Lessons Learned
by Jessica Brown
Since leaving The Restored Church of God in August 2022, my perspective on many matters has changed. As a baptized member, I forced myself to accept whatever I heard, read, or experienced without questioning it (most of the time) because I wholeheartedly believed it was where God was working. Any doubts or concerns that came into my mind I dismissed as "of the devil." I did not want to be a doubter like Miriam and Aaron, questioning the authority of "God's leaders."
Little did I realize how dangerous that mindset of blind trust would become when the prophetic teachings of The Restored Church of God began to change. "The Greatest Story Never Told!" Series by Pastor General David C. Pack started in November 2015. Part 405 was delivered last week.
The goal of this article is to help current or former members who are struggling with their thought processes. It is not intended to force people to "see things my way" or to rip apart the members and ministry still in RCG. There are some good, kind people still attending.
There is a misconception in RCG that ex-members are "bitter" and "dangerous" people trying to "make members leave the Church." I firmly believe we are to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling," and it is not my place to pressure anyone into deciding to stay or leave. I can only encourage and help guide those damaged by the prophetic confusion and chaos currently occurring within RCG.
Here are some lessons I have learned since departing from The Restored Church of God.
Lesson 1—Never think that teachings/decisions by church leaders should not be questioned.
This mindset caused a lot of The Worldwide Church of God members to spiritually stumble when some church leaders told them not to question the doctrinal changes occurring in the 1990s. It was still touted as "God's government," and people who spoke up against it would get kicked out of the Church.
I recognize the act of questioning a leader must be done cautiously and respectfully, and I don't condone the "Miriam and Aaron" style of questioning. But telling people to just "sit down and shut up" and forcing the members to remain silent about their concerns is incredibly dangerous. It leaves members believing that they have to do what they are told no matter what or face the consequences, even in the face of flaming heresies.
This is called “obeying man rather than God.” Sadly, many in RCG have taken on this mindset, even though many have some degree of awareness that what is happening and being taught is blatantly wrong and unscriptural.
What makes things worse is that David C. Pack and the RCG leadership will claim that they are not doing what the WCG did in the 90s and that they have not changed the core doctrines of God or the "traditions and standards" of the Church.
The problem is that prophetic heresy is being woven in and passed off as "growing in grace and knowledge," similar to when WCG called their doctrinal changes "growing in grace and knowledge." Today, it is packaged as revealing The Mystery of God. It is almost the same thing; instead, it is “a falling away” from the prophetic teachings that were once taught in RCG and WCG. It was an apostasy then, and it is an apostasy now.
Pack even told the Church, "We have not changed one single doctrine." That is a flatly false statement.
We once believed that “no one knows the day and hour” of Christ's return, and the understanding was that Jesus Christ is "That Prophet" of Deuteronomy 18 and Acts 3. But now there are endless predictions of when Christ will return, and David C. Pack claims the title of Elijah, who is “That Prophet.” Not to mention changing the Father and Christ's roles and Pack seeing himself all throughout the Bible. That is far more frightening and dangerous than leaders deviating back into traditional Christianity. And this is coming from a man who is not very fond of Joseph Tkach.
Ultimately, the end result of both scenarios is creating an environment of fear and has led brethren into becoming content to stay where they are, even when the ship is clearly already underwater.
ALWAYS ask questions, and never let fear of what others may think block you from doing the right thing.
Lesson 2—Prove all things. Look into the scriptures to see if the teaching is valid.
Unfortunately, this is an area where I seriously failed later in my spiritual walk. When I first came into RCG, I would go into my Bible and look up each scripture listed in the RCG literature and see if the explanation was true or not. RCG actively encouraged this, and Pack often echoed Herbert W. Armstrong's words: "Do NOT believe me, BELIEVE YOUR BIBLE!" That slowly changed as DCP's sermon series continued, and things kept moving in the wrong direction. There was more emphasis on "just believing what God is revealing through His chosen apostle.”
Because what was being taught was so confusing, I began to become lax in studying my Bible. I questioned whether God was even with me because I struggled to understand the strange prophetic theories. It harmed my relationship with God and led me to believe He was a manipulative Being, constantly leading His "servant" into date-setting and having to change the dates when they would fail.
This is the "god" that Pack serves and teaches. This “god” tells people not to bother proving what you are being taught and to just "have faith" that God is leading "His apostle" to the full truth. There have been quite a few instances where Pack told the members to not open their Bibles but just listen to what he was saying.
Pack is not alone in this defection from truth. He has surrounded himself with enabling yes-men who perpetuate false teachings.
In December 2019, Edward Winkfield gave a sermon titled "Blessings—God's Quid Pro Quo.” At first, it seemed like a good message about what we can do to receive God's blessings. However, halfway through the message things took a sour turn.
Ed talked about how belief in Bible prophecy was tied to God's blessings and how one must be in "God's true Church" to understand it. He also talked about how one can believe what is being taught without fully understanding it.
He dropped a bombshell around the 45-minute mark: “Our job is not to interpret the scriptures. That's not my job. That's not your job. That's the job of an apostle (referring to DCP). Our job is to simply BELIEVE IT.”
...Whoa. Hold on. What?
First of all, no one, not even an "apostle," has the ability to "interpret the scriptures" on their own human steam. The Bible makes it very clear that no scripture is of a private interpretation. He would have been entirely correct if he had simply said none of us have that ability without God's Spirit leading us to understand the scriptures. It is through God and His SPIRIT that understanding of the scriptures can happen. Not through any human being alone. That encourages people to look to DCP as an idol, which a lot of members subconsciously do without admitting it.
Scriptures make clear God is not speaking through DCP because one failed prophecy makes a man a false prophet. And the trend of failed predictions has continued, thus proving that God is no longer revealing His truth through DCP.
The next point Ed Winkfield made is that "we are to be childlike in our belief." In other words, don't you dare question what is being taught and just sit down, shut up and be an obedient child. There is a grave danger in believing everything you are told without questioning and proving what you are hearing or reading.
I liken it to a parent telling a destructive lie to a child and leading them to think no harm will come to them for believing it. The biblical concept of "becoming little children" was twisted in the most deceptive way. Being "childlike" does NOT mean believing everything you are told, especially if it could harm you.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" of 1 Thessalonians 5:21 was tossed in the trash can because everyone was told to "just believe." This encouraged members to believe a man over the plain words of God in the Bible.
Ed explained how people "explode with pride" when they leave RCG due to confusion about Pack’s failed prophecies. Brethren who are genuinely concerned about following something God says is wrong are labeled as "heretics…full of pride."
This was the sermon that left me thinking something was very wrong in RCG. But I did not have a complete awareness of just how bad it was, and unfortunately, I forced myself to "just believe it," which did me much spiritual harm.
There is one last quote from this sermon that I want to address. It is among one of the worst lies ever told to the RCG membership by the ministry.
“God is not going to fault us for believing what we have been taught.”
In addition to “prove all things,” the following scripture dismantles Ed’s statement and everything else mentioned in his awful sermon, which was used to prop up DCP’s prophetic teachings.
1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Do not "just believe" what you are hearing. PROVE it to determine whether it is of God or not!
Prove ALL things and search the scriptures to see whether those are so before letting someone encourage you to look to a man and believe everything he says over God's word.
Lesson 3—Be wary when large numbers of people leave the Church.
This is a lesson I learned after carefully studying what happened in The Worldwide Church of God in the 1970s and 1990s. The 1970s was a period known as the "liberal years," where certain leaders began changing policies and watering down doctrines. They also threatened to fire any minister who reported this to Herbert W. Armstrong while he was traveling abroad. It was during this period that WCG membership stopped growing.
In a December 1980 Brethren and Co-Worker Letter, Mr. Armstrong mentioned that the lack of growth was a sign that God was not pleased with the Church and was not blessing it as a result.
In the 1990s, after core doctrines were changed, the WCG began to lose mass numbers of members. It was clear God was no longer blessing or working with that organization. Both attendance and finances experienced a catastrophic collapse.
Looking at the current state of RCG and how they have lost more members than they have gained reveals that something very similar is occurring now. Some congregations have lost close to half of their members, if not more. This is from personal observation, but I do not know the exact number of people leaving.
Anyone with eyes to see can tell that the false prophetic teachings have resulted in God's blessings being withdrawn from RCG. Recognizing that trend helped me jump off that sinking ship and spiritually clean myself up of the heresies that had stained and confused me for so long.
RCG claims the loss of members is a "shaking of the tree" removing "tares" from among the "wheat." It is actually quite the opposite. The accelerating loss of members is God's way of telling people to FLEE because something is VERY wrong. It is no different from what happened to WCG in the 1990s when many people departed from the organization. God did it then, and He is doing it again now.
So, while it is a "shaking of the tree," so to speak, it is meant to shake God's people out of the hands of a false prophet and heretic.
Significant loss of church membership means one thing and one thing only: the organization is under a curse, and God wants His people to GET OUT!
Lesson 4—Leaving a physical organization has no bearing on whether or not you receive eternal life.
Oftentimes, members will hear from DCP and the ministry that if they leave RCG, they will lose the Holy Spirit and their chance at eternal life. You will be cast into the Lake of Fire for rebellion against God. This keeps members paralyzed with fear and staying right where they are, even though RCG is now a place that God is no longer guiding.
I let myself get snared by these fears for a while until I began doing a deep Bible study on the subject of prophecy. God will not remove His Spirit from people for separating themselves from an organization led by a false prophet. If He did, then all of the scriptures telling His people to beware of false prophets and to not go after them would be meaningless.
DCP will go back and forth, claiming he is Elijah the Prophet. Then he is not. All the while continuing to set dates for Christ's return. (The latest is November 24, Thanksgiving.) This is the Biblical definition of an unsound mind. Denying you are a prophet while setting dates is deceitful and still makes you a false prophet, even according to his own literature.
“The heart is deceitful above all things," and this is a fine example of it. Would God punish His people for choosing to flee from someone like this?
The answer to this should be very clear.
Lesson 5—God comes first. No matter what.
Leaving RCG was not an easy decision by any means. Not only did I worry about God departing from me if I left, but I also was concerned about what others would think of me. I was apprehensive that DCP would blast me in a sermon as he has done with so many others who have left.
I finally got to the point where the fear of God became stronger than the fear of men. Reading through Pack’s since-removed book, "Is ‘That Prophet’ Alive Today? The Rise of False Prophets," helped me to recognize the dangers of being fearful of men.
Departing from RCG caused me to lose many good friends, while others have put labels on me. But it also brought the peace of God in a way I've never felt before. And that peace came immediately after praying if I had made the right decision by choosing to leave RCG. I continue to see evidence of God working with me and guiding my life. This is quite contrary to what we have all been told would happen when we leave RCG.
It is my hope that in the days ahead, more and more can experience the peace that comes when you choose to follow God rather than a man and that many inside RCG will see it for what it really is.
Until then, all I can do is exercise patience that God will soon intervene and end the confusion within the Church of God as a whole when Christ reveals Himself to the Church.
May that day come soon!
Marc Cebrain
