When the second coming of Christ is imminent, one needs to be prepared. Sure, there's the whole "accepting Jesus as your savior" thing, but there are financial considerations to be made as well. Like making large deposits in Swiss bank accounts! This was the strategy of "doomsday prophet" Ron Weinland, who used his church's money to get ready for the "final days" which unfortunately never materalized:
Weinland’s defense attorneys told jurors during the eight-day trial that their client deposited church money in Swiss bank accounts because he believed society was in its “final days,” and that before Jesus Christ returns, the U.S. financial system would collapse. Weinland’s website claims the beginning of the end of earth as the human race knows it started on May 27 – just eight days before the start of the trial. Prosecutors argued the teachings of Weinland’s ministry were no excuse for not reporting the foreign accounts to tax collectors.
Weinland also figured that writing off $357,065 in personal expenses – including stays at the Venetian Hotel, Nordstrom shopping sprees, and home security systems – as church expenses would best prepare him for the end of days; all it got him was home detention until he is sentenced in September.
Doomsday prophet guilty of tax evasion [Cincinnati via Tax Update]
