Herbert Armstrong's Son-in-Law Drops the Bomb: "It's True. You Can Believe It."

Herbert Armstrong's Son-in-Law Drops the Bomb: "It's True. You Can Believe It." 

The Incest Scandal That PCG and the HWA Worshippers Can't Erase

Article is by an ex-PCG member

In the twisted carnival of Armstrongism, where failed prophecies pile up like unpaid tithes and "God's Apostle" Herbert W. Armstrong is still treated like some untouchable saint by the splinter groups, every so often a voice from the past punches through the denial. This time, it's coming straight from the family. Not some bitter ex-member with an axe to grind, but the husband of Armstrong's own daughter Dorothy—Vern Mattson himself.

Back in 2010, a PCG member (yes, one of Gerald Flurry's loyal tithers) picked up the phone and dialed Sun City, Arizona. What followed was a conversation that should have nuked any remaining illusions about the "one true church" founded by a man who allegedly molested his own daughter for years. But of course, in Armstrong-land, facts are just "attacks from Satan" and reality is whatever the current "leader" says it is.

Here's the letter excerpt from that former COG member, left intact as a raw, unfiltered quote:

They found that at this time, Vern Mattson resided in Sun City, AZ., the year being 2010. Upon finding their number, my dad simply called them. Vern Mattson picked up. Dad just told him that he was a member of the Philadelphia Church of God and had been for a few years, raising his children in the Worldwide and in the PCG. Then, he just told him what my mom had heard and could these things be true? And, if they were, our dad's big question was, to Vern Mattson, why didn't someone, somebody in their family come out years ago, and tell the WCG, the truth?

First thing out of Vern Mattson's mouth was that he couldn't believe that there was now an actual college named after Herbert Armstrong in Oklahoma, and why would they do that? My dad's answer was, starting with Gerald Flurry, right on down, they firmly believed that he (Herbert W. Armstrong) was God's man. Whatever, over the years, that the leaders or members have heard or seen, no way would it or could it be believed! He told him, it's who they are, it's their lives, just like it was ours. 

 

It's what our fathers have taught us and on down the line it goes!! My dad said it was pretty quiet on the other end there, for a bit. Then he heard the words, "Well, it's true. You can believe it." 

 

He said he really had no problem talking about it now, because his wife Dottie [Dorothy], had just recently passed. He said it made him angry, sickened them for a long time, because of the thousands of people out there, in the WCG, that really had no idea! He told my dad things that evening, on the phone, that my dad felt responsible to tell me. 

 

Vern Mattson said, over the years, with all that's out there now, on these computers, David Robinson's book, and plenty others written by his top ministers; he said, you got the Ambassador Report, full of documented facts and dates, exposing all the lies, mishandling of money, the incest with his own daughter. When I found out what he had done to my wife when she was just a young girl, you see we raised a daughter too, this was his own daughter, scaring and hurting her like that, over and over again, I was going to kill him! 

 

I won't forget her words, years ago, when she asked me, how could a great and loving God go against Himself like that, by calling a man to raise up His "one and only true Church," a man that would hurt his own daughter like that? 

 

To all the fathers out there who have a daughter, your little girl, how would you answer that? 

 

I can tell you how Herbert Armstrong answered that, because of the last thing Vern Mattson told my dad on the phone that day, something he said, he has never forgotten. His wife, Dottie [Dorothy], told him of an incident that had happened back in the late `30s or so, that he could never ever repeat, but what he could say, was that she was pleading with her father one night, she wanted it to stop. (Herbert Armstrong had her in a hotel room, and her voice was overheard by others, and a person who worked there came knocking on their door, wondering if anything was wrong?) His reply, his answer--the man we so strongly believed in--his answer when my wife, his daughter, his little girl, cried out to him, was: "God gave you to me and it is my job to teach you. This will help you to be a better wife someday." 

  

So there you are. Shocking Words That Herbert Armstrong Told His Daughter Dorothy

There you are, indeed. Straight from the mouth of the man who was married to Dorothy Armstrong Mattson. Not hearsay from some disgruntled employee, but confirmation from the guy who lived with the victim and raised a daughter of his own. Vern Mattson was ready to kill HWA when he found out. Can you blame him?

Think about that for a second! The same Herbert W. Armstrong who screamed about British Israelism, the "lost ten tribes," Saturday-only salvation, and tithing your way into the Kingdom allegedly took his own young daughter into a hotel room and "taught" her in ways that left her pleading for it to stop. When hotel staff heard her distress and knocked, Papa Herbert's pious response was essentially: "God gave her to me. This is for her own good. Future wife training."

How convenient. The Apostle of Incest turns divine calling into a license for familial rape. And this is the guy whose name still graces Herbert W. Armstrong College in Edmond, Oklahoma, where Flurry's crew indoctrinates the next generation of tithe-payers.

Vern Mattson couldn't believe they named a college after the man. Yeah, Vern, join the club. The cognitive dissonance in these groups is thicker than the Ambassador Auditorium's wool carpet. They heard the rumors for decades—David Robinson's book, the Ambassador Report with its documented facts, ex-ministers spilling the beans—and still doubled down: "No way could it be true! He's God's man!"

Meanwhile, Dorothy lived with the trauma. She questioned how a loving God could anoint such a monster to lead "His one and only true Church." Good question, Dottie. The answer, of course, is that He didn't. Armstrong was a charismatic grifter with a god complex, a serial adulterer (by his own admission in some accounts), and, according to his own son-in-law, an incestuous predator who used theology as a grooming tool.

This isn't ancient history to be swept under the "persecution" rug. This is the rotten foundation of the entire Armstrong empire—WCG, PCG, LCG, RCG, CCOG, and every other acronym still peddling the same legalistic poison while ignoring (or outright denying) the founder's personal corruption.

To all the current members and "ministers" still defending HWA: Vern Mattson, the man who married the victim and heard it from her own lips, said "It's true. You can believe it." Your wives, your daughters, your sons—how do you look them in the eye and keep sending in those tithes to prop up the legacy of a man who allegedly violated his own child?

The New Covenant offers real freedom from this garbage. No more idolizing dead false apostles. No more covering up evil with "don't judge God's servant" nonsense. Just Christ, grace, and the truth that sets people free.

Vern Mattson is gone now. Dorothy too. But the testimony remains. The wackiness, the hypocrisy, and the human wreckage of Armstrongism continue to be exposed—one phone call, one letter, one article at a time.

So there you are.