Don't Drink the .... What??

The term "Don't drink the kool-aid" is used to caution someone to not blindly believe whatever they're told. The term originated when Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple used Flavor Aid mixed with cyanide in the murder-suicide of himself and his followers. Since Flavor Aid is similar to Kool-Aid the latter entered the lexicon.

My father entered the Radio Church of God, later renamed the Worldwide Church of God which was headed by Herbert Armstrong. Herbert Armstrong and his surrogates put out the message that the "great tribulation" was to start in 1972 leading to the return of Jesus in 1975. Even before 1970 while still a teen I rejected that as too fantastic to believe. Later on when the prophecy was shown to be false Armstrong claimed that he never said that and "we don't set dates", managing to keep most of his followers who paid 10% and more of their income to him.

Religion is not the only area where people turn over their thinking to others. In politics we have ditto-heads who believe everything Rush Limbaugh says. Either you do the same, or you're one of the straw-man liberals that Rush props up only to knock down.

Recently, Ronald Weinland who was formerly one of Armstrong's preachers has claimed to be one of the Two Witnesses prophesied in Revelation 11:3-12. He also has set very specific dates, including April 17, 2008 when he is to begin his job as one of the two witnesses and spokeman for both.

I do believe that Ronald Weinland is helping to fulfill biblical prophecy -- the one in Matthew 24:11. One the other hand, the prophecies which he foretold in his book "2008 God's Final Witness" concerning the "thunders" have not occurred. The "thunders" were predictions of events to take place between the publishing of the book in 2006 and the "Opening of the 7th seal" which he says took place March 18, 2008. One prophecy he made was concerning the deaths of the leaders of other splinters from the Worldwide Church of God which broke up after the death of Armstrong in 1986. None of them have died.

So we'll look at the progression of Ronald's train wreck as his prophecies fail to materialise. Will his followers come to their senses, or will there be a Jim-Jones-style massacre? My expectation is that neither will happen. Rather, Weinland will be able to spin the facts and maintain a grip on a sufficient number of his tithe-paying followers to fund his senior years.