I spent all day yesterday reading an online book called 2008 God’s Final Witness by Ronald Weinland. I read without prejudice as I never heard of this man before, nor did I know of what church/faith he claims. Mr. Weinland writes about what stage the world is in regarding the prophesied “end times” based on the biblical book of Revelation. Today, I spent the entire day preparing this response to what I read. For some reason, I feel the need to speak my mind in hopes of protecting possible followers of Weinland out there. What he writes is indeed fascinating, yet though some of it may end up to be true, do not be fully deceived!

First of all, Christians need to establish the credibility of any prophet (spirit) based on 1 John 4:1: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

What I do know of God’s true prophets is that not one thing they prophesy will be false. The Devil, Satan, Lucifer (whatever you like to call him) disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14); the Greek word for “light” in this verse is the same used as in Matthew 5:14 when Jesus states that He is light of the world. Throughout the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) is the statement by Jesus as follows: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect (chosen ones).”

Weinland states that two end-time prophets will be given the power to bring on the plagues of the seventh seal against the two super powers (China and her allies and the Unites States of Europe) and will be hated by these super powers to the point of being killed and left out in the streets of Jerusalem for all the world to see, then will be publicly resurrected after three and one-half days, the day of Christ’s return. Ronald Weinland boldly states that he is one of those final two witnesses/prophets. He also states that “God’s end-time Apostle and prophesied Elijah was Herbert W. Armstrong.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Armstrong Mr. Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God and died in 1986. Weinland is of this church. You will note later in this commentary that Weinland is the one responsible for the "Fifth Thunder"*** of deaths of those in the church. I wonder if he's thus claiming responsiblity for the death of Armstrong?!

Any advertising around this hub regarding the Reformed Church of God; the Church of God, etc. IS NOT SUPPORTED AT ALL by this writing. In fact, I am warning to BEWARE of its teachings!

In his book 2008 God’s Final Witness, Weinland challenges the false teachings of many religions including Catholicism and Christianity. He does, however, testify that there is God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He also testifies of the virgin birth and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, credibility seemed to be established well enough to capture the attention of the children of God.

Weinland explains why there are differing Christian faiths. It begins with Sarah, the wife of Abraham, not believing God’s prophesy that she would indeed bear a son, Isaac. Because Sarah gave her handmaiden, Haagar to Abraham to be his wife and she bore Ishmael, God’s church was divided because Isaac was indeed born later by Sarah, thus the enmity between the two mothers and sons caused the two historical movements of Christianity.

Because I am of the Christian faith, I paid attention to what Weinland claims as errors in the Christian church. He does not believe in the trinity doctrine. He states this doctrine is false and started with the Roman-Catholic Church, thus infiltrating the Christian faiths that branched off from them. He describes God’s name of Elohim (uniplural) as not meaning One God made of three (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), but rather as God’s family (like a family name). Ultimately, those who live eternally with God are in God and He in them as “Elohim”, a family.

As far as Jesus’ existence before being born human, Weinland disagrees. The Word being with God in the beginning and becoming flesh, to Weinland means that the word belonging to God himself (His essence) embodied Jesus Christ. The Word of God was IN Jesus and Jesus IN his Father. Weinland believes the Spirit of God is the power of God, not a person of God. God is not a person or persons, but is spirit.

Because God is spirit, He indwelled Jesus Christ in the flesh. Do we ever see God in the flesh? Because God is spirit, no one can actually “see” God. Jesus said to his disciples in John 14:9 “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” We do see the LORD (God) appearing to Abraham with two angels in the desert. God indeed appeared in human form. We also see the mystery of Melchizedek who had no beginning of days and no end of life. I wonder if this was God in human form? The Bible says Melchizedek was a high priest of God unto Abraham. It is stated in the book of Hebrews that Jesus is made a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. This indeed is a mystery.

Weinland writes that the purpose of being human is to first be made lower than the angels (like Jesus), then through human choice to follow God and become a part of Elohim through Jesus Christ, His Son, we are then made heirs of God, which are above the angels. God’s purpose is for His children to rule over all things in His kingdom. Because God created angels that also had free will and had to be permanently cast out of heaven when they rebelled, He chose to make humans that could indeed be made holy through Jesus Christ and rule with Him eternally. Weinland states that “The only way to become God [God’s family, Elohim] is to be human first (as with Jesus Christ)”. He writes that people must “grow and mature until they are able to enter the kingdom of God.”

Weinland also confronts other practices of Christianity as follows:

Since “stars” in Revelation are symbolic of angels, Weinland believes the star of Bethlehem wasn’t literally a star followed by the wise men. He believes the wise men followed angels. I somehow remember, though, that the king had his astronomers explaining the significance of the star in the sky…it meant the birth of a king, which threatened King Harrod, causing him to seek out Jesus to kill him.

Catholics and other Christian faiths practice worshipping God on their “Sabbath” held on Sunday, the first day of the week. Weinland’s argument is that the first day mentioned in Genesis 1:5 states, “And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (sunset to sunset). Pagans worshipped the sun god on “Sunday”. Christianity’s argument would be that the Day of Pentecost took place on the first day of the week, Sunday. The apostles met every Sunday to break bread together. In Colossians 2:16 the Bible states, “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-“.

As far as the “breaking of bread” together on the Sunday morning of Pentecost, is this where the weekly practice of what we call “communion” originates? Weinland believes the last supper was at Passover and should only be practiced at Passover, once a year. He is adamant that those who practice the Passover are also doing this on the wrong day. The Bible states in Leviticus 23, “in the fourteenth day of the first month [January 14^th] at even [between the evenings] is the Lord’s Passover. Weinland points out that Judaism practices the Passover after the 14^th day has ended, which would be the beginning of the 15^th day.

Weinland states that the Roman-Catholic church introduced Easter as “Passover”, which is grossly in error and is routed in paganism, just like Christmas (Mass of the Roman Catholic Church). The birth of Christ is believed to have actually occurred in late September. The Christmas tree is also routed in paganism. Those who are of God should not be practicing such paganism.

Another error in Christian teaching, according to Weinland, is that Christians teach there is an eternal soul in people, one that immediately transitions to an after-life upon physical death, either to heaven or to hell. While he teaches our physical body dies and our brain essence (rather than a soul) returns to God's presence, he also does not believe in an eternal hell for people. Hell has many different definitions in the Bible, one that means the grave. In Romans 6:23 the Bible states, “The wages of sin is death (simply means to die)”. According to Weinland, the Lake of Fire is reserved only for the Beast and his fallen angels (demons), as well as the false prophet as you will read later in Weinland’s prophesy based on Revelation 20:4-6.

I feel Weinland is in error as you read his prophesies, when he writes that those resurrected after the 1,000 year reign will live in physical bodies again for 100 years to be tested or proven as to whether they are going to live according to God’s government. The remainder of Revelation 20 indeed states that once the dead were resurrected, the Book of Life was opened and anyone whose name was not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire! Indeed, there is a HELL. This casting into the Lake of Fire is the second death.

To further confirm this as the truth, in contradiction to Weinland’s teaching, the Bible states in Hebrews 9:27 that “inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this the judgment,” man only dies once before he is judged by God. There is no second physical death. Let me comfort those reading this that in John 5:24 it states that those who are in Christ Jesus will not come into judgment, but are passed from death [the same word as used in Romans 6:23] unto life (eternal). Also reference Romans 8:1.

Now that we’ve taken a look at Weinland’s credibility, let’s go forward in reading about what he proclaims is NOW the end of days:

In the book of Revelation there are seven seals that must be opened to start and end the last days. Jesus Christ is the only one worthy to open the seals. Thus far, Weinland believes six of the seven seals have been opened, as of his book written last year. I will do my best to summarize the six seals here:

The first seal Weinland states was opened December 17, 1994. He states the first three seals allowed for the self-destruction of two-thirds of God’s own church, as a result of her pride, sin and spiritual lukewarmness.

The first seal as stated in Revelation 6:2 states, “And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer.”

The second seal as stated in Revelation 6:3-4 states, “And when He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.”

The third seal as stated in Revelation 6:5-6 states, “And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” And I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”

According to Weinland, the fourth seal is when God chastens, molds and fashions a remnant (10%) of the remaining one-third of His church. The fourth seal as stated in Revelation 6:7-8 states, “And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name of Death; and Hades was following with him. And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

The fifth seal is not mentioned in Weinland’s book. The fifth seal as stated in Revelation 6:9-11 states, “And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also.”

Weinland believes as of his writing in 2008 that the sixth seal is almost complete. The sixth seal has seven thunders as follows:

The first thunder: September 11, 2001, the beginning of terror of war for the end time.

The second thunder: the increasing destruction generated by earthquakes.

The third thunder: the growing destructiveness from weather.

The fourth thunder: global economic upheaval.

***The fifth thunder: death first in the leadership within the church; next, death of notable people; then, death in the world from plagues. Weinland states that as one of the two final witnesses given power to choose the last day tribulations, HE CHOSE this fifth thunder and will explain why in the sixth thunder.

The sixth thunder: the growing revelation of God’s end-time witnesses (thus revealing Weinland as one of the two).

The seventh thunder: the accelerated revelation of God to man.

The seventh and final seal consists of seven trumpets (the last 3 ½ years of the great tribulation) with the seventh trumpet consisting of seven plagues: In total, 600 billion people will die.

According to Weinland, the first four trumpets will destroy one-third of the population.

The first trumpet: The total collapse of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and some countries of Western Europe.

The second trumpet will primarily take place over water, affecting the coastline of the United States, United Kingdom and some of their allies, including the complete destruction of some cities. A third of all water life, human life on boats and ships and in coastal cities will die. This will take place in port cities where there are large concentrations of ships, commerce and people.

The third trumpet: A great star (an angel) fell from heaven burning like a torch, called Wormwood, destroying a third part of rivers and springs of water, killing tens of millions of consumers of this bitter water. Worldwide repercussions from this event will trigger WWIII, which will close with a short truce between the two enemies; then the final war to end all wars will happen - the Battle of Armageddon.

The fourth trumpet: A third of the sun, moon and stars will be darkened, affecting the weather patterns and plant life, causing famine.

The fifth trumpet: Announces three “woes” (three more trumpets) that will take place over the final 3 ½ years as follows:

Woe #1 (fifth trumpet)

The emergence of Satan and his large army of demons to great power (humans).

The emergence of great power wielded by the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope who aligns politically with the “beast”, the United States of Europe (see next entry). The Roman-Catholic Church will be the one-world church.

The emergence of a fully-united European union of ten nations called the United States of Europe.

The emergence of a colossal military might from the United States of Europe and the destruction of several hundred million people by it (remember WWII).

The protection of God’s elect and the torment and trying (testing) of those who have refused to repent.

Woe #2 (sixth trumpet): China and other countries of Asia will form an alliance and create an army exceeding 200 million to seek total control of the earth.

Woe #3 (seventh trumpet): Nuclear threat of total destruction of the earth and its inhabitants will be intervened by the second coming of Christ. Three and one-half days prior to Christ’s return, the two prophets will be killed in Jerusalem and their bodies left in the streets for the world to see. After those 3 ½ days, they will come back to life by God’s Spirit and be taken up to heaven in front of everyone. At this point, the 144,000 will be resurrected/taken up with them to meet Jesus in the air. They will then be immortal for all eternity. There will then be a great earthquake in Jerusalem costing 7,000 lives. The remaining people will fear God and give Him glory.

The seven last plagues of the seventh trumpet will then take place to crush the remainder of the two superpowers as follows:

1. A disease-filled sore will come upon those who have the mark of the beast (the United States of Europe) and worship his image.

2. Everything in the coastal waters of both superpowers will die, including mankind.

3. Rivers and waters turn to blood and the sun scorches mankind with fire.

4. The government of the beast will be knawing their tongues in pain and blaspheming God about their pains and sores.

5. Light will be removed from these regions. No sunlight. Total darkness.

6. The Euphrates River dries up, making way for the three “frogs” that come out of the mouth of the dragon (China and her allies), out of the mouth of the beast (the United States of Europe), and out of the mouth of the false prophet who works miracles (the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church), staging the battle of Armageddon.

7. Because of the great devastation and scattering of allies, the two superpowers will stop fighting each other and declare a quick truce. They are weakened and are defeated by the army of Jesus Christ and his army of 144,000. The beast (the leader of the United States of Europe) and the false prophet (the Pope) are cast alive into the Lake of Fire. The rest are slain (over 200 million).

This will begin the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ with the 144,000 on earth. Weinland states there are two resurrections: one on the day of Christ’s return (the two prophets and the 144,000), the beginning of the thousand-year reign, and the second at the end of the thousand-year reign (everyone else).

Now I have something to say: according to the Bible, those who are in Christ Jesus have nothing to fear when they are resurrected and stand at the judgment seat of God. In Romans 3:23 it states that ALL HAVE SINNED and fall short of the glory of God (Jesus was the only man without sin because his Father was not human), and no one can come to the Father except through Jesus Christ, His Son (John 14:6). Those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s (Jesus’) Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity.

Weinland states the “tribulation” mentioned here is referring to those who have mastered or been “trained” in overcoming their fleshly natures (see Romans 8); some who have died already and some still living. I say to remember that even these 144,000 were not sinless, but saved by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Weinland states that the opportunity for salvation was NOT to be given over the past 6,000 years. He believes that only the 144,000 are truly saved and sealed. The rest will be given the chance for salvation AFTER being resurrected from death. I have to say this is grossly in error. There is no second death, except for those who did not accept Jesus Christ BEFORE their FIRST and only physical death! And that second death is the Lake of Fire. If people listen to Weinland and put off salvation until a supposed “second chance”, you’ll find out there is NO second chance. Satan will have won your soul for all eternity.

Why does Weinland think we are near the 1,000 year reign of Christ? If a day in heaven is as 1,000 years, he believes Christ died at about 4,000 years and it’s been another 2,000 years since. Because of the current signs he believes to align with the thunders of the sixth seal, the seventh seal is surely to be opened soon, if not already. Since the Sabbath was the seventh day in heaven, the last 1,000 years of those 7,000 years would be the day God rests and rules; the thousand-year reign.

It’s currently 2009. I know the History channel aired a show recently about several ancient calendars that were found in different parts of the world, all ending in December 21, 2012. If the last day of the world as we know it were to indeed be in 2012, we would be in the last three and one-half years as Weiland writes, which means the seventh seal has indeed been opened and is actually happening.

All I can say is that I am fascinated by end-time prophesy, but will never claim to know exactly what the book of Revelation means. I know the Word of God, the Bible states in Matthew 24:36 that “…no man knows that day or hour. No not the angels in heaven, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.” Weinland claims this knowledge will be revealed to him and the other final witness/prophet.

Lastly, I will close with this: In Revelation 22:18-19, the Bible states very clearly, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophesy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of the prophesy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

AMEN.

Timothy was one of Jesus' original twelve disciples. What is a disciple? The very root of the word disciple is that of the word discipline. Disciple means student. Do you want to follow Christ and be a disciple? How can you protect yourself from the many false prophets and teachers yet to infiltrate the earth in the last days? People that don't know how to study may panic and follow those they think can be trusted.

In the book of 1 Timothy, Chapter 2, verses 14 & 15 (New American Standard) it states, "Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless, and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Be dilligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth."

The Bible also states in Hosea 4:6 that "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Is it any wonder why so many "cults" are comprised of high percentages of ex-Catholics that used to only rely on the priest for thier Bible knowledge? Study for yourself! Don't be victimized or "destroyed" because you don't know better and end up following a cult.

I recommend the following Bible study ministry highly. It's called Precepts Ministries and their study tools and methods are utilized by multiple Christian churches!! Follow this link and ask your church about it! You will then be better able to understand the meaning of the limited English translation of the Bible, which was originally written in Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament).

http://www.precept.org/site/PageServer

Remember this: in 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 the Bible states, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face [upon Christ's return]; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

You will know Christians by their LOVE. The kind of love Christians should be exhibiting is in the chapter of 1 Corinthians 13.  GOD IS LOVE.  Satan and love are as far away from each other as the east is from the west.  The Bible states in 1 Peter 5:8-9, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world."

Though we only know in part right now (not all of the mysteries of God are known), know this: that the Word of God and any further prophesies of God WILL NOT CONTRADICT the written Word of God! NO EXECPTIONS! God bless you!

I read up a little about Armstrong and Weinland (criticized).  Armstrong is accused of incest and Weinland demands tithing, of course.  I don't know if Weinland is insinuating that Armstrong was the second of the end-time profits (called Elijah), but Armstrong is DEAD.  The two witnesses were to be killed publicly.

Also, tithing is taught in the Old Testament.  It is not a "law" of the New Testament.  In fact, I saw recently a historical account of Jesus' time over the Easter holiday where it showed Jesus being compassionate toward the opression imposed by the Rabbi's and the "church" of that time demanding the tithe and even forcing it on the very poor Jesus lived amongst.

Money changers in the church depicts the only account of the rage Jesus exhibited!  Church leaders who DEMAND money from their members, I believe are leading in SIN.  That's my opinion.

While I do feel Catholicism is of a Christian foundation, I do have a few observations regarding its doctrines that appear to be in error. Doctrines divide, and doctrines in and of themselves, don't save us. There are many scriptures in the Bible that state specifically NOT to practice the things the Catholic church practices. One is to call their priest "Father" [Matthew 23:9].

While I understand that the Pope is descended from Peter, whom they feel IS the ROCK upon which the church was built [Matthew 16:18]; indeed the name Peter meant "rock" or "pebble". The word ROCK regarding the building of the church was meant in the same way as Jesus' parable of building a house on a rock instead of sand. If you read Chapter 16 prior to verse 18, Jesus asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter confessed to Jesus His diety. Likewise, Jesus responded in turn about who Peter was: "Peter, the rock." That ROCK upon which His church was/is built is the confession and faith in WHO JESUS IS, not the actual "rock" of Peter. Peter was human and sinful. He not only had been rebuked by Jesus (called Satan), but he denied Christ three times and was eventually crucified upside down.

Regarding a priest forgiving sins, I don't believe any MAN can forgive sins as God does through Jesus Christ; Jesus was crucified by the church for claiming to be able to forgive sins (claiming to be God). We forgive others as the Bible tells us to do, but that does not release them from his/her accountability to God alone. I can forgive someone who doesn't even know God. So, Catholicim cannot claim to practice this based on Biblical direction.

The Catholic church used to forbid marriage [1 Timothy 4:3], again against God's Word. I'm happy to see this has changed. The church did not allow priests or nuns to marry.

As far as praying to dead "saints"; the Bible states there is only ONE mediator between God and man, and that is JESUS CHRIST (1 Timothy 2:5). It used to be that only the holy Rabbi's could enter God's presence (in the Holy of Holies), but when Jesus died, the curtain that divided the Holy of Holies from the people was ripped in two! (Matthew 27:51) Now all the children of God can go into His presence directly. We don't need a saint, an earthly priest, or any other mediator to come into His presence ~ only the one-time Passover sacrifice, the blood of the Lamb [Jesus Christ] in our hearts!

The simple gospel is this: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."

AMEN.