Questioning the Unknowns of Our Reality

Episode 64

-Begin Transcript –

Welcome to The Kingdom Hero Show, where CHRIST is KING and the TRUTH matters! Our mission: To advance the Kingdom of God through study of the Word and making real-world application of Godly character and Kingdom-mindedness.

The Mandela Effect, the paranormal, aliens & UFOs… Is any of it real? Might these things be explainable parts of God’s creation? How do we view them in light of our Christian faith? Should we even ask these questions? This is the topic of today’s episode, and we’ll dive into it shortly.

As always, I invite you to subscribe to my Rumble channel – it’s absolutely free. You will find links to that, as well as all our social media outlets, on our official website – KingdomHero.net, that’s KingdomHero.net. Free speech is still a thing on our preferred platforms – Locals, Parler, GETTR, Gab, MeWe – again, all those links are front and center at KingdomHero.net. So check it out.

We know the creation story from Genesis 1, how God created the heavens and the earth, animals, and mankind. And we read in John 1:1-3…

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

But how do we account for the unknowns of creation? How can we make sense of the things we can’t seem to adequately explain? Do we just shrug them off and pretend they don’t exist? As believers in God, do we dare question the confounding issues of our own reality? Is that heretical?

First, I want to discuss what’s known as “The Mandela Effect.” In short, it’s when large masses of people remember with certainty events of the past differently than how they supposedly happened. It’s named after one of the first and most famous instances of the phenomenon, Nelson Mandela – or more specifically, when he died. See, not everyone remembers it the way our history books say it happened.

THE BREAKDOWN

Reality 1 – Nelson Mandela died in prison.

Reality 2 – He was released from prison and became president of his country, dying many years later.

Like a great number of people, I personally recall hearing about him dying while in prison. I remember it being a big deal because he was such a polarizing figure. There was a huge funeral for him which was even televised. Only problem, that apparently didn’t happen at all.

Indeed, I also recall many years later hearing about his release from prison. When I heard that news, I was confused because I was sure he had died. He later became president of his country. Upon hearing this, I was still baffled by the contradiction in my memory. Years after when he finally passed away, I continued to wonder why I still remembered him dying while in prison. How is this possible?

WHAT IF BOTH ARE TRUE?

Events being simply “misremembered” by large masses of people – in my opinion – is highly unlikely. So that would mean the true explanation must be something else.

Which is more likely? That there are many alternate realities, or that there is ONE reality which is constantly changing?

If the former, then people like me who clearly recall Reality 1 now exist in Reality 2 – meaning that we were somehow transferred from one reality to the other. But how and why did it happen?

If the latter, then somewhere along the way Reality 1 became Reality 2. But somehow, not everyone is aware of the change. So why would some people remember the first reality while others don’t?

Or is there a third scenario, in which the reality we perceive is actually a simulation that can be programmed and altered at will? If so, perhaps only some of us are aware of changes to the simulation because of how our own programs are integrated into it. A-ha! But then, would it ever be possible for us to exist outside the simulation? And also, would that make the programmer or author of the simulation…GOD?

THAT’S RIDICULOUS! IS IT?

These are all very compelling questions, and quite difficult to answer. We can only speculate. But for those of us who hold to our belief in God, Jesus, and the Christian faith, these ideas may seem so heretical that we would dismiss them outright. I don’t think simply dismissing it is the way to go.

Questions are just that – questions. They aren’t evil, and they don’t have to be direct challenges to our faith either. Ultimately, the explanation that answers all our questions could very well turn out to be within the broader scope of God’s plan which is still beyond our understanding. But human beings are curious by nature, and we like to figure out how things work.

There are countless examples of the Mandela Effect. Tons of videos have been made and articles written about it. One of my favorite examples of the phenomenon is the movie starring the actor and comedian Sinbad as a genie called “Shazam!” No, I’m not referring to the more recent movie by that name based on the DC comic book character. And I’m not talking about the movie with Shaquille O’Neal playing a genie called “Kazaam!” This was before all that. It was Sinbad as “Shazam.” Apparently, such a movie was never made. Sinbad himself denies it, and you won’t find any copies of the movie anywhere. But like so many others, I remember seeing it advertised on TV. Other people claim they used to own a copy of the film, but now it seems to be lost.

And then, there are more recent experiences I’ve had that made me question reality. Just a few years ago while working as a transportation specialist in the metro Atlanta area, I noticed something very peculiar. I drove past an elementary school that was named after President Obama, and it caught my attention because he was still in office – this was during the latter part of his 2nd term. But this wasn’t the strange part…

A few weeks later, I drove past the same area where I remembered seeing the school, but it wasn’t there. It was an undeveloped plot of land full of trees. I was sure that was where I’d seen the school, so I was really quite confused. Within a day or so, I spotted Barack H. Obama Elementary (a magnate school) just a few miles from where I had originally seen it. Could I have been mistaken? Perhaps, but I was so certain. Like, positive. And besides, even the lettering of the school signage seemed to have changed. The 1st time I saw it, it was a brick sign with the school’s name on it in small font. But later, it was a series of large letters along the embankment next to the road that spelled out the name.

That’s just another of many examples I can give you. I still recall driving as a teenager, along with my cousin Tim, at a specific intersection where I pulled out in front of oncoming traffic by mistake – knowing with absolute certainty that we were about to get hit and possibly die. But somehow, in the blink of an eye, the vehicle that should have collided with us was on the other side headed away from us – as if it had passed through us or something! I remember Tim and I looking at each other for a moment in wonder as to what had just happened. Did God intervene somehow? Did reality change? Did we shift into a slightly different reality at the moment of collision? I honestly don’t know.

So look, I’m not trying to talk crazy conspiracy stuff or anything. I’m telling you about things that I have actually experienced. I have no idea how it’s possible, but I know that it happened because it happened to me. Maybe you have experienced something similar. So as Christians, what are we supposed to do with that?

A recent post by Prager U suggested that the possibility of a multiverse would actually be further reason to believe in Intelligent Design. It would mean that there is an even larger scope of creation than we originally thought, possessing an order and structure that most definitely suggests a Creator. After all, an infinitely intricate design requires an infinitely intelligent Designer, right? That could only be God.

What’s your perspective on this? I’d love to get your thoughts on the subject of The Mandela Effect. Is it possible that God created a multiverse? Or do you think He alters our reality as needed? Or could God be the master programmer of a simulated reality in which we all exist? Or…might the answer be something else that we’ve just never thought of yet?

WHAT ABOUT GHOSTS OR SPIRITS?

We could apply similar thinking to the paranormal. People who claim to have seen ghosts or some type of apparition – are they all just crazy? Do you think they are making it all up? I suggest you read the Biblical account in 1 Samuel 28:3-20 very closely. It tells how Saul sought out the council of the deceased Samuel through a séance ritual with a witch (or medium). Some say you can’t really speak with a dead friend or relative in a séance, that you instead may end up conversing with a demon pretending to be the person you’re seeking. While that probably has some truth to it, this passage in 1st Samuel would seem to indicate that the spirit Saul spoke with was indeed that of Samuel. In any case, the Bible does clearly tell us that we should not seek out communication with the dead. So while it may be possible, it’s likely a very bad idea and we shouldn’t try. But the point is that there is indeed more to God’s creation than what we are accustomed to seeing every day.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

And then there’s the topic of aliens & UFOs. There are a lot of obviously fake stories, and plenty of others that are suspect. But there are also more than a few very compelling accounts that would suggest the existence of something that’s hard to just explain away. Did God create other intelligent life forms on distant planets or in alternate realms? Are the beings that many have claimed were aliens in actuality demons pretending to be extra terrestrials in order to deceive the human race? There are a lot of theories regarding these ETs, as well as the strange aircrafts spotted in the skies all over the world. But how does that fit into our understanding of God’s creation?

Perhaps we will discover the answers to some of these questions through scientific studies. But then, some people would argue that science and religion are at odds with one another. They think that science can’t coexist with the Christian faith. Not true. Real science is a search for truth. Nothing is more true than the Word of God, and honest seeking will only lead to discoveries that perfectly align with the nature of God’s creation. Not necessarily our own understanding of God’s creation, but with the actual nature of God’s creation. Another recent post by Prager U states this:

Truth matters. And the truth is that real honest science leads us straight to discoveries of God’s design. It is those with the goal of eliminating God from the picture who claim otherwise. And we have only discovered a mere fraction of what God has created. Who knows what fascinating things are out there waiting to be realized?

We haven’t even gotten into other oddities like the Loch Ness monster, Chupacabra, moth man, Bigfoot, paradoxical annihilation, time travel, and a whole litany of others. Suffice to say, real or made up, there’s some kind of explanation for them all – whether we have figured it out yet or not. And I’m not going to get into all of them right now. There’s not much point.

Know this: None of these unknowns are cause for fear. Hollywood may have monopolized on the terror aspect of things like alternate realities, simulated realities, ghosts, aliens, and even demons. But the truth for Christians is that none of these things should scare us. God created EVERYTHING. If that happens to include a lot of seemingly strange concepts or beings beyond our current ability to understand, so what? It doesn’t make the Gospel less true. We have a Creator who loves us, a Savior who died and rose again for us…the supernatural is God’s domain, and His Word doesn’t change.

In Romans 8:38-39, Paul says…

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is a powerful passage! I LOVE IT! Over the course of my life I have had a lot of experiences that were beyond the day-to-day norm. There were times when I sensed the presence of evil, times when I saw things I couldn’t readily explain, and yes several of those occasions when I’ve experienced the Mandela Effect. But of all the things I’ve witnessed, sensed, or otherwise encountered, nothing has made me doubt my experience with God and His Holy Presence. And nothing can ever separate me from His amazing love!

We have to accept that there are a great many things that we simply cannot currently comprehend. This isn’t reason to abandon our faith, but reason to embrace it all the more. The answers we seek may be revealed to us at some point, but only when God sees fit. Personally, I believe that all things will be made known – eventually. Whether it’s alternate realities, one reality that keeps changing, some type of simulated reality, or something that we haven’t even imagined yet, I believe God is in control of it and it’s all designed to suit His purposes. So no matter what, we’re in good hands. Seek truth. I’m just sayin’.

-End Transcript –