Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Friday, December 15, 2023

BREAKING NEWS: Dave Pack Orders Restored Church of God To Stop Paying Their Entire Worldwide Field Ministry



News Flash – December 15, 2023

 

The Restored Church of God

Stops Paying Their Entire Worldwide Field Ministry

 

All the paid ministers in The Restored Church of God outside of Headquarters have had a tough week. Phone calls directly from Wadsworth informed men still on salary or receiving a stipend that their compensation for faithful services rendered had been terminated.

 

“Thank you for your service. But keep working for free.”

 

The financial woes in The Restored Church of God have achieved another milestone. Pastor General David C. Pack finally got his long-desired wish of not paying field ministers. If the Apostle Paul could be a world-traveling preacher and support himself by being a tentmaker, so can everyone else. Well, everyone not nestled inside the warm, ceiled houses of Headquarters.

The full- and part-time men are expected to get worldly “real” jobs and mingle with the unwashed while they continue to tirelessly serve The Restored Church of God. They will have the same responsibilities but will not be paid for it. Just in case they forgot, that is called a sacrifice, gentlemen.

I received independent confirmation of this development from reliable sources. Additional support has come in today. This is really happening, folks.
  • Headquarters hirelings called the field men directly to avoid written correspondence getting into the wrong hands and creating a PR nightmare for them. There is something to be said for the personal touch of oil and honey to calm restless nerves. The wise-as-serpents discernment to gauge potential defectors is a side benefit.
  • A follow-up email was sent explicitly instructing men to NOT tell their congregations.
  • Pay reductions are happening at Headquarters, but no layoffs have yet been reported.
I sent the following email last night at 6:15 PM to the hireling enablers at Headquarters, hoping to elicit a respectful and informative response.


Nobody in The Restored Church of God responded to this inquiry, but I know they got it.

Oh boy, did they get it.

The buzz at Headquarters today must have been something to behold. The phone banks were lit with follow-up, closed-door phone calls to investigate who leaked the information. Maybe if it were a single source, that might be easier to trace. Despite where they want to point the finger or play mind games to trick someone into a coerced stumble, they may just irritate enough "innocent" people along the way to create a new source for exrcg.org that was not there before.

If any RCG ministers want to contact me to contribute anonymously to this story, I will keep your information in the strictest of confidence and remove identifying details. Please write exrcgwebsite@gmail.com.



David C. Pack has been the one most often to comment about the cash-flow perils of the once “booming” 501(c)(3) organization that was established in 1999 to uphold the doctrines and traditions of The Worldwide Church of God.




These cost-saving measures reported in August were apparently not enough. You could smell the blood in the water back in June when I reminded Dave that purchasing his $500,000 Eyesore was not the wisest of decisions. Ken Orel and Tim Ranney now wish they could have stayed at Headquarters instead of applying to be Order Fulfillment Specialists at their local Amazon warehouse. Their cheerful willingness to be wished away into the cornfield did not help the organization turn things around.

 

During a 2023 Ministerial Conference not-for-brethren lecture, David C. Pack warned the field ministers that cuts were coming “if time went on.” But nobody anticipated a total severing of all financial assistance. The blessings from Dave’s god must not be enough to hold back the crushing weight of the Headquarters Campus. So far, the horses do not have a “For Sale” sign around their necks.

 

To illustrate the income trend of The Restored Church of God, anyone can use the publicly available information provided by our amazing friends to the north. The honorable country of Canada requires all non-profit organizations to report their income and expenses to have it available on their website. Using the Canadian data, you can extrapolate RCG’s church-wide trajectory.

 

This graph comes to exrcg.org courtesy of the creative talents of Kevin Denee.



If you want to poke around RCG's financial data, visit the Canadian T3010 website. One thing we can all learn is that they really, really trust Larry Cockshutt.

 


 

 

These drastic changes seem rather faithless and premature since Jesus Christ is supposed to return within two minutes of the Winter Solstice on December 21 at 11:35 PM ET on Tevet 10. Unless David C. Pack does not smoke his own malarkey, and he already knows "nothin’ is gonna happen.”

 

Using my non-powers as an un-ordained non-prophet/non-psychic, I put forth this educated guess: During “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 486)” tomorrow, David C. Pack will disclose these cuts to the brethren. He may even “clarify” that the compensation will be reduced and not completely removed for some. If he is feeling particularly irritated, he may even throw in a vague reference to "lies shotgunned on the internet.” His level of seething will be determined by how red his ears get. Watch Part 486 closely.

 

This story will continue to develop. If representatives of The Restored Church of God respond, that information will be made available.

 

Like Jonah sitting atop the hill, let us all watch and see what happens.


Marc Cebrian

See: The Restored Church of God Stops Paying Their Entire Worldwide Field Ministry





58 comments:

  1. Dave Pack needs lots of money to live the good life.

    Nobody else needs any money to live on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. “BREAKING NEWS: Dave Pack Orders Restored Church of God To Stop Paying Their Entire Worldwide Field Ministry”

    The unqualified bums that Dave Pack set up as fake RCG “ministers” to be a part of his Restored Cash Grab (RCG) scam of outrageous lying and stealing are actually worth LESS THAN NOTHING. The evil that they have been a part of is appalling. Dave Pack should make them PAY him to pretend to be ministers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Could this be the breaking point where formerly paid RCG hirelings suddenly start to talk about how their conscience has been troubling them for a number of years already and they can now, all of a sudden, no longer support all the lying and stealing if it is not going to personally benefit them any more?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like the Grinch stole Christmas at RCG!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Given the high rate of inflation, a drop in income of 10% is equivalent to a real drop of 20%. Government inflation data is always BS, so that is the real story.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Could this be the breaking point where formerly paid RCG hirelings suddenly start to talk about how their conscience has been troubling them for a number of years already and they can now, all of a sudden, no longer support all the lying and stealing if it is not going to personally benefit them any more?

    Being a little kinder about it, could this be the point where men with wives and children to support, who have no other skills and who thought their RCG employment was God's way of helping them fulfill their responsibilities, now see that God is no longer blessing their service?

    We have all seen how Dave operates, and we can be certain that once Dave can't control a man, he'll push that man away. Once he can't use a paycheck to control his ministers, he won't trust them, and even if they try to stay loyal they won't last long. Let's be as kind as possible to them as they find themselves outside of RCG. Hold them accountable if they try to set themselves up as mini-me Daves, but welcome them as exes if they realize they've made a horrible mistake as Dave's sycophants and enablers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. How would any of us feel if suddenly our employer discontinued our compensation? A logically thinking individual would conclude that our skill set and what we bring to the party was of no financial value.

    This is just me, but If I were one of these gentlemen, I would treat it as a termination, and walk away. If I were an official in another ACOG splinter, I'd most likely want to interview whatever RCG ministers had actually graduated from one of the Ambassador colleges, and could possibly be recertified. Those who were personally groomed and trained solely by Dave are probably too koo koo for Cocoa Puffs, and only of value to Dave.

    The ACOGs are most certainly totally oblivious to the concept of social justice, and this only further proves that Dave is the worst! The cat is out of the bag, and of course they will not confirm or deny, but the RCG has been suffering diminished credibility for years now.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 7:02 said

    “ Given the high rate of inflation, a drop in income of 10% is equivalent to a real drop of 20%. Government inflation data is always BS, so that is the real story.”

    Government inflation data is not even the story here. Give it a rest. Stop constantly trying to divert attention to mindless conspiracy psycho-babble.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Canadian data - and, by inference, US data - shows the RCG in solid downtrend!

    ReplyDelete
  10. The horses' free board & lodging is safe!

    ReplyDelete
  11. “BREAKING NEWS: Dave Pack Orders Restored Church of God To Stop Paying Their Entire Worldwide Field Ministry”

    Dave Pack is not going far enough. He also needs to stop paying the entire headquarters staff as well. They are in on the RCG scam and guilty too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Why do some people feel sorry for all the fake RCG “ministers” who have been on the GETTING side of the money flow?

    How about a little compassion for the long-suffering little members who have always been on the GIVING side of the money flow until they got cleaned right out by klepto-Dave Pack-of-lies and his “common” theft scam?

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is old hat in the ACOG movement. It was common for an elder or ordinary member to make the church their passion, spending a large amount of their time and resources serving members. Then some minor conflict with the minister arose, making it plain that the minister had zero appreciation for their contribution. The enraged member then leaves the church. The minister responds from the pulpit by warning about people's love waxing cold in the end times. So it's never the ministers fault.
    The ACOGs using up and spitting out its ministers and members is standard operating procedure within these groups. This is often hard to see for many members since the mental diet in their church literature and sermons of give, help, serve etc, blinds them to what would be obvious to any out sider.
    Have Dave's ministers grasped that Dave has put his horses before them??

    ReplyDelete

  14. Actually, this is just part of an insidious plot. Once these ministers are receiving outside pay, they too get to participate in "common".

    Dave should have kept his health food store and should be funding his ministry with it like Bob Thiel does.

    ReplyDelete
  15. It's like firing your salespeople when business is bad. Let's see who the hirelings are and who truly support Dave Pack. By the way... it is THIS post I have been waiting for a long time. RCG is imploding fast now... this is the final straw... hahahahaha

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yahweh's justice has finally arrived for the RCG. How ashamed must Pack be as he is indirectly saying that Elohim is no longer supporting him or his church?

    I would surmise that the other hirelings must see their future as well and should be submitting their resumes for the jobs that are left.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Why do some people feel sorry for all the fake RCG “ministers” who have been on the GETTING side of the money flow?

    How about a little compassion for the long-suffering little members who have always been on the GIVING side of the money flow until they got cleaned right out by klepto-Dave Pack-of-lies and his “common” theft scam?


    The two aren't mutually exclusive. Why do some people feel sorry for fake RCG "members" who think they can buy salvation with their "common" and who blaspheme Jesus Christ with their enabling of Dave Pack? Their actions are reprehensible, but we can have pity and empathy for what they've been sucked into. The ministers are also guilty of reprehensible conduct, but let's treat them as individuals and extend compassion when we can. Unfortunately, if past defections are any guide, the pay cuts will lead less to repentance and more to the establishment of new one-man churches following Dave's example to a greater or lesser degree. But let's be ready to welcome the repentance of any for whom Dave's actions are a belated wake-up call.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Based on the Canadian numbers, the RCG income has dropped 11% per year compounded over the last 4 years.

    Extrapolating Canadian income , by a factor of 8, to match USA population, puts RCG income at around $5 Million.
    At a rate of $3000 per year per person, this puts RCG personages at around 1700 or so.

    Pack's slave system is incredible. Lay off the ministers, cutting their salaries, and then getting them to pay common on top of that, is an excellent way to "double harvest" off of their outputs.

    However, control is always based on need, and Pack loses a lot of control by cutting salaries. I expect defections increasing, and splits, now that these "ministers" are no longer on the TEAT!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Neither their income, nor their attendance was ever that high...

      Delete
  19. Yahweh had quite a loyal and wise servant alive and active during the time of Jesus. His name was Gamaliel.

    Could any of these ACOGs serendipitously go viral, with their end times messages to warn the world? Highly unlikely. Did HWA
    do it in such an indelible way that anyone outside of the movement he started remembers him or it? In other words, did he "finish" the work? Time tells us the answer to that question is "No!" I mean, it's not as if everyone looks around the world at all the catastrophic messes and in unison whispers, "Herbert W. Armstrong!"

    The people with their rose colored glasses who have been waiting for the special and highly blessed splinter with the mantle to emerge will probably now imagine that this will come about by the gradual failure of the imposters. It is quite obvious, the leaders who have simply fellated their own ego. It does not appear that Armstrongism has the resilience of the Seventh Day Adventists, the Jehovah's Witnesses, or even COG-7.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Even in mainstream churches pastors are more frequently older men second career pastors. They have already made their money, have their 401K funded, pensions earned working and now work as pastors for no salary. This move by Pack opens the ministry to well to do older men who can work for free.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I like the comment that says that if they are genuine Ambassador grads. they could apply to the more successful ACOGs

    I hear UCG pays big WCG-era pastor salaries & perks of >$80k-per-year to genuine Ambassador graduates, and they don't have to go thru the humiliating RCG interview-process!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Even Ambassador alumni Byker Bob and D. Deil could get ($80k) jobs with UCG (it doesn't matter if you're an Agnostic, just don't mention it)(and there's no agonizing inquisition you get from the Packatollah)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Gerald Flurry should stop paying his PCG field bums and PCG headquarters bums too. They also are in on a cruel, satanic scam of lying and stealing.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Restored Cash Grab (RCG) is a satanic imposter cult full of FAKE “Christians” who support FAKE “ministers” and Satan's #2 (after #1 Gerald Flurry) FAKE PROPHET klepto-Dave Pack-of-lies. The whole thing is a satanic mess.

    ReplyDelete
  25. The Party is O V E R! Sell Sell Sell! The Compound must Go!
    Secretariat must go! Yes, even the table settings including the fans, shot glasses and mugs must go!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous at 10:00 AM said...“I hear UCG pays big WCG-era pastor salaries & perks of >$80k-per-year to genuine Ambassador graduates, and they don't have to go thru the humiliating RCG interview-process!

    I am not so sure how “genuine” the AC graduates are who work for the UCG paychecks. Some of them might still be working for the WCG/GCI paychecks if they had not been terminated from the WCG due to lack of money after the apostate Tkaches openly destroyed the WCG with their Great Apostasy of January 1995.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Basically the ministers have been given the sack.

    I wonder how many will now start their own little version of RCG?

    You only need 10 members prepared to donate $10,000 each and the minister now has an income and RCG-Clone is born.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I’m not sure if UCG pays good ol’ boy pastors $80k/yr. or not, I would guess most make less than that. Regardless, if that is the case, it’d be on the low end for that profession.

    https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/pastor-salary

    ReplyDelete
  29. Most of the people who start clones do so in a manner in which they jettison the aspects which they thought were cruel, offensive to common sense, or just plain wrong. I can see some RCG minister who is charismatic and a gifted speaker starting his own clone, but eschewing such things as daily false prophecy, stupid self-aggrandizing titles, financial abuse, and authoritarianism. Oh, and uh, the horses!

    We'd be remiss, however, if we did not point out that such clonemeisters, also being human, have their own unique set of defects and traits which they inevitably bring to the table, although such negatives may not be obvious during the initial "honeymoon" period. And, since organized Armstrongism ALWAYS corrupts its leaders, most members who hate bull shit and authoritarianism would be better off as Lone Ranger Armstrongites, if they felt the need, being observant in the privacy of their homes, and finding accountable charities which would serve as outlets for those tithes.

    Above all, if anybody is feeling spiritually raped, seeking counseling or therapy is always a good starting point. Find a good therapist with whom you feel comfortable.

    ReplyDelete
  30. The Painful Truth at 2:30 PM said...“The end of this charade is now in sight!”

    Never hold your breath while you wait for the evil to end. It never ends. Notice how Satan still uses Gerald Flurry's old, dead, zombie carcass to ramble on and on.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Dave decided to do a Tkach apostasy to his own church and surprise, surprise, his income has plunged, necessitating Tkach type layoffs.
    Like Tkach, Dave's number one priority is crown stealing, with his comfortable lifestyle taking second place.
    Beware of crown stealers folks.

    ReplyDelete
  32. The Tkaches were the Devil's APOSTATES who openly threw out virtually all of HWA's teachings with their Great Apostasy of January 1995.

    Flurry and Pack are Satan's FALSE PROPHETS who falsely claimed to be holding fast faithfully to all of HWA's teachings but then actually went on to edit, change, warp, mangle, and totally pervert everything that HWA had taught.

    ReplyDelete
  33. "UCG..pastors $80k/yr..it’d be on the low end for that profession"

    That's because wordly pastors have real degrees while Ambassador was Diploma-mill.. or not, I would guess most make less than that. Regardless,

    ReplyDelete
  34. So millionaire-Dave-Pack is "taking a 10% pay cut"--
    10% of how much Mr millionaire?? What is your salary??!!

    This weekend let's spare a thought for the millionaire bosses of of LCG & GCI in Nth Carolina being lashed by unprecedented climate-change. Please send these poor deluded souls more money because they think they are too important to work and earn money themselves like the rest of us schmucks.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Now would be a good time to review the grueling, humiliating Questionnaire that backsliding Armstrongist ministers must submit to if they want a chance to join (without pay) the one-true-church, the superfantabulous Restored Church of God

    ReplyDelete
  36. Marc, RCG has the best acog website, did you have a hand in it?

    ReplyDelete
  37. One is not an apostate for reforming the teachings of an heretic! You make the mistake of assuming or believing that HWA taught truth. He did not.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Best acog website? What a joke. Based on what criteria? Is that you Dave trolling mark?

    ReplyDelete
  39. I had a look at the rcg site. It's flashy. Pharisees know how to look good to outsiders. It's part of their delusion thingy.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Marc, do you know how the RCG's corporate non-profit is set up? I assume Dave holds the position of President, but I am curious how the bylaws are written and what mechanisms did he put in place for controlling the election of the other officers?

    ReplyDelete
  41. 10:40 - Your comment is a bit severe as we have to give credit where credit is due:

    Clearly, RCG has the premier web presence compared to the other Armstrong spinoff cults, so their downfall can not be blamed on this state-of-the-art web engineering (that might have cost half a million), but necessary spending as they transitioned from a television outreach to web-based.

    The other Armstrongist spinoffs were caught off guard by this deft move by Pack who was the first to perceive that there was no future in television as the other major cults are painfully discovering.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Well how many houses has he bought next to his compound, if near end is near, sell,sell, sell, and ride his horses to heaven.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Actually, RCG's website is quite dated looking, especially to a younger audience. It's using an older layout with out-of-date fonts, colors, graphics, etc. It clearly hasn't been updated in a while. This is a popular church down the street from me, and looking at theirs I would say the websites of LCG/UCG/COGWA more align with this look and feel.

    https://242community.com/

    ReplyDelete
  44. Maybe Warren Buffet can give common to Dave.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I didn't know there were more interviews with dawn blue. It wasn't shared on this website. I found two more. Marc Cebrian, hopefully you do more of these interviews.

    ReplyDelete
  46. My understanding is that the early church always had a plurality of elders, chosen from among the congregation, not by HQ. Having one PASTOR GENERAL with a board of directors who are "yes men" is not healthy. Each church congregation was autonomous, but all working in cooperation with one another.
    The Apostle Paul understood human nature and the way the early church was set up prevented any one person from having too much power.

    ReplyDelete
  47. How do you have unity without everyone being a yes man? That's the big question.

    The reason the David C. Packs of the world can exist is that unity is placed above integrity. It's also why you see more integrity in the board of directors of a major secular corporation. Imagine the CEO of IBM making bizarre, false forecasts! The board would replace him so fast the light flash would be blinding.

    ReplyDelete
  48. RCG is NOT a spiritual organisation

    ReplyDelete
  49. Look at directionless LCG, soldiering-on with their moribund television program, while RCG's bright snappy website is a beacon in the night, breathing new life into the troubled, dated Armstrongist theological paradigm.

    ReplyDelete
  50. (I am not affiliated with RCG)

    The clarity and accessibility of the RCG website far exceeds LCG/UCG..lame efforts:
    For example I'm reading Real-Truth magazine article on "The Hand", amazing!

    HWA, on a radio broadcast, once said "..I tell people to look at their hands.."

    this excellent Real-Truth article is here:
    https://rcg.org/realtruth/articles/091207-003-science.html

    ReplyDelete
  51. What is all the unnecessary talk about websites = who cares which one is pimped the best.
    Stop looking at them, this is exactly what they want. Anyone who is commenting favourably for the RCG website is working for Team Pack.

    Stop getting sidetracked we have to go back to what this article is actually all about - it is about a loathsome deceitful self serving money hungry human prepared to break what ever rules he thinks is necessary to feed his own ambition and selfishness.

    Yes, I'm talking about Pack.

    This man has just told all of his field ministers that are not going to get paid for the work they do in looking after 'God's chosen' and spreading 'God's truth'. They are expected to still do that work for FREE and also get a job in the outside world to help pay into RCG's Common fund.
    Basically work double hours and then pay Pack for the luxury of being able to say you are a minister!

    On top of this already disgusting attitude he then expects the ministers to lie and be deceitful to the brethren by telling the ministers this 'no wage' situation is to be kept a secret.

    Pack is deceiving his church members.
    Remember that everyone.
    He also expects his ministers to do the same.

    He is a deceiver and this is no longer just 'spiritual' deception but also a physical deception in every possible way. This is a very real and obvious sign of the rottenness that is D.Pack entirely.

    It's got nothing to do with websites. So don't let the websites become a red herring.

    Pack wants the church members to think nothing has changed. Why?

    He wants to hide the dire financial state that is supposedly God's Work. He still wants to pretend and deceive everyone in thinking that God is supposedly supporting Pack.
    Really all Pack wants is to keep a firm hold on 'his money' and he has no concern for anything else.

    We, the ones looking on, the ones who have family caught in the implosion that will occur, the family members who are right now being deceived in the most obvious physical and foul way.
    We need to remember what is happening within RCG right now because after the implosion the family members will be hurting and will be lost.
    I know this because I saw from the sidelines the broken people 30years ago when Worldwide blew up.

    Pack the Deceiver needs to held accountable and this will have to start from within the organization.

    ReplyDelete
  52. How anyone can end up depending on any Church of God for employment, after the history AC and modern day church splits is the height of foolishness.

    ReplyDelete
  53. To the contrary 9:43, RCG has the most advanced web presence of any of the Acogs:
    Watch for him to leverage this up by incorporating AI (which, for instance, can synthesize sermons from his vast literary inventory, further negating the need for actual expensive ministers.)

    Next step, with more web engineering, will be virtual regional assemblies, the idea being sold in the name of Climate Change/avoiding driving, the virtual interactive meetings fulfilling the "not forsaking assembling" exhortation.

    Pack: first to ditch television; first to ditch ministers
    He's the Rupert Murdoch of the Acog universe!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Again I'd say you are working for Team Pack hence what you say is of no worth.
      Especially when you can only comment about websites which has absolutely nothing to do with the article we are all reading and commenting on.

      This article is about Pack the Deceiver and what he is doing to his church ministers and congregation.

      I'd suggest you read the article again and use your comprehension skills.
      It's about Pack the Deceiver not webpages.

      Delete