Dave Pack: "Freedom of the Press Is Not God's Way"

In looking through Pack's screed on being persecuted by the unjust he has this little tid-bit about the Internet and the press which now hold him accountable for his lies.

The arrival of the Internet, coupled with a long-time American institution, has forever changed communication and the “rules” within the Church of God. Let me explain.

Together, these changed everything. When disruptions now occur in the Church, everybody has a “story” to tell. The Internet provides them with a vehicle to do this. And dirtmongers are only too eager to help them. When Daniel said, “knowledge shall be increased” in the end time, he could not have remotely understood how the computer would play such a large role in this.

Freedom of the Press

Compounding the problem, America and other countries practice the principle of “freedom of the press.” While this has never been God’s way, it is certainly the American and modern way. The American Bill of Rights ensures that the flow of “information”—good or bad, right or wrong—can never stop. Therefore, Americans (and citizens of nearly every Western nation) consider access to information not just a privilege but a right. They could not imagine life without all of the various written materials that are made available through this freedom—and the Freedom of Information Act has allowed them to access vast additional amounts of once inaccessible material!

The attitude that people are entitled to complete “openness” from all institutions of government has been absorbed into the splinters. An expectation has developed that visiting certain websites, or reading “church culture” newspapers, is how to get the real story. Now, “investigative reporters” take it upon themselves to “just report the news” happening in the splinters. They view themselves as neutral or acting on God’s behalf, while distributing every conceivable kind of garbage, filth, muck, sewage, dirt and trash landing on their desks!

Obviously, these “journalists” are not dirtmongers in their own eyes. They see themselves as merely performing an “information service.” But they function much like the National Enquirer, The Star or other supermarket tabloids, so popular today. The difference is that they do this on behalf of the many splinters, assuring themselves that God is pleased with their efforts. Actually, these “journalists” directly serve the “god of this world,” who loves gossip, talebearing, slander, bad news, discord, division and every other form of human disagreement. While God hates these things, the devil and human nature feast on them. But try to tell them God hates what they are doing.

Additionally, most of these “information services” link their websites and newspapers. One “service” may specialize in muck, while another specializes in dirt. Still another in sewage, while yet another features trash and garbage. But since they all “cross-pollinate,” one need only stumble onto one source to find a veritable treasure trove of every vile thing under the sun—instantly available!

You must come to see that, in a host of ways, these sources have rejected Christ’s most basic teachings, and have departed from even the fringes of marginal true Christianity. (From Should Accusers Be Answered?)

The only people I know on the fringe are the legalistic splinter cults of Armstrongism who promote worthless legalistic mumbo-jumbo that enslaves.  They follow a weak, impotent little god who is powerless.