Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Dave Pack: God's Greatest Gift To Humanity

 There is something not quit right about this guy!  It shows in his face and demeanor.


Poor Dave Pack. he gets no respect!  But one can only respect that which is honorable and there is NOTHING honorable about Dave Pack.  Arrogant, pompous, self-serving, liar, false teacher, false apostle, and wanna-be HWA clone, are just a few of the words one could ascibe to Pack. He considers himself to be the worlds foremost Biblical scholar and his web site contains more Biblical information than any other site in the entire world.


UK Apologetics had this to say about Pack:

According to his own website, after attending Ambassador College, David C. Pack,
"...entered the Worldwide Church of God ministry in 1971 and was personally trained by Herbert W. Armstrong. He has established over 50 congregations, authored more than 20 books, written hundreds of booklets and articles, and appeared on The History Channel. As Editor-in-Chief of The Real Truth magazine and voice of The World to Come program, he has reached millions around the globe with the most powerful truths of the Bible, unknown to almost all."
There is appalling arrogance there. If somebody other than Mr Pack wrote these comments he needs to move quickly to remove the arrogant tone. But if - as one suspects - the comments appear with his approval, one can only gasp at a man who would claim that he alone reaches "millions around the globe" with an authentic Bible message which is "unknown to almost all." To be frank, this is typical of the amazing arrogance of the armstrongists. So, according to the reasoning which the "Restored Church of God" encourages us to accept, forget about Aquinas, forget about Luther, forget about Calvin, forget about John Wesley, CH Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and all the rest - until Herbert Armstrong came along we knew virtually nothing about the Bible and now - how wonderful! - Mr Pack is devoutly and selflessly continuing in his path. Herbert, of course, was full of an arrogance and (entirely misplaced) confidence just like that so it is perhaps no shock to find his disciples inheriting the very same trait.
In the very same, Who is David C. Pack? article on his website, Mr Pack (or, one presumably writing with his authority), modestly points out that in order to attend Ambassador College, he declined an invitation to attend Dartmouth College, as well as an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, plus numerous other scholarship offers. Hmm. What a very able and clever young man! Continuing in the same line of modesty, the article further tells us that,
"...he has traveled the world, pastored thousands and conducted many public Bible lectures. Mr. Pack has also held a number of leadership positions that have given him a wide range of ministerial and administrative experience."
Yep, while this may all be perfectly accurate, the impression is that this is real 'CV' material of the most embellished kind. Moreover, we are told that Mr Pack's writing is,
"Published on the most extensive biblically based websites in the world, Mr. Pack’s and the Church’s materials address the everyday concerns of the average man and woman..."
Of course, the unpalatable truth (for the armstrongists) is that no "biblically-based website" would allow any material coming from Mr Pack or any armstrongist disciple anywhere near their website unless the purpose should be to critique it, as we are doing right here.


Pam Dewey has this to say on her Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion: Worldwide Church of God Family Tree page:

Although Pack did have some folks follow him out of the GCG, that was a bit surprising for many people.
Here is how the Ambassador Report put it back in 1985 when Pack was still a minister in the WCG:
 
"For a number of years now, no WCG minister's name has  appeared more often in letters written to the Report complaining of  ministerial abuse.  A group of members was even so brazen as to  circulate an open letter detailing his abuses and calling for his  removal.  According to this group, he "intimidated members, used threats  and mind control, was given to emotion outbursts, disfellowshipped  members for trivial faults, prescribed diets while playing M.D., put  down women," etc., etc.

The letter quoted Pack as saying, "Everyone who has challenged me has  either died, been seriously injured or has been eliminated from the  work...God backs me even if I am wrong."
 
Someone who had been an insider in the Global Church of God, before Rod Meredith left to form the Living Church of God, confirmed to me that Pack's reputation was identical within that organization at the time, with numerous complaints from people coming in about his tactics all the time.  

In spite of all that, Pack did gather a following. Over the years since then there have been numerous defections from his ministry, but he has also gained more supporters, both from other WCG splinter groups and from the public via the Internet.

Like Gerald Flurry before him (whose claims Pack mocks) David Pack claims to have inherited Herbert Armstrong’s mantle. He also claims that his organization follows the teachings of Herbert Armstrong more closely than any other WCG splinter group.
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As of an astonishing sermon given in February 2005, he declared himself to be the only Apostle of our time, and insisted that he will be personally "training" those two individuals who will end up being the “Two Witnesses of Revelation.” You can see a detailed overview of that sermon on the Exit and Support Network website.

Is Rod Meredith Ensuring His Children's Inheritance?

From a comment on the Glen Gilchrist posting:




"...do you think LCG emphasized government so much because of what UCG and COGWA went through last year?"
 
No. LCG emphasizes government because that is how Rod Meredith can force his sheeple to accept his sons as his rightful heirs to the throne, passing over so many other more senior men. Of course, this doesn't work for everyone. I have heard that LCG's income dropped sharply after Rod appointed his son Jim as his #2, and that it dropped even more after Rod baptized his son David and gave him a cushy HQ job. Lots of people in LCG are disgusted by Rod's blatant nepotism, and by his growing trail of lies, and there may even be a church split because of it. Rod may end up with a cult smaller than Flurry's, but it will still be a nice inheritance to leave to his children, saving them from having to do another honest day of work as long as they live


Radio Church of God: Anglo-American-Israel Theory

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