Is Christian Educational Ministries Getting Ready To Sue Allie Dart's Ronald Dart Evanglisitic Assocation?

Before Allie Dart died, she wanted to make sure that the assets of her estate would NOT go to Christian Educational Ministries.  Since her death, CEM is contesting her will. As usual, Church of God members are such a loving group of people!

COG News is reporting the following:

Ronald L. Dart Evangelistic Association

The press release announcing the formation of ‘The Ronald L. Dart Evangelistic Association’ (RLDEA), created by Allie Dart, stated: “Mrs. Dart’s will prohibits the assets of her estate from going directly to Christian Educational Ministries.”

Lawyers appointed by CEM's board (now headed by Larry Watkins) are contesting her will.

Wes White has clarified the RLDEA's position regarding CEM's legal dispute. (Edited statement)

1. I have nothing to do with the estate of Allie Dart. What goes on with Allie's estate is none of my business, and I have no desire to get involved with it.

2. What goes on in CEM is none of my business either, and I have no desire to get involved in CEM's business. I have no ill will toward anyone in CEM, no animosity on my part. There were rumors that I was trying to get this or that done in CEM. Not true.

3. Any legal disputes that are going on right now between Allie's estate and CEM have absolutely nothing to do with me. I am completely uninvolved in the legal difficulties that are taking place right now between CEM and Allie's estate. 

If Allie's estate ever gets settled, and if there's some money left over after the lawyers take big chunks out of it, and if some of her money ends up going to RLDEA, as dictated by her will, then at that time it will be my responsibility to help expedite those funds in the way that Allie asked us to. So, until that day comes, if it comes, because lawyers are really good at eating up estates with their legal fees. Until that day comes, I have nothing that I can further report regarding the RLDEA. Further, both sides have asked me not to comment on these matters of Allie's estate, and it is with great pleasure that I comply with that request. 

4. Let's be really clear on another point. My commitment to refrain in commenting on these legal matters does not stop me from preaching the doctrines of the Church of God. Further, I will not stop preaching the following two doctrines. I have been preaching these two doctrines for decades, and I am not going to stop now. 

The first doctrine is this: the Bible makes it very clear that it's wrong to take your brother to court. Those of you who follow this show remember that I talked about this at length on SOS #34. 

The second doctrine is: stay out of the business of judging who is and who isn't a Christian. If someone says he is a Christian, it's not my job to say, oh, he's not a Christian. Only Jesus can make that determination. Many people want to get around the 1st Corinthians 6 prohibition of suing fellow Christians by using this cop out line, saying, this man's not my brother, and so I can sue him. And the way many a person makes this claim is to do it by saying things like, well, he's not in my alphabet soup CoG. I'm in the ABC CoG, and he's in the XYZ CoG, therefore he's not my brother, and I can sue him. Or they say, this guy's not even a Sabbath keeper. That means that he's definitely not my brother, because, if he doesn't even keep the Sabbath, he's not a Christian. Again, I'm not making a declaration that all Sunday keepers are Christians. That's not my call to make. Only Jesus can make that call.

Then to prove how dysfunctional the Church of God is, we find out that CEM is following in the footsteps of the Worldwide Church of God in using sneaky underhanded tactics to thwart fellow brethren.

On Friday evening, October 20th, Wes White talked about the possibility of Christian Educational Ministries suing the Ronald L Dart Evangelistic Association.

He began by recalling when the Church of God International, a breakaway group from the Worldwide Church of God, was formed in 1978, “a couple of these folks went down to the courthouses in Texas and California to reserve the name CGI. This was so they could set up new churches in those two states under that new church name.

And, before they had time to set up the name CGI in the other 48 states, the lawyers over in WCG ran out into those 48 states and reserved the name CGI in those 48 states. Now, did WCG have any desire to use the name CGI in those 48 states? Of course not. Their sneaky act was very clearly a dirty trick done to undermine CGI. That was their only reason. To hurt CGI. 

And I’ve got a confession. Back then, I applauded WCG’s action to do this. And I was wrong. Today, I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit that I thought it was a good thing to undermine what my brothers and sisters were doing when they were setting up CGI back in 1978. I think it was around 1985 or 86 that God softened my hard heart and showed me that this is no way to treat a brother.” ...

“Ron Dart left CGI about 25 years ago and started CEM ... I have been told by church leaders of that time that Ron had a severance agreement with CGI ... there were some people who claimed that Ron violated that ...  And they said to these CGI leaders, “You need to sue Ron Dart.” And guess what? The leadership of CGI said – We are not going to sue Ron Dart. And these other people got mad.” ...

“I bring all this up to show you that there are at least some who have taken a Christian point of view when it comes to disputes such as church splits. There are at least some of our brethren who say – We’ve got to be nice to our brothers in the church. 

That’s a little bit of history. Let’s talk about the here and now – what’s going on at this moment. A lot of you have been asking me for an update on how things are going in my attempts to reach out to the leadership of CEM so that we at the Ronald L Dart Evangelistic Association can have a harmonious relationship with CEM. Because we want to help them – we want to assist them -- in their efforts to promote Ron’s stuff ...

I met with one of the leaders of CEM on the third day of the Feast. Also present was a minister who’s not a part of CEM. It was just the three of us alone. At a table  overlooking the lake.

One of the important points that I hope we got across to these guys was that we in the RLDEA have no desire to remove board members from CEM. I hope I made it very clear that what they do at CEM is none of my business.

Second point of assurance I gave was related to the issue of Ron Dart’s intellectual property rights. I gave them assurances that, as far as I am concerned, Ron’s intellectual property belongs to CEM and not to the RLDEA. We don’t own them and we have no intention of trying to take them from CEM.

Now, there’s a back story to this IP issue. Before Allie went into her last round of surgery, she told me she didn’t believe that CEM should own Ron’s property rights. So she asked me to research this issue with an IP attorney. Not because she wanted to sue anyone. Suing was never an option in her mind. She just wanted to know what all her options were regarding Ron’s IPs. 

So I found an IP attorney in Dallas and I talked to him about this. He told me that Allie had two options: Either Allie could accept the status quo that CEM owns Ron’s intellectual properties - or she could sue CEM. He said there was no third option. When I related this to Allie, she was a little disappointed, because she was hoping for some third option where there could be some kind of sharing agreement between her and CEM. Some kind of compromise. But, once she realized she only had two options, she immediately chose to accept the status quo, because she said there was no way she was going to take her brothers to court. Suing these people is NOT something that Ron would want.

Now, let’s get back to the meeting I had with a CEM board member and this other guy. I said to them near the end of this positive and productive meeting – I’d like to clear the air on two final issues.  

The first issue is that we at RLDEA attempted to reserve the domain name RLDEA.com, and we were astounded to learn that one of the CEM employees in Whitehouse had already reserved it! Just recently. Like a week or so before we tried to get it. And I told these two guys that I thought this was underhanded, because CEM has no need for the domain name RLDEA.com. I told them that the action of reserving this particular domain name was too reminiscent of when WCG reserved the name of CGI in 48 states only for the purpose of keeping GTA from using it.

So I asked the leader from CEM if he knew that this had happened. “Were you aware of this action taken by one of your paid employees?” Well, he said, he couldn’t remember. He couldn’t even remember whether or not he got an email on this subject.  And he couldn’t remember whether or not he had approved it. 

So then, I asked him if he would find out if he had been informed of this action and find out if he had approved of it. And I asked if he’d get back to me. Since he couldn’t remember. He said he would get back to me. I’m still waiting.

I then asked this leader in CEM if this action is something that he condones or condemns. And he refused to take a stance on it one way or another.

So then I brought up my second concern. I told these two fellows that I found out just the day before that CEM had hired a lawyer – a litigating lawyer – and that lawyer had attempted to contact the lawyer who represents Allie’s estate. At the moment of this meeting during the Feast, the two lawyers hadn’t made a connection yet, so I had no idea what the litigating lawyer for CEM wanted from Allie’s estate lawyer. 

So, in this meeting, I asked a simple and direct question. I asked – Do you have some intention of suing us? And I thought they would say – “Oh no, we would never take a brother to court. We just want to clarify a few points.” That’s what I hoped to hear. But that’s not what they said. And let’s be clear. They did NOT say – “Oh yes. We are indeed going to sue you.” What they said was that a lawsuit against us was a possibility. Have I made that distinction really clear?

The other fellow in the room (a minister in the COGs) said that the CEM board members have what they call ‘fiduciary responsibilities’. He said that, if it’s determined that it’s in the best interests of CEM to sue us, then he said that’s what they should do. They would have to. Well then next, this minister turned the question back at me. He said -- Wouldn’t you do the same thing if you were in their situation? And my response was: No! I said -- No way ...

Brethren, I can’t tell you how disappointed I was when I left the meeting ... My disappointment stems from the fact that this meeting once again demonstrated to me that too many in the COGs are still dysfunctional and still know either nothing or next to nothing about Christian conflict resolution. And I know that, when I make that statement, some of you out there will get mad at me ...

If you’re gonna get mad, get mad at our collective ignorance of how to treat each other as brothers in the church.   

If you’re gonna get mad, get rid of the collective malevolence that exists between brothers in the church.  

If you’re gonna get mad, get mad at the collective inability or unwillingness that exists out there on matters of how to deal with each other in a Christian manner. 

You want to do something about this? Then temper your disappointment - with prayer. Let’s all go before our heavenly Father and ask him to heal the dysfunctionality that currently exists in the COGs. Take it to God, because the last thing we need is for people to start getting mad and getting wars started. We don’t need that. 

And I think it’s important that I relate the following to you. When our brethren in the CG7 movement look at us in the Armstrong COG movement, they’re kind of aghast. They don’t understand why there’s so much acrimony among our people.”

Wes White concluded the broadcast with a study of 1 Corinthians 6:1-7 and other scriptures on resolving disputes.

The above notes are a small part of the broadcast, which is available on YouTube- SOS#34 ‘Can you take your Christian Brother to court?’ You might also wish to view a related broadcast SOS#33 ‘Who is my brother?’

31 Years Ago

HERBERT ARMSTRONG, 93, DIES

HERBERT ARMSTRONG, 93, DIES; EVANGELIST AND A BROADCASTER

Special to the New York Times

Published: January 17, 1986

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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16— Herbert W. Armstrong, the broadcasting evangelist who was founder and pastor general of the Worldwide Church of God, died today at his home in Pasadena, Calif. He was 93 years old. Church officials said no official cause of death had been established, but they added that Mr. Armstrong's health had been declining about four months because of a heart ailment. 

Mr. Armstrong presided as the ''Chosen Apostle'' of God over the wealthy fundamentalist Christian church, as well as over the Ambassador College and the Ambassador International College Foundation, both in Pasadena. The Ambassador Auditorium on the campus is a lavish concert hall where famous musicians and artists have performed. 

The church publishes Plain Truth magazine and broadcasts television programs on 374 stations around the world, David Hulme, a church spokesman, said. 

Officials of the 80,000-member church announced last Tuesday that Mr. Armstrong had named Joseph Tkach, 59, as his successor. Ralph K. Helge, the church's general counsel, said in a statement that Mr. Armstrong had felt it was time to ''pass the baton'' and establish a new spiritual leader to avert dissent when he died. Advertising Career, Then Radio 

Herbert Armstrong was born July 31, 1892, to Horace and Eva Armstrong in Des Moines. In 1934 the young Mr. Armstrong abandoned a career in advertising to found the Radio Church of God in 1934 with the first broadcast of his program, ''The World Tomorrow.'' 

He incorporated his California ministry in in 1947 as the Worldwide Church of God and began spreading his conservative beliefs with alternately fiery and folksy sermons. The religion is a blend of fundamental Christianity, non-belief in the trinity and some tenets of Judaism and Seventh-Day Sabbath doctrine. 

Members pay the church at least 10 percent and as much as 20 to 30 percent of their income, and celebrate Passover and Yom Kippur as holy days rather than Easter and Christmas. Mr. Armstrong espoused creationism and enjoying material wealth as a sign of divine favor; he held that he was preparing his followers for a Utopia to be ruled by Jesus. Controversy and Feud With Son 

The church has been embroiled in controversy, ranging from the estrangement of Mr. Armstrong and his son, Garner Ted Armstrong, to lawsuits by former church members and an investigation by the state Attorney General of reports of mismanagement of church funds. 

As membership swelled in the mid-1970's, trouble arose between Mr. Armstrong and Garner Ted Armstrong, his youngest child and heir apparent. The son appeared weekly on 165 television stations across the country as the voice of ''The World Tomorrow'' and was executive vice president of the church. 

The church had a strict policy against remarriage for divorced people that required new church members to dissolve second marriages and remarry their original spouses. Garner Ted Armstrong vehemently opposed rescinding that order and his father's subsequent marriage in 1977 to a second wife, Ramona, 44 years old and divorced. His first wife, Loma, died in 1967. He divorced the second in 1984. 

Mr. Armstrong and his son also argued over control of the college, the auditorium, and other holdings. Herbert Armstrong excommunicated his son in 1978. Case Led to Curb in Law 

Garner Ted Armstrong, supported by some former church members, subsequently charged that his father and other officials had spent millions of the church's estimated $60 million annual income on personal expenses. In 1979 the Attorney General's office got a court order to place the church in receivership, saying the officials had ''looted'' $1 million a year from tithed funds. 

The case was dropped in 1980 after a new state law, prompted by the Armstrong case, prohibited the Attorney General from investigating the finances of religious groups for fraud and mismanagement. 

The father-son rift was never healed. ''I tried repeatedly to contact my father up until two weeks ago, but it was all to no avail,'' Garner Ted Armstrong said in an interview from the headquarters of his Church of God International at Tyler, Tex. ''He had a heart condition, and I knew his health was failing quite rapidly. My sister said he died quietly while sitting in a chair.'' 

Herbert Armstrong also leaves his daughters Beverly Gott and Dorothy Mattson, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Arrangements for private funeral services are pending. 

photo of Herbert Armstrong (AP)

Herbert Armstrong: "Now I don’t know any cases where a WHITE MAN wants to marry a black woman, WHY IS THAT?"

My Interracial Family Would Not Have Been Possible 

Without the Lovings’ Bravery

The Painful Truth has a post up that contains comments by HWA that he uttered during a sermon as he answered a letter from a church member.

Thanks to the PT for posting this.  I had forgotten this tripe which I had heard many times over the decades.

Herbert replies in a sermon to a letter written by one of his followers:

“Today I want to speak on what may possibly be the very next attack that Satan will use against this church […] interracial marriage.”

“It was stated that the blacks in God’s Church are dissatisfied with such doctrines that are not in keeping with the current social trend in the world [civil rights movement] that are a part of this nations background. […] And this letter also says that they are trying to line up a group of blacks to give ME AN ULTIMATUM, that I get on the side of the social trend of this world, or else! I’ll tell you what I’ll give them, I’LL GIVE THEM THE ‘OR ELSE!’ (church audience laughs) I WON’T COMPROMISE ONE MILLIONTH OF AN INCH! And if you will, you can go into the Lake of Fire if you want to. […] Some are saying that we have to to have racial balance at ambassador college. […]”

“Genesis 6:1; And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

Genesis 6:2; That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of ALL WHICH THEY CHOOSE.”

“That’s what they want to do today. A black man wants to take a white woman for a wife, THAT’S WHAT HE CHOOSES. […] Now I don’t know any cases where a WHITE MAN wants to marry a black woman, WHY IS THAT? Answer that for me! Why is it only BLACK MEN who want to marry white women?”

Now let’s look to the SOURCE of right understanding-the BEGINNING of knowledge-the WAY to wisdom! Does GOD teach integration? Does GOD condemn segregation? Does GOD approve mixed marriages?

Today, the world around, there are movements everywhere to UNITE! The spirit of UNITING is in the air! The nations of Europe are trying to UNITE-starting with the Common Market. Nasser is trying to UNITE the Arabs-with himself, of course, as ruler! The new Pope is carrying on his predecessor’s fight to UNITE all religions-under his iron-clad supreme authority, of course. The Communists are trying to break all color barriers, and, by intermarriage between races, UNITE all humanity as ONE color, and ONE race, with Communist leaders ruling over them.

The PT also includes this bit about Big Sandy where they held segregated events to keep the "Negros" and the "Latin" brethren separated from the white folk.

Please go and read the entire article here.  It is shocking...  Herbert W. Armstrong. Racist.