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and forgiveness and to his place in the Work! Because of the
slanderous innuendos of character assassination my son has cast out of
his mouth against Mr. Rader, there are some--even ministers--in the
Church who would GO OUT of the Church rather than show any of the
milk of Christian kindness towards Mr. Rader. And yet NONE of these
has seen or had one iota of PROOF of any wrongdoing by Mr. Rader.
He is my assistant and I regard him BY HIS FRUITS--which are of VERY
GREAT VALUE TO GOD'S WORK--rather than unfounded emotional prejudices
and hatred.
After I had worked tirelessly with Ted by continuous letters
trying to restore him to grace, right conduct and his position in
the Work (always with Mr. Rader's invaluable help), by June 1972
I felt that PROBABLY my son--my ONLY living son--had made the
necessary CHANGE OF MIND and attitude.
To try to be SURE of this, I took with me Mr. Rader, Mr. Portune
and Mr. Antion, and we flew to Colorado for a meeting with Garner
Ted. Whether or not it was merely "putting his best foot forward,"
we were all convinced that he had been restored to God's grace and
told him to come back.
He now started DAILY TV campaigns, really preaching Christ's
Gospel this time, instead of secular and worldly documentaries.
But I had determined that THIS TIME he must be kept on ONE
YEAR'S PROBATION before restoring him to the executive
vice-presidency of God's great worldwide Work.
However, the executive load was proving too much for Mr.
Portune and Mr. Antion, who was then second in the administration
under Mr. Portune. They came to my office about six or seven
months after receiving Ted back.
"Mr. Armstrong," said Mr. Portune, "I simply cannot carry this
work any longer. You will simply have to put Garner Ted back to
executive vice-president NOW!"
Reluctantly I did, for by this time I was devoting most of the
time to CARRYING CHRIST'S GOSPEL to Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa,
South America and Europe--INTO ALL THE WORLD AS JESUS CHRIST
COMMISSIONED ME!
I told Garner Ted I would turn "more of the reins" of the
Work over to him--making it very plain to him that as board
chairman and President, as well as God's only Apostle, I was
giving him ONLY authority to administer MY policies as Christ
led me, and Christ's doctrines as He led through me--and that
all MAJOR decisions in the operation of this great Work remained
mine--although Ted could make the minor necessary day-to-day
administrative decisions. I emphasized the IMPORTANCE of our
keeping in CLOSE COMMUNICATION. For awhile, Ted did send me
long and lengthy telexes while I was in some other part of the
world.
BUT HE BEGAN KEEPING FROM ME MAJOR DECISIONS HE WAS
UNAUTHORIZED TO MAKE. He demoted the men highest and older in