Saturday, October 10, 2020

A reader is looking for answers about GTA's theology

 

A reader posed the following question.  Does anyone want to fill this person in on the beliefs of GTA?

Hello. I have friends that are involved in a splinter group that followed GTA. I only know a little about their beliefs. I have expressed concern that their beliefs don't follow the Bible and they have agreed to discuss it with me. They are asking about end times, specifically the 3 resurrections. Is there anyone in this group that knows how to explain the difference between Scripture and these teachings

Friday, October 9, 2020

Dave Pack: Jesus to return later TODAY and then millions, if not BILLIONS will soon be keeping his Last Great Day

 


We have been receiving copies of sermons given by Dave at his Feast sites. These are sermons that Dave thinks are vitally important, but as Dennis commented in the previous post, these are the most convoluted mess of theological garbage ever preached from a pulpit.

Here are some experts from his Day 6 message to the faithful who sit there with their thumbs under their asses blindly sucking this garbage in. How any thinking and rational person, whether member or minister, can sit there and NOT engage their brain and realize that Dave is mentally ill and that if they keep following him, their very lives may soon be in danger, is beyond me.

"God has revealed even more that makes Christs return as likely UP TO one day sooner than you just heard." 

"The end will therefore likely be at the end of THIS Feast, the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The seventh day, not the eight, the Last Great Day. Recall that Mr Pack explained that though Christ said these two feasts could be thought of as one the way Christ described them they are technically two separate feasts, now we may know why. 

For so many reasons this fits better. First consider how wonderful the time the last great day pictures, based on all you just heard. It is a great feast, Is it a kind of a day of raging hell became a question. Will the final evil trees, and the trying of one  and take and one left fall om this last day, it might, it might now. It would come on day 7 likely as a one last truly great day.

 

Now I may or may not be right on this, but I decided if we are going to watch it is better to be safe than sorry. The brethren to be waiting for the end of the feast of tabernacles and not waiting for the 8th day."

Dave then goes on to blabber on how due to different time zones he is unable to determine exactly when his "christ" will return. He could come a day early to their in New Zealand while those in California would have to wait longer. That's the logic his brain farts out.

Consider the logistic surrounding the "maha" (spelling...I have no idea what "biblcal" word he is trying to say here) we wait for. You are hearing this messages on day 6 when 24 hours later in the technical definition of a maha that what we are waiting for should begin to unfold. But further think because we are on a round earth day 7 occurs at varying times. Depending upon where you are for the Feast. This is why we would not know exactly what day Christ comes.  He  could arrive anywhere from late on day 6  today all the way to the beginning of the 8th day based upon where you are.


Now, a few additional announcements that go even beyond that. So let me throw a few things out. They are fascinating.

 

About one day seems to proceed the great supper, about a day, everything that happens, happens in a thing called “that day”,  a 24 hour period.  Now the last people in the restored Church of God that will hear this message is at about 5:00 this afternoon.  We have a lot of brethren on islands in the western Pacific Ocean and will walk out of this sermon at about 5:00 this evening/afternoon.  About 4 hours away. That would be about 5:00 our time. Late on the 6th day.  Now that kind of helps you understand the complexity of where we are.  At that moment, New Zealand, right next-door to them is a full day ahead of them. So, try and figure out what day this all happens. They are next door and could throw a rock across the international date line and into New Zealand who is a full day ahead of them so it is hard to figure out how this is going to play.  We just happen to have brethren all over Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines and just over the dateline we  have a lot of brethren in the islands of the western pacific. So that will help you understand when those last people hear the message.  Now a few other things that I want to tell you. 

 

There are number of men who are sitting here in this particular hall who were here in Florida a couple years ago when we were watching the Last Great Day. I remember talking to them in Tampa because I was beginning to see it 2 years ago. More last year and then more up unto this last minute. This has been kind of a a long process that is ever accelerating.

Dave believes that his little flock is the right group to be in because it is not broken up.  Even though he has had scores of defections over the last several years, his group is not splintered like all the other COG's.

We are revealed when Christ is himself revealed at the end of a 24-hour period. Where he came first without observation as Elijah blast. Elijah goes first.  Now there is a group, a special little flock, who receive salvation first.  How did that fit unless that group gets salvation BEFORE the great supper when Christ arrives, not when he is revealed. Between which all hell breaks loose. There is a little group whose house is not broken up. One reason you know they are not broken up is that they came to salvation, they got their reward first. Not just Elijah comes first, or Elijah gets his reward first, there is a little group that is watching that goes first. They have an assignment. They are going to be working with, if you will, feeding the flock of slaughter where all their groups are broken up. Well, that CAN’T happen to us because we come to salvation. That was hard to put together unless you realize Christ arrives unseen, without observations out of a cloud and then he shines and is reveled at the Feast of the great supper up to about 24 hours later. Now does that 24 hours straddle the 7thand the 8th day, is it all int eh 8th day or is it mostly in the 7th day and then at the beginning of the 8th day of the great feast? I don’t know. That is part of the reason why, at the end, we don’t know exactly the day.

 

Now there are three shepherds who die. Not the final three, it looks like three shepherds die the day Christ returns. Three really bad antichrists with power.  Now just a few thoughts. Christ who is the thief, he calls himself the thief, arrives and breaks up the splinters but again does NOT break us up. It may be that Elijah speaks at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles or he speaks into the 8th day and that’s the definition of the end. Hard to say based on the way Christ described the 8 days as sort of Feast, but the last day is separate, its hard to know.

 

Now if Christ arrives tomorrow then he arrives on what would be the preparation day. If he arrives on the 7thday of a feast where the last day the Feast is the weekly sabbath then he arrives on the preparation day. This will be the ultimate preparation day. Not just preparing for the sabbath or int his case the last great day of the Feast but you are preparing for the kingdom of God. It would be logical, possibly that God would send Christ on the preparation day, the 7th day.  Just a thought. 

Dave expects 700 million people to soon be streaming into his Feast sites around the world! Even Putin's mother and Kim Jung Un's sister will be there! 

Now I question whether God would have the same day be a terrible day as it is the most wonderful day that has ever been. But I am not sure, I am not sure.  Now there are two blasts by Elijah one at the start of this 24 hour period and one at the end , the great supper when the kingdom of God arrives. So, he tells the entire world what is about to happen and then these men stand up, these antichrists and their power is so great it effects the entire world. And we will have to be kept from that hour, which is the last hour when Christ arrives as a snare. Calling himself a thief. Elijah blast at the beginning and at the end of that day. He speaks. He speaks first and then he prophecies again before many people, nations, tongues and kings and then the end arrives and the end that arrives, it is the great supper, the kingdom of God and it would be the rise of all the dead saints and so forth. That’s when all 700 million people in Israeli and many more. 

 

I’ll explain in a moment, come to be apart of the temple and are part of the great supper making Christs house, God’s house full.  However, in all likelihood, there are far, far more people at the great supper than a mere 700 million. 

 

We used to think maybe it was a 150,000 people at the greater supper and when I learned all Israel will be there and when you realize, bear with me when any man can come, everyone can come whosoever will come and drink of this water and these people have been through a horrific day when they heard Elijah blast twice. I don’t care if is Kim Jong Un's sister, or Putin’s mother they would be allowed to come and no one can stop them hence the reason every soul on the entire face of the earth hears this blast, They are all invited. Zech 6 ends this way , and I intended to read it in the sermon and skipped over it, when Christ comes it says,  in verse 12 of Zech 6 he is going to build the house, the temple, it actually says in verse 15 that they that are afar off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, gentiles, people who know nothing. Now I want you to realize this is a feast. 

 

The peoples of the world are in destitution now, they are suffering from disease. The labor pains that work so much to help us, though terrible, work to help us understand we are at the end, also work to drive hundreds of millions more, potentially BILLIONS to want to come to this feast that will be kept all over the world. That’s the way Israel did it, they didn’t all go to Jerusalem. Anybody, any here and in any country is invited to the Feast. Highways and hedges only BEGIN with 700 million Israelite’s.  So, for a long, long time the church never really talked about who comes to the great supper, then I began to think it was all the saints and never understood what build the house meant.  Now it is quite possible the great supper, the reason it will be great, it will have 1, 2 or more billion people that will come. The people of Latin America who live in poverty, their economies are shut down and are living in scarcity most of their lives and of course pestilence, what do you think people across Africa might want to do? Particularly after they got pounded by the antichrists. 

 

I do not have time to explain all of that and I did not have time to fully put it all together, but I wanted all of you to know.  When it says, when Christ says when ALL the trees shoot forth, it isn’t just bad ones, behold the fig tree, a type of Elijah, and all the trees shoot forth there is a lot of trees in this room who shoot forth because they go first and are going to help people who are battling the bad corrupt trees.  Matthew 7 describes good and bad trees.  The bad trees draw the thorns and briars and the thistles.  The good trees draw good fruit. And then this group of bad trees will say, Well, didn’t we do these powerful things? God says, “I never knew you. Your work is iniquity, get away from me.”

Dave then gives himself an out:

Now that’s pretty exciting to think about. This is a really, really big thing and no I cannot begin to fathom it does not happen this year.  Why would God show us all this and now say sit on your thumbs another year and think about it.  He could! Now I’ll promise you I’ll be here next year but then he has us knowing for an entire year this is going to happen? Well, you can think about why that is pretty illogical. Now I am just trying to make sure I get all the main points I want to cover.

Pretty soon Herbert Armstrong and Christ's brothers will receive their crowns on this great day of Dave's:

I John 2:18 John spoke of the last hour and 10 verses later in 28 speaks of when we are brought near Christ the great supper.  So, when you say Christ received people to himself, the great feast, or the end, you are speaking of the same thing. But not the moment Christ arrives.  He arrives the day before that. Privately to a little group. Who will be watching for him, who’s lights are burning, who are going to get to the kingdom and have nothing to fear. Their house will not be broken up because the man of the house told them what will happen, and they will go first.  I hope that is all clear. It wasn’t always clear, it has been a long struggle but, in the end, wonderful to see it all come together. So, there is a little group who are the first in Luke 21:5 who escape all these things. Many will come in my name deceiving many. There is a group that has to escape that too. That’s the group standing in front of Christ in Zech 3 where Joshua is given a miter, and not a crown, he receives salvation but not a crown till later in the day. When all the saints come up when Paul gets his crown and Mr Armstrong, Christs own brothers do, and that’s the picture.  It’s a one-day affair.  It’s all inside one day . I just don’t know which day it starts on and then it changes based upon your time zone.

Think of it this way.  Elijah having come first to salvation with others having come first who later restores all things. Thats the way Matt 17:11 and Mark 9:12 are written. He comes first because there is a group that goes first he is not by himself there are thousands of us we are all over the world, we go first. And that explains his coming first, but the restoration of all things is a little after that. About a day   Mark 13:10 Says the gospel is preached first Matt 24:14 says it is preached again right when the end arrives.  That is the same 22 blasts described in Revelation 10. There is this man who knows for a few days he is about to blast for the world, and then he blasts and all hell breaks loose, maybe those 7 thunders are the things need to be heard and at the end of that day he speaks again after he eats the book of Ezekiel. And then we have this wonderful feast and a week later the man of sin becomes a trial on all the saints who are now dead. 

And there you have it. Yes, you do feel dumber after reading it than you were when you started.  I do not think even Dave understands what he says anymore.  Certainly, no minister in RCG can ever articulate what Dave says. 

  

  

 

  


RCG: Children of the Corn

First of all let me say I tried.  I really tried.  After 1 hour and fifty eight minutes I concluded that if there is a God who is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth and if he is using Dave Pack to clearly explain his plan, then that God is a nutcase and incapable of communicating. 

I won't pretend to be able to repeat Dave's ever changing understanding. It gave me a headache. I imagine if you asked the average RCG member to explain what the hell Dave just said, they would be unable to do so. Not sure his ministry would fare much better.  They also would know they believe it no matter.   

First of all, Dave is putting a lot of eggs into this one basket of this feast. Christ may come at the end of this feast, which would be today I believe. If not, then "we have another year" because Dave has concluded it has to be one way now and not the other he used to think.  I suspect shortly Dave will conclude "God is giving us more time" and "We" never saw this when I first came to understand this but now, "I" do.   Dave always blames the group for what they didn't understand but takes the credit for what he comes to understand and explain. 

Dave reminds the congregation that these are "fascinating things, no one ever understood".  Dave says this a lot and has through the years of not understanding it himself. "I doubt you have ever heard anything along that line" is another favorite. 

 With Dave, it's always spectacular and never before understood until he utters it.  It is also more to backtrack on somewhere down the road because "we", not "he" didn't see something clearly but now of course, "I do".   In this sermon, Dave notes that "I only recently began to put this together."

Got news for you Dave. Wandering all over the Old Testament and jumping around in the New is not "putting this all together."  It was a grand exercise in making the prophets mean what they never meant as well as the Gospels, the Epistles and the Church letters.  And let's not forget making the failed prophecy of the Book of Revelation mean what it never meant.  He's great at that! Actually without the Book of Revelation, the Churches of God would have no hook with which to catch their fish. 

One of the first things he comes up with is that there is a precedence in the Old Testament for keeping the Feast an extra seven days and there is.  My first thought is that he is going to declare this a double feast if his Jesus does not come on the last day of this normal single eight day cycle. We'll see.  

" "They kept a double feast...there is a precedence in a time of great joy....let's just double this up". 

I can almost feel the audience squirming. 

"But if you want to go to, under certain circumstances.......God can want that."  (speaking of longer feast)  

Honestly, the rest of this dirge is theological bullshit.  He spends most of the sermon on never before understood that the House that God is building is not literal and is not just the church.  It includes everyone on Earth. (If I understood it and I'm not sure I had the patience to try). 

Then he shows how "The Man of Sin" operates in "HIS Season" which implies that there is a group just before this that are not a part of "His Season" but  their own season, which of course is the Feast Season and specifically, maybe this one.  If the Man of Sin had a season then there had to be one before "His" and that would be "Ours".  All very stupid and mental gymnastics worthy only of the mentally ill.  I have sat in mental hospitals with people wanting to tell me all about the Bible and what they have seen that no one else does.  This is Dave in spades. 

Dave notes as well that "this should be real clear".  Clear as mud, as they say. 

Dave at one points notes that he is going to "inoculate you" but I would say it is more of an indoctrination than an inoculation.  A virus does not inoculate you from itself.  It can infect, infest and overwhelm you, however. Then you get sick. 

Then to wrap it up (this is day four of the FOT), he weaves the fallen away ministers into the mix. Evil bastards all. He wonders if the three he lost at the beginning of the Feast Days this year aren't , in some way, a type of the Three Shepherds that will ....oh I forget what they do or do, but it is all something to "think about brethren."

Years ago someone told me that Dave pack was incredibly intelligent. I replied that he is not if you listen to what he believes, but rather that he seems clever.  But alas, Dave is not even clever. He is God-Haunted, delusional and piously convicted but short on an actual and real theological education. Dave is master at making the Bible mean what it never meant, never could mean and won't ever mean. 

RCG is doomed to both implode and explode.  His campus will eventually be sold to either an addiction and crisis center or be plowed back under and returned to growing corn, which if you look at this kind of theology is not far from corn to begin with. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Corn

Check out the "Plot"

I see analogies  :)