Raising the Ruins (26 page)

I asked him how we should handle the copyright notice at the front of the book, which read “© Worldwide Church of God.” For obvious reasons, we didn’t want to print it that way. The attorney said that the copyright notice itself was of no special significance. The only issue, he told us, would be that of false attribution. In other words, by putting the
WCG
on the copyright notice, they could argue in court that they were falsely attributed to the reprinting project. We were happy with that since we didn’t want their name attached to the project anyway. But neither did we want to give the impression that we owned the copyright (although we certainly believed we were the rightful owners of the material
spiritually
), which is why we didn’t want to include the
PCG
’s name on the notice. So we opted for “© Herbert W. Armstrong.”

A few weeks after that phone call, my father and I met with Mark Carroll, the prepress production manager for the church’s publications at that time. He worked for a printer in Arkansas, and my dad wanted to know if he would be interested in accepting the project. Mr. Carroll, a
PCG
member, was thrilled by the prospect of resurrecting Mr. Armstrong’s body of literature. He gladly accepted and, by the end of that meeting, we ordered 20,000 copies of the book. We told Mr. Carroll to be discreet about the project, as we wanted to catch the
WCG
by surprise and make as big of a splash as possible at the start.

We didn’t have the money to produce a hardback version, but we modeled our softbound after Mr. Armstrong’s hardback in size and in number of pages. And, of course, we used the text from the hardback version as well, since the Tkaches had corrupted the softbound and serial versions.

The day we received our first copy from Mr. Carroll, we happened to be finalizing edits for the January 1997
Trumpet
. We didn’t count on the
Mystery
print run finishing as soon as it did, so we didn’t have anything prepared for that January issue officially announcing this tremendous step forward for our work. We decided at the last minute, however, to at least produce a back cover ad offering our readers, for the
first time ever,
a free copy of
Mystery of the Ages
. It was headlined “Solve the Mystery!”
²²

Mr. Carroll told us the
Trumpet
would not arrive in mailboxes until mid-January. So we had a couple more weeks until we absolutely had to say something. Our own church members, let alone the Worldwide Church of God, had no idea all this was going on.

“Battle Cry”

At church services on January 4, 1997, my father held up a large book and excitedly told our brethren, “This is the
Mystery of the Ages
—our version of it.” As he proceeded to tell the members about the ad to appear on the back page of the next
Trumpet,
gasps of amazement rippled through the meeting hall. He said, “Today we have decided to print that book and give it away free, and just simply take the consequences—if there are any. And that will be, of course,
entirely
up to God.” Later, he told members he was more concerned about the consequences for
not
printing the book than he was for printing it. This is a theme that would surface time and again over the next six years:
TAKING THE BATTLE TO THE WCG WITH OFFENSIVE STRIKES
. “We will do what has to be done,” my father said, “and then the ball is in [the
WCG
’s] court, as they say.”23

The other theme that would play out during that same period was
FAITH
. My father said in the sermon, “I feel that Jesus Christ is not going to tolerate that book not being printed any longer. I believe that. And I’m willing to base a lot on that.” Later, he exclaimed enthusiastically, “That book belongs to us! God says so. And God will back and support us. He’s promised to do that.”24 From the beginning, my father charged ahead with the full assurance that God was on our side. Added to that, we firmly believed that by suppressing the work of Mr. Armstrong, the
WCG
’s actions violated the Constitution. But however this might unfold in a court of law, it was secondary to the premise underlying our action from the beginning—
that God wanted Mr. Armstrong’s teaching disseminated.

The
Trumpet
at that time had a modest circulation of nearly 60,000. Once subscribers started receiving their issue in mid-January, the requests for
Mystery
started pouring in. In the first week after the ad hit, we received 2,000 requests for the book.

Soon after the
Mystery
ad first appeared on the back cover of the
Trumpet,
we prepared something much more substantial for our seven-year anniversary issue in February. We put a picture of the book on the cover, over the headline, “Where We Are Going!” My father titled his Personal “The Largest Audience Possible.” In it, he described a “new phase” for our work, where the focus of our message would now be aimed primarily at the world, as opposed to members and former members of the Worldwide Church of God. He wrote,

Mystery of the Ages
was like the magnificent
SUMMARY OF ALL
Mr. Armstrong’s work—
THE ACCUMULATED KNOWLEDGE OF HIS ENTIRE MINISTRY
. This book, more than any other piece of literature, was what Mr. Armstrong and God’s work were about. … Mr. Armstrong wanted it to reach “the largest audience possible.” … I
BELIEVE “THE LARGEST AUDIENCE POSSIBLE” SHOULD BECOME OUR BATTLE CRY TODAY!
… This is our most critical hour. We must pick up the dropped baton and finish the gun lap! We must stretch and strain to win the greatest race we will ever run!25[Emphasis in original.]

This became our battle cry in 1997: T
HE LARGEST AUDIENCE POSSIBLE
. It was what Mr. Armstrong wanted all along. To
think
about what might have been, had the Tkaches just followed in Mr. Armstrong’s footsteps, as the elder Tkach
SAID
he would do at Mr. Armstrong’s funeral. It agonizes us to think about what the
WCG
could have done
—with Mr. Armstrong’s well-established, decades-long track record and all the personnel, resources, tools and income the church had at its disposal when Mr. Armstrong died. As it was, Tkachism quickly turned all the advantages of that multi-million-dollar media empire
AGAINST
its founder’s message—even to the point of destroying
Mystery of the Ages
within 32 months.

Delivering that message to the largest audience possible was now left to a faithful few who sought refuge from Tkachism inside the Philadelphia Church of God. Our work in 1997—even after seven years of steady, upward growth—was a microcosmic version of the work Mr. Armstrong gifted to Mr. Tkach in 1986. Reaching the whole world using only a fraction of the resources and power the church once had in Mr. Armstrong’s day would not be easy. And making matters more difficult, every step of our progress would be met with angry, hostile resistance by those bent on destroying Mr. Armstrong’s legacy and betraying his ideals.

W
E WERE AT WAR
! But we knew what we were fighting for. And we had a battle cry.

“Are you ready? Am I ready?” my father asked in his
Trumpet
Personal. “We have an unparalleled opportunity. In terms of numbers of people, we can be the fewest people to do the greatest work ever on this Earth!”26

“We feel it is our Christian duty to keep this book out of print … because we believe Mr. Armstrong’s doctrinal errors are better left out of circulation.”

— Joseph Tkach Jr.

Transformed by Truth

On February 10, 1997, as my wife and I flew across the Atlantic to Europe for our honeymoon,
WCG
attorneys, including in-house lawyer Ralph Helge, crossed the street in downtown Los Angeles to file papers against the
PCG
in a federal court. Three weeks earlier, on January 21, Mr. Helge penned this letter to my father demanding that the
PCG
stop distribution of
Mystery of the Ages
:

Dear Mr. Flurry:

It has just come to the church’s attention, through the January 1997 edition of your
Trumpet
magazine, that you are offering the book, entitled
Mystery of the Ages
, for distribution.

As you are well aware, the Worldwide Church of God holds the copyright of said book. We are assuming that you are distributing an infringing copy of the same. Therefore, we hereby respectfully demand that you immediately cease and desist from copying, distributing or advertising said book.

We would appreciate your advising us by what authority you are, without the permission of the church, copying and publishing said book?

Please advise us promptly as to your intentions in this matter. If we do not hear from you promptly we shall assume that you are violating the church’s copyright in said regard and that it is your intention to continue to do so. In such case, we will take appropriate action without further notice.
¹

My father was already prepared for the consequences of his actions. If that meant going to court to fight for “said book,” then so be it. He decided not to respond to Helge’s letter. The battle lines were clearly drawn.

In its February 10 complaint, the
WCG
suggested that since the
PCG
might receive public donations for its free distribution of the book, these donations would
deprive
the
WCG
of the “benefits” of
Mystery of the Ages
. We were robbing them of income! They also claimed that because of our action, the relationship between them and their members had been injured. According to the brief, the
WCG
had already suffered “irreparable damage.”
²

Our offices didn’t find out about the court filing until the next day, on February 11, when we received a letter from
WCG
attorney Benjamin Scheibe of the law offices of Browne & Woods in Beverly Hills. He informed us that on February 12, they would file an Ex Parte Application, asking the judge for a temporary restraining order that would immediately stop us from distribution.
³
(An
ex parte
order is a legal instrument made by or in the interest of only one party to an action, in the absence of the other party.)

To that point, our experience with law firms was minimal—limited to wills and trusts mostly. Now we found ourselves brawling with a church more than 10 times our size and represented by the same law firm that stood down the state of California when it attacked the
WCG
in 1979! Dennis Leap, who
became
the
PCG
legal department the day we found out about the lawsuit, called Terry Moyer in South Carolina. Married to our television agent, Mr. Moyer was one of the few lawyers we knew personally. (Terry is the one who recommended the d.c. attorney I called to ask about the copyright notice.) Though we had never solicited his legal services, we had met with him on several occasions. Terry agreed to represent us for a few days until he could track down a reputable law firm in Southern California.

Moyer responded to Scheibe’s letter the next day: “Please be advised that the Philadelphia Church of God strongly objects to any ex parte proceedings and intends to fully and vigorously contest any and all claims asserted against it .…”
⁴
Two days later, on February 14, we found out that the ex parte hearing had been set for the following week, on February 18.

Litigation Begins

On Monday, February 17, on the advice of Terry Moyer, we hired the services of the Los Angeles law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson. Mark Helm, who had been appointed lead attorney for the case, had
one day
to prepare for the hearing. Terry quickly brought him up to speed on the most relevant details of this unusual case, via phone and fax. That night, Mark spoke with Dennis Leap over the phone for about an hour.

The next day, Mark Helm stood before Judge Spencer Letts in a Los Angeles courtroom without anyone from the
PCG
at his side. He was on his own, having had one day to prepare for this case. The judge had read the
WCG
’s brief and wondered why there was nothing filed by the
PCG
. Mr. Helm explained to the court that he had only come on board with the
PCG
“recently” and didn’t yet know all the facts. We simply did not have enough time to file a response. He was, however, able to offer this succinct explanation to Judge Letts:

This is not a case where the Worldwide Church of God is exploiting the copyright in order to disseminate and earn profits from
Mystery of the Ages
;
this is a case where they are trying to suppress and not disseminate Mr. Armstrong’s books; that’s our understanding.
⁵

To which Judge Letts responded, “
That’s mine as well
.
”
⁶
Our attorney was stunned by this response.
With only the
WCG
’s brief to go on,
Judge Letts clearly and quickly established that in his view, the
WCG
had no right to suppress Mr. Armstrong’s works! Later in the hearing, the judge turned to the
WCG
’s attorney and said,

You’re not going to be dealing with a closed mind, but what I know about this case, but for what Mr. Helm [just] said, is what you’ve told me, and it raises, in my judgment, very serious questions and
very serious irreparable harm on the other side as well
.
⁷

The way he saw it, they were guilty of what they accused us of doing! They caused us “irreparable harm” by attempting to suppress Mr. Armstrong’s works.

In response to the judge’s suggestion that the
WCG
would lose based on the merits of the case,
WCG
attorney Benjamin Scheibe exclaimed, “I’m somewhat at a loss with the Court’s suggestion, [that] there’s not a probability of success on the merits here.” That became the
WCG
’s typical response early on in the litigation—they reacted incredulously to anyone who viewed this case as anything other than a simple, garden-variety copyright infringement.
They owned the copyright, therefore we couldn’t print the book
. It was as simple as that—
to them
.

But not us, nor to Judge Letts, nor, as would soon become clear, to many others in the legal world. This was an unusual lawsuit. It was a case where a religious entity was
using
its copyright to
SUPPRESS
a work it no longer agreed with. Here is how Judge Letts assessed the dispute in that first hearing:

The copyright seems to me to have two primary purposes, neither of which are at issue here. One is to keep there from being confusion about who is the person publishing the work; the second is to keep strangers from profiting from the work. Neither of those is at issue with somebody who wants to suppress the work entirely. … It wasn’t a question of whether there would be two publishers, or three, but rather whether there will be one or none.
⁸

Scheibe’s persistence would not change the judge’s mind. “I don’t think you are going to prevail on the merits,” the judge told him. “I understand your position,” he later said, “but I don’t agree with it.” Mr. Armstrong, Judge Letts said,

didn’t dream that by giving this copyright to the corporation, which was his corporation that reflected his religion, that those who would come after him would use their corporate power to suppress his religion or to keep any prior practitioners of his religion … from making that book available on a continuous, freshly printed basis, I don’t believe the founder dreamed that.
⁹

Scheibe argued that the
WCG
hadn’t suppressed or abandoned the work because they still had
archival
copies. Plus, there were some copies in libraries! Scheibe said, “[A]bandonment requires overt acts such as destroying the last copies of a work”—which, of course, is precisely what the
WCG
did with the 120,000 surplus copies it had in early 1988.

We bounced off the walls that day at our headquarters complex after receiving word that Judge Letts denied their request for a temporary restraining order. That first hearing emboldened my father—God had backed his leap of faith. He knew we might be in for a lengthy and bitter dispute. But after such an overwhelming victory that early in the case, he was all the more convinced that God would support our actions—as long as they pleased Him and we walked by faith.

Judge Letts set the preliminary injunction hearing for March 10.

Meeting the Attorneys

Two days after the ex parte hearing, Dennis Leap, my father and I flew to Los Angeles to meet our lawyers for the first time. Before entering their firm the afternoon of February 20, the three of us met to discuss how we might best explain our strategy to the attorneys. We also considered the immediate steps our church might take now that Judge Letts denied the
WCG
’s request for a temporary restraining order. For one, my father wondered if we should immediately start offering
Mystery of the Ages
on our television program. My dad also directed me to begin work on an ad campaign in Southern California newspapers. “Now that we have absorbed their initial blow,” he said, “we have to strike back.” He believed newspaper ads in their own backyard would help to expose their hypocrisy and lies.

After lunch, we met with Mark Helm and Ruth Fisher at the Los Angeles offices of Munger, Tolles & Olson. Kelly Klaus, in the San Francisco office, listened in over the phone. That afternoon, and the following day, the three of us explained the history of our work and its intimate association with the teachings of Mr. Armstrong. We told them about how the Tkaches had gotten control of the
WCG
and repudiated Mr. Armstrong’s teachings and disfellowshiped many of those who adhered to the founder’s body of beliefs.

The attorneys, in turn, familiarized us with a litigation road map. While the judge’s denial of the restraining order was indeed a victory, the war had only just begun. The stakes would be much higher at the March 10 hearing. Preliminary injunction hearings can go a long way toward deciding the outcome of a case, we learned.

After our meetings concluded on February 21, Mr. Helm contacted Scheibe to request discovery, a pre-trial procedure by which one side gains information held by the other. Within their complaint, the
WCG
claimed to own the copyright to
Mystery of the Ages
because at the time it was written, Mr. Armstrong was “an officer and employee of the
WCG
.”
¹⁰
We intended to challenge that assertion by arguing that Mr. Armstrong was the one who
raised up
and
ESTABLISHED
the church. Saying he was a
WCG
“employee” implied that some higher authority in the
WCG
“hired” him.

Church Governance

The “employee” issue was a critical point early on in the case because of how often we repeated Mr. Armstrong’s final instructions regarding
Mystery of the Ages
—to distribute it to the “largest audience possible.” In response to this, the
WCG
tried to show that what Mr. Armstrong said was irrelevant,
legally
speaking, because he was under the
church’s
control.

At his 1998 deposition, Ralph Helge admitted that while there was no written employment agreement between Mr. Armstrong and the church, it was “common knowledge” that he was an employee. When asked if there was any person in the
WCG
who controlled Mr. Armstrong’s work, Mr. Helge said the church’s board of directors had a “certain degree of control.” Later, Helge said the board even had the authority to
fire
Mr. Armstrong.
¹¹

Our attorney, Kelly Klaus, then reviewed a number of important statements made by Mr. Armstrong at a ministerial conference in 1981 (a transcript of which is printed in the March 6, 1981,
Worldwide News
). In his lecture, Mr. Armstrong explained that the church of God is a
spiritual
organism, but
UNINCORPORATED
. There were, however, a number of “support entities” in the church, mostly physical, that
were
incorporated, including the Worldwide Church of God, a California corporation. The members of the Worldwide Church of God, Inc., Mr. Armstrong explained, “are the officers that sign the corporation papers.”
¹²

At his deposition, we asked Mr. Helge about which entity exercised control over the other—the spiritual or the incorporated? Mr. Armstrong said the latter was “incorporated
under myself.”
¹³
What he meant by that, Mr. Helge testified, was that the incorporated entity was subordinate to the “spiritual entity”—
but not to Mr. Armstrong
.
¹⁴

Fair enough. The
WCG
had always believed that the living,
invisible,
Jesus Christ headed the church. But we also believed that Christ works
through
physical men. And His human representative, prior to January 16, 1986, was Herbert W. Armstrong. If
anyone
understood that, it would have been Ralph Helge, since he was the one who helped Mr. Armstrong draw up the church’s bylaws and articles of association. Mr. Helge testified that the unincorporated association—the
spiritual
organism, keep in mind—basically didn’t have any temporal responsibilities. Regarding the corporate entity, he indicated that Mr. Armstrong did
not
have “absolute right to tell the board of directors to do this or that.”
¹⁵