The link I gave you, for David Pack’s “clarion call” sermon with commentary, is indeed the Restored Church of God cult, that you are looking for information about.

Sorry about the mixup!

http://churchofgodrestorationexposed.us/

The discussion forum (where current members and ex-members share their stories of abuse) is particularly disheartening.

There’s a reason the Impostle that heads this splinter (the Restored Church of God) is referred to as “the Packatollah” by most of the ex-WCG sites. David Pack is a very bad man, and is a close contender in most ex-members’ minds for another Waco, once it all goes bad.

Here’s an example (with commentary) of one of the sermons Pack brow-beat his membership with recently:

http://shadowsofwcg.blogspot.com/2007/12/packs-sermon-confirmed-online-and-post.html

From this, it’s obvious to ex-members that Pack is gathering funds, but to what ends no one is entirely certain at the moment.

(For a true Koresh scenario, my money’s on Ronald Weinland and the CoG-PKG sect, but that’s another, longer discussion I won’t get into here.)

Thank you for your response.

There is so much I want to say but I don’t want to discourage Luta.

In the end, for me, it was the kindness and love of total strangers that made me angry at God. That may sound strange but I couldn’t bear the guilt of being one of the “chosen” ones while these kind, loving, people who worshipped God on a level I couldn’t even conceive were going to go through the horrors of the tribulation because they didn’t belong to the “true” church.(what kind of God was that?)

In a way, we are saying the same thing. You are saying, “be there”. I’m trying to say how to “be there”. I’m not saying my advice is perfect. It is just a thought that I threw out there. And if anyone has any other positive suggestions I would love to hear them. We can all learn and we can all help each other. I’ve been on both sides, the abused, and because I knew no other way, the abuser.

I hope my comments don’t offend. That is surely not my intent. And, if you don’t agree with me don’t stop saying so! I’m not done learning!

I know you mean well, but no matter WHAT Luta does or says, she won’t be able to convince her son to change his mind. If his mind is set on joining the splinter cult, then nothing will dissuade him. He, and he alone, will free himself from the clutches of the deception. It will have to be because of some personal dissalusionment, some personal pain, or some personal abuse. The feelings of others is of no concern to him, whether it be his mother or his spouse. That’s the way the brainwashing works. IF he ever does escape, it will come at a cost(of course it sounds like it already has), and all Luta can do is BE THERE when her son has been broken and tries to pick up the pieces of what life he has wasted. Carol seems to be a very wise person in what she advises. I agree with her 100%. I hope, if it ever happens, Luta will not say, “I told you so”, but just BE THERE.

Steve

When I read “Carol’s” response I got goose bumps because she said exactly what I was thinking when I read your post.

When we were in church, the pat answer was, “you can’t possibly understand because you don’t have God’s spirit”. (what gall)

There’s no way to argue with that mentality because anything you say, in his mind, will be wrong if it doesn’t fit the teachings of his church.

Battling with him is going to only make him feel stronger about what he believes in. There are also some really good books on communication.

You can show him love, and compassion. You can encourage him about everything positive you can think of. You can earn his trust and maybe he will let down his guard and listen to some genuine motherly advice-maybe he won’t listen to “spiritual” advice but you may be able to reach him or at least soften him on some issues. He needs you now more than ever. You will be the only real example of love that he has. The church will love him as long as he obeys. You will love him as long as he lives.

You are very brave and strong. If you had the strength to leave at age 16 and live on the street, you have the strength to cope with this and work your way through it.

I am a 59 year survivor or WWCG. (my family started when I was 2)

Just about anything I want to say comes out as a cliche. So, just know that, yes, there are many, many who have been through what you have been through. Also know, that many of us have found happiness, many of us have raised successful children and many of us really look forward to the future-not dread it. The same is more than possible for you. One thing that has helped me is coming to grips with what my parents did-they did out of complete ignorance-but they did their best and they honestly thought they were doing the right thing. They left the church before I did. They both have died and they have both deeply apologized.

And thank you Tim for answering my comment. Henry Sturcke was the minister at the time I attended. It did seem odd how all of the children were too quiet during services. I was 19-20 at the time and I had a hard time sitting still!
I can’t pinpoint the exact reason I stopped attending at this point in time, but I know the emphasis on tithing was definitely part of the issue. Not to mention the phoniness of some of the members. I didn’t seem like one big happy family to me. Thank you again Tim and hang in there Kayla!!! Seems like we have a happy family right here!!

I found this sight while do research. I attended WCG briefly in the 80’s. Thankfully didn’t actually “join”.

Just a question for you or for anyone else if you post this. I recently ran across an old vhs tape of the Feasts in 1983 and 1984. Was wondering if anyone knew what happened to some of the Young Ambassadors; the Meyers, McNairs, Petersons, Dwayne Abler, Kathy Pierce, etc. Are any of them still “in”? Was just curious to see how their lives turned out, especially after HWA’s death.