Michael Vensih, a former Restored Church of God employee and part of the inner circle recently left RCG and stated exposing the lies of Dave Pack
Venish then became interested in Christ's Knock (shut down) led by Lou Maschio (Knockers Church of God as many refer to it as.) Soon after Venish started collaborating with Maschio, Maschio handed over the Christ Knock's web site and its small group of followers to Venish and walked away.
He has started his own site and is now taking contributions: The Lamp: Revealing the Way for the People of God
Most, if not all of us came out of a church where, a “work” was being proclaimed as God's Work. After God closed down the Worldwide Church of God– because it became the work of men, we now have various groups – Churches of God – led by those who supposedly fled the “apostasy”, to begin their own brand of the truth, which they claim, is associated with the patriarch that died. Among these groups, certain demagogues rose up, the principle ones being, Mr. Gerald Flurry and Mr. David Pack, who are leading a vulnerable people, even further away from what Jesus Christ established as His church, and through His original apostles.God in His wisdom, calls His people sheep, because sheep flock, they want to belong, to be a part of something, that is why there are clubs, fraternities, societies, associations, organizations and churches. Sheep need leadership. But all too often, they want to crown their leader, place him on a pedestal, give him a title of some sort, or proclaim, “he leads our work!” The desire to belong is not wrong, we are to fellowship where possible, but the thing that is wrong, is not learning from the mistakes of the past, as well as what we can see today, some brethren elevating men to positions God and Jesus Christ never ordained. I know some leaders in some churches, claiming to themselves exalted titles.I don't want anyone to crown me, nor give me a title. If that is what you want, I'm the wrong person. As a servant of Christ, my responsibility is simple, it is to help God's people– those who are willing– to achieve the joy of their salvation, to make entrance into the Kingdom of God. I do not believe, I am to deliver a “KNOCK”, neither am I “A VOICE”, I have my own voice which emanates from my own throat.
As I wrote to you in a letter, I was intrigued by what Mr. Maschio was doing, in reaching out to our scattered brethren. I also said, “we have a common goal, which is our important responsibility, to make it as the Bride of Christ, ready for His return”. I offered help in the form of sermons to assist him, in feeding those whom God had called, those people he was taking care of.
It was not my intention, to be caught up in the circumstances that we find ourselves in today, nor was it my purpose to lead, guide or direct any church or “work”. However, be that as it may, I do not draw back, nor shrink from any challenge to assist and to teach those with the Spirit of God, who want me as their minister.
While we can learn a lot of the details surrounding the Pack cult from a former insider's perspective from Michael, I believe I'd be really cautious about receiving spiritual guidance from him. In so many words, this becomes yet another splinter group.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about sheep, though. But, it makes me wonder about myself, because I've always been more like a cat. Not the cuddly kind, but the stray tomcat you wouldn't want to bring home.
BB
Michael doesn't want a title but he wants to be a "minister"? Same old wannabe Armstrong shit!
ReplyDeleteWell, as the uncalled and unordained apostle Paul would say...me, me, me.
ReplyDeleteUh oh. I suppose he does come by his following not in the usual way, but then again, they all start out saying these things.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for praising Venish for exposing Dave Pack, I'm not in favor of him leading yet one more splinter group devoted to an ancient middle eastern weather god. Hasn't he had enough? Lou Maschio obviously had enough. I wish Pack, Flurry, Weinland, Theil, Dankenbring, and countless other small potatoes who never even make this blog, would take a page out of Maschio's autobiography and lead with their feet also, even if the "sheep" won't follow them out the door.
The COGs are like radioactive elements decaying by radiating out one member at a time. That's what I was when I left, an atom of spent nuclear fuel. That's what I hoped Venish was too. For some reason, age and experience do not correlate to understanding the systematic problems with Armstrongism and any organization devoted to Armstrongism. It isn't possible for such an organization to be a positive force for good, either for it's membership or, I would argue, for it's community. It's a cancerous organization devoted to metastasizing by spreading its cancerous ideas. Usually you kill a cancer with radiation, but these cancers are, by their nature, radioactive. I left because I realized that just because I was brought up to be a cancer cell in a COG, I didn't have to fulfill that destiny, but that even UCG had no other destiny. I wish Venish could have noticed that. I wish he could have noticed that Dave Pack isn't the biggest thing wrong with RCG, it's Herbert's programming which still operates inside of the head of every COG member. Venish is continuing along the path of the cancer cell the COGs want everyone in the whole world to be. We can all thank the weather gods that that's never going to happen.
I wonder what the half-life of the COGs are?
One thing I should have said in the previous post is that now he's the one in charge of a COG splinter group, Herbert's programming at work is going to continue it's work of shaping Venish into another Dave Pack, or Flurry, or Weinland. Resistance is futile. Herbert is still very much the one in control of the COGs, despite the fact he hasn't done a thing in nearly 30 years.
ReplyDeleteI resonated with the kind of man Michael is and inspite of our differences, would respect his perspectives on practical spritual matters should I need a mature and experienced and practical human being to call upon and maybe just listen.
ReplyDeleteI'd be cautious getting spritual advice from a tomcat I'd not want to bring home lol
Just "Joshing" you BB. No wait, we can't use that term any more. Dave Pack took it.
Hey...I feel an article coming on!
"I"m Just Joshin' Ya!--The Rise of Zeurbabel's False Successor!"
ReplyDeleteSo L. F. Maschio just handed over the keys to his Christ Is Knocking website and walked away from the Vigilant Church of God.
How vigilant is that?
Shortly after Venish was fired, I emailed him and asked what happened at RCG, he sent me a copy of an email that he sent to an associate of his. If he had not been fired for being a snobby wanna be dictator he would still be getting a check from big daddy Dave and he'd be OK with everything. But since his ego clashed with Dave's, he got fired now he seeks vengeance. It's hard for an old man to work for a younger man, especially one as arrogant and conceited as super Dave. Venish told my spouse that he/she was a "spiritual widow" prior to being fired. Nice guy. My household has been so divided since this whole Venish (he was the first one to lay the bullshit on my spouse) Pack, RCG thing has crept through the Ethernet connection and snuck into my house when I was not looking. F him, F Pack, F RCG, and F Herb. I hope that Venish and Pack develop some painful and rapidly advancing form of horrible cancer and it kills them.. F them. God damn them.
ReplyDeleteMr. V. may be a better alternative than Pack or Machio, but he is still extremely unimpressive to me as a minister. He claims he has been in the ministry for 18 years. I know he was with PCG and RCG...can these 2 corrupt organization really have any true ministers? I am not sure if he has been in any other COGs.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Michael Venish will never amount to much more than a waste of time and money for anyone who makes the mistake of following him. He can never build anything since he claims it would send the message that "My Lord delays His coming."
Ignoring guys like Michael Venish, David Pack has already built a nice, new, modern Hall of Administration building in Wadsworth, Ohio.
While some guys go on and on about why you cannot do something, other guys just go out and do it.
Http://vigilantcog.net
ReplyDeleteJudge for yourself.
Devotion to HWA is nothing new. I liken the conduct of these ex-WCG 'minsters' to spiritual homosexuality. Listen carefully, HWA is his God. Like Flurry and his PCG, they are in love with HWA. Venish holds on to dogmatic claims which are totally disprovable and thinks that repeating HWA to an audience of 20 is somehow "Doing a work to warn the churches of God."
ReplyDeleteAbove all things, he loves to be called a minister. Therefore he has jumped from ground to group to group to group to group so long as he is called "Rabbi".
If someone has been a minister of a church, and then leaves that church to speak against it, where is the shame and humility for being one of those who lead Gods people to err?