David C. Pack in Prophecy: “Foretold” in 1977 by Marion McNair

David C. Pack in Prophecy

“Foretold” in 1977!

Excerpts from Marion McNair

THE FLIMFLAM EVANGELIST-SPIRIT OF ELMER GANTRY

Each new generation of religious awakening spawns its own hybrid variety of the flimflam man–the Elmer Gantry of the pulpit. The gullible eagerly frequents the medicine show, the rainmaker, the healer, the prophet, one who promises the fountain of youth, the mystic elixir of life or ultimate knowledge of the Divine.

Each flim-flammer will seek his own following, shunning those who question the authenticity of his supposedly divine formula. Those men must be called on to account for the slightest failure of their heavenly claims and left desolate with their own hocus-pocus. Without the blessing of the widow's mite their well pressed garments will become rumpled and their fancy potions appear as ineffectual as they really are.

But how can the youth, the non-initiate, the novice detect and avoid the flim-flam religious practitioner? It is not as difficult as one might think. There are, basically, three things to watch.

IMMINENCY OF CHRIST'S RETURN-BEWARE!

The first to be wary of is the man who predicts the imminency of the literal return of Jesus Christ. Christ warned, “Ye know not the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh” (Matt. 25:13). Christ and all the major apostolic authors warned that Christ's return would be as unexpected as the appearance of a thief in the darkness of night (Luke 12:39, I Thes. 5:2, II Pet. 3:10, Rev. 3:6; 16:15).

Heaven guards that event with such secrecy that neither the angels nor even Christ Himself knows the time of its final fulfillment. God the Father has reserved that knowledge to Himself–alone! “. . . of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only,” said Christ (Matt. 25:36),

Even though Christ's literal return will come unexpectedly, it need not catch the child of God unaware. Those who are spiritually prepared will not be startled by Christ's return–even if it comes while he is sleeping in the wee hours of the morning. The time or imminency of Christ's return is something about which one just need not be frightened if he is living a Godly life (II Thess. 5:4).

A mighty temptation rests on every minister and layman–a temptation to dabble in the prophetic date of Christ's return. But every minister or layman who has, or ever will do so, is destined to sail straight into the reef of prophetic disaster.

Why then do ministers do it? It is a very easy way to get people stirred up to the point where they will generously support a work with their financial means. In some cases, hundreds of thousands and millions will be donated by a single individual to support this kind of scare-tactic preaching–something which Christ warned should not be done. He said, “ . . . many shall come in my name saying I am (of) Christ; and The time (of Christ's return) draweth near . . .” (Luke 21:8). What then should one's reaction be when self-styled prophets come proclaiming that Christ's Second Coming is just around the corner? Christ said, “ . . . go not after them . . .” (Luke 21:8).

There is no truth so well documented and yet so widely abused by self-styled prophets. Christ labeled it a forbidden area and specifically warned, “ . . . there shall arise . . . false prophets . . . (Matt. 24:23-24).

Ministers who indulge in this forbidden trickery will invariably construct an elaborate prophetic scheme and eventually become purveyors of dooms-day threats–in many cases directing the venom of their strikes against the sanctity of other Christian faiths.

Such men, after misappropriating millions of widows mites become the victims of their own schemes as the scripture of Deuteronomy 18:22 is fulfilled upon them, “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously; thou shalt, not be afraid of him.”

SELF-STYLED PROPHET-BEWARE!

The second thing to watch in detecting the Elmer Gantry flimflam type has already been referenced–the self-styled prophet. As his prophetic structure grows it will become increasingly necessary that he be looked upon as having a higher station than the ordinary minister of Christ. Eventually his decisions will be equated with a “Thus saith the Lord.” Those of such esteem will gradually assume the position of the sale keeper, regulator and interpreter of God's Holy Word. They will then exercise the freedom to add to and detract from the Scriptures.

What does God say about such as this? “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book . . . God shall take away his part out of the book of life. . .” (Rev. 22:18-19).

While this scripture pertains primarily to the book of Revelation, the same holds true for the entire Bible At the time of his death, the writer of Revelation, the Apostle John, had compiled and canonized the Scriptures as we have them today. He wrote the above quote. There is no room for special revelation when it comes to Truth. “Grace and truth came (not is coming or will come–but CAME) by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Paul made it clear, while writing to the Hebrews, “. . . (God) Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son . . .” (Heb. 1:2), whose words are recorded in the Bible.

Beware of the self-styled prophet who uses double meaning phrases such as, “God has revealed to me,” If you believe your Bible, you know God is not now giving direct revelation to men. Beware of the man who claims otherwise.

THE WHOLE TRUTH SYNDROME

Thirdly, beware of the organization which thinks or teaches that they are the only ones who have “The Truth.” Further examination will reveal that they teach salvation is generally possible through their closed society alone. They subtly infer that only they hold the key to the Golden Gate of God's Heavenly Kingdom. Hundreds of years–perhaps eighteen hundred years have gone by without the gospel having been preached–according to them. Souls for centuries, have been doomed to their graves without the saving grace of the Gospel of Christ–according to their teaching. Beware of those who supposedly have a monopoly on heavenly things.

….

Beware of the modern space-age flimflam Elmer Gantry as he may some day peer through your space-scope. Keep your hand on your hip because he is going to reach for your wallet.

If he uses your offerings for any project other than Christ's commission of preaching His Gospel, you haven't donated to the real cause of Christ. You, my friend, have experienced a Religious Rip-Off!

If he uses your offerings for any project other than Christ's commission of preaching His Gospel, you haven't donated to the real cause of Christ. You, my friend, have experienced a Religious Rip-Off!

 

Excerpts from Marion McNair

See: Armstrongism: Religion or Rip-off?

Submitted by a Restored Church of God source

Dave Pack: I am out of material...The end is now before Passover...Or Maybe Next Year

 

From a reader on Dave Pack's latest sermon:

Part 283 (Jan 27th, 2021) - "It looks like we understand the end, more than ever before!"

33:09 - The end is either this winter or next!

45:30 - There is one big blast from Christ and then its all done. Everything starts with a bang! So many people have left us and said "its taking too long!" They only left because they wanted to break God's laws, and run after their own lusts. Because God "changed," "raised" and "sent them out," of the church! They are pretty much the "Synagogue of Satan," that's what this verse is talking about. They are "briars and thorns" who are now ejected.

1:41:55 - Tomorrow is the end of the series we go into a watch for a short space and then the Father's Kingdom starts.

1:58:50 - it looks a lot like this Friday, we are out of material, I now understand the end as I never did before. Starts doing math, somehow got to 1335. (crazy math nonsense).

2:03:00 - The KOG is "held in a mystery," you have to adhere and wait through the hard part (all the back and forth and failed prophecies).

2:07:40 - Its all got to wrap up by Passover, its got to be winter, its the bibles biggest metric!

 

The Reason Bob Thiel, Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry Are The Way They Are

 

Self-righteous narcissism 

Dave Pack Has New Calculations On Why His "christ" Will Appear Today...

From a reader:

Part 283 of the sermon series

He went in Daniel 12 and said you calculate 1335 days from the middle of the 70th week at the 1260th.

So he put 3.5x365+1=1277.5

He took 1335-1277.5=57.5

And he said there are 2 little Kingdoms back to back, Elijah's and Christ's, having each half of those 57.5 days.

So he says Christ "must" come back this Sabbath because the series is over, and he explains in 284 "how it is possible" (I have yet to download it) to have these 2 mini Kingdoms before the 7 years (70th week)...

Now I said to my wife - WHO SAYS you calculate 1335 days from the middle of the 70th week!!! WHO says you go back from that to land 1335 days prior to decide it HAVE to be like sort of NOW - because "there's nothing else left to say"?!!

Further, he says you calculate the 1335th from the 1260th - BUT he also happily points with his hands that the 1290th meets the 1335th like a gable roof, but it DOESN'T since there is a 30 days crossover! You're like MAN - THAT is supposed to be marvelous and the way God says at the last minute that IT IS READY?!!!!

 

 

If Present Day COG Are God's Chosen Vessels Of Truth Why Are So Many Of Them Trying To Cover Their Tracks?

 

For decades we have had it pounded into us that the Church of God was the ONLY true church preaching the truth in this sick and perverted world. Our truth was so precious that it was discovered by Herbert Armstrong in the 1930s that no one in the entirety of Christianity understood, well, at least for 1,800 years. Once HWA discovered this he set about broadcasting it to the world in radio programs, magazines, booklets, and books. That truth was so precious to him that he traveled the world trying to get his message across, even if it was about a strong hand from SOMEPLACE. He was passionate without worrying too much about what people thought. 

Then, the COG imploded in such a horrendous implosion that hundreds and hundreds of little splinter groups shot out in every direction with some of the most outlandish tales and messages imaginable. Through all of this, each and every one of them thought they were the one and only possessors of truth.

Over the last three decades, hundreds and hundreds of these splinter groups faded into oblivion with only a few of the "larger" groups who have been able to hold on and continue to proclaim a message, in their own way.  It is no longer a unified message that HWA instilled in them, but now many independent messages instilled with visions and mindless mind-farts by certain present-day leaders that they think is now the gospel.

Yet, at least three of the current Churches of God, the Restored Church of God, Living Church of God, and the Philadelphia Church of God, have started banning their sermons from being heard by the public, hiding and editing certain writings, and have "members only" areas for sermons and special writings from the leadership.

As their spiritual leaders say more and more outlandish things, the brakes are slamming down hard to keep their words from flowing out to the public, especially to COG members and "dissident" blogs and web sites. Even with all the prohibitions many of them have put into place, the absurdities they say spread like wildfire within minutes to hours.

Three of these COG groups, the Living Church of God, the Restored Church of God, and the Philadelphia Church of God have also resorted to devious means in order to flush out whistleblowers in their midst. Certain video or audio recordings are sent to certain people that have been altered in ways that when they show up on the internet and blogs they can quickly start narrowing down who the whistleblowers are. Some of them also send out documents and articles with edited words added or deleted to find out who is passing the message around. Some of them even fabricate bogus stories to see who spreads it, like PCG is doing.

If the words these churches say are the "truth" then why are they so embarrassed to have their sermons and utterances being heard? Even if it leads to "persecution" by authorities of government, isn't that message too precious to hideaway? The sad fact of reality in the COG movement is that it is currently led by a bunch of cowards who bluster and bloviate on their uniqueness and yet are actually little man-boys who are constantly getting their delicate feelings hurt.

The Church of God movement is no longer a reality but a minor blip in the grand scheme of things. They are like nasty farts happening in the middle of church services. It stinks to high heaven and takes ages to disappear, but it finally does, pretty much like what the current COG's are doing.

COG members need to stop fearing their leaders and their supposed ability to cut people off from salvation. It is not something that any of them are able to do nor is it the action of God they claim to follow. COG members don't need to be giving huge amounts of money to their leaders, having bake sales, selling fruit, having garage sales, and any other manner of "works" these leaders claim members need to be doing. Salvation is not something we need to work for, it's a free gift from God and actually works for us.

So the next time your leader starts hiding things from you, telling tall tales, and actively spying on church members to find moles and whistleblowers, you should walk out the door and never look back.