Saturday, October 29, 2016

The Church of God and Halloween Myths


Its that time of year again and various Church of God groups are starting their annual Halloween traditions.   Satan and his demons are pictured running rampant around the earth on this night looking for naive COG members so they can be swayed away from the "truth once delivered." Church of God members turn off their living rooms lights and slink back into the rear of their houses and try to hide from the evil knocking at their doors.  It's amazing how a church that claims to be God's one true restored church have allowed Satan to have so much power over them.  No other church on the earth has to deal with the constant attacks by Satan than the COG.  Satan is obviously more powerful than that inconvenient Jesus dude.

In 2011 I had the following quotes up from a Conservative COG Yahoo page.  These are the kinds of silliness that occupy the minds of Armstrongites this time of year.

No one ever said Armstrongites were not creative in their thinking!  Eating mice for Halloween?  I feel so left out all these years!


A different spin on it where the kids go trick or treating?
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The church has never stated that. In the histories, when Jeroboam (I think) set up a golden calf in the north in Israel, it's been said that was at Halloween time. In any case, it was a different time than FoT, which it was made to replace.
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I've also heard that this particular holiday was moved from May 1 and that originally it was a remembrance of the dead when Noah & family came out  of the Ark. Imagine how they must have felt, knowing every other living soul was dead... This is how dead became associated with the day. Perhaps.
Is Isaiah a reference to the ancient pagan festival now called halloween with a
Isaiah 66:17 Those who sanctify and purify themselves to enter the groves, imitating one in the center, eating the flesh of the swine, the reptile, and the mouse, shall one and all come to an end - declares the Lord. For I know their deeds and purposes.
We actually have COG members who believe kids eating candy are practicing an ancient custom of worshipping in the groves and that it originally was the day set apart by Noah to commemorate all the dead rotting bodies that covered the earth after the flood.

Here are some pithy says by Richard Ames of the Living Church of God:

Pithy sayings of Richard Ames, Living Church of God 
Should we follow our neighbors, like proverbial lemmings, off the dangerous cliff of pagan practices?

By observing Halloween, we teach our children to make light of Satan the Devil—or even to think like him! Should we then be surprised when our children remain curious about evil—or even invite it—for the rest of the year?

Do we teach our children to attract and cultivate evil spirits at Halloween? Certainly, dressing up like a demon or a witch invites evil rather than opposes it!

Some parents encourage their children to participate in the world of demons. Are some of you parents sacrificing your children to Satan and to wicked spirits

It’s time for such so-called Christians to repent of supporting the Devil and rebelling against Christ!
Dress you baby up for Halloween 
and they will end up devil babies! 

Many years ago Keith Stump, a former Plain Truth writer, penned an article about Halloween that sent diehard COG believers over the edge.  He pointed this out:

"To all COG members out there: 
Is your children’s Christianity so feeble as to be endangered 
by a plastic mask and a few candy bars? 
Are your children so inadequately grounded in their religion 
as to be tempted into a life of witchcraft by attending a costume party? 
Are you yourself so poorly rooted in your faith that you fear your children
 will ask questions to which you have no satisfactory answers?"

I have seen no evidence of children being psychologically warped or seduced into a life of witchcraft and perversion as a result of innocent Halloween activities. I HAVE, however, seen many fearful and superstitious COG children who have been conditioned to be abnormally hypersensitive to anything blackened with the feared label “occult”. One child in particular comes to mind, whom I witnessed shrieking in stark terror at the mere sight of a jack-o-lantern. Are you raising fearful children who, like medieval peasants, see Satan lurking behind every tree and demons skulking in every dark corner? Are you raising children who fear they will “open themselves up” to “demonic control” at any moment by the slightest misstep? What a tenuous, precarious and paranoid spirituality! Satan is a defeated enemy! We need not shrink inanimate mortal remains. Explain that fear of black cats is an ancient superstition of the ignorant. Talk to them about the fanciful creations of horror fiction, like werewolves and vampires. It’s healthy to examine the things that frighten us. Tell them about “ghosts” or disembodied spirits. (The dead are relatively safe; it’s the living you need to watch out for!) And talk to them about the subject of life after physical death. Tell them about the Lord of Life who overcame death. Assuage their fears about those who can kill the body but not the soul.
So here’s my point: Objection to Halloween is a reflection of something much broader: an obsession with trivialities, a confusion of priorities, a primitive fear of the unknown, an arrogance that finds “righteousness” in being odd-ball and out-of-step. Fundamentalists can find something offensive or objectionable in almost anything. They have a world view in which virtually everything is “anti-Christian”. They have lost the ability to filter the important from the inconsequential. The traditional COG prohibition against Halloween ignores the facts of history, misrepresents the modern holiday, and demonstrates a woeful lack of spiritual discernment. 





See:  Halloween Hysteria Is Back In The Churches of God Again

Is Halloween Evil?  Responding to UCG

Keeping Halloween Makes You think About Evil??




Friday, October 28, 2016

The Troubled World of David C Pack and the Restored Church of God



I reached out to an RCG source to get their take on Dave Pack's latest escapade.

They feel that Dave is doubling down on what he has taught.  He has released so much information that even his own members are confused a times.  If they are confused then Church of God members who are not part of RCG are doubly confused.  It is vital to Dave that COG members understand what he has been preaching.  It is important to him that his message be made clear to them so that they can either accept or reject it.  If they reject it then they will be held accountable for that mistake by his god.

Dave feels that his message is similar to the "warning Israel" message that Herbert Armstrong proclaimed in the past, but is now to a new audience, "wayward COG members." Dave seems to think this is the "last step" till Christ returns to Wadsworth and confirms everything he has been teaching.  COG members know how much Dave has deviated from what Herbert Armstrong taught.  It is going to be a monument task for Dave to reconcile all of his previous messages to fit his current "understanding."  Every time Dave preaches or writes and article it deviates from last teachings.

One interesting thing was pointed out by the source about Dave and RCG members.  Now that Dave has sold his home in a public neighborhood and built himself a new home on the compound, he has further isolated himself from reality.  The source questions if Dave was really trying to draw in COG members, but acknowledges that some RCG members may actually believe that is what Dave is attempting to do, but that and they truly do not understand what others outside their group actually think of Dave's message. RCG members have isolated themselves so well that they only listen to what Dave and HQ has to say.  The source had this to say about RCG members perception of those outside the group:
"The thought inside is that people are "watching closely" and "really intrigued" because "their splinters aren't doing or producing as much." 
As has been pointed out here countless times in the past, there is no other Church of God on the entire planet that is as knowledgeable and God driven than the Restored Church of God.   No other Church of God has the depth of understanding that Dave and his church has.  The Philadelphia Church of God, Living Church of God, United Church of God, COGWA and also Bob Thiel and James Malm are incapable of being used by God to gather the church together before the end times.

While the source did not mention this part; I have a sinking feeling that we will see something horrendous happen with RCG members at some point in the future.  Dave is a troubled man that has the potential to be deadly. Those now outside the group are devastated at what they see happening to family members inside. It truly is frightening to see how these everyday church folk, that some of us may know, have let themselves be taken over by Dave's subtle brainwashing.

How Well-Meaning, Intelligent People End Up In A Cult

Thursday, October 27, 2016

David C Pack Ramps Up Campaign To Suck COG Members Into His Cult



Dave Pack is back again with another breathless campaign from the superfantabulous Restored Church of God.  Dave has been claiming for 4 years now that his god was going to kill three different COG leaders causing all of their members to be so scared that they will automatically join Dave's personality cult.


In his typical pompous self-righteous style he claims his new series does NOT give any answers but to "stimulate" church members to get off their butts and join up with him.  Dave wants you to know that he has "preached" for over "100 hours" detailing all of the idiotic bullshit he wants you to believe.

Below are questions the Church never saw, or did but could not answer. They are to help God’s people come to grips with all that was never understood before now. The purpose is not to provide answers but rather to bring powerful stimulus to thinking people to strengthen their foundation. The questions are broadly grouped but in no particular order of importance. Some could fit several groups and others broken into many. Don’t worry if a question is not easily understood. This is merely a reference tool and record. It cannot begin to replace 100 hours of sermons containing almost one million words.
Dave again says that the is only giving you the questions and that answers will come later.  Only he and his shrinking congregation have the answers.
Consider the questions knowing every answer is coming. Those in The Restored Church of God already know the answers, and thus see the list as corroborative reminders. Return as other tools are added through early December that ANSWER all these questions.
Any COG leader out there that makes the claim that Dave is a wrong is a LIAR!  COG members are NOT to go to their minister with any of these questions.  Those ministers are too stupid to understand the amazing truth Dave is saying.  Those bumbling ministers are the very reason there are hundreds of splinter groups.  Of course Dave is not one of these splinter groups, but is the ONLY true church.
Any minister who tells you just from the questions he knows we are wrong is screaming he doesn’t need scriptural backup—that he can answer matters before hearing them—even the most important issues of God’s Plan and eternal life. LEAVE YOUR MINISTERS OUT OF THIS! They can study on their own if interested. While many of these men are sincere, they are the chief reason 400 groups exist today in the disagreeing mess all around you that God is about to fix.
On October 31, Dave will post a timeline that details the coming tribulation and the Kingdom of God.
OCTOBER 31: Tool #2 is a downloadable 11x34 inch timeline that thoroughly details the correct placement of every larger prophecy from the apostasy of the 1990s through the Great White Throne Judgment. (You may request a hardcopy.) This grand overview will make plain the sequence of coming events—including the very next things God’s people should watch for, no matter their organization. It will visually clear up how and when the Kingdom of God arrives. 
In November Dave will give everyone the tool about how the Kingdom of God will come.  He claims it is the clear plan on how he and his little flock are the "mustard-seed" that will inaugurate the kingdom.  This is to hit the internet before Thanksgiving.  Woo Hoo!
NOVEMBER—Tool #3 is a new booklet about how God’s Kingdom will come. It will explain God’s clear and easy-to-prove Plan to bring and grow His mustard-seed-sized Kingdom. All of God’s people who hope to be part of it must know what it is! Expect this booklet, written for the world, to be posted by Thanksgiving. 
Then he will soon release the most superfantabulous recap of his butt-numbing endless series of sermons has been preaching lately.  Once again it is important to know that Dave "preached" over one million words!  One million amazing words that no one had ever thought to utter.  One million!  Got it?  That's ONE MILLION!
Tool #4 is a transcript of my 50-plus-part series titled “The Greatest Story Never Told!”, now almost one million words. The series answers every question below, and many more. It carefully outlines how God will restore good ministers and brethren to full faithfulness, and remove bad ministers and brethren from His Plan altogether incompletely reunifying His people! Batches of multiple parts (perhaps ten to twelve) will be released once a week.
These are such amazing things that you will NOT want to ignore them when he starts posting them.  For now though, Dave wants you to know about the Man of Sin!
For now, a sobering two-part warning about the soon-coming, enormously powerful Man of Sin is available on this page. Scores of thousands have viewed them. We hear of the growing interest they are generating. Do not miss ANY of these tools—and tell those you love about them! 
Dave then goes on to list many points about Jesus returning, the two witnesses and more.  One stand out comments how he and the two witness will KILL all who have disobeyed his god.  Remember Dave's boast that he will have the two witnesses walking by his side.
33. The two witnesses are given unrestricted power to kill on what would be a mass scale (Rev. 11:5-6). Why, unless they work in a time when God is wiping out a mankind—all nations—that rejected and disobeyed Him, His Kingdom having already been on Earth?
Dave's god is sure pissed off!

Dave is also the continuation of the knowledge Herbert Armstrong revealed.  Dave continues the message, since Dave trained right at HWA's feet!

37. Was all of Daniel unsealed during Mr. Armstrong’s time—or, right on time, is more knowledge increasing now (Dan. 12:4), on top of what Mr. Armstrong explained? 
Dave believes the Man of Sin is currently sitting in a position in one of the Churches of God.
52. Why is the Man of Sin described as sitting in the “temple of God” (II Thes. 2:3-4)? Since there is no temple in Jerusalem today, and the Catholic St. Peter’s Basilica (as some speculated) could NEVER fit this description, is not the only remaining possibility that this man sits in the spiritual Temple, the Church? So obviously, yes. 
54. Paul warned brethren about the Man of Sin’s rise, and he is shown in II Thessalonians 2 to be involved in and influencing the Church. 
You can read his first 134 points he has to deliver here:  Many Questions God Answered

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

When Will Garner Ted Armstrong Ever Die?



On September 12, 2003, Garner Ted Armstrong reportedly died due to a staph infection due to complications of pneumonia.  This obviously was a charade to draw in more members to the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.  Even though his son Mark supposedly took over reigns of the organization after an elaborate funeral, it is now increasingly clear that GTA is alive and behind the scenes running his organization.  That wax dummy in the casket was pretty accurate!

His web site still features him prominently:



In the latest 21st Century Watch, GTA has an article on whether or not you will go to heaven:


You can watch GTA's amazing sermons:


You can listen to his sermons as MP3's; remembering fondly the old cassettes:


The Intercontinental Church of God web site still portrays GTA as its leader:



Garner Ted's wife Shirley ran the organization from her home on Lake Palestine, for many years. Their son Mark is the more public face.  Due to the fact that Mark is not a good speaker like his dad and that the articles he writes seems to be lifted from WorldNetDaily and Fox News, its no wonder Dead Ted needs to be continually trotted out as if he was still alive.  The world is collapsing around us and it is vitally important that an Armstrong proclaim that message to the world.



SaveSave

Monday, October 24, 2016

Living In A Cult And Killing It




The following article on CRACKED will be sure to stir up a controversy with followers of Armstrongism:


The Church Of Scientology managed to gain worldwide infamy, despite numbering only roughly 25,000 in the U.S. That's a damn fine annoyance per capita ratio. At its height, the Worldwide Church Of God had nearly 90,000members in the United States, and you've never heard of them. Its followers didn't believe in space alien ghosts or anything, but they used to have other things in common with Scientology: both were founded by a charismatic hustler who told them not to go to the doctor, for example. And yet today the Worldwide Church Of God is more church than cult. That's a rare transition: From crazy to sane. It usually runs the other way, and doesn't stop until the men in white coats take it down with a net. Mike Feazell is part of the reason for WCG's shift to respectability. We asked him how he managed to pull a full-blown cult out of its tailspin of insanity, and he told us ...

6.  It Started With A Crazed Ad-Man Who Found God
5.  Medicine And Birthday Parties Were Sins Against The Lord
4.  It Was Both A Church, And A Wildly Successful Business
3.  When The Founder Died, We Started Questioning 'Doctrine'
2.  We Broke The Rules To Save A Life
1.  But It Was Dropping The Crazy Stuff That Killed The Church
Check the full article out here:

6 Things You Learn Living In (And Killing) A Cult

Cult Witness




ht: Painful Truth