Can You Trust A COG To Help You With Mental Health and Addiction Issues?

From a UCG source:

Can you trust a COG to help you with mental health and addiction issues? How many ministers have ever had REAL training in counseling, addictions, and mental health issues? The chances are slim to none with most of them. With the inherent disdain in the COG world for "higher education" most ministers in any of the COG's have no degrees outside of Ambassador College, or hours spent pouring over books and booklets about church teachings.

Most ministers in any COG have never had official training on how to counsel or conduct a therapy session. The first issue they all have is that far too many COG leaders and ministers lack empathy. Empathy is a necessary ingredient in therapy, counseling, and work with mental health and addiction issues.

UCG Council of Elders writes:

Chairman Len Martin called the morning session to order at 9 a.m. Eastern and the meeting was opened with prayer. All 12 Council of Elders (Council) members were present. Scott Ashley was online via Zoom.

Chairman Martin introduced the first subject of the day concerning the Council review of the “Light of Hope” program. He then turned the floor over to Steve Myers to lead a presentation about the program. Mr. Myer’s explained the reasons why “Light of Hope” was introduced last January. He then discussed the program’s Goal, Vision, Mission, and Scope statements. Mr. Myers also clarified exactly what this program is all about and what it is not.

Mr. Myer’s added that the Light of Hope’s sole purpose is to support our members who struggle with mental health issues and addiction. He made it clear that this program is for UCGIA members only. It’s not a public program or open to other COG organizations. Light of Hope is not just providing counseling services, it’s a support system, as well as assisting the membership with locating and connecting with the available Christian-based mental health and addiction services in their local areas.

Mr. Myers ended his presentation with a question and answer session as well as taking feedback to improve the Disclaimer, Confidentiality, and Hold Harmless Statement. Dr. Roy Fouch, a member of the consultant volunteers for Light of Hope, joined Mr. Myers during this portion of the presentation.

When has confidentiality EVER been used in the COG? Ministers and ministers' wives routinely gossip about other members' problems. Toss in addictions and mental health issues and UCG is going to have major issues if they can't keep their mouths shut.

Chairman Martin then asked the Council if this new Light of Hope program needs a resolution or was the presentation and a simple acknowledgment that the Council has been made aware of this new program enough. It was determined that a resolution was needed and would be drafted and then presented at the Zoom council meeting sometime in January. It was also decided that the program can move forward without the resolution.

Dave Pack: Prophecy Punting

 

Prophecy Punting

 

Many patterns became clear before my departure from The Restored Church of God. Not only did I recognize that David C. Pack was a naked emperor, but I likened him to Lucy of Peanuts. Forever would he hold the prophetic football with promises of a clean kick for the brethren. Forever would he snatch it away, so they fall on their backs.

That is a pattern that can never stop. Charlie Brown will never be able to kick the ball. But Dave does.

 

David C. Pack finally catches on that pushing the return of Jesus Christ (and/or the Day of the Lord) two weeks at a time is not sustainable into 2023. Instead, he punts the date two months out to finally get some Me Time.

 

The Day of the Lord is Abib 1, which begins at 7:40 pm on March 22, 2023.

 

He also teases that in Part 415, he will prove that “Elijah arises before February 10^th.” That would be another date to be on the lookout for.

 

It is a foolish act to believe anything David C. Pack says. Do not believe him if he looks out the window and tells you it is raining. He cannot be trusted with the little things. He cannot be trusted with the big things. Do not believe him even when he quotes himself.

 

Those choosing to believe the Pester General of The Restored Church of God are striving after foolishness. They are not accidentally slipping on a banana peel but willfully setting aside their Bibles and intelligence to believe the lies. They are purposefully joining him on a path of inevitable failure and agreeing to disappointment as an acceptable outcome.

 

Further disappointment shall surely come. Though it hesitates, wait for it.

 

 

“The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 414)” was given on January 14, 2023, during the Winter Social Weekend. The Day of the Lord was supposed to begin at sunset on Friday night. Setting travel plans in motion before that was an overt act of defiance and a vote of no-confidence in the Tevet 21 proclamation. 

 

The fact that the Winter Social Weekend exists proves nobody inside The Restored Church of God takes David C. Pack seriously.

 

If Headquarters brags about the attendance numbers, count them toward the growing percentage of members who do not buy Dave's malarkey. And yet, those same folks choose to stay despite the ever-increasing proofs and metrics revealing their human idol is a false teacher.

 

Part 414 – January 14, 2023

@ 00:25 We’ve seen God slowly draw us forward. He’s constantly laying out more track…I know that many are sitting back enjoying learning what God intends to do…

 

The people enjoying this are the ones YOU should stay clear from. And I mean the YOU-folks still inside RCG reading this. Those enjoying the ride would not be on a website like this. That leaves the thinking people who know things are seriously wrong but do not know what to do. I know how that feels because I have been there. So have Jessica, Elizabeth, John, Richard, and many others.

 

Do you want to worship a god who plays 52 Pickup with you? Or blinds his apostle? Or one that keeps laying out more track?

 

@ 00:46 …but kind of if I can put it this way, “Waiting for Mr. Pack to figure out timing.” I know you're thinking that brethren, partly because that's exactly how I feel. Well, I’m waiting for Mr. Pack to figure out timing.

 

So much for inspired preaching. So much for God leading His servant into knowledge and truth. If you are in RCG waiting for “Mr. Pack to figure out timing,” then expect to wait until never.

 

 

The 60-point list that was so important last time has already waxed dull in Dave’s eyes.

 

@ 01:19 Our pursuit recently has been to figure out which metrics are true. 60-point list. Which must be discarded and which are still, we’ll say, foggy.

 

But it was hugely important in Part 413.

 

Part 413 – January 4, 2023

@ 17:03 I promise you, nobody has ever written down the list I'm about to fire at you like bullets out of a machine gun. But, I'm just gonna tell you, no one was ever led to do it.

 

There is a good reason for that.

 

Part 413 – January 4, 2023

@ 17:54 We’re just gonna see if we have run into a way that they all have come to harmony. But you won't appreciate it if you don't hear what we've been battling tooth and nail.

 

It has already lost the harmony solidified ten days ago, making the time and effort to come up with it and teach it worthless. Not entirely worthless, just somewhat mildly worthless.

 

 

In the mood for more medical-grade gaslighting?

Part 414 – January 14, 2023

@ 08:10 …and I probably should’ve started again as I often do. We’re still on time. Believe me, more than you could ever know. Everything’s still fine. Absolutely. Absolutely. More than I could have ever believed God could tell us in this most-exciting sermon conclusion. I can’t get it all said today, but I’ll get it all said very quickly.

 

The denial is astounding. He makes this statement on the very day of his latest failure. January 14 is Tevet 21, the beginning of the Day of the Lord. Per ten days ago. People sitting in the audience were expecting to receive salvation but, instead, get to hear Dave tell them how "still fine" it all is.

 

He is counting on people to be stupid and gullible. He is relying on blind faith to keep the warm bodies in the chairs. He is depending on brethren turning off their brains to accept his insult as an expression of comfort.

 

As an aside, Dave needs to look up the word "conclusion" since he informs them more is coming on another day. That means this is NOT a conclusion. Oh, man. He cannot even get the littlest things correct.

 

David C. Pack is not a man of his word. He should not be believed even if he tells you what he had for breakfast. Somehow, it will be factually inaccurate.

 

 

Dave finally gets closer to the point of Part 414.

 

But while trying to do so, he repeatedly does that annoying parenthetical interruption to his own prepared statement. It is one of those things that once you see, you can never unsee. Just like I can never unsee the "arrogant sniff tick" he does that a former Headquarters person clued me in on. Yeah, you will now catch those in the video clips, too.

 

@ 48:24 Is there a chance that after all this time, the Bible directly tells us, if I could be dramatic, the Bible sort of looks us straight in the eye and directly tells us by naming the Day of the Lord? Exactly what day it comes.

 

It was one sentence. One simple sentence and Dave could not spit it out.

 

@ 48:48 Is it possible that we missed something? We can literally sit here this afternoon and know what this day is we’re talking about.

 

We is up to their old shenanigans of missing stuff and getting stuff wrong. What a disappointment We is.

 

@ 49:04 I’m gonna tell you something I did.

 

I doodied in the toilet, brethren, not in my pants.

 

@ 49:07 I will often get the ministers and tell them things I’m learning. But what I found was so plain. So shockingly clear and indisputable that I told five ministers…"I want you to read the following two verses, and you come back and tell me which day is the Day of the Lord."

 

@ 49:39 All five of them said, “It was a no-brainer. It was just that simple.” So, I'm gonna remove the mystery about the Day of the Lord, and I'm gonna tell you exactly when it is…

 

::cough:: Abib 1 ::cough::

 

Sorry, I forgot to put "Spoiler Alert."

 

@ 50:56 We’re only layering in the foundation today…and you [will] know exactly what day is the Day of the Lord and that it’s inarguable, it will give you a warm and peaceful and wonderful feeling…

 

That sounds way better than being haunted by God’s Spirit or having chest pains. But if history is our guide, those uncomfortable feelings will return as any date he sets closes in. The warm fuzzies will be replaced by the cold sting of disappointment when brethren again realize Dave has no idea what he is talking about.

 

I wonder if this is more “inarguable” than Tevet 21 was. Me thinks Dave needs to look up that word, too.

 

 

As it turns out, Ezekiel 45:18 was the hidden key he was looking for. Seems as though the ruse by Dave’s god had a purpose after all.

@ 1:07:49 So then, what did the Bible just directly tell you is the Day of the Lord? Abib [Nisan] 1. It’s impossible to argue with that.

 

@ 1:08:26 The altar was cleansed before God forever, starting on an Abib 1. If I may just say, 67 days away. All right, let that catch your breath, and then wait for the rest of the story.

 

Whose breath could possibly be taken away that Jesus Christ is going to return in 67 days…when as of last week, He was going to return the day they heard these words? People are sitting IN THE ROOM that were not supposed to be there because the Day of the Lord was to be ON THE DAY in which they are seated.

 

They were excited one day ago, but now they should be excited for 67 days from now? That is utter insanity. Talk about some next-level foolishness. Foolishness to say it and foolishness to buy it.

 

The folks who need to catch their breath are not the ones YOU should be talking to. Yes, YOU-folks still in RCG.

 

@ 1:10:24 So, Abib 1 is March 22. One day, by the way, after winter is over. Meaning flight would be in winter…So, God is gonna start years almost dead-on within a day of spring? Well, if He does it this year, He would. Next year, it’s different.

 

For the past seven months, we have all heard how the math and metrics do not line up for 2023. Now in January, we are hearing how the metrics will not line up for 2024.

 

Lucy is already positioning the football again.

 

 

The old “why-would-God-show-it-now” timing proof rears its ugly head again.

 

@ 1:25:10 Why would God show us Abib 1 in a definitive way? Absolutely inarguable.

 

I wonder if Dave remembers all these other absolute inarguables from the past.

 

Part 10 – January 9, 2016

@ 1:50:24 Try to imagine: we could not be told or shown too early about the First Dominion, or we would have read Revelation 22 before it was true...God, quite literally, could not tell us, or He would make Himself a liar. And He would have confused us and misled us, believing we were on a short clock when we were not.

 

Part 211 – October 24, 2019

@ 10:19 Until God revealed this great story of one day, no man would have any chance to get straight what happens first. And He saved it for the end to fulfill a prophecy and so that his servant could, in effect, obey a command.

 

Part 234 – February 12, 2020

@ 2:49:18 Why would God set us up with what is such a powerful case for what is not His timing?

 

Part 297 – March 17, 2021

@ 1:19:10 Why would God reveal all of this to us now and then make us wait a year for bad math?

 

Part 386 – August 22, 2022

@ 1:39:35 It’s possible that revealing it to me now is God sort of saying, “You get this after all these years…I’m revealing it to you.” So and maybe I’m supposed to realize it’s the beginning of being this prophet.

 

Oh, Dave. The lunacy is at least consistent enough to document.

 

 

Abib 1 was not the only date of note in Part 414. When you count 80 days from January 1, you get to March 22. There is a 40-day period cut in half. The halfway point is February 10. Boom.

 

That is the secret to "in the midst of the years," which is halfway between January 1 and Abib 1.

 

We are back to counting 40 days again. Surprise.

 

@ 1:28:49 I mean, it’s just basic math. It’s inarguable stuff here, brethren. That’s why I drove home Abib 1. And we had to figure out, “What do you mean ‘midst of the years?’” Boy, did we battle that one. Turns out, it really is dead-on.

 

So, he did NOT overread “midst” ten days ago?

 

Part 413 – January 4, 2023

@ 50:44 It’s [midst] just a general term…here’s where we might feel a little silly. But fun.

 

Walking back teachings from the previous Part must always be a little silly and fun, considering how often Dave likes to do that.

 

Part 414 – January 14, 2023

@ 1:29:19 Christ comes on a Sabbath. It just so happens; I'm sure this is a coincidence, right?...It just so happens that exactly 40 days before a Wednesday night Day of the Lord is a Sabbath.

 

@ 1:32:11 …did something happen before what would be February 10^th, okay? February 10^th. That's the middle of New Year's to March 22^nd…

 

Dave still butchers the meaning of Habakkuk 2:2, which is one of many root problems as to why he fails continually. He fully activates Chicken Little mode because people in the future choose not to pay attention to his ravings.

 

@ 1:34:37 …before Christ comes, somebody is told, Make the vision, the whole forty days, make it plain on tables...and people blew it off. And it caused a lot of trouble on the planet…Which would explain why people are told, the sweet sheep of God in this room, would be told starting now, Don’t fear anything because there's gonna be plenty to fear between now and February 10^th.

 

It should now be well-documented on the public stage why everyone should blow off David C. Pack.

 

FYI, he also meant more fear than just from a chicken egg shortage. He did not elaborate, but that was the impression.

@ 1:39:30 These dates are set, and I will say before God they can only change if the Bible can change. You cannot argue with “midst of the years.” You cannot argue with the Day of the Lord. And you cannot argue with the sheer massive proof I’m gonna lay on you next time that Elijah rises before February 10^th. Enjoy your evening.

 

If things go wrong, the Bible is at fault. That is a well-planned fallback position.

 

Part 415 will be pure gold dipped in honey. The anticipation must be intense, but YOU should not lose any sleep waiting for it.

 

February 10 will come as surely as…well, no. Nothing biblical will happen on February 10, but faithful brethren seem determined to kick the football even though Lucy snatches it away time and time again. Good grief, Charlie Brown.

 

Just because Dave punted the prophetic timing two months down the field does not mean anyone has to keep running after it.

Marc Cebrian

See: Prophecy Punting

Why can't COG's ever find "The Simplicity in Christ"?

 

When it comes to a Church of God, nothing is ever simple. Simple basic doctrines that have been foundational to Christianity for millennia do not apply to COG's. The church has to create its own language and speak in coded words to the point no one really knows what any of them really think or believe.

When the mother church attempted to do the Systematic Theology Project (STP) it was the first time that the official COG teachings were gathered in one book. Even though all of the papers crossed Herbert Armstrong's desk and he gave final approval, the crap soon hit the fan when uber-conservative ministers complained that it was too liberal for them. Part of that problem is that they now had official teachings restricting their own interpretations and that was offensive. It was soon required that all ministers send in their copies to Pasadena to be shredded.

Thanks to all of that mess, no COG today has a definitive belief statement that combines the teachings and doctrines of the church in one single volume that ministers and lay members can refer to. Instead, various governing bodies in the COG's create their own documents filled with dualistic words, off-the-wall definitions, and oftentimes contradictory statements that do not match current teachings.

This brings me to the United Church of God's latest little blurb from the January 10 Council of Elders report. 

They believe that their message is so powerful that they're presenting "truth" with love. 

They are reinterpreting Ephesians, again, because it has to fit their definition of grace and law. 

And, then there is the "metron of Christ". Most members and apparently most ministers have no idea what this even means. It is already apparent even their own council can't agree on things. I am sure the definition of "metron" will be something entirely different than what traditional Christianity believes. We know that this is most likely the case because the COG's think they are more educated and enlightened than regular "worldly" Christians.

Mr. Miller continued by presenting a digital version of the document to demonstrate what was changed in the “Truth in Love” section. At the conclusion of Mr. Miller’s presentation, Darris McNeely, Brian Shaw and Dan Dowd took turns discussing the changes and updates made to the remaining sections.

Mr. McNeely covered the updates and changes that were made to the “Ephesians Framework” section of the proposed 2023-2024 Strategic Plan.

Mr. Shaw then lead a discussion on the “Strategic Directives” section, explaining there was no change in content, just in font size and ease of reading.

Mr. Dowd then discussed the changes to the “Mapping the Way with the Metron of Christ” section. He discussed the reasons behind the major changes, the removing of the numbers from the graph, the simplifying of the font, and the added appendixes in the back for further explanation. He also explained why the term Metron is used to title this section and its use throughout the document.