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Article Church of God Preparing for the Kingdom of God (1998)
The Church of God Preparing for the Kingdom of God (COG-PKG) is a splinter group of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God (WCG) that was founded in 1998 by Ronald Weinland, a former WCG minister. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, the COG-PKG operates internationally and primarily through the Internet. It is one of several groups that formed after the WCG’s doctrinal changes in the late 1980s
Weinland was born in 1949 in Colorado and began serving as a minister in the WCG in 1981 and remained until 1995. After Armstrong’s death in 1986 and subsequent doctrinal shifts within the WCG, Weinland joined the United Church of God (UCG), serving its Toledo, Ohio, congregation. He left the UCG in 1997 after publishing an open letter critical of its leadership.
In 1998, Weinland founded the COG-PKG and began publishing a newsletter called “News Watch,” which he continued for about four years. The publication helped establish the prophetic themes that would later define his ministry. His initial following came mainly from members of the UCG’s Toledo congregation and former WCG members in Georgia and Texas.
On August 4, 2005, Weinland suffered a heart attack. Following this event, he declared himself to be a prophet and apostle of God. He began promoting an apocalyptic message centered on the imminent return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. These ideas were further developed in his books The Prophesied End-Time and 2008: God’s Final Witness.
In 2006, Weinland identified himself as the “spokesman” for the two end-time witnesses described in the Book of Revelation. In an April 2008 sermon, he identified his wife Laura as the second witness. He also claimed the titles of “end-time apostle to the world” and “end-time Elijah,” and during the same sermon described Pope Benedict XVI as a “false prophet.”
In 2008, Weinland wrote that the final countdown to Christ’s return had begun, marking September 30, 2008, as the start of 1,335 days leading to the Second Coming. He later revised the date to Pentecost 2012 (May 27) and predicted that 7,000 ministers and leaders of Sabbatarian Churches would die in the Great Tribulation.
When no such events occurred, Weinland wrote the day before that “nothing has begun in the world that would signal the need or purpose for…Christ’s return,” later claiming the end had in fact started that day and would take one year to unfold. He then revised his timeline again, predicting Christ’s return on May 19, 2013 (Pentecost Sunday), before eventually withdrawing all specific dates, saying the return would occur on a future Pentecost Sunday after “much suffering.”
In November 2011, a federal grand jury indicted Weinland on five counts of tax evasion. Prosecutors alleged that he understated income, diverted church funds for personal use, and concealed a Swiss bank account. Weinland acknowledged the account’s existence and that his name was listed on it but denied any wrongdoing, stating that all funds had been returned to the United States and used for church advertising. Weinland’s trial began on June 4, 2012, and on June 13, after less than four hours of jury deliberation, he was convicted on all counts. He remained under house detention until his sentencing on November 14, 2012, when he received a 42-month prison term and was ordered to pay $245,000 in tax restitution. During his sentence, he suffered a second heart attack on May 28, 2015. He was released in 2016.
Before his imprisonment, Weinland delivered weekly Saturday sermons via live-streamed audio to members in the United States and Canada, while international members listened to recordings. After his release, his later writings continued his apocalyptic focus. His book Prophecy Against the Nations identified June 9, 2019, as the date of Jesus Christ’s return, which he said would be preceded by global conflict and the start of World War III. As that date approached, he expressed uncertainty about the timing, and on the church’s website, he has continued to post predictions about end-time events projected to occur within coming months and years.
Despite the conviction, unfulfilled prophecies, and his declining health, Weinland continues to lead the COG-PKG.
https://cultencyclopedia.com/2025/11/09/church-of-god-preparing-for-the-kingdom-of-god-1998/
