UCG On Pentecost “with one accord in one place”

 

Jason Bach Cartoons

Rick Shabi writes:

In the midst of a flurry of activities in the Church—and our individual personal lives—it is good and appropriate to take time to reflect on and remind ourselves of the meaning of the Feast of Pentecost as it approaches. Today is “Day 40” as we continue the count toward this special Holy Day. 

 

On that day in A.D. 31, God’s Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples who were gathered together before God “with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1). In those words, we find an essential description of what God desires in His people. They are “with one accord in one place.” 

UCG and its leadership did not care about being "with one accord in one place" when they spent a year while employed by the Worldwide Church of God plotting how to divide the church and take as much money as possible with them. Unity has NEVER been an ideal UCG sought after. Just look at the COGWA debacle! 

As people of “one accord,” God’s people must be united and led by His Spirit. They are committed to the truth as given by God. They are unified in mind and purpose, learning and living His way of life in complete submission to Him. Recognizing Christ as the first of “the firstfruits” (1 Corinthians 15:20) they follow in His footsteps, yielding to Him as He prepares them for eternity, working with Him and becoming His bride. 

 

It is a high calling and all of us have been called to this purpose. Pentecost reminds us that firstfruits to “God and the Lamb” follow Him wherever He goes. Because they are “in accord” with Him and each other, they are not defiled by false ideas, have no deceit in their mouths and are “without fault before the throne of God” (Revelation 14:4-5). We are part of His body—that “one place” He works with us all as we learn and endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). 

"no deceit in their mouths" That's pretty rich coming from the leadership of UCG considering the deceitful things they did to start UCG in the mid-1990s. 

As firstfruits in these physical bodies, we are reminded that our days in this physical life are numbered (Psalm 90:12). This should focus us on the preparation of our hearts and minds—our spiritual lives that God is working in us—constantly leading us as we go about the physical activities of life.

Dave Pack Steps In It Big Time

The Jewish Hypocrisy

 

The Pastor General of The Restored Church of God can add hypocrite to his many attributes on display throughout his perpetual magnum vomitus. During “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 443)” on May 18, 2023, David C. Pack took the Jewish people in Jerusalem, Israel, to task.

 

Grandpa Dave paraphrased Isaiah 28 before launching into a two-minute rant about this wicked generation. Setting his sights on the Orthodox Jews, he lists examples of why God will punish them soon. To understand David C. Pack is to recognize the multi-faceted psychological expressions entertaining the brethren of The Restored Church of God.

 

This is not just Dave bitching about religious practices. What occurred during Part 443 was a compact opportunity to understand David C. Pack as he further revealed who and what he is.

 

The title of the article is not about hypocrisy committed by the Jewish people. As David C. Pack criticizes the Jewish people, he exposes his own hypocrisy.

 

Trust me, the end of this article has information you do not know. It is a big exclamation point.

 

 

There are many overlapping mechanisms at work inside Dave’s brain. These resources were helpful: Sam Woolfe, Good Therapy, and Psychology Today.

 

 “If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part yourself.”

 Hermann Hesse

 

Projection is a psychological defense mechanism in which individuals attribute characteristics they find unacceptable in themselves to another person.

 

With this concept, does the apple fall far from the tree? If you know David C. Pack’s history and spent twelve years listening to him, you understand the apple landed on his head. Bullseye.

 

The examples David C. Pack gives for why the Jewish people will suffer God's punishment are beyond screaming irony or extreme blindness, and the brethren should take note.

Part 443 – May 18, 2023

@ 1:43:23 The Ulthra Orthodox are threatening to destroy the Israeli government right now. They’re demanding two things: They're demanding to be on the dole. They believe they are never to work. They’re only to study the Bible all day long. You know, the guys with the tassels (the Hasidim) and the Ultra, Ultra-Orthodox. They send their wives out to work. They're lazy sloths, and you can’t tell them anything. Isaiah 51 says They can’t answer anything. And they will not go to war. So, there’s a tremendous rebellion going on in Israel right now. People are no longer gonna fight for these sloths. The Rabbis who know everything and know nothing. And they’re just called “the scorners that rule My people.” This people in Jerusalem. And their wisdom? “Rabbi Hillel says. Rabbi Shamah says. Well, Rabbi Gamaliel says.” And they quote each other. Sit around swallowing whole bottles of Vanity Pills in between breaths, and then they just talk and talk while their wives go out and provide for the home after the wives produce six to ten or twelve children, and they want the state to pay for all of that. Well, you know what? I have no problem with that. If they won’t work, as long as they never eat again. That’s what God says.

 

 

David C. Pack is pointing his boney finger at the Jewish people in Jerusalem, but he is looking in a mirror, pointing back at himself.

 

“They are never to work. They’re only to study the Bible all day long.”

 

The only job David C. Pack has had in The Restored Church of God for the past five years is to study his Bible seven days a week and spend the rest of the time telling the brethren what he thinks he knows.

 

Flashback Part 400 – October 22, 2022

@ 1:28:05 God says, “Six days shall you labor.” …That’s why I work all six days…Only, now that’s not really true. I work all day on the Sabbath, too, because I’m a Levite.

 

Flashback Part 420 – February 17, 2023

@ 1:26:02 Stunning understanding…I knew all the verses because 20,000 of hours of study will kinda do that for you.

 

Studying the Bible all day long signifies a lazy sloth in this wicked generation. Yet, Dave does that very thing and brags about it.

 

 

“You can’t tell them anything.”

 

Nobody in The Restored Church of God is allowed to “teach” David C. Pack. Nobody on the face of the earth corrects David C. Pack. Brethren who have made the mistake of “suggesting to Mr. Pack” anything get a talking to from a minister. I was once chastised after a Staff Meeting when I made a statement that “sounded like you were teaching Mr. Pack.” Another time, I was called into Bradford Schleifer’s office so he and Jeffrey Ambrose could warn me about “the tone” of a prophecy question I submitted. I never did that again.

 

Any comments outside of perceived “engaging conversation” with Grandpa Dave will be met with resistance. Sometimes by him. Usually by his enablers.

 

Flashback Part 163 – March 2, 2019

@ 39:50 I’ve studied prophecy, I am sure, by far, more than anybody who ever lived.

 

arrogant

having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities

 

 

“And they will not go to war.”

 

Dave complains about the Orthodox Jews for not wanting to kill others?

 

Once Mr. Pack was officially laid off, Church Headquarters by law had to notify the U.S. draft board that he was no longer employed as a minister and was no longer under “4-D” status—meaning he became eligible to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War…Of course, Mr. Pack did not intend to violate the laws of God, and held firm to his conscientious objector position…The board members, after a short deliberation, approved Mr. Pack’s status, perhaps partly due to his borderline height at 6’8”—and because his father was their friend. The men casually said, “Forget it.”

Pages 266 and 267 – The Authorized Biography of David C. Pack, Volume One

 

The Pastor General once informed the RCG staff that the church does not observe Veterans Day and we would never get that day off. We were not to show soldiers any respect because they were all murderers. He thundered, “You do not thank them for their service.”

 

Oddly enough, at other times, he has recalled fondly how his ancestors fought in the Civil War. David C. Pack will stand on both sides of an argument when it suits his needs. He can be Solider Pro or Soldier Con, depending upon his mood.

 

To “talk out of both sides of one’s mouth” means to change one’s advice or opinion depending on who one is talking to or what situation one finds oneself in. 

 

 

 

“The Rabbis who know everything and know nothing.”

 

Flashback Part 202 – September 7, 2019

@ 1:49:52 I know literally, literally everything that happens from the time Christ drops outta that cloud 'til this thing rolls into the box. I've got the whole picture.

 

Flashback Part 174 – May 15, 2019

@ 00:18 It has become almost a tradition now. I enjoy telling you when things have been not correct…

 

Flashback Part 190 – June 29, 2019

@ 42:38 And I drew some conclusions there I should not have drawn.

 

Flashback Part 231 – January 21, 2020

@ 2:26:02 But my job is not to figure and scheme through things, and sometimes I've done that because I thought, I know we know the day, and I thought it was this or that…

 

Flashback Part 251 – April 29, 2020

@ 1:03:29 So the question becomes, and this is what confused me, and I am glad in a way it did. I can apologize when I’m wrong. But I’m glad I was confused.

 

Flashback Part 392 – September 10, 2022

@ 51:28 But if you think about it…I have no authority. I made an assumption. I have no authority to say that the First Kingdom, the 1335 has to be 15 days…

 

Flashback Part 221 – December 7, 2019

@ 1:39:25 On God's authority, I am right!

 

 

“The scorners that rule My people.”

 

scorner

a person who expresses contempt or disdain for someone or something

 

Flashback Part 376 – June 13, 2022

@ 01:01:43 A lot of the men in the Splinters who’re leading those groups are killers! I know them!

 

Flashback Part 400 – October 22, 2022

@ 1:28:25 The howling I would hear from some of you right in this room if I told you yer gonna work six days…I mean, you’d stone me…You’d take me out. Sorry, but you would.

 

Part 443 – May 18, 2023

@ 1:25:07 I've come to realize with young people today, and I've watched them sit in this room. There may be some now…I watch their eyes and dance. They think the old man doesn't read 'em…Watch the way some of 'em sit in their chairs.

 

 

“And they quote each other.”

 

When the brethren of The Restored Church of God pose hard questions to their ministers about the failed prophecies of David C. Pack, they all receive the same unsatisfying, scripted answers. The field ministers recite the CAD boilerplate text as best they can remember, adding their own color of hesitation, repetition, and stammering. They paraphrase what Dave has already said. They paraphrase what Brad has instructed during Field Ministry Development livestreams.

 

When Headquarters ministers read from the church literature, they quote David C. Pack.

 

In both ways, the ministry “quotes each other.”

 

On August 29, 2020, Edward L. Winkfield offered his boss a vile 87-minute love letter. This was before he was raised to the rank of Pastor. Showcases like this surely did not hurt his prospects for advancement.

 

This sermon, "Seeing the Father," is a disgusting regurgitation of the new knowledge David C. Pack had bestowed upon the church pertaining to the updated roles of the Father and Jesus Christ. It was loaded with Stepford Prime quoting his human idol as he rang the bell, rejoicing that this heresy signaled the transition to The Restored Church of Another god. Shame on you, Ed.

 

 

“Swallowing whole bottles of Vanity Pills.”

 

Flashback Part 172 – April 27, 2019

@ 1:22:40 I’m not the Apostle Paul, but…I’m sure I’ve pastored more people than he did.

 

Flashback Part 178 – June 8, 2019

@ 21:41 My whole life, I've dug into these things. I know prophecy better than any man alive. I’ve said it before, if you think I’m arrogant, as I like to say, Then pray for me.

 

Flashback Part 180 – June 16, 2019

@ 1:17:17 These are mysteries. Nobody understood any of this…I mean, I feel like I could write a new King James Bible better.

 

Flashback Part 435 – April 15, 2023

@ 1:03:07 And by the way, finally, finally, I understand why my last name is Passover. Jews all know that David Passover. In fact, it's David Passover, in a way, to start the year and end twice.

 

 

“They just talk and talk.”

 

“The Greatest Untold Story!” Series began 7 years and 6 months ago on November 14, 2015, when it was first called “The Greatest Story Never Told!”

 

At the end of Part 432 on April Fool’s Day, Dave noted the Series was 799 hours and 59 minutes long.

The 11 Parts since then added another 15 hours and 31 minutes.

 

The Greatest Untold Story!

90 Months

815 Hours, 30 Minutes

Over 20,000 Hours of Bible Study

David C. Pack Proven Right: 0

 

But, the Jewish rabbis have diarrhea of the mouth?

 

 

“The wives produce six to ten or twelve children.”

 

David C. Pack recently lamented the flat growth of The Restored Church of God, blaming the scarcity of families joining due to selfish couples. The Israeli-Jewish culture encourages prolific families to build up the population, but Dave frames this as proof of why God will punish them.

 

And yet…

 

Flashback Part 438 – April 27, 2023

@ 1:49:37 Ten, fifteen years ago, we’d have two-three families with two-three-four kids come with us. Sometimes in a day. But now, you never see families anymore. People don’t want children. They celebrate not having children.

 

Flashback Part 440 – May 3, 2023

@ 04:50 I remember when we would get 1-2-3 families every day come with us. Not even all stay, but they would come with us….Now we're lucky if we can get a handful of actual families: husband, wife, and children each year.

 

Sounds like Grandpa Dave was coveting those large families on the other side of the world and was rather annoyed they were not making the journey to Wadsworth, Ohio, to put another feather on his cap.

 

Which is the real David C. Pack? The one who wants large families or the one who thinks they are a sign of a wicked generation?

 

To be fair, he was more irritated by the money aspect. More dollars going to the “lazy sloths” rather than into the Campus tree and garden fund.

 

 

“They want the state to pay for all of that.”

 

The Israeli government subsidizes religiously-devoted Jewish families. They have a well-utilized welfare system that encourages increased childbirth rates. That should sound very familiar to folks in the United States. To agree or disagree with that system is not the point.

 

David C. Pack takes issue with this. The "lazy sloths" are living off the government teat. He is outraged.

 

BUT…

 

I have been sitting on this information for a few months, unsure how to approach it. Strategic procrastination appears to have paid off because Dave cannot shut his big fat mouth

During the COVID-19 shutdown of 2020, The Restored Church of God filed for government payroll assistance and was granted an interest-free loan of $542,100. That loan was later forgiven. RCG did not pay the United States government back.

 

This publicly available information is verifiable on two websites.

 

Federalpay.org          ProPublica.org

 

This is the same year the Ambassador Youth Camp was canceled after raising $100,000, which was not refunded to the kids or parents. It seems that 2020 was a very lucrative year for RCG. So, where did all that money go? To preach the Gospel? To feed the flock?

 

Note the date of April 10, 2020.

 

The Medina County Auditor website confirms that on May 22, 2020, The Restored Church of God received the title after purchasing a $105,000 property connected to the Campus.

 

This is one month after RCG received financial assistance from the Federal government to cover payroll. If they had the money to purchase a home, why did they not use those funds to cover employee expenses?

 

I contacted the Sonn Law Group, which specializes in PPP fraud, to find out if the information above warrants a phone call from one of their attorneys. I did not hear back from them. Perhaps if others were motivated, they might yield better results.

 

David C. Pack was incensed that Jewish families "want the state to pay for all of that." Yet, he was perfectly comfortable and giddy about the United States government giving him half a million dollars for free.

 

hypocrisy

the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense

 

 

David C. Pack is his own worst enemy. The words that fall from his lips expose who and what he is.

 

Flashback Part 421 – February 18, 2023

@ 1:25:10 And you've heard my words. I’m not a liar. I’d say, “Brethren, I don’t have anything else.” Then, here would come a sermon, a sermon, a sermon, a sermon.

 

Flashback Part 422 – February 18, 2023

@ 35:33 I’m not a hypocrite. I can’t stand up here and undo what I said in the last message.

 

The Pastor General of The Restored Church of God is a proven liar and hypocrite. He owes the Jewish people in Israel a very long apology. They should expect that right after they reconcile with the Arabs.

Marc Cebrian

See: The Jewish Hypocrisy

Africa's Problem With Lying Prophets - Governments Starting To Crackdown On The Liars

 

Now we know the real story behind Bob Thiel's self-appointed prophet status. Besides bringing him perceived recognition that he would otherwise not get, he is in it for the money. If he can con his Caucasian members into believing he is a prophet they will hand him more money. Of course, this fits in really well with the African followers he has conned. While not able to give him a lot of money, they kowtow to his prophet status as the Great White Bwana set aside by God before the foundations of the world were laid in place. As long as he can con them into believing he was preordained to come in the end times to deliver a message, he has a captive audience. Thankfully 99.99% of present-day COG members and former members know him to be a liar. Making dumb half-assed "predictions" sure beats the hand-flailing seat-bouncing sermons he delivers.

Bwana Bob is sure to start screaming persecution when Ghana and Nigeria start putting the brakes on his ambiguous prophetic lies. We probably shouldn't be too concerned with Bwana Bob because he is NOT a major religious figure.

Behind Africans’ Thirst for Prophecy; Confusion About the Present and Anxiety About the Future Blog Post by Ebenezer Obadare February 3, 2022 4:33 pm (EST)

Late last year, the Ghana Police Service issued a statement in which it warned those it referred to as “doomsday prophets” to desist from prophesying or face prosecution and a term of imprisonment of up to five years. It reminded the Ghanaian public that “it is a crime for a person to publish or reproduce a statement, rumor or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or disturb the public peace, where that person has no evidence to prove that the statement, rumor or report is true.” The statement stirred a heated debate, with not a few commentators wondering how a prophecy—an event that has yet to occur—can be shown to be “true,” and whether a threat by law enforcement is the best strategy to deal with an issue that, technically speaking, lies beyond the purview of the law. Nonetheless, many shared the authorities’ concern about growing public faith in prophetic statements by major religious figures and in the figures themselves. 

 

Ghana is not the only African country where prophecy has ruffled the social matter. In Nigeria, where Pentecostal pastors similarly enjoy tremendous social prestige, the end of the year and the beginning of a new one, understandably a time of anxiety for many families, tends to be dominated by pastoral proclamations on what to expect in the New Year. Such prophecies typically cover the gamut: from extreme weather events to untold airplane crashes, winners of forthcoming elections and major sporting tournaments, tragedies involving members of the political elite, and the fate of the economy—domestic and global. With a few exceptions, they tend to be as broad and as ambiguous as possible.

The article also says this:

The deliberate ambiguity of most prophecies is a matter of prudence, for a precise prophecy is an invitation to trouble, especially if such fails to come to pass.

This accurately describes Bwana Bob. Cowardly to the max, he makes all of his "statements" as ambiguous as possible because he is afraid of making a real stand. 

The article then goes on to describe why Bwana Bob finds a fertile field for his looniness and why so many accept his wackiness unconditionally:

What explains the increasing popular fascination with prophecy across Africa, mishaps such as the foregoing notwithstanding?

In the first place, prophecies, tracking the Pentecostal explosion of the past three decades, speak to popular perplexity amid an acute and persistent hunger for meaning. For many people, prophecies regarding strange deaths, inflation, starvation, and political stability resonate precisely because these are matters of pressing and ongoing concern. In this sense, prophecies function as a kind of social text, useful for keeping track of where the shoe pinches the rump of civil society. A prophecy concerning migration makes sense in a country like Nigeria where emigration provides an out for young people who increasingly feel stuck.

Nor is belief in prophecies separable from trust in their purveyors, the ubiquitous Men of God who, as I argue in my forthcoming book on the subject, have stepped into the vacuum created by the degradation of higher education and the retreat of the intelligentsia from public life. As yesterday’s Man of Letters has ceded his authority to today’s Man of God, informed economic forecast and political analysis have given way to pastoral prognostication. To be a respected Man of God in many parts of Africa today is to exist almost beyond law or sanction. Erstwhile university academics who morphed into Men of God, Adeboye and Olukoya enjoy social respect approaching sanctification.

An intelligentsia in retreat is just a part of the problem. Historically negligent of common welfare, the state remains largely absent from many people’s lives, visible only when it mobilizes violence—a capacity that, as it happens, it can no longer claim absolute monopoly over. In varying degrees, the state’s traditional role has been assumed by sundry nonstate and religious entities, which explains why pastoral power and its announcements have become more relevant to the public than state power. One way in which the pastorate lays claim to legitimacy is through prophetic proclamations, and the scarier those proclamations, the greater the Man of God’s control of the public’s imagination. Hence Ghana’s “doomsday prophecies.”

Finally, growing uncertainty—about politics, the economy, life itself—heightens the thirst for prophecy. When the only certainty that people have is that things will get worse, prophecy can offer assurance that their situation is not beyond redemption. 

 

In seeking to regulate prophecy, the Ghana Police Service is not so much wrong as it is misguided. The problem is not that there are “doomsday prophecies.” The issue is that the distrust of the state and other secular authorities is so deep, people would rather take their chance with prophets. They have nothing to lose but their credulity.

In another article:

Church ‘prophets’ prey on Africans eager for better lives
by Stella Mapenzauswa | 7 Dec 2020 | Africa 

 

"Many Africans see religion as a path to prosperity. Self-professed prophets are soliciting church donations that bankroll their own lavish lifestyles." 

 

"One key difference is the African churches are apt to accept supernatural experiences such as prophecy, miracles and healing, increasing their appeal to those Africans who embrace centuries-old traditional beliefs even while embracing Western-style religion."

Another reader sent this to me:

Economics of Ministry: Africa’s freelance prophets are breaking free of denominations by Nyasha Bhobo Baptist News Globa

Zikode Phiri calls himself a freelance prophet. He has just completed a tour of France and Britain for private prayer clients—laying on hands, casting out demons, and interpreting dreams for those who have paid for his visa and flights from more than 7,000 miles away. “Where I hail from in Zambia, it’s easier nowadays to earn good money as a prophet than pastor,” he explained. Phiri says affluent émigrés from his native Zambia bought him a plane ticket and hotel accommodations and lavished him with an allowance to spend four weeks in France and Britain. The anticipated $3,000 he’ll net off this trip—plus gifts like pricey shoes—dwarfs his earnings in Zambia, where he previously worked as a Methodist pastor. “It’s possible because there is now a huge Zambia diaspora presence in the UK, and they need the prophetic services from someone African, similar to them, and that’s me,” Phiri explained. But the Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches prophet-pastors like Phiri grew up in and trained with sometimes restrict such prophetic work. One can be suspended for interpreting dreams, casting out demons, or giving out holy water, Phiri said. So he quit. The constraint of traditional denominational oversight groups was also too much for Jimayi Ntokozo, a former Baptist pastor from Zimbabwe who now spends three months a year in the south of England offering prophetic services to émigré families. “The interesting thing is although they might be Baptists, Methodist, or Presbyterian in their everyday faith—secretly they hunger for evangelical-style prophetic services,” Ntokozo said. “Hence, they hired me as a freelance prophet in their private capacity as families. It is better money for me.” In southern Africa, traditional denominations enforce bans on prophetic expressions as a way to differentiate from other evangelical groups. “The real reason is to separate these denominations from evangelicals in these countries. Evangelicals are popular for mass, open-air prophetic services, and gifts. The Methodists, Baptists, Lutheran, or Presbyterians can’t compete in style and numbers,” said Rishon Muganga, pastor of Zion Christian Church, one of southern Africa’s biggest independent churches, where prophetic expressions are a huge identity. Across countries including South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, and Malawi, the job of prophet-pastor commands huge, feverish followings and can earn one serious wealth if they are thought to possess prowess in predicting events, interpreting dreams, or healing ailments. Ntokozo said old-school denominations across southern Africa must relax their ban on prophetic expressions or they will continue to lose ministry talent when pastors opt to become freelance prophets. With the economy being what it is, ambitious pastors believe their only option is to quit the denominations and earn a living traveling the world. “I wanted to be a full-time pastor in the Methodist church I trained with, but the salaries are pitiful,” Phiri said. “The pull of flying around the world as a freelance prophet is hard to resist. Plus, I enjoy being a prophet.”

Also, see: 

THE PROBLEM OF FALSE PROPHETS IN AFRICA
STRENGTHENING THE CHURCH IN THE FACE OF A TROUBLESOME TREND

Prophets whose intentions are self-centered or evil have been around since biblical times (Matt 7: 15-20; Acts 13: 6-12; 2 Pet 2: 1-3; Jer: 29:9). Three things distinguish a genuine prophet from false:

• A genuine prophet is often trained through a long and proven relationship with God.
• Their conduct does not contradict the Word of God (1 John 4:1-3).
• Their predictions come to pass and often lead to good outcomes in society, particularly in the interests of the poor and marginalized (Deut 18:20-22; Num 23:19; Ezek 33:33; 1 Sam 3:19. 2 Chron 18:13 and Matt 24:35).

As you can see Bwana Bob does not meet any of these three criteria.