Attached to the letter that Herbert Armstrong sent to Rod Meredith that was posted on The Servants News, was this addendum by Aaron Dean. The alt.religion.w-w-church-god forum was a vibrant source of news about the church during all of the changes.
Rod Meredith, like Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry and Bob Thiel, has rewritten his history to serve his own ends. Dean calls him out on it.
Aaron Dean, Herbert Armstrong’s Personal Aide, Confirms Accuracy of Above Letter on the alt.religion.w-w-church-god Forum, January 8, 1999:
I have nothing to hide and don't mind if people ask what HWA thought. Some have asked and I have answered these same questions before. People should not be allowed to rewrite their own histories to their own ends.
What happened in GCG is precisely why I couldn't join Global. I wish I had been wrong. If it will help people find God and Christ instead of men, feel free to use my post. It will probably bring some hate mail, but I have gotten use to it as I am sure some of you are. I wish people could become zealous instead of zealots. I have found you can become zealous for God, but only zealots for men.
Regards,
— Aaron
ps. I edited my note a bit for clarity. It is below.
AKDean@aol.com wrote:
Hi,
That is the letter that was in Mr. Armstrong's files. HWA did talk to not only RCM [Roderick C. Meredith], but others about how he was wrong about Stan [Rader]. Mr. A didn't apologize to people, and had other ways of apologizing—some of which could be misinterpreted. His discussion with Rod about SRR [Stanley R. Rader], I imagine Rod took to be an apology. Of course he wanted to see it this way. To RCM it seemed either he was right or SRR was right. Since SRR turned out to be a 'bad guy' RCM assumed he was vindicated. This helps to justify why he maintains he should be in charge. He never understood the issue was not about him and SRR, but him seeing himself as next in line.
It did not change RCM's problem, as you can see from the letter RCM's problems stemmed from well before SRR. The fact that HWA never reappointed RCM to a position of power shows that he knew RCM still had the problem. The COE [Council of Elders] was never a power body, although many seemed to see it as that.
RCM took the fact that those he disliked (and it is interesting to note they were always the ones between him and the top) turned out to have problems, so it seemed a vindication of his problem. Mr. Armstrong still felt the same way about RCM up until his death.
One thing HWA did say, was that "Rod will be personally loyal to me" (HWA). Of course RCM wanted that same loyalty to himself, never realizing that what HWA really wanted was loyalty to GOD. That is why HWA, amid the confusion of the receivership did appoint RCM over Church Administration in '79.
Unfortunately RCM began immediately to try to solidify his position as heir to the church, and had to be removed within the year, and was never reappointed to a high administrative position. It was RCM's own words that caused him to be sent toHawaii, not anyone else. I pray that he eventually can come to see himself, just as I pray for so many other self appointed leaders.
— Aaron Dean
There is amazing gravity and evidence in the following quote about HWA written by Aaron Dean...(emphasis mine)
ReplyDelete"Mr. Armstrong NEVER apologized to people"
Never said he was sorry, never admitted to being wrong, or with fault? IMHO this is a sign of a very dysfunctional person. Aaron Dean knew Armstrong as well as anybody, and to have this confirmed gives huge insight into the unbalanced mind of HWA.
I pray that he eventually can come to see himself, just as I pray for so many other self appointed leaders.
ReplyDeleteGives new meaning to "pray constantly" -- it's got to be a VERY long list.
As for Roderick Meredith coming to see himself, well... check out the Kruger-Dunning effect to see how likely that will be.
When I was a young boy at my first F/T in Big Sandy, Tejas, Roderick C. Meredith impressed me greatly because of the high energy level of his sermons. At one point, he hit the lectern so hard, that it knocked out the microphone. And that didn't stop him. He continued, actually yelling so that everyone in the big tabernacle could hear him.
ReplyDeleteHowever, years later, at Embarrassing College, I first became aware that he was preoccupied with sex, and that his opinions on any given topic were always very right wing. He also appeared to blurt out the first thing that came into his mind, some of which sounded just plain silly, and was frequently embarrassing. He could have been much more effective if he had taken a metered or measured approach.
The ministers all took their own authority so seriously, that I can't imagine anyone enjoying being directly under a single one of them. The system bred a crop of very opinionated authoritarians. I learned early on that life was much better if you could fly under the radar, and actually avoid as much contact with them as possible. The problem is, those who aspired to become part of that authority structure had no choice but to have close contact. That is the same in industry, but at least in industry there are frequently great leaders or mentors who lead mostly by personal example. And, those are the people for whom one does not mind going the extra mile, or using one's personal resources. Generally, if one gives a lot, and gets nothing of tangible value in return, one feels exploited, and this produces anger. The problem with the leadership in Armstrongism is that patient zero (HWA) forgot that in order to maintain functionality, loyalty must work both ways. The aura of entitlement always blocked that two way street, first in the WCG, and now in all of the splinters.
BB
Do you think Aaron Dean knows where Kevin Dean is hiding?
ReplyDeleteBB,
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact. One of the first vivid memories I have as a person (being 4 years of age) is RCM preaching at the Feast. It is matched by the memory of the festival hall's colorful lighting. (and richard plache telling my mom to be careful with me on the merry-go-round)
In law school I discovered that wcg government structure, its council of elders and (expecially at the youth camps) reflected the "anglo-saxon" witan-model somewhat.
With a King asking council of those with personal loyalties to that king.
Of course the ancient anglo-saxons didn't have the advantage of modern communication or old age. Governing in such circumstance for longer than 20 years breeds the kind of leader to be avoided as you described so aptly. I still have a problem avoiding authority although I yield to Gary my liege since on this blog he is my "loaf-ward" (lord) and commander of the first trench I volunteer in.
nck
I love the way Aaron Dean can confirm the "truth" about various figures in WCG history, but conveniently manages to avoid the truth about HWA himself.
ReplyDeleteCredibility: Zero.
I wonder if Kevin Owen Dean used some of the contacts made by being part of the HWA G3 entourage (and the many officials given "gifts" and bribes) to engineer his escape of the country to some foreign locale. One thing can be certain for sure... he is not in the United States.
ReplyDeleteConnie,
ReplyDeleteOne place to go for former wcg associes who'd like to stay out of the hands of law enforcement or other government agencies is Iceland.
(if one is able to play more than a fair game of chess of course)
nck
Connie Schmidt said...
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Kevin Owen Dean used some of the contacts made by being part of the HWA G3 entourage (and the many officials given "gifts" and bribes) to engineer his escape of the country to some foreign locale. One thing can be certain for sure... he is not in the United States.
___________________________________
Ask his brother. Maybe he's holed up a Lake Tahoe in a little cabin.
Somethings never change. Everything is the same with the acogs. If Herbie holed up in Tucson, maybe KOD is there?
Anyway, this guy had help. To escape from the clutches of the blue meanies it take outside help. And by outside help, I mean those not yet wanted by the police. A friend, a family member, someone else who is a pedophile. This needs to be addressed at some point.
There is, of coures, a companion question, and many of us have asked it over the years as well. And that is whether HWA was qualified to lead a church, that is any church, let alone a church that was hypothetically God's.
ReplyDeleteBB
It's been about a year since I heard that Kevin Owen Dean had run out of the courtroom during his trial on aggravated child molestation and 12 other charges, and had gone into hiding from the law.
ReplyDeleteHas there been no word on his case since then?