When I searched for “Ross Perot”, all kinds of
peculiar stuff showed up. This was the most peculiar. It's an old issue of The
Plain Truth, the magazine of the Worldwide Church of God (WCOG), led by Herbert
W Armstrong! It turns out that the magazine interviewed H Ross Perot back in
1974.
The interview is short, and so it the accompanying article written by the editors. Perot, originally from the small town of Texarkana at the Texas-Arkansas border, claims to be a Christian in good standing and defends traditional family values. His company, EBS, turns out to have strict standards for its employees. Unfaithful husbands or drunkards are unceremoniously fired. Perot says that he made so much money as a salesman working for IBM that the company stopped him from continuing – he was just too successful. That's when he decided to quit and start a computer business of his own. The Plain Truth argues that making money isn't un-Biblical, as long as you don't love them and endeavor to give back to your community and your country, something Perot has done by starting schools and scouting clubs for disadvantaged children.
Other articles in this issue of The Plain Truth deal with Satanism and Anton LaVey, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, and the importance of family and marriage. Armstrong himself has written an article in his usual grandiose style, “I visited Egypt, met with Kissinger and Sadat”, blah blah. Sure you did, Herb. The strange doctrines of the WCOG are hardly even mentioned, the magazine giving a Christian-in-general impression. In reality, Armstrong preached a message blending Adventism, Mormonism, British Israelism and the power of positive thinking.
As for Ross Perot (who has no known connection to the WCOG), he eventually ran for president as an independent, but that's another story…
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