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{{Infobox person
{{DisputeCheck}}
|name=Stanley Rader
|image=Stanley Rader.PNG
| caption = Stanley Rader, circa 1980
}}


'''Stanley R. Rader''' (], ] &ndash; ], ]) was born as a ] and raised to be observant. However, in ], in the capacity of a ] and while keeping his own faith, he first met Pastor General ] who was founder of the ] (later renamed Worldwide Church of God). This article traces the relationship between Stanley Rader and Herbert W. Armstrong. '''Stanley R. Rader''' (August 13, 1930 &ndash; July 2, 2002), was an attorney, accountant, author and, later in life, one of the ], then a Sabbatarian organization, which was founded by ].<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|last=Cartwright|first=Dixon|title=Stanley Rader, WCG evangelist and treasurer and confidant of Herbert W. Armstrong, dies|url=http://www.thejournal.org/issues/issue66/stanley-rader-dies.html|work=News of the Churches of God|publisher=The Journal|access-date=15 September 2012}}</ref>


==Before meeting Armstrong==
==Brief biography==
Stanley Rader was born and raised in ]. He later moved to ] where he met his future wife, Natalie “Niki” Gartenberg. He graduated in ] from ] and became a Certified Public Accountant in ]. In 1956 the young Stanley Rader first met Pastor General Herbert W. Armstrong of the Radio Church of God at its world headquarters offices on the ] of its ] in ]. Under contract to the Radio Church of God, Stanley Rader worked on improving its accounting system, creating a highly favorable impression with Armstrong, who then urged him to attend ] at Armstrong's expense. In ] Stanley Rader graduated from the nationally ranked ] Law School where he came in first in his class. Stanley Rader was born and raised in ], ]. He later moved to ], where he met his future wife, Natalie "Niki" Gartenberg. He graduated from ] in 1951 and became a Certified Public Accountant in 1954.<ref name=autogenerated1 />


==First associations with Armstrong==
The Radio Church of God had been previously ] on ], ] when it was reestablished in Pasadena. Prior to this event it had been an unincorporated voluntary association based in ] named after its radio broadcast. On January 5, ], which was the year following the death of his first wife, Loma, Herbert W. Armstrong, as ], together with the secretary of the corporation amended its Articles of Incorporation to reflect change of name to the ]. (By then its radio broadcast had also been renamed as '']''. By this time Herbert W. Armstrong was considered to be more of a modern-day Apostle by his followers, rather than a mere Pastor General. After coming to terms regarding salary and compensation, in ] Stanley Rader decided to devote his full time and best effort to the service of Herbert W. Armstrong.
In 1956 Rader met Armstrong, leader of what was then called the ], at its headquarters offices in ], California. Under contract with the Radio Church of God, Rader worked on improving its accounting system, thereby creating a highly favorable impression with Armstrong, who then urged him to attend ] at Armstrong's expense. In 1963 Rader graduated from ].<ref name=autogenerated1 />


The Radio Church of God had been previously ] on March 3, 1946, when it was re-established in Pasadena. Prior to this event it had been an unincorporated voluntary association based in ], ], and named after its radio broadcast. On January 5, 1968, Armstrong, as ], together with the secretary of the corporation, amended its Articles of Incorporation to reflect the change of name to the Worldwide Church of God. (By then its radio broadcast had also been renamed '']''). By this time Armstrong was considered to be more of a modern-day apostle by his followers, rather than merely "pastor general," his title in the church. After coming to terms regarding salary and compensation, in 1969 Rader chose to devote himself full-time to the service of Armstrong.<ref name=autogenerated1 />
==1971 sex scandal==
Until ], having already taken over all major responsibilities for radio and television broadcasting as well as heavily promoted local public speaking campaigns, ] was in line to follow his father as head of the Worldwide Church of God. In that year, ]ual affairs, and ] binges by Garner Ted Armstrong using church funds, which had been known about for many years by insiders, suddenly became public knowledge, resulting in a major ], and Garner Ted Armstrong was removed from the church and from the airwaves.


==Joining WCG==
===1972 time cycle ends===
Rader, who still considered himself Jewish, was ] into WCG by Armstrong in 1975 using a hotel bathtub in the Mandarin Hotel in ]. This move allowed Rader to reposition himself as a high-ranking church ]<ref>{{cite web|title=Rader Ordained - AR10 November 19, 1979|url=http://www.hwarmstrong.com/ar/AR10.html|work=Ambassador Report|publisher=The Painful Truth|access-date=15 September 2012}}</ref> in an attempt to quell misgivings by many in the ministerial hierarchy, who felt that Rader's undue influence on Armstrong was troubling.
The doctrinal basis of the Radio Church of God/Worldwide Church of God had been built upon three basic ideas: The first was an assimilation of many beliefs common to Jews and the second was to disown many beliefs common to ]s. The second was the idea that Jews were merely one of the tribes of ] (]) and that ten of the tribes had become lost to history until they were rediscovered as being mainly the peoples who had settled in the ] and the ]. The third belief was contained in a booklet called '']'' which had been previously developed by ] who was a ] of Ambassador College.


==''60 Minutes'' interview==
This booklet which was written by Herbert W. Armstrong and illustrated by ], stated that the Radio Church of God was operating on two 19-year time cycles with the second one beginning in ]. That is when its ''The World Tomorrow'' broadcast was first aired over ]. The second time cycle was prophesied to end sometime in February of ] following which the church would flee to a place of safety which was often hinted to be ] in ]. Between 1972 and ] a third world war would be unleashed upon both the ] and the ] by a ] dominated ] which would destroy both ] and ]. In turn this would unleash a second war between this USE and a united ] and ] which would lead to the total destruction of humanity if ] did not return at that very moment as the world-ruling ] to halt all further military activity. Peace would then reign on ] for one thousand years with the followers of Armstrong serving in positions of authority in the new world government.
In a '']'' interview with Mike Wallace, Rader defended himself, remarking to Wallace, "I don't take stupid pills." Wallace read to Rader a portion of a letter Armstrong was drafting, asking Rader to resign from any church positions that would make him Armstrong's successor. Wallace then played a tape of Armstrong reading the letter. Rader started to sweat, before finally declaring: "Now I say you've acquired this by illegal means. I intend to have my attorneys today not only sue you if you use this. ... Mike, look, I think you'd better scrap everything because you're on my list. Okay? You're never going to live it down, Mike, I guarantee it. ... you're contemptible. ... I'd like you to get out of here, immediately!" Rader then stormed out of the room, and accused the press of distorting the facts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stanley Rader on "Sixty Minutes" with Mike Wallace|url=http://www.hwarmstrong.com/stanley-rader-interview.htm|work=Ambassador Report|publisher=The Painful Truth|access-date=15 September 2012}}</ref>


==Popularizing Armstrong==
===1972 financial crisis===
Whereas the plan of ] was to ease his aging father into retirement, the plan of Rader and his aide ] was to transform Herbert W. Armstrong from an elderly evangelist into a more secular leader, casting him as a vital "]". Rader's plan required the creation of a totally new and secular cover entity from which to operate, distanced from Armstrong's Worldwide fundamentalist sect, which might prove unpalatable to prominent world leaders as Armstrong played out his role as quasi-ambassador. In 1975, therefore, he incorporated the ] (AICF) which was actually funded from the ] money of members of the Worldwide Church of God.{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}} In 1979, Rader was ordained as one of the ].
By February ] at the end of the second 19 years time cycle, most members had been led to believe that they would have been taken to a place of safety, probably in Petra, Jordan, to wait out the destruction of both the UK and the USA by a prophesied United States of Europe during World War III. But because the income of the church had began to fall dramatically with removal of Garner Ted Armstrong from the airwaves, he was quickly restored to both his broadcasting and ministerial positions of authority.


As a consequence, the AICF transformed ], on the Ambassador College campus, from a church auditorium, in which Saturday Sabbath church services were conducted, into a "] of the West", and launched a concert series featuring the top names in ], ], and the performing arts. ] and other ]s made use of this glamorous new venue. The AICF also created a new, glossy, secular, coffee-table, commercial magazine called '']'', with a circulation of several hundred thousand copies. Additionally, the AICF bought the book publisher ], and funded the motion picture '']'' starring ].{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}
However, the failure of these prophecies revealed that Herbert W. Armstrong did not have a master plan or inside information after all. In fairly short order the first in a never-ending series of doctrinal disputes leading to defections and splits began to tear the church apart.


Armstrong, in the company of Rader, began introducing himself to any world leader who held ] power and was willing to meet with the aging, grandfatherly figure for a photo opportunity for '']'', during which the leader would receive expensive gifts, such as Stueben crystal. Armstrong sold his new AICF portfolio approach to the church membership as being a new phase in preaching the church's ].
===Proposals by Garner Ted Armstrong===
Garner Ted Armstrong made proposals that would have relegated the past failures to his father so that the son could present a new plan for the future. That plan included a transformation of church- sponsored media into the more mainstream approach similar to the plan adopted about that time by the ] movement. Garner Ted Armstrong wanted to transform ''The World Tomorrow'' program into a daily news broadcast which it was suggested could be sustained by developing a flying television studio aboard a ]. For years he had rehearsed his style to copy that of ] to the point that sometimes the similarity became obvious to the casual listener. He would have also turned '']'' into a newsmagazine and since it had been styled after '']'', to which it had already been to a minor extent. He later suggested that it should instead become a ] and actually converted it from a glossy magazine into ] newsprint. This experiment did not last.


==Business relationships==
==Proposals by Stanley Rader==
Rader used his own professional legal accounting practice, and also incorporated new companies in order to conduct profitable business enterprises on behalf of the Worldwide Church of God. The companies largely owned and controlled by Rader included:
Because Stanley Rader had gained the financial confidence of Herbert W. Armstrong beginning in 1956, he was able to reverse the plans of Garner Ted Armstrong and inject his own instead. Using his inside knowledge and great personal influence on Herbert Armstrong, Stanley Rader remodeled the Worldwide Church of God to sustain any sudden and dramatic change which would once again damage the donation income flow, such as the scandalous public disfellowship of media draw Garner Ted Armstrong.


* ], which provided legal representation for the church.
The membership and existing media were left in place with the existing doctrines sans any mention of time cycles or dates for end time prophecies. Indeed, the church attempted to go out of its way to pretend that the time cycles had never really been a part of the core message of the church &mdash; in spite of all of the broadcasts, editorial articles and the booklet called ].
* Rader, Cornwall, Kessler and Palazzo, which provided accounting services for the church.

* Worldwide Advertising, Inc., which booked ''The World Tomorrow'' on radio and television stations.
===1975 conversion===
* Mid-Atlantic Leasing, which leased light aircraft and a ], to enable Rader and Armstrong to fly around the world meeting ]s, ]s, presidents, and ]s, all paid for by the Worldwide Church of God.
Stanley Rader, who still considered himself to be a Jew, was ] into the Worldwide Church of God by Herbert W. Armstrong in ] using a hotel bathtub in the Mandrin Hotel in ]. This move allowed Stanley Rader to reposition himself as a toprank ] Christian minister in an attempt to quell misgivings by many in the church hierarchy and laity who felt that Rader's undue influence on Armstrong was troubling. Rader, the ever striving CPA, had become class valedictorian of his law school class at USC, a noteworthy accomplishment. In the 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace, he more than proved able to defend himself, remarking humorously to Wallace, "I (Rader) don't take stupid pills." ] Herbert Armstrong, by way of contrast, dropped out before finishing high school, and refused to interview with 60 Minutes. More importantly for Rader, this move also gave him an insider's semi-legitimate financial control of the Worldwide Church of God within the eyes of public nonprofit regulation. By becoming a evangelist in the Church, he would be able to defend himself much more effectively as to the ethics and legality of his highly questionable dealmaking with the Church, as the law grants wider latitude to the religious leaders of California non-profit religious corporations. This evangelist role gave him much more leeway to defend himself on conflict of interest issues than if he were just was merely an outside attorney or just a hired accountant for the Worldwide Church. Just four years later in 1979, Rader was to make use of the his newfound position as evangelist to defend the Church against the State of California's court ordered financial receivorship of his Church. His personal future, as well as his fortune, was at stake as the government investigated: a tangled web of improperly managed accounts, improper cash controls, deficient auditing procedures, signing off on misrepresentations to Arthur Anderson regarding finances, Swiss bank accounts, corporate officers able to purchase monetized silver and gold bullion from the Church at its cost through the use of fraudulent book entries to show that the investments were purchased on behalf of the officer (through the extension of free credit), financial misappropriations, embezzlement, conversion of funds by various executives and evangelists, unethical and illegal insider dealings, and Church dealings with corporations from which Rader himself controlled and benefited. ]
* Wilshire Travel, which made the travel bookings for Rader and Armstrong.

Rader had incorporated several businesses he controlled which did millions of dollars of inside no-bid contracts with the Armstrong Church in the areas of aircraft leasing, travel, advertising, purchase of radio and tv station time, and other areas. This set up an inherent conflict of interest with the Church in that he controlled the accounting for the church, while he gave it important legal advice, while at the same time did business with it as a third party outside vendor, all the time while exerting undue influence on the elderly Herbert Armstrong. Only a handful of men had a complete picture and extensive knowlege of secretive church finances, one of which was the now ousted Garner Ted Armstrong. ]
Rader advised Armstrong to resist the court ordered financial receivorship and to reveal absolutely nothing regarding the legalities of Church finances. At the same time, this move helped to protect Rader from any possible personal financial exposure or legal problems resulting from his personal conduct in his long standing deep-seated legal and financial relationships with Herbert W. Armstrong the Worldwide Church of God.

===Ambassador for World Peace===
Whereas the plan of Garner Ted Armstrong was to ease his aging father into retirement, the plan of Stanley Rader and his aide ] was to transform Herbert W. Armstrong from an elderly evangelist into casting him as a vital '''Ambassador for World Peace without portfolio'''. The diplomatic phrase "a minister without portfolio" may refer to an important government official who is not in charge of a particular department, but who still takes part in the decisions of government. His plan required the creation of a totally new and secular cover entity from which to operate, distanced from his Worldwide fundamentalist sect, which might prove unpalatable to prominent world leaders as he played out his role as quasi ambassador. In 1975, therefore, he incorporated the AICF ] which was actually funded from tithe money of church membership of the Worldwide Church of God.

As a consequence, the AICF foundation transformed ] on the Ambassador College campus from a church auditorium in which Saturday Sabbath church services were conducted, into a ''] of the West'', which began a concert series featuring the top names in ], ] and the performing arts. ] and other ]s made use of this glamorous new venue. The AICF also created a new glossy secular coffee-table commercial magazine called '']'' with a circulation of several hundred thousand copies; bought the book publisher ] and funded the motion picture '']'' starring ].

Herbert W. Armstrong, in the company of Stanley Rader, began introducing himself to any world leader who held ] power willing to meet with the aging grandfatherly figure while receiving expensive gifts such as Stueben crystal during a Plain Truth photo op. Armstrong sold his new AICF portfolio approach to the church membership as being a "new phase" in preaching the ] of Jesus Christ. However, that gospel message had now changed to a more palatable international mix of less of its ] elements and more of ]. The message was now about ''giving and not getting'' and instead of referring to ], Armstrong dusted off an old ''US News and World Report'' editorial headline about ''A Great Unseen Hand from Someplace'' as being the ] of the world.

===Business relationships===
Stanley Rader used his own professional legal accounting practice and also incorporated new companies with which to conduct profitable business enterprizes on behalf of the Worldwide Church of God. The companies largely owned and controlled by Rader included:

* Rader, Helge & Gerson who provided legal representation for the church;
* Rader, Cornwall, Kessler and Palazzo who provided accounting services for the church;
* Worldwide Advertising, Inc., which booked ''The World Tomorrow'' on radio and television stations;
* Mid-Atlantic Leasing, which leased light aircraft and a ] II, all paid for by the Worldwide Church of God, to enable Stanley Rader and Herbert W. Armstrong to fly around the world meeting ]s, ]s, presidents and ]s;
* Wilshire Travel, which made the travel bookings for Stanley Rader and Herbert W. Armstrong;
* Gateway Publishing, which printed books used by the church. * Gateway Publishing, which printed books used by the church.


==WCG placed in receivership==
==1978 excommunication==
By 1979, California ] ] had opened an investigation into allegations that millions of dollars a year had been stolen from the church by Armstrong and Rader. These allegations resulted in WCG being placed in court-ordered receivership for more than a year.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Lawsuit - AR7 January 21, 1979|url=http://www.hwarmstrong.com/ar/AR7.html|work=Ambassador Report|publisher=The Painful Truth|access-date=15 September 2012}}</ref>
Behind the corporate scene Garner Ted Armstrong began to complain loudly to other ministers that Stanley Rader had taken over the church. Stanley Rader hit back and the continued gambling and sexual escapades of Garner Ted Armstrong, which had never stopped since his return to the church in 1971, were suddenly plastered all over the mainstream media in both news broadcasts and print media articles. Garner Ted Armstrong was denounced by his father and excommunicated for the final time.


During this time, Rader was the point man for Armstrong, and rallied other religious groups to his defense. With the backing of a nonprofit, religious lobbying coalition formed to thwart state intrusion, Rader successfully introduced a bill into the ] which restricted the Attorney General's authority to conduct civil (but not criminal) financial investigations of California religious and nonprofit organizations. Subsequent to the bill's passage into law,<ref>, Issue 13, September, 1980</ref> the California Attorney General's office dropped its litigation against WCG.
For a very short time Stanley Rader emerged victorious because he seemed to have total control and his new secular entity was growing while the church was being downplayed. When Garner Ted Armstrong left the airwaves again, his aging father attempted to resume the task, but he was not successful because he had passed his prime and his religious message was discredited. However, as ''Ambassador for World Peace without portfolio'', Herbert W. Armstrong continued making the rounds of visiting world leaders with Stanley Rader and delivering his new message about giving versus getting and the ''Great Unseen Hand from Someplace''. Stanley Rader assumed that he had won the war for control of the church when he moved into Garner Ted's former office space. In ] Stanley Rader told a reporter:
<blockquote>''Mr. Armstrong has said publicly very often that I am a son in whom he is well pleased. The only other one he ever said that about was Garner Ted Armstrong.''</blockquote>


==Book==
===1979 retaliation===
In 1980, Rader wrote a book called ''Against the Gates of Hell: The Threat to Religious Freedom in America'', which was published by the Worldwide Church of God's Everest House corporation. It was about the investigation by the State of California into the finances of the church. The ] praised it as "the seminal work on church/state relations in the 20th century."
While Garner Ted Armstrong had been driven out of the Worldwide Church of God and from the airwaves, he attempted to reestablish himself with a new membership base that he created around his new home in ]. However, the organization and media reach that Garner Ted Armstrong was able to create was minuscule by comparison with the Worldwide Church of God and its annual multi-million dollar budget. Garner Ted Armstrong then began to engage in behind-the-scenes political activity in order to topple Stanley Rader from power, so that Garner Ted Armstrong could regain control of the Worldwide Church of God and its income.


==Resignation==
In alliance with dissident Worldwide Church of God members who were not happy with Stanley Rader and his AICF activities, Garner Ted Armstrong and others managed to get the attention of the ] of ] to look into allegations of financial malfeasance and misfeasance by Stanley Rader and his business associates with regards to the income of the Worldwide Church of God. Concurrent with that activity the dissenters also managed to get the attention of ], famous for his tough interviews on the nationally-acclaimed ] television series '']''. Wallace was given audio tapes in which even Herbert W. Armstrong appeared to be having misgivings about what Stanley Rader was actually trying to do in transforming the church from a religious organization into a secular enterprise. Garner Ted Armstrong told Mike Wallace that:
Although Rader appeared to have won the financial receivership battle, his plan to create the AICF cultural empire had come to a halt. In 1981 he resigned as General Counsel and Treasurer of the Worldwide Church of God. Armstrong paid Rader a special $250,000 bonus, after taxes, in appreciation of his vigorous defense of the church against the state receivership. Rader also received substantial pension payments arising under his contractual agreement with the church.
<blockquote>''Practically everywhere you look, if the church has business it is performing or bills that it’s paying, well, somewhere Rader is involved. How can this be? Why should it be?''</blockquote>


==Death==
==Response by Stanley Rader==
By the time that Rader died on July 2, 2002, just two weeks after being diagnosed with acute ] ], the Worldwide Church of God had terminated its former broadcasts and created a separate ministry for its magazine, which had renounced its previous editorial purpose. Rader was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California (the same cemetery in which the Armstrong family is buried). His funeral was presided over by ]
In an attempt to explain the church’s lavish spending policies overseas, Rader told Mike Wallace:
<blockquote>''Our policy was we would make friends wherever we went in order to help us to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Rader’s plan was successful.''</blockquote>


==References==
According to the '']'' magazine:
{{reflist|2}}
<blockquote>''By ] the two had become constant companions - Armstrong called Rader his "best student" - and they traveled around the world together some 200 to 300 days a year.''</blockquote>


===Receivership=== ==Bibliography==
By ] ] ] ] had opened an investigation into allegations that millions of dollars a year had been stolen from the church by Herbert W. Armstrong and Stanley Rader. These allegations resulted in the Worldwide Church of God being placed in court-ordered receivership for more than a year. *Stanley Rader, 71; Advisor in Worldwide Church of God - Stanley Robert Rader, the long-time confidant of the late Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God, has died. He was 71. - Los Angeles Times/July 4, 2002 - By Larry B. Stammer
*"The Devil and Stanley Rader" Article in The American Lawyer

===60 Minutes===
Mike Wallace was able to convince Stanley Rader to appear on the ''60 Minutes'' show on ], ]. In speaking about himself, Armstrong, and the Worldwide Church of God, Rader said:
<blockquote>''This is a state, and we are representatives of God, and I am Mr. Armstrong’s ].''</blockquote>

Wallace then revealed that he had been given a secretly taped phone call in which Herbert W. Armstrong had alleged that Stanley Rader was deliberately trying to put himself in a position to take over as the church’s spiritual leader following the death of Herbert W. Armstrong. This infuriated Stanley Rader who got up from the interview, told Wallace to leave, adding: ''You’re contemptible.''

On April 16, ], Herbert W. Armstrong wrote to his co-worker supporters in an attempt to explain what was going on:
<blockquote>''Perhaps I will have a steward on our jet plane write an article of what he actually SEES me and Mr. Rader do on trips around the world. We are busy every minute. I am writing articles, letters, or proclaiming THE GOSPEL on my typewriter on the plane, in my hotel rooms almost every minute I am not out preaching to big crowds in ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], the ] (many times), ] and many other countries in ], ], ], ], ].''</blockquote>

===Rader's apparent victory===
During this time Stanley Rader was the point man for Herbert W. Armstrong and he rallied other religious groups to his defense. With the help of this political this pressure group, Stanley Rader was able to successfully introduce a bill into the ] which denied the Attorney General authority to investigate religious organizations forallegations of fraud. The state then dropped its investigation.

=== Author===
In 1980, Rader wrote a book called ''Against the Gates of Hell: The Threat to Religious Freedom in America''. It was about the investigation by State of California into the finances of the Worldwide Church of God and which the ] praised as "the seminal work on church/state relations in the ]." The book was published by the church’s ] corporation.

===Stanley Rader Sues Steven Spielberg===
In a sensational case after the release of the first of the ] ]s ('']''), Rader sued producer ] and ] ] for $100 million. Stanley Rader claimed that both he and his associate Robert Kuhn of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation had outlined a very similar plot for a movie. The plot, Rader alleged, had been shown to an artists’ agent whose properties were later acquired by Lucas and Spielberg. Nothing came of the suit.

===Resignation===
Although Stanley Rader appeared to have won the financial receivorship, his plan to create the AICF cultural empire had come to a halt. In ] Stanley Rader resigned as General Counsel and Treasurer of the Worldwide Church of God. Armstrong paid Rader a special $250,000 bonus, after taxes, he said, as a result of his efforts in vigorously defending the church against the state receivorship. Also, Rader received substantial pension payments arising under his contractual agreement with the church. However, when Herbert W. Armstrong died in ], control was passed to ], a person alleged to be close to Stanley Rader. Joseph Tkach, Sr. then began a now evident process of slowly repositioning church doctrines over time. Before Tkach Sr. died, he appointed his own son, ] to Pastor General as his familial successor. As of 2005, however, despite the State of California taking the Worldwide Church into a financial receivorship, a CBS 60 Minutes television investigation, no verifiable detailed account information regarding what happened to the multimillion dollar tithe donations and estate gifting to the Worldwide Church has ever been released.

===Death of Stanley Rader===
By the time that Stanley Rader died on July 2, ], which was just two weeks after being diagnosed with acute ] ], the Worldwide Church of God had terminated its former broadcasts and created a separate ministry for its magazine which had renounced its previous editorial purpose. When virtually nothing remained of the former major doctrines of the church it joined a mainstream evangelical organization.

With its educational arm closed, the church then sold off its headquarters property in Pasadena, and planned moving into to a new office building on Financial Way in ]. Reportedly, the next strategic move may be to be to change again the name of the Wordwide Church association or perhaps its winding up and corporate dissolution, perhaps funding with the remaining assets a newly named non-profit entity, consistent with the newly amended bylaws of the California corporation sole.

===Timeline of Change===
*1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong dies and transfers office of Pastor General to successor Joseph Tkach, Sr.
:*1988-1995 - Tkach, Sr. renounces many former church teachings.
*1995 - Joseph Tkach Sr. dies; appoints his son Joseph Tkach, Jr. to office of Pastor General as successor.
:*1995-1997 - Tkach, Jr. renounces Lost Ten Tribes belief; Move to Sunday worship; ],], and ] observance mandated in lieu of Saturday Sabbath, Feast of Tabernacles and Holy Days; Tkachian apology to members and world regarding previous "erroneous" teachings, Worldwide Church of God joins the ].
*2002 - Stanley Rader dies.


==External links== ==External links==
* On-line copy of Rader's book defending Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God * Online copy of Rader's book defending Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God
* - Herbert W. Armstrong Searchable Library & Archive - HWALibrary.com
* Article by Herbert W. Armstrong * Article by Herbert W. Armstrong
*
* Article in the Los Angeles Times

* Article in The American Lawyer
{{Authority control}}
*


] {{DEFAULTSORT:Rader, Stanley}}
] ]
] ]
] ]

Latest revision as of 22:05, 28 June 2021

Stanley Rader
Stanley Rader, circa 1980

Stanley R. Rader (August 13, 1930 – July 2, 2002), was an attorney, accountant, author and, later in life, one of the Evangelists of the Worldwide Church of God, then a Sabbatarian organization, which was founded by Herbert W. Armstrong.

Before meeting Armstrong

Stanley Rader was born and raised in White Plains, New York. He later moved to California, where he met his future wife, Natalie "Niki" Gartenberg. He graduated from UCLA in 1951 and became a Certified Public Accountant in 1954.

First associations with Armstrong

In 1956 Rader met Armstrong, leader of what was then called the Radio Church of God, at its headquarters offices in Pasadena, California. Under contract with the Radio Church of God, Rader worked on improving its accounting system, thereby creating a highly favorable impression with Armstrong, who then urged him to attend law school at Armstrong's expense. In 1963 Rader graduated from University of Southern California Law School.

The Radio Church of God had been previously incorporated on March 3, 1946, when it was re-established in Pasadena. Prior to this event it had been an unincorporated voluntary association based in Eugene, Oregon, and named after its radio broadcast. On January 5, 1968, Armstrong, as president, together with the secretary of the corporation, amended its Articles of Incorporation to reflect the change of name to the Worldwide Church of God. (By then its radio broadcast had also been renamed The World Tomorrow). By this time Armstrong was considered to be more of a modern-day apostle by his followers, rather than merely "pastor general," his title in the church. After coming to terms regarding salary and compensation, in 1969 Rader chose to devote himself full-time to the service of Armstrong.

Joining WCG

Rader, who still considered himself Jewish, was baptized into WCG by Armstrong in 1975 using a hotel bathtub in the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong. This move allowed Rader to reposition himself as a high-ranking church evangelist in an attempt to quell misgivings by many in the ministerial hierarchy, who felt that Rader's undue influence on Armstrong was troubling.

60 Minutes interview

In a 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace, Rader defended himself, remarking to Wallace, "I don't take stupid pills." Wallace read to Rader a portion of a letter Armstrong was drafting, asking Rader to resign from any church positions that would make him Armstrong's successor. Wallace then played a tape of Armstrong reading the letter. Rader started to sweat, before finally declaring: "Now I say you've acquired this by illegal means. I intend to have my attorneys today not only sue you if you use this. ... Mike, look, I think you'd better scrap everything because you're on my list. Okay? You're never going to live it down, Mike, I guarantee it. ... you're contemptible. ... I'd like you to get out of here, immediately!" Rader then stormed out of the room, and accused the press of distorting the facts.

Popularizing Armstrong

Whereas the plan of Garner Ted Armstrong was to ease his aging father into retirement, the plan of Rader and his aide Robert Kuhn was to transform Herbert W. Armstrong from an elderly evangelist into a more secular leader, casting him as a vital "Ambassador for World Peace without portfolio". Rader's plan required the creation of a totally new and secular cover entity from which to operate, distanced from Armstrong's Worldwide fundamentalist sect, which might prove unpalatable to prominent world leaders as Armstrong played out his role as quasi-ambassador. In 1975, therefore, he incorporated the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation (AICF) which was actually funded from the tithe money of members of the Worldwide Church of God. In 1979, Rader was ordained as one of the Evangelists of the Worldwide Church of God.

As a consequence, the AICF transformed Ambassador Auditorium, on the Ambassador College campus, from a church auditorium, in which Saturday Sabbath church services were conducted, into a "Carnegie Hall of the West", and launched a concert series featuring the top names in classical music, jazz, and the performing arts. PBS and other television networks made use of this glamorous new venue. The AICF also created a new, glossy, secular, coffee-table, commercial magazine called Quest, with a circulation of several hundred thousand copies. Additionally, the AICF bought the book publisher Everest House, and funded the motion picture Paper Moon starring Tatum O'Neal.

Armstrong, in the company of Rader, began introducing himself to any world leader who held political power and was willing to meet with the aging, grandfatherly figure for a photo opportunity for The Plain Truth, during which the leader would receive expensive gifts, such as Stueben crystal. Armstrong sold his new AICF portfolio approach to the church membership as being a new phase in preaching the church's gospel.

Business relationships

Rader used his own professional legal accounting practice, and also incorporated new companies in order to conduct profitable business enterprises on behalf of the Worldwide Church of God. The companies largely owned and controlled by Rader included:

  • Rader, Helge & Gerson, which provided legal representation for the church.
  • Rader, Cornwall, Kessler and Palazzo, which provided accounting services for the church.
  • Worldwide Advertising, Inc., which booked The World Tomorrow on radio and television stations.
  • Mid-Atlantic Leasing, which leased light aircraft and a Gulfstream II, to enable Rader and Armstrong to fly around the world meeting kings, princes, presidents, and prime ministers, all paid for by the Worldwide Church of God.
  • Wilshire Travel, which made the travel bookings for Rader and Armstrong.
  • Gateway Publishing, which printed books used by the church.

WCG placed in receivership

By 1979, California Attorney General George Deukmejian had opened an investigation into allegations that millions of dollars a year had been stolen from the church by Armstrong and Rader. These allegations resulted in WCG being placed in court-ordered receivership for more than a year.

During this time, Rader was the point man for Armstrong, and rallied other religious groups to his defense. With the backing of a nonprofit, religious lobbying coalition formed to thwart state intrusion, Rader successfully introduced a bill into the California Legislature which restricted the Attorney General's authority to conduct civil (but not criminal) financial investigations of California religious and nonprofit organizations. Subsequent to the bill's passage into law, the California Attorney General's office dropped its litigation against WCG.

Book

In 1980, Rader wrote a book called Against the Gates of Hell: The Threat to Religious Freedom in America, which was published by the Worldwide Church of God's Everest House corporation. It was about the investigation by the State of California into the finances of the church. The National Council of Churches praised it as "the seminal work on church/state relations in the 20th century."

Resignation

Although Rader appeared to have won the financial receivership battle, his plan to create the AICF cultural empire had come to a halt. In 1981 he resigned as General Counsel and Treasurer of the Worldwide Church of God. Armstrong paid Rader a special $250,000 bonus, after taxes, in appreciation of his vigorous defense of the church against the state receivership. Rader also received substantial pension payments arising under his contractual agreement with the church.

Death

By the time that Rader died on July 2, 2002, just two weeks after being diagnosed with acute pancreatic cancer, the Worldwide Church of God had terminated its former broadcasts and created a separate ministry for its magazine, which had renounced its previous editorial purpose. Rader was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California (the same cemetery in which the Armstrong family is buried). His funeral was presided over by Joseph Tkach, Jr.

References

  1. ^ Cartwright, Dixon. "Stanley Rader, WCG evangelist and treasurer and confidant of Herbert W. Armstrong, dies". News of the Churches of God. The Journal. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  2. "Rader Ordained - AR10 November 19, 1979". Ambassador Report. The Painful Truth. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  3. "Stanley Rader on "Sixty Minutes" with Mike Wallace". Ambassador Report. The Painful Truth. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  4. "The Lawsuit - AR7 January 21, 1979". Ambassador Report. The Painful Truth. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  5. "Petris Bill Passes", Ambassador Report, Issue 13, September, 1980

Bibliography

  • Stanley Rader, 71; Advisor in Worldwide Church of God - Stanley Robert Rader, the long-time confidant of the late Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God, has died. He was 71. - Los Angeles Times/July 4, 2002 - By Larry B. Stammer
  • "The Devil and Stanley Rader" Article in The American Lawyer

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