I wrote an article about the Archons in Gnostic mythology, something more or less parallel to demons in ours as Christians. I thought it appropriate to mention David Icke as a controversial figure who has recently become interested in Gnosticism of account of a collusion between its mythology and his own theories.

He is a conspiracy theorist through and through, like some other characters I have met in England including the late John Gaster, a former Nazi sympathiser and a really odd character who went on and on about Arthur Guirdham. Long after I lost touch with him, he was murdered in mysterious circumstances. I originally met him at at the Society of St Pius X Mass centre in London, and he was an example of how we should be careful about getting mixed up with unsavoury people! Heavy duty conspiracy theorists include the American Alex Jones who runs the site Prison Planet. It’s weird and cloying world that requires critical thinking and questioning at every turn. G.K. Chesterton once made the observation that those who don’t believe in God would believe in just about anything.

The psychology of conspiracy theorists is of itself a fascinating study. Again, we have to wade through a morass of psychiatric hyperbole. An article in Scientific American attempts to put conspiracy theories to bed with a hot water bottle and a kiss. I too find the one about 9/11 far-fetched, but Hitler mounted a false flag operation in 1933 to destroy the Reichstag to produce justification for persecuting the Communists. The historical precedent is there. It is not always irrational. For example, I find it difficult to believe that a jet plane crashing into a building would cause more than a huge fire and localised structural damage, perhaps enough to make the top of the building fall off the bottom part. Those two buildings fell vertically, exactly like in a precisely engineered demolition job – yet the planes didn’t touch the foundations. OK, I’m not an engineer, but common sense seems to cast reasonable doubt on the official story. My mind is open, but highly suspicious. Many of these theories resonate with our profound desires, fears and archetypes. One of my worst childhood nightmares was being taken to a secret laboratory many floors underground and tortured by being experimented on. I doubtlessly “got the idea” from reading about Auschwitz and Dr Mengele. I can think of no other explanation. My wife annoys me when she blames bad weather on the weather forecaster on the radio. She knows that isn’t true – but she talks in that way all the same! We have to watch ourselves…

The problem with conspiracies is that they are sometimes true – like Nazism and probably the many criminal bankers, businessmen, politicians and others in this world. Toppled political leaders are still tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and some are found guilty and punished. To some extent or another, we all have the same suspicious instincts, especially when things are withheld from us and kept secret. We assume the worst. It’s natural.

Some things just seem to be over the top. The two big examples are reptile-human hybrids and the hollow earth theory. However, before we roll on the floor laughing, we do need to think about things. Surely, if someone is a reptile-human, it would be possible for a biologist specialised in genetics to analyse his DNA. I don’t know much about genetic science, but I read that humans have only 46 chromosomes as opposed to 48 in most primates. Our genome has similarities with that of reptiles. So, the idea doesn’t seem as far-fetched as we might think.

Also, possession by evil spirits is something very real and strange things do happen. Some humans are more susceptible than others to “channel” evil spirits as well as the souls of deceased humans who may be stuck in some kind of half-way house between one universe and another. Rationalists and psychiatrists scoff at this kind of thing, but I have heard the cries and ravings of a possessed man. There is something of a basis together with some of the stuff you find in Biblical, Greek and Nordic mythology about what were believed to be gods and humans.

David Icke claims that the world is run by such hybrids, but that most humans are not reptile-human hybrids (I keep looking for scales on my arm but don’t find any!). He claims to have identified all the reptilian families on earth, including the British Royal Family. At this stage, it gets a little hard to swallow!

What are my impressions as an Englishman? Well, for someone born in Leicester, he has the wrong accent. He talks Estuary English with glottal stops. I don’t know how appealing that is to ordinary middle-class people from London and the Home Counties. Plenty of people go to his lectures and shows. I must be something of a snob, because I’m more for Received Pronunciation without too much of an affectation. In the end, I don’t mind if someone speaks broad Scouse or Geordie as long as I can understand them! But, all the same, speech and accent are a dead give-away. As I have said, he is no wild-eyed loony: he reasons, speaks logically and acknowledges that many people take the mickey out of him. His sense of humour shows a “normal” mind, at least one that isn’t the manifestation of a diseased brain. My own opinion of mental illness is one that is extremely distrustful of psychiatry, but rather one that understands different people perceiving reality differently.

Facts and events in the world have not refuted his claims that world political elites want to lock us into an Orwellian prison, and remove all our freedom. That was obvious in the 1930’s in Germany, as it has become now. The storm clouds of war are gathering in the Middle East, and more so in the last few days – and the warring factions including the jihadists are proxies of these evil western powers. It can’t be denied. We don’t yet get killed for saying so, but that might happen one day…

The hollow earth theory is one I really find difficult to fathom. There, I am not convinced. When I was a little boy I used to lie on my back on the lawn and look up to the sky. I wondered if I was inside the earth and if the clouds were continents in the midst of the azure blue seas. A simple explanation from my father sufficed to convince me that the sky is outside the earth and that clouds are made of steam and condensed water droplets. The hollow earth theory suggests a huge hole (its location being a closely guarded secret) and some very strange creatures down there, perhaps including a resurrected Hitler and a Napoleon or two. Sorry, please excuse the cynicism. Perhaps there is a portal to another universe, a sort of Stargate like in the film, but I remain to be convinced.

On the other hand, I can accept the idea that all our existence is “holographic” and that matter is an illusion made by pure energy and consciousness. That might also sound like gobbledegook, but quantum science is mind blowing and some physical experiments have produced absolutely unpredictable results defying Newtonian physics.

What about the conspiracies to enslave us all? It’s perfectly plausible, since it happened in Germany in the 1930’s and caused World War II and in Soviet Russia under Stalin. Life is made to have us sleep and be in denial. I am not concerned about David Icke being crazy, which I don’t believe he is, but he is a highly extroverted demagogue. He knows how to get a crowd going. When I preach a sermon, I like it to resemble a fireside chat, intimate and unthreatening. Icke really gets those people going.

His scientific arguments about genetics and DNA seem to be researched and plausible. I discussed the idea of “junk DNA” which in reality seems to be useful DNA but with other purposes than simply defining the physical organism. The task of refuting Icke would have to fall to a scientist specialised in this field. The serpent is the symbol of man’s fall, and the allegory would take on a whole new meaning. What would it mean to be reptilian, since we humans are mammals? Our females do not lay eggs and we are warm blooded, and we have some characteristics in common with apes. Biologists calls us primates like chimpanzees and gorillas. Are reptiles evil, whether they are snakes, lizards or crocodiles? No more than black cats or any other animal living in this earth. What is the big deal about humans having reptilian DNA? It is symbolic of the being with no properly human feelings or empathy. Tortoises are not human at all.

Icke’s thesis depends on there being some communication between the universe of the archons and our world on similar frequencies, close enough to cause radio-like interference. That makes it possible for him to be talking sense.

With the coming Big Brother and Room 101 – with the worst torture in the world tailored for each individual, does Icke leave us with any hope? That is the story with the happy ending. Blofeld is killed and Bond gets his pretty girl. Will it happen like that in the life we know? It would depend on each of us to wake up and smell the coffee, take stock of the reality. We may be powerless, a roaring mouse against the New World Order, but we would keep our own soul whatever the cost of that may become.

I am not inclined to dismiss David Icke as insane or his theories being nonsense, but my attitude is one of prudence and being sceptical and critical. VIP people being influenced or possessed by evil spirits, perhaps – but a hollow earth seems ludicrous. I find no evidence for it. I suggest doing research and find out who believes in this sort of thing and what religious or cultural traditions they follow. He invites us to become informed, so let’s do the reading with a mind as independent from him as from the Establishment.

His greatest intuition, which is also a Christian one, is that the war cannot be won by hatred and fear, but by love and consciousness.