George, here’s a thought: What if “Mother Wheel”, as re the incident detailed in the Book of Ezekiel, was simply another term for a UFO? The Bible has a number of incidents which could be considered as UFO sightings. One example – the Jonah Story, you know, where he is swallowed by a whale and lives inside the whale’s belly for 3 days and is then regurgitated, whole, by said whale…fantastic, right? Well, what if this wasn’t a whale but a submarine UFO that “swallowed” Jonah for a few days? Is it so incredible that primitive people of that time might have considered a sea going UFO to be a large fish?

I don’t necessarily believe in UFOs but then I don’t necessarily disbelieve in their existence either. After all, we travel in space. And in our galaxy alone there are billions of suns and even more billions of planets. And that’s just OUR galaxy. There are supposedly millions (billions?) MORE galaxies, and filled with stars, which in turn have planets…isn’t it a bit of a stretch to believe that WE are “it” – the ONLY ONES in the entire universe?

I don’t think I’m being airy-fairy or “woo”ful in allowing for the possibility of life out there, life of all kinds, some of it FAR more technologically advanced than we are, some of it far behind us technologically, and whatever lies between.

Honestly, I’ve always thought so. How can we, little planet earth, be the only place in the universe that has – life? Isn’t believing THAT a bit of a stretch, considering the numbers?

Point being, I find it very interesting to view in some of the magical Biblical stories in the category of possible UFO sightings.

Full disclosure: I’ve never seen a UFO or experienced anything personally that way nor do I know of anyone personally who has.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t exist. I think the law of averages favor that they do. And if they do, it would certainly explain a number of “miracles” in the Bible. Maybe they’re not miracles at all, merely misunderstood technology! Just a possibility.

It isn’t possible.

This alliance is actually a mesalliance of convenience. If it were a relationship it would be a mutually convenient, extended, but ultimately temporary shack up. NOI is a poor, fringe cult of mostly poor, disadvanged, unemployed people; NOI’s leaders need MONEY. Scientology is a shrinking albeit very rich fringe cult desperate for BODIES/ Each cult has leaders who are profoundly dishonest. NOIs cannot for long remain NOIs and be Scientologists too. Other than the convenient, “for now you’ll scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” factor there is nothing linking the two cults, no real affinity or shared reality; no honest communication between the NOI and Scientologists is possible The alliance has no firm foundation; like any shack up relationship built solely on mutual convenience it is temporary and it will end, badly.

Yeah, it makes my skin crawl, too, Andrea. I also agree with everything you wrote, except for the word “almost.”

In the 1970s someone could train to be a Class IV scientology auditor and dianetic auditor in a year or less. Whatever indy groups are left would gladly welcome NOI students. They wouldn’t be following Ron’s “path to Total Freedom” but half a loaf of bread is better than no loaf at all.

(End of being facetious)

The NOI will never have enough “highly trained” auditors to deliver the “upper bridge” so they might just dump the upper bridge and stick with Dianetics and the lower bridge and start their own “delivery centers”. Pure speculation.

ISN – Since you’ve been tracking him. do you know his “official” CofS Clear # ? The last I read the CofS was claiming 79,000 + Clears.

Also, the NOI is apparently keeping its own Clear numbers and they were at 11 (eleven) so that makes Tony #12.

(trivia questions)

Once Terra Cognita wrote a very interesting post about it. Reactive mind and I guess on being clear just on the 1st dynamic.
Anyway it takes a lot of willing blindness to the cult adepts to do not see that NOI’s believes doesn’t fit but contrasts instead with what scientology wants people to think. The end is behind the corner.