Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: GUEST,Charmion
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 01:30 PM

Garner Ted's voice evoked a particularly fraught period of my long-ago youth -- basic training. "The World Tomorrow" was broadcast on radio station CFRB from Saint John, New Brunswick across the Bay of Fundy to the Canadian Forces Recruit School at Cornwallis in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. It started each weekday evening at eight o'clock sharp, when I would be seated upon my barrack box cleaning my rifle and polishing my boots. Nearly 30 years later, I can still hear his opening words: "The wuuurrrrld tuhmorrah, with Garner Ted Armstrong", and smell again that not-unlovely scent of Kiwi boot polish and army-issue rifle oil. I remember nothing of the sermon, just the curiously frantic rhythm of his speech, which I found very strange. I had never heard anything like it in my life, which I guess reveals the blessed sanity of my Anglican up-bringing.

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: LadyJean
Date: 23 Sep 03 - 11:26 PM

A friend had a father who belonged to the Wordlwide Church of God. They don't celebrate Christmas.
When my friend's mother bought her boys Christmas gifts, their dad stomped them to bits, and walked out of the house for good, leaving his family to struggle on welfare. Men like Armstrong, or Jim and Tammy, or Pat Robertson, preach family, but they destroy a good many of them.

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: ddw
Date: 23 Sep 03 - 12:02 AM

From this passage from what 'Spaw posted
--

GTA's last known affair was with a   young woman less than half his age... She had almost become his   daughter-in-law, but after GTA's son David broke off his relationship with   her, GTA started seeing her. The affair lasted several years... In addition,   GTA has been observed over the years in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and Reno   gambling for high stakes and drinking.  "

I'd say the dishonest SOB was finally saved....

I always love it when the Bible thumpers start singing the devil's music.....

cheers,

david

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 01:40 PM

in Bible-belt Kansas, I could barely avoid Garner Ted...he was carried on several different stations at different times of the day, and I sputtered thru many a broadcast! He hasn't been 'on' for years, and is gone now, but it never ends, and some guys learnd well from him how to organize a "faith-based" ripoff scheme...G.T.'s legacy is still going..

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: Les from Hull
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 01:37 PM

I remember his broadcasts on Radio Luxemburg - this must have been late 50s. Well I remember switching them off. Radio Luxemburg was our only access to modern music. I think he preceded the Horace Batchelor show. Preseumably also listening were one or more Bonzos - they even had an album called Keynsham. You can tell the age of people in the UK by saying K E Y N - you'll know if you are that age!

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 01:21 PM

Did you read that his sexual misadventures were connected to "Massage" though? That's all I know.

"Garner Ted STOP UN-DOING MY BRA!!"

Rick

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: M.Ted
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 01:14 PM

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who thought that he sounded like Paul Harvey--

I used to listen to him, and his father, a lot, for about the same reason as 12-stringer, though I was in Michigan.. It never occurred to me that the "Kill a Commie for Christ" routine (recently turned to "Kill a Muslim for Christ") was just a cynical come-on to the folks who really believed that stuff, and that the real purpose of it all was to accumulate huge amounts of money and real estate--

It also never occurred to me that his xenophobic social/political ideas would eventually be reflected in the White House--

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: 12-stringer
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 01:41 AM

He sounded EXACTLY like Paul Harvey! And he never shut up. Those broadcasts of his must have been 2 hrs long (or seemed like it, when I was pulling all-nighters in the late 60s, with just an AM radio for company, and he was on every station I could get, down in the wilds of southeastern Ohio). I found his fall from grace rather gratifying when it happened, but actually I thought he died years ago.

"I thought he died years ago." That's one cold epitaph.

RT

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: kendall
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 02:50 PM

FIELDING FOR PRESIDENT!!

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 01:11 PM

One of my all time fave Evangelists! Do you know he raked in TWICE as much moolah from the born-again faithful as Billy Graham and Jerry F. combined. Now that's Hell-Fire Power!

Great hair as well......almost as good as Jack Van Impe.

His Dad Herbert W Armstrong invented one of the great kook-ball religions....check it out. My gosh, I wish the folks who are scared shitless of the millions of blinkered Muslims would see that we have our equivalent right here.

Sic Semper to all crooks who manipulate simple folks.

Rick

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 11:47 AM

The Count basie Band on triangle, always made me giggle.
Giok

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 07:08 AM

First time I heard Garner Ted on the radio, I thought he was newscaster Paul Harvey. Anybody else see a similarity in their voices?
Here are links for Herbert W. Armstrong and his Worldwide Church of God. The church's Ambassador College had quite an impressive campus in Pasadena, California (Los Angeles area with extraordinary architecture). Looks like the campus is being developed into a residential tract.
Now, if you're interested in an anti-armstrong site, try http://www.herbertwarmstrong.com. The Armstrongs and their churches tried to maintain an air of respectability, but they always seemed to be more cult than church. Still, they were almost as colorful as that other Los Angeles evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: fat B****rd
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 03:36 AM

He was featured as "Garner Ted Armstrong on vocals" followed by cod Ella type scatting.

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Sep 03 - 11:27 AM

At least he got a mention on the Gorilla album of The Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, on the track Intro Outro, but I can't remember what he "played".
Giok

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: DonMeixner
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 11:23 PM

You think Garner Ted was a piece of work?   Look up Billy James Hargis.

Don

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: Janie
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 10:41 PM

When I was in college we referred to him as Garner Ted "Kill A Commie for Christ" Armstrong. And yet....may he rest in peace.

Janie

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: Amos
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 10:34 PM

Had to look the guy up, not having noticed his name before. Wodda opertator!! Sheesh! From one website only:

    "For a time back in the 1970's, Garner Ted Armstrong (born Feb. 9, 1930) eclipsed his father as the   public face of Ambassador College and the Worldwide Church of God. A gifted   communicator, the younger Armstrong fronted The World Tomorrow on   television and radio, wrote the lead editorial in the church's newspaper, and   carried out the day to day administration of the various corporations while   his father, Herbert W. Armstrong, concentrated on the heady business of wangling   invitations to meet world leaders.

Ted's radio and television persona broke the stereotype for American   evangelists. His off the cuff manner, easy charm and wry humor, combined with   a huge investment in buying airtime, made him a household name. Unfortunately   for him, controversy dogged his personal life. Ted was accused of   "philandering", and suspended from the ministry twice. TIME magazine   covered his falls from grace in 1972 and again in   1974.   

... those were also the days of the revelations concerning   Garner Ted Armstrong's ubiquitous sexual escapades and rampant immorality. He   had been exiled and disfellowshipped twice, once to Colorado, largely over his   infatuation with a young woman stewardess on his Falcon jet. They flew off   together, cavorting at a cabin at Lake Tahoe, and Ted had a thing for   gambling, apparently losing some $50,000 one time in Las Vegas, and had to   wire headquarters for money to pay his tab!    (William F. Dankenbring, The   True Story Behind Triumph)

Dissident publication Ambassador Report documented the charges of   unethical sexual behavior involving female students at Ambassador College.   Former AC student Pat Boehnhardt, now a best-selling author writing as Ellen   Hart, recounts the following:   

I applied and was accepted at Ambassador College, in   Pasadena, California, earning a B.A. in Theology in the early seventies. When   the Vice Chancellor of the college [GTA] impregnated a friend of mine (a young   college student, like myself) and sent her back home to have the baby, my   fundamentalist beliefs were understandably shaken.      

Ted addresses the infamous 1974       ministerial conference in the newly opened Ambassador Auditorium

In 1978 his track record was used against him with devastating effect in a   power struggle between conservative and moderate elements in the church. The   hard-liners won, and Garner Ted Armstrong was removed for the final time.   Herbert W. Armstrong took back the reins, and a "cultural   revolution" took place: a series of purges to remove liberal influences.   

Ted, realizing there was little hope of reconciliation, wasted no time in   launching his own breakaway group, The Church   of God, International, based in Tyler, Texas. Initially there was   momentum behind the new structure as an assortment of leading ministers began   to fall in behind him (Ron Dart, Wayne Cole, David Antion. Even Al Portune was   coaxed out of exile to preach in Tyler), and he was quickly back on the air   armed with a new glossy magazine, Twentieth Century Watch, to put up   against The Plain Truth. The honeymoon did not last long, however, with   Wayne Cole and others walking away, apparently in disgust. CGI never really recovered, and   failed to become a significant threat to the parent body.   

Garner Ted would suffer further indignity when The Church of God,   International removed him from ministerial responsibilities following an   incident involving massage "therapy" in 1995. The incident got national   coverage in the US with video footage shown on television. Ted's longtime   sidekick, Ron Dart, finally jumped ship around this time to establish his own   organization and radio ministry, CEM and "Born to Win". Apparently unfazed, GTA simply switched to a new corporation, The   Intercontinental Church of God, and started up again! The scale of each   new organization he founded was, however, a shadow of the former one.   Most activities were carried out under the name Garner   Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, presumably insurance against   another dumping.   

GTA's last known affair was with a   young woman less than half his age... She had almost become his   daughter-in-law, but after GTA's son David broke off his relationship with   her, GTA started seeing her. The affair lasted several years... In addition,   GTA has been observed over the years in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and Reno   gambling for high stakes and drinking.  "

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: kendall
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 07:35 PM

Not where he's going he wont!

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: open mike
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 06:43 PM

i hope he doesn't harrass Johnny Cash,
Slim and crew.

Subject: RE: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: Allan C.
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 05:53 PM

That just about sums it up, doesn't it!

Subject: Obit: Garner Ted Armstrong
From: kendall
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 05:27 PM

Garner Ted Armstrong dead. Preacher hypocrite.