Mishandling Vipers
The light, humorous style and colorful reporting about David C. Pack and The Restored Church of God may have mistakenly given the impression that the enablers at Headquarters are no more than docile idiots blindly following a proven false prophet because they have been unfairly duped and are innocent, unaware prisoners trapped in a subtly corrupt spiritual organization.
They know what David C. Pack is, and they know exactly what they are doing.
When I was 13, I went on a family vacation to Florida. One of the stops was an alligator farm where trained guides fed these massive, scaly reptiles in front of an audience for entertainment. The hissing alligators would stay still with their mouths wide open. The trainer tapped them on the nose with a stick, coaxing them to perform his tricks.
The seasoned trainer demonstrated his years of experience and familiarity with the alligators. He placed his hand in an open mouth and touched its tongue. The alligator snapped its jaws shut. This was the coup de grace of the performance, causing the audience to explode with applause.
If the trainer makes it look too easy, a naïve individual might feel compelled to hop the fence and give it a try. After all, how hard could it be? After 30 seconds of toying with the alligators, that overzealous individual may incite screams for an ambulance rather than applause.
Something like that happened this week.
Getting into the water to exchange biblical truth with alligators is not a wise move and should only be attempted by experienced, fully prepared professionals.
Gary at Banned by HWA informed me that blogger Richard Burkard contacted Edward L. Winkfield at The Restored Church of God this week to ask him about information provided on exrcg.org and the YouTube Channel.
The bigger underlying story is that they spoke to him at all, regardless of the context or content of his article. According to Richard’s bio, he is a “90%-retired journalist, moderating ‘Weekly Watch’ faith-based teleconference from Haggai114.net.” Not exactly Fox News.
Headquarters must be desperate for the good press if they are willing to talk on the phone with an unknown writer for some obscure religious website. At least The Living God Ministries are Sabbath and New Moon-keepers, just like RCG. Their stances on Christmas and birthdays have not yet been vetted.
Maybe the folks at Headquarters felt a prodigal son kinship with this fellow micro flock outside the Body of Christ despite their use of sacred names. Or perhaps Ryan Denee was coveting that prime advertising space on the official Israel of God list and envisioned RCG being included next to UCG, COGwa, and CGG.
Apparently, you do not have a real ministry until you get on that list.
Richard and I connected via email, and he answered some questions for me to use in this article. He is an “old school” retired career journalist who contacted RCG through their main number and left them a voicemail. About an hour later, Edward Winkfield called him back for a 6-7 minute discussion. Richard mentioned the videos about Pentecost 2025.
Richard Burkard via email
"I cited one or two of Mr. Pack's quotes and specifically asked if Mr. Pack had made predictions about dates prior to Pentecost 2025. …I stuck to the Pack predictions and then offered him the opportunity to add any concluding remarks. He said only that he appreciated people reaching out to RCG directly."
It is unfortunate that Richard neglected to contact me to obtain the up-to-date details that are necessary before attempting such a bold move. An 80%-retired journalist would have known to confirm his current facts from all available sources before conducting an investigatory interview with the vipers’ nest.
I know he meant well, so I asked him what his motivation for contacting RCG was.
Richard Burkard via email
"I'd written an earlier Substack article in March about Mr. Pack's Abib 1 claims. So it seemed like a follow-up was in order - but I realized I had not been fair to RCG to get their side of the story.”
Getting both sides of the story is always recommended and fair. That is why reporting on The Restored Church of God and David C. Pack is accompanied by time-stamped quotes and video evidence. What Dave preaches ex-cathedra to his worshippers IS his side of the story.
Despite how I humorously tug on Dave’s pigtails, kick sand in Brad’s face, or tie Ryan Denee’s shoelaces together, those men are highly skilled manipulators worthy of extreme caution.
Edward Winkfield may be an incompetent manager who accelerated the demise of Media Production Services and the smiling, over-zealous New Moon mouthpiece, but make no mistake: He is a viper. He is a scorpion and a wolf and should be regarded as such.
Richard wandered into the petting zoo thinking he was mingling with passive "Christian" sheep but did not realize until it was too late that they were disguised ravening wolves. If you let your guard down for even a moment, the overwhelming attacks would come so quickly, with bites so deep you would not even feel them until blood was already on the ground.
Without having a fuller context of their shrewd practices and adept word parsing, Richard played right into their hands and gave them what they wanted: A free public denial.
Being “fair” to them worked out like gangbusters. Edward Winkfield was able to lie without lying. He answered to “the letter of the law” and not “the spirit of the law.” Like a lawyer would advise, he answered the questions that were asked and volunteered no more.
Pack Predicting Pentecost? Aide to Ohio Church Leader Denies New Date Set
Richard Burkard – May 27, 2025
If at first a pastor is wrong, does he try, try again?
Maybe not. A spokesman for a small church denomination in northern Ohio denies online claims that its leader is predicting the return of Jesus Christ will occur Sunday, June 1.
“That is not something that the Restored Church of God teaches, or that Mr. Pack is claiming,” Edward Winkfield said in a phone interview Tuesday, May 27.
David Pack, the founder of RCG, has been accused of setting failed dates many times in messages to his headquarters congregation. Former member Marc Cebrian has posted dozens of video clips from Pack's sermons to illustrate that.
“It is interesting that it was coming from someone who was being critical,” Winkfield said. “But I can say unequivocally that is not what we teach.”
Cebrian might respond by saying that's because Pack has revised the Pentecost date again. Cebrian's website showed two predicted return dates Tuesday: June 1 and June 11.
Cebrian's ExRCG.org blog did not explain the later date, except that it was a full moon. But one video clip dated Saturday, May 3 shows Pack defending his Pentecost reasoning.
“God would never say regarding the arrival of His Kingdom, 'It's Pentecost,'” Pack said. “He almost does a number of times, in ways that are impossible to misunderstand.”
But, Pack added, God stops short of providing a specific date in the Bible because “the whole world would know.”
An earlier article cited clips posted by Cebrian in which Pack predicted Christ's return on Sunday, March 30, the start of the Hebraic calendar year. He called that date “immutable church doctrine”.
“The second coming of Christ is a pretty foundational doctrine in any Christian, Bible-teaching church,” Winkfield said when asked about that. “We study prophecy... it's part of what we teach.”
Winkfield added RCG is a group which “remains hopeful... more than anything definitive. Maybe you could go as far as speculating different things, but I wouldn't take it as anything beyond that,” Winkfield explained.
Yet Pack's early May video claims that proving Pentecost as the return date is like “falling over backwards without even being pushed. It's that easy.”
Pack goes on to cite a main Bible verse quoted by opponents of prophetic date-setting. Jesus said of end-time events in Mark 13:32, “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
“Well, we know both,” Pack claimed in the early May video.
Winkfield, RCG’s Publications and Media Director, admitted he doesn't know the motives of RCG critics.Cebrian's website says its goal is “exposing the truth” about RCG and Pack.
[Article Continues]
Ed was able to contort his answers to avoid a plain falsehood until the very end. What a rookie move.
Edward L. Winkfield knows precisely what the motives of “RCG critics” are. He supports a spiritually corrupt organization that has a proven false prophet as a figurehead who admits that preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God too loudly fights God's purpose while extracting monetary resources from members and widows under the threat of losing salvation so they can escape corporate debt while simultaneously preaching Jesus Christ is returning within days.
If you contact The Restored Church of God, you will be petting a snake. Do not be surprised at the speed at which you will get bit.
Richard may have wanted to be “fair” to RCG, but Ed was not “fair” with his slippery answers. His verbal sophistry was transparent as he dodged uninformed questions. Former RCG veterans are versed in the familiar subterfuge.
Richard greased up his own fingers. Ed just let himself slip out of his grip.
…denies online claims that its leader is predicting the return of Jesus Christ…
RCG and David C. Pack do not “predict” anything. Prediction is not part of their operation. He prophesies. Word selection is crucial, especially when Dave changes the meaning of words. According to him, a prophet no longer receives words from God's mouth, and prophesying is “just preaching what the Bible says.”
“That is not something that the Restored Church of God teaches,
or that Mr. Pack is claiming," Edward Winkfield said
in a phone interview Tuesday, May 27.
Ed answered the question in the present tense because that is how it was asked, and he was fully aware that starting on April 26 during “The Greatest Untold Story!” Part 572 until Part 575 on May 10, his boss WAS teaching that the Kingdom of God would arrive on June 1, 2025.
The new date they currently teach is Sivan 15 on June 11. Ed knew that. Richard did not. Ed knew Richard did not and was able to get away with that answer without a fruitful follow-up.
…has been accused of setting failed dates…
These are not accusations. They are documented, proven facts beyond refute.
Winkfield said. “But I can say unequivocally that is not what we teach.”
A present tense answer is framed with the word prediction in context. Ed is mastering disingenuous answers.
Cebrian might respond… Cebrian's ExRCG.org blog did not explain the later date…
Cebrian was not contacted and was busy reporting on RCG’s $3.1 million debt liberation.
“…Maybe you could go as far as speculating different things,
but I wouldn't take it as anything beyond that," Winkfield explained.
RCG members will either scream out the window or roar in laughter. Brad must have shook his head at that. With good reason. A massive logic sinkhole just appeared at the Headquarters Campus.
Edward Winkfield was not authorized to label Dave’s entire “Greatest Untold Story!” Series as 577 Parts of speculation.This might have been him winging it and diverting from Brad’s notes. Ed accidentally stumbled into the lying side of the ethics line.
What David C. Pack teaches from the table each week is enforced doctrine in The Restored Church of God. It is not speculation. If members do not “take it as anything beyond that," they will not stay in their seats. Ed Winkfield just described his Pastor General as being a biblical fan fiction cosplayer.
For fun, I challenge any current member to tell their field mollusk they do not take what their Pastor General says beyond more than just speculation. See what happens.
When David C. Pack inevitably bails on his Sivan 15 idea, he will not be preaching the next date as pure speculation. He will preach it under his god’s authority and in its name. If all he is doing is “speculating different things," then there is no rush to call it out or occupy the Sabbath with unenforceable prophetic pontifications.
David C. Pack has repeated that he is moved by God’s Spirit to teach what he does. What Ed foolishly said calls this into question, undermining the validity of anything the Pastor General preaches.
Now, that’s the Ed Winkfield I remember. Nice going, man.
Richard left the interview with his "fair" answers, but he had no concept of the gravity of the transaction because he did not understand the nature of who he was dealing with.
Richard unwittingly handed RCG a win with a flat denial without challenging Ed further. He may have left the call pleased, but not more than Ed.
I used to consider Edward L. Winkfield a friend and respected him, which is probably why my disgust became caustic due to his slobbering Dave-fawning during his sermons. I credit Ed for being the straw that broke the camel’s back, prompting my resignation from RCG in 2021.
Ed surrendered his critical thinking to pursue a career in false apostle advocacy and has not looked back. He defends his human idol passionately and reveals himself to be more interested in the false words of a twisted man than in the word of God.
With Richard’s easy access to Ed as proof, The Restored Church of God is now open to entertaining questions from anyone who calls if they perceive they have a chance to generate positive publicity. Let this article stand as a stark warning.
To the inexperienced outsiders, The Restored Church of God may appear to be a benevolent 501(c)(3) nonprofit religious organization that just wants to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world and worship in peace and harmony.
But it is a school that trains gaslighting manipulators, taking in millions of dollars each year. The people in charge will not allow an unknown 90%-retired writer from an obscure religious website to threaten that income or their seats of authority. If you ask a clumsy question, you will get a devious answer.
Kindly shepherds do not walk the grounds of the Headquarters Campus in Wadsworth, Ohio. There are no posted warning signs about the territory occupied by alligators, wolves, scorpions, and vipers.
Learn from Richard Burkard’s mistakes. Mishandling vipers is a dangerous business.
Marc Cebrian
See: Mishandling Vipers
