‘Tonight we’re discussing the subject of UFOs and the Bible.’

Dr. Frank E. Stranges has a unique ministry. His flock is devout, sincere, faithful and, some would say, heretical.

“Tonight,” Stranges solemnly told his congregation one evening, “we’re discussing the subject of UFOs and the Bible.”

And so began the monthly meeting of the National Investigations Committee on Unidentified Flying Objects, an organization based in Van Nuys that mixes New Age science with Old Testament prophecy.

As Stranges tells it, some UFOs are gifts from God, angelic visitations sent to improve the lot of humankind. On this night, Stranges and 25 listeners--most of them older men and women with gray hair and glasses--talked of God’s love and aliens in a rented meeting room at a motel in Sepulveda.

“You can see why I’m not invited to the Baptist Convention to talk about this thing,” he said.

Stranges is president of International Evangelism Crusades, which he described as a worldwide ministerial association. A portly man in a silver suit that matched his gray hair and beard, he bears a vague resemblance to actor Peter Ustinov.

He smiled often, cracked jokes and charmed his audience. Reporters at the Soviet news agency Tass, which recently reported that 12-foot-tall aliens strolled about a park in Voronezh, would love to interview him. Appropriately, he spoke in the rising and falling cadences of a minister, clearly inspiring his listeners.

The Bible, he said, records many UFOs--if one is willing to interpret the Scriptures correctly. “You’ve got to read the Bible with a spiritual mind,” he explained.

In the Book of Ezekiel the prophet described a flying disc that came from the north (“a wheel in the middle of a wheel”) and hovered over the land. The color was metallic, he said. And although some translations of the Bible describe the “eyes” of the apparition, a correct interpretation shows that Ezekiel likened these openings to “windows.” This “wheel” was no mere vision, Stranges said. It was real. It was God’s work. It was a spaceship. “Ezekiel saw something,” he said. “The children of Israel saw something.”

When the Jews fleeing Egypt roamed the desert for 40 years, a UFO described as a pillar of fire warmed the multitudes at night with its glow. “Above them was this giant pillar of fire ,” Stranges said. “This was not a natural phenomenon, this huge spaceship God provided in the wilderness.”

Throughout Stranges’ monologue the 25 listeners sat quietly, some occasionally nodding their heads in agreement.

But although some UFOs are agents of good, Stranges went on, others are agents of evil. He posed an ominous question: If you saw a UFO and space creatures asked you to come aboard, would you go?

Only a few hands nervously rose. One woman, a practical type, said, “I’d have some questions.”

Then other hands began to rise, the thought of space travel intoxicating the room. Then a few more. Stranges suddenly cut them off. “Careful now!” he warned.

“Stand in the light!” a man in the back shouted. “If you stand in the light, they leave.”

Stranges smiled like a teacher whose pupil took the top prize at the science fair. The man in the back understood. Some UFOs are not sent by God, Stranges said. Then his jovial mood turned dark. “If they’re not of God,” he asked, “who are they?”

“The devil,” someone whispered.

“Satan,” Stranges said.

The room was uneasily silent for a moment. But the message from the man in the back was reassuring. To defeat darkness one must, metaphorically speaking, stand in the light of God, he said. So it is with any evil, be it the evil of man or of extraterrestrial.

Finally, it was time for a short break. It was Stranges’ birthday, and a cake, cookies and punch covered a table at the back. “Happy birthday to you,” the crowd sang. Stranges smiled modestly.

As quick as he is to declare UFOs real, Stranges will also denounce and expose what he says are fakes. Some UFO sightings were not really alien spacecraft, for example, but disc-shaped vehicles built by Nazi scientists who fled to Patagonia in the waning days of World War II, he says. Stranges says he saw one of the Nazi flying machines once in Reno, Nev., and recounts the story in his book “Nazi UFO Secrets and Bases Exposed.”

The book on Nazi saucers was for sale that night along with paperback books by Stranges, including “The UFO Conspiracy” and “Saucerama.” The latter, the yellow cover noted, was the “revised enlarged fifth edition” of a work copyrighted in 1959. A few people browsed among the books as they ate Stranges’ birthday cake.

Later, Stranges displayed slides and told of unusual events recorded around the world. There was the time aliens landed in Finland and, in fluent Finnish, asked five boys to bring them water from a lake. As they departed the aliens said, “God bless you.” Then, Stranges said, their spacecraft turned bright red and headed for Helsinki.

Don’t be fooled by bogus sightings of UFOs, Stranges warned his listeners. Study the Bible and you will know the truth. “Ye shall know the truth,” he said, “and the truth shall set you . . . “

“Free!” the congregation chorused.

Some would call this crowd wacko. Space cadets all. But it was clear that Stranges’ listeners, who barely spoke all night, were looking for something to fill their lives and souls. They did not desert their church in their search, but expanded the scope. Now they looked to the stars.

The crowd stood as Stranges led a prayer, their arms raised in praise, their voices echoing his words. As the prayer drew to a close he said, “Help me to be of service to You . . . “

Help me to be of service to You.

“...and to my fellow man.”

And to my fellow man.

“God bless you all.”