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PASTOR'S REPORT, July 11, 1979
Page 9
Rader charges document grab
by state illegal, says suit due
Stanley R. Rader, treasurer of
the Worldwide Church of God, on
Wednesday charged officials of
the attorney general's office with
a "crazed assertion of raw pow
er" by concealing the possession
o f 819 documen ts he said be
longed to the church.
Rader has maintained that the
state acted illegally on Jan. 3 in
putting a receiver in the church
in January.
Rader told his audience in the
Fourth of .July address that the
church will file suit to regain
possession of the documents,
which he claims were stolen, and
for damages resulting forn their
theft.
A partial text of Rader's state
ment to church members fol
lows:
"Yesterday marked the six
month anniversary of the state's
assault on the church and its
leaden. Thanks to your unwaver
ing support we have been able *o
withstand this heinous onslaught.
As a result. today we remain
strong, united, and firm in our
conviction that the work will
continue to go forward unfettered
by the imposition of governmen
tal authority.
·'New developments have con
firmed what we knew to be the
case: that the state's actions
have been the product of wild,
baseless accusations combined
with a monstrous abuse of power
by government
.. Events of the last few days
have conclusively demonstrated
that state officials have
lied.
cheated, and stolen in further
ance of their crazed assertion of
raw power, and have violated
every constitutional guarantee of
religious freedom in the process.
''Last Friday, we received,
�rsuant. to court order, a list of
819 documents belonging to the
Church which the state has in its
posses sion. These documents
were stolen from the church by
the state and/or others, and in
clude ecclesiastical documents,
communications between the
church and its lawyers, commu
nications between Mr. (Herbert)
Armstrong and other church
leaders, and other documents
which the Constitution and laws
of this country forbid the state to
possess
..Moreover. these documents
includethe very financial re.."Ords
which the state from the outset
has claimed that it needs for the
audit it seeks, and, indeed are the
very records that the state has
accused the church of shredding
and destroying. Thus, from the
outset of this action the attorney
general had. abeit by theft. his
audit ..
· ·We will not allow the state's
naked assertion of power to be
sanctioned or to
go unpunished.
With your continued support. the
Work will be done."
(The above article appeared in the evening edition of the July 5th Pasadena
Star-News, as well as
in
the morning edition of the 6th.)
Editor's Note: As we go to press this evening
of the ll�we've received word from Mr. Rader
that the Church has filed suit today in Pasadena
Municipal Court for the recovery of the 819 docu
ments mentioned above. Also, Mr. Jack Kessler
will be filing a suit for the return of hundreds
of documents that were taken from his office.