Garner Ted Armstrong

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Garner Ted Armstrong (February 9, 1930 - September 15, 2003) was American evangelist and the son of Herbert W. Armstrong. He developed his speaking style by copying the tones of news broadcaster Paul Harvey. Garner Ted Armstrong spoke to millions of listeners daily over radio and television stations heard around the world. His polemical message was unlike most other religious broadcasters of his day.

1 Brief biography
2 Footnotes
3 External links

[edit] Brief biography

Armstrong was born in Portland, Oregon to Loma Isabelle Dillon and Herbert W. Armstrong.^[1] He was raised in Eugene, Oregon. He was the youngest of four children of broadcast evangelist and Worldwide Church of God founder Herbert W. Armstrong and his wife Loma.

Following service in the United States Navy during the Korean War, Armstrong returned to Pasadena, California to attend Ambassador College, from which he received bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees. He was made a minister in 1955 and held key administrative posts in both the Worldwide Church of God and Ambassador College until he was disfellowshipped (excommunicated) from the church in 1978. Prior to his removal, he was, at least by himself, considered "heir apparent" to succeed his father as head of the Pasadena-based organization.

[edit] Personality

Noted for his charisma, movie star looks, and for being a music enthusiast, he toyed with the idea of becoming a nightclub singer before finding his true calling. He was at ease before cameras and microphones and his speaking style was often compared to that of radio news commentator Paul Harvey. In his radio and TV programs he skillfully mixed political, economic, and social news of the day with Bible-based commentary. The voice, style and presentation of Garner Ted Armstrong attracted millions of listeners and viewers and at one time he was rumored to have been approached by a major cereal company to act as their paid media sales spokesman. His voice was so widely known that his name was included along with many of the world's famous politicians and entertainers for mention on the record track The Intro and the Outro by the Bonzo Dog Band of the 1960s.

[edit] Reversal of fortunes

The 1970s brought a series of reversals for Armstrong's career, however.

In 1972, Time magazine reported that Herbert W. Armstrong had said, without further elaboration, that his son was "in the bonds of Satan" and had been removed from church roles. ^[2] Speculation was rife that the younger Armstrong had been committing adultery and gambling. He was later accused of rape by the former stewardess on his private aircraft. ^[3]

The year 1972 had been prominent in Herbert W. Armstrong's prophetic views elaborated in a booklet called 1975 in Prophecy!. January of 1972 was supposed to be the conclusion of the second of a 19 year "time cycle" which had begun in 1953 with the first broadcasts of The World Tomorrow over Radio Luxembourg in Europe. At the conclusion of that second 19 year time cycle, the members of the Church were to expected to flee to a place of safety, which was usually identified as Petra in Jordan. Following this flight, World War III supposedly would begin, with an imagined United States of Europe destroying both the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

[edit] Stanley Rader

Later, as Garner Ted Armstrong faded from the scene, Stanley Rader, attorney and the church accountant who had been the right-hand man to Herbert W. Armstrong since 1958, appeared to be stepping into the number two position of administration that had previously appeared to be the sole domain of Garner Ted Armstrong. Relations between the two became strained and a power struggle ensued.^[4] One conflict of interest that troubled Garner Ted Armstrong was the fact Rader had set up numerous privately owned affiliated corporations over a number of years doing business with the church, in an apparent bid to capture the church's multi-million-dollar business. Rader eventually became a member of the Worldwide Church of God in 1975 when Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly baptized him in a bathtub in Tokyo during one of their overseas trips.

[edit] Two rival plans

Two different and rival views were then constructed for the future of the church.

One plan was formulated by Garner Ted Armstrong who wanted to take the church in a more mainstream direction that would enable him to build a bigger publishing and broadcasting platform for himself. Garner Ted was through with prophecies built around specific dates and he was reported to be against the idea of continuing with messages relating to the Lost Ten Tribes. He wanted to create a church newspaper to rival the Christian Science Monitor and develop his program along the lines of one that was later developed by the Christian Science Church who created a short-lived nightly news program that was later seen on the Discovery Channel.

Meanwhile, Stanley Rader aided significantly in crafting a unique role for the senior Armstrong on the world stage: Herbert W. Armstrong was promoted as the "Ambassador for World Peace without portfolio" in which he did not represent the Worldwide Church of God or Ambassador College, but a completely new entity called the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation (AICF). This foundation helped to finance the Tatum O'Neal motion picture of Paper Moon; a new and slick commercial publication called Quest magazine; it bought the Everest House publishing company and it turned Ambassador Auditorium into the Carnegie Hall of the West so that it featured major celebrities in stage, screen and the recording arts. Herbert W. Armstrong, with Stanley Rader at his side, began to shake hands with leaders such as Prince Charles; President Anwar Sadat; Prime Minister Golda Meir; King Hussein; members of the Japanese Imperial family and kings, presidents and prime ministers in many other countries. Suddenly the message of Herbert W. Armstrong had been partially transformed to a message about peace and brotherly love, of giving versus getting and mankind being guided by a "Great Unseen Hand from Someplace," another approach to preaching the message of Jesus Christ as done by the apostle Paul.

[edit] Rader's gain and GTA's loss

It soon appeared that Stanley Rader had won and Garner Ted Armstrong lost. Amid multiple allegations of gambling, adultery and disputes over church doctrine, Herbert W. Armstrong finally disfellowshipped his son from the Worldwide Church of God. Garner Ted moved to Tyler, Texas where he quickly set up his own Church of God International.[1] Garner Ted Armstrong never again had the media outreach that he had enjoyed in his father's organization, nor did his new church ever rival in membership statistics that of his father's. The Church of God, International, did, however, become a haven for some of the more liberal-minded ex-members of the Pasadena church. Members of the Worldwide Church of God were often forbidden or highly discouraged from having any contact with Garner Ted. His name was removed from a significant number of church publications.

[edit] More sex scandals

Armstrong went into semi-retirement while in the Church of God International. Eventually a licensed nurse in Tyler, Texas, accused him of making sexual advances during two massage sessions. She was interviewed by CNBC television host Geraldo Rivera, who showed portions of videotapes she had made during the encounters.^[5] The fallout was immediate and dramatic, and Armstrong was asked to step down from his roles in the Church of God International. His next move was to heighten the profile of his Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association and establish, in 1998, the Intercontinental Church of God, which he headed until his death in Tyler due to complications from pneumonia.

More than three years after his death, Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association continues to broadcast programs made by Garner Ted Armstrong on approximately 30 television stations and cable outlets. The Evangelistic Association is now led by Mark Armstrong, eldest son of Garner Ted and Shirley Hammer Armstrong.