Chapter 10 Ted’s Feast
(pg 129) While the leaders of the Worldwide Church of God were fighting to patch up the crumbling financial foundation, and to discredit Garner Ted Armstrong in order to prevent him from drawing away tithe-paying members, the Church of God International was getting off to a very good start. Garner Ted, once heard on hundreds of radio and TV stations with his commanding voice and rapid fire delivery, was starting over on just one station. Where at one time his broadcasts were produced in the most modern studios that excelled even commercial stations, he was now recording his first programs in a small commercial studio in Tyler, Texas, which operated out of a converted garage. The first broadcast was heard on July 27, 1978 over WOAI in San Antonio, Texas, a clear-channel, 50,000-watt station.
Soon after, in early August, the Church of God International began holding services in Tyler, Texas in a rented hall. The Church offices were initially located in a spare room of Garner Ted’s newly purchased ranch home just outside Tyler. It wasn’t long before the mail started coming in. Many of the envelopes contained financial donations. By early September, the CGI was located in rented offices and already had a staff of five employees. Plans were already being made to hold the Feast of Tabernacles and soon arrangements were made to rent the Convention Hall at Jekyll Island, Georgia. For approximately fifteen years the Worldwide Church (pg 130) had held the Feast at Jekyll Island, and in 1978 decided to move to a large hall in Savannah and drop the Jekyll Island site. With only one congregation meeting in Tyler, and a small radio ministry going, Garner Ted had absolutely no idea how many would show up at Jekyll Island. Paula and I decided to attend, and made reservations at an apartment-style resort hotel, the Sand Dollar. Ron Quinlain also decided to attend, and as it turned out we would be the only ones from the entire New York metropolitan area.
Gordon Muir, still on Quest payroll, although without any job, was watching the entire situation but didn’t know what he would do. I told him, “I believe that Ted is going to get the work done. I believe he is sincere and that this thing is really going to take off. Why don’t you come to the Feast with us at Jekyll?” Gordon wasn’t about to make any hasty decisions. He said, “I think Armstrongism ahs had it. The Worldwide Church of God is run by evil men and it appears that Herbert Armstrong is totally corrupt. I certainly can’t have any part of that and I’m trying to find a job so that I can get out from under this whole thing. If Stan hadn’t just thrown me out for no reason as he did, I would even feel guilty taking the pay checks. I may go back to England and resume practicing medicine. I just don't know. But I’ll tell you one thing, I’m not about to get wrapped up in this thing with Ted. You know the problems in the past, that’s going to haunt him and the Scriptures say that a minister must be of good report, and John, Ted is not of good report. I’m just not about to swap one Armstrong for another.”
This type of discussion went on for weeks on various phone calls and I constantly tried to convince Gordon that I thought that Garner Ted had fully repented of the past wrongdoings and that God had actually set him free in a strange way from the Worldwide Church. I was convinced that Garner Ted was doing the right thing. Paula had a more neutral attitude, but certainly wanted to look into it further, to see if this was where God would be working. Ministers in the Worldwide Church were telling their members that what they called “Ted’s Feast” was going to be a disaster and the whole thing would fall on its face. Anyone to get involved with Garner Ted, they said, would only find themselves out in the cold when the CGI collapsed.
Our entire family looked forward to the Feast at Jekyll. On October 14th, we piled the four kids into our station wagon and headed pg 131) south. Lat the next day we arrived in beautiful Jekyll Island. Having spent previous Feasts at Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, during the time of year when the air was getting chilly and leaves beginning to turn brilliant colors, this was quite a contrast. Warm weather, a beautiful ocean, and palm trees and other tropical plants, all contributed to the excitement of attending this first Fest of the Church of God International.
There were 520 people in attendance at this first Feast of the CGI, and, incredibly, they were from all over the world. There were people from Canada, Australia, France, and just about every state. There were many people who in their long drive to Jekyll Island had actually driven through as many as three locations where the Worldwide Church of God was holding their Feast. Obviously people were committed to making a break from the Worldwide Church of God. That attitude was quite well expressed by a man from Tennessee who as staying in an apartment near ours. He said, “Yes sir, these are the thinking people down here. They’ve had enough of old Herbert. One thing old Ted had better realize, we ain’t going to follow him either if he tries to pull any fast ones onus. Yep, we’re the ones who won’t follow a leader blindly again. If Ted does right, God’s going to use him mightily. If he does wrong, he better realize that the people who are here just ain’t going to put up with it.”
Of course I hoped that Garner Ted was sincere. I believed that he was, but at this point there was no way one could really be sure. As the Bible says, “By their fruits you shall know them”. It was much too early to see what kind of fruit would be born as a result of these fledgling efforts. Time will tell, and we certainly had to give it a chance and see what would happen. It was an exciting Feast and everyone seemed to feel the almost electrifying atmosphere of a new vibrant spirit. The sermons of Garner ted and Ron Dart, a former evangelist with the Worldwide Church of God all served to inspire us to pull together to do the work of Jesus Christ. There was to be no autocratic leadership, they said. The hard rule and the (pg 132) dictatorial government were all things of the past. They were not scriptural, we were told. Of course, those of us who were there knew that and it was good to hear that the leadership of the CGI planned to break out of that mold. Was this genuine? Was this spiritual high that we were on for a week for real, or were we just caught up in the flash of being part of something new? Time would tell.
During all the time of the Feast, the conduct of he Worldwide Church of God leadership was anything but Christian. Since it was customary to take offerings at the Feast on the first and last days which are holy days, it was necessary to open a local bank account. What Garner Ted did not realize until almost the last minute was the fact that his father and Rader had registered the name of the Church of God International in the State of Georgia when they found out that the CGI was going to hold the Feast at Jekyll Island. There was even a question as to whether or not the signature on the registration papers was truly that of Herbert Armstrong. Herbert Armstrong, the man who said that competition was the way of Satan, was engaging in a type of competitive practice worthy of the most unscrupulous businessmen. This entire maneuver was viewed as blatant attempt to seize the funds that would be deposited by the CGI in its bank account. The conduct the Worldwide Church was more in line with that of organized crime than that of a church.
The entire attempt was outsmarted very simply. The CGI opened its bank account in the name of the “Church of God International (a Texas non-profit corporation).”
Each day at the convention center, while CGI services were in progress, the Rader operatives were busy in the parking lot. The Worldwide Church had to know who the traitors were in order that they could be purged out from among “God’s faithful people.” License plates were photographed in order to aid in identifying those who were rebelling against Herbert Armstrong. While the Worldwide Church was playing its childish spy games, the CGI members were laughing in ridicule about the whole foolish scheme. The general attitude was that if they wanted to know who was attending CGI services, there were no secrets; people would be happy to tell their names. As long as the Rader spies seemed to enjoy their activity, we felt it would be poor sport to spoil their fun.
Everyday there were Ambassador College students visiting at Jekyll Island, having decided to come down from the Worldwide (pg 133) Church Feast site in Savannah. Even they were under close scrutiny. One student told of overhearing a festival monitor at the motel where he was registered, speaking to the desk clerk. “Festival monitor” sounds like a title out of the “new-speak” vocabulary of George Orwell’s 1984. Officially, their duty is to assist Feastgoers with any problems that they may have with their accommodations. However, their true purpose was somewhat more sinister than that. In this one instance, the festival monitor was overheard to instruct the desk clerk to make note of all Worldwide Church registrants who did not return to their rooms for the evening. Through this means, going on the assumption that anyone who did not return to their room for the evening would be staying over night at Jekyll Island, the spiritual guardians of the Worldwide Church would know which unfaithful members they were going to consign to the lake of fire.
In the past, it had been Herbert Armstrong’s policy, as well as Garner Ted’s, to speak at each Feast site throughout the United States, which meant about twelve speaking engagements in the course of eight days. In 1977, the father was unable to conduct his speaking tour due to his illness. This year, he was back at it again, although he was going to limit his speaking engagements to perhaps three or four. “Garner Ted’s Feast,” as he called it, could not be ignored and Armstrong felt the necessity to speak nearby. He chose to speak at the Worldwide Church Feast at St. Petersburg, Florida, where he announced mockingly, “My son has his little Feast going on up there at Jekyll Island and he has only 17 people, that’s all he has.” From the reports of those who heard Armstrong make his statement, it was felt that he actually believed that what he was saying was actually true. It appeared to many that he was becoming senile as had so often been reported.
Many who attended the Feast at St. Petersburg, upon hearing such a statement from Herbert Armstrong, followed by a scathing attack on his son, made that their last day in St. Petersburg and transferred to Jekyll Island for the balance of the week. Yet others who continued to follow Herbert Armstrong were even more strengthened in their resolve to remain with the Worldwide Church of God. After all, they reasoned, if Garner Ted was so evil that his own father would reject him in faithfulness to God, certainly they must follow Herbert Armstrong in order to please God.
It was obvious to any thinking person that the Worldwide (pg 134) Church leadership was reacting in a paranoid way to just about every move made by Garner Ted. Some time prior to the Feast, Garner Ted announced that the CGI was going to be open, no secrets. He announced that the financial details of the Church would be made public each year at the Feast, and that an audited financial statement would be issued each year at that time. This put the Worldwide Church on the spot, as they had not released any financial information to the membership in several years.
While Garner Ted was releasing full details of the first couple of months operation of the fledgling Church to those gathered at Jekyll Island, the Worldwide Church of God was distributing what it called the “Treasurers Report.” This report came out in October and was merely two pages with some graphs showing the apportionment of income and expenses. Included was a very brief summery showing the total revenue of $76,161,300 and total expenses of $68,4290,500 leaving a deficit of $1,259,200 for the year 1977. There was no way from this abbreviated report that one could glean out any meaningful information other than a few grand totals. The interesting point is that while this report covered the period ending December 31, 1977 it was not released until October 1978, after Gamer Ted had announced to the press that the CGI would not keep its financial affairs secret as was the practice with the Worldwide Church. In a misleading statement signed by Stanley Rader, the “Worldwide Church Report” said, “The Work’s financial statements were audited and certified each calendar year by an independent firm of Certified Public Accountants.” What Rader failed to note was the name of the accounting firm – Rader, Cornwall and Kessler, more recently known as Cornwall, Kessler and Pallazzo. That was the firm with which Rader had been associated for so many years. While he claimed to have withdrawn himself from any act of participation in the firm, the matter of independence was certainly one of question. According to Rader’s own statements, there was never any cash consideration given to him by others for his share of the business, and he continued to maintain an association with Henry Cornwall in their ownership of Worldwide Advertising.
At this moment, and perhaps it is a mistake to speak plainly because we all know we all must keep up appearances at all costs in our culture, but what the hell.
