Dave Pack: Birthday Present…Truth

 

Birthday Present…Truth

David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God dismantled another legacy doctrine of the Worldwide Church of God by sanctioning the celebration of birthdays. While teaching the “present truth” that observing birthdays is not inherently evil after all, the Pastor General shined another spotlight on the rebellion and monumental hypocrisy of Herbert W. Armstrong.

For years, the Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God had not-so-secretly honored his mother by sending her roses on her birthday in direct violation of a doctrinal understanding enforced by lesser “ministurds” for decades. (Thank you for that phrase, Dennis.)

The moral of the story: If you are “low key” about your covert defiance of church doctrines and happen to be highest in the food chain of your dogmatic religious organization, you can get away with just about anything. David C. Pack has fully embraced this “grand pattern” and plans to preserve it until he retires into the grave.

Beginning with “The Greatest Unending Story! (Parts 552 & 553)” on January 11, 2025, Dave eased into dissolving the long-held belief that Jesus Christ was born on the Feast of Trumpets in the fall. It was no coincidence that the discovery of this mystery birthday ties directly into the timing of the 1335 and the Day of the Lord 1290 of the book of Daniel, which ushers the arrival of the Kingdom of God…just over the horizon.

Jesus Christ was born on Abib 1
The 1335 begins on February 12, 2025
Not January 29
The Day of the Lord begins on March 29

What was sin yesterday is righteousness today.

It was a tremendous relief for members who no longer needed to hide their interactions with relatives around birthdays. The guilt from eating a bite of cake or paranoia around being spotted holding a present has been evaporated. Repentance is no longer required after saying “Happy Birthday.”

Birthdays have come to The Restored Church of God.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Dave has grossly misunderstood the 2 Peter 1:12 term “present truth” and uses it as his Get Out of Jail Free Cardwhenever he wants to invoke or revoke an established church doctrine. The way he understood something yesterday is different from today, but both adherences were correct at the time. This invalidates the concept of “error” from church vocabulary.

Dave's technique is to read the same ambiguous verses he taught for decades and reverse the logic to fit his current narrative.

·      None of Job’s children died on a birthday. Only the servants did.

·      Pharaoh killing the baker on his birthday “does not taint” them.

·      John the Baptist's death on Herod's birthday is just incidental.

·      Ecclesiastes 7:1, "the day of death than the day of one's birth," was misunderstood. It does not mean birthdays are inherently evil.

·      Acknowledging a birthday is not the same as observing a pagan custom.

I already knew this, and so did many who cycled through RCG. Regardless of the evidential legitimacy of enforced doctrines, a member must comply, or they are labeled self-willed, arrogant, and rebellious.

The standard ministerial response was:

“Oh, you think you know better than the ministers of Jesus Christ who were ordained and received an extra portion of the Holy Spirit? God opened your eyes and not theirs because you’re so special? God defied His own government structure by revealing to a lay member what He has withheld from the only living apostle?”

As of Part 552…apparently so.

Even when I was a zealous member of The Restored Church of God, I knew their teachings about birthdays being evil were thin and unbiblical. Man, they had to reach. Even the World to Come episode that addressed this was based on inductive reasoning, not clear Bible verses.

RCG has already begun washing their hands of the sin of the sin of birthdays. You will no longer find the four-page article “Are Birthday Celebrations Christian?” once listed on their website, but you can visit the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to see it in its former glory. Or download a PDF copy HERE.

The 2017 Pillar issue featuring the article “What’s So Bad About Birthdays?” is available for download.

Reading their now-redacted materials with a “birthday present truth” perspective exposes how flimsy some RCG doctrines can be because they were established on human steam, not clear commands of God. The “because I say so” theology lives on.

If there ever was a long-standing doctrine that lacked power and clarity, it was what WCG and RCG taught about God hating birthdays. The rationale in this Real Truth article from 2014 is some of the weakest you will find, yet it was compelled upon members anyway.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ 

Part 552 – January 11, 2025
@ 27:46 Now, that’s a shocking thing to understand. And the thing it does [chuckles] it makes Mr. Armstrong look like he was doing something RIGHT when he honored his mother on her birthday for decades of his life.

The unrecognized implication is that Herbie was knowingly doing something WRONG, and Dave was just fine with that. According to David C. Pack, "The greatest servant I ever knew" was a blatant hypocrite and willful authoritarian who kept his defiance “low key.”

The religious apple does not fall far from the corrupted tree.

Herbert W. Armstrong. Do as I say, not as I do.™

Despite granting liberty to the birthday captives, Dave pled for moderation.

@ 48:39 My purpose is not to spell out what we can do on birthdays. Clearly, were time to go on, I would address that.

@ 48:50 But let’s not have what I call a “pepperoni pizza moment.” …Don’t go, “Oh, boy!” You know, over the next few weeks, please don’t go off half-cocked and do something. You know, throw some big party. Don’t do that. Wait. Show restraint.

Dave wants the brethren to show restraint after decades of damaging experiences with their families around birthdays. Ask anyone freed from RCG about the uncomfortable situations they found themselves in when close family members begged them to be a part of a birthday celebration.

Dave is doctrinal Karate-Do-Yes and Karate-Do-No at the same time. This feels awfully familiar to their New Moon observances, which still have that trumpet making an uncertain sound.

@ 1:38:15 …but it duddn't mean that gifts couldn't be given on birthdays. Or that they should be. So, that’s why I say we gotta be careful.

Countless difficulties were needlessly created because members tried to obey the anti-birthday command that they were force-fed while also trying to counter-balance the perspective they were in a repressive cult. We all walked that narrow line at some point, whether it was attending a party but not eating the cake or standing silently while everyone else gleefully sang, “Happy Birthday.”

This now-defunct doctrine caused grief and pain for children, whether they were members or not. It is heart-wrenching for a parent to explain to their small child that they can only observe an activity but not participate.

My buddy Peter in Canada still gets hot under the collar when you mention the harm of RCG’s birthday doctrine. He is justly angry for what he allowed RCG to put his children through.

Rejecting birthdays sparked tension between spouses. Emotionally separated parents from children. This created an unnecessary resentment towards all religious organizations and resulted in the opposite of “letting your light shine.” Instead of letting our works carry a good name, Christianity was further despised. Thanks a lot, Herbie.

This doctrinal flip-flop will not heal the trauma of generations nor erase the personal horror stories many endured in the name of “obeying God.” According to David C. Pack, all that family suffering was in vain.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Birthdays are now acceptable in The Restored Church of God because determining the day of Jesus Christ's birth is essential to knowing when the 1335 of Daniel would begin 45 days before that.

Abib 1 [1290] begins at sunset on March 29.
Shevat 15 [1335] begins at sunset on February 12.

Dave needed one birthday to matter, so he made it happen.

@ 1:17:20 If that could be the birthday of Christ, you you almost find yourself asking, “Does the Millennium begin on Christ’s birthday? Abib 1 [February 12, 2025]?" I mean, it's starting to look suspicious, but we've gotta prove it.

@ 1:30:55 And when that week [70 Weeks Prophecy] is over, when we get to the next Abib 1 on His Day, which would be kept forever, every year forever, on His Day, the Day of Christ. If you can prove Abib 1, we’re gonna celebrate His birthday every day forever. We won’t call it a birthday party, but it’d be His birthday. So, I mean, we’ll let God tell us what it was.

Part 553 – January 11, 2025
@ 05:49 So, Christmas is a counterfeit birthday. A counterfeit gift giving in the wrong time to the wrong Jesus, by the way. So, it’s fitting that Another Jesus would be born at another time.

Just like David C. Pack is a counterfeit apostle, prophet, teacher, shepherd, and minister.

@ 06:18 So, God says I hate your star. Okay? Now, nothing wrong with a star. God showed a star when when Christ was born. Nothing wrong with a star. “I hate YOUR star.” [chuckles]

Dave slipped into another doctrinal moonwalk without the same fanfare he used to enact it. He taught in 2023 that stars were evil. But today, not so much.

The same weak strategy to promote the evils of birthdays is employed to defuse them.

@ 07:11 So, you can begin to think of things in a certain light, and this is a whole different way of thinking. You’ll begin to work off of these things in your mind. There nothing wrong with this.

@ 21:04 On Abib 1, in this great Day of the Lord, you could have all kinds of people saying, “Happy Birthday and Happy New Year.” Don’t say “Merry Christmas.” [laughs] Okay?

@ 22:24 It’s not Trumpets. We’re trapped in Trumpets. And God know that Herbert Armstrong, this great servant, he did [chuckles] he did what he was supposta do, he had the truths of God right. In fac–in some ways, he was a little ahead of his time because he did what he as he honored his mother and didn’t stand in the way of other people.

When Herbert W. Armstrong played down his hypocrisy, he posthumously exercised premature righteousness, not arrogant stubbornness. Maybe all the members of The Restored Church of God should roll the same dice by picking their least favorite doctrine and putting that philosophy into practice.

@ 22:47 [HWA] Just said keep it low-key. Pretty much everybody [in WCG] did and and and most did nothing at all.

Brethren of The Restored Church of God, please hear your Pastor General. David C. Pack just told you that if you are going to willfully sin, just keep it low-key. That is totally fine.

What a dismal swamp of confused doctrines that spiritually bankrupt organization teaches.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Knowing the birthday of Jesus Christ caused all the mystery pieces to fall into place, and David C. Pack will finally be proven to be a true servant of God on February 12, 2025.

@ 38:01 So, you you’re looking at February 12^th. If there’s some other way, I don’t know how to do it, brethren. I’m I’ve tried my heart out.

@ 38:59 Remember that God puts Elijah in charge, typed by Jeremiah, at the “new year of trees.” Well, guess what? That is the 15^th, the 15^th of Shevat. 15^th of Shevat.

@ 53:15 A Trumpets Day of the Lord, Christ’s birthday in the fall, and the 1335 days that was related to that since they did not see they [WCG] did not see that. Worldwide did not see this First Kingdom. All of that collapsed together now. It’s over.

It is hard to fathom that The Restored Church of God is not yet over. And yet, it still limps along.

During “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 554)” on January 18, 2025, Dave visited the idea of moving The Last Great Day again. In 2023, he attempted “The Last Great Moving Day” by declaring it needed to shift from the fall to the end of the Days of Unleavened Bread. That idea cooled faster than his coffee. 

During Part 554, Dave plucked out that holy day and placed it onto Abib 1 to fit the rest of his theological fantasy because…why not?

Part 554 – January 18, 2025
@ 21:26 So, it makes ya suspicious. Is the Last Great Day gonna shift?

@ 21:43 Is the Last Great Day portable?

"The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 555)" given on January 25, 2025, was a colossal nothingburger. Yawn. As a follow-up, Dave was a no-show on Wednesday’s New Moon despite his assurances he would speak. You cannot trust the words of David C. Pack. He continuously proves that.

The entire church system HWA constructed continues to be an unreliable mess, and David C. Pack persists in championing that filthy banner of malarkey.

Birthdays are now sanctioned in The Restored Church of God, but that is only a present…truth.

Marc Cebrian

See: Birthday Present…Truth

On Not Being Perfect: Against the Armstrongist Idea of Becoming God-as-God-is-God

 

A Depiction of Mathematical Perfection

(Fair Use)

On Not Being Perfect 

Against the Armstrongist Idea of Becoming God-as-God-is-God

By Scout

 

My wife expects me to be perfect.  But she knows I am not God.  Talk about dissonance.  God is almighty and, by comparison, it’s a wonder I can function at all.  Only God is perfect and always will be.  He is absolute and cannot be improved upon. We are imperfect and always will be.  We will always be growing and improving (Philippians 3:13). A revealing analogy for this is any geometric figure.   A cube is pictured above.  It is a concept from geometry which, as other fields of mathematics, is concerned with the ideal.  When I say a geometric cube is a “concept”, I mean it can exist as a perfect shape in our minds.  But we do not find this perfect shape in nature.   Take iron pyrite, for instance.

When iron pyrite crystalizes, it forms a cube.  But any pyrite cube, even under the best of conditions for formation, is not perfect.  It only looks perfect to us at our natural viewing resolution.  In reality, its defining lines are formed of an arrangement of molecules of iron sulfide.  In geometry, ideal lines are defined as having length but no width. We can imagine a geometric line but we cannot draw one. If you could see the edge of the pyrite crystal, where two planes intersect to form a line, it would be ragged row of molecules, not perfect like the ideal geometric line.  God is perfect like the geometric cube in geometry and we are irregular like the cubic pyrite crystal.  

What does the analogy tell us?  There is a category difference between God and us. God is uncreated and absolute.  We are created and relative.  He is perfect but we will always strive to be perfect.   But Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”   One of the hallmark principles of the New Testament.  The ultimate stretch goal.  How can we become perfect like God is perfect?  Is Jesus being realistic?  Did the Pharisees, whom Jesus opposed so energetically, have it right – nothing is too extreme.  The term for perfect in Greek is “teleios” and its meaning is close to our word “complete.”  Teleios is related to the Greek word “telos” which means “goal”. Teleios expresses the idea that something has reached its intended goal.  In concept, teleios is like the term “finished product” rather than the philosophical concept of absolute, mathematical perfection.  Be the very best pyrite crystal you can be. 

And Jesus said, “as your Father in heaven.”  We are to reflect God’s perfection.  A pyrite crystal reflects but does not attain to the ideal geometry of a cube. Even in the next life we will be a reflection of God’s perfection like the moon does not generate light but reflects the light of the sun (Revelation speaks of this poetically, “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb”). If we are not in relationship with God, we will not reflect his perfection but dwell in darkness.   We are contingent and cannot function as independent, self-contained beings, now or ever.  If the sun goes out, the moon will no longer reflect any light. 

Again, Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”  Armstrongists see this from an odd, minority perspective.  They see in this statement of Jesus the strange and heady idea that God’s perfection is attainable for them personally.  They can be one day, they believe, God as God is God.  Without a doubt we are to be partakers of the divine nature but there is a great, unsurpassable gulf between being the absolute God and merely a partaker of some of his virtues and capabilities.  Don’t get me wrong.  Being a partaker of the divine nature is the most wonderful destiny that one can imagine.  It transcends our ability to understand it.  It is just not the same as the unreachable and misinformed God-as-God-is-God idea. 

 

Pastoral Note:  I am in no way pastoral in my inclinations but there are some things that are so obvious that even I can discern them.  Perfectionists are the unhappiest people in the world.  They always want perfection, as they define it, and they are consistently and perpetually disappointed. Nothing worldly that you care about is perfect. A rock might be a perfect rock but who cares.  The Pharisees must have been a dour lot, if they really believed in all that compulsive attention to detail.  To teach someone to be a perfectionist without including the necessary concept of grace is to teach someone to be unhappy. Someone said that perfection is the enemy of good.  I agree with that. And I was joking about my wife.  She only expects me to be the amateur that I am.  Mostly.

 

 

Why Do The COG's Continue To Smear Christians While Extolling Themselves As Perfect Versions Of 1st Century Christianity?

1st Century Christianity 

Has there ever been a more perfect Christian Church on earth than the present-day Churches of God who see themselves as exemplary examples of 1st Century Christianity? Truth be told, 1st-century Christians would be shocked and appalled at the examples of modern-day Church of God leaders leading their little flocks. None of them have any idea what it's like to practice original Christianity. Yet, they sure know how to blame and shame Christians outside their insular little circles of self-righteous piety.

A huge majority of 1st Century Christians worshiped in private due to the fear of being executed or tortured. Thousands died in the Colosseum. Others were martyred along roadsides, in their homes, hiding in the hills, and in many other places. Yet, through it all, they persisted. 

Armstrongism has no idea what 1st-century Christians did. Today, it is all a play Mickey Mouse world to them, with made-up visions of how things could have been in their little privileged minds. Not a single COG today has ever been persecuted, though we see martyrs like Bob Thiel claim otherwise. The only "persecution" they may receive is due to their own stupidity or self-important arrogance. It certainly is not for what they claim to believe.

LCG took an interesting news item and made it into a smear job of what they deem as "so-called" Christians 

Christianity in Europe Earlier than Previously Believed: In recent years, a silver amulet or phylactery was discovered in a grave in Germany (LiveScience, December 20, 2024). The grave dates to the middle of the third century AD—about 200 years after the death of Christ and about 100 years before Constantine converted to his own brand of paganized “Christianity.” Inside the amulet was a rolled scroll made of thin, silver foil, which was 3D-scanned to read the contents without damaging it. This revealed an inscription that clearly speaks of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, noting that “every knee bows” to Him. While historians know that it was dangerous to profess such biblical truths at that time in the Roman world, the authors of the article fail to recognize that what passes as modern Christianity was not codified until centuries after the original apostles lived—beginning with the efforts of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century AD—and that true biblical Christianity is very different! The Christianity apparently professed by the wearer of the phylactery predates the “Christianity” of Constantine, though little detail is revealed in the scroll. All this implies the presence of Christianity in the region much earlier than some previously believed. As the mayor of Frankfurt noted, “The history of Christianity in Frankfurt and far beyond will have to be turned back by around 50 to 100 years.” But why would a believer in Christ be found so far north and outside of the Roman Empire? 

 

The Bible records the travels of true Christians all over the Middle East and into Asia Minor and points north and west. In many cases, they followed migration routes set down in earlier centuries by Israelitish people making their way across Europe and toward the British Isles. The recently discovered amulet lends credence to the extent of these migrations. To learn more about where the descendants of the Israelite people are today, read or listen to The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. —Scott Winnail and Francine Prater

Adult Sabbath School: The Unteachable Robert Thiel

 

This Posting is for Robert Thiel, only, 

as I am sure he will read it shortly.  

Whatever the context, you Robert, as head of God's one surviving True Church, keep taking Isaiah 28:10 out of it.

On August 31, 2020, you repeat, for the umpteenth time, your mistaken exegesis on how one is to study the Bible. In classic WCG mode, you once again make Isaiah 28:10 mean what it never meant.

Today, and once again, you perpetuate the error...

"The Bible Supports the View that It Tends to Literally Interpret Itself"

Notice what the prophet Isaiah taught:

Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message?…For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little”… But the word of the LORD was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little,” (Isaiah 28:9,10, 13 NKJV)." Should you literally believe the Bible?

====================================================

In the past, you complained....

Dennis Diehl, and many others, have ignored and/or despised the following instructions as to how to understand doctrine: 

 

9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: (Isaiah 28:9-10,)" 

Apostate, former WCG minister, challenges COGwriter’s biblical interpretation methods: Which should you rely on? 

 

It is you, Bob, who ignoring the context and making this mean what it does not.

so once again...

How NOT to Study The Bible
(Or at least which scriptures not to use explaining how)
By The Apostate Former Minister

(Your label Bob)

 

 

Isa 28:10 (KJV) For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. 

 

 

The above scriptures, very familiar to all COG ministers and members alike, have been misquoted, misused, and misunderstood for decades. Ministers of every denomination quote them when asked "just how should we study the Bible?" It is taken to mean that one studies the Bible line by line, topic by topic, skipping over here and then over there to find similar ideas and phrases that one can simply stitch together and come up with God's eternal truths on all things.

The modern term might be called "Proof Texting". Often it is simply the "hunt and peck" method to showing what you already want to be so is so.

In our common COG experience we have the Dave Packs, Gerald Flurry, Ron Weinland types, along with the bit players in the form of yourself, who employ this tiptoeing through the Bible, "here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept " and coming up with pure trash and self-righteous drivel instructing good men everywhere how to interpret scripture through their mistaken notions about them.

Dave Pack can wander all over the Bible, Old Testament and New and come up with his weird and strange ideas about himself as spoken of by the Prophet Haggai, like anyone ever heard of Haggai, and get members gyrating in their seats. You can spend all day making Bronze Age weather explanations the modern-day ones and tell us it is how God "tries" to get our attention. They all do by looking here a little and there a little, putting line upon line together, and coming up with weird and strange explanations galore.

...they and you are mistaken.

To begin with, Isaiah is written to the drunken priests of Ephraim. I know "context" is not a word most COG ministers are familiar with, but context is important. In verse 7 we see the priests and prophets are being chided, to say the least, for being drunk with beer and wine, whether actually, figuratively or both, befuddled and stumbling while they are seeing visions and making rather important decisions. Not exactly the way to go but with the Assyrians beating on the door, understandable.

 

 

⁷ And these also stagger from wine
    and reel from beer:
Priests and prophets stagger from beer
    and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
    they stagger when seeing visions,
    they stumble when rendering decisions.
⁸ All the tables are covered with vomit
    and there is not a spot without filth.



 

 

Not a very pleasant sight and the information they come up with is, to both Isaiah and Bible God, puke.

In reality, it is Isaiah mocking these fools with the following which has been taken as "here a little, there a little, line up line, precept upon precept" and how to study the Bible. Some commentators feel this is what the priests are saying to Isaiah for chiding them. They definitely are NOT having a discussion on how to study the scriptures!

9 “Who is it he (Isaiah to the Priests or they to him in scoffing) is trying to teach?

To whom is he explaining his message? to those just taken from the breast?

To children weaned from their milk,

10 For it is:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that[a];
a little here, a little there.”



 

Translation:

Who are you talking to? (Either Isaiah to the drunken priests or they to Isaiah ) Children? You sound like children. (Or Isaiah sounds like a child to them in "Who does he think he is?" mode)
blah, blah, blah, nah nah-nah nah nah, do this, do that, rules here, rules there. Always the rules!

Bible God is mocking these men and accusing them of baby talk. In context, to me and others, it seems more of Isaiah mocking them in their drunken state than they him but either way, it is not a treatise on how to study the Bible. It's an accusing blow out between Isaiah, Bible God, and the Priests with the Assyrians waiting in the wings.

In the original Hebrew, the phrase in Isaiah 28 verses 10 and 13 is: "sav lasav sav lasav, kav lakav kav lakav" It is pure gibberish and akin to our "la la la la" and "blah blah blah." It is a mocking tone imitating the drunken gibberish of the priests and prophets of Ephraim and Judah as Assyria knocks at the door to scrape them off the earth. It might also be that the drunken priests are mocking Isaiah as It is NOT a scripture one should use to teach how to study the Bible that's for SURE!

"You want baby talk? I, the Lord, will give YOU baby talk. Want to make more fun of Isaiah? Get ready for this..."

¹³ So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
    Do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that;
    a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
    they will be injured and snared and captured.

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
    who rule this people in Jerusalem. 

 

Translation:

So then mister priest and prophet, you want to make fun of me for warning you? If that's the way you want to be then that's the way the Lord will teach you. Blah...blah...blah...nah nah nah nah nah...do this, do that. You like rules? I got rules! You will be over run by your enemies, you who rule Jerusalem. I will arrange for Assyria and the Babylonians to take you away.

(They would have no matter what, but Israel, being in the way between Africa and Europe, was always going to get overrun by someone. They spent a lot of their time trying to figure out why God was punishing them when in fact they just were in the way to the major nations seeking control as major nations are wont to do.)

 

So, there we have it. Short and simple. The next time you hear a Church of God Minister, Member or any devotee tell you that you study the Bible, "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little," just slap your head and explain it to them.

Isaiah 28:10, in CONTEXT, is Bible God/Isaiah mocking the drunken Priests of Israel (Ephraim) for issuing their rules to the people to "do this, do that" which sounds like baby talk and stupid, being drunk, while the enemies of Israel approach to take them away. It can also be viewed as the drunken priests scoffing at Isaiah first for warning them. Depends on the commentary. It cannot, however, be taken as the premier scripture on how to study the scriptures.

CONTEXT BOB.... It's not about how to study your Bible

Mysterious God

 

Southern CA Fires Are A Result Of Angy "god" Still Ticked Of About 1979

 

Armstrongism could not exist without its virulent, angry god just itching to destroy most of humanity. Unfortunately, that god is the most mentioned god in Armstrongism, except for the all-powerful Satan. 

This angry god was reinforced upon us weekly in sermons, magazine articles, and television broadcasts by Herbert Armstrong and his loyal band of Junior Gestapo agents. Members lived in fear of this god and yet were tantalized by the fact we were told we were to become little gods and godless and would be there to help hand out the punishments upon the backsliding reprobates of the sinful world.

It just frosts the butts of COG leaders and many members that the worldly people around have happier, more fruitful lives than they all do. It would be with great pleasure to see angry god come in power to wreak havoc upon the world.

The Church of God needs this to happen in order to "prove" their heretical teachings correct.

This brings us to that other self-appointed prophetic idiot, Gerald Flurry. He has this to say about the recent fires in Los Angeles and Altadena, CA.

Mile after mile of urban California is now embers and ash after the most ruinous fires in state history. Fierce winds up to 100 miles per hour ushered flames with breathtaking ferocity across roads, up hills and through neighborhoods, torching 10,000 buildings, killing at least 24 people, and leaving millions more tearfully coping with the losses. 

 

“[I]n recent days, many images of wildfire devastation coming over the newswires made the City of Angels look every bit like Hades: raging infernos, charred skeletal remains of homes, a smoke-filled amaranthine sky, weeping residents,” wrote James Hibberd for the Hollywood Reporter. “The frequency and intensity of fires statewide likewise feels new—seven of the eight largest California wildfires of all time have occurred in just the past four years” (January 8). 

 

That is fierce affliction! Why is this happening? What is the cause? There is a cause for this effect, and we must understand it.

The nation is cursed! Bob Thiel and Gerald's eyes glaze over in spiritual ecstasy at the mere thought!

Flurry continues:

With these recent fires, you will read biblical terms like Hades and apocalyptic to describe the scale of the devastation. But you have not heard any real discussion about God’s hand in these events. You will not read anything about how the Bible actually prophesies in dozens of passages of such terrible events! Over a hundred major Bible prophecies are unfolding in this end time! 

 

Yes, God foretells such curses, and He actually explains why we are being cursed! 

 

For years I have pinpointed a reason for California’s troubles that nobody else is talking about. You can read about it in those older articles I referenced. It may seem surprising, but I hope you will think seriously about it, because it truly is at the heart of what is happening in the Los Angeles area.

Did you know that one specific event in particular is what has led to these disastrous fires? It was the intervention of the State of California in the affairs of the corrupt Worldwide Church of God back in 1979.

Pasadena, California, is where Herbert W. Armstrong established the headquarters of the Worldwide Church of God (wcg) in the 1940s. He built that Church into a magnificent global work that helped millions of people through publications, television broadcasts, humanitarian projects and more, as well as local congregations all over the world. Because that was where he headquartered, his message reached California more than any place else on Earth. 

 

In 1979, the state of California launched a shocking, authoritarian and wholly unwarranted attack on Mr. Armstrong and the wcg. Guided by outrageously false allegations of financial mismanagement from disgruntled ex-ministers—despite financial and all other required records having been regularly and voluntarily filed—the state attorney general’s office took the extraordinary step of literally taking control of the Church. 

 

On January 3 of that year, they initiated a sudden armed assault on the headquarters facility. A receiver secretly appointed by the court tried to take over and operate God’s Church, seizing the Church’s assets, appropriating its income, and usurping all authority. This action utterly defied the United States Constitution, most egregiously the protection of freedom of religion. 

 

No evidence of wrongdoing by the Church was ever found. Thus, on Oct. 14, 1980, the attorney general dropped all charges and dismissed the case. Later, the appellate court ruled that the lawsuit was “without foundation.” 

 

California is the only state that ever attacked Mr. Armstrong and his work. But as Mr. Armstrong spoke out very forcefully, they were doing something much worse than that: They were attacking the living God! 

 

Old Six Pack loves to pretend that the Worldwide Church of God was a bastion of truth and upright behavior when the State came storming in. It was anything but that. Yet, Flurry and others turned this into an attack against God instead of a corrupt church.

He writes:

What a grave mistake it is to attack the living God! 

 

Is it possible that God is still cursing California because of the diabolical actions of those corrupt leaders? 

 

The late California Sen. Barbara Boxer said, “California has gone through too many tragedies and too frequently.” She was right! But why is that? Is it because the state attacked the living God? 

 

You can certainly verify that the state of California did attack God and the message of God. That was criminal, beginning to end, and a terrible sin! What happens to someone who attacks God Himself? What will God do about it? He will respond. “Vengeance is mine,” He says (Romans 12:19). 

 

This may not sound real to you—but it is reality!

Lord Six Pack claims that Herbert Armstrong. as Elijah, restored families and all things. Yet, Furry glosses over how dysfunctional Armstrong's own family was and how the church literally ripped families apart and destroyed relationships, much like he is doing today in their own cult with his appalling "no contact" ruling.

God promised to send a man in the spirit of Elijah the prophet right at the end of human history, in the days just before Jesus Christ’s return. That prophetic office was filled by Herbert W. Armstrong. That is how important he was! And he did a mighty work to build strong families: He established programs such as schools and summer camps; he provided spiritual instruction for both parents and children, including books like Why Marriage—Soon Obsolete? and The Missing Dimension in Sex (both available free upon request). Family was key to his entire 50-plus-year ministry.

In Matthew 17:10-11, Christ spoke of this same end-time Elijah, and said that he would “restore all things.” He established the true doctrines of the Bible in the Church of God, just as God prophesied he would. He was here, and now he has died and is gone.

Lord Six Pack continues blaming the ministry who rebelled against Herbert and the law of the Worldwide Church of God (note: This means YOU, Bob Thiel!). 

The prophecy of Malachi is a strong warning aimed at God’s own ministers who rebelled against Him. In these verses that conclude the book, God says, You must bring families together—physical families, and the Family of God, the way Mr. Armstrong did. If you fail, you will lose your salvation unless you wake up! The “curse” in Malachi 4:6 is the loss of eternal life! This is the strongest warning you could imagine! 

 

Oh, how our society needs strong families! But families are being broken apart more and more. God says that is a great sin. Surely you can see that a strong nation needs strong families. A nation without solid families is very weak. 

 

God’s Word teaches us how to build our families, if only we will listen. There is mind-staggering hope in that—and in the fact that very soon, God will be building the Family all over Earth!

Sadly, Armstrongism has destroyed more families than anyone dares to imagine.  Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, X, Reddit, and countless other groups are filled with horror stories of what Armstrongism has done to individuals and families. There is NOTHING godly about Armstrongism and its hundreds of splinter groups, particularly when it comes to some of the more malevolent degenerates littering the COG landscape today.

Incompetent government officials, a once-in-a-decade Santa Ana wind of up to 100 mph, a spark from a Southern CA Edison power lies, dry shrubbery, and happenstance led to this disaster (at least in Altadena). Stop blaming everything on the petty, pathetic, pissed off god of Armstrongism. That god will never be satisfied. Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack, and Bob Thiel are making sure of that.

 

New Video: From Worldwide Church of God Cult Kid to Atheist: Lisa’s Journey of Deconstruction and Healing

 

Welcome to the Apostate Sisters Interview Series! In this episode, we sit down with Lisa, a fellow survivor of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), who shares her incredible journey of deconstruction, resilience, and self-discovery. Lisa's story begins as a freshman at Ambassador College when the 1994 doctrinal changes shook the foundation of the WCG and changed the trajectory of her life. From navigating other religious environments, earning a Master of Divinity, and working as a hospital chaplain, to ultimately embracing atheism while serving as a missionary, Lisa’s journey is a profound testament to living with integrity. In this candid and enlightening conversation, Lisa discusses: The impact of the WCG’s 1994 changes on her faith and identity. Her experiences as a hospital chaplain and the fascinating insight that religious delusions are universal in such cases. Deconstructing religion, gender, and god while reclaiming her voice. How her time as a missionary brought her to the realization that she no longer believed in god. Lisa is sassy, smart, and full of insights about the process of healing after a high-control religious environment. If you’ve ever questioned your faith, struggled with your beliefs, or sought to reclaim your own voice, this episode is a must-watch. 💬 Join the conversation! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments. 🎥 Subscribe to the Apostate Sisters for more survivor stories and healing journeys! Socials and Support Links: YouTube: /‪@ApostateSisters‬ Subscribe and Click that bell! Instagram:   / apostatesisters   Facebook:   / apostatesisters   TikTok:   / apostatesisters   BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/apostatesist... 🌟 Support Our Work: Patreon: https://bsky.app/profile/apostatesist... Supers now available on the channel! Give us a thanks!