Joseph Smith and Garder Ted Armstrong

[_Mustagath]

Back in the 1930s, Herbert W. Armstrong started the Radio Church of God, a radio program, from Eugene Oregon. He was a charismatic preacher. He belonged to the Church of God, Seventh-Day, which is similar to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, but a lot smaller. The Church of God, Seventh-day, are Sabbatarians (keep the Saturday Sabbath), teach soul-sleep (when we die we cease to exist and are not resurrected unless the Lord resurrects us, and only Sabbatarians will be resurrected i.e. practicing Jews, Seventh-day Adventists, Church of God, Seventh-day, and a few others). All the horrible Sunday-Sabbath keepers will cease for exist, forever, at death.

Well, H.W.A. was a really good radio preacher, and the Church of God, Seventh-Day, made him one of their 70 Apostles. They have 12 Apostles, and 70 Apostles. The Mormon Church is not the only church who claims "Apostles". There are many. The New Apostolic Church, for example, headquartered in Swizerland, has one Chief Apostle, and many "Regional" Apostles. They all wear black business suits. Not blue ones like Mormon Apostles, but black ones (must be very uncomfortable in tropical countries). In any case.

H.W.A. received a lot of money and followers in the 1930s with the Radio Church of God. He got into some controversy with the Church of God, Seventh-Day, probably over money. They wanted some of it. And H.W.A. then moved to Pasadena, California, bought some choice land there, and founded the Worldwide Church of God. He already had 40,000 followers, who were members of the Radio Church of God. He also founded Ambassador College, which was really only the seminary to train Pastors and Evangelists of the Worldwide Church of God (WWCOG). H.W.A. claimed that the Worldwide Church of God was the "Only True Church" on the face of the whole earth. They had tithing, and promised their members that the Lord would bless them with many earthly blessings, "if" they paid a faithful tithing. 10% of income every month, and an extra 10% two other times a year. Pastors and Evangelists were paid. H.W.A. started a TV program in 1950, I think, and preached for many years via television. He also started "The Plain Truth" magazine, which used to be given out for free in supermarkets. Anyone over 55 remembers those. They were everywhere, like of like what Watch Towers and AWAKE! used to be all over the laundry mats and bus benches.

In 1957, one of the Evangelists said to H.W.A. "You're God's Apostle, and End-Times Messengers". H.W.A. said "Get out of here!" He rejected it at first, but, he found he linked the idea, so he started to call himself God's End Times Apostle and Messenger. His official title was "Pastor General". He was Elijah who was to come (no, not reincarnation). H.W.A. gave many prophecies, all of which failed. Of course, no biggie, because WWCOG Evangelists and Apologists had "explain aways" for every failed prophecy: "All the prophecies were true, but conditional, and the conditions were never met". Sound familiar? Sound a little like FairMormon to you? By the way, has FairMormon changed its name to FairLatter-DaySaint yet? Hummmm? Why not? Is Satan claiming a victory with FairMormon?

Anyway, H.W.A.'s eldest son was Garner Ted Armstrong. Handsome (very handsome), smart! Charismatic. Movie star looks. He also became a country-western singer, and he probably would have succeeded. Hair to die for. Smile that would Satan twinkle his eyes. Garner Ted became an Evangelist (of course) in the WWCOG, and heir-apparent to his father, Hebert. Only one problem. Garner Ted was a NOTORIOUS womanizer!

Okay, Ambassador College was the "theological seminary" where WWCOG pastors trained. Only pastors went there. Also, pastors and their wives sent their daughters to Ambassador College, to meet and marry soon-to-be-pastors. To be a Pastor in the WWCOG paid fairly well. Not bad. You were in charge of arranging the Saturday meetings, and collecting the TITHING. Oh...the TITHING! Pastors in the WWCOG were like bishops and Institute teachers combined. If they did well, and increased the membership of their congregations (read: increased the TITHING) they might be promoted to Evangelist! Oh, Evangelist! That was Fat City. That was travel, expenses paid. Kind of like Mormon Apostle. You traveled around, got paid damn well, and everyone worshiped the ground you walked on. Women swooned, and they especially SWOONED over Garner Ted, the Chief Evangelists, and heir-apparent of Herbert W.

Women loved Garner Ted, and Garner Ted LOVED women! Oh BOY, did he love women! Mind you, the WWCOG was a very conservative Church! It was the "Only True Church" on the face of the Earth, and H.W.A. was God's only true Apostle on the face of the Earth. Garner Ted, was next in line. Garner Ted also taught, of course, at Ambassador College. There were no more than 40 students (male and female) and any year, at Ambassador College. It was unaccredited, and only offered degrees in WWCOG theology, pastoral counseling, etc. Their diplomas were worthless, to all, except in the WWCOG, and only worthy anything if you were gonna be a Pastor of a Pastor's wife. Oh, a Pastor's wife! A position of envy.

H.W.A. taught:

*Sex of any kind before marriage was an abomination before the LORD, and would cause you to die forever.
*Masturbation was just as bad.
*Homosexuality was worse, but, alas, you can't get any worse than eternal death can you? The WWCOG taught "there is no Hell". Gehenna (hell) was symbolic of eternal death (dying, and not being resurrected because you choke the chicken/spank the monkey).
*WWCOG men and women could NOT dance, could NOT "date" unescorted, could not "kiss" before marriage. Very strict.
*Divorce was not allowed except in cases of adultery (wife abuse didn't count, abandonment did not count), and re-marriage was NOT allowed! If a woman got married, and her husband died, she could remarry. Same with a widower. However, if a man or woman got married, and their spouse committed adultery two weeks later, you could divorce, but you could not marry, and you could not have sex or get married or masturbate again for the rest of your life, or you would face "eternal death". The second death. Eternal non-existence. Could you repent? Yes, and no. If you were Garner Ted, or an Evangelist or Pastor, or blood related to a big wig, yes. If not, no.

So, the no remarriage after divorce was enforced by the letter of the law, until Herbert W. Armstrong's wife died. Ok, he can remarry. But he remarried his secretary, a divorced woman. Uhhhhhh. Well, he said, that was okay, because, after all, he was God's End-Times Apostle. But, after that, they began to allow such things, but, hush hush, don't talk about it.

Garner Ted Armstrong. We know today that he had sex (full sex) with at least 200 female students, over a 10 year period, at Ambassador College. Remember, there was never more than 20 or so female students in any one year at Ambassador. So, do the math. All these girls were attractive, because, after all, everybody knew, Pastors-in-Training only married attractive women. C'Mon, they were the Lord's Anointed! How do we know this? Because Gardner Ted later admitted it, in a confession letter. He wrote a lot of them. His father exed him many times, just to take him back. All for adultery. Again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.... You get the picture.

Finally, Garner Ted tried to have his father's doctors say he was "senile" so that he (Garner) could take over the Church. His father found out, and, of course, showed Garner the door, as he had so many times before. Garner then founded the International Church of God in Texas, and took away about 20,000 to 30,000 WWCOG members to it. But, he soon committed adultery again (which they discovered) with Pastor's wives, and was exed by the International Church of God. So Garner and his followers who stuck by him stared the Intercontinental Church of God, also in Texas. Maybe had 10,000 or so members. If that.

Garner Ted was then caught on video, sexually assaulting his female massage theraphist. She also filmed him. He was excommunicated from the Intercontinental Church of God. He then took the few followers he still had left (a few thousand, yes) and started "Garden Ted Armstrong Ministries" and continued to collect tithing from them until his death. I think he was 69, something like that. He got chubby, but man, he never lost any hair! It was grey, but he died with a full head of glorious hair! Some dudes, have all the luck.

Hebert W. Armstrong left the WWCOG with a man he barely knew, a local Pastor in Pasadena, named Tkach. He barely knew him, but H.W.A. was angry at all his Evangelists for one reason or another, and he decided to disown his son Garner Ted, NOT because Garner Ted had committed adultery hundreds of times (by his own written confession), but because Garner Ted tried to depose Hebert W. when Herbert was over 80 and getting a little senile.

There was an Evangelist in the WWCOG, who discovered that Hebert W. Armstrong had, in a long term incestuous affair with at least one of his daughters, and that H.W.A. had "hidden" Garner Ted's adulteries with young sexy Ambassador College female students for years and years, and only condemned Garner Ted when the adulteries became well known. Also, for many years, the female secretary of Hebert W. Armstrong would "masturbate" him in his office, while H.W.A. was still married to his wife, before his wife died. His secretary was in her thirties, and, by all accounts, a quite attractive women. Hebert W. Armstrong was in his 70s during this time, and married, and condemned masturbation often from the pulpit and especially during speeches he would give to his Pastors and Pastors-in-Training.

So, this one Evangelist, found all this out, and took a list of all Pastors in the Church (stole it), and left the WWCOG and started a publication called "The Painful Truth" (a play on "The Plain Truth") which exposed the corruption, lies, fornication, adultery, misuse of funds, by Hebert W. Armstrong, Garner Ted Armstrong, and a few (not all, not most) of the senior Evangelists. He used his own money to publish it, and published that paper, in full color, for years, and mailed it to Pastors and Evangelists. There were a number of resignations, but most were not affected by it.

However, Tkach started to change a lot of doctrines and practices. Also, during this time, the son of Tkach, was sending his father copies of "The Painful Truth" which the senior Tkach started to read (this would be like Rusty Nelson reading anti-Mormon websites today). Finally, Tkach senior told Tkach junior that Herbert W. Armstrong was "a false prophet and a false apostle" and they both cried and hugged for hours, cried until no tears were left, then talked about how they would change the WWCOG into a "Christian" church. So, they tried, but most of the Members left. Again, they were told all these doctrines by Hebert W. Armstrong was "THE PLAIN TRUTH" but Tkach was changing many of the doctrines and practices, to fall in line with Evangelical Christianity. Most of the Members did not stand for it, and started to leave. Many became Atheists, or Agnostics. Some joined other churches. Some joined the Intercontinental Church of God (founded by Garner Ted). Tkach senior died, and put his son, Tkach junior in charge of the WWCOG. Tkatch junior immediately banned all of Hebert W. Armstrong's writings, denounced him, denounced his doctrines, and changed the name of the WWCOG into "Global Gospel Outreach" or something like that. The WWCOG fell apart, completely. A number of men came foward, saying: "Hebert W. Armstrong was truly God's End-Times Apostle" and they founded the Restored Church of God, the Philadelphia Church of God, the New Interational Church of God, etc., etc. Kind of like what is happening to the old Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS). Once the "foundation" of the Church goes, and the original claims go, it starts to fall apart, and various men arise to try to "restore" the original, but with very limited success.

So, how is Garner Ted Armstrong like Joseph Smith? Both were very handsome, charismatic, Womanizers, who misused their positions to sleep with attractive women and girls, and to make a lot of money. Most women and girls could NOT resist the sexual advances of Garner Ted Armstrong, whether they were married or single,and most women could NOT resist the sexual advances of Joseph Smith Jr.: whether they already had a husband or not. Sad to say, Joseph Smith "married" women and their own daughters, slept with them both (according to Joseph Smith's "secret journal" kept by William Clayton, his scribe). Joseph Smith "married" his own foster daughters, the Lawrence sisters. He "married" the wives of men he sent on missions to England. He "married" the wives of men who were still alive and living in Nauvoo! He was a Womanizer, and that's what they do. And the "Elect Ladies" of Nauvoo could not resist him, save only a few. Same with the "Elect Women' of the WWCOG. Most could not resist, and they did not. Most of these women though Garden Ted "loved" them and wanted to be with them forever. The same was true with the women and girls that Joseph Smith "married" without the sure knowledge, nor consent, of Emma Smith. No, she was never directly told, and no she never "consented" to it, and no, Emma never practiced the Law of Sarah, and placed the hand of a young girl into the hand of Joseph Smith. Never, ever, happened. Emma Smith saw Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger having sex in the barn, and Fanny was tossed out of the Smith home, pregnant, and had a son she named Orrison Smith, who died in infancy. Why did not Emma divorce Joseph Smith? Well, in "them" days a woman had to had witnesses to the adultery, and, also, men would usually never marry a woman who had children, unless she was a widow. Also, Emma loved Joseph. Women love Womanizers. And Mormon women, like the WWCOG of God women, are just "women". Not more holy, no different from any other women. Sorry, but that's the truth. That is why the Mission President of a mission, just a few years ago, in the Caribbean, had sex with many of the "sexy" Sister missionaries in his mission. He was married at the time! They could not resist him. Women (save a few only) could not resist Garner Ted, nor Joseph Smith Jr. Save only a "few". I knew some Mormon Womanizers in my day, quite well, and most Mormon girls could not resist them. After all, they were "in love". The men only wanted sex, but the women, all thought it was eternal love.

Most of the former WWCOG members died in bitterness, bitterness towards God, as Atheists or Agnostics, because God had "deceived" them. They blame God and Jesus, so they toss them out of their lives. But God and Jesus was did not deceive them: Hebert and Garner Ted Armstrong did.

Today, I follow a miracle working Prophet. No, not a polygamist. This prophet I follow, never married. From what i can tell, he was celibate. He was not a Womanizer, like Garner Ted and Joseph Smith Jr. I have not thrown God and Jesus under the bus, along with Joseph Smith Jr. and Brigham Young.

[_Philo Sofee]

Fantastically interesting history. Thanks for sharing it.