And Here We Go Again...Sheldon Monson Sets Up His Own Feast Site

 

Most of us realized it would only be a matter to time till Sheldon Monson branched out on his own and started a new splinter group. What else is a wayward COG minister to do when they leave or get kicked out of something that has controlled every aspect of their life? They know nothing else. While some men do leave and get real jobs and live fulfilled lives OUTSIDE of the COG, far too many of them end up being like Bob Thiel who thinks God is leading them into some kind of imaginary end-time work. 

One thing is for sure, COG ministers are a rebellious lot who on one hand preach following government, and on the other, flip church government the middle finger whenever it doesn't fit their imagined paradigm. It has always been a matter of what's good for the member is never good for the minister.

The best thing about this is that we all know that the boys in the Living Church of God will NOT be happy! LCG deserves all of this right now. If Weston had not had a hissy fit and acted out in anger and had resolved this issue in a graceful loving Christian manner, then there probably would not be an issue. But then, when has COG leadership ever acted in a graceful loving Christian manner????

This was just sent to me:

Sheldon has officially set up his own feast site. The ink is dry in the hall rental. I’ll send details as soon as I have confirmation. I know that it’s MO but I’m not sure if it’s Lake Ozarks or Branson. He’s doing online festival registration and everything. I’m appalled that he’s doing this but we can’t really be surprised because this is what Armstrong people do. The only silver lining is that it will piss off LCG which pleases me lol. I

Church of God News has this:

Sheldon Monson – Living Church of God 

Sheldon Monson confirmed in his announcements during the Sabbath service on August 29th that he is starting a significant breakaway group from the Living Chuch of God, referring to the several hundred people watching online, and that “many of you are meeting in homes, some of you in church halls already.” 

 

A Festival of Tabernacles venue has been organized at Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake of the Ozarks, Osage Beach, Missouri. He said that the meeting space booked will hold up to 900 people, and they would not have to wear masks and could sing. 

 

The situation outside the meeting hall is different. The Resort’s Health & Safety Update, August 11th, states: “Face coverings will be required for all guests and team members age two years and older in our indoor public spaces and common areas. 

 

Due to our concern for public health and the well-being of our guests and associates, we have adjusted our normal operations in order to promote social distancing.”

Defending Sheldon Monson and What It Is Like To Be Mistreated By Living Church of God Leaders

 

I have gone back and forth several times about commenting here. But, ultimately, I feel that I need to comment more than I care about what people think about the fact that I'm posting on this forum. You see, although I am no longer a part of Armstrongism, my family is and I love and respect them all and would hate to upset them. That being said, I can't remain silent. 

When I read what LCG was doing to Sheldon Monson I was completely shocked. Not that LCG would over-react or be unfair, because that has come to be their standard method of operation, but that they would do this to Sheldon.

Reading about what they did to him has triggered so many emotions within me. Mr. Weston's letters literally create a physiological response within my being. The trauma that LCG inflicted upon me was the worst thing I have ever gone through and reading about Sheldon brought all that pain back up to the surface. I wonder if I will ever be completely free of it. 

I know exactly how it feels to lose all your friends. I know how shocking it is to be going along, thinking everything will work out after being called into to HQ to "talk" only to be blindsided by the men at LCG headquarters a few days later. I know what it feels like to be shunned by friends that you truly loved with all of your heart only because the Presiding Evangelist tells them they can't associate you any more without risking their own security within the church or worse. I know what it feels like to find out you've been marked via a FedEx letter instead of a personal phone call or meeting. I know exactly how Sheldon Monson,his wife and his kids feel right now and it pains me.

My heart goes out to Sheldon and his wife and children who were as integrated into LCG as much as anyone could possibly be. This is a wound from which they will never fully recover. Sure, they will move on and hopefully they learn from this but one can never really be the same after being butchered by the high and mighty men at LCG.

All of that aside, the comment that was burning within me so much that I ultimately decided to post on this forum, is in defense of Sheldon Monson.

I first met Sheldon and his wife when they were in ministerial training in Kansas City (2002 or 2003 I think). We became friends. He is a genuinely nice person. He is loving and sincere. He has a huge heart and is fun to be around. He loves God and is a talented speaker and excellent camp leader. More than anything he is genuine which is not a characteristic of minsters (or members) in LCG. Whether you liked it or not, he had the courage to be who he really was without pretense. In a church full of fake people, he had the bravery to be real. He was the same person to your face and behind your back. He was the same person whether he was with the COE or drinking beer with you on the back porch. Did I agree with everything he believed? Hell no! In fact I ardently disagreed with many of his beliefs. But I appreciated his candor, openness and courage to be who he is, like it or not. I loved that we could utterly disagree and openly debate topics and then continue to be friends. People like that are rare in this life. People like that are almost non-existent in Armstrongism. His reputation deserves to be defended. He's a good guy and Mr. Weston should be ashamed that he couldn't handle this situation more maturely with the Fruits of the Spirit.

I was shocked that hardly anybody had the courage to stand up and defend my husband and myself When LCG unjustly marked us. People who know our character sat in cowardly silence instead of saying something as they watched them destroy us and tell lie after lie about us. But guess what? I am not that person. I will defend those who deserve it. I will stand up when good people are brutalized by LCG headquarters. I will openly love those whom I chose to openly love and no man will ever have the authority to tell me who I can fellowship with. I am not afraid. I am ruled by God Almighty and not by the small, egocentric, insecure men that sell fear in an effort to control their members. I am free.

Sheldon Monson was one of very few in LCG that went to bat defending my husband and my character repeatedly during my fiasco with LCG in 2014. After that, he continued to make a concerted effort to remain our friend and to show us out-flowing love and concern. He was the only minister in all of LCG that acted like a shepherd. The rest of LCG ministry scraped us off their shoes like dog poop. Even ministers that knew us as well as a person can possibly know another and that includes Gerald Weston. Mr. Weston knows us better than most. He counseled us for marriage prior to leaving KC and he baptized my husband. He has stayed at my home more times than I can count. We are very well acquainted. Yet he did nothing because he lacks the fortitude to do the right thing. 

Sheldon was specifically told not to affiliate with my husband or me in 2014 but he refused to comply on the grounds that until we gave him a reason to believe we were bad people, he simply wouldn't cut us out of his life just because Rod Meredith told him to. if only more people in LCG thought like him! He continued to go out to dinner with us and check in on us even after the marking. One night we got busted by Jim Meredith who promptly ran to his daddy to tattle tail. When Rod Meredith called Sheldon up to his office the next day to ask if it was in fact true that he had gone out to dinner with us, he courageously said, "yes" and defended our character once again. That is the kind of character Sheldon Monson has. He is a stand-up guy. 

Is he perfect? No. But who is?

I know that ultimately this will be one of the best things that ever happens to Sheldon, even though it might be insanely painful. It was for me. I saw the true character of people who called themselves my friends. I saw the true character of men pretending to be ministers of God. My eyes were opened to the nature of these people. I have found happiness and I have a connection with the Almighty that I could have never attained in a church that can not even begin to conceive of the love of God because they themselves only understand conditional love. I am love. The love of Christ flows abounds within me and fills my being. I have a connection to Source that no man can ever alter. He is mine and I am His. I wish the best to all who read this. Be real. I promise it's worth it.

PS: If you are in a "church" that tells you not to be friends with good people, you might be in a cult
PPS: I would like to personally thank every minister and member of LCG for setting me free through your harsh and unloving actions. 

With Love & Light,
Elizabeth Scarborough

BREAKING: Gerald Weston Letter "Marking" Sheldon Monson

 

This truly has to be one of the most pathetic and appalling "marking" letters I have ever seen. The excuses Weston makes in it are childish, petty, and spiteful.

Weston claims that the leading men of the LCG and those on the church council are men of integrity who stood up against "rank apostasy" years ago and rightfully started 2 separate splinter churches. The thing about this is that these men are just like the men of United Church of God who while they were still employed by the Worldwide Church of God plotted and schemed in the background to start a new church in order to keep their income coming in, or waited quietly in WCG till Global and/or Living was established and THEN made the jump, ensuring their money was waiting for them.

Weston comes across like the pope bellowing in a fit of anger that he was challenged.

From an LCG source:

Weston marked Monson for giving that sermon on YouTube last week. So freakin predictable!

See below.

From: Living Church  

Subject: Member Letter - August 19 2020

Reply-To: Living Church of God <media@lcg.org>

August 19, 2020

Dear Brethren,

God tells us that He hates the sowing of discord (Proverbs 6:14, 16-19). We are instructed in Romans 16:17, “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.” As most of you already know, Mr. Sheldon Monson has chosen to leave the Living Church of God ministry, walking contrary to the wisdom of the Council of Elders, which did their best in a loving manner to help him see he was on the wrong path.

The Council is made up of members who put their lives on the line—many times, literally. Some of them work and travel in some of the most dangerous parts of the earth, and they press on in faith, putting their health and lives at risk, to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom and serve the Body of Christ. The Council is filled with men who stood up in the face of rank apostasy when the Worldwide Church of God began to abandon the Sabbath and Holy Days; return to Sunday, Christmas, Easter, and Halloween; introduce old Catholic and Protestant ideas of the immortal soul, heaven as the reward of the saved, and an ever-burning hell; reject Christ’s commission to preach the true Gospel to the world; and so much more. There is no comparison to then and now. Does anyone seriously think men such as Mr. Richard Ames, Dr. Douglas Winnail, Messrs. Mario Hernandez, Rand Millich, Lambert Greer, Dan Hall, Rick Stafford, Peter Nathan, Rob Tyler, Dr. Jeffrey Fall, and many other long-time ministers, who stood up against the apostasy, would take the Church in that direction? 

We do not deny that there are sometimes controversial issues, even about what measures Christ expects us to take during the Sabbath and Holy Days in showing love to our most vulnerable members in the light of this coronavirus (and even if for only a limited time of “present distress”). However, God gives clear instructions on how controversial issues are to be settled in the Church (Acts 15; Ephesians 4:11-16; Deuteronomy 17:8-13). And many scriptures warn us against self-will (Titus 1:7; Proverbs 3:5; 18:1-2; Judges 21:25).

There were other men, even during summer camp, who warned Mr. Monson that he was going down the wrong path. But, when he realized that not one of the Council members agreed with him, he chose to leave our ministry of the Living Church of God. Recent events indicate he has made the further decision to start his own work, effectively causing division within some families and congregations. We must therefore inform you that Mr. Sheldon Monson is, by his actions, causing division, and according to scripture, we are to take note of such individuals and avoid contact with them.

Sincerely, in Christ’s service,

Gerald E. Weston

The Fly in the Ointment: When disfellowshipped members don't stay silent

When a person leaves or is pushed out of one of the Armstrong Churches of God, those who remain expect them to tuck their tails between their legs and never have the audacity to speak or show their faces again. Unfortunately for them, many of us have not gone quietly into the night.

After all, leaving or disfellowshipping is supposed to remove the offending person from the church and cut them off from sowing any more mischief or discord within that body. The leadership of the church expects to be able to both characterize the person who has left and project the agenda and message of the church without hindrance going forward.

Imagine their consternation when someone whom they believe they have eliminated decides to challenge them. It must be infuriating for them to be confronted by someone whom they have labeled as being wrong. “NO, I’m not wrong – YOU are wrong!” That’s simply not supposed to happen. They are supposed to be able to control the narrative.

The thing that infuriates these folks more than any other is that one or more of these rejects would have the audacity to stand up against God’s anointed ones! It infuriates them, and they see Satan as being behind any and all such efforts. It is simply incomprehensible to them that one of their minions would regain their independence and stand on their own two feet again – to begin thinking for themselves once again.

Worse yet, they no longer have the means to control the access which these disgruntled folks have to the folks who have stayed behind – the internet has made that virtually impossible. It has to be frustrating to realize that there is absolutely no way to regulate what folks do in the privacy of their own homes. And with blogs, tweets, Facebook and e-mail everyone has a means now – a forum to reach the public. Yeah, the genie is out of the bottle, and there’s no stuffing him back down inside there!

Of course, from the perspective of those who have escaped these cults, the freedom to help others and make them aware of the hurts and harms that these cults have inflicted on so many is very appealing. We no longer have to suffer in silence and slink away into oblivion. We have a voice, and the cult’s leadership no longer has the ability to stifle, dismiss or suppress it!

Lonnie Hendrix

LCG Member Readership Here Jumps Due To Weston Kicking Monson and Fritts Out Of LCG

 

Every once in awhile a loyal LCG member will pop on here and make the accusation that no one in LCG reads this site. We know that is not true.  

The day Rod Meredith said from the pulpit for members not to read this blog, the viewership shot up.  

Articles on Living Church of God and Restored Church of God draw the most views.  

The recent article about Weston firing and disfellowshipping  Monson and Fritts is now at, 2,590 views. 

LCG members know they never get the full story when news comes out of Charlotte. COG leaders have never been transparent with things that go on in their groups. It is actually pretty pathetic that LCG members have to come here to find things out their own church.

UPDATED: LCG Breaking News: LCG Members Outraged After Weston Fires Sheldon Monson and Jason Fritts Over Masks

From an LCG source:

LCG fired 2 ministers today. One was a long-standing COE member. The members are outraged. These 2 were extremely loved and in charge of the youth ministry. Sheldon was in charge of their camps (which just wrapped up). Weston is citing masks as the reason (comical and lame) but we all know that’s just the pathetic excuse they’ve come up with.

Sheldon Monson Jason Fritts

August 7, 2020 Dear Brethren, It is with a sad heart that I must announce that Sheldon Monson and Jason Fritts are no longer in the ministry of the Living Church of God. We spent four and a half hours on Monday of this week with both of them discussing differences over masks, singing, how faith is exercised, and a few other issues. Then we held a Council of Elders meeting yesterday with Mr. Monson and 16 other members and advisors of the Council for another four and a half hours. Today Dr. Douglas Winnail and I talked with Mr. Monson on the phone and he agreed that we have come to a parting of ways. We also spent more than two hours with Mr. Fritts and could not reach an agreement on these subjects. We do not have personal animosity toward either of these men. Mr. Monson has been a faithful minister for many years and Mr. Fritts, though younger, has also served faithfully for a number of years. We want to make this breach between us as painless and amicable as possible, but it is impossible as an ordained minister to hold different views of how to conduct services during this temporary time of stress and not cause division, no matter how sincerely held those views may be. Even without intending to do so, this causes confusion and fragmentation among members of the Church. It is important to understand the reasons for some of the decisions the Church has made and that were confirmed by 16 longtime ministers yesterday in the Council. And let me assure you that these are not all “yes men,” as those of you who know them can attest. We truly wanted to find a way to work through our differences so that we all speak the same thing, as Paul admonished in 1 Corinthians 1:10. We will explain the doctrinal issues and biblical principles in the services livestreamed from Charlotte this Sabbath to North America and believe that the overwhelming majority of you will understand. The Bible is replete with admonitions concerning how God views division and those who cause division, and is just as clear about the wisdom of avoiding such individuals. This does not mean that we see each other as enemies. If anything, we should pray for one another with a sincere heart, that they may be able to walk with us in unity in the near future. But for now, we are left with no other choice but to agree to disagree. Brethren, we must be unified as one body doing the Work God has given us to do. Christ warns us that a “house divided against itself will not stand” (Matthew 12:25). Our world is falling apart around us. Satan is very active in dividing the world right now, and he would love to do the same in the Church. God has blessed us greatly during this time, and we are doing our best to walk through the many open doors He has thrust on us in the last several months, so it is no surprise that Satan is attacking us now through sincere, well-meaning, but confused individuals. Brethren, please do not get caught up in the politics of this world and issues such as whether to wear a mask or not. Here is a letter from one of our members and what she sees: Thank you for the work you are doing. Life today in this world is so different than I ever thought it would be, although I knew that these things would happen. I am praying for you, please continue to pray for all of us in the work. This is truly a difficult time, and it may be a time when God is sifting the wheat from the tares again. I am beginning to see division in the Church because of the dumbest thing ever, “masks.” I pray that we all see the one behind all of this and realize that nothing, absolutely nothing happens without God’s permission. It is so sad. This is a trying time for all of us. Pray that we don’t allow ourselves to fall into Satan’s trap. I see how Satan is trying to separate us (me) from the love of God. He is astute and we (I) must keep crawling to God for deliverance from Satan, the world, and ourselves. My biggest problem is me! Life today seems bleak, please pray fervently that we are able to celebrate the Feast together this year and focus on God’s Kingdom, coming to replace this world’s kingdom. May God bless you, your wife, and all my beautiful family in Christ out at headquarters and around the world. Thank you all for giving all you have to do God’s work. The magazines, letters, sermons, programs, Viewpoints, Whiteboards, Living Education, and so much more freely offered to us all are incredibly helpful. God gives us many passages of scripture on how to handle matters of controversy in the Church. To say that you believe Jesus is the Head of the Church and then reject all the scriptures proving how He guides His Church when there are matters of controversy is showing a lack of faith in His leadership. Why is it, my friends, that we believe Jesus is active as the Head of the Church and guides the servants He has appointed to lead His Church only so long as they agree with us? Walking by faith is essential, but, brethren, we need to ask ourselves: Is it up to each person individually to define “faith” in terms of wearing or not wearing a mask and singing or not singing during this “present distress” (1 Corinthians 7:26)? Is it truly biblical? One not-so-peripheral issue in the first-century Church of God was circumcision. It was a big deal, where people had plenty of scriptural “evidence” on both sides. God provided that account in Acts as just one of many examples that teach us how Christ settles matters of controversy within His Body. Paul instructed the divided Corinthian congregation, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-2). Some may wonder whether we will still have summer camps and the answer is an emphatic YES. We will have them as long as God permits us to do so! We have every intention to continue with our youth camps. I have spent 28 years working with our young people at our camps, and we have no intention of abandoning them. Please be assured that, overwhelmingly, the membership is loyal and has faith in Christ to lead His Church. As all of us understand, it is our responsibility not to get caught up in disputes over masks and other matters, but to preach the Kingdom of God. Let us not walk in fear but in faith, boldly doing the Work set before us while there is still time. Sincerely, in Christ’s service, Gerald E. Weston

The Living Dead

 

The Living Dead

By

Lonnie Hendrix/Miller Jones

 

Those who leave the Armstrong Churches of God (or are disfellowshipped) are often regarded by those who remain as the living dead. It is like the two hunters who shoot a deer and watch it continue to run for a few more feet. “He’s already dead,” one hunter comments. “Yep, he just doesn’t know it yet,” the other agrees.

A person who was formerly regarded as a friend and brother suddenly becomes persona non grata. Last Sabbath, he was one of God’s saints; and, today, he is the servant of Satan. Oh sure, some of the saints have convinced themselves that it is an act of love to reject the person. They tell themselves that they have rejected this person for their own good, so that they will repent and come back into the fold. Never mind, that that almost never happens.

“I still believe in Jesus Christ,” is not accepted. “I haven’t left God’s Church,” doesn’t work either. “No man has the authority to remove me from God’s Church or rescind my salvation,” falls on deaf ears.

It’s like the farmer who happens up on an overturned car full of used car salesmen and proceeds to dig a hole and bury vehicle and all. “Were any of them still alive?” an incredulous bystander asks him. “Well,” the farmer replies, “a couple of them said they were still alive, but you know you can’t believe a word those people say!”

And it’s especially wrenching when one leaves behind family members – when the person doing the shunning is a parent, spouse, child or sibling. To say that it is hurtful or soul-destroying to come to the realization that you aren’t as important to your loved one as the Church, doesn’t seem to do justice to the emotion that the one who has been abandoned is feeling. On the other side, the thinking is something like this: “I might as well get used to doing without them – After all, they’re NOT going to be in God’s Kingdom!”

If it wasn’t so heartbreaking, one would be tempted to laugh at the twisted reasoning, and the perversion of love. But it is sad - extremely sad. And too many people have experienced this pain.

Brenda Denzler: "...the day I was disfellowshipped, it felt like the earth literally weaved and wobbled under my feet"

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You

One survivor on "New Normals" and living through "apocalyptic" times that reveal who we really are.

BY BRENDA DENZLER

PUBLISHED MARCH 31, 2020  www.curetoday.com 

I have faced the apocalypse three times, now, in my life. I managed to come through the first two. Not unscathed…but I did survive. However, the world that I knew afterward was not the same one I'd known before.

The first time it happened I was 30 years old. When I was in my early teens, I'd joined a large fundamentalist religious cult that preached the end of the world by about 1975. Of course, that didn't happen, but personally, it more or less did. I wound up leaving the church in 1982 — getting kicked out actually. As I walked over to a neighbor's house the day I was disfellowshipped, it felt like the earth literally weaved and wobbled under my feet. It was a blow to lose the world I'd known for fifteen years. All the things I thought I knew, all the things I'd done because that was just what good, righteous people do…. All gone. Life went on, however, a new and different life than the one I'd thought I'd have.

The second time was in 2009 when I was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. Another little apocalypse, but this time it challenged not just my worldview and my way of being in the world, but my life itself. Like the first time, I survived this, too. I was lucky. But also like the first time, my life was never the same. This time, though, there was a name for what I was facing — a "new normal."

Today, I'm in the middle of the third apocalypse of my life: the COVID-19 pandemic. No…that's not quite right. This time "we" are in a little apocalypse, not just me by myself. And we're not in the middle of it at all — we've only just begun.

Our way of being in the world is changing every day. Things we thought we knew, things that we thought were truths and steadfast parts of our lives that we could pretty much rely upon, are being revealed as only provisionally true or frankly untrue. Almost everything is in flux for us now, like the ground that moved under my feet decades ago when my personal world shifted on its axis.

We will, however, find a collective new normal. Eventually. I've never liked the term. It makes it sound like everything gets OK again. It's maybe just a little different, but it's basically just like it was before. Before the world fell apart due to a belief system collapse or due to a cancer diagnosis. That's not true though. As many cancer survivors know, a "new normal" always means leaving something behind, something that you inevitably miss.

I miss the certainty and reassurance of being a fundamentalist — of having my world consist of blacks and whites, wrongs and rights cosmic checklists that I can mark off to make sure that I'm OK and in God's good graces. I miss the way I felt good before cancer, a feeling of well-being and the ability to do things that are now beyond me, not to mention the assumption (false though it was) that the future only holds more of the same.

Today, I also miss the way I lived before COVID-19. Coming and going as I pleased, knowing that if I went to the grocery store I'd be able to get whatever I needed, not worrying about whether my high-risk status dooms me to my worst nightmare: the choice between drowning in the waste products from my own COVID-infected, self-destructing lungs or having a tube pushed down my throat to try to force oxygen into me--or being denied that because I'm too old at 66. I worry about the safety of my family and my friends. I am scared senseless at the unnecessary magnitude of the economic collapse that threatens to bedevil us as surely as the late effects of cancer treatments.

I only know one thing for sure. It's a thing that most cancer survivors already know: What doesn't kill you, makes you. It doesn't make you stronger, or prettier, or healthier or more kind or charitable…. It just makes you more of whatever you already are.

We will find a new normal, once this global mini-apocalypse has passed (at least, in its extreme form). What that new normal will be like is up to us. We will lose something, for sure. We will have to mourn what we've lost. But there will be no going back. What we are left with will have to do; it will have to be - or become - good enough.

Take a look in the mirror. Take a look at everyone around you in your life. Take a look at the human race. We are in the process of becoming more of whatever we already are, and we're going to have to live with it for a long time. Let's do what we each can to make it our best. As John Denver said in his song, The Eagle and the Hawk, "reach for the heavens and hope for the future, and all that we can be and not what we are."

Be safe. Stay well. Help others.

Brenda Denzler

Dave Pack Exposes the Duplicitous Actions of United Church of God Leaders As They Started Up UCG

After Dave Pack rebelled against Pasadena and WCG due tot eh doctrinal changes he decided to join forces with Rod Meredith.  What he describes below proves once again how duplicitous the leadership of the United Church of God was.  Not only did Kubik and others sit in church-owned housing, while still on WCG payroll as they planned UCG, they also manipulated the church in order to get as much money as they could before that left for UCG.  Pack's comments below also show what a total jerk Rod Meredith was in starting up Global Church of God.

It was March 7, 1993. For the first time since 1972, Mr. Pack was unemployed—only this time the family was also without a vehicle! The Packs could not afford and never had a second car. He also had no computer to communicate through email.

The Worldwide Church of God gave him only two weeks severance pay for his over two decades of service in the ministry, plus a few days of any unused vacation that all terminated ministers received by policy. The small severance was because the Packs had officially declared that they were going with another organization. This made them, also by policy, “opponents” of the WCG. Virtually all other ministers, most of whom that would leave would do so two years later, would receive one week of pay for every year that they were in the ministry—because they did not immediately declare their new allegiance. These waited until the larger check had cleared the bank. This was made possible by high-ranking sympathizers in Pasadena carefully coaching them step by step regarding exactly what (and what not) to do, and when.

Mr. Pack took a deep breath and resolved to move forward—regardless of giant obstacles ahead.

But what about a car? The Packs had insufficient money to buy one.

Since the Global Church of God had been in existence for just two months, there were only about 275 members worldwide. There were a handful of deacons and local church elders to help, but no full-time ministers had yet been hired into the field. Mr. Pack was the first. The fledgling organization had limited resources. The tithe-paying base was small. The headquarters could not afford to advance a down payment for a car.

Understanding the crucial juncture facing God’s people, Mr. Pack could not let days, let alone weeks, go by. There was work to do!

His very first action as a yet unpaid minister was to go obtain a $4,000 cash advance on a personal credit card. He then sent these funds to the Global Church Headquarters so they could purchase a car in the Church’s name with this money. The promise was that they would try to repay the principal amount when and as they could.

Thrilled to get back into the field and to visit brethren, Mr. Pack charged into this unique, new assignment with gusto.

“Someone was kind enough to loan us a car until we could get a new one. We were most grateful. It allowed us to run errands and buy groceries for about 10 days.

“We had faced obstacles in the past where the only path was that of faith. This decision was easy. But what choice did we have? We needed a car, and the Church could not afford to buy one. So I offered to act as an agent to purchase the vehicle on their behalf. There was a Ford dealer nearby and we got a brand new Aerostar exactly like the one that had just been driven from our garage.

“It would look better for Global if it had purchased the vehicle, rather than I having done so on my own behalf, or even on their behalf. The goal was to have other ministers be able to see that Global was a legitimate organization—that all manner of familiar procedure, activity and support was present. We were happy that no other Global ministers had to do as we did. I would certainly do it again.

“I would only learn later about how the many scores of ministers went with the new splinter in 1995 with a tremendous amount of money—sometimes tens of thousands of dollars—simply because they did not declare their affiliation until the larger ‘severance’ check had been cut for them.

“These men would wait in the back of the hall for one Sabbath, officially ‘undeclared’ in terms of organizational destination. Of course, everyone knew exactly where they were going in a couple of days, and could not understand why they were delaying the changeover. There were always salaries, cars and expense accounts waiting from the start for these faithless, hypocritical appeasers because large numbers of tithepayers followed them out the door to the same new organization.

“There was a very early surprise, however, in all of this. Instead of a thank-you for buying the car from my (borrowed) funds, the Global leader was disappointed that I had only brought an initial group of 38 people with me. It was absolutely stunning. I was not bringing enough human ‘booty’ right out of the gate to suit him.