Why did HWA Choose Stanley Rader over his own son?

Why did HWA choose Rader over his own son in 1978? Maybe it was because of Lochner who allegedly used his massaging duties to acquire compromising recordings of HWA possibly confessing to some sort of personal failing. Was it sexual in nature?

Did Rader threaten to release those tapes? Was Rader blackmailing him with those tapes?

Did HWA cruelly cast out his own son just to protect his reputation from these tapes in Rader's possession?

John Tuit describes what he knows of this in Chapter 21.

John Tuit reveals quite convincingly that HWA hated Rader's dominance over him, as revealed by the phone conversions he had with C. Wayne Cole just before the receivership crisis which were played in Mike Wallace's 60 Minutes news report concerning WCG and the receivership crisis.

But for whatever reason HWA was unable to get himself out of Rader's control.

He eventually did in late 1981 but he had to pay a very generous retirement pension which was faithfully paid by WCG until his death in 2002.

Seeing that HWA was unable to get out of Rader's control for so long really dents the image HWA sectarians have of HWA as a man of sterling and noble character. This shows him not as the bold and assertive leader of God's Church, the chosen one who restored truths and proclaimed the end of the age. Instead he appears as a filthy rich despot who had been eaten up by corruption.

Through all this, however, Armstrong was becoming more and more cognizant of the fact that Rader's hold on him was getting progressively tighter. The conversation [with C. Wayne Cole] then took a sudden turn away from Garner Ted, and totally surprising Cole, he said: "Wayne, I do have a problem which I would like to discuss with you in the strictest confidence. Every time I speak anywhere Stan Rader always wants to follow me and speak as well. I have been told that many of our members do not appreciate this practice, and don't know what to do about it. He always writes out his notes and pretty well reads from them in making his comments. Stan is a very brilliant man in many ways, but he certainly is not an effective speaker or preacher. He has plenty of opportunity to speak and if God were calling him into the ministry, we would have seen his development long before now." 

With a comment such as this coming from Herbert Armstrong, Rader's motives and ultimate goal were quite apparent. Armstrong then continued outlining a list of complaints that he had about Rader and Rader's constant attempts to move into the limelight and place himself in a position of authority before the people. Armstrong continued, "If I say anything to Stan, even very gently, about this problem, he flies into a rage and screams at me. He is very sensitive about this. He gets into such a rage that he is opening himself up for a demon at these times." 

Armstrong indicated that he didn't have the courage to deal with this matter directly and wanted some backup support. He sugested that Cole have the ministry write letters to him indicating their criticism of Rader. Cole told Armstrong he thought such a maneuver would not work. If such a thing were done and should Armstrong then change his mind about dealing with the Rader problem, it was obvious that any minister who would have written such a letter would be on the purge list. The conversation ended with no conclusion having been reached on the Rader problem. ...

Having heard more rumors about a lawsuit, Cole thought that he should bring up the subject. He told Armstrong that he had heard sufficient rumors from various sources to believe that there may be some substance to them. ... In spite of the fact that this entire matter between Cole and Armstrong was for the purpose of discussing the removal of Rader from executive and administrative positions, Armstrong's first reaction was, "I'm going to have to talk to Stan about this." Would Armstrong really be able to release himself from Rader, when at the first sign of alarm, his immediate reaction would be to "call Stan"? (John Tuit's The Truth Shall Make You Free, Chapter 13.)

He was highly dependent upon a mere accountant and lawyer.

He was so hopelessly under Rader's control that he shunned his own son.

HWA waged a long, dreary, vicious campaign of demonization against his own son.

HWA wildly and shrilly claimed that his son was responsible for WCG's problems, reduced growth and secularization while hypocritically ignoring his own roles in contributing to these problems.

HWA did this because he was so utterly dependent on Rader he chose him over his own son.

The whole Stanley Rader affair, as related by John Tuit, reveals HWA as an astoundingly corrupted and pathetic creature.

In the same way he deceived others in order to exploit them, he was deceived and exploited by Rader.

No wonder HWA sectarians try so hard to forget about Stanley Rader.

Recently the PCG cult has published an article by Gareth Morgan about HWA's 1979 visit to China. It is adulated as the night HWA changed the world.

There is no mention of Rader.

There is no mention of the fact that HWA's expensive visits to world leaders was a major cause of the turmoil of the 1970s.

That is how many HWA sectarians try to portray HWA's expensive visits to world leaders but they forget these important facts.