Dave Pack: "It has become clear that there will be a delay beyond the day we expect."

 

Delays Ahead

The prophetic date-setting industry is a tricky business. One day, you are at the top of the hill waving the biblical flag of certainty in one hand and a long, powerful list of proofs in the other while leading devout lemmings towards the ledge of eternal salvation. Then, that leader evaporates, leaving an unnamed proxy apologist to break the bad news: go home because we have more time.

Jesus Christ will NOT return on Pentecost 2024!

The brethren of The Restored Church of God did not have to wait until sunrise Sunday morning to be disappointed by their not-Elijahn human idol, David C. Pack. After business hours last night, this surrender from Headquarters' Church Administration ensured another Sabbath was delight-free.

This delay was not unexpected, but just a tad earlier than usual.

 

June 14, 2024
Subject: Prophecy Update

Dear brethren,

Warm greetings from Headquarters!

It has become clear that there will be a delay beyond the day we expect.

You can look forward to a message next week regarding this. The case for a slight delay is more than can be contained in a brief announcement!

In the meantime, enjoy the Sabbath and a “normal” Pentecost. Remember that Pentecost marks not just the birth of the New Testament Church, but also a pivotal moment dating back to the Old Testament. 

It serves as a powerful reminder of when God gave people His law and generously poured out His Spirit. Having back-to-back days of services gives us a chance for more fellowship and to reflect on the profound impact of Pentecost and the additional time God has given us before the arrival of His Kingdom.

Warm regards,
Church Administration

According to Church Administration, the final 4 hours and 18 minutes of preaching that ended "The Greatest Untold Story!" and brought the Mystery of God to a close was just not enough time to get the picture straight.

David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God failed for the 82^nd time since March 2022. He and the hireling enablers could not get within 24 hours of Pentecost sunrise on June 16, 2024, before caving.

Poor Dave wasted all that desperate effort perverting the Scriptures and warping the Hebrew calendar by conjuring an imaginary New Moon on the tenth of each month just to make Pentecost fit. Sounds like more lists will be transferred to the fireplace.

A stroll down memory lane can be a joyous occasion for most people. But for David C. Pack, being reminded of his own words is an attack by the devil. So much for the truth setting him free. Enjoy this recap of recent events.

Flashback Part 512 – May 11, 2024
@ 07:25 But, I know when the Seven Year Kingdom begins. The very day. Absolutely. I know it… I’ve got 50 proofs of when this happens. I absolutely know and know that I know and know that I know that I know.

Flashback Part 514 – May 25, 2024
@ 58:37 I had prepared an unbelievably powerful list of things, page after page, single-spaced, and eventually, I distilled them that pointed to Pentecost for the start.

Flashback Part 515 – June 1, 2024
@ 19:55 You maybe want me to declare the day, and I cannot do that. I can’t do that.

Flashback Part 516 – June 8, 2024
@ 01:01 …after you hear all that I have to say, the sermon and the Bible study, and Monday, and you will say, “This really is the day.” That’s what you will say. You will not doubt it.

Flashback Part 517 – June 8, 2024
@ 00:49 Has to be Pentecost…it has to be this year.

@ 40:12 The evidence becomes overwhelming. It would almost be an act of deception by God to lay out all of this and say, “Sorry. Fooled you. Joke’s on you.”

The joke is on the RCG members who thought David C. Pack had any idea what he was talking about.

Flashback Part 518 – June 11, 2024
@ 1:33:53 What a revelation. What a revelation. The Series is over…This is my last message.

Then, in the final 63 seconds, after 4 hours and 17 wasted minutes.

@ 1:37:37 …but if we went past Pentecost…God has done something inexplicable beyond what we can know or comprehend.

According to the CAD email on Friday night, God has done something inexplicable that was also characterized as an act of deception. Dave’s god is a real jerk. No wonder Dave is his mouthpiece.

 

On the bright side, David C. Pack has the unintentional tendency to further legitimize the chronicling on exrcg.org.

David C. Pack’s List Fetish – Published June 1, 2024

David C. Pack’s fetish list pattern:

6) Begin waffling and walking it back as the date approaches by dropping hints of uncertainty.

12) Just before the date fails, make CAD send a surrender announcement with promises of a more exciting and better future because God has provided Mr. Pack with a new understanding.

Pentecost 2024! Or…  – Published June 13, 2024

None of this is coincidental. It is the perverted expression of a warped mind that cannot come to terms with the reality that God is not using him to preach any of this. David C. Pack is not being moved by the Holy Spirit to declare Pentecost this Sunday or the 81 previous dates since March 2022.

Anyone who has faith in the words of David C. Pack is a fool. Anyone who has faith that David C. Pack has any chance on this green earth of interpreting the Scriptures correctly is a fool. Anyone who has faith that God is guiding David C. Pack to teach them this and declare Pentecost 2024 as the day Jesus Christ returns is beyond foolish and is, of all men, most miserable.

David C. Pack is going to fail, and he knows it. He cannot resist undercutting every point he made across four hours and eroding any perceived strength in his case. The brethren probably hoped he would end the Series without painting an asterisk on the page. But that is what Dave does. Wiggle, wiggle.

Which one of us is the real unordained non-prophet/non-psychic? The brethren at Headquarters will know for sure when this happens today and tomorrow:

There will be some serious disappointment in the Pack household on Sunday by the time Dave skips Services so that his wife can slip their offering into the basket. Imagine the content of the emergency ministerial Bible study when Dave corrals the other hirelings to share what God zapped into his head at 2 AM, confirming all his suspicions.

If the Pastor General lacks the courage to show his face at the front of the Main Hall, he may throw Coffee Kid or Pepper Boy to the wolves as a meat shield to conduct some much-needed stammering damage control. Please do not let it be Andy. He is awful at making feeble excuses and feigned enthusiasm. That is much more Jim’s forte. But nobody can top Edward “Stepford Prime” Winkfield, who gleefully skips to the front of the room to smile wide-eyed and sweat his way through the false narrative that everything is fine.

I used to think Ed was a man of principle. Life is full of disappointments.

Flashback Part 518 – June 11, 2024
@ 00:33 You decide if you think we can, shall we say, wiggle out of Pentecost.

David C. Pack decided he could wiggle out of Pentecost. The brethren of The Restored Church of God need to seriously consider how much of a bonus they want to pay to be lied to.

The capitulation email last night stated, “It has become clear that there will be a delay beyond the day we expect.”

There is no delay. God was not behind the “proofs” of Pentecost 2024 being the day Jesus Christ returned or the existence of a stealth New Moon on the tenth of each month.

The delay ahead is no delay at all. It was never going to happen this weekend. The only place David C. Pack will lead anyone is off a spiritual cliff. That will continue without delay.

 

Marc Cebrian

See: Delays Ahead

Crackpot Prophet Is Suffering More Rejection: As The Modern Day Amos No One Listens to Him

 

The world's greatest prophet to ever exist in human history is back regaling us with more tall tales from scripture that apparently were written down centuries ago to specially describe him and the improperly named '"continuing" Church of "god"' that was to rise up in the perilous end times. Never one to place his confidence and faith in the One he is supposed to, he has to constantly look backward to find some Old Covenant personality that best suits his end-time malarky.

It took him a while but he finally settled on the book of Amos to support his crackpot prophecy theories,

The Holy One preordained by God for these perilous end times says:

One of the messages that Amos proclaimed is that the time would come when people would not be able to find the words of God:

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,

“That I will send a famine on the land,

Not a famine of bread,

Nor a thirst for water,

But of hearing the words of the Lord.

12 They shall wander from sea to sea,

And from north to east;

They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,

But shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12) 

 

I believe that the above warning is a reference to a coming government and internet censorship. And in the Continuing Church of God, we have already experienced some of that from internet companies. (hyperlinks removed because they link back to his propaganda site)

At no point in the history of humanity has the "famine of the word" ever happened, and it most certainly will NOT be happening when the last con artists currently leading various COG's disappear. The day they cease blabbing their mouths will be the greatest day for humanity up until that moment. No more people will be lied to or deceived.

Not content to leave the subject alone, the Great Bwana Mzungu says:

But the major fulfillment is likely to start just before the start of the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), also called the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21). 

 

Perhaps under the guise of “neutrality,” perhaps under the guise of “The Patriot Act,” perhaps under the guise of “public welfare,” perhaps because of alleged “intolerance,” calling parts of the COG message “hate speech” and/or national security threats/issues, something will be done to stop perhaps all of the organized media efforts to proclaim biblical truths. A short work will be done (Romans 9:27-28; see also Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word), which will trigger the end (Matthew 24:14), and likely then the famine of the word (Amos 8:11-12).(hyperlinks removed)

He then has to drag in the totally debunked British Israel myths as more proofs that point to him as the modern-day Amos:

Amos is giving a warning to those called by Jacob’s name (which was also Israel), whom according to Jacob himself, would seem to be a reference to the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:16). In modern times, this would be the Anglo-Saxon nations such as Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and also the United States of America. The reference to trusting Mt. Samaria in Amos 6:1 could be a reference to trusting the USA to defend in the end (for more scriptures on the USA and Samaria. That will not end well for the USA or its allies of the Anglo-Saxon nations. 

 

Of course, few in those nations believe that they will be taken over and have such calamity. But that will come to pass. Most would not listen to Amos then, and most, sadly, will not listen to Amos now.

I can state with absolute confidence and assurance that The Great Bwana Bob is no more a modern-day Amos than Dave Pack is a prophet of God. Both are certified liars and deceivers of the brethren. Angels will rejoice in heaven the day these two are silenced!

 

The Holy Trinity of Armstrongism

 

Samuel Kitchen writes:

There are several witnesses which bear the truth concerning the Worldwide Church of God candlestick a/k/a Philadelphia Era of the Church of God.

1)The Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, gives faithful and true witness.

2)The Holy apostle, Mr.Herbert W. Armstrong, chosen by God, filled with the Holy Spirit, was used by Jesus Christ to raise up the Worldwide Church of God and gives a faithful and true witness.

3) The Holy Spirit gives witness. For if Herbert W Armstrong was a man of unbelief, he would not have received the Holy Spirit. SO God the Father gives witness of this man, that the Holy Spirit came and dwelled in Him doing the Work of God.

Are we to disbelieve God? To trample underfoot Jesus Christ, the True and Faithful Witness? To believe a lie?

Are we BELIEVERS? Or DISBELIEVERS?

Only the believers know God, and obey Him, and have witness of God that they are His, by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Unbelievers, are defiled, and cannot know God, and if they claim to know God, they are liars and give a false report.

And if I believe, does not the Holy Spirit in me give witness, that I speak the truth? For if I disbelieve the Holy Spirit would not dwell within me.

And if I believe those sent of God and what they say, is that not evidence of the witness of God, that I am His, and not of this world?(1 John 4:6)

What is holding me here, except I have been called by God, and have received the Holy Spirit?

I am alone in my area. I assemble with those of like mind for the Feasts and Holy Days. I am constantly encouraging brethren to assemble as the spiritual body of Christ, a/k/a Worldwide Church of God! Not as a separated group or church, which is established through disbelief, but as the very same Church that was raised up by Jesus Christ our Head! It was done through an apostle of Jesus Christ named Herbert W. Armstrong.

Those who have "broken away" have done so through DISBELIEF! They don't believe God, and so the Holy Spirit is WITNESS AGAINST THEM because through unbelief, they are defiled.

Titus 1:15-16

“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”

By having another church group, THEY ARE DENYING GOD while professing they know God!

Dave Pack: Jesus Christ Returns on Pentecost! June 16, 2024 Or…?

 

Pentecost 2024! Or…?

Jesus Christ Returns on Pentecost!
June 16, 2024
Or…?

David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God changed his mind about not being able to declare the day Jesus Christ will return, giving hope to those in the audience who maybe wanted him to.

During “The Greatest Unending Story!” Parts 516 and 517 on June 8, 2024, and Part 518 on June 11, the Pastor General rushed to call out 258 wasted minutes to end the Series once and for all and complete the Mystery of God. Or…?

David C. Pack is a caver who cannot deliver. Once again exposing his most insecure nature, he undermined all 4 hours and 18 minutes proving Pentecost this weekend in the very last 64 seconds.

He almost made it to the finish line but could not cross it without giving himself some wiggle room.

 

It is always a miserable Sabbath for the members of The Restored Church of God at Headquarters when David C. Pack speaks twice. The hurried meal between them is no relaxing delight, either.

He started out with such confidence that you might assume he really had a handle on things this time around.

Part 516 – June 8, 2024
@ 00:27 You will learn the day we’ve all been waiting for.

What a difference a week makes.

Flashback Part 515 – June 1, 2024
@ 19:55 YOU maybe want me to declare the day, and I cannot do that. I can’t do that.

Only a devil-inspired enemy would dare go back further.

Flashback Part 459 – July 15, 2023
@ 1:25:40 …if YOU nail that day down, it strikes me as particularly arrogant.

Perhaps we should not linger in the past but focus on the future.

Part 516 – June 8, 2024
@ 00:42 But, this time, you'll stand up Monday, and you will say. We’ve had a lot of different aborted dates. If you wanna say. While we’ve learned more and more about God’s plan, we’ve never really pinned down when it would start. But, you will stand up on Monday, and you will say after you hear all that I have to say, the sermon and the Bible study, and Monday, and you will say, “This really is the day.” That’s what you will say. You will not doubt it.

Dave is already projecting his desired outcome upon the audience before he bores them for the next four hours.

He repeats finishing things on Monday. It was my experience while working at Headquarters from December 2012 until March 2021 that David C. Pack does not do anything on Mondays. He may always say the word when he boasts about all he will do, but Mondays must be his slippers and PJs day because the man cancels everything he ever plans on Mondays.

It is humorous to revisit how Part 516 began and to know the way he finished Part 518 on Tuesday. To be more precise, Dave should have said, “You will not doubt it. But I will.”

 

@ 1:09:30 I did not solve (and I wanna say this) God’s mind and plan. It just came time for Him to let us into His thinking because the Mystery of God has to go away. And I don’t know how that wouldn’t not include the day. And then it has to be (according to Habakkuk) made plain.

There is no fear of God before his eyes. While speaking in God’s name and claiming His authority, David C. Pack places his particularly arrogant presumptions leading to Jesus Christ returning on Sunday, June 16, 2024, at God’s feet. God’s fingerprints are not all over the failure that will occur on Sunday.

David C. Pack must take absolute pleasure in blaming God. This theme repeats later.

@ 1:28:18 And I saw 3,000 people in tremendous power occurred on Pentecost. Have never been any day like it. In fact, that day is described by God there is no day like it. And if you pick up the Bible and you study through the Bible, there is no day that that that that even rivals, never mind, matches the size of Pentecost in the skyline of this book. There’s no day like it.

Using the same rationale each year, it has become an annual event for Dave to fixate on Pentecost. You can practically set your watch by him.

Part 517 – June 8, 2024
@ 00:26 But the way to do this is to lay out all all of the places that God talks about Pentecost and then close on Monday. And I think I can devote most of Monday to the proofs that it has to be Pentecost as opposed to all kinds of things that could be a surrogate for some other day. Has to be Pentecost and on Monday, it has to be this year.

Oh no. Doing it again. Cannot stop. Must go back in time. Must remember history.

Flashback Part 172 – April 27, 2019
@ 1:03:50 I’ll never ever, ever again say the day.

Part 517 – June 8, 2024
@ 01:40 And that'll be great because I see right now it has to be Pentecost. And all I can say is the most powerful material in some ways by far will come Monday.

Dave takes another jab at God. He plants the manipulation seed in the brethren's head that they only have God to blame when disappointment arrives Sunday morning.

@ 40:11 The the wuh–the evidence becomes overwhelming. It would almost be an act of deception by God to lay out all of this and say, “Sorry. Fooled you. Joke’s on you. All of this is a surrogate for some day you’ll never know even though the Series is ending and, you know, Pentecost is close.” Oh, by the way, what a nice coincidence that is. Oh, iddn’t that nice? How lucky are we? It’s not a coincidence, of course.

None of this is coincidental. It is the perverted expression of a warped mind that cannot come to terms with the reality that God is not using him to preach any of this. David C. Pack is not being moved by the Holy Spirit to declare Pentecost this Sunday or the 81 previous dates since March 2022.

I do not hate David C. Pack, and I do not long for his death. I hope the man would repent of his disgraceful blasphemies and arrogant wickedness. He exemplifies the warnings in the Bible about the worst types of people. He is an embodiment of what the New Testament epistles cautioned us about.

About 1,240 people around the world listen to David C. Pack defile God's name and blaspheme weekly, and then they choose to remain seated because they do not want to forsake the fellowship. Anyone still attending The Restored Church of God is in a perilous spiritual situation.

At what point is excusing willful sin a willful sin itself?

@ 58:08 Now, you're me, and you're trying without Gabriel whispering in my or Michael in the other one or an utterance from God in a direct way, you're trying to put together what nobody ever knew about the 7 Years, never mind, that it's gonna be on Pentecost when it sure looked like it’s a New Moon but, oh yeah, we’re gonna find out it actually is but not in a way you can now guess.

Since Dave has established that an utterance from God does not need to be spoken or heard to still be an utterance from God, he will pepper that notion throughout future messages until he is ready to cash it in for some grand announcement. Remember that an unordained non-prophet/non-psychic said it first.

David C. Pack conjured a second New Moon on the tenth of each month to make Pentecost 2024 work for the start of the first Seven-Year Kingdom of God.

The thump on the floor you just heard was Wade Cox having a seizure.

 

Dave must have caught a prophetic case of the Mondays because he delayed Part 518 until Tuesday. It makes you wonder how many smiles and hugs will be at Headquarters this coming Monday.

Part 518 – June 11, 2024
@ 00:10 Well, let’s see if we can finish this Series. My assignment is Habakkuk 2:2-3. To make plain or maybe we should say to continue making plain the the moed that we’re waiting for. …and you decide, you know, your your your faith is what you live by. Faith is in the word of God. You decide if you think we can, shall we say, wiggle out of of Pentecost.

Anyone who has faith in the words of David C. Pack is a fool. Anyone who has faith that David C. Pack has any chance on this green earth of interpreting the Scriptures correctly is a fool. Anyone who has faith that God is guiding David C. Pack to teach them this and declare Pentecost 2024 as the day Jesus Christ returns is beyond foolish and is, of all men, most miserable. Woe unto them. 

@ 11:31 So, these are critical things to connect. Christ’s Kingdom comes at Pentecost. And then, seven years later, His Kingdom in glory, or we could say, Christ's rule, the 7 Years comes at Pentecost. A dark and cloudy day at dawn. And then, seven years later, another one.

@ 14:47 So, yuh yuh’ve yuh’ve one proof after another after another that Pentecost is the date.

@ 1:33:39 Think. Two great original Pentecosts 1,500 years apart give way to two more that are far greater. Here [7-Year Glass] and here [1000-Year Glass]. What a revelation. What a revelation. The Series is over. If I knew the watch, I’d say. I I think it’s more like dawn. I don’t think we’re waiting for sundown. This is my last message.If I knew the exact moment, I don’t know how long God’s gonna wanna come and talk to us first.

One day, it will be David C. Pack's last message, but it will come in a way he did not expect.

@ 1:34:24 But, I give the final message. It’s number 518. 519, I guess, you count the very original one. And then, there’s a tiny, tiny micron. Looks like what? A hundred hours, maybe.

@ 1:35:02 You know, we needed real patience. We needed real patience.

There will be some hefty need for abundant real patience before folks slip their green envelopes into the passing basket Sunday morning. Hopefully, members will consider their ways and the situation staring them in the face when they sign their checks during Special Music.

Remaining in The Restored Church of God is not an act of patience but determined stupidity. Yet, the brethren are not dumb. They know what is going on but choose to linger because the frightening realization that they are not in God’s True Church can be paralyzing.

How much more can they be pricked in the heart before they flee transparent hypocrisy? Do any of them worry about how much pressure that hot iron has applied to their conscience? Their presence supports wickedness. Their funds encourage the lies David C. Pack feeds them.

Come Monday, if they choose to stay, they only have themselves to blame when Dave announces his next calendar fixation, waving his powerfully long list in the air.

 

David C. Pack is going to fail, and he knows it. He cannot resist undercutting every point he made across four hours and eroding any perceived strength in his case. The brethren probably hoped he would end the Series without painting an asterisk on the page. But that is what Dave does. Wiggle, wiggle.

Dave believes blaming God for any perceived deception is always a good fallback position.

@ 1:37:27 Now, a caution. I I I guess I’m just gonna give this ‘cause I’m not gonna speak again. I don’t know if it’s a realistic caution. I didn’t know if I should I should I I should give it, but if we went past Pentecost (I can’t fathom that. I can’t fathom it.) God has done something inexplicable beyond what we can know or comprehend. Just gonna make kind of a summary statement to close. I guess I’d wait through every season. Sabbath or either kind of New Moon while we’re in the midst of the years. That’s that’s what I’d do if you. I I don’t think there’s any chance of this…

Dave should have just thrown his hands in the air and cast his list at the audience. Not only does he think there is a chance of this, but his troubled discomfort is screaming that nothing will happen on Sunday.

A confident man of conviction finishes strong. An insecure weakling inserts an “or…?” at the very end. 

@ 1:38:02 …but I’m telling you now…

The only reason he brought this up now was so he could later share with the brethren how right he was. Dave loves being right about being wrong.

@ 1:38:05 …and I would wait for the new heavens and the new earth to fix everything. That’s what I would wait.

When you are the top dog, you do not hop over the fence. Waiting is easy for David C. Pack. He is being paid to wait and create nothing.

@ 1:38:18 In the meantime, I'd say this, and I’m gonna do it myself, plan your regular Pentecost offering.

Boom. The money angle. Jesus Christ may not be bringing the Kingdom of God this weekend, but you better bring your checkbooks, brethren. Anyone in The Restored Church of God who gives them money on Sunday is just paying David C. Pack to lie to them. He has made a career out of it.

@ 1:38:25 And then, pray Godspeed the First Kingdom in something around a hundred hours away. Good night.

There will be some serious disappointment in the Pack household on Sunday by the time Dave skips Services so that his wife can slip their offering into the basket. Imagine the content of the emergency ministerial Bible study when Dave corrals the other hirelings to share what God zapped into his head at 2 AM, confirming all his suspicions.

The only hope we have for this Sunday is for Dave’s Special Comments during Announcements when he lets everyone know how right on track they still are.

After three messages spanning four hours and eighteen minutes, David C. Pack has proven that the First Kingdom of God, beginning the Seven Years, will start on Pentecost 2024! Or…?

Marc Cebrian

See: Pentecost 2024! Or…?

Proper Church of God Masculinity

 

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Ministry of Death or Simply the Law of Moses? Armstrongism’s Dubious Tailoring of the Torah

 

The Sabbath-breaker Stoned. Artistic impression of episode

narrated in Numbers 15. James Tissot c.1900 (Fair Use).

 

Ministry of Death or Simply the Law of Moses?

Armstrongism’s Dubious Tailoring of the Torah

 

By Scout

“But any prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.” -- Deuteronomy 18:20-22, a law in the so-called Ministry of Death - part of the Law of Moses that Armstrongists assert to be cancelled.

 

A family member of mine worked for an American oil company in Saudi Arabia back in the Fifties. While he was there he witnessed a public execution and related this grim event to us when he came back to the United States on a break from work. He even brought photographs although none were close-ups. A man and a woman in an Arab village had been caught in adultery. They were both executed on the village plaza encircled by a crowd of villagers. The man was beheaded and then a sword was driven through his heart. She was shot with a pistol. Many societies throughout history have had some form of death penalty for perceived malefactors. Ancient Israel was no exception (Leviticus 20:10).

In the theocracy of ancient Israel, the Law of Moses (See Note 1) required the death penalty for certain crimes. Armstrongist theology claims that the Law of Moses is still in force and written on the hearts of believers. How then does Armstrongism address the death penalty laws required by the Torah? Of course, Armstrongists do not see these death penalties as still in force. But this exclusion is based on an erroneous view of the Law of Moses and of 2 Corinthians 3:1-11. There is adequate scriptural evidence that the death penalty clauses in the Torah are still a valid part of the Mosaic legislation and cannot be set aside.

 

The Mistaken Armstrongist Interpretation of Paul’s “Ministry of Death”

 

How is it that classical Armstrongism asserts that the Law of Moses is still in force, is written on the hearts of Christians, and yet death penalties required by the Law of Moses are not exacted by the Armstrongist church? The Armstrongist doctrine that deals with this issue is found in the article titled “Is Obedience to God Required for Salvation?” by Roderick C. Meredith. Meredith identifies the clauses in the Torah that require the death penalty with the phrase “ministration of death” in 2 Corinthians 3:7 (KJV). I will use the term “ministry of death” which is found in many translations. Background for Meredith’s article is found in Herman L. Hoeh’s article titled “Which Old Testament Laws Should We Keep Today?”

The Armstrongist explanation of this topic is lengthy so I will review just a few points – enough to demonstrate the faulty nature of the Armstrongist interpretation. Meredith’s interpretation focuses on 2 Corinthians 3 and follows the line of argument that the laws concerning the death penalty, or the Ministry of Death, are contained in the civil law and were “added” to the Ten Commandments 430 years later along with the sacrifices (Gal 3:19) and were only intended to last “until the offspring would come to whom the promise had been made”. Since Meredith provides no exegesis for this supposed later addition to the Torah in his article cited above, it seems to be simply an unsupported assertion. And, a question left hanging is why are these death penalty clauses grouped theologically with the sacrifices and then later abrogated? There is reason for the sacrifices to be dropped. The sacrifice of Jesus replaces them. But Meredith states that the death penalty clauses are “a physical type of the eternal punishment” which is yet future for those who do not obey the Law of Moses. There are no grounds for their discontinuance when the sacrifices were discontinued. Nevertheless, the Armstrongist conclusion is that the death penalty clauses of the civil law vanished along with the sacrifices after Jesus (See Note 2 below). So, Meredith’s interpretation permitted the Worldwide Church of God to not execute people for Sabbath-breaking, for instance, yet to paradoxically believe that the Law of Moses was still in effect.

Meredith does not deny in his article that one ministry is being replaced by another in 2 Corinthians 3:7-11. But his claim is that it is not the Law of Moses that is being replaced but a sub-part of the Law of Moses – the Ministry of Death – laws that require the death penalty. How does he tease out the Ministry of Death from the larger body of legislation so that it may be treated separately? It is not clear how he arrives at this outcome. Meredith does seek to make a distinction between the Ten Commandments and all the remaining laws by asserting that the Ten Commandments were on tables of stone but the “civil law” (his term) was scribed on plastered stones as described in Deuteronomy 27:1-6. And his “civil law” contained the various death penalties. But he does not seem to have established this through exegesis and, further, this does not sort out the death penalty laws for any kind of special status or treatment. He gives us no reason to believe that Deuteronomy 27:1-6 does not refer to the totality of the law communicated through Moses. The Jewish Study Bible notes that the term “Torah” is used in v. 3 but it grants that the term is “elastic” enough to include many interpretations and that there is a significant debate in traditional and critical scholarship about what got written on these plastered stones. Yet, it is this uncertain inscription on plastered stone that forms somehow the crux of Meredith’s argument. What he seems to have, in the final analysis, is a hypothesis based on vocabulary alone that the Ministry of Death mentions death and is, therefore, connected to the various death penalties in the “civil law.” But this deduction does not match the context Paul gives us in 2 Corinthains 3. I will turn to that next.

The general Christian belief is that Paul is speaking of the Law of Moses throughout 2 Corinthians 3. Paul, in this passage, does not break up the Law of Moses into categories for differential treatment anywhere in this passage. Further, the Jewish view is that the ministry of death refers to the fading Old Covenant (See the Jewish Annotated New Testament). Paul is contrasting the New Covenant with the letter of the Law of Moses as a whole. (2 Corinthians 3:6). Paul makes the famous statement, “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The “letter” is of general applicability to the entire Torah. The entire Torah has a letter meaning, and violation of the letter meaning leads to sin and finally death (Hebrews 10:28). Paul does not seek to confine the application of the “letter principle” to just certain parts of the Torah as Meredith does.. If Paul were referring to only the death penalty laws, as Meredith contends, and Paul did not explain that, it would be doctrinal malpractice. Further, Paul would not logically contrast the New Covenant as a pathway to salvation only with the sacrifices and civil law of the Law of Moses. The latter, by themselves, would not serve as a comparable pathway to salvation but would be truncated and ineffectual without the entire Torah. So, Christianity logically and exegetically equates the Ministry of Death to the Torah in toto.

Paul also makes a metaphorical connection between the letter of the Law of Moses and his later statement about the “Ministry of Death”. Paul writes of the “letter” of the Old Covenant Law in v. 6. Then he writes of the “letter” of the Law in v. 7 (see Bible Hub Interlinear). In both cases, Paul uses a form of the Greek word “gramma” for “letter” (the “Ministry of Death” should be translated “the Ministry of Death in the letter” according to Ellicott’s Commentary). While that is a literary connection, a more solid circumstantial connection is the fact that Paul associates the Ministry of Death with the radiance of Moses’ face. This radiance occurred when Moses came down from Sinai with the Ten Commandments. And it occurred later whenever Moses went in to speak with God (Exodus 34:29-35). While the use of the veil is unclear in this passage, what is clear is that the radiance is associated with all communications from God beginning with the Ten Commandments and encompassing the remainder of the Torah. When Paul refers to the Ministry of Death he is not referring to isolated, scattered death penalties contained within the Law of Moses. Paul is referring to the Law of Moses itself and in toto. The Law of Moses is called the Ministry of Death because, as he wrote in v. 6, “for the letter kills.”

Armstrongists frequently use the idea that when Paul is speaking about the termination of a body of legislation, he is always talking about the sacrifices and/or the Ministry of Death. It is important to note that in the entire chapter of 2 Corinthians 3, Paul does not mention that he is speaking of only some sub-part of the Law of Moses. He cites the radiance on Moses’ face and this we know from Exodus pertains to the giving of the entire body of legislation - the Decalogue and all else. In v. 15, Paul makes a broad scope statement, “whenever Moses is read” without carefully parsing the Torah into sub-parts. And Paul balances the Ministry of the Spirit against the Ministry of Death after pointing out that the Ministry of Death is ending (vv. 7-8). A replacement is occurring which involves two Ministries that are at parity in some way. They are at parity only when both are considered as pathways to salvation. Yet, as mentioned earlier, the Ministry of Death, as defined narrowly by Meredith is not a comparable pathway to salvation – it is only a small piece of such a pathway. There are other exegeses that define the scope of the Law of Moses, but the language and characterization of 2 Corinthians 3 are adequate to understand that the total New Covenant and the total Old Covenant are under consideration.

An easily understood case that contradicts Meredith’s view is in Exodus and was cited earlier (Exodus 35:2). The Law requires the death penalty for breaking the Sabbath commandment, one of the Ten Commandments. It is clear that the death penalty clauses were not simply transient, civil concerns peripheral to the Decalogue and could be easily disannulled along with the sacrifices as Meredith claims. Here a death penalty is associated with the Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue itself – making the Fourth Commandment a part of the theoretically transient Ministry of Death by Meredith’s reckoning.

Summation

 

The unavoidable conclusion is that the “Ministry of Death” is a synonym for the Law of Moses. Paul states that the “letter” kills. To claim that the Law of Moses is still in force is to claim that its inherent death penalties are also still in force. There is no exegetically valid reason to believe that the death penalties included in the Law of Moses were ever selectively cancelled. This difficulty for Armstrongist denominations is a consequence of taking legislation that was designed for a national theocracy and attempting to re-purpose it and scale it down for modern denominational governance. And the church that believes that the Law of Moses is still required cannot relegate the death penalty to the State because the State does not follow the Law of Moses in its judgments and executions. All of this is not an issue for Christianity because Christian theology holds that the Law of Moses with its inherent death penalties was discontinued and replaced by the Law of Christ (See Note 3 below).

Note 1: It would be naïve of me to try to define “The Law of Moses” as to its textual boundary and any putative sub-parts in the Bible. How it is defined does not affect the argument I make in this article. It is enough to say that Armstrongists exclude the Decalogue from the Law of Moses and most Jews and orthodox Christian denominations include it. Defining the Law of Moses is the topic of significant debate. Both Armstrongists and Christians believe it is much more monolithic than it actually is. The idea that Moses sat down and wrote the five books of the Pentateuch just does not work. The Torah was derived from a number of sources. From the Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition, p.5: “We do not know how these various sources and legal collections, which now comprise the Torah, came together to form a single book.” It is likely that it was redacted by scribes during the Babylonian Exile or shortly thereafter. Basing a doctrine on how the text of the Torah is organized at a detail level when that detail is uncertain is imprudent. Though the Torah may be highly complex in origin, Jesus spoke of the Law and the Prophets. He did not dissect the Law into parts. For New Testament purposes, the Law may be treated as a monolith. It is well worth it to read the introduction to the Torah in the Jewish Study Bible.

Note 2: If the death penalty clause is canceled, what happens to the remainder of the law? No doctrine explaining this has ever been established to round out the Armstrongist view. If the death penalty is required for someone who is a false prophet and the death penalty clause is canceled after Jesus, what happens to the rest of this law? Does the cancellation of the death penalty clause cancel the entire law or does the law live on in a new formulation? How then are false prophets to be legally processed under the Torah? This issue is an important operative part of the Armstrongist doctrine of the Ministry of Death but appears to have never been addressed in Armstrongist literature. This leaves a gaping hole in the Armstrongist implementation of the Law of Moses.

It is worth noting that capital punishment does not exist in the New Testament as a part of church governance. The only foundation for capital punishment as a church action would be the Law of Moses which contains death penalty clauses but the Law of Moses is obsolete. However, there is Divine capital punishment, for instance, in the case of Ananias and Sapphira.

Note 3: Notice carefully that I am not taking an antinomian stance in this article. I believe in laws and morality just as did Paul did. Like other Christians, I believe that the Ten Commandments are in force in the New Testament. But the New Testament Law is the Law of Christ not of Moses. I believe it is important to make a clear and explicit statement about this. If you claim that the Law of Moses is no longer in force, as Paul did, Armstrongists will make the fatuous claim that you are a “law hater” or some similar epithet because they admit of no other law, apparently, than the Law of Moses. There is a solid body of legislation contained in the New Testament and it is the Law of Christ. So here is my pro-law position stated clearly for the record.

 

 

UCG Still Trying To Climb The Two Trees

How can anyone who was part of the Church of God before Herbert Armstrong's death forget the two trees in the Garden of Eden and how Adam was standing right next to Eve and together decided to eat off the wrong tree. We had one bellowing sermon after another with fists hitting the desk as we were bellowed at, constantly being reminded we were too stupid to understand what he was saying.

Sadly, many of the splinter groups had the perfect opportunity when they split off to start a new church unencumbered by COG myths and legends and instead be Christ followers. Sadly, that has never happened.  

UCG is constantly looking back. The two trees, Moses, and the law seem to occupy the minds of UCG leaders. When that is your lens to look through, everything is wrong around you and the world is falling apart.

The two trees 

 

There were two trees in the garden of Eden—one was called the Tree of Lifeand the other the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. One pictured revealed knowledge from God, which would lead to life. The other represented good and bad knowledge acquired by human self-discovery and would ultimately lead to death. 

 

In Genesis chapter three, Moses was inspired to record the incident when Adam and Eve took of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God had warned them not to take of the fruit of this forbidden tree in Genesis 2:16-17: “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” 

 

Not all knowledge man has discovered is bad; there is some good. Music is an illustration of this. Some of the music man has developed is inspiring and uplifting, but other music can express the evil characteristics of human beings and degrade human behavior. Some discoveries of science serve the needs of many people. On the other hand, those same discoveries may be used to develop weapons to kill people in wars. Some plants we might discover can be used to help make people well, but others can be used for poison and cause illness or even death.

Are there decent people in the world? Yes, there are those who strive to live worthwhile lives and strive to be good citizens. There are many who call themselves “Christians.” However, do they truly obey God’s laws and follow Christ? Not really—they do not completely follow Jesus Christ’s words and keep His laws. Should we hate them and the rest of humanity? We certainly do not hate anyone. What we hate is sin and evil, not the sinner.

Building Walls Around The Church

 

Here is a man who better understands what it means to be "the church" than Bob Thiel and the rest of the self-appointed harbingers of "truth" in the Church of God understand. Bob and his ilk are all about building walls and division in the church.

The church has always built walls to surround itself from others, to keep itself "pure and untainted" by the world. Well, look how well that has worked out for them all so far. They are all just miserable little shells trying to recapture the glory days that are unattainable for all of them.

Did WCG/Armstrongism/COG Destroy Your Marriage and Family?

 

Boy did this church mess up a lot of families! Was your family ripped apart by their way of looking at marriage and divorce? It was all so wrong in so many ways and we're going to break this down. 

Why and what was wrong about it.

Navigating the Journey: Life, Hope and Truth AFTER Exiting Armstrongism (LCG)

Have you left a cult of Christianity like Mormonism, the Jehovah's Witnesses, or any other high-control religious group that claims to be Christian? 

You're not alone. 

In this video, I share what my wife and I experienced after leaving Armstrongism, a cultic branch of Christianity. 

Join me as I recount the challenges we faced, the insights we gained, and the enduring hope that sustained us throughout our transition. 

Inside the video: - Breaking free from false theology - Lack of Specialized Support within mainstream churches - Finding support outside mainstream churches - Dealing with cognitive dissonance and doctrinal disagreements - Building a new faith journey focused on Jesus 

If you're questioning your church or faith, contemplating leaving a high-control group, or struggling after leaving a cult of Christianity, this video offers valuable insights and encouragement for your path ahead. Subscribe for more content on faith, personal growth, and spiritual journeys. Find my Blog site and Social Media at: about.me/marioespinosa

Dave Pack: Burning Branches

 

Burning Branches

Breaching into a biblical danger zone, David C. Pack can now stamp God’s name on anything he thinks because he discovered he does not need to hear an utterance from God to know he received an utterance from God.

He may or may not be fulfilling prophecy. He may or may not be prophesying. He may or may not be Elijah (wink, wink), but he just knows how right on track things are for The Restored Church of God.

During “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 515)” on June 1, 2024, the prophetic hamster wheel kept spinning as Dave rushed to call out recycled information repackaged for his sleepy, memory-challenged worshippers.

·      David C. Pack is NOT the Branch. Jesus Christ is.

·      David C. Pack reiterates that he is NOT Elijah while making the case that he is Elijah.

·      David C. Pack cannot declare the date for the return of Jesus Christ. But it is Pentecost.

·      The 7-Year Kingdom is back to being the Kingdom of God.

Some of this may feel like walking in circles. But that is precisely what the brethren of The Restored Church of God are doing. They are learning, unlearning, then relearning, and re-unlearning powerful knowledge ad nauseam as the return of Jesus Christ remains just out of reach.

That is a form of a living hell.

The glass dishware of 7 and 1000 currently representing the plan of God on the Tammuz Cooking Table has also been quite challenging for him. Those helpful visual aids force him to sit each time he speaks despite how "perfectly healthy" he protests to be.

This two-year-old clip reminds us how the table came to be.

Wow, things have really changed. But what has not changed is more changes.

Listening to the man attempting a single sentence without stuttering is sometimes quite painful.

Part 515 – June 1, 2024
@ 22:14 But, I like to cover a few other things here in this message that are that are most powerful, and they’re they’re gonna they’re gonna rock they’re gonna rock your planet that we're all in the same one. So, here we go. They're gonna rock your world as as the saying goes.

Dave spent 42 painful minutes teaching something he had already taught as if it was new before getting to the point he could have covered in 30 seconds.

@ 1:04:38 Now, it’s impossible to argue with the fact that’s [7-Year] the Kingdom of God. The implications are rather extraordinary.

Yes, the extraordinary implication is that The Restored Church of God just walked in a big circle, reverting back to what they believed during Part 511. Dave just changed the Seven-Year Kingdom from the Kingdom of God to the Kingdom to Israel during Part 512 on May 11. That fantastic discovery survived less than one month.

@ 1:17:13 There’s no way we were done with this Series until we understood that’s [7-Year] the Kingdom of God.

If true, the Series could have finished at Part 511 when the First Kingdom was the Kingdom of God. This theological loop-de-loop is not unusual for the members of The Restored Church of God.

@ 1:24:05 By the way, the Mystery of God, the ultimate Mystery of God was that this dismal swamp nobody ever knew about was the Kingdom of God. That was the ultimate Mystery of God. Full on. Veil off and everything.

Dave's version of the veil coming off is hitting the doctrinal rewind button, traveling back in time to Part 511, and then skipping to Part 515.

If the veil is now off, then he inadvertently put it on during Part 512. He also actively thwarted the ultimate Mystery of God by teaching heresy for a few weeks. Those wires never get crossed in his head.

I wonder if Dave longs for a simpler time back when he thought there was no Seven-Year Kingdom at all.  

Flashback Part 493 – February 17, 2024
@ 29:01 So, the idea that there is a 7-Year Kingdom is as dead ‘n gone as yesterday. I mean, that’s gone with the wind.

It was gone, and now it is back. It was the Kingdom of God, then the Kingdom to Israel, and back to the Kingdom of God. $20 says this is not settled.

 

David C. Pack proves who and what he is when you listen to what he says. From his own mouth, he has revealed himself to be a hypocrite, liar, blasphemer, oath-breaker, manipulator, and biblical fraud. And he can do all of that before 10 AM.

During “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 465)” on September 2, 2023, David C. Pack sank to a new low when he taught that Jesus Christ was not the Branch and that Elijah was. Despite the recent protests from his deceptive lips, David C. Pack knows and knows that he knows he is Elijah [nudge, nudge].

During Part 465, David C. Pack taught that David C. Pack was the Branch, not Jesus Christ.

The Branching Out article covered this in detail.

Flashback Part 465 – September 2, 2023

@ 25:29 So, I’m gonna ask you, Who is the Branch? Not Christ. He’s the Vine.

@ 29:28 “Behold, I will bring forth My servant, the Branch.” Now, there’s a number of problems right here that make it impossible this is Christ.

@ 39:45 Now, this Twig is a descendant of Jesse and David. And I am…

@ 43:23 “…behold the man.” The man. That’s the key. “Whose name is the Branch.” You could never say Christ’s name is the Branch. You would reduce Him, practically defile him to say that…

@ 54:26 Whether you call him Elijah or Joshua or David or the Twig or whatever you wanna call him, he’s here [the now-dissolved 1-Year Kingdom].

During Part 515, David C. Pack reads some of the same verses as Part 465 but makes the opposite point, proving that a warped mind can twist the Bible to say anything. The same verse and the same word can prove both yes and no.

This is one of the reasons why Part 518 will be given on Monday.

Gracefully walking back from outright blasphemy is not one of David C. Pack’s skillsets.

Part 515 – June 1, 2024
@ 1:08:01 One of the things that has troubled me greatly (turn over to Zechariah 6) I have had great difficulty believing that a human being is the Branch of the Lord. Christ is the Vine, and we are branches off of Christ, the Vine.

STOP

David C. Pack was troubled and had great difficulty…when? Certainly not during Part 465 when he taught it. It is sometimes hard to fathom this is the same man speaking out of both sides of his mouth.

The Pastor General of The Restored Church of God has a long history of teaching things that make him uncomfortable, yet he keeps preaching it anyway. His unease is never fully expressed until after the fact when he walks it back.

Flashback Part 465 – September 3, 2023
@ 43:31 You could never say Christ’s name is the Branch. You would reduce Him, practically defile him to say that…

Based on his own words, did David C. Pack defile Jesus Christ then, or is he defiling him now? One of those options is correct. Which one are you leaning toward, Ed?

Part 515 – June 1, 2024
@ 1:08:18 But I’ve I I’ve had occasion to study other places where Christ it where the where they’re the Branch of the Lord (Christ is a Branch off of the Lord. We are branches off the Vine). And I do not believe Elijah is the Branch anymore.

David C. Pack knows he is Elijah but will not say what this really means. He is actually saying he does not believe HE is the Branch anymore. He did not always have such a lenient attitude.

Is “That Prophet” Alive Today? The Rise of False Prophets – David C. Pack

If he claims titles belonging to the all-powerful living Jesus Christ, then he is no less than a BLASPHEMING IDOL, seeking to replace Christ with himself.

p.32

 

@ 1:09:03 “Thus speaks the Lord of Hosts, ‘Behold, the man,’ that could be the Son of Man, ‘whose name is the Branch.’” Now, when it’s talking about me, it usually uses my name. Or Joshua.

STOP

Does David C. Pack even have the capacity to discern when he lies anymore? The Pastor General of The Restored Church of God has claimed so many titles and sees himself in the Bible in so many places that it is hard to keep track.

David C. Pack proves he is a blaspheming liar.

He sees his name on the page only because he wants to. Not because it really is there. His false statement is two-fold because he has no problem reading a verse and seeing himself in it, whether a name is in the text or not. He "just knows" that is him and teaches fantasy as doctrine.

And the Headquarters enablers let him get away with it.

David C. Pack believes he is the Seventh Angel, the Faithful Priest, the Goodman of the House, the Righteous From the East, the Shepherd and Stone of Israel, the Plant of Renown, the Fig Tree, the Messenger of the Covenant, and the Star Out of Jacob with none of those instances being associated with his name. And there are a bunch more.

Flashback Part 470 – September 23, 2023
@ 17:43 He's a man called a servant and various other things, and he's Elijah. Lot of different terms for him. I wrote up thirty-four of them, and somehow, the scribes knew the difference.

What does David C. Pack of yesteryear think about the lunatic things David C. Pack says today?

Is “That Prophet” Alive Today? The Rise of False Prophets – David C. Pack
No description of false prophets is complete without explaining one final characteristic. These deceivers always seem to find new ways to elevate themselves to greater offices and roles!
p.51

This never-ending acquisition of more titles better secures the false prophet’s followers under his spell.
p.52

When you have a pest problem, consult with an expert.

David C. Pack provides one of his signature non-apology apologies.

Part 515 – June 1, 2024
@ 1:09:43 Christ is the Branch. And I am sorry for ever being confused about that.

That is not an apology.

David C. Pack is not sorry for blasphemy and theft of a divine title belonging to the Son of God. He is only sorry about the “confused” part. That is like a man who cheats on his wife and is then sorry for getting confused about his feelings.

In ancient Israel, did the Prophets of Baal apologize for being confused about which god they served before they were slain at the brook Kishon?

While speaking in God’s name and claiming His authority, David C. Pack stole a role belonging to Jesus Christ and appropriated it for himself. He took the Lord’s name in vain, lied, stole, and blasphemed. Just another day in the Third Floor Executive Imaginarium at The Restored Church of Another god.

David C. Pack is a human idol teaching antichrist doctrines to a spiritually bankrupt organization. He will have no consequences at Headquarters, and the broken, compromised brethren will not hold him accountable.

Move along. Nothing to see here, folks. Oh wait, there is another non-apology coming.

@ 1:10:27 What we’re waiting for (and I apologize, but God said the Mystery would end at the end). We’re waiting for what we’re waiting for is way better than anything we thought about. And we’re learning it kinda right on time.

The Restored Church of God's members have been learning kinda right on time since 2012. Sivan 1 on June 7 failed to manifest, and Dave is doubling down on Pentecost being the horse to back. But nothing will happen on Pentecost this year.

David C. Pack built a Branch bridge leading away from Jesus Christ to Elijah. Now, he turns right around, crosses, and burns that same Branch bridge leading away from himself back to Jesus Christ. There will be no earthly consequences for that at Headquarters.

But I do wonder. How many times can an arrogant man defiantly cross the same burnt bridge before it collapses beneath him?

Marc Cebrian

See: Burning Bridges