#2400: John Weldon

John Weldon is a wild-eyed religious fundamentalist, best known for co-authoring numerous books with fellow deranged kook John Ankerberg – apparently Ankerberg hired Weldon as a “researcher” back in 1988. Their combined output encompasses a number of booklets, such as the 48-page The Facts on UFO’s and Other Supernatural Phenomena, which “alerts readers to the evil behind the seemingly harmless fascination with UFO’s and other supernatural phenomena.” (It is notoriously short on facts, of course.) It’s all about DEMONS, as Weldon and Ankerberg see things, partially because “the UFO phenomenon simply does not behave like extraterrestrial visitors.” Indeed. 

In some more detail: “[…] the issue of the actual existence or nonexistence of extraterrestrial life is not that germane to the subject of UFO’s. Obviously, if life does exist in outer space, then God created it. But due to the occult connection, traveling from that fact to the conclusion that modern UFO’s result from such life, involves a leap of faith of Herculean proportions.” Therefore, the best explanation, according to Weldon and Ankerberg, is that people who claim to be abductees are really being tricked by demons. 

 

Other booklets released in the (apparent) series – the Anker series – include The Facts on … 

 

-       … Angels, on “how angels can help God's people today;” but beware: “their demonic counterparts deceive people”

-       … Halloween (with Dillon Burroughs), which seeks to answer for instance “what should Christians know if they choose to participate in this event?” (Hint: they certainly shouldn’t)

-       … the New Age Movement

-       … Homosexuality, subtitled “Scientific Research and Biblical Authority: Can Homosexuals Really Change?”, which promotes conversion therapy

-       … the Occult

-       … Life after Death

-       … Spirit Guides, which discusses “channeling”: “Channelers claim a spirit actually enters their body and speaks ‘guide’ through them,” but “The key issue is this: exactly who or what are these spirit guides?” No prize for guessing the Weldon & Ankerberg answer (“the demon theory cannot be ignored”)

-       … Psychic Readings

 

All of them include about as many facts as you would expect.

 

Weldon does seem to have a bit of a background on the crazier fringe of the UFO movement, though. Already in 1975, he published his Encounters with UFO’s, co-authored with Zola Levitt, which also concluded that UFOs are paranormal manifestations caused by demons. The book might even have been among the first in that particular genre of fundie ridiculousness. The follow-up book, UFO’s: What on Earth is Happening?The Coming Invasion further elaborates on how UFOs affect our conceptions of God, science, the origin of the universe and man, containing approximately as much sense as the first installment. 

 

Diagnosis: Batshit crazy fundie. Hopefully his impact is relatively limited, but his first book was apparently one of the early successes for the notorious Harvest House publishers.