Dave Pack: Particularly Arrogant

Particularly Arrogant

 

Professional cheek-presser David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God power-sat through his final final message a final time on July 15, 2023. "The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 459)" revealed never-before-understood knowledge that put the entire Series into perspective and cleared up some of the greatest mysteries mankind has ever faced so precisely and accurately it can never be altered.

 

If there is one thing David C. Pack is best at, it is proving to the brethren of The Restored Church of God who and what he is. He repeatedly shows them that nothing coming out of his mouth can be trusted because he will surely backtrack his own statements and disregard all accountability.

 

Case in point:

 

Part 458 – July 8, 2023

@ 01:28:48 But, I wanna just say, if this exact timing is somehow wrong, I simply can’t tell you more. I can’t.

 

@ 01:14:30 I can’t come back with 359 [459], and I'm telling you, I won't.

 

One week later, Part 459 delayed the RCG Summer Picnic’s evening activities by at least two hours since Dave could not resist focusing all the attention on him when the Main Hall was filled with visitors. Event weekends act like a magnet for his tongue.

 

Making light of his previous statements somehow makes it all okay.

 

Part 459 – July 15, 2023

@ 01:04 If you'll recall, I said last week, "This Series is over. Next week." [laughing] Or was it just, "This Series is over?" Maybe that was what it was.

 

The All-Believing Zealots in the audience laughed at this. There is a portion of the RCG membership that seem oblivious to their own dire circumstances. Moments like this reveal their numbers, and it is discouraging.

 

 

One of the great mysteries cleared up with Part 459 was the long-perplexing “one month” puzzling Dave since 2012. Luckily for him, it was yet another way in which he personally fulfills prophecy and cements his ever-presence in the pages of your Bible.

 

Dave speaking for the length of a month during the month of Tammuz was the secret necessary for the Kingdom to come. So, the door was wide open for Jesus Christ to return any time between July 15 and July 19. I said, ANY TIME BETWEEN JULY 15 AND JULY 19.

 

Hmmm. That didn’t work. Av 1 came and went. Nothing happened. How can that be? Dave sounded so confident.

 

@ 16:48 So, these are some of the Mysteries of God that are clearing up that are telling us we’ve got this right.

 

It is a curious thing why the audience did not also laugh here.

@ 33:12 So then, where is the year? This year? Where is it? When is it? It wasn’t on the 24^th [of Tammuz, July 13]. I was suspicious. I ended the way I did because I was suspicious. I’ll tell ya, you’ll see how I end when we’re done today. But we should be able to figure it out. The 1335. We've battled that for a long time. Battled and battled and battled and battled, but you know what, brethren? We got it. It's the split-second of Passover two-and-a-half months before the Day of the Lord. You know, that moment is very special.

 

@ 35:37 We’ve battled and battled and battled and battled and battled. But, eventually, we got them. Now, the people who left didn’t get them. They didn’t stay long enough. They weren’t even excited to know that the Lord of Hosts and the Captain of the Hosts were Father and Son. And that Christ was never the God of the Old Testament. You know, a little minor detail like that. 

 

Dave has no understanding that having a theory that has not yet moved is not the same as having a theory proven right. He will not and can never be right about the return of Jesus Christ because he is a false prophet forever disqualified. This is why he continues to wallow in the hell of his own doing.

 

@ 36:52 But we got it. And maybe I should say God eventually made it clear. You could argue we didn’t get anything. I didn’t get anything, but it came clear.

 

Crediting God with the continued failure of David C. Pack’s teachings is the same type of praise as if you commend God for allowing an orphanage to burn to the ground with all the kids inside. Wow. Are you super-sure you want to put His fingerprints on something like that?

 

 

@ 55:58 But, there is a month there, and I finally understand it. My quest with my wife on Obama’s re-election, November 6, 2012, almost eleven years ago, was to try to figure this out. And I never could, and never could, thought I did, and never could, thought I did, and this theory and that, and imagine how much we had to learn before we could ever get it right. But God seemed to wait for last to explain what I ran into and got a headache from first.

 

@ 56:47 Now, if it’s Tammuz, well then, we’re right on track. We’re lookin’ at Tuesday (July 18). Because it's the month of Tammuz and it's 29 days. I didn't speak on Tammuz 1. I spoke on Tammuz 3. And I don’t know when God woulda lifted the Staffs and fed the flock. So, I don’t know.

 

Wishy-Washy Dave avoided hard dates because he was unsure when the "one month" officially began since he never stopped talking. One of his messages fulfilled prophecy setting a clock in motion so that God could initiate the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Man…if he could only know which one it was.

 

@ 1:24:36 Now, I said this Series is over last week. I don’t know what in the world I would discover that could cause us to have another one. There's a final message. But I do read, you know, a final message that's given in a season. Is it this one? It wudn't the last one. I thought so and times before that.

 

Could you imagine waking up each day wondering HOW you are fulfilling prophecy?

 

You just know in your heart that your god is using you for a great purpose, but that same god keeps you in the dark about the details because it refuses to communicate essential details clearly even though you are tasked with leading the last little flock on the planet.

 

This is the life of David C. Pack. He pours through the instruction manual, trying to understand how Peg A fits into Slot X. Sure, the parts connect if you press hard enough and ignore a few paragraphs, but it certainly does not match the diagram.

 

David C. Pack will never be able to properly connect the biblical pieces together because rightly dividing the word of truth is beyond his grasp.

 

 

@ 1:25:15 No man knows the day or the hour. That’s kind of a problem. Is that no man? …No prophet has ever known that day. The apostles never knew it. The Bible says Christ doesn’t know it. Angels don’t know it. And it has struck me from time to time when the Bible seems to pull YOU toward a particular time (and it does); if YOU nail that day down, it strikes me as particularly arrogant. And I have to bite my lip and say, “But God says the Goodman know. He knows, and he tells his house.” Or does he give'em a range of time? No prophet, apostle, Christ, and the angels know it, just the Father. But we know. Or, I know. No man knows the day or the hour or can’t think or know the hour.

 

It would be hard to believe David C. Pack pays attention to his own words as closely as I do. This troublesome verse in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 has been a thorn in his flesh for over a decade. Dave occasionally acknowledges that such words exist but ignores them because they cannot possibly apply to him.

 

“it has struck me from time to time”

 

And yet, between Tammuz 1 of 2022 to Tammuz 1 of 2023, Dave taught 59 dates for the return of Jesus Christ. Was he struck all 59 times? Maybe he needs to get struck a little harder to pay attention.

 

“the Bible seems to pull YOU…if YOU nail that day down”

 

Dave's coping mechanism to keep his conscious mind away from realizing he is a biblical fraud is to implement the generous placement of the separating pronoun, YOU. He warns if YOU do this, he has concerns.

 

It is almost as though what has occurred inside The Restored Church of God happened due to and implemented by some entity beyond the bounds of his own flesh. Some other voice spoke the words and set dates that all failed. It was not David C. Pack. It was YOU.

 

“it strikes me as particularly arrogant”

 

Dave betrays a rare moment of pure honesty.

 

“I have to bite my lip”

 

David C. Pack does not bite his lip. He pushes through his uncomfortable feelings and chooses to teach what he knows is incorrect because he "ran out of time." The Restored Church of God would be a much happier place if David C. Pack were capable of biting his lip.

 

 

@ 1:32:13 And there are people who leave because he says My Lord delays His coming. Shouldn’t we at least say, What if some among us commit suicide at the last minute ‘cause it goes a few days longer? Now, you know, and I know, and they should know, and God knows they were never gonna get eternal life anyway because they were on a short-timer’s attitude. But what if that happened? What if, you know…It goes long enough the people say, “I’m outta here. I just waited and waited and waited.” Well, then, that’s a decision that you made. Best case scenario, such people who bail out, best case is they’re goin’ into the year. Worst case, it looks like those people are cut asunder and burned on the spot. And they weeping and gnashing their teeth even if they quit a day before. But, I’m gonna at least warn about that.

 

The fate of those who leave The Restored Church of God is assured. Using his superior discernment and apostolic wisdom, David C. Pack knows just like you know, and God knows who will not receive the gift of eternal life. This broad color in the Brainwashing Rainbow casts a bleak, fearful shadow over all the brethren, keeping them in their chairs.

 

Waiting is not the issue. Listening to a proven false prophet God is not leading is.

 

 

While enthusiastically asserting the Series is over, Dave set up quotes for a future article.

 

@ 1:34:30 What could be so big, so transcendent, so sweeping in power and force and knowledge to overcome all the points about timing? All of them. Not just tonight. Well, what could do that? It would have to be an oracle outside the Bible. Nobody else is gonna pick up the Bible and find different months and days and understanding…

 

@ 1:38:58 After the last message, Christ comes quickly. That’s really fast. That’s not a month. I’m just trying to these are subtle nuances. It took me a long time to see them. But it all adds up. So, what in the world could change everything? Nothing I can see…I do not rule out that we could go two or three more weeks, brethren. I have no authority to do that. I don’t see how you could go two or three more weeks without another message. But I'm not gonna say anything along that line.

 

I wonder how much of this will be ripe for use after Part 460 is delivered tonight.

 

Av 1 on July 19 was a focal point, but Dave gave himself wiggle room of “two or three more weeks.” The brethren hanging on will be waiting much longer than that.

 

Whatever changes are afoot or new “reset in thinking” occurs, there is one aspect that will not change. Out of his own mouth, David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God has judged himself to be “particularly arrogant.” 

 

The end must be near because he and I both agree.

Marc Cebrian

See: Particularly Arrogant

Ron Dart on why BobThiel CANNOT be Elijah

 

We discovered proof as to why The Great Bwana Bob Mzungu to Africa and 100 Caucasians CANNOT be Elijah. He is too wimpy to ride a Harley (Thanks Ron Dart)!

What will the end-time Elijah look like in appearance? In 2 Kings 1:8 Elijah is described as a hairy man. In an excellent sermon called “The Ten Words” on the importance of evangelising our children Ron Dart gave his opinion that, like John the Baptist, the end-time Elijah would be a rough individual still to come on the scene and possibly be rough in appearance as both Elijah and John the Baptist are often portrayed and, who knows, could come out of left field driving a Harley. This reminded me of the Tribe of Judah church near my home at the time that had many bikers in it. I’d joke that there was a rival group called the Tribe of Benjamin formed after a doctrinal clash over what motorcycle Jesus would ride. Roger Waite

Aleksandar Veljic Spills The Beans On Corruption In Bob Thiel's African Churches

From a reader:

Aleksandar Veljic's inaugural launching of Hope of Israel Worldwide Church of God on YouTube.This sermon is over 4 hours long and he goes into many details on the corruption of Bob Thiel's Continuing Church of God in Africa. 

Evangelist Evans Ocheing and his son Bradox Ouma Ocheing's involvement in the 2017 and 2022 political scandals, including bribes, money laundering, sexual improprieties, money kickbacks, and outright corruption. Meeting witch doctors at night, Bob Thiel's photos being buried in bottles, with mind zombie spells, to render Thiel a complete fool, that believes and does Evans Ocheings bidding. 

Veljic also goes into detail on his disgust of Bob Thiel's stupidity and lack of common sense in regards to believing Evans Ocheing and his son Bradox Ouma Ocheing's claim that someone put Bradoxs name on the ballot and framed him for all the political corruption. 

Veljic also talks about Evans Ocheing's evil minion Radson Mulozowa of Malawi, how Radson Mulozowa committed multiple affairs on his wife Priscilla, about Priscilla and all 3 Children's videotaped evidence, and how Bob Thiel doesn't even acknowledge them, he only believes what he's told By Radson Mulozowa and Evans.

Veljic also goes into detail on Bob Thiel giving Radson Mulozowa close to five thousand USA funds to buy a nice vehicle, yet Bob Thiel complains that Veljic's group in Serbia was a drain on CCOG funds, and when they left CCOG, he was able to go on US Radio.

Also, the latest info on Radsons obsession with the Grand High JuJu Witch Doctor of Mozambique, and casting of Stupidity Curses on Thiel; Blood sacrifice, and infant grave desecration, to fulfill Radsons evil rituals; about the pending investigation of Radson Mulozowa from the Government of Malawi for abuse of women and sex perversion; also that Bob Thiel accusing his former friends as tale bearers and accusers of the Brethren, when in fact he was told the truth, especially about The Continuing Church of God not being Registered in Malawi. This and so much more....

The Soap Opera of Dr Boobs WitchDoctors and Woopie continues........

Minions Continue Their Despicable Attack Against The Greatest Church of God In Human History!

 

Life is always in a  constant state of turmoil in the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god".

Satan and his minions continue to wreak havoc with the one true church. Why is Satan always active in Bob's church? That should tell us something right there and it's not for the reasons Bwana Bob Mzungu gives.

As mentioned in the s Letter to the Brethren: July 13, 2023, we have received occasional reports that users at the COGwriter.com website have sometimes been redirected to some type of advertisement. Since COGwriter.com never has accepted any advertisements or paid content, we knew we were not the source.

We asked for your prayers about this. And they were answered.

As mentioned last week, the Apostle Paul warned:

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

And we certainly seem to be seeing this with the interference we have run into. Paul further wrote:

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:13)

Anyway, yes, Satan’s minions did attack the COGwriter.com website.

Bill Wedekind discovered that various files at the COGwriter.com site had been hit with malware.

Malware, short for malicious software, refers to any intrusive software developed by cybercriminals (often called hackers). As far as we have determined, the malware that hit the COGwriter.com website simply re-directed some clicks to advertisements. It was done in a particularly deceitful way, so that having an ongoing problem was not obvious.

Jesus said:

44 … the devil, … He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44)

The re-directs were lies, hence that is clearly the connection to Satan.

The Apostle Paul warned about our time:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, …

12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:1-4, 12-13)

So, yes, we were hit with persecution from brutal, slanderous, evil imposters who were more interested in deceit and money than in truth.

Jesus said:

20 If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:20)

Jesus also said:

18 … I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

Satan cannot stop the church, but certainly can persecute and attack (1 Peter 5:8-9).

Sad, pathetic, and extremely boring Elijah/Elisha still whining that no one believes him

 

Andrew N. Dugger & Clarence O. Dodd had no way of imagining what a horrendous shitstorm they would produce when they named Herbert Armstrong as one of the Seventy in November of 1933. Armstrong was already filled with rebellion at that point and was actively working to separate himself from Andrew Dugger's movement by preaching doctrines and beliefs that Dugger and others did not agree with. Dugger and Dodd had no way of knowing that their acceptance of Armstrong and his ordination would produce well over 450 different splinter groups that in no way ever resembled the original COG movement from the 1930s or even anything else to this day. Rebellion and corruption have been the name of the game in Armstrongism for close to ninety years now. What a sad and pathetic legacy.

These men also never realized that in the perilous end times that their unexpected COG movement would have so many reincarnated Old Testament men now walking the earth leading splinter groups. They had no idea that Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Habbakuk, Micah, Zechariah, Zephaniah, Malachi, and Joel would be walking the earth in the Church of God's leadership. Of course, neither did Herbert Armstrong, yet these self-appointed buffoons are his enduring legacy in 2023.

 

This brings us to today when one of those self-appointed Elijah/Elisha's who currently is having a teeny weenie-pitty-party that NO ONE and I repeat NO ONE pays any attention to him, particularly anyone with a Church of God background. As we all know and according to Bwana Bob Mzungu, there is only ONE person in the Church of God movement that claims he is the Elijah that the original Elijah predicted would come in the end times, and that is our Great Bwana Mzungu Bob Thiel, the Chielf Overseer of Africa and 100 Caucasians. a man sooooooo important that he was part of God's master plan as He was planning the course of humanity, and that would show up in the end times to save the small remnant of believers. No other human walking this green earth is as important and significant as our Great Bwana Bob Mzungu Thiel.

He was working overtime the other day trying to prove his Elijahood status and bemoaning the fact that no one seems to care about ANYTHING he says or does - even his own followers in Africa who are currently working with other Sabbatarian groups.

The Great Bwana Mzungu is once again trying to use Gaylyn Bonjour's so-called "double blessing" as proof we should listen to him. 

...the original Elijah, when he was the top ecclesiastical authority, Elijah did a variety of miracles, such as stopping rain (1 Kings 17:1), multiplying flour and oil (1 Kings 17:13-16), getting a dry passage over a river, (2 Kings 2:7-8), and calling fire down from heaven (2 Kings 1:10-12). 

As if Bwana Bob Mzungu will EVER do this! It's hilarious to imagine it with his arms flaming and hands flapping as he tries to call fire down from heaven. Even the demons hiding in the background would be busting a gut over this scenario! 

Elijah, however, over time seemed to have lost the mental/emotional ability to properly lead (cf. 1 Kings 19:13-18). God later took him and replaced him with Elisha as the top ecclesiastical authority. Elisha then received a “double-portion” (two-portion literally) of the gift that God had given Elijah:

9 And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” 

 

Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” 

 

10 So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 

 

12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. 13 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. (2 Kings 2:9-13) 

 

The recipient of the double-portion promise, Elisha, was a type of Elijah. Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah (2 Kings 2:13) which God wanted him to have (1 Kings 19:16-19), did a similar miraculous dry river crossing (2 Kings 2:13-14), also did other miracles (2 Kings 4:30-35; 2 Kings 10:5-14; 2 Kings 6:16-18), as he replaced Elijah as God’s top ecclesiastical authority on earth (cf. 1 Kings 19:16).

Ah, yes! That infamous "double portion" and the proof-texting involved to transfer this over to the 21st century to a specific self-appointed man-child. Elijah and Elisha were men of extraordinary power and speaking ability who could snap their fingers and miracles happened. Yet today's self-appointed turd in no manner even compares as he is boring as hell and is the clown face of the Church of God movement in 2023.

The Great Bwana Bob Mzungu continues on with trying to prove his legitimacy:

A minister of the Living Church of God prayed and anointed Bob Thiel for a ‘double portion’ of God’s Spirit back in late 2011 and told him that was reminiscent of what happened to Elisha. He also confirmed that God answered that prayer when we met in November 2019.

And has since denied that it was never his intention for Bwana Bob to pervert that prayer into a reason to start a new splinter group and lie about how significant the blessing was. 

Anyway, on with the shitshow:

Interestingly, for several years after Elisha picked up the mantle that Elijah dropped, Elijah was still alive. While many outside of the Church of God seem to doubt this, the following passage confirms that Elijah was still alive later, even though the main work/mantle had shifted to Elisha:

5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem… 

 

12 And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, 

 

Thus says the Lord God of your father David: 

 

Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself, 14 behold, the Lord will strike your people with a serious affliction — your children, your wives, and all your possessions; 15 and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day. (2 Chronicles 21:5, 12-15) 

 

The Bible, however, teaches that a voice from the wilderness would come again:

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3) 

 

John the Baptist said that he was fulfilling this (though he did not indicate he would be the only one to do so):

19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”… 

 

23 He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:’ Make straight the way of the Lord,”‘ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:19,23)

God, Jesus, the Bible, Elijah, Herbert Armstrong, Garner Ted, Rod Meredith, Andrew Dugger, Clarence Dodd, COG Stanberry, COG7, and the entire Armstrongite Church of God movement know for a fact that Bwana Bob Mzungu Thiel is NOT Elisha or even Elijah. He is a liar when he says so. 

Never fear though, the Great Bwana Bob Mzungu goes on to claim that Jesus himself foretold that the second coming of Elijah would be in Bob's body.

But Jesus told of another Elijah to come after He left:

11 Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.” (Matthew 17:11) 

 

The Church of God position has been that someone would come in the spirit and power of Elijah to “restore all things” and possibly be one of the two witnesses. While the late Herbert W. Armstrong (died in January 1986) sometimes indicated that he fulfilled that role he told people, that I have personally spoken with, that there could be another other than he. Those with a WCG background might find the following quote from Herbert W. Armstrong of some assistance here as he wrote:

Those called into the Church were called not merely for salvation and eternal life, but to learn the way of God’s government and develop the divine character during this mortal life in the Church age… 

 

Also Malachi 4:5-6 pictures the Elijah to come at the very end of the Church age (Mystery of the Ages. 1985, pp. 201, 349).

So when is this "church age" supposed to come?

And when was the “Church age” supposed to end according to Herbert Armstrong’s old church? Notice:

God has set before us an open door and no MAN can shut it. God can shut it, and He will when the work is finished and the Philadelphia Church goes to a place of safety. …The Laodicean Church is not going to be worthy to escape to a place of safety. When it is too late, they will find that the Church of Philadelphia has gone to safety (What Is the “LAODICEAN CHURCH”? Good News August 1959 Vol. VIII, Number 8). 

 

Now since the Church age has not ended, and the Day of the Lord has not yet come, then it follows that Elijah was to come on the scene publicly after this was written. His restoring of “all things” means that he is to be restoring information that the true Church of God once understood, but later must have lost or misunderstood.

Well, we know for a fact, Herbert Armstrogn never restored all things and Bwana Bob Mzungu has certainly not done so nor will ever do so. That is an indisputable fact!

Those of the true and genuine Philadelphian remnant will pay much attention to the voice of the true final Elijah. Those who do not will not fare as well as they could (cf. Revelation 12:14-17). 

 

We in the Continuing Church of God have also a more sure word of prophecy; “whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV).”

Um...NO, you do NOT! Since Bwana Bob Mzungu is already proven to be a prophetic liar and failure, the above verse in no manner refers to him or his minuscule movement.

Why would any New Covenant believer ever put their faith in the hands of reincarnated Old Covenant "prophet" bouncing around in the COG movement is beyond reasoning? No New Covenant follower of Christ would even be part of these Armstrongite splinter groups that are filled with so much heresy and outright lies.

UCG Member Robert Teitgen Found Guilty And Sent To Prison

Name TEITGEN, ROBERT  DAVID

Date of Birth08/12/1969

Est. Release Date10/22/2031

FacilityNorth Dakota State Penitentiary    (701) 328-61003100 E Railroad Ave  Bismarck, ND58506

Teitgen is the son of the late UCG minister named Herb Teitgen. He is also attended UCG's, Ambassador Bible Center and worked briefly for LifeNets.

 

From a reader:

It looks as though in 2022 Robert David Teitgen was found guilty.

double click to enlarge

Robert David Teitgen - CaseID=4602697

He was also found guilty of another offense of "Terrorizing-Adult victim".

CaseID=4954384

According to the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website, he is currently serving time at North Dakota State Penitentiary, with an estimated release date of 22 October 2031.

OffenderID=69599

See:

UCG Member Arrested For "gross sexual imposition and one charge of luring a minor by a computer."

UCG man pleads not guilty to sexually abusing a Grand Forks 12-year-old

Massachusetts man accused of sexually assaulting Grand Forks teen

St. Paul man pleads not guilty to sexually abusing a Grand Forks 12-year-old

UCG: Isaiah is the book for our times - Galatians, Romans, not so much

 

Some things never change in the Church of God, in spite of the chance all of the splinter groups had when they started. Instead of creating a new emphasis, they have all chosen to remain stuck in bondage instead of reveling in freedom.

Rick Shabi writes:

Last night on my home office Zoom Bible study, we covered Isaiah chapter 43. As we progress through the book of Isaiah, we see that it really is a book for our time. In this section of Isaiah, we are learning about the mercy and love of God in detail, since this prophecy is set at the time of Christ’s return, the establishment of His Kingdom and the return of physical Israel to the land God promised them. 

 

These are encouraging and exciting sections of Scripture because we see God mercifully lead and guide His people. He skillfully teaches that He alone is God and that He is the Protector and Provider of His people. As His people are brought back from captivity to the Promised Land, God reminds them of the miracles He has performed for them and the wonders of the future that He will perform.

It would be a miracle to see COG leaders pay homage to Galatians, Romans, and other New Covenant books which should be their actual books "for our time". Instead, they constantly look backward to the leeks and onions that made them happy and comfortable for years. Plus, these books play well into the doom and gloom narratives they search for in Old Testament literature as they try and compare it to the worsening end times that they need and want to happen. When it does they will finally feel vindicated.

Shabi also says this:

God emphatically states that He is God and there is no other, and besides Him there is no savior (Isaiah 43:10-11). He reminds us of His willingness to demonstrate His mercy, love and patience for His people. 

 

What a tremendous, loving, merciful, all-powerful Father we serve—along with His Son Jesus Christ, who is always with us, gently leading us, guiding us and preparing us for His everlasting Kingdom. I hope that every day we thank Him and are dedicating our lives to becoming more like Him and doing His will.

When Jesus is always an afterthought and a by-product of a kingdom message, I doubt very much appreciation will be in store for those pretending they are imitating him. 

Anti-intellectualism in the Church of God

 

Way back in the early days of the implosion of the church several websites were chronicling the demise of the church with the hundreds of self-appointed saviors that split off with their own "true" churches. In addition to Gavin Rumneys Ambassador Watch, Gary Scott's Commentary, analysis, and memories of the
XCG community and culture was an amazing blog detailing the craziness happening in the church, particularly when it came to Dave Pack. If you think our current exposés on Dave are a recent thing, it is not so. Dave has been exposed since the day he left the Living Church of God.

Real Christians Don't Wear Tweed · 25 January 03

In a recent journal entry, I wrote the following after having listened to a David Pack sermon:

I listen to this and I find myself thinking, “Do you try to be this stupid?” and last night, I realized that in a sense, he does indeed try to be that stupid. In avoiding formal education (other than the “education” at Ambassador) and not reading anything that in any way remotely challenges anything he thinks, Pack tries to be, at the very least, uneducated.

Armstrongism has always, by necessity, had an anti-education bias. As Mike Feazell wrote in The Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God, “Herbert Armstrong and scholarship did not mix well” (24), and this is clear from the glaring historical glosses, misunderstandings, and slipshod exegesis that permeate Armstrong’s writings. His linguistic proofs fall apart when anyone checks up on him in the Oxford English Dictionary, and his logical proofs are so shot full of assumptions that they’re closer to being cartoons than syllogisms.

But to know this, a bit of education is necessary. A minimal amount, granted, but education nonetheless. And so to keep people from straying and asking too many difficult questions, Armstrong simply declared “Satanic” all the disciplines that called his methods into question and there was no more problem.

Those who cling to Armstrong’s teachings also have to continue to promote his anti-education bias. David Pack, leader of the Restored Church of God, is no exception, and devoted an entire sermon to the topic: “A Leaven of Grave Danger” in which he explains a type of “leaven you have almost certainly never looked for.” According to Pack, this deadly “leaven,” which he calls “spiritual Ebola” (63:09) [1], is “intellectualism,” but in reality is simply higher education.

A significant portion of the sermon is dedicated to mockery of the image of an intellectual that Pack creates for his followers. “It’s almost funny when you look at them,” Pack says, continuing, “They’re so impressed with themselves, and yet they’re slaves to what intellectuals are supposed to be” (33:10). Pack here is referring to the stereotype of a university professor, with unkempt hair, tweed jacket, goatee, and pipe, who looks off into the distances when talking and talks in a lofty style that’s virtually inaccessible to non-intellectuals [2]. He points out that Einstein is a perfect example of this, making particular reference to his wild hair, which, according to Pack, is something of a standard for intellectuals now. He claims that this is a conscious stylistic choice, failing to realize that the reason Einstein (to continue his particular example) looked the way he did probably had much less to do with a conscious fashion decision than with the simple fact that he just had more important things on his mind than what his hair looked like. (It is said he also forgot to eat from time to time, realizing this only when his stomach pains were too strong to ignore.) Strangely, Pack admits that this a stereotype, but maintains the validity of the image.

Another characteristic of intellectuals, according to Pack, is the language they use. Intellectuals, he says, “speak what I call, and I didn’t think this up . . . the language of scholarship. The furthest thing from Plain Truth-style writing. Mr. Armstrong hated it, and every time it crept into the church, he hit it with the biggest hammer he could find” (33:29) [3]. Admittedly, a great deal of scholarly writing is somewhat obtuse, but it need not be pointed out that this in no way invalidates the subject matter.

The criticism that Pack makes of intellectualism that is most seriously erroneous, and most dangerous to Armstrongism, is his ridicule of using the works of other writers and thinkers to provide authority for one’s arguments. God, Jesus (listed separately as they are in fact two entities in the Armstrongian pantheon), and Mr. Armstrong didn’t do this, Pack reasons, and for good cause: they had sufficient authority and didn’t need backing from anyone else. On the other hand, those who have no authority must buttress their arguments with quotes from others, which Pack equates with the scribes of the New Testament and labels “name-dropping” and says is “having confidence in the flesh,” as described in Philippians 3.3.

He begins by quoting Matthew 7.28, 29 [4], explaining that the scribes “didn’t have authority, they had to quote an authority” (48:40). Rabbis had authority, and after listing several first-century writers, imagines a scribe, in making his argument, to say to himself, “If I drop Hillel, who’s going to disagree?” (49:40).

Later, he points out that God doesn’t do this either. Unfortunately, he’s being serious:

We serve a frank God. He doesn’t posture things in the language of scholarship, and then quote some other god, or several other gods. “Well, you know I’m God, but Buddha said this too, and Confucius, and you know if you study Taoism you’ll find he said some things similar to me. So look into them and you’ll see, you’ll realize that it validates me.” Can you imagine God if he was that way? Can you imagine? Can you imagine if God said, “Now, you know, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. And you think I’m alone in this, check what Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu, the Hindu gods said.” I mean it’s ridiculous. God just says do things (54:34).

This bit of nonsense if humorous for a number of reasons. First, it’s a completely anthropomorphic image of God, in keeping with the Armstrongian tradition that states, among other things, that God has a “spiritual body” (whatever that might be) [5]. Secondly, to equate the Armstrongian God with the God of Christian orthodoxy is ridiculous enough, but to bring eastern religions into the mix only further shows his ignorance of the basic tenants of these religions. The scenario he creates is silly, but certainly not for the reasons he provides.

What he fails to realize is why scholars quote outside sources. It is, to some degree, a question of authority. It is intended to show that a given idea is plausible and conforms to already-accepted notions. Additionally, a quote is often applicable to a particular argument, and providing the name of the idea’s originator, far from being name-dropping, is a requirement to avoid plagiarism. These are basic, even obvious ideas to most, but Pack seems completely oblivious to these principles (except for the plagiarism issue, which is a constant thorn for him as he paraphrases Armstrong’s entire library).

Armstrong would never have quoted sources (except for Strong’s and a few commentaries) for three reasons. First, much if not most of his heresy was simply plagiarized, and providing sources would not have helped him hide the fact. Second, most outside sources contradicted what he taught. Indeed, the few times he might have quoted outside sources, he did so with derision, essentially saying, “Even these deceived idiots get it right from time to time.” The final reason, related to the first, is that Armstrong supposedly received all his ideas directly from the mouth (which, in an Armstrongian sense, can be a literal orifice) of God. Who needs more authority than that?

Asking questions in a Church of God has never really been encouraged, to say the least. While the WCG under Armstrong never had a catechism, as such, there were certain types of questions implicitly understood to be appropriate and others understood as unacceptable. It is not surprising, then, when Pack condemns the asking of questions in general, subsuming it under the notion of it being pagan, “classical Greek thinking.”

The “questioning syndrome” he calls it (39:07), and the problem is endemic in our society, according to Pack.

A lot of people like to ask questions. I see it on talk shows all the time. All these intellectuals. Now nobody has the answers, and frankly, when you listen to some of them, they haven’t even figured out the questions, but they love to ask them. And then ask the experts the answers. And of course nobody wants to know what God thinks (39:36).

The question of the intellectual integrity of any sort of “questioning” one might find on a talk show aside, this clearly shows Pack’s attitude toward curiosity. Lest there be any doubt about its evil, Pack traces the Fall back to questioning.

Like Armstrong, he finds the source of all our problems back in the Garden, with its mythical two trees and the fact that Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge instead of the Tree of Life. Pointing out that the tree of both good and evil knowledge, Pack says that God’s forbiddance was equivocal to God saying, “don’t even touch a mixture” of good and bad (78:40).

Yet how did the Serpent trick Eve into tasting the fruit? It “started asking questions” (79:34). “Clear cut directions became confusing” due to this (80:35). So, in short, the root of all evil is questioning — after all, if the devil hadn’t begun questioning, then Adam and Eve might not have fallen, according to this line of thinking.

It’s not the posturing, the tweed, and the quoting of authorities that comprise Packian intellectualism — it’s simply learning too much. Pack, around sixty minutes into his ninety-minute sermon, makes this switch with relative ease.

Referring to Ecclesiastes 1.18, which reads “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow,” Pack reasons that one can learn too much of the wrong thing and it increases sorrow (56:07). Pack then provides a verse that “proves with the increase of a tremendous amount of man’s knowledge, physical, carnal knowledge, there is sorrow” (56:28). Reading Daniel 12.4 [6] and pointing out the exponential rate of increase in today’s knowledge, Pack says that “a humanity that has never had more knowledge has never been more miserable” (57:32). This is an oft-used idea in Armstrongism, and is usually used in reference to humanity’s ability, through nuclear arms, to destroy itself completely. “Solomon’s wisdom was validated by Daniel’s prophecy” (57:39), he confidently reasons.

Certainly Pack has a point to a degree. These are anxious times, and a lot of it is due to the knowledge explosion and the resulting technologies of warfare. At the same time, the other advances are equally astounding: heart transplants, the eradication of certain diseases, the relatively high literacy rate in the Western world (compared to ages past), the movement toward more tolerant, humane treatment of prisoners — a few things that come to mind as I sit here typing that show our age is, in many respects, better than any previous period (at least in the developed world).

This is simply to point out that knowledge, like many things in the world, is a neutral thing, neither good or bad.

Yet Pack in the sermon is supposed to be talking about intellectualism, not about knowledge, which comes through education. Or perhaps they’re the same thing? Indeed, that is exactly what Pack has done at this point in the sermon (approximately two-thirds through): he has exchanged the stereotype, tweed-wearing, posturing intellectual for general knowledge. All the condemnation of the supposed hollowness intellectualism can now be heaped upon knowledge in general. Too much knowledge, Pack would be quick to point out, and knowledge about “the wrong things” (i.e., the wrong kind of knowledge, whatever that might be) — but knowledge, nonetheless.

From an outsider’s perspective, it’s clear what might comprise “wrong knowledge,” what might increase sorrow. The “wrong thing” would clearly be anything that shows Armstrongism for what it is — a farce. Sociology, psychology, and even history, studied “objectively” (and by that term I mean studied without the Armstrongian presumption that anything found in any given Introduction to Psychology would be wrong) would highlight the methods and means by which Armstrong induced people to join his sect and then kept them in. The sorrow that knowledge supposedly increases then becomes disillusionment — the feeling of being duped, that so many exiters of the WCG felt (and continue to feel).

More evidence that Pack is ridiculing education comes a bit earlier when Pack discusses the fact that Armstrong wasn’t perfect.

Sometimes Mr. Armstrong did things that were not absolutely grammatically correct. You have to trust me on that one. He didn’t care. His job was to communicate with people, and when you read it, it played and read well. It was tight. Very direct (46:37).

It’s interesting, to begin with, that Pack assumes his sheep are so uneducated that they have never noticed Armstrong’s poor grammar. They probably haven’t, because most members of the Restored Church of God are so enamored with Armstrong that they probably view him through smoked lenses — nothing the man did was wrong. It’s also worth pointing out that, in Pack’s mind, something can be “tight” and “very direct” and yet grammatically incorrect. Even though Armstrong’s “job was to communicate with people,” he didn’t care about grammar, nor should he have, according to Pack.

In making this grammar comment, though, Pack is making a much more dangerous claim. He’s essentially saying that even basic knowledge of grammar relatively unimportant. If something as relatively basic as grammar can be deemed unimportant for someone whose job it is to communicate, think how much more unimportant — even dangerous — higher education is for those whose job is not to communicate but simply to follow.

When assessing the danger intellectualism (read: a broad education) presents to members of the Restored Church of God, Pack is surprisingly accurate regarding the potential consequences:

I have almost never seen anyone catch the virus of intellectualism recover. I liken it to spiritual Ebola. it just eats them up. They never make it back. They become impressed with themselves. [. . . ] I have watched mind after mind that I knew and loved simply corrupt right in front of me. It’s an incredible, it’s a terrible thing to see (63:09, 83:23).

This is the real danger: members who are infected with “intellectualism” can’t recover because they realize recovery means a return to a certain kind of closed-minded, uneducated thinking. Once you read all the proof that the world is round, it’s difficult to pretend otherwise, no matter how much you might want to. Education is the Toto of Armstrongism, showing us the social, economic, and (most importantly) psychological mechanisms that make membership in such a sect not only plausible but also, from a member’s point of view, inevitable.

What can we do about this, though? Pack’s answer is the same as has been offered through the centuries by leaders of cognitive minorities: build a ghetto, complete with walls and heavy locks. “All of us should lock ourselves in a spiritual safe, which is God’s word,” (14:42) Pack says, and for once, its difficult to disagree with him. When you believe differently than most everyone else around you, it’s difficult to maintain plausibility of those conflicting beliefs. Minimizing contact with anything anti-Armstrongian, then, is the only answer, and this would exclude certain disciplines that encourage critical thinking or show Armstrongism for what it is.

This notion is so important that Pack both began and ended the sermon with it:

There is a spirit of intellectualism. It is linked to the cancer and leaven of heresy and doctrine, so says Christ. And if it enters you, brethren, it will sweep through you and destroy you. You cannot stop it any more than you can stop it in a loaf in your oven.

On the other hand, there is simplicity in the truth of God. There is simplicity in Christ. Fight losing it. Fight losing it, and thereby remain unleavened (85:03).

Since “doctrinal leaven spreads” (47:23), it’s best not even to touch it if you want to remain an Armstrongite.

As could be expected, we learn quite a bit about Pack himself, apart from his beliefs, from this sermon. It is perhaps the ultimate irony that throughout this sermon attacking education, Pack consistently shows his own lack of education.

For example, Pack seems unaware of the basic principle that the meaning and social status of words change through time. In this vein, he doesn’t consider the fact that words in the King James Version often had different meaning four centuries ago. Language change is a rudimentary observation, and one which Pack certainly would not disagree with, for in following the Armstrongian tradition, he often “modernizes” passages as he reads them aloud (for example, reading “you” where in fact “thee” is written). Yet he seem to forget this when reading Philippians 3.8.

The King James reads, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Pack, picking up on the word “dung” and making a case that God and Christianity is essentially “frank,” basically says that the Bible is so “frank” that it even uses profanity when necessary. Obviously he is equating “dung” with the word “shit,” and this would require that the word “dung” mean the same thing in 1611 as it does now. If it did, then perhaps other, contemporary versions would also translate this as “dung.”

Here’s how it’s presented in the New International Version: “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ”

The New Revised Standard version reads, “More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

The KJV’s “dung” here is translated the more socially acceptable “rubbish.” Pack doesn’t acknowledge that it’s not always translated “dung,” though, because that undermines his point. My point, on the other hand, is that he doesn’t even have a point because he fails to realize how the English language has changed, and what is socially ungraceful now was not necessarily so in 1611.

At another point in the sermon, Pack makes reference to the fact that the word “piss” is in the Bible. He doesn’t provide scriptural backing for this, but a quick search reveals the following citations: 1 Samuel 25.22, 34; 1 Kings 14.10, 11, 21; 2 Kings 9.8, 18.27; and, Isaiah 36.12. An interesting study would be to look at what the word “piss” meant in 1611 and compare it to today’s vulgar meaning. (Given my lack of research material, I cannot do this. However, given the fact that the word appears in Shakespeare’s plays, a rough contemporary of the Authorized Version, and the fact that the relative, modern freedom of speech did not exist in Elizabethan England, it seems reasonable to assume that “piss” hardly had the crude connotations it does now.)

As a final example, Pack shows that he doesn’t know the basic problems with the creation account presented in Genesis.

Most people, if I may use the vernacular, blow off the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. “It’s too simple. It’s not intellectual enough. There’s no scholarship in it. There was just eight verses about a snake and a couple of folks and a couple of trees.” Very basic. Very simple. Very short. Absolutely a synopsis (82:30).

Scholarly criticism of the creation account (as a historical, factual explanation for the origins of the universe) does not fall back on silly accusations like, “It’s not intellectual enough.” Instead, it compares the account with the geological evidence and finds it wanting. Or it points out logical inconsistencies (i.e., light is created before light sources). But it doesn’t make such shallow pronouncements as Pack accused it of.

I am not suggesting that Pack is an idiot. Indeed, a dolt couldn’t manipulate and control people as he does. Also, I am not saying that Pack is completely uneducated. He is, after all, a college graduate, and he has a very high level of quite specialized knowledge. However, the knowledge he possess and the education he acquired is considered, by and large, to be bogus by the rest of the world, and as such, he is comparatively uneducated.

As in most of his sermons, Pack shows us in “A Leaven of Grave Danger” his abusive, controlling leadership style. As pointed out earlier, he speaks approvingly of Armstrong hitting things with “the biggest hammer he could find.”

More disturbingly, however, he shows his tendency to dehumanize those under him. Regarding Philippians 3.2 [7] he says,

So many today who want to be considered Christian, and focus on love [8], don’t ever want to hear language that sharp, that blunt. You know, one of the hallmarks of Mr. Armstrong was that he said things exactly as they were in the Bible. If I walked up to you and I said, “Do you know, there are some people who want into this church, and they’re dogs.” I, I know a couple of ministers I’ve had to disfellowship, I said that, and I said to you, “You know what? They’re dogs.” Would you not be offended? And yet, that’s exactly what the Bible says (16:30).

Any minister who calls individuals “dogs” with such obvious glee is hardly worthy of being called a minister. Yet Pack’s tendency to dehumanize people even extends toward his followers, whom he continually call sheep. As he is the shepherd, this makes him the only one in the analogy who’s human.

Pack also likes to remind listeners, both through connotation and denotation, that he’s in charge — he’s the leader, and they’re the followers. He makes the rules: “If I have one rule that fits you and one for the rest of the church, you now KNOW I will NOT give my life for you” (18:21). He decides what people need to hear: “The moment I tell you what you want to hear, you ought to never follow me again” (17:42). And again, there’s his disturbing obsession (for he makes the analogy in every sermon I’ve heard) with the shepherd and sheep.

In “A Leaven of Grave Danger,” Pack offers outsiders little hope that things might ever change in his particular Church of God. Following his commands, Pack’s followers are building ever higher walls around them and inoculating themselves to the true nature of Armstrongism and their particular leader.

Notes

1) Time references are to the Real Media version downloaded for the Restored Church of God’s web site and are usually approximate. 

 

2) It’s interesting to note that the image Pack creates of an intellectual is a male image — pipe, tweed jacket, messy hair — illustrating the inherent sexism of the Armstrongian culture. This is heightened by the fact that throughout the sermon, the examples he gives always involve males. 

 

3) This also serves as an illustration of the Armstrongian/COG dictatorial, abusive leadership style. 

 

4) And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 

 

5) In another sermon, called “Asleep in the End Times,” Pack actually goes so far as speculate that it’s possible that God might sleep from time to time — not from necessity, mind you, but simply from the pleasure of sleeping. I was disappointed, though, that Pack didn’t continue and speculate about what God might dream. 

 

6} But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 

 

7) Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 

 

8) The derision in Pack’s voice at this point is more than a little disturbing.

Posted by Gary Scott

Filed under RCG