PCG Praising HWA as the Answer to Personal Immorality

Here is one fascinating article by PCG, Forgotten Platform, written anonymously for the November 2004 Philadelphia Trumpet. This was published during the height of the 2004 US Presidential elections.

Sadly, we have heard little or nothing about another dangerous threat facing our nation—the breakdown in family. Our politicians, our commentators, our academics, the media—have all but given up the struggle to promote and safeguard traditional family values. Indeed, many of these powerful voices are actually working actively to undermine the family.

The author then speculates that this may be because some of these persons have failed to live up to these ideals.

Consider the speakers at one political convention [the Republican National Convention] a few months back. One had previously admitted to sexually harassing women. He is also a strong defender of abortion and homosexual rights. Another speaker has a homosexual daughter—he too is a proponent of same-sex marriage. Two other speakers at the convention got caught up in high-profile, messy divorces. One was in such a bad marriage that he had to move out of New York City’s mayoral mansion—that city’s first mayor to ever do so.

How does this writer respond to this?

He quotes HWA.

Herbert Armstrong wrote in The Missing Dimension in Sex, “this fact means only one thing—civilization as we know it is on the way down—and out—unless that great ‘Unseen Strong Hand from Someplace’ soon intervenes and saves today’s sick society.”

Why is this PCG writer not disturbed or embarassed by the fact that HWA divorced his second wife, Ramona Martin (nee Crittenden)? Although many Armstrongites behave as though she never existed Herbert W. Armstrong married Ramona Martin in 1977. The marriage later broke down and he applied for the divorce in 1981. It was finalized in 1984.

Note how this is casually brushed aside as though it did not happen. He belittles these Republican politicians for their personal failings and then raise up and praise a man who divorced his wife.

But there is more to this. Ramona Martin happened to be divorced. Normally this would not be an issue but until 1974 HWA imposed a particularly draconian rule that remarried members had to divorce from their present spouse before being allowed to join his group. Roderick C. Meredith played an instrumental role in getting WCG ministers to impose this frightful rule. In marrying her he did something that many WCG members were forbidden to do.

It is also well known that HWA committed incest with his daughter for ten years (c. 1933-43) during the very time he was supposedly raising up the Philadelphian church era. None of the criticized Republican politicians is accused of committing such a heinous thing. Recently this has been confirmed to have happened by HWA's niece, Deborah Armstrong, and his own grandson, Larry Gott, in interviews with Troy Fitzgerald.

But in order to be remain a member in good standing within PCG you have to just go along with what this writer says and ignore any lingering doubt that there is something wrong.