Viper Pit or Brad Pitt

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(Image courtesy geralt via Pixabay.)

I set a Google alert for the word reptilian. Most of the alerts are either about the comic book of the same name or pet iguanas. But every once in a while, there’s a real gem, like the one on November 23, 2021.

I’m about to describe what happened that day — but you really should click on this Newsweek link and get it straight from the tap. Meet me back here afterward.

Here’s the gist — an alien visited preacher, author, and televangelist Sharon Gilbert in the form of her husband and tried to have sex with her.

“Then it claimed to be Xerxes, and then Jesus got involved, and then the alien turned out to be a reptile with a posse of gargoyles,” said Gilbert in an interview on the Jim Bakker show.

Watch her tell the full story of her Reptilian encounter here.

November 23, 2021 wasn’t the first time Sharon Gilbert had appeared on the Jim Bakker show, but I didn’t need to watch any other episodes — I’m sure they don’t hold a candle to this one. The man sitting beside Sharon and nodding supportively is her husband Derek, who’s also a preacher and author. Both of them seemed comfortable sharing Sharon’s story with what they expected to be the usual small devoted viewership.

It’s difficult to say who picked up the story first, but it was most likely Hemant Mehta on Twitter. Mehta’s tweet has 5.8 million views and 4,609 retweets five months later at the time of this writing. Make that 4,610. I just retweeted it.

Sharon Gilbert had captured lightning in a bottle, a Venn diagram where the Christian Right and ancient alien theorists collided. A Twitter user commented: “…pick a lane, aliens or angels? Make up your mind dammit.”

The sequence of events after Mehta’s tweet is fuzzy. Newsweek said it exploded when Mehta tweeted about it. Derek Gilbert remembers it differently.

“The Twitterverse is losing its mind over Sharon’s account of demonic oppression,” Derek wrote in a Facebook post on November 24. “It’s gone viral thanks to prominent neo-atheist Sam Harris, whose snarky comment was retweeted by Joe Rogan to his 7.5 million followers.”

Derek posted the video link — that’s when it started seeming a little less like public shaming and more like shameless self-promotion — Derek did have a book just coming out. Then again, who doesn’t?

When the expected few thousand Jim Bakker viewers exploded into many millions, the majority of them thought she was nuts, even by televangelist standards.

I, however, tend to feel that Sharon really did see something but would argue that it wasn’t a demon. I think it was another species. But after I typed that I checked the word count for this column. It was 666.

So maybe I’m wrong about the demon thing?

Nonetheless, my general policy is #BelieveHer. So I’m going to believe Sharon. What I have a hard time believing is that a Reptilian would be clueless enough to think a wife wants to be woken up in the middle of the night to have sex with her husband.

If there was ever a perfect opportunity to cash in a celebrity free pass, it’s this one.  You’ve got a Reptilian shape-shifter in the room — or in this case a Reptilian in a human mask — but you get my point. I don’t know who Sharon Gilbert’s celebrity free pass is. Looking at her, I’m gonna guess the ticket to her heaven’s gate would be Brad Pitt, in a tux, like in Joe Black. Or it might be Charleston Heston as Moses.

In any event, since she described having telepathic communication with him, the Reptilian should have known her celebrity free pass. And for you happily-married folks, if you’re about to say your celebrity free pass is your spouse, that’s just sad.

I personally have never had a Reptilian disguise himself as my husband, but that might be because I don’t have one. If a Reptilian wanted to have sex disguised as my ex-husband, honestly, I would rather just have him look like a Reptilian.

I must confess however that I myself have seen what Newsweek paraphrased as a posse of gargoyles when I had a near-death experience the first time I went under anesthesia. It’s a bell-weather moment that often leads to weird things coming into your life — from embracing a seize the day attitude to drop-ins of things that go bump day and night twenty-four seven.

“Don’t people usually see angels or Jesus or a tunnel of light?” I thought as I came to in the recovery room. “I see gargoyles jumping around on the medical equipment?” I tried to convince myself that gargoyles are protectors like those fierce statues that glared at Paris from every jutted point of Notre Dame, valiantly defending it from evil — just not from fire.

Then I did some Google image searches on the incubus, the common term for male creatures that make late-night booty calls. It was alarming to find that our classic portraitures of this creature often include a leering gargoyle at the end of the swooning lady’s bed. The gargoyles shall remain a mystery for now. But the incubus who is sometimes demon and sometimes angel seems like a shape-shifting Reptilian to me.

I did a social media dive to see what happened to Sharon Gilbert in the aftermath. She got more followers on Facebook. A modest  #IStandWithSharon campaign broke out, for a day. The video and related hashtags went viral, for a time. Her husband’s new Christian sci-fi book — who knew? — got a boost in sales. Sharon took the high ground. She was off Facebook for a few days. Then she went right back to posting prayer requests and quotes from scripture.

Derek Gilbert wrote a post on November 25, two days after the talk show appearance, that Sharon shared.

“There have been three types of responses to Sharon’s testimony on the Jim Bakker Show that aired Monday: Atheists who reject it because they deny the supernatural; UFO believers who accept the existence of reptilians but deny that they’re demonic; and Christians who accept the existence of the supernatural, but not *that* way. UPDATE: Sharon, and many of you, rightly noted that the *fourth* type of response is love and support from you, who *get it.* And please know that we are deeply thankful for you all,” said Derek Gilbert in the Facebook post.

This post touched my icy little heart. It made me feel sad to not have a husband, whether he comes with a reptilian stunt double or not.

Derek’s explanation of our divisions resonates not just with social media or culture in the United States, but across the globe, as we struggle to come to terms with skies full of confirmed UFOs. I’m in agreement with Derek on a couple of things: the atheists and skeptics, who are often of a scientific bent, will always assume that if anything paranormal is reported, the witness either didn’t interpret the data correctly or has an underlying neurological issue. The Ufologists err on the side of assuming everything, from religion to Wall Street, has an extraterrestrial component. As Ancient Aliens’ Giorgio Tsoukalos says on a million dollars worth of merchandise: “I’m not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens.”

Derek’s paradigm breaks down because he didn’t account for experiencers of close encounters who still feel connected to God — and in some cases more connected to God — because of the encounters. I don’t blame him for not knowing that. Most experiencers who aren’t televangelists prefer to keep their Reptilians to themselves.

My counterpoint is that it is possible to have a Reptilian show up in your bedroom and to recognize him as a different species — not a demon — and still keep your faith in God. As a matter of fact, many experiencers — even ones who are not generally devout except in times of need — have reported that reciting a prayer seems to communicate that contact is unwanted, thus ending it. Granted, that might just be because praying humans bore Reptilians so much they’ll wander off to find someone more fun. I know praying can affect me that way.

Many of Derek’s Facebook posts have alien deception as a running theme. So taken in context, Sharon’s video testimonial wasn’t that out there for them, or for the Jim Bakker Show. But at least the Gilberts acknowledge there’s confusion or connection between a biblical reference and an alien species — demons and Reptilians. They acknowledge that the ancient aliens theory at least exists, and that some of us think the references to gods, angels, and demons are mistaken aliens. I’m in that last group.

The ancient aliens theorists think humanity wove many alien species into our theologies, while the evangelists think demons are masquerading as Reptilians, and not the other way around. I found it oddly comforting that someone acknowledged there are beings that we can touch, smell, and experience as being pushy about sex. The differing dogma isn’t a concern, for this moment, anyway.

From a Reptilian perspective (if I may be so bold), if someone is too afraid to run, too ashamed to talk, and too superstitious to even mention your name, it’s a trifecta. They can hide in plain sight, run around, and do whatever. The Reptilians really should set up a human resources department.

Historically, a woman who accused a man of rape was shamed, blamed, and had her relationships and reputation ruined. Nowadays other women — and some men — might stick up for her. Maybe the same will be true of ET experiencers sometime in the future. Like Sharon. Like me.

I scrolled through Sharon’s Twitter firestorm to see how many #AlienMeToo posts there were. None, because that’s a hashtag I plan to start. Its time will come.  But a lot of women who weren’t from the religious right said #metoo for the Reptilian thing, which is impressive. In a way, Sharon Gilbert is a feminist.

Was it a publicity stunt? Of course it was. Everything is these days. Was it something the Gilberts think is true? I tend toward yes.

I didn’t reach out to Sharon or Derek Gilbert for a comment. I figured this topic will, for them, always be #TooSoon. I did the next best thing — I added my questions at the end of this article. I’ll update you if they answer.

I also didn’t reach out to Xerxes for a comment, but I think I know what it’d be. He’d want a retraction from me for calling him clueless. He’d say that a visit from a demon is almost a gift from God to an evangelist — a celebrity free pass, but in a different way. The demon makes a pass, you become a celebrity.

And I suspect a similar boon is true for Xerxes who probably invited his friends over to watch the Jim Bakker show. If it was that entertaining to millions of humans, imagine how much more so it would be to the prankster? Epic. If Xerxes ever runs for Congress, that video will surface. He will explain, as so many politicos before him have done, that everyone back then punked the evangelicals. It was a different time.

My takeaway from all this? Stories about Reptilians sell books. I feel optimistic about my upcoming sci-fi novel, Hotel Reptilia.

And I taped a photo of my celebrity free pass — Jason Isaacs — to my headboard, with a note: “Please, if you need a disguise, look like him.”

Just in case.

My follow-up questions for the Gilberts:

Sharon:

1. Do you have earlier, childhood memories, of interacting with Reptilians?

2. When you pulled off the Derek disguise, what was it made of?

3. Did he vocalize anything, or was it all telepathic?

Derek:

1. Can you clarify the third group of responses you mentioned in your FB post: “Christians who accept the existence of the supernatural, but not that way.” What way is that?

2. Who is your celebrity pass? Can you guys even have that? If it wasn’t a sin, who do you think Sharon’s would be? Is it Brad Pitt? Please say it’s Brad Pitt.

If you’re interested in a good book about this topic, I recommend Aliens, Angels and Demons: Extraterrestrial Life in Judaism/Kabbalah and its Relevance for Modern Times

Tish Eastman reports about the paranormal and writes sci-fi short stories and novels. She is the co-editor of an anthology of Experiencer poetry, CE 1-7: Poetry of Contact, that is now accepting submissions at [email protected].  Find, Like, and Follow her on on Facebook at @AlienManifest@ThatAintNoGhost, and @HotelReptilia. You can also follow her on Twitter at @TishEastman, on TikTok at @TishEastman, on Instagram at @TishEastmanon YouTube and on SoundCloud. And check out DragonTears Media if you're interested in her upcoming poetry anthology, CE 1-7, and want to see the submission guidelines.

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