False Prophet Ronald Weinland

Ronald Weinland was in Dallas yesterday, the 37th sabbath of the Great Tribulation.  No one from Oklahoma traveled to see their spiritual idol even though the journey would have been significantly less than the 12 1/2 hour trip some Canadians made last week.  So perhaps Oklahoma is OK, being one state that’s free of Ron’s delusions.  There were visitors from Louisiana and even one from Mississippi, probably Laura’s friend Lori.

Ron reviewed last week’s sermon in which he claimed that he was either an apostle or a prophet.  His proof?  A claim that truth has to come from either one of the two.  As evidence, he recited some of the 50 “truths” listed on his website, such as “truths” 35, 42, and 44.  According to Ron, he began teaching the 35th truth way back in ‘82 when he started in WCG’s full-time paid ministry in Lubbock .

To keep the tithe-slaves in line, Ron has previously promised a new truth for the Last Great Day sermon.  And Friday, yet another truth was revealed to Ron which he is not yet passing along.  Two new truths would bring us to 52 truths.  A deck has 52 cards, but then also it has a couple of jokers.  But it seems that Ron is going to hold the number of “truths” at 50 (one of God’s perfect numbers), with the latest revelation to be folded into the 50th.  I understand that — the 50th truth is getting rather smelly and needs to be refreshed. Probably the other “truth” can be integrated into one of the others such as the 38th “truth”.

Ron must be feeling a bit insecure right now.  A handful of doubters has developed, as reality has intruded with the lack of evidence of the 1st trumpet.  He warned against going on the Internet to visit sites like mine, which work to destroy faith and damage the spiritual mind.  It seems that Ron doesn’t completely understand as do I that true faith totally trumps reality.  Ron’s followers are quite adept at integrating his lame excuses and trotting them out to counter any argument of reality.  If a site like mine has any effect it would only be after someone’s faith is shaken.  Or maybe Ron does understand, and the faith of more than just a handful of his followers is shaky.

As pointed out on Gavin’s, Jack’s, and Dill Weed’s blogs, Ron took a good deal of the sermon to preach against Myspace and Facebook.  He prophesied that these sites won’t exist in the Millennium.  People will visit with their neighbors.   The problem for PKG members is that they’re so scattered that many don’t have physical contact with other members unless they travel great distances.  Weinland advocates phone calls and emails.

It would seem that some are writing comments critical of Ron on their Facebook “Wall”.  But even though Ron isn’t on Facebook, he knows what is being said because God reads it and then tells him.  (But I rather suspect that it’s Laura’s friend Lori — see, you too can be God.)  Those who criticized Ron should be afraid, very afraid.  I also caution them, because they could die a speedy death from the inside just like I have.

After Ron hinted at his ire with Facebook last week, several deleted their accounts.  After his forceful pronouncements of yesterday, I expect that many more are deleting their accounts.

Weinland repeated his theme of last week — that he was either an apostle or a prophet.  And then he insisted that he is a prophet, not an apostle.  Newsflash!! Ron, I agree with you. You are a prophet, and not an apostle.    The same was true of your spiritual idol, Herbert Armstrong.  The two of you prophesied, which made you prophets.  And both of you are the same kind of prophet — no, not one of God but rather the false kind.  Herbie made numerous false prophecies either personally or through a surrogate.  False Prophet Herbert Armstrong.  False Prophet Ronald Weinland.

Some drove 12 1/2 hours from Canada to see their spiritual idol, False Prophet Ronald Weinland, speak yesterday in the Hartford CT area.  We are now 36 weeks into the Great Tribulation, with 144 more to go.  Some note that the Feast of Trumpets is 40 weeks into the Great Tribulation — could that be a judgment that this timeline is false just like the first?

It seems that a few are beginning to doubt that Ronnie is a prophet.  They’ve awoken and taken note that the timing of the second timeline is not that of the first one.  Otherwise, “nukular” bombs would have gone off by the 90th day which was in March (5 months ago).

Ron has taken note of Facebook, indicating that he considered forbidding it but was leaving it up to individual members.  Facebook has been used by the members to keep in fellowship, but now that a few are expressing doubts it’s better that people don’t use this media which he can’t control.  It would seem that he’s jealous of a few who are usurping his position as a teacher by posting prayers and their analysis of his book on their “walls”. I expect that a few PKGers will take this “suggestion” and delete their Facebook accounts.

Speaking as a fool, he said that if he was not a prophet, then he was most assuredly an apostle.  His proof text is from Ephesians 4:11, Ephesians 2:20, & 1 Corinthians 12:28.  “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.“  Ron insists on reserving all of these roles for himself.   Apostle or Prophet, hmm.  We’re presented a false choice here, it could be something else.  I prefer the other suggestion: fool. Ron, you railed against the false doctrines of Herman Hoeh.  Who was it who came up with the doctrine that HWA was an apostle?

Ron likens this to a race, urging people not to give up.   Folks, this is not a race.  There is no finish line — Ron will run you ’til you drop.  Jesus Christ will not return on Pentecost of 2012, other than in the spiritual sense of the 35th “truth”

We understand that Jesus Christ is “continually coming” in the flesh of those who are in the Church of God. This has only been partially understood by the Church. Some scriptures refer to Christ “coming” in the flesh. Much of the Church has taken this physically, meaning that he first came to mankind while in the flesh, as a man. Other expressions about Jesus Christ “coming” are taken as though this is speaking of a time he will return to this Earth. Yet the literal Greek concerning this word is neither about a “past tense” existence, nor of a “future tense” return. The closest expression in English is that of being “present progressive,” meaning that Jesus Christ is “continually coming” into our lives (in our flesh)—of God’s spirit dwelling (abiding, continuing, living) “in” us.

Ron claims that he is the only one who has preached his 35th “truth”, and that he began preaching it in 1982, which is when he was hired full-time into the WCG ministry.

Ron took time to take a few shots at his Internet critics: his usual “where eagles are gathered” and “we’re so small” spiel.   He inoculated his members against us, stating that he’s sorry for us and that we don’t understand.  Ron, I do understand that you are a self-deluded false prophet and you need not feel sorry for me, now 35 weeks since you issued a death curse against me.

In Kirrily’s recent article hosted back on Don’t Drink the Flavor Aid, she stated:

I won’t speak for Mike, but I believe that if everything had indeed occurred as Ron said they would, that Mike would have believed that Ron was who he said he was!

I can speak for Mike, and here’s what I say:

Ron published his book “2008 — God’s Final Witness” in November of 2006. Let’s pretend that the following events had taken place between that publication date and early April of 2008 when I began this blog:

• A terrorist event here in the US exceeding that of September 11.
• Multiple earthquakes in the US exceeding those of the 1989 San Francsisco earthquake and the 1994 Los Angeles Northridge earthquake.
• Multiple weather events effecting the US each of which exceeded the damage of Hurricane Katrina.
• An economic problem exceeding that which later came to a head in September of 2008.
• The deaths of certain CoG ministers: Rod Meredith, Richard Ames, Gerald Flurry, David Pack, and John Ritenbaugh. (Yes, I’m aware of some of these individuals, and even played with Meredith’s son as a child.)
• A sustained death rate of celebrities and notables far exceeding those of late June and early July.
• A major pandemic exceeding the current swine flu pandemic and rivaling that of 1918/1919.
• The appearance of Ron and Laura on major TV news magazine shows such as “60 Minutes” and “20-20″, or at least a serious article in a magazine like Times or Newsweek.
• A noticeable religious movement rejecting the trinity doctrine and going further to reject Jesus as having eternally existed, reserving that status for Yahweh Elohim alone.

Let’s say all of the above had happened to fulfill Ronald Weinland’s Seven Thunders prophecies. Or that similar events of the same order of magnitude had occurred except that the 5 specific ministers had still died. In that case, I might have remained skeptical as to whether Ron and Laura were the Two Witnesses, but would not have started a blog mocking the False Prophet and False Prophetess. After all, my first post following the introductory post was to debunk his Second Thunder.

And let’s say the following occurred after April 17th, 2008:

• The Pope began making political overtures to nations of the United States of Europe, particularly Germany
• During the seven weeks following 4/17/08, vegetation in the US began a massive die-off for some reason, with concurrent animal deaths as their habitat was destroyed, to fullfil Ronnie’s First Trumpet prophecy as prophesied on Weinland’s blog.
• Bob Thiel of cogwriter.com and Gavin Rumney of Ambassador Watch announced the ending of their blogs due to health reasons, or even simply stopped updating them, indicating that Ron’s curses against his mockers were effective.

Then I would have had to admit the possibility that Ron and Laura were indeed the two witnesses, that their curses against their mockers were effective, and that their prophecies were true. And if these events had been followed up with specific weather events declared in advance by Ron and Laura and “nukular” detonations in US port cities by mid-July of last year, then I’d have had no choice but to admit that Ron and Laura were indeed the Two Witnesses of Revelation chapter 11. Perhaps I would include myself in the hordes joining their church and be a part of the tithe of the third of the US population or 10 million people to survive the remaining trumpets and live on into the new age.

But absolutely none of this happened. Not even close. Let’s say that world events had gone on exactly as they actually have, but that in Weinland-land some events were different. And that I had started my blog as I did in April of 2008.

Let’s say that on June 8, 2008 (Pentecost) Ron had honored his “If by Pentecost” declaration of March 29, 2008 and announced that, since the effects of the First Trumpet were not powerfully and abundantly clear, he was turning over that day’s church services to either of his evangelists Wayne Matthews or Johnny Harrell. Also that his replacement backed off from any prophetic declarations or characterizations of the Weinlands as the Witnesses.

And let’s say that by July 31, Ronald Weinland had declared that he was indeed a False Prophet, apologizing to the members of his church for misleading them, and announcing that he would be resigning as the head of “the Chuch of God, Inc.” by September 1, 2008 with his only official acts being those necessary to facilitate a smooth, legal transition to his successor.

If all of this alternative scenario had happened, I would still have started my blog in April of last year as I did. But my blogging would have tapered off in June of last year after he quit preaching. And by July I would have shut down my blog without publishing the photos of his $381,000 mansion on a golf course. Nor would I have publicized the existence of the IRS criminal investigation of Ronald Weinland. And if you think that’s “no big deal”, then google “IRS Criminal Investigation” and see how many other specific criminal investigations are mentioned at all, while Weinland’s is mentioned twice in the first 3 pages of results. Ron, you are truly a unique individual.

Ron, if your prophecies had been true, then I wouldn’t be blogging. Or if you had been true to your word, I wouldn’t be blogging either. Either way, Ron, it’s all your fault.

False Prophet Ronald Weinland was in Bowling Green yesterday, on the way back from Nashville where he was getting one of his toys adjusted.  Since the feast of 2007, Ron has had a satellite Internet terminal which he can use to deliver sermons.  He played with it a bit on his Total Resolve Mediterranean Cruise right after the 2007 FoT.

Satellite Internet doesn’t come cheap — the entry plan is $40/month and bandwidth charges are $6.49 per MB on top of that.  With a sermon MP3 running about 20 MB, do the math.  And that’s on top of paying for the equipment.  But it may be worth the price in order to be able to continue shepherding sheriffing his flock even when on the run.

Indications are that the sheep are restless.  Ronnie is complaining that a spirit of Laodicea is settling in among the new people. He urged them to “fight for the truth” and not give up after only a few months of unfulfilled prophecy.  Many of his recent recruits are younger people attracted by the keywords Ron uses in his Google ads.  This is the demographic Ron needs to cater to, in order to continue to pay his retirement costs into his old age.  He’s already mined those in “the scattering” who gave all they had to secure a slot among the 144,000.

Ron mentioned one young person who was lost as a recruit.  It seems there is a relaxation of the policy where all questions from potential recruits are referred to the website up until the recruit pays tithes and promises that they are keeping the sabbath.  Laura is getting involved, trying to bring some of the younger ones along.

Ron referred to his revelation of the 50th “truth” in June of last year.  There were repercussions to Ron for having announced the failure of his first timeline but leaving the announcement of the 50th truth as a teaser for the Feast of Trumpets.  There was murmuring and even wrath among his followers immediately following, which led Ron to reveal the 50th “truth” as soon as possible — the following Saturday.  Of course people could simply have read my blog where I announced the 50th “truth” the same day Ron indicated there was one.

Even though certain chores such as yard work and vacuuming are not performed on the sabbath, we are to make our bed on the sabbath.  I’d be in trouble because I never make my bed.  On the other hand according to a story I’ve heard, Ron will make his side of the bed if he gets up before Laura.  Not a story I could or would verify, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Moses Znaimer has an answer to Ron’s diatribe up on his ideaCity website.  Dill Weed broke the story with a post on his blog.  Ron is not inclined to accept Moses’ offer to continue the communication.  Moses passed on responding to Ron’s veiled threat of spiritual wrath, even though he’s probably unaware that it’s been 34 weeks since Ron issued his death curse against me.  Moses, given the effectiveness of Ron’s curses, you’ll probably live to host the 50th ideaCity.

How Screwed Up Are You? is the title of  a guest post on the Ambassador Watch blog.  This post was written by Dennis Diehl.  Dennis was formerly a WCG minister but since has “thought differently” about that.  The difference is that Dennis has actually repented, not merely regretted the way Ron does.  I believe that Dennis became a WCG minister about a decade before Ron did but hasn’t made anywhere near as much money from his ministerial career.

Dennis’ post relates to the effects of prophecy on people, whether promoted by “The Spokesman Witness” or one of the other false prophets who resulted from Herbert Armstrong’s own promotions. I recommend clicking on over and reading what Dennis has to say.  And perhaps leave a comment there, although it will be a short while before it shows up as webmaster Gavin has had set up comment moderation to deal with a few whackos who’ve posted there.