Ron's Total Resolve

In his Oct 4, 2007 Last Great Day sermon entitled "Total Resolve", False Prophet Ronald Weinland exhorted his members to show Total Resolve. He demanded that the members send in their second tithe to finance his book promotion since there wouldn't be an organized Feast of Tabernacles in 2008 as a consequence of the Great Tribulation. (Ron said the same thing about the 2009 FoT during the organized 2008 FoT, but planning is underway for yet another Feast this fall.)

Near the end of the "Total Resolve" sermon, he exhorted his followers:
Brethren, please, please, please understand that now we’re to pour everything we can into what we’re doing. And that’s between now [Oct, 2007] and January [2008]. Think about your life. Think about what you’re doing.

A week later, on October 11, 2007, he posted the following on his blog:

This new post is being made over my new satellite system with Inmarsat. After the Feast of Tabernacles was concluded on Oct. 4, the following Sunday my wife and I flew to Istanbul, Turkey, where we boarded a cruise ship to begin our cruise that we announced during the Feast.

Yesterday we were in Izmir, Turkey, that is the location of ancient Smyrna, which the apostle John wrote about in Revelation in the message to the seven churches (church eras). We took a tour that took us about an hour drive north of Ismir to the old city of Pergamum (another of the seven churches). The ruins of these ancient cities is quite profound when you consider they had no modern equipment to build the kinds of structures, that are even a marvel to modern day engineers and builders. Both John and Paul had been in these places and it was rather a strange feeling to walk in some of the same areas (now in ruins) that were so majestic in their day.

Today we are in port at Athens, Greece, and we will have the opportunity to visit the ancient city of Corinth.

On Oct 20, 2007 he posted an update on his trip, letting his followers know that he hadn't fallen overboard:

Today we are spending the Sabbath in Barcelona, Spain. We will be staying here until Monday morning when we will fly back to the U.S. The internet service on the ship was at a snails pace so I was not able to do much on the internet as I had hoped to make some postings to this site while we were traveling. The last I was able to make a post was in Athens since I was using my new satellite system, but after Athens I couldn’t us it any longer. I was on the wrong side of the ship from that time on since our side only faced to the north and the satellites were in the south. So much for technology, but obviously if I was on land there would not have been a problem.

This cruise was likely the 12-day Classic Mediterranean Cruise on NCL's Norwegian Jewel. The Norwegian Cruise Line still offers this cruise itinerary on a different vessel which includes the following ports of call: Istanbul; Ephesus (Izmir); Athens (Piraeus); Dubrovnik; Venice; Naples; Rome (Civitavecchia); Barcelona. The 2009 price of the cruise depends on the cabin type with prices ranging up from $1149 per person for an ocean view cabin with a porthole. But a porthole probably would not have allowed Ron to play with his satellite phone. A room with a balcony more conducive to satellite phoning is $1619 per person and a suite is $1799 per person. A check of airfare from Cincinnati to Istanbul shows the 2009 price to be about $800 per person. These are 2009 prices but I expect that the 2007 prices would have been similar. This vacation for both Ron and Laura together with two nights in a hotel room in Barcelona probably cost over $5000 after adding in other incidentals such as transfers to the cruise ship, drinks, taxis, tours($59 per person for Pergamon), and other miscellaneous expenses. But let's say that he managed to get discounts and the vacation was only $4000.

Ron gave an explanation for the purpose of this cruise:
With the heavy schedule of traveling during the summer and then the daily pace at the Feast of Tabernacles, Laura and I were both very drained afterward. Each year the Feast season has been this way with the kind of schedule we have, and that is the reason we try to take a couple of weeks off after the Feast. This year was by far the most draining so this trip is proving to be very rejuvenating to us.

Let's review. Ron and Laura needed to spend thousands of dollars to recover from the stresses of traveling by traveling yet more. They couldn't have possibly have rejuvenated from these stresses by hanging out in their $381,000 mansion on a country club golf course for a couple of weeks. Makes total sense -- as do all things about Weinland. Total Sense about Ron's Total Resolve. It's Totally Amazing that COG-PKG members agree with the sense of entitlement that Ron feels -- after all he and Laura are the two witnesses.

Just as it's totally amazing that it's now the 11th week since Ron cursed me to speedily die from the inside, but I'm still here pointing out his contradictions.

Weinland Says I'm Sealed

False Prophet Ronald Weinland was in Lubbock, TX this weekend. Ron has laid off the prophecy for a bit, spending a good deal of the sermon attacking Rod Meredith for his article on the origin of Christ which differs from Weinland's own pet doctrines on the subject. If you want a sermon summary, I imagine that Bob Thiel will have one in a few days. But Bob will have to listen to the sermon for himself to get the tedious details.

The one interesting bit is that I'm sealed. Or at least my fate is, since I've listened to his "truth" for so long and still don't buy it. Guess I'll be taking the swan dive into the Lake of Fire right behind Aggie.

Gavin Rumney has a post comparing Ron to the fading Cheshire Cat of Alice in Wonderland because Ron's Alexa rankings have slipped a bit recently. As you can see from the graph, traffic to the-end.com did take a drop at the beginning of February. My guess is that Ron fine tuned the bids on sponsored links for various keywords and/or reduced the budget. He needs to save some money for his exit strategy in case his prophecies fail too miserably or the IRS develops a case. While reduced, the traffic volume is still significantly higher than it was this summer before he resumed Google advertising.

Gavin, I'm afraid it's a bit too soon to count Ron out. He's still traveling and still collecting tithes from too many people who are still with him. And probably will still be with him at the 2012 Feast of Trumpets when Christ still has not returned.

And I'm not counted out either, 10 full weeks after Ron cursed me to die speedily from the inside.

Weinland's Flexible Book

On June 28 after his first timeline failed, False Prophet Ronald Weinland rolled out his 50th "truth" and the second timeline which was approximately an 8-month delay from the first timeline. The following Saturday, July 5, Weinland addressed some questions he'd received:
Why did you change all the timelines? Why did you change everything that was in the book?
Weinland's response:
"It hasn’t been rewritten. It’s the same book. Nothing has changed in the content of the two books. Period. Every once in awhile we’ve had maybe a little bit edited, a word maybe that is misspelled, or something of that nature. But that’s been rare. Especially in the second book, thankfully.”

On December 21, I posted my Winter Solstice post concerning the last page of "2008 God's Final Witness" which reads:
By the fall of 2008, the United States will have collapsed as a world power, or it will have begun its collapse and no longer exist as an independent nation within six months after that time.

From his July 5 statement and what's written on the last page of the book, it was clear that he was maintaining his prophecy that the US would be "down the tubes" by June 21 of this year which is 6 months after the end of Fall of 2008.

In his December 27 sermon, Weinland stated that he'd had a couple of questions the prior week about the issue raised in my blog post about the last page of his book. (Some of his members read my blog.) He phrased the question as:
“You mean everything is postponed by 8 months? "
And in his response, he said:
If it is, so be it. ….. Things did change. And it did affect some things and why they were written in the book.
And a few minutes later on.
“Everything has been affected by the change of 8 months….. That changed everything.”

These statements are within the first few minutes of the sermons on those dates.

To review, in July nothing in the book had changed. But in December it had changed by 8 months. So, what will his explanation be after allowing for another 8 months and his prophecies are still failed? Will we have a 51st Truth and another timeline? I look for it to happen.

One thing I not looking for is my speedy death from the inside. Sixty-six days and it still hasn't happened.

Three More Weeks

False Prophet Ronald Weinland spoke from Bowling Green, KY yesterday. The first part of the sermon was plagued with interference, perhaps from Ron's cell phone. The Silent Witness had to speak up so the situation could be corrected. Usually it's someone else's cell phone that causes interruptions.

Weinland again read his long list of travel destinations through Pentecost.

Acknowledging that the HWA article he started reading last weekend was in the Feb 1972 "Tomorrow's World" and not the "Good News", Ron continued on reading about Hoeh's 19-year time cycle theory. I'm still looking for him to weave 19-year time cyles into an explanation for the failures of his prophecies.

Weinland talked about HWA's constant message that the end was 5 to 10 years away, how as a result people were reluctant to have children, and every time buying a car thinking it would be the last one. Weinland thinks that's good, I strongly disagree.

Repeating his "where eagles (vultures) gather" theme, he mentioned the many stirred up people picking on his tiny church. Ron, there aren't enough "stirred up" people picking on you but there are far too many people in your tiny church on whom you are picking. By the way, who are all these many people who are picking on you?

The last part of his sermon was spent reading selected news articles on the economy. Ron gives credit to the two-day fast and members prayers and petitions for bringing the stock market down this week. It's all about the dollar.

"Three More Weeks" is the title of this post and also that of a sermon Weinland gave March 29 in which he promised to stop preaching and acknowledge he was a false prophet if his prophesies didn't materialize by the end of July. Three weeks from yesterday is March 14, which is 90 days after December 14 when Ron and Laura rebegan their jobs as the Two Witnesses in the second timeline. In his first timeline, Weinland prophesied that nuclear explosions would happen within 45 to 90 days after the first time they began as the Two Witnesses back in April, or by July 16th.

In some circles within COG-PKG it was expected that the Second Trumpet (nuclear explosions) would occur within 45 to 90 days in the second timeline. From the pulpit, Ron has moved expectations out beyond that. I guess we'll see, in three more weeks.

And now over 9 weeks since Weinland re-pronounced his death curse on me.

Weinland's Missing 3 and 1/2 Days

False Prophet Ronald Weinland stated that he restarted his job as the Spokesman of the Two End-Time Witnesses of Revelation 11 on December 14, which is 1260 days before Pentecost of 2012 when Christ is to return. As I mentioned last week, supposedly Ron and Laura definitely knew when they became Witnesses, both times.

According to Ron, he and his wife the Silent Witness will be killed 3 1/2 days before Christ's return, but their dead bodies lying in the streets of Jerusalem will continue the testimony, which means that their jobs did not begin 1263 1/2 days before Christ's return, but rather 1260 days before Christ's return. For the sake of this discussion we'll accept that it's possible to testify after your death by having your body on public display.

Let's see what his book "2008 God's Final Witness" has to say about this. On page 22 is the following:

So this verse clearly shows that these two anointed ones of God have a specific time to do the primary thrust of their work. They know the exact day that Jesus Christ will return because they know their final work will last exactly 1,260 days. It is exactly at this point that they will be killed:

And when they [the two witnesses] shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit [Satan through his influence on men] shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified [in Jerusalem]. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three and one-half days [via television], and their dead bodies shall not be allowed to be put in graves. (Revelation 11:7-9)

These two prophets of God will complete the work that God has given them to do, then they will be killed in the streets of Jerusalem.

Let's review. According to Weinland, he testifies for 1256 1/2 days while alive and 3 1/2 days while dead. But according to both his book and the Bible, he testifies 1260 days while alive, finishes his testimony, and after that is dead for 3 1/2 days. Whether or it it's possible to testify while dead is not at all at issue.

So Ron, which one is correct? And while you're at it, define "speedily". It's now the 9th week since you laid your curse on me that I was to die speedily from the inside.

If These Are the Golden Years, Where's the Gold?

False Prophet Ronald Weinland was in Detroit yesterday. During the announcement portion of the services, he read off a long list of travel destinations most of which are posted on his web site. Weinland has listed domestic travel plans all the way into May. For Pentecost (May 31) he plans to go to the Netherlands or Belgium and the following weekend to the UK. So much for the Great Tribulation. He also stated that the Feast of Tabernacles would be observed in the same format as last year. So much for Weinland's emphatic statement in Oct 21st's Last Great Day sermon that there would not be a gathering for the Feast of Tabernacles this year, not even half of one.

Weinland read a "personal" from Herbert Armstrong written at the point of the failure of his prophecy for the beginning of the Great Tribulation in 1972. Ron, you need to get your facts straight. This was not in the Feb. 1972 issue of the "Good News". In fact there is no such issue, but there is a "Jan/Feb 1972" issue which does not have anything by Armstrong in it. The HWA personal he read was published in the Feb. 1972 issue of "Tomorrow's World" which only had two more issues after that. That makes sense, because you can't have the Millennium without the Great Tribulation first.

Armstrong claimed that he did not prophesy. While HWA, unlike Weinland, did not claim to be a "prophet of the God of Abraham", he did claim to be an apostle of God and he did prophesy. He disclaimed that the date in his booklet "1975 in Prophecy" was a firm date, saying that it was playing against media predictions of the time for a technical utopia. Let's get a bit further into "1975 in Prophecy" and read this excerpt (1956 Edition, page 10):

HWA might have thrown a weasel word or two in there. But these were overshadowed by the emphatic statements along with the end-time theme promoted in other literature such as his coworker letters.

In part of HWA's personal he discussed how he had been willing to admit error, and this is the mark of a true church. Weinland spent some time emphasizing this. Since Weinland has "admitted to errors" so many times he is truer than true.

I think this is preparing the PKG members to admit the errors of the 2nd timeline and accept the third. Two weeks after the "Great Fast" to humble the church so they could beseech God to intensify the thunders, Ron states that if there's no big thunder for a full year, "so what".

He stopped reading when the issue of 19-year time cycles came up. Supposedly the 1972 Great Tribulation was related to the end of two 19-year time cycles after HWA started his operation in 1934. I would point out that next January will be two 19-year time cycles since the start of the 1972 Great Tribulation. Perhaps Ron will somehow weave this into his next timeline.

The title of this post comes from a question from Ron he intended to be rhetorical. But it deserves an answer. The answer for too many older PKG members formerly in WCG (the "scattering") is that Ron got the gold. And possibly still has it -- I am highly skeptical of his claims that he's "drained the funds" including his Swiss bank account and "put it all into the Googling system". Weinland has demonstrated that he is not a man of his word. He did not hold true to the word he gave in his "If By Pentecost" declaration to stop preaching and acknowledge that he was a false prophet. He did not hold true to the promises he made in radio interviews that he wouldn't come up with new explanations when his prophecies failed. Yet here we are into his second timeline, and 8 weeks since he reissued his death curse against me. No, I'm inclined to believe that he still has significant funds tucked away in anticipation of the need for a personal exit.