Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Blast from the Past: Garner Ted Armstrong - How Low Can You Go?



Here's blast from the past that a reader sent me.  The entire article is here:  How Low Can You Go?


"All I can say is the 'Nancy Nurse' in me came through. He was complaining of this severe pain, and he was literally begging me to do the massage."

Suerae, dressed in a purple jogging suit, shifted her gaze to the floor. "I am a classic co-dependent," she said blankly, shrugging her shoulders. "Royce has always told me I could get bit by a dog, the dog could run across the street and get hit by a car, and I'd run across the street with a bloody leg to save the dog."

As Armstrong's massage sessions with Suerae continued throughout June 1995, he grew ever bolder, according to court documents. "Armstrong would begin to fondle his genitals and try to place plaintiff's hands on his genitals while he would 'minister' to the plaintiff," the lawsuit says. "His tattoos, including that of a naked woman on his body, would greatly frighten her."

Suerae said she would abruptly end the sessions when Armstrong got aggressive. But, her lawsuit states, "Armstrong would be extremely apologetic, make reference to his similarity to King David" (with whom Suerae says Armstrong compared himself frequently, saying that his work on earth was so important that God would overlook any transgressions he might commit), and beg Suerae to continue. The massages would then conclude without further incident, and she continued booking his appointments.

By early summer, Suerae recalled, she was beginning to understand who Armstrong was. He preached and "counseled" her about her separation from Royce. He urged her to join Church of God International. She said he discussed his ministry and television show, and outlined the tenets of his sect, including a commandment that members pay a tithe of 30 percent of their income. The tithe, he told her, is required to attain salvation.

Despite his clearly sexual behavior, Suerae never stood up to Armstrong, never barred him from her business. He returned again and again.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

David Passover Pack: I Almost Died My Freshman Year of College, But I Was Not A Crybaby About It



Ever the martyr, David Passover Pack, thinly compares his near death experience to HWA's "death" which proves God has a bigger purpose for him.   Like HWA who got the church "back on track."  David Passover is restoring the church back as one united family. David Passover also wants you to know he has always been an intellectual giant and that he was training for the Olympics.  He also wants you to know that during this time he had a high fever and almost died.  During that time NO ONE came to his aid and they shipped him off to Orr, Minnesota.  None of his professors stood by his side and offered to give him another shot at his missed classes.  Ever the martyr, David Passover says he decided he was not going to be a "cry-baby about it."

30:00
61: During my sophomore year at Ambassador College – 1968 and 1969 – I produced an extra credit summary paper on all the books written by prophets. Now, lemme just tell you, I almost died during finals week of my freshman year of college and I eventually collapsed and I lost thirty two pounds in eighty four hours while taking all my finals. And I was very close to death; I had my fourth staph infection that took me into the hospital, my parents weren't in the church and took me into the hospital; I collapsed off the plane. And basically I didn't fail all my tests, but I had a ferocious fever; could barely see, and went through finals week. None of my professors ever came and said to me – this leads to something – ever said, "Can we do anything for you?" The whole church knew that I was no longer training for the Olympics; faculty all understood I'd almost died, they sent me up to camp in Minnesota in the summer of '68, so we'll have him teach swimming at camp; I just looked like somebody who'd escaped Buchenwald. And I recovered, but I decided, well, nobody's offered to help me on my grades; none of my professors gave me another shot; I said I'm not gonna cry-baby about it, I'm gonna do something about it. So I didn't go in and ask any of them, but I had to dig out of a terrific hole; Cs, Ds and even an F in one class. So I decided I'm going to get up at five o'clock every single day for a year and research all of the prophets, type them up and type this long special report to help me recover my grades, because of having almost died during finals week of my freshman year.