Herbert Armstrong and L Ron Hubbard

In Memoriam: Two Con Men, Herbert W. Armstrong and L. Ron Hubbard

Armstrong and Hubbard

Twenty-five years ago this week, the two greatest con men of the 20^th century both died, within the space of eight days of each other. The creativity and sheer chutzpah of Herbert W. Armstrong and L. Ron Hubbard are worth remembering, and in some ways even treasuring as a species of human achievement, with the same sort of awe one reserves for the destructive power of a tsunami. Though both men were failures in the business world, when they turned to religion they discovered a sucker market of breathtaking scope.

Herbert W. Armstrong, born in 1892, worked at several jobs in the world of commercial advertising, failing at each. In the 1920s, he decided that religion was an easier racket, and fought to take control of a small congregation in Oregon. He failed at that, too, but on his way out the door managed to take the mailing list with him.

In 1935 Armstrong launched Plain Truth magazine, initially in mimeographed form; at about the same time he began regular radio broadcasts. To distinguish himself from the evangelical pack, Armstrong specialized in prophecy. He got lucky when an early prophecy, that Mussolini would conquer Ethiopia, actually came to pass. That a mechanized army would defeat spear-carrying tribesmen may seem to be not going too far out on a limb, but Armstrong hyped it into something special.

More prophecies followed, as Armstrong discovered that his audiences ate them up: Italy would conquer Palestine; then Russia would attack Palestine; then Britain would fall to the Germans; then German armies would appear on American shores. The accuracy rate began to deteriorate, but in wartime America where censorship kept the news bland and upbeat, Armstrong’s juicy predictions built his following.

The end of the German threat in 1945 would have dealt a lesser man a serious blow. Armstrong responded by assuring his readers and listeners – for decades on end – that Hitler was still alive, and ready to strike again any minute now.

There is much more to the article at Secular News Daily

One interesting tidbit I learned recently was that L Ron Hubbard was a distant relative of Elbert Hubbard who HWA idolized as a great thinker.

Divorce and Remarriage

Of all the teachings of Herbert Armstrong that he taught, the most vile was the Divorce and Remarriage doctrine.  Hundreds of families were destroyed by this asinine teaching.  Rod Meredith had his hand in destroying countless marriages too.  He forced apart long time married couples in the Dayton area who had been previously married.  Meredith was as sick as Armstrongism when it came to enforcement.  Of course that all changed when Herb decided he wanted to marry his secretary.  Suddenly it was ok for couple to remain married.  Some tied to go back to their previous spouses, but too many years had passed.

There is a thread on Facebook about people who's families were destroyed by Armstrong and Meredith.  Two are quoted below.

My Story: In 1968 when I was 4yrs old, and my sister was 9mos old. A pastor from our local WCG congregation came and told my parents that because my father had divorced his 1st wife, and later married our mother. Their marriage was not valid according to God, and therefore was not accepted, and honored by God. He told my father to move out immediately because he was living in sin. My dad did, and because they told him not to have contact with us, he moved about 500 miles away. My sister and I never got to bond with our dad. Because my dads' income was what we lived on, we fell into a terrible poverty. Mom tried to hold down the fort working 2 menial jobs, and trying to pay 3 tithes, there wasn't enough to sustain us, and we had to go on welfare. Then 4yrs later in 1972, while we were at church, the pastor walks up out of the blue, and tells my mother that the D&R doctrine had been amended, and that she was free to reconcile with her husband. My mom looked at him and said "you've got to be joking". Later she said she'd wanted to slap that pastor. I was later able to spend a little time with my dad, but the damage had been done, and we never bonded, and years would go by without us seeing, or talking to him. He is alive today, and I've forgiven him, but i haven't seen or spoken to him in 9 years.

___________

My parents had a different problem. My dad was in the Church, but my mom wasn't, she hated it and hated that my dad sent them so much money. It destroyed their marriage (I have to admit it might have fell apart anyway who knows). My mom tried to get a divorce, but back then (1960's) it was really hard to get divorced. My dad wouldn't allow her to get a divorce. She had no means of support being a stay at home mom and didn't want to leave her children. My dad could not divorce her because he knew he could never remarry and find a new partner. They lived together for years without speaking, the children had to relay messages, plus my dad became abusive towards my mother and she fought back. The police were constantly called to our house. Eventually they threatened to take the children away, so my mother stopped fighting, and became an alcoholic instead, and then a drug addict, and then became mentally ill. Eventually they threw my dad out of the church and after studying the Bible himself he decided that the D and R rules were wrong, and he went and made up for lost time having many girlfriends. My mom got put in a mental hospital and never regained her sanity.

Andie Redwine: What Happens on May 22?

Andie Redwine reflects on "The Day After May 21" and her experience with the same kind of lies when Herbert Armstrong made a similar prediction.;

Forgive my cynicism, but I’ve been through this before.

I grew up in a church where I was scared to death of Jesus coming back at any moment. Luckily, members of my church were going to be whisked away on the wings of angels to a place of safety while the rest of the world wished that they had heeded the voice of Herbert Armstrong, my cult leader.

I was always afraid that I wasn’t going to be among the faithful. And at six years old, this can be a pretty paralyzing fear.

The people involved in my church weren’t monsters. They weren’t unkind. They weren’t unintelligent. They had just been duped by a false prophet who used fear and mind control techniques to recruit and sustain a large money-making operation. In the name of God, Herbert took well-intentioned seekers of Christ and turned them into devoted followers. Followers of Herbert.

 This was before the Internet, but Herbert’s game before religion had been advertising. He created a magazine called The Plain Truth, he had a television show, and he was a prolific author (although a great deal of his work was allegedly plagiarized). And because this was before the Internet, there was very little ability to fact check any of Herbert’s ideas or background. 

And he was convincing as hell. In its heyday, Herbert’s Worldwide Church of God centered in Pasadena, California had congregations all over the world. New York. Sydney. Brussels. Bangkok. Amman. Chicago. Philadelphia. London. Paris. He was a go-getter.

Herbert was also an end-times prophet. Growing up under the threat of nuclear war, Herbert offered people a way to escape the coming apocalypse. His way. God’s way.

One of my earliest memories is of sitting in a rented hall listening to Herbert Armstrong. I thought he was God. His voice would be booming through speakers from a cassette tape, but I would be looking at the podium with an empty microphone and just know that God was speaking to me. Everyone around me gave the podium their undivided attention, and so I did likewise. I figured if the adults were taking notes and flipping through their bibles when this man spoke, he must be God.

Jesus didn’t come back the way Herbert had thought. And it was the fault of the congregation. It’s because we weren’t ready. The church had to get back on the right track. We were off course. Sinners in the hands of an angry Herbert, who could direct his ministers to throw us out of God’s church.

We were terrified of this. All of us. Terrified. It was the fear that Herbert created in us to hook us, and it was the fear that kept us coming back for more. If we left, we’d be obliterated. There would be no hope.

Read the rest of her story here:  What Happens On May 22?

Andie recently released a movie about life in a cult, Paradise Recovered