A reader here sent me the following screenshots of a response this person got from Church of God International minister, Wynn Skelton. This person had asked for some financial help during a struggle they were facing and this is the response that was given.
Why are so many Church of God ministers such unsympathetic jackasses? They live lives of plenty and are never in need. All this while pretending to be agents of grace and mercy as followers of Jesus and they pull this kind of stuff.
It is another day in COGland and the Germans are creating havoc. Never being able to just live their lives quietly and stay in Germany, they choose to instead occupy the minds of COG leaders and members. After all, Herbert and crew made them future pariahs of the world even claiming that Hitler was still alive in Argentina where he was continuing his plan of world domination.
It is a toss-up today as to which COG leader is more obsessed with them. We have the Living Church of God which lives in constant fear of concentration camps and meathooks. Bob Thiel has them waging war in his little mind in the endless dreams he claims to be having, and then there is the Philadelphia Church of God which continues to take crazy to the extreme.
PCG's Jeremiah Jacques writes in a letter to the church's young people:
Germans want change. Having witnessed their partner America’s international blunders again and again, Germany is now steadily charting its own course into the future, independent of the United States. Analysts around the world wonder what will come next for the European nation. Will Germany keep relying on nato? Will it turn to France or focus on arming itself, making Germany a military powerhouse once again?
Actually, not everyone is wondering what will happen. One group is watching the news about Germany—and many other nations—with confidence in the future outcome, and that group is God’s Church.
Following in the rhetoric of Herbert, PCG sees itself as the "watchman" for the church and particularly the Laodiceans. PCG members and followers are exhorted to put o their "spiritual night vision glass" so they can decern world events. Since Bob Thiel is too stupid to do this, PCG has to step up to the plate.
News is not just for Pastor General Gerald Flurry and other ministers to watch. It’s not just for your parents or grandparents. News is something youcan also benefit greatly from.
Let’s look at a few reasons why it’s so important for you to develop the habit of watching world events—and then we can examine a simple, practical way to get started.
Again, following in Herbert's rhetoric, the vast majority of humanity is too stupid to comprehend things so it is necessary to rely upon PCG ministers to tell you what is right.
The late Herbert W. Armstrong said that one third of the Bible is prophecy, and 90 percent of that prophecy is to be fulfilled in the end time—the time we are now living through. That means that of the 1,230 pages in my Cambridge Bible, around 410 consist of prophecy, and 370 of those pages contain prophecies that are being fulfilled in the headlines of today’s newspapers!
It is easy to tell this person has had NO real education in Biblical studies other than the junk hermeneutics and escatology that Armstrongism created for in-house use.
George Friedman, Melanie Phillips, Peter Zeihan, Ian Bremmer and others can see much of what is going on in the world today. Many of these experts have studied geopolitics and international relations for decades, traveling the world, analyzing events, studying human behavior, and observing how it plays out on the national level. As a result of their education, they can see and understand a great deal about the world around us.
But what they see is just a fraction of what we can see.
Ah, yes. Everyone is dumber than we are. We have the answers to everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! COG leaders have decoded the Bible and restored lost truths, or so they claim.
Even with the best of this world’s observers and analysts, Christ’s words in Matthew 13:14 ring true: “You will listen carefully yet will never understand, you will look closely yet will never comprehend” (New English Translation).
Christ continues, speaking about another group with a different capacity to understand: “But your eyes are blessed because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it” (verses 16-17; New English Translation).
We in God’s Church see and understand so much. Jeremiah the prophet said he had more understanding than all his teachers, even when he was young (Psalm 119:99). How could this be? Because his eyes were “blessed”! They were open to God’s truth.
Other than Bob Thiel's church, there has never been a church so blinded by such self-importance as the Philadelphia Church of God. No one in the entire span of church history has understood the Bible better than Flurryism. Even the half-truths and outright lies by Bob Thiel cannot compare.
So what happens when you follow the exhortations of PCG leaders?
Studying into the way nations deal with each other sometimes feels like peering into the night: Human eyeballs can see very little. But the Bible is a game-changing tool. It’s like slipping on a pair of night-vision goggles. Suddenly, there is a clear picture! The image doesn’t always have perfect detail because God only tells us what we need to know—but the shape is clear.
Our eyes are blessed because they see, and our ears are blessed because they hear. When we watch the news, we can understand it in a way that no Friedman, Phillips or Bremmer can. That’s because they don’t have access to the night-vision goggles! It is a high honor to be able to see through these coveted goggles, and it should help us fall in love with watching news.
This Is Not a Suggestion
Another reason to get serious about news-watching is that we are commanded to stay apprised of what’s going on in the world. It is crucial to our survival and success as God’s people.
In Luke 21:36, Christ told His disciples: “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
Being able to understand the news and to know how events will unfold is an incredible blessing. But it is also a command, right alongside prayer.
This is not necessarily easy to do, especially at first; but we are told that we must watch and pray.
Zoom Out
Another reason we should strive to become news hawks is that it enables us to “zoom out.”
Consider this nugget of wisdom from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”
It is so easy for us, especially when we’re young, to have a narrow worldview. We may see our family and friends as planets orbiting around ourselves—the beautiful star at the center of the universe. It is very easy to be small-minded, self-centered and to get swept up in the he-said, she-said of this tiny solar system.
But becoming a news hawk enables us to zoom out! We can better see the larger world and the trends and ideas that matter. We can see that there’s a whole planet and universe out there, and it will broaden our view and help us to develop “great minds.”
So what is a poor church member to do? Read PCG literature, of course! Don't be a Jesus follower but read our literature, it will literally save you!
If you would like to improve in this area, there is a simple, powerful way to keep your finger on the pulse of the world. Are you ready? Here it is: Read each upcoming issue of the Philadelphia Trumpet from cover to cover.
The Philadelphia Trumpet is a special tool. Several of God’s ministers and other Church employees spend hours and hours each month sifting through the news, reading it, discussing it with each other, and researching what the Bible, Herbert W. Armstrong and Gerald Flurry have said about certain topics. Then they pray, study and spend hours writing about the most important news stories. They reach out to experts to learn more. They read books to help put it all in context. They write, edit, rewrite and bring it all to life with the help of a team of skilled artists, photo researchers and layout specialists. And all of the volumes’ worth of news from the month are finally condensed into 40 pages of the most prophetically significant material—10 times per year.
Slick propaganda at its finest!
Remember that your eyes are blessed because they see! You can understand the basics of what will happen with Germany and so many other nations. Remember that as exciting as news-watching is, it’s also a command—like prayer. We must do it to survive and thrive spiritually. Also, remember that becoming a news hawk can help you expand your perspective to become a more broad-minded, balanced and interesting person.
What an awesome time we are living through! The events leading up to Christ’s return are in rapid motion. We can watch them happening every day in our daily news. So read the Philadelphia Trumpet from cover to cover each month, and learn to really fall in love with news-watching.
Instead of being at rest in Christ, as Christians have for centuries, and standing in confidence with faith Armstrongites choose to live in a constant state of fear. Don't pray enough? Cursed! Don't study enough? Cursed! Don't watch world events? Cursed! Don't belong to the one true church? Cursed!
Maybe the part that Jeremiah Jacques got right is the members do need to put on goggles in order to see through the filth the PCG claims is true.
Mind The Gap
David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God was experiencing the cold sweats of withdrawals from not speaking. I have been monitoring him closely since Part 353 in March of 2022. The longest he has gone without the soothing limelight bathing him in rapturous glory has been thirteen days.
Flashback Part 418 – February 9, 2023
@ 01:48 But, I love words. They are (I guess) my heroin.
Boy. He was not kidding. He was more correct than he knew.
In the past seventeen months, David C. Pack has not gone longer than thirteen days without speaking.
I thought he was going to break his record this month, but alas, it was not meant to be. His itching teeth were too much to bear because “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 463)” was given on August 19, 2023. The Gap Clock was reset. The ringing in his ears was abated.
The gap in speaking creates a ripple effect of gaps in reporting. The Opening Night of the Feast of Tabernacles on September 29 at sunset is still when Jesus Christ will return. Subject to change, and change will be the subject soon.*
Since it has come up in private messages and in the comments section, the reason there have been no new articles is two-fold. After almost two weeks of blissful silence, Part 463 was plain boring. Dave repackaged some old material he had forgotten and stamped it with an "I wish I knew that sooner" label. Nothing was pressing to report.
The other side is that I have been busy. I let the comfortable silence marinade.
Dennis Diehl gave me some sage advice early on, "Don't write unless you have something to say." The website is an information hub with timely, relevant news reporting. It is not entertainment. Since there is no internal pressure to produce content to gain followers or generate income, when Dave is silent, I can follow suit.
There are over 200 other articles on exrcg.org for people to catch up with if they discover the website. The Feast countdown clock keeps ticking on the landing page. And Former Sixth King Mister Vladimir Putin still needs someone else to start his car in the morning.
When significant changes are announced, you will read it here.
Within the first sixty seconds of Part 463, it was clear Dave planned to perform a stealth rebranding of The Kingdom to Israel.
Part 463 – August 19, 2023
@ 00:37 So, we’re gonna ask this question: When is the Initial Kingdom of God? When is the Initial Kingdom of God? And maybe even what is it? What is (when is) what is the Initial Kingdom of God? The Bible talks about three measures.
@ 01:33 But we’ve gotta look at how the Scriptures say the Initial Kingdom of God looks.
Dave plays a shell game with words. He preps the church for a new timeline but does not reveal it in Part 463. By introducing the new phrase "Initial Kingdom of God," he can save face by manipulating language for when he later shifts the First Kingdom timeline or adds back in a fourth iteration. Flip a coin to figure out which.
@ 25:16 I never did the exercise we’re about to culminate with. Never did it. I wish I had. It would have made things a lot simpler.
Drum roll. This must be something nobody has ever heard before.
@ 26:34 “…to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Wow. So, every time Christ came back in the other Gospels and, He's preaching the Kingdom of God. Luke is telling us He’s preaching the first year? Wow. The first year IS the Kingdom of God. Not in power in the same way, but it’s immensely powerful.
Some may think when I write about Dave suffering from the early onset of dementia or Alzheimer's, those are somehow stabs at dark humor. No. He must be losing his mind if he believes this is new material because he is presenting like this is a mind-blowing revelation of essential knowledge.
@ 28:02 So, we’re gonna look for the rest of the sermon at what it means to have this year that is the Kingdom of God.
@ 28:30 So, when is the Initial Kingdom of God? It is the year. Now, here’s what was so difficult. Can this also be restoring the kingdom to Israel? Oh, that’s been a bugaboo. You've heard me say, "You cannot have the Kingdom of God, and it's the Kingdom to Israel."
As it turns out, the Kingdom to Israel IS the Kingdom of God. Though, he never said that. Instead, he spent 25 minutes retreading verses to make a point that never culminates.
If this idea is so new, how come I already knew it?
Dave was the one who separated the Kingdom to Israel of Acts 1:6 from the Kingdom of God in the first place. Not the Bible. That concept was entirely his brain-baby, but he forgot he sired it.
This does not feel like Part 463 but rather Part 263. Nobody at Headquarters tapped Dave on the shoulder to replay all the sermons where he had already covered this type of content. It is not new material, folks. It is a remix of side points he swept into one bin to toss on the brethren as if it were game-changing confetti. David C. Pack is the Rip Taylor of bible prophecy.
@ 58:25 We're gonna come back soon. We’ve gotta consider exactly what is the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year. Has the church fully understood this? Or might we find we’ve got it in the wrong place? And maybe our wait is not quite as long as we think it is. We’ll soon cover other very important things. Good night.”
By the end of the uninspired message, it was obvious Dave had not spent thirteen days studying the content for Part 463. This was a filler message to prepare the brethren for more changes to come.
Early reports on Part 464* last night confirm my hunches. Expect more Dave updates more frequently on the horizon. It appears the gap has been filled.
Marc Cebrian
See: Mind the Gap
