Actor Tom Cruise and the Danger of Scientology and UFO Cults

Tom Cruise is an enigma of contemporary American celebrity life. He’s both a famous actor and an activist in religious and psychotherapy circles. In this article we’ll take a brief look at his life through the lens of his involvement of what has been called the largest UFO cult, namely Scientology.

Tom Cruise (1962- ), was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in Syracuse, New York. While growing up his family moved frequently to locations in Canada and several US states. He attended fifteen schools in fourteen years. Cruise has said that he suffered significant trauma from his violent abusive father. He was raised Catholic and briefly attended Catholic seminary in Ohio and aspired to be a Catholic priest before he turned his attention to acting.

Cruise’s film debut was in Endless Love (1981). His real career launch began with Risky Business (1983). After this, his fame was propelled like a moonshot and he starred or co-starred in major films such as Top Gun (1986), Rain Man (1988) in which he co-starred with veteran actor, Dustin Hoffman, A few Good Men (1992) with Jack Nicholson, War of the Worlds (2005), Valkyrie (2008) and others too numerous to mention.

Cruise was married and divorced three times and has three children, two adopted and one biological. His marriages were to actresses Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes. His first wife, Mimi Rogers introduced him to Scientology.

Scientology was founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) in the early 1950s. It is generally classed as a UFO cult because of Hubbard’s “Space Opera” writings on which much Scientology doctrine is based. Of particular note is Hubbard’s writings on the alleged Xenu incident.

The Xenu incident goes something like this: there was a galactic alliance of seventy six planets ruled by the dictator, Xenu, who relocated billions of frozen humans to earth 75 million years ago, placed them in volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs and repackaged their souls. This alleged incident is connected to the claim that humans have had innumerable past lives in advanced extraterrestrial societies in the distant past. Hubbard claimed this really happened. It is part of Scientology doctrine.

The central practice of Scientology is called “auditing” in which people are given therapy to rid them of the effects of trauma they allegedly endured in past lives. The psychological therapy offered by Scientologists is what brought Hubbard and his followers into conflict with psychiatry. I’ve read Scientology literature which attacks psychiatry and anti-depressant drugs and dismisses them as pseudo-science. I’m no fan of worldly psychiatry but Scientologist auditing sounds far more dangerous.

At first blush you’re tempted to say “This is no threat at all. Who would be misled by such a strange set of uncorroborated myths?!” The truth is that many people, including many college educated and high achieving people are ensnared by this and other UFO cults.

How can they be deceived? The reason is simple. It has to do with demonic deception. The Bible contains much teaching about demons which are evil spirits. Evil spirits are real beings. We normally can’t see them because they live in another dimension, the dimension of spirit.

Seducing spirits, which are deceiving, lying spirits persuade the minds of people to put their faith in anti-christian cults of all types. I could list a large number of well educated people and celebrities who follow Hubbard and his Scientology cult. I had a close friend who was a chiropractor, a very intelligent and well educated man, who embraced Scientology. His waiting room was loaded with Scientology literature. It defies reason! Demonic deception can be very powerful especially when directed at young, impressionable minds. Tom Cruise was in his twenties when he first embraced Scientology.

UFO cults are religious groups who develop doctrine from communication with alleged extraterrestrial beings through mental telepathy and more commonly in recent years, through alleged abductions to alien spacecraft. L. Ron Hubbard, being of an older generation of Americans, did not claim to be abducted and trained by aliens on alien spacecraft. Nevertheless, his teachings are generally classed as UFO cultism. Hubbard’s teachings are placed on the ancient aliens end of the UFO cult spectrum. Hubbard’s writings on the Xenu incident make bizarre claims about alleged activities of extraterrestrials in the distant past.

Scientologists have caused controversy and gotten pushback because of social activism based on their doctrinal positions. Tom Cruise has gone so far as to say that psychiatry should be outlawed. The pot calls the kettle black! Cruise later retracted that remark. The Church of Scientology, a federally recognized religion, has largely taken over the city of Clearwater, Florida. The church owns huge swaths of downtown Clearwater and much of the retail space lies vacant. It has a huge education center there for the teaching of church doctrine.

Other commonly identified UFO cults include Raelism, Aetherius Society, Ashtar Galactic Command, Chen Tao and Heaven’s Gate.

Extraterrestrial aliens, whether they appear as reptilians or greys, are actually spirits. They are not flesh and blood astronauts in metal spacecraft. Many UFO researchers, even secular ones, are coming around to see that UFOs and aliens are spirits from the spiritual dimensions of reality.

The claim that UFOs are metal spaceships from Mars or other planets within our solar system was severely undermined when Mariner 4 took close pictures of Mars in July of 1965. Many scientists expected to see forests, grassy fields, animals and even intelligent beings on Mars. However, Mars was proven to be a cratered wasteland. All the planets beside earth in our solar system are barren. Some UFO researchers continue to claim that UFOs are metal spaceships but from planets in distant star systems.

Let me briefly explain where UFOs come from. UFO researchers are divided into two different viewpoints in explaining UFOs. These viewpoints are the extraterrestrial hypothesis and the interdimensional hypothesis. The extraterrestrial hypothesis is the claim that UFOs are metal spaceships with astronauts from planets in star systems within our own physical universe. The interdimensional view is that UFOs are nonphysical entities or spirits that travel from different dimensions and enter our universe from the unseen spiritual realm.

The interdimensional hypothesis is more consistent with the Bible and the Christian worldview because it can be inferred that the other dimensions from which UFOs travel are the same as the realm of spirit. The Bible certainly teaches about the spirit world.

Christian researchers and some secular researchers reject the extraterrestrial hypothesis and maintain the interdimensional view. Famous secular UFO researcher, Jacques Vallee, holds to the interdimensional hypothesis.

In studying UFOs, I’ve come to believe that we’re dealing with intelligent life not from another planet but from another dimension. It’s not astronauts from outer space but spirit beings from the realm of spirit. Malevolent UFO aliens are demons and they can disguise themselves as humanoid beings or astronauts.

I’m aware that good angels can also occasionally appear as lights in the sky or as lights on earth. In the Bible, in Acts 12:7, we read of an angel appearing to the apostle Peter in light. Also remember that Ezekiel the prophet, saw some bizarre but holy phenomena recorded in the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 1:4–28). Angels are good spirits that inhabit other dimensions. The dimensions they inhabit are the dimensions of the spirit world. I hold to the interdimensional viewpoint.

I regard demonic UFO aliens who travel from the spirit dimensions as generally of the same category as poltergeists, hauntings, occultism, shamanism and other manifestations of evil spirits. I hold this view because the teachings that are transmitted from aliens to leaders of UFO cults are anti-biblical and often lead to bizarre behavior such as the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide. Also, the horrific animal mutilations attributed to UFOs in which animals have their blood drained and have organs removed with surgical precision is further evidence of the demonic origin of UFO aliens.

Have no fear of demons appearing as flying saucers or disguised as extraterrestrial humanoid beings. Don’t be deceived by cult groups claiming extraterrestrial connections and phenomena. The Bible teaches that Christ is above all and every knee must bow before Christ who conquered sin through His death and resurrection. People have thwarted UFO abductions by calling on Jesus Christ for help.

UFO aliens tempt young people with drama and adventure in our present age of rocketry and space exploration. UFO cults lead people to spiritual ruin. Scientology is just one more thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. It must be exposed and vigorously refuted. We should pray for Tom Cruise and other followers of Scientology to be set free from deception.

We must point people to Jesus Christ who came in fulfillment of over 300 Old Testament Bible prophecies written hundreds of years before His birth. No other person in all of history can match this claim! Jesus worked miracles in front of eyewitnesses and this is recorded in the Gospels of the New Testament. Miracles continue to be worked today by Christians who rely on the power of Christ.

Jesus suffered and died to take upon Himself the penalty of our sins, thus making atonement. “All we like sheep have gone astray . . . and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). He rose from the dead in victory to offer forgiveness of sins to all who turn to Him in repentance. I invite you to call upon Jesus Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins!

Steps to salvation:

1) Believe that God created you and loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5–6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

© 2019 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback!
Info and ordering link available at our website: www.bnugent.org
Back issues of Defending the Faith archived on our website. <>{