Satan Attacks UCG's Angola Churches Through New Government Demands

 

Things are not looking too bright for the United Church of God's Angola branches. The government is cracking down on sects that claim to be churches. UCG is being required to get 60,000 signatures of active members that are also willing to have their names publicly listed as members of the church. UCG will never be able to do that as their entire church worldwide is around 22,000. Even if you took every COG splinter out here and added their totals up you will not achieve 60,000 active members. 

This not only will be hitting United Church of God but also the other COG's operating there. This will certainly be an issue for God's most perfect COG to ever exist, the improperly named "continuing" Church of God. Bob Thiel will soon be screeching PERSECUTION!

United Church of God
Prayer request from Jorge de Campos, senior pastor, Portuguese language areas: 

 

In the last few years, the Angolan government set up a law entitled the “Law on Freedom of Religion and Worship” which requires any new religious organisation to meet certain requirements to be able to exercise its religious duties. As the Church in Angola has not been registered, it was deemed to be a new religious organisation. One requirement to be registered is that the Church must have 60,000 signatures of members (over 18 years old) who are willing to have their names publicly listed as members of the organisation. 94 religious organisations in Angola are listed as not recognised, and God’s Church in Angola is one of those.The Church has applied for that recognition with the help of an attorney organisation. After a number of years of waiting for a decision, finally such decision was reached by the governing authorities and the Church’s application for recognition was refused.In a letter received just after the Feast, the governing authorities recommended that the Church “join a recognised religious confession whose doctrine and principles relate to the religious beliefs and practices identified with your denomination” and furthermore stated that “you must immediately close down the activities of your Church, under penalty of disobedience, in the general terms of the applicable law.”The penalty for disobedience to this “Law on Freedom of Religion” would involve closing of the Church’s halls and the associated minister or pastor being placed in jail.We are working with the Angolan leadership and are ready to assist them in their endeavours to look for a solution. We will do what we can do, but the key factor is in our Heavenly Father’s hands and subject to His miraculous intervention according to His will.As such, we request your prayers to our Heavenly Father, through His Son and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, for His intervention in this most difficult trial.

Please note that the school we have sponsored in Angola is not affected, as it falls under a different government department and will be able to continue to provide its service to the community.

Gerald Weston Looks Back With Fondness To The Time They Were Able To Give Swats To Kids At Summer Camp

The glory days when church members 

could use paddles with holes 

to cut down wind resistance.

Nothing still enchants many COGers more than the mythical "good old days" of the early years of the Church of God movement when it was the time period when church members were encouraged to beat their children with paddles, The Summer Educational Camps of the church were well known for giving children swats when they were perceived to be misbehaving. The strict disciplinarians of the church are particularly fond of this time period.

Gerald Weston recently looked back fondly to those days. The youth in Canada where he ruled with his iron fist probably think otherwise though. 

Weston is trying to encourage the youth of the Living Church of God to be filled with Purity, Honor, and Respect just like the youth of the old mother church were.

As the Radio Church of God grew during the twentieth century, it was recognized that there was a need to do something to help guide Church youth through an increasingly corrupt culture. So, a summer camp for teens was started in 1962. Several of those pioneer campers are still around, including my wife. To a degree, camp in those early years was more like boot camp. Campers “fell out” at 6:00 a.m. for morning exercises, inspections were exacting, and swats were given out as discipline for infractions. Camp is very different today! 

 

It is easy to look back and wonder how camp could have been so demanding, but we are unwise to take any situation out of the historical and cultural context of its day. Most of those early camp leaders had either served in the military during World War II or had been influenced by those who had. Swats, inspections, and marching were also common then in the Boy Scouts, in which I participated before learning God’s truth. It was a different world back then, and it was not as bad as it may sound to people today. Camp that first year lasted eight weeks and many campers returned for a shorter six-week camp in the following year, even with 100-degree weather and housing in booths with no air conditioning! Sports, dances, and other activities contributed to innumerable lasting friendships.

Weston continues on about YOU and about what a magnificent specimen of athleticism he was in the early years. 

The camp was moved from Texas to Orr, Minnesota, in 1965, and over the next several years it became recognized that a summer camp was not sufficient by itself to “keep the youth in the Church.” With the best of intentions from dedicated and sincere individuals, a program called Youth Opportunities United (YOU) was begun. Many ministers were young and athletic, so a basketball program was started for boys and a volleyball program for girls. Young adults also formed teams, with different congregations challenging one another. Tournaments began to be organized, with regional participation. These were great fun—but expensive, as facilities for practices and games had to be rented. Tournaments meant that families were burdened with the expenses of travel, meals, and motels, along with more demands on time. 

 

Some areas had well-organized programs with good sportsmanship, but good sportsmanship began to deteriorate in other areas, and instead of drawing youth from different Church congregations closer together, the program was often divisive. This was not true everywhere, but was true in too many locations. Angry disputes and hurt feelings became increasingly common, whether at basketball and volleyball tournaments in the United States or hockey tournaments in Canada.
I grew up playing organized baseball, football, and basketball, and ran the quarter-mile on my high school track team. I also took swimming lessons, which became my ticket to involvement with the Church summer camps. It was natural for me to be a big supporter of these sports events. But, as time went by, I became disillusioned by the fruits I was seeing in the later years of the YOU program. It was not all bad, but bad fruit was showing. 

 

I was also a big supporter of the Summer Educational Program, serving nine years at the camp in Orr, Minnesota, and one year in Big Sandy, Texas. The value of this experience is difficult to overestimate, especially the years serving under Dr. Kermit Nelson from 1987 to 1994.

For anyone who ever went to Orr for SEP or to many of the YOU events, the biggest offenders and troublemakers were the children of the ministry and church leaders. 

In Pasadena, evangelists and high-up minister's kids were the drug dealers, troublemakers, and the ones openly sleeping with whichever sex they wanted, most of the time without consequences. If a lowly church member's child did such things they were kicked out immediately, no questions asked.

By then the church was in its great apostasy stage and rebellion was everywhere. Never fear though, the Living Church of God stepped up to the plate after rebelling against two church organizations, to set the youth of the church on the right track as the epitome of purity, filled with honor and respect.

When I joined the Global Church of God in early 1995, I was asked to help start a summer camp program under our Presiding Evangelist, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith. Our first camp was at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, and many campers thought it was a great success—but from an administrative perspective, it was not. Staff were untested and untrained. To begin to remedy the problem, we started training and testing high-school-aged staff for the purpose of selecting future leaders. 

 

After God purged the Church of some disloyal ministers and members in GCG, Mr. Lambert Greer and I were asked to oversee the Living Church of God camp in 1999. The two of us, along with Messrs. Jonathan McNair, Paul Shumway, and others, took the lessons we had learned from the past and began to develop a new approach that would avoid some pitfalls from previous programs and activities. We recognized that we could not put “new wine into old wineskins” (Luke 5:36–39).

Well, we have seen how well the Living Church of God has done with putting its valuable "new wine" in its old wineskins since the apostatized from the mother church. It's now just as corrupt or more so than WCG had ever dreamed of being.

Weston continues to make excuses for the summer camp issues the church has had. They never wanted it to be too "churchy" or to be known as a 'church camp". Well, of course not! God forbid if Jesus was to be taught! Strict adherence to the law classes were ideal though.

At an August 2000 Council of Elders meeting, I presented a vision for a new approach. The gist of it acknowledged that some past approaches had not produced the hoped-for results. Without realizing it, and with the best of intentions, we had tried to “keep teens in the Church” by providing exciting activities for a few weeks. During the 21-day sessions at Orr, Minnesota, the emphasis was very much on the physical, and we had great physical facilities and programs—we had water skiing, rock climbing, canoeing into the wilderness, basketball, volleyball, softball, swimming, water polo, parasailing, and so much more. I have little doubt that many teens equated “God’s way works” with activity and fun. But what happens when the fun ceases? 

 

The Summer Educational Program was a bit light on working with the mind and spirit. These points were not totally neglected, but to the minds of our teens they clearly must have seemed second in priority. As an example, throughout the three-week schedule we only had four Christian Living classes: “Your Relationship to Rules,” “Your Relationship with Money,” “Your Relationship with Others,” and “Your Relationship with God.” There were Sabbath services and Bible Studies, but there was a conscious and explicitly stated desire to not have a “Church camp.” There definitely was an intent to promote godly values, but there was also a desire to avoid being “too religious.”

No matter how hard Weston or the church tried, the youth never internalized the messages and never remained loyal to the church. It's always the youth of the church that is at fault and never the message or the leaders. Some things in the church have never changed!

Despite that, much good came out of those Summer Educational Programs. Although I had grown up participating in organized sports from an early age, my first year working in Orr was an eye-opener. I had never seen such well-run activities as I saw there. I learned a lot about how to run a successful activity. Between 1983 and 1999, I worked under four different camp directors and learned a lot about what works—and what does not work. I was privileged to work with some remarkably talented and intelligent men and women over the years. 

 

Regarding the history of Church youth programs, what also became clear is that people learn to appreciate those pursuits into which they invest time and energy—it is best when they have “skin in the game,” so to speak. Our youth are best served when they learn to give back to the Church. Those young adults and high school staff who teach others the values of the program are far more likely to “buy into it” themselves. How many times I remember hearing at a morning counselors’ meeting how “different” the teens were from when the counselors themselves were teens. Yes, there may have been a few differences, but in most cases, the counselors did not realize how much they had changed. The values that had not been important to them a few years earlier had now become a part of them. As Mr. Lambert Greer rightly said, the values we teach today will not be internalized for several years. 

 

We realize that not all young people will accept what is offered to them. We know the Parable of the Prodigal Son—two boys were raised in the same family, but while one chose the right way, the other chose a self-destructive path. The second son eventually repented and learned the right way, but by then he had been scarred and damaged, squandered his inheritance, and suffered a lot of heartache. Sadly, so it will be with some of our children.

Faced with the reality they have been failures at keeping the youth in the church, Weston has designed a new approach to return purity, honor, and respect to the youth of the church.

Now that I’ve discussed some of the history of youth programs in the modern era of the Church of God, I want to share with you some of the principles we are restoring during Staff Orientation at the Texas Living Youth Program. One of the first points covered is our Mission Statement, formulated in the first years of our Living Youth Programs: “To bring teens together in a learning environment for the purpose of recapturing true values; and to further the creation of a culture of purity, honor, and respect among the youth within the Living Church of God.” 

 

We apply the same principles in conducting our onsite Living Education program, as well as our Living 4 Tomorrow programs for those aged 18–30. And what do we hope to accomplish? Here is how we express our purpose in one sentence: “We expect that out of this culture of purity, honor, and respect will come godly relationships that will lead to loving marriages and strong families that will provide stability and future leadership in the Living Church of God and society as a whole.”

Weston then leads off with PURITY:

This mission—this goal—must be explained in detail. What is meant by a culture of purity? All our activities must be conducted with this in mind. As I wrote in the November-December 2000 Living Church News on this subject:

It is accurate to say that if you do not know where you are going, it is likely that you will not end up where you want to be. The first law of success is to have a goal. We need to have a vision of what we hope our end product will be. Our product in this case is our children. If we hope to have young adults who reflect God’s way of life, we must begin creating the atmosphere in which that end result will blossom (“Coming Soon: A National Youth Program”). 

 

A culture is shared by members of a group, and purity is God’s way of life. Each generation is born into a world directed by Satan (Ephesians 2:1–2). We must reinforce godly values—the same values Church parents want to see in their children. A godly culture is fostered when a growing number of young people begin to internalize those values. Then, when they are around other Church youth, such as at the Feast, they can find others who strive to live by the same culturally pure values.

Then HONOR and RESPECT: 

But what do we mean when we speak of honor? This refers to a deeply ingrained code of conduct, such as it was for Joseph when he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39). 

 

We hope our young people will create a culture in which they live by an honor code of pure godly values and a life framed by respect for others—for parents and elders, for themselves, and for one another—for their good. I often say rather forcefully, “Girls, demand respect from the boys! Don’t let them talk you into something you will later regret. And respect them in the way you dress. Boys, true love is outgoing concern. Respect these young ladies. Don’t defile your best friend’s future wife!” This is blunt, but they must hear it in an era that shows no respect and has little concern for others.

Weston ends his article with this:

We recognize that not everyone lives up to our hopes and expectations. We also make mistakes—and camp is never perfect—but I wanted to share with you a bit of the history of summer camps in the Church of God and some of the important principles and mechanisms we are using to create an atmosphere of purity, honor, and respect—the way of outgoing concern. 

 

The value of a few courageous and understanding individuals must not be underestimated. Jesus gave the parables of the mustard seed and of leaven. Small beginnings can grow into something great (Matthew 13:31–33). We should not despise the day of small things (Zechariah 4:10). A pebble thrown into a pond sends out concentric waves. Through Living Youth Programs, Living 4 Tomorrow, and the on-site Living Education–Charlotte program, we hope to develop an ever-expanding godly culture among the youth of God’s Church.

You can read the entire article here:  Purity, Honor, and Respect 

 

Dave Pack and the RCG Update Roller Coaster

 

RCG Update Roller Coaster

 

One of my favorite attractions as a kid at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, was “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.” Mr. Toad moved to the Headquarters of The Restored Church of God long ago. He is the REAL Pastor General over there.

 

I grew accustomed to the staff meeting shifts for the eight years I worked in Wadsworth. The World to Come recording shifts. The department meeting shifts. The Social start time shifts. The staff breakfast shifts. Shifts. Shifts. Shifts.

 

Headquarters chaos always originates from one focal point: David C. Pack.

 

The root of all delays, cancellations and scrambles in RCG with any schedule can be laid at the feet of The Apostle. (Brad, Ed, and Dr. Ranney are all nodding as they read this. Ken is still clueless, and Ryan does not care.)

 

If your meeting time was changed, it was because “Mr. Pack is still sitting with the ministers.” If the World to Come shoot was delayed, it was because “Mr. Pack is talking with the bankers.” If your wedding anniversary dinner plans were demolished, it was because “Mr. Pack wants to do a Bible study with the ministers right now.” If you cannot pick up your daughter after school, it is because "Mr. Pack wants to talk with you.”

 

At Headquarters, you grow used to the idea of your life plans being blown to smithereens because "Mr. Pack whatever." He pulled this once during the Winter Social. Historically, after Services, there would be a meal and Game Night. One year, Dave decided to have an after-meal Bible study because of something so super-duper essential and urgent that the entire church needed to be aware of it. Hindsight is 20-20.

 

It was late, and THEN they went on with Game Night. As head of the set-up crew, I kept asking myself, “Wow, are we really going to do this?” Just writing about it still drains me. Those weekends were long, exhausting “days off” for the Headquarters congregation. Late nights. Early mornings. Full-day activities. The set-up, cooking, tear-down, and cleanup. Every man who leaves Headquarters knows of what I speak, and none of us miss that one tiny little bit. Good riddance.

 

And this was even before Mr. Snappy Fingers became the Headquarters deacon.

 

Those of us on staff experienced the continual instability of internal schedules. More recently, the entire church participated in the zigzag up-down-up of Pester General David C. Pack. A sound mind, indeed.

 

 

For those just tuning in, “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 404)” was on the horizon per Dave in Part 403 last week, November 5. The week before that, a Meat Puppet dangled in front of the whole church to deliver these uninspiring comments.

I wonder how enthused the zealots feel now. Dave cannot only make himself look like a fool to the entire membership of The Restored Church of God, but James E. Habboush got to join him. Edward L. Winkfield is wiping the sweat from his brow, “If circumstances were different, that could have been me up there! Poor Jim.”

 

Andrew J. Holcombe got his “Hey everyone, I’m a fool, too” moment just before the Feast of Tabernacles. Gaze again upon Meat Shield’s proven-wrong-after-the-fact statements.

Today is Cheshvan 18. We are well-beyond Halloween and past the middle of the Hebrew month. The Packian Triad of Fraud is freaking out because they have no idea what the heck fire is going on. They are meeting this morning. They will meet tonight. They will meet tomorrow. This is not a quiet weekend for Jim and Andy. So much for sneaking out to see Wakanda Forever.

 

As I write this, Dave is frantically pouring through the Bible to find the prophetic emergency exit. Ten bucks say he will find it. And another ten say he will wind up speaking today after announcing he would not.

 

The words of David C. Pack have zero value. Whether he speaks today or not, the result will be the same for the benefit of those in RCG: nothing.

 

 

After adequate priming, you are ready to experience the RCG roller coaster this week. Remember, Dave announced in Part 403 last week that he would speak this week. A man of his word, indeed.

 

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

 

Prophetic Update

 

After all is said and done, there may not be time for a Part 404. We are still learning fascinating things about this first early period.

 

With the chaotic U.S. mid-term elections upon us, WATCH the events of tomorrow carefully remember Christ’s command to “fear not”!

 

*****************

 

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

 

Greetings brethren,

 

We are excited to let you know that Mr. Pack will deliver another live Bible Study from Headquarters this coming Friday evening, November 11, at 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time).

 

You can join the live stream by logging into Member Services and navigating to “Church Bible Study.” Again, the live stream will be open a few minutes before the message starts.

 

Everyone who is able should connect during the live message. For those unable to join live, the message will be available to watch afterward.

 

*****************

 

Friday, November 11, 2022

 

Greetings again brethren,

 

We trust that you had a productive week!

 

Please note that Mr. Pack is planning to deliver the next live message tomorrow during services instead of this evening as announced earlier this week.

 

Sabbath services at Headquarters starts at 2:30 p.m. (Eastern Time). For planning purposes, the live message will begin at 2:40 p.m.

 

Everyone who is able should connect during the live message. For those unable to join live, the message will be available to watch afterward.

 

Have a pleasant day!

 

Kind regards,

Church Administration

 

*****************

 

Friday, November 11, 2022

 

Dear brethren,

 

A productive week ended here at Headquarters!

 

All is well, and we wanted to let you know that Mr. Pack decided not to speak tomorrow. He will wait a little longer before the next live message.

 

We will let you know in advance when the next message will be.

 

Enjoy the Sabbath!

 

Warm regards,

Church Administration

 

 

The year before I left RCG, my editing partner in MPS introduced me to the concept of “strategic procrastination.” This is very similar to what ministers are taught about "under-reacting" to brethren.

 

It was a deliberate decision to not write about the Tuesday update. It was a triple-decker Nothingburger because I knew there would be PLENTY of time for a Part 404. But I chose to let Dave have his Chicken Little spasm in peace.

 

Then, the Wednesday announcement. Again, I thought, “Yeah, we’ll see.” And let it go quietly.

 

But here we are. Three days of changes. Three days of updates. Three days of producing nothing from the RCG leadership. They have become so effective maybe they can change their name to The Napoleon Dynamite Church of Gosh!

 

“…there may not be time for a Part 404.

We are still learning fascinating things about this first early period.”

 

Did anyone buy in on that one? The election on Tuesday was supposed to bring Armageddon to your doorstep instead of Uber Eats. So much for worrying about that. Here is a secret: Dave, Andy, and Jim will forever be "learning" because they will never be right. 

 

Fear not because God will step in at some point to answer the matter after He has heard enough.

 

Brethren, it may be safe to order that turkey for Thanksgiving now.

 

“We are excited to let you know…”

 

It is surprising the author was able to steady their giddy fingers enough to type that out. Who in Church Administration is still excited about scheduling any message from Dave? Maybe it was the Headquarters lady who ran away from me at Giant Eagle.

 

Using the word “excited” stretches the bounds of truth and reality. It sounds nice, but come on…

 

“…Mr. Pack is planning to deliver the next live message

tomorrow during services instead…”

 

If you ever cycle through Headquarters, you are used to this one. On the Sabbath, he does not speak when he says he will. Or he walks up to the lectern after saying he will not. Countless times he told the brethren, “I’m going to record a World to Come on Monday.” Halley’s Comet is more frequent than Dave doing something productive on a Monday.

 

The ministry and staff have learned to under-react to him. Strategic procrastination saves the staff from wasting time, even though Dave seems hell-bent on doing just that.

 

Understanding that he lives in Opposite Land will save you surprise and tons of grief.

 

Part 401 – October 22, 2022

@ 34:55 The month is Cheshvan…, and we're never gonna move away from it.

 

Part 400 – October 22, 2022

@ 34:40 I thought it was Tammuz. Turns out, it couldn’t be Tammuz.

 

Part 223 - December 20, 2019

@ 2:09:12 Never gonna set a date again. But you couldn't put a gun to both sides of my head and ever get me to deny all those verses [about Christmas], including this one we didn't know.

 

Part 197 – August 7, 2019

@ 1:34:10 I didn’t understand the announcement period. I understand all of that now. It’s crystal clear. You couldn’t talk me out of it. You couldn’t put a gun to my head and talk me out of it. I know exactly what it means now.

 

If he says he understands now, that is code for he does not. If he says he will never do something, that is code for he will. If he tells you to your face that he will do something, rest assured he will not. This is the leader of God's work in the end times. Big or small, David C. Pack is not a man of his word.

 

“All is well…”

 

Salvation is supposed to arrive in a few days, but Magic 8 Ball says, "The outlook is not good." What exactly is “well?” That is a pointless happy face sticker on a broken leg. Not helpful.

 

“…Mr. Pack decided not to speak tomorrow.

He will wait a little longer…”

 

Sheer panic is filling the Third Floor Executive Imaginarium today. They are out of ideas. They are out of metrics. They are out of biblical math. They are running out of time. Oh, Calgon, take us away!

 

Okay, another ten bucks say that if Dave does not speak today, he will also not attend Sabbath Services. Holy convocations get in his way. Commanded assemblies can be an incredible inconvenience to Mister Elijah-sometimes. (Unless he gets wind of this article before Services and attends just to spite me.)

 

The worst sin you could ever commit inside The Restored Church of God is inconvenience Mr. Pack. And God is learning that the hard way.

 

Even if Dave gives Part 404 today, I am not altering my plans for tomorrow. Nobody on the planet should put their life on pause for that guy. Expect to wait until late Monday for an update, folks. After all, even antichrists need to maintain balance in their lives.

 

This is the roller coaster The Restored Church of Another god rides. Come out of her, My people.

 

Get out while you still can.

 

 

A serious offer to those who wish to depart from RCG:

 

I will help you craft your Exit Letter. If you would like assistance word-smithing the reasons for your departure, allow me to work with you in creating an effective and clear letter before you send it to your “minister.”

 

This process will avoid volatile language that gives the ministry ammunition to discount you and your concerns. They are looking for ways to discredit you before your peers. For instance, if you use terms like “faking,” they will twist it to suit their means. Do not hand them the knife with which to stab you.

 

Allow me to help you. They never need to know I did. I want to help in any way I can.

 

This service of exrcg.org is confidential and FREE.

 

Write: exrcgwebsite@gmail.com and put “Exit Letter Help” in the subject line.

 

 

 Marc Cebrian

See: RCG Update Roller Coaster