Posted by:
Questionsforexmos
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Date: March 14, 2017 11:00PM
Garner Ted Armstrong is dead, so he can't sue us if we talk about him.
Garner Ted Armstrong was, at one time, thought by hundreds of thousands of people, to be the second closest man on Earth, next to Hebert W. Armstrong (his father). Members of the Worldwide Church of God, thought that these two men were "the closest men to God on Earth".
Compare GTA with Joseph Smith. See if there any similarities.
Garner Ted Armstrong was the son of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God. the WWCOG was founded in the 1950s by Herbert W. Armstrong, a man who claimed to be "God's End Time Messenger". He claimed to be God's Last Apostle, the Apostle who was chosen by God to "prepare the way" for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Herbert J. Armstrong (HJA) published "The Plain Truth" magazine for decades, which many of us over the age of 45 still remember. These magazines were offered for free in supermarkets all over the English-speaking world. The Worldwide Church of God (WWCOG) had, at best, about 300,000 members worldwide.
It was headquartered in Pasadena, California. The WWCOG ran a very small liberal arts unaccredited college called "Ambassador College" which never had more than about 100 students at any one time. Members of the WWCOG believed they were members of "The One True Church" on Earth, and that Herbert W. Armstrong was "God's Messenger" for the last days. Armstrong taught the members of the WWCOG that sex of any kind, even masturbation, was forbidden by the Law of God. Fornication and adultery was viewed as akin to murder. Students at Ambassador College could not hold hands, much less kiss, and the females could not wear make-up. Only the "cream of the crop" among young members of the WWCOG attended Ambassador College; usually the sons and daughters of WWCOG of God ministers.
Herbert J. Armstrong made many "prophecies" in The Plain Truth magazine, and all of them failed. When they did, he told the members they were "being tested" or that the Lord had delayed His coming "because they were not prepared" to meet Him, etc. And, most of the members of the WWCOG believed him.
Garner Ted Armstrong was the very handsome and charismatic son of Herbert W. Armstrong, and "heir apparent" in the position of "Pastor General" of the Church. He was later excommunicated from the WWCOG for persistent adulteries. He founded his own offshoot called the "International Church of God" but that collapsed after Garden Ted Armstrong had sexually assaulted a female massage therapist, and the assault was caught on video tape. Both Hebert and his son Garner Ted are dead.
The following is a "report" by an ex-minister of the WWCOG, in something he wrote many years after leaving that church. I will let him tell the story himself. Don't worry, you will "see" the relevancy of the Garner Ted Armstrong story by the time you finish reading this article. He writes....
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"In 1974 many ministers left the Worldwide Church of God. The reason many of them left has not been thoroughly understood. The truth has been buried under an avalanche of false accusation, rumor, and official denials and pronouncements from the pulpit. But the truth should make you shudder with horror, and lament like Jeremiah, and pray like Nehemiah, for the sins of God's people and God's Church!
Be sure these covered up sins shall not go unpunished in the sight of Almighty God! Let's investigate the facts -- just the facts -- and see what the evidence tells us.
As in the tragic case of Eli, whose sons perished when the Philistines attacked and seized the ark of God, the historical record proves beyond any doubt that Herbert Armstrong's own son, Garner Ted Armstrong, was guilty over a quarter of a century of committing adultery and whoredom with hundreds of women, including paid prostitutes around the world and young Ambassador college co-eds, many of whom later became married to ministers in the Church!
I first learned of this shocking revelation in 1972, when Ted Armstrong was "exiled" temporarily from the Church and sent to Colorado. According to reports, he had committed adultery with a young stewardess on his Falcon jet. He was so enamored of her that he wanted to divorce his wife Shirley and marry the stewardess. According to a recent e-mail I received from a friend of the girl, who died of cancer in 1998 and left a wonderful family behind, the actual facts of the case are that Ted Armstrong victimized her. She was not his “mistress” at all, but she told her friend, who knew her very well, that Ted was a “crazy man” who would manipulate and lie with complete ease. She was his stewardess for about four months. Says the confidant, “She ran away from him when he raped her in a motel room after tricking her into believing she was going with him on a church trip. She ran away from him and moved back to Minnesota and he chased after her. He would sleep in his car waiting to get a glimpse of her. She was absolutely petrified of him.” So far as I know, these are the real facts of the case!
This shocking revelation was then topped by the news that this girl, whose name was Gail, was not the first of Ted's sexual interests. He had been living a secret life of Playboy preacher for all the length of his ministry! I learned that he had been committing adultery with a girl in 1965 when another minister of the Church was also accused of committing adultery. The other minister was fired; but Ted wasn't even reprimanded or suspended from his job as first vice president of the Work and Church at the time!
Over dinner one evening, this whole sordid story was poured out to me by the former executive secretary of Herbert Armstrong. She had several girls come to her with their problems, and the problem was "Ted." He was having several affairs. When Mrs. Swaney tried to talk to Herbert Armstrong about it, Mrs. Loma Armstrong defended Ted. Ted later accused Mrs. Swaney of having a demon, and she was fired from her responsible job, disfellowshipped from the Church, and ostracized by all her former friends in the Church. Years later Mrs. Swaney was allowed back in the Church, but she was never rehired by the Work. Eventually she died, a true sister in Christ She had suffered virtual "martyrdom" for her role in the Ted Armstrong affair.
It was in 1972 that an associate in the Work of God confided to me that Ted Armstrong had been having affairs with an estimated 200 or more girls during his ministry as an evangelist in the Church, while he preached on the radio and television. Two hundred! Some of these were former students at Ambassador College, baby sitters, and female employees of the Work -- girls I had known as friends and acquaintances at Ambassador College!
One man, a friend of mine, whose name was Jerry Horton, worked in the radio studio at the College. One day he was taking some material up to Ted Armstrong's office. The door was ajar, so he began to go in -- but then he noticed a strange phenomenon. On the couch was Garner Ted Armstrong, having sexual relations with a young, pretty college co-ed! Hurt, shame-faced, and infuriated inside, Jerry quietly retreated. But he never forgot the sight. Shaken to the core, this traumatic discovery caused him to lose all respect for the leadership in the Church, and he eventually left.
When astonishing facts regarding Ted Armstrong's moral turpitude threatened to become public in 1972, I remember a painful Bible study in Pasadena when Herbert Armstrong announced the "exile" of his son to Colorado. I remember painfully how God's "apostle" threatened the entire listening congregation, warning them NOT to try to find out what Ted had done -- it was kept an official mystery, a secret. All Herbert Armstrong admitted at the time was that Ted had some sort of "breakdown," and had been under a lot of "pressure" from his many responsibilities. In other words, he lied to the entire Church of God, and performed a masterful "cover up" that made the "Watergate Cover Up" of President Nixon look amateurish by comparison!
What were the actual facts?
In The Broadway to Armageddon, a book written by former minister of the Worldwide Church of God, William B. Hinson, several sensational, shocking facts are pointed out. In his informative, very helpful book, Hinson quotes another former high ranking minister, Al Carrozzo, whom I knew personally many years. He and I used to play softball together on the Church league softball teams. In answering questions put to him by ministers, Carrozzo admitted, "Yes, it is true that Herbert W. Armstrong forced Ted and Shirley to get married. The fact that Shirley was pregnant was a source of great embarrassment for Herbert. Rod Meredith relates the profound embarrassment he experienced when Herbert Armstrong tried to explain how Shirley gave birth to a premature eight pound baby boy. It is a matter of record substantiated by scores of people who were there."
Carrozzo continued: "Herbert Armstrong had known about Ted's sexual shenanigans from the very beginning. By the beginning I mean 1952 and before. The majority of the Evangelists did not know years in advance of Ted's exile in 1972."
When asked how many women Ted had had affairs with, Al Carrozzo answered: "Absolutely yes, Ted admitted to having affairs with over 200 different women . . . He said 'by conservative estimate' there were 200 women. This was on January 30, 1972, in his home in Pasadena" when he made this confession.
In a full-color, quality publication called Ambassador Report which was published in 1977, Al Carrozzo wrote a thorough expose of Garner Ted Armstrong's sexual misdeeds, entitled "The Profligate Son." In it Carrozzo quotes Ted Armstrong as telling him in a private meeting, at 10:05 A.M., May 16,1973, "Al, let's get one thing straight! I'm a no good, fornicating, adulterating son of a bitch!"
Carrozzo goes on, "This was not the first or the only time Ted ever admitted that he was an adulterer. In spite of repeated public denials, Ted has privately admitted that he has been guilty of flagrant, continuous adultery and fornication for almost a quarter of a century -- as a church member, an executive, and an evangelist!"
Carrozzo points out how he first learned of Ted's problem in 1965 when the "whole sordid affair was swept under the rug, while Ted came out lily-white." In 1967 the husband of one of Ted's victims informed Carrozzo that his wife had had sexual relations with the handsome radio evangelist. When Al confronted Ted with the allegations, he admitted it was true, but blamed the girl for flaunting her exciting body in front of him, until in weakness he gave in. Al did not pursue the matter further, as Ted talked him out of telling his father.
In an article in the New Times, dated December 4-10, 1997, entitled "Honey, I Shrunk the Church," by Ron Russell, we find an astonishing report made about Ted Armstrong's infidelities, and his own personal admissions. The author interviewed Al Carrozzo, who had been an evangelist in the Church. Carrozzo told him a strange story. The author wrote:
"The word had leaked out during the 1960s, the result of a minister having been caught having sex with an Ambassador College coed. It was a big scandal on a campus where Herbert had forbidden girls to wear makeup and where holding hands was a punishable offense. Before being excommunicated, the fallen minister let it slip that Ted also had been sleeping around.
"His comments prompted Carrozzo, then dean of students, to conduct his own investigation, which convinced him that it was true. Among Ted's avowed con- quests were dozens of wide-eyed college women, including some who became ministers' wives. Carrozzo says -- adding that he shared his knowledge with a superior who told him that Ted had been fooling around for years and that Herbert had given up trying to do anything about it. Much later, the former dean says, he confronted Ted after listening incredulously to a distraught young married woman confess to committing a carnal sin. After much hesitation, she declared that the younger Armstrong had seduced her. 'He admitted it,' says Carrozzo. 'Then, I'll never forget, he said: "Put me behind bars, slip my food to me, keep me in solitary confinement, but just don't take my microphone away because I must preach the message God has given me"'" (New Times, Dec.4-10, 1997, p.16).
But in mid-1971 Ted's problem once again surfaced. Ted's promiscuity became known to top administrators in the Church, and Herbert sent him on a leave of absence for several months. Members of the Church were led to believe Ted was gone for "health reasons."
During these events, Herbert Armstrong was never candid to the Church. He covered everything up and threatened anyone who would pry into matters with expulsion and disfellowshipment from the Church! In his own mind, I suppose, he thought he was "protecting the Church." But as he allowed his son to return, without evidence of TRUE repentance, the problems continued.
After Ted was brought back, and allowed to preach at the Feast of Tabernacles sites in the fall of 1971, things once again came to a head. During his stay at Squaw Valley, after he preached a sermon entitled "What The World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love," Ted spent that very night in the arms of his mistress, Gail, who was an Ambassador college student, and the stewardess of his Falcon jet, which he used to fly around the country. That very night, Ted and the young girl shacked up in a Lake Tahoe cabin on the south shore. Once again Church investigators discovered Ted's adultery -- caught him red-handed, in the act. And his father was again notified.
In a subsequent letter to the members of the Church, Herbert Armstrong wrote that Ted felt he would be up to speaking at all the Festival sites, but after speaking at Squaw Valley "his fourth site, tensions had built up until his nerves were at razor-edge, and he could not continue."
This was of course a carefully constructed "lie," obviating the true nature of the discovery of Ted's "problem." Once again Herbert Armstrong prevaricated, and rather than face the unvarnished truth of the situation, and publicly rebuke his philandering son, he chose to deliberately lie, to once again cover up the adulterous liaison! Herbert knew perfectly well why Ted was unable to continue preaching after Squaw Valley. To say that Ted's nerves were at "razor-edge," and therefore he could not continue, was a blatant DECEPTION -- an absolute LIE! Herbert Armstrong knew better. But he had known of his son's problems all along, just as Eli the high priest had. And he did not want the truth known to the membership whose tithes and offerings supported the Church. He felt that the revelation of Ted's promiscuity would e devastating to the Church's finances and income. So the charade continued.
Shortly after this, Ted was "exiled" to Hawaii with his wife and two close friends. The friend was to "watch" Ted every second. He evidently failed. For while Ted was in Hawaii "recuperating," a letter arrived at the Ambassador College Mail Receiving Department from a woman who managed a massage parlor (euphemism for "whore house") in Hawaii. The woman complained that there was a young masseuse in her employ who had been trying to come out of a life of sin, and who often watched Ted Armstrong on television. This young masseuse had been "horrified into nightmarish disillusionment" Carrozzo writes, when she recognized Ted one day, sitting in the massage parlor, waiting to be "serviced" by one of the prostitutes! The madam indignantly wrote that her masseuse was extremely upset from seeing the suave preacher there, especially after learning of his real reason for being there! (It wasn't to preach the gospel to the whores!)
After this incident, Ted was sent to Colorado to ostensibly "repent.." After spending abouyt two months in "exile," he was brought back, however. Soon, Ted's adulterous affairs were once again discovered. Herbert Armstrong was forced to take further action. Al Carrozzo explains what happened:
"Around 10:30 p.m. Garner Ted came home from a Los Angeles Laker basketball game and was stunned to find his father, most of the headquarters leadership, and Stan Rader waiting in his living room. Upon learning the purpose of their visit, he flew into a reactionary rage during which he openly admitted he had had illicit sexual relations with some 200 women -- and that was his 'conservative estimate' -- during his two decades of association with his father's church. Among his consorts were literally dozens of youthful, wide-eyes coeds, plus several who became executive or ministerial wives. On this occasion Ted was given an official letter of disfellowship" ("The Profligate Son," by Al Carrozzo, Ambassador Report, 1997, p.46).
During this meeting Ted admitted he had been having an intimate sexual affair with an Ambassador College stewardess ever since the summer of 1970. This clandestine, adulterous affair continued unabated, until Herbert Armstrong had been informed of it in the summer of 1971. At that time, Herbert Armstrong took no action at all. Says Carrozzo, "Instead of removing Ted from the ministry for good -- as he had done with other ministers guilty of adultery -- he precipitated a vast cover-up, much like former President Nixon attempted. There is one major difference though: Herbert had been covering up Ted's sexual looseness since the early 1950s" ("The Profligate Son," by Al Carrozzo, Ambassador Report, 1997, p.46).
Ted Armstrong was again exiled to an A-frame in Colorado, for several months. During this time David Antion was commissisoned to write a research paper on "Qualifications for the Ministry," for Herbert Armstrong. Antion's thorough paper, citing Biblical references in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1, showed that Ted for his vast womanizing was no longer qualified to remain a minister in God's Church, according to the Bible. However, Al Carrozzo continues his account, apparently neither Ted or his father Herbert accepted the conclusions of the paper. Says Carrozzo of the situation:
"At the time, the leading ministers and I all thought Herbert really wanted to know about Ted's qualifications, but later we found out he was trying to learn all the main arguments against his son's return so he could persuasively refute them. Herbert forwarded Antion's paper to Ted, who promptly dismissed it, claiming the Biblical arguments didn't apply to him because he had been 'called to preach the gospel from his mother's womb.' This defense, then, turned out to be Herbert's argument in favor of Ted's return to full status and authority, in spite of Herbert's earlier pronouncement that Ted, even if returned, would not occupy ministerial office" (ibid., p.46).
In contrast to Herbert Armstrong's handling of his son's flagrant and continuous adultery, it might be germane to mention that when another minister was caught having committed a single act of adultery in 1968, he was fired from his job, put out of the ministry, and disfellowshipped from the Church. Not only that, but his sin was detailed publicly before the entire student body of Ambassador College in a special assembly for students and employees.
On June 8, 1972, Ted was reinstated to an elevated position in the Church, and allowed to make radio and television broadcasts. On July 20, he was reinstated to full rank as an evangelist in the Church, and placed back on both college and church boards, and named executive vice-president of the Worldwide Church of God.
Did Ted Armstrong ever really repent of these carnal sins of adultery and lustful passion? He certainly professed repentance -- many times. Al Carrozzo, who counselled with him many times concerning his adulterous affairs, writes about Ted's amazing ability to shed crocodile tears and to show incredible "remorse" when confronted with his sins. He declared,
"Later it dawned on me that Ted is a sterling actor, a powerful persuader -- one who can make you feel guilty for even approaching a delicate subject. One Worldwide Church evangelist summed it up succinctly: 'Tec can charm the rattle off a snake.' Unfortunately, he charms people too. Glib as an orator and possessing awesome mental dexterity, Ted can change black into white, turn silk into wool, and refine sin into baseless allegation and rumor" (ibid., p.44-45).
However, in a newspaper interview in 1987, in Orange County, California, the Pasadena Star News asked Ted Armstrong about the allegations of his having committed adultery in the past. The writer wondered if Ted Armstrong had really been guilty of sexual sins, in the mid-1970s. Here was an excellent chance for Ted to "come clean" about his womanizing past and admit the truth, showing the sincerity, if any, of his repentance!
In the January 4, 1987 article, the reporter asked Ted Armstrong about the charges of adultery and womanizing which were made back in 1974. His answer? The article declared:
"Armstrong FLATLY DENIED old stories that he had sexual encounters with Ambassador students and other women. 'There was never a whisper of anything immoral and hadn't been for years and years."
The tragic truth is that Ted Armstrong has never "come clean" publicly about his horrendous immorality and sexual sins under the cover of evangelical saintliness. He has never admitted that as a "man of God" he seduced women, countless women, and bedded them like a satyr -- a sex-crazed monster.
Showing his own utter hypocrisy, in a meeting with ministers of the Worldwide Church of God in Big Sandy in 1974, Ted Armstrong personally suspended four ministers -- Walter Sharp, Dale Haynes, Bob McKibben and Jim Morrison -- who were all concerned about Ted's "qualifications" for the ministry. During this seven and one half hour meeting, Ted denied ever having full sex with any woman other than his wife. He admitted having fallen for one "silly young girl," as he then put it, but he denied having gone "all the way" with her. So he himself continued the "cover-up" and refused to admit the plain truth, which by then, had become common knowledge among the field ministry! Those who complained -- or who sought the truth -- were simply FIRED!
This hypocritical "cover-up" continued throughout the seventies. Herbert Armstrong NEVER made public mention of his son's sexual indiscretions, adulteries, and wickedness. We will see shortly the probable reason why Herbert was so loathe to publicly attack or humiliate his son, and to rebuke him for his on-going hedonistic charade.
Only after Ted himself was disfellowshipped from the Church, for other reasons, in 1978, did any one in an official capacity in the Worldwide Church of God admit to Ted's adultery. Interestingly, it was Stanley Rader, Herbert Armstrong's personal assistant and the attorney for the Church, who had the temerity to admit Ted's adultery in public. He did this on the Tom Snyder late night television show.
What does Almighty God think of these things?
Ted Armstrong seems to think that he can do anything -- that he was "born to preach the gospel." In his own words to one critic, he exclaimed, "My father and I are ABOVE THE LAW!" According to him, the normal qualifications for being a minister in God's Church, as they are outlined in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1, are not applicable to him -- because he was "specially called" to preach, regardless of how he lives his life!
In more recent days, of course, the sins of Garner Ted Armstrong have returned with a "vengeance." Just a few years ago he was caught and filmed on video-tape in a massage parlor in Tyler, Texas, attempting to force himself sexually upon a massage therapist, Sue Rae Robertson. As a result of his being caught on video-tape, in the act of masturbating himself in front of the masseuse, singing a song to himself, and trying to force himself on the masseuse,, the masseuse and her husband have SUED both Garner Ted Armstrong and the Church of God, International, in court for damages and legal fees. The case is still pending in Texas court. and is due for a jury trial soon.
However, bad as this is, now word comes to us that the Church of God, International Board of Directors has finally FIRED Ted Armstrong from all positions he has held in the Church. According to a letter sent out to all Church members, they have found out that he has been having an ongoing sexual relationship with a female Church member in the Tyler area. This information just surfaced a few months ago. According to reports, Ted Armstrong has taken this woman, less than half his age, on vacations to Disney World, and it is even alleged that she is now pregnant!
Has Ted repented? He professes repentance, even today, in 1998. In his letters to the members and leaders of the Church of God, International, written in December 1997, he declares that the Board of that Church has done him a great injustice -- and that they are guilty of treachery and betrayal! He alleges that he has "repented" of any sins he may have committed, and accuses them of breach of confidentiality of things he told some of them in private ministerial sessions.
Nevertheless, as Jesus Christ Himself declared, "You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall KNOW them" (Matt.7:16-20)."
(source: The Ambassador Report online)
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What the former WWCOG minister said was the following:
*Garner Ted Armstrong, the son and heir apparent of Hebert W. Armstrong, led a double-life. Outwardly he was the Lord's Evangelist, but, secretly, he was a sexual predator.
*At one point Ted admitted to having had sex with at least 200 women; Ambassador College female students as well as the wives of other ministers.
*Hebert W. Armstrong, did his best to cover-up for his son, and when that was no longer possible, HWA would send his son on Sabbatical for six months, and then bring him back to the Church headquarters, giving his son full minister positions. His son Garner Ted would "screw up" (literally) again, and HWA would send him on another six month Sabbatical, and then have him return "a new man" and this would repeat itself over decades until Church leaders close to HWA "demanded" that he finally excommunicate his son. This was done.
*Garner Ted Armstrong then forms the Church of God International in Texas, but he "screw up" yet again, has an affair with a young Church woman, gets her pregnant, and then goes to a massage therapist and sexually assaults the therapist. He is finally "fired" by the Ministerial Board of the Church of God International, the very Church he himself founded.
Can YOU see any parallels between GTA and JS?