Dave Pack has a personal letter to the world on his most superfantabulous website, Good News - Just Ahead!
Some of the choice Packism are thus:
In a world of nonstop crises, uncertainty, fear—and ever-worsening bad news—people long for good news. I do have good news—in fact, the very best news you could ever hear! No one is telling you about it, nor could you discover it on your own.Oh yes, only Dave has the inside track on what his god thinks. No man on this entire earth has this knowledge, not even Bob Thiel and James Malm! Bummer!
The truth of the gospel—God’s astonishing purpose for man—has been withheld from the world. It explains why you were born. The real gospel involves incredible knowledge that will leave you dumbfounded. This amazing understanding has been revealed—along with the cover-up to suppress it.Professor Dingleberry fails to realize that the gospel he claims to know so much about has not been suppressed and withheld from the world. Why is it that the god of Armstrongism has been such an epic failure? A weak, impotent god that could never keep its message out in the world?
We are dumbfounded, but not at the message being lost, as the gospel never has been lost, but we are dumbfounded at the sheer stupidity of Dave!
This is why Dave and so many of the COG's are so incredibly uncomfortable with Jesus:
The message—the centerpiece—of the gospel is not Christ. By focusing on Him—the Messenger—religious deceivers have been able to successfully suppress and cover up the message He brought!This is why Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry, Gerald Weston, James Malm and his Wiccan sidekick Constance prefer to prostitute themselves to the law. They do not know the
Jesus, at His First Coming, came as a first-century newscaster, bringing advance good news of staggering events to occur just beyond the horizon, and all the bad news occurring throughout today’s world. This climactic news involves you—and eventually every human being on Earth.
Six new books on religion are published every day in America, and there are over 2,000 separate religions in the United States. Yet there has never been more confusion and disagreement about the answers to humanity’s problems! Troubles, woes, evils and human difficulties of every kind are multiplying. World peace is more elusive than ever. Why?Never has the Church of God been in such confusion and disagreement with somewhere between 500 - 700 different splinter groups that have come into being since the 1930's. Every single one of them believes that they and they alone have the correct message. They cannot even unite on their theological stances, let alone their common bond. Peace in the Church of God has never been more elusive!
The Jesus Christ that Pack claims to follow certainly was an important dude, but not the "gospel."
Certainly, Christ plays an extremely important and central role to Christianity, but He is not the gospel. The Bible shows that Jesus is preached in conjunction with the gospel. Again, His role is enormous. But He is not the gospel.Any Christian with even a glimmer of knowledge about Jesus knows he IS the Kingdom. Everything he personified and taught was a foretaste of that kingdom present on earth through him. A time of rest from the burdens of the law, of never being able to measure up, of feeling unworthy, inadequate and never ever being able to accomplish the dung that COG ministers promote as "truth."
Christians since the beginning of Christianity have always looked forward to the kingdom to come. When they were being persecuted by the Romans, Greeks, Vikings, Vandals, the papacy, slavery, communism, socialism and any other system out there, they had hope and faith in what was to come which sustained them through the trials and tribulations they endured. That faith came directly through the example and actions of Jesus, no matter how much the bastardizers of the law claim otherwise. Faith cannot come through the law.
Paul was right when he said there were people that pervert the gospel.
“I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed”Judaizers like James Malm and Bob Thiel, to the perverse teachings of "all things in common" by Dave Pack, to the "no contact" perverted policy of Gerald Flurry, this is the filth that masquerades as "truth." The "gospel" that the various COG leaders preach is blatantly not the gospel.
Dave Pack is cursed, since he deceives his followers. Gerald Flurry is cursed since he too deceives his followers. The few hundred that follow the Chief Pharisee and his Wiccan sidekick Constance are equally cursed. Bob Thiel's followers are deceived by his lies and his fake claims of prophethood.
As the various Churches of God gather for their yearly "foretaste" of that kingdom, they are fraught with division, competition, vanity, greed and many other injustices that are unworthy of being part of any kingdom. They claim to find millennial bliss for 7 days and then hop in their cars and leave it behind in Branson, Missouri. Instead of reveling in it 365 days out of the year, totally at rest from the vain laws of unbelieving leaders, members continue to swallow their false gospels.
20 comments:
Powerfully accurate commentary Gary.
This is exactly why I left the Living Church of God. Its denial of Jesus was too disgusting to swallow after a while.
Christ told His followers to 'follow me' 23 times in the NT. He told His disciples to 'drink my blood and eat my flesh' (ie become like Christ) on many occasions.
Instead Balaam ministers insist that it's all about tyrannical government. As the argument goes on this point 'name one, just one successful civilization that was based on tyranny.' Even the Roman empire only embraced tyranny over its citizens near its end. This resulted in its citizens being relieved when the barbarians took over.
So much for the false god of tyranny.
At the Jehovah's Witnesses dissident sites, they mention this frequent deceitful ploy of pretending that some simple point is in fact some profound truth. It's pure marketing. Another example of these groups stealing from one another.
Whether it was pentecostal fundy's or the splinter's of splinter's of splinter's of any other cog's. What's the use? I would to God I had never found the religion of 'keep the law and shove love out the window (or nail it to a tree)'. Oh, but love -is- the keeping of the law...obey, obey, obey. Do it better, do it perfectly or you're toast.
Thanks for putting the bar so high and showing no compassion. Just do, do, do! Don't care how you feel, what you think or what you need. Don't care who or what hurt you or how..just do what I tell you to do and shut up, don't ever complain, don't ever question or doubt any.thing. I. say. cause if you do, i'll pull a Malm and delete you because I'M GOD(s mouthpiece) and you're not worth dung so no answer and no place for you, go away, come back if you get it figured out...but hurry, hurry, hurry time is short, this is a one time only offer. You only get one chance at eternal life..hurry, hurry, step right up. Sorry, you had your chance, go away. Next?
Thank you to all those zealot law keepers for helping me to choose death over living with the likes of you. Because if God is like you, I want no part of it. Maybe you have no problem being unfeeling, narrow minded judgmental bigots, with only convenient compassion (when it suits your purpose or pocketbook) but never when it's scary, or painful, or requires some kind of real sacrifice. Like your time.
Forget it. Forget it and forget you. You hurt.
Another one bites the dust....but so what. Hey all the zealots gonna be in the kingdom of god. whoohoo.
Is it True...?
There's not enough money to put 'The World to Come' on air?
The slickly produced TV Program IS NOT ON TV?
How F***ed-Up is that?
HWA used to thunder those old hog jowls about preaching the gospel that Christ preached, the gospel of the kingdom, and to state that man had at some point perverted the gospel and made it about Jesus Himself. I didn't realize until many years later, while listening to a lecture on what distinguished and made Jesus different from others in the group sometimes collectively called the "ascended masters" was that Jesus did make his message about Himself. Still later, when I finally got around to reading the Bible in sequence from cover to cover, I realized in reading the gospels that that lecturer was correct. Jesus also did teach about the Kingdom, but any church that only preaches the gospel of the Kingdom and deemphasizes the person, role, and saving power of Jesus is actually only preaching half a gospel!
I had to reconcile myself to the fact that we had belonged to a church that only preached half the gospel, and had only partial understanding of 2/3 of God! Not understanding the Holy Spirit is what causes the horrible authoritarian leadership which we experienced! Why can't people realize that? It's just so easy. Instead, they remain with the very wolves and spiritual bullies who are consuming them.
BB
sshhh! Why don't you know? They're "qualifying".
Seriously, the kind of false teaching you so eloquently described, 8:10, actually makes people into uncaring sociopaths. Practicing the doctrines of Armstrongism as they are preached strips the members of all of the Kingdom skills, the Christ-like compassion and empathy which were central to the gospels and the lives of the early Christians. The royal law of love is the law behind both of the TGCOLs (two great commandments of the Lord). When Jesus said "keep My commandments" it was the TGCOLs he was speaking of. You can't practice love for God to the exclusion of its most obvious fruit, which is embodied by the second commandment, love for fellow man.
Again, HWA preached half a gospel, partially understood 2/3 of God, and taught keeping the first of the TGCOL to the exclusion of the second. Unbelievable! And, of course, the followers are on their way to listen to a week's worth of these partial scraps as we speak.
BB
Here is the Good News-- Pack, Flurry, Weinland, Thiel, Malm , et al, are older and closer to demise by the day.
: wouldn't lump Malm with Pack, Weinland, Thiel, etc. Malm is a web site rather than a church. For instance, there are no people 'trapped' in his church because of family ties. His is one of many sites I sometimes visit to ensure that I'm being exposed to differing viewpoints.
Jesus: "So I tell them..."I'm the Son of God'"
They say..."No way!"
So I say..."Ya-weh!"
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"The message—the centerpiece—of the gospel is not Christ. By focusing on Him—the Messenger—religious deceivers have been able to successfully suppress and cover up the message He brought!...Certainly, Christ plays an extremely important and central role to Christianity, but He is not the gospel. The Bible shows that Jesus is preached in conjunction with the gospel. Again, His role is enormous. But He is not the gospel."
If I had a dollar for every time I heard this...
Despite all the things that guys like Pack and Meredith have seen fit to change, this is straight-up 100% HWA.
In line with the esotericism that HWA started out preaching and Armstrongism has always been, this is just more denial that "true" christians are those who follow christ. Those who do are "so-called" christians. No, "true" christians follow someone or something else.
I no longer believe Jesus was a real person, but the person portrayed in most religious teachings bears no resemblance to the Jesus portrayed in the gospels. That fictitious person cared about others, taught humility and a host of other things most fundamentalists and evangelicals and the super-orthodox judaizers like the COGs totally reject. What the COGs and most orthodox churches teach bears much more resemblance to the imperial Rome from which it sprang.
Allen C. Dexter
As with most leaders of the various churches of God, Pack views himself as the gospel. He would never admit it, but given his grandiose ego, I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years he declares himself a co-messiah.
Well, and as Pack and others prepare their messages for their Feast-goers, I have no doubt that they plan to mention some of us here who are their trouble-shooters and accountability partners in their sermons, and not necessarily in a positive way. They don't like to be challenged, or to be held accountable for the unethical and unbiblical ways in which they treat their victim/codependent/members.
Shame on them! They may not be amused at us, but surely Jesus is not amused by them. Caution, false teachers! Mill-stones ahead!
BB
As a young man, one of the inadvertant actions that would ultimately move me out of WCG came about when I copied out the words of Jesus (yeah, the red words!) from the four gospels and put them in chronological order. As much as I could, anyway, because as many of you know, the order of events differs depending on which Gospel you are working from. The resulting document made it clear to me that HWAs "Christ" character was not the newscaster he had beem claimed to be.
I have always found that life is made more fun and interesting by having people that disagree with me. I have also found that I have had some good course corrections by listening to people who were in positions that some would hold as being subservient to my own. Dictators miss out on that.
I don't need any of the ACOG cults in my life 'cause they are all full of shit.
11.32 PM
The following is from a article that formally states your point.
"Speaking is not only essential to the transmission of ideas; it is also essential to the formation and validation of ideas. Speaking is essential to thinking.
Of course, we can think to a substantial extent without speaking. But much of the complex and abstract thinking on which human flourishing depends can proceed only in conjunction with communication, critical discourse, and debate. This is why scientists such as Galileo, Newton, and Darwin regularly presented their ideas in venues where other scientists would examine and challenge them. Galileo, for instance, presented his ideas at Accademia dei Lincei, a forum in Rome established specifically for scientists to discuss and debate their hypotheses and theories. (That the Church later silenced Galileo for promoting the heliocentric theory highlights the importance of the subject at hand.) Newton presented his ideas at the Royal Society, an association in London dedicated to advancing science through discussion and debate. Darwin presented his ideas at the Plinian Society, a fraternity at the University of Edinburgh dedicated to the discussion of nature, science, and unorthodox views. These world-changing men understood the value of critical analysis and argumentation in developing their ideas and sharpening their minds.
The value of such discourse is evident in the lives of great philosophers and political thinkers throughout history as well. Socrates honed his thinking and advanced his understanding by questioning and debating the allegedly wise men of Athens about matters of truth and justice. (That the Athenian democracy put him to death for doing so further underscores the importance of this subject.) Aristotle developed his ideas substantially through lecturing and teaching, first at Plato’s Academy and later at Aristotle’s own Lyceum. And, of course, the American founders developed and refined their ideas largely through discussion and debate in salons, pubs, newspapers, churches, public forums, and virtually every channel of communication open to them.
People learn while they teach, critique, argue, debate. And this principle pertains most emphatically to high-level thinking. In developing and validating principles of philosophy, science, politics, and the like, thinkers typically do not formulate their thoughts in complete isolation—apart from any communication—and express them to others only when the ideas are fully developed. That can happen, but it’s rare. More often than not, high-level thinking develops in conjunction with communication.
Seen in this light, expressing ideas is part of the process of generating and validating ideas. Speaking is an aspect of thinking."
The debate on circumcision in Acts 15.6 is a good example of the above.
Foretaste = rampant colds and sore throats shared with hundreds, put on 10 lbs from eating too much food, send postcards to those left at home.
"Wish you were here".
Sure, right. If you really wished they were there you would have gone to your assigned site and used your excess money to help those without big incomes to go as well.
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