Exploiting the Dead
May 3, 2025 | by Marc Cebrian
For years, David C. Pack has coerced members of The Restored Church of God with the threat of God’s punishment. The Pastor General has consistently pressured brethren to “sell all that you have” so the church could “powerfully do the Work” of boldly proclaiming the Gospel of the soon-coming Kingdom of God worldwide.
But since David C. Pack’s spiritually corrupt 501(c)(3) nonprofit religious organization offloaded $3.1 million of corporate debt onto twenty-three foolish Headquarters congregation members and RCG started turning a profit, the Pastor General has announced that fulfilling the First Commission of Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel to every creature comes with caveats, exceptions, and dilemmas.
Part 559 – February 22, 2025
@ 1:21:53 We could go on and do a an unbelievably powerful work and have no debt…@ 1:22:42 …we could get very, very loud. And rattle a lot a teacups. And the church would boom with growth in a way we couldn’t. But that’s not our goal. We gotta be careful.
David C. Pack now has the money to declare the Gospel loudly to the entire world but heeds the wisdom of exercising caution.
His carefulness is selective.
He has not been careful about counseling a married member at the Feast of Tabernacles to divorce her husband so she could get “her half” and give it to RCG. Planting fifty new 10’ evergreen trees along the horse barn property beside Interstate 76 did not require him to be careful. He was not so careful when he exploited widows to get his hands on the money their husbands secured for their wellbeing.
He is also not so careful when it comes to exploiting dead members.
David C. Pack gladly cashes the checks from the deceased but do not expect him to show any gratitude about it. Instead, be prepared for your corpse to be dragged out of your grave and publicly taken behind the woodshed.
The thanklessness and disrespect that Pastor General David C. Pack openly expresses for the dead members who irritate him reveals who and what he is. Yet, brethren choose to stay, accept his abuse, and keep paying his salary.
One mercy for the members who gave Common after they died was being spared the knowledge of what David C. Pack said about them to the entire church.
After Death Is Not Good Enough
“The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 536),” given on September 18, 2024, was an 85-minute message centered on members surrendering their Common funds to The Restored Church of God. David C. Pack disguised himself as a shepherd wanting to help his sheep. Only the gullible, All-Believing Zealots bought that ruse.
Part 536 – September 18, 2024
@ 18:59 Selling all that you have is serious.@ 29:32 The command, by the way, is to “sell all,” not “leave all.” Let me explain.
Even the posthumously generous escape not the ire of David C. Pack.
@ 29:53 Now, there there was a man. You could never guess. Long time ago, who gave a huge sum of money. Huge to the church in his will. Didn’t give a dime while he was alive. Not a dime.
Stop
Do not believe that for a second.
The only people attending The Restored Church of God who “didn't give a dime” are the ones in Dave’s imagination. I knew an unemployed elderly widow on a fixed government income who still gave her mites joyfully to support the church, going so far as to knit items to sell as a fundraiser.
The idea that this man “didn't give a dime” to The Restored Church of God is a disingenuous exaggeration at best but a flat lie at its core. Dave even tells on himself in the very next moment when the last Truth Neuron in his brain fired, reminding him to add a fat asterisk to his overly dramatic statement.
@ 30:08 Except his tithes.
Clearly, the man gave more than a dime. This was just Dave exercising his self-righteous theatrical flare for the sake of grandstanding and shocking the brethren.
Just letting David C. Pack talk exposes who and what he is. The brethren of The Restored Church of God have heard him say stupid things like this for so long their ears have grown callouses.
Not a dime. Except for the barebones minimum 10% of his annual income. David C. Pack loves his oxymorons. “Something never happened. Except that one time.” The one time invalidates never.
Nobody in The Restored Church of God escapes the watchful eye of the Business and Accounting Office income spreadsheet monitors, especially with Carl Houk at the helm. Members with any kind of wealth, including regular employment income, are subject to the church receiving first tithe, excess second tithe, tithe of tithe, third tithe, Holy Day offerings, free-will offerings, fundraisers, and those pesky loose change drives. Do not forget about Common.
Members who do not give enough are flagged. Headquarters then directs the field mollusk to inquire.
Carl Houk is the Business and Accounting Office Manager, making him David C. Pack’s dutiful watchdog. He also assumed the leading role in Church Administration, nudging Dr. Jaco Viljoen to the side. Since the church is now “booming” again, surely that will no longer be a part-time job. Maybe Jaco will get his old job back.
@ 30:09 And he was sitting on a vast array of wealth. He left it to us, and he died, and we got it when he died. Now here’s the here’s the irony. The church was benefited by what happened. He gets no credit whatsoever for doing that because he never stepped out in faith. Give it all? He didn’t give any of it. Decent man. I met him quite a long time ago.
So did I. Mario Furtado was born in 1959 and lived in Marana, Arizona. I first met him at the Feast of Tabernacles and would chat with him when he visited Headquarters over the years.
“He didn’t give any of it” is another David C. Pack drama queen exaggeration. Those will fly right past you if you are not quick to listen.
Before Mario died in February 2024, he changed the name on his living trust to Carl Houk as the sole beneficiary.
Mario Furtado bequeathed
The Restored Church of God
his estate worth $700,000.
Just the value of Mario’s home was $440,000. It is still listed on Zillow.
This publicly available information can be found on Arizona's Pima County Auditor’s website behind a paywall. If anyone wants a copy of the complete record PDF, email exrcgwebsite@gmail.com.
Even after receiving about $700,000, which greatly assisted RCG in getting out of Campus debt, David C. Pack was still panty-twisted that he could not get his grubby hands on those funds sooner. Months after the check cleared, he was still compelled to speak ill of a dead “decent man” because he wanted to frighten the faithless who still had not surrendered their Common to him.
Edward Winkfield needs to insert a new chapter to the Doing the Work Through Your Last Will and Testament booklet on rcg.org. Just add that to the pile of outdated literature, Ed.
It was a blessing for Dave that twenty-three Headquarters members still had not yet “sold all.” Otherwise, he would never have gotten rid of that troublesome $3.1 million Campus debt problem.
Ingratitude for the Dead
David C. Pack was only warming up. There were plenty of breathing bodies in the Main Hall and across the world who should think twice about holding their Common back until they die.
Part 536 – September 18, 2024
@ 30:41 And you’d just be shocked at how much he had. But couldn’t part with any of it. So where where was the faith? He’s dead. He’s dead. Now, it’s better than not than than giving it to relatives or something.Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children…@ 30:54 But the church could have benefited. Believe me, a lot had he done it sooner. So, it says, “Sell all,” not “leave all.” It duddn't mean leave it in your will. If you say, “Well, I'm gonna leave it to the church,” you have said, “I am going to disobey God, or I'ma leave it to my kids because I can't I'm my my. I've made a decision…”
@ 31:24 And don't leave the decision to your husband or wi–“Well, my wife duddn't want to do it.” Then split it. “My husband duddn't wanna do it.” Then demand your half. Being part of the last to go first is an honor of unbelievable proportion. A micro flock leading 100 billion people for seven years bring brings with it a high bar.
Pastor General David C. Pack would gladly have members of The Restored Church of God destroy their marriages so he could attain access to their money. An old shepherd who cares for the sheep, indeed.
Like widows, dead members are financial resources to David C. Pack and are worthy of being besmirched if they do not give him Common soon enough. That Campus debt was not going to resolve itself.
Ingratitude for the Living
Hearing Dave’s falsely angled tirade against a dead man reminded me of a very similar occurrence during the 2016 Ministerial Conference at Headquarters. He was incensed at a field minister sitting in the room and accused him of “costing the church $100,000” in front of the entire global ministry.
But that is not what really happened. In this instance, RCG lost not a dime. Not a dime.
That is how you use the phrase, Dave.
The minister who received the public tongue-lashing held his peace, and he let Dave vent despite the Pastor General conveniently forgetting about the other six figures that The Restored Church of God actually received. Dave was too busy raging about the $100,000 the member wisely held back.
A member living in a large residential building worth about $950,000 in Toronto, Canada, wanted to give Common by selling his property. However, his living arrangement with his wife and son was complicated. The house was segmented like an apartment building, and his son's girlfriend also lived there. The wife and son were not attending RCG. The Toronto member was only legally entitled to half the sale value minus other business equity obligations, further lowering its liquidity.
These nuances only angered David C. Pack. He wanted the Toronto member to sell the house from under his wife and son anyway, kick them out, and give RCG all the proceeds from the sale regardless of the personal consequences.
However, the local minister advised the member otherwise. Rather than donating all his portion of the funds from the house, he suggested giving the wife $100,000 so she could feel financially secure and help the man maintain peace in his marriage.
This was unacceptable to Dave. When the Toronto minister tried to reason with him, he received cold responses. “If your wife won’t sell, then you know what she wants for you.” When the subject of the member’s family came up, David C. Pack said, “Let the dead bury their dead.”
This is classic David C. Pack when money is involved.
After Dave was done spanking a grown man in front of all his peers via global livestream, he turned his disdain to the Toronto member who stepped out in faith and just paid six digits in Common.
Like the dead man who gave his money too late to be shown any appreciation, David C. Pack proceeded to verbally ridicule the Toronto member because the man wanted to spare his marriage in the real estate deal.
Giving to the church without losing your wife was seen as a faithless attitude.
Dave said with disgust, “He listened to bad advice and cost us $100,000. He listened because he didn’t want to sell all. He valued his wife more than the church and gave her the money because he’s weak. He’s probably gonna to lose his wife anyway.”
This statement is also classic David C. Pack because the man cannot get anything right when it comes to foretelling the future. The Toronto member is still married.
Being an unordained lay member, those moments during the Conference shocked me, but the real kicker came a few weeks later when that same Toronto member visited Headquarters. He often stayed with me, but I did not speak a word of this to him.
On the Sabbath in the Main Hall, I got a glimpse of the real David C. Pack. I will never forget this moment:
David C. Pack walked into the room, saw the Toronto member he slandered, and gave an enthusiastic “Hey!” with a full-faced smile. He then put his arm around the member’s shoulder like they were the best of friends and gave him a side hug.
The Toronto member grinned ear to ear with his eyes beaming. And he had no idea that the Pastor General hovering over him with warm smiles while cracking jokes had just torn him apart, calling him weak and faithless in front of the entire ministry because he did not give $100,000 more.
This is how I learned that David C. Pack was a two-faced fraud. He was a user. A manipulator. To your face, he is charming and warm. But after you leave the room, he will shiv your reputation in the gut.
Even Bradford Schleifer cannot deny this behavior of his human idol.
Current RCG members and curious Bible enthusiasts should read Who is David C. Pack?
Longtime Headquarters congregation member Chet Echelbarger passed away on April 11. I did not meet him until after his stroke, which kept him from being able to preach. Many people told me he was a dynamic speaker who was appreciated for his great sense of humor.
Even when someone dies, David C. Pack and The Restored Church of God find the money angle. Exploiting the dead is almost an automated no-brainer.
Instead of offering comfort to the family and honoring the man, just give The Restored Church of God your money.
David C. Pack respects not the widows nor preaching the Gospel loudly. He respects not the living nor the dead. But what he does respect is the money you pay him. And you better pay him before you die or the rest of the church will hear what he really thinks about you.
There is more with David C. Pack’s “The Greatest Untold Debt Story!” This is Part 3.
