The "Watchers"

It was a valuable lesson, as I got to see first-hand how “business” is conducted and how the producers and editors can bend and shape anything anyone says to fit their agenda.

I’m often asked what the motivation was behind the creation of the Watchers series, so with that in mind, I’ll give you the inside “skinny” as to the events leading up to the Watchers!

Experience with the History Channel

In 2010 I was asked by the History Channel to participate in a new series they were creating, called Ancient Aliens. After discussing the project with the producer’s assistant, I accepted the invitation.

A few weeks later I drove into the San Fernando Valley and found myself seated across from the producer’s assistant who began the three-hour long interview.

I sensed the crew was enjoying the answers I was giving, as I began to realize that they had never heard another explanation regarding the so-called “Extraterrestrial Phenomena,” especially from a Biblical perspective.

When the questions ended, the crew gathered around me and began to ask many follow-up questions off-camera. It was clear they were fascinated by my take on the UFO topic.

What I didn’t know at the time was that the producers had an agenda. It was this: ancient astronauts from another planet had visited Earth in the far distant past and were responsible for our earliest civilizations. They left traces of their involvement with humankind in many locations and cultures throughout the world.

A few weeks later, the episode aired and I watched with anticipation, wondering how much of my material would wind up on the show. There was a segment on the Flood of Noah and I figured this would be where my interview would be used. Sure enough, there I was, looking at myself on the TV in my own living room!

I had been heavily edited and made to seem that I believed Noah was an extraterrestrial! They had taken what I said and turned it around to say exactly the opposite of what I believed and stated!

A few months went by and the production company called, asking me to appear again on the show. I agreed, but made it very clear that I was both disappointed and discouraged by their editing process.

I did the interview, which went for another three hours and then watched the second episode a month later. This time it was better, but I began to realize that my beliefs and Biblical paradigm were at odds with the show’s “core values.”

When they asked me to come again on Season Three, I declined.

Experience with the Discovery Channel

Then the Discovery Channel called and informed me they were working on a pilot for a show, entitled, The Gray Area. I was one of the finalists who was being considered to host the show. I went to the casting call and met the producer, director and other finalists. However, I was appalled at the potential cast and began to realize how phony most of these shows really are!

I left the casting call frustrated and really agitated and called my filmmaker friend Richard Shaw to complain about the pilot and how much hooey the TV industry contained in general. We had a good laugh and I vowed never to go on another show like it again. It was, however, a valuable lesson, as I got to see first-hand how “business” is conducted and how the producers and editors can bend and shape anything anyone says to fit their agenda.

I realized the shows we see are what the “gatekeepers” want us to see. Any reference to Jesus, the Good News, or the Bible would wind up on the cutting room floor. I became angry at what I believe is an anti-Christian bias which permeates the industry. Seeing it and experiencing it for myself was a real eye-opener.

The First “Watchers” DVD

However, this was the nexus of the Watchers series. I was fed up with TV and its studios. I thought, “Why not create my own show, which would center on a Biblical paradigm?”

A few months later I got the chance. A woman contacted me and offered me five thousand dollars to make a show on UFOs. I called Richard, asking him if he wanted to help with the project.

He asked, “How much do we have in the budget?”

I responded, “Five thousand dollars!” We both laughed, realizing how ridiculous this was. But with our meager war chest, Richard’s camera in hand, and his G5 computer fired up, we began to film what would become the first in the Watchers series. We now look back at that venture and realize this was guerrilla filmmaking at its best!

From that point, Watchers began to cover different aspects of the UFO phenomena: crop circles, orbs, cattle mutilations, abductions, etc.

When we finished the project, I procured a thousand DVDs to sell. Then I posted the video on my blog and was surprised by the reaction we got, as folks actually began to buy them!

This was the humble beginning of the series. As the DVDs continued to sell we began our second installment. We started to think that we had hit a nerve, providing a look into what I believe are supernatural phenomena—UFOs being just one—and giving a Biblical explanation for them.

The Series Continues

As Richard would later say, there seemed to be no end of subjects we could cover and with that in mind we plunged into making more shows in the series. Today, they number seven in all! Richard and I are constantly bouncing ideas off each another when we work on a show. It’s just the two of us. There is no crew, no grips or lighting guys, no location scouts, limos, or fancy lunches. It’s Rick and me and we do it all ourselves.

With a near-zero budget, we interviewed author and Biblical scholar, Chuck Missler. I found myself interviewing a man upon whom I had cut my Biblical teeth so to speak, when I first became a Christian 33 years ago. I remembered that every afternoon at four o’clock, when Chuck came on the radio, I would drop what I was doing and be transfixed for half an hour. Now I was interviewing him!

Location shooting has taken Rick and me to fascinating places—in Watchers 6: The Secret Cosmic War,[1] it took us to Peru! There, we found ourselves in Paracas, which is a sleepy seaside town with only a thousand residents, and what we found there was mind boggling. The locals had preserved and displayed large, elongated skulls with structural anomalies.

While some of the skulls in Peru were the result of cradle head-boarding—a practice where boards are placed around an infant’s head to shape it—some of the skulls showed characteristics that were clearly not the result of head-boarding.

Joe Taylor, curator of the Mount Blanco museum in Plano, Texas, accompanied us on our trip and he took a cast of one of those strange skulls. I have shown this skull-cast to four medical doctors and three dentists. Without exception, they were all amazed at what they were viewing.

The general opinion was that the skull belonged to someone between 18 and 25 years of age. This is important because as a person ages, the parietal suture can close. However, contrary to what one would expect, in the skull that Joe cast, we saw no trace of a parietal suture. The skull shows characteristics that are “other than human.” This gave credence to our theory that we were looking at genetic manipulation, which happened in this area thousands of years ago.

Giants in the Land

Coincidentally, the Paracas people first emerged around 3500 years ago, which fits the period when Joshua and Caleb conquered the Promised Land. We know from Numbers 13:33 that there were giants, or Nephilim in the land, and there were different tribes, such as the Rephaim, the Zamzummim, the Amorites, Canaanites and the Anakim, to name a few.

I believe not all these tribes were wiped out. In fact, the Bible shows this clearly when David goes up against the giant Goliath, whom I believe was a Nephilim! Is it possible some of these tribes fled northward into Europe, while others crossed the Atlantic and settled in Peru? We’ll be working on this question for some time to come.

We also visited the megalithic site of Sacsayhuaman. There we saw huge stones, some weighing 120 tons, that were quarried some sixty miles from where they were finally set near Cusco, Peru, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet! The stones are polygonal in shape, which means they are many-sided and irregular. Furthermore, they were perfectly joined together without mortar! There is an interesting account in history books, which states that when the Spaniards arrived in Sacsayhuaman, they asked the local Incas, “Who made the wall?” The Inca replied, “The giants made it and it was here when we arrived!”

Strange Events from the Bible

As Christians we believe in the history that is described in the Bible. We embrace and believe in extraordinary events such as the virgin birth, talking donkeys, floating ax-heads and a man who is swallowed by a great fish and then appears on dry land three days later.

We believe the account of two gold coins which are found in the mouth of a fish, men that walk on water, others being raised from the dead, angels appearing as men and storms created by The Fallen One, Satan, who destroys Job’s entire family. We believe that his dark power turned staffs into serpents.

We also believe that Moses struck a rock that brought forth water to quench the thirst of millions. And we could name many more out-of-the-ordinary events. With that in mind, why is it that some of us dismiss the supernatural events that are taking place all around us, some of which are discussed in the Watchers series?

Where does it say in the Bible that there will be no supernatural events manifesting in the latter days? In my opinion it doesn’t. In fact, what we see is a warning from Paul who admonishes us that Satan will come with all signs and lying wonders!

Watchers will continue to explore our world through a Biblical lens. 

[Ed. Note: L.A. Marzulli was a featured speaker at our Strategic Perspectives conference. See our store for details.]