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Herbert W. Armstrong: BOOZE!
From: The
Missing Dimension
The Worldwide Church of God during the Armstrong years had an extremely
permissive attitude toward alcohol quite out of place among other Adventist
sects. There was no precedent for this in the Church of God (Seventh Day),
the group from which Herbert Armstrong split in the 1930's. Yet conspicuous
consumption of alcohol was a definite feature of the WCG's Feast of
Tabernacles celebration. Those who preferred not to imbibe were regarded as
"weak in faith". The sad reality was, however, that many of the
WCG's leading ministers had alcohol problems. Herbert W. Armstrong was no
exception.
Holly Ruiz, wife of Enrique Ruiz, the church's office manager in Mexico,
made this statement about HWA when asked by Mary Jones of Ambassador
Report whether she'd ever seen him drunk:
I've never seen Herbert Armstrong sober after 8:00 at night. I used to
notice this when I stayed in his home during conferences and on trips. He
would fall asleep in his chair, and (Stanley) Rader would have to take him
to bed. His daughter (Beverly) once told me never to call Herbert after
8:00 because he was always in a stupor by then.
John Tuit, writing in 1981, quoted Herbert Armstrong's grandson Mark:
"His liver is pretty bad, you know. He's got whatever it is you get
from drinking too much wine and cognac. Boy, that's a real problem with
him. He tells the Church people to drink in moderation, and for years he's
been getting himself smashed just about every night... I've even helped
carry him to his bed when he was just plain wiped out from too much
booze."
Al Carrozzo, a minister who left in 1974, quoted Garner Ted Armstrong:
"They have to pour my dad into bed every night." He stated:
"I have seen him drunk on many occasions" (William Hinson. Broadway
to Armageddon, p. 96). David Robinson, writing in 1980, told of
Armstrong's slurred speech over a bottle of fortified wine (Herbert
Armstrong's Tangled Web, p. 76). Armstrong himself admitted to excessive
drinking as a young man, but "not at all even the fraction of the
volume of an alcoholic" (Autobiography, p. 240). Commenting on this, a
writer for the Exit and Support Network noted that his statement is
typical of an alcoholic in denial.
In Tangled Web, Robinson relates how HWA pressured him to name
"liberal ministers" so he could fire them. By this stage of the
conversation the "Apostle" had begun to slur his speech slightly
because of the Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry. "To name names in this
context over a bottle of wine", wrote Robinson with a droll sense of humor,
"seemed at the time to be injudicious" (pp. 75-76). He
remained tight lipped.
Robinson commented on HWA later in his book: "Solace and sleep,
such as it was, had to be induced by drinking much wine."
Gerald Flurry, autocratic leader of the Philadelphia Church of God,
prides himself on goose-stepping in HWA's footsteps. Read Gerry's
police report and find out how he, too, apparently enjoys more than a ministerially moderate
tipple.
END OF ARTICLE
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