Laura and I do something else a little unique because of our traveling. We’ve had and do carry with us certain jewelry, of which some of the church has purchased portions and we have others as well ourselves. That we are using for one purpose only. And that’s bartering. Wherever we might be, at some point in time — I don’t care where it is, that we be prepared for whatever takes place. The ability to barter — transportation, or whatever thing else we need to do to get from one place to another to do something else that might need to be accomplished.
Testimony from the court trial:
As part of the testimony, we heard from an employee of Jared Jewelers who handled much of the Weinland’s jewelry purchases and repairs.We saw receipts and statements for jewelry purchases and payments, spanning 2007 to 2009. There were several quite expensive rings, totaling a couple hundred thousand dollars, if not more. It seemed that Laura had quite a taste for diamonds and opals. The defense for these purchases, of course, was that they were a safety net to be used to barter when the end came, and when money was worthless. They would take this jewelry with them when they traveled the world, in case they suddenly found themselves in a place that didn’t take American Express. They claimed that this was the church’s jewelry, not Laura’s. It just happened to be sized to fit Laura’s fingers, and custom designed to fit Laura’s taste.
The point that the prosecution was making was that if the sole purpose of these jewels was for bartering in an emergency, they wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble of having them made into custom-designed jewelry for Laura. The actual role that these pieces were serving (in REALITY, not in the fantasy of post-apocalyptic trading that may happen someday) was to feed Laura’s vanity and to give her something shiny to wear on each of her fingers.
Some convicts have had a ball and chain to keep them from running.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if the judge ordered that the diamond in Laura's wedding ring be replaced with HWA's "Prayer Rock"
A carat is equal to 0.2 grams, so the Prayer Rock would be quite "caraty"
Plus, Ron can strap her onto a flatbed trailer so she can't nag him too much for more jewelry while on their way to and from the Piggly Wiggly.
Norm
The first thing noticable in the standard Ron and Laura pic where they are casually dressed at a social is that Laura has a gold ring on every finger. That was my first "hmmmmmm" moment.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure the Weinlands, however, can outdo the Black Baptists ministers I met at the hospital who had huge gold rings on all ten fingers, gold watches, necklaces, bracelents and teeth. Hilarious and made me wonder, as I do seeing pictures of the Pope, "Just what would Jesus wear?"
M.T.Showcases
"Hey man, let me break off a bit of this $100,000 dollar diamond for a plane ticket?"
ReplyDeleteM.T.Seats
This is just another example of the Armstrongist Con Job founded by Herbert Armstrong.
ReplyDeleteThis is yet a another example of profligate spending among the entitled tithe takers of the Oriental Potentate variety.
The only surprising thing is how devout the deceived dupes of the Pathetic Kook Group can be even in the face of bracing reality.
Some of us have been asking the question of how to reach these people who have been so very betrayed.
Perhaps facing personal bankruptcy is the only inducement to return to sanity.
M.T.Showcases,
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of a true story in the annals of modern day Catholicism.
Some Catholics were annoyed by the fact that many Catholic leaders were wearing expensive "bling", including super-expensive watches.
(The price of just one of those watches could feed many starving people for years.)
So, one fine day, there was a photo showing Catholic Patriarch Kirill wearing a super-expensive watch.
And understandably, people objected to him having that.
Next thing you know, that picture of Krill was still there, but the watch, which cost more than $30,000.00, had been photoshopped out of it.
Krill claimed he'd never had or would ever wear such a watch.
But people had "captured" the original picture(which was not good for Catholic Patriarch Kirill).
One blogger even photoshopped Krill completely out of the picture, leaving only the watch(from the original picture) hovering over the table where Krill was sitting!
Norm
It's a convenient excuse. They certainly have to spin a lot of the stuff that came out in the trial to keep from loss of members and massive loss of income.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd be more concerned about theft. There are certainly many safer places to secure the alleged church assets.
BB
What Laura's diamonds are for is to show her superiority over others.
ReplyDeleteShe is special.
She is important.
She is superior.
Still.
It won't make much difference after she is dead.
Do you suppose her casket will be encrusted with diamonds?