Dale Schurter and David C Pack: The Love Story That Wasn't

Back in January of 2012 Dave Pack started tooting his horn that the Restored Church of God had just recruited the most superfantabulous man ever in the Church of God.  Pack revealed that Dale Schurter had left the apostate United Church of God and had now come over to the one true religion.

Schurter has had somewhat a mythical status in the church over the decades, particularly those tied in to the Big Sandy area.  Schurter and many church members imagined him to be the world's foremost authority on agricultural issues.  That was one of the reasons Dave Pack worked overtime to recruit him to come over to the the dark side.

Dave had visions of starting his own experimental farm on the Wadsworth compound and Schurter was the man to do it. Schurter was going to restore "true" agricultural practices and teach RCG members so they could teach the residents of their world's how to grow their own food.

Schurter made it official in 2012 that he was jumping ship and wrote a glowing love letter to Pack and the RCG.  Also keep in mind that Schurter was on the UCG payroll while he was checking out Dave and crew. He had really good teachers in that department.

In the early years, Mona and I had the honor to know Mr. and Mrs. Herbert W. Armstrong personally, and over the years spent many hours with them….especially with Mr. Armstrong, on numerous occasions. We learned much directly from him one-on-one about the way of God and His purpose for all of us, in addition to the many ways we all learned from God and Jesus Christ through him --- directly or indirectly. This brings responsibility, hence the length of this letter.

Mona and I now know that the Truth which was lost during the buildup and final volcanic eruption of the apostasy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, following the death of Mr. Armstrong, has definitely been found and restored to God’s Church….including the all-important Government of God headed by Jesus Christ.

When we were led to the Restored Church of God, and did due diligence in our research, we confirmed to our satisfaction that the works and fruits of this organization were of God. Christ is the Head of this Church. We saw Christ at work through one He had called and appointed to finish the work --- to fulfill the prophecy of Revelation 10:11, which we should all know, “You must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” This prophecy was on Mr. Armstrong’s mind, especially in his latter years. 

The Restored Church of God is truly about our Father’s business. I am thankful to be a part of this very end time work --- and I urge you to take a very serious look. Investigate it as we have.

Like any good Church of God leader he knew he was going to receive flack for his apostasy from UCG.  He would be a martyr for the truth just like  any good COG leader. 

I must caution that you will probably experience a “blizzard” of lies and deception about Mr. Pack. Do not let this deter you. I have prepared myself for some of the same treatment. You all know me, and I have known Mr. Pack for almost 30 years. Think of how Mr. Armstrong was and still is being slandered and attacked. It could not be different with Mr. Pack --- and maybe with me! 

Mona and I remain available to serve you and all others, spiritually or physically, just as we have continued to serve others around the world over the years. However, from now on I will be a minister of the Restored Church of God, serving in the New York City area. I will also be serving as a “pastor at large”, freely communicating with anyone in UCG or individuals in other groups who wish to contact me.

I will regularly write on an important website/blog (www.rcgtruth.com) to keep you informed and updated. This will include more of my observations and thoughts. It will also contain exciting updates about God’s work, including reports from other ministers who have joined RCG, but also many other kinds of information. There is much more to say.  Dale Schurter Resignation/Propaganda letter

Dave Pack was so proud of Schurter that he started a web site that was going to be filled with the personal testimonies of the hundreds of defecting COG ministers.  Schurter was featured prominently. Dave wrote in 2012:

This website’s purpose is to highlight the unparalleled growth and fruits of The Restored Church of God (RCG), and to counter many years of falsehoods and misinformation regarding the Church and its leader. It will feature ongoing posts, including eyewitness accounts from a number of ministers who have left Worldwide Church of God (WCG) offshoots for RCG. Readers can look forward to information on the rapid expansion of the Church and Work, as well as its educational institution, Ambassador Center. Additional ministers who come with The Restored Church of God will also contribute. Answers to readers’ questions considered helpful to a broader audience will be posted.  Pack's Agenda for Schurter and Other Defecting Ministers

Now it is August 2016 and the web site is gone.  Gone because many of those defecting ministers have now left the Restored Church of God!   They became disgusted at the things they were witnessing and the convoluted quagmire Pack was preaching.

Two months after he joined up with Dave Pack and had completed his reeducation training, Schurter started making the claims he was being "intensely persecuted."

There also continues to be persecution for me, some quite intense. All who have regained spiritual sight will suffer persecution. As we participate in this end-time Work of proclaiming the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God, along with the trials we also experience joy. Both will continue to increase “as we see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:25).

My wife and I are so thankful to God for answering our prayers to be led to where He is truly working. We had become severed from the True Vine, but are now reattached. As some of you may know, I have studied and employed biblical agriculture for decades, and understand what happens when a branch is cut from a vine or tree. The environment in which it falls will determine how long it will remain alive and able to be reattached, grafted back into the vine before it completely withers and finally dies—then to be gathered and burned. Brethren, I was withering as a part of Laodicea, as “blindness and nakedness” crept into my life and work. I had taught against taking on a Laodicean attitude and lifestyle for decades. Yet I had drifted into it myself. What a sobering reality!  Dale Schurter resurfaces claiming intense persecution

Pack huffed and puffed for quit a while about Schurter.  Then POOF...he was no where to be found.  Apparently Satan was on the warpath and was really really pissed that Schurter was now in the the only true church.

COG members wondered and speculated as to the mysterious disappearance of Schurter.

Four years to the month that Schurter wrote his glowing praise of Dave and the RCG, Dave was publicly humiliating him in a sermon:

Mr. Schurter and his wife "moved "away and the next week in services we had a sermon about how the both of them were having signs of dementia, like in his sermons he was teaching things he learned in United and he would go over time In his sermons and then Mr Pack said he put goldfish in his pond on the campus on "accident" and ruined some trees, the whole thing was just strange. Dave Pack publicly shames  Dale Schurter and his wife

It has now been reported that Schurter and his wife have put out to pasture in the Dayton area.  No more farms, no more spiritual training, no more articles, no more reeducation camps, no more praise from Dave.  Just cast aside and forgotten about. 

It's a lonely world when you piss off the Chosen One.

It's a simple request...James Malm

James Malm said:  "It appears that the Scarborough’s really had no case after all, and this seems to have been egged on and even orchestrated if not by Dennis Diehl himself  [a former elder fired from WCG and now seemingly full of bitterness against anything associated with the COG],  then by the inveterate liars at the anti God website Banned by HWA."

I asked and James said.....    

1. Dennis said: 

   August 8, 2016 at 07:55

   Nothing in your comment is true or accurate. So make peace my friend and take the reference out. You don’t want the BannedHWA blog owner on you with 4000 COG hits a day wanting you to correct it

   James said : "So I am to believe you? and cower before your threats? Your close association with an egregious liar deprives you of any and all credibility. No one can believe a word you say. I have been regularly lied about by the Banned folks for years as have many others, and you tough guys are now attacking an old lady with a pack of lies, and I should care about your threats?

   
   

   Either you have a very thin skin for people who make a career out of attacking others; or I have hit too close to the mark for your comfort. James"
2.  It is not about thin skin or "bitterness" either. I don't consider myself bitter about anything but rather educated as to why I no longer take the positions concerning church, the  Bible and  The One Man Show I used to take in my naive and good intentioned youth and Church years. 
3. It is about a published inaccurate statement that I would like corrected.  Anyone would ask the same thing.  That's not asking a whole lot.  Perhaps Ms. Scarborough would like to answer the question as to ever having known or been in contact with me over this issue.  
4. Also, I am sorry you feel anyone is picking on an "old lady".  Family members are the source of the concerns and no one is making it up.  If what they say is not so, then have a chat with them and ask them, not us, why they feel as they feel. And, if what they say is inaccurate, then ask them to correct it and explain why.  Simple...
5. Also, the good folk at Banned HWA are not making a career of attacking others.  Others bring it on themselves with their outlandish theological ideas, opinions, callings, silliness and narcissistic behaviors that hurt many other good folk who for whatever reasons can't see the forest for their ministerial trees.  Noticing the crazy behaviors and written statements of belief is not attacking.  It is noticing and standing up to it which is something their members don't seem to have the ability or the energy to do. 
6. Banned is a way for those who see what we have seen and feel what we have felt about our own experiences and conclusions without judgment or even have to reveal who they are or their affiliation.  4000 views a day must mean something here is of interest to not a few. 
7. Perhaps you could list the specific areas where you feel others have lied about you and show why others are being unfair or inaccurate in their observations about your publicly printed views.  After all, if you are going to declare yourself and have others declare you the expert on all things Bible, you may find others taking issue with that from time to time.
8. I am sure if you feel you have been deeply wronged, misunderstood or lied about, you could clarify that on this site if you wished rather than use your own hurts to justify not correcting a simple matter when you are proven wrong and giving out misinformation.  You have not hit close to home. You missed completely.  
9. You chose to post your response to my simple private request publicly on your website, so you'll have to forgive me if I post mine here.  

Regards
Dennis

Roderick C Meredith: Why is he so vindictive? Why does he consider church division worse than murder and child molestation?

Buried in the letter from Elizabeth Scarborough that was posted on the weekend was the following information that came out in court proceedings and was  made by Rod Meredith:

I’m sure the hours and hours of deposition transcripts would make salacious and eye-opening reading for many. At one point, Rod Meredith said that if it were up to him we would NEVER be allowed to attend ANY church of God again. It gave me goosebumps! And he thinks that’s a converted attitude?! Praise God that decision is not his. Meredith also said that “causing church division is worse than murder or child molestation”. Ironic since he’s formed two churches through division himself and we never caused or urged a single person to leave LCG. He used this as his defense as to why McNair called the pastor of our new church and attempted to get us kicked out of that church too. Apparently, it wasn’t enough for them to kick us out of LCG. They’d prefer that we not be able to attend ANY church EVER. So very Christian of them.

What absolute vindictive arrogance for Meredith to wish he welded that much power.  No Church of God minister has ever had that power, not even Herbert Armstrong.

Rod Meredith has always been a vindictive man.  In the mid to late 70's when he battled and succeeded in having Garner Ted removed from the church, Meredith lashed out at all of the people close to GTA.  From secretaries to friends, the broad swipe of Meredith's vindictiveness hit.  Instead of talking to each of these people on where their loyalties lay, he sent out scores of disfellowshipment letters.  No one was allowed to contest the letters or ask questions.  They were immediately fired, disfellowshipped and publicly marked.

Meredith's next public display of his vindictive nature happened in Tucson, AR when he stood on the stage in front of the ministry of the Worldwide Church of God at its ministerial conference and proceeded to smear the name and reputation of Leona McNair.  He lied on that stage and thought he got away with it.  She sued him and won because he could not keep his mouth shut.

Once that lawsuit had been paid for and represented by WCG attorneys, Meredith quickly jumped ship with Raymond McNair to start the Global Church of God.    Both of these men, in their arrogance, deliberately brought division into the church.  They did all in their power to try and woo as many members away from WCG as they could, along with their money.  Meredith knew he were ready to get fired and by starting a new church it was guaranteed income.

Once ensconced in Global, Meredith's arrogance and vindictive nature kept rearing its ugly head.  Eventually the leadership of Global got sick of how nasty the man was and voted him out.  McNair, the ever loyal but buffoonish lap poodle, decided he would would run the church to smooth things out.  Meredith felt betrayed by McNair and quickly lashed out while in collusion with other elders and deacons (including a pedophile) and started Living Church of God, taking most of Global's money with them.  This action was deliberate and meant to humiliate Raymond McNair, which it did.

Raymond McNair and his wife Eve eventually did something that many consider to be a most appalling spectacle. Knowing how vindictive Meredith was, and how he had claimed to place the McNair's eternal salivation at risk, they actually went into his presence and got on their knees in front of him to beg forgiveness!   The McNair’s begged forgiveness from Rod with "trembling lips." No member in ANY Church of God ever needs to do such an appalling thing in front of ANY minister!  These men are not God and do not represent God in any capacity at that moment, no matter how much they claim to.

Meredith's arrogance also shines forth yet again with the comment that "causing church division is worse than murder or child molestation,” never mind the fact that he has personally caused church division for 60 some years now and has started two separate churches.

Having seven of his church members murdered and seeing children molested by church pedophiles is not as bad in his eyes as someone who causes division.  Rod Meredith helped created Terry Ratzmann and covered up for a know pedophile who help started LCG.

How sick can this man get?

UPDATED Exclusive: Elizabeth Scarborough Letter: Update on court case

I appreciate Mrs. Scarborough deciding to release this information here. This site has now become the "go to" source for updates and information on the various issues that are hurting LCG members lives. This site also allows LCG members to comment freely and anonymously.

NOTE: James Malm has copied information from below and added it to his blog, as if it was sent directly to him, where he has added his own commentary that is misinformed and wildly inaccurate.   His accusations against Dennis are completely false.  Dennis has had no contact or correspondence with the Scarborough's at anytime.  Malm also is spreading misinformation about the Scarborough's and in effect lying about them.  He has added his own interpretation as to the reasons for the lawsuit and for its dismissal, all totally inaccurate. Malm's wild accusation further discredits him in the eyes of the few he pretends to reach.

You have my permission to post this.

I know that many people, both in ACOGs and out, now look to your site for the information that LCG tries to keep under wraps.  I would prefer to have the truth out there over speculation.

Thank you,

Elizabeth

As you and your readers know, we had a court date last Monday wherein the Living Church of God pled for a dismissal on Ecclesiastical Abstention grounds. We left the proceedings feeling rather confident that the judge would rule in our favor. The high-priced, fancy lawyers for LCG weren’t very impressive in their presentation to the judge (in fact they appeared to actually annoy the judge) and we felt our lawyer did a good job with his arguments. Our lawyer explained to the judge that we were in no way disputing the churches right to mark us for whatever reasons, real or completely made-up, but rather that we were suing them for slandering us on multiple occasions with statements that we can easily prove were false AND of a vindictive nature.

Ecclesiastical abstention basically gives the church permission to treat members as horribly as they want because the members join of their own free will and in so doing give permission to those in power do whatever they want to them. It stems from the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution and makes the claim that courts don’t have the “jurisdiction” to attempt to resolve disputes that are inherently religious in nature. It specifically states that the court should refrain from issues that are based on religious doctrine or church governance, or having to do with decisions handed down by the church leadership.

Our complaint was not “religious in nature”. We were slandered. No matter who you are, it’s against the law to say untrue,defamatory things about people. It’s even worse when those statements are lies spoken with the intent to harm someone’s reputation and good name. THAT is what our case was based on. Not doctrine.

Late Friday night our lawyer informed us that the judge granted LCG the dismissal. Needless to say, we were shocked. At this point our claim is completely dead unless we decide to appeal. We have 30 days to make that decision.

All we ever wanted was for them to admit that they made a wrong decision, based on wrong information, and to meet with us to make peace even if that meant we never walked through LCG’s doors again. We just wanted peace but they refused to talk to us time and time again. A month before we filed the lawsuit, we hired a lawyer to write LCG a letter. That letter expressed our fervent desire to meet to work on peaceful resolution and it stated that we didn’t want to file the lawsuit but said that if they didn’t reply to the letter, we would file the suit. The deadline to reply came and went with no response from LCG. They could have gotten out of this without spending a dime, but they chose to continue to ignore our plea for peace.

Patrick and I counted 44 emails and letters that we wrote LCG literally begging them for peace. While they refused to work on peace, they had no problem having Dexter Wakefield draft a “Release” letter they wanted us to sign which absolved them of any wrong doing “from the beginning of time”. Sadly, we were so desperate to have the marking removed at that time that we probably would have signed it if they would have agreed that signing it meant we could start counseling toward resolution, but they still refused, so we didn’t sign it. If you read the Release, you would be utterly shocked at its content. It was extremely inflammatory. Their behavior toward us has been nothing less than completely unbelievable.

The silver lining in all this is that after over 20 hours of depositions, we now know why Rod McNair and Rod Meredith decided to mark us, which is something we have struggled to understand for nearly 2 years now. Rod McNair testified, under oath, that we were marked for the following reasons: 1. we had a Greek-themed party in 2009 (after returning from a trip to Greece) that looked like a “toga party” 2. In 2011 I sang the Andrew’s Sisters 1945 hit “Rum & Coca-Cola” at Spokesman Club ladies night and McNair believes the song promotes prostitution (they asked me to sing that night and pre-approved the song but I still got in trouble for it) 3. In 2014 I invited two couples, close friends (or so I thought at the time but apparently I was wrong) to my home for a bbq to show them unconditional love because they had been suspended from church and were feeling discouraged. They had been suspended for reading the Book of Enoch and having private Bible studies which we were NEVER a part of but we loved them and wanted to support them because they were very discouraged and upset. We ALL expressed concern over the behavior of HQ’s ministry that night but these couples were Rod McNair’s friends so they got off unscathed while “speaking negatively of ministry” and “causing church division” was added to McNair’s file against me when he found out about our conversations. And then lastly, 4. They blamed Patrick for being the source of information posted on cogwriter.com about Mr. Apartian. Bob Thiel emailed LCG, called LCG and posted on his blog that we were NOT his source (we subsequently found out WHO the source actually was) but LCG continued to pin this accusation on Patrick because they literally had NOTHING else to justify marking him. One LCG minister even testified under oath that the information posted on cogwriter was TRUE and that Mr. Apartian had actually made those statements to a handful of people in his last year of life. So they marked Patrick for TRUE information that he didn’t give Thiel!

That’s it. They took all our friends, our church and our entire social life, our support system, and ruined our reputations because I didn’t handle their accusations of impropriety in 2009 and 2011 very well (as evidenced by my refusing to take the pictures off of my personal Facebook page at McNair’s request), the completely false accusation about cogwriter and one night of openly expressed opinions on brutish behavior we had observed first-hand by LCG ministry.

I’m sure you all think we are better off but that doesn’t negate the devastating pain and loss we suffered and the utter heartache we endured by being shunned by people that we truly loved and thought were our friends. I still can’t understand how people who were our friends for over a decade can just turn their backs on us because Rod Meredith and Rod McNair told them to.

And for that they have opted to spend tens of thousands of dollars defending themselves instead of just sitting down with us like grown-ups (let alone Christians) and working through our problems.

I’m sure the hours and hours of deposition transcripts would make salacious and eye-opening reading for many. At one point, Rod Meredith said that if it were up to him we would NEVER be allowed to attend ANY church of God again. It gave me goosebumps! And he thinks that’s a converted attitude?! Praise God that decision is not his. Meredith also said that “causing church division is worse than murder or child molestation”. Ironic since he’s formed two churches through division himself and we never caused or urged a single person to leave LCG. He used this as his defense as to why McNair called the pastor of our new church and attempted to get us kicked out of that church too. Apparently, it wasn’t enough for them to kick us out of LCG. They’d prefer that we not be able to attend ANY church EVER. So very Christian of them.

Anyway, we just wanted to let you and your readers know because we know that many of them have been supporting us in our effort to seek justice. I have gotten so many private messages from people that have suffered at the hands of these men. Each story I read made me feel even more strongly that we needed to press on. Not to exact revenge but rather, in the hope that if they got their hands smacked for abusing members, they might change their ways or at least think twice before ruining another person’s life. As it stands, they probably think God is on their side and feel empowered to continue to behave as unjust bullies.

I have total faith that in the end, they will be made accountable.