Monday, July 31, 2017

Dave Pack: What Life Is Like On The Restored Church of God Compound



A comment from the  Dave Pack's Land Grab  posting:

We are RCG survivors who were also in the ministry.We never worked at HQ but we can easily see that the HQ ministry's allegiance is expected to be that your heart, mind, money and time go to Dave Pack with little scraps of time for your family. 
These men and women are stressed out from wearing many hats and constantly having to take on extra tasks to make up for the losses of the revolving door of employees at HQ. They are even expected to help out with planting, mulching and weeding at HQ when that needs to be done so there goes their Sundays! 
We have known many of those at HQ and the changes we have seen in them over the years is sad - their lives are not their own - they are tired and stressed and there is no joy in their eyes.At the last conference we attended, we could notice obvious changes in some of the ministers and wives personalities.They are so programmed that they don't even realize it!!They are automatons!! 
Now that Dave Pack has most of the ministry moved into the string of houses surrounding his compound those ministers are now paying the rent to pay the mortgages on houses they will never own. They work for Dave Pack and live in his houses. So, basically he owns them, or at least has a very unreasonable amount of control over their lives. They fear to disagree with him or they would lose their job and place to live in the same day. This has happened! 
It breaks our hearts to see these young people devoting their lives to a false apostle who will praise them to the skies if they please him and kick them to the curb if they ever dare disagree with him! 
How we wish they would realize that there is life after RCG, a life of peace and freedom to serve God and not a man who thinks he is Christ himself! They could learn what it is to have a life and function as a normal family!

We pray daily that these deceived brethren will see Dave Pack for the wolf he is and run for their lives away from him and his destructive hold on their lives!

All of the things mentioned above are classic cult indoctrination and manipulation tools in order to wear people down and to instill fear in them.

Loaded language

The jargon in cults has multiple effects. 
  1. The group members feel understood because they all use the same words and it generates a sense of camaraderie (and elitism - see below). 
  2. New people may feel left out and often want to learn what the words and phrases mean, drawing them deeper into the mindset of the cult. 
  3. Complex situations are often reduced to a few words, and this begins to shut down the critical thinking of the members. 
  4. The words and phrases can dictate how the members should act in certain situations without having to make decisions. For example, one group had a phrase that meant that seniors in the hierarchy of the group were always right. So if there were any problems or disagreements, the phrase sorted everything out! 
  5. When the jargon is second nature, talking to outsiders may become tedious and awkward and this keeps group members isolated from outside influences.

Elitist mentality 

As part of cult tactics,  members are made to feel special. They are part of an elite group that is going to, for example, change history, save the world, change humankind in some way or be saved by god. They have a strong sense of mission or purpose which binds them together and keeps them working hard and giving of themselves - in other words, slaving and sacrificing!
This sense of elitism makes them feel more important or superior to those outside the group, especially to people in other cults, which they can easily spot! 
This gives rise to one of the many contradictions in cults. While members are obedient and humble before the leadership, they can be arrogant to outsiders.
This elitism also brings responsibility, because they feel more responsible for saving the world. And of course, this sense of responsibility can be used by the leaders to manipulate them even further, inducing guilt if they don't properly perform their duties, earn enough money, recruit enough people, and so on.

The end justifies the means 

Because they are doing very important things like god's work, or saving the earth, rescuing mankind, or simply doing 'The Work, members are led to believe that lying, cheating, and deceiving outsiders for money or getting them to come along to the group is justified.
And remember that many group leaders are psychopaths. This means they have no empathy, guilt or remorse. Ever!
Add to this their inflated sense of self worth, grandiosity and sense of entitlement, and they believe they can do whatever they like, take what they want, abuse whoever they please etc. etc. without any consideration for others. For them the end always justifies the means.
And then consider that the leader is creating clones of himself...!!!
Think you might know a psychopath? Here's a quick test...

Group dominates individual 

In destructive groups, the group comes first. Loyalty and obedience to the leadership are very highly regarded parts of the cult psychology. 
Members learn with to distrust themselves and trust the authoritative leader, looking to him or her for direction and meaning in their lives. They put aside their own wants and needs in favor of those of the group. To a large extent, cult control causes their own well-being to become enmeshed with the well-being of the leader.

Sense of community 

When a new member first joins a destructive group, there is a very strong sense of community, unconditional love, joy, happiness etc. Later, when the member is indoctrinated, he or she learns that this sense of belonging very much depends on good behavior.  
If they break the rules, criticize the leadership, express negative emotions such as anger or distrust of the leader, they quickly find themselves ostracized by the group until they sort out the 'problem' (any problem is usually the fault or responsibility of the member, not the leader!) 
It's another contradiction in groups that while everybody is encouraged to be equal and the same, competition is used to shame members who are not working hard enough, and to spur the hard work workers on even more.
The members feel quite close to each other, in fact, they may feel closer to people in this group than to anyone ever before in their lives. However, closer examination shows that the relationships are quite shallow (they tell on each other; they can be hyper-critical of mistakes; members may know little or nothing about each other's pasts, families or friends; there is often little or no consideration for the problems or needs of others, unless there is a benefit in it for themselves; and when members leave a group, it is often as if the remaining members simply forget about them; and in reality all they know is the pseudopersonality, they have little real contact with the real identity!) 
Besides, true friendships are discouraged because the leader wants all the adoration and attention for himself.  
On top of this, if one person leaves he may bring his friends with him. Of course, if someone does leave, the anger, frustration, disgust and hatred are directed towards them. (In these situations, anger and hatred are encouraged, of course!) A supposedly close bond between ' friends' can change in an instant if one person becomes a nonbeliever or a traitor!

Understanding Cult Psychology


11 comments:

Unknown said...

CHURCH OF GOD NEWS WEBSITE REPORTS--

That MIA Dale Schurter is now back in "good graces" with Packatolah !...


Dale Schurter was sidelined 18 months ago, but he has now been restored to the fold. David Pack began part 82 of his latest sermon series by announcing that:
“Mr. Dale Schurter is actively serving in the ministry again; doing much better and that’s wonderful - at the young age of 80, about two weeks ago today ... So he’s serving as the Associate Pastor with Mr. McElroy in Dayton, Ohio.”
Both Dale Schurter and Larry McElroy moved to RCG from the United Church of God.
Pack then talked once more about the surge of people who will be wanting to join RCG ... “it should be obvious if you think this through, that it becomes exponential. The people who are excited enough to get others to come and who come, are therefore, going to react, logically, the same way that the excited people who urged them did, and they’re going to go out and do the same thing. And then, that’s going to double and so forth.”
Using the concept of a penny doubling every day and becoming $11 billion after 40 days, he muses ... “here in Ezekiel 33 we’re talking about people. So if one tells two and then two tell four and four tell eight ... it would be on about Day 36 when you get to almost 700 million ... and then if you went four more days, you would go way beyond the total population of Earth.
Now obviously, God has to bless that process...” Is that where his analogy fails?
Two weeks previously, in part 80, he exclaimed ... “we’re starting to take off again. You can imagine with our budget. And staggering numbers. I would anticipate within 2, 3, 4 months at the most, over 2,000 households are going to ask to come to church. An awful lot of them are going to stay 12 weeks, or they don’t come at all, the vast majority. Low, single digits will be the only ones that come, and then how many even stay?”
“Staggering numbers” ask to come to church, but hardly any come, and fewer stay, even for a short time.
Before being allowed to come to church, each household must be visited by an RCG minister, and that seems to be enough to put most people off attending.

Anonymous said...

You realize these points describe much about The early NT church, sharing in common, obedience to leaders, admonitions and specialness Of the not many wise are called, not many noble brethren

Joseph Tkach Is My BFF said...

Dave Pack & his RCG cult are VERY dangerous. I hope anybody that has been brainwashed by his nonsense will WAKE UP and get out!

Pretty Yellow Teeth said...

Is David Pack royalty or something?

Anonymous said...

The new testament church never made any such demands like Dave Pack is making. If you want to be silly and claim that then go ahead. Pack in no way exemplifies Christianity. So go ahead and make excuses for the abusive leaders of the COG.

Hoss said...

An awful lot of them are going to stay...

An awful church, an awful leader, awful ministers, of course an awful lot will stay...

Byker Bob said...

Yepper. Awful. Yowza.

A few weeks ago, at my local used music and video store, I found a DVD of season one of Doll House. The fascinating premise of this series is that people are "wiped" of their own memories, and for special assignments, they are imprinted with any from a library of personalities and skill sets. After an undercover assignment is completed, the handler picks up the agent, and asks "Are you ready for your treatment?" The response is always "Yes." The treatment involves being "wiped", then assuming a very basic functional personality until next assignment.

It got me thinking. Wouldn't it just be a gas if we could go in for treatment and be wiped of all the Armstrong experiences in our lives, and all memories of all the people through whom Armstrongism came into our consciousness? Ministers, relatives, and especially Herb himself! Some will probably say, well no, that would be bad because those experiences made you who and what you are today. However, that is such a copout and cliche! Hello! It is highly likely that most of us would be much better people without all of that cultic toxicity and influence!

Especially Dave Pack's people. What would it mean for them to be able to be wiped and relieved of all memories of Dave and his lackeys? Wouldn't that just be awesome? Hopefully, in a few years that technology will be available.

BB

Anonymous said...

RCG, PCG and LCG all continue to teach one dangerous idea that was part of the Ambassador College experience.

If you aren't happy, the solution isn't to figure out why you are unhappy and address the underlying problem. The solution is to act as if you were happy. Lack of enthusiasm is a cardinal sin in the ACOGs, so ministers (and ordinary members) learn to project a "happy face" even when they are unhappy. Eventually this results in a shattering of the personality, so the thought-controlled ACOG member can no longer tell the difference between acting happy and being happy. Once this occurs, it is unlikely that the victim will wake up and leave the cult.

Anonymous said...

Star Trek The Next Generation TV series had its Borg, which is a abusive cult civilization. There were many episodes about the borg character that broke away from the Borg collective (Seven of nine), and her struggles to regain her independence. The writers did their homework for these episodes.

I feel I'm back at school every time I'm asked to choose the cars or roads. I don't want to do my homework mommy, I want to watch TV instead.

Mark Wolfe said...

I have a little bit of a different opinion than most on this sight. Became a baptized member of the RCG in my 40's in an attempt to live out a belief system. The experience was good. Larry McElroy was my pastor and he is a very, very good man. I was able to move on and do much better with my life than before the experience. But the reason I chose RCG was because Dave sold it as the only group that was re-creating HWA's version of COG7----which I believed in. He has violated that promise in a multiple of ways and is no different, in fact worst because he is a hypocrite, than those he criticizes. In fact, in his autobiography he castigated Meredith for asking him to give more of his assets to Global. But in all due respect to Byker Bob, I would not want to erase the memories, even though I have put it all behind me.

Byker Bob said...

Good on you either way Mark, because you had the good sense to leave. Our past experiences are there for each of us to use or to forget. We all get to be creative in our recoveries, and there are choices along the way that are simply personal as opposed to being right or wrong. Best of luck!

BB