THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE
Armstrong's Empire Exposed
by
John Tuit
(Published in 1981)
THE RAID - PART #1
BY JANUARY 3, 1979, I WAS GETTING VERY EDGY. IT HAD BEEN A
day since Earl had told me that he was to stand by in order to be
available. Bert Mann was anxiously waiting for word so that he
could be on the scene for a good story. I could wait no longer,
and as soon as I thought it was late enough in California for
Earl to be out of bed, I phoned him.
He said, "I think this is the day. Chodos told me to stick
around the house and not be out of touch. He doesn't want me to
leave the house, as he said he would call as soon as they are
ready and I have to be able to run down there immediately to show
the officers where to go. This is really going to be something.
They're going to come in with court officers to seize all the
records at the college and Church offices, as well as Rader's
offices downtown at Century City. They're also going to grab the
Worldwide Advertising records that are kept there. I'd better get
off the phone now, so that the line is clear."
After a couple of hours I could no longer stand the
suspense. I hadn't heard from Earl and I wondered what was going
on. Was this another day of delay? Or had he neglected to call
me?
Again I phoned. Shirley answered. She said, "Earl just went
down to the College campus. The Attorney General's office just
raided the place and they didn't even tell Earl ahead of time. We
got the word after it was in progress. They didn't even tell Earl
what time it was going to happen, or exactly when. They wanted
him to wait around the house here, so that he would be available,
but even he was not to know ahead of time when it was going to
happen. They didn't want any leaks at all. They wouldn't even
tell us, it turns out. I don't know what's going on down there
now, but I understand that it's really kind of wild. There are
police cars and police officers all over the place. Bert Mann
already knows about it. He's on his way."
How I wished I could be there to see what was happening. We
had worked so hard on this for so long and now we were just
hoping that we could be effective in cleaning up the entire
Church. What would Rader do, I wondered? Fight, or would he take
a leave of absence pending the return date of the complaint?
While the law officers and our attorney were serving notices
and seizing files at the Church offices and Worldwide Advertising
offices in Century City, others were just as much in the dark as
I was at that point.
Wayne Cole was having breakfast with Ray Wright. While at
breakfast, a waitress came to their table and said there was a
phone call for Cole. It was Cole's wife asking him to return home
as quickly as possible to return a call from Herbert Armstrong.
Cole rushed home and, upon walking in the door, his wife told him
that she had just received a call from his secretary Pam
Brubaker. She relayed the message that Virginia Kineston, Rader's
secretary had called the office and said, "Lock the doors, there
are police officers in here serving notices. Don't let anyone
in." Pam had told Cole's wife that there were police officers up
and down the halls and no one knew what was happening. As anxious
as Cole was to find out the details, he felt it would be best to
call Herbert Armstrong first.
It was about 9:30 A.M. and Cole returned Armstrong's call.
Armstrong was unaware of the happenings at the Church
headquarters, and wanted to discuss the Rader situation. He said
that he had his letter hand-delivered to Rader in Pasadena, and
that Rader had gone into an absolute rage and threatened to sue
Armstrong and the Church. Armstrong said that he had finally
calmed Rader down and said further to Cole, "I've never seen a
man filled with so much self in a certain way for his own honor
and integrity. He just flies into a desperate rage, loses his
head completely if anyone says anything against his honesty and
honor." Rader, finally calming down, began to agree that it might
be better to go along with Armstrong's wishes, but do it in a way
that wouldn't reflect badly on him. If Armstrong felt that Rader
went into a rage from time to time when his honesty was attacked,
then what he had seen was nothing compared to the reaction Rader
would soon have against the lawsuit.
I don't know how I would have reacted if I had known that at
the very time a suit was being served on the Church officials
demanding their removal, Herbert Armstrong was in the process of
arranging for the removal of Rader, whom we considered to be the
prime problem. Perhaps it's better that I didn't know that the
removal of Rader by Armstrong was any more than a rumor. As I
look back, however, the way Armstrong wanted to remove him - in a
sense, just take him out of a prominent position and retain him
as advisor - could have left him in a more dangerous position
than before. He could very well have had all the power as before
without having it appear that way officially. I'm sure that's why
Rader calmed down and then agreed to work things out in that way
with Armstrong. Being resourceful, he would still find a way to
meet his objectives.
During their conversation, Cole told Armstrong that he
received word that something was wrong and that something very
strange was going on at the office. He relayed the message to
Armstrong regarding lawyers and officials and police serving
notices throughout the offices and said that he had no further
details as to what was going on. Armstrong, who had been spending
so much time of late hatching a plan by which he could remove
Rader from a position of prominence, said, "Oh, I'd better call
Stan about that right away." From that comment, it was quite
obvious that Armstrong never really intended to sever the cord
that so tightly binds him to Rader. Actually, he felt that he
still had to rely on Rader, but wanted to do it in a way that
Rader would not be prominent and would not cause any negative
reaction on the part of the ministry and members.
After that comment, Armstrong reverted back to the matter of
his letter to Rader. He said that Rader was going to send him a
letter of resignation saying that he was so busy with AICF and as
personal assistant to Armstrong that he could not keep up with
the responsibility of managing all the business affairs of the
Church. Again, another snow job being planned to deceive the
membership. The phone call ended and Cole immediately called his
office. He was unable to determine much further, other than the
fact that law officers and lawyers were swarming all over the
offices. There was still a great deal of confusion as to the
purpose of the so-called raid. The imposition of the receivership
and the serving of the complaints on the various defendants was
well planned, and in spite of all the rumors regarding lawsuits,
was a total surprise. It was a perfectly kept secret.
The peaceful college campus and Church headquarters complex,
Herbert Armstrong's idea of a miniature model of the Kingdom of
God, was total bedlam. Like a well planned military invasion, the
court-appointed receiver, Judge Steven Weisman, Deputy Attorney
General Tapper, Hillel Chodos, his brother Rafael, members of the
Attorney General's office, state law enforcement officers, and
Pasadena police officers had moved in on the Worldwide Church of
God headquarters.
At the same time in a smaller way the same thing was taking
place at the offices of Rader's various firms in Century City. As
court officers began seeking out Stanley Rader and other
defendants, it became quite obvious who was in charge of the
Church. As all this took place while Rader was enjoying a game of
tennis at the College tennis courts, his secretary, Virginia
Kineston, was the one who began giving the orders. She
immediately instructed all employees to lock their offices and
not permit law officers to enter. It was Mrs.Kineston who was not
even a member of the Church, since she had been disfellowshipped
some time back, who was the one who was instructing Church
employees to resist the law. The fact that people complied with
her orders leaves no doubt as to the fact that they considered
her to have been speaking directly for Stanley Rader. Their
compliance would make it quite plain as to who the employees
considered to be the one in charge of the Church. Offices and
vaults were sealed off by the officers and they immediately began
seizing and removing documents from Church headquarters.
At the same time several drawers of Church documents were
removed from the Century City offices, under the custody of the
Attorney General's office. Church employees, instead of
cooperating with the law officers in accordance with the court
order, hid away in their offices like a bunch of frightened rats.
Curtains were drawn, and from time to time employees could be
seen peeking from behind the curtains.
That afternoon, the Pasadena Star News carried a headline:
"AMBASSADOR RAIDED, POLICE CORDON COLLEGE OFFICES." Only the
sketchiest information was reported by the Star News, as the
reporters were unable to get details regarding this unusual
action against the Church officers.
While it was to be reported many times later that the action
was against the Church, that in fact was not the case. The action
was against the Church officers, with the Church being named a
defendant merely as a legal means by which the courts could
obtain possession of Church documents for their protection.
What had happened here? What had taken place so that law
officers could move in on a Church headquarters office in this
way? Could this be construed as a state attack on the Church, as
it was later to be claimed by Armstrong and Rader? The newspapers
did not have the facts. While Bert Mann's article the following
morning contained more detailed information, since he had the
advantage of knowing that this action was pending, very few knew
for some time what really had taken place. It set the stage for
what appeared to be an assault upon a Church.
The day before, on January 2nd, proceedings had been
conducted in the chambers of Judge Jerry Pacht of the Superior
Court of the State of California. Appearing before Judge Pacht
were Lawrence R. Tapper, Hillel Chodos, Rafael Chodos, and their
associate Hugh John Gibbson. Also appearing was Judge Steven S.
Weisman, who was later to be appointed receiver. Judge Pacht had
previously read the complaint which named as defendants the
Worldwide Church of God Incorporated, Ambassador College
Incorporated, Ambassador International Cultural Foundation
Incorporated, Wilshire Travel Incorporated, Worldwide Advertising
Incorporated, Gateway Publishing Incorporated, Environmental
Plastics Incorporated, Herbert W. Armstrong, Stanley R. Rader,
Osamu Gotoh, Robert Kuhn, Raymond L. Wright, Henry Cornwall,
Ralph Helge, the Accounting Firm of Rader, Cornwall and Kessler
and Does one to one hundred.
The complaint alleged ....., "Funds and property contributed
to the Church are freely transferred among the Church and the
other corporate defendants" and, due to the lack of knowledge as
to the precise relationship of the various defendants with the
Church, the right to amend the complaint at a future date was
requested. Armstrong and Rader were said to have refused to make
any accounting to the membership regarding funds received,
expended or held by the Church. The complaint further alleged:
"The named individual defendants, acting in concert with and
under the direction of defendants Armstrong and Rader have been
and are siphoning off the property and assets of the Church and
appropriating them to their own personal use and benefit on a
massive scale amounting to several million dollars per year."
According to the complaint, the church, being incorporated
under a law which requires election of directors by members,
failed and refused members to vote as required. The allegation
went on to state:
"That none of the directors of the aforesaid corporations
actually votes on any matters affecting Church governance; but
merely acquiesces in decisions and instructions made by the
defendants Armstrong and Rader."
Armstrong has as much as admitted to this charge in view of
his statements to Wayne Cole regarding the fact that the Board
was just a dummy board.
The allegations regarding financial improprieties were quite
strong. According to the complaint, the Church had been spending
at least a million dollars per year over and above its annual
receipts. As a result, the organization had been forced to
liquidate holdings in order to defray current expenditures. In
regard to this it was stated in the complaint: "All the excess of
expenditures over receipts is attributed to the individual
defendants pilfering of the revenues of the Church and their
appropriation of its assets for their own personal use and
benefit, which pilfering and appropriation continues to this very
day on a massive scale." It was alleged that real estate was
being sold well below market value and that the sixteen-
hundred-acre Big Sandy, Texas campus was reputed to be worth
approximately $30 million, but in the process of being sold for
$10 million. The complaint stated:
"All these statements and activities are part of their effort to
convert the assets of the Church into a form in which they may be
more easily appropriated to the personal use and benefit of the
individual defendants."
As a result of their investigation, the Attorney General's
office had reason to believe that documents were being tampered
with and alleged:
"That the individual named defendants, in an effort to frustrate
discovery of their wrongdoing and to obscure the facts, have
caused and are causing the written records of their dealings to
be removed from the Pasadena offices of the defendant
corporations, and to be shredded and destroyed; and that if said
removal and destruction are allowed to continue, it may never be
possible to develop a true and complete accounting of the Church
finances during the time period complained of."
In order to correct the situations, as alleged in the
complaint, the plaintiff, which was for purposes of the suit the
people of the State of California, represented by the Attorney
General's office, and the relators asked from the courts:
1. "For an order requiring defendants to make a full and complete
accounting to this Court and to the members of the Church of the
affairs of the Worldwide Church of God Incorporated, Ambassador
College Incorporated, Ambassador International Cultural
Foundation Incorporated, Excelsior Leasing Incorporated,
Midatlantic Leasing Incorporated, Gateway Publishing
Incorporated, Worldwide Advertising Incorporated, and the
Accounting Firm of Rader, Cornwall and Kessier from at least
January 1, 1975 or such earlier date as may be appropriate
through the date of said accounting.
2. "For an order requiring an immediate election of new directors
of Worldwide Church of God Incorporated, Ambassador College
Incorporated, Ambassador International Cultural Foundation
Incorporated, and requiring all the said directors to be elected
by the members of the Church according to the procedures
prescribed by law.
3. "For an order appointing a temporary receiver "ex parte,"
(without notice to the defendants) and a receiver "pendente lite"
(meaning pending or during suit or while litigation is in
progress) to take possession, until further order of this court,
of all the property of the defendant corporations aforesaid and
of their books and records, and empowering him to take such
actions as he deems, in the reasonable exercise of his
discretion, appropriate to recover property and assets wrongfully
taken from the Church, and to prevent the further dissipation of
Church property and assets, said power to include without
limitation the power to bring lawsuits in the name of the Church
or any of its affiliated organizations, and to retain independent
accountants, lawyers, and other professional assistants to assist
him in the prosecution of such lawsuits.
4. "For an injunction restraining the named individual
defendants, their agents, employees, and all persons acting in
concert with them, from interferring in any way with the actions
of said receiver, and requiring them furthermore to yield up to
said receiver all the books, records, and administration
facilities of said corporate documents.
5. "For an injunction restraining the named individual
defendants, their agents, employees, and all persons acting in
concert with them, from selling or mortgaging or asserting
ownership in any other way, over the property or assets of any of
the corporate defendants, except as a court appointed receiver
may allow.
6. "For a cost of suit herein.
7. "For such other and different or further relief as to this
Court may seem just and proper."
While this entire action was later to be characterized by
Armstrong and Rader as an attack on religion by the state, it is
quite clear by the language of the complaint that the action in
fact was on behalf of the Church. It can be clearly seen that the
entire purpose was to bring the Church functions into compliance
with the laws under which it was organized, recover any monies
which may have been wrongfully taken from the Church, and prevent
dissipation of Church assets for personal gain or any other
reason through a proper accounting to determine the true
financial condition of the Church.
In the proceedings before Judge Pacht, Chodos said that he
did not want to make a public filing on the complaint before
appearing in chambers before the Judge. In seeking an "ex parte"
receivership, the plaintiff's attorneys were seeking a most
strong and unusual court order in any case and in the case of a
religious organization, the potentially explosive nature of the
entire matter was most apparent. Yet any advance notice to
Armstrong and Rader would be such a hindrance to the effective
progress of the suit that there was no choice but to seek an "ex
parte" receivership.
Judge Pacht said, "What I have read, obviously, are copies
of documents which counsel furnished me. I am concerned about the
scope of the relief that is sought. I am concerned about the "ex
parte" nature of the proceedings, and the rather majestic order
which would flow from these proceedings without a hearing. I am
not unmindful there are charges that dissipation of the
properties may occur, and I am also not unmindful of the one
cruncher, if you will, which is the proposed sale of the Big
Sandy property on January 4th, or the proposed completion."
Chodos took the position before the Judge that while an "ex
parte" receivership was an emergency measure to be used with
great caution, that in this case the usual principles were not
applicable in view of the fact that all the Church corporations
were organized under California law for charitable, religious and
educational purposes.
Describing the law that is applicable to corporations of
that type, Chodos said, "That their property always and
ultimately rests in the court's custody, and they are always and
ultimately subject to the supervision of the court on the
application of the Attorney General. In effect, there are no
private interests. The court is not taking something away from
somebody or interferring with anyone's private rights. In effect,
what we are saying is that there are presently trustees who have
been allowed to manage the charitable fund on a day to day basis.
There is reason to believe, as we have shown you, that they have
not done their job in a faithful manner. We believe that
essentially those trustees serve at the court's pleasure, and may
be replaced with a more trustworthy trustee."
Judge Pacht said that he had no quarrel with that point, and
further discussion ensued regarding the problem of dealing with
the Big Sandy property which was outside of the state of
California. Chodos suggested that Judge Weisman be appointed
trustee of all Church funds and then allow him to be confronted
with the claims regarding any problems with the Texas property.
It was obviously realized that if the sale of the Big Sandy
campus was consummated, before any legal action was commenced in
California, that it may even be necessary to sue in Texas for a
reversal of the transaction.
In discussing the "ex parte" receivership, Chodos pointed
out that the situation was quite different than one dealing with
a private property matter. He pointed out that in imposing such a
receivership on private property, a court was put in a position
of attempting to interfere with someone's rights. But in this
case there would be no interference as the court is in effect the
overseer of a charitable trust. Chodos said, "In this case,
however, there are no private transactions. In other words, if
you appoint an "ex parte" receiver, all that is going to happen
is that he is going to take custody of the records and preserve
them; take custody of the money and preserve it; take custody of
the causes of the action and preserve that."
Judge Pacht then indicated that he felt still that some
interest could be hurt and he was mindful of that. Then turning
to Judge Weisman, Judge Pacht said: "It has been urged that this
bowl of spiders be put in your custody. Before I get involved in
orders or making orders or granting relief, are you willing to
become involved in it?"
"Yes, I am," said Weisman.
"As a receiver?" asked Judge Pacht.
"Yes, I am," Judge Weisman said.
Little did Judge Pacht realize that calling the entire
situation a bowl of spiders was to be such an apt description of
what others thought was God's Church. And Judge Weisman,
anticipating a more routine receivership, despite the fact that
he was retired in his sixties and suffering from the crippling
effect of polio, was prepared to proceed.
Judge Pacht indicated that he was somewhat queasy about
putting a receiver in charge of all the corporations, and felt
that it would be more appropriate to place the receivership only
over the charitable corporations and not over the private
business entities also named in the complaint.
After discussion regarding administrative details of the
receivership, the posting of a receiver bond and other
legalities, Judge Pacht said that he would issue the order to be
served by January 4th at S P.M. When he called the entire affair
a bowl of spiders, he may not have foreseen completely what kind
of a web he was dealing with. He must have had some foresight,
however.
After issuing the order, he said, "Somebody is going to have
a career as a judicial officer in this." In closing the
proceedings, Judge Pacht said to Chodos that he had better get
the complaint filed. Chodos responded, "Yes, if your honor,
please, if we can be excused, I'll go out to your table outside
and prepare our papers, get the bond and make all those
arrangements." The final words of Judge Pacht at the closing of
the proceedings were: "I will be here, I am sorry to say."
One must wonder if Judge Pacht at that point was wishing
that he had taken a good winter vacation. If he hadn't thought of
it then, the coming events were sure to make him wish he had. The
rest of the day was spent in carefully planning and arranging the
service of the complaint and imposition of the receivership the
following morning.
While Rader was planning the next morning's tennis game, he
and others were comfortably secure in the knowledge that all of
the rumors they had been hearing were false, and that no one
could ever bring suit against them. After all, they had allegedly
bought people off in the past on minor matters with out-of-court
settlements, and the rumors indicated an action of some sort that
was so massive that it was beyond the realm of probability. Rader
was, at that time, quite pleased that he was maneuvering to calm
the concern of the ministry and Church members regarding his
prominence, yet remain in total control. And, of course, no
matter what Rader's apparent title or position, as long as he was
there he would still be in full control of Herbert Armstrong.
The bowl of spiders was all his and he wove the web any way
he pleased.
And now, back to the raid.
For the next couple of hours, the scene at Church
headquarters could be best described as total confusion.
Employees had no idea what was going on. They just did as they
were told by their superiors, which meant that, either directly
or indirectly, they were following the orders of Virginia
Kineston. There was a total lack of cooperation with the
authorities. Once the order to resist had come down from Virginia
Kineston and Rader's aide, Ellis LaRavia, it didn't take much for
the blindly faithful to be convinced that this was a fullfillment
of end-time prophecy. In their minds, God's Church was under
attack. The persecution had begun. Could this be the time to flee
to safety, they wondered? The presence of armed guards on duty at
all building entrances and strategic points throughout the
headquarters complex had many totally convinced that this was the
beginning of the great tribulation.
While the officials of the court were busy attempting to do
their job, I had a phone conversation with Robert Kuhn and told
him, if it was at all possible, to get Wayne Cole and others of
the leading ministers on some sort of a conference call that I
would be able to explain what was happening.
I said, "If I could only talk to these men, I am sure that I
could show them that the real purpose here is to save the Church
and not to destroy it, which is what I am sure we'll be accused
of doing. I know of no way to reach Herbert Armstrong directly
other than perhaps through the leading ministers. Maybe after our
discussion they may be able to get to Mr.Armstrong with the facts
on this situation and hopefully the whole thing could be cut
short."
I was then faced with the unhappy task of telling Kuhn that
he and Ray Wright had been named defendants in the case. Kuhn was
terribly shaken by this news and felt that he had been betrayed.
I told him that as far as I knew I had the same information as he
regarding the list of defendants. That information was that
Armstrong and Rader and Does one to one hundred were to be named.
The decision to name him and Wright was made between Chodos and
the Attorney General's office and neither I, nor the other
relators, nor the firm of Cohn and Lifland knew anything about it
until after the fact. Whatever the reason for the last-minute
change we didn't know, but there was nothing we could do about
it. I tried to assure him that if he had no guilt there was
nothing to worry about. I suggested that he continue to cooperate
fully and have his attorney relate his desire to do so.
Kuhn said, "I don't care about this for myself. I've been
called all kinds of things by people, especially by Rader, but
this is going to cause a lot of problems in my family. It will be
terribly embarrassing to my father and also to my wife. My wife's
not a member of the Church, you know, and she's very prominent
here socially in Pasadena, and I don't know what kind of problems
and embarrassment this is going to cause my father with his
business associates back in New York. They've never been happy
with the fact that I'm in the Church, and my father would much
rather that I give the whole thing up and come with him in the
business. This is terrible, terrible. See what you can do to get
my name removed." There was nothing I could do to get his name
removed, as I was just a relator in the case.
Kuhn's concern for his family was due to the fact that he
was the only one in his family who was a member of the Worldwide
Church of God. His wife was a concert pianist in the Los Angeles
area, and very active in the temple where she held membership.
And his father is a well known textile manufacturer in New York.
I was upset about this turn of events as well, but I realized
that nothing could be done about it, and told Kuhn all that we
could do now is press forward and do our best in trying to clean
up the Church. He called Cole, telling him of our phone
conversation and my desire to speak with him. They then assembled
a group at one of their homes. Included in that group were
evangelists David Antion, Art Mokarow, Steve Martin, Dr.Herman
Hoeh and Ray Wright, who was the only non-minister present other
than Kuhn.
While Kuhn was arranging for the conference call, I was
anxiously waiting. I had made notes of the points I had wanted to
make and it seemed like such an unlikely thing was about to take
place. The conference call was with the leading ministers of the
Church, and I was to tell the director of the ministry what I
thought he should do about the events taking place at Church
headquarters. I wondered what kind of an awesome responsibility I
had taken upon myself. I was not awe-stricken by the fact that I
would be in contact with these various men, but rather by the
fact that it had finally happened. The lawsuit was a reality. I
couldn't help but be bothered again by doubts as to whether or
not we had done the right thing. I knew that if we had done the
wrong thing by initiating this legal action that we would have a
terrible thing to answer for some day, standing before Jesus
Christ as he asked us to account for our attempt to destroy His
Church.
(Yes, if that had really been the case. But the truth of the
matter was that the WCG had not been a part of the body of Christ
for many years. I would say from about the time of Loma
Armstrong's death in 1967. After that event Herbert Armstrong had
no person to control him, and Loma did control him. From that
point on Armstrong went off the deep end into vanity and power
and an appointed "the apostle of God" doctrine, and Roman
Catholic church government - Keith Hunt)
I replayed the events of the past several months in my mind.
All the prayers for guidance, for direction were again pondered
over. No, this was not an attack on God's Church. This was the
only way. Those whom God had used at one time had been misled by
others to turn from their righteousness and were in fact the ones
truly responsible for the ongoing destruction of the Church. This
had to be done. I recalled again how God spoke through Ezekiel,
Chapter 3. In this chapter, God is telling Ezekiel that he is
making him a watchman over the house of Israel and that the
wicked must be warned to turn from their ways. If the wicked are
not warned to turn from their ways, the blood of the wicked will
be required at the hand of the delinquent watchman. If the wicked
are warned by the watchman and do not turn from their wicked
ways, then God says that the watchman has done his job and the
wicked must fully bear the responsibility for his own wickedness.
One can infer from this that anyone else in a position to warn
someone to turn from their wicked ways must do so. In the same
chapter God makes it quite clear that righteous people can turn
from their righteousness and be in need of correction. Versus 20
and 21 make it quite clear that it is the responsibility of a
Christian to warn that formerly righteous man of his wrongdoing.
The Scriptures state: "When a righteous man doth turn from his
righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block
before him he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning,
he shall die in his sin and his righteousness which he had done
shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine
hand. Nevertheless if thou warned the righteous man, that the
righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live,
because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul."
While Herbert Armstrong had been warned many times by
others, I felt that another attempt should be made to get through
to him. The responsibility to make such an attempt had to be
fulfilled. For if Armstrong did not turn from his iniquity, all
of the good that he had done would not even be remembered by God.
I had to keep trying, as I did not want to bear any
responsibility for Armstrong's continued wrongdoing.
(It was a good try John Tuit, well-meaning, but doomed to failure
from the start, because sorry to say, Herbert Armstrong had gone
beyond the line of changing his ways. There was no Loma to
correct him and keep him on the straight and narrow path of
humility and righteousness - Keith Hunt)
After about an hour I received a call from the conference
operator and was hooked into a four-way conference call with
Kuhn, Cole and Antion all at the other end of the line. Kuhn then
restated to everyone on the line that he had established the
conference call at my request in order that I may have the
opportunity to make clear to the leading ministers of the Church
the real reasons behind the lawsuit. Both Cole and Antion said
that it was a tragic series of events that were taking place.
Cole then said, "We were afraid that something like this would
happen sooner or later. You may think we've been doing nothing
here but there are many others who have been trying to work from
within for a long period of time to correct the problems in the
Church. I just want you to know that we're willing to listen to
what you have to say so that we will know exactly what this is
all about."
I outlined the entire reason for the suit and emphasized the
fact that this was an attempt to save the Church and that the
receiver was being placed in charge in order to protect the
assets of the Church. I told them that the Attorney General's
office has no right to interfere with the ecclesiastical affairs
of the Church and in fact has no interest in those areas. I made
it plain that this action had been in the planning stages for
quite some time and that it would be pursued aggressively to a
conclusion.
After explaining the entire background and purpose of the
lawsuit, I said, "Our interest here as relators is obviously one
more broad than that of the Attorney General's office. We want to
clean up the financial improprieties and also see the Church
relieved of the autocratic, dictatorial rule that has been
imposed, plunging the Church into a state of complete fear. The
Attorney General has determined from his investigation that there
are adequate grounds to proceed with this lawsuit, and their
interest is to see those responsible for wrongdoing are removed
and caused to make full
.........................
To be continued
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