Decline of the False Apostle

For years I have been warning people about RCG’s David Pack.

Although in 2001, his church taught that he was not an apostle, in a sermon he gave in 2005 David Pack claimed:

If the highest office in RCG is not an apostle…then I was not sent by Christ. (Pack D. 21st Century Apostle, Sermon part 2, 2005).

On November 3rd of 2007, in a move of either desperation or delusion, he essentially ordered his followers to liquidate their assets and send them all to him so that he could build buildings and increase his internet effectiveness (see also David Pack of the Restored Church of God Declares: “Go get those assets and get them here”).

Here is some of what David Pack said then:

“Go get those assets and get them here”

“Don’t sit on vast resources that we can use now”

“We are not a splinter”

“I do not covet your silver or gold…the gold and silver is God’s and He will get it someway”

“We do not have the funds…plans…bookstores…We need to redesign our website…We need many hundreds of thousands of dollars to arrive at God’s headquarters soon…the timing is now”

“This is different…ask Him for the faith to liquidate certain assets and give it to the work”

“I’ll say it again, we are talking about liquidating existing assets…it all belongs to God and the brethren”

“We have a lot of plans so big going on in this office it would cause just this room to to rock and gyrate if you knew what was going on. We just need a lot of money and we need it post haste…I would give more if I had it”

“Get it now when it requires faith…when you are dead you don’t need it…if you named us in your wills, it can take us months or years to get it”

“The wives in the faith will say give everything you can…We don’t have the luxury of waiting years…today, leaving everything in your will simply doesn’t work”

“Now you just have a second mortgage…and frankly we flee before most of it ever becomes due”

“…some may think that they want to tap their 401k–maybe you want to let us know that…why would you want to tell us? We are starting to prepare a budget now, the needs are now…it would be nice to know now”

“Think big…Pull big triggers”

“There is only two positions you can take regarding all that I have mentioned, only two, there is no middle ground. You’re either going to yield, to submit and to follow, the clarion call that the time is now or you’re not. And postponing a decision is deciding not to do it…It’s saying I’m going to wait until it gets closer because it is not there yet…Don’t say that I’m going to wait until it gets closer, when I can see…The decision is that my treasure stays on earth or I goes to heaven. Period. I will not lay up for times to come or I will. And this is the real test of Laodicea…either hold on to your assets…or give it…God is in this decision, no question. Testing the church’s faith”

“We live in the most materialistic age in the history of the world. People trust in physical things. They trust in bank accounts…If you have excess and don’t need it, those verses mean you…That’s the Laodicean attitude…Put your money where your mouth is…Empty your assets”

“There is only one place He works…Where the…work is…that’s where God is working…one elder commented here at headquarters, if people can’t be motivated by a clarion call to finish the work such as this, why will those same people somehow believe the internal signal given to the church of the 1335? Why would they believe it?”

“We will all fast on November 17th…I have to…ask you for a very special financial sacrifice for God’s work”

“The purposes of the fast…a. To fast for God’s intervention…b.Fast for personal faith and courage to follow what I am asking you to do…c. Fast for personal strength…d…Fast for faith and courage in others with more than you to give…Go get a big chunk out of your house…their assets, IRAs, and pension funds…e. Ask God to move specific properties…that they have told us they want to sell. Pray that these properties move…that is part of what this fast is about”

I have warned people for years that David Pack is not an apostle, not the leader of the faithful portion of the COG, etc. It sounds to me like he is excessively trusting in money to do the work. While money is needed to do the work, I feel that this was excessive and irresponsible for David Pack to call for people to liquidate their assets at this time. It also seems like covetousness to require what biblically, he is not entitled to.

Does not David Pack fulfill the following?

…there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies… By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber (2 Peter 2:1,3).

Are not RCG followers being exploited with deceptive words?

At least partially because of the asset liquidations, in early 2008, RCG reported:

Giant projects are underway! These two articles announce new developments in the Work, including a small school or college, building a state-of-the-art television studio (underway) to produce high-definition videocasts, many books soon available in bookstores, further plans for a stunning Headquarters building to provide for an ever-growing staff, major advancements of our websites, an absolutely incredible explosion of regular and special income—and so much more!…

2007 Income: The Restored Church of God’s 2007 income grew by over 77% above 2006, far exceeding our projection of just under 40%!

What RCG failed to report is that the rate of increase is unsustainable unless they greatly increase membership as RCG has been systematically using up the tangible assets of its membership. RCG is in a sense doing what the USA has done–obtained high “prosperity” through debt acquisition–and this is not biblically desirable (please see Deuteronomy 28:44) nor is it ultimately sustainable (see Habakkuk 2:7). Going into debt is not the way of the Bible.

As I have not been in Ohio (his location) for some time, I have no idea how the building projects are really coming along, but I did consult Quantcast related to RCG’s projection of “major advancements of our websites”.

Notice the following chart:

As the chart shows RCG’s internet reach has been steadily dropping. The previous Quantcast chart showed that a peak of interest occurred about 2-3 weeks after David Pack demanded assets and as the above chart shows, a steady reduction in impact occurred since.

And while this may change, it certainly suggests that RCG is not having the type of internet impact in 2008 that it seemed to indicate that it would.

Perhaps I should mention that RCG used to show its internet results with a so-called “Download counter”, but it removed the counter a few days after I reported (see https://www.cogwriter.com/9gnews.htm) that it proved that RCG was having less internet impact in 2008 than in 2007.

The recent Quantcast statistics also confirm the same trend.

While I believe that David Pack has certain talents, I have considered David Pack to be a false leader for years and a false apostle since I first heard himself declare himself to be an apostle.

An article of related interest (which includes more quotes from the 11/03/07 sermon) would be:

Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders? There have been many false leaders–and sadly, David Pack is one of them–here is some of why you should be concerned about them.