The following quotes come from "Is California Under a Curse?" by Gerald Flurry. He quotes from a '93 Philadelphia Trumpet article, where he writes about the California fires of '91 and also the '92 race riots in Los Angeles. Then he quotes the Bible in Matthew where it talks about the "Elijah to come." [All caps are Flurry's and HWA's]

Flurry: "The DISCIPLES knew that Christ referred to John the Baptist. AND CHRIST'S DISCIPLES TODAY KNOW WHO THIS MODERN DAY JOHN, OR ELIJAH, WAS! They must know who he was or they could not do God's work! His name was Herbert W. Armstrong. His headquarters was Pasadena, California.

"ONLY Mr. Armstrong preached the true gospel around the world, for the first time in almost 2,000 years!"

Then Gerald Flurry talks about the hearts of the fathers and children, "lest I come smite the earth with a curse." He claims HWA taught the truth about "God's family" and being born into that family. What Flurry doesn't say is how HWA separated hundreds of families because of his D&R doctrine [Divorce & Remarriage] and how this also caused families in the church to keep contact to a minimum with those outside the church (including extended family members). Also, his immediate family ended up either dead, due to his rules about doctors and medicine (that did not apply to him), or else estranged from him. So how could HWA fulfill that prophecy? 

Flurry: "Here is the earth-shaking point. Mr. Armstrong was the modern-day Elijah. And, as pastor general of the Worldwide Church of God, he preached God's precious truth to this world from Pasadena, California.

"In an overt attack against Mr. Armstrong, the state of California, through the attorney general's office, launched a massive lawsuit against the WCG in 1979.¹ On Jan. 3, that office initiated a sudden, armed (me--armed, really!?!) assault on the Pasadena headquarters² in an attempt to claim ownership of the Church's property and assets as well as it's continuing income. . . . . Completely false, outrageous and baseless allegations of financial mismanagement were made--despite financial and all other required records having been regularly and voluntarily filed. . .

"California is the only state that ever attacked Mr. Armstrong and his work. Actually, it attacked a lot more than that. California really ATTACKED THE LIVING GOD!

"When meeting out punishment, God begins at his sanctuary. The Church Mr. Armstrong founded no longer follows most of the doctrines he taught! In principal, God begins where His own sinning Church is, especially their headquarters in Pasadena. And in general, that principle applies to the state where God's sinning headquarters is. So it is fitting that God begins the worst part of his punishing America in California. The headquarters of God's own sinning, Laodicean Church is there.

"Is there a connection to what is happening in California and God's work through Herbert W. Armstrong? The whole world must come to see that there is!

"Is God cursing California?"

Then he quotes Deut. 28:15-20 (the curses) and says God is either allowing, or sending, the California fires.

Flurry: "Is God now intensely cursing California for its attack against the living God's work under Herbert W. Armstrong? . . . Is God now taking vengeance against that state for what it did to his work? Yes, He is! And California is only the beginning."

I don't see the connection with God. The fires of '93 were 13 years after the lawsuit. The latest fires were 23 years later.

Craig Winters writes on page 3: "And as we wait, we muse on the constellation of curses that have devastated great swaths of the once Golden State of the West--all since the death of a venerable old man of God, Herbert W. Armstrong.

"There has to be a reason for all this."

There is. Someone might have carelessly started some of the fires.

Pages 24 - 27 have articles written by HWA that appeared in the WSJ in 1980 telling of his and the church's "innocence."

Page 25: Here are a few quotes from HWA, emphasis his:

HWA: " . . . TV and radio newscasts blared across the nation the false allegation that I, with Mr. Stanley R. Rader, had been siphoning off millions of dollars every year from Church funds for our private accounts."

Didn't Pasadena have about 3 or 4 auctions in recent years, selling off the fine bric-a-brac (numbering in the thousands of items) that HWA spent members' tithe money on? [Read 2004 article: Gerald Flurry Spends $107,500 for Items Auctioned Off by Worldwide Church of God.]

HWA: "It's time people know the TRUTH!"

Then he talks a lot about the "Give and Get Way." He talks about how his family went hungry so they could give to the Work (never mind that half the time they were going hungry and he was working 4 or 5 days a month--see his Autobiography, Volume 1). I think he did manual labor twice--once when he "threw" firewood, and once when he cut down a tree.

Then he talks about Stanley Rader being hired by the church:

HWA: "We agreed to pay him (Rader) at a rate equal to his income at the time. It was the highest "salary"--well above my own. . . . God says "the laborer is worthy of his hire."

"Now, TODAY, after all these years, WHAT DO I HAVE--WHAT DOES MR. RADER HAVE?

"All I have in the world today is my home in Tucson, Arizona, bought 3 1/2 years ago with a small down payment and a 20-year loan secured by a mortgage³, the use of a 3 year old car and a checking account in the bank. My wife owns a car, some clothes and some jewelry that I bought with personal funds (our tithes and offerings), after taxes and tithes and Church offerings. I own the clothes on my back--THAT IS ALL!"

All of this was paid for by members. HWA doesn't say what the make and model was of the "3 year old car."

HWA: "Mr. Rader has a bank account about double mine, his home in Pasadena, and is buying interest in a small horse ranch in Tucson. His wife has some money in her own name, inherited from her family--not from the Church.

"For 53 years now, I have lived a life devoted to the principle of "GIVE"--but those who "GET" do still accuse falsely and persecute those who GIVE! . . . "

On page 26, HWA is justifying his worldwide trips, which were photo ops with foreign dictators who usually died shortly after he visited them. Also he spoke about "unseen hands from someplace." How can that qualify for "preaching the gospel"? Would God want to be called an "unseen hand." Don't we all like to be called by name? Despite HWA having always taught that "worldly" churches were of Satan, he was very happy to have them backing him up on the lawsuit and attempted take-over in January 1979.⁴

Page 27 has an interesting title. "Mr. Attorney General . . . Has your unconstitutional attack against the WCG hurt the strength of that church? The plain truth may surprise you!"

HWA claims the church (WCG) was not hurt; however, as we now know it was. Information about the real facts about the WCG started coming out and was exposed by the media and former evangelists who wrote about it. (see booklist) HWA said he was writing the next important book since the Bible--Mystery of the Ages (according to him) and then he died shortly afterwards in January 1986. Joseph W. Tkach Sr., his successor, started making changes (many for the better)⁵, but by then too many people were finding out too many bad things. So, no, the WCG wasn't hurt by the lawsuit itself, but by all the "plain truth" that came out.

By Valerie
December 17, 2003

Footnotes by ESN:

¹ This was covered in The Truth Will Make You Free by John Tuit. During this period of time Herbert Armstrong, instead of remaining in Pasadena, California and facing his "enemies," fled to a home in Arizona, where he instructed his members in a January 14, 1979 Dear Brethren letter to send all tithes and donations to him, made out in his name: "The State has seized and tied up all our Church funds. So send a special offering to me, personally, for our legal defense and to save the Work--to Herbert W. Armstrong, c/o General Delivery, Tucson, Arizona, 85731."

²  In May 2006 Worldwide Church of God moved all their offices from Pasadena, California to their new headquarters in Glendora, California. (Together, May-June 2006) They are presently considering a name change. Read: Worldwide Church of God is Changing Their Name. 

³ HWA had a sprawling, ranch-style home in Tucson. ("Honey, I Shrunk the Church" New Times Los Angeles, December 4, 1997)

⁴ Ambassador Report #7, January 1979. (Note: Please be aware that the AR is now posted on an agnostic/atheistic site.)

⁵ Read ESN's transcript of the Video Sermon by Tkach Sr., which shows the manner in which the new changes were first delivered to the members, with confusion, double messages, shouting and blaming.

Questioning Herbert W. Armstrong (was he who he said he was?) (many articles)

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