Dave Pack, God's most miraculous man never to be conceived by immaculate conception, compares himself to Herbert Armstrong. Davey wants you to know that he has suffered greatly at the hands of the church while he was a minister. He bemoans the fact his kids had to wear hand-me-downs.
Oh boo hoo! Probably 40-50% of the kids in the church had to wear hand-me-downs because 40-50% of their parents income was going out the door to fund the church.
Probably few remember or ever knew that Mr. Armstrong died with virtually no personal possessions he could call his own, other than a handful of suits, a watch, and a few other simple belongings, including almost nothing of worth. This man’s pattern of unbelievable sacrifice over virtually an entire lifetime was evident to all who knew him. Therefore, it should come as no real surprise how few possessions he had at the end of his life. Nothing was EVER more important to Mr. Armstrong than God’s Work! Yet, his motives were continually questioned, and by those who could not possibly understand them.
But I do understand. My children also went without for years, in regard to clothing for instance, largely wearing hand-me-downs from older cousins because I was systematically underpaid by Joe Tkach all during their growing up years. Clothing needs—my children’s and their parents—is only the tip of this iceberg.
The entirety of our life savings (mine and my deceased wife’s) and virtually every extra dollar left in our budget month-to-month for years went to this Work, even to the point of taking out home equity loans (multiple times) to give more, when necessary, because our home kept appreciating in value until 2007.
FYI: Tkach did not hate you. He knew you to be a charlatan that was destroying peoples lives and he put a stop to it. Then you jumped ship to Global because you had no marketable skills and needed other people to fund your lifestyle. That's the Plain Truth!
More brief history. In March 1993, when I was the first pastor Joe Tkach fired and marked publicly on video (March 6 from Tampa, Florida), I had to act solely on faith. Again, I had been systematically underpaid for much of my ministry by a vindictive Joe Tkach who hated me in large part because of my relationship with Mr. Armstrong. I had no money in the bank—none—when Dean Blackwell came from Pasadena (weeping at my front door and carrying flowers) with a nearby pastor to take my car, computer and Church files. The result: my wife and I had no second car even to get groceries. We walked. Two weeks of severance pay (plus a few days of my unused vacation pay) had to last for several weeks until I could be paid by Global.
Poor Davey! He couldn't go to Brooks Brothers and buy a $1,000.00 suit like he does now, or spend $500.00 on shoes.