Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Former RCG Member/Employee Talks About Abuse In David C. Pack's Cult Compound In Wadsworth



A former employee and member of David C. Packs Restored Church of God has written a letter to Exit and Support Network detailing the hell he went through for a few months at Dave's cult compound in Wadsworth.  He also tells how RCG members sold their homes and land in ordered to send it in to Dave to finance his great COG reunification that FAILED to happen this past Saturday.

He writes:

Why I Left Restored Church of God

I left the Restored Church of God about one month ago. I moved out to, lived, and worked in Wadsworth, Ohio at the RCG Headquarters for two months. Many of the things I went through and witnessed caused me to leave. Now with David C. Pack's "remnant prophecy" a complete flop, it is another good reason I left.

While at Headquarters, I saw a lot of scared and unhappy individuals. There was a superficial look of happiness, but I sensed a lot of uneasiness in many of the members. There was a lot of pressure from those on the top of the church government to get certain projects done, whether it was putting up chandeliers, getting a room ready for a certain date, getting the landscaping in place, or constructing a waterfall. What came down from the top was immediate priority and had to get done when they wanted. Everyone felt the pressure, no matter what department you worked in. Some lacked sleep.

As a worker who was going to be a future student at RCG's Ambassador Center, I, and many other students, were being shuffled around the student housing that they provided. I had to move three times during my stay at Wadsworth. Wherever they told you you were going to stay was where you were going to stay. I met one member there who had moved four times--every month since he moved out there. Much of one's behavior is controlled and influenced by what "the church" wants, from dress to dancing to dating etc.

I remember at one RCG service I had noticed a member who was not at services the week before, so I asked them if they were okay. They said that they had gotten sick last week because of all the pressure and the increased work load that was laid on them since the move into the new Administrative Hall.
For Dave Pack, the cult compound he is building is all about himself and the money he needs to build it.   Just like COG leaders in Pasadena (including HWA) he treats his employees like dirt while spending money on vainglorious items to furnish his buildings and home with.  His ministers are also sharing in this moneymaking scheme.  That is the main reason none of them have had the balls to come out and say that Dave is a liar and a fraud after his epic prophetic failure this past Saturday.  These ministers and their wives would rather whore themselves out to the almighty dollar than to be men and women of integrity. These men and women do not have a Christian bone in their bodies.

He continues:

While ministers, ministers' wives, and others in the upper echelon at HQ ogled over expensive chandeliers, fancy wooden trim, waterfalls, and a well-striped and manicured grounds, there were many members who were hurting physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. Ministers live in expensive housing, drive in fairly expensive new vehicles. Many of the lay members were always required and admonished to give more. It was never enough. The RCG would pursue projects they didn't immediately have the funds for, so they would pressure the congregations through weekly announcements and sermons to raise more funds. Now the RCG has recently purchased over 50 more acres of land!
The ministers and evangelists in Pasadena did the exact same thing.  They were completely out of touch with the everyday members of the chruch.  They had no idea whatsoever how people struggled to make ends meet while the upper echelon dined on champagne and caviar and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars remolding their homes at church expense.

He then writes the following about how RCG members sold their homes to finance Dave's asinine reunification that failed to happen.  They are now without homes while Dave still lives in the lap of luxury as he pretends nothing happened.

David Pack's remnant prophecy was another big reason I left. I had a bad feeling about it the closer the month of August came. He claimed that part of the books of Haggai and Zechariah indicated that three splinter group leaders would die by fire on the same day and that many of those members of the splinters would flock to Restored Church of God by the Sabbath of August 31st. Clearly, none of that has happened, and unfortunately many of the members have poured out immense amounts of funds, resources, and endless fundraising to get ready to absorb this supposed remnant. Many sold houses and properties and have given up most or almost all of what they had. I miss a lot of the friends I made in RCG. I feel bad for them, because I know that a lot of them have invested a lot of time, money, and assets to "the church."

Dale Schurter, Larry McElroy and all the other RCG ministers are complicit in this criminal activity.  These men are sick men just like Dave is.  They know Dave lied and they continue to cover up for him.

 For anyone who is thinking or looking to joining Restored Church of God, you now have a false prophet / apostle / high priest / Joshua / whatever you want to call it to look up to and follow. He set a date for something to happen. He felt that God revealed it to him through Scripture. The event never happened. The RCG just purchased over 50 more acres of land which was expected to be paid for by the "remnant" who never came. Break it down and keep it simple.
 You can read the entire letter here: Why I Left Restored Church of God

32 comments:

Michael said...

And still Pack's "special announcements" are up on their web site.
My uneducated guess: First of all Pack's pride will not allow him to remove it himself (admission of complete failure), and there is no soul brave enough among the 16 or any others, to say "Um, Mr. Pack, I think it might be best if we go ahead and remove the special announcements about the COGs being reunified under our RCG in August, since it appears we made a major boo-boo."

DennisCDiehl said...

Many to thanks to this man who shared his experience. While we can comment on an abusive and delusional religious personality who hurts more good folk than he helps with "Good News", up to date observations from experienced members confirm our worst concerns.

Thank you much!

Dave is probably on a cruise on De-Nial

DennisCDiehl said...

PS My dream would be for Dave to allow me to look for arrowheads on that 50 acres when he plows it up and after a good rain! lol

Ohio, near the Great Lakes would have some awesome stuff in the ground!

Beats Steuben every time

Anonymous said...

I thank Eric for writing to confirm firsthand what we all knew, because this has all happened before. It's always the same exact things that happen on a continual basis. Not only has there not been any sort of huge reunification, people are now coming out and leaving his church and sharing valuable insight from a first hand perspective. I hope others "wake up" as he has done. I genuinely feel sorry for those who lost everything to the visions of delusion. Ultimately, that responsibility rests on Pack. I hope others leave and can seriously restore what they've lost. I can't even imagine how some feel right now.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps he will beef up security and do what Herbert Armstrong did: Come to services accompanied by armed guards with real loaded guns -- just in case God's protection isn't enough.

Because you never know -- even nominally sane people can go crazy postal with having lost everything because of a narcissistic sociopath.

Another Godfather of the Armstrongist Mafia.

Anonymous said...

It takes patience to do this thing right, Dave. The long con is always more profitable.

Bad PK

Anonymous said...

"a fool...? Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I thought it said 'Elul!"

Anonymous said...

If any of them wish to "Go Postal", the new Mail Processing Center would be the place for that.

Byker Bob said...

This is what we expected, only perhaps even a little worse! Can you imagine, with all of the belt tightening that everyone has had to undergo since the inception of the recession, what extra trauma these people have willingly put themselves through simply because they believed in Dave, his work, his alleged Apostleship, and the role he has claimed in prophecy?

The question that begs an answer, is who would even want to "reunify" (and somehow, "reunification" is a totally inaccurate descriptive term for such badly worsened conditions) under this type of calloused and inhumane leadership? Someone has done a very good job of selling their own anthromorphic version of a God to these people in order to motivate them into such demagogic and self-destructive behavior!

Yeah. Nice unity there, Dave. But, considering what you promised and never could deliver, at what expense? What a total waste!

BB

Allen C. Dexter said...

Hopefully, he's not the only one to wake and bail. He just saved himself years of wasted time and effort in a lost cause. It took me twenty-two years to wake up and get out -- years I should have dedicated to a career that would have taken better care of me in my latter years. As someone stated years ago, Herbert Armstrong's path was strewn with the wreakage of the lives of people who had served him well. So it is with narcissistic sociopaths.

Anonymous said...

My heart goes out to this man and I hope he is blessed for standing up and leaving this evil man full of himself. I have been worried for months even before reading these words. I knew they were putting on fake smiles on FB. I only know one person and am able to look at many others in rcg, they comment as if we only have a few years left. My friend stopped posting completely for the last 2 months, he was active in posting Pack's videos, letters, etc. He is actually the video editor for Pack, left his life in Oakland for the grand HQ of satan. I do not see any new videos being done, they are being recycled for TV and YT. I am afraid that these poor people are unable to leave, not having the money. I hope he is brought down soon, he has no shame.

Corky said...

HWA was an advertising salesman...in other words, a conman. He discovered that it was easier to sell religion door-to-door during the 'great depression' than selling Bibles door-to-door and it paid more and kept on paying.

He had hung around the 'Chicago circle' in his younger days - where all the conmen and big-time gangsters hung out in the 1920's. I'm NOT saying that HWA was a member of the mob, but who knows? I knew a fed informant (nicknamed "Rat Daley") who said he was...don't know it for a fact, just hearsay. But then, I don't know ole Rat's real name either...

But, isn't it a wonderful con game though? One thing's for sure, no one is going to come back from the grave or the future to tattle on these guys. Of a truth, there has never been a better con game than religion. There's lots of money to be made and an inexhaustible supply of suckers.

James said...

The people in Packs cult should have read "The Devil and Dave Pack"

Anonymous said...

Either Dave did'nt think this scam through or he actually thought that his prophacy was going to happen. If he didn't think it through he is a incompetent scam artist. If he actually thougt it was going to happen he is a nut case, which I think is far worse.

Anonymous said...

"there has never been a better con game than religion"

Not quite. You need to investigate fractional reserve banking.

Anonymous said...


From the RCG's website:


-----------------------------------

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Upcoming Announcements

Mr. Pack will be posting two or three more “Friday Announcements” in the coming weeks. These will explain in detail additional expansive elements of the Haggai/Zechariah prophecy. They will open your eyes to things that God has long intended to do in His end-time Work that no one ever understood before, and you will see that His Word is plain!

The first will be this Friday, and will cover interesting points and scriptures everyone should keep in mind now. The next one or two will bring clarity to certain questions about “dates,” and how brethren should now view the “when” of the prophecy’s fulfillment.

-----------------------------------


The best part (with my emphasis) was:

"The next one or two will bring CLARITY to certain QUESTIONS about 'DATES,' and how brethren should ***NOW*** view the 'WHEN' of the prophecy’s fulfillment."

I think that deep down inside I already viewed it this way. That is why I did not believe the original date guess. In fact, I might not believe the next date guess either.

Please, let the games stop!

Anonymous said...


"The next one or two will bring CLARITY to certain QUESTIONS about 'DATES,' and how brethren should ***NOW*** view the 'WHEN' of the prophecy’s fulfillment."

Prediction addiction strikes again.

Byker Bob said...

James, I think you are right. I was quite shocked when an anonymous person posted on another thread that "Mr. Pack believes that he is under attack by the devil and his agents." I agree, but for different reasons.

I am sure that I'm not the only one here who prayed for protection for the leaders of the other splinters this summer. It's not that I agree with their theology or world view, it's just that while they are yet alive, there are always options. We all changed. So could they. Not that I took Pack's spontaneous human combustion prophecy seriously, but who knows when the next Terry Ratzmann will come along?

I guess if Dave wants to think of people who pray for the protection of those whom he calls fire upon as agents of the devil, it just further illustrates his severe delusion.

BB

James said...

Byker Bob writes:
"Not that I took Pack's spontaneous human combustion prophecy seriously, but who knows when the next Terry Ratzmann will come along?"

That is the problem. When someone is mentally deranged in your congregation, unseemly things can happen. Could Pack be setting himself up for a Ratzmann situation?

What kind of person might consider such a crime?
The blue ribbon tithe payer who gave until he or she was bleed out into the obscurity of poverty.

When people lose everything, when they understand that they have been scammed out of their life works, they have a decision to make. Kill yourself or place your anger where it belongs. The answer is obvious even if you don't read widely. Pack, in my opinion, is placing himself into that position.

Anonymous said...

Stanley Rader used to say, "I don't take stupid pills." Indeed. Take what you can in the name of religion and the government can't touch you.
HWA was smart enough to have him on his side to keep him on this side of the law.

Anonymous said...

Stanley Rader used to say, "I don't take stupid pills." Indeed. Take what you can in the name of religion and the government can't touch you.
HWA was smart enough to have him on his side to keep him on this side of the law.

DennisCDiehl said...

"The narcissist sometimes notices that something is wrong with him and with his life -- but he never admits it. - ... the narcissist is incapable of admitting that something is wrong with HIM - They will never admit fault, they will never say they are sorry. If something goes wrong, they will play the victim. They will blame others.

Remember they will never admit they are wrong, they willnever debase themselves with an real apology. They will never laugh at themselves.

- Narcissists adores themselves. They live for themselves, they think they can do no wrong and will not admit to wrongdoing [re: traits common to 6 year olds and adult narcissists] - [For the narcissist] to admit to one failing, to acknowledge a mistake, even a simple human error of judgement, would be to open the door to the deep internal lack within. ... Such feelings of worthlessness are like an ocean being held back by a fragile dyke.

The illusion of perfection, maintained by projecting faults onto someone else, is a barrier to be constantly tended, mended and shored up. To admit any feelings of deficiency would be the equivalent of poking a hole in the dyke, an event to be feared as a total disaster. Narcissists blame all problems on the "all-bad." It's never the narcissist's fault; it's always someone else's. The last paragraph speaks truly from a narcissist's perspective. It's the victim's fault. If the two of you have a conflict, he'll tweak the facts as much as he has to to make it all your fault."

So Brethren of RCG. Get ready for it to be your fault and there is a better way that you missed to see this all more clearly than the last totally clear time.

Anonymous said...


It looks like David Pack's 24 given reasons + 32 not given reasons = 56 total reasons just simply were not enough to make it happen.

I remember in the past when it was claimed that the Real Truth magazine would bring responsible understanding rather than wild speculation. I get the feeling that David Pack was aware of all the wrong and crazy prophetic guessing on the COG scene and tried to resist going down that road himself but was simply unable to in the end.


Anonymous said...

I just can't believe that Dave would be dumb enough to announce this "prophecy", complete with a specific date, and not have something else up his sleeve. As arrogant as he is, something tells me he is smarter than this, that he is a wily S.O.B., and he planned from the beginning to milk this non-event in a way I've not foreseen.

It's just a feeling on my part. I don't have any evidence to back it up. But I just feel like he's planned from the beginning to use this as a way to steal more money from his flock.

Anonymous said...

The prophecy is delayed because we have been getting lukewarm! We are not ready yet! We must pray harder and SEND THOSE ASSETS IN NOW!

David Conman Pack.

Unknown said...

Peck sounds like he is trying to build another TBN like the Crouches. How people can fall for this stuff never ceases to amaze me. I guess its our inherent "herd mentality". We tend to follow a leader even if a leader is wrong. My Dad took me out of ALL organized religion when I was about 7 years old. I had been going to a rickety old church with my Grandmother, his mother, and one day I came home and told him something they had taught me, and that was the end of it. I was hurt at the time but now days I know he did the right thing for me. I am not affiliated with any religion and I still believe in God, but in my own way. I don't need a middleman. And there are so many false teachers out there I would never think of joining any group. I see people like John Hagee trying to turn his flock into jews. And if you spend just a little time learning about these so called jews, you find out most of them believe their man made Talmud is their holy book. I'm sure Hagee is getting a nice kickback from his friends in Israel so I put him in the same category as Peck. Do as I say don't do as I do. The GREED of the few out weigh the needs of the many.

Anonymous said...

I was recently baptized in the rcg and I was kinda worried about this fir awhile. I have no money but many in the congregation does and they give it all to him. They are good people. I need to find a way out can u help me.

Anonymous said...

NEW VIDEO PACK IN HIS OWN WORDS COMMANDING ALL YOUR ASSETS OR NO SALVATION!!

To anyone who is in or considering going to Dave Packs The Restored Church Of God you need to watch these
videos which take his own words and show the world the FALSE PROPHET HE IS. Please share and get the word out!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO6jg4HcN3Q

Anonymous said...

There's a lot of junk in all churches today. That's why the church as a whole isn't doing so well.

Hayley said...

Hi could I contact you personally please to discuss I have concerns over a family member who has been dragged into this cult!
Thank you

Hayley said...

Hi could I contact you as I have concerns over a family member who had been dragged into this cult
Thank you

NO2HWA said...

sure. no2hwa@yahoo.com