Open Letter to Brethren in the Splinters

September 9, 2005

Dear fellow brethren,

The time has come to write an open letter to the 35,000 people in the splinters. Take time to read it all. It is vital.

New Orleans, the Gulf Coast—and all of America!—are reeling from Hurricane Katrina. Authorities are just beginning to deal with the aftermath. Although this catastrophe is still playing out, it is already known that many thousands have died in what is certainly the worst natural disaster in American history.

At first, New Orleans residents thought they had dodged a bullet, but only too quickly the nation learned how wrong this was, and how premature was the celebration in New Orleans that it had been “spared.” Soon after, two levees broke and this “great” city, by men’s standards, of almost a half million people was quickly destroyed, and this in the truest sense. Destruction from rising water was nearly complete, infrastructure breakdown was total, food was scarce, shelter is lacking, caskets from the city’s famous above-ground cemeteries floated down streets and many fires broke out with people having burned to death, unable to escape. Power is still basically out, sewers are stopped, clean running water is non-existent and toxic wastes abound (said to be up to 45,000 times beyond the threshold of safety, with this water now being pumped directly into Lake Pontchartrain where it will create an eco-catastrophe).

The city is being abandoned and officially labeled “destroyed.”

Total anarchy reigned (it still does in places) and became a terrible embarrassment to the United States across a world that was shocked at seeing its only superpower behave in such an appalling manner! The closest equivalent to Martial Law that Louisiana statutes permit was declared. Rape and murder occurred, looting was rampant, burglars robbed survivors at gunpoint and armed gangs used stolen guns, including assault rifles, to shoot at police (sniping at them is still occurring) and even the helicopters evacuating people. (Astonishingly, 500 of the 1,700 officers in the New Orleans Police Department have simply disappeared—are unaccounted for in such a time of crisis.) Until the Army and National Guard arrived, some of the rescue workers, such as helicopter pilots, refused to further assist. One man in Mississippi fatally shot his sister in the head over a bag of ice. Obviously, fear, anger, panic—and hunger—were everywhere, but these have been replaced with homelessness, uncertainty and despair. Trash and debris float throughout New Orleans. Death is also everywhere, beginning with human bodies, too many to gather, some floating through the city, along with dead pets and wild animals. Hungry scavengers quickly arrived. (25,000 body bags have been delivered to the area.)

With temperatures over 90 degrees and high humidity, the stench has become unbelievable. Of course, this foreshadows potentially horrific disease epidemics in days and weeks to come, with officials having declared a “public health emergency.” In a city with millions of rats, authorities are saying that the natural survival instinct of these filthy, disease-carrying rodents will take them into the attics of homes throughout New Orleans where they, along with poisonous snakes and every form of disease, will be awaiting any returning residents. Potential disease includes the worsening of an already severe, mosquito-driven West Nile virus local infestation. But also there are cholera, typhoid, E. coli, hepatitis A, and dehydration-related diseases such as dysentery. The Norwalk virus has appeared, along with other “mystery” ailments.

All of this means that the United States now has to accept the stunning reality that it has its own official group of “American refugees”—no matter that politicians choose to say “evacuees”—with upwards of one million people having no real place to go, and being distributed nationwide. The whole picture reflects what amounts to a “weather 9/11” for America, worse than the terrorist 9/11. Realize that New Orleans is a city that vast numbers of Americans have visited, with millions having relatives and friends there. For a host of reasons, the destruction of this city cuts to the heart of the whole country in a way that perhaps nothing else could. In truth, this awful disaster will slowly come to be seen as much worse than the already dire picture reflects. It will probably dwarf anything America has ever had to cope with. The nation will be preoccupied—and captivated—with this for months, at least. (For instance, a stampede that killed 950 people in Iraq on a day last week barely made the news.)

The cost of relocation, clean-up and rebuilding will be in the scores of billions of dollars, with no one remotely able yet to estimate the final price tag. Grasp this! There are 90,000 square miles of devastation on the Gulf Coast (more than two Ohios). The city of Biloxi, Mississippi, is simply GONE, as is Gulfport, next door! Some cities in Alabama were also devastated, with all these states having a 45-mile swath of utter destruction along the coastline. (Of course, Katrina warmed up by hammering Florida before crossing the Gulf to do real damage.) In a stunning display of the storm’s power and fury, thick clay from the Gulf floor was found in this area two miles inland, water having risen up to 40 feet above sea level as it surged on land higher than December’s tsunami. Looters also quickly ran wild in these areas.

Like New Orleans, these cities were centers of gambling, prostitution, other crime, and every form of human pleasure seeking, with all the vices that go with them. How many pictures of destroyed casinos have you seen? New Orleans itself also specializes in unbounded revelry and “partying,” along with voodoo and spiritism. Real concern has been raised that, through the refugees, the evil spirits associated with these “religious practices” are literally being exported to many cities, places and homes across the nation. (It is interesting that the word hurricane comes from the Indian god of storms, hurukan, meaning “evil spirit.” Was this American capital city of evil spirits destroyed by Satan the devil—the real “god of storms”? Remember, Job 1 reveals that “the prince of the power of the air” – Eph. 2:2 – can unleash great destructive wind for God’s purpose!)

Numerous oil refineries and drilling rigs in the Gulf were either crippled or destroyed. Thirty percent of the nation’s oil and 23 percent of its natural gas comes from the Gulf, and 11 percent of its refining occurs there. Experts say that “pain at the pump” will soon be even more evident. This began overnight, with prices also rising in Canada. So will the cost this winter for scores of millions who heat with either natural gas, projected to possibly rise over 70 percent, or home heating oil, projected to rise over 30 percent. The costs to the economy and nation at this point are simply untold. But fuel rationing is already here, and will be for some time to come! The President has already made the fateful decision to release some of the country’s strategic oil reserves, saved for just such an emergency. The problem? Much of it is stored in caves all through the very area that was affected and cannot yet be reached. OPEC did quickly announce a slight cut in prices below the almost $70 current market rate. This is not as magnanimous as it may seem because it only costs about $4 per barrel to produce.

Let’s look at the big picture of what really happened here. In effect, New Orleans, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have had their own early GREAT TRIBULATION! Before continuing, stop and ponder this and the images that you have seen in the media. More than America and other Israelite nations could now imagine, these countries are looking into a future much darker than what occurred in the relatively small area that Katrina impacted. (Carefully read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 with the latest news images in mind.)

Brethren, if we will receive and understand the message—actually the many messages!—coming from this disaster, it becomes a stunning picture of what will surely play out over and over again in the cities of the modern nations of Israel, as God’s prophesied punishment intensifies. (New storms, beginning with Ophelia, are stacked up in the Atlantic even now.) How many residents have dropped to their knees and repented—in either the affected areas or across the country—of all the abominations that were rampant within what was America’s original “sin city,” long before Las Vegas received this title? New Orleans was called the “Big Easy” because SIN was so easy and big there. Just this past weekend 110,000 homosexuals were scheduled to convene in New Orleans for the 33rd annual SOUTHERN DECADENCE convention.

What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah should send a message!

Though the above sins and evils exist nationwide, and throughout the West, no national repentance resulted within the nations of modern Israel. Instead, raw, ugly human nature is on display, having exploded to the fore almost immediately as so many took an “every man for himself” approach! Given the circumstances, the same human nature is waiting to explode in every city throughout America and the West. I have gained a new “respect” for the hardness of human beings, even when they are staring terrible punishment directly in the face. (Take a moment to read Revelation 16:8-11, which shows how people will not repent when far worse things—plagues in the Day of the Lord—come upon them, and will blaspheme God instead.)

Hospitals had to station their largest personnel at the door to keep marauders from looting the patients’ rooms. Astonishing!—but one is reminded that Christ foretold that this time would parallel “Noah’s day” when Genesis 6 records, “the earth was filled with violence.” Related to this, the workers in one nursing home simply fled the approaching water, abandoning up to 40 helpless patients who then drowned where they sat, some found still in wheelchairs. Can we also see why, when “iniquity [lawlessness] abounds, the love of many waxes cold” (Matt. 24:12)? The nation and the world are already being repulsed at the things that occur when anarchy takes over. Human “brotherly love” may soon die a quick death. Certainly, the politically-driven “blame game” between parties, agencies and different levels of government already speak to this. As one commentator stated, “The professional grief mongers are out in force.”

It is interesting that Der Spiegel magazine, one of the largest in Germany, reported that German commentators stated Katrina gave America what it deserved. It is not prophetically insignificant that this is the feeling in that country. Many Asians said the same, as did numbers of Muslims who danced in the streets in wild jubilation over what has befallen America. Even the city council president of New Orleans wondered if his city was “being cleansed.”

Of course, the governments, organizations and relief agencies of men have swung into action to help the victims in all the ways that men do in such circumstances. Some of the splinters, indoctrinated in the apostates’ thinking, are offering assistance as they did with the recent tsunami. An email we received is an example of how most professing Christians in the nation will see the role of churches in the wake of this calamity:

“I found your article on New Orleans very informative. However, nowhere did I see any suggestion on how to help the unfortunate people, who can not help themselves. As the rebuilding will take many months and longer, where will the children go to school, or play? Myself and many thousands of my countrymen, would only be too glad to open our home, for as long as it takes, to afford them a safe abode and a chance to continue there education. Could you be instrumental in initiating a campaign?”

This email is understandable, but it is not the purpose of God’s true Church and Work to “repair” or “fix” a world cut off from God—a world He is punishing. His people are supposed to recognize—and deeply understand!—that what is happening here is that a loving God is punishing His disobedient children. God’s people should always think of it this way. Like any parent chastising his child, God does not want interference with the punishment of His children. More than any others, true Christians should understand this! God’s people must not fight Him. What human parent, when he is disciplining his child, wants a neighbor interrupting by trying to comfort the child in the middle of the process, thus muting—directly countering, in effect—at least some of the punishment? Regarding the world, with its affairs, difficulties and disasters, Christ taught, “Let the dead bury their dead” (Matt. 8:22). The Church once understood this meant let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead! Further, Christ is also saying, “Do not interfere with any so-called ‘love,’ when punishment is the kind of love necessary here.”

The job of God’s Church is to warn about and explain why the punishment!

In addition, recognize that God does not want what are His tithes and offerings, which are designated solely for preaching the gospel, for warning modern Israel and for feeding the flock, to be spent directly FIGHTING HIS PURPOSE. (Of course, all of this understanding requires the explanation of many scriptures—and there is no space for that here—to explain why God’s people are not called to assist man’s efforts to address his problems through human solutions.) If only God’s people would more carefully read the oft-used, but badly butchered and misunderstood, scriptures in this regard for what they truly say, instead of for what liberal Christians of this world think they mean—and what the apostates told the Church and convinced the splinter leaders they mean! I intend to soon post a sermon examining this subject in detail and re-teaching it from God’s Word as the Church once understood it.

The anemic, even pitiful, response from every major splinter was almost SHAMEFUL! The tepid words and obvious fear of criticism and repercussion were evident in the soft, purring tones used in what could only be called commentaries about Katrina. One leader spoke of “encouraging the nations to repent.” (Turn to and read Isaiah 58:1. “Encourage” is not found in the text.) In fact, this very letter to the splinters is an example of what other organizations will not do—because the last era will not warn itself!

Those who understand the horror foretold to come on national Israel should deeply desire to participate in warning these modern nations before it is too late. And we must hurry—time is short! Make no mistake. GOD’S WARNING IS GOING OUT NOW! The Work being done here has mushroomed in size NOW!—has grown big NOW!—and will soon grow much, much more POWERFUL!

On Monday night, August 29, we posted the first of two articles about the disaster. A second very extensive one, now titled “Katrina’s ‘Wake-up Call,’” was soon posted, and referenced vital literature. Because of extraordinary internal efficiency and teamwork, these were regularly updated as events unfolded. The response was stunning! Hundreds of thousands read these articles in just the first week.

The only thing preventing the reaching of even more staggering numbers are budget constraints. But God has set a giant “open door” before His Work—THIS WORK! Many readers were drawn to our articles by way of some of the world’s leading news sources, such as The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune (UK), the Jerusalem Post (Israel), the Miami Herald and the Taipei Times (China). This leads one to wonder what other means God might yet tap as He directs the uncompromising Church He is using deliver His message. More could be said about the future “cross-pollination” God will probably use.

As you might imagine, we received any number of emails suggesting we are “intolerant,” and even “hateful,” with some thinking we lack the “love,” “mercy,” “compassion” or the “grace” of God, merely because we spoke of righteousness, sin, perversion, warning and punishment. Some even thought we were “capitalizing” on a disaster. All this is to be expected, and goes with the territory of having to announce bad news—A WARNING! History records that, other than Jonah, the warnings of God’s servants were never well received. This is especially true of Israel.

Be aware of and sobered by the nature of most people’s thinking, and understand why Christ said His faithful servants would be “hated of all nations” (Matt. 24:9) at the end. His servants do not pull punches—again, Isaiah 58:1—and we intend to continue pressing ahead, no matter how many think us “unloving” or “coldhearted.”

May the news and analysis here bring fervency to your prayers about where you should be—and to your need to be part of this rapidly expanding Work of God on earth today.

When I read from Mr. Armstrong’s Co-Worker letters of 20, 30 and 40 years ago, I am astonished at the sense of urgency he consistently demonstrated during the Philadelphian age. It is so different than the prevailing mood today among both splinter leaders and brethren. The irony of the Laodicean age—when one considers the vastly more serious times in which we NOW live, now that time is truly short—is that most have much less urgency than 30 years ago! Even as catastrophic events seem to “break” regularly around the world, most have gone off to sleep, too drunk with the excesses of the age to feel urgency or to be much concerned about helping warn of coming disasters infinitely worse than what Katrina wrought.

Will you be different than your fellow brethren in the splinters?

The worldwide pursuit of pleasure, particularly in the Israelitish Western nations, has had a much greater impact on the thinking among God’s people than most brethren would suspect. Think. The economy of every nation is defined by a combination of goods and services produced. Look at the prevailing mood in America. As its citizens have demanded more services in their constant pursuit of ease, pleasure and entertainment, America’s economy has largely retreated from and lost its dominance in the manufacture of durable goods. People want services—restaurants, amusement parks, movie theaters, health spas and clubs, golf courses, casinos, concerts, professional sports, computer and cell phone access, new forms of entertainment, tourist attractions and many other kinds of pursuits and escapes. But other nations now produce many of the items that Americans prefer to enjoy and consume, rather than make.

Using this economic analogy, The Restored Church of God has manufactured—has produced—what could be called the “hard goods” of the Church of God—vastly more literature to do the Work and feed the flock than anyone else. Yet, we have retained the essential “services,” including several no one else has.

On the other hand, copying America’s economy, the big splinters reflect the opposite. They have generally emphasized “services”—more local halls, pastors, Feast sites, youth camps, projects, programs and all kinds of socials and activities to satisfy what their “citizens”—their tithe-paying “consumers”—demand. While these things are not wrong in proper balance, these organizations no longer want to manufacture very many “goods”—and it is too late to start now. This would have been too much work and not enough play. When understood, this mindset is one of the very reasons some of these groups fall into contributing to relief organizations, rather than warning the nations being punished. Thus, over a decade later, and after having received tens of millions of dollars, they do not have much literature—many goods—to show for their efforts! They spent too much time and money playing. They were simply not willing to do the “heavy lifting” and “bear the heat of the day.” Also like America, which is no longer willing to drive the world’s economic engine, and has fallen behind other nations as a result, these organizations no longer care to drive the “economic engine” of the Work. The result? They have fallen far behind those God is using.

Grasp this. Without the goods, God simply could not use them, even if He was leading them—and the fruits THUNDER that He is not!

Understand the powerful historic parallel at work here. Exactly what occurred to brethren in the ancient city of Laodicea has occurred to most of God’s people today. They have been deeply affected by the service environment in the world around them—as in BEING SERVED by their organization! While brethren should have seen this change coming, they did not because blindness (Rev. 3:17) had already become widespread. Most now want to enjoy the comforts offered by the big splinters, instead of zealously supporting the Work of “taking to market” around the world the vast array of (uncompromising) publications produced and offered only by Philadelphia’s remnant. Those of brotherly love warn their fellowman. Carefully reread all of this analogy and parallel until you cannot miss the message.

Hundreds throughout the splinters have been joining us recently. So are others, called from the world. Deacons, elders and other leaders are also joining us. As a result, RCG will almost certainly see 100 percent growth—or more!—in 2005. We are already close to 90 percent with nearly four months to go. God’s presence, coupled with the “durable goods” produced, is why our statistical growth in both size and the reach and impact of the Work is exploding past the collective efforts of the “service-oriented” splinters. As we have often stated—and God has proven more than once—you have not seen anything yet!

Every person in every WCG splinter is strongly exhorted to read the newest edition of our absolutely crucial book “Anoint Your Eyes” – Christ’s Warning to His People.

Brethren, WAKE UP to the doctrinal compromise, confusion, flattery and weakness of your leaders. Shift your focus and thinking from enjoying services to marketing goods! Come to where God is working! Come to the only instrument He is using, or could use! Come to the only “engine” that He has built (Psa. 127:1) and that He is fueling! After you have anointed your eyes, come to the immensely powerful Work being done HERE—and escape the greatest “Katrina” of all time!

In Christ’s name,

David C. Pack