Ronald Weinland on Antichrist, the Pope, and the Abomination of Desolation

VS.

CGPFK’s Ronald Weinland’s declared himself a “prophet” over four years ago, then began to claim he was one of the two witnesses. He was once a minister in the United Church of God, but really went over the edge, especially after he left them.

While I have often pointed out his false prophecies and the fact that he has changed dates, today I went to his church website and would like to point out a couple of doctrinal peculiarities that I observed there.

Here is what his church website states about Antichrist:

Anti-Christ | ↑ top
In short, anti-Christ means someone who was in Gods true church, had the truth of God dwelling/living in them by the power of God’s Holy Spirit and then chose to reject God’s way of life. They are “anti-Christ” because they will not allow Christ to live/dwell in them. Anti-Christ is not one person, nor does this refer to the Pope.

So, from the above, it appears that Ronald Weinland does not believe that there will be a final individual as Antichrist, and specifically that no Pope could be the one final Antichrist.

Here is something else his group teaches:

Mark of the Beast – Number of the Beast 666 | ↑ top
The beast rising up out of the earth (Rev 13:11-18) is the great whore, the false church (the Roman Catholic Church) that rides and has powerful influence, and often, full control over the government (Holy Roman Empire)…

This name, in Greek, is “Lateinos.” It means “Latin Man” or “the name of Latium,” from which region the Romans derived their origin and their language. In Greek, L=30, A=1, T=300, E=5, I=10, N=50, O=70, and S=200. They add up to 666. For 1260 years the pope has reigned and ruled over the beast. They were in effect, the religious heads of the empire, ruling over the emperors, as well as over the church.

So, Ronald Weinland seems to be teaching that various popes reigned over the Holy Roman Empire for 1260 years. The implication seems to be similar to that of CG7-Denver, who incorrectly teaches that the above was also fulfilled in a similar manner (see CG7 Says Judgment of Harlot of Revelation is NOT a Future Event).

In an April 8, 2008 interview on talkSPORT, the host James Whale asked something about the Pope to which Ron Weinland replied:

Ronald Weinland (RW) : Starting April 17th, he will not be happy…Everything I’m going to say is going to be about the Pope and the Catholic Church and what they have done to this world and traditional Christianity…

James Whale (JW): Let’s suppose that none of this…nothing has happened…

RW: If things do not by mid-June very clearly so, I will make it clear that I was a false prophet and I will never preach again…

JW…Antichrist…

RW…people confuse Antichrist…he is not a single individual, like the Pope or something…

the great false prophet…that has to do with the Catholic Church…He is going to be saying…He is going to be given special powers beginning April 17th when he is in Washington. D.C.

Pope Benedict XVI was in Washington, D.C. on April 17, 2008, and the above suggests that he was to be given special powers on that date. I wrote at the time that this essentially was nonsense. And this was another prediction that Ronald Weinland got wrong.

Since nothing happened with his first Great Tribulation start date (April 17, 2008), notice what else Ronald Weinland also claimed later in a sermon:

April 17th, 2008…

You haven’t understood what was written in my book…

God began to give me what the 17th was all about…I received strength, confidence, boldness…an absolute knowing…I know my job and I’m doing it, because it started on the 17th…

It has begun…

The trumpet is two-fold. It is physical and it is spiritual…

Two great events happened on the 17th…But the world doesn’t grasp…The scattered church doesn’t see it yet it.

What are those two great events?…

The revelation of both of God’s two end-time witnesses…that’s a great event that began on the 17th…

And the 17th marked the identifying and the beginning of Satan’s direct power and influence of a great false prophet, the Pope of the Roman Catholic church.

For the record, let me state that following:

The False Prophet is the final Antichrist.
Pope Benedict XVI did not get direct power from Satan on April 17, 2008.
It is almost impossible that Pope Benedict XVI would be the False Prophet of Revelation 13; 16:13.
Pope Benedict XVI does not do the type of signs and wonders that the False Prophet does in Revelation 13; 16:13-14.
The Great Tribulation did not begin on April 17, 2008, and even Ron Weinland admits that now.
Ron Weinland is not one of God’s two witnesses.
Ronald Weinland is a false prophet, but not THE False Prophet of Revelation 16:13-14.

Now, one of the reasons that Ron Weinland makes so many mistakes is that he relies on himself and what he has written as opposed to the Bible. Thus, often when he is wrong, he ignores it or spiritualizes it away.

And actually, the only reason that he can believe that the Great Tribulation began on December 14, 2008 (which is his current teaching) is to spiritualize away the fact that nothing that the Bible says will happen during the Great Tribulation has actually happened yet (some events associated with what Jesus referred to as the “beginning of sorrows”, like earthquakes in various places, has happened, but according to Jesus, these precede the Great Tribulation, per Matthew 24:3-21).

Now his church website also states:

Abomination of Desolation | ↑ top
Chapter 5 of The Prophesied End-Time, beginning on page 161…

In that book, Ronald Weinland teaches about it earlier than that page and claims that the abomination occurred in 1994 and was spiritual:

The Abomination of Desolation
Look closely at what Jesus Christ said would follow after Mr. Armstrong finished his work. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso
reads, let him understand:) then let them who are in Judea flee into the mountains:” (Matthew 24:14-16).

Many prophecies have a “physical type” of fulfillment and a “spiritual type.”…

Only one man in this modern age was appointed—“set” in the Church of God. That man was Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. He had been given great trust and authority, but he betrayed Jesus Christ in the sermon he gave in Atlanta, Georgia on December 17, 1994. “Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing [“Showing” in the Greek means “to show forth, to expose to view, to reveal.”] himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). His actions exposed his rebellion…

After Mr. Tkach betrayed the trust placed in him by giving that defiant sermon in Atlanta, the Spiritual Temple of God became defiled. An abomination of unprecedented proportions had taken place within the Church…

Exactly 40 Sabbaths (to the day and very hour) after Mr. Tkach gave that sermon, he died. This was God’s own declaration. By taking his life, God revealed that Mr. Tkach was indeed the “son of perdition”—“the man of sin.” By this, God also revealed that the Church and the world had entered the end-time. This was finally the time, after 6,000 years, for end-time prophecies to be fulfilled. The process had begun. It all began on the same day Mr. Tkach gave his defiled sermon, but it was God who had to reveal it…

This also fulfilled other prophecies.“When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso reads, let him understand:) then let them who are in Judea flee into the mountains:” (Matthew 24:15-16). The fleeing that took place when the physical temple was destroyed was the “physical type”—fleeing into the mountains. Now came the “spiritual type.” It was time for spiritual Judea, the Church, to flee into the mountains…

The “abomination of desolation” that was about the destruction of the spiritual temple began when this seal was opened by Jesus Christ. The opening of this seal marks, reveals and actually announces the very beginning of the end-time. It reveals that a countdown has begun and Jesus Christ will soon return. It marks the beginning of great tribulation in this world. The end-time is already here…

The Abomination of Desolation

Many prophecies have a “physical type” of fulfillment and a “spiritual type.”…

This account in Matthew concerns a “spiritual type.”

(Weinland R. The Prophesied End-Times, pp. 142, 146, 148, 150, 152, 161, 162).

Yet, Jesus specifically taught:

15 “…Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains (Matthew 24:15-16).

The above event did not occur in 1994, nor on February 2, 2008, nor March 18, 2008, nor April 17, 2008, nor did it occur on December 14, 2008 (nor any date in-between) despite various inaccurate statements from Ronald Weinland.

People who do not really believe the Bible, especially in the prophetic realm, spiritualize away so much that they treat the word of God like prop that they use to twist into part of their show. Sadly, this has occurred since New Testament times (2 Peter 3:15-16) and has been adopted by many (see What is the Appropriate Form of Biblical Interpretation?).

In my opinion, when Ronald Weinland made the declarations “the 17th marked the identifying and the beginning of Satan’s direct power and influence of a great false prophet, the Pope of the Roman Catholic church” and “the great false prophet…is going to be given special powers beginning April 17th when he is in Washington. D.C.”, he was confusing himself as he was somewhat implying that somehow Pope Benedict XVI was fulfilling those prophecies (despite RW’s other statements), but the Pope was not.

Ronald Weinland was wrong then about such matters and his church website is still wrong today.

No one should follow him, though many still do.

Some articles of related interest may include the following:

Concerns About Ronald Weinland’s Church of God-Preparing for the Kingdom of God Ronald Weinland falsely claims to be one of the two witnesses God is raising up and that the end will come in 2008 (first April 17th, then June 2008, now December 14, 2008). Why does the Bible show that Ron Weinland is a false prophet? He also has at least one other view that suggests that he is not part of the Church of God.
Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2010, 2011, or 2012? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord?
Who Are The Two Witnesses? What is their job? What does the Bible reveal? What has the Church of God taught on this subject? Might even Roman Catholic prophecies give some clues here?
Some Doctrines of Antichrist Are there any doctrines taught outside the Churches of God which can be considered as doctrines of antichrist? This article suggests at least three. It also provides information on 666 and the identity of “the false prophet”. Plus it shows that several Catholic writers seem to warn about an ecumenical antipope that will support heresy.
The Antichrist Quiz Do you really know much about the Antichrist?
Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2010, 2011, or 2012? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord?