Life at AC

As we all know, life at Ambassador College was a foretaste of the World Tomorrow.

Well, actually not.

Gary recently linked to a HuffPost article by Wendy Keller, also doing the rounds on Facebook. It's essential reading for anyone with any remaining illusions about how great that place was. I guess there are legal reasons Wendy doesn't name the minister she "counseled" with. She clearly wasn't the first - or the last - to be treated in this abysmal way either. Some of the ministers simply got off on this sort of thing - fantasizing about real and imagined sexual behaviors of the young people they were supposed to support and guide. 

Wendy was an intelligent and resilient young woman who rose above her "Ambassador experience". I wonder about the more vulnerable souls who were crushed by the hierarchic, abusive system, some just broken and confused, others - tragically - co-opted into the organization with its perverse values.

Compulsory reading IMHO.

After Ambassador

Original AC logo

Once upon a time there was something called Ambassador College. One campus in Pasadena grew to three. Then two closed and Ambassador University had a brief existence at Big Sandy. Then it all collapsed.

But not to worry. Now there are slavish imitations operated by the squabbling sects that claim Herb Armstrong's mantle. They all have at least one thing in common - none of them are accredited. Nor do any of them seem to have key faculty with experience beyond the Armstrong gulags.

United Church of God: Ambassador Bible College.

COGWA: Foundation Institute.

PCG: Herbert W. Armstrong College.

Living Church of God: Living University.

Restored COG: Ambassador Center.

Obviously, there's an awful lot of duplication of resources, but these guys just don't trust each other. Granted that PCG and RCG are in something of a category of their own theologically, you'd have to wonder at what significant differences of substance exist between the other three (other than competing egos).

Lots of photographs of smiling, compliant young people. Add them all together and multiply by ten and it'd still be hard to justify just one tertiary operation. What real price for a junk qualification?

1963 (Part 3)

Moving right along...

Let's take a peek at the Herbaceous office back in 1963.

Nice.

"Now, at last, new executive offices have been completed for Mr. Armstrong and his son. They are very beautiful and modern - and afford a stunning view of the city of Pasadena with the Sierra Madre Mountains in the background... On the south end of the roof - just outside the main offices - is a terrace and sun-deck arrangement for sunning, visiting in the fresh air and table tennis. Many of you readers will be interested to learn that Mr. Armstrong is an avid athletic fan of many sports, but has found that table tennis - combined with much walking - suits his schedule and requirements to keep him in good physical condition for doing God's Work."

Herb was a ping-pong aficionado?

Even by today's standards, this was pretty swank. Not sure where the drinks cabinet was, but you can bet there was one. Rod assures us that Herb's office was bigger than Ted's, so all was right in the world.

Rod also assures us that the radio studio was where "Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Ted Armstrong spend many hours of labor in a grueling responsibility."

"First of all, let me say that there are many hours of preparation put into each broadcast! BUT - these hours are not necessarily put in just before or right at the time of making the broadcast. Rather, these are hours spent in earnest, personal prayer - fervent Bible study and meditation - the constant study of world news, and conditions, and alert thinking about how God's Word and the prophetic revelation of the Bible really affect and apply to the lives of us all in this twentieth century."

Translation: they winged it.

It's a great source for historical perspective. As the years went by the executive offices got bigger and the Bullgeschichte machine more outrageous, but the basic ingredients were all there in spades back in 1963.

You can download your own copy of Rod's "Inside Story" here.

1963 (Part 1)

I'm old enough to remember 1963, sort of. I was still in single digits back then and had never heard of Herbert Armstrong. It turns out that an out-of-town uncle was a PT subscriber at the time. He must have been one of the first in New Zealand. But of that I was blissfully ignorant, more interested in comics than much of anything else.

In 1963 the church put together a booklet for PT subscribers. You could call it a brag book. It was largely written by Rod Meredith and rejoiced in the title The Inside Story of the World Tomorrow Broadcast. It wasn't much of an "inside story" but it was pretty effective as PR by early nineteen sixties standards. I knew about the publication, but it had long since been withdrawn by the time I became interested. Reading it now is a bit like stepping into a time machine and peering back beyond the crises that exploded in the 1970s and defined my own experience. 1963 predates both the recently demolished Hall of Administration and the Ambassador Auditorium, the "peaceable kingdom" church seal had only just been adopted, Loma was in the land of the living and the Pasadena campus was still a comparatively small operation.

Meredith was, of course, just a young man, and Herb was at the height of his powers. The good and the great at "HQ" included such luminaries as Benjamin Rea, C. Paul Meredith (Rod's uncle), Raymond Cole, Jack Elliot, Charles Dorothy, Jon Hill, Al Portune, James Gott (husband of Beverly, Herb's daughter), Charles Hunting and Wayne Cole. Raised, praised and subsequently erased from institutional memory. The elder Meredith was always referred to as "Dr.", which looked impressive as a PT by-line, but in fact, his qualification was (I'm sure someone will correct me if I misremember) as a veterinarian.

Somebody decided that this booklet would be lavishly illustrated with photographs. Black and white of course, after all, this is 1963. There's "the majestic Italian Gardens", Ambassador Hall, the "elegant faculty dining room" and suchlike. Even a shot of some rather pokey "prayer booths". But what really caught my eye were the offices of Herb and Ted.

To be continued.

And Great was the Fall thereof

Definitely worth the "full screen" option. Only a few seconds long. Check out Gary's post also.

It's just a facade, and it always was

Gary has posted further pictures of the demolition at the former Ambassador College on the Banned by HWA blog. Of the Hall of Administration, he notes;

"This was the seat of the power that controlled the church and established doctrines. It was also the seat of those that abused the members so terribly. It's fitting that this is the last building to be demolished."

The photograph here was posted on FB by Wes White. It shows the facade of the Hall of Admin still standing, awaiting the final indignities.

Facade: a deceptive outward appearance."her flawless public facade masked private despair" synonyms: show, front, appearance, false display, pretence, simulation, affectation, semblance, illusion, posture, pose, sham, fake, act, masquerade, charade, guise, mask, cloak, veil, veneer "a facade of laughing bonhomie"

There's got to be a parable in that.

Demolishing the Dream

Gary Leonard has been posting photographs of the ongoing demolition on the former Ambassador College campus (see here and here). I can't help thinking about all those other photographs that graced church publications in former times (check out the old This is Ambassador College booklet, available as a PDF). A beautiful campus that was supposed to be a foretaste of what the whole world would be like in the 'world tomorrow'. As the preacher says in Ecclesiastes, "vanity of vanities".

For anyone who's even faintly interested, Ronnie Weinland, date-setter extraordinary and one of the Two Witnesses (the other is his wife!), is now out of prison. He had been in a halfway house since December, and was permitted during that time to preach to members of his designer sect, Church of God - Preparing for the Kingdom of God (COG-PKG). Not that he's quite as free as a bird; he's on three years supervised release. More information on Mike's Weinland blog.

Finally, on a sad note, Almon McCann, known to many simply as Corky, has died. Corky was a frequent commenter on a number of ex-WCG sites. He had past associations not only with the Worldwide Church of God, but also the Christadelphian movement. Some years ago he established his own blog that dealt with both fundamentalist sects. In more recent times that blog (now called ex-Christadelphians) has taken on new writers, but I'll keep the original link on the blog roll (Corky's blog) in the meantime. John Bedson's tribute to Corky can be found here.

Bulldozing date for campus buildings

Townhouses will replace Ambassador College offices and classrooms: LA Times story.