I would like you all to read some excerpts of e-mail exchanges between his church and a perspective member.
The original location and full letters are at Weinland Watch.
First, it's been heavy on my mind, that Ron seems to teach the Gospel of Sabbath, rather than the Gospel of Jesus. It seems to me, he talks more about sabbath than Jesus. It appears Sabbath, Tithing and Baptism play an important role in Ron's retirement plan.
In the excerpts of the following e-mail exchange, we discover that Ron's church is actually a financial endeavor/a get-rich-quick scheme, (which is working out quite well for him and his family). We learn here that Tithing is a prerequisite to baptism!
Here is an excerpt with comments from Weinland Watch. Make note of the items that I, (As Bereans Did blog, mark in RED) :
This was the second series of exchanges the prospective member had with the church.
Hello [name]
The meetings conducted by Ronald Weinland are for a Sabbath service and for those who are in the true Church of God or who are being called by God and have responded by turning to obedience in observing the seventh day Sabbath and are committed to keeping/obeying it as God has commanded. Only those who are observing the Sabbath and tithing can be invited to attend such services. If you are one of those people then you need to let us know if you have such commitment and how you are observing the Sabbath, and if you are doing so, we would be glad to extend an invitation to you.Read this and reply back to this e-mail so we have a record of our conversations. We need contact information such as full address and phone numbers so a minister can contact you.
Sincerely
[Name of Evangelist #2]the Church of God-PKG
The church’s form letter on baptism follows. You will note that the prospective member is required to divulge personal contact information. Meanwhile, two different evangelists have been in contact with the same member. There was no response to further inquiries from the same member until the following came through:
Hello [name]
I am trying to schedule you for baptism. We cannot locate the cashiers check you say you sent. Reply back to this e-mail telling us what name and date it was sent. I have to verify that it was applied properly.
thanks
[name of Evangelist #2]The prospective member did not send any such check in, nor did the person say they sent any such check in. The evangelist was informed of this in the responding email. Additionally, the member requested to attend a baptism in their area, and was not given any permission. The prospective member then went on to request a receipt or a confirmation of their membership in the church before they would start sending money (and rightfully so). This person is now seriously questioning the motives behind the church.
Here was the church’s response to the prospective member’s request for information on tithing (they asked if it was 10% per annum or 10% per pay period).
Hello [name]
A tithe is that which involves a person’s obedience to God in giving God His tithe (10 percent) of income. This is a tithe of one’s net income (after taxes). The taxes are not in our control, but belong to the government to which we are all subject. We have no power over that portion of our income that is taken as taxes, and Jesus Christ said to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. We are responsible for what is under our control and management. God’s tithes are sent to Church of God-PKG, P.O. Box 14447, Cincinnati, OH 45250 U.S.A.
You can find more information in sermons on our website www.cog-pkg.org relating to the topic of Tithing. Feb 19th 2005 titled “A Relationship with God and Tithing”Sincerely [name of Evangelist #2]
the Church of God-PKGAs the prospective member noted, they were initially requesting information on baptism, and then got manipulated into requesting information on tithing. This was the exchange that occurred after the prospective member requested the exact details of the baptismal location planned in their area for March 22:
This was the church’s response:
Hello [name]
A tithe is that which involves a person’s obedience to God in giving God His tithe (10 percent) of income. This is a tithe of one’s net income (after taxes). The taxes are not in our control, but belong to the government to which we are all subject. We have no power over that portion of our income that is taken as taxes, and Jesus Christ said to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. We are responsible for what is under our control and management. God’s tithes are sent to Church of God-PKG, P.O. Box 14447, Cincinnati, OH 45250 U.S.A.
You can find more information in sermons on our website www.cog-pkg.org relating to the topic of Tithing. Feb 19th 2005 titled “A Relationship with God and Tithing”
Sincerely [name of Evangelist #2]
the Church of God-PKGA further request by the prospective member on whether or not they could attend the March 22 baptismal drive met with this response:
Hello [name]
Thank you for your e-mail. Can you help with this matter, as we cannot find a tithe record. I see you expected to mail the tithe in our past e-mails. Reply back to this e-mail as this is a prerequisite to baptism.
Sincerely
[name of Evangelist #2]The prospective member then replied with an apology that they did not realize tithing was a prerequisite to baptism. The prospective member did not receive a reply to that email, and has not heard from the church since.
As we see from this exchange, the only thing that appears to be on the minds of church staff; is your money. So...if you wish to purchase a membership in Ron's church, (yes, Ron's church, NOT God's), you know what to do.
Fortunately, God does not require you to purchase baptism!!
I too contacted the Cog-pkg concerning my desire to be baptized again, after they informed me that my baptism as a baby was not valid in God's eyes, which I can actually understand.
ReplyDeleteI got the impression from 2 or 3 more further exchanges with someone named Johnny, that tithing seemed to be their main concern. I did not send them any money, and have not heard back since.
To be absolutely 100% fair, the exchanges I posted were between Weinland's "evangelists" and a prospective member, not Weinland himself.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt in my mind that at least a core group (of around ten or so) elders/evangelists are in the church solely for the income source. Thus the genesis of the church's backup plan.
Given Weinland's last three sermons however, I fear Weinland himself may in fact believe his own patter. Whether he did or not previously is irrelevant at this point.
It appears now as though Weinland is not capable of, or possibly no longer willing to, declare himself a false prophet "by Pentecost or July" as he had promised in the "Three More Weeks" sermon.
Tithing is a scam and a scandal. Several COG and AOG pastors have stopped teaching it after researching my web site which has over 150 articles. You are onthe right track. Thanks for speaking up.
ReplyDeleteRussell Earl Kelly, PHD
Author of Should the Church Teach Tithing(.com)
I never assumed the letters were from Ron. But he is a man who needs to be in control. I don't believe for one second that his hand picked elders are doing any church business without his say so. They may be planning a coup, but they won't jeopardize anything until they feel it's safe to do so. Meaning, a better part of the congregation will have to turn on him first. Defy Ron, and you're gone! He'll put you out for calling Jesus 'Yahshua'.
ReplyDeleteIf memory serves me right,Johnny was the only person aside from Ron given the privilege of giving sermons in the beginning, before Wayne Matthews,(Even at FOT 2005).
The exchange between 'Anonymous' and Johnny is, as we know, 'Harrell'. I think he's pretty trusted by Ron.
Who went to Jerusalem with the Weinland's? The Harrell,s. I don't think he's going to do anything behind Ron' back.
We all see how well the Weinland's are doing financially. Tithing being a prerequisite to baptism, I'm sure, is Ron's personal created pet dogma.
Oh no question the baptismal tithe is near and dear to Weinland's heart and probably always has been.
ReplyDeleteI really do think he has started drinking his own Kool-Aid though; if he hadn't, he would just be stretching things out as per HWA, instead of frantically trying to grab on to every little straw as "proof" of his witnessarial powers, the way he has done.
Harrell and Wrozeck are alleged to be in competition for how far one can get over the other up Weinland's butt-cheeks. Matthews is the unknown factor, given that he came to PKG from United (and was involved heavily with British-Israelism during that time), and tends to give sermons that would not have been out of place in 1985.
Regardless, the radio silence on both the church's web site and Weinland's own personal blog since "plan B" hit the Net does suggest they may be dealing with some internal combustion due to this right now. Well, we can only hope, at least.
As for tithing, I always recommend Ernest Martin's booklet on same.
Oh and my personal point I like to make is the fact that the OT says "seed", NOT money; in other words, if you believe the bible is the divinely-inspired word of god and as such is inerrant, then you should be parking 10% of your house-plants and kitchen garden on your pastor's doorstep every year---NOT your hard-earned money. In my opinion. :-)
Weinland appeared on the Mike McConnell show this morning.
ReplyDeleteTranscript and link(s) to the file can be found here. Here is just a taste:
MM: So uh the night before I mean when the trumpet was about to sound on April the seventeenth did you get a good night’s sleep? The night of the sixteenth into the seventeenth?
RW: [pause]
MM: Or were you too full of anticipation?
RW: [long pause] It was like any other night.