Exit and Support Network featured yet another damning letter about the Restored Church of God and its self-important "ministers."
Anyone who's survived the nightmare of Armstrongism knows all too well the group's antiquated traditional view: mental illness? Pfft, that's just demons squatting in your brain. Real spiritual warfare, don't you know. Only a handful of ministers ever dared whisper otherwise without fear of being labeled Laodicean heretics themselves.
And let's not forget Armstrongism's stellar track record—decades of smugly diagnosing anyone who dared stray from their narrow definition of "normal" (read: conformist, white, middle-class, hyper-obedient) behavior as "demon-influenced." Depression? Demons. Anxiety? Demons. Questioning Herbert W. Armstrong's endless failed prophecies or his lavish lifestyle? Definitely demons. Non-conformity in gender roles, sexuality, or even emotional expression? You guessed it—straight to demonic possession territory.
This wasn't some fringe quirk; it stemmed directly from HWA's teachings, which banned medical intervention (including psychiatry) in favor of "divine healing" through anointing and prayer alone. Doctors were suspect, psychologists were gateways for Satan, and mental health issues were spiritual failures or outright infernal attacks. The result? Countless members suffered in silence, denied proper treatment, shamed into hiding their struggles, or worse—exorcised like something out of a bad horror flick. Suicides, breakdowns, and shattered families piled up, all while the ministry patted itself on the back for "discerning spirits."
In offshoots like the Restored Church of God, this toxic legacy lingers, blending control, fear, and pseudospiritual arrogance. Because nothing says "God's true church" like ignoring modern medicine and blaming invisible boogeymen for brain chemistry. How godly.
I came across your website and just had to get this experience published. I have a daughter who is in her early thirties who has suffered with mental health issues for most of her life. About 9 years ago, I started exploring Restored Church of God’s website & watching David C. Pack videos.
I tried contacting David Pack to get prayer and/or a healing cloth for my daughter. I was not able to speak to Pack but they put me in touch with one of his ministers in the Chicago region. I don’t remember his name. I spoke to this minister on the phone 2 or 3 times but also emailed with him several times, mostly about my daughter’s need for healing. After a month or so, he said he would have to speak with David Pack about getting an anointed cloth sent out to me for my daughter.
About 2 weeks later, I received an email from this local minister. I was informed that he had spoken with David Pack & his colleagues (or whatever they are) from headquarters in Wadsworth, Ohio regarding my daughter’s mental health issues and need for healing. The email said that David Pack instructed him to email me and inform me that God does not get involved with helping “mentally ill” people and therefore they would NOT be sending me an anointed cloth. After that email, I never heard from him again. That response sounded crazy to me. Where on earth did that come from? Rhetorical question, of course! –Impacted by RCG
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