How Did The Armstrong Empire Get Into Its Current Mess?

 

The following was a comment left on the "Dave Pack's Pristine Record Of Perfect Failures" posting. I think deserves its own post because of how well it sums up how the COGhas reached the point it is at today..

The1950s were an exciting time to be alive. So many new products and trends were being launched. TVwas a new phenomenon, and very exciting. The cars had new powerful engines and two tone paint jobs were optional. Teenagers were being recognized as a separate demographic as opposed to being merely extensions of their parents. Music, movies, television and clothing styles reflected this. Rock music became the sound track for teenage life. Most families attended church, and there were points of connection between public schools and local community churches. 

There was also something very new about Herbert W. Armstrong's amalgamation of doctrines and message. He began coming into his own when the FCC mandated that small local AM radio stations cease broadcasting at sunset each day, opening up frequencies for big 50,000 watt "clear channel" stations, and The World Tomorrow program was carried on some of these stations. How effective were these stations? Well, a teenager in Philadelphia, on a 6 transistor radio, could pick up WABC New York, WBZ Boston, WLS Chicago, or CKLW Windsor Ontario, from about 9:00 PM until he fell asleep on it. The "Radio" Church of God was aptly named. Members were largely scattered across the USA, and ministered to via radio. When we went to Texas for our first Feast of Tabernacles, held in the new corrugated steel building in 1958, it was the stuff dreams were made of. None of the kids at school had such an opportunity, and with over 5,000 people attending, most people of that era were not accustomed to gatherings of that size. In 1959, we flew.

Nobody at the time was preaching a message like HWA was. There was interest and rapid growth. We had no local churches in the East. A church in Pittsburgh was raised up, iirc, in 1959, followed later by New York City, but they were only viable for us for occasional trips, and the holy days. Without a local church, it really was not an organized thing for us, and we had no exposure to church government. As we started to be able to attend church more, and our parents met and spoke with the parents of children our ages, they began really zealously applying what was in the child rearing booklet, wrecking my whole concept of family, and we suddenly needed all manner of special exceptions at school, turning us pretty much into pariahs. One thing was definitely universal, and that was the belief that we'd be going to Petra in 1972, and Jesus would return in 1975. That's where Dave Pack learned his shtick. The only way in which he is different is that he doesn't just make one false prophecy and backpedal. He makes them repeatedly!

As 1975 approached, field ministers were requesting that some of the doctrines be reviewed. Divorce and remarriage beliefs had caused much hardship when viable families were split up. People were dying from ailments treatable by doctors. Loma Armstrong was one of them, her death being a profound shock to members. Farmers lost their farms due to keeping land sabbaths. And, it was looking like 1975 was going to be a nonevent. When it was, the ministers backpedaled and lied, saying the church had never set dates, but they had indeed done exactly that. Some of the more scholarly members began doing their own studies, which is what we should have all done at the beginning, instead of simply memorizing the materials in the Correspondence Course. Their research exposed huge problems with the doctrines. 

There are probably people who see the sad state of the splinters today and wonder how the Armstrong empire got into its current mess. The Tkaches get blamed for so much, but the leaders of the splinters are most certainly responsible as well. Some ask what if Garner Ted had not been the spiritual equivalent of an Eddie Haskell. But, the seeds were sown by false prophecy, which failed, and apparently nobody has learned any lessons from that. The false prophecy may have fit the zeitgeist of 1955-1970. Time and date stamp of Armstrongism expired shortly thereafter.

It's that time of year again! Time for Nimrod's testicles, Satan's snake and Christmas

NOTE: It's that time of year again in Church of God land and the anti-Christmas crowd is spewing its hilarious venom.  Bob Thiel has had his yearly childish melt-down.

So, it's time for a rerun:

It's getting close to Christmas and the anti-Christmas crowd in Armstrongism is starting to spit and slobber on how demonic Christmas is.

Typical Armstrongite comments on Facebook are aimed to demean those who keep Christmas:

Christmas Trees symbolize Nimrod sprouting from the grave:

Nimrod the mighty hunter against God!!! Nimrod married his Mother. Nimrod was killed. The evergrowing tree sprouted from his grave. The first Christmas tree.

Have some angels on your tree?  If you do, you are hanging dead babies on your tree in honor of Nimrod

Nimrod was shown as a baby. With the pine tree representing Nimrod. Babies were burnt alive as gifts to Nimrod. Angels on trees represent dead babies -  MURDERED Babies.

Have some tinsel on that tree?  You are decorating it with Satan's snake.  I won't even venture to think what they mean by "snake".  :-)  Knowing the preoccupation of so many Armstrongites with sex, it could mean a couple of things.

The strings of tensile on the tree symbolize the snake/satan.

Did you know that hanging ball ornaments on trees symbolizes testicles?

The balls on the tree are Nimrods Testicles.

I do not recall how the founder of all of this worlds religions died. I remember that he was cut up and they could not find his balls which is why they put balls on the trees, An evergreen tree was supposed to have sprouted from his grave which is why an evergreen tree is used.

 Nimrod certainly had some big balls!

Did you have a picture of your child on Santa's lap?

 To celebrate Nimrods birthday they used to feed babies to the fire. All those angels on the tree represent dead babies that were murdered for Nimrod. Why he wears a red suit- it represents fire so any one putting a baby on a fat mans lap wearing a red suit is making their baby pass threw the fire!!!!

And of course, how can we forget Santa!

Santa is an anagram for Satan

The ironic thing is when these Armstrongites start spitting this stupidity it brings no one to the god they claim to follow.  It turns people off.  They are not performing a witness, they are not drawing anyone to Jesus Christ.  They are doing nothing other than making themselves look stupid.  But, maybe that is normal.....?

Dave Pack: I Hate Stars! It’s outright idolatry for a person to wear a star of any kind

 

Starry-Eyed Dave

 

As if there were not enough for the brethren of The Restored Church of God to fret over already, inept amateur false prophet extraordinaire David C. Pack revealed the hidden evil of stars. No, not the astral bodies populating the universe, but the cartoony icons deceiving you from your refrigerator door.

 

Yes, we have really come to this, folks.

 

During “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 484)” on December 9, David C. Pack laid the groundwork by reminding everyone just how yucky-poo Christmas is bla-bla-bla. On December 12, during Part 485, he exposed the long-secret dangers of five-pointed and six-pointed stars as symbols for Satan. Why else would anyone put a star atop their Christmas tree? "It's to honor the devil," as Nana and Papa used to say.

 

During Part 486 on December 16, Dave shined the light of knowledge upon the Jewish people, exposing the undeniable fact that they still worship Remphan today. Because he says so. And that is enough for the hireling enablers at Headquarters.

 

It feels like David C. Pack just discovered the Internet and is preaching information nobody else has ever looked up before. Or even put on a website for him to find it in the first place. What he preaches has been there for a long time, but he only recently discovered it. Therefore, it was time for his god to spread more conspiracy theories, now considered doctrine, to the brethren of The Restored Church of God.

 

David C. Pack’s Gallery of Stupid is busting at the seams with this one.

 

Go ahead and laugh. But remember…laughing is just what the devil wants.

 

**A special thank you to former RCG member Frank Kelley for providing the AI-generated concept art for exrcg.org.**

 

 

“The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 484)” on December 9, 2023, started out normally enough.

 

Part 484 – December 9, 2023

@ 00:00 I don’t usually say the number, but Part 484. We’re nearing the end. But every time I think there’s nothing else we can learn, then we do.

 

He even layered thirteen minutes' worth of more “proof" that Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is the Sixth King. Well, until he moonwalks all of this again. Dave never seems to settle on whether to take scissors or glue to his Bible and his notes from the previous week.

@ 04:55 He’s actually rebuilt the Russian economy to be an economy of war.

 

@ 05:21 …he cannot get out of the war. He’d be assassinated if he did.

 

@ 05:54 He the economy that's been built is so big (I wanna say this again, and I know what I'm talking about); it would crash his economy if the war ended suddenly. If he tried to stop it. He would literally never do this and expect to survive.

 

@ 08:06 I mean, he’s a type in many regards of Nebuchadnezzar, who apparently is gonna be a flatterer.

 

@ 08:44 He is a flatterer. He’s also (You know, the Seventh King is called a Little Horn). Putin’s 5’6 ½”. Napoleon was considered a shrimp and he was 5’8”. So, Putin is a very little man. There are things like that that go on and on and on…

 

Dave went on and on for another six minutes as if the more he talked, the more true it became that Vladimir Putin is the Sixth King of Revelation 17. Mark your calendars to see how long this interval lasts.

 

 

Dave enjoyed one of his favorite pastimes for this season: railing on the vile abomination known worldwide as Christmas. This was the first hint of what would come a few days later.

 

@ 1:01:53 In this time a year, that and, of course, they passing the plates and the Salvation Army and trying to get people to give and get in the Christmas Spirit which is utterly demonic and evil. But, people will give more so the pastors who love money can be, you know, buy their second or third home as so many of these the big guys do.

 

It will never be A Very Brady Christmas at the Headquarters Campus, especially now that Christmas is tied to the Star of Remphan.

Part 485 – December 12, 2023

@ 28:53 Remphan has a star, and it's six-sided. It's hexagonal. It is exactly the Star of David that has nothing to do with David. Or sometimes called Solomon’s Seal. It’s six-sided, and it's ancient, and you can go online and see a picture of the god Remphan sitting in the dead middle of what’s in the dead middle of the Israeli flag…but nobody ever looked it up.

 

Nobody ever looked it up except for the 28,000+ search results authors and the websites examining this topic. It is impossible for David C. Pack to speak the truth, even about the most minor matters. Lying is not just what he does. It is who he is.

 

@ 29:29 Saturn is the same god. Think Saturnalia and his hexagonal star, as well. So, whether you call him Chiun or Moloch or Remphan or Saturn or any number of other names, it’s the six-sided hexagon that we’re talking about. Six is the number of man and Satan. And Nebuchadnezzar, by the way. Mr. Armstrong long understood that.

 

The brethren of The Restored Church of God nervously went home on that New Moon and spied the trickster idols adorning their refrigerator door with newly opened eyes.

While researching the Star of Remphan, I found Dave’s sermon notes online. The details brought up during Part 485 are suspiciously similar to this website:

 

Star Of Remphan: Bible meaning Explained Easily (7:43)

 

Taking someone else’s information and calling it your own without citing them as your source is called plagiarism, Dave.

 

@ 30:16 No one ever asked, Why did Stephen get murdered by Jews in reference to a star when [chuckles] no Christian had ever put a star on top of a Christmas tree? In fact, stars on top of Christmas trees are off of this star.

 

@ 31:29 That has nothing to do with Solomon’s Seal. Or the ancient King David. Star of David? That’s an absolute lie about David…would never have done that.

 

@ 31:47 Every Jew who wears that star (millions of them do) are honoring Saturn, Remphan, Moloch, and Chiun.

 

The poor souls in The Restored Church of God had to race home to check every drawer and cabinet in the house to clear away the artifacts of wickedness that had been hiding in plain sight. It was time to conduct a winter-themed deleavening of the kitchen again.

How many graded homework assignments were torn from the walls and burned in the fireplace?

The frantic parents had to write the teacher a stern note explaining their child must refrain from yet another seemingly innocent activity at school. It is satisfactory and preferred that praise be issued verbally without the need to introduce seductive physical elements into their child’s psyche.

 

 

In case you thought you had too much wax in your ears and Dave was not clear enough, Part 486 made his points even sharper.

 

Part 486 – December 16, 2023

@ 01:50 Well, the Jews worship Remphan and Chiun and Saturn and many others using the 6-sided star, which often depicts the devil. But, the devil is also depicted by the…5-pointed star on the back of this coin. So, Christians went with…5-points for the top of their Christmas trees, and so forth. The Jews went for the 6-sided, but it’s all Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, the sun, the moon, and so forth. Now, the brethren have never understood this. They never have.

 

Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus are planets. The moon is classified as a natural satellite. But we should not get bogged down with technical details.

 

@ 03:51 An absolute abomination. So, knowledge is precious.

 

I will let Dave crow for a bit longer before his I-Know-But-I-Really-Don’t legacy is exposed as another perfect failure.

 

@ 07:09 But, these are big things. The Mystery of God would not be understood if you didn’t know about these stars, for instance.

 

@ 1:27:25 It may not go well for a lotta ministers who teach people to wear a Star of Saturn who know they’re lying.

 

Based on Parts 484 and 485, no one in RCG can use this emoji anymore.

How many brethren scrolled through their phones to delete messages that were safe and innocent only ninety minutes ago? If you absentmindedly use a star icon in a group chat, you shall be reported to the local unpaid hireling post haste. RCG has implemented a zero-tolerance policy for serving Satan through innocuous iconography.

 

 

@ 34:45 Nobody knows any of this. But my job is to lay enough verses out that you can't miss it.

 

To correctly see what Dave missed, we need to read what the Bible says after Dave takes too much authority upon himself in 3…2…1…

 

@ 04:09 But this a lot a knowledge we're learning. It’s an absolute blasphemous abomination. It’s outright idolatry (straight up) for a person to wear a star of any kind. Or a cross.

 

It is such a shame this is no longer considered acceptable Sabbath attire in The Restored Church of God, even under your shirt.

 

Wearing a star is a sin, according to David C. Pack, since he alone has the guts to declare it so. One tiny little problem is the Bible disagrees with him. If only David C. Pack was not cursed with the most astonishingly epic piss-poor reading comprehension skills, at least one dart he throws might hit the board.

 

David C. Pack calls wearing stars idolatry. Is that true? The Second Commandment holds the answer.

 

Exodus 20:4-6

You shall not make unto yourself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that isin the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

 

God is commanding everyone to not worship graven images. Having a plushie dolphin from Sea World on your desk is not idolatry. Licking a stamp is not idolatry. Wearing a hat with the Cleveland Browns logo on it is not idolatry. Storing a photo on your phone of your cat sleeping is not idolatry. (You are safe, Jessica.) None of that is idolatry.

 

Worshipping anything other than the True God in spirit is. Dave equated a star to the cross. Catholics worship before the crucifix. Jews do not worship the Israeli flag. Just like Americans do not worship ours. And nobody worships the star on their T-shirt.

David C. Pack utterly missed the point and botched it spectacularly. Nobody is entering the Lake of Fire for having hearts on their lunchboxes. Owning pajamas with stars on them does not mean parents are earmarking their children to serve the devil when the Man of Sin comes on the scene.

 

The Mark of the Beast is not placing a temporary star stamp on your hand and forehead. According to the Bible, unless you worship or serve your star-shaped cookie-cutter, you are A-Okay.

 

Parents of The Restored Church of God, please tell me you did not raid your house in a panicky, guilt-fueled fit to cleanse stars from your dwellings. Please let us all know that you under-reacted rationally and did not let pressure from a false teacher cause you to scrape the glow-in-the-dark decals off the bedroom ceiling until 3 AM.

 

Look, I am neither a minister nor a spiritual advisor, and I do not possess special knowledge. I am just an unordained non-prophet/non-psychic who owns a copy of eSword. If Exodus 20 did not spell it out for the Nervous Nellies in RCG, look at other verses that align perfectly.

 

Deuteronomy 4:19

And lest you lift up your eyes unto heaven, and when thou see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

 

Deuteronomy 17:3

 And has gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded.

 

2 Kings 23:5

…them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

 

Amos 5:26

But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.

 

The issue repeated throughout the Bible is worshiping the images. Having a Buddha for a doorstop is not the same as burning incense and praying to it. Do not let David C. Pack’s corrupt mind corrupt yours.

 

 

The Bible warns about serving the sun, moon, and stars and not being dismayed at the signs of heaven. Why is David C. Pack so dismayed at the sun, moon, and stars and serving them by turning them into religious concepts?

 

He is all buggy about when a solar year starts. He is all buggy about inventing a ceremony on the New Moon. He is all buggy about stars being a symbol of Satan. David C. Pack is obsessed with the sun, moon, and stars. Literally.

 

It makes you wonder what spirit drives him. And what that says about the integrity of the hirelings in The Restored Church of God that put up with this with their silent compliance.

 

It is like David C. Pack is stuck in his early teens in his parents' basement, still playing Dungeons & Dragons. But he is the worst Bible & Prophecy Dungeon Master ever. He is totally off-guide, making things up as he goes along. He has constructed a detailed fantasy of nonsense that grows more ludicrous as time passes.

 

Yes, I still think Sacred Names are coming to The Restored Church of God. I could be wrong. Like I was wrong about Dave letting the brethren know all their field ministers have been cut off financially. By the way, they did not even wait until the new year to put that into effect.

 

Brethren need to read their Bibles carefully and hold their hirelings accountable. David C. Pack may get all starry-eyed with this wacky malarkey, but it does not need to make anyone else 

Marc Cebrian

See: Starry-Eyed Dave