"I don't share my thoughts because I
think it will change the minds
of those that think differently.
I share my
thoughts to show the people who think as I do
they are not
alone..."
Someone
The "Apostle" Joshua C. Pack fascinates
me as you have probably figured out by now. This whole Haggai episode is
both fascinating and puzzling to me. Partly because I have known him since
he was 20 and partly because he is summation of all that is wrong with ministry
and what happens when one becomes what I have come to call being "God
Haunted." Dave is a sorry reminder, to me at least, of decisions in life I
wish I had not made and gut feeing's I wish I had listened to along the way, but
were afraid to .
I don't see Dave Pack taking the kind of
chance that so far has been implied in the braggart like quality of "Soon to be
Reunited." Dave is not the kind of thinker that finds some obscure
scriptures , makes them to be speaking of him, set a date for some dramatic
thing to happen and walk away unscathed if it doesn't. Dave does not risk
making a fool out of himself in his own mind at least and everything has a
perfect explanation as to why it had to be so.. There is too much to lose
if wrong, as hundreds have been before, in setting dates. Dave is
not a date setter in the traditional sense in that when September 1st comes
along, everyone will be laughing and he loses it all wondering why God did not
mean what he perceived him to be saying to him in Haggai. . There is more
to this, in my view, than yet meets the eye.
Dave has always, in my experience, been the
kind of thinker who is both clever and devious. Clever does not last as
long as genuine intelligence but it is more dangerous. He does
not take the same kind of chances that say a Ron Weinland did with setting date
after date and making fool out of himself as have thousands before him.
Dave is a competitor and not winning is never
an option. I don't believe for a minute this date of August 31,
2013 is an all or nothing and desperate attempt at doing the impossible and the
implausible. Something else, to me, seems to be afoot or at least the
final episode will not be what you may be lead to believe. Dave doesn't do
all or nothing in the same way Ron Weinland did and failed.
.
I, as others, have seen this in Dave's
sportsmanship. From stopping games he was losing to changing the rules so
he could win points, Dave simply has to win at all he does. We have the
notorious story of Dave allowing an excellent teen basketball player stay
on the team in spite of his long hair as long as needed to win. Once the
season was over and the victories gained, Dave, from all accounts, sent the kid
packing if he didn't get his hair cut. Dave is a rule bender if it serves
him and yet is never acknowledged as such. This also accounts for his
puzzlement over what "filthy rags" he must be wearing as "Joshua the High
Priest", because, like Rod Meredith, major sins (or minor probably) are simply
not factors in his life as he sees himself. Thus, he concludes the filthy
rags must be the sins of the COG splinters that he must carry and the fact that
he did not realize this soon enough. Weird thinking to the average human
but not to the God haunted. . The fault for everything in his life lies
with others and Satan has been trying to stop Dave before his immaculate
conception no doubt. This is typical and unchanging David Pack.
So what's going on here. I can't picture
the "I will win" or "one who undercuts others" Dave taking a Ron Weinland type
risk. I also don't picture many transferring their membership in the
splinters over to the Restored Church literally. I picture few if any
ministers now willing to expose themselves to Dave's scrutiny with the 35 ways
back to his good graces. But I do picture a shift in Dave's mind on August
31st as to who really is the true Apostle over ALL the splinters and ministers,
whether they know it or not. Once that is established as
a fact in his mind, he can work on members coming to him as well as ministers
who make that leap down the road.
In the past, and i say this based on my own
experience in NY pastoring and what others have told me over the years, Dave has
had a tendency to redraw church boundary lines to his
advantage. Ministers in neighboring churches would only learn that some of
their members were being told to come to Dave's Church when the member got a
letter or at least told that they now were in Dave's area. This was news
to the pastor. Dave tended to add to his church by subtracting from the
church areas of others. He also tends to multiply by causing
division. In some way, this Haggai/Joshua/August 31st thing is some form
of that, if only in Dave's mind. I just don't think he would risk a
Weinland or even thinks that way. Dave does not put all the eggs in
one make or break basket. He calculates which is why I have always kidded
about it always being about the numbers when denied. Dave is simply
redrawing lines again and making Haggai mean what it never meant to see just how
this can work in his mind. It's highly possible all the splinters ,
members and ministers will end up, in Dave's mind, in Restored
as predicted. It will not be literally true, but it will be mentally
true. It will be yet another boundary adjustment, just on a
grander scale.
I will try to be discrete with this, but this
same undercutting habit was used by Dave against someone who confided in me that
Dave tried to take his customers and undermine his business. Actually, it
near destroyed the business. Sensitive topic but the person to whom this
happened confided this to me and is credible. It is just more of the
same. In business, Dave had to win no matter who it was he was
undercutting and trying to ruin. Stealing customer or stealing church
members = all the same thing. There are many former employees of RCG who will
agree that Dave has great tendencies to undercut others, cause division between
partners and "win." If he wants something, the ends justify the
means it seems.
So, we'll see. I could be totally off
base with this sense of just what is going on. Maybe I should not even say
this publicly, but as Dave is so very public with what will happen in his mind,
I can be equally as public with what my intuition and gut feelings
are telling me is possible. I have challenged him THREE TIMES to
debate me, but I am sure he is unsure he would "win" and so can dismiss me
neither stooping to do so or daring to lose. There is no losing so if you
think you might, you don't play.
Unlike Dave, I don't have to right all the time
or win anything. But this setting of a date seemingly to get a specific thing to
be or to be risking everything, (radio, TV,
building ambitions, college, awesomeness) is not typical of
Dave Pack's thinking. In his mind, whatever he means by "return" fits the
fairytale he has told about Haggai and his being Joshua the High Priest in
fulfillment. If he literally thinks that, then I would say all bets are
off and we are not seeing typical behavior and thinking as seen in the past, but
a deterioration of thinking and a risk taking that is not typical at all.
Somehow, none of this date setting and bravado and distortion of Haggai pointing
to himself is not as risky as it seems in his mind or in how it will be finally
defined when this specific time comes and goes. And it will...
It is either a very calculated and
clever move , to him, to undermine others and define it as "All will be
reunited again on August 31st 2013, or it will be yet another Weinland
miscalculation and foolish theology putting Dave in the same
category, or worse, than those who have been equally stupid about dates before
him. Dave has at least had years of experience in seeing the folly
of others so why would he want to duplicate it? Dave does not miscalculate
in such a way in my opinion. I choose the former, but it has not fully
expressed itself which is why these announcements become more and more dramatic
as the time draws near. When all is finally revealed it may just be "are
you kidding me!" We'll see.
So....what am I saying. Yes, I know I
tend to repeat myself because I need to know you got it!
lol. All the churches of God being reunited again under the
one banner of the Restored Church of God and the leadership of David C Pack,
does not happen as one has been lead to believe. I suppose we picture all
the cars backed up for miles in the closing scene from Field of Dreams as
minister and member flow to Wadsworth on that day. Nope....
In some way Dave, in his mind and with the permission of Ol' Minor
Prophet Haggai, will redraw the Church of God boundaries to take in the
unsuspecting and even unapproving. Somehow he will undercut and
undermine others to his advantage. In effect, he will steal the sheep.
It may not be what we all have in mind in any literal sense. It
will make perfect sense to the Apostle Dave.
On the other hand, if Dave really thinks Haggai
predicts his coming after HWA (which sounds insane to me personally) as on
the surface it sounds, this would indicate, to me, that a major deterioration in
his thinking has occurred. His Church is doomed in one month and his
building projects will screech to a grinding halt for lack of funds both now and
forever. People are not THAT stupid to follow mentally, emotionally,
spiritually and certainly not financially yet another fool. He can forget about
radio and TV because he will just be another footnote of prophecy
misapplied and televangelists making fools of themselves. Dave is not
the type to trust Christ/God/Angels or Satan to do or not do what
he already know is in the works in his mind and humanly doable...conscience
or not. . When Ron Weinland told everyone "Christ is doing ...." this or
that or "God will..." this or that, he didn't know how but trusted that it would
be so. He really stuck his neck out. When Dave says similar things,
I believe he has done more of his homework and taking less of a chance, in his
mind, than it might appear to everyone else. This is just my view of the
difference between the two men.
I may be totally wrong with stinky instincts
that stink, but I have no problem with being wrong. I have a problem with
having sat for years on my instincts and gut feelings only to see what I thought
would be the outcome of such stupidity actually becoming the outcome I
envisioned, including for me personally. So I guess I do this to make up
for lost intuitions. I also have a problem with seeing people taken
advantage of but that is the defender of the underdog in me and it is hard
wired.
If Dave is really this theologically stupid and
it is all literally as perceived, then the end is near for his church. One
man shows collapse quickly in such cases. But it is possible that what he
calls "Reunited Again" is not what we would call it. Stay tuned I
suppose. It won't be long now.....Maybe I'm just bored.
:)
Namaste
