For among my people are found wicked men... their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich; they have grown fat and sleek.
Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice.
They do not promote the case of the fatherless;
they do not defend the just cause of the poor.
Jeremiah 5:26-28 [1, 2]
Armstrongism has always had a remarkable talent for finding Bible verses that apply strictly to the little people and generously to the men at the top. Few tools have been more useful than the "David Defense." When a high-ranking minister or evangelist gets caught in adultery, financial sleaze, or other heart-eating corruption, the response is almost liturgical: King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged Uriah's death, yet God still called him a man after His own heart and used him mightily. Therefore, who are you, the dumb sheeple, to criticize God's anointed servant? Only God can judge. Criticism is rebellion. Satan is using you. Sit down, pay your tithes, and stop touching the Lord's anointed.
It is a beautiful system if you happen to be the one standing in the pulpit.
Herbert W. Armstrong himself laid the groundwork. In lengthy articles, he explained that even a "true minister of Jesus Christ" could "slip" into an "incident of adultery" under temptation. If the man later "repented," God would forgive him and the ministry could continue. The flock, of course, received no such elastic interpretation when their own marriages were declared invalid because of a previous union. Hundreds of families were torn apart by the church's rigid "bound for life" doctrine while the men enforcing it enjoyed a rather more flexible standard.
The star pupil of this theology was Garner Ted Armstrong. For years the handsome, silver-tongued voice of The World Tomorrow carried on extensive extra-marital conquests-dozens, by some accounts hundreds-of women, including Ambassador College coeds, ministers' wives, and a long-term COG stewardess. Oh, and don't forget the casino workers in Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side, which he patronized when he stayed in the church owned chalet at Tahoe. When finally confronted in 1972, he admitted the pattern. Herbert temporarily disfellowshipped him, then brought him back because the broadcasts were too valuable. Later, after another ouster, Ted founded his own groups and kept going. In the 1990s a masseuse secretly videotaped him and sued, alleging assault. Ted's reported response during the encounters? He compared himself to King David. His work on earth was so important that God would overlook the transgressions. Classic David Defense, delivered while asking for "relief."
The same pattern appeared among other evangelists. Ministers who knew about the hypocrisy were told to keep quiet. Members who asked questions were marked, disfellowshipped, or warned they were in danger of the unpardonable sin for judging God's government. "Causing people to lose confidence in their leaders is one of the most terrible things anyone could do," Garner Ted once wrote, "especially if those leaders happen to be God's very ordained servants." Convenient.
After Herbert's death the Worldwide Church of God changed course and the empire shattered into dozens of competing "true churches." The David Defense traveled with the furniture. In the Philadelphia Church of God, Gerald Flurry declared himself "That Prophet." Loyalty to him became the test of faithfulness. Members were ordered to cut off family who stayed in other groups. Questioning the Pastor General is framed as rebellion against God's government. In the Restored Church of God, David Pack has claimed titles ranging from Elijah to apostle while setting date after failed date. Ex-members describe an environment of fear, information control, and the same old warning: do not judge God's man. Similar dynamics appear, to varying degrees, in the Living Church of God, with Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry and other remnants. The one-man (or small-council) model Herbert perfected remains the operating system. Prestige shields the leader. Scandals become "Satan's attacks." Accountability is for the sheep.
The theological sleight of hand is obvious once you stop being afraid. David was a unique covenant king in a theocratic monarchy, not the senior pastor of whatever Church of God that is currenlty lead by corrupt leaders. His sin produced catastrophic consequences for his family and kingdom. Forgiveness did not erase those consequences or automatically restore him to the same unqualified leadership. New Testament qualifications for overseers are explicit: above reproach, faithful to one wife, respectable, able to manage his own household. Armstrongism treated those verses as suggestions for the membership and optional extras for headquarters.
The result was a culture in which ordinary members lived under microscopic scrutiny while the upper echelon enjoyed a gentlemen's agreement. Adultery, pedophila and emnbezelment, "ate at some of their hearts," yet the institution protected the eaters. Members were taught that judging the leaders was the real sin. The system still works the same way in 2026 wherever the old Armstrongist DNA remains strongest: hierarchical government, fear of "Laodicean" criticism, and the comforting knowledge that King David got away with it, so maybe the current apostle will too.
It is not complicated. It is simply the oldest trick in the authoritarian religious playbook, wrapped in extra Sabbath-keeping and British-Israelism. The Bible is full of warnings about shepherds who feed themselves instead of the flock. Armstrongism found a way to quote those warnings at the congregation while the shepherds quoted David at anyone who noticed the difference.
33 comments:
One of the problems with human leaders is that invariably they infuse ingredients from their own backgrounds and experiences into their leadership. Can any of us imagine a worse first act for a religious leader than being an avid participant in the sales field or advertising? Hype, and spin are a given! Taking control and manipulating others and their decisions is the very essence of the art!
I never did complain about Herbert W. Armstrong having written an autobiography. Even Garner Ted Armstrong once said, "Everything you need to know about my father is right there in his autobiography!" That document provided so many unintended insights. Those insights are remembered and seen with 20-20 vision as you are leaving the organization.
BB
adultery with Bathsheba and arranged Uriah's death, yet God still called him a man after His own heart and used him mightily.>>>
suspect as you say this was dwelt upon many times by the apostle and his son.
Problem for these ever talking ones is that scripture does not support their “David Defense.”
The Bible confronts David publicly, removes him from power, rejects untouchable leaders, demands accountability, requires leaders to be above reproach, commands public rebuke, judges leaders more strictly, and disqualifies corrupt ministers. The modern “David Defense” reverses every one of these principles. It is not a biblical doctrine merely a concocted tool of authoritarian control designed to protect leaders and silence the people they rule. (as their real art was in the concocting of things - doctrines and everything else for that matter-)
G T Armstrong never seems to have sort professional help for his addictions like we read of certain movie stars doing. Perhaps this tells us something if such is the case.
Back in that era, 10:16, they were just beginning to write the books on the treatment of addictions, and I don't even know that sex addiction had become a thing as of yet. We were still a couple of years away from the Betty Ford Center, which was a pioneering effort in treating the addictive diseases. We actually lost Elvis to his addictions in 1977, roughly the same time frame in which GTA was on the rampage.
Here's an example of the cultic attitudes towards outside help in the old classic WCG, though. It just was not done! You relied on "God's" ministers as they so quaintly called themselves. Annointing and prayer. No outside therapy, no outside counselling from the people whose lifelong studies concerned the particular ailment. One of the ministers who admitted he had a problem with alcohol (there were those who did not!), Mr. Dale Hampton, sought and received help through Alcoholics Anonymous. He knew that there were others in the church with the problem and started an Alcoholics Anonymous group in Pasadena. Herbert W. Armstrong was outraged when he found out about it and with a few emphatic shakes of those horrendous hog jowls of his, he shut it down! I never heard his reasons, but most likely he saw the mere existence of such a group as being bad PR for the church. How could people in "God's True Church" TM have alcohol problems, after all? It was bad enough that the prophecies had failed!
I know nothing of the splinter groups, so have no knowledge as to whether there were any policy changes, but purely from a statistical perspective, a certain percentage of the members are alcoholics, some practicing.
BB
You serve up only ancient dead membership level gossip to keep control of people, and to limit truth shining a light throughout all ministerial and member hypocrisy. Whilst pretending to be harbours of the truth and giving exposure, you still play within the well known guide-rules, serve the past sin soaked gossip so no-one looks at the present. Keep everyone in 1975, So no real questions get asked about 2026 and no real answers can ever be sought.
Both Armstrongs and others visited brothels their whole life, bringing both physical and spiritual diseases, sex addiction has been and remains a major root cause of all problems within the COG across all groups. The full scale of the situation will most probably be never known in this life.
For adultery and sex addiction is based on manipulation, power and control as much as lust. Would Basheba have allowed herself to commit adultery with a poor street sweeper from Jerusalem ? No the King, most powerful man in Jerusalem.
A sign of the times perhaps, brass and bronze mingled with feet of clay. For decades in the church various men in power have thought it a perk of the status they acquired to develop a "sex problem".
They can drape themselves with the illusion of having the same problems as King David and King Solomon and thus feeding into their own vanity and egos:
'Men of substance and high intelligence need to have complicated lives.'
But they are foolish, sinfilled men and truth is an occasional visitor to them, not a lifelong companion.
How members navigate in worship of God through all this is also their problem. Perilous times as warned by Jesus.
David murdering an innocent man resulted in the death of his son Absalom, and the cheapening of himself for all eternity. God "forgave" him because of his overall excellent character. He wasn't being partial. Even today, judges take into account character witnesses when sentencing a person found guilty. By contrast, King Saul found no such leniency with God because of his evil character.
Sinning ACOG ministers claiming to be a type of David is moral mush.
The Plymouth Brethren movement has a clearer, more biblical form of government. Their congregations are independent of one another so there is no HQ where the power and money that corrupts other groups is concentrated. And, the congregations don't have one leader (elder) but multiple elders, as is seen in the New Testament. This prevents any one strong personality from leading the group in error. Imagine if Roderick Meredith and David Antion were the elders of a congregation. One would keep the other from extremism. The elders are chosen by the congregation, by those who know the men the best, not chosen by someone at a denominational HQ.
"Keep everyone in 1975, So no real questions get asked about 2026 and no real answers can ever be sought."
That's demon morality. When evil people want something really badly, they comit moral obscenities, then bank on the passage of time to whitewash their crime. And they do this over and over. But it's not what one observes in nature. A lost human limb doesn't grow back. One famous proverb says "words hurt forever." There's many Bible verses about sin destroying friendships.
Many members are still daily living with the consequences of 1975, so trying to sweep it under the carpet is dishonest.
The other half of the "time forgives everything" claim is that those who sing this song never forgive. They nurse and protect any injury to have a non stop club to use against their victims.
1:39 said: “David murdering an innocent man resulted in the death of his son Absalom…”
I always remember reading the late Gary North’s book “Victim’s Rights” a couple of decades ago now and learning that in fact David’s sin resulted in the death of four of his sons! Here is the relevant section from pages 196-197 that I remember reading:
Perhaps the best example of sheep as a symbol for defenseless humans is found in Nathan's confrontation with King David concerning his adultery with Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite.
Nathan proposed a legal case for David to judge. A rich man steals a female lamb from a poor neighbor, and then kills it. "And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity" (II Sam. 12:5-6). Then Nathan replied to him, "Thou art the man." Uriah had been the neighbor; Bathsheba is the ewe lamb who, biblically speaking, has been killed, the death penalty being applicable in cases of adultery (Lev. 20:10).
David recognized that the four-fold restitution was applicable in the case of stolen and slaughtered sheep. But in fact, Nathan was not talking about a lamb; he was talking about a human being. He used the symbol of the slaughtered sheep for the foolish woman who consented to the capital crime of adultery. The woman had been entitled to protection, especially by the king. Instead, she had been placed in jeopardy of her life by the king. The king had proven himself to be an evil shepherd.
What was the penalty extracted by God? First, the infant born of the illicit union would die, Nathan promised (II Sam. 12:14). On the seventh day, the day before its circumcision, the child died (v. 18). The next section of Second Samuel records the rape of Tamar by David's son Amnon. Absalom, her brother, commanded his servants to kill Amnon, which they did (II Sam. 13:29). Absalom revolted against David and was later slain by Joab (II Sam. 18:14). Finally, Adonijah attempted to steal the throne, but Solomon was anointed (I Ki. 1), and Adonijah tried again to secure the throne by asking Solomon to allow him to marry David's bed-warmer. Solomon recognized this attempt to gain the throne through marriage, and had him executed (I Ki. 2:24-25). Thus, four of David's sons died, fulfilling the required four-for-one punishment for his adultery and his murder of Uriah.
It's not only COG's, of course. Think Jimmy Swaggart, who recovered to still have a satellite network in the family. Or Jim Bakker. still "preaching" at 86.
Think politics, too. Joseph Biden had to drop a presidential bid due to college plagiarism - yet he wound up eventually in the White House.
And didn't Donald Trump win a second term, despite being impeached twice?
It all comes down to whether such leaders should be banned FOR LIFE, even if their "repentance" is sincere.
The only person in our time who seems to have endured that was Pete Rose.
The one main characteristic that separates King David from the “mantle grabbers”, is that he didn’t seek the throne when Saul was the King. David did his best to serve the king despite almost being killed by him. His attitude and heart was solid, he just made a huge mistake. Like what was mentioned earlier in this comment section, David paid dearly for this mistake, losing sons. And this is what the Armstrongist don’t really comprehend (as they always ponder about their apostasy). Forget about 1975, it’s about the fall of their little kingdom in 1995. They didn’t learn the lessons.
David just happened to see Bathsheba bathing, it wasn’t like he was going to a brothel. GTA on the other hand, get’s the pick of the litter with not just one, but several “babes” in Christ. So eventually a few decades later the end of the WCG kingdom comes just like the subsequent years after Solomon (who came from Bathsheba-David) multiplied wives unto himself, the kingdom was split and weakened.
But, oh they want to be kings so bad, they want to rule and get away with mistakes like a king.
Tank
The thing about Pete Rose, is that he was given a notice. "If you do this.......
The difference between Shoeless Joe Jackson is that Commissioner Landis came in after the fact, and then bans those guys for life. Both should be in the HOF, but it's just a museum not eternal life.
Oh and Kennedy is a different story. The man was a C student in high school but (legacy admissions DEI). And when he becomes president (marilyn monroe). And I wonder what the Kennedy's think about Turmp's attempt to change the name of John F. Kennedy Center. Interesting times.
Good comment RL. Other so called great men of this "world" that also used the " David defense" were Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, and our boy William Jefferson Clinton. One of King's PR people once said, "great men have great needs". Ha, ha. GTA probably thought that too!
Spin is a way of life in this world system and is found in all the institutions of man, politics, religion, and the corporate world. But David wasn't like that. Even though he greatly sinned and suffered dire consequences, he owned it, didn't make excuses, or have a PR firm run interference. Despite his flaws and sins, his faith, humility, repentance, and desire to follow God's will is why he is described as a man after God's heart. To compare him with the scoundrels of this world is an insult.
I don't know what you mean by your first paragraph,1:16. So, I will take a guess, and have a go at your opening statements. As a member of the fire brigade for several of the companies for which I worked, we attended hands on classes at the training center put on by the firemen. The basic salient takeawy was that in putting out a fire, in the case of solids, you are going to want to aim the extinguisher at the base of the fire, the thing actually burning. Put the fire out at the source of combustion.
We, the firemen here at Banned, aim at the most prolific era of Armstrongism because that is where the fire started, and that is what is still burning and being used by the splinter groups, preserving all of the evil, pain, and hardship that Armstrongism has always inflicted. Of course we are trying to knock down the flames from the splinters, the little subfires that have broken out, but the core of the fire must be extinguished. It is of primary concern!
If God wanted HWA's so called restored truths to become His government on Earth forever and ever, you would now see such a ferocious hive mentality emerging, uniting current members and exmembers in a way that nobody could stop. I don't mean to imply that HWA was gay, but the Armstrong movement lost its hive queen on the day HWA died, and the bees have dispersed and mixed and matched with other hives, and started some new ones temporarily presided over by drones!
The problem is, the horrible damages caused by Armstrongism, its pseudoscholarship, heresies, and false prophecy could have been over back in the '90s. Everybody could have moved on and the healing could be nearly complete at this point. People who would have lost their vaunted status and guaranteed income have perpetuated a fraudulent and damaging system, one in which nobody repents of the old man's sins, and continues to regard them as permission instead. The firemen can't yet return to the fire station and catch a few needed Z's because the fire is not yet out.
And the wonderful thing is, some armstrongist ministers get to come to this camp (this blog) to get their medicine because they are sick. Since they don’t like the correction face to face or in letters. They get to read without putting someone out of their plank. If we are still going for another decade, either their fire will go out due to the ageism or we will keep spraying at bases.
"For years the handsome, silver-voice of The World Tomorrow carried on extensive extra-marital conquests-dozens, by some accounts hundreds-of women, including Ambassador College coeds, ministers' wives, and a long-term COG stewardess."
I don't believe this statement. There was apparently one woman involved but that is based on hearsay I picked up on the AC/BS campus. Otherwise, the statement is hyperbolic - born of the WCG gossip mill. I have never heard of any solid evidence presented to support this volume of perfidy.
My two cents....
Scout
Scout, GTA did actually confess as he was voluntarily going through the program his father and the evangelists prescribed as condition for his reinstatement. He confessed to many more than one, although I do believe that his sins have been greatly embellished over the years by the gossip mill.
What struck me at the time was that I liked GTA, and found his sermons to be some of the most inspiring sermons ever given as part of my WCG experience. Al Portune Sr., and David Antion were pretty top drawer, but GTA was incredibly effective in bringing his Dad's doctrinal approach all together, and making it live for us. I never could work out how he could do this while living out a moral failure. We had been taught that sin grieves and repels the Holy Spirit! What GTA was accomplishing should have been impossible. But, secular humans in the acting profession are incredibly persuasive with their performances. Ultimately, that is what I had to factor into my parting decisions.
four sons dying is a big price for one man's stupidity all a bit hard to work out
The Plymouth Brethren are famous for not believing in forgiveness.
I'm not sure 4:25 if you are condeming my remark or agreeing with it.
I think you will find throughout the 1980's and 1990's the 1975 fiasco was debated, taken apart, recovered from and various other disccussed about many many times.
There seems a new problem emerging from this blog that there are people who have tragically been unable to move on in 2026 from 1975.
But it actually was 1972 and '75 was the follow up.
That statment is highly likely to be true "Scout" as years later CGI had a strong protection attitude built in towards females of all ages, and they got told openly "beware of GTA's friends", (outside of the ministry) especially at feast sites.
These men had a code of dress being in Garner ted's inner friendship circle, in that Garner ted bought them expensive church shoes of a particular distinctive style.
There was also dark rumours around Garner Ted's cause of death.
Men always naturally protect Garner Ted it reflects the darker side of the mens attitude towards females in the church: 'It was only sex, 'Ted had needs', 'He was dealing with stress of being the main church evangelist', 'He had a terrible childhood', ' His marriage was forced on him', 'His wife wasn't able to meet his needs', 'Women threw themselves at him', 'Men in O.T times had more than one wife'.....
ALL those pathetic excuses i actually heard people say (always men, funny enough) whilst in CGI.
I agree with your concluding remark 5:17. From comments i can always see that Garner ted was very popular and genuinely well liked and appreciated in RCG and WCG.
But i saw another side to him in CGI and he wasn't well liked or popular as WCG times. He was forever complaining, nit picking the youth to death and openly disliked which was quite shocking. He didn't age well and disliked the 80's & 90s culture alot. He did not grow wise with age. Although many don't
He was bitter over the loss of his WCG heirship and forever putting sexual induendo in book and magazine titles and being quite brazen about it. People forever commented about him worryingly, "I hope he's behaving himself".
Which turned out he wasn't.
Yes all these men like HWA, GTA, RCM, GF, DP etc are all just “playing Jesus like a backseat driver” youtu.be/9bu17n7QITc
A lot of ministers were bitter after the 1995 split, that's what made them not the best ministers in the early part of splinterdom. But with GTA it must have been even much more heavier due to the fact that he would have been the successor to the throne. I would have been drinking like a fish.
There's another very real factor that often comes into play. It's a recurring theme any time you have a chain of command. You may like the manager to whom you report. But, you don't really know him. You are working with the version of him which is restrained by company rules, and his manager. Once removed from that environment, and he is free to express himself, and infuse his real personality into his work, you might not like him, or his ethics any more. I have a feeling that that may be what you saw happening with GTA in the little churches of his own making.
I had heard that he got into a lot of the disgusting hard right authoritarian conservatism that later infected the country. Even worse in that way than his father.
Many people's lives were permanently impacted by 1975. Many sold their homes and gave the money to the church. Some chose to not go to college because of this date. Many hide the damage caused to their lives for fear of being mocked for being conned by a advertising salesman. There is no "moving on" from large losses. There's a new YouTube video called
"1975: Why Jehovah’s Witnesses Were Selling Their Homes." Its equally applicable to former WWCG members. This parallels those who have been in serious car accidents.
CGI was larger than anyone from 1995 WCG would know or care to admit.
After the 1995/6 split Garner Ted became more and more republican influenced in his intercontinetal church allegedly. He lost an awful lot of brother style lifelong friendships after 1995 which must have cut into his personality. These men only retuned to Garner Ted to pay their respects at his funeral which is a tradgedy in itself.
Beats the hell out of worrying about your kids checking out porn sites on the internet.
I don't defend his bad acts. He wasn't what was advertised. But, he was Herbert's report card, and also his father's victim just like the rest of us. Leaving that horrible "church" was the beginning of my education regarding females. Vitrually everything they taight us was wrong. It took some years, and many lessons, but I finally gained the proper respect for women and their hopes and needs.
That's the thing with many people, they change and react differently throughout their timeline in America from when they are a young adult, to middle age, to a senior citizen. GTA would have been considered a liberal I guess in his 20s and early 30s even though he was in Armstrongism (due to his conduct). But yea I listened to a few of CGI (or whatever the acronymism) messages back in the day and he seemed pretty upset at what liberalism had done to the country. I think it was the late 90s or so. But I do know when he passed I remember the words of his son Mark and how he said they were disappointed because they believed that he would be alive at Christ’s return.
It was shocking to hear something like that and it woke me up to the point of looking at these splinter leaders like I should have all along. I will say that GTA had a great voice, and he did call out things that were done in the past in the WCG that were wrong in spirit or cultish. This is when he was in CGI.
By the way I’ll take the 90s over anything today (food, music, movies, sports, gas, life). Both political parties are a failure. Regardless we do need to pray for our leaders, it's scary.
"CGI was larger than anyone from 1995 WCG would know or care to admit".
Do you have any stats for us, 7:05? How big was it? I had left by the time GTA had started it up and the only things I knew of it were from reading the occasional blurb in the Pasadena Star News or Ambassador Reports.
I almost thought GTA would choose a big expansive name like Intergalactic Church of God next time he slipped, but apparently advancing age kept his libido in check following the final embarrassing mess inflicted on Sue Ray. For years, every time I heard GTA's name, the jukebox inside of my head would play ZZ Top's "La Grange". Kinda my own theme song for the man.
BP8Sunday, September 20, 2026 at 8:50:00 AM PDT responded to RL writing:
[Good comment RL. Other so called great men of this "world" that also used the " David defense" were Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, and our boy William Jefferson Clinton. One of King's PR people once said, "great men have great needs". Ha, ha. GTA probably thought that too!
Spin is a way of life in this world system and is found in all the institutions of man, politics, religion, and the corporate world. But David wasn't like that. Even though he greatly sinned and suffered dire consequences, he owned it, didn't make excuses, or have a PR firm run interference. Despite his flaws and sins, his faith, humility, repentance, and desire to follow God's will is why he is described as a man after God's heart. To compare him with the scoundrels of this world is an insult.]
******
The Bible speaks about God's Spirit and another spirit (Eph 2:2; James 4:5) that may be working within us. When Jesus spoke with people he was able to discern that if people were not of God's Spirit, that they were of the other spirit.
"But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." Luke 9:55
So, what was God's assessment of that ancient King David's heart?
"Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." 1 Kings 15:5
David, like the rest of us, was caught up in vanity or vanities, and he received his wages specified in Romans 6: 23.
Death for human beings is a only a temporary cessation from life.
David will come up in the resurrection, but will it be the first resurrection or the second resurrection? There is no need for any third resurrection.
Time will tell...
John
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