RCG: We have again entered the Bizzaro World of David C.raptacular Pack

David C. Pack Moonwalks

 

David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God gave his staff after-lunch indigestion by making them hear “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 388)” on Tuesday, August 23. How anyone can still hold down their meal after hearing his opening remark is beyond me.

 

@ 00:05 We meet yet again. We’re still on track.

 

If RCG was honestly “on track,” Jesus Christ would have returned after sundown last Tuesday night. Dave makes no mention of that biblical non-arrival nor does he feature his own un-ending of the series with a new un-final message.

 

Spoiler Alert: Dave sets a new date for Elul 1 which is sundown on Saturday, August 27, 2022.

 

This message is a good example for those who want to experience Dave dismantling his own teachings. He does not say that is what he is doing, but those who understand what he either recently taught or has been teaching for the past year can recognize it for what it is.

 

He is prophetically moving backward but presenting it with the appearance of moving forward. Yes, David C. Pack is moonwalking. Whether or not Part 389 contains him doing the Cabbage Patch is anyone’s guess.

 

 

Dave read the Kingdom of God parables in Matthew and Luke, and then tied them into Daniel.

 

@ 00:17 It would be important to God that we correctly identify the first Kingdom.

 

@ 04:57 If we’re waiting for Christ to bring the Kingdom of God, we should know it. And this series wouldn’t be over until that was suddenly figured out after lo, these many years.

 

@ 05:45 That means the Kingdom of God, His everlasting kingdom came before the Father got here on the Day of the Lord.

 

@ 05:58 Suddenly, it became absolutely clear that the First Kingdom is the Kingdom of God. And I’m gonna give you more proofs. But we’re gonna were’ gonna clear this up briefly before we go on to some other things that are not quite as exciting but in but incredibly interesting. So, again, I wanna just state, if you’re going to be the first people to enter the Kingdom of God, then you outta know it. And you outta know it absolutely. And you will. You will know it absolutely.

 

We have again entered the Bizzaro World of David C.raptacular Pack. Those comments are intended to be eye-popping moments for those inside The Restored Church of God. The funny-in-a-painful way thing is that everyone already knew that. They knew all of that.

 

There are church-goers in the Wadsworth Neighbors Facebook group who could tell you as much. The Worldwide Church of God always taught that Jesus Christ brings the Kingdom of God. The Father comes after. Church members go into the Kingdom first. RCG taught that since 1999. How is this something Dave had “suddenly figured out” and got all excited about?

 

If anyone in that audience went home and found their notes from before 2015, they would find that same information using Matthew, Luke, and Daniel and remember that conclusion was long-taught-and-forgot.

 

What other former doctrines will make a comeback? Is a “Big T” return on the horizon?

 

 

Starting with Part 387, the table has been bare.

The coffee and spices and glasses are not there because "We don’t need that anymore.” They are not there because they are not true anymore.

That was the Present Truth of the past, brethren. Forget about what has been taught in 2022 because that will just confuse you, brethren. Let the past go, brethren.

 

@ 09:56 So, let me close by saying we are praying for and waiting for Jesus Christ to come with the Father to bring the Kingdom of God. End of story. It took a long time to get there. But, we’re there nevertheless. So, if the last messages are to explain the Mystery of God it would seem to me it should could include this. It should absolutely include this.

 

Okay, so that is still a Dave-centric teaching that the Father comes with Christ. Even though earlier he said Jesus Christ is the one who brings the Kingdom. I suppose that is just nuance.

 

@ 13:56 I wanna show you something absolutely incredible and none of us ever knew. You're gonna learn some truly amazing things here.

 

Dave reminds me of Tom Sawyer convincing his friends of the concept of how fun whitewashing the fence is. It is true because he says so. It is all psychological salesmanship.

 

He then grabbed a shovel and headed to the graveyard so he could dig up a corpse to beat it to death again.

 

@ 18:23 Now a story about the most evil man I ever knew, Joseph Tkach.

 

He uses the death of Joseph W. Tkach on Trumpets in 1995 as a way to prove that the Kingdom comes on Trumpets. He is much more colorful than that if you want to hear him tell the story.

Part 388 – Joseph W. Tkach

Dave is all worked up about the Day of Lord beginning on Trumpets.

 

Herbert W. Armstrong suspected that Jesus Christ would return on Trumpets but never made it a full-blown church doctrine. Even he knew that would prove to be unwise.

 

@ 21:45 It has become absolute heresy to reject that the Day of the Lord comes on the Feast of Trumpets.

 

Oops. I have a feeling that David C. Pack in the future is going to commit heresy when he unteaches this doctrine. David C. Pack from today is going to get into a time machine to set that guy straight.

 

Dave then attempts an analogy with the solar system and Trumpets being the sun. Everything around Trumpets is locked in place and cannot move. The tail end is the notable portion.

Part 388 – Solar System

@ 23:29 If you see it that way, then you then you you you can understand you change the solar system and everything breaks. You take one planet out of the nine they now, what is it? Now ten they say? Take one of those ten planets out or even a significant moon or any moon off of any planet and did you know that the solar system will slowly begin to break up, it will come apart? Because all the gravitational attraction came together perfectly to create this system where we live.

 

Aron Ra would have a field day with the scientific thinking behind this one.

 

At this point, even I became bored with this message. To spare you, here is a proof-free summary:

 

The Day of the Lord is still on Trumpets but there is a kingdom in front of that. The Last Days means “the last days of the month.” There is a 45-day period that is split in two. The first is 15 and the other is 30. The ministers were “blown away.” The 1335 is still rolling on since it began on Av 15, but means there were "15 days to go."

 

Here is where Dave and his math confuse me. Av 15 with "15 days to go" means Av 30, which begins Friday at sunset. But then he says this:

 

@ 1:06:17 So, it looks like Elul 1 is a shadow of the Kingdom of God in power that ends with a Holy Day.

 

Av 30 must be “close enough” to Elul 1 so it is now on Dave’s Prophetic Failure Calendar.

 

Av 30 or Elul 1. Dave will be wrong either way, so being precise on exactly what he means is irrelevant.

 

 

In an unexpected turn, Dave completely dismantles his own “bombshell” from Part 387 which in Leviticus 26:18, :21, :24, and :28 “seven times” meant “a week.” He offered no apology to the translators which he threw heartily under the bus.

 

Watch this 3-minute video and note the evidence he uses to make his point. Then revisit the article, Seven Time Fraud to see the striking similarities. Maybe the Coffee Kid and Pepper Boy are now fans.

 

His own 28-day period evaporated. Just like the “not-really-a-50-day-count to Trumpets” or even the not-at-all mentioned 40-day count to Trumpets. That was then, this is now. It is all about 45 days split into 15 and then 30. At least he is being more creative with his numbers.

 

I need to thank David C Pack for validating me in such a phenomenal way during his Bible study though I will still be sending BAO my bill for $60.

 

It was quite surreal to have my credibility suddenly elevated. I will not let this go to my head but it tells me, “I am on the right track.”

 

You're welcome, Dave. You're welcome.

Marc Cebrian

See:  David C. Pack Moonwalks

Privilege and Power: The Idols of the Church of God

Concretized Christianity has a blog entry about privilege in the Churches of God.

Anyone who has been around the churches of God for any length of time knows about privilege. First, we see it in action in every one of the church of God organizations. There is a pecking order – a hierarchy – and privilege is layered throughout that until you get to the people who just fill the chairs every week and fawn over and idolize those with privilege, while in the organizational sense, they have no privilege and aren’t even, legally, members of that church of God organization (only the organizational privileged are).

However, those people know they have privilege compared to others (the world) because they are told that over and over. They’re special. They’re the elite. One day, they will be resurrected first and they will rule with Jesus Christ as kings and priests for 1000 years.

While the substance of this is true, the implication of it is false. The first resurrection will include those whom God and Jesus Christ have both called and chosen, but they are being resurrected to serve, to help, to repair, to restore, to coach, to guide, to agape – just as God and Jesus Christ do with us. None of that is ever discussed because these things don’t sound power-filled.

Power is an idol in society and an idol in the churches of God. The lust for power is often the sole motivation for what these man-made organizations do and say.

Privilege and power often go hand in hand. Whether the power is real or imagined, organizations and people who believe they have power manifest the corruption of the idea of privilege.

People who have not suffered and who also cannot see, relate to, nor empathize with the suffering of others is a symptom of privilege. James discusses this in the second chapter of his letter. Privilege creates a bubble of illusions that is solely focused on self: what I want, what I need, who I am, and what I think or believe.

The bubble of privilege is opaque, so that anything that is outside that bubble is invisible. Jesus discussed this bubble of privilege in Matthew 25 in His parable of the goats and the sheep.

The sheep had no bubble of privilege. They were looking for needs among the people around them and meeting those needs, no matter where they found them. They weren’t doing it because someone was “important,” or because other people would see them and applaud them, or because it made them feel good or superior.

The sheep were doing it because it was the right thing to do. They were following God’s word (read Deuteronomy sometime if you want to see what loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength – about the first third of the book – and loving your neighbor as yourself – approximately the last two-thirds of the book – looks like in action and ask yourself if this looks like you) and they were following the example of Jesus Christ.

The goats had the bubble of privilege. Inherent in their response was, “well, Jesus, if You personally had come to us and asked us, of course, we would have done these things for You.” In other words, if the Son of God had made the first move, knocked on the door of their bubble of privilege, and said, “I need…,” they would have done it. Otherwise, they didn’t see, know, or care to seek out the needs they could meet right outside their bubble.

See:  Privilege and the Churches of God

Gerald Flurry: Get Ready For The Famine Of The Word!!!!!

 

Have you ever noticed when fledgling Church of God ministries start suffering financially because of abusive policies and teachings and  as members stop giving and leave their little fiefdoms, that they start screaming that the end is nigh and the famine of the word is imminent?

These blustering buffoons think that their words are so significant that humanity can not gain salvation without their utterances. The deep state and corrupt churches are out to destroy them because they "dare" to speak boldly about perceived/imagined problems in the country and the world.

It doesn't matter if it is Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, or Gerald Flurry, they all vomit out this nonsensical diarrhea.

Flurry has the following up on his Trumpet site:

If you knew a famine was coming, wouldn’t you prepare for it? You would feverishly take action to provide your family with enough food to survive. You would fear the consequences of not taking action quite soon enough or strong enough. The consequences are devastating sickness, starvation and a terrible death. 

 

But did you know the Bible prophesies that a spiritual famine is coming? 

 

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11). 

 

There is only one way to prepare, and you must take drastic action!

How many guesses as to where this is going to lead...Flurry spews out the same silliness that Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, Gerald Weston, Ron Weinland, and most of the COG crew love to say:

Right now, God’s word is readily available. You are holding it in your hands: a message in plain language unlike any other that shows you how to understand the teachings of the Bible based on revealed and provable truth, and that shows you how to apply the Bible to understand and even thrive in this insane world. It makes life understandable, workable, hopeful. 

 

God’s work is diligently broadcasting and streaming the message of God and the truths of the Bible through the Internet, over cable tv and television and radio airwaves. It is publishing regular magazines, books and booklets. It is sending out all kinds of literature, including a Bible correspondence course. It is operating at full capacity, virtually unrestricted and unhindered. And people the world over can easily access this truth and receive it freely, at no cost.

Never have we had so many DIFFERENT groups all proclaiming that they and they alone are the one true faith with the one true Word, that was hand delivered by God's one true apostle, Herbert Armstrong.

Though the problem with all of that silliness is that each and every one of these men has ADDED to the stuff Herbert wrote, so much so that he would not recognize them as legitimate followers of God. He would find each of them so offensive he would disfellowship and mark each of them as the deceivers they are.

Flurry sets up a great horror story as to what he sees happening to his cult:

Yet the time will come when Philadelphia Church of God headquarters in Edmond, Oklahoma, and its regional offices in other countries will close, permanently. The broadcast, the websites, the e-mails, the magazines, the books will cease. 

 

The people who have watched the programs and read the literature will find themselves suddenly cut off. 

 

God says His word will become scarce. The life-giving truth will be as hard to find as a morsel of meat in a wasteland. 

 

People will panic. “And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it” (verse 12). This message, so freely available, so abundant, so nourishing today will be gone in just a few more tomorrows.

Who in the hell will panic when Flurry, Pack, or Thiel are silenced? 

Will it really be a satanic attack against them or the fact that they said and did something so incredibly stupid that people had to step in and shut them down? It is no grand conspiracy of censorship, either.

Here is Flurry's hilarious scenario of the start of the famine of the word:

It’s 7 a.m., Sunday morning, and you turn on the television. But instead of that familiar introduction, a different program is on. You pick up your Trumpet from a side table and find a phone number on the back cover to call and find out what channel and time The Key of David moved to. But instead of a friendly voice, you hear a busy signal.

Now this issue has your attention. You open up your laptop and type in theTrumpet.com. 404 error. You type in pcg.church. 404 error. You check your inbox. It loads, but you have to scroll down a bit to get to the last Trumpet Brief or Signposts e-mails.

A sinking feeling takes hold. No. There’s got to be a way! It has to be somewhere. It has to be—doesn’t it? It was right there the whole time. There’s got to be a way.

This is the famine of the word.

 

God vs Satan - Which in the COG is more powerful?

On Exit and Support Network yesterday there was s letter from a person detailing a sermon Gerald Flurry of the Philadelphia Church of God gave recently about how awesome his "college" is. After detailing many points of Flurry's sermon, the author has this:

If the WCG was “the Work of the Living Creator, God” as HWA so often said and God was “opening new doors in television and in the PLAIN TRUTH distribution,” why was Satan seemingly more powerful than God? Why was Satan able to overthrow everything after HWA died? If we’re honest, we have to admit that GF is not doing a work like HWA did. 

I have been saying the same thing here for quite some time now that the most powerful entity in the Church of God movement is Satan himself. Not God the Father as so many claim to follow, but Satan, Lucifer, the devil, or whatever else you want to call it. At every instance and chapter in the so-called work, the devil is wreaking havoc and thwarting God's plan. The God of Armstrongism is unable or totally incompetent to stop the great adversary.

How could the “lamp start to go out” if God was behind His “Work”? Wasn’t God powerful enough to stop it? Isn’t God more powerful than Satan? 

The excuse is that the god of Armstrognism gave the devil free reign to "test" the true believers. Our entire earthly life is a test by God to see if we are worthy of just the slightest bit of mercy. Apparently, the church has been inept of ever winning that test and is in a constant state of disarray because of that ineptness. In Armstrongism, God the Father is constantly being one-upped by Satan. 

We can see how decades after HWA first started writing these co-worker letters that GF’s words attempt to pattern HWA’s words in many places. Every co-worker letter of HWA’s was a begging for money and for readers to “send the largest offering possible” because “time was short” or “time was running out.” 

Never in the modern-day history of the Church of God have the members ever been able to do anything right. Every single issue in the church stemmed from problems with the membership. Even when Loma Armstrong had an obstructed colon it was the fault of the church members. Members so sinful that they had to kneel in church services that week and BEG God to heal her. When she died it was the member's fault.

When income dropped it was the member's fault that their support of the church was lacking in faith and thus the church has to suffer and be persecuted.  

The only thing GF can’t do is copy HWA’s charisma and style of writing. GF will never measure up to HWA. He will never be a second Herbert Armstrong, no matter how much he yearns to be. This does not mean that HWA was not a con artist, or was not a compulsive, psychological liar. He was, and a very good one at that. But GF is no more carrying on “God’s work” than other splinters who came along and say they are doing the same thing. 

There is not one single COG leader today that will ever capture HWA's charisma or writing style. Not one single one of them, including Bob Thiel, will EVER be able to do mighty work. It will never happen, no matter how much they currently lie to their followers that they are doing that now. 

Let’s face it. GF is an abysmal failure. He is carrying on a con, but not quite as effective of a con as HWA had going. He is losing members more as time goes on and he is not able to draw in the numbers HWA did due no doubt to the extensive exposure on the Internet today. All he can do is limp along, holding the few deceived members he has under his spell by claiming to be a Prophet, and appropriating many other titles, plus throwing out new revelations every so often like a carrot on a stick. That and his “important” work in Jerusalem. 

Every COG leader today is leading a con job on their members. Jesus is dismissed and shoved to the background, except when it is convenient to drag him out as a pissed-off god who is just waiting to come down and fry the sorry asses of ex-members and the world, or who has to begrudgingly forgive sins on Passover night.

It’s time to realize how we have been taken for a long bumpy ride and it’s time to get off this gravy train and see things for what they truly are. GF’s downfall may be delayed but it is certain to come. –S. O.

In Armstrongism, Satan is always angry, God the Father is always angry, Jesus is always angry, and the spirit is always vexed. All seemingly impotent in the presence of Satan.

Instead of following a Christ who sits on the bank by the side of the river with people restoring their souls, where they never have to be fearful again, where justice, mercy, and grace flow like sacred anointing oil over their forehead, instead COG members are instead subjected to the darkness of the souls of the present leaders.

Dave Pack: Ramps Up The Damage Control As He Tries Condemning the "Whisperers"

Damage Control (Part 2)

“Whispering”

 

The following text was inserted into The Restored Church of God Announcements Bulletin for the Sabbath of August 20, 2022. This has been recycled over the years when the time was ripe for a reminder about “big bad meanie people” who leave and then leave garbage at the front gate of the Campus.

 

“Those Who Leave and Whisper”: On occasion—no doubt for the rest of the age—and for a variety of reasons, people will leave the Church. A few of these, upset or disgruntled, and ignoring natural bounds and protocol, will violate your trust and contact you via email, telephone, social media, or even post mail to voice criticisms, generally having to do with the way “things are done”—or “taught”—by Headquarters, the ministry or Mr. Pack. The obvious purpose, in order to justify and strengthen their position, is to get you to join them. Of course, misery loves company—and seeks validation. Bear in mind that by remaining in contact with those who leave, we blunt the sting of God’s natural correction (in the form of no fellowship), intended to teach lessons that may save their eternal life. Doing so also helps them in their effort to divide or injure the Church. It also opens you to dangerous influence. In such cases, politely, but firmly, inform the sender that no contact is desired.

 

In August 2003, Mr. Pack gave a sermon titled “Those Who Leave…and Whisper.” He explained that, because of many unique circumstances in this age, we only rarely disfellowship or mark those who leave and attack Restored with lies and distortions. In effect, when they do this (leave and whisper, thereby sowing division), they disfellowship themselves—it is up to the “brethren” to “mark” them (Rom. 16:17-18)—and they invariably do. This and several other related sermons, such as “Unity Binds the Church,” should be reviewed by those who may be confused when some, for whatever reason, “go out from us because they are not of us” (I John 2:19).

 

 

I know you did read all of that. But I did.

 

Seeing this with the new eyes given to me when I joined Club Antichrist causes me to notice a few key phrases.

 

“…will violate your trust and contact you…”

 

This implies that when someone leaves, you TRUST they will not reach out to you. When I was a member, I never assumed such a thing. The people who leave that you care about are your friends and…you care about them.

 

Departing from RCG and contacting a friend still attending is not some kind of unspoken mutually-understood contract breach. I wanted to know if someone left. I do remember severing connections with some to obey that protocol. When I left, I took no offense when friends dropped off my Facebook list or stopped texting me back. I did it to others when I was “on board” and expected some to do that as well.

 

The wording "violate your trust" implies victimhood. You are wronged if someone contacts you. That angle would be laughable if it were not sad at the same time.

 

“…those who leave and attack Restored with lies and distortions.”

 

I breathed a sigh of relief when I read this because it is not talking about me. I do not need lies to expose what David C. Pack and the enablers at The Restored Church of God are doing. The truth is damaging enough.

 

If I am lying or distorting, then I request that Bradford G. Schleifer or Edward L. Winkfield, or Kenneth M. Orel please reach out to me and let me know where I did this. You would be doing me a great service because I do not see it. My intent is to be as honest as possible while presenting an analysis that is accurate and fair. The nicknames are all done in “fun” and without malice.

 

Or if there is some therapist out there that can diagnose me as bitter, angry, resentful, or vengeful, please contact me because I am as calm as a Hindu cow when it comes to what I report about RCG. 

 

I looked up the word “distort” to see how that could apply here.

 

distort

1. pull or twist out of shape

2. give a misleading or false account or impression of

3. change the form of (an electrical signal or sound wave) during transmission, amplification, or other processing

 

Again, I was able to wipe the sweat from my brow because what I have said in interviews and written publicly is neither "misleading" nor giving a "false account or impression of.”

 

The great irony is that David C. Pack is the one who “pulls or twists out of shape” the Bible he claims to revere as God’s word. His endless sermon series demonstrates his penchant for creating “misleading or false account or impression of” prophetic understanding.

 

Does one need to go beyond the “not-really-a-50-day-count to Trumpets” as an example?

 

To the “ministers” inside The Restored Church of God: Did I just lie or distort?

 

If I could personally do #3 on that list, I would be making way too much money to be sitting here at my computer thinking up fun ways to pull Dave’s pigtails on the playground.

 

“Those Who Leave…and Whisper.”

 

I do not think I could categorize what Kevin Denee and I have been doing as “whispering.” We are doing just a little bit more than that.

 

For those just tuning in, Kevin Denee was an evangelist and the son-in-law of David C. Pack who left RCG with his wife in 2016. He recently participated in Dr. Tricia Jenkin’s podcast, “Worldwide: The Unchosen Church,” featured in Episode 6.

Dawn Blue of WCTV's "How It's Done" based in Wadsworth, Ohio has been conducting a series of interviews regarding my experiences with The Restored Church of God.

 

So far, we have done five interviews focusing on RCG and three with Dennis Diehl focusing on the topic of cults.

 

Her full list of WCTV videos can be found HERE.

 

RCG Interview Part 1 https://youtu.be/tSbHDqGWnMc

Cults Interview Part 1 https://youtu.be/_pHGaZNDorQ

 

 

On another topic, we will not have to wait another full 12 days before David C. Pack unfinishes the series. This was posted in Member Services:

 

Greetings Brethren!

We trust everyone had a profitable Sabbath.

Mr. Pack plans to deliver a message of similar length to Part 387 early in the week.

 

No doubt, just a few small “clarifications” regarding why nothing happened at the beginning of the 40-day count to Trumpets this past Tuesday.

 

The world may still be falling apart, but at least we have Part 388 to look forward to.

Marc Cebrian

See:  Damage Control (Part 2) “Whispering”