False Prophet Ronald Weinland

A Brief History of False Prophet Ronald Weinland

Ronald Weinland, author of "2008 God's Final Witness", claims to be a Prophet of the God of Abraham and one of the Two End-Time Witnesses prophesied in Revelation 11.  After the failures of his prophecies for specific dates such as April 17, 2008 for beginning of the Great Tribulation leading to the return of Jesus Christ in 2011, Weinland changed to a new timeline that restarted the Great Tribulation on December 14, 2008 with the return of Jesus in 2012.  Ron has designated his wife Laura as the other Witness and ordained her as a Prophetess just below him in the Government of his church.

Disclaimer:  Just in case you haven't figured it out by now, this website is not operated by False Prophet Ronald Weinland.  Nor is it operated by a current or former member of the Church of God - PKG or The Church of God, Inc.

Ronald E. Weinland was born in 1949 and grew up in in western Kansas.  During a self-described dissolute youth, he converted to Armstrongism in 1969 and was baptized into Herbert Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God (WCG). He studied at Armstrong's Ambassador College, attending the Bricket Wood campus in England from 1972-74, and after that campus closed he transferred to the Big Sandy, Texas campus.  In 1975, he graduated with a degree in theology from the unaccredited institution and a few months later married Laura Short.  Six years later, on April 18, 1981, he was ordained as a local elder while living in Houston.  In 1982 he was hired fulltime by WCG and moved to Lubbock, TX for 2 years as an assistant minister over congregations in Texas and New Mexico.  He then went on to pastor WCG congregations in Cincinnati, Ohio then in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Toledo, Ohio. 

In a sermon on December 17, 1994 in Atlanta, Herbert Armstrong's successor, WCG Pastor General Joseph Tkach Sr., dismantled Armstrongism in WCG.  A few months later Weinland left WCG and formed the United Church of God - Toledo Inc.  He and the joined the United Church of God, an International Association (UCG) for a time.  He left UCG along with part of his Toledo area congregation in May, 1997.  In February of 2000 he took control of the corporation (which had been renamed The Church of God Inc) from the lay church board.  He disfellowshipped several and others left.  He continued operations but is doing business as: the Church of God - PKG (Preparing for the Kingdom of God).  

Weinland claims to speak for God and that in 1997 he became a prophet. God's revelation comes to him, not in the form of a burning bush, but delivered directly into his mind. In his sermon of November 19, 2005 he intimated that he was one of the two witnesses and then four weeks later on December 17 made an explicit claim.  A few weeks later he dropped enough hints to indicate that the other witness would be his wife Laura.

The COG-PKG was based in Toledo, OH for a time but now is based in Cincinnati. Weinland owns an upscale home in the Cincinnati area purchased in the spring of 2005 for $381,000.  In 2008 he became the subject of an investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division concerning tax years 2004 and later, as described in this federal court filing.  In sermons he has indicated plans to flee potential prosecution relying on funds set aside in Switzerland.  In early December, 2008 he claimed in a sermon that he was repatriating these funds, implying that the US Department of Homeland Security suspected him of terrorism for moving funds overseas.  In November of 2009, a federal court judge ordered his daughter Audra who is also the church bookkeeper to appear before an IRS Criminal Investigation special agent to give testimony concerning her father's finances. 

Weinland travels extensively, both domestically and internationally including a Mediterranean luxury cruise at a time when he'd asked his followers to sacrifice financially.

More details on Ronald Weinland's personal history are available at the this biographical link.

Ronald Weinland's False Prophecies

Ronald Weinland has self-published two books: "The Prophesied End Time" in 2004 (PDF Download) and also "2008 - God's Final Witness" released in November, 2006 (PDF download). 

In his second book he declared that he would be one of the Two End Time Witnesses prophesied in Revelation Chapter 11 and that the Great Tribulation was imminent. Prior to the start of the Great Tribulation, the Seven "Thunders" mentioned in Revelation 10 were to intensify leading up to and beyond the opening of the Seventh Seal 30 days prior to the start of the Great Tribulation. Weinland presumed to define the Seven Thunders which John who is reputed to have authored the book of Revelation was not permitted to reveal. The Fifth Thunder was to include the early deaths (soon after the late 2006 publication of the book) of specific leaders of competing Armstrongite splinters.  The prophesied early deaths of these CoG leaders was offered by Weinland as proof that he is a true prophet, but all of the competing CoG leaders referred to in the book are still alive even after the beginning of Weinland's second Great Tribulation.  These CoG leaders and the order in which they were to die:  Roderick Meredith and Richard Ames of the Living Church of God followed by Gerald Flurry of the Philadelphia Church of God, David Pack of the Restored Church of God, and John Ritenbaugh of the Church of the Great God. The seven "thunders" are:

Beginning in 2004, Ron Weinland appeared on a number of local talk show radio programs promoting his book "Prophesied End Time" and himself as a prophet. He ran a Google Adwords campaign promoting his books via his website the-end.com. Search terms such as "Nostradamus" would generate a sponsored link to his website.  This Internet Ad campaign was paid for with the tithes and in some cases large donations of church members who have remortgaged their homes or cashed in their retirement savings.  in June of 2008 when Weinland announced the failure of the first timeline, he also ended the ad campaign for a few months.    According to Alexa, traffic to "the-end.com" increased in October and Google returns sponsored results for certain searches done there.  Google advertising has continued since but at a lower pace, and had capitalized on a brief interest in the move "2012" and ongoing apocalyptic interest in that year.

Ronald Weinland's first prophetic timeline with specific dates as formerly published on the COG-PKG.org website and mentioned in sermons and radio interviews was:

In a post on his blog (since removed but available elsewhere), Weinland prophesied that the effects of the First Trumpet (death of 1/3 of plant life in the US) would increase in destructive power over a seven week period beginning April 17th, 2008. Ron Weinland also prophesied that the Second Trumpet (nuclear detonations in US port cities) would occur 45-90 days after April 17, or by July 16, 2008.  Another prophecy given in sermons and radio interviews was that no new US president would be inaugurated in January of 2009.

In his sermon of March 29, 2008, Weinland made a declaration that if effects of the First Trumpet were not "abundantly clear" by Pentecost (June 8) that he would stop preaching and if the Second Trumpet did not happen by the end of July he would admit to being a false prophet, and that to not do so would be insane. However, he did not stop preaching on Pentecost when his prediction failed to materialize, thereby defining himself as an Insane Liar according to his March 29 declaration.

In June, 2008 in a web site posting on the 19th and a sermon on the 21st, he rescinded his first prophetic timeline but nevertheless declared that he was still a prophet and a minister of God. He promised a "new truth" but said that he couldn't reveal it until the Feast of Trumpets on September 30. But his new timeline and "truth" were speculated in the anti-Weinland blogosphere that same day.  Weinland revealed it to his followers the following Saturday, June 28, claiming that God answered the prayers of his followers to allow him to reveal it early. The new 50th "truth" including Weinland's second, revised prophetic timeline is:

The FAQs page of the COG-PKG website continued to display the first timeline until being revised clumsily a month later to show the second timeline. In later sermons Weinland acknowledged that he would have lost half of his members if he had not "been permitted by God" to reveal the "new truth" immediately in June without having to wait until September 30, 2008.

During the Last Great Day sermon on Oct 10, 2009, Weinland amended his timeline to account for the lack of Great Tribulation.  The definition of "time" was revised from a 360-day prophetic year down to 280 days or 40 weeks.  Given the same date for Christ's return on May 27, 2012, the Great Tribulation began on September 20, 2009, the day after the Feast of Trumpets which was the 280th day of his second timeline. 

In November of 2009, Weinland announced that he is an Apostle in addition to being a prophet. The following month, he laid claim to being the fulfillment of the Elijah-to-come, a status previously reserved for Herbert Armstrong which to deny was to deny God.  He also announced that women would be ordained as elders and in early January announced the ordinations of 58 men and women as elders including his daughter Audra and 24-year-old son Jeremy.

Ronald Weinland's Theology

Weinland's theology derives from that of Herbert Armstrong, whom he formerly regarded as the end-time Elijah. He has some differences with Armstrong regarding the "God family" or "Elohim". A major departure from Armstrongism is his 2005 declaration that Jesus did not exist prior to his conception and birth to Mary. He has extended Herbert Armstrong's 18 Truths to the "49 Truths" and on June 28, 2008 added a new Fiftieth (or Jubilee) "Truth" -- that Jesus Christ would return on Pentecost of 2012.

Weinland refers to those who were members of WCG at the time of Tkach's apostasy as "the scattering".  The COG-PKG includes around 300 of that cohort, and Weinland prophesies that his church will eventually include a "tithe of a third" or around 3000.  At present Weinland claims a membership of about 1000 to 1500 members but most of them do not have a WCG background. 

The Roman Catholic Church fits prominently in Weinland's predictions.  Allegedly the pope was to have been given special powers while in Washington, D.C. at the start of the Great Tribulation on April 17.  He's also made much of the RCC acceptance of the possibility of extraterrestrial aliens. 

Weinland has two main requirements to become baptized and join his church: (1) keeping of the seventh day sabbath and (2) tithing (paying 10% of one's income) to his church.

However, the ultimate doctrine is the belief that Ron Weinland is a prophet of God, and that everything he says is the same as if God uttered it.   This ultimate doctrine derives from Herbert Armstrong, who changed Pentecost observance from Monday to Sunday.  Weinland has stated that it would have been a sin to have observed Pentecost on Sunday before Armstrong changed his doctrine.  Weinland has used this ultimate doctrine to change other doctrines, such as the handling of second tithes -- instead of being used to attend various holy days, they are to be submitted to Ron to use to promote his prophetic delusions.

The Church of God - PKG

The Church of God -PKG (COG-PKG) is widely scattered with small groups and individuals, who listen to Weinland's sermons via the Internet or telephone hookups. Most members are located in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium and the Netherlands. There are perhaps 3 dozen members in each of the UK and Australia.  The highest concentration of members is in the area of Cincinnati, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan.  There are also groups in central Georgia and the Dallas, TX area.

Weinland gives the vast majority of the sermons for the COG-PKG, including two sermons from Jerusalem during his trip to Israel to "start his job" for the first time as the Spokesman of the Two Witnesses on April 17, 2008 and then again on December 13 for the restart. He has three evangelists: Johnny Harrell of Georgia, Terry Wrozek of Michigan, and Wayne Matthews in Australia who occasionally give sermons. There are also a number of elders in charge of various regions. Weinland travels around the US and internationally to give sermons.  During 2008 he traveled twice to Australia and three times to Europe (UK and Belgium/Netherlands) in addition to the two trips to Jerusalem.  During 2007 he traveled to Europe 3 times.

The Church of God - PKG seems to be comprised of two main demographics: older people who were formerly in the Worldwide Church of God prior to Tkach's apostasy of 1994, and younger people brought in by Internet advertising.  Weinland has two main requirements in order to be baptized as a member: observance of the 7th day sabbath (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown), and tithing which is paying 10% of one's income to his church.

Despite being technically incompetent, Ronald Weinland has used the Internet to some effect. In addition to the Google Adwords campaign and free downloads of PDFs of his books, he broadcasts his weekly sermons via the Internet. While this makes his sermons available to his recruits, they are also available to his critics.  Some critics listen to his sermons and post to blogs and forums pointing out Weinland's contradictions and failures.

If you have further questions, please email me at {ekimks AT gmail DOT com} or check out my blog for the latest updates such as: Ron's Total Resolve.

Ronald Weinland's Personal Timeline (Personal Timeline)