The Restored Church of God recently posted its Behind the Work 2014 video online that it made for the Feast of Tabernacles. Its a slick piece of propaganda meant to stir the hearts of the fledgling membership to sacrifice more time and money in order to make Dave's "vision" come true.
Dave Pack's vision came to him a few years ago in a nightmare he had. He likens that nightmare to the one that Loma Armstrong had that spurred on HWA to spend six months day and night in a public library instead of taking care of his family. Dave's nightmare though is even grander that HWA's. Dave envisions that three Church of God leaders will be struck dead and their entire group's will turn towards the glorious light of Wadsworth and come with their tithes and financial offerings.
The only problem is, this prophecy that Dave uttered close to four years ago has FAILED for the last three years. No COG leader was struck down by Dave's god. Tens of thousands of COG members and former members have not seen the glorious light of Wadsworth and have NOT come to him with their money and financial offerings.
Membership in the Restored Church of God remains stagnant despite the grandiose building campaign Dave has been on. Millions have been dumped onto the Wadsworth property in order to impress the world and to give Dave a little credibility in his memberships eyes. Try as he might in imitating Herbert Armstrong, Dave CANNOT seem to succeed in accomplishing things like HWA did.
His campus is Wadsworth in no way shape or form even comes close to emulating the Pasadena campus. Even Big Sandy, with it huge acreage and more rural atmosphere was light years ahead of the Wadsworth property. Being located between a pollution belching highway and a big-box store is NOT a huge accomplishment. Even buying a large weed patch next to the campus in order to give Dale Schurter a garden to play in is nothing to brag about. His gardening and farming techniques were a failure in Big Sandy as they will most likely be in Wadsworth. Millennial farming will NOT be based upon any of the malarkey that Schurter preaches.
I was struck in the early moments of the video on how Dave had to have film of himself stepping off a plane like HWA used to do. The problem with Dave's narcissistic shot is that it is a LITTLE plane that was way smaller than anything HWA would have ever dreamed of being seen flying in! Poor Dave just can't quit measure up!
The next thing you will notice about the film is how cold and sterile the offices and campus truly are. There is no feeling of warmth, compassion or deep Christian love being exuded anywhere. All of those being interviewed, those filmed working in the offices, and those in the shipping areas are in starched white shirts and dark blue suits. Women are in long dresses and make-up free. Desks are sterile and sparkling clean. Everything looks like a sterile petri dish and FAKE! The falseness comes through in most of the interviews. You have to wonder if some of those men (no women allowed) actually believe the bullshit Dave espouses. Money speaks loudly though.
The film ends with a telling interview where it is told how the RCG membership has been TRAINED over the last several years in ways of becoming money-streams to finance Dave's vision. The tithe money alone cannot support Dave any longer so the membership has to hold garage sales, work concessions, sell in flea markets, hold bake sales, and do as much as they can to keep the money stream flowing.
Despite Dave's grand impression of himself, he has always never quite measured up. He never has quit measured up to any other COG leader. He can't build grand buildings like HWA did. Even his proposed auditorium is a little scaled down remnant of the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena. His preaching has not garnered hundreds of thousands of followers. His booklets, three magazines, television show and the worlds most superfantabuolous web site ever to be created, have not brought in or touched the lives of millions of people. World leaders are not impressed by him even though he owns a piece of Steuben glass. Over half a million people passed though the membership rolls of the Worldwide Church of God in its lifetime. Dave will be lucky to be able to hit the ten thousand member mark. As members continue to leave because of the horrific abuse they receive at the hands of the RCG task-master ministry, Dave's little empire is going to start rotting at the seams and be sold to another cult or become a Catholic school of higher education. With any luck it will bulldozed down to expand the parking lot of the big-lot store across the street.
View Dave's propaganda here: Behind the Work 2014
36 comments:
Well, Wadsworth officials aren't planning to widen Rt 94 for nothing...
http://medinagazette.northcoastnow.com/2014/10/28/wadsworth-moves-widen-route-94-eminent-domain/
Ronco
It's a lot better than Thiel's but that's not saying anything. It does appear RCOG is second to PCG in HWA worship.
Funny how Pack even finds an Art Gilmore sound alike to be the narrator of his propaganda film. I did not see one person in the entire film that looked happy!
Sorry, but "Triumph of the Will" a 1935 propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl is still the classic "behind the work" production ever made. . It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters.
Not that I support the Nazi cause in any sense, but the production value was arguably superb and could serve as a template for future Pack productions.
See it for yourself here: (Short Version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6WMXd8ZqmM
Its the same bullshit I heard decades ago. How many temples does the armstrong god need? God can't get them together as one group?
The 'first love' bullshit, excitement at being conned, living a life beyond hope, it is the same as it was so many decades ago. A lie.
These Armstrong splinter groups just get sillier and sillier, don't they? Is there a limit to silly? I don't know, all I can do is watch and see.
Who's got more impersonators? HWA or Elvis?
Does Pack have any execs who shave?
I'm thinking all of the splinters and their leaders have got to be mighty frustrated. Most insiders in the Armstrong movement have anticipated the emergence of some sort of breakaway group to take up the mantle, and even surpass the accomplishments of HWA. Despite all of the rhetoric, all of the building programs, the high-fidelity imitation of HWA, it just ain't happenin' at all. Armstrongism doesn't seem capable of going viral, given contemporary conditions. In fact, it doesn't really address contemporary conditions in any relevant ways that reach out and grab people.
On the other hand, the vitamin industry has shown consistent growth over the past five years. So has naturopathic medicine. People such as Dave Pack and Bob Thiel could have realized much greater impact simply by staying within the professions for which they were better suited. Especially when you compare this with the negative impact of false prophecy!
BB
I can't even count the number of times I heard Pack say, "We're not going to do fundraisers," yet now there is an entire department dedicated to it? Of course, I can't count the number of times I heard him say, "I'm not an apostle," either.
Funny, after more than a decade, to see people with whom I worked, attended "services", and hung out talk about setting a "light-of-the-world" example and showing love when I know that if I bumped into them (God forbid) at Christ's favorite Giant Eagle I wouldn't get more than a cursory "hello".
Please keep posting these videos as they are made--for the next 5-10 years, anyway :)...watching that was infinitely more entertaining than watching the Royals smack the Giants around tonight!
"His campus is Wadsworth in no way shape or form even comes close to emulating the Pasadena campus. Even Big Sandy, with it huge acreage and more rural atmosphere was light years ahead of the Wadsworth property."
I've said this before- the stunning magnificence of God's campus in Wadsworth is authenticated by the electrifying high tension wires that span the glorious headquarters complex. HWA never beheld the glory of such high voltage!
Ronco
Does anyone know if these videos are normally shown at the Feast? I wonder if it was meant to be shown there, but was delayed in order to undergo some frantic, last-minute hatchet-job editing due to a recent defection by one of Pack's most loyal and long-suffering followers, who likely would have appeared in this video at some point...
And no one seems to be mentioning the suicides in his little group.
I've attended RCG. They have maybe 1200 members in the U.S. They have a huge member retention problem they can't seem to solve. Maybe because there are so many jerks in charge. With the exception of Dave's key suck ups they entire HQ staff has changed in less than a year. From what I understand that's an annual occurrence. If anyone watched the video you notice they acted as if Gabriel Lischak and Bill Behrer never existed as a part of the fabulous sixteen. There were a few pictures of Bill in the congregation but nothing about poor Gabe. That's what they do when someone starts to think for themselves . Your out and it's like you never existed, but they still keep talking about their great unity, love, and crap. I can't wait until the banks come to repo the compound.
Byker Bob said . . .
I'm thinking all of the splinters and their leaders have got to be mighty frustrated. Most insiders in the Armstrong movement have anticipated the emergence of some sort of breakaway group to take up the mantle, and even surpass the accomplishments of HWA. Despite all of the rhetoric, all of the building programs, the high-fidelity imitation of HWA, it just ain't happenin' at all. Armstrongism doesn't seem capable of going viral, given contemporary conditions. In fact, it doesn't really address contemporary conditions in any relevant ways that reach out and grab people.
True and the explanation is because these Armstrong remnants are hanging on to false Armstrong prophecies. Trying to look forward to the seventh resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire as the fourth beast. Come on, read your Bible, all the previous beasts were mentioned in the Old Testament - Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. But Rome? You can have your fingers cut and the seventh resurrection of Rome in the form of Germany or other former Roman colony will not happen because the Bible never says the fourth beast is Rome. The Armstrongites are hanging on to a false prophecy by a false prophet. Don't be surprised that all their best efforts still could not come near or even duplicate the feats of false prophet con-man Biblically ignorant high school grad (or undegrad) HWA. I wish their followers especially those who sneak to this blog will reread and reread their Old Testament to see the name of Rome clearly identified as the fourth beast of Revelation. They just assumed Rome was not yet a nation when those OT prophecies were written. They have been duped and they should study their histories. Rome was never mentioned because Rome was never the fourth beast and HWA is nothing more than a false prophet all these remnants are hanging on to false prophecies. Remember - Babylon, Media-Persia and Greece were mentioned and the Bible has no reason not to mention the fourth beast and definitely it is not Rome because it never was stated so by the Bible. False prophet! False prophet! False prophet! They can burn themselves to death but their prophecies will not happen . . . Byker Bob, it is really so frustrating for them as they hang on to a myth, I can imagine.
So Dave...Please!!! Let's have a debate in Wadsworth and you can raise some cash by selling tickets!
I'll just take food and gas money. You can stock the audience with your own . They can clap for you and boo for me to their hearts content, as long as I get a copy of the audio and video.
Puuuuuulease!!!!
In me
Den
Agritheoligist Dale Schurter has found use for the Big Sandy Digester which he brought to Wadsworth.
He puts trash and waste in one end and RCG literature comes out the other! Excellent!!!!
You can see an attempt to block the view of the freeway by planting a line of already large conifers. So why doesn't he do the same for that Big Box store? No doubt because he doesn't own the land the high voltage lines pass through and therefore is forbidden to plant trees there. But he cleverly integrates that land to augment the optical impact of 'World Headquarters' scale!
I have it on good authority that more suicides are in the works over at the RCG because of Pack.
That would make a great story in the Wadsworth Post or the Medina Gazette.
Hey, everybody!
We should have a contest for which ACoG has the most suicides.
Here's betting RCG would win!
Dave and Dale will be fertilizer themselves pretty soon.
The problem is that the people who are on spiritual suicide missions are the most likely to take others with them on the way out.
BB
Hey, that opening, shiny computer graphic of the world, with beams of light emanating from Wadsworth to all those places on the globe, carrying the light of the "true gospel message" . . .
Isn't that cribbed from RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES? You know, that sequence at the end of the movie showing the spread of the PLAGUE?
Did Bill Behrer leave RCG ?
Anon 11:57, Daniel 7 doesn't identify ANY of the four beasts by name!
Anonymous said...
"I can't even count the number of times I heard Pack say, 'We're not going to do fundraisers,' yet now there is an entire department dedicated to it? Of course, I can't count the number of times I heard him say, 'I'm not an apostle,' either."
Tell us what else he said they would never do and what else he said he would never be, so we can know with some certainty what is coming.
With self-appointed leaders one usually does not know ahead of time what all ideas they will come up with in the future that they will expect you to go along with after you have too much time and money invested to be able to quit easily.
Connie Schmidt said...
"I did not see one person in the entire film that looked happy!"
Well then, they will just have to learn how to look and act happy. This will make them actors (Greek: hypocrites) but that is just the way life is in the cults. Get used to it. There is more to come.
Anonymous said...
"I've attended RCG. They have maybe 1200 members in the U.S. They have a huge member retention problem they can't seem to solve. Maybe because there are so many jerks in charge. With the exception of Dave's key suck ups the entire HQ staff has changed in less than a year. From what I understand that's an annual occurrence."
From what I read years ago, it seems like that annual HQ staff turnover in RCG has been going on from the very beginning. DCP's explanation was that the original people were “bums.” Sounds like there has now been a long line of bums over the years. It is so wonderful that DCP has been able to catch and release all these bums that Satan keeps sending. I know for a fact that there are many Satan-sent, Satan-directed bums inhabiting the WCG and its splinter groups. But still, this is starting to get discouraging! Many are called but NONE are chosen???
8:44, probably even Dave didn't consider them to be bums when they came in. But, after being subjected to Dave's tithe system, over a period of time, they gave up all of their resources. When there was no more to be given, they were reducd to being bums, so Dave brought in a new team. Second verse, same as the first!
Brian Davis and Uncle Andy are laughing at you Dave Pack for posting younger pictures of yourself. I can hear them. Can you hear them? It that sound you hear when a bunch of jackasses are jackassing. Do you hear it now?
I haven't been there in over a decade so who knows for certain... But he's done pretty much everything he denied he would do (go on TV, build the campus, introduce new teachings) except number the church. So I guess expect that soon, unless he's waiting until the never-gonna-happen great reunification.
Anonymous said...
"But he's done pretty much everything he denied he would do (go on TV, build the campus, introduce new teachings) except number the church. So I guess expect that soon, unless he's waiting until the never-gonna-happen great reunification."
Humble Suggestion for David C. Pack's Thoughtful Consideration:
(To be brought to DCP's personal attention by whichever one of his assistants monitors this blog.)
There could be a GREAT OPPORTUNITY coming up in the future for David C. Pack of the Restored Church of God. When Gerald R. Flurry of the Philadelphia Church of Fraud bought the copyright to Herbert W. Armstrong's last and most important book, called Mystery of the Ages, David Pack tried to make it sound like Gerald Flurry had been impatient and foolish and had wasted millions of dollars on it. To hear DCP tell it, he and his RCG were not so impatient or foolish or wasteful. They probably were not ready with the cash either. Now, however, if GRF and his PCG have a cash crunch and fall upon hard times, maybe DCP can buy the copyright to MOA from GRF and the PCG for pennies on the dollar.
DCP could then reverse GRF's changes and UNedit the book. It is simply not fitting that it should remain in the hands of GRF and his PCG. This is the one piece of WCG literature (well, other than booklets like 1975 in Prophecy!, which was obsolete and no longer in print by the time of HWA's death in January 1986) that DCP did not rewrite, though its teachings were supposedly all covered in other RCG literature. DCP thought that it was something best left to HWA alone to write. Maybe so. Now, maybe DCP can own it.
Enter ye in at the strait gate next to Giant Eagle in Wadsworth, Ohio.
http://rcg.org/hq-info.html
What's next? A guard tower?
Ronco
Ronco, you need to get one of those drones with a camera like RCG has and do some fly overs on the Sabbath. I would get some video of when Dave arrives and the women get trampled so nine guys can fight to open Dave's car door and carry his brief case. I've actually witnessed that scene before except the women weren't trampled just pushed to the side. Maybe you could pull one of those advertisement banners behind it warning the masses around the compound that its a cult. I can visualize the anger on Dave's face as I sit here. I think all regulars on this sight would be willing to donate a small" tithe" to such a noble,worldwide, seat gyrating work. I hope your "behind the work" videos can be posted here.
Someone who is about to leave RCG, and who hasn't tipped anyone else off yet, should furtively modify the ducting in RCG's hall of administration.. This is done by rerouting the exhaust fan ducting from the mens' and ladies' bathrooms into the heating/air conditioning vent for Dave's office. Don't ask me how I know about such "executive paybacks", just know that it will produce some rather astonishing results, and will probably require months before anyone suspects or detects the source. Dave will probably wonder why everyone whom he counsels seems to have digestive problems. Usually simple hand tools would be all that is required to complete this project.
~Miguel de la Rodente
"Ronco, you need to get one of those drones with a camera like RCG has and do some fly overs on the Sabbath."
It's a bit embarrassing to admit that I've made the 20 min pilgrimage to the Wadsworth Giant Eagle parking lot on several occasions hoping to get a glimpse of the Apostle on the Sabbath with my binoculars in hand... A drone would be just the thing!!!
Ronco
Who is Uncle Andy?
And, has anyone tried to carry his brief case for him?
(and to give these men their props- let's call them "Attaché Cases" containing the truth which has not been revealed in the last 1900 years- until NOW!)
BTW, weren't there attaché cases made by the Armstrong company?
If so, God made sure they were even stronger than Samsonites, despite the fact that Mr. Armstrong had his hair and nails trimmed regularly.
American Tourister was not good because of possible German meathook attacks.
"old EXPCG hag" has mentioned "Uncle Andy" in various comments on this blog.
Post a Comment