RCG Exit Story: Jessica Brown
I want to share my Restored Church of God exit story and my experiences during the moments when the Church believed Christ's return was imminent. The purpose of this post is to help anyone who may be struggling with their feelings regarding David C. Pack's ongoing prophecy series, "The Greatest Untold Story," which is up to Part 399 as of writing this. My intent is not to bash Pastor General David C. Pack or anyone indirectly mentioned.
It was the summer of 2019. That July marked 7 years of me being with RCG and living God's way of life. However, I was not celebrating this milestone. Instead, I was at home wallowing in misery because I had decided to stop attending due to personal issues.
At the time, I genuinely believed RCG was God's one and only true Church and that I had made a horrible mistake that would cost me my salvation. So I ended up returning about 2 months later, and upon returning, I felt the joy return to my heart as a result of "reconnecting" myself to "the body of Christ." I had become a living example of the "parable of the lost sheep," and many rejoiced to see me "back in the fold.”
Unfortunately, the joy of being back in "God's Church" would be short-lived.
The Feast of Trumpets was approaching, and Pack was making predictions that Christ would be returning on that day. I immediately thought of the Night Watch failure that occurred in March earlier that year, and it made my heart feel somewhat unsettled. But because I had just returned to the "true Church," I quickly dismissed my feelings of discomfort as "fiery darts" that Satan was throwing at me and shoved it all under the rug.
Trumpets passed, and the Feast of Tabernacles arrived. Since Christ had not returned on Trumpets as Pack believed, he pushed the date up to the Last Great Day based on a few scriptures that spoke of "the last day." At this point, I began to feel extremely troubled by the date setting, but I still dismissed the feelings as Satan trying to get me to "doubt" the teachings of "God's true servant."
Even then, the doubts that David C. Pack was a true servant of God slowly started to take root. But I repeatedly told myself I never wanted to be on the "outside" of the Church again, so I quickly squashed any doubts that entered my mind as if they were a vile cockroach that had no business crawling all over me.
That year's FOT was made even more difficult by the members who 100% believed that Christ was absolutely going to return and that it was faithless to believe time would continue. Even though I had forced myself to accept the teaching at the time, I still wanted to exercise wisdom and continue plans for the future in case time did continue as usual. But to the members entirely on board with the teaching, it was unfathomable to them that things would continue beyond the Last Great Day.
The Last Great Day came and went, and Christ still had not returned. The members who fully expected Christ were almost beyond heartbroken and didn't understand "why God is doing this.” And little did I know that things would continue to spiral out of control long after the Feast ended.
In December, Pack had once again begun predicting the return of Christ. This time, He was set to return by Christmas Eve to "blow up the holiday.” It was at this moment in history that I learned how imbalanced the members of RCG could become in the face of these "prophecies.”
December 24th arrived, and the morning was extremely overcast and foggy. All throughout Northeast Ohio lay a very thick blanket of fog. I drove to work that morning without overthinking it and went about my day as usual.
I went downstairs to my locker during my lunch break to check my phone. My jaw just about dropped to the floor.
I had almost 100 unread messages from a group chat I was in, and they were all proclaiming that Christ had arrived to speak to "Elijah" (who we believed was David C. Pack) in the clouds! A whole slew of thoughts and emotions hit me at once: fear, wonder, despair, extreme curiosity...and, of course, some doubt. But once again, I swept the feelings of doubt under the rug and told myself that it was certainly possible God could be doing something in this fog.
I was allowed to leave work early because it was Christmas Eve, and the work volume was low. So I drove to Giant Eagle in the afternoon to look at the RCG Headquarters campus. The fog was much thicker over the church campus than anywhere else in Northeast Ohio. And it had not shown any signs of lifting. Could it have been true that Christ was in the cloud surrounding the campus? I didn't know the answer to that question, but I sat in my car and stared at it with wonder and amazement as I had never seen fog linger around for so long.
The fog lingered for about 24 hours and dissipated the next morning on Christmas day. And once again, a few members expressed heartbreak that Jesus Christ had not returned. A disturbing realization hit me in the early hours of this morning.
A prophecy was fulfilled, but not as I thought it would be. Matthew 24:23-26 suddenly became real to me. These brethren were essentially saying, "Look, He (Christ) is in the secret chambers!" and additionally, were being dismayed by "signs and wonders." And when I realized that, I was terribly shaken, more so because I allowed myself to get snared into thinking that way. Unfortunately, it was a feeling I had to keep to myself because I knew it would lead to getting scolded and possibly being reported to the ministry.
Eventually, more dates were set, and at one point, Pack was making predictions every week. And in March, when COVID-19 began to rear its ugly head, it somehow meant that "the Work" was going to shut down and that Christ would soon intervene and come to Wadsworth to give us our reward. Of course, that didn't happen, and once again, the members were constantly on edge, wondering what was going on. I certainly was on edge, just in a very different way.
Later in 2020, when Trumpets was a couple weeks away, and another prediction was made, I decided to be transparent instead of expressing joy. I told a member that I wasn't excited at all and was highly distressed. At this moment, I learned I had to keep my mouth shut because it led to getting questioned on my "belief." I definitely believed in my Bible, but I was just seriously struggling with faith in the process of the constant shifts and dates being set and wondered why God would allow "His Church" to keep going through these repeating cycles.
And so began the journey of bottling up my thoughts and feelings and just "going with the flow.” It made me feel like a hypocrite because it became increasingly difficult to share the "excitement" some would continue to express when more dates would be set.
Fast forward to 2022. As a result of constantly living "on edge" and stressing over whether the teachings from the pulpit were of God, my health began to suffer. My blood pressure was taken at an appointment, and it came back at a whopping 152/100. I was shocked and immediately tied it to the stress I had been experiencing for so long. I knew from that point forward I would not last much longer in RCG. I had already started entertaining the thoughts of leaving again in March, but specific fears held me back. I also didn't want to leave RCG hastily like I had done three years earlier, in 2019. It was only after realizing how much damage the prophecy series was doing to me physically, mentally, and spiritually that I had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that what was being taught in RCG was not of God and then make my exit once I was sure of it.
I started deeply studying the scriptures and praying fervently for God to help me understand His mind on the matter. I looked up and highlighted many scriptures on the subject of prophets and how they function. I examined many scriptures. The ones that stood out the most were Deuteronomy18:22, Numbers 12:6, Ezekiel 13, II Peter 2:1-3, I John 4:1, and the verses leading up to Revelation 10:7 (which was Pack's favorite verse to take out of context).
Finally, I read through a book that has been discontinued by RCG, "Is ‘That Prophet’ Alive Today? The Rise of False Prophets.” Upon reading page 51, I felt sick to my stomach. At that moment, I knew I had to RUN out of The Restored Church of God and never return.
David C. Pack had become the man he had warned us NOT to follow many years ago. And the fact that they removed that piece of literature and also removed any other sermons or literature that discussed this subject made me realize RCG was actively (yet silently) trying to hide this from the members. And I knew such actions were not of God but of the "god of this world.”
Additionally, I also realized their twisted version of "all things common" was a fulfillment of II Peter 2:3, “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you.” "Common" was not being used to help the members who had need. It was being used to fulfill another man's dream of having a "glorious" campus and living a comfortable life with the RCG ministers. Meanwhile, the people who gave everything they had are now struggling and have become victims of being made into "merchandise.”
I felt thoroughly disgusted. Not just with RCG but with myself for helping fund a corrupt dream and for not digging deep into my Bible regarding prophecy to "see if those things were so," as outlined in Acts 17:11.
I sent in my exit letter and was told in the response from my minister not to "worry about" prophecy and that I would "lose God's Spirit" if I disconnected myself from the "body.”
I knew that was a lie, so I responded with the above scriptures and referred to page 51 of the "That Prophet" book. He did not respond, presumably because he could not challenge the cited scriptures.
Since leaving RCG, my relationship with God has improved tremendously. I no longer believe He is an unmerciful trickster playing with the hearts of the brethren, and He continues to provide for me even now, despite being told that God would depart from me if I left RCG.
I am not a perfect human being and certainly make mistakes, but I know that if I continue to put God first in my life, He will never forsake me. I learned that "staying connected to the body" is a SPIRITUAL act, done by regularly studying God's word, praying, fasting, meditating, and staying connected to those of like mind. It is not merely a physical act.
So, in conclusion, my message to those in RCG who are concerned about what is happening and unable to understand why things are going in an uncertain direction regarding prophecy—dig deep into your Bible. Pray, study, fast, and beseech God to give you clarity. And if you have the book "Is ‘That Prophet’ Alive Today?" read through it again, slowly and carefully. And also, for those with a WCG background, think about how Herbert W. Armstrong would react if he was still alive and learned that the man who worked under him for so long got into strange prophetic teachings and constant date setting. I can't imagine him being too pleased with it.
And finally, know you are not alone and that there IS a network of support for those who have left The Restored Church of God.
Do not let fear take over your heart. All it takes is that first small step towards true freedom in Christ.
Courtesy of Mark Cebrian
See: RCG Exit Story: Jessica Brown
