One of the biggest tools Elijah Dave has in his arsenal is a huge weapon aimed at his membership through his "all things in common" doctrine that he believes he has restored. Because he claims to have restored it he says:
If I am restoring this doctrine, it is incumbent on you to obey it…
Fear is the biggest intimidation technique that Armstrongism has in its arsenal. It has always been a weapon eagerly and effectively used whenever money was in short supply. Fear of losing ones salvation, being marked from the pulpit and kicked out of the church keeps people in line and wallets open.
From Bob Thiel's blog:
Towards the end of that sermon, he decides to define some terms, like ‘common,’ as he said they have a meaning in RCG that many outside RCG do not know and that they should understand:
Also is the term ‘common.’Now that’s a term we use to describe what you see in the very beginning of the New Testament church within two or three verses of God building His church on Pentecost A.D. 31. In Acts 2, it says they had everything in common. Now God’s people today have not been taught that. It was my job to teach it. It’s absolutely biblical that what we have we sell, whatsoever we have we give it to God’s work. That’s why we were called.You’re not allowed to hold on to your own income. It’s all through the Gospels, all through the Book of Acts, and frankly all through the Bible that God’s people have things in common.This will be the single greatest reason many thousands will not come back to God’s church. But others who see the biblical proof, in verse after verse after verse, of this great doctrine that God has used me to restore. It’s impossible to miss it. They will believe that they have to obey it. They will see that salvation is attached to it just as it was with the rich man in Matthew 19. And they will come ready to carry it out.That’s the term common.You’re not allowed to hold on to your own assets.You have an income. You live a wonderful life. Life goes on normally. But if you were called by God, and you’re to participate in His work, and walk in His ways, you have to you have to turn over your assets to God’s church. That’s the pattern. Acts 2, 3, and 4. It’s what Christ said in the last part of Luke 14…Be planning to do it.You’re going to come to be convinced, if you have the Spirit of God, that I am who I say I am. And Mr. Armstrong is who I say he was, and the Bible says who he was. If I am restoring this doctrine, it is incumbent on you to obey it…And it won’t leave you a pauper. It won’t break your life…And there will be those who obey God and those who don’t.And when you hear the term common, think of what I will explain to you, because God uses my office to teach truth, not what God’s covetous enemies do not want you to do so that they don’t lose your support. That term is very important…People do not want you to look into the Bible to see what is impossible, impossible to misunderstand–that is the New Testament church had all things in common. Mr. Armstrong didn’t see it.
Right on, Dave. That takes the voluntary and from the heart right out of giving! Gotta be a communist to be a Christian! Goes right along with the totalitarianism that Herbie restored!
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The giving in this incident was voluntary, not mandatory. Even when Sapphira and Ananias claimed to have given all that they made on the sale of land, they were told, in verse 4, "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?" It was never "church property" it was their own private assets which they could do with what they wanted.
ReplyDeleteThankfully I am too far away to be spiritually reached although I know Dave Pack has a congregation here in the Philippines. I am now in the sunset of my life and whatever means I have to survive, I have worked and worked hard for it during those years I was physically able. Physically sick and old, to turn over what ever I have now for the common is just the work of one who is sick in mind. This is even worst than socialism and communism. God has given us individual mind such that even ladies in our office wearing uniform would do something to be different such as putting on a brooch. Even now, only North Korea and perhaps Cuba(?) are strictly communist because even Vietnam and China have become capitalist in economic orientation. I just hope the members would wake up from this Satanism movement. They might as well as move to ISIS or North Korea where there is some semblance of private ownership. Just remember, God made us individually different in personality, in voice, in intelligence, in many ways because God does not want us to be robotic commons living in misery working for Dave Pack, without any personal belongings and any future.
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ReplyDelete"Elijah Dave Says " You’re not allowed to hold on to your own income." and "You’re not allowed to hold on to your own assets.""
...cause I gotta pay MY bills stupid!
What Pack leaves out is that the church at that time was under persecution. Many were being killed because of their new beliefs. Think of Stephen for example.
ReplyDeleteI don't see Pack giving up his assets to the church, though I suppose he can and then later when no one is paying attention, take back what he gave, claiming that it was meant to be a loan.
HWA pulled that trick.
"Fear of losing ones salvation, being marked from the pulpit and kicked out of the church keeps people in line and wallets open." -
ReplyDeleteThese are the things that kept me in RCG for a few years, but after being suspended for the second time, I did a total retake. So many things were going on that I knew were just plain wrong. I couldn't understand why nobody else could see it. The minister just didn't see it for what it was, or refused to do so. I caught him red-handed in lies. Headquarters refused to do anything about it. They didn't even investigate. Yep, the truth finally came charging in and hit me right in the face. I learned other things during that time that clearly revealed RCG's false teaching. Once that became clear to me, I was set free and got myself out of there.
I pray for everyone else in RCG to WAKE UP!!!! So much is staring you right in the face. You just need to open your eyes and see it. I pray you will open your eyes while you still can.
ReplyDelete"Elijah Dave Says 'You’re not allowed to hold on to your own income.' and 'You’re not allowed to hold on to your own assets.'"
I remember having a bad feeling about it when David Pack started to hang out with that Prince Money Seminar guy from Nigeria.