Every True Church of God leader deserves a gold centerpiece for their dining table featuring
the three daughters of Bacchus
celebrating
the drunken debauchery of their father Bacchus
on their dining table
along with a sterling silver calling card stand filled with pagan symbols of the Zodiac
From a reader:
HWA's 1981 Arizona income tax form shows an adjusted gross income of $421,052. In 1980 his income was $387,755 and his contributions were $46,589. That's about 12% in tithes. His income tax return preparation fee that was deducted from his taxable income amounted to $5,800. I guess that's what Arthur Anderson got. WOW, he should have gone to H & R Block for his tax work.
Let's not forget Ramona's income for 1981. She received $38,308.
With an expense account and the church providing car, housing, etc. where did all the money go? A man his age didn't need the equiv. of over a million a year in income.
And what became of the watch that King Leopold gave him?
26 comments:
Bruce Renehan, in rather cryptic fashion, wrote "Tkach had the Armstrong mansion sealed after the passing of the baton. The treasures acquired by the apostle then began to vanish."
But its probably more likely that all that was sold off to blunt the drop in income after the revocation of mandatory tithing.
What if Ramona found a secret clandestine way to stash some away in a slush fund
or Suisse banque acct.
$421K in 1981 calculates to $1.3 million today. No wonder Kessler's letter was sounding the alarm about HWA, his expendentures, his spending thousands on his whims and just out of control behaviors. This alone is really obscene that he would harangue members for extra donations in addition to the 1st, 2nd & 3rd tithes plus "tithe of a tithe" they were expected to send in. This alone disqualifies HWA as an apostle by his wanton selfishness & greed not to mention his hundreds of failed prophecies and predictions.
I can't wait to see the comments about letting it go. No. They got all our parents retirement,
our college educations, our vacations, family homes, health insurance. There were no nest eggs, many never got Social Security benefits because we'd be in a place of safety. There isn't ever going to be accountability, no restitution, but being second generation AND a senior citizen myself now, I'm allowed my 2 minutes to vent. I am hoping for Karma for
whoever is left .
The campus', planes and all the other nonsense easily totaled over $100 million.
There never has been a proper accounting for this huge heist, by the Tkaches.
Those fat cats who hogged the spoils leftover from 1975-ish in Prophecy hopefuls are the ones who partly caused this blog's past registry of dour HWA sentiment to begin with. Most posts here are not just "grumblings & complainings" that the current COG hierarchies will label it as. A loss of family nest egg & pensions is worth mentioning whenever someone hopes to help keep an eye out for new scams.
It was gone the day each of us sent it in to Post Office Box 111, Pasadena, California! There never was any real accountability, or a point where the founders or their successors had been trustworthy. Knowing where the money went will not give any of us closure, or make us feel better.
All we can do is feel good about ourselves because no matter where we started or finished with these people, we all felt as if we were giving the money to God. As it turns out, we were the only ones acting from honorable intentions.
I am surprised no one has commented on the tchotchkes filled with paganism sitting in the home of God's one true representative. I had also heard his grandfather's clock in the main hallway was filled with pagan carvings. Plus, he had two paintings of Catholic friars in his study that were drinking beer and getting drunk
Let's put this fake apostles income back then into some perspective. It is important to do so.
An income of $420,000 in 1982 is equivalent to about $1,359,372.44 today.
This being based on the average inflation over 42 years to derive an equivalent purchasing power.
To avoid quibbles from loyal defenders in offshoots of this 'apostle' let's round it off at say $1.3 million.
What a joke and a farce anyone even gave credibility to this system. .
I see my estimate had already been confirmed by another. >>>April 29, 2024 at 4:00:00 PM
Getting back to the question where indeed did it go? Recall reading there was $5m in his bank account at the time of divorce proceedings. is this true?
Who knows what happened to his ill gotten gains - his never ending greed knew no end>
The golden money tree is still being fleeced to this day by COG ministry. Why not live in 2024 NO2HWA? Why dwell in the past? What use is a long dead man's fancy 80s life?
Tkach jnr and GC ministry spent whatever was left on xmas parties.
Remembered old Herbert dressed up to the nines was NEVER alone. Remember all the younger ones, dressed up to the nines with him, grinning from ear to ear. All of them still rule the roost of the COG to this day. Still living the dream off members tithes. Modern day pharisees.
Who had what ? Tkatches bought that crap or Armstrong?
"$421K in 1981 calculates to $1.3 million today."
Keep in mind that the 1980s was the decade of high inflation. It hit 14% in 1980. The real inflation rate for the person in the street is typically twice the official government rate. So throw in the compounding interest of inflation, and the $421k in 1981 would be multiple millions today.
Another rough estimate is the cost of housing. Since 1980, the average house price has risen ten fold.
Heh, I recall reprinted letters by Loma complaining about pagan art in museums. Little did she know her husband would end up surrounded by objects derived from it.
Bernie Madoff was clever, but stupid in one way. He cheated people in an industry that was highly regulated. Cheat people in the world of religion and the govt. doesn't care. HWA knew enough to have a good lawyer on his side to keep himself on the right side of the law. It's not against the law to draw a huge salary and have a generous expense account. Living in a "parsonage", having a corporate automobile and driver, what in the world did he have to spend his money on? What does an 80+ year-old man need? He certainly wasn't generous with his contributions. Every time he ate out at his favorite LA restaurant, he could write it off as a business expense as long as he had someone with him where he discussed some business ("Ask me something about my last trip so I can put this dinner on my expense account".) Did he also have a housing allowance, which wouldn't show up on his income taxes? He probably was able to write off his liquor bill, claiming that it was for "official entertainment." Stanley Rader had a vested interest in keeping HWA "honest" in the eyes of the IRS. If HWA went down, so could SR. Perhaps he had a few hidden accounts, say in a Swiss bank, and it's still sitting there, perhaps under an assumed name or a dummy corporation that SR helped him set up. And where is that watch that King Leopold gave him? Maybe we'll see it on pawn shop.
And how is the money spent now? On spreading the gospel (the real one)? On feeding the poor? On caring for the widows? On helping the needy?
Nope. It’s spent on extra biblical writings and propaganda designed to pull attention off of Jesus Christ and His completed work, and onto men.
In looking back it was indeed a scam. I recall somewhere reading this fake apostle saying to someone as they visited Pasadena : "I.ve done very well, haven't I".
Maybe Dorothy has it all.
The lasting effect of Herbert being a young man during the great depression era.
I wouldn't mind knowing what percentage of today's tithe money, including third tithe, is funneled into paying for ministers retirement. Ordinary members have to sacrifice and save for their retirements, but the ministers have failed to do so, and now use creative accounting to cover this church expense.
Last I heard, only 20% to 30% of church income goes into publicly spreading some message.
No, Dorothy didn't get anything when the old man died. His will said that he provided for them during his lifetime well enough.
The lesson of Armstrongism is that separating one from one's blessings or wealth is not only something done by secular criminals.
For years there have been watchdog groups which evaluate charities and evangelistic organizations. Criteria are applied to determine what percentage of the donations or offerings are actually applied to the stated purpose of the organization. Comparisons are made regarding salaries and perks of the chief officers and administrators vis a vis the financial rewards enjoyed by their counterparts in secular industry. Stars are rewarded. There are rigorous standards applied for the coveted gold star rating. Those administrators who consider their position as being a calling are rated much higher than those who appear to be in it for personal gain.
When you call something "God's True Church", you are implying that such evaluations are presumptuous, and not others' place to make. HWA would never have sought a "Gold Star" rating from "this world's" watchdogs. As God's so-called Apostle, he considered himself above it all. Had he had a real board, or real overseers, he would not have had or controlled the extravagant wealth which was sidelined from the stated mission of the church. It would have been plowed back into "the work".
If all of the WCG income and assets had been acquired and utilized in a perfect and Godly manner, and nefarious ones had taken it all away, then I would be very concerned with where it all ended up, and would want to hold miscreants accountable. Sadly, that is not the case, at all. There are no white knights in this story. There never were.
HWA would never provide a charity evaluator such as Charity Navigators with data so they could assess how well the church uses its money. Much like college accreditation. HWA claimed that accreditation would challenge what the church taught, but that is not so. The Mormons, SDA's and other churches have colleges that are accredited. HWA wouldn't spend the money to provide a quality education because he was more interested in outward appearances than substance. AC was beautiful, but was a poor excuse for a college. It was an indoctrination center.
HWA considered the church bank account to be HIS bank account. A local real estate and law attorney from our local Worldwide congregation went to Pasadena to assist the church after the state of California's law suit against Worldwide started. He was gone a few weeks and then returned. Shortly after returning, he resigned from Worldwide. He later told my father because he said he found out everything that HWA & the ministry said about the church bring persecuted and "attacked by Satan" turned out to be bald face lies and the financial abuse and malfeasance was mind boggling.
I find it to be unproductive to think about where my "tithe" money was wasted. I did, however, find it productive to begin saving for my retirement the day the scam became realized by me.
Post a Comment