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PASTOR GENERAL'S
REPORT
VOL.2, N0.5
TO THE MINISTRY OF THE
WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
ROMANS 13 AND THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA ATTACK
by Herbert W. Armstrong
JANUARY 31, 1980
Dissidents and enemies of God's CHURCH have been saying that we dis
obeyed Romans 13 in appealing the government lawsuit of January 3, 1979.
They say, falsely, the Church of GOD should have caved in (to use an
expression used by those who brought the suit) and let the State of Cali
fornia take over and run, or destroy the Church of the LIVING G0D!
It's about time we UNDERSTAND God's teaching through the Apostle Paul
in Romans 13.
The King James translation has: "Let every soul be subject to the
higher powers" (verse 1). The Revised Standard translation has: "Let
every person be subject to the governing authorities." The Moffatt trans
lation has, "Every subject (citizen) must obey the government authorities."
The meaning is clear. It is speaking of each individual person,
citizen, soul, or subject of a kingdom.
The State of California lawsuit was not a criminal charge against a
"soul," person, citizen or subject, or individual. It was a suit to take
CONTROL and OWNERSHIP of the CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD! No criminal charge
was made. No one was hauled into court to be tried whether guilty of such
a charge, or innocent. It was merely a civil action with a COURT-APPOINTED
RECEIVER, to take CONTROL OF, to MANAGE, HIRE AND FIRE, and OPERATE the
Worldwide Church of God, and its corporate affiliates, Ambassador College
and Ambassador International Cultural Foundation. Alonq with it, because
they are officers of these corporations, were named Christ's Apostle,
Herbert W. Armstrong, Treasurer Stanley R. Rader, and the accounting firm
which was used as official accountants for the above.
Only a week ago, the Los Angeles Superior Court dismissed from the
suit the accounting firm. We had, meanwhile, employed one of the largest
firms of CPAs in the United States to completely review all books and
accounts, and records of our accounting firm. They found everything IN
ORDER. The accounting firm had been made part of the suit because IF, as
newspaper headlines blared forth (but no such criminal charges were
brought) Mr. Rader and I had been guilty of siphoning off millions (plural)
of dollars every year, there is no way under the sun that could be done
without collusion with our accounting firm. The books and records would
have to have been juggled in some way to try to cover it up.
Once our firm of accountants was DISMISSED from the suit, it simply
meant that the State of California could not affirm that anything was wrong
in the way our accountants handled the books. If anything was wrong, then
the California Attorney General should have been able to state a "cause of
action" to support his allegations of wrongdoing. Since he COULD NOT, the