Ron Weinland: Still No Jesus

The sun has not set on the West Coast and Pacific Islands, so Weinerdude's false "jesus" still has time to return.  But don't count on it.

The apostate false prophet, Ron Weinland is already making excuses for his latest failure.  He posts today:

The “present truth”—truth that we have at this moment in time—truth that is “presently” with us is a possible reality that is not easy to carry. We have believed that Jesus Christ would begin his return in the atmosphere of this earth today, the Sabbath day of May 26th. We have believed this to be a matter of timing for sundown in Jerusalem toward the end of May 26th.

As I write this, that time is just about here and nothing has begun in the world that would signal the need or purpose for that reality—Christ’s return. Yes, it could still take place, as the timing in this present day of a worldwide observance of God’s Sabbath is still ongoing. Such is fully in God’s hands and according to His will, as to what comes to pass and when. It is true that after the captivity of Judah in Babylon that the Jewish people began using the Babylon system of counting time and God did begin to deal with them more according to the type of system they had begun to use. Certainly the weekly Sabbath and annual Holy Days were still counted according to God’s calendar of timing.

So today, I will still look for the possible fulfillment of all those things we have looked forward to right up to the end of the Sabbath day in Hawaii, as that is the timing used today in this modern world.

Yet I feel compelled to write this post, as I strongly feel it is necessary for God’s people right now. I will still look for the possibility of Christ’s coming right up until the very end of this Sabbath on earth. For the sake of all God’s people, I hope that there is not more we must learn concerning Christ’s return, but it appears we likely do have more to “see.” We know there is much that God has been revealing, in the manner that He has, which is due to a great spiritual war that continues right up to the coming of Jesus Christ. We have come to “see” (by experience and revelation from God) that God reveals to us what we need when we need it, especially during this end-time and the closing out of this age of mankind, with the process of bringing to an end Satan’s influence and rule in this world.

 So what will he do Sunday or Monday when nothing has happened?  The time and date in Jerusalem is now the 27th and Jesus has not returned on Jerusalem time.

As the hours progressed this morning toward what we have looked to as a final countdown to Christ’s coming, there have been those things that have been flooding my mind that I have not wanted to address, but felt I should. I have experienced this every time in the past when God has begun revealing His will and purpose to me—revelation of more truth—understanding and clarification of truth already given.

We have indeed gone through many mixed feelings over the past few weeks as we have approached this Pentecost of 2012. The anticipation of such an event right up to the last minute reminds me of Abraham when he was about to follow through with the sacrifice of his own son. The feelings and emotion of such a time cannot be understood nor appreciated until having experienced something similar in faith. We now relate more to Noah than we ever did in the past. Such is pleasing to God that people remain faithful to the end when God intervenes to fulfill His word or to reveal another way. God revealed another way to Abraham. As I consider these truths, I understand the outrage that some will manifest by these words. I also understand the relief that God is giving me to “see” what He is revealing concerning “another way,” or an addition and clarification of “His way” to bring the end-time to a close.

By the end of this day, in the last time zone for this Sabbath day, if Jesus Christ has not begun his return to this earth, then we will do as a minister in the Netherlands said to me today concerning what God admonishes His people to do, “We move forward.” Indeed we will, for we know God’s Church.

 More forward with what?  More lies and deceptive filth?  Scripture tells all the followers of Weinerdude that if he utters just once prophecy and it fails then he is to be labelled a false prophet and is not to be followed.  But his followers will continue on with him swallowing his filth as if it was God inspired.

So candidly, I am disappointed that Jesus Christ hasn’t begun his return. But I am also excited to know that there remains a short work in front of us. That will be explained in the Pentecost sermon that I will be organizing and prerecording as soon as I finish writing this post.

 I wasn’t disappointed when God revealed to us that the two witnesses are not literally killed and then lie dead in the streets of Jerusalem for 3 ½ days. That revelation was easy to receive. That which God is now revealing is a little more difficult because we had our hope so set on Christ coming on this Pentecost. Knowing that he may not is indeed disappointing, but it is not something to shake our faith in any manner. Instead, we take the good with the bad and we move forward!

That which is most important is that we follow God where ever He leads and however He leads us. The reality is that due to what God is now revealing, I am also encouraged to see that much of what was written in 2008 – God’s Final Witness will become more meaningful and more powerfully revealed.

These things I am writing at this moment are being done so quickly in order to inform all God’s people that we are to “be strong and of good courage.” What we are living is not easy, but it is all for a very great purpose. Do not become discouraged, even though we know what is ahead will be difficult. People will have to face matters of employment, humility, finances, ridicule, etc., but we move forward ever thankful that the past 3 ½ years were not of great physical tribulation on this earth with the suffering it would have brought with it. But what is ahead is not easy. It will be difficult, but God will see us through.

Having said all this, I am now going to begin working on the Pentecost sermon that will be posted as soon as it is finished, just as this past Sabbath’s prerecorded sermon was posted. In this manner we can begin regrouping and refocusing on what lies ahead. Time passes and our hardships and trials will pass, and in all this God will be with you and give you the strength and intervention you need to move forward.

This Pentecost sermon will explain much. God has been merciful to us and has revealed so much to us over the past few years. He continues to do so. Wait on Him for He will not forsake us nor leave us.

Through all this my initial hope remains the same, as the sun has not set on the 26th in all the world. But if we must go forward, then so be it! God’s will be done.

It will be interesting to see how he lies to his followers on Pentecost.

Andrew On "The Importance of Knowing the Difference Between Fiction and Reality"

The Importance of Knowing the Difference Between Fiction and Reality

When I began the third grade, I started at a new school and became friends with two boys who were caught up playing a game in which they pretended to be chasing after some kind of comic-book style villain. The one who had obviously invented this game wanted me to play along with them, which I did at first. I don’t remember much, but supposedly this villain had different colored motorcycles, one for each day of the week. Every day he would invent new bad things this villain had supposedly done or was about to do, and clues that he had supposedly left behind that we could use to help us to stop him. After a few weeks or so, I quit because it had never been very relevant or entertaining. The whole thing struck me as being kind of stupid. After all, it was totally obvious he didn’t exist, and the targets of his plots were just as fictional. When I told him I wasn't interested in his imaginary villain anymore, he insisted that he was NOT imaginary. After several more weeks, he came around and finally admitted he had made it all up and agreed to stop playing this game so that we could be friends again. Either I was a little more mature than they were at the time, or else I was just a big party pooper.

I’ve never been into comic books myself, but I have been to see many of the movies in recent years based on them.  The difference is, whether they are just colored drawings or extremely lifelike up on the big screen with all the special effects, everybody knows that Batman and Joker are just fictional characters. Although some may continue to read comic books into adulthood, they don’t usually take time out of their day to look for ways to help Batman foil any of his enemies. They also don’t go to Travelocity.com and try to book a flight from their local airport to Gotham International. Most people don’t run into problems from consuming fictional stories because they have no problem distinguishing fiction from reality.

I suppose the first religion developed in the same way the motorcycle villain did, which is to say, some guy just invented it one day. It gave people a certain sense of security to believe that wild animals, the weather, and natural disasters were controlled by various people with extraordinary powers, and if you appeased them , they wouldn’t attack. It didn’t matter that the whole thing was made up, it meant there was something they could do to protect themselves. It gave people the feeling they could understand why bad things happened and that they could have some control over what would otherwise be random and uncontrollable disasters. Using science and technology, today we understand our environment so much better that we accept that natural disasters are truly random, although insurance companies still refer to them as acts of “god.” Polytheism has mostly outlived its usefulness, so most people now think it’s about as stupid as our motorcycle villain.

Mostly, but not completely. There are still many relics of these ancient religions around us today. Friday 13th, Halloween, ghosts, zombies, dowsing rods, astrology, palm reading, and other superstitions still persist. After all, it’s probably safer to avoid the curse at the bottom of that chain letter by forwarding it to ten of your friends, just to be on the safe side.

Perhaps the most widespread superstition to have persisted is called monotheism. Its success right up to the present day can probably be attributed to the fact that it has proved useful for giving believers a meaning and purpose for their lives. It doesn’t matter that there is no evidence that this meaning and purpose is not pure fiction, it still gives people the feeling that they can understand what is really happening and why they exist.

Whether it’s a villain imagined by a third-grader, ancient pagan gods, or else a single, all powerful super hero in the sky and his evil archnemesis, these are all “games” in which people either failed or refused to distinguish between fiction and reality. I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that I although I never fell for the first two “games,” in the case of the third one, I played along for decades before realizing that I had failed to distinguish between fiction and reality.

So, what if the failure to distinguish between fiction and reality means that adults engage in a little immaturity, playing a few childish games? What’s the harm?

We already have a human government that makes a tangled web of laws so intricate that it is impossible for even a lawyer to know all of them all, let alone obey them. Many of them are silly, others are even contradictory. When adults are caught up playing the game of religion, it includes having to support an entire second government of man as well, except they call it, “the government of god.” Under the administration of these men, it includes another impossible tangle of often silly and contradictory laws, yet more taxes, and yet more control. But since they tell you their religion has “set you free,” you don’t notice that you’re twice the slave you were before. If religion were something that was just between you and god, it wouldn’t be so bad.

Doesn’t religion teach you the principles of how to live? Sure, but the big principles of how to live are not unique to religion. The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” was ubiquitous throughout the ancient world; it was even a part of Hammurabi’s civil code.

If religion only contained such pithy and profound wisdom as the Golden Rule, it wouldn’t seem so silly, but it doesn’t. It also imposes many useless, irrelevant, and sometimes downright bizarre practices, all of which are considered to be on the same level as the Golden Rule in terms of appeasing the anger of the god. Sure, I admit there’s some baby in there, but unfortunately, there’s an enormous amount of “holy” bathwater too, and the superstitious nature of religion makes it sacrilege to throw any of it out.

Isn’t religion a force for good, giving people the incentive to be moral people? German parents used to tell their children that if they misbehaved, fairies would kidnap them. That sure gave those children an incentive to behave too, but does anyone think this is also a good idea? As an adult, are you so weak that you need a “big brother” figure, spying on you 24-7 to guilt you into civilized behavior? Are you so small-minded that you need a hobgoblin to scare you into being a good person?

Also, whether morality is a force for good or bad depends upon what your definition of morality is. Islamist suicide bombers believe that murdering infidels is part of being a good, moral person because of the specifics of their religion. In response to such “morality,” Michael Shermer, the publisher of Skeptic Magazine, cites the case of superstitious Iraqi officials who bought 1,500 ADE 651 bomb detecting dowsing rods (at a cost of $40,000 each) to screen for explosives at checkpoints. Because the ADE 651 is as useful as a banana at detecting explosives, Shermer makes the point that sometimes, being unable to distinguish between fiction and reality costs lives. Religion is just another kind of superstition, and sometimes it costs lives too.

When William Miller, Herbert Armstrong, Harold Camping, Ron Weinland, and many others besides predict that an invisible man in the sky will sweep down and rapture the faithful away very soon, their followers don’t save for retirement. This superstition leaves the faithful destitute in their old age. Not only that, but seriously believing in such ideas is almost like going online to try to buy an airline ticket to Gotham International Airport.

Believing in an Armstrongist superstition also means wasting a great portion of your life in devotion to an imaginary man in the sky, week in, week out, year in, year out. Religious leaders will tell you that you can’t get divorced when you’ve made a mistake, and if you do, you can’t get remarried ever again. They tell you it is sinful to see a doctor when you have a life-threatening illness, so people die unnecessarily from treatable illnesses. All this and more because people can’t distinguish between fiction and reality.

It’s one thing if children want to play make believe games, but it’s entirely another when adults play such games. When we grow up, we really ought to put away such superstitions and concern ourselves with reality. Not to do so is not only juvenile, it is dangerous. Fiction of any kind is simply a bad foundation upon which to build a life or a society.

Andrew

End Times Fear Mongering and It's Repercusions

Last year when Harold Camping was blaring his end of times scenario there was a news story here in Los Angeles about a woman in Palmdale that tried to kill her two daughters to save them from the apocalypse.  This woman turned out to be a former Church of God member who tried to slit her daughters throats.  The girls survived and she is in prison.

Last night on the news another woman in Palmdale tried to drown her son in a pool to save him from the apocalypse.  I just hope this is not another COG member!  The boy survived, thankfully!

Cops: Mom Tries to Drown 8-year-old Son, Saying World is Ending

PALMDALE, Calif. (KTLA) -- A mother in Palmdale is being held on $1-million bail after allegedly trying to drown her 8-year-old son in the pool at their apartment complex.

Around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, deputies from the Palmdale Sheriff's Station responded to a rescue call of a woman attempting to hold a child under water in the pool at the Monte Vista apartment complex.

Once at the location, they learned that 33-year-old Allaire McDougall attempted to drown her son in the pool, according to a news release.


Bystanders intervened and rescued the boy.

“She’s telling him, ‘Son, you have to go. This is the end of the world,” witnesses told reporters.

The boy was taken to a local hospital and is now listed in stable condition.

McDougall was arrested for attempted murder and booked at the Palmdale Station.