After Dave Pack spent the last several years preaching 130+ sermons and posting them he faced a huge dilemma. A lot of the stuff he posted never came to pass and was blatantly wrong. Pack quickly started editing those posts until it got so bad that he removed all 130+ of them. Tens of thousands of COG members never left their churches and flocked in mass to his personality cult with all of their tithe money.
After deleting all of the 130 some sermons from his website, Dave was left with another dilemma, how would all of the lost COG members ever know about his plan for his Christ to return multiple times? He solved that issue be writing a new booklet about the Kingdom of God and its imminent return.
The booklet is still just as crazy as his 130+ sermons:
Multiple “Comings”
Let’s ask a surprising question, one that no one seems to consider. How many comings of Jesus does the Bible describe? Contrasting verses hold the surprising answer. The prophet Haggai wrote of Jesus’ Return, “Thus says the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations [long understood to be Jesus Christ] shall come…” (2:6-7). Vast numbers today are looking for and desiring Christ’s coming. While most understand little about His arrival, the Christian masses do desire it, with greater reason every day to hope for it more than the day before because of worldwide character breakdown!
Here’s the problem—and it’s big! The book of Revelation speaks of a very different reaction to Jesus’ appearance: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our LORD, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever…the nations were angry, and Your wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged…and [You] should destroy them which destroy the earth” (11:15, 18). A picture of angry nations is incompatible with Haggai.
These passages cannot refer to the same time!
Lacking knowledge of Christ’s multiple comings, many assert He comes and immediately vanquishes all enemies, establishing His Kingdom. Revelation appears to say this, but consider I Corinthians 15:25, which shows something entirely different, saying Christ “must reign, till He has put all enemies under His feet.” Those who would suggest He arrives, reigns for a split second, then annihilates all enemies are simply ignoring this verse, with many others.When the kingdom comes it will be filled with wicked people who have to be purged.
A fifth parable shows expansion of God’s Kingdom from a small beginning, as well as something else no one seems to notice: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea…” (vs. 47). The net starts out empty. Over time it fills with fish of “every kind”—people from all nations. But not all “fish” belong: “When it was full, they drew to shore, sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world [or age, when Christ moves to Jerusalem]: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just [note this!], and shall cast them into the furnace [or oven] of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (vs. 48-50). (The end of the wicked is incompatible with an ever-burning afterlife. For more on this, the reader will want to read our booklet The Truth About Hell.)
Abandon any notion that the Kingdom of God begins with only divine spirit beings. This parable dispels that misconception. The wicked can get into the Kingdom and must at a point be removed!Jesus is going to return and will look exactly like he did in 1st century Palestine.
Jesus Christ, as King of the mustard seed Kingdom, also Himself starts “small” in how He manifests Himself and in the initial scope of His rule. The account of Christ’s ascension to heaven holds an eye-opening clue that no one ever notices. Recall the apostles’ question: “LORD, will You at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). After His answer it adds, “While they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel” (vs. 9-10). These two men, actually angels, asked, “…Why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus [a man, not a Spirit Being in glorified form], which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven” (vs. 11).
The phrase “this same” in reference to Jesus is an all-important KEY. The angels were emphasizing that Jesus would return in the identical human form He had when He ascended.
It is not surprising then that Christ is so often called “the Son of Man.” This is because He intends to continue (initially) His first-century form when He returns.When Jesus returns to see Dave, he will have a new name...The Sprout.
The prophet Jeremiah described Christ in His expanding Kingdom by an unusual name, while also calling Him its King: “Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days [at a point, but not right away] Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (23:5-6). The Hebrew for “Branch” is sprout. Like mustard seeds, sprouts are also tiny to begin. This “sprout” depiction is completely incompatible with an all-powerful Jesus Christ returning in glorified form.
Ten chapters later Jeremiah adds more, confirming something crucial about sprouts: “I [will] cause the Branch [sprout] of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness…” (33:15). The Hebrew “grow up” is simply the verb form of sprout. God is saying, literally, He will cause the sprout to sprout. Ponder the enormity of what we are being told. Jesus’ role will grow from small to large.The Sprout is never going to accomplish anything. Dave is just another loud mouth COG leader who is full of hot air and no substance.
11 comments:
It is interesting that Dave preached well over 150 sermons in his series and every single one of them has been removed from public consumption. Did Dave make a mistake? Did God make a mistake in putting the words in his mouth? Dave has a serious credibility issue.
Dave is a root of evil that sprouted up. Sort of a man-eating plant. A really nasty weed.
Pack is not a "sprout". He is actually more of a "ZIT".
I understand that the Know Nothing Party was pretty big in Ohio in the mid 1850s.
Perhaps Dave should rename his church “The Know Nothing Church of God”. Somehow, it seems totally appropriate!
BB
One of the most frustrating actions of Mr. Pack was his liberal use and then non use of the Greek writings. How and when he used it or not, depended upon how it fit his narrative - remember, he stated many times that he was putting together a 10,000 piece puzzle. Lets look at one instance which is quoted in this article, where his failure to look at the Greek translation caused him to go way off with a narrative that doesn't have much support from the bible.
His quote: "The phrase “this same” in reference to Jesus is an all-important KEY. The angels were emphasizing that Jesus would return in the identical human form He had when He ascended".
The major problem here is that the word same is a translator insert. The Greek word ho in this instance is just left out in the conversion to English. If you must ad a word there, it would be this or the or he or one. So it could read; this this Jesus or this the Jesus or this he Jesus or this one Jesus. The word is generally left out because it does not fit the English idiom. The Berean literal Bible translates it perfectly - go read it. The correct translation completely blows up Mr. Pack's little tangent run with the 1st Century Jesus. The scripture makes perfect sense, He left in the clouds and will return in the clouds as it is spoken of in other scriptures. This wild tangent combined with many other crazy tangents get combined by Mr. Pack into an ultra biblical fantastical play into the surreal.
He has finally got his TV show back on the air - WGN - to end that extreme embarrassment of having TV studio, but no program schedule!
Comment was made saying: Multiple "Comings"
Dave Pack said: "...Let’s ask a surprising question, one that no one seems to consider. How many comings of Jesus does the Bible describe? Contrasting verses hold the surprising answer..."
I agree; there are multiple comings, but there is no "second coming" to set up some Mickey Mouse Millennium. Whether Dave Pack gives any specific number of comings: I do not know. I'd hate to waste time reading his opinions from his latest book.
The article concluded with saying: "...Dave is just another loud mouth COG leader who is full of hot air and no substance."
Fortunately, or not, that seems to be for the most part true, but Dave appears to have "one leg up" on all of the other cog leaders who continue to stick with their man-made mythical "second coming" and Mickey Mouse Millennium. The years from the death of HWA, and his "choice" of Joe Tkach senior and NOT "choosing other "little helpers" such as Dave Pack, Kubik, Ward, Gerald Flurry, Jim Franks, Doug Winnail, Weston, Whineland, Mahm, multiple-anointed Bob Thiel, etc. (pick another name of any of HWA's little helpers) are ticking on
Time will tell...
John
David Pack's Bait & Switch scam was one of the dirtiest tricks ever played on former Worldwide Church of God members.
David Pack claimed at the start of his Restored Church of God splinter group in 1999 that it was going to teach faithfully everything that Herbert W. Armstrong had taught at the time of his death on January 16, 1986.
Now, new RCG members will never know what HWA had taught, and former WCG members will not remember it. David Pack has worse than wasted his followers' time making up his own very lengthy series of prophetic nonsense. It was such complete, total, utter nonsense that anyone who listened through it all will probably never be able to get their minds cleaned out and fixed.
This complete fraud gets financially supported by David Pack's new “common” teaching that everyone must send virtually everything they have (money, savings, retirement plans, houses, possessions, etc.) to him--“or no salvation if you don't.”
David Pack then reasoned that since he had “restored” this “common” teaching to the church, he himself--rather than HWA!!!--must be the prophesied Elijah who was to come with the power to restore, edit, change, delete, and make up new doctrines.
David Pack had originally taught that the knowledge that HWA was the prophesied Elijah who had “restored all things” was a great wall of defence against doctrinal heresies. Now that David Pack has completely broken through that great wall of defence against doctrinal heresies, anything can happen.
Pack's "multiple comings" doctrine would be a lot more credible if his Christ Creature were a woman.
For John 5:53 a.m.
Don't give Dave Pack too much credit. He not only teaches one one thousand year period but two. His time line is as follows: The Man of Sin (Fire) coming is imminent. He will be followed by Christ's coming 3 months after the Man of Sins' revealing. Christ will come as the son of man (1st Century) to Wadsworth, Ohio. Dave Pack and the son of man will travel the world doing the marvelous work and wonder - HWA will be resurrected and will go to Jerusalem as Zerubbabel the governor. The time of Jacob's trouble commences and the son of man retreats to Wadsworth, Ohio. At the end of the great tribulation, the now Christ comes to the Mount of Olives to usher in the Kingdom of God of many generations (1000 years). At the end of this period, Satan is loosed, the 7 seals begin, the Beast and False Prophet - the two witnesses all come into action. The "Armageddon" gathering and then destruction happen when Christ returns again to usher in the new heavens and earth and the millenium (2nd thousand years). That would be the quick overview for you.
What About The Truth said: "...Don't give Dave Pack too much credit. He not only teaches one one thousand year period but two. His time line is as follows: The Man of Sin (Fire) coming is imminent. He will be followed by Christ's coming 3 months after the Man of Sins' revealing. Christ will come as the son of man (1st Century) to Wadsworth, Ohio. Dave Pack and the son of man will travel the world doing the marvelous work and wonder - HWA will be resurrected and will go to Jerusalem as Zerubbabel the governor. The time of Jacob's trouble commences and the son of man retreats to Wadsworth, Ohio. At the end of the great tribulation, the now Christ comes to the Mount of Olives to usher in the Kingdom of God of many generations (1000 years). At the end of this period, Satan is loosed, the 7 seals begin, the Beast and False Prophet - the two witnesses all come into action. The "Armageddon" gathering and then destruction happen when Christ returns again to usher in the new heavens and earth and the millenium (2nd thousand years). That would be the quick overview for you..."
Thanks for your overview. It all sounds like a very confusing theory with too much significance on some Wadsworth, Ohio...wherever that is. And resurrecting HWA? He is having a nice dirt-nap and besides, the dead know nothing. Dave has a lot of weird timing that HWA never gave to us. Dave must have dreamed that stuff up. Two thousand years is ridiculous too. The 7 seals begin after Satan is loosed is another dumb thought and makes no sense whatsoever.
Time will tell...
You've given me plenty of reasons to not desire to read Dave's latest book. It would be such a time-waster.
John
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