A Tale of Two Kingdoms

by Richard Burkard


A main emphasis of the Sabbath-keeping Church of God movement (called “Armstrongism” by some) is that the Kingdom of God is coming. Jesus emphasized it throughout His earthly ministry - “preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14, KJV).

But what if another kingdom is coming first? Not the “kingdoms of this world” which will become “the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ” (Revelation 11:15) – but a “short kingdom” that Jesus also will bring, a bit like a sneak preview of the Millennium?

In the 2020s, that's what David Pack of the Restored Church of God is preaching. Pack broke away from the Worldwide Church of God (now Grace Communion International) in 1993, during the era when Joseph Tkach Sr. and his aides changed numerous teachings and doctrines.

Since founding RCG in 1999, Pack has made several proclamations which have gone against COG core beliefs. In most cases, they've been badly wrong – such as his prediction that three leaders of other COG spinoff groups would die on the same August day, prompting a mass shift of members to RCG.

An anti-Pack blog known as “RCG Exposed” (ExRCG), which still somehow has access to his “headquarters messages,” posted edited clips of his “short kingdom” theology for several years. But Pack explained it publicly in detail in two 20-minute “important video messages” posted by RCG in late 2024.

God's Great Kingdom Before the Millennium is, well, packed with dozens of scriptures. It took weeks to sort through them all. But we went through them all to see if what Pack called “the most extraordinary short series of messages you have ever heard” really is – or if he's wrong again.


When Will Jesus Come?

The first video was posted on U.S. Thanksgiving weekend. Pack first indicates other COGs are wrong to think the second coming of Jesus depends on the fulfillment of certain prophecies – especially the formation of a 10-nation “beast power” in Europe.

The European Union is “more divided than ever,” Pack says in his first video. Instead, he contends Jesus could return at any moment during these pre-millennial “last days.”

In this, Pack actually takes the side of many evangelical preachers. They say no further prophecies need to be fulfilled for the Lord to return. But Pack does not point out New Testament verses which say we've really been in the “last days” since the first century.

“In these last days [God] has spoken to us by his son,” Hebrews 1:2 says (NIV unless noted). Before that, the apostle Peter's famous Pentecost sermon used Joel 2 to indicate the last days had begun (Acts 2:17).

Pack goes on to correct other COGs about “last days” prophecies. He says Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1, concerning the establishment of “the mountain of the Lord's temple,” are PRE-millennial.

But he does NOT mention Zechariah 8:3, which quotes the Lord: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. THEN... the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”

Most COGs would say this happens at the second coming. Pack, in fact, might say this as well – except he contends Jesus will come seven years BEFORE the Millennium, to establish a “short kingdom” first.

Pack notes in Acts 1:6, Jesus's disciples asked if He would “at this time... restore the Kingdom to Israel”. He claims they were not seeking a 10-king beast power, “and they knew it.”

This begs the question of what the disciples knew at all at this point. Jesus had to provide a lot of clarifying instruction about Himself after the resurrection, since the disciples were lacking in the Holy Spirit to understand many things (Luke 24:27, 45).

Then Pack mentions Acts 1:7, where Jesus declares: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

Whether he wants to admit it or not, this is an indictment of Pack. He has intimated or outright declared dozens of times when Jesus would return.

For example: “Some of you will not be going home from this Feast,” Pack told a Feast of Tabernacles audience at RCG headquarters in Wadsworth, Ohio in 2018. He expected Jesus to return during the festival – except Jesus did not. (As far as we know, everyone in attendance went home.)

Moving on to Acts 3, Pack says verses 20-22 are about Elijah. “Christ would not be raised,” he explains. But hold on – that appears to have happened when Jesus was on Earth!

The Greek word for “raise” in verse 22 is anistemi – which also is used when Jesus stands in the synagogue to read Scripture at a key moment in Luke 4:16-17! Some people of the time seemed to be thinking that way, because anistemi also appears in speculation about the Lord in Luke 9:8, 19.

The apostle Stephen also used that verb in quoting Moses in Acts 7:37: “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren...” (KJV) Stephen connected this in verses 52-53 NOT to Elijah, but to Jesus.

But more to our point, Pack claims “times of restitution” in Acts 3:21 (KJV) is a plural phrase, thus proving there are two kingdoms: a pre-millennial “short” one followed by the 1,000 years. BibleHub agrees that the word is plural - YET in many other verses, the Greek work used here is singular.

Translations disagree about this word chronos in verse 21. CSB, ESV, NIV, NLT and RSV have “time”; ASV and NKJV have “times.” LSB and NASB try to bridge the two, with “period” in the text and “times” in the margin.

COGs have tended to use this verse to explain “18 truths” (or more) that Herbert Armstrong said he restored during the 20th century. If that was one “time” of restitution (or as NIV puts it, “to restore everything) would not a second occur when Jesus returns? Why would TWO more be necessary, for two kingdoms?

Or was that “time” really the time of Christ, 1,900 years earlier? Does not verse 24 connect with verse 21 – with prophets foretelling “these days” of restitution? (This is the only place in the New Testament where “restitution” occurs.)

Or can there be ultimately only one “restitution of all things” - when Jesus returns? COGs like to say there will only be one time when “all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18, NKJV; Moffatt “all in force”). Why can't that “all” include this “all things” restoration?

Pack takes on Acts 3:22 in his second video, especially the second part: “...you must listen to everything he tells you.”

“If his audience rose after (or even at) the Millennium, how could they obey this prophet?” Pack asks. The simple answer seems to be that Jesus will rule forever as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” so obedience also will occur forever – whenever a resurrection happens.

Pack claims without evidence concerning verse 24 that this truth was understood “since the Garden” (Eden, presumably). The verse says it was proclaimed “from Samuel on” - and Samuel lived hundreds of years after Adam and Eve left Eden.


Hints of a Kingdom

Pack goes on to note that the Old Testament shows the Kingdom of God was on Earth before – long before Jesus came.

He turns to I Chronicles 28:5, where King David declared God “has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the Kingdom of the Lord over Israel.” Therefore, Pack says, there can be more than one coming of the Kingdom.

Indeed, an ancient “Kingdom of God” is suggested in several KJV verses, such as II Chronicles 2:1, 12 and 13:8. So why can that NOT be the “antetype” of the millennial Kingdom “type” - with no short kingdom required?

(Bible students know Solomon's kingdom divided in two after his death. King Abijah declared in 13:8 that “the kingdom of the Lord... is in the hands of David's descendants,” implying he ruled it from Judah. The verses that follow in chapter 13 indicates God backed up that claim.)

Revelation 12:9-10 indicates after a “war in heaven” (we won't get into the debate about whether that happened when Armstrong died in 1986, or whether it's happened yet at all), a loud voice announces: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God...”

The BibleHub website shows “kingdom” here is singular. It's not plural! Jesus isn't bringing two back-to-back kingdoms with “Preview Days” (to borrow from Macy*s sales), but only one!

Pack then cites Psalm 110:1-2 and asks “under what millennial scenario” the verses could occur. This assumes Jesus will wipe out all opposition after He returns for the 1,000-year government and cannot “rule in the midst of your enemies.”

Yet Revelation 20:7 shows Satan will collect an opposition force at the END of the millennium. It may come from going out “to deceive the nations” (verse 8) – but doesn't this indicate a hidden “resistance movement” could be present DURING the millennium?

Moving to I Corinthians 15 (which Pack claims Paul wrote, even though 1:1 indicates there was a co-writer), Pack says verses 23-26 occur at the BEGINNING of the millennium. Jesus will come and reign on Earth seven years BEFORE this, he claims.

Pack appears to insert the seven-year “short kingdom” between verse 23, “...Christ, the firstfruits; then when he comes, those who belong to him,” and verse 24: “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion and authority and power.”

Yet verse 26 adds, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” - and Revelation 20 shows Satan's final revolt with nations will end as “fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (20:9). That's AFTER the millennium, not before it!


All Together Now?

Pack next turns to Daniel 2, saying verses 28 and 44 are “pre-millennial.” Most COGs would agree with this.

But verse 44 says, “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed...” If, as Pack says, Europe is “more divided than ever” and Jesus can return without them being “slammed together”, why does this verse say “those kings” are present when Jesus returns?

Pack explains they will be present. But it appears he's interpreting the historical list of kings from Daniel 2:28-43 as “those kings,” although he doesn't directly say so.

In fact, Pack says in his second video that everyone who ever has lived will be resurrected for the short kingdom. Both godly and ungodly people – and even King Nebuchadnezzar, who supposedly will incite a “great tribulation” in the middle of the seven years. (More on that below.)

“You'll meet [Winston] Churchill and [Abraham] Lincoln,” Pack says in his second video. But, he adds, “John Wilkes Booth [Lincoln's assassin] and Jack the Ripper” will be present as well. “The billions of Israel are here... period.” BUT the "short kingdom" is “filled with all God's enemies,” too.

Pack adds that multiple kings of Old Testament kingdoms will be together during the “short kingdom.” He cites for this a list of kings in Jeremiah 25, especially verse 22.

“When in history did Tyre, Zidon and all cities and nations have multiple kings reigning at once in the same kingdom? Answer: Never!” Pack declares.

YET verse 19 speaks of only ONE Pharaoh, and Egypt had many! There's also one “king of Sheshach” (verse 26), an apparent synonym for Babylon (Amplified mentions both names) – and Babylon had four separate dynasties, far longer than Nebuchadnezzar.

My NIV Study Bible from 1995 indicates this section refers to a time of “divine judgment” (25:31; notes on verse 15) - but it appears this cannot be at the end of the Millennium, because a "sword" is going out (v. 16). Other verses indicate the sword is used when Jesus returns (Revelation 19:15),

It leads me to ask: could some of this part of Jeremiah be poetic, not prophetically literal? Are all these kings already doomed to the Lake of Fire?

Pack indicates there still will be a gospel to spread after this “short-kingdom” resurrection. He cites Mark 16:15 for this, as Jesus tells His disciples: “Go to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Moffatt).

“Every creature in Greek means every original formation—starting with Adam and Eve!” Pack contends. Any understanding of a post-millennial gospel teaching is “absurd” to him. 

Yet based on Pack's logic, Jesus gave His disciples an impossible assignment for their earthly lives. How were they supposed to preach to people who died thousands of years earlier? Are the “signs” of 16:17-18 also for the short kingdom?

This also leaves us wondering: why then even specify a “first resurrection” of those who were faithful to God? Revelation 20:5 specifically says, “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended” - NOT 1,007 years earlier!


One Bad, Bad Man?

Pack's twin videos do not address this. Instead, he shifts to Daniel 9 and attempts a new explanation of the “70-weeks prophecy” centering on Jesus.

“It makes much greater sense that one, final, prophesied, seven-year week remains with the first half a Kingdom and the second half punishment,” Pack says in his first video. “The world does see a seven-year Kingdom, but believes the Antichrist leads the whole thing.”

This is open to prophetic interpretation. COGs traditionally have said that “In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering” in verse 27 refers to the death of Jesus at Golgotha on a Wednesday afternoon.

But Pack seems to say the “he” here is someone else. That individual is named in the second video: the resurrected King Nebuchadnezzar.

To some extent, we're admittedly putting words in Pack's mouth here; he doesn't spell out every detail of his thinking. For instance, we're left to assume the king might set up an “abomination” in a wing of a temple.

But Pack makes clear the former king of Babylon will do much future harm.

“Nebuchadnezzar is the little horn of Daniel 7, the King of the North of Daniel 11, the Man of Sin of II Thessalonians 2 and the Antichrist of I John 2,” Pack declares. “No one knows this, but now you do!”

But where is the Biblical evidence to “know” these things? Pack offers none.

Yet Pack's second video notes several Old Testament prophecies mentioning Nebuchadnezzar. One of them is Egypt falling to the king in Ezekiel 29:19. “Certainly this never occurred in history,” Pack says.

Except there may be a record of it actually happening!

The United Church of God's Bible Commentary (now called Beyond Today Commentary) says, “A Babylonian chronicle suggests that Egypt was conquered... around 568 B.C. Forty years after this date, the Persians [having overthrown the Babylonians] instituted a policy of resettlement for many of the peoples who had been dispersed by Babylon" (Nelson Study Bible, note on verse 11)."

This may have been the “Battle of Carchemish,” cited in Wikipedia and other places. But history buffs seem to be in dispute about this.

A travel writer noted in June 2024, “While Nebuchadnezzar did not conquer Egypt, his military campaigns temporarily curbed Egyptian interests in the Levant. In 599 BC, he marched his army into the Levant region, attacking and raiding the Arabs in the Syrian desert."

Pack claims this all refers to “the day of the Lord” which is “near,” based on Ezekiel 30:3. But verse 1 indicates this was a separate message to Ezekiel about Egypt, compared to chapter 29. Is it fair to link the two together?

Pack also refers to two verses in Jeremiah. In 50:17, Nebuchadnezzar crushes Israel after Assyria does it – and Pack says it's in a last-days “time of vengeance,” apparently based on verse 28.

The second verse cited by Pack is 51:34, about Nebuchadnezzar devouring a people.

“Why in this context is Nebuchadnezzar referenced two times... as present, and again called the king of Babylon?!” Pack wonders aloud.

Perhaps because it's symbolism! That's how the UCG Commentary understands it, comparing Jeremiah 50-51 with Isaiah 13.

“The prophecy there was primarily referring to the fall of end-time Babylon—the coming European-centered economic, politico-military and religious world power bloc called the 'Beast' and 'Babylon' in the book of Revelation,” UCG explains.

In fact, every Bible translation we checked for 51:34 has a form of “Nebuchadnezzar... has devoured us.” It's past tense. The ESV Global Study Bible notes point back to chapter 27, where the king is described as taking control of several countries, including what Moffatt calls “Armenia.”.

Based on Pack's timeline, the king will have only three-and-a-half years to fulfill all sorts of Biblical roles – subduing three kings (Daniel 7:24), invading the Holy Land (11:40-41), declaring himself “God” in “God's temple” (II Thessalonians 2:4) and denying the Father and Jesus (I John 2:22).

Pack clearly expects a temple to be built once Jesus comes back (Dan. 12:11). We're left to guess how it will be built in only a few years. Will resurrected saints with supernatural spiritual bodies make it happen?

But other messages posted by ExRCG show Pack has wavered on whether the “1,290 days” and the “1,335 days” of Daniel 12:11-12 are consecutive or concurrent. Most of the time, he considers them consecutive.


The White Horse Puzzle

Most Bible students understand the “four horsemen” of Revelation 6 as prophetic. The challenge is in understanding what they mean – especially the first one.

“I looked, and there before me was a white horse!” 6:2 says. “Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”

Most COGs have looked at this rider, compared him with Revelation 19:11-15 and concluded it's a false Christ. But Pack now sees this differently. It's the real Jesus bringing peace at the start of the short kingdom, he says, while the red horse of verse 4 is “given power to take peace from the earth.”

“There had to be world peace on earth for the red horse to take it!” Pack argues. “No one considers this!”

Pack seems to be saying that when Jesus returns for the short kingdom, the Lord and His angels will NOT put Satan away! We're left to guess why God would allow demonic competition with His “King of Kings” for seven years.

Pack also leaves hanging a substantial part of Revelation 12. Does the “dragon” pursue God's church during the first half of the short kingdom, only to see it escape (vs. 13-14)?

Yet Pack may have a point, when it comes to Revelation 6:1-2. Although he doesn't ask this question, we ask: Who will give the first horse a crown? Someone “like a son of man” is wearing it in 14:14-16, reaping a harvest – a phrase Jesus used about Himself in Mark 8:31.

It's also noteworthy that the first three verses of Revelation 6 do NOT say the white horse brings peace. Pack appears to take note of this for a broader point.

“Why do the four horses ride if the world has this stuff already?” he asks in the first video.

His critics probably would respond: yes, swords, plagues and famines (verse 8) have been part of the human condition for thousands of years. But at the end of the age, could they intensify? I had a COG Pastor for decades who explained it this way.


Who is Elijah?

Pack goes on to claim that the Elijah which Jesus said “comes and will restore all things” in Matthew 17:11 and is an end-time prophet in Malachi 4 is “not a church figure.”

Some in the COG movement have put that name on everyone from Herbert Armstrong to Robert Thiel – and even David Pack. Even outsiders like the 19th century “Elijah III” have done it. Critics say Pack has gone back and forth on claiming that title.

But why won't all COGs let Jesus and the Bible do the interpreting here? In Luke 1:13-17, an angel explains this person was John the Baptizer! “HE is the Elijah who was to come,” Jesus said in Matthew 11:14 – saying first, “If you are willing to accept it.” Time has shown some don't.


The Second Half

Pack indicates the first half of the short kingdom will be heavenly. The second half... not so much.

Using Joel 3:9-10, Pack says all tanks, naval vessels and other armaments will be removed when Jesus comes. But then a “pause” will occur, with King Nebuchadnezzar's supporters using crudely-made weapons (he takes verse 10 literally) to fight the Savior.

But why would the following verses about judgment in a “valley of decision” be necessary if Jesus already has been on Earth for years? And Ezekiel 39:8-9, which Pack cites indirectly, says weapons of war will burn “for seven years” - not three-and-a-half!

Besides: why would Jesus interrupt a list of plagues in Revelation 16:15 (a red-letter verse in some Bibles) to say He's coming “like a thief”? Pack claims in his second video the “seven last plagues” come while all humans are resurrected for the short kingdom.

(It's curious that the last part of Joel 3:10 has become a popular line in “praise and worship” songs. Give Thanks (With a Grateful Heart) includes it. That seems as much out of Biblical context as Pack's teaching.)


Last-Chance Qualifying?

One of Pack's most puzzling predictions involves who will be part of the “first resurrection.” In his second video, he says some living and deceased believing saints are “complete” while others are “incomplete.”

He claims people who died only a year or two after baptism, including young adults currently in RCG, are incomplete in the Holy Spirit. They're “barely hanging on” apparently because they only have a little of the Spirit, and are “not fully qualified for eternal life.”

Pack argues that the “general assembly and church of the firstborn” in Hebrews 12:22-23 are separate from the “righteous men made perfect” at the end of verse 23. He puts everyone from Abraham to Armstrong in the latter group.

Believers who “still must develop the final character required to enter God's family” will need seven years to turn from “lukewarm” to “hot,” Pack says referencing Revelation 3:15-16. In contrast, others who are “complete” somehow will escape the second half trouble (he does not explain how).

This is a strange twist on the classic claim of WCG evangelist Gerald Waterhouse that the church will receive “final training” at a “place of safety” before Jesus comes back. Pack says the “incomplete” saints will need this, while “complete” ones somehow escape the second-half tribulation.

When I mentioned this teaching to a telephone Bible discussion, several people quickly offered Scriptures to challenge it – all from the words of Jesus:


Then Why a Millennium?

Assuming Pack is correct about a “short kingdom” leading to the millennium, you might be wondering what's the point of a millennium at all.

Zechariah 12:9-10, according to Pack, will occur when the 1,000 years begin. The Lord “will set out to destroy tall the nations that attack Jerusalem...” while survivors in that city will mourn for a “pierced” Savior “as one mourns for an only child...”

Pack seems to have a point when he ties these verses to Revelation 1:7:”Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him...” I personally have wondered for decades about how Jesus's abusers could witness His return.

Yet wouldn't this be a RESTART of things? If Jesus comes and everyone is resurrected for the “short kingdom,” why would He have to come in the clouds AGAIN for everyone to witness seven years later?

I find nothing in the Bible to indicate a “second ascension” - with Jesus going back to heaven a second time at some point in the “short kingdom,” to reappear later. Pack implies that reappearance will end the “seven plagues” of Revelation 15-16, which develop during the short kingdom.

Pack goes on to contend that Jesus will bring the “new heavens and new earth” described in Revelation 21:1-2 at the START of the millennium, not after it. This comes down to how we understand the first word of the first verse.

“THEN I saw a new heaven and a new earth,” many translations say – including NIV, ESV, NLT, NASB and Moffatt. Does that mean it's next in the order of events after the judgment of Revelation 20? Most COGs would say yes.

But KJV and NKJV begin the chapter with “AND.” That could mean it's in addition to everything else John saw in his vision. Keep in mind that Revelation includes what many Bible teachers call “inset chapters” interrupting the storyline, such as chapter 7.

The key Greek word here is kai. It's a common conjunction throughout the New Testament, appearing more than 9,000 times. And 88 percent of the time, the KJV translates it “and.”

But 20 times in the N.T., the KJV translates kai as “then!” One example is Matthew 27:35, where the KJV is alone in the crowd's response to crucifying Jesus: “Then answered all the people...” Curiously, NKJV and several other translations have “and”!

(Other cases where kai appears as “then” in KJV include Mark 7:1, 10:28 and 12:18.)

So we conclude this matter is open to interpretation – and Pack truly goes against conventional COG teaching to back up his main point, by going to a more common use of a Greek word.

There's also the related question of whether the mess at the end of the tribulation will need to be cleaned up. Many COGs teach that saints will need years to do it, but Pack is silent about this. Will the “new earth” arrival mean the current one will be burned away (II Peter 3:12-13)?


Imperfect Pack

Pack makes other slips in his two videos – some of them common to ministers across all COGs. For instance, we've already mentioned the authorship of I Corinthians. Also:

.

Conclusions

"What you will hear, just in part one, will be IMPOSSIBLE to argue with,” Pack proclaims in his first video. Perhaps that's because it's so overwhelming, with numerous Bible references to study.

We apologize if this article sounds like we're arguing with Pack. We've simply been trying to prove what we heard, as the Bereans did in Acts 17:11 – and we found his teaching has many holes.

Pack's second video cites II Timothy 3:1 about “terrible times in the last days” and says the apostle Paul wrote to “warn the saints of his time about dangers of false doctrine. Pack adds that audience “would be here.”

That warning actually is in I Timothy 1:3: “...command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer...” It's about teachers, more than saints in general! Paul adds in 6:3-4, “If anyone teaches false doctrines... he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies...”

Sad to say, these verses seem to apply to Pack – whether he wants to say so or not. He's “taught” many wrong understandings about dates for the second coming. Now he has an entire tightly-woven theology that contains numerous Biblical errors.

Pack has shrugged off his critics by saying New Testament writers were “false prophets” as well. They expected a quick arrival of God's Kingdom, and it didn't happen.

Yet for better or worse, the New Testament writings are Scripture – and considered “inspiration of God” (II Timothy 3:16, KJV). Pack's teachings are not. Would he recommend several Biblical books be dumped or ignored?

In addition, Jeremiah 23:16 advises: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying about you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.”

May the self-proclaimed “prophets” be very careful in what they say. May Bible teachers be studious and cautious in what they teach. And may everyone recall Pack's last Scripture in his second video, John 17:17: “Thy word is truth.”



To reply to this article, e-mail the author directly

< Back to www.cg main page

© 2025, Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.