Long Haul
By Bob W.

At one time Ambassador College, in addition to its fleet of hundreds of cars, had two long haul trucks and trailers, they were the finest money could buy. Using them constantly was not a problem. They would leave from Pasadena, hauling magazines, booklets and various other supplies to Big Sandy, or to the Canadian offices. On the return trip they would bring produce, beef and other items back. In addition they were also used to move ministers and employees from one place to another, as time and space would allow. During the feast times the trucks were used to haul various supplies to the different sites. Very rarely were they idle.

Quite often they would bring, from Big Sandy, a considerable amount of prime beef of the highest quality, as if Pasadena was not already knee deep in ministerial bull!. Only this bull was the best kind, it was edible! The lower grades of beef was served to the students. It was in the faculty dinning area that the finer cuts of beef were served to the ministry. Only a small portion, a very small portion of the good stuff was for the students and workers, most of it went elsewhere....... Guess where the best of prime cuts of the beef really went? Hint, did you ever notice how many of the top ministers were overweight? It definitely did not go to the students or employee's!

On one trip in particular, the driver was extremely tired, he had driven the better part of two days from Big Sandy to Pasadena. Arriving at the campus about 2:00 AM., he backed the trailer up to the receiving dock, unhooked the trailer, parked his truck, then left for home.

It had been a long and difficult drive. He had to deal with a considerable amount of bad weather, and icy roads. As to be expected under those conditions the trip took longer than usual. The added stress of dealing with the demanding weather conditions was physically and emotionally draining, he was glad to be home at last. He soon would be in his own warm bed, something that had been on his mind for the last 200 miles.

Finally home! A little snack, he had not eaten for the past five or six hours, then off to bed for the desperately needed sleep......It was a sound and deep sleep, it was the kind of sleep that when his phone rang at 3:30 AM he wasn't sure where he was or what was going on. He was completely disoriented for several moment. It took a bit for him to realize that the disturbing noise he was hearing was the phone ringing. He looked at the clock with a groan, then answered the call. It was the dispatcher at the college, telling, not asking, him to report immediately to the transportation office. He needed to take another truck out and head for Big Sandy. He told the dispatcher he was dead tired and had just got in from Texas. Made no difference, he was to report immediately!

He got out of bed, got dressed and made the 10 minute drive back to the Pasadena campus. As best he could under the circumstances he tried to be pleasant as he walked into the dispatchers office.

Surprise could not describe his feeling, it was more like astonishment, for in the office were several ministers that said they were waiting for him! Was he in trouble, he did not wreck the truck, all the inventory on the manifest was accounted for...perhaps they were there to fire him for some yet unknown reason.(Actually ministers did not necessarily need a reason, they had the power and authority, and sometimes exercised it in a ruthless manner.). If he had been sleepy when he walked into the office, he was definitely wide awake now! He searched his mind for something he might have done or said to warrant such an unusual visit. But came up with nothing.

Somewhat ignoring the ministers, because he was not sure what else to do, he said he was as ready as he could be to take out another truck, so if they would just give him the manifest he would start his log and be on his way. What he had planned to do was to take the rig to the first truck stop he came to, there he could park and get the needed sleep, then start out fresh later in the morning.

What was to happen next was absolutely amazing if not completely unbelievable. The ministers told him that he did not need to take the truck out. In fact they had no intention of having him do so. He was awakened and called into the office just to see if he had the right attitude and if he would indeed come! (No, I am not making this up!)

He could not believe his ears! What was this all about? It seems he was being considered for an important promotion, an advancement into management. The ministers wanted to be sure he was above all things loyal and obedient. That he would follow the orders of his superiors (?) without question, regardless of how irrational the request would be.

Thinking to himself, how stupid, how utterly stupid, he smiled at the men, and after some conversation left for home, went back to bed thinking this was all just some sort of a strange night mare, that in the morning everything would be back to normal.

As it turned out, it was not a nightmare, he was actually called in. He got the promotion. But somehow what the ministers did just ate on him, it was not a situation that could be lightly dismissed. In their wisdom (?), trying to evaluate an employees loyalty by creating irrational situations created more problems and heart ache than you can imagine.

Instead of planting good seed, they planted bad seed that would eventually blossom. That early morning when they called him in to test his character and willingness to obey, some bad seed, some very obnoxious seed was planted. Over the next several years it would take its toll on his enthusiasm and excitement about the work of HWA, (It definitely was not God's work!). It would eventually cause that bad seed to surface and erupt into fruit that was equally bad. He eventually was terminated.

The sad part about it was that it just did NOT need to happen. Good people are sheep that need to be shepherded, sheep are lead in the direction they need to go. But at AC individuals were treated like cows, driven from one location, or situation to another. When driven men and women, children as well, are put in evil situations they will eventually be affected, they will eventually make wrong and sometimes irrational decisions. Rotten or bad seed can only produce rotten or bad fruit. They never seemed to get the point, God want spiritual fruit, not religious nuts!

That seems to be the history of both the church and college. Somehow the ministry seem to take delight in putting good people in harsh situations just to see what they would do. Eventually the ones that were hardened enough were made evangelists or pastors....those that did not quite make the grade were made preaching elders or lowly elders. Please understand, this had nothing to do with the local church elders, some of those men were and are fine examples, but here I am referring to the AC grads that just did not quite make the grade. And some of them over a period of time would advance within the ranks. It seemed the harder and more indifferent they became to the needs of the individual members the higher in rank they rose. (Only this rose had a bad odor! I think that is way they call it rank.)

It has taken a long time (over 50+ years) but finally all that bad seed that Herbert W. Armstrong planted sprung up and erupted into the obvious, not into a beautiful flower but into a hideous, and obnoxious, foul smelling bad fruit. Is it any wonder that his administration would be anything less than what he, Herbert W. Armstrong, planted?

Life on campus could be extremely harsh at times...Who needed trials from without when we had the ministry to make life miserable just for the sheer satisfaction of seeing God's people squirm....

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