College, Inc.

Meet Michael Clifford. Clifford's important new book is "How To Run A College - By A Guy That Never Went To One!". He could relate to high school dropout, Ambassador College adman and "Chancellor" Herbert W. Armstrong.

MARTIN SMITH: Why did the university need to be reinvented? What's wrong with the way that universities were running up until the time that John Sperling came along with Phoenix?

MARK DeFUSCO: John saw the constraints of most- most college professors. You know, anybody who's got any new ideas in college are quickly beaten down. The academy hasn't had a real change in how it works for almost 500 years.

...

ANNOUNCER: [Univ. of Phoenix television commercial] Which university revolutionized education in America?

MARTIN SMITH: The granddaddy, University of Phoenix, spent $130 million on ads in 2008.

ANNOUNCER: [Univ. of Phoenix television commercial] Which university has the largest business school in the country?

MARTIN SMITH: That's more than brands like Tide, Revlon and FedEx.

ANNOUNCER: [television commercial] Why wait any longer?

MARTIN SMITH: What they spend on sales and marketing can rival or exceed what they spend on teaching.

MARK DeFUSCO, Dir., University of Phoenix, 1994-'02: If you take a look at for-profit colleges, the analysts will tell you that anywhere between 20 and 25 percent of the total revenue of a company is in sales and marketing, about a quarter. In most cases, the faculty are in the 10 to 20 percent range.

MARTIN SMITH: [on camera] Should that make us uncomfortable?

MARK DeFUSCO: I don't know. Why would one be uncomfortable?

MARTIN SMITH: Well, you're spending more on getting me to come to the school than you are on the service you're providing once I'm there.

MARK DeFUSCO: I understand. Well-

MARTIN SMITH: Is that right?

MARK DeFUSCO: When I go and buy perfume for my mom, the chemicals in the bottle and the bottle itself amount to about $0.50. The advertising amounts to five or six bucks.

MARTIN SMITH: But you're not selling perfume.

MARK DeFUSCO: What makes education so special? For-profits have to get people's attention, and they do a very good job of getting people's attention.

Read the full transcript here.

Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong Died Quarter-Century Ago Today

Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong died on the morning of January 16th, 1986 in Pasadena, California, on the campus of the College the high school dropout founded.

Born in the nineteenth century, on July 31, 1892,  he was in his 94th year. Mr. Armstrong would be 118 years old if alive today.

Just now, a Billy Joel song is playing on the radio, "Only The Good Die Young".

On this 25th anniversary of his passing, can Mr. Armstrong's gifts and positive contributions to humankind ever be forgotten?

Update: Redfox at Living delivers a very insightful piece on the religious significance of January 16th to the Church of God.  J at Shadows also has written a not to miss entry, "Would Anyone Have Believed It?" Thiel at Cogwriter is inexplicably ignoring the most momentous 25th anniversary  in world history. He usually has the posed picture of HWA smiling gleefully with his Second Class medal, an honor obtained in a quid pro quo deal with Japanese politicians, with thousands of dollars of your grocery money.  

Herbert W. Armstrong: Guilty of Incest!

While the multifacted evidence of HWA's incest with Dorothy is getting weighed and sifted again by those in the blogosphere, AR came across a Tangled Web appeal to the Tenth Circuit you may not have yet seen.

The lawsuit was filed against HWA confidant David Robinson by Rader associate Henry Cornwall and WCG minister Sherwin McMichael - not for libel, but to chance an incredible legal long shot: a pre-publication stop of Armstrong's Tangled Web. This action is a result of the WCG trying to bully Robinson trying to make him pay WCG attorney fees and court costs, coming out of litigation that Armstrong tried to suppress the truth about his incest and drunken alcoholism. The WCG was initiating and bankrolling the litigation against Robinson behind the scenes. Armstrong's straw men Cornwall and McMichael stood to lose nothing in attorney's fees for bringing the action against Robinson, to try to prevent the WCG and public from ever finding out about HWA's incest, and alcoholism as documented in Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web. This suit up on appeal was obviously an inital move to try to bankrupt Robinson, in an attempt to legally force him to pay WCG's attorney fees, but not about the truth of the matter.

Judge McKay delivers the panel's decision, reversing the trial court with a finding that losing WCG plaintiff-appellees Cornwall and McMichael are responsible for paying $6,000 in attorney fees - and not Tangled Web's author, former WCG minister and HWA confidant David Robinson!

Of course, Herbert's church corporation tithe-payers were really footing the expensive legal bills for this legal maneuver, to try to suppress and stop the truth from being published in Robinson's book. By far the easiest, and most common legal way to defeat publication of the Tangled Web would be for Armstrong to sue Robinson for damages to his reputation- for libel!

What was the legal basis for Armstrong to win a libel suit against minister Robinson? Ans: The plain truth about the incest! With all his money, Dorothy Armstrong could be paid off and quickly be flown in on the Church jet to testify the incest never happened. But Dorothy Armstrong never denied the incest, nor would she ever sign any statements to that effect. With scores of ministerial character witnesses as to Armstrong's temperance with Dom Perignon and good character, Armstrong should have easily been able to prove Robinson was a liar, that he was fabricating these preposterous claims of HWA drunkenness, molestation and repeated incestual sexual assaults out of thin air, to get a publication injunction and complete retraction, sue Robinson and win big money for damages to Armstrong's character and reputation.

Since Robinson had the truth about Armstrong's incest in his book, the WCG lawyers knew couldn't win with the facts- so they decided not to sue Robinson for libel. Instead, they then resorted to a legally inept, questionable, ineffectual backup legal strategy to try to stop publication - they based their lawsuit on a supposed ministerial breach of WCG confidentiality, meaning that Robinson should have kept the truth about the Apostle's felonious incest with his daughter a secret, only for Pasadena insiders. This weak, unsupportable breach of confidentiality suit by Armstrong was not about challenging the facts or material truth contained in Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of his incestual sexual assaults with his minor daughter or his alcoholism. His suit was solely about maintaining WCG ministerial confidentiality! The irony is, many WCG ministers are known to have regularly violated rules of ministerial confidentiality, when they revealed private details about members obtained from ministerial counseling on a regular basis, right from their Sabbath pulpits.




CORNWALL, an individual, and Sherwin McMichael, an individual, Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.

David R. ROBINSON, an individual, Defendant-Appellant. John Hadden Publishers, Inc., an Oklahoma corporation; and Interstate Book Company, a Kansas corporation, Defendants.

No. 81-1007.
United States Court of Appeals,Tenth Circuit.
July 7, 1981.

James M. Sturdivant and John Henry Rule of Gable, Gotwals, Rubin, Fox, Johnson & Baker, Tulsa, Okl., for defendant-appellant.

James L. Kincaid, J. David Jorgenson and Keith P. Ellison of Conner, Winters, Ballaine, Barry & McGowen, Tulsa, Okl., for plaintiffs-appellees.

Before DOYLE, McKAY and LOGAN, Circuit Judges.
McKAY, Circuit Judge.
1
After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this three-judge panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not be of material assistance in the determination of this appeal. See Fed.R.App.P. 34(a); Tenth Cir. R. 10(e). The cause is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
2
Appellants, defendants below, filed a petition to remove this action to the United States District Court on June 5, 1980. A co-defendant, Interstate Book Company, did not join in the petition for removal and the petition was thus procedurally defective. See Tri-Cities Newspapers, Inc. v. Tri-Cities Pressmen Local 349, 427 F.2d 325 (5th Cir. 1970). Five days after filing the petition for removal the removing defendants filed an application and notice for an order remanding the action to the state court. Plaintiffs concurred in the view that the matter had been improperly removed and also urged the trial court to tax attorney's fees and costs to defendants. Plaintiffs seek to avoid the traditional American rule which disfavors the allowance of attorney's fees by invoking the exception to that rule which sanctions an award of attorney's fees when a party's opponent acts " 'in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly, or for oppressive reasons.' " Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1, 5, 93 S.Ct. 1943, 1946, 36 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973) (quoting 6 J. Moore, Federal Practice P 54.77(2), p. 1709 (2d ed. 1972)). See also Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 258-59, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 1622, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975).
3
The trial court found, with adequate support in the record, that "(t)his case was removed improvidently and frivolously because it was obvious that this Court was fully without removal jurisdiction of this action either on federal question grounds or on diversity grounds." Record, vol. 1, at 146. The court awarded attorney's fees in the amount of $6,000.
4
We have said that a trial court which awards attorney's fees under the "bad faith, vexatious, wanton, or oppressive" exception to the American rule "will be reversed only in circumstances which do not show a reasonable ground for the conclusion that vexatiousness existed." Ryan v. Hatfield, 578 F.2d 275, 277 (10th Cir. 1978). Yet here we do not even have a finding of vexatiousness. Notwithstanding a request by plaintiffs to find bad faith, the trial court found only that "removal of this action was improvident and frivolous." Record, vol. 1, at 147. Although "a case can be so frivolous as to reflect impermissible conduct," Americana Industries, Inc. v. Wometco de Puerto Rico, Inc., 556 F.2d 625, 628 (1st Cir. 1977), the trial court did not indicate that its interpretation of frivolous was to be equated with the intent-laden terminology of "bad faith, vexatious, wanton, or oppressive." In fact, the trial court seemed to be advocating a negligence standard for the award of attorney's fees when it interpreted "frivolous" at the hearing: "I have come to the conclusion that the commencement of this proceeding in this court was frivolous in that if counsel had carefully reviewed the applicable law counsel would have known that this court would not have jurisdiction." Record, vol. 4, at 31.
5
An award of attorney's fees under the bad faith exception to the American rule "is punitive, and the penalty can be imposed 'only in exceptional cases and for dominating reasons of justice.' " United States v. Standard Oil Co., 603 F.2d 100, 103 (9th Cir. 1979) (quoting 6 J. Moore, Federal Practice P 54.77(2) pp. 1709-10 (2d ed. 1972)). Further, we agree that "(i)nvocation of the bad faith exception to the normal federal rule that attorney's fees may not be recovered requires more than a showing of a weak or legally inadequate case." Americana Industries, Inc. v. Wometco de Puerto Rico, Inc., 556 F.2d 625, 628 (1st Cir. 1979). These considerations highlight the narrowness of the exception under which the trial court purported to award attorney's fees in this case. The exception is not invoked by findings of negligence, frivolity, or improvidence. The trial court's award of attorney's fees is reversed.
6
Defendants also challenge the trial court's award of $352 for plaintiffs' costs. We find that 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c) allows an award of "just costs" if "it appears that the case was removed improvidently and without jurisdiction." This statutory standard of "improvidence" is clearly less stringent than the "bad faith" standard that must be met in order for a court to award attorney's fees in cases of this nature. The difference between costs and attorney's fees has been noted by other courts. See Bradley v. School Board of City of Richmond, 416 U.S. 696, 706 n.8, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 2013, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974); Demsey & Associates, Inc. v. S.S. Sea Star, 500 F.2d 409, 411 (2d Cir. 1974). We find the trial court's finding of frivolousness to meet § 1447(c)'s "improvidence" standard and affirm the award of costs.

---

Four ex-WCG members - C. Wayne Cole, Ron Dart, Guy Carnes, and Benny Sharp - testified favorably on Robinson's side at the Tulsa trial. Benny Sharp, for one, was personally aware of the incest, as he was in the room when the legendary "I will destroy you" last meeting took place between HWA and GTA.

In final settlement of a legally dubious, WCG pre-publication lawsuit against Robinson for exposing Armstrong's Tangled Web, Armstrong, instead of winning the incest case through his straw men, had to write author David Robinson a check for $25,000!

HWA or the WCG never challenged the factual, plain truth about Armstrong's criminal incest itself in court, which would be the preferred legal strategy to stop publication, or get a retraction and money damages from author Robinson, to set the record straight. But in order to get that public retraction, Armstrong had to have the real truth about the guilt of his repeated criminal incest on his side to win, which he didn't.

Dare to inform yourself about the HWA few people really knew, from Chapter XX of Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web:

Chapter XX

INCEST!

How serious is the sin of incest, such as when a father uses his authority to force himself on his own daughter, his own flesh? All generations of the human family have viewed this conduct as an unnatural act. The apostle Paul referred to a somewhat similar relationship in the Corinthian church: "...such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentles, that one should have his father's wife" (I Cor. 5:1). Incest was disgusting beyond measure to Paul, who was led to record his revulsion for posterity in the inspired Bible.


Even during this time of "sexual freedom" the American nation was recently shocked to witness a television program, "The Phil Donahue Show," on which victims of incest discussed their emotional suffering that resulted from such parental abuse. The psychological penalty for such sin continues for generations.


Sometimes perpetrators of such crimes try to justify themselves by citing the case of Lot, the nephew of Abraham, in the book of Genesis. Does the biblical account of the conduct of Lot in any way justify a man taking his own daughter? Let's look at this matter:

1. Lot was without a wife, as she had been killed on the trip from Sodom.
2. Lot was not the initiator, his daughters were. They plied him with wine, in preparation for what they wanted, children. They thought all mankind had been destroyed, and they wanted to preserve the race.
3. Lot performed his part while drunk and never repeated that reprehensible conduct.

Not that there is ever any justification for such acts, but the sin of Lot, bad as it was, is not to be compared with that of a married man who, on a continuing basis, engages in sex with his own daughter!
Many American states legislated the death penalty in such cases in the earlier years of this country. I knew personally of such a case in Texas back in the 1950's. The father was executed in Huntsville for such an act. He was convicted in Live Oak County, Texas. He had seduced his thirteen-year-old daughter and had continued the affair with her until relatives discovered the crime. It was his own people who demanded the death penalty and the State of Texas accommodated them. I don't know for sure, but I suspect the laws of Oregon and California were not all that different during the thirties and forties.


Incest is a terrible and unnatural crime, an extreme perversity. That is why I was shocked beyond measure to hear that Herbert Armstrong was, himself, guilty of this vile sin. I learned of this in the summer of 1979 from members of his own family. The story, sordid beyond imagination, was told in awful detail.


One family source was Garner Ted Armstrong. Last summer, as HWA attacked his own son in such savage fury, his son was in the depths of despair. His emotional mix included anger and deep hurt. In such a state he told family secrets that otherwise would have been locked within him forever. He said he had learned in 1971 of his father's incredible conduct during the '30's and '40s. The story came directly to him in lurid detail, but he kept it sealed in his own consciousness for all those years. But, in the spring of 1978 while in his father's house for the last time, his father had threatened to "destroy him." Ted, in response, replied, "Dad, I will destroy you. I know about you and -----." (He was speaking of the younger of his two sisters.)


His father had been on a high-handed autocratic binge. But at that comment he sat down quietly and responded, "Well, Ted, there have been times when I have been very far away from God." (Admittedly, this was a strange turn of events in the relationship of the two whom HWA had likened to God the Father and Jesus Christ!)


Ted has told many people that there was a look in his father's eyes he had never seen before. Ted knew his father was now determined to totally destroy any credibility he might have. It was either him or his son. Self-preservation now demanded such action. It was a matter of give or get, and HWA meant to get!


None who have objectively heard the incest story in its awful detail doubt it. This is a vital chapter left out of HWA's autobiography. This sin occurred over a long span of years, a decade after his ordination to the ministry, according to his own family members. No wonder he was not receptive to David Antion's "qualifications for the ministry" paper back in 1974.


Many of us have wondered why HWA was so forceful in covering up Ted's sins for so many years. Ted then seemed to be an extension of himself in his own mind and was not even a separate entity. It was like covering for himself. But when finally he knew he must cut his son off, he had to go all the way. It was either destroy or be destroyed. and there were still some things he wanted to "get" out of life even if he were nearly ninety.


Such matters should not normally be mentioned, but this is by no means a normal case. The welfare of thousands is at stake, and thousands who look to HWA, idolizing him as if he were God himself, must come to understand how dangerous such a view is. Thousands around the world have been hurt by blindly following this man. Now people must be given enough information to make an intelligent decision on whether this is the man who is going to lead them to safety during the "crisis at the close," or whether he is just going to continue taking their money and calling them "dumb sheep"!


Some may feel I should just cover up this whole sordid affair and forget it. But I find that impossible to do, because the welfare of too many people hinges on the truth about his personality.


Paul wrote to Christians of his day: "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret" (Eph. 5:11-12, RSV). Earlier in the same chapter, Paul had written: "But immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints" (Eph. 5:3, RSV).
"But," some say, "you shouldn't judge God's apostle." The Bible says otherwise! Jesus Christ himself commended the Ephesian church for trying and testing those who claimed to be apostles. Notice Jesus' words: "Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and has found them liars" (Rev. 2:2).


Can someone preach truth for many years and fail in his own spiritual life? Of course! Lucifer did, Solomon did, and so have many others down through the years. That is why Christ asked, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). Christ also said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). The way a man talks in private is the way he is. His public utterances alone aren't enough to judge a man's character—his trustworthiness. It is especially necessary to know what kind of man you follow when he promises to lead you in the kingdom of God.


In Matthew 7:21-23, we read this warning from Jesus himself:

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

In the 59th chapter of Isaiah, that prophet warns of those who conceive mischief, lie, and bring forth iniquity. Their feet run to do evil. The way of peace they know not. They make themselves crooked paths, and they weave spiders' webs. But Isaiah promises in the name of God that those webs shall not be a covering for their sins in the end!


Herbert Armstrong has become tangled in his own web of lies. And the time has come for him to be revealed for what he really is. May God help his followers to see.

Update: Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web is no longer available from John Hadden Publishers, in Tulsa, OK. However, it may be obtained from another source. An excerpt from a letter to ESN from about a current United Church of God evangelist, related to the Armstrong family and in a position to know,  who confirms HWA's incest:

But I still doubted the incest allegations -- that is until Mr. Gary Antion confirmed that they were entirely true when I talked with him after his sermon on the last day of Unleavened Bread, April 12. I'd asked him if he'd read David Robinson's book. He said he had. I told him that I'd read in another publication that Dorothy Mattson told his brother David Antion (a former WCG evangelist) all about the incest. (They were and are in-laws.) He nodded. I asked him if David ever said anything to him about it. "Yes," he said.

"What did he say?" I responded.

"He told me the story was true," he calmly said.

There is a way to get the book Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, right where Herbert W. Armstrong got started, in your local community library. In fact, most of the books about the Worldwide Church of God, now many out of print, may be obtained through interlibrary loan to your local library for free. Just click on the ARs main page and find the entry for Feb 8, 2009 for complete details.

Armstrong Indicted On Financial Fraud

Police made the raid as part of an ongoing criminal investigation and seized financial records and computers. In a raid evoking shades of the 1979 receivership, more than 20 officers sealed off the block-long church complex at 601 N. Tejon St., evicting the senior controversial pastor, who strode the sidewalk, a copy of the warrant clenched in his fist.

Police raided the landmark Grace Church and St. Stephen’s in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado in a criminal investigation into whether controversial Pastor Don Armstrong embezzled millions of dollars from Grace Church.

Armstrong and his followers had split away form the Episcopal Church and joined the Episcopalian Diocese of Nigeria, whose archbishop once supported a law imposing five-year prison terms for gays and their supporters. Since then, Armstrong and his sect have kept physical possession of the $17 million dollar historic, architecturally inspiring Grace Church and St. Stephen’s.

In a ballot taken, 93 percent voted to align themselves with the conservative Convocation of Anglicans of North America (CANA). That group is aligned with the Anglican Province of Nigeria.

The members also overwhelmingly voted 348 to 22 to retain the real and personal property of Grace Church, church officials said. “I’m delighted. It doesn’t get much better than that,” said the ecstatic Armstrong, who has been at the helm of the Grace Church for the last 20 years.

Regardless of any voting, valid or not, the hierarchical governance of the Episcopal Church of Colorado wants the property and intends to fight Armstrong through the courts, if necessary, to keep what it claims is denominational property.

The question is, will the Worldwide Church of God, then file yet another amicus brief on behalf of the Episcopal Church, in favor of that denominational hierarchy, helping to wrestle away the $17 million dollar Colorado property away from church membership? WCG has already intervened in the Virginia Episcopal church property dispute, joining in an amicus filing in favor of the denominational hierarchy against the members, so Tkach has already elected to join the fight in Virginia. Judge Bellows ruled in late December in favor of the local congregations keeping their church property. The cases are now being appealed by the denomination up to the Virginia supreme court. (For more on Tkach's maneuvers, see "Religious Property Wars: Tkach Joins The Fight!)

Armstrong once led the largest Episcopal church in Colorado. But accusations arose Armstrong misappropriated hundreds of thousands in church funds. He was then placed under ecclesiastical indictment, and found guilty by the church of misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Armstrong was found to have committed crimes, including theft of $392,409.93 from Grace Church; tax fraud, causing Grace Church to issue false W-2s and under report Armstrong's income and benefits by $548,097.27; receiving illegal loans totaling $122,479.16 in violation of church law and policy; improperty taking nearly $400,000 in church funds to pay for college tuition, or spending for personal uses; misappropriation of church funds for another $259,999; taking and alienating the church's real property without authorization; violating a temporary inhibition placed on him; using clergy discretionary funds improperly; and failing to maintain proper books of account.

Police confirm Armstrong took the some of the funds to pay for college tuition. Police found no documents signed approving the money for Armstrong's use, but a church auditor defended Armstrong's innocence.

An affidavit affirms that Armstrong misused $392,000 and that he wrote monthly checks for six years. Those were the years Armstrong's children were in college. "There are hundreds upon thousands of pages of information that need to be looked at," a police spokesman said of the lengthy investigation, "as well as computer records."

They took files of church financial documents and computers. "It has to be done that way," the police spokesman stated, "when you have those kinds of disposable evidence that someone could get rid of if they new we were coming."

"It's not clear to us that he's the only suspect," the spokesman also said, "certainly he's named in the warrant as being someone questioned about what happened to some of the monies there." The criminal investigation is ongoing, with police expected to hand damning evidence of guilt to prosecutors.

Throughout this biblical drama, criminal charges have yet to be filed against Armstrong — and who, like his namesake Herbert Armstrong (could he possibly be any relation?) maintains his innocence.

Armstrong and a few hundred of his seemingly embattled followers are refusing to leave the physical church, an attractive landmark of downtown Colorado Springs. They are now in association with the Episcopal Diocese of Nigeria. The rest of the disenchanted congregation is temporarily meeting in the building of another church nearby.

Events have become a bit humorous at times. One wag attempted to throw a throw a cream pie right in Armstrong’s face, while in the middle of one of his sermons! (the elderly Armstrong managed to hide behind the pulpit when he saw the cream pie coming). The pie-thrower was captured by members of the congregation, arrested and later claimed he was making some sort of political statement.

Also, Armstrong was photographed by the press, illegally parking his vehicle at least twice to get into the Starbucks.

There’s also the Nigerian aspect to all of this, and the Episcopal denomination's evolving position on homosexuality. Faced with the Episcopal Church ordaining more gay clergy after the controversial election of V. Gene Robinson, a gay New Hampshire bishop in 2003, and backing same-gender unions (not to mention the accusations of his misappropriation of funds), Armstrong and his followers split with the church earlier this year, and have joined forces with the Church of Nigeria, whose archbishop is Peter Akinola -- who has written:

“Homosexuality or lesbianism or bestiality is to us a form of slavery, and redemption from it is readily available through repentance and faith in the saving grace of our Lord, Jesus the Christ,” Akinola wrote in an essay.

As there have been so many statements and counter-statements flung by Armstrong supporters and the Episcopal diocese it's difficult to know the real truth about the evolving controversy. It's sure to become more interesting when Armstrong's upcoming trial Feb. 10 begins over who really owns Grace Church: The heirarchical governance of the Episcopal Church, or the breakaway group led by Armstrong.

The Plain Truth please - Did Herbert W. Armstrong lie about Worldwide?

Now that we have covered the reformed bylaws of the Big Sandy Church of God in some detail (see By Law! below), perhaps a closer look a the bylaws of the Worldwide Church of God California corporation might be in order. If Worldwide has an inspired set of "God's auditing procedures" to uncover tithe theft and fraud, would there not also be a set of divinely inspired bylaws, let us say, bylaws handed down on Mount Sinai - in a manner similar to when Charleton Heston received the stone tablets under thunder and lighting in the movie The Ten Commandments?

A brief aside: I was fortunate enough to meet actor Charleton Heston several years ago in a reception line at a meeting in Alexandria, Virginia. He was one of the most gracious, personable, and friendly persons I have ever met. It was almost as moving as his dramatic portrayal of Moses at Mount Sinai in The Ten Commandments, but in an entirely different way, of course.

Back to the Plain Truth about the bylaws. A couple of questions that demand an answer:

1. Did Herbert W. Armstrong break the bylaws of his own California religious corporation in falsifying a required quorum vote of 5,051* by RCG members for renaming to WCG and then lie about it?

2. Did Pastor General Armstrong, by filing a falsely sworn corporate document with the state, in fact commit criminal perjury?

Over at Ekklesia you'll find a number of most interesting organizational and historical documents related to the Worldwide Church of God, including a copy of the 1946 Articles of Incorporation Armstrong filed with the California secretary of state to create a California religious corporation. When the Tkach family took over, the Tkachs made major changes to their church corporation's organizing documents to their liking; legally portraying the 1987 changes made as just a mere "restatement" of the corporate articles, to avoid what would likely be a vexatious vote by the members, who might not support them for life.

You will also find a link entitled "1968 HWA Commits Perjury with Church Name Change" which states, in part:

"2. That at a meeting of the BOARD OF DIRECTORS of said corporation, duly held at 363 Grove Street, Pasadena, California, on January 5, 1968, the following resolution was accepted:

ARTICLE
RESOLVED: That ARTICLE I of the Articles of Incorporation of this corporation be amended to read as follows :

"The name of this corporation shall be WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD."

3. That at a meeting of the MEMBERS of said corporation, duly held at 363 Grove Street, Pasadena, California, on January 5, 1968, a Resolution was adopted, which resolution is identical in form to the directors' resolution set forth in Paragraph 2 above.

4. That the number of members who voted affirmatively for the adoption of said resolution is 5,051*, and that the number of members constituting a quorum is 2,500.

(Signed) HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG, President"

* No meeting was ever held for members to vote on this change. Best evidence available indicates the officers commited perjury with this document."

In this case, it is unimportant what the name of the church is from a purely legal (meaning not religious) standpoint - it could be anything imaginable. What is crucial that the church corporate officers properly followed the required church voting procedures to change the name of the corporation from Radio Church of God to another, following proper notice, and other due process voting procedures found in the corporate bylaws. One due process protection would be having enough members present to form a quorum to cast a vote. Without that, the vote would not stand. Corporate officers and directors have certain minimum statutory, fiduciary duties to uphold the bylaws of the corporation, such as following required notice and balloting procedures to cast a vote. The problem is, the entire member vote mentioned in the board of directors resolution of the church corporation filed may have been completely falsified by Herbert W. Armstrong!

Can anyone out there please explain how this Church of God member vote might have in fact occurred, at about that time, according to the official bylaws regulating votes within the church corporation?

Are we to believe that more than five thousand members voted for the name change from Radio, and today no one remembers voting for Worldwide, or any member quorum meeting about the subject?

Where was Roderick Meredith that day - what was his role in approving this corporate vote - and what does Meredith know - about this corporate board meeting at 363 Grove Street, Pasadena, California, on January 5, 1968, when the perjured resolution in question was accepted?

Ambassador Reports would be interested in finding out if anyone has a legally sufficient, sound explanation as to why Herbert Armstrong did not criminally perjure himself in filing these false corporate documents with the State of California.

Questions to Bob Thiel: As you are an apologist for Armstrong, Ambassador Reports would be interested in hearing if you have any facts on how the 5,051 members noted allegedly voted for this 1968 resolution. Where did this vote occur? How were the votes counted? Prove Armstrong didn't lie, falsify and perjure himself about this church member vote.

Questions for Roderick Meredith: Were you sitting as a director on the Radio corporate board at this meeting Jan. 5, 1968?
Can you then explain how the mysterious 5,051 thousand member vote is in fact legitimate and proper, in supporting your own director's vote, in favor of the board resolution your own boss may have falsified?


If anyone has memory of the voting procedures - on the name change resolution Armstrong filed with the state (or any member votes for that matter), or how Armstrong did not commit criminal perjury by signing and filing this corporate document with California. please comment if there actually was such a vote. Get get Herbert W. Armstrong off the hook - otherwise, with no vote, Herb's proven to be a lying, perjured crook!

To Set The Record Straight - Again!

WCG Together has added a belated notation - an explanation if you will - to the glaringly inconsistent WCG membership numbers it published in its January-February 2008 Together edition. The Together web page now tries to wave the numerical contradictions completely away with a note that says it was based on a PowerPoint presentation in Indian Wells, August 2007, but with additional statistics and corrections reported since then (the pdf file has not been updated). (Emphasis mine.) So now members are informed the webpage Together chart is supposed to have the latest WCG facts and figures on WCG membership, updated since the worldwide ministerial conference at the luxurious Indian Wells resort last August. Ok. Fine. But wait, not so fast, Pastor General Tkach.

The Together web page reports the following membership, which comes to a total of 35,170 members:

Australasia.......... 9,000
Americas............17,035
Europe.................2,535
Africa...................6,600
=====
Total WCG
membership....... 35,170

Interestingly, at this same time, Tkach has finally chosen to update the “About Us” web page to say “The Worldwide Church of God is a Christian denomination with about 42,000 members, worshiping in more 900 congregations in almost 100 nations.” So now, he claims “about” 42,000 members, after holding it at exactly 64,000 members for the last four years? And just how does Tkach have the right to quote 42,000 members in "About Us", when the latest published Together figures add up to no more than 35,170 members?

In fact, since its inception, has the WCG told the truth about the true number of its actual members? ESN has more about the disputed WCG membership totals, including the following observations:

“It is vital to know what the membership totaled in the early 1970's as the churches' membership was far smaller than what had been propagandized for years. The director of data processing 1972-1973 clearly documents that in 1973 the church had no more than 53,000 members at maximum. That was before the 11,000-member fallout in 1974. It is well documented that the church did not grow at all during the 1970's and by 1979 the leadership was very concerned about stagnant recruiting position.

...Careful calculations based on the factual data available from the head of Data Processing in 1973, Mike Hollman, along with lack of recruiting from that point on to 1995, and consideration regarding the massive attrition rate in 1974, 1978-79, and again following the death of the beloved leader, HWA, calculations indicate that there could not have been more than 40,000 members prior to the UCG split and that is a liberal estimate. The UCG started with approx. 17,000 members, which in turn, left the WCG with a possible 20,000 members remaining.

“Of the approximate 35,000 members in the WCG in January 1995, over 20,000 followed various splinter groups with the bulk of members attaching their allegiance to United Church of God, the WCG extension group. The 12,000 to 15,000 members remaining in WCG were scattered, traumatized and uninformed of the massive hypocrisy that was occurring on various levels of the corporation.”

Looking solely at North America, as ESN estimated, 12,000 to 15,000 members left may not be all that far off - at least a few years ago. The official statistics in Together list 10,873 members in 362 churches for the USA and 3.651 members for Canada in 64 churches. That’s 14,524 members combined for North America, or somewhere between 12,000 to 15,000 aged WCG members remaining. But Tkach’s latest North American membership totals may still be padded and could in fact be smaller. Let’s see how.

Statements published in the WCG former Worldwide News publication give us total reported WCG membership for some historical comparison:

1988 -- 92,000
1989 -- 95,000
1990 -- 97,000
1991 -- 99,000
1993 – 100,889 (total baptized membership reported)
USA- 67,444 baptized members; 478 paid ministers for 469 churches; with average monthly attendance of 84,892.
International- 30,350 baptized international members; 275 ministers over 372 churches; with average monthly attendance of 38,000 internationally.

Since Tkach’s latest “About Us” web page downsizes the WCG by -22,000 members (meaning from 64,000 in 2007 last year to 42,000 members today), Ambassador Reports thought it might be beneficial to take a look at the Internet Archive to compare and find out what was actually reported for WCG membership on the WCG “About Us” web page in prior years. Researching the archived web pages since 1999, Tkach Jr. reported the membership of the WCG to be at the following levels.

WCG MEMBERSHIP TOTALS

“About Us” reported WCG Total Membership in years 1999-2008 as:

1999 50,000 members
2000 70,000 (Gained 20,000 members from prior year)
2001 50,000 (Lost -20,000 members)
2002 67,000 (Gained 17,000 members)
2003 58,000 (Lost -9,000 members)
2004 64,000 (Gained 6,000 members)
2005 64,000
2006 64,000
2007 64,000
2008 42,000 (Lost -22,000 members worldwide)

Source: Internet Archive (Link)
@ http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.wcg.org

Or the WCG lost a total of as many as -29,500 members since 2007, if the WCG had 34,500 actual members as actually was reported on the Adobe pdf in Together. The Vol 3 No 1 Jan-Feb 2008 Together web page membership chart now totals up to only 35,170 members (when carefully added together by AR), but inexplicably claims 43,000 members in the top paragraph of that web page for worldwide membership. How 35,170 members turns into 43,000 members - a difference of nearly 8,000 members, on the same page- is somewhat of a mystery. Tkach, as mentioned earlier, now puts out a still different membership number. He lists the current membership as 42,000 on the “About Us”. Perhaps that 42,000 is even more current than the 43,000 quoted in Together!


Besides the newest notation about the Adobe pdf membership document becoming outdated, surprisingly, there have also been some strange, unreported, undocumented changes made to the WCG web page membership numbers since publication. When I first started writing about this, I duly made a printed copy of the January-February Together pdf and the corresponding web page to use for comparison purposes. But later, I noticed my printed copy of the old Together web page didn’t match up with the current Internet membership figures posted on the Together web page!

Comparing the web page with my original printed paper copy, readers might be interested in finding out what numbers were changed. The following unreported changes were made, without additional explanatory footnotes, only since Vol 3 No. 1 Together was first published on the web, in just the last few days. To be specific, I am not referring now at all to the old Together Adobe document. I refer to only the latest web page document. According to my printed copy, the Philippines was reported originally on the webpage chart at 6,225 members with 82 churches and 23 new congregations. This web page now lists for the Philippines as 7,715 members, 85 churches, and 25 new congregations.

You may remember, I specifically mentioned Zimbabwe in the previous Ambassador Reports entry. I wrote, “Zimbabwe has 399 members. Can't Zimbabwe demand a recount or find just one additional WCG member for an even 400?”

Well, miracle of miracles, after searching, apparently Zimbabwe DID find that one additional member! Actually, in fact, an additional 221 members! Zimbabwe was reported at 399 WCG members on the old WCG Together web page in question. Zimbabwe is now reported as having 620 total members.

Also, the membership numbers for Canada were changed from the original WCG Together webpage. Originally, on my printed archived copy, it reported 4,476 Canadian members, 64 churches, and 4 new churches. Now it reads 3,651 Canadian members, 62 churches, and 4 new churches. So reported Canadian membership shrank down by -825 members and -2 churches in the current internet Together version.

Here's how the latest Together totals stack up, in a summary format:

USA ....................10, 873
Phillippines............7,715*
Africa......................6,600
Canada...................3,651*
UK/Europe..............2,535*
Australia/NZ............1,617
Asia............................968
Caribbean...................966
Latin America..............453

Evidently the WCG has trouble counting its members in Canada, the UK, and the Philippines. According to the Together revised membership numbers:

*Phillippines have reported an additional 1,490 members, as reported in Jan 2008 Together.
*Canada lost 825 members since the August, 2007 Indian Wells ministerial conference, from a reported high of 4,476 to a new low of 3,651.
*The United Kingdom reports an 596 additional members (between the two reports in Jan 2008 Together ) - from a new low of 871 UK members on the Adobe pdf, to a high of 1467 on the corresponding web page, as reported in Together.

To Set The Record Straight

The credibility of the WCG is at issue again. The WCG published two sets of differing member numbers in the same January 2008 edition of Together.

Some of the numbers are consistent between the two versions, such as in the following table collated for Ambassador Reports from Together. WCG does claim these consistent membership totals within the article:

WCG Membership

USA........................10,873
Philippines.................6,225
Canada.................... 4,476
Australia...................1,434
Latin America...............757
New Zealand................183

Together claims no new WCG congregations for the UK, France, or Germany since 1995. But some selected new congregation plants supposedly founded since 1995 number: Bangladesh-12; Italy-8; Kenya-28; Zambia-15; Mexico-4; Canada-4; Philippines-23; and the United States-23. Adding up these congregation plants from all areas, the WCG claims 194 new WCG churches or small groups began since 1995.


But some of the claimed membership numbers differ widely in the same issue, between a pdf spreadsheet and a web page report. Take the UK and Europe for instance. This area is a region where membership ought be counted with reasonably reliable accuracy.

In the web page Together version, the UK has 1,467 members total. In the pdf Together version, same issue, the UK membership has shrunk down to only 871 members. That's 596 missing members in the UK! How can the WCG lose 596 members - more than forty percent of the UK church vanishing- in the same issue? Hmmm....

The European numbers in the industrialized countries also differ. Switzerland, for example has 143 members in churches in the pdf version, but shrinks down to 79 members on the web page version. Belgium has either 23 members in 1 church or 36 members in 2 churches. Take your pick. Germany has 6 churches with 163 members or 5 churches with 157 members. Italy 132 members or 114.

By the time all the Together article differences are accounted for in Europe, Europe has either 2,535 WCG members, or might be downsized to 1,980 members. A substantial difference on the record, perhaps amounting to losing 555 members, or downsizing 22 percent on paper, this of course depending on which figure is correct!

Then there is Africa. African membership numbers, interestingly tend to be rounded. WCG memberships are rounded off by country to even numbers, ending in zero: 350, 350, 900, 500, 200, 200, 450, 400. The rounded country totals just listed were for Angola; Cameroon; Congo; Ghana; Liberia; Madagascar; Nigeria; and Rwanda respectively. Zimbabwe has 399 members. Can't Zimbabwe demand a recount or find just one additional WCG member for an even 400?

South Africa has 771 members, 25 congregations and 9 new congregations on the web page, while the pdf version shrinks South Africa to 696 members, 19 congregations and 3 new congregations emerging since 1995.


All of these nice, rounded figures help make up for an even number African total of 6,600 members. That rounding really helps out when Tkach is trying to prop up a touted worldwide membership number of no less than 34,500 WCG members in 911 established congregations.

But 34,500 is not high enough a number to square with Tkach's claims of 43,000 WCG members. The numbers quoted in Together are based on average weekly WCG attendance. The article says, "But since not every person attends every week, the number of people who attend regularly is higher." That's why the WCG inflates the number of members quoted up by 24 percent, or by an additional 8,500 members. So irregular WCG attendance accounts for why Tkach inflates these 34,500 members listed in Together into the 43,000 figure he quotes for worldwide membership. Regardless of the real number of WCG members, you can bet your bottom dollar by law none of them has yet voted to retain Tkach's Jr.'s services either as lifetime worldwide Pastor General of the church or as the well compensated, all expenses paid president of the California WCG corporation.

It is difficult to believe in the accuracy of these contradictory, over inflated WCG membership totals, so reminiscent of the story of Pinocchio. How much more difficult then, is it for anyone to believe Tkach's unaccountable financial reporting shenanigans from Glendora.

The Story of Pinocchio

WCG Pocono Feast Site Condemned - Now A Corporate Business Park!

The Pocono Feast site has been condemned and is being turned into a new corporate business park - called Pocono Mountains Corporate Center East.

As many Worldwiders will recall, the Pocono property was originally a WCG Feast of Tabernacles site. The 247 acre site was owned, developed and constructed by the WCG with much unpaid, volunteer, "sweat equity" labor from the church. One year after HWA died, Tkach Sr. sold it in a very mysterious transaction to the also mysterious US Senda Corporation, which supposedly had intended to develop and market the facility. The WCG property deed wording recorded claimed Pocono was sold for just "one dollar" and other valuable consideration. Just what other valuable consideration?

Property taxes declared on the sale were far, far lower than the estimated sales value of the property, Tkach hasn't released the 1987 WCG financial statements to show what money the WCG received for selling off the Pocono property. After the WCG sold it to US Senda, the property sat undeveloped, and it endured periodic vandalism, making it a blighted property. Monroe County, PA completed a redevelopment plan and the redevelopment authority of the county began the process of condemnation of the Poconos site. It would be interesting to know who really owned US Senda corporate stock, what US Senda paid Tkach for the Pocono property and compare the difference with what US Senda received for the condemned site from Monroe County. But with the Tkachs not responsibly releasing financial statements of their secretive cult, it's anybody's guess what the WCG actually got for the Pocono property, that is besides "one dollar".

The former feast site project was unique because it was one of the few times in the Commonwealth of PA that a redevelopment authority has condemned property and sold it to a public entity, like Pocono Mountains Industries (PMI), for development. Condemned properties are typically sold directly to the private sector. A 54,000 sq. foot Mountain Health Care facility has already been completed off Rt. 610 in the business park.

US Senda was a subsidiary of a Japanese corporation formed in California on 2/9/87 - in other words, formed only weeks prior to the time the Pocono deal was completed. The CA corporation in question could have been was formed for the specific purpose of buying Pocono from the WCG. The Calfornia private corporation US Senda in the WCG Pocono land deal has since been dissolved and disappeared without a trace. Believe it or not, US Senda corporate offices in California were listed in the Pocono property sale records as strangely being located in a warehouse, right across from the WCG campus on the other side of freeway, opposite Waverly Drive, directly behind Mijares Mexican Restaurant. How very odd. John Trechak then discovered where U.S. Senda moved to (at 200 E. Del Mar Blvd. in Pasadena) the exact suite at which the Senda Group received mail is also an address where Osamu Gotoh and associates received mail!

Tkach Jr. undoubtedly knows how much the WCG was paid for the Pocono feast site; for what reason the mysterious US Senda corporation was formed, with offices adjacent to the WCG Pasadena campus; how this mysterious US Senda corporation got the winning bid for the property; and who really benefited from the sale of the Pocono site. Certainly not the rank and file members. But Tkach isn't talking, he's taking the fifth.

Scholarly Insights

Dr. John Buchner, former WCG member in Australia, was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy degree by the University of Western Sydney, Australia for research on change in the Worldwide Church of God. You may already know him from his previous work in compiling the most exhaustive reference bibliography ever assembled on the Worldwide Church of God.

John Trechak's Ambassador Report long ago justifiably praised the work of John Buchner and his exemplary efforts in contributing to genuinely scholarly research on the WCG. At one time, WCG officials had at first agreed to talk with him, but then all meetings were canceled for his research travel to the United States while meeting with leaders and members of other COG organizations. This change of direction came apparently on orders from Joe Tkach who didn't have the sense to see how Buchner's research could actually help the WCG, but instead wrote Buchner a letter turning the research down. Should you read Joe Tkach Jr's Sept 1, 1997 Multnomah book "Transformed by Truth", with his substantially similar, if not identical in many respects, 2000 Azusa doctoral thesis with bibliography, "An examination of the doctrinal reformation of the Worldwide Church of God" (available to anyone by interlibrary loan on request from Azusa Pacific Library), and compare it to Dr. Buchner's research product, you will understand the extreme irony of Joe Tkach turning down such a worthy research request.

Ambassador Reports is glad to see the WCG changed its mind on conducting research on change in the WCG. Dr. Buchner's work is entitled "The Worldwide Church of God: A study of its transformation in terms of K. Helmut Reich’s theory of Relational and Contextual Reasoning".


As to K. Helmut Reich, first a professional physicist at CERN, the world's largest particle laboratory, next became an APA award-winning recognized psychologist. He spanned both professional fields with his unifying cognitive developmental theory in his 2002 book, "Developing the Horizons of the Mind: Relational and Contextual Reasoning and the Resolution of Cognitive Conflict". Reich in his cognitive theory draws from complementarity theory found in physics, which theorizes how light may paradoxically appear both as a particle and a wave in the same context as a coherent whole.

Relational and Contextual Reasoning (RCR) goes beyond the conceptual premises of complementarity in resolving conflict to recognize the complexity of human interaction and transactions at a higher level of complexity. It begins at the elemental RCR of logical processing stage one, at an either/or binary level of cognition. (My notion on binary thinking is Herbert Armstrong commonly utilized it in his publications as a persuasive tool to circumvent critical thinking processes.) RCR can then progress in complexity through five stages. Stage five is relational and contextual theory taking into account complex relationships with multi-perspectives.

Reich's RCR theory is used by Dr. Buchner as a measure to stage the cognitive development of WCG leadership in regards to their level of understanding of the Trinity doctrine. In regards to grasping RCR stages, with level 1 at the beginning level up through level 5 (5 = highest cognitive level), may I humbly suggest you first take a look at the Appendices link below, at sections A-C for a diagrammatic, visual representation of Reich's RCR theory, followed by section E to take a look at the actual survey questions the WCG leaders answered in writing for the research. This may make it easier to have some background context on the RCR staging levels before reading the paper. Or if you care not to get into that much theoretical depth, just think of Relational and Contextual Reasoning (RCR) as everyday "reasoning" without getting hung up on the RCR acronym, and enjoy your plunge into chapter one.

By the way, this thesis is not exactly dry reading for Worldwiders -it is chock full of COG figures such as Herman Hoeh (who telephoned Dr. Buchner for the survey). Splinters and spin off luminaries are given coverage, too with interesting details to ponder.

After going through a lengthy approval process, thirteen members of the WCG ministry or administration responded in writing to fifteen survey questions probing their level of relational and contextual reasoning in regard to the Trinity. Joe Tkach Jr. and Mike Feazell are two of the thirteen who participated with written responses on the Trinity, but which two? WCG survey participants have had their identities cloaked, with their names replaced by thirteen phonetic monikers: ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE, DELTA, through...MIKE - you get the picture.

Respondents to the survey are described as including: a very senior early stage administrator, retired senior WCG minister, senior WCG administrator, senior editor and retired pastor, longtime WCG writer, active senior WCG minister, editorial writer, retired senior administrator, and so on.

My guess is that Joe Tkach Jr. is identified as respondent LIMA in Chapter 6.

LIMA is described as exercising a prominent position in the WCG hierarchy. He received his early education in the WCG which helped form his thinking, and had an opportunity for secular work and study. This could be veiled language for Tkach Jr's work experience at Arizona Boys Ranch or Microsoft, followed by his secular masters degree in business. Exposure to mainstream evangelical theology could mean attendance at Azusa after returning to Pasadena from Arizona.

Either way, it's definitely worth a read to any Worldwider! Simply click on the following chapter links. Enjoy!

Detailed Chapter Contents, Abstract

Ch. 1 Introduction to the WCG and the Cognitive Conversion of Its Leaders

Ch. 2 Literature review of Helmut Reich’s theory of Relational and Contextual Reasoning

Ch. 3. Relational and Contextual Reasoning related to Christology and the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity

Ch. 4 - Method: the qualitative application of Relational and Contextual Reasoning to the case study

Ch. 5 - Results of Study 1: A review of opposing interpretations of the Trinity as a cognitive construct, and transition from rejection to acceptance of the doctrine, in search of an explanation consistent with Relational and Contextual Reasoning

Ch. 6 - Results of Study 2: Analysis of responses to a survey of Worldwide Church of God leaders in regard to their understanding of the Trinity, in terms of Relational and Contextual Reasoning

Ch. 7 Discussion and Conclusion

References and Bibliography

Appendices A-E