Garner Ted Armstrong
Encyclopedia
Garner Ted Armstrong was an American
evangelist
and the son of Herbert W. Armstrong
, founder of the Worldwide Church of God
, at the time a Sabbatarian organization that taught strict observance of seventh-day Sabbath, holy days typically associated with the Jewish faith, and other observances derived from the Old Testament
scriptures.
Armstrong initially became recognized when he succeeded his father as the voice of The World Tomorrow
, the church's radio program that aired around the world. A television program of the same name followed, aired mostly in North America, eventually giving way to a Garner Ted Armstrong broadcast, a half-hour program that mixed news and biblical commentary. His polemical message was unlike that of most other religious broadcasters
of his day.
, to Loma Isabelle (Dillon) and Herbert W. Armstrong. He was raised in Eugene, Oregon
. He was the youngest of four children. He was named for a great-grandmother on his mother's side, Martha Garner, who was born in Suffolk, England in 1841 and died in Iowa in 1923, seven years before he was born.
Following service in the United States Navy
during the Korean War
, Armstrong returned to Pasadena, California
where his father had moved the church's operations in 1946. He enrolled in Ambassador College
, founded by his father and supported by the church. Ambassador was state-approved but not accredited, and Armstrong eventually completed bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the only discipline offered, theology. He was ordained a minister in 1955 and held key administrative posts in both the Worldwide Church of God and Ambassador College until he was disfellowshipped (excommunicated) by his father in 1978. Prior to his removal, he was executive vice president of the church and president of the college, and was widely considered to be heir-apparent to succeed his father as head of the church and its operations.
magazine described Garner Ted as providing "late night companionship to thousands of truckers, the voice of the morning to millions of farmers, the living room preacher to a subculture of lonely, frightened, disoriented Americans." Noted for his charisma, movie star looks, and for being a music enthusiast, he toyed with becoming a nightclub singer before following his father into ministry. He was at ease before cameras and microphones. In radio and TV programs he mixed political, economic, and social news of the day with Bible-based commentary. Armstrong's voice, style and presentation (with a low-key, ironic delivery more in the style of a comedian's monologue than in the didactic fashion of the standard evangelist) attracted millions to the church-sponsored broadcasts. His voice was so widely known that his name was included with many of the world's politicians and entertainers on the record track The Intro and the Outro by the Bonzo Dog Band of the 1960s. On a radio commercial that aired in the Raleigh, NC area in the mid 1980s, he was among several celebrities said to have been seen at a popular restaurant in the area.
Armstrong's proclivity toward secular pursuits outside evangelism was evidenced by his appearance as a guest on the US television show Hee Haw
in the 1970s (Armstrong had arranged for Hee Haw co-host Buck Owens to entertain attendees at the WCG's annual convention one year), and his authorship of a novel, "Churchill's Gold", penned under the pseudonym William Talboy Wright - a mixture of names from his grandparents: William Dillon (maternal grandfather), Isabelle Talboy (maternal grandmother), and Eva Wright (paternal grandmother). His love for music and music theory is evidenced in subtle passages of the novel.
. Garner Ted's grandmother was "something like a third cousin to former President Herbert Hoover
" (Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Vol. I, 1967 edition, pp. 25–26).
He served with the U.S. Navy in the Korean War.
He was baptized in early 1953 (Origin and History, p. 36).
Armstrong conducted a major evangelistic campaign in Springfield, Missouri
during the summer of 1958, around the time of the death of his brother Richard David Armstrong near San Luis Obispo, California
.
In June 1959, Armstrong traveled with his father to Denmark
, England
, Rome, Italy and Monte Carlo
to promote the World Tomorrow program. The younger Armstrong later described this trip as a positive bonding experience between father and son in the wake of the death of Richard David the previous year. It was during this trip that the Armstrongs discovered the property outside London
that would later serve as the Bricket Wood campus of Ambassador College. Later that year, the younger Armstrong visited Australia
and the Philippines
to help oversee the overseas development of the Church's infrastructure.
In 1961, he was dispatched to Berlin
to cover the growing tensions that led to the construction of the Berlin Wall
.
After the assassination
of President John F. Kennedy
in 1963, Armstrong delivered an emotional message live on the World Tomorrow. He later reported that this was the most requested episode of the World Tomorrow broadcast.
Following a brief 1955 experiment on television by his father, Garner Ted Armstrong launched a televised version of the World Tomorrow in 1967. He would be the chief television host until 1978.
In 1968, he interviewed West German
cabinet minister Franz Josef Strauss for the World Tomorrow.
Ironically, the year 1972 had been prominent in Herbert W. Armstrong's prophetic views, as elaborated in a booklet called 1975 in Prophecy!
. January 1972 was supposed to be the conclusion of the second of two 19-year "time cycles" which, according to the elder Armstrong, had begun in 1953 when The World Tomorrow
began to be heard over Radio Luxembourg
in Europe
. According to his theory, at the conclusion of that second 19-year time cycle the members of the church were expected to flee to a place of refuge, which leading ministers had speculated could be the ancient city of Petra
, carved into rock in Jordan
. Following this flight, World War III
supposedly would begin, with a United States of Europe
rising up to overthrow both the United States of America and the United Kingdom
. This fitted with both of the Armstrongs' teachings of a theory generally referred to as British Israelism
, outlined in the elder Armstrong's book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.
When the church's speculative prophecies about 1972 and 1975 did not occur, Garner Ted Armstrong proposed dropping such an approach in favor of one centered on Christian living and an outline of church doctrines and practice. His establishment of a "Systematic Theology Project" was eventually jettisoned by his father, but a form of it was later adopted by a separate church that Garner Ted would establish.
, an attorney and church accountant who had been a personal assistant to Herbert W. Armstrong since 1958, appeared to be stepping into the number two position of administration previously thought to be Garner Ted's domain. Relations between the two became strained and a power struggle ensued. One conflict was that Rader had set up privately owned, affiliated corporations that were doing business with the church. Garner Ted, and others in the organization, were skeptical of Rader's legal and financial dealings and suspected a bid to control the church's multi-million dollar business. One objection to Rader's role was that, being Jewish, he had never been a baptized member of the church or a practicing Christian. That obstacle was removed in 1975 when Rader was baptized by the elder Armstrong.
By the mid-1970s two different and rival views were developing regarding the work and future of the church.
One plan was formulated by Garner Ted Armstrong, who wanted to take the church in a direction built around a larger publishing and broadcasting platform that would go out under his name. Garner Ted was wary of prophecies built around specific dates, and he was reported to be against the idea of continuing to deliver messages that associated the U.S. and Britain with the Lost Ten Tribes. He experimented with turning the church's flagship magazine, The Plain Truth
, into a tabloid-size newspaper in the style of the Christian Science Monitor. He envisioned a television broadcast along the lines of one that was later developed by the Christian Science
Church, which 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 to various governments as an "ambassador without portfolio for world peace." In that role he did not so much represent the Worldwide Church of God or Ambassador College as he did a completely new entity called the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation (AICF). This foundation helped to finance the Tatum O'Neal
motion picture Paper Moon
and a new and slick commercial publication called Quest; bought Everest House, a publishing company; and turned the Ambassador Auditorium
, located on the college campus in Pasadena, into a performing arts venue that boasted an annual subscription series featuring world-renowned performers and celebrities from stage, screen and the recording arts. Gifts from the foundation helped Rader secure the audiences with world leaders for the elder Armstrong, whose message was less an overt Christian one than a more general one about peace, brotherly love, giving instead of getting, and a "great unseen hand from someplace" intervening in world affairs.
Garner Ted was known to disagree with this approach as well as the expenditure of funds on it and other foundation activities. It became an increasing point of division between father and son.
Meanwhile, in January 1976, he appeared on the television show Hee Haw
. Some saw this as an increasing focus on secular pursuits.
In 1977, he officiated at the wedding of his father to the former Ramona Martin. The two would separate in 1982, and divorce in 1984.
where he founded the Church of God International
and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, through which he would soon return to the television airwaves.
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 his father's in membership statistics. The Church of God, International did, however, become a haven for some former members of the Pasadena church who took exception to Rader's role and/or the elder Armstrong's autocratic style. As a result, members of the Worldwide Church of God were forbidden by Herbert Armstrong from having any contact with Garner Ted, and his name was removed from a significant number of church publications. At the time of the separation, he was one of the Evangelists of the Worldwide Church of God
.
However, in his later years, Armstrong's relationship with the Worldwide Church of God was somewhat cordial. Armstrong and his family were invited to stay on the Ambassador campus in Pasadena during the time of his father's funeral. He returned to the Big Sandy campus in 1986 for the funeral of Norval Pyle, an early Worldwide Church of God pioneer. In the spring of 1997, he was interviewed by a staff writer from the Ambassador University student newspaper. Finally, the church archivist sent him several family heirlooms that were held in the Worldwide Church of God's possession following his father's death.
in the years that followed. During this time, he appeared on both the John Ankerberg
Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show
.
He continued to conduct personal appearance campaigns throughout the United States, Australia, Jamaica, and Canada, although on a much smaller scale than during his heyday in the 1970s. These appearances also provided opportunities for unofficial reunions for those who left or remained in the Worldwide Church of God. During the 1980s, he was in Jamaica when a major hurricane (Hurricane Gilbert
?) struck the island.
In the fall of 1989, he travelled to Berlin to do on the spot radio broadcasts covering the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was coming full circle, as he had been in Berlin in 1961 as well.
His reputation was again damaged when a licensed nurse in Tyler accused him of making sexual advances during two massage sessions in 1995. She was interviewed by then-CNBC
television host Geraldo Rivera
, who showed portions of videotapes she had made during the encounters. The fallout from the scandal was immediate and dramatic, and Armstrong was asked to step down from his roles with the Church of God International. He declined to appear on the Geraldo show to discuss the incident (although he had appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show several years before.) His next steps were to heighten the profile of his Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, which he had established in 1998, and the Intercontinental Church of God
, which he headed until his death.
related that "after Johnny [Cash
] died, I lost a real close friend in Garner Ted Armstrong. He was like a professor to me. What education I have, I owe to him. There was a period where I didn't even want to watch the news to see who else was gone."
Following his death in September 2003, Garner Ted was laid to rest in Gladewater Memorial Park, approximately two miles east of the former Big Sandy, Texas
campus of Ambassador University. He is buried with his wife's family: his father in law Roy Hammer, his mother in law Pearl Hammer, and several other members of the Hammer family. His parents, paternal grandmother, and brother are buried in Altadena, California
. The Hammers were the donors of the original property on which the Ambassador campus was located. His widow Shirley continues to serve as the Vice-President of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, and continues to reside in the private, gated community of Emerald Bay, Bullard
, a small community outside Tyler, Texas
on beautiful Lake Palestine.
Rather than selecting a new media spokesman, the evangelistic association continues to broadcast old programs made by Garner Ted Armstrong on approximately 30 television stations and cable outlets according to the Garner Ted Armstrong TV/Radio Page of the ministry's website. The Intercontinental Church of God
(USA) and Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are now led by Mark Armstrong, one of three sons of Garner Ted and Shirley Hammer Armstrong. Mark Armstrong functions as CEO of the organizations and producer of the television outreach program.
Armstrong is listed as a member of the eclectic (and fictional) "orchestra" in The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
's recording, The Intro and the Outro
, where he is credited as a vocalist.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
evangelist
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
and the son of Herbert W. Armstrong
Herbert W. Armstrong
Herbert W. Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God in the late 1930s, as well as Ambassador College in 1946, and was an early pioneer of radio and tele-evangelism, originally taking to the airwaves in the 1930s from Eugene, Oregon...
, founder of the Worldwide Church of God
Worldwide Church of God
Grace Communion International , formerly the Worldwide Church of God , is an evangelical Christian denomination based in Glendora, California, United States. Since April 3, 2009, it has used the new name Grace Communion International in the US...
, at the time a Sabbatarian organization that taught strict observance of seventh-day Sabbath, holy days typically associated with the Jewish faith, and other observances derived from the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
scriptures.
Armstrong initially became recognized when he succeeded his father as the voice of The World Tomorrow
The World Tomorrow
The World Tomorrow is a now-defunct radio and television half-hour program which had been sponsored by the Radio Church of God which ran from 1934 to 1994...
, the church's radio program that aired around the world. A television program of the same name followed, aired mostly in North America, eventually giving way to a Garner Ted Armstrong broadcast, a half-hour program that mixed news and biblical commentary. His polemical message was unlike that of most other religious broadcasters
Religious broadcasting
Religious broadcasting refers to broadcasting by religious organizations, usually with a religious message. Many religious organizations have long recorded content such as sermons and lectures, and have moved into distributing content on their Internet websites.While this article emphasises...
of his day.
Brief biography
Armstrong was born in Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, to Loma Isabelle (Dillon) and Herbert W. Armstrong. He was raised in Eugene, Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
. He was the youngest of four children. He was named for a great-grandmother on his mother's side, Martha Garner, who was born in Suffolk, England in 1841 and died in Iowa in 1923, seven years before he was born.
Following service in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, Armstrong returned to Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
where his father had moved the church's operations in 1946. He enrolled in Ambassador College
Ambassador College
Ambassador College was a four-year, liberal arts college run by the Worldwide Church of God. The college was established in 1947 in Pasadena, California by radio evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong, leader of what was then the Radio Church of God, later renamed the Worldwide Church of God...
, founded by his father and supported by the church. Ambassador was state-approved but not accredited, and Armstrong eventually completed bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the only discipline offered, theology. He was ordained a minister in 1955 and held key administrative posts in both the Worldwide Church of God and Ambassador College until he was disfellowshipped (excommunicated) by his father in 1978. Prior to his removal, he was executive vice president of the church and president of the college, and was widely considered to be heir-apparent to succeed his father as head of the church and its operations.
Personality
In the mid 1970s, PenthousePenthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
magazine described Garner Ted as providing "late night companionship to thousands of truckers, the voice of the morning to millions of farmers, the living room preacher to a subculture of lonely, frightened, disoriented Americans." Noted for his charisma, movie star looks, and for being a music enthusiast, he toyed with becoming a nightclub singer before following his father into ministry. He was at ease before cameras and microphones. In radio and TV programs he mixed political, economic, and social news of the day with Bible-based commentary. Armstrong's voice, style and presentation (with a low-key, ironic delivery more in the style of a comedian's monologue than in the didactic fashion of the standard evangelist) attracted millions to the church-sponsored broadcasts. His voice was so widely known that his name was included with many of the world's politicians and entertainers on the record track The Intro and the Outro by the Bonzo Dog Band of the 1960s. On a radio commercial that aired in the Raleigh, NC area in the mid 1980s, he was among several celebrities said to have been seen at a popular restaurant in the area.
Armstrong's proclivity toward secular pursuits outside evangelism was evidenced by his appearance as a guest on the US television show Hee Haw
Hee Haw
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...
in the 1970s (Armstrong had arranged for Hee Haw co-host Buck Owens to entertain attendees at the WCG's annual convention one year), and his authorship of a novel, "Churchill's Gold", penned under the pseudonym William Talboy Wright - a mixture of names from his grandparents: William Dillon (maternal grandfather), Isabelle Talboy (maternal grandmother), and Eva Wright (paternal grandmother). His love for music and music theory is evidenced in subtle passages of the novel.
Childhood, youth, and military service: 1930-1955
Garner Ted's genealogy is described in his father's autobiography. The elder Armstrong reported that the Armstrong ancestors arrived in America in the late 17th century with William Penn. The ancestry was traced to Edward I of EnglandEdward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
. Garner Ted's grandmother was "something like a third cousin to former President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
" (Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Vol. I, 1967 edition, pp. 25–26).
He served with the U.S. Navy in the Korean War.
He was baptized in early 1953 (Origin and History, p. 36).
Early ministry: 1955-1971
Garner Ted Armstrong was ordained to the ministry by his father in 1955. G.T. Armstrong later reported in a sermon that he did not want to be a minister, to which his father answered something to the effect that because he did not want to enter the ministry that was a sign that he should. In 1957, he began to take over much of his father's broadcasting responsibilities. During that same year, he travelled extensively through South America. As a fluent Spanish speaker, he made several Spanish language broadcasts of the World Tomorrow.Armstrong conducted a major evangelistic campaign in Springfield, Missouri
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
during the summer of 1958, around the time of the death of his brother Richard David Armstrong near San Luis Obispo, California
San Luis Obispo, California
San Luis Obispo is a city in California, located roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Central Coast. Founded in 1772 by Spanish Fr. Junipero Serra, San Luis Obispo is one of California’s oldest communities...
.
In June 1959, Armstrong traveled with his father to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Rome, Italy and Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
to promote the World Tomorrow program. The younger Armstrong later described this trip as a positive bonding experience between father and son in the wake of the death of Richard David the previous year. It was during this trip that the Armstrongs discovered the property outside London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
that would later serve as the Bricket Wood campus of Ambassador College. Later that year, the younger Armstrong visited Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to help oversee the overseas development of the Church's infrastructure.
In 1961, he was dispatched to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
to cover the growing tensions that led to the construction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
.
After the assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
of President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
in 1963, Armstrong delivered an emotional message live on the World Tomorrow. He later reported that this was the most requested episode of the World Tomorrow broadcast.
Following a brief 1955 experiment on television by his father, Garner Ted Armstrong launched a televised version of the World Tomorrow in 1967. He would be the chief television host until 1978.
In 1968, he interviewed West German
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
cabinet minister Franz Josef Strauss for the World Tomorrow.
Challenging times: 1971-1978
The decade of 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. Speculation and ministerial unrest were rife that the younger Armstrong had been committing adultery, gambling and had raped the stewardess on his personal jet airplane.Ironically, the year 1972 had been prominent in Herbert W. Armstrong's prophetic views, as elaborated in a booklet called 1975 in Prophecy!
1975 in Prophecy!
1975 in Prophecy! is a digest-sized booklet warning of an upcoming nuclear war and subsequent enslavement of mankind, leading to the return of Jesus Christ as a benign dictator. It was written by Herbert W. Armstrong and illustrated by Basil Wolverton of Mad magazine fame, published in 1956 by the...
. January 1972 was supposed to be the conclusion of the second of two 19-year "time cycles" which, according to the elder Armstrong, had begun in 1953 when The World Tomorrow
The World Tomorrow
The World Tomorrow is a now-defunct radio and television half-hour program which had been sponsored by the Radio Church of God which ran from 1934 to 1994...
began to be heard over Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. According to his theory, at the conclusion of that second 19-year time cycle the members of the church were expected to flee to a place of refuge, which leading ministers had speculated could be the ancient city of Petra
Petra
Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
, carved into rock in Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
. Following this flight, World War III
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
supposedly would begin, with a United States of Europe
United States of Europe
Since the 1950s, European integration has seen the development of a supranational system of governance, as its institutions move further from the concept of simple intergovernmentalism. However, with the Maastricht Treaty of 1993, new intergovernmental elements have been introduced alongside the...
rising up to overthrow both the United States of America and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. This fitted with both of the Armstrongs' teachings of a theory generally referred to as British Israelism
British Israelism
British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
, outlined in the elder Armstrong's book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.
When the church's speculative prophecies about 1972 and 1975 did not occur, Garner Ted Armstrong proposed dropping such an approach in favor of one centered on Christian living and an outline of church doctrines and practice. His establishment of a "Systematic Theology Project" was eventually jettisoned by his father, but a form of it was later adopted by a separate church that Garner Ted would establish.
Relationship with Stanley R. Rader
By the mid-1970s, Stanley RaderStanley Rader
Stanley R. Rader , was an attorney, accountant, author and, later in life, one of the Evangelists of the Worldwide Church of God, then a Sabbatarian organization, which was founded by Herbert W. Armstrong. -Biography:...
, an attorney and church accountant who had been a personal assistant to Herbert W. Armstrong since 1958, appeared to be stepping into the number two position of administration previously thought to be Garner Ted's domain. Relations between the two became strained and a power struggle ensued. One conflict was that Rader had set up privately owned, affiliated corporations that were doing business with the church. Garner Ted, and others in the organization, were skeptical of Rader's legal and financial dealings and suspected a bid to control the church's multi-million dollar business. One objection to Rader's role was that, being Jewish, he had never been a baptized member of the church or a practicing Christian. That obstacle was removed in 1975 when Rader was baptized by the elder Armstrong.
By the mid-1970s two different and rival views were developing regarding the work and future of the church.
One plan was formulated by Garner Ted Armstrong, who wanted to take the church in a direction built around a larger publishing and broadcasting platform that would go out under his name. Garner Ted was wary of prophecies built around specific dates, and he was reported to be against the idea of continuing to deliver messages that associated the U.S. and Britain with the Lost Ten Tribes. He experimented with turning the church's flagship magazine, The Plain Truth
The Plain Truth
The Plain Truth is a U.S.-based magazine founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, who also founded the Radio Church of God , Ambassador College, and The World Tomorrow radio and television programs. Herbert W...
, into a tabloid-size newspaper in the style of the Christian Science Monitor. He envisioned a television broadcast along the lines of one that was later developed by the Christian Science
Christian Science
Christian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,...
Church, which created a short-lived nightly news program that was later seen on the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
.
Meanwhile, Stanley Rader aided significantly in crafting a unique role for the senior Armstrong on the world stage: Herbert W. Armstrong was promoted to various governments as an "ambassador without portfolio for world peace." In that role he did not so much represent the Worldwide Church of God or Ambassador College as he did a completely new entity called the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation (AICF). This foundation helped to finance the Tatum O'Neal
Tatum O'Neal
Tatum Beatrice O'Neal is an American actress best known for her film work as a child actress in the 1970s. She is the youngest to win a competitive Academy Award, at the age of 10, which she won for her performance as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon opposite her father Ryan O'Neal...
motion picture Paper Moon
Paper Moon (film)
Paper Moon is a 1973 American comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was adapted from the novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown, and the film was shot in black-and-white. The film is set during the Great Depression in the U.S. states of Kansas and...
and a new and slick commercial publication called Quest; bought Everest House, a publishing company; and turned the Ambassador Auditorium
Ambassador Auditorium
Ambassador Auditorium is located on the historic Ambassador College campus in Pasadena, California, USA. It was built under the guidance of Herbert W...
, located on the college campus in Pasadena, into a performing arts venue that boasted an annual subscription series featuring world-renowned performers and celebrities from stage, screen and the recording arts. Gifts from the foundation helped Rader secure the audiences with world leaders for the elder Armstrong, whose message was less an overt Christian one than a more general one about peace, brotherly love, giving instead of getting, and a "great unseen hand from someplace" intervening in world affairs.
Garner Ted was known to disagree with this approach as well as the expenditure of funds on it and other foundation activities. It became an increasing point of division between father and son.
Meanwhile, in January 1976, he appeared on the television show Hee Haw
Hee Haw
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...
. Some saw this as an increasing focus on secular pursuits.
In 1977, he officiated at the wedding of his father to the former Ramona Martin. The two would separate in 1982, and divorce in 1984.
Father and son part ways
As Rader's influence with the elder Armstrong grew, so did the gap between Garner Ted and his father. On top of the historic allegations of Garner Ted's gambling and adultery, the disagreement between father and son over operations and certain doctrinal positions of the church boiled over. In 1978 Herbert Armstrong excommunicated his son and fired him from all roles in the church and college on the night of Wednesday, June 28, 1978, by means of a phone call to Tyler, Texas. Garner Ted moved to Tyler, TexasTyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
where he founded the Church of God International
Church of God International (USA)
The Church of God, International is a seventh-day Sabbatarian Christian church currently headquartered in Tyler, Texas, USA, which was founded by former members of the Worldwide Church of God....
and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, through which he would soon return to the television airwaves.
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 his father's in membership statistics. The Church of God, International did, however, become a haven for some former members of the Pasadena church who took exception to Rader's role and/or the elder Armstrong's autocratic style. As a result, members of the Worldwide Church of God were forbidden by Herbert Armstrong from having any contact with Garner Ted, and his name was removed from a significant number of church publications. At the time of the separation, he was one of the Evangelists of the Worldwide Church of God
Evangelists of the Worldwide Church of God
Historically, an evangelist was the highest ranking minister in the Worldwide Church of God under the pastor general, Herbert W. Armstrong from 1934 to 1986, and Joseph W. Tkach, from 1986 until 1995...
.
However, in his later years, Armstrong's relationship with the Worldwide Church of God was somewhat cordial. Armstrong and his family were invited to stay on the Ambassador campus in Pasadena during the time of his father's funeral. He returned to the Big Sandy campus in 1986 for the funeral of Norval Pyle, an early Worldwide Church of God pioneer. In the spring of 1997, he was interviewed by a staff writer from the Ambassador University student newspaper. Finally, the church archivist sent him several family heirlooms that were held in the Worldwide Church of God's possession following his father's death.
Post 1978 ministry
Garner Ted Armstrong continued his ministry through the Church of God, InternationalChurch of God International (USA)
The Church of God, International is a seventh-day Sabbatarian Christian church currently headquartered in Tyler, Texas, USA, which was founded by former members of the Worldwide Church of God....
in the years that followed. During this time, he appeared on both the John Ankerberg
John Ankerberg
John Ankerberg is an American Christian evangelist and TV presenter. He is an ordained minister and published author, having written 91 books focusing on religious subjects....
Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
.
He continued to conduct personal appearance campaigns throughout the United States, Australia, Jamaica, and Canada, although on a much smaller scale than during his heyday in the 1970s. These appearances also provided opportunities for unofficial reunions for those who left or remained in the Worldwide Church of God. During the 1980s, he was in Jamaica when a major hurricane (Hurricane Gilbert
Hurricane Gilbert
Hurricane Gilbert was an extremely powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane that formed during the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season and created widespread destruction in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It is the second most intense hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic basin behind only...
?) struck the island.
In the fall of 1989, he travelled to Berlin to do on the spot radio broadcasts covering the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was coming full circle, as he had been in Berlin in 1961 as well.
His reputation was again damaged when a licensed nurse in Tyler accused him of making sexual advances during two massage sessions in 1995. She was interviewed by then-CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
television host Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and former talk show host...
, who showed portions of videotapes she had made during the encounters. The fallout from the scandal was immediate and dramatic, and Armstrong was asked to step down from his roles with the Church of God International. He declined to appear on the Geraldo show to discuss the incident (although he had appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show several years before.) His next steps were to heighten the profile of his Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, which he had established in 1998, and the Intercontinental Church of God
The Intercontinental Church of God
The Intercontinental Church of God is a seventh-day Sabbatarian Christian church currently headquartered in Tyler, Texas, USA, which was founded by Garner Ted Armstrong in 1998. The Intercontinental Church of God as it is today, stimulates and encourages the building of local church groups on an...
, which he headed until his death.
Death and legacy
Garner Ted Armstrong died on September 15, 2003 due to complications from pneumonia. Upon Armstrong's death, country music artist Merle HaggardMerle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
related that "after Johnny [Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
] died, I lost a real close friend in Garner Ted Armstrong. He was like a professor to me. What education I have, I owe to him. There was a period where I didn't even want to watch the news to see who else was gone."
Following his death in September 2003, Garner Ted was laid to rest in Gladewater Memorial Park, approximately two miles east of the former Big Sandy, Texas
Big Sandy, Texas
Big Sandy is a town in Upshur County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town's population was 1,288. A lake of the same name is cut nearly in half by U.S. Highway 80, the main thoroughfare of Big Sandy....
campus of Ambassador University. He is buried with his wife's family: his father in law Roy Hammer, his mother in law Pearl Hammer, and several other members of the Hammer family. His parents, paternal grandmother, and brother are buried in Altadena, California
Altadena, California
Altadena is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately from the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center, and directly north of the city of Pasadena, California...
. The Hammers were the donors of the original property on which the Ambassador campus was located. His widow Shirley continues to serve as the Vice-President of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, and continues to reside in the private, gated community of Emerald Bay, Bullard
Bullard, Texas
Bullard is a town in northern Cherokee and southern Smith Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It lies at the intersection of U.S. Route 69 and Farm-to-Market Roads 2137, 2493, and 344, about 12 miles south of Tyler. The population was 1,150 at the 2000 census.The town lies in two counties...
, a small community outside Tyler, Texas
Tyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
on beautiful Lake Palestine.
Rather than selecting a new media spokesman, the evangelistic association continues to broadcast old programs made by Garner Ted Armstrong on approximately 30 television stations and cable outlets according to the Garner Ted Armstrong TV/Radio Page of the ministry's website. The Intercontinental Church of God
The Intercontinental Church of God
The Intercontinental Church of God is a seventh-day Sabbatarian Christian church currently headquartered in Tyler, Texas, USA, which was founded by Garner Ted Armstrong in 1998. The Intercontinental Church of God as it is today, stimulates and encourages the building of local church groups on an...
(USA) and Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are now led by Mark Armstrong, one of three sons of Garner Ted and Shirley Hammer Armstrong. Mark Armstrong functions as CEO of the organizations and producer of the television outreach program.
Armstrong is listed as a member of the eclectic (and fictional) "orchestra" in The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band are a band created by a group of British art-school denizens of the 1960s...
's recording, The Intro and the Outro
The Intro and the Outro
The Intro and The Outro is a recording by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It appears on their debut album, Gorilla . It is not so much a song as a comic monologue, in which the speaker introduces the musicians who ostensibly appear on the recording, and the track fades out before the emcee completes...
, where he is credited as a vocalist.
Writings
- Your Marriage Can Be Happy (1960)
- The Plain Truth About Child Rearing (1963, based on doctoral dissertation)
- After Death...then What? (1966)
- The Wonderful World Tomorrow: What It Will Be Like (1966, co-written with Herbert W. ArmstrongHerbert W. ArmstrongHerbert W. Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God in the late 1930s, as well as Ambassador College in 1946, and was an early pioneer of radio and tele-evangelism, originally taking to the airwaves in the 1930s from Eugene, Oregon...
) - A Whale of A Tale (1968)
- Modern Dating: Key to Success or Failure in Marriage (1969)
- Some Fishy Stories About Evolution (1969)
- A Theory For The Birds (1971)
- The Real Jesus (1972, short version; 1977, expanded version published by Sheed, Andres, McMichael)
- What Is A Real Christian? (1973)
- Did God Create a Devil (1973, contributed Part Two titled, "Satan's Fate"; remainder of text written by Herbert W. Armstrong)
- Do You Have An Immortal Soul? (1975)
- How To Get Rid of Guilt (1979)
- Why Should You Repent? (1980)
- Oh God, Where Were You When I Needed You? (1980)
- Peter's Story (1981)
- Facts You Should Know About Christmas (1981)
- The Ten Commandments (1981)
- Saturday-Sunday, Which? (1982)
- What Is The Real Gospel? (1982)
- Europe and America in Prophecy (1984)
- Can You Understand Bible Prophecy? (1984)
- Believe It Or Not - The Bible Does Not Promise Heaven! (1985)
- The Passover - Is It For Christians? (1986)
- What Is The Mark of the Beast? (1987)
- Churchill's Gold (1988, under the pseudonym, William Talboy Wright)
- The Answer to Unanswered Prayer (1989)
- The Shocking Truth About Satanism (1989)
- Violent Crime Can Be Stopped - Here's How! (1992)
- The Origin and History of the Church of God, International (1992)
- Betrayal and Forgiveness (1993)
- The Real Reasons Why Christ Came to This Earth (1995)
- God's Armor (1995)
- The Great Tribulation: Is It About to Happen? (1996)
- Life on Mars? Or Did God Create the Universe? (1996)
- The Beast of the Apocalypse: What Is It? (1997)
- Saved By Grace? (1998)
- Coming Soon...An Invasion From Outer Space! (1999)