Timothy Alberino is a good man, I’ll start with that. He does fantastic work and his YouTube channel kicks ass. Who is Timothy Alberino, you might ask?

I first heard of Timothy Alberino via a Richard Dolan interview. In this interview I got the scoop on the “Christian perspective” of the alien phenomenon. Worth checking out, if you’re interested.

But recently, Alberino was on my radar again regarding a recent pelacaras attack in Peru. Pelacaras, aka, “face peelers” are worthy of an article all their own. If you thought alien abductions couldn’t be more nightmarish, they just got more nightmarish.

But it was this interview on the Confessionals Podcast that deserves a response. Especially a response from somebody like me.

Christians and the paranormal usually go the route of Gary Wayne and the Genesis 6 Conspiracy. I dismiss Wayne’s theories starting by declaring the concept of “prophecy” as invalid. What is prophecy, really? It’s the product of some dude called “a prophet” who predicts the future. Anybody can do that. It’s not a thing. So to go through the Bible with armloads of duct tape and silly puddy rationalizing the hell out of everything to make the insane sane, that’s ridiculous. Fascinating, but ridiculous. And when you compare it to the work of somebody like Richard Carrier who uses facts and reason to show that the insane is in fact insane – it makes Wayne’s work look like an epic waste of time. There’s not a lot of difference between watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and reading The Genesis 6 Conspiracy.

But along comes Alberino with a twist on the Wayne-style theory, and it is a twist that I think even the non-Abrahamist or agnostic could probably buy into, or at least riff off of. Alberino has a book called Birthright. In the Confessionals Podcast video I linked, Alberino really distills the core theory in that book. If you’re a fan of the Mysterious Universe podcast, perhaps you’ve heard of “United Humanity Front” (aka the “Alien Hate League,” lol).

Alberino’s hypothesis is that aliens and transhumanism are interrelated. And in fact, if you read the book Count Down by Shanna Swan, you can add a layer of Kaczynskian technological slavery to the mix. Hell, let’s just do that. Aliens, transhumanism, industrial society, and technological slavery are chipping away at humanity’s humanness. Humanity is being lured, and tempted to become something other than human. We all face the temptation of the Faustian bargain to become greater than we are, but at the cost of our soul.

Alberino asks a very Christian question: “When Jesus comes back to bring you to the Kingdom of Heaven, will you still be human?” In my opinion, this question reaches beyond Christianity. Even metaphorically, or figuratively, this question should resonate deeply with anyone. Alberino expands on this with the Prodigal Son parable and tying it to redemption, reconciliation, and restoration. “Restoration” is heavily tied to the Garden of Eden mythology and “The Fall.” Again, even as a metaphor this has some pretty deep resonance. There’s a lot of new tricks out there people are falling for that are going to rob you of your humanity, and ultimately, your soul.

So, we at this website (which is me), yes I believe all humans have some kind of soul. And yes, I think it’s very important to hold onto it.

The other thing Alberino inadvertently floats out there is he says “Jesus was a human, just like us.” He’s trying to say that Jesus didn’t do any magic tricks, although I think that is biblically incorrect if you consider Jesus allegedly walked on water. But if you wanted to improve the metaphor for the savior-of-humanity being merely human, and not somebody like Zeus, that has some resonance. It’s like we’re all human and we all belong to the “human club.” If you decide you want to be out of the human club, then when Jesus comes back around, you don’t get to ride in the cab. Again, even for the non-Abrahamist, this resonates.

But it begs some questions. Restoration requires that we are somehow all yearning for an ancient, lost utopia. Is that mentally healthy? How is that any different than pining after the crush you had at age 13 when you’re still 50? I don’t think anybody would agree that that is healthy. I do think there is a point where humans do have to let go of a few things and accept reality for what it is. In my opinion there is no sense banking on the existence of a mythological utopia. Perhaps if you’ve seen something in a lucid dream, or an out of body experience, or a near-death experience – maybe your hunches about this lost utopia are legitimate.

We do need some kind of self-love, for sure. Too many of us are chasing some kind of dragon that is corrupting us in one way or another. Whether life has ganged up on you to lower your sperm count to 1/2 of that of your late grandfather’s, or whether every job on your resume is a company you found unethical, or whether you partied into your 50’s instead of stopping at age 29, or maybe you’re a famous celebrity that went from beautiful to ugly — does anybody really “win” the game of life? What the hell are we doing here? Some people say this is heaven, some people say this is hell, and some people say this is “school.” Perhaps I’m understating Alberino’s message as advice to “hold on to your humanity.” Christian, non-Christian, or agnostic, I believe Alberino found a virtue that all three categories can agree on. You don’t have to believe Jesus existed to hold onto your humanity and your soul.

The luck factor shouldn’t be denied. If you didn’t get rich or famous, consider it lucky. We all die alone, it doesn’t really matter if you got rich or famous. These things only matter to you, and only in the moment. Chris Rock once pointed out that the difference between rich and poor is who gets to die on a mattress.