they have to EXCEED expectations, they need to really think about their KPI's
Now, when, as i believe, those great wonders & healing will NOT have any scientific explanation (ie not aliens) but can only be the result of supernatural power, then that's when people will start to say, "Hey, i think this could be God here!" That is when they are done by a man, the antichrist with no aliens around!
As to waging war, well yes, any tech that can fly interstellar distances will make mince meat of our military tech, BUT why on earth, would these so called 'aliens' want to wage war, against whom??
Far more likely that the anitchrist wins wars by brilliant strategic and tactical thinking while using everyday weapons and possibly smaller forces than his opponents. That's what will impress & its what gets him to the position of power, winning wars.
Anyone can win wars if their equipment is far enough advanced over their foes. Why would any nation become foes of these aliens anyway, what will they do and how many decades are they OVERTLY here before some people turn on them & why???
It may not be as dramatic as landing on the white house lawn. But it may be that only a small number are given access and everything is done in relative secret as it has been done for years feeding people bits of information they only want to give while telling us everything is OK. It maybe a secret deal is done with some and they work with the aliens to help bring about Satans rule.
If everything is done in relative secrecy then that just makes it that much harder for the aliens to present themselves as a viable alternative to God, church & scripture etc, not just to Christians but to all the worlds religions. Doing it by bits of information will take decades. Besides, with all the sci-fi that there is now, and most people, as evidenced by these threads, thinking that there are likely to be aliens out there, society would accept true FRIENDLY aliens very quickly. I would love to have advanced medical care available to me as i get into my senior years, to have my own personal food replicator & be able to teleport onto a ship for a trip round the solar system, Virgin Galactic eat your heart out baby!
So you don't think the current hearings in Congress have any truth to them.
Correct, the hearings will amount to a nothing burger & as i said earlier in this thread, most likely a distraction from something else, likely the stuff coming out about Biden's son etc
