The “Demons Did It” News Network Claims Demons Are Present In New Spielberg Movie "Disclosure Day" And How Some Even Wear Short Skirts

Crackpot Bob has a new article up about Steven Spielberg's new movie, Disclosure Day. As usual, he sees demons EVERYWHERE. 
Of course, he does.
Everything unexplained, sensational, or even fictional gets shoehorned into a demonic conspiracy. UAP disclosures? Demons. A Spielberg sci-fi movie? Demons (with shape-shifting animal aliens as a bonus nod to the Garden of Eden serpent). Fatima? Definitely demons in a short skirt. Weeping statues? More demonic proof. It’s the theological version of “if it’s not in my specific prophecy checklist, Satan did it.”
Crackpot Bob’s pattern is relentless: unidentified = demonic. Personal feelings (Spielberg’s childhood wonder) = demonic influence. Government bureaucracy creating a UAP advisory council = part of the setup for the Antichrist. This isn’t careful discernment; it’s confirmation bias on steroids, filtered through the distinctive lens of Armstrongism.The Demon Obsession and Why Demons Seem Like the Real “God” HereIn Crackpot Bob's writings (and this piece is no exception), demons aren’t just fallen angels with limited power. They’re hyper-competent cosmic deceivers who:

• Shape-shift into animals or short-skirted ladies.
• Inspire Hollywood blockbusters.
• Fool popes, governments, scientists, and the masses.
• Orchestrate “lying wonders” on a global scale in preparation for the end times.

This makes them functionally the most active and powerful force in his narrative. God is mostly offstage, waiting for the dramatic Tribulation reveal, while Satan and crew run the show with near-impunity—fooling almost everyone via UFOs, apparitions, movies, and statues. It borders on practical dualism: Satan as the effective “god of this age” (a verse Thiel loves) who is so good at his job that only the tiny “Philadelphia remnant” (i.e., his flavor of Armstrongism) sees through it.
Biblically, this is overstated. Satan is real, a liar, and the accuser. He has influence (Ephesians 2:2). But he is a created being, defeated at the cross, disarmed (Colossians 2:15), and under God’s sovereign permission. He is not co-equal with God, nor does he get to run unchecked deception without limits. Thiel’s version inflates demonic power to make the end-times narrative more urgent and his group more special.
Then, for some insane reason, he jumps to Fatima. His obsession with anti-Catholicism has no boundaries as his ADD kicks in.The Fatima “Short Skirt = Demon” Argument Is Peak Cherry-PickingCrackpot Bob leans hard on early 1917 priest reports where the children allegedly described the Lady’s skirt as falling only to the knees — scandalous by 1917 Portuguese standards. He calls this the “real secret of Fatima” (revealed in documents decades later) and proof it was demonic, not Mary.
This is weak sauce. Eyewitness accounts from traumatized kids (ages 7–10) under intense questioning can vary. Later, more detailed recollections from Lucia standardized on more modest descriptions. The Catholic Church investigated for years, looked at the fruits (message content, reported miracle of the sun witnessed by tens of thousands, conversions), and approved it. Thiel ignores all that context to score a modesty gotcha. It’s like saying an apparition must be fake because the seers’ initial drawings weren’t photorealistic.
Even if one rejects Fatima as a genuine Marian apparition, as many Protestants do, leaping to “therefore demons pretending to be space ladies” is still a massive assumption. Unexplained supernatural claims require testing by fruit and doctrine—not the fashion police from a century later who live in Arroyo Grande.Why New Covenant Christians Should Not Fear Any of ThisHere’s the core difference. Armstrongism leans heavily Old Covenant — law-keeping, holy days, tithing as binding, remnant theology, heavy emphasis on external signs and “proving” everything. The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Hebrews 8–10) is fundamentally different: God writes His law on hearts, pours out His Spirit, and gives believers direct relationship and authority through Christ.
New Covenant believers have zero reason to live in fear of demons, UAPs, shape-shifting aliens, weeping statues, or Spielberg movies:

• You have authority. Jesus said believers would cast out demons in His name (Mark 16:17). He gave disciples power over “all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). James 4:7 is simple: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Not “analyze every headline for demonic fingerprints and panic.”
• Greater is He who is in you (1 John 4:4). The indwelling Holy Spirit is not intimidated by interdimensional tricksters, plasma orbs, or Hollywood fiction.
• Test the spirits properly (1 John 4:1-3). The test is straightforward: Does it confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? Does it align with the gospel? Not “Does it wear a sufficiently long skirt?” or “Is it flying in a way that violates current aerodynamics?”
• Fear is not from God. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). Obsessing over every UAP release or movie as Satanic preparation breeds anxiety, not sound-minded faith.
• Walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Christians aren’t supposed to need constant “proof” via signs and wonders — or constant warnings about them. The strong delusion of 2 Thessalonians 2 comes on those who “did not receive the love of the truth.” Grounded believers in Christ are not the target demographic for that.

UAPs/UFOs? Most have mundane explanations (balloons, drones, birds, lens flares, classified aircraft, sensor glitches). Some remain genuinely unexplained — which means “we don’t know yet,” not “therefore demons from the spirit realm.” Extraordinary claims (interstellar visitors or shape-shifting demons) require extraordinary evidence. Science is still the best tool for the physical sky. The Bible doesn’t require us to interpret every unidentified light as spiritual warfare.
The Spielberg movie Disclosure Day is fiction. It’s entertainment exploring themes of disclosure and wonder — the same themes that made E.T. and Close Encounters popular. Linking a director’s childhood feelings to demonic deception is the kind of overreach that makes serious people tune out.Bottom LineCrackpot Bob's article isn’t careful biblical analysis. It’s a recycled conspiracy template: world events + his prophecy grid = demons everywhere, only my group sees it. It sells fear and special knowledge while downplaying the finished work of Christ and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.
New Covenant Christianity offers something far better: freedom from paranoia, authority over darkness through Jesus, and the ability to engage the world with curiosity, discernment, and peace rather than constant demon-hunting. Unexplained lights in the sky don’t threaten your faith. Neither do movies. Neither do old apparitions with debatable fashion choices.
Test everything. Stay grounded in Scripture and the Spirit. And maybe ease up on the “everything is demons” setting — it makes the actual spiritual battle harder to see clearly.
Go watch the movie this weekend and have fun. This isn't a lake of fire issue that will keep you out of Petra. No demons will be sitting next to you in the theatre ready to steal your soul. You survived E.T. the Extraterrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and you will survive this movie.

Scofield + HWA = Hybrid Heresy: How Armstrong Turned Dispensational Nonsense Into Something Even Worse

Armstrongism and Dispensationalism: 

Borrowed Prophecy, Twisted Identity, and the Glorious Failure of Both Systems

Herbert W. Armstrong, that self-appointed “apostle” who loved to claim he restored truths lost for 1,900 years, built a hefty chunk of his prophetic house on ideas he cribbed from the popular fundamentalist crowd. Enter the Scofield Reference Bible — his favorite cheat sheet. He stirred in his special secret sauce of British Israelism, church eras, mandatory law-keeping, and a dash of one-man authoritarianism. The result? A glorious hybrid monstrosity that took the worst of Dispensationalism and made it even more ridiculous. What a masterpiece of “Plain Truth”!

What Is Dispensationalism? (The Original Flavor)

Dispensationalism, cooked up by John Nelson Darby and neatly packaged by Cyrus I. Scofield, slices human history into neat little “dispensations” where God supposedly changes the rules like a cosmic game show host. Innocence, Conscience, Human Government, Promise, Law, Grace (the current “Church Age” parenthesis), and a future Kingdom.

The big selling point: a sharp, permanent wall between Israel (God’s earthly people with all those juicy land and temple promises) and the Church (a mostly Gentile heavenly afterthought inserted as a temporary gap). This leads to the crowd-pleasing pre-tribulation Rapture, a neat 7-year Tribulation focused on the Jews, and a literal millennial kingdom where national Israel gets its big comeback.

Scofield’s notes glued all this directly into the Bible text, turning speculation into something that looked almost official. Brilliant marketing, really.

Armstrong’s Love Affair with the Scofield Bible

HWA didn’t hide his admiration for the Scofield Bible. He leaned on it heavily while “studying” in the 1920s and 1930s and borrowed freely as he invented his own prophetic empire.

He kept the premillennialism, the literal-prophecy-when-it-suited-him approach, the heavy focus on Daniel and Revelation, and the 70 Weeks as a handy timeline. But true to form, he couldn’t leave well enough alone. He ditched the secret Rapture (too mainstream), replaced it with his patented “place of safety” (Petra, anyone?), and glued on British Israelism — the delightful fantasy that Americans and Brits are the lost ten tribes of Israel while the Jews play second fiddle.

Because why settle for ordinary Dispensationalism when you can make Anglo-Saxons the stars of the birthright promises? Much more exciting.

Why This Hybrid Is So Delightfully Wrong

From a New Covenant perspective grounded in the finished work of Christ, both systems are embarrassing, but Armstrongism takes the cake by adding extra layers of legalistic nonsense and ethnic myth-making.

1. Prophecy Gymnastics on Daniel’s 70 Weeks Scofield fans love inserting a giant mysterious “gap” between the 69th and 70th weeks so they can shove a future 7-year Tribulation in there. Armstrong mostly followed the historical line to Christ’s first coming (69½ weeks) but left that pesky final 3½ years dangling for end-time drama. Both approaches require Olympic-level textual contortions. The prophecy is about the Messiah finishing transgression, ending sin, atoning for iniquity, bringing everlasting righteousness, and anointing the Most Holy — all gloriously fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry, death, and the New Covenant. Not in some distant gap or Armstrongist Tribulation sideshow.

The day-year principle sounds spiritual until you realize how selectively they apply it.

2. Israel, the Church, and British Israelism Fantasy Dispensationalism’s rigid Israel/Church split already undermines the New Testament’s crystal-clear teaching of one people of God — the “one new man” in Christ. Armstrong made it exponentially worse with his Anglo-Israel fairy tale. Modern U.S. and Britain as literal descendants of the lost tribes? Thoroughly debunked by history, genetics, archaeology, and the Bible itself. The New Testament doesn’t waste time hunting for lost tribes because it doesn’t need to. In Christ, ethnic myths dissolve.

3. Legalism on Steroids Both systems cling to Old Covenant shadows, but Armstrong cranked it to eleven: mandatory Sabbath, Holy Days, tithing, clean meats, and the soul-crushing idea that you must “qualify” for the Kingdom through obedience plus faith while hoping to “become God.” Nothing says “good news” like turning grace into a lifelong performance review.

4. The Scofield Influence Problem Scofield’s notes helped popularize endless speculation, date-setting (which HWA turned into an Olympic sport), and a form of prophecy worship that often overshadows the actual gospel. Armstrong cherry-picked the parts he liked and claimed divine restoration on the rest. Classic.

The whole hybrid appealed to people hungry for “hidden knowledge,” but it delivered failed prophecies, crushed lives, and authoritarian control.

The Real Restoration That Matters (Unlike the Restored Nonsense)

Armstrongism’s desperate raid on the Scofield Reference Bible perfectly exposes the glorious comedy of both systems: a bunch of men playing prophetic mad scientist, cobbling together elaborate doomsday puzzles from human imagination instead of simply believing the finished work of Christ. Herbert W. Armstrong grabbed the dispensational toolkit that promised to “unlock” the headlines, tossed in his beloved British Israelism fairy tale and a truckload of mandatory Old Covenant rule-keeping, then had the audacity to slap a “Thus saith the Lord — Plain Truth Restored!” label on the resulting dumpster fire. The final product? A bloated hybrid that took Dispensationalism’s worst quirks — those convenient prophetic gaps, ethnic superiority myths, and temple-obsessed futurism — and supercharged them with legalistic bondage, one-man cult rule, and a legendary track record of spectacularly failed dates.

In a sharp contrast, the New Testament drops a far simpler, more glorious bombshell. In Christ, every single one of God’s promises shouts a resounding “Yes!” (2 Corinthians 1:20). There is only one people of God — Jew and Gentile smashed together into one new man in the Church, the true Israel of God by faith (Ephesians 2:11-22; Galatians 3:28-29; 6:16). The tired shadows of the Old Covenant have been fulfilled and tossed aside like yesterday’s obsolete paperwork. We’re not waiting around for a rebuilt temple, revived national distinctions, or some separate prophetic program for physical Israel. The Kingdom is already here in the risen Lord, and its full party awaits His visible return.

For all the exhausted souls crawling out of Armstrongism and its prophetic funhouse, this is actual freedom: stop sweating to “qualify” through rituals, lost-tribe fantasies, and endless chart-staring. The gospel isn’t a secret decoder ring for hidden tribes and prophetic gaps — it’s the raw power of God for salvation to everyone who simply believes.

True biblical prophecy does one thing: it points straight to Jesus — the Messiah who already showed up, who reigns right now at the Father’s right hand, and who will return visibly to make everything new. No Scofield footnotes, no Armstrong “plain truth” sales pitch, and no ridiculous ethnic hierarchies required. Just Christ, and Him crucified and risen.

That is the only restoration worth shouting about.

Silent Pilgrim

The Sermon on the Splinter: Preach Unity, Practice Divorce

Doug Winnail has written another letter to the faithful on how they all need to learn to work together, living in harmony, and be perfectly joined together.

The Importance of Working Together: Jesus referred to His disciples as His friends and encouraged them to “love one another (John 15:12–17). The Apostle Paul called those who assisted him in his ministry “my fellow workers” (Romans 16:3). Working together smoothly is a skill that we can learn, and the Bible gives us important guidelines. We are instructed to be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” and not let contentions divide us (1 Corinthians 1:10–13). We are to be humble; live in harmony; be patient; avoid being haughty, conceited, or ambitious; and be willing to yield (Romans 12:16–18; James 3:14–18). Proverbs 13:10 reminds us that pride is a major cause of contention, and Galatians 5:16–26 teaches us that using God’s Spirit is a key to eliminating dissension and promoting peace, cooperation, and friendship. Are you developing these skills?

Have a profitable Sabbath,

Douglas S. Winnail”

Beautiful words. Truly inspiring. Now let’s examine how the Living Church of God and every other Church of God splinter actually lives them.

While Winnail lectures the rank-and-file about developing the skills of humility, harmony, yielding, and eliminating dissension, the leadership of LCG and its fellow alphabet groups (UCG, PCG, COGWA, and the rest of the post-WCG wreckage) have spent the last thirty years proving they have zero interest in any of it. They split, they accused, they disfellowshiped, they competed for members and tithes, and they built separate little empires. Then they turn around and tell the people in the pews to “love one another” and “be perfectly joined together in the same mind.”

Apparently, the “fellow workers” verse only applies inside one organization at a time. Cross the invisible line into another COG group, and suddenly the same Bible that demands unity becomes a weapon for calling the other side Laodicean, rebellious, or compromised. Pride is supposedly the big problem—except when it’s the pride of the men at the top who refuse to yield an inch of control or admit that maybe their particular split wasn’t God’s idea after all.

Members are constantly reminded to be patient, humble, and willing to yield. The leadership? Not so much. They will happily quote Paul calling people “fellow workers” while treating every other COG as competition rather than co-laborers. The same men who demand that members stop being “haughty, conceited, or ambitious” have spent decades protecting their own positions, their own magazines, their own feast sites, and their own authority structures. Cooperation? Only if it doesn’t threaten anyone’s paycheck or title.

The real message behind Winnail’s article is not actually about unity at all. It is about keeping the members focused on fixing themselves while the leadership continues the very behaviors the article condemns. The splits happened because of pride, contentions, and unwillingness to yield at the highest levels—yet the solution offered is always the same: the people in the seats need to try harder to get along. The men running the organizations never seem to be the ones who need to develop those skills.

If LCG and the other groups were serious about the verses they love to quote, we would see actual attempts at reconciliation instead of endless doctrinal one-upmanship and quiet competition for the same shrinking pool of members. We would see joint efforts, shared resources, and leaders willing to swallow their pride for the sake of the “one body” they claim to represent. Instead, we get thirty years of parallel universes, each claiming to be the faithful remnant while refusing to sit at the same table with the other remnants.

This is not unity. This is managed division dressed up in Sabbath-keeping language. The leadership gets to keep their separate thrones, their separate authority, and their separate income streams, while the members get the weekly guilt trip about not loving one another enough. The hypocrisy is not subtle—it is the entire operating model.

Until the men at the top of these groups are willing to practice the humility, yielding, and cooperation they demand from everyone else, articles like Winnail’s will remain nothing more than pious-sounding reminders that the real rules only apply downward. The Bible they cite calls for one mind and one body. What the Church of God movement has delivered is a dozen separate bodies, each convinced it alone has the mind of God. That is not a failure of the members. That is a failure of leadership that has never been willing to take its own medicine.

From Allen’s Pen to Armstrong’s Pulpit: The ‘Revealed Truth’ That Was Just Yesterday’s British Israelism

Herbert W. Armstrong and the Plagiarism of Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright

Herbert W. Armstrong built much of his distinctive prophetic and identity theology around the doctrine of British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism). This teaching claims that the “lost ten tribes” of Israel migrated to northwestern Europe and that the modern English-speaking peoples—especially the British Commonwealth (Ephraim) and the United States (Manasseh)—are their literal descendants, inheriting the birthright promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

A central pillar of this teaching in Armstrong’s writings was his booklet The United States and Britain in Prophecy (originally United States in Prophecy, with various editions from the 1940s onward). Critics, former insiders, and even WCG leadership after Armstrong’s death have long pointed out that this work substantially derives from J.H. Allen’s 1902 book Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.

J.H. Allen (John Harden Allen), an American minister and author, published Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright in 1902 (with later editions, e.g., 1917). The book analyzes Old Testament prophecies, distinguishing between the Sceptre (royal lineage and Messiah promise through Judah) and the Birthright (national promises of multitude, wealth, and power through Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh). Allen argued that these promises found fulfillment in the British Empire and the United States as the modern representatives of Israel.

British Israelism itself was not original to Allen. It had roots in 18th- and 19th-century writings, including works by John Wilson (Our Israelitish Origin, 1840), Edward Hine, and others who traced supposed Israelite migrations through the Scythians, Cimmerians, and Celts to the British Isles. Allen synthesized and popularized these ideas in a more accessible American context.

Evidence of Substantial Borrowing

Side-by-side comparisons reveal extensive overlap in structure, arguments, biblical interpretations, historical claims, and even phrasing. For example:

• Both works emphasize the division of the kingdom after Solomon, with the Birthright going to Joseph’s line (the northern kingdom, “House of Israel”) and the Sceptre to Judah (southern kingdom, “House of Judah”).

• Discussions of the name “Jew” as applying only to Judah, the 2520-year punishment period (a “seven times” prophecy from Leviticus 26), and the sudden rise of Britain and America after ~1800 A.D. show strong parallels.

Critics have published detailed tables showing near-verbatim or closely paraphrased passages. One analysis notes that Armstrong’s 1967 edition of US & BC in Prophecy mirrors Allen’s wording on topics like the distinction between Jews and Israelites.

Joseph Tkach Jr., who succeeded Armstrong and led the WCG’s transformation into Grace Communion International (GCI), openly acknowledged the issue in his book Transformed by Truth and related statements: “From an ethical point of view, it is a well-known fact that Mr. Armstrong did not originate this teaching. In fact, earlier editions of the US & BC plagiarized vast portions of a book entitled Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.” Tkach noted that it was not possible to claim divine revelation for material clearly copied from an existing source.

A copy of Allen’s book was reportedly found among Armstrong’s possessions after his death, and Armstrong had referenced similar British Israel literature positively in earlier correspondence and studies (e.g., in the late 1920s/1930s while researching in libraries).

Armstrong did add his own elements—such as tying the doctrine more tightly to his broader prophetic schema (e.g., The Plain Truth magazine, radio broadcasts, and warnings of end-time punishment on the “modern descendants of Israel”)—and presented it with his charismatic, authoritative style. However, the core framework, historical identifications, and many proofs were drawn directly from Allen and the broader British Israel tradition without adequate credit in his popular publications.

Defenders sometimes argue it was common practice in that era to draw from public-domain or shared ideas without formal citation, or that Armstrong’s version had unique emphases and was “revealed” through intensive Bible study. Some claim the similarities reflect independent study of the same scriptures. However, the volume and specificity of the borrowing, combined with the lack of attribution in the booklets distributed by the millions, have led most neutral observers to classify it as plagiarism or uncredited adaptation.

Broader Pattern in Armstrong’s Work

This was not an isolated incident. Armstrong frequently synthesized existing ideas (on topics like church history, prophecy, or doctrines) and presented them as fresh revelations or his own discoveries. British Israelism served as a “central plank” for interpreting end-time prophecy, national identity, and the need for WCG membership to understand God’s plan. Dropping it after Armstrong’s death was a major step in the church’s doctrinal overhaul.
Why This Matters Little for Christians Today

For believers grounded in the New Covenant, Herbert W. Armstrong’s plagiarism of J.H. Allen’s work—and the British Israelism doctrine itself—is ultimately of minor importance. Here’s why, reasoned from Scripture:

The New Testament reorients God’s people around faith in Christ, not ethnic or national descent. Paul emphatically teaches that “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (Romans 9:6) and that true children of Abraham are those of faith: “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29; see also Romans 4, Galatians 3). Physical identities and old covenant national promises find their fulfillment and transcendence in Jesus, the true Seed.

British Israelism relies on a literal, ongoing distinction between “Israel” and “Judah” that the New Testament largely collapses. In the NT, terms like “Israel,” “Jews,” and the people of God increasingly point to the multi-ethnic church (e.g., Ephesians 2:11–22; 1 Peter 2:9–10). The promises of land, seed, and blessing are realized supremely in Christ and His spiritual kingdom, not in 19th/20th-century empires.

Plagiarism reveals character flaws—lack of transparency, overclaiming originality, and presenting human ideas as divine revelation—but it does not invalidate every teaching Armstrong promoted, nor does it define the gospel. Many teachers throughout church history have borrowed without credit; the Bereans (Acts 17:11) and faithful Christians today test all things against Scripture (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

What does matter is the gospel of grace: justification by faith, the finished work of Christ, freedom from the old covenant’s ceremonial and civil shadows (including tithing, food laws, and calendar observances as binding), and the indwelling Holy Spirit guiding believers. Obsessing over national identities or failed prophetic timelines distracts from the “better covenant” mediated by Jesus (Hebrews 8:6).

Armstrong’s errors, including this one, highlight the danger of elevating any human teacher or “one true church” claim. New Covenant Christians are called to liberty in Christ (Galatians 5), humility, and discerning truth by the Word and the Spirit—not by tracing 19th-century book borrowings or Anglo-Saxon genealogy theories.

In the end, whether HWA copied Allen extensively changes little for those resting in the New Covenant. It serves as a cautionary tale against personality cults and proof-texting for national exceptionalism, but it does not alter the unchanging truth: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Focus there, and such historical details fade into proper perspective.

Silent Pilgrim

Sources: 

A Short Critique of Herbert W. Armstrong’s British-Israelism-

The United States and Britain in Fantasy

British-Israelism, Anglo-Israelism Refuted!

Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright

Wikipedia: British Israelism

Grokpedia: British Israelism

Life at Herbert W. Armstrong College

Did Herbert Armstrong Plagiarize J.H. Allen’s Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright 

in The US&BC in Prophecy?

How the Israel Identity Truth entered the Church of God

GCI: The Central Plank Cracks