Word o’ God

For as long as humans have believed in religion there has probably been some form of “end times” belief.  A threat of impending doom to behave and get your life in order; not because it is the right thing to do, but rather so you might obtain some reward for it.  Like a child in the store with it’s Mother, if you behave I will buy you some candy at the register on the way out!  There have been a few religious zelots throughout time that have actually been bold enough to step up and give us an exact date.  One that I recently read about was the originator of the Jehovah’s witnesses, Charles Russell.  His story is very intriguing, He actually predicted it more than once, when the date came and nothing happened he would just move it up a few years.  Yes there are still followers today! Go figure??? 
    I am certain there are several in our current time, that have marked an X on the calendar as well.  One such prophetic individual that I stumbled across today is a Mr. Ronald Weinland.  I believe he is a former “WWChurch of God” pastor/preacher. 
    Note: For those that do not know about the “World Wide Church of God”…  First of all it is worth researching.  It was founded by Herbert Armstrong a radio talk show host in CA.  He amassed a rather large following and huge $$chunk o’ change$$.  Started a college etc etc.  Sometime in the 80’s after his death the leadership being somewhat more learned came out and devastated the membership by admitting that Herbert had made it all up!   (they pretty much did the right thing but suffered by losing most of their members.)  My brief note really does not serve justice to the tale, but you can find the details online.
I have emailed Ronald to try and verify if he was/is affiliated with the WWCOG, I’ll update this if he replies.   So Ronald says God called him as a prophet in 1996.  And that the end of time will begin in April of 2008, just around the corner.  He seems to be quite the celebrity; you can listen to a number of interviews with talk shows around the world on his site.  He will even send you a copy of his latest book.  His site contains a lot of interesting information, not to mention his mailing address so that you may send him a 10% tithing of your income (after taxes, he says).   I guess it aint cheap traveling around the world with his wife.  He is defiantly sure of the 2008 date though.     So how can I be sure if he really believes what he is preaching?  The only thing I could come up with was a wager, but what to gamble with?  Well if he really knew that currency would be worthless, etc in April, then what could I offer?  I always thought it was funny when as a child we would loose a bet and have to be the victors slave for a day, so that seemed the most practical deal.   I have challenged Ron to a wager, If his revelation comes to pass then I shall be his personal servant for the term of one year, unless I meet my demise in the madness that ensues during the first year of the apocalypse.  In return if as I believe the world continues to roll on as good or bad as it is, then he becomes my personal assistant for the year.  If his God really told him what he claims then he should have no reservations accepting my offer.  On the other hand if he refuses then I think we all know what that indicates.  If you want to check out his site it is http://www.the-end.com/ it links to several others he has setup.