Basic HTML Version
PASTOR
1
S REPORT, May 14, 1979
Page 18
there. It's kind of a subliminal effect in the minds of people around the
world.
Here is a man that's ·given everything that he could to the Work of the
Living God. He doesn't deserve to have that kind of reproach. And we're
going to have to work--those of us who can and have been entrusted with
this responsibility--to do everything in our power to protect him and to
enhance his reputation. We've got to speak one mind. We've got to be
together in this situation.
�-
When Mr. Armstrong spoke to those gathered here in the sit-in, and he
read from the Scriptures, someone with a better mind than I is going to
have to explain to me how any member or any minster could publicly take
issue with him after that. I cannot understand that--it is incomprehen
sible to me. Even if one were absolutely convinced to a contrary point
of view, how one could take public exception, and continue to take money
from the Work of the Living God after that,is something I will never
understand--never. You'll never be able to explain it to me. You'll
never really be able to explain it to Mr. Armstrong, either.
He went
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0n the air,
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so to speak Lvia telephone hook-up with Pasaden�7, he was
speaking live in Tucson, before the ministers. Did any minister jump
up at that moment? You were there Mr. McNair. Did anyone jump up and
say, "You're wrong, Mr. Armstrong!" Anyone say that? Why not? That
would take guts, wouldn't it? Courage, conviction--no one did it. That
was the time to do it, wasn't it? He did it again the next day, I
believe, or did he do it from home? There was a board meeting that morning,
wasn't there, Mr. McNair, in his house? Had you arrived when he called
again on the phone? He used the telephone line from his house because
your afternoon meeting was going to take place.
McNair: Then he came in, you remember, and he spoke again later too.
Rader: Oh yes, but I mean, were you there when he called in the morning
about eight o'clock or eight-thirty here, nine o'clock in the morning on
the third day of the sit-in? And again, I told him the pressure that we
were getting, that maybe we should disperse to avoid conflict. /McNair:
Yes/ And he said, "Obey God, not man." Did anyone then in the afternoon
jump up and shout him down saying, "Mr. Armstrong, you're wrong?" No
one did, did they?
And yet in an insidious way it was being done. Maybe you can explain
that kind of conduct to me. Maybe you can explain it to Mr. Armstrong.
Anyone who's responsible for it is going to have to explain it to the
Living God someday. That's for sure. But I will never understand it.
What should be said should be said at the proper time and in the proper
place and in the proper manner. But even if it's wrong, at least it was
said at the proper time and in the proper place. So I just wanted to
make myself available today--if there are any questions, this is the time
to ask them. I've given forums all through this sensitive period and
I thought that everybody who was interested would be there. (Mr. LaRavia
and I have tried to make it plain that everyone's invited.) I have never
ducked any question, no matter how hard or how personal it's been. I've
answered every single question, knowing that it was going to be published.
Are there any questions today? Anyone want to ask a question about any