Authors: Gerald Flurry
For their predisposed hatred for Mr. Armstrong and their slanderous assassination of his character.
For all the lies they told to the membership.
For the ministers they bullied or fired.
The selfish will they forced upon an unsuspecting flock.
For the reputations they destroyed.
The marriages and families they split apart.
For the work, the property, the publications and programs they either sold off or discontinued.
For their inept mismanagement of all the money and resources they inherited.
And for their self-righteous
ARROGANCE
. A
Christian
duty to keep Mr. Armstrong’s doctrines “out of circulation”? I mean, really, who do they think they are?
They hated answering for all this. And the fact that
WE
were in the same room, giving our attorneys suggestions and input along the way, made it that much more awkward and upsetting for them. In fact, at the very first deposition we had in the case, in the summer of 1998, their attorney objected to the fact that we had three
PCG
representatives in attendance—my father, Dennis Leap and me.
They wanted to strip away all the
historical
intrigue—the
PASSIONATE
spiritual and emotional involvement we had invested in this case, in this
way of life
under Mr. Armstrong. They knew we were righteously indignant—even angry—about what Tkachism had done. They knew we would intensely fight for our spiritual livelihood—so they didn’t want us around. They wanted this battle to be fought between lawyers only—and over what they considered to be purely a legal matter involving the Copyright Act and “stolen” property. But we insisted on being there for all of it. And we were. All three of us attended every major deposition—sometimes we even brought a fourth representative from our church. And besides the first hearing with Judge Letts, we attended every major hearing after that, even though it meant frequent flights between Oklahoma and California.
If they couldn’t prevent our attendance, they worked to prevent us from saying anything about the lawsuit. Early on, they designated just about
everything
as confidential. They didn’t want their story going public which, in itself, is a story. We, on the other hand, wanted complete transparency, which is why we later moved to have the confidentiality seal removed. I’m not saying we weren’t nervous when they deposed us.
But we had nothing to hide
. Our position was clear from the start.
Yes, we printed Mr. Armstrong’s works
—
and we firmly believe, before God and the authorities of our land, that it was lawful
. Besides that, we looked upon being deposed as if we were testifying on behalf of Herbert W. Armstrong’s legacy. What an honor.
There were many other moments we were proud of during our six-year struggle: The miraculous start to the case, when Judge Letts whipped the
WCG
into a tailspin, essentially saying, “I think you are going to lose.” Then at the Ninth Circuit, even though we lost, to appear in court a few blocks from the Pasadena headquarters
Mr. Armstrong built
—it was a privileged opportunity I’ll never, ever forget. I’m proud of the fact that we submitted a petition to the United States Supreme Court, even though it didn’t hear the case.
Besides all the proud moments, there were the many profound lessons we learned: the unwavering faith of my father; the willingness to stand up and fight for a worthy cause and the abundant fruit that came from that; how we must go on the offensive to overcome evil—like printing
Mystery of the Ages
irrespective of what they might do, or filing the counterclaim, or kicking off the ad campaign, or our response to the preface.
These all were powerful lessons I will never forget. What an education. I think of the many sermons and articles our struggle has
already
inspired—and now this book.
None of this
would have happened without the lawsuit.
Honestly, I find it difficult to pinpoint
anything
negative about the litigation. Naturally, no one wants to be sued, but even in the midst of the litigation, our work prospered.
Four
out of the six years, we were able to freely distribute
Mystery of the Ages
to 100,000 recipients. For two years during the lawsuit, we freely distributed five other works by Mr. Armstrong.
Even looking at it financially, it was a blessing. Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a pearl of great price. Upon finding that “pearl,” it says in Matthew 13, the merchant went and sold
everything
he had to obtain it. In Matthew 19, Jesus told a rich man who wanted to inherit the spiritual riches of God’s Kingdom that he had to be willing to give up
EVERYTHING
of
physical
value.
Over the course of six years, including the $2 million we were responsible for at settlement, we spent about $5 million on this lawsuit—
less than one tenth of our total income during this same period
.
And considering what we obtained in return—it’s by far the best money we’ve ever spent.
“I prophesy to you that, one way or the other, God will provide a way for us to mail that book again.”
— Gerald Flurry
Trumpet, March-April 2001
Ruth Tucker says we don’t base our beliefs on Scripture, but it was actually the Bible that served as our guide throughout the entirety of this struggle. Our God-given commission,
grounded in Scripture
, is what prompted my father to print
Mystery of the Ages
in the first place. Then, after the
WCG
attacked, my father relied on
Scripture
to establish the framework for our legal strategy:
OFFENSIVE WARFARE
. And after every setback, he turned to
God’s word
for encouragement.
“I’m not discouraged—I’m not depressed,” my father told
PCG
members a few days after the Ninth Circuit ruled against us on September 18, 2000. “I want to fight more than ever. I asked the lawyers to fight as if our lives depended on it, but to really fight it with a positive attitude—realizing that God is with us.”
1
Soon after the decision at the appellate level, our attorneys petitioned for a rehearing
.
We submitted a brief to all 27 judges at the Ninth Circuit, hoping one of them would move to have our case submitted before an 11-judge panel. No one responded.
“It’s not over yet,” my father insisted. “We’re going to win this thing in the end. We absolutely know that.”
While waiting to hear if the Supreme Court would accept our case, my dad made this amazing statement in the March-April 2001
Trumpet:
“We are in a court battle over Herbert W. Armstrong’s book
Mystery of the Ages
. The big issue is,
who owns the copyright?
… Now there has been an injunction issued. We have had to stop printing and mailing
Mystery of the Ages
(and all of Mr. Armstrong’s writings).
“We have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. There is less than a 1 percent chance of our getting into the Supreme Court, but I believe we will. I prophesy to you that,
one way or the other,
God will provide a way for us to mail that book again.”
2
A few weeks after that appeared in print, on April 2, the Supreme Court declined to hear our petition without comment as to why. On the surface, things had gone from bad to worse.
Yet everything my dad kept saying assured
PCG
members that things would eventually take a turn for the better. That’s because, in relying on the sure word of
Bible prophecy,
he knew what the lawsuit’s outcome would be
even before it ended
.
In
The Royal Book of Revelation
,
published about the same time the Supreme Court decided not to hear our case, he wrote,
Should we deliver
Mystery of the Ages
? I tell you
WE
MUST
DELIVER IT
! When the Bible talks about prophesying again, that primarily means the
same
prophecy—again. God is talking about a message that has been prophesied before. W
E MUST PROPHESY AGAIN, BECAUSE WE HAVEN’T YET REACHED THE LARGEST AUDIENCE POSSIBLE WITH
M
YSTERY OF THE
A
GES.
T
HE JOB IS STILL INCOMPLETE.
God won’t allow anybody to stop this message until that work is done. The injunction is only a temporary delay!
3
He based his strong statements on certain prophecies in Revelation 10, where God said the “mystery of God” had to be “finished” before Christ returned (see Revelation 10:7, 11). This is why, he went on to say, the
PCG
has been commissioned to get
Mystery of the Ages
to the world. “But for this temporary injunction,
Mystery of the Ages
is going out again. Understanding this really puts things into a greatly reduced time frame,” he wrote.
He didn’t know all the answers with respect to
HOW
God would do it—only that God would do it!
Prophecy Gets More Specific
In the May 31, 2001, issue of the
Journal,
Bill Stough wrote,
The director of the Worldwide Church of God’s legal department says that if the Philadelphia Church of God wants to publish and distribute
WCG
-copyrighted publications it should negotiate directly with the Worldwide Church of God.
4
So far as we know, this was the
WCG
’s first indication that they might annul their “Christian duty” doctrine. And in reading between the lines, Helge was indirectly admitting,
There are no plans to annotate or make Mr. Armstrong’s works available in their original form, so go ahead and make us an offer
. Reality had set in. They knew they had to, in some form, make Mr. Armstrong’s works available to the public.
Later that year, in September 2001, we produced another book, titled
Who Is “That Prophet”?
My dad wrote on page 86,
I believe we will not lose the court case. Yes, our chances of winning are small. But that only makes greater odds for God. He is like the Supreme Court in that He only takes certain cases. But He usually takes them when you’ve already gone into the fiery furnace!
Mystery of the Ages
was an open door for us. God has put it on hold temporarily. B
UT
I
SAIAH 22:22 SAYS THAT WHEN
E
LIAKIM OPENS A DOOR, NONE CAN SHUT IT.
W
E MUST HAVE FAITH IN THAT.
5
Whereas Revelation 10 (as expounded on in
The Royal Book of Revelation
) revealed that the message in
Mystery of the Ages
would, in fact, go out again, the prophecies discussed in
That Prophet
indicated more. Isaiah 22 says that someone in this end time would come as a type of Eliakim. Notice what verse 24 says regarding this man: “And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all
vessels of small quantity
, from the
vessels
of cups, even to all the
vessels
of flagons.”
6
Anciently, these vessels were the tools needed to perform the temple services. My dad explained that today, “These must refer to all of our books and booklets. All the glory hangs on Eliakim—
ALL THE REVELATION FROM
M
R.
A
RMSTRONG
.…
7
This was the first indication we had that God wanted more for us than just the right to copy and distribute Mr. Armstrong’s works.
He wanted us to own them!
E-Publishing—More Revelation
Around this time is when Helge devised the e-publishing scheme. Initially, they wanted us to absorb the costs of the project. In November 2001, however, they told us they would move forward with the e-publishing venture, at their own cost, in order to undermine our argument that it would be futile to request a license.
That same month, we produced yet another book,
The God Family Vision
. In it, my dad wrote, “
Mystery of the Ages
DOESN’T BELONG
to the Worldwide Church of God. It is the knowledge of God!”
8
On pages 132-135 of that book, my dad discussed how the Worldwide Church of God had sold its spiritual birthright, comparing that church to Esau. He wrote, “If you sell your birthright for all the wealth in the world today, it’s still just a bowl of soup!”
9
And that’s what the
WCG
had been doing for a number of years—selling off valuable gifts given to Mr. Armstrong, fine furniture, youth campsites and facilities, festival sites, college campuses. They were even trying to sell their headquarters facilities in Pasadena, including the church’s crown jewel—Ambassador Auditorium.
But would they also sell off Mr. Armstrong’s writings? Up to that time, they had only suggested licenses—and very restrictive ones at that.
Habakkuk Revealed the Outcome
As 2002 wore on, though the damages trial had yet to begin and the counterclaim was unresolved, Bible prophecy indicated the lawsuit was quickly winding down. My dad wrote a lengthy article in our September-October issue of
Royal Vision
. The title speaks for itself: “Habakkuk Reveals the Outcome of Our Court Case.” Regarding Habakkuk 3:2, he wrote,
T
HE PCG HAS NEVER NEEDED
REVIVING
EXCEPT IN THE COURT CASE
. This is a prophecy about God reviving us. So we need to prepare for a spectacular end! Yes—
WE ARE GOING TO GET
Mr. Armstrong’s writings. … I believe that God will
have
to give us Mr. Armstrong’s writings. I state that in faith, and I strongly believe He will if we have the faith we need.
10
Once again, he based such strong statements on what was revealed in Scripture. Notice Habakkuk 1:1-2: “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!” There was a temple crisis in Habakkuk’s day—a type of what the
PCG
has endured in this end time.
Verse 3 reads, “Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up
strife
and
contention.”
The original Hebrew words for
strife
and
contention
indicate that this is referring to a
LEGAL STRUGGLE
.
And notice, God’s faithful people in Habakkuk’s day didn’t fare well in court. “Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth” (verse 4). Again, notice the legal language—
law, judgment, wrong judgment.
The Hebrew word for
judgment,
according to
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance,
means “a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree .…” The
Anchor Bible
says, “[T]he juridical language of verse 4 is unmistakable … it could be describing corruption in the courts.”
Habakkuk’s reference to a wrong judgment, or verdict, is especially interesting in light of our court battle. There is no mention of a right judgment to correct the wrong. It just abruptly moves into this most inspiring verse: “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you” (verse 5). My dad wrote,
God says He will raise up a work that people will hear about but won’t believe—and this is in the context of the court battle. I believe this has already been fulfilled in general, but is God also saying there will be a specific fulfillment related to the court case, a specific miracle, that will fill God’s people with wonder? A miracle that will remove the
injustices
and
destruction?
Do we have the faith to believe?
I believe we will see something dramatic on the scene
VERY SOON
! I can’t read these verses any other way. This is in the context of a
revival,
and a
court battle,
and God says a
DOUBLE WONDER IS COMING
.
11
Later in the article, my dad wrote, “If God reveals Habakkuk, then it follows that He is going to revive this work
soon
if we walk by faith. … We must continue. If so,
WE CANNOT LOSE
. God will revive His work.”
12
A General and Specific Fulfillment
This specific understanding of Habakkuk in that issue of
Royal Vision
set the tone for my dad’s messages at the Feast of Tabernacles in September 2002. On September 22, he compared two verses in Daniel. In Daniel 8:11, it says that in this end time, Satan will
take away
the “daily”—meaning God’s truth (see verse 12). My dad explained that this was a direct reference to M
R.
A
RMSTRONG’S LITERATURE
and how it had been cast to the ground in this end time because of the court case.
Then, in comparing that passage with Daniel 12:11, we read that God (not Satan) takes away the “daily” just before the Great Tribulation begins. Elsewhere in Scripture, this is referred to as the
famine of the word
(see Amos 8:11).
The point is this: For the daily to be taken away now (by Satan) and then again just before the Great Tribulation (by God), it
PROVED
, my dad said in September 2002, that we would somehow take the daily (in this case, represented by Mr. Armstrong’s literature) to the world again before Christ returns.
A week later, on September 28, my dad expounded on Revelation 10:11: “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” In
The Royal Book of Revelation
he had explained the general meaning of the verse: that we were to prophesy
again,
the way Mr. Armstrong did before he died. Yet look at this verse in all its specific detail, he told the
PCG
membership. “Prophesy again implies that it was stopped. Then God says ‘prophesy again.’ But we must fight our way through it and
see how God delivers us.”
13
And Then—“Double Wonder”
Less than three weeks later, on October 14, the Worldwide Church of God made an offer they had not made throughout the six years of litigation and, in fact, had vowed in 1997
never
to make. They asked if we would be interested in
BUYING
Mystery of the Ages
. Later, they not only slashed the asking price, they tacked on the other 18 works we were seeking in our counterclaim!