David Barrett and Fortean Times On: Coping Strategies For Failed Prophets

A reader here sent me this link to a recent series of articles in Fortean Magazine that collects some of the worlds strangest news stories and strange phenomenon.  This issue contains articles on the failure of false doomsday prophets.  The article discusses the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong with all of his failed prophecies and Ron Weinland with his latest epic failures.

The article is Apocalypse NOT on page 35.

A few of David Barrett's comments are as follows:

"There is a long tradition of Christan groups being disappointed by the non-arrival of Jesus on the date they foretold.  William Miller in 1843 and 1844 ("the Great Disappointment"), the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1874, 1914, 1925 and 1975 and the Worldwide Church of God in 1975 are perhaps better known.  Worldwide founder Herbert W. Armstrong's booklet 1975 in Prophecy, first published in 1956, oddly became unavailable from the mid-Seventies!  More recently, we had Harold Camping offering first May 21 and then October 21, 2011 as the End of Days, and Ron Weinland, leader of a small offshoot from the Worldwide Church, who set the date of 27 May 2012."

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"Both the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Worldwide Church of God lost some members, who were disappointed by Jesus's non-arrival and disillusioned by the fallibility )or worse, the falsehoods) of their Churches' leaders.  But, in fact, comparatively few left either religion, because, as Gordon Melton argues, "within religious groups, prophecy seldom fails."  Over the centuries, religious groups have developed a number of coping techniques to deal with the disconfirmation of their deeply held beliefs (see table below).  One of the simplest and most common is: "We miscalculated; come back next year" - which is broadly what William Miller's followers said in 19843 and Harold Camping said in 2011.  More subtle coping strategies are: "It occurred, but on an invisible plane" (which adds another layer of belief but has the twin advantages that believers can still claim it was right, and that they can't be proven wrong); "The Lord was merciful and stayed his hand" (which emphasises God's love and restraint and the niceness of the prophet who must have persuaded God); and "Your faith wasn't strong enough" (which shifts the blame to the religion's members).  Two others are a flat denial: "We never claimed that anyway" (millennial religions have a long history of rewriting history) and, very occasionally, an honest "We were mistaken" or "Our enthusiasm got the better of us" - which is what the Jehovah's Witnesses eventually said

David Barret then goes into a case study of Ron Weinland.

"The failure of any of his specific prophecies for 2008 to occur didn't faze him, despite his having written: "If the things written in the book do not shortly come to pass, then what is written here is false, and I am false".  Instead, he castigates those who criticise him: "Foolishly there are those whoa re more quick to find fault by saying we are wrong or that I am a false prophet since physical destruction did not come at a time I had previously stated." Weinland used versions of two of the common coping strategies for failed prophets."

David goes on to name a few of Ron's epic failures and then wryly notes how the judge who sentenced Ron to prison "did his homework" when he sentenced Ron to a prophetic 3 1/2 years in prison.

Other articles are : 

If at First Your Doomsday Fails - Try, Try Again... by Kevin Whitesides
Don't Get Fooled Again by Peter Brookesmith
Downwind of the Apocalypse  by Richard Stanley

Rod Meredith: Brethren, Its Still All Rainbows, Cotton Candy and Lolipops Here in Charlotte!

Rod Meredith has taken a swipe at James Malm's blog, the Shining Light, in a letter to the ministry justifying the recent disfellowshipment and marking of Tom Baca.  You know things are getting desperate at LCG HQ when they have to publicly pick at blogs and web sites that are a thorn in their side.

Meredith also lashes out at Tom Baca in the letter.  I don't know the full reasons behind Baca's public marking, but I do know from several sources that this is certainly a power play meant  to silence anyone who disagrees with some of LCG's methods of operations.

Armstrongism has always been obsessed with power.  That power structure is firmly in place with the top down leadership of the COG's.  When leaders place God and Jesus at the top of the power structure, then it makes any questioning, doubt, or dissent into rebellion against God.  Just because a person questions or holds the upper echelon accountable for something, does not imply dissension.

What is happening with Baca right now is a power play and a visible threat to anyone else in the church to not do the same thing.

Meredith wants everyone to know that it is still all rainbows and lollipops in Charlotte.  The church has never been more unified, members love Jim Meredith more than they ever have, and the telecast are better than ever after kicking out Baca.  The sticky sweet syrup is running down my computer screen right now.

Doesn't Meredith realize how stupid he looks when he writes this stuff?

Overall, the brethren here at Headquarters seem to be positive and happy and unified. We have had a few problems come up but they are certainly being taken care of and will be taken care of. But God is certainly blessing the Work—our income the last few days has been up, the responses to the telecasts have been great, and the growth in the Internet and our impact on the Internet is certainly proceeding. I just had a long meeting with some of our leading ministers here this morning, and I am very grateful for their advice and support. 

We truly are unified, fellow ministers, and some of the “weird” comments from people calling themselves “Shining Light” and others trying to imply there is some kind of big “power struggle” going on is frankly ridiculous. Mr. Ames, Dr. Winnail and I deeply love and respect each other and are working together very closely as well as Dexter Wakefield, Wyatt Ciesielka, Rod McNair, Bob League, Jim Meredith and others.

You will be hearing about the growth in the Work in the next few weeks, and specific statistics, but I just wanted to send this cover memo with the very much needed “marking” of Tom Baca. Many of you have heard or seen his comments on Facebook and elsewhere, and will understand the need to deal with this individual. Please read this “marking” notice to all the brethren in your area so that they can understand the need to avoid this individual and his attacks on the Church.

 As we obey God and do all we can to move the Work forward, protect the brethren from wolves, and truly concentrate on getting out Christ’s message with greater power, I know that God will certainly be with us. So let’s keep at it, try not to listen to often wildly speculative gossip, and help the brethren grow “unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

Apostle Malm: His "god" Thinks You Are Such Blithering Imbeciles That It Has To Keep Testing You Over and Over and Over

According to apostle Malm God is deliberately testing you over and over. The god that Malm follows sure is a masochistic god.  It seems to take great pleasure in torturing its small remnant.

The Father and Christ have TESTED and TESTED their called out in every generation to judge their loyalty and fitness to become a part of the chosen bride.

Brethren, the apostles did NOT FAIL their TEST!  Although doubtless many others did fail.  It was this situation, in which much of the first century apostasy began to creep into the fellowship, frustrating Paul and the other apostles and leaders.

It was about this ti9me that the Book of Revelation was written and the apostles and leaders began to canonize the New Testament scriptures at Pella.

Brethren, we are now at the end of the age and the tribulation is fast approaching, yet we are still being TESTED as to our LOYSLTY to Christ, as opposed to loyalty to false traditions and the idolizing of men and organizations.

God’s called out will be TSTED many times and in many ways to determine if their loyalty and faithfulness to Christ is absolute, uncompromising and unchanging!

Remember the kind of bride that Christ wants, and always seek him with all your hearts in passionate love for all that he is and does!  Run to him like a deer runs upon the mountains; cleave to him with your whole heart, allowing NO willful compromise or sin to defile us; allowing  NOTHING to separate us from our Beloved!!!

Who in the hell would want to run to Malm's god and cleave to it with your whole heart?  Malm's god is constantly pissed at something.  No one is ever good enough.