Back in the early 80's I used to subscribe to a free publication called THE PLAIN TRUTH MAGAZINE. It had alot of good articles and alot of good doctrine. The FOUNDER of this particular organization was a man by the name of HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG. Today, I was recently researching this person and my findings were nothing short of shocking. I would like to share some of those findings here and also credit my source for this. Any additional input would be greatly appreciated. THANKYOU.

JT

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Would you lift up the words of Herbert W. Armstrong? 

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The towering sin of hypocrisy, deceit, lying and immorality continued right up until Herbert Armstrong’s last years. Robinson wrote in 1980, “Herbert Armstrong has been in love�?a number of times during the past decade.  He said himself he had been ‘in love�?with Amy [his secretary on the fourth floor of the Hall of Administration] when she was 25 years old.  He reported this to a group at Big Sandy in 1974.  He did say, when it was over, that he thought it might have been infatuation. “But earlier there had been the young Filipino girl whom he had brought over to this country, according to widespread reports.  However, he never did bring her to church with him!  He apparently kept her under wraps�?(p. 88). Along these lines, a former evangelist in the Worldwide Church of God �?Albert J. Portune �?told me personally that Herbert Armstrong had brought two Filipino girls to the U.S. and had put them in an apartment in Pasadena �?nobody knows what for.  However, later upon learning that one of the girls had found another boy friend, her own age, he grew furious and shipped them back to the Philippines!  Knowing about his preoccupation with sex, the purpose those nubile young girls served for him seems rather obvious.

Another woman, secretary to the head of the Personal Correspondence Department manager some years ago, told my wife and I she was privy to a mysterious secret concerning Herbert Armstrong.  This woman’s credentials and respectability are impeccable.  She told us that one day an elderly woman who was a Church member came into the office to the Richard Rice, the minister in charge.  She later began talking to her.  She had something very serious on her mind.  She told her she lived in an apartment house in Pasadena, and across the hall from her own apartment there lived a known prostitute.  She knew the woman was a prostitute. One day, she saw two men �?whom she says were Stanley Rader and Herbert Armstrong �?go into that woman’s apartment.  She was shocked.  Floored.  So the next time she saw them coming, she stood in front of the other woman’s door, barring their way.  When they asked her why she was there, she explained that she didn’t think God’s apostle should be visiting a prostitute!  They denied that they were aware that the woman was a prostitute, and beat a hasty retreat, and she never saw them there again. However, the incident so distressed this elderly church woman, that she felt she had to confide in someone �?and that is the reason she showed up at the office of the Personal Correspondence Department, to speak with the minister.
 
 Herbert Armstrong Remarries
 
Herbert Armstrong remarried when he was in his mid-80s.  Ramona Martin, his new wife, was a divorcee who was in her forties.  What few realize, however, is that there is evidence which would have come out at their divorce proceedings which would have shown that Herbert and Ramona were sleeping together, having a sexual relationship, as much as THREE YEARS prior to their ‘legalizing�?their relationship! Herbert Armstrong, who was 91 in 1984, divorced his wife Ramona, 45 years of age, on May 11 of that year, after seven years of marriage.  After a bitter divorce fight, the couple settled out of court, thus ending their seven-year-old marriage. In the divorce proceedings, reported the Los Angeles Times (May 12, 1984), “Armstrong’s lawyers had sought to limit evidence of a sexual nature.�?nbsp; Ramona’s “attorneys felt such evidence was crucial, however, to their case.  According to Ramona’s attorney, the couple had an understanding�?about Herbert’s “prior incestuous conduct with his daughter for many years.�?/FONT> Ramona’s own intimate relationship with Herbert Armstrong predated their marriage by a number of years, according to Ambassador Report.  The Report asserted in the April 1984 issue, “In recent months Ramona has admitted to friends that she and Herbert maintained a sexual relationship for THREE FULL YEARS PRIOR TO THEIR MARRIAGE�?(emphasis mine). The Ambassador Report article continues, “At some point along the way Ramona had some misgivings and so asked Herbert what he would do if he discovered some man in the church was involved in a non- marital sexual relationship with one of the church women.  He answered that he would immediately disfellowship them both.  'But, questioned Ramona, ‘isn’t  what we are doing also wrong?�?To her surprise Herbert said, ‘No.�?nbsp; When she asked why, Herbert explained, ‘Because I am an Apostle!’�?/FONT>
 
During the divorce trial, Ramona said she was sterilized in 1976 at Herbert Armstrong’s insistence. (In The Tangled Web, David Robinson claimed Herbert Armstrong admitted this same thing to him personally.)  However, Herbert and Ramona were not married until April 1977! This “footnote�?to the marriage of the elderly “apostle�?to the younger woman provides further insight into the thinking of Herbert Armstrong.  Why did Herbert insist Ramona become sterilized in 1976, unless they were already having sexual relations at that time?  Was he afraid that Ramona might become pregnant, while they were still unmarried, and he might be the father of a bastard child?  Was he remembering the fact that his own son got Shirley pregnant before they were married, and the shame and consternation it caused him at the time?  We can only guess at the answers, until those who were involved are more forthcoming. However, when I stop to think about these shocking, disturbing revelations about a man many believed was “God’s true apostle�?for this end-time generation, I can only shake my head for sadness and grief, at the sad spectacle of a man of God straying so far from God and His commandments! Both David Robinson, author of Tangled Web, and John Trechak, publisher and writer of Ambassador Report, are men of impeccable veracity and truth.  John himself studied at Loyola Marymount to become a lawyer.
 
Truly, as David lamented the fate of Saul, "How are the mighty fallen!" The sex life of Herbert Armstrong would normally be something of a private nature, something the public would not be interested in. However, when a public figure such as Herbert Armstrong preaches one thing and lives in a totally inconsistent manner, that is something else again.  For fifty years or longer, Herbert Armstrong preached the Word of God.  He stood for chastity, fidelity, and thundered against adultery, fornication, and sexual vices.  For many years, he claimed the marriage relationship was a �?FONT size=3>GOD PLANE RELATIONSHIP.�?Yet when it came to his own life, the truth becomes much more mundane, carnal, worldly, and physical. As shocking and unbelievable as it may seem to many who read this, because of the enormous respect they have held toward Herbert Armstrong, the sad facts of the case are that he was much less than he appeared in public.  His private life reads more like a lurid novel fantasy, than the life of a true, bona fide servant of God.  How long will some allow blinders to cover their eyes?  How long will entire churches build their foundation on this errant “apostle,�?a foundation of quick-sand, claiming to be his divinely-appointed “successors�?  
 
Other men who knew Herbert Armstrong personally, testify to his being drunk and inebriated on many occasions.  One former minister, Dale Hampton, himself a recovered alcoholic, told audiences that in fact Herbert Armstrong was an “alcoholic.�?nbsp; After Herbert heard this, he canceled Hampton’s special ministerial program dealing with alcoholics in the Church. Al Carrozzo sums up the truth in these poignant words: “During this time I maintained a wait-and-see attitude.  It was difficult to make myself believe that the two men I respected most �?Garner Ted and Herbert Armstrong �?were total frauds! 

 Do You Remember�?/EM>