The Truth Shall Make You Free: Chapter 18 1979 vs. 1939

published by: 

The Truth Foundation

11 Laurel Court

Freehold Township, New Jersey 07728

1981

Chapter 18    1979 vs 1939

(pg 247) IN MAY 1978, SRI INTERNATIONAL, A LARGE MANAGEMENT Consulting firm in Menlo Park, California, delivered to the Church its report entitled "Evaluation of the Institutional Marketing of the Worldwide Church of God." SRI had conducted an in-depth analysis of the Church membership. Former religious affiliations, geographical data, and income levels were all taken into account. The means by which members came into contact with the Church and later into membership were carefully analyzed. Apparently, their findings were totally ignored.

In their summary they stated that early action was urged. The report stated: "The studies conclusions and recommendations cover several matters that SRI believes should be given the highest possible priority by the leadership of the Worldwide Church of God. In SRI's judgment, problems connected with the institutional marketing of the Church call for immediate attention and early action to prevent further deterioration of deleterious trends that threaten the continued well-being of the Church."

It was felt that a turnaround was achievable. As the report continued: "The final section of the report is action-oriented. Several recommendations are offered that SRI believes can and should be implemented. If the principal recommendations are implemented, SRI believes the Worldwide Church of God will be able to achieve a turnaround. If not implemented, SRI believes the Church's (pg 248) growth-related problems will probably remain unresolved, and the future well-being of the Church will remain in question."

In a comment that Armstrong should have paid particular attention to, the report stated: "The most profound kinds of changes are emerging from the bottom upward, not from the top downward." The report went on to say: "SRI'S understanding of the current era of change leads it to conclude that organizations like the Worldwide Church of God will have to be more flexible and more communicative than they have been in the past, to be able to adapt to the various constraints that were not present in the environments of the 1950s and early 1960s. It will be advantageous to develop improved flexibility so that changes can be accommodated with a minimum of disruption. Also it will be more advantageous to be more communicative with the people and groups that are affected by the Church, so that those groups and the Church will have a better understanding of the other's thinking."

In its conclusions and recommendations, the report stated that the Church was confronted with the necessity of significantly curtailing its expenditures to affect a turnaround in the Church. The report confirmed our own claim that much of the Church's money went for purposes other than preaching the Gospel, other than the purposes for which the money was collected. On this matter, the report stated: "Until this year, activities that contribute directly to the future regeneration of the Worldwide Church of God have received a relatively small and declining share of the Church's total budget, whereas a large and growing share has gone for nonregenerative purposes, such as Ambassador Auditorium, the AICF, Quest Magazine and Ambassador College."

Among its recommendations the report urged that "the Church try to reverse the deleterious trends that underlie its current financial predicament within the next year or two." In further recommendations, the report suggested "that the Worldwide Church of God consider temporarily curtailing its non-essential activities to give the Church time and funds to reverse the deleterious trends discussed previously."

The only action of note, taken by Herbert Armstrong in the month of May when this report was received, was that he fired Garner Ted Armstrong. And if there was ever any question in one's mind at that time that Stanley Rader was moving to take over completely, that should have become more clear through the passing (pg 249) months. It should have become especially clear through the early months of 1979 when it was quite apparent that it was Rader, not Armstrong, who was calling all the shots. And if that still was not enough to convince anyone of Rader's ultimate intentions, one must wonder if the event that took place in Herbert Armstrong's home on September 27, 1979 would be sufficient. At that time, Stanley Rader and his lieutenants Ellis

LaRavia and Joseph Tkach were ordained as evangelists. Rader, who had never been a minister, now holds the highest rank in the ministry other than that held by Herbert Armstrong as apostle. One can only speculate how long it will be before the crown prince is officially designated heir apostle by Herbert Armstrong.

Finally, the coup was complete, and while many members were stunned by the announcement of Rader's ordination, most cheered and applauded.

"Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar (whitewash), seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them saying, thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken." (Ezekiel 2:27 and 28.)

One must wonder if it was always Herbert Armstrong's motivaton to build an empire for himself. Or, could it be that there was a time when he was sincere, truly believed in what he was doing, and was trying to follow God's ways and grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ?In 1939, he apparently was quite differently motivated. In February of that year, an article was printed in a publication called The Good News of the Kingdom entitled "Did Christ Reorganize The Church?" Regarding organized Church government, Armstrong wrote that the old covenant as recorded in the 24^th chapter of Exodus was a marriage ceremony. In that ceremony, the Lord joined himself to ancient Israel in a symbolic spiritual marriage. Armstrong writes: "IT WAS THE MARRIAGE THAT FORMED GOD'S PEOPLE INTO AN ORGANIZATION HAVING CHURCH GOVERNMENT!"  Because Israel had slid back and turned away from God, Armstrong notes that in Jeremiah 3:8, the Bible says: "And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery, I HAD PUT HER AWAY AND GIVEN HER A BILL OF DIVORCE." But then even Judah began sinning worse than Israel (pg. 250) and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon captured them and destroyed Jerusalem, at which time the authority to rule and govern was taken away completely from God's people and given over to the Babylonians. He then points out that until Jesus Christ returns to establish the Kingdom of God and destroy the Babylonian rule of this world, there is to be no Church government as a spiritually ordained line of authroity. He points out that at the time Christ was on this earth, He did not establish a biblical form of organization or a definite Church government. Armstrong states: "There is not one single HINT in the New Testament of any Church BOARD with authority to rule, to govern, to decide doctrine, or to handle tithes and Church finances (the whole Church)."

In total contrast to the present Worldwide Church of God form of centralized dictatorial authority, Armstrong said in his 1939 article: "All authority and power to rule is limited solely to each LOCAL congregation. But there is NO BIBLE AUTHORITY for any super-government, or organization with authority over the local congregations!" He then continues: "How, then did ORGANIZATION, and the idea of CHURCH GOVERNMENT get into the Church!”

“It came out of BABYLON! Spiritual BABYLON - that is, ROME! The same as nearly all other false doctrines of Satan."

Quoting from various publications such as the Encyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, and also from Myers' Ancient History, Armstrong shows that the idea of centralized Church government originated with Leo, the fist Pope in the real sense of the word. He reigned from 440 to 461 A.D., and it was Leo I who set up an ecclesiastical form of government. Armstrong comments: "And thus the very PRINCIPLE OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT becomes the IMAGE OF THE BEAST! “

“The whole thing is FALSE! It is NOT ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE! It is part of BABYLON! Those who are IN, and MEMBERS OF such an organized Church government, submitting to doctrines declared by unscriptural boards as a fellowship test are IN BABYLON and actually worshippers of THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST! And God is calling us, HIS people OUT of BABYLON today, before it is too late-before the PLAGUES fall!”

“Brethren, let us have the courage to accept the TRUTH, and to COME OUT."

In 1939, Armstrong was calling people out of spiritual Babylon. (pg.251) Forty years later, Armstrong is leading people right back into spiritual Babylon. Just as the Church of God at Rome, in the first few centuries after Christ, fell into total paganized Babylonish worship, Herbert Armstrong, instead of remembering his early teachings, has strayed from his ways and led this end-time Church of God in its first steps on a return to Babylon.

Armstrong continued in his article pointing out that the New Testament Church was a spiritual body, that no one organization constituted the true Church. His current teachings are totally contrary to that. He points out that when Christ returns, He will make a spiritual marriage with His Church. This is clearly stated in Revelation 19:7 where it is written: "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." The Lamb referred to here is Christ and His wife is the Church, the spiritual body of true believers. And Armstrong clearly understood this in 1939, for he wrote: "This MARRIAGE will not be made with some one organization! It is THE INDIVIDUAL SAINTS - not some organization which shall possess the government, and rule."

He said further: "The CHURCH is the collective body of individual saints who are sanctified and CLEANSED by Christ! Let us stop speaking of some organizations as 'The Church' or 'our

Church'."

Regarding government and authority, he stated: "Our Heavenly Father never planted any super-organization, or established any Church GOVERNMENT, or set men IN AUTHORITY over either spiritual or financial affairs, in the New Testament church. Any such 'plan' was never planted of GOD - and therefore IT SHALL BE ROOTED UP!"

And if only he had remembered what he had said near the close of his article: "Organization and Church GOVERNMENT has brought us only strife, jealousies, divisions, bitterness! It is not of God and it can bear no other fruit." Yes, if only Herbert Armstrong had remembered the truth that he was teaching in 1939. One must wonder what it was that had caused Armstrong to go wrong.

It appears that as the Church began to grow and there was a great deal of money coming in, Armstrong's priorities changed considerably. Soon friendships with world leaders and a desire for magnificent buildings appeared to have a greater importance to him. And somehow he felt that he could rationalize this all away in (pg. 252)  his mind as part of his service to God. But once one begins to dabble in rationalizations of that sort, God quickly begins to withdraw His blessings and a downhill slide has begun. Armstrong is so proud of the fancy Ambassador College campus, so proud of the Ambassador Auditorium, so proud of the fine clothes and fine works of art that adorn his home, that he has forgotten the following passage from Isaiah 66:1 and 2:

"Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word."

Apparently Armstrong never totally lost his old original desire. Once he began to stray, that desire again manifested itself to the point where his main objective was to visit world leaders under the guise of preaching the Gospel. In his autobiography he stated, regarding his past, "Now I had an idol. My whole mind and heart was set on that idol. I had worked hard, night and day, for that false god. My false objective was the intense desire - the desperate, driving, overpowering ambition - to become 'successful' in the eyes of important businessmen - to

be considered by them as outstandingly "IMPORTANT" - to achieve status"

One can see that attitude as a very prominent part of Herbert Armstrong's make-up today. It is no wonder, then, that he no longer can be effective as a spiritual leader.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15.

It appears though, that in spite of Armstrong's constant, increasing drift toward an attitude of total authoritarian rule, finally culminating in his appointing himself an apostle, that he was having a battle within himself. This can be seen in his rather ineffective attempts from time to time to move Rader aside. His strongest effort in that direction was his attempt to remove Rader at the end of 1978 and put him in a position of less authority. Yet we see that when the pressure was on, Armstrong literally jumped right back into Rader's arms.

The Truth Shall Make You Free: Chapter 17 A Yoke of Burden

published by: 

The Truth Foundation

11 Laurel Court

Freehold Township, New Jersey 07728

1981

Chapter 17 A Yoke of Burden

(Pg 241) Throughout the moves and countermoves taking place between the state and the Rader group, Osamu Gotoh could no longer be found. Apparently, he was out of the country and would not return. Although he handled large sums of money, running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, spending it all over the world, it will take an extensive investigation to determine how he fits into the overall picture. He was known as the mysterious Gotoh and remains so to this day.

Ray Wright, who in December was so anxious to help our attorneys, returned to the Rader camp. Many others, who in the very early stages of the receivership indicated that they were glad to see the wrongdoings brought to light, and who said that they wished Rader would finally be emoved, also returned to the Rader camp. Many ministers throughout the country who said that they would never follow Stanley Rader were standing before their congregations every Sabbath supporting Rader and threatening the members with the loss of their eternal life if they did not sacrifice to support Armstrong and Rader. Most of the area coordinators who during the first week of January were so solidly with Wayne Cole, were now faithful to the umbilical cord of a pay check.

 Over the several months since the imposition of the receivership, many ministers did finally leave the Worldwide Church, or were asked to leave because of disloyalty. Disloyalty was defined as an (pg 242) unwillingness to support the Rader regime each week at Sabbath services. However, those who left were a small proportion to the total number of ministers in the Church. Those who remained knew better, and remained to willfully deceive the flock over which they had been placed as shepherds. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God spoke quite sternly regarding men such as these. In Ezekiel 34:2 he says: "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?"

During that same period of time, the barrage of propaganda through the Worldwide News continued. The members' minds, which by this time had been beaten to a psychological pulp, were now being totally submerged in a continuous outpouring of unscriptural nonsense from Church headquarters.

In the April 23rd issue was an article entitled: "And Now-Christ Sets Church on God's Organizational Track." Taking up a half page was an organizational chart (see p.243). The entire article by Herbert Armstrong went on to substantiate his claim as human head of the Church directly under Christ. The whole tone was government, authority, and power-all written in capital letters. He said: "I have realized for 52 years that God's form of government is ruled from the TOP DOWN." He claimed that his dictatorial rule of the Church was God's form of government. And reverting back to the harsh control over members lives reminiscent of the 1950s, the May 21st issue carried bold headlines: "HOW YOU DRESS FOR CHURCH-COULD IT KEEP YOU OUT OF THE KINGDOM?" While no one would argue that one must dress appropriately for various occasions, there is nowhere in the Bible where one can find his eternal life threatened due to his manner of dress. But that didn't matter to a Worldwide Church of God member. By this time, anything coming out under the authorship of Herbert Armstrong carried the weight of new and divine revelation.

In the June 25th issue, an article appeared called "What God Never Did-Never Will-Allow To Happen." After a lengthy rambling dissertation comparing himself to Moses, Armstrong ended the article by very nearly proclaiming himself a deity. He said, "Let me close with one thought. It is now a little late in life for me to turn to Satan's way, as so many others in high places have done. (pg 243 contained an organizational chart) 

(pg 244) God never yet has let one through whom He STARTED a great project turn wrong-and he has never yet let such an appointed leader of his die until his job was FINISHED!"

One can only conclude from such a statement that Armstrong feels that he is immune to turning to Satan's way, in other words he can no longer sin, and that he does not expect to die until Christ returns.

In another article entitled "How Satan Injects False Doctrines," Armstrong claimed that he was the one who restored all truth to the Church of God after nineteen hundred years. According to him, the satanic deceptions in the Christian church remained until 1927, when God began working with him. He wrote: "And beginning in the Fall of A.D. 1927, God began an absolutely UNIQUE WORK on the one the living Christ had chosen to be His apostle. He put me through the wringer that squeezed out all former misconcepts and untrue beliefs, using me to put His Truth into His Church, that is to rise and meet the glorified Christ in the clouds as He returns to establish the Kingdom of God!"

To say that the Church was without truth until he came along is an absolute lie, as we shall show in a future chapter, and Armstrong knows it very well.

To keep the money coming, Armstrong apparently felt the need to reinforce the tithing doctrine. In the July 9th issue, his front page article was entitled "Non-Tithing is Stealing." Armstrong made it quite clear that no matter what one's circumstances, they must tithe a full tenth of their income to the Church. He even threatened to again activate the computer snooping program. He wrote: "Heretofore I have made NO EFFORT TO CHECK OUR COMPUTER RECORDS TO FIND OUT WHO TITHES. I surely never wanted to "snoop". But it is A LAW! Neglect or refusal is MAJOR SIN! I am not pussyfooting! Commandment breakers won't get into the Kingdom of God, and I am commissioned to blot out the spots and iron out the wrinkles to make God's Church READY when He comes."

Again, Armstrong was hitting them with the loss of eternal life if the members did not tithe. And how skillfully he diverted attention from the allegations of stealing that had been brought against him and other high officials in the Church. If he truly felt a commission to blot out the spots and iron out the wrinkles, there was (pg 245) somewhere else that he could start other than laying another yoke upon the necks of the Church members.

Ending the article, Armstrong said,  "Failure to tithe is STEALING - COMMANDMENT BREAKING. It is without excuse! Keep current with God and HE will keep you current with your other obligations! This matter of STEALING FROM GOD is one matter that Christ is CLEANING UP IN GOD'S CHURCH NOW! No delay! And no excuses!"

At least Armstrong was speaking some truth here. The matter of stealing from God was being cleaned up in God's Church. But he just refused to face up to the fact as to how it was being done. In this case God's "ministers for good," the officials of California, were the ones who were doing the cleaning up. The article just quoted from was actually excerpted from what was written in the "Pastor's Report" of June 25th. In that publication, Armstrong was laying it on the ministers quite heavily also. They, too, are expected to tithe from their salary. He said to the ministers, "If you are on the payroll, unless tithing begins with the very next paycheck, YOUR PAYCHECKS WILL BE CUT OFF WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE."

It certainly is interesting to see how Herbert Armstrong practices his philosophy of love, and that of give instead of get in his relationship with his employees and followers. Not only were the Church members subjected to a continuing barrage of propaganda, but so were members of the press. A front organization called the "Emergency Committee for the Defense of Religious Freedom, a Voluntary Association of Lay Members of the Worldwide Church of God in Good Standing," was formed in March 1979. They prepared a several-hundred-page aide-memoire with supporting data for distribution to the media. This aide-memoire consisted of selected documents taken out of context in order to support the Armstrong/Rader position.

An interesting aspect of the publication was the constant reference to the Pope. It must be remembered that the Worldwide Church, as do many other churches, considers the Roman Catholic Church to be modern Babylon, the great whore referred to in the seventeenth chapter of Revelation. In the reference to the Pope, Stanley Rader, in a signed statement, said that, "The Church is hierarchically structured, with Mr.Armstrong as its pastor general (pg 246) (analagous to the Pope). As with the Pope, Mr. Armstrong's authority is virtually absolute." He went on to say that the executive committee of the Church board was "a group perhaps most closely comparable to the Papal Curia".

In the aide-memoire section outlining the Church organization according to Armstrong, it said: "His position and authority are comparable to those of His Holiness, the Pope. The Board of Directors is equivalent of the Papal Curia." Never, in all the history of the Worldwide Church, had Armstrong ever been compared to the Pope nor had the Church organization been compared to the Papal Curia as a means of justification. And certainly the title of His Holiness was never acknowledged as a title or name of any individual. And for very good reason: Our Savior is the only one who may be called His Holiness. To take on such a title to one's self, or call someone by that name is blasphemy. In Psalm 111:9 we read: "He sent redemption unto His people: He that commanded His covenant forever: Holy and reverend is His name."

This is the same verse, by the way, that has always been used to support the reasoning for not calling ministers reverend. One can expect that it may not be long before Herbert Armstrong

will have the title, the "Most Right Reverend Holy Apostle." It is not difficult to see that a Church which had come so far from false beliefs, which had come into the knowledge of so much truth, which had done as God commanded, had come out of Babylon, was now, through its internal corruption, going right back into Babylon. And the signs of this are quite clear, justification of itself by comparison to "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS" (Revelation 17:5).

The situation was fast deteriorating to the point where Armstrong and Rader were just fighting to hang on to the members through continued fear and intimidation. Before all this happened, the Church was already in trouble, and the leaders knew it. They knew it in spite of the fact that they were lying to the members, saying that things were better than ever, on the right track, God's government was being restored, etc. etc.