Living Armstrongism: Pack's Apostolic Succession -- Part 2

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Pack's Apostolic Succession -- Part 2

Previously we saw how Pack links himself with HWA by using a personal moment with him in order to associate himself with "Elijah" himself. This is just one tale of association that has been spread by his sect, RCG. There are others elements to this narrative as well that are present in his Authorized Biography.

This association with HWA is also pursued in another way, namely by RCG's acquiring of relics. In this book they proudly display photos of one of HWA's electric typewriters, which we are told was used when he wrote Mystery of the Ages (Group 4 of photos in Volume 2, p. 10), and an Elijah glass made of Steuben crystal (Group 7 of photos in Volume 2, p. 9). I thought keeping relics was regarded as idolatrous? Also he mentions that his father attended school with a then unknown HWA. All of these details are used to allow Pack to be linked with HWA.

Furthermore a picture is shown with Pack preaching to a WCG tour group at Capernaum at hill which is suggested to be the "Mount" where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. (Group 5 of photos in Volume 1, p. 4, PDF p. 3) To be fair Pack is not the only one to do indulge in such associations with Jesus. I remember once Gerald Flurry made a TV broadcast at the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem.

And so Pack is able to surround himself with tithe followers and set up his own Armstrongite sect, convincing them that he basks in the glory of HWA.

3 comments:

redfox712August 27, 2009 at 2:33 PM
I've just added some references to the photos mentioned here.
ReplyDelete
Replies
xHWAAugust 28, 2009 at 6:19 AM
"I thought keeping relics was regarded as idolatrous?"

You can paper your walls with pictures of HWA, but God help you if you have a cross.

Hard to imagine we were once in that system, isn't it? Now that you see it for what it is.
ReplyDelete
Replies
RichardAugust 29, 2009 at 4:33 PM
Oh dear. If Herbert Armstrong once touched something you have, that means you're his favorite minister? That means you have the apostolic succession?

Even if he named someone else as the successor in 1986????

That sort of absurd thinking might work for Michael Jackson fanatics, but I thought COG's were supposed to be more reasoned and logical than this.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Fall of Berlin Wall NOT Proof HWA was Right

It is often asserted that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 proved that HWA was right and he really did see the future.

This of course is nonsense. Herbert W. Armstrong said that Christ would return within twenty years in his book Mystery of the Ages. (PCG has since deleted those words so someone in there knows HWA spoke nonsense.) How convenient for them to forget this.

Also Herbert W. Armstrong never said the Soviet Union would collapse. He thought it would survive intact until a few years after Christ's return. It shows how biased some many in the COGs are that they never seem to notice this. This inconvenient truth is just tossed into the memory hole.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".

Truth about Roderick C. Meredith

What sort of man is he? A man who could say things like this.

"Mr. Armstrong has reminded us again that we are to disfellowship any members who attend GTA's [Garner Ted Armstrong's] campaigns, church services or other meetings. Some of our weaker members apparently do not realize that this man is in direct rebellion against God and His government! We must not allow them, or ourselves, to rationalize about this matter, to try to "help the underdog," or in any other way lend support to one whose gross immorality, whose long standing "play acting" and hypocrisy, and whose direct insubordination to the Government of God has long been and is now a source of confusion and DIVISION among God's people. So, as per Mr. Armstrong's instruction, I charge and exhort every one of you faithful ministers of the living Christ to explain this in no uncertain terms to your members, to warn them about this cause of division and then to disfellowship any who consort with GTA or any of his fellows." (Roderick C. Meredith, Pastor's Report, May 21, 1979, pp. 1-2.)

See here for this statement's context.

David Robinson on Roderick C. Meredith

WCG minister David Robinson had this to say about Roderick C. Meredith in a letter he wrote to him on September 19, 1979.

"During the ten years I have been an employee of the Worldwide Church, you have been poorly spoken of by most of the ministers and employees I have known. I vividly remember the absolute unbounded glee that was openly expressed by a good number of respected men in the church when you were first "shanghaied." [In 1972.] I could begin by naming names, which I am sure would shock you. I was one of the few who stood, where possible, for you. Your tenure as superintendent of ministers, as I believe the office was then called, was looked on as nightmarish. While you held office during the years of growth, most of those whom I know gave you very little credit for that growth. Almost everyone whom I know, whether they be former friends of yours, or continuing foes, recalls insensitive and terrible things you have done. Without exception, at least among my acquaintances, they all credit you with an unbridled lust for power and list you as one who is willing to pay the price of gaining that power, no matter what. I have, through many of the last few years, believed you had principles you would not violate. Many a man of experience in the church assured me of my error. Events have proven me wrong and them right. Mr. Armstrong has himself been widely quoted as saying of you that you were so righteous that you were so "righteous you were unrighteous." " (David Robinson, Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, Chapter 16, p. 207.)

Of course it is impossible for me to personally verify these assertions but people deserve to know what this knowledgeable man had to say about him.

Living Armstrongism

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Pack's Apostolic Succession -- Part 2

3 comments:

If You are new please read this

Fall of Berlin Wall NOT Proof HWA was Right

Truth about Roderick C. Meredith

The Truth About Europe and Prophecy

Followers

Truth About The Key of David's Gerald Flurry and his PCG

What is this?

Email

Blog Archive

Labels

About Me

COG Links

Remembering The Persecuted Church

David Robinson on Roderick C. Meredith

My Blog List