If Your _____Church of God Sounds Like an Interstate Trucking Company Beware

I don't know why but this picture just cannot be taken seriously!  There is something really wrong with it!

But I digress -

There is a great Facebook page that takes on Armstrongism.  It is by Mark Lax, a person I have not heard from in a while.  He has some great article son Armstrongism in the past.

His favorite target in the article is David Pack.  Lax does not leave many stones unturned concerning Pack.

Check out his page here:  David Pack Internet Cult Guru

I consider cults to be a confidence game. This is not my general stance on religion, organized or otherwise. The single aspect that distinguishes a cult from a religion is that cults exist purely to make money. It is a no inventory money making scheme.

Most cults represent themselves as Christian congregations, often hiding behind names with the words ‘ecumenical’, ‘whole bible’, ‘community’, ‘congregational’ or ‘Baptist’ in their titles. These words can signify that the church is a one man show with no oversight as to doctrine or finances.

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It’s a death cult. It’s an end of the world sect. Outside of the United Church of God (*1), all of these groups are sole proprietorships, accountable to no one but their operators. There are over 400 of these churches, all with some internet presence. With probably fifty paying members, David Pack’s Restored Church of God is a middleweight in this rather crowded field.

Most of these churches, including Pack’s and the United Church of God are split offs from Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God (previously known as the Radio Church of God.) Pack’s choice of the word ‘Restored’ has little to do with his activities and more to do with making the initials of his church RCoG, which is what the original Radio Church of God was known by. Initials are weirdly important in the Church of God movement.

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My rule of thumb is that the more whatever is before or after the words ‘Church of God’ sounds like the name of an interstate trucking firm, the more certain you can be that it is Armstrongist. Although using many Christian terms and co-opting a generic Baptist name, Armstrongism is neither Christian nor Baptist. The teachings of Jesus are entirely irrelevant to the faith and the character of Jesus has been replaced by Lovecraft’s Cthulhu—although not literally. It seems both Lovecraft and Armstrong had the same ideas about powerful entities.

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Herbert W. Armstrong preached that the end of the world was immediately at hand for over fifty years. That was his drawing card, but only the tip of the iceberg when it came to his teachings. Most Churches of God recycle Armstrong’s teachings while avoiding reiteration of his specific prophesies.

With good reason. Armstrong's predictions were comically wrong.

Armstrong has been dead for a very long time at this point. There is no longer any real governing body to the Churches of God anymore. The current crop of Churches of God make eclectic use of Armstrong’s works.

Armstrong himself was very much a cult leader and the other Churches of God are set up to follow his floor-plan. It’s had a fairly nice long run, as is. Pack’s innovations on the basic design are more a matter of his own circumstances than any real desire to change the religion. Since few of you are likely to be familiar with either the basic design or Pack’s variations, I will lightly touch on both.

1. The leader of the church (called Pastor General or Apostle or Witness) has earned his position through the possession of amazing magic powers. Powers typically claimed include:

A. The ability to predict the future.

B. The ability to detect signs within current events as they relate to a timeline in bible prophesy. The timeline is done in terms of church eras, leading to the current Philadelphia era. Most sects will have to come up with their own timeline. Armstrong’s first timeline ended with WWII being the start of the Great Tribulation. His other timeline ended in the early 1970s, after which he abandoned the entire timeline idea altogether. It is a big draw, however and every cult leader needs his own.


C. The ability to project an aura of protection from disease and misfortune. All continued good health of the flock is dependent upon this aura radiating from the leader. All increased fortune is attributed to this aura and should be paid for through first fruit offerings.

D. The ability to cast out demons. Demons consider the proto-elect (flock members) very special bon bons and are always trying to fill their minds with bad attitudes. Demons are also the cause of disease and misfortune. If disease or misfortune or a bad attitude persist after having been cast out by the leader, it is a sign that the follower is defective (not actually a proto-elect after all, but perhaps a fringer.)(*2)

E. Uncommon wisdom comprehensively covering all social and consumer transactions. Primarily this means having an opinion on everything. A firm answer is often more inspired than a sound one. (Avoid math and tax law questions.) Be glib, if you can. Be smug, if you can’t. Any question can be answered by rebuking the follower for their carnal. worldly minds. If you do not have the answer, the question must be wrong.

F. Additive powers may include claiming a special relationship with Herbert W. Armstrong, claiming that you are the reincarnation of a biblical figure or claiming to have inside information from Jesus himself. Go easy on the Jesus thing. In Armstrongism, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are the same thing--and only a dotted line management level between Armstrong and the Great God.

David Pack does all of the above, although he is a little light on A and B. Like many leaders in it for the long haul, he reiterates those teachings that Armstrong didn’t contradict by both example and edict (Armstrong contradicted all of his own teachings by either example or edict.) Pack is one of the youngest cult leaders to have actually been ordained by Herbert W. Armstrong directly. His first wife worked as Herbert W. Armstrong’s secretary for a time, so Pack can claim some knowledge of his master’s inner workings. To hear Pack tell it, he had many phone conversations with Armstrong over the years. Pack main magic powers are C and E. (He actually is very glib.) As a unique but unspecified additive, Pack claims to be a ‘God-called’ preacher. He is the spiritual advisor of the two witnesses of Revelation, who are (unnamed) members of his flock. And he’s an Apostle.

There is a whole lot more here to read:   David Pack Internet Cult Guru

God Speaks To Dave Pack

Dave Pack: God's Greatest Gift To Humanity

 There is something not quit right about this guy!  It shows in his face and demeanor.

Poor Dave Pack. he gets no respect!  But one can only respect that which is honorable and there is NOTHING honorable about Dave Pack.  Arrogant, pompous, self-serving, liar, false teacher, false apostle, and wanna-be HWA clone, are just a few of the words one could ascibe to Pack. He considers himself to be the worlds foremost Biblical scholar and his web site contains more Biblical information than any other site in the entire world.


UK Apologetics had this to say about Pack:

According to his own website, after attending Ambassador College, David C. Pack,

"...entered the Worldwide Church of God ministry in 1971 and was personally trained by Herbert W. Armstrong. He has established over 50 congregations, authored more than 20 books, written hundreds of booklets and articles, and appeared on The History Channel. As Editor-in-Chief of The Real Truth magazine and voice of The World to Come program, he has reached millions around the globe with the most powerful truths of the Bible, unknown to almost all."

There is appalling arrogance there. If somebody other than Mr Pack wrote these comments he needs to move quickly to remove the arrogant tone. But if - as one suspects - the comments appear with his approval, one can only gasp at a man who would claim that he alone reaches "millions around the globe" with an authentic Bible message which is "unknown to almost all." To be frank, this is typical of the amazing arrogance of the armstrongists. So, according to the reasoning which the "Restored Church of God" encourages us to accept, forget about Aquinas, forget about Luther, forget about Calvin, forget about John Wesley, CH Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and all the rest - until Herbert Armstrong came along we knew virtually nothing about the Bible and now - how wonderful! - Mr Pack is devoutly and selflessly continuing in his path. Herbert, of course, was full of an arrogance and (entirely misplaced) confidence just like that so it is perhaps no shock to find his disciples inheriting the very same trait.
In the very same, Who is David C. Pack? article on his website, Mr Pack (or, one presumably writing with his authority), modestly points out that in order to attend Ambassador College, he declined an invitation to attend Dartmouth College, as well as an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, plus numerous other scholarship offers. Hmm. What a very able and clever young man! Continuing in the same line of modesty, the article further tells us that,

"...he has traveled the world, pastored thousands and conducted many public Bible lectures. Mr. Pack has also held a number of leadership positions that have given him a wide range of ministerial and administrative experience."

Yep, while this may all be perfectly accurate, the impression is that this is real 'CV' material of the most embellished kind. Moreover, we are told that Mr Pack's writing is,

"Published on the most extensive biblically based websites in the world, Mr. Pack’s and the Church’s materials address the everyday concerns of the average man and woman..."

Of course, the unpalatable truth (for the armstrongists) is that no "biblically-based website" would allow any material coming from Mr Pack or any armstrongist disciple anywhere near their website unless the purpose should be to critique it, as we are doing right here.

Pam Dewey has this to say on her Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion: Worldwide Church of God Family Tree page:

Although Pack did have some folks follow him out of the GCG, that was a bit surprising for many people.

Here is how the Ambassador Report put it back in 1985 when Pack was still a minister in the WCG:

 

"For a number of years now, no WCG minister's name has  appeared more often in letters written to the Report complaining of  ministerial abuse.  A group of members was even so brazen as to  circulate an open letter detailing his abuses and calling for his  removal.  According to this group, he "intimidated members, used threats  and mind control, was given to emotion outbursts, disfellowshipped  members for trivial faults, prescribed diets while playing M.D., put  down women," etc., etc.

The letter quoted Pack as saying, "Everyone who has challenged me has  either died, been seriously injured or has been eliminated from the  work...God backs me even if I am wrong."

 

Someone who had been an insider in the Global Church of God, before Rod Meredith left to form the Living Church of God, confirmed to me that Pack's reputation was identical within that organization at the time, with numerous complaints from people coming in about his tactics all the time.  

In spite of all that, Pack did gather a following. Over the years since then there have been numerous defections from his ministry, but he has also gained more supporters, both from other WCG splinter groups and from the public via the Internet.

Like Gerald Flurry before him (whose claims Pack mocks) David Pack claims to have inherited Herbert Armstrong’s mantle. He also claims that his organization follows the teachings of Herbert Armstrong more closely than any other WCG splinter group.

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As of an astonishing sermon given in February 2005, he declared himself to be the only Apostle of our time, and insisted that he will be personally "training" those two individuals who will end up being the “Two Witnesses of Revelation.” You can see a detailed overview of that sermon on the Exit and Support Network website.