An Expose of 2008:
God’s Final Witness
By William Frederick author of
The Coming Epiphany: A Guide to
Understanding End Times Bible Prophecy
There is a book entitled 2008: God’s Final Witness written by Ron Weinland that has a lot of money backing it and promoting it. They are even giving it away for free. Maybe you have seen it appear as paid advertising on a Google prophecy search as I did. Since this book is causing quite a stir, I decided to check it out to see what it says and evaluate it according to the Word of God. What I found was shocking.
We all have read of the two witnesses that will be on the earth in the last days; “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. (Rev 11:3,4) The author Ron Weinland plainly states several times that he is one of the two witnesses.
“It is now with boldness, confidence and great clarity that I give to you what God has given me. I am to announce, through God’s direct revelation, that I am one of those two witnesses.” p.16
That is not the only horrendous claim that this man makes but he also says that Jesus is not eternal God.
“The Truth About Yahweh
God’s end-time apostle, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, was given understanding that the Trinity was a false teaching. He learned that the holy spirit is not a being, but that it is the very power of God. He also learned that God’s purpose for mankind is for them to become members of the God Family (Elohim) and that God’s Family is not a closed trinity, but instead, it can grow into the billions. But there is only one eternally-existing member of Elohim and that is the ETERNAL ONE (Yahweh).
Mr. Armstrong was never able to come to understand this about God. He was not completely able to break free from the pollution of the Trinity doctrine because he believed that Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament. God never revealed to him the entire truth of the matter. No one on earth understands the true depth of this matter. P.206 “The ETERNAL God told Israel (Isaiah 45) that He was the only one who was God [Elohim]. In other words, He was the only one of the God Family at this time. There was no one else! Certainly the teaching of the Trinity is a lie! In addition, Jesus Christ was not the ETERNAL [Yahweh] of the Old Testament. Indeed, Jesus Christ has not eternally existed.” p.210
Here are some other false statements that the man makes in his blasphemous book.
· The 6 seals of Revelation have already been opened, seal one was on 12/17/94 p.23
· Herbert Armstrong was an apostle of the 20th century p.25
· Only 144,000 people of all time have entered into a special relationship with God and will be part of the first resurrection p.71,74.
· The 144,000 sealed in Revelation are not from Israel, p.77
· The thunder judgments of the end times will be of his choosing, p.111
· There is no such thing as the trinity, p.202
· The Spirit is not a being and God will become many people, p.206.
He also says that God will validate this book by allowing his predicted events to come to pass.
“So what is the truth? This book is the truth! It is one of the primary things I do appreciate about the job God has given me. I am simply to state the truth as it is. I do not have to spend endless hours defending it, debating it or expounding upon it. The truth is simply the truth, and now, you can begin to see it more clearly and respond if you have any desire or hope to receive favor from God in the time of destruction that is almost upon us.
Yes, this book is the truth. God is about to prove that this book is telling the truth! He will do so with power unleashed beyond any that He has ever used to reveal to man that He is their Creator.” p.51
The events that he
predicts to happen are not too specific but he says that there will be war,
earthquakes, severe weather, economic upheaval, death, and the witnesses’
growing revelation. At the very end of the book he makes his most specific
prediction.
By the fall of 2008,
the United States will have collapsed as a world power, or it will have begun
its collapse and no longer exist as an independent nation within six months
after that time. p. 244.
Now that I have shown you some of his teachings and beliefs it should be clear to you that this man’s teachings are contrary to scripture. Let me take the most blasphemous of all of them; “Jesus Christ was not the ETERNAL [Yahweh] of the Old Testament. Indeed, Jesus Christ has not eternally existed.”p.210 The apostle John tells us in Jn 1:1-3
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. The same was in the beginning with God. 3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. and thus he is not one of the 2 witnesses and if he is receiving revelation it is not coming from God because God will not contradict His Word.”
Here John clearly identifies the Word as being the eternal God. In verse 14 of the same chapter John identifies who the Word is.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
These verses make it clear that the Word was eternal God and the Word is the Son of God Jesus Christ. Thus Mr. Weinland’s teachings contradict the Word of God, and he is not one of the two witnesses and is a false teacher. And if he is receiving his doctrine by special revelation then he is not receiving it from God.
Mr. Weinland is a member of the Worldwide Church of God. Realizing the church affiliation that this man has will explain a lot of what he believes. Here is a quote about the worldwide church of God and Herbert Armstrong, who he says is an apostle of the 20th century.
David Covington, a former WCG pastor, wrote:
His [Herbert W. Armstrong's] widely-circulated message
was an eclectic mixture of cultic doctrine, Jewish observances and Seventh Day
Adventism. The church strictly observed the Saturday sabbath, Jewish festivals,
and the clean meats of Leviticus 11 
.
Members were required to give upwards of 30% of their incomes to the church.
The ministry of the group controlled the membership through fear and
manipulation and decided who they could date, how they could dress, what they
could eat, etc. Members were not allowed to wear make-up, observe birthdays or
participate in Christmas, Easter or Halloween.
The group believed in British Israelism, the view that the white anglo-saxon Protestants of America and Britain are the "pure" descendants of ancient Israel and God's true people on earth. This was a major component of Armstrong's "theology". In addition to rejecting traditional orthodox views of heaven, hell, eternal punishment and day of salvation, Armstrong also taught that members of the WCG would actually become Gods themselves after the resurrection, a twist on Mormon doctrine.
Source: What
is the Worldwide Church of God? (Article by David Covington, ex-WCG pastor, who
is also critical of the new WCG) [No longer online][1]
What
about his predictions, doesn’t the fact that we are seeing increased wars,
severe weather, earthquakes, etc, mean that he is a true prophet of God. NO!
First off his predictions are already listed in scripture. Jesus told us that
near the end there would be an increase of those things. So his predictions are
nothing new, they were revealed to us thousands of years ago. And as far as his
prediction of the United States collapsing, that is highly possible, many
economists have been saying that this fall has the potential for a horrendous
economic fiasco for the United States. There is also the long planned terrorist
operation named the American Hiroshima, where terrorists plan on detonating
nuclear bombs in 10 American cities in response to our attacking Iran. If this
occurs the U.S. would be devastated. Such an event combined with an economic
disaster could very well cause the United States to cease as an independent
nation and become part of the long planned North American Union.
But just because some of his general predictions are coming true and his one concerning the United States may come true are we to believe all that he says? NO! His words must be examined against scripture, which we have done. He contradicts scripture therefore he is a false prophet. Remember satan knows some of the future and he will reveal it to his servants.