One of the sickest, most wretched examples of the greed of HWA was found in a co-worker letter of February 21, 1974.
In this long, drawn-out co-worker letter, which, "coincidentally" was drafted two months before opening date of Ambassador Auditorium, HWA said that when Jesus Christ returns, He will "demand of each of us to show how much we have used the GIFT of His Holy Spirit - how much we have CONTRIBUTED to His Work -- the PURPOSE for which
He put us in His Church NOW! He will demand of each of us to show how much we have grown spiritually in the way of God's Law -- the way of CONTRIBUTING AND GIVING. Those who prove disloyal or drop out of the Work -- THE ONLY PURPOSE FOR WHICH YOU WERE CALLED NOW -- will find themselves in the position of the one described..."
Of course, he meant the Lake of Fire, and loss of salvation.
Why? Because you stopped giving to Herbert's Building Fund - "the purpose for which you were called" - because you were "getting" and Herbert was not.
Herbert Armstrong was extremely skilled at "Spiritual Double Talk", and you can see that in the quote above. He will first use the religious context to justify himself, and follow it with the physical context - what he really means to say.
"The Gift of The Holy Spirit...how much we have contributed to His Work."
"Grown spiritually in the way of God's Law...Contributing and Giving."
Saying and preaching that on Christ's Return, that Christ would ask of the brethren "How much have you CONTRIBUTED to His Work?" and "CONTRIBUTING AND GIVING" was a very deceiving way to shroud a physical appeal for financial funds into a spiritual call of contribution.
The End of the letter proves this:
It was YOUR job to fund Herbert's going before kings, presidents, emperors, prime ministers, and the Leaders of many nations as God's and YOUR representative.
If was YOUR job to fund him getting the "message of the Kingdom of God into all the world" - which he was not doing even in the slightest.
"Let's put our hearts and fervent PRAYERS" always meant "SEND MONEY".
Let there be no doubt - in all of his writings, the picture becomes clear.
Herbert had severe financial concerns. He was concerned that he had to meet the long-term 15+ year loans that he had spent the last 14 years sucking the blood and life out of enough good-hearted and scared out of their minds people through the extortionate threat of losing salvation, the tribulation, and Petra, and every conceivable tactic of manipulation and guilt to get the glorious oh so holy Master Plan of Herbert finally completed. Now he had to meet the obligations. If people drop out, and he didn't meet the revenue, he had a problem. Of course, it would have been your fault. So he had to keep up the pressure. At least until the loans were finally paid off - somewhere 15 to 25 years from then. Oh, somewhere around the Middle 1990s.
He was concerned that now that he has these loans etched in stone for the Auditorium, his lavish world-travelling lifestyle talking about "A Strong Hand from Somewhere" and "world peace" would not be able to continue.
He admitted - if you will boldly read between the lines (ignoring his salesmanship, and looking at it in the context of a businessman) at the context of all of his writings over 40 years - that the purpose of the Worldwide Church of God was to FUND Herbert's "message" and "work" on Earth.
And expensive buildings, luxury treasures, and paintings, suits, dinners, outings, trips, expense accounts - all under the pretense of religion. ALL while the worst types of sin and debauchery were constantly happening at Headquarters from the ministers and leadership of the Church - who were doing a worldly work with worldly principles.
What an abomination to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What a deception to all those who fell for it. What a GOAL for crooked ministers who saw business potential.
Which explains so much of today's problems in the COG's.
Contributed by SHT. Read additional original material, or Contact SHT at The "Owl in Some Poor Wasteland" Blog, which is linked here.
James