The Rapid Fall of HWA's Golden Boy (Updated)

The Painful Truth has a post up from a step daughter of Kevin Dean referring to his arrest on September 27th for 10 counts of child molestation and five counts for sexual battery.

Kevin Dean was one of HWA's highly favored confidants as was his brother Aaron Dean (UCG hierarchy).  When these two spoke the people in Pasadena jumped.  They first got their start with HWA as stewards on the church jet planes.  The female stewardess had been dumped because of GTA's sexually offenses against them.  They figured men serving as stewards would solve the problem.

Controversy has always swirled around Pasadena about Kevin.  When he was part of Imperial schools rumors were rampant about his dalliance's with students.  He ungraciously dumped his first wife for a girl from Imperial Schools.

Then we had heard he moved to Santa Barbara to get away from the rumors and accusations.

Booking photo

Otagosh blog also has a link about this story with some details on the arrests.

Myra McQueen  has info on her blog about the Dean Brother's shenanigans during the receivership.

It was very obvious now that Rader was calling the shots and that he had put the fear in HWA. He would continue to do so until the Dean bros (according to the AR) managed to tape a conversation between Rader and Ramona in which they were discussing placing HWA in a nursing home and taking over the church. Statements in the AR (Jan '83) read-"Those close to Ted, however, feel his distrust of Ramona was quite justified. Many observers are convinced she was more loyal to Stan Rader than to HWA. And as we reported in a previous issue, it was a secret tape recording of a Stan Rader-Ramona conversation taped by the Dean brothers [former stewards on the GII] that was responsible for the sacking of Stan Rader. Insiders claim that it was also that tape recording that was responsible for the Herbert-Ramona marriage going sour." This tape recording of the conversation between Rader & Ramona was first mentioned in AR #15 http://hwarmstrong.com/ar/AR15.html & later in AR #16 http://hwarmstrong.com/ar/AR16.html

You may locate the AR archives at- http://web.archive.org/web/20050204002918/herbertwarmstrong.com/ar/index.htm

Aaron Dean went on to become HWA's assistant, replacing Bob Fahey.

Actually, the recording would not have worked if the blackmail had still been in Rader's possession at the time the tape was played. To interject here-Rader had carefully placed college maintenance men in the highest ministerial positions after Ted's disfellowshippment AR 10-'79 http://hwarmstrong.com/ar/AR10.html) which included Tkach and Ellis LaRavia. Were they the only control over the ministry he could get? Most were not very well educated. Tkach did not even have a high school diploma and had been unable to pass any of his college academics at AC.

The Armstrong leadership was no longer in control of the Armstrongite ministry that had been trained by HWA. The regular evangelists, such as Rod Meredith, Herman Hoeh, etc. lost their high position in authority when Tkach was put in charge of the ministry in '79. Many were disfellowshipped (ie, Dave Antion, C. Wayne Cole, etc.).

This would not have happened if Ted had been under Rader's influence, because Rader did not seek the top religious position. He just wanted to be in control of the money. But with Ted gone, he knew that he had to place his myrmidons in positions of control, in order to maintain control of the money when HWA died. He obviously knew where every dime was in all those corporate soles that were scattered out to other states, as well as in the thirteen bank accounts listed under HWA's name.

According to Ted's booklet, HWA had been afraid of being "placed in a mental institution" ("Origin" pg. 67)"He was becoming paranoid about plots against him" (same pg). This accusation is also repeated in DLA's tape "'79 Disfellowshippments and Firings." along with the fact that C. Wayne Cole (the then head of the ministerial dept.) was consulted by HWA about how to go about firing Rader. Of course the loyal Cole tried to help HWA and was stabbed in the back as a result. This information is available on David Antion's taped message, "79 Firings and Disfellowshippments"

After the Dean bros. tape, HWA was able to fire Rader himself (with pay of course, because he knew too much to just get rid of him). But by this time Tkach (whom Ted refers to in his booklet as "one of our former gardeners, who had risen, for some unknown reason, to be in my father's circle of trusted confidants." Origin pg 56) apparently took charge of HWA's ministry and his empire. Did he steal the blackmail? Did the Dean bros?

One of Kevin's smear campaigns also led to the famous Kessler letter.

A Church of God Unlike Any You Have Ever Seen

I found this web site tonight about a Church of God that is fascinating.

I found myself looking at many of the pictures and checking out some of their music and watched the video on their home page.

They seem to be a mixture of Mennonite/Amish and look a whole lot like the FLDS.  You can see some of the women wearing white bonnets.  They all dress conservatively.

One thing that did strike me was how 'happy' they all seem in the pictures. laughing and having a good time.  They seem to have gatherings all over the world, one recently here in CA.

Music seems to be a big thing for them.  It kid of reminds me of shape-note singing. They also do not have an issue of raising their hands and praising   God.


They certainly are web savy, do not have an issue with cars and buses and other modern things.

They also do not seem to have a problem with women preaching. When you look through their pictures you will see them preaching.  Yet, in many of the pictures the women are separate from the men.  Strange.

They kind of look like what I would picture the Church of God folk in Stansbury at the turn of the century.

The Church of God

Against Armstrongism: Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp in their own words

 

Against Armstrongism: Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp in their own words

Scott C. Blue

Blurb.com
2010

Against Armstrongism 

This is an interesting book.  Scott Blue has taken the writings of the Early Church Father’s (Ignatius, Polycarp and Chrysostom) and used their words to demolish Armstrongism.  Unfortunately for Blue, most Armstrongites will never read his book.  He has several strikes going against him.  The book is too intellectual, it quotes writings from Roman Catholics and also Blue has converted to Roman Catholicism after leaving Armstrongism.

Armstrongites have always been taught (and still are today) by HWA and his ministers that Catholicism is the Great Whore of Babylon, the Harlot Church, the false religions and the persecutor of the brethren.  The mere fact that he quotes Catholics and has become a Catholic his opinions are irrelevant and heretical in their sight.

Because he quotes Ignatius, Polycarp and John Chrysostom he is delving into intellectualism in the minds of many Armstrongites.  The only relevant word of God today comes from HWA’s writings or the pen’s of various splinter cult leaders.

Other than the Author’s Note and Preface, Blue has added no written commentary to the writings.  It is the Early Church Father’s speaking for themselves.  As you read it you will quickly see though how these men’s words rip Armstrongism to the core.

I find the book interesting because of my interest in early church history.  Many will not, unfortunately.

He has also written a book about De-mystifying the Mysteries” a debunking of Mystery of the Ages.  I will order it soon to add to my collection.

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From the book:

Author’s Note

In 2006 shortly after our wedding, my wife Lauren and I were starting a family and began looking into going to church.  Neither of us knew where to begin, primarily due to our completely different, however similarly negative experiences with religion as children.

My wife had attended a loosely based Pentecostal congregation as a child whose pastor’s wife sat in the front pew while his mistress sat beside him on the “stage”; obviously not leaving a great taste in her mouth concerning organized religion.

I, on the other hand, was raised in The Worldwide Church of God, a sabbatarian (7^th day) non-denominational group who saw its monumental rise in the mid to late part of the 20^th century.  It all but imploded on itself in the mid 1980’s when it’s Pastor General, Herbert A Armstrong, died and the new leadership took a more “orthodox” approach to their doctrines.

Neither Lauren nor I had been to church in over a decade, and really had no established foundation on which to make decisions of faith and morals.

We knew we wanted our children to grow up with a faith based set of morals, however due to our own experiences as children we were skeptical about religion in general.

We started to read everything “Christian” we could get out hands on, which conflicted with one another a lot of the time on a theological level.  We decided at that point to start from the beginning and take a historical approach to our decision.

This research led us to Polycarp, Ignatius, Clement of Roan, Justin Martyr, and Eusebius to name a few; what I now know to be the Apostolic Fathers and Sub Apostolic Fathers of the Church – something I discovered both Catholic and prominent Protestant scholars agreed on.

Our next step was to find a Church who matched what these early Fathers wrote. In a nutshell, our first steps towards falling in love with and embracing the Roman Catholic Church.

Our biggest grievance through our learning process, especially before going through the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), was a lack of books we could get on the early Fathers without interpretation.

Worldwide Church of God embraced many of the Hebrew holy days, kept the Jewish Sabbath, Passover, The Day of Atonement, as well as a few others and condemned Orthodoxy’s celebration of Easter, Christmas, the existence of souls and Saints, including the original Apostles souls.

Having such a conflicting background with what I was reading only increased my need to see the whole document.  I needed to read the entire Epistle, not just a quoted excerpt taken from script in order to re-enforce a point.  Much like the Apostle Thomas, I needed to see it with my own eyes before I believed it.

I quickly learned that many of the writings were online or in large, expensive leather bound books, the latter was not something that was affordable at the time.

I remember saying several times to my wife as I poured hour after hour over the writings online on Catholic Encyclopedia, “Someone should compile these letters into a book.”

A year later, my wife and I came into the Catholic Church. As we talked to people in passing about our conversion, Protestants as well as cradle Catholics, we always had to refer people to the internet to mixed reviews; some people just want to sit in a comfortable chair and read.  Again, I found myself saying, “Someone should compile these letters into a book.”

The following RICA year, my wife and I were asked to be on the team. I found myself once again referring people to the Catholic Encyclopedia website and saying, “If there was a book that had all the letters together, that would be a great supplemental teaching tool.”  Then it hit me. Stop wishing for someone to do it, and do it.

The following Epistles are the words of Sts. Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp as available on the Catholic Encyclopedia online (www.newadvent.corg).  The translation of these Epistles are public domain.

I know a lot of people that are hurting because they feel lost and confused, specifically people who were members of the Worldwide Church of God or the children of its members. Some of them know what they don’t believe, but not what to believe at this point.  The Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp are an important link between the teachings of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church, especially when one considers that an official cannon of Christian Scripture was not first agreed upon until the end of the 4^th century; some three hundred years later than the Synod of Hippo (393).

Many of the doctrines of he Worldwide Church of God are similar and in some cases identical to other denominations such as the 7^th Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormon Church.  I feel these Epistles can also open up the light of truth to these groups while providing a historical backdrop of the early Christian Church.

These Epistles are historical documents as well as Sacred Tradition.  They stand on their own.  They don’t need us near as much as we need them. As far as interpretation goes, especially verses WCG doctrine, they speak for themselves in tone, tempo and doctrine.  Very little is left to the imagination.

In addition, I have included a homily on Ignatius of Antioch by St. John Chrysostom (A.D. 350-407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church and what many scholars argue is the greatest speaker ever heard from a Christian pulpit.

These letters provide faith, hope and love.  Hopefully this will open the doors of ones heart and mind to let the Light in.

Scott C. Blue