Worldwide Church of God History
Pt. 1 | Pt. 2
Prophecy Interpretation Based on Assumption:
The pattern was becoming more plain with every passing month of 1973. The teaching of church errors was proving to be very fallacious. Much prophecy interpretation had been based on the assumption that the Worldwide Church of God was the Philadelphia Church era. Of course, this was based on another assumption that there is only one true church. [Note: Read: Where Do I Find the "One True Church"?] And, of course, there is, but the rolls for that one true church are kept in the Book of Life up in heaven, somewhere I'm sure, at the side of God the Father. He puts them in the church, and He removes them from His Son's church. That's where the record book is kept. The church of God is the invisible body of Christ, made up of true believers all over the earth who have His Spirit, who are willing to obey Him. God knows His own. He knows where they are, and He has not built some human organization, some corporate enterprise, and locked them all in there, and boarded up the Kingdom against all who would not be in that little group that started thirty or forty years ago. To think that the invisible body of Christ, the true membership, the Book of Life, is reduced to the computer world of Ambassador College in Pasadena10 is a great, gross presumption and is not provable at all. The body of Christ is a living organism with Jesus at the Head. It is not a human corporate structure. It's not wrong to have human corporate structures, but to claim that it is the body of Christ and has some sort of human head who answers only to Christ is totally inaccurate by the Word of God. But this assumption leads to other assumptions which then, of course, leads to great misuses of authority, frankly.
No Pyramidal Structure of Government in New Testament:
You don't find in the New Testament any type of hierarchy, pyramidal structure, or an autocratic type of a government. But, rather, you find much more of a team effort, with the ministry and the people working together as a team, each part having a different function or different role on the team, but the ministry regarding the people as brothers, as equals before Christ and not living so high above them, or exercising authority over them and this kind of a strange atmosphere at all. You find much more of a camaraderie brotherhood between the two.
Most of the doctrinal areas we were finding had gaping holes in...involved most of Herbert Armstrong's special interpretation. [This part clipped] The things he added like identity of Israel are totally unprovable. It's just a model that has been taken from another group and much of prophecy now has been taken through this model that has proven its inaccuracy and is totally fruitless. It's 100% speculative. It may be true, then again it may not. There is no way to demonstrate or prove it. [Note: Read: Where Are the Tribes of Israel Located? (A Critique of Herman Hoeh's Article)] which has proved the fallacy of this theory.] Certainly we shouldn't use it to come up with some sort of dogmatic interpretation of Scripture from. We've seen the damage this can have on people's lives and the totally inaccurate tract record is proof enough without comment.11
We Only" Syndrome:
The "we only" syndrome spins off from this understanding that the Worldwide Church of God, which was started by Herbert Armstrong, is the only true church. It leads kind of an exclusive, narrow minded atmosphere toward others. It doesn't demonstrate an attitude of love. It demonstrates an attitude of judging, where now you've judged your neighbors on earth; you've judged the body of Christ and found all those outside the membership rolls of this church wanting--and in that sense "lost"--unless they are willing to come and buy Herbert Armstrong and his authority and the rest, they're just left out...this is too bad. I hope this isn't what Herbert Armstrong intended from the beginning; I'm sure it's not, but it is what has developed, nevertheless, and I feel that it has really compromised the type of Christianity that many of the brethren in the Worldwide Church of God could have had, and could have practiced, and let their light shine to their neighbors, rather than running away from their neighbors. Most of what the neighbors saw of Worldwide members on the Sabbath was the car disappearing out of the driveway, the man with the briefcase, and the children rushing to some church hall where outsiders were usually frowned upon and kept out over the years. This is not the way to set a light.
Herbert Armstrong's Ego Tripping:
The commission of the church was a major issue. Herbert Armstrong felt that if he would just fly in and pay for a banquet--and these banquets cost tens of thousands of dollars in many cases, that he, of course, would pay for himself, and use whatever political means and front men and so on, to secure these meetings with these leaders--that he was then witnessing to the nation. It was totally without any New Testament example at all, and in many of his meetings for those who have heard recordings of them, the name of Jesus Christ was never even mentioned. The "God of the universe" was talked about and the "God of creation" which, of course, to a Moslem or a Buddhist means something totally different than it does to you or me. He gave twenty or thirty minutes little talks on some religious principles that Billy Graham or [unclear] could do justice with, if not better. Somehow this was the "warning" to that nation, just through that leader. Of course, the New Testament commission that we read of...one statement is in Matthew 28: 19:20 where the disciples were to go forth teaching and preaching and baptizing. It was a teaching ministry; it was a baptizing ministry. It was for conversion, it wasn't just to knock people over the head and say, "Hey, friend, the end's coming and the bomb is gonna drop, and now you've been warned," and then say, "Bye, bye." This is not the love of God and certainly is not what God had in mind.
Now the Matthew 28 passage, which was basically the one Scripture upon which the whole Worldwide Church of God was built is a prophecy. It's one of the signs of the end that the gospel would be preached in all the world and it would be a witness. We read in Revelation 11 where the two witness are going to do that job. In fact, there is even reference in the book of Revelation to an angel preaching the everlasting gospel through one means or another (it's not clearly explained). But the work of the two witnesses is, and you can be sure that's going to be done in all the earth through great miracles and wonders and powers and the rest.
Of course, we've not been able to see any of that through the Armstrongs, or the Worldwide Church, and I think it is very naïve to appropriate that commission, which doesn't exist, to a man. They claim it to be the most important function of the work. In fact, it was routinely stated that a person's private salvation, a person's private walk with God, his Christianity, his eternal life, was secondary to his role in supporting the work, which is basically "pray and pay." This always was given as the first reason for the individual's calling and the second reason was, of course, to get converted. But there you can see the tremendous priorities. Eventually we had a group of people who were following a man and a corporate structure rather than, in so many cases, following God and letting their light shine as it should.
The irony of the situation was that most of these world rulers were third world nation leaders, many of whom were extremely corrupt themselves, who had a regular revolving door visitation program with every kind of dignitary, reporter, who would come through, and they could be bought with a price, individuals like Haile Selassie and his extremely corrupt government. His far eastern leaders, who, one by one, after Herbert Armstrong visited them were deposed, usually for corruption. Then the question was, "How about their nation? Now has that nation (so called) been warned? Those 50 or 100 million people that live in that nation, are they going to be doomed now to destruction because a corrupt, former political leader they had happened to visit and hear a 20 or 30 minute speech from some traveling preacher from America? And this is supposed to be a fulfillment in these end times of the work of the witnessing in Matthew 24 is just so illogical as to defy an honest agreement to it. But anybody who gave the slightest suggestion, or criticism toward Herbert Armstrong's church were summarily castigated verbally, were threatened on a regular basis, the congregation was thundered at upon his return that they didn't appreciate him enough. At which time they would then try to break out in clapping to let him know they loved and respected him. But it was this type of jet-setting around the world, a form of religious ego-tripping that produced absolutely no fruit for conversion and was in no way identifiable with the commission given to the New Testament Christian church.
Secular Approach of GTA's Broadcast:
The broadcast done by Ted Armstrong in recent years has taken on more and more of a secular approach where millions and millions of dollars were spent to talk about birds and bees and whales and dolphins. Some of these things are certainly nice and interesting, but in many a broadcast the word Jesus Christ was not even mentioned. As far as preaching the plain gospel, the Word of God, feeding people the Word of God, showing them what Christ could do for them in their lives, the changes that could be brought about and the blessings of Christianity, the knowledge of their Creator, this really wasn't gotten into. The early strength of the broadcasts was basically the sarcasm involved and the threatening of the world with gloom and doom rather than a real positive and encouraging message showing them the way of life, that God's burden is easy and His yoke is light, and He invites people to take it upon them so that their way can be better.
To Stand Up Meant Putting Our Job on the Line:
Well, I am sure you can that 1973 was a catalyst year. For those of us who were having to deal with these issues and bring solutions and be honest with God--honest with those who are over you in your job--it really brought out some tremendous contradictions and I think many of us at that time could see the handwriting on the wall. We were accused of being collusionists and there was no collusion at all. Certainly those of us were putting on jobs on the line; had counted the cost in order to speak up in those halls of meeting and those circles of conference. You had to be willing to put your job on the line. Many of us knew that if we stood up for the cause of righteousness, stood up in disagreement with the Armstrongs in many of these doctrinal things, or with any of their policies of treating people, that we might very well might be fired.
We did not plan, if that occurred, to go into retirement. We did not plan at that time to say, "Well, God, I'm no longer going to serve you in the ministry. I'm no longer going to do the work of the ministry. That is ridiculous. We knew fields out in this earth are white unto harvest and our labor is needed. Many of us had committed our lives many, many years ago and had given up jobs, had left family and everything to serve Christ, and we're going to continue to serve Christ. We're going to weed out some of the error; we're going to develop a closer walk with God, provide a much better service for his people, but we weren't going to go into retirement if we ever got fired. We didn't feel we were ordained of men. I don't guess Herbert Armstrong felt he was ordained of men either when he was ordained by the Church of God 7th-day Oregon Conference [See: Herbert W. Armstrong's Religious Roots] and later left that group and went and took many of its members with him and started his own church which then he said was "the only" true church on earth, which is, as I said earlier, ridiculous.
But as far as planning any type of conspiracy to "split the church"...none of that was done. That is entirely different from counting the cost. We had counted the cost. We knew very well we might get fired. I can remember many occasions, sitting down with Dave Antion, and maybe one or two of the other regional directors, maybe David Antion's wife, and we said, now frankly (and he said frankly) if we present these things to the Armstrongs we'll probably get fired over it. We thought about it and we hoped that wouldn't happen. We were for reform within the Worldwide Church. We loved the church; we loved the people there. We had invested our best years, long hours in travels. I had, this past number of years, averaged over 120 nights away from home, traveling and visiting churches, visiting ministers, trying to build up the area and had done that in zeal. I wasn't out to destroy the church, to get some following after myself. I and Dave Antion and some of the other regional directors...Walt Sharp, George Kemnitz, just to mention a few were concerned with those changes as well. We were trying to bring reform to serve our God and serve His people. We had no alternate church structure planned out. We had no dates of anything planned out, it simply came upon us.
At the Feast of Tabernacles in 1973 Herbert Armstrong--in most of the areas he visited in the Untied Stated--thundered at the ministry along these same lines of fear and intimidation, because there had been certain criticism toward him and Garner Ted, and it was legitimate criticism. He thundered at that time that he was not going to change on Pentecost and that he was not going to change on divorce and remarriage and that any who ever picked a fight with him lost. Of course, many of us felt, well, sure, he just fired them. That's why they lost. It wasn't run like the church of God ought to be run. It was run like a dictator might run his nation.
Most of the analogies used for Herbert Armstrong and his actions have been taken out of the Old Testament as being equivalent of a David, or of a Moses, and the analogy of a civil leader over a civil nation was continually used for Herbert Armstrong over the church The two are not the same at all. For instance, over the church is Jesus Christ. It's a spiritual nation. Without the [unclear] burrs of corporations, or of land. The individual ministry in that church was to be a servant ministry, serving the people with the good Word of God, laboring in their service and encouragement and direction of those people, not interfering in their private lives, not intimidating them, not lording it over God's heritage. But these were the analogies being used.
Many Ministers Were Bought and Paid For:
We were also warned that any who would criticize him or Ted would be fired, and any who ever disagreed were openly slandered, as was done during this occasion. So this tended to intimidate the leadership, and many of the leadership had already been bought and paid for and had become "yes" men. With their high salaries, the average evangelist was making at that time in the $35-$48-$58,000 a year bracket. The average home of the evangelist was approximately $200,000, expensive furnishings, expense accounts, easy work schedules. And many of these were not willing to compromise all that on a doctrinal or moral issue. Yet all learned--I say they all hadn't--some were willing to stand, like two of the vice presidents, Albert Portune and David Antion, and both of them resigned over these very same issues.
But they had learned not to fight the Armstrongs, even on doctrinal or moral issues. The ministry had no retirement, no social security, no tenure; could be fired at the whimsical will of the Armstrongs. No changes were ever made unless they were proved by Herbert Armstrong. The problem was his mind was not on doctrine and the needs of the people, and he wouldn't delegate authority in those areas to others. If he wanted to fly around the world and do his thing, well, that's fine, provided he delegates to others responsibility to rightly deal with the work and the Word of God. It was a very shabby way to handle people and God's.
Discouragement in the Face of No Answers:
The doctrinal committee at Pasadena was a laughing stock; it was powerless. The recommendations of the committee, some were read, and some were not read. Basically the only ones that were used as documentation were those whose supported Herbert Armstrong's stand like on divorce and remarriage. Herbert Armstrong personally walked that booklet through to its completion to see to it that it was handled sacredly, that it wasn't changed. He was reacting at that time toward his son's problem. But when the booklet was finally produced and sent out, it was a disaster. It just reinforced as very poorly researched material with very poor scholarship. And yet those on the committee who criticized it, their reports were not even read.
All of these abuses were justified in the name of church authority, which was a major Worldwide Church doctrine. It was an invented doctrine, basically conceived around the time of 1957 when they were deciding how people ought to live and physical things like outward appearance; the make-up issue. Rather by keeping Christianity in the heart and judging people by really what's in their heart--which only God can see perfectly--but judging people on their long term fruits of the spirit and so on, it's a whole lot easier to judge people on outward appearance, on hair lengths, skirt lengths, and all the rest. This, of course, was the emphasis in Worldwide doctrine.
Most of the ministerial conferences that were conducted in Pasadena spent their time and concerned themselves with such very, very tiny things such as hair length, and skirt length, and dying hair, and make-up and all these little physical judgment areas, living people's lives for them. This is what Herbert Armstrong would spend so much time doing. The big general conferences would cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars to produce and to fly capable men in from all over the world, to supposedly look into the Word of God and confer on these things. Yet they weren't conferences in the sense of conferring; they were just one way lectures where Herbert Armstrong would rehearse back over all the events of his beginnings back in the 1930's. Many a case the first time he saw the agenda for the conference was when he sat down at the front of the meeting to conduct it. Many of us left these conferences so discouraged. We'd come in high hopes we'd get some answers to some of the doctrinal problems, whether it was healing, or something else, and walked absolutely no answers and having to go back with an empty hat to present to the brethren.
Pressure Building Toward End of 1973:
The pressure was building toward the end of 1973 and now many in the ministry who, up until this time, hadn't really known what was going on, or hadn't even known what Ted Armstrong's problems were, became informed one way or the other through the word of mouth, through gossip, or whatever reason they became informed. Some couldn't cope with it--individuals like John Mitchell stood up and told his church all the dirt issues involving Ted Armstrong, which the rest of us disagreed with and didn't feel ought to be done publicly at all. Our feeling was that all those things should be dealt with within in the ministry, and the ministry ought to clean its house first. If the ministry refused to clean its house, then it should be brought to the people. Our goal that first we would present these things, as we had been, to the Armstrongs and if all the changes and doctrinal things were refused, why then we would have to take the matter the church. We didn't feel it ought to be put on the people first.
First, there was Mitchell and then there was Fish and then Barry Chase. One individual who had been involved at Pasadena closely and in the inner workings of management, and one of the key personnel there, overseeing the headquarters' church for many, many years, was Al Carrozzo, who was also a former district superintendent, regional director, and by conscious reasons he, too, saw so much of gross corruption and lying and misuse of funds, and disrespect of the Word of God and double standards, finally was forced to resign, which he did, toward the latter part of 1973. Ernest Martin's paper on Pentecost was once again being presented and he was being slandered at this time by Herbert Armstrong. After the first part of the year he was then retired on a full year's sabbatical pay and then separated from the Worldwide Church of God.
In the first week of December, 1973 we had a meeting in Ted Armstrong's office. He called the meeting--called me personally before the meeting came, invited us out, all the regional directors were there. He said he wanted our help. It was right after Mitchell had told his church. Ted Armstrong was worried. He felt this might happen all around the country and he wanted us to pull together to see what the problems were and try to face them. So all the evangelists and several other key personnel were in Ted Armstrong's office. So we held there, in the first week of December, two or two and a half days of meetings. And there we discussed many of the multi-faceted problems that were current in the field and in the ministry, and at the risk of our jobs some of us stood up and plainly mentioned all of these issues and problems, or as many of them as we could cover during that short time.
During this meeting with Ted Armstrong, he rehearsed the details of his last personal problem, the one that finally got him kicked out. Later David Antion bravely brought up GTA's qualifications for the ministry, and this was reacted to very sharply by Ted and some of his other supporters. It wasn't a matter of his personal forgiveness, as I and others explained to him. Certainly, he has that of God, and who are we to forgive man anyway? All of us need much of the mercy and forgiveness of God. The question was his qualification for his particular job as the executive director of the work and the spokesman for God all over. Because, as it says in the qualifications for the ministry, that a minister should be blameless--that is without blame, not in a position of bringing legitimate blame upon the church. I don't think the church minds being persecuted for righteousness, but not for dirt and filth, and it was putting the church in a very compromised position through his leadership. Walt Sharp said that he felt Ted was the Achilles' heel of the church, so we discussed his qualifications some.
We discussed the credibility gap where there was a mistrust in the ministry toward headquarters. Many examples of headquarters giving a party line which didn't tell the truth. They gave second or third reasons for sending an evangelist to England, or kicking somebody out, or doing this or doing that. They never gave the honest, straight reason. I won't say never, but in many cases would not. It was a credibility gap.
We discussed the double standard of the high living leaders and the sacrifice of the people. Ted, at this meeting, even proposed to buying a third jet aircraft for Big Sandy. I told him I would be embarrassed to have him send a jet aircraft out to pick me up in Washington to take me to some conference. Anybody who knows the slightest thing about it knows it's a whole lot cheaper to fly commercial. So why should a non-profit religious organization have its own air force? It just was without reason, a multi-million dollar excessive, personal indulgences. It would be different if all the people were rich and had plenty of money and were just rolling in money and had nothing else to do with it, well, that's fine. Or if they [the leaders] want to live at that style on their own salary, well, that's fine, too, but they lived at that style at the expense of a lot of poor people--at the expense of really getting the message of Jesus Christ out to this world that is dying and very much needs it.
After the meeting Ted Armstrong felt this was like "Korah's rebellion" and in spite of this face to face thanks for all of us being there, apparently he mistrusted many of us from that moment on.
In Feb of 1974, the first week, there was another meeting conducted by the regional directors to discuss the doctrinal problems we were facing--mainly third tithe and divorce and re-marriage. All the regional directors met privately at David Antion's home and spent many long hours in Bible study, going through the whole divorce question. Several directors--myself, Walt Sharp and Burk McNair had already decided that we were making no more divorce and re-marriage decisions. I had about three dozen cases on my desk, waiting a decision at that time. It's just one of these things that couldn't be put off.
Poverty of members in England:
Prior to our February regional director's conference, I had been in England a couple of days on my way to see my family in Norway--for the first time in my life--on a trip I had planned for a long time and paid for myself. While going on that trip, Ted Armstrong moved up the dates of the January conference so that it would take place while I was gone and Tom Williams was gone. But in talking to some of the English ministry, we were extremely concerned at the administration of policy. Here were people on a much lower standard of living, paying first and second and third tithe. Many of them not having enough protein to feed their families--sometimes not buying meat but every four to six weeks. [Note: Listen to Richard Plache to hear more about this.] And yet here were the religious royalty there on the campus--living like millionaires, living like barons--and the common people without enough food and some cases heat, to make ends meet. This was not reconcilable with the Word of God in any way.
It hadn't always been like this. But in the past several years the whole events of the Worldwide Church was this direction. We felt it was a wrong direction and many of us were resolved in our minds that that direction would have to change, or we would be leaving.
Doctrinally, Morally and Ethically:
Also in February there was a conference called in Richmond, the Washington D. C. regional ministry, called by me. At the time David Antion and Albert Portune were flying out in Ted Armstrong's airplane to visit with Tom Williams and me. Tom had been accused by Ted of doing things disloyal and many members in Richmond had called in, saying that he was telling people to put their confidence in God and not men, including the Armstrongs. If his attitude didn't change, they said they were going to fire him, and I let it be known that they'd have to fire me first. David Antion said well, if they fired me for those reasons, they'd have to fire him, too.
We discussed the whole matter with Al Portune. We stated all the issues that we were standing up for--doctrinally and morally and ethically. He agreed with all of them because he had agonized through the same subjects many, many times himself over the years and had tried to bring certain reform, only to have himself put down, and was almost a nervous wreck as a result of it. He very much was encouraged to see our strength and seeing it was 100% in agreement and was wanting to be supportive in every way he could.
So after the Richmond conference, we decided to get all the issues clearly down on paper. They were discussed with over 35 ministers present, notes were taken; all the ministers participating stated what they felt were the crux issues and things that they wanted resolution to. We got all those things down on paper. We kept Ted Armstrong and Robert Kuhn (his assistant) informed during the meetings of what was taking place.
After the Richmond meeting, David Antion went to Dayton, Ohio for a campaign. Albert Portune flew back and met with Ted Armstrong and went through all the matters discussed in the meetings, told him that the ministry was not going to wait on divorce and re-marriage until his father got around to looking into the subject. Ted Armstrong had already stated that he thought it might be priority #35, or #64, with his father, and it might be seven years before we'd be able to get into that subject of divorce and re-marriage. He felt it would be pushing his father to bring it up now, knowing his father's sensitivities to the subject. We felt we can't treat people that way, and tear lives apart for the next several years, waiting for an old man to get around to looking into it. This is no way to handle the Word of God, or God's people.
Ted Armstrong agreed with Albert Portune and got on the phone to his father overseas and explained divorce and re-marriage to Stanley Rader,12 who helped explain it to Herbert Armstrong, and finally got permission to recall the divorce booklet. David Antion had discussed these issues many times with Ted. Let me quote from Dave Antion's memo to Ted Armstrong of February 1974:
Dear Ted,
As you are well aware, there is a great lack of confidence in the field ministry toward headquarters in Pasadena. It has been building up for sometime and it is now intensifying to an explosive condition. A look at the history in the work over the last few years will give a background to what is happening today. The roots of doctrinal problems go back to the mid-60's when effective ministerial conferences came to an end. Today most of the ministers in the United States have heard of the doctrinal problems. Some do not know what the questions are, but they do know there are questions.
Toward the conclusion of the five page memo, which underscores the intimidation of fear, the misuse of human authority, in the next to last paragraph, David Antion states:
In any case the situation is extremely grave. There is no way I can keep the field from coming apart, though I have tried. I have introduced many projects to keep the men encouraged and keep them in their work--but that is not the answer. These matters of Bible and conscience. We cannot ask, or demand, that men throw these aside for the sake of the organization.
Termination of Sincere Ministers of Jesus Christ:
Ted Armstrong met me February 23, Saturday morning, and told me the news that the divorce booklet had been recalled. I, being totally aware of the pressure and the politics involved in that, recall knew that the recall of a booklet did not solve our basic problems. Unknown to me, the day before the call, Ted Armstrong had authorized my termination, as well as the termination of many other sincere ministers of Jesus Christ. The next Monday he conducted a conference in Texas, whereby he intimidated the few ministers who were willing to stand up for truth.
That Monday night, several regional directors, George Kemnitz, Dennis Pyle, myself, Ed Smith, as well as several area pastors, were meeting with David Antion in Dayton, Ohio to discuss some of the issues that we needed to present to the Armstrongs.
I received two calls that day from Stanley Rader, requesting I come to Pasadena with Dave Antion for a meeting with the Armstrongs. We were looking forward to coming anyway, so I came. Albert Portune, David Antion, and me waited all that day for the meeting, which never came about. David Antion met with the Armstrongs, and many of the evangelists, for several hours that day and they plainly stated that they would not see me, so I flew back to conduct a meeting with the ministry in the Washington area.
That week I and a couple of dozen other ministers were fired. Some like George Kemnitz decided to resign. We were fired behind our backs without any explanation of the reasons; the Biblical principle to go to your brother was totally ignored. The brethren were sent many, many letters from the Armstrongs, labeling us as "servants of the devil," libeling us and accusing us of things that never took place, and totally ignoring the issues at hand. The Worldwide Church of God canceled services that weekend so the brethren couldn't be told the truth. I had never publicly told any of the congregations the real problems facing the church, hoping to bring reform from within first. I would never have the opportunity now.
I called the meeting for the first week in March of all the interested ministers who would like to come together to form a church association. We invited Ernest Martin, Al Carrozzo, and many others to attend, and they did. As a result of that conference, a board was chosen and directors appointed and the Associated Churches of God began. The rest is a matter of history. ...
By Kenneth Westby (former evangelist of WCG)
1974
Posted January 6, 2004
[Transcribed by AJW, Exit & Support Network™]
"He [Herbert Armstrong] was always willing to make a change when he could see the error. Of course, while he was still alive, neither he nor any of us saw these errors."
(Personal from Joseph W. Tkach, The Worldwide News, March 7, 1995, p. 3)
NOTE: Seventy ministers, along with 11,000 members, defected the Worldwide Church of God in 1974. Three years after this exodus, Greg Albrecht was secretly attending Azusa Pacific University.
Footnotes by ESN:
1 Kenneth Westby became interested in Herbert Armstrong's Radio Church of God (later known as Worldwide Church of God) in the late 1950's. He was baptized in early 1959, attended Ambassador College that same year; later ordained as a WCG pastor and then appointed as a district superintendent in 1968. Around 1972 he was appointed as one of eight directors over most of the east coast. He left the Worldwide Church of God in 1974 and formed the Associated Churches of God. His association, while holding to many of HWA's doctrines, is not known to have an authoritarian, abusive hierarchy.
2 This is still prevalent today. If a former member happens to criticize something about the WCG, its past, or even Herbert Armstrong, they are quickly labeled, "unforgiving," "lacking love," "bitter," "not wanting to be in unity," "don't have your facts straight," etc. It is simply a tactic used to cause the person to feel guilty, or confused.
3 Jack Kessler's 1981 Letter to Worldwide Church of God Board of Directors goes more into detail concerning this.
4 1975 in Prophecy, 1956, Herbert W. Armstrong.
5 This is what happened again at the time of the new WCG doctrinal changes. The brethren were blamed that "they" had believed these things all those years.
6 This is considered part of "information control" which cults make use of.
7 Worldwide Church of God HQ announced the same thing to members around 1993.
8 Loma Armstrong died April 15, 1967 after failing to receive the medical attention she needed. Even her illness became an opportunity for Herbert Armstrong to milk his followers out of more money.
9 Charles Hunting, former Worldwide Church of God evangelist, discussed these double standards of Herbert Armstrong on The Clyde Thomas Show in Orlando, Florida, 1988.
10 Worldwide Church of God moved its headquarters from Pasadena, CA to Glendora, CA in November 2004. (Pasadena Star-News, October 25, 2004)
11 Herbert Armstrong gave over 200 false prophecies and these can be found on the Internet.
12 Stan Rader died July 2, 2002, in Pasadena, California, two weeks after having been diagnosed with acute pancreatic cancer. He was 71. More info about Stanley Rader is in OIU 5, pt. 2.
Pt. 1 | Pt. 2