Thanks to Aggie on I Survived Armstrong for finding this video of Robert Lifton giving a lecture. Lifton wrote "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism" in which he outlines Eight Criteria for Thought Reform.
I'm putting this up so those who are interested in False Prophet Ronald Weinland but don't read ISA have the opportunity to view this.
I've only had a chance to listen to a few minutes, and right now am headed out for the evening. (Despite Weinland's claims, I do indeed have a life.) So far Lifton is talking about Apocalyptic Violence in which cultists precipitate violence to bring about the end. I don't see Weinland as pursuing that path, but some of the characteristics Lifton mentioned do apply to the cult of Weinland and his followers.
Please give the video a watch and leave a comment with your thoughts.
Later: I've had a chance to watch the video. A couple of take-away quotes:
A guru tends to think he has discovered an ultimate human truth and must convey it to the world. A guru can be both convinced of his truth and also a con man at the same time. One doesn't eliminate the other. (About 18:25 into the video)
During the Q&A session he was asked how this could be:
The individual mind can contain opposites. That's what's so confusing. .... They can coexist in the same mind. And perhaps particularly in gurus because their claim to absolute virtue is so strong it can sustain in them very powerful patterns that I call charisma and at the same time their megalomania and paranoia can be bound up with all those destructive and murderous elements. They can coexist even though they're opposite in tendency. (About 55:15 into the video.)
Aggie asks if Weinland is drinking his own Flavor-Aid or just handing it out. According to Lifton, it could be both.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Pitchers and Taxes
False Prophet Ronald Weinland's conducted a campaign in the fall and winter of 2007 to persuade his followers to throw down their pitchers by giving him their life savings. In his "What Has Changed? part 2" sermon of Nov 3, 2007, he convinced them that they didn't have to worry about taxes on their 401k distributions if they waited until January with this statement from the sermon:
Someone asked me this last week here, “If I withdraw a certain amount right now, I’m going to be penalized, by taxes and so forth.” But see when January or February [2008] come around you’re not going to be penalized. (snorts) The following year [2009] you don’t have to worry about it too much, do you?
That would be the case if what he'd stated on the last page of his book "2008 God's Final Witness" had actually come true:
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.
Or if his prophesies on radio interviews and sermons that the US would be so far down the tubes that we would not inaugurate a new president in January. But in December of 2008 Ron said that everything was delayed by at least 8 months. Guess what? While Ron has changed his timeline, the IRS has not and it is going to be collecting 2008 taxes after all, with filing due in a couple of weeks on April 15.
So to the COG-PKG members who threw down their pitchers, I advise you to consider well before deciding not to file your 2008 taxes. Failing to file is a criminal violation and you could end up with the enjoyment of being a target of a criminal investigation just like your favorite false prophet.
If you don't have the money to pay what you owe, you'll have to pay interest until you do. Not having the funds to settle up should not be a consideration for deciding not to file. It's better to file and avoid penalties and possible criminal charges on top of the interest. I would point out that any extraordinary contribution you've made should be considered a pre-payment of your first tithe. So you could take 10% of your income and apply it to your tax bill without sinning. After all, didn't Jesus say to render to Caesar that which is Caesar's? Even Ron has taught that.
Also, see this AP article on what to do if you owe more than you can pay right now.
If you don't have your financial records together well enough to fill out your 1040 and associated forms, you can get an automatic 6-month filing extension with Form 4868 if submitted prior to April 15. I imagine that Ron's lawyers have advised him to request a filing extension -- if not they're opening themselves up for malpractice.
Someone asked me this last week here, “If I withdraw a certain amount right now, I’m going to be penalized, by taxes and so forth.” But see when January or February [2008] come around you’re not going to be penalized. (snorts) The following year [2009] you don’t have to worry about it too much, do you?
That would be the case if what he'd stated on the last page of his book "2008 God's Final Witness" had actually come true:
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.
Or if his prophesies on radio interviews and sermons that the US would be so far down the tubes that we would not inaugurate a new president in January. But in December of 2008 Ron said that everything was delayed by at least 8 months. Guess what? While Ron has changed his timeline, the IRS has not and it is going to be collecting 2008 taxes after all, with filing due in a couple of weeks on April 15.
So to the COG-PKG members who threw down their pitchers, I advise you to consider well before deciding not to file your 2008 taxes. Failing to file is a criminal violation and you could end up with the enjoyment of being a target of a criminal investigation just like your favorite false prophet.
If you don't have the money to pay what you owe, you'll have to pay interest until you do. Not having the funds to settle up should not be a consideration for deciding not to file. It's better to file and avoid penalties and possible criminal charges on top of the interest. I would point out that any extraordinary contribution you've made should be considered a pre-payment of your first tithe. So you could take 10% of your income and apply it to your tax bill without sinning. After all, didn't Jesus say to render to Caesar that which is Caesar's? Even Ron has taught that.
Also, see this AP article on what to do if you owe more than you can pay right now.
If you don't have your financial records together well enough to fill out your 1040 and associated forms, you can get an automatic 6-month filing extension with Form 4868 if submitted prior to April 15. I imagine that Ron's lawyers have advised him to request a filing extension -- if not they're opening themselves up for malpractice.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
The Great Pumpkin Passes Over
False Prophet Ronald Weinland spoke from Richmond VA, continuing his series on Passover. It was pretty boring, and Ron promises to continue this next week. The Passover service is to be delivered live at 8:15 EDT, Tues April 7.
On Monday Citizen X, after an over-abundance of caution, finally declared Ronald Weinland to be a false prophet. Several of the COG-PKG members who have posted comments there promptly declared that they were leaving the forum. The debate has become much more reasonable in the last few days, with Mal explaining in detail how Weinland has demonstrated himself to be false.
Nevertheless, some remaining there are not convinced. Nonnie stated that an anti-Wienland site accused Citizen X of "posting all the time under another name" probably in reference to comments I have made on this blog. I believe that Citizen X posted on the Ironwolf forum using the name "John G" but hasn't posted there since last May. While I have pointed that out, I haven't said that he was "posting all the time under another name". Nonnie was paranoid, thinking that Citizen X set them up. Personally I think that Citizen X has been sincere and has not played such games.
And one of the commenters there sees a parallel between Ron and Linus. Take a look and see if you agree. (Citizen X wasn't amused, and deleted the comment.)
This weekend is also the anniversary of Weinland's "If By Pentecost...." declaration in which Weinland promised to quit if his prophesies did not come true and by which he defined himself as an Insane Liar. It's also 8 weeks since the COG-PKG fasted for two days and prayed for destruction and death via an increase in the 7 thunders. So far none of them have materialized, and even the 4th thunder has lowered a bit with the stock market showing continued gains during the last 3 weeks. And now 14 weeks since the Spokesman Witness cursed me to die speedily from the inside.
On Monday Citizen X, after an over-abundance of caution, finally declared Ronald Weinland to be a false prophet. Several of the COG-PKG members who have posted comments there promptly declared that they were leaving the forum. The debate has become much more reasonable in the last few days, with Mal explaining in detail how Weinland has demonstrated himself to be false.
Nevertheless, some remaining there are not convinced. Nonnie stated that an anti-Wienland site accused Citizen X of "posting all the time under another name" probably in reference to comments I have made on this blog. I believe that Citizen X posted on the Ironwolf forum using the name "John G" but hasn't posted there since last May. While I have pointed that out, I haven't said that he was "posting all the time under another name". Nonnie was paranoid, thinking that Citizen X set them up. Personally I think that Citizen X has been sincere and has not played such games.
And one of the commenters there sees a parallel between Ron and Linus. Take a look and see if you agree. (Citizen X wasn't amused, and deleted the comment.)
This weekend is also the anniversary of Weinland's "If By Pentecost...." declaration in which Weinland promised to quit if his prophesies did not come true and by which he defined himself as an Insane Liar. It's also 8 weeks since the COG-PKG fasted for two days and prayed for destruction and death via an increase in the 7 thunders. So far none of them have materialized, and even the 4th thunder has lowered a bit with the stock market showing continued gains during the last 3 weeks. And now 14 weeks since the Spokesman Witness cursed me to die speedily from the inside.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Weinland's Wrath
In response to my last post which described Weinland's rebuttal of accusations of using free labor from church members to build up his real estate equity, commenter Tom offered his personal experience with Weinland in Erie, PA:
It's interesting to note that Weinland defended the position that there was no wrong doing when he had various church members working and building his home in Erie. He simply made the claim that everyone was well paid. Ron did make the allegation that many ministers did hold work parties and milked the membership, but he took the higher road and would not think of behaving in such a manner and taking advantage of the expertise of the membership.
However, he failed to defend that he was untruthful with the membership about his departure and that he would be selling his newly built Erie home and moving to Toledo. I was a member in the Erie church and Weinland did have work parties and would ask for volunteers to come on Sundays while his house was being built. There were many who volunteered their time cutting timber in order to clear the lot for his home. My father helped with the clearing of the lot and was paid nothing. My father wouldn't have accepted any money, but there was not even an offer.
Weinland wanted volunteers and asked people during church services for their time and participation. Many members would not accept money for their labor considering that Weinland was their pastor. If the people would have known that Weinland was leaving the Erie area, their probably would not have been the urgency to help with the construction efforts of Weinland's home.
I have only one question, why would you sell your current home and build a much larger home, if you knew that you were being transferred?
Equity! Equity, and more Equity. Weinland has even boasted in various sermons that God has blessed him with the tremendous amount of equity that he has received from selling various homes over the years.
In my opinion it has always been about the money.
Ron Weinland even sold a church minivan with high mileage to a family in the Franklin church for $10,000. Remember Ron, it was a blue Dodge Caravan.
Ron do you remember the time in Franklin when you were very angry with the members who were talking during service and not listening.
Do you remember the location?
You rented a hall in Franklin called the Knights of Columbus for the weekly Sabbath.
Remember that you were so angry that you lost your temper and stormed out the entrance nearest the podium and slammed the door. Afterward you re-entered at the rear and returned to the podium to finish your sermon. Weinland, you can call us liars, but there were 300 people there that day that saw you angry and storming out of the service.
Ex-member Deb had nothing to add about building houses, but did offer her observations of Weinland's temperment:
'Tis not surprising to read of Ronald Weinland's habit of angry outbursts in the past- for me, that was the first Red Flag that he wasn't God's Final Witness, as he said/wrote.
I recall the one time I was at a PKG Sabbath service where he was present. He was having some technical difficulties getting the up-link. He was sweating profusely and fuming - you could see the 'smoke coming out of his ears'. I thought at the time, that the thing to do would have been to ask everyone to pray for God's intervention - thus becoming more calmed & centred. He got so overheated the windows at the front of the room had to be opened - this was in mid-winter and the weather outside was below zero.
Then there were all those sermons when he starts ranting and raving.
I have no doubt that RW is in this gig for the fortune & fame. A while back, I had wondered why Ronald made such a big deal of 'promoting' Laura over the elders. I am thinking it's cuz he's either added her to the PKG payroll or he gave her a hefty raise.
My speculation is that Laura was promoted over the rest of the church as a backup plan should he end up with an extended vacation in Club Fed courtesy of IRS CI. He could give her instructions during prison visits on how to handle the church to keep it together for his eventual release.
With respect to Weinland's temper, he seems to be able to rein it in during sermons when he knows he's being recorded. Several times cell phones have gone off during his sermons and he has just laughed it off. During his Feb 16, 2008 sermon he was interrupted twice. A babbling and then fussy child went on with increasing volume for about 5 minutes before Ron calmly asked that the child be taken out. About 20 minutes later, a woman interrupted him to ask a question. Ron calmly stated that there were to be no interuptions during services, and then went on to offer an answer to her question.
Tom's allegations about the free labor to build Ron's house in Erie are unsubstantiated, but then so is Ron's rebuttal that he paid everyone. When deciding which unsubstantiated statement is more credible, I remember this statement:
If by Pentecost.... I'm just going to to make this real clear to everyone. If by Pentecost it is not powerfully and abundantly clear that there has been a great deal of destruction that will clearly encompass a third of all plant life in the US, and at least the clear results of this mingled with blood, the death of very much animal life and the beginning of large numbers in human life, then I will stop preaching. Just so that all the critics and everyone out there will understand. I am true to my word in these things. OK? And for all the critics: If by the end of July and most likely around Pentecost, if nothing has clearly caused great destruction and death.... I will make it very clear that I was a false prophet. I will do exactly what I said I would do on all of those interviews that I have held. To do less, (snorts) well, would be quite insane.
This statement was made by Insane Lying False Prophet Ronald Weinland on March 29, 2008. When Pentecost (June 8) arrived, he continued preaching. And by the end of July, he had not acknowledged being a false prophet. Rather, by the end of June he had rolled out his 50th "truth" and his second timeline.
On top of that, there's also Ron's Total Resolve Cruise to consider. And Ron's Total Resolve Refinancing of his $381,000 mansion. Considering all this, I've decided whether or not to believe Ron over Tom, and I think you can guess whom I find more credible.
It's interesting to note that Weinland defended the position that there was no wrong doing when he had various church members working and building his home in Erie. He simply made the claim that everyone was well paid. Ron did make the allegation that many ministers did hold work parties and milked the membership, but he took the higher road and would not think of behaving in such a manner and taking advantage of the expertise of the membership.
However, he failed to defend that he was untruthful with the membership about his departure and that he would be selling his newly built Erie home and moving to Toledo. I was a member in the Erie church and Weinland did have work parties and would ask for volunteers to come on Sundays while his house was being built. There were many who volunteered their time cutting timber in order to clear the lot for his home. My father helped with the clearing of the lot and was paid nothing. My father wouldn't have accepted any money, but there was not even an offer.
Weinland wanted volunteers and asked people during church services for their time and participation. Many members would not accept money for their labor considering that Weinland was their pastor. If the people would have known that Weinland was leaving the Erie area, their probably would not have been the urgency to help with the construction efforts of Weinland's home.
I have only one question, why would you sell your current home and build a much larger home, if you knew that you were being transferred?
Equity! Equity, and more Equity. Weinland has even boasted in various sermons that God has blessed him with the tremendous amount of equity that he has received from selling various homes over the years.
In my opinion it has always been about the money.
Ron Weinland even sold a church minivan with high mileage to a family in the Franklin church for $10,000. Remember Ron, it was a blue Dodge Caravan.
Ron do you remember the time in Franklin when you were very angry with the members who were talking during service and not listening.
Do you remember the location?
You rented a hall in Franklin called the Knights of Columbus for the weekly Sabbath.
Remember that you were so angry that you lost your temper and stormed out the entrance nearest the podium and slammed the door. Afterward you re-entered at the rear and returned to the podium to finish your sermon. Weinland, you can call us liars, but there were 300 people there that day that saw you angry and storming out of the service.
Ex-member Deb had nothing to add about building houses, but did offer her observations of Weinland's temperment:
'Tis not surprising to read of Ronald Weinland's habit of angry outbursts in the past- for me, that was the first Red Flag that he wasn't God's Final Witness, as he said/wrote.
I recall the one time I was at a PKG Sabbath service where he was present. He was having some technical difficulties getting the up-link. He was sweating profusely and fuming - you could see the 'smoke coming out of his ears'. I thought at the time, that the thing to do would have been to ask everyone to pray for God's intervention - thus becoming more calmed & centred. He got so overheated the windows at the front of the room had to be opened - this was in mid-winter and the weather outside was below zero.
Then there were all those sermons when he starts ranting and raving.
I have no doubt that RW is in this gig for the fortune & fame. A while back, I had wondered why Ronald made such a big deal of 'promoting' Laura over the elders. I am thinking it's cuz he's either added her to the PKG payroll or he gave her a hefty raise.
My speculation is that Laura was promoted over the rest of the church as a backup plan should he end up with an extended vacation in Club Fed courtesy of IRS CI. He could give her instructions during prison visits on how to handle the church to keep it together for his eventual release.
With respect to Weinland's temper, he seems to be able to rein it in during sermons when he knows he's being recorded. Several times cell phones have gone off during his sermons and he has just laughed it off. During his Feb 16, 2008 sermon he was interrupted twice. A babbling and then fussy child went on with increasing volume for about 5 minutes before Ron calmly asked that the child be taken out. About 20 minutes later, a woman interrupted him to ask a question. Ron calmly stated that there were to be no interuptions during services, and then went on to offer an answer to her question.
Tom's allegations about the free labor to build Ron's house in Erie are unsubstantiated, but then so is Ron's rebuttal that he paid everyone. When deciding which unsubstantiated statement is more credible, I remember this statement:
If by Pentecost.... I'm just going to to make this real clear to everyone. If by Pentecost it is not powerfully and abundantly clear that there has been a great deal of destruction that will clearly encompass a third of all plant life in the US, and at least the clear results of this mingled with blood, the death of very much animal life and the beginning of large numbers in human life, then I will stop preaching. Just so that all the critics and everyone out there will understand. I am true to my word in these things. OK? And for all the critics: If by the end of July and most likely around Pentecost, if nothing has clearly caused great destruction and death.... I will make it very clear that I was a false prophet. I will do exactly what I said I would do on all of those interviews that I have held. To do less, (snorts) well, would be quite insane.
This statement was made by Insane Lying False Prophet Ronald Weinland on March 29, 2008. When Pentecost (June 8) arrived, he continued preaching. And by the end of July, he had not acknowledged being a false prophet. Rather, by the end of June he had rolled out his 50th "truth" and his second timeline.
On top of that, there's also Ron's Total Resolve Cruise to consider. And Ron's Total Resolve Refinancing of his $381,000 mansion. Considering all this, I've decided whether or not to believe Ron over Tom, and I think you can guess whom I find more credible.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Ron Googles Himself
False Prophet Ronald Weinland was in Orlando, Florida today. Ron blamed the difficulties with the Internet connection last week on his webmaster son. Jeremy was doing some maintenance on the church website at a critical time when the live sermon was getting started. Jeremy lives in Germany, so his sabbath was over when it's 2:30 on Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati.
I noticed that the sermon from two weeks ago (March 7) is still not posted. So I wonder whether that means strike two for Jeremy or that Jeremy has already been fired. And maybe strike three is the web site is not set up to allow Ron to be able to post a recording of today's sermon on the church website.
In reality, the "live" sermon audio is streamed from a different server, not directly from the church website. The church website only links to the streaming audio server, which was up and running at 2:30 PM EDT last Saturday. The church website problems had nothing to do with that.
Weinland cautioned his members against contacting others who left comments on the YouTube video he plugged a couple of weeks ago. According to Ron, some of his members encouraged others to get baptized.
The sermon topic was how to observe the upcoming Passover for all the new members Weinland claims to have. It might be interesting for all the different areas who meet regularly to compare notes and see if any have experienced a tripling in attendance as Weinland has claimed.
Ron did take an aside during the sermon to mention that he Googled himself. Apparently he ended up on the "Who Was Ronald Weinland?" blog post put up over a year ago by another blogger. He took great exception to that post giving the wrong birth year (our False Prophet was born in 1949, not 1950). He also claimed it stated that he was born and raised in North Carolina. Actually it doesn't say that he was born there, just that he was converted to Armstrongism while there. In reality, Ron grew up in western Kansas, attending college in Hays.
Weinland spent even more time rebutting the allegation (which is clearly characterized as an allegation) that he had his house in Erie built partially using free labor from church members. Ron claims that everyone was paid. I don't know whether or not the allegation is true, but I'm not accepting Weinland's claim that it's false. Just as I didn't accept his Total Resolve claim that he was refinancing his house. As far as I'm concerned, the verdict on his financial dealings with his Erie congregation is still open and the statement on the other blog remains an unresolved allegation.
I'll take this opportunity to plug my Ronald Weinland summary web page. On that site, I also have a biographical timeline for Weinland. While I can't guarantee it to be error free, I have tried to get reliable sources for what I put there. For example, it has been reported to me that Weinland was born in Colorado but since I couldn't confirm it independently I haven't published that information. Can anyone point to information confirming where he was born?
Ron, you claim that "they can't get things right". While I can't speak for others, I've done my best to be accurate, using WCG publications and your own statements. But if you have documentation showing that I'm incorrect then please provide it so I can be accurate. I'd also like to fill in a few more dates -- for example, exactly when was it that you were ordained as a prophet of God?
As far as your feeling validated because you have web sites critical of you as does your idol Herbie -- well, I'm ready to live with that to make information available to those who are willing to question your apocalyptic nonsense. Still doing that even though it's now 13 weeks since you cursed me to die from the inside, speedily.
I noticed that the sermon from two weeks ago (March 7) is still not posted. So I wonder whether that means strike two for Jeremy or that Jeremy has already been fired. And maybe strike three is the web site is not set up to allow Ron to be able to post a recording of today's sermon on the church website.
In reality, the "live" sermon audio is streamed from a different server, not directly from the church website. The church website only links to the streaming audio server, which was up and running at 2:30 PM EDT last Saturday. The church website problems had nothing to do with that.
Weinland cautioned his members against contacting others who left comments on the YouTube video he plugged a couple of weeks ago. According to Ron, some of his members encouraged others to get baptized.
The sermon topic was how to observe the upcoming Passover for all the new members Weinland claims to have. It might be interesting for all the different areas who meet regularly to compare notes and see if any have experienced a tripling in attendance as Weinland has claimed.
Ron did take an aside during the sermon to mention that he Googled himself. Apparently he ended up on the "Who Was Ronald Weinland?" blog post put up over a year ago by another blogger. He took great exception to that post giving the wrong birth year (our False Prophet was born in 1949, not 1950). He also claimed it stated that he was born and raised in North Carolina. Actually it doesn't say that he was born there, just that he was converted to Armstrongism while there. In reality, Ron grew up in western Kansas, attending college in Hays.
Weinland spent even more time rebutting the allegation (which is clearly characterized as an allegation) that he had his house in Erie built partially using free labor from church members. Ron claims that everyone was paid. I don't know whether or not the allegation is true, but I'm not accepting Weinland's claim that it's false. Just as I didn't accept his Total Resolve claim that he was refinancing his house. As far as I'm concerned, the verdict on his financial dealings with his Erie congregation is still open and the statement on the other blog remains an unresolved allegation.
I'll take this opportunity to plug my Ronald Weinland summary web page. On that site, I also have a biographical timeline for Weinland. While I can't guarantee it to be error free, I have tried to get reliable sources for what I put there. For example, it has been reported to me that Weinland was born in Colorado but since I couldn't confirm it independently I haven't published that information. Can anyone point to information confirming where he was born?
Ron, you claim that "they can't get things right". While I can't speak for others, I've done my best to be accurate, using WCG publications and your own statements. But if you have documentation showing that I'm incorrect then please provide it so I can be accurate. I'd also like to fill in a few more dates -- for example, exactly when was it that you were ordained as a prophet of God?
As far as your feeling validated because you have web sites critical of you as does your idol Herbie -- well, I'm ready to live with that to make information available to those who are willing to question your apocalyptic nonsense. Still doing that even though it's now 13 weeks since you cursed me to die from the inside, speedily.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Ron's Total Resolve, Part 2
False Prophet Ronald Weinland started his sermon of October 27, 2007 by asking what had changed since the Last Great Day sermon on October 4.As discussed in my previous post Ron's Total Resolve, one thing that changed was that his bank account was several thousand dollars lighter from having taken Laura on a luxury 12-day Mediterranean cruise.
But his question was directed to his members, asking what they had changed in their lives to show Total Resolve for Ron's prophecies. He stated that they couldn't continue as before, that they had to change since time was short with the sealing of the 144,000 to happen in February, 2008 followed by the start of the Great Tribulation in April. No longer could one continue planning as under Armstrong for the end-time being perpetually 5 to 10 years in the future.
Ron claimed that he had been "running down the hill" since the Feast. This is a reference to the story of Gideon and his army of 300 who defeated Midianites, making noise by breaking their pitchers and blowing trumpets. However in Judges Chapter 7 there is no mention of Gideon's army running down a hill. Instead, they stealthily advanced to the edge of the camp and then simultaneously started making noise to simulate a large attack on the Midianites, throwing them into confusion.
Weinland stated that efforts to promote his prophecies would intensify in January of 2008, with members to show their commitment by beginning to proselyte their friends and family. The discussion soon switched to money. Since there was to be no organized Feast of Tabernacles in 2008, members were to send in 3/4 of their Second Tithe to finance his media campaign.
Ron started selling the idea that members should donate heavily, particularly those who were to be "sealed" as part of "the 144,000". In a discussion of whether or not to pay off your house, he said that it wouldn't matter if your house was paid off because your house could be taken from you regardless. He mentioned that he had a good deal of equity in his $381,000 mansion, and that he was trying to get a second mortgage to withdraw the equity for financing the promotion of his books. However he was having difficulty getting a loan because he was charging $35,000 to $40,000 each month on his credit cards -- that the church paid them off monthly did not impress the loan underwriter.
Ron mentioned that he was considering refinancing his mansion in order to get the equity. The following week (Nov. 3, 2007) he repeated his intent to refinance his house to get the equity. He mentioned this again in his sermon of Jan 5, 2008.Tear a few more pages off the calendar, and in October of 2008, according to the web site for the county where he lives, Ron and Laura paid the annual property tax bill of $3715.13 on his $381,000 mansion directly to the county. Note that I said that Ron and Laura paid the property tax. Not a mortgage company. Ron and Laura paid it directly to the county. Daughter Audra did not pay the property tax on her house directly -- it was paid by her mortgage company according to the same web site. When I had a mortgage, I paid into an escrow account held by the mortgage company which then paid the taxes.
I did some research on mortgage escrow accounts. If your loan balance is less than 80% of your property value, then some mortgage companies will allow you to pay your property tax and property insurance premiums yourself, but may require paying an extra fee for the privilege. Otherwise, they require that you pay into an escrow account monthly. It does not seem to me that Ron would be allowed to avoid paying into escrow if he had refinanced all the equity in his house to spend on Google advertising.
Previously, I was rather skeptical of Ron's claims to be extracting the equity in his house to donate to his own church. This discovery pretty much confirms it for me that he did no such thing. Meanwhile, I wonder how many retirees showed Total Resolve following Ron's "example" by refinancing their house to give the proceeds to the church.
Money for luxury cruises. Money for equity. So much for Ron's Total Resolve.
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