Back in January of 2012 Dave Pack started tooting his horn that the Restored Church of God had just recruited the most superfantabulous man ever in the Church of God. Pack revealed that Dale Schurter had left the apostate United Church of God and had now come over to the one true religion.
Schurter has had somewhat a mythical status in the church over the decades, particularly those tied in to the Big Sandy area. Schurter and many church members imagined him to be the world's foremost authority on agricultural issues. That was one of the reasons Dave Pack worked overtime to recruit him to come over to the the dark side.
Dave had visions of starting his own experimental farm on the Wadsworth compound and Schurter was the man to do it. Schurter was going to restore "true" agricultural practices and teach RCG members so they could teach the residents of their world's how to grow their own food.
In the early years, Mona and I had the honor to know Mr. and Mrs. Herbert W. Armstrong personally, and over the years spent many hours with them….especially with Mr. Armstrong, on numerous occasions. We learned much directly from him one-on-one about the way of God and His purpose for all of us, in addition to the many ways we all learned from God and Jesus Christ through him --- directly or indirectly. This brings responsibility, hence the length of this letter.
Mona and I now know that the Truth which was lost during the buildup and final volcanic eruption of the apostasy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, following the death of Mr. Armstrong, has definitely been found and restored to God’s Church….including the all-important Government of God headed by Jesus Christ.
When we were led to the Restored Church of God, and did due diligence in our research, we confirmed to our satisfaction that the works and fruits of this organization were of God. Christ is the Head of this Church. We saw Christ at work through one He had called and appointed to finish the work --- to fulfill the prophecy of Revelation 10:11, which we should all know, “You must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” This prophecy was on Mr. Armstrong’s mind, especially in his latter years.
The Restored Church of God is truly about our Father’s business. I am thankful to be a part of this very end time work --- and I urge you to take a very serious look. Investigate it as we have.Like any good Church of God leader he knew he was going to receive flack for his apostasy from UCG. He would be a martyr for the truth just like any good COG leader.
I must caution that you will probably experience a “blizzard” of lies and deception about Mr. Pack. Do not let this deter you. I have prepared myself for some of the same treatment. You all know me, and I have known Mr. Pack for almost 30 years. Think of how Mr. Armstrong was and still is being slandered and attacked. It could not be different with Mr. Pack --- and maybe with me!
Mona and I remain available to serve you and all others, spiritually or physically, just as we have continued to serve others around the world over the years. However, from now on I will be a minister of the Restored Church of God, serving in the New York City area. I will also be serving as a “pastor at large”, freely communicating with anyone in UCG or individuals in other groups who wish to contact me.
I will regularly write on an important website/blog (www.rcgtruth.com) to keep you informed and updated. This will include more of my observations and thoughts. It will also contain exciting updates about God’s work, including reports from other ministers who have joined RCG, but also many other kinds of information. There is much more to say. Dale Schurter Resignation/Propaganda letterDave Pack was so proud of Schurter that he started a web site that was going to be filled with the personal testimonies of the hundreds of defecting COG ministers. Schurter was featured prominently. Dave wrote in 2012:
Now it is August 2016 and the web site is gone. Gone because many of those defecting ministers have now left the Restored Church of God! They became disgusted at the things they were witnessing and the convoluted quagmire Pack was preaching.This website’s purpose is to highlight the unparalleled growth and fruits of The Restored Church of God (RCG), and to counter many years of falsehoods and misinformation regarding the Church and its leader. It will feature ongoing posts, including eyewitness accounts from a number of ministers who have left Worldwide Church of God (WCG) offshoots for RCG. Readers can look forward to information on the rapid expansion of the Church and Work, as well as its educational institution, Ambassador Center. Additional ministers who come with The Restored Church of God will also contribute. Answers to readers’ questions considered helpful to a broader audience will be posted. Pack's Agenda for Schurter and Other Defecting Ministers
There also continues to be persecution for me, some quite intense. All who have regained spiritual sight will suffer persecution. As we participate in this end-time Work of proclaiming the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God, along with the trials we also experience joy. Both will continue to increase “as we see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:25).
Pack huffed and puffed for quit a while about Schurter. Then POOF...he was no where to be found. Apparently Satan was on the warpath and was really really pissed that Schurter was now in the the only true church.My wife and I are so thankful to God for answering our prayers to be led to where He is truly working. We had become severed from the True Vine, but are now reattached. As some of you may know, I have studied and employed biblical agriculture for decades, and understand what happens when a branch is cut from a vine or tree. The environment in which it falls will determine how long it will remain alive and able to be reattached, grafted back into the vine before it completely withers and finally dies—then to be gathered and burned. Brethren, I was withering as a part of Laodicea, as “blindness and nakedness” crept into my life and work. I had taught against taking on a Laodicean attitude and lifestyle for decades. Yet I had drifted into it myself. What a sobering reality! Dale Schurter resurfaces claiming intense persecution
COG members wondered and speculated as to the mysterious disappearance of Schurter.
Four years to the month that Schurter wrote his glowing praise of Dave and the RCG, Dave was publicly humiliating him in a sermon:
Mr. Schurter and his wife "moved "away and the next week in services we had a sermon about how the both of them were having signs of dementia, like in his sermons he was teaching things he learned in United and he would go over time In his sermons and then Mr Pack said he put goldfish in his pond on the campus on "accident" and ruined some trees, the whole thing was just strange. Dave Pack publicly shames Dale Schurter and his wifeIt has now been reported that Schurter and his wife have put out to pasture in the Dayton area. No more farms, no more spiritual training, no more articles, no more reeducation camps, no more praise from Dave. Just cast aside and forgotten about.
It's a lonely world when you piss off the Chosen One.
It appears that Dale confused being 'reattached' to the True Vine, which is a relationship with Christ, to being attached to David Pack or similar.
ReplyDeleteDale, a Christian is one who follows Christ, remember?
I believe Dale has shown us if you put Dave's sermons n writings in one end of "The Digester" you WILL get high quality manure n compost out the other...
ReplyDeleteI believe Dale has shown us if you put Dave's sermons n writings in one end of "The Digester" you WILL get high quality manure n compost out the other...
ReplyDeleteActually, just like anything else in the ACoGs it's not compost, it's toxic waste.
People seem to think that calling sects of the ACoGs cults is a joke. It's no joke. The leaders are antisocial or worse, their religion is based on an outright provable lie, they are false prophets and the whole thing was founded by an immoral daft kook without one shred of anything we could call spiritual.
It's amazing that people just don't seem to realize how dangerous cults like this are, especially for children growing up amidst the lies, positioned to grow into sociopath adults because they learn to lie because no one, particularly their delusional parents, want the truth. It is an entirely dysfunctional crazy environment and no matter where you look, the whole venue is poisoned as a totally toxic hazard for anyone who becomes too deeply involved with it.
Armstrongism is a total detriment to society without any socially redemptive features and this example with David Pack is just one of so many powerful examples of the problem.
Besides, if you associate with the cult for any length of time, you put your own sanity in danger. My suspicion is that the cult is filled with more mental disorders than the DSM5, alcoholism being at the top of the list.
Is there anyone out there who DIDN'T see this coming? Seriously?
ReplyDeleteNow, at least because Dave even got rid of his daughter and son-in-law, there is a gigantic red flag flying over Wadsworth to warn off future Dale Schurters.
BB
I can't take it anymore! The disclosure of all of these sins on here is so shameful!...
ReplyDeleteFirst a toga party, then singing a 1940s song and NOW... putting a GOLDFISH in the pond!
Such disgraceful behavior, and obvious evidence that these people should all be marked and disfellowshipped!
Ah, yes, Connie! Shiver me pits! You'd a thunk it would at least have been a piranha, or a baby alligator from Florida!
ReplyDeleteMakes the old days when some good ol' Southern buddies of mine put what they called washin' powders in the fountain around the bird sculptures seem downright rowdy by comparison. It was supposed to clean away the artificial green oxides and turn the birds as shiny as a copper penny, but they must have used the wrong detergent.
I understand that marijuana seeds may have also been planted on the AC 'dena campus grounds at one time or another.
Hey, come to think of it, did some of the two witnesses from another ACOG show up at the toga party? Is that why the Rods found it to be offensive?
BB
"Mr. Schurter .... were having signs of dementia, like in his sermons he was teaching things he learned in United"
ReplyDeleteWatching the COGs is like watching some sort of sitcom... so predictable.
Also, this reminded me of something I had always wondered (even as a believing member of many many moons ago).
This idea of supposedly God-guided ministers teaching different things and having to attend refreshers and get back on track and all that jazz... Cmon, if there was anything to this Holy Spirit spiel, you wouldn't have to anything, they'd all be guided by the HS and be automatically on the same page, with no worries of different ministers teaching different things.
The automatic unity would be astoundingly apparent and quite amazing, actually.
But no such scenario has ever existed. Instead, of course, what you have is ministers having a little training in the basics, and everyone applies their spin onto how they interpret that particular church's doctrines. Then they need refreshers to make sure they're not deviating from the head honcho's pet interpretations.
There is absolutely nothing supernatural in all this business. From the earliest times, Peter and Paul had different ideas about how and to whom the "gospel" should be preached.
That's to be expected because it's how human organizations always work.
Ain't no holy spirit nowhere, it's all in their imagination.
The whole set-up with the special blog, for this newly come great one, sounds, in retrospect, like Pack was handing over a little more autonomy than he intended, or could bear to.
ReplyDelete2 or 3 posts that didn't exactly toe the line Dave THOUGHT he laid down, and that would have been the end, come after barely beginning. Or maybe just ONE post that he put up without having Dave approve every word beforehand. Little offenses, but if you're offending God's chosen Head Man . . . .
Shurter described some impossible, idyllic land he thought he had discovered where great things revealing God's incredible power, possessed by a blessed few, were to be witnessed over and over . . . . Hmmm. Wasn't that the same horsecrap we all fell for?
And I wonder: when will we be done with these trolls evoking that "I knew Mr. Armstrong PERSONALLY," or "I was taught by him DIRECTLY"? Shurter's claims seem directly copied from some I read that Dave Pack made -- now THAT would certainly have been all right with Dave.
But that doesn't sell, people! You learned at the feet of that awful man? Why boast about that?
Michael said, "The automatic unity would be astoundingly apparent and quite amazing, actually." The problem is, unity, which Jesus prayed for in John 19:20, was not enough. The church demand uniformity. It reminds me of the Ray Bradbury book and later, movie, Fahrenheit 451 where the fire chief says, "We must all think alike."
ReplyDeleteDave left Dale out standing in his field
ReplyDelete9.53PM The refreshers must have been to keep the mental pressure on the ministers to be loyal to a group of top men, and not become too independent minded. Loyalty to men first, loyalty to 'truth' second, or forget about truth altogether.
ReplyDeleteThe 21st Century Apostle to Wadsworth must be in a big hurry to prepare for the First Dominion- he's dropped the sale price on his yet again, and an open house is scheduled for this Sunday!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zillow.com/homes/402-pheasant-run,-wadsworth,-oh-44281_rb/
Ronco
Why haven't any church members bought the house- due to it's awesome provenance?
ReplyDeleteCould it be because everyone enamored with Pack has already sent their spare cash in to HQ?
I have the shameful confession of being a member of the RCG for 7 years, from 2008 - 2015. I never knew Dale Schurter, but he spoke like a very genuine and nice fellow. It is easy to make jokes, but the reality is people in groups like the Restored Church of God are genuinely trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately the reality has nothing to do with members deluded perceptions. They (once me too) are held captive by their own shortcomings as a christian, i.e. lack of diligence in discerning the truth. The result is destroyed lives for members and their families.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the fish in the pond episode, the truth is stranger than anything you could make up. I remember sitting and listening to two sermons where Pack ridiculed Dale Schurter. The first one Pack was raging (for well over an hour) about the lack of Godly fear amongst the congregation and ministry and used the carp being put in the lake as an example of self willed arrogance, of complete ungodliness. Then a few weeks later Pack announced the culprit was Dale Schurter, and that Dale had early onset dimentia, and was being retired. No apology for the previous cursing of the man.
After I left the RCG in late 2015, I contacted several ex ministers, one of which had worked with Pack at 'headquarters' for over 10 years. He related how Pack had sanctioned the whole fish in the lake exercise, dragged all the staff away from their work to witness a cutsie ceremony at the lake, to witness the genious of 'Gods' natural means of controlling weeds in waterways.
Later when the fish had eaten all of the weed, the water turned muddy and became an eyesore, and unfit for 'Gods' headquarters. Pack now claiming complete ignorance of the ungodly act undertaken in secret by a lone perpetrator, sought a scape goat. He did so in a public and vicious manner.
Pack is simply insane, and most likely demon possessed, so his conduct is not that surprising. To me the most sickening part of this element of the RCG story, is that the whole drama was watched by dozens of 'true' christians who thought it more righteous to see an innocent man humiliated in front of the entire 'world wide' congregation, and allow an open and public lie to go unchecked, than to obey any essence of christianity or common decency.
Pack is the definition of high level narcissistic personality disorder. The 'fish in the lake' is the very tip of the iceberg concerning Pack.