Jesus returning on May 27? Indiana pastor urges Christians to pray for the well-being of doomsday ‘prophet’

Pastor and theologian Paul Begley of Community Gospel Baptist Church, Knox, IN, has an urgent message for the Christian community:  Pray for Ronald Weinland.

Weinland, through his Church of God – PKG, has been predicting for over three years that Jesus Christ will return to earth on May 27, 2012.  In a May 23 post on his blog, Weinland wrote that his post was his last article, and that he would be recording his final sermon.  The post went on to explain how he and another of God’s witnesses (apparently, his wife) will be hated for their divinely appointed roles and message, and would be ascending to heaven on May 27 as part of God’s plan to reunite the fragments of the now-defunct Worldwide Church of God.  The Worldwide Church of God, created by Herbert W. Armstrong in the 1930s, was considered by many to be a Bible-based cult.  It did not survive Armstrong’s death.

"I am concerned that Ron Weinland may be suicidal,” Begley said in a GodDiscussion.com podcast on May 24, “and we need to be praying for him."

Begley, who has a popular YouTube channel, regularly posts videos about events which he believes point to the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and Jesus Christ’s return.  He does not give prophetic dates because the New Testament notes that even Christ himself did not know exactly when He would be returning.

"May 28 is going to be a disappointment for Ron Weinland and his followers," Begley told GodDiscussion, "but particularly for Weinland.  We need to forgive him and help him through this difficult time.  He appears to be an elderly gentleman and his statement about a final sermon and that it was the last time he will ever publish an article has me very concerned about a suicide attempt.   The spirit of God is telling me to pray for him, and for others to pray for him, too."

D. Beeksma

One of the growing crowd of American "nones" herself, Deborah is a prolific writer who finds religion, spirituality and the impact of belief (and non-belief) on culture inspiring, fascinating and at times, disturbing. She hosts the God Discussion show and handles the site's technical work. Her education and background is in business, ecommerce and law.

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  • Hayseed56

    We can, and I have been praying about Ron Weinland for some time.  However, he needs to repent of this false doctrine he preaches and teaches, and be silent.  What about his responsibility for having led his followers down a false path?  Yes, they chose to follow, and were as capable of finding the truth on their own as any of the rest of us.  But, he played their loyalties to the WWCOG, and Armstrong, to his advantage.  The students are at fault, but the teacher holds some accountability as well.  He said he would cease preaching the LAST time his prophecy failed.  Then did not.  It's nice, to tour the world at the expense of your congregation and their tithing.  Now, it's time to retire.

    It's 10am on Saturday in Jerusalem right now.  In the next 10-11 hours, whenever sunset takes place, Ron will be in a highly embarassing position.

    Of course no one wants him to harm himself.  And forgiveness is there for the asking.  Even without asking.  But Ron must show that he's sincere in repenting, by actions, not words.
     

    • Deborah_B

      Thanks for the insight, Hayseed!

      I've been trying to find information about how many people are members of Weinland's church but haven't found much of anything.

      You'd think by now that people would stop believing — and giving — these types of 'prophecies.'

      • Vivisectus

        An estimated 1200 people pay tithes, I believe. I have been following this cult for a while.

        • Deborah_B

          Thank you, Vivisectus!  I grew up in the WWCG but had nothing to do with it the minute I left home for college, and haven't followed it in a lot of detail. 

          I am glad that Weinland's "flock" is as small as it is, meaning that not too many of the gullible take him seriously. 

      • Hayseed56

        No one is sure what his membership is, really. I can't imagine it to be that large. He's pretty secretive about that kind of data!

        I don't know how anyone can claim to know when the Lord will return. Jesus clearly says that NO man knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in Heaven, but ONLY the Father.

        As for prophets, if God gives a man a message, to give others about what is to come, it happens. It happens exactly as God says it will, down to the most excruciating detail. How many of Ezekial's, Isaiah's, Daniel's, and the rest failed to happen? I believe the number of failures is ZERO.

        Ron, uses the Scripture to his own ends. Twisting and distorting it to do what he wants it to do. I was astounded when I realized that he basically teaches that the entire Bible is pointed at his tiny little church. Joe Tkatch Sr., was NOT the "man of sin". That is the anti-christ, who is not yet here. These people, are NUTS.

        This morning, I was actually feeling bad for him. Trying to put myself in that place, imagining how I'd feel. Then, I went to his website, and guess what. He's learned NOTHING. He plans to keep going, in the same manner as before. No apology. No repentance. Nope. He's still the Prophet and End Times Witness. So my sympathy and empathy went out the
        door in that moment.

        Why do people believe in this kind of thing? Who knows? Sometimes they
        just want someone else to think for them. Tell them what to do next.
        There's always a Ron Weinland out there, willing to do just that.

    • Skater60_00

       This guy is responsible only for his own actions.  If people choose to follow his  "false doctrines" then that's their problem, not his.  Which of us does NOT preach or believe a false doctrine of some kind or other?
      As for suicide…. big deal.  It's always our choice and God won't hold it against us.  That's what so nice about God – He's always on our side, no matter what really dumb ideas we come up with, crucifixion being a good example of that…  "Father forgive them because they don't know what they are doing."  Oh boy… did He get that right, and I don't think He was referring to just the few Roman soldiers on the scene.

      "But Ron must show that he's sincere in repenting…" etc. etc.  Ron must show who? 

      • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

        That is one of the most uncaring things I've read by a person who believes in a deity.  If someone is suicidal you don't see that as a psychiatric issue that needs help?  You think it's no big deal for someone to kill themselves?  Gee, I'll be sure someone comes to your aid and/or shows you the least bit of compassion,  if and when you feel like doing yourself in.  After all, you believe you have this nice little place to go to after you die and your god will forgive you for killing yourself.  *rolling eyes*  Personally I'd worry about "sincere repentance" after a person who is truly suicidal gets psychological help, while he's still alive.

      • Hayseed56

        I beg to differ. I didn't say his followers weren't responsible for being dumb enough to believe him. But, to preach and teach a false doctrine does come back on the individual doing it. Believe it, or don't, I really don't care.

        Your theology, seems to be in need of repair.

  • Vivisectus

    I think you better pray REALLY hard if you want to help ole Ronnie Weinland. The thing is, he is currently being charged with tax evasion – it seems the IRS feels he freely used his churches money (he charges 10% of your after tax income for membership of his cult) to buy himself a big house, open a swiss bank-account, buy cars of his children and pay for their education, etc etc etc.

    This is perfectly legal, as he is in sole charge of the church money. However, he avoided declaring taxes on it, so much so that the IRS reckon he now owes them 300k in back taxes alone, which means he must have dipped into the church funds for a lot more than that.

    Any man can make mistakes – all this is not the end of the world. Just because you are a prophet does not mean you cannot mess up your taxes. But what IS very telling is that Ron appeared in court with his expensive defence lawyers a few days ago..

    From what I know of his actions, this man is mostly in it for the money. He has not worked a day in for the giant income he has enjoyed off the sweat of his poor deluded followers, whom he promises a special place in the world after the return of the messiah. He has been peddling this end-of-the-world crap for ages.

    And now here he is – less than a week before the end of the world as he predicts it – making sure that his court-case goes well next month!

    If you want to pray for a religious entrepreneur, pray that he admits being a fraud.

    • Deborah_B

       I will probably anger some of the religious folks, but I think churches should be taxed just like any other business unless they truly are charitable — i.e., helping without an agenda, or are small, community churches that have some accountability.  It would weed out the scams pretty quickly.

      Mriana raises a valid point about psychological issues, though.  Some of that can be created by other illnesses, too, from my understanding.

      • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

        Thank you.  It sadly can be, but the problem is, because religion is involved, the illness isn't always recognized unless something like Schizophrenia or psychosis is involved.

      • Vivisectus

        I agree. And yeah – religious mania can indeed be very serious. I am merely saying that this is not a case where someone is likely to endanger themselves because they are suffering from it: if Ron truly believed what he predicted, he would not have bothered to defend himself against these charges… especially not with a pricey legal team.

        This guy covered his own behind – with yet more church money! – while berating his followers for not committing enough to his predictions. He is a narcissist and has delusions of grandeur, but mostly he is just a con-man.

  • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

    Regardless of my own personal views, I can't complain about concern for another person's well-being.  I also think Begley maybe right, because I've seen similar behaviour before from a close relative and he did successfully commit suicide in the end.  Intelligent self-educated man, who knew what he was doing, but was too psychotically depressed that his thinking was really twisted.  He insisted that drs were playing God by keeping him alive longer than God wanted, because God was calling him home.  He quit taking his heart meds and died a few days later.  Not much different than Weinland's "Doomsday" prophesy stuff really.