Passover Daze

None the less preparing the campus prior to unleavened bread was a mammoth undertaking of unprecedented proportions. Almost, as you will see, every nook and cranny of every building had to be cleaned and purged of anything that even resembled a leavened product….that is except for my little corner on campus. In my research lab, the unholy was made holy, at least it would seem so. For I kept a five pound cake of yeast active and alive all year, even during Unleavened Bread. Herbert W. Armstrong knew about it and approved, even though it was the same yeast the dinning hall and kitchen staff had to purge from the kitchen. The only difference between their yeast and mine was the location on campus. It was only years later that I would ponder how he, Herbert W. Armstrong, could make the unlawful, lawful. Could it be this man had some magical power and connection to God that no one else had? He calmed to be taught and inspired by Jesus Christ directly. So whatever weirdness he came up with was god breathed!? At least that is what he said. The truth was far, far from this reality. Actually his reality was more of a never, never land like Alice in Wonderland. To those of us who at the time did not know any differently, it was overpowering, and even a bit awesome how one man could have such powerful connection with god that he could get Him to rescind His Laws governing His people.

So when he said the yeast was OK in my lab, I never gave it a second thought, after all he was god’s apostle.

My situation was small compared to what my brother-in-law, Lewis Boring, told me about. It seems that adjacent to the campus was a warehouse, which was owned by the college, where the church stored multiple TONS of food stuff stored for summer camp that was full of leavening of ever description. After the discovery was made it was brought to the attention of Herbert W. Armstrong who pronounced it OK for it to remain during the holiest of all seasons. WOW! What power and authority to countermand God’s direct instructions.

Actually power and authority had nothing to do with it at all! It was stupidity, our sincere, honest and whole hearted trust in this man. Such nonsense, and to follow a man who twisted and distorted the scriptures beyond all rational understanding was not exactly the wisest move we ever made. Let’s fact it, we trusted him and he betrayed us at every opportunity that was inconvenient to him.

It is interesting to note: Here is but one more example of when Herbert W. Armstrong stood to lose tens of thousands of dollars if he were to obey god’s command and dispose of the leavening in the warehouse, so he changed the law. Herbert W. Armstrong simply winked at the problem and said not to worry, it was OK. Since it suited his need, he changed the law, or at least its application to this situation. Must admire him in one respect, he was consistent by being inconsistent. Now that is weird!….and I guess he was too.

At times life on campus would get comical as the preparation for Unleavened Bread began to unfold….One of the college professors, like all of us, was in the process of vigorously cleaning his house. The cleaning had to be completed several hours before sundown, because that is when the last college garbage truck made its final trip to the city dump. To miss this last pickup would create some serious problems. For any yeast laden products found after that time could not be placed in the trash can and left on the premises during the week of Unleavened Bread. It could not be buried in the yard, that was not allowed, and God would surely curse you if you did.

The professor thought all was well under control. The house was clean, every conceivable nook and cranny had been de-crumbed…….with 10 minutes left to sundown he felt quit secure…But wait a moment, what was that sitting on the kitchen counter…Oh no, it couldn’t be!….It was! And in plain view was a loaf of what was about to became unholy leavened bread. For a moment he turned white as a sheet. Panic took over, what was he going to due now, less than 5 minutes to self destruct time. Running back and forth almost in a panic. Couldn’t put it down the garbage disposal, did not have one. No time to take it to the dump himself…..can’t throw it away or bury it…..then the idea hit him like a bolt of genius, flush it down the toilet stupid! Thinking to himself, brilliant idea! With only a couple of minutes left he rushed with the loaf in hand into the bathroom. Flipped the top up, dumped the bread in and flushed. OOPS! OH NO! The bread was not going down, instead it was floating….now he was concerned!

He got down on his knees, not to pray or bless the bread, he got down so he could use his hands as a plunger and force that sucker down the toilet. So there he was feverishly pushing and plunging the bread down with his hands…After a considerable amount of effort, he finally was able to force all the bread down the commode, and with only seconds to spare….He was quite relieved, the bread was gone, he maintained his integrity and righteous standing with God. He was saved by his quick thinking!

Had he brought the bread to me, I could have simply declared, and designated it to be used in an experiment for research and therefore would have been able to absolve him of his sin and burden….stupid huh? You bet it was. Well if bread yeast is holy during Unleavened Bread because it was in my lab, why not the whole bread? Perplexing and puzzling questions indeed!

Life on campus really got weird and distorted at times. The clarity we were all looking for was never there in the first place, it was all just a well orchestrated illusion and nothing more. If you are searching and want real clarity, read Steve McVeys book, “Grace Walk”, it will remove the shackles of legalism, and forever set you free