HWA, GTA and Rader's Contracts with WCG (1976)

Years ago Mary Lane noted in a comment here that Stephen Flurry asserted that HWA did not have an employment contract with WCG.

It is interesting that Stephan Flurry would say in chaper 19 of "Raising the Ruins," that HWA never had an employment agreement or contract with the church, because he most assuredly did. In fact it was a 14 page contract and you can find a copy of it in AR 26 & on the Painful Truth website

http://www.hwarmstrong.com/ar/AR26.html and it is very specific in it's demands for this "employee"

I looked up on this tip. She was indeed correct and I discussed this in a previous post. HWA did in fact have a contract with WCG, it was discussed in Ambassador Report 26, October 1983, and Stephen Flurry denied that he had such a contract.

He [HWA] never had an employment contract with the church [WCG]. We [PCG's leaders] explained that he “simply did not want” one. (Raising the Ruins, Chapter 19, Part 1.)

Why Stephen Flurry thought it was a good idea to deny something that is so well documented is very strange. Either he was ignorant or he was lying. Either way it does not look good.

I bring this matter up again because David Robinson, in his book Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web (1980), provides more information regarding these contracts as HWA mentioned that he, his son and Rader had made these contracts. HWA mentioned this in a conversation with David Robinson at the Pococos, around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles in 1976, shortly after these contracts were made and signed.

HWA signed this contract because he was fearful that WCG ministers would compel him to reduce his personal expenses and force him to manage WCG's money in a more frugal (and responsible) manner. To protect their lavish income HWA, GTA and Rader signed these contracts in order to keep their income at the same high levels. They feared the WCG ministers might cause them to cut back their personal income.

HWA said he, Stan, and Ted had just signed contracts calling for salaries "well into the six figures" for the three of them. He said he expected the church to soon be run by a committee, and they had seen to it that contracts had been signed that guaranteed their standard of living, or as he said, "my life-style" would not be diminished. They would continue to have the plane, etc. No one could take that away from him. (Chapter 6, pp. 76-7.)

David Robinson was disturbed by this piece of information as it appeared to him the three were putting their trust in contracts, not God.

Later this contract was brought to public light during the course of HWA's divorce case with Ramona Martin and publicized in Ambassador Report 26, October 1983. Indeed, as David Robinson accurately stated long before the contract came to public disclosure, this contract was signed by HWA, Garner Ted Armstrong and Stanley Rader. 

Furthermore it was also revealed to be a seven year contract and HWA had a yearly salary of $200,000. It was signed on August 1, 1976, just two months before HWA's fateful conversation with David Robinson. It was later superseded by another contract signed in 1980 which raised HWA's salary to "$258,426.96 per year." (Ambassador Report 26.)

It is curious, considering how David Robinson's word was vindicated in this manner back in 1983, that some COG believers should have insisted that he was lying about HWA's incest. Recently both HWA's niece, Deborah Armstrong, and his own grandson, Larry Gott, have publicly stated that the incest did in fact occur.

C. Wayne Cole was also offered a similar contract but he refused, feeling it to be an anomaly to have a contract in a church.

But one interesting thing Wayne did tell me was that HWA had offered him a contract when he came down from Canada to replace Ron Dart - an offer he immediately refused.  He felt to write a contract for his job in the ministry was an anomaly. I think he was right. (Chapter 13, p. 153. Emphasis in original.)

Why would Stephen Flurry try to hide the fact that HWA had a contract with WCG when he most certainly had such a contract? (At least two in fact.) If Stephen Flurry could get a fact like this so wrong what else is he wrong about?

You can access Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web from Exit and Support Network. Just email them and request it. It is well worth reading.