"To Bob Thiel, there are no issues in Africa. He has the most bizarre and dumb explanations to cover all of African lawlessness,…"

Someone above asked how would (Bob Thiel, I guess) portray me in his cartoon. Well, considering his accusations after my conscience compelled me to leave CCOG, I guess I will be portrayed as someone who released funds so that he can go on to American radios; also, as someone who is a talebearer and a gossiper. He was always so unhappy when I would raise the questions about Africa, and especially about how the CCOG in Africa was governed.  

In January of this year he sent me an email in which he said that I should be careful about my attitude to Africa. I responded in a long email telling him that my attitudes to Africa have nothing racist there, but that I have been raising concerns about Africa for years. In my concerns I quoted lies of certain ministers, as well as the involvement of CCOG main person in the elections in Kenya, his proselytizing Muslim boys by taking them as orphans to work on his farm, of his main man taking one of his sons to the Kenyan military, of local churches supposedly being CCOG, when in fact on their sings it was written "Church of God 7th Day Jerusalem" and so on. So, in that long email I repeated all my concerns about African CCOG ministry. Meanwhile, Terry Nelson provided me with various proofs of all the wrongdoings in Africa that he investigated!  

And let now be clear. The small amount of money I was allotted monthly from CCOG for my service cannot compare with the amount of money Bob Thiel sent to Africa. And my issues were not the amounts he sent, but how that money was being squandered and that he was lied that such money was used to help all the poor members there. Besides, he would have had enough money for presence on American radio stations if he did not send so much money to Africa to allow those people there to build their local churches. As far as talebearing and gossip, I was shocked that Bob Thiel would not take into consideration testimonies of children and the testimony showed here by lady Priscilla, ex-wife of Radson Mulozowa, "the minister in good standing". One of the lies that Evans Ochieng uses in Africa is that Priscilla was cheating on her husband and that Terry Nelson tried to break her marriage to Radson. That detestable lie has never been addressed, just as usually nothing is addressed when it comes to Africa. To Bob Thiel, there are no issues in Africa. He has the most bizzare and dumb explanations to cover all of African lawlessness, while his African minions keep flattering him and go to great lengths to express to him their unwavering loyalty. Million times I asked Bob Thiel if he is aware of how much of Bible truths those people understand, but I never had any answer. And yet, there are rumors that some CCOG members don`t even know what Holy Days are kept by CCOG, and this does not exclude the top men of CCOG in Africa.

Aleksandar Sasha Veljic

Does the Church of God Really Obey God's law?

Do the ACOGs really obey God's Law?

Among the followers of Herbert Armstrong's teachings, the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus is critical. According to them, not only does their observance of the commandments outlined in this chapter distinguish them from traditional Christians, it also distinguishes them from other Sabbatarian Christians (like Seventh Day Adventists, Seventh Day Baptists, and the Church(es) of God Seventh Day). For them, these festivals not only provide the perfect contrast to the "pagan" holidays of Easter, Halloween and Christmas; they also stand or fall with Sabbath observance!

For the sake of argument, let's assume for a moment that Christians are obligated to observe these festivals - that the ACOG's theology is sound on this point. Are their observances and arguments consistent with what is revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures? Let's take a closer look.

In the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, NINE festivals are outlined: the weekly Sabbath, Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Booths, and the Eighth Day. In connection with the annual festivals, it should be noted that there were specific rituals, sacrifices, and offerings associated with each one of them. Again, for the sake of argument, for the moment, we will ignore the instructions about sacrifices and offerings (even the ACOGs acknowledge that Christ's sacrifice makes those no longer necessary).

We are, nevertheless, left with a number of undeniable discrepancies between ACOG observances and what is outlined in this passage. For example, in all of the years that I was associated with them, I don't remember ANY specific observances related to Firstfruits. To be fair, an occasional sermon would mention the fact that Christ was our wave sheaf offering, but there was no specific observance associated with that festival. They would even read aloud the passage: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." (Leviticus 23:9;14, ESV) Now, I suppose we could say that Firstfruits/wave sheaf was symbolic and pointed to Christ - a shadow of the reality found in him; but isn't that the very argument which other Christians use to "do away with" all of these festivals?

In similar fashion, the Feast of Trumpets was to be "proclaimed with blast of trumpets" (verse 24). Now, I do remember a couple of occasions when a trumpet was employed in the singing of "God Speaks to Us" on this feast day, but I don't recall this as having been a formal or regular part of the worship service. And, as far as this festival being celebrated as a "memorial" (same verse), most of the sermons and literature which I remember being associated with this day focused on the second coming of Jesus Christ. If my memory is faulty on this point, I'm confident that someone will correct me!

In terms of the Feast of Booths, we read: "And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." (Verses 40-43) I don't remember any of this being associated with the "Feast of Tabernacles" celebrated by the ACOGs (at least, not the ones with which I was associated). Indeed, instead of temporary shelters constructed by the celebrants, most of us had reservations in very permanent hotels and campgrounds - a temporary stay!

We could, of course, talk in some detail about the ACOG's flawed understanding of the symbolism associated with these festivals. After all, the ACOGs claimed that the meaning of these days was an important part of observing them! We could talk about how the Day of Atonement pointed to Jesus, NOT Satan the Devil. We could also talk about Jesus Christ and humankind tabernacling in the flesh, and Christ's sermon on the "Last Great Day," but we will focus instead on the physical observance of these days by the ACOGs.

In this connection, another favorite passage of the ACOGs comes immediately to mind - the sixteenth chapter of Deuteronomy. Of course, within that culture, the principal role of this passage was to enjoin the membership to cough up generous offerings on each of the Holy Days! Even so, this passage conveys a number of other imperatives which those folks conveniently ignored.

For example, although ACOG folks were scrupulous about removing all leavening from their dwellings, they completely ignored the passages related to the ONLY acceptable place for the observance of these days. In that chapter in Deuteronomy, we read: "You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt." (Verses 5-6) Likewise, in connection with the Feast of Weeks, we read: "And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there." (Verse 11) In similar fashion, with regard to the Feast of Booths, we read: " For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful." (Verse 15)

Notice that ALL three of these festivals were to be observed "at the place the Lord your God will choose." Moreover, so that there wouldn't be any room for misunderstanding of God's intent in this regard, the passage concludes with: "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you." (Verses 16-17) In other words, Torah mandated THREE pilgrimage festivals - where the Israelites were required to come to JERUSALEM to properly observe these festivals! After all, any serious student of the Hebrew Bible understands that JERUSALEM is the ONLY place which God ever chose for His name to permanently rest. Moreover, students of the New Testament understand that Christ and his apostles ALWAYS celebrated the festivals at Jerusalem! Also, doesn't Zechariah suggest that JERUSALEM is where the Feast of Booths will be observed in the Millenium? (Zechariah 14:16-19)

What has been the practice of the ACOGs in this regard? The Worldwide Church of God and most of its successors have designated various "feast sites" around the world where their members gathered to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. On the other hand, Passover and the Feast of Weeks were usually observed locally - within the various congregations of the Church. Now, having personally been to many of these sites, I can attest to the fact that places like Wisconsin Dells, Jekyll Island, Saratoga Springs, Biloxi, Pensacola, Johnson City, Myrtle Beach, etc. are very nice vacation spots. They are, however, NOT JERUSALEM! Also, are the ACOGs suggesting that the choices of a "Festival Coordinator" (or church administrator) reflect God's choice? And, what about the Scriptural designation of the other two festivals (Passover and Weeks) as pilgrimage festivals? Finally, if the "offerings" on these occasions were binding on members, why weren't the other offerings designated for those days still binding on them?

What about ACOG justifications for their divergence from these plain Torah instructions? A favorite of theirs is found in Christ's instructions to his disciples recorded in the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. We read there: "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Verses 18-20) Let's ignore the fact that these remarks were delivered within the context of dealing with disagreements among Christ's disciples within the Church (verses 15-17). If this passage justifies ACOG practices regarding the festivals, why can't it be employed by traditional Christians to justify their observances of Sunday, Christmas, and Easter? Let's not forget, too, that this passage was used to justify their observance of Pentecost on Monday for many years! What's that old saying? "What's good for the goose is good for the gander!"

Now, while this post does not disprove that Christians are obligated to observe the festivals (that's a subject for another post), it does demonstrate that ACOG observance of those festivals is NOT in line with Torah instructions regarding them! Hence, the answer to our original question: "Do the ACOGs really obey God's Law?" has to be answered with a resounding NO!

Lonnie Hendrix

Dave Pack: Running out of gas...

 

Outta Gas

 

Pastor General David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God is out of gas. Not only is he running on prophetic fumes, he must be huffing them. His Jerusalem Syndrome hallucinations keep his head spinning with perpetual compulsive date-setting while his mouth tries to keep up.

 

Headquarters must be "going green" trying to save the environment because there is serious recycling in Wadsworth. The failed dates for the return of Jesus Christ in 2022 have become the exact failed dates for the return of Jesus Christ in 2023.

 

During “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 457)” on July 1, 2023, David C. Pack spent 85 minutes convincing the All-Believing Zealots that Jesus Christ would return on Tammuz 15.

 

Tammuz 15 began at sunset on Monday, July 3. The explosions you heard were just early fireworks.

 

If 2023 is a repeat of 2022, keep an eye out for these upcoming dates:

 

Tammuz 20 – Starting at sunset on Saturday, July 8

Av 1 – Starting at sunset on Tuesday, July 18

 

David C. Pack's latest messages putter and sputter as he coasts downhill, reading the same verses over and over and over again as if the material was new. He is just plain boring. Except for a few instances.

 

 

To properly frame Part 457, enjoy the end of Part 456.

 

Part 456 – June 24, 2023

@ 1:43:05 I need to give more messages, more often turned on WHEN not WHAT. Oh, I’m never gonna do that again. If I speak after vacation, expect more WHAT and nothing about WHEN. Gabriel would hafta tell me what to say. I can’t imagine anything else.

 

Part 457 – July 1, 2023

@ 01:34 I said last time if I speak again, it will be about the WHAT, not the WHEN. Well, little did I know how that would be opposite to true. I have no WHAT that God is gonna do to talk about at all. It’s strictly the WHEN. Again, absolutely nothing changes from this picture.

 

With six people, including Ken and Tim, going off payroll, that must have left room to bring Gabriel on as a consultant. This is classic David C. Pack proving to all the brethren he is not a man of his word, nor should anything he says be taken seriously.

 

By his own admission, he speaks “opposite to true.” When it comes to Grandpa Dave, I have operated in Opposite Land for a long time. If he says, he will NEVER, be guaranteed he will. If he promises he WILL, rest assured he will find a way out of it. If what he teaches is IMPOSSIBLE to argue with, he will argue with it until his ears turn red. If what he teaches is impossible to MISUNDERSTAND, he will later admit he spoke without enough knowledge.

 

The brethren of The Restored Church of God are given every opportunity to see who and what their Pastor General is, yet they still choose to sit and accept him. To their shame.

 

@ 04:19 We’re not losing people now. There’s no gush of people out the door at the last minute ‘cause “This went an extra week or three.” There’s nothing like that going on at all. Church is doing just fine. But, we been losing people for several years who have been correctly saying, therefore, Christ tarried, and He did, and that's all it took for them to quit.

 

Eventually, there are no more righteous left in Sodom. Perhaps the folks with an ounce of sense and strength have already departed.

 

@ 05:48 In other words, it becomes encouraging for me to realize God built this Series to go a lot longer than I thought. It's just I wuddn't gonna leave the church. It was always sort of built-in.

 

God is always why the endless Series drags on, and Dave loves using Him as Blame Armor. Careful, boss. Careful.

 

Elijah-Elect searches the Scriptures to continually find new ways to give himself comfort. The peace, peace never lasts long. With good reason.

 

@ 11:01 First, I thought it was Tammuz 1 (June 20). Well, this is Tammuz 12. That was wrong. It had to be a Gold Standard, something precise and absolute. I mean, a smoking gun. But, again, what would it be? And I wanna repeat, I think I finally know.

 

Maybe less thinking and more vacationing on vacation next time, Dave.

 

Sshh. Do not interrupt him. Yes, we know this already failed miserably, but let the guy get it off his chest and prove to the brethren how much he THINKS he knows.

 

@ 11:21 And I'm gonna show you what I learned. I got close to this on Tuesday, and being away on vacation was wonderfully helpful. I had a lot of time to think. And I had figured out by Tuesday afternoon (evening, really.) Tuesday evening, really, I had figured out exactly what God was telling us per when it cannot tarry any longer.

 

@ 14:06 …and so, my sole point today is timing. Timing.

 

So, his sole point for taking up the entirety of Sabbath Services on July 1 was a waste of time. A waste of his time during his vacation. A waste of the brethren's time at Headquarters. And a waste of time for anyone in The Restored Church of God who listens to this dreck.

 

@ 14:21 So, let’s see if we can by something God waited deliberately, very carefully, for the very last message, and that what I was supposta "make plain" was not WHAT had been covered in 456 messages, but WHEN this is gonna happen. I think now I understand. I've run it by three good men in great detail, and they saw it, "Wow. There it is." And you never hafta leave Habakkuk.

 

Those men will nod their heads and widen their eyes no matter what Dave tells them. He could lay out the loudest, most detailed, and most nuanced fart in RCG history with the heater on and the windows rolled up, and they would fain amazement.

 

The lot of them at Headquarters are worthless hirelings. Shame on you compromised cowards.

 

@ 42:33 Literally, what you can do is just close the Bible and say, “I know when this is gonna be.” …I wanna lock this down so you can see how all the verses fit. Monday night, not Sabbath night (tonight), Monday night is the “midst of the years.”

 

@ 45:24 So, Monday night is the only time, the only night, Monday night, Jerusalem time, which it’d be, you know, fairly early in the day Monday to us… It’s the only time it can be. Or God said something different than what we can we would understand. Anybody think He did that? Would He do that?

 

@ 47:01 So, this is either Monday night, or it's two years out.

 

David C. Pack will never ever ever ever wait two years for anything. He will not wait one year. He cannot even stand to shut his mouth for one month. Part 458 was recorded today. How much do you want to bet he found a pathway to keep pushing the goalpost?

 

 

If what Dave says next is true, then what he describes is direct evidence of dark spiritual influence. A more secular-based mind would point to mental illness. Whether it is demonic or psychotic in nature, the result is the same.

@ 1:15:50 …if you say he [Ezekiel] ate the book on the 5^th [Tammuz]…I wonder, is it possible? …Within five minutes of Tammuz 5 beginning in Jerusalem, a whole series of things came exploding into my mind…about Revelation (many of which I covered last week), and by about 24 hours later, I had my message completed, and I can talk to my staff, and we were ready to go, and you heard [Part] 456. Now that’s more important to me, and it may or be not be lost on you. But I’m gonna tell you when Revelation came clear…that led us to understand, "Whoa, that's when the foolish and wise virgins are waiting for the Bridegroom. Whoa, certain saints are gonna get killed. Whoa, we're gonna enter the joy of the Lord.” All of that came clear almost exactly on the 24 hours of Tammuz 5.

 

Dave's brain has an open-door policy with demonic visitors. Wicked entities are allowed to visit Elijah That Prophet, to leave their excrement between his ears. And he is grateful for it.

 

Inspired false knowledge is not from God. Whether the culprit is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Legion, the victims of this are the members of The Restored Church of God. They are trapped in a lie they cannot escape because they have no clear alternative.

 

They are repeating the error of those who stayed in The Worldwide Church of God after the apostasy until it became Grace Communion International. The Restored Church of God has become The Restored Church of Another god.

 

Their false prophet, false teacher, preaches a false god who tells them this:

 

@ 1:24:56 But, there’s no way we’re here next week. Never mind, the mystery of all a this is over. I hafta be “about to sound.”

 

 

David C. Pack has run out of gas. He is out of new material and is forced to keep recycling the same ideas and the same Hebrew dates over and over again. The hirelings at Headquarters let him do it. The apathetic, lethargic brethren let him do it.

 

@ 1:25:20 So, I’m just telling you what the Bible says. We reached that time. We reached that time…A little before one o’clock our time here [July 3]. And everybody can calculate around the world with the idea that "Yeah, it could go twelve more hours,” I guess. Maybe. I don’t know. There could. They’re competing commentaries. With that, we’re done. Godspeed this moment. Come, Lord Jesus, as John said.

Marc Cebrian

See: Outta Gas