David C. Pack
vs
A Sabbath Test
Thirty Deceptions
"The Letter"
July 24, 2005
Dear Friends,
Approximately six weeks ago, the Restored Church of God published an article condemning a book I co-authored with a dear friend. The book addresses God’s Sabbath and how His Church has become complacent in its observance. The specific issue it focuses on is dining out at restaurants on this day—a practice that has grown in popularity over the past several years. Although the book challenges this tradition, it was never intended to cause controversy. Sadly, that is not how it turned out. Today virtually thousands of God’s people have read A Sabbath Test since it was first printed in 2003. Furthermore, the response has been extraordinarily favorable.
However, not everyone has taken to it well. Some, like the RCG, under the leadership of Mr. David C. Pack, have responded with great hostility toward its message and its authors. Perhaps it is because, like so many, they simply can’t accept the idea that they could be wrong about such an important issue. After all, we are talking about the Sabbath here. If there was ever a commandment the Churches of God were experts in this was it. And now, out of the blue a couple of obscure COG members (one, a lay member, no less) decide to seriously examine this practice. What is even more disturbing is that what they discovered would ring so true. In retrospect, perhaps we should have anticipated the reaction A Sabbath Test has prompted. However, it simply is not where we were going when we originally published the book. Our intent was simply to share a wonderful understanding that is woven throughout God’s word on this vital subject.
A Journey Begins
When I began this journey a few years ago, I had no idea where it would take me. I had long enjoyed the Sabbath and never questioned how I was honoring it. The Friday evenings my family would occasionally spend at nice restaurants seemed like the “perfect touch” to God’s holy day. Quite frankly, I was convinced I was honoring the Sabbath as God commanded. It was not as if something inside of me was saying, “What are you doing? Stop this right now!” Nothing in my Sabbath observance struck me as wrong. On the contrary, it seemed so normal. However, what I would soon discover would turn out to be most intriguing.
The great irony to all of this is that both I and my co-author had engaged in this practice (dining out on the Sabbath) for years and never gave it a thought. Well, at least I never gave it a thought. Mr. Art Braidic (the co-author) had been wondering about this practice for some time. In a very real sense, our book turned out to be an indictment of our own behavior. Despite this fact, we felt compelled to publish it. After all, the book was intended to chronicle a wonderful discovery and how our lives had changed because of it. For this reason we just wanted to share it with our brethren. We never saw this as some “new truth” or as a means of gaining recognition in the church. It was never about that. As a matter of fact, we originally considered not putting our names on it at all.
Today, the issue of dining out on the Sabbath has drawn considerable attention from some of the leading administrators and pastors in the Churches of God. Even the RCG, when describing the impact of their rebuttal to A Sabbath Test, acknowledged that they had received “thousands of hits and downloads” on their website. Additionally, numerous COG forums on the Internet have increased in traffic over this issue. This now brings me to my point.
What is this Distortion?
When I first read the RCG essay criticizing A Sabbath Test I was struck at how much our words could be misconstrued. From paragraph to paragraph our motives and intents were described in ways that were light years from what they really were. It was as if the writer(s) of the RCG essay were attempting to re-invent the authors of A Sabbath Test and their book.
Now I understand that people can make an honest mistake now and then, but this was something far different. It was more than just a slip of the pen. At every turn some sinister motive for writing the book was attributed to us. At no point in their essay was there even the appearance of objectivity—nor was there any respect for the law of “diligent inquiry.” This essay was something one might see in hate literature or extremist propaganda—not in a Church of God article attempting to add clarity to a potentially volatile issue.
With this said, I would like to address the plethora of distortions and misrepresentations presented by those who wrote the RCG article entitled Dining Out on the Sabbath – What Does the Bible Teach? Please understand that it is not my intent to impeach the arguments they advanced in this essay. That has already been done most effectively. Rather my purpose is to expose the deceptions in their representation of what we, the authors of A Sabbath Test, both said and meant in our book. I do so because I am eminently qualified to render the truth in this matter. After all, I was there every step of the way A Sabbath Test was being written. Furthermore, there is no one on earth, with the possible exception of the book’s co-author, who possesses the qualifications to speak about what was on the heart of those who labored in this noble work.
At this point, it is important to understand that I have no personal animus toward Dave Pack or the Restored Church of God. I admire Mr. Pack as a very driven minister of the gospel. Additionally, I respect those who labor with him as loyal servants of the RCG. What disappoints me so greatly is that there was a time when God’s people respected the truth so much. They would never twist words or impute motives. However, when it comes to the RCG essay this reverence for truth has been greatly compromised.
I have employed the term “deception” when describing the RCG essay for reasons that will become clear as you read on. Each deception is quoted literally and is offered first, followed by my comments. The core of the deception is italicized by me.
Respectfully,
Dennis Fischer
Blow the Trumpet
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