Truth Magazine

By Norman Midgette

For those who believe the Bible, Herbert Armstrong’s version of the world tomorrow reads like science fiction. With its combination of visible and invisible beings in a Utopian society ruling and being ruled with force and splendor, it would rival some of our recent space odysseys.

It Must Happen Soon

It must happen very soon – in fact within the next seventeen years by the end of the twentieth century Armstrong says.

And yet – absolute UTOPIA is soon to grip this earth! In OUR TIME, we shall see WORLD PEACE! We shall see sickness banished; vigorous health restored; ignorance replaced with universal right education; poverty replaced with universal prosperity; weeping and wailing turned into happiness and JOY! (The Wonderful World Tomorrow, p. 34, hereafter referred to as WWT).

To more specifically identify “our time” he says, “. . . approximately 90 percent of all prophecy pertains to our time, now, in this latter half of the twentieth century” (The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy, p. 17).

How It Begins

To begin this wonderful world there must first be the return of Christ with two outstanding events taking place. First, all the righteous dead will be raised and all the righteous living changed into immortal spirits. They will have no bodies for, “. . . at the time of the resurrection we shall be instantaneously changed from mortal to immortal – we shall then be born of God – we shall then be God” (Why Were You Born? pp. 21, 22). He explains this process more fully in the booklet What Is The True Gospel? (p. 9).

The second great event will be the final battle of the ages. It will take place at Jerusalem between the Common Market nations of Europe which Armstrong believes is the resurrected Roman Empire and Christ with all His holy angels. Christ will win and the throne of David which is now occupied by the Queen of England will be moved to Jerusalem where His kingdom will be established and where He will reign for a Millennium.

Now by divine force He will suppress all crime and rebellion and by divine education He will save and govern the world by forcing peace and prosperity upon it. Reigning with Him will be all the dead and living righteous who have been changed into divine Spirit Beings. All the wicked dead are still in their graves and all mortals now living on earth at the beginning of the Millennium are unsaved.

Armstrong allows a period of “restitution” at the beginning to clean up all of the mess mankind has created over the centuries. But when this is all made right, we will view a world here on earth where (1) government, (2) landscape, (3) education, (4) medical needs, and (5) economic standards are all new and entirely changed. You would find it hard to believe it is the same world we live on today. Now take a trip with me into this Paradise of Herbert Armstrong which he calls The Wonderful World Tomorrow.

Armstrong’s Paradise

Jerusalem will be the world capital with all things relating to church and state being dictated from there. Every person in government will be spirit in nature. (Armstrong does not say if they will be visible to mortals.) While on earth they were prepared for the work they are now to do.

Christ will be the Supreme Head of government and just as specifically as Armstrong names “Christ,” he names the other officers in this world government.

He says, “It all began with Abraham” (WWT, p. 50). “What is plainly revealed indicates, then, that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will function as a topflight TEAM, with Abraham as `Chairman’ of the TEAM, next under Christ in the coming world Government of God” (WWT, p. 52).

At this point the operation of the Kingdom divides into Church and State. Since Moses and Elijah were with Christ in. the transfiguration which was, “the Kingdom of GOD IN A VISION,’ Moses will be Director of State and Elijah, who restored the true worship (1 Kings 18:19-21), will be the Director of the Church (WWT, p. 53).

As we walk down the corridor of this Government Office Building, let us see who Moses has helping him. Humanity is divided into Gentile Nations and Israelite Nations. Over the Gentile Nations will be Daniel. However, “the indication… seems to be that Paul will be given position over ALL Gentiles, but under Daniel” (WWT, p. 57). Then there will be rulers over individual nations perhaps Barnabas, Silas or Timothy but Armstrong is not sure about their identity.

On the other side of the corridor, where the Israelite nations are ruled, the name of King David stands out in bold letters. And says Armstrong, “Each of the original twelve Apostles will be king under David, over one of these then super-prosperous nations” (Matt. 19:28). Under the Apostles will be lesser rulers.

Before we conclude our tour of the Government operation there are three other officers to which you need to be introduced. Problems they deal with are solved on an international level with International Directors.

Armstrong believes the amalgamation of the races is “contrary to GOD’S LAWS” (WWT, p. 57). So to Armstrong, “it seems evident that the resurrected NOAH will head a vast project of the RELOCATION OF THE RACES and NATIONS, within the boundaries GOD had set, for their own best good, happiness and richest blessings”(WWT, p. 58).

Another tremendous project will be to see that Isaiah 61:4 is fulfilled. It reads in part, “And they shall… repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.” Armstrong’s fertile imaginations has just the man for the job. He is the builder of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, known in secular history as Pharoah Khufu, says Armstrong, and in the Bible as Job. “Indication is strong,” says the Armstrong Cult, “that JOB will be Director of worldwide URBAN RENEWAL” (WWT, p. 59). His top assistant will be none other than, Zerubbabel, rebuilder of the walls of Jerusalem.

The third director will be needed over the total economy and so we read, “It seems evident, therefore, that Joseph will be made DIRECTOR OF THE WORLD’S ECONOMY – ITS AGRICULTURE, its INDUSTRY, its TECHNOLOGY, and its COMMERCE – as well as its money and monetary system” (WWT, p. 58). This concludes Herbert Armstrong’s creation of Department of State under Moses, Abraham and Christ.

Armstrong’s Department of Religion is developed in less detail. However, Christ appoints Elijah as the Director of the Church and because John the Baptist came in the “spirit and power of Elijah” he will be appointed to work directly under Elijah. Under them will be many unnamed spirit beings.

The Headquarters Church will be at Jerusalem and its main function will be to fill the world with the full knowledge of God (Isa. 11:9). Jew and Gentile will flow to this kingdom though not everyone will come. In clear contradiction of Hebrews 8:8-13, the Armstrong doctrine says the new covenant does not begin until the Millennium.

To accomplish this re-education process God will “give to all nations a new and PURE LANGUAGE. . . (WWT, p. 60). Everyone will speak and be taught in this language.

This Headquarters Church will direct all local churches throughout the world. Those making up these churches will be saved mortals and, “there will be district superintendents over areas, and Pastors, Elders, Deacons and Deaconnesses in every local church” (WWT, p. 66). These saved ones will not have to overcome Satan because to Armstrong he has been bound, “But they shall have to overcome all evil impulses, habits, or temptations, innate within themselves” (WWT, p. 63).

Part of their worship will include forced observance of the Festivals of God under the Old Testament. Armstrong says there were seven of them. Can anyone picture Christ authorizing festivals like the Day of Atonement or the Passover which He came to abolish 2000 years ago according to Hebrews 9?

What kind of gospel are these preachers of Armstrong’s imagination going to be preaching to convert people while at the same time observing the sin offerings of the day of atonement? Is Christ our sin offering or is He not? The church in Armstrong’s World Tomorrow is denominational to the core with much of it organized like his church in California.

In Armstrong’s fantasy the climate will be perfect and the landscape totally changed. From Isaiah 40:14-20 he teaches that the mountains, including the Alps, the Himalayas and the Rockies will be made level and the land productive for crops. Also he says Isaiah 11:15 teaches that the oceans will shrink in size for more land to be made available. He says, “Sounds incredible – but it’s TRUE” (WWT, p. 75). No hunger will exist and there will always be plenty for all. It will never be too hot or too cold but always comfortable.

In this Utopia there will be universal good health and all hospitals will be empty and for sale. Doctors will only be needed as educators of the principles of good health. In this new world, we will be well because we will avoid the causes of disease and illness which is sin. But, says Armstrong,”. . . when people, in spite of this education, do get sick or catch a disease, it can be healed – GOD’S way! Actually Christ’s healing is forgiveness of SIN” (WWT, p. 79). Therefore, the reason we see no sick people as we tour this new world is because, “The COMBINED FORCE OF RIGHT EDUCATION about TRUE HEALTH, and instant HEALING of all sickness, when it is REPENTED of, will mean PERFECT, UTOPIAN HEALTH!” (WWT, p. 80).

If we stopped to talk to the people about their economy what would we hear? All the gold and silver have been taken to Jerusalem as Isaiah prophesied (Isa. 60:5). The gold standard has been put into effect and the temple has been highly decorated with gold. There will be no world banks or stock markets or mortgage companies or loan agencies or time payments. “In God’s abundant government people will buy only what they need, when they can afford it, when they have the cash to pay for it. No more interest. And no more taxes” (WWT, p. 90). The government will operate on the tithing system of the Old Testament. We are assured by Mr. Armstrong that, “Every necessary industry, educational institution, and business will be in SOUND financial condition” (WWT, p. 93). Man will be at total peace with himself, his environment and his God. And so we have viewed Herbert Armstrong’s Wonderful World Tomorrow.

What you have just read is the result of a mind with no respect for the context of scripture, especially prophecy. Much of this was completely created out of his own mind with no semblance of Scripture to support it as the naming of the government directors. Through his misdirection of prophecy, materializing of prophecies that are clearly figurative and his jumbling of prophecies he has created this fantasy.

What is almost more astonishing than the ability of a man to create this totally non-existent world is the gullibility of the thousands who believe it. But, as it was in the Garden of Eden, there will always be those who create lies and those who will believe them. May we earnestly try to avoid being in either group.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 10, pp. 325-326
June 2, 1983

By Frank Jamerson

The word of God commands us: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world”(1 Jn. 4:1). Moses said, “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shaft not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:21, 22). God, through Jeremiah, said; “The prophet that bath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully …. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord” (Jer. 23:28, 32).

Many who read and hear Mr. Armstrong’s prophecies of imminent doom are not aware that he has rewritten his major work The United States and Britain in Prophecy and changed the time of his predictions. A careful consideration of his writings will force one to the plain truth that he is a presumptuous prophet who has spoken his “dreams” instead of the truth.

In order to understand the presumptuousness of his writings, we must understand that Mr. Armstrong claims that his “revelations” are “by God’s direction and authority” (The United States and Britain in Propecy, 1980 edition, p.184; we will abbreviate this “USBP”). He believes that biblical prophecies were “closed and sealed. . . until now. And even now they can be understood only by those who possess the master key to unlock them” (USBP, p. 5). In his Plain Truth of January, 1959, he claimed that 90% of all prophecies in the Bible began to be fulfilled in 1934, with the commencement of his work. Alan E. Highers gave a brief summary of his pretentious claims. “(1) Jesus began his teaching and training of the disciples for their world-wide mission in 27 A.D. Exactly one hundred time cycles later, in 1927 A.D., God began the intensive training of Herbert W. Armstrong to carry that same gospel. (He believes that he is the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 and Mark 13:10.) (2) Jesus began his earthly ministry at age 30. (3) The apostles were endued with power on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D., and Herbert W. Armstrong was ordained to preach on or near the day of Pentecost in 1931 A.D., just one hundred time cycles later. A time cycle, according to Armstrong, is nineteen years. (4) The apostles began preaching in 31 A.D., says Armstrong, and for one time cycle (nineteen years) their preaching was confined to one continent, but in 50 A.D. Paul carried the gospel to Europe. Likewise Armstrong began to preach on radio in January 1934 and one time cycle later (nineteen years), in January, 1953, he began broadcasting to Europe. (5) From the time Paul carried the gospel to Europe in 50 A.D. it was another time cycle to 69 A.D. when the disciples fled Jerusalem prior to its destruction in 70 A.D. So, Armstrong began broadcasting in Europe in January of 1953, therefore he opines that in one time cycle (he wrote this prediction in 1959) the termination of opportunity to preach the gospel would likely come. That would have been 1972 which has come and gone” (Via The Spiritual Sword, January 1978, p.18).

Remember these “time cycles” when we quote from his original edition of USBP. The nineteen years “time cycle” is a product of his fertile imagination, not Bible teaching, and it has now been demonstrated to be false, though his followers are impressed with his comparisons of himself to Jesus and the apostles.

In The Inside Story of the World Tomorrow Broadcast, Mr. Armstrong said, “For two 19-year time cycles the original apostles did proclaim this Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom fo God, but in A.D. 69 they fled…. For eighteen and one-half centuries that gospel was not preached. The world was deceived into accepting a false gospel. Today Christ has raised up His work and once again allotted two 19-year time cycles for proclaiming His same Gospel, preparatory to His Second Coming”(via The Plain Truth About Armstrongism, Roger R. Chambers, p.15).

The plain truth is that Mr. Armstrong’s “two 19-year time cycles” ended in 1972 and the second coming of Christ did not take place, so he is a false prophet! Not only is this true, but he knows that he is a false prophet! In 1972 he revised his 1967 edition of USBP, and changed the dates of his predictions, but still makes the same predictions! Here are the six places that he changed his predictions:

1967 Edition	1972 Revision
“Events of the next five years may prove this to be the most significant book of this century.  People of the Western World would be STUNNED! – DUMBFOUNDED! – if they knew! . . .” (Foreword of book)	“People of the Western world would be stunned – dumbfounded – if they knew! . . .” (Foreword of book)
“A STAGGERING TURN in world events in due to erupt in the next four to seven years” (p. ix)	“A STAGGERING TURN in world events is due to erupt in the next few years” (p. ix)
“The great world Powers are formulating their policies – laying their plans. But the next five to seven years will see astounding events explode in a manner very different than the nations plan! WHY?” (pg. x, xi)	“The great world powers are formulating their policies – laying their plans. But the next few years will see astounding events explode in a manner very different than the nation plan! Why?” (pg. x, xi)
“The events prophesied to strike the American and British peoples in the next four to seven years are SURE!” (p. xii)	“The events prophesied to strike the American and British peoples in the next few years are SURE!” (p. xii)
“It bears repeating! Events of the next five years may prove this to be the most significant book of this century!” (p. 10)	(This space is blank! It did not “bear repeating”!)
“You need to look at prophecies of Jesus of Jeremiah, of Isaiah, and others, describing HOW much more INTENSE is to be the punishment God is going to lay on the British and American people in five to seven more years” (p. 185)	“You need to look at prophecies of Jesus of Jeremiah, of Isaiah, and others, describing how much more intense is to be the punishment God is going to lay on the British and American people” (p. 163, quotes from 1980 printing)

When his predictions did not come true, he simply changed the time for their fulfillment and reprinted his book! Did the Bible change between 1967 and 1972? All Bible believers know the answer to that! The plain truth is that Mr. Armstrong is a false prophet and he knows it!

Mr. Armstrong’s interpretation of prophecy is based on his British-Israel theory. He claims that the meaning of prophecy was “closed and sealed till the time of the end – till the latter half of the twentieth century”(USBP, p. 6). The “Master Key” that he found is “the identity of the United States and British nations in these prophecies today” (USBP, p. 9). His amazing “discovery” “by God’s direction and authority” was that “our white, English-speaking peoples today – Britain and America – are actually and truly the birthright tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh” (USBP, p. 95). Another writer will discuss this false theory in detail, but we will simply point out that the theory was not “lost” until the “latter half of the twentieth century” as Mr. Armstrong claims. In 1902, Mr. J.H. Allen wrote Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright. Notice a few comparisons between that book and Mr. Armstrong’s writing.

Judah’s Scepter and Joseph’s Birthright	United States and Britain in Prophecy
“But the great bulk of Israelites are not Jews, just as the great bulk of Americans are not Californians” (p. 71).	“Jews are Israelites, just as Californians are Americans. But most Israelites are not Jews, just as most Americans are not Californians.” (p. 65).
“The very understanding of this difference is the KEY by which almost the entire Bible become intelligible, and I cannot state too strongly that the man who has not yet seen that Israel of the Scripture is totally distinct from the Jewish people, is yet in the very infancy, the mere alphabet, of Biblical study, and that to this day the meaning of seven-eights of the Bible is shut to his understanding” (p. 79).	“We want to impress, here, that Israel and Judah are not two names for the same nation. They were, and still are, and shall be till the second coming of Christ, two separate nations . . . . This distinction is vital, if we are to understand prophecy . . . This is the KEY, and a master key, to Bible understanding!” (pp. 66, 68).
“We have brought you through this group of words to show that ‘ish,’ in the Hebrew means ‘a man.’ Now take the Hebrew word which is translated covenant, which in its original form has no vowel, but which in its Anglicized form retains the vowel ‘i’ to preserve the ‘y’ sound, and we have “Brith,’ which joined with ‘ish’ is Brith-ish, and means ‘a covenant man’ Today the British people, or men of the covenant, are called Britons, and are dwelling in the British Isles!!!” (p. 275).	“The Hebrew for ‘man’ is ‘iysh,’ or ‘ish.’ In English the ending ‘ish’ means ‘of or belonging to (a specified nation or person).’ In the original Hebrew language vowels were never given in the spelling. So omitting the vowel ‘e’ from berith, but retaining the ‘i’ in its anglicized form to preserve the ‘y’ sound, we have the anglicized Hebrew word for covenant, brith . . . So the Hebrew word for ‘covenant’ would be pronounced, in its anglicized form as birth.  And the word for ‘covenant man’ or ‘covenant people,’ would therefore be simply ‘BRIT-ISH'” (p. 95).
In a chapter entitled “Dan – The Serpent’s Trail,” He quotes Gen. 49:17; Joshua 19:47; Judges 18:11, 12 and 18:29 and says: “And just here we must keep in mind the fact that in the ancient Hebrew there are no written vowels, and that in the word Dan there are only two letters used which are equivalent to the English, D and N. Hence it makes no difference if the word is Dan, Don, Dun, Din or Den . . .” (pp. 259-262).	In a chapter entitled” Dan a Serpent’s Trail,” he quotes Gen. 49:17; Joshua 18:11, 12 and 18:29 and says: “The, the word ‘Dan’ in its English equivalent could be spelled, simply, ‘Dn.’ It might be pronounced as ‘Dan,’ or ‘Den,’ or ‘Din,’ or ‘Don,’ or ‘Dun’ – and still could be the same original Hebrew name” (p. 96, 97). (This is how they both get Danites in Ireland!)

Other parallels could be given, but these are sufficient to show that the “master key” that Mr. Armstrong claims was “lost” until the “later half of the twentieth century” and then was written “by God’s direction ” was certainly known by Mr. Allen in 1902. A study of the two books leads me to believe that Mr. Armstrong found his “key” from Mr. Allen instead of God. It is a fanciful theory contrived by manipulating words and twisting Scripture. It certainly does not fit the truth!

In spite of the fact that Mr. Armstrong missed his prophecy on 1972, he continues to forecast doomsday in “this generation.” In a booklet Is This the End Time? (1971), he contends that “this generation” of Matthew 24:34 is our generation, because we have “the doomsday weapon.” He says, “the Bible reveals that Jesus Christ is likely to return to set up His world-ruling kingdom in your lifetime and mine! (That is, barring any unforeseen termination of your life or mine!) Christ’s return will likely occur in this very generation!” (pp. 29, 30).

Herbert W. Armstrong was born on July 31, 1892, so he has not had an “unforeseen termination” of his life! Will his followers admit that his is a false prophet if he dies before his prophecy is fulfilled? Probably, they will rewrite the same prophecies and change the date of fulfillment-just as Mr. Armstrong has done.

“This generation” of Matthew 24:34 did not refer to the one of 1914 (as Jehovah’s Witnesses claim), nor to 1948 (as Hal Lindsey and many other premillennialists teach), nor “our generation” (as Mr. Armstrong, Seventh-Day Adventists and perhaps others teach). The events of Matthew 24 took place in the generation of those who heard Jesus. (See Matt. 1:17; 11:16; 12:38-45; 16:4; 23:36 for use of the word “generation.”) The “signs” given by Jesus in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 all came to pass in the, destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., just as Jesus predicted.

When Mr. Armstrong’s predictions of “four to seven years” from 1967 did not come true, he rewrote his book and changed the time of his predictions. His “time cycles” are not true. His prediction of the second coming within his lifetime (“this generation”) is a perversion of what Jesus said. “Thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:22).

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 11, pp. 322-324
June 2, 1983

By Bobby Witherington

Any history of the Worldwide Church of God (so-called) must, of necessity, include biographical information regarding Herbert W. Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong is to the Worldwide Church of God what Joseph Smith is to the Mormons, Ellen G. White to the Adventists, Mary Baker Eddy to the Christian Scientists, and what “Pastor” Russell is to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Armstrong is its “founder,” “prophet,” “chosen apostle,” “ambassador,” and “head.”

Herbert W. Armstrong was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 31, 1892. His parents were members of the Quaker Church, and in that religion he “grew up.” At age 16 he first felt the urge to “become somebody important.”(1) Prior to that time Armstrong had been `only an average student, but after his awakening he started spending extra hours at the public library, forming a lifelong habit of study.”(2)

However, at age 18 he decided to forego formal education for a career in advertising. “During the next 16 years he enjoyed several periods of success in business. He traveled, became a successful copywriter and rubbed elbows with some of the elite of the literary and business worlds. But at the end of those 16 years, he found himself in Portland, Oregon, with his third business failure behind him, unemployed and on the brink of poverty. In such circumstances he soon lost the last vestiges of his `cocky and self-confident’ attitude. Years later he decided that he was being `softened’ for an unconditional surrender to God: `It seemed, indeed, as if some invisible and mysterious hand were causing the earth to simply swallow up whatever business I started. And, indeed, that is precisely what was happening! God was knocking me down! But I was not yet out!”(3)

Of course, diligent Bible students, who compare Armstrong’s teaching with the Bible, as well as his overall manner of life, would question his implied “unconditional surrender to God.” And those who have heard him preach over the years and/or have read his writings are prone to doubt his having “lost the last vestiges of his `cocky and self-confident’ attitude.”

Prior to his “third business failure,” while visiting his parents in Salem, Oregon, his wife (Loma) became acquainted with an elderly lady who seemed to be an avid student of the Bible. In Mrs. Armstrong’s studies with this elderly lady she supposedly made a great discovery: “obedience to God’s spiritual laws summed up in the Ten Commandments is necessary for salvation.”(4) The lady who influenced Mrs. Armstrong was “Mrs. Ora Runcorn, a member of the Church of God (Seventh-day).”(5)

Mrs. Armstrong was delighted with the results of their study, but Herbert W. was very displeased. He angrily determined to prove his wife wrong on the Sabbath question. In his words: “I studied the Commentaries. I studied the Lexicons and Robertson’s Grammar of the Greek New Testament. Then I studied history. I delved into encyclopedias – the Britannica, the Americana, and several religious encyclopedias. I searched the Jewish Encyclopedia, and the Catholic Encyclopedia. I read Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, especially his chapter 15 dealing with the religious history of the first four hundred years after Christ …. I left no stone unturned.”(6) Of course, Armstrong knew nothing about rightly dividing “the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), and still doesn’t – as evidenced by his insistence on observing the rites of the Mosaic law which Jesus fulfilled (Matt. 5:17, 18), and which was nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14). Moreover, it seems that he was really studying everything else but the Bible. Hence, it is not surprising that some six months later he emerged from his studies concluding that “his wife had found the truth after all.”(7)

Anyway, however false his conclusions, his studies paved the way for a great change in the future course of his life. After further study `he was ordained, by and under the authority of, the Oregon Conference of the Church of God.”(8) “Following his ordination in 1931,” Herbert Armstrong began writing and doing evangelistic work in Oregon. He soon began to encounter difficulties with “the Church of God, with headquarters in Stanberry, Missouri (now Denver, Colorado), the original parent body of the Oregon Conference of the Church of God.”(9) The difficulties were partially triggered by his wild, wide-eyed British Israelism heresy, and his disillusionment with the tactics employed by fellow preachers in these “evangelistic campaigns.” So “in August 1933 he severed all direct connection with the Church of God and entered the independent evangelistic field. A few weeks later, on October 21, 1933, a new independent Church of God was organized by approximately 20 of his friends, who named him pastor.”(10)

On the first Sunday of 1934 Armstrong launched “The World Tomorrow radio program which provided him with the springboard for his remarkable success.”(11) How did his radio program begin? “On this, Armstrong relates that during the summer of 1933, while living in Oregon, he planned `a series of lectures’ in and around Eugene, Oregon, and walked out over the country side inviting neighbors to attend. `A little later,’ he adds, `an invitation came to lecture over radio.’ Afterwards, the owner of `an 100-watt station called him in and suggested a regular half-hour program, at a cost of only three dollars per hour. `That,’ he writes, `was the start of The World Tomorrow program. It could not have started smaller.'”(12)

Thus Armstrong claims to believe the first week of 1934 was one. of the most important dates in all of history. Please observe what this humble preacher, who had “lost the last vestiges of his `cocky and self-confident’ attitude,” says: “On the first Sunday in 1934 God’s time had come. God opened a door! Jesus Christ Himself had foretold this event! Millions have read his prophecy . . . . What really occurred that Sunday morning precisely at 10 o’clock, was a momentous event. It was the fulfillment of a definite cornerstone prophecy of Jesus. More than that, it was the initial start-off event of the fulfilling of some 90% of all the prophecies in the Bible! And approximately a third of the whole Bible is prophecy!”(13) According to Armstrong this date was the first time since 69 A.D. “that the true gospel of Christ” had been heard! Hence, for obvious reasons, Armstrong named his church the Radio Church of God. It was later re-named the Worldwide Church of God.

One month after beginning his The World Tomorrow radio program Armstrong began publishing Plain Truth. He and his wife, Loma, were the complete staff. The first edition “totaled about 250 copies. It was an eight-page, mimeographed issue.”(14) Today The Plain Truth, a 46 page publication, boasts “a monthly circulation of more than five million copies worldwide in six languages,” going “into 202 nations and associated states around the world.”(15)

Suffice it to say, notwithstanding the falsity of his doctrines, Armstrong has been very successful in getting them before the people. His ability as an editor and as a radio speaker, by anyone’s standards, has to be unquestioned. And even today, notwithstanding his highly publicized inconsistences, troubles, and defections within his empire, his money collections, radio and TV coverage, and his Plain Truth circulation seeems to be at an all-time high. “Income has soared from $90.3 million in 1980 to $108.4 million in 1981.”(16) His messages are aired on hundreds of radio and TV stations in the United States, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, and other international areas.

What is his magic formula for attracting followers? “A blood-and-doom message supposedly prophesied in the scriptures, delivered with an urbane professionalism that moves all but the well-informed and the very sophisticated to the edge of despair. This is followed with the promise of a `wonderful world of tomorrow,’ a bright and shining utopia without poverty, war or disease, which lies only, a few short years ahead, so near that they will live to see this promised land.”(17) Then, too, this long time broadcast of daily alarms – such as droughts, tornadoes, floods, world-wide changes in weather patterns, wars and rumors of wars, overpopulation, ecological disasters, famines, earthquakes, spiritual degeneration and moral decay when delivered by such articulate, positive-sounding voices, with almost perfect timing, naturally attracts and retains the interest of listeners.

In addition to his magazine, radio broadcasts and telecasts, Armstrongism is disseminated by way of his colleges. In 1947 he founded Ambassador College. According to his deceived follower, Roderick C. Meredith, “Ambassador College, located on campuses at Pasadena, CA, and Big Sandy, Texas, is the only educational institution on earth where the real answers to life’s biggest problems are clearly disseminated.”(18)

But all is not well within the Armstrong empire. Time wounds all heels! “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). “On January 3, 1979, at 9 o’clock in the morning, the Government of God went into receivership. In yet another conflict between Christ and California, state agents seized fiscal control of the Worldwide Church of God and its affiliate institutions, Ambassador College and the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, charging the church’s eighty-seven-year-old founder, pastor, and `Only Apostle for Our Time,` Herbert W. Armstrong, and his beloved disciple, Stanley R. Rader, with misappropriating church funds. The state alleged that Armstrong and Rader, with help from trusted acolytes, had bled the body of Christ for millions of dollars, which they had spent on astronomical salaries, luxury houses and cars, year-round first-class travel, and extravagant gifts to foreign dignitaries.”(19) Rader had been Armstrong’s legal counsel. Finally, in 1975 Rader was baptized in a bathtub in Hong Kong’s Mandrin Hotel, after which Herbert W. began to speak of him as “my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”(20) Others, however, believed Rader was a convert to mammon, not to God. Space forbids discussing the apparent power struggle, the conniving manipulations of Rader, and the shake-up within the Armstrong empire. Rader was eventually relieved of his responsibilities. Also the charges of then Attorney General Deukmejian were eventually dropped. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Armstrong, now nearly 91, can not long continue at the top. His son, Garner Ted, is on the outs with his father, or vice versa, and no one else seems to have the charisma to take his place. That, coupled with the realization that time has proven his prophecies false, surely must be a source of inner agony to Herbert W. – unless per chance he has totally seared his conscience.

His Connection With Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses

“. . . Mr. Armstrong is an off-shoot of an off-shoot of the Seventh-day Adventist church.” “. . . The neighbor lady who revealed the great discovery to Mrs. Armstrong was a former member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church . . . .” “Mr. Armstrong’s theology in many areas paralleled Seventh-day Adventism, such as his insistence upon obvservance of the Seventh-day Sabbath, abstinence from certain articles of food as unclean, a general Adventist system of prophetic interpretation (albeit with his own peculiar modifications), his extreme legalism and the observance of feasts, and new moons, and his denunciation of the doctrines of hell and eternal punishment for which he has substituted the Adventist doctrine of the annihilation of the wicked. Mr. Armstrong owes a considerable debt to Seventh-day Adventism as he does to Jehovah’s Witnesses (with whom he agrees in his denial of the doctrine of the Trinity and the bodily resurrection of Christ) and the Mormon Church, whose teaching that man may become as God, was appropriated by Armstrong without even the slightest acknowledgment to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.”(21)

Herbert W. Versus Garner Ted

In 1955 Garner Ted Armstrong, the youngest of the four Armstrong children, began broadcasting on the “The World Tomorrow” program in a voice that sounded so much like his father’s that many could not tell them apart. This continued until April of 1972 when Garner Ted was suddenly taken off the air. Herbert W. soon sent a letter to his ministers to read before their congregations saying his boy was “in the bonds of Satan.” Adultery headed the list of the circulated rumors regarding the things of which Garner Ted was guilty. According to Barry Chase, a minister who defected from the WCG, the church was told that “Garner Ted’s birth was foretold in the scriptures and that his adultery was prophesied in Malachi 2:14.”(22)

However, after a few months Garner Ted was back on the air and in 1973 was designated by Mr. Armstrong as his “divinely appointed ‘successor, ” with the senior Armstrong rationalizing that “Ted is divinely called” and “above the scripture.” But Garner Ted’s ascendancy was brief. In the spring of 1978 Stanley Rader announced that Ted’s television program would be canceled, and that he would also be removed from his position as head and board member of the college and the church. To his shame, Garner Ted turned around and formed his awrr church, The Church of God International (CGI) with headquarters in Tyler, Texas. Within weeks he was back on the air, preaching on a network that grew to twenty stations within six months. “Like father, like son!”

One suspects that Garner Ted’s fall was not so much over his adultery as his differences with his father over other matters – especially his father’s globe-trotting visits with foreign dignitaries, upon whom he lavished expensive gifts. Of this aspect of his father’s labors Garner Ted says, “never in the history of human endeavor… has so much money been spent by so few for so little. Those trips are just glorified autograph-hunting tours–window dressing, like AICF and QUEST. My father has gone on and on about the great good these trips were doing, but it might come down to a thousand dollars a word for some lecture on the `Seven Laws of Success’ to the Civitan Club of New Deli or the Rotarians of Nairobi. Dad has boasted about how he does not mention the name of Jesus Christ on these visits. If this is the case, why bother?”(23)

Conclusion

Unfortunately, the complete history of Armstrongism cannot be written, for, like sin and error in general, this “ism” is still around. Because many people “will believe anything if it is not in the Bible,” multitudes will continue swallowing this amalgam of religious error. As long as Armstrong is alive many will doubtlessly regard him as “God’s Only Apostle for Our Time.” No one can fully foresee the devastating trauma his empire will experience when he dies as, indeed, he must. How tragic that in his quest to become “somebody important” he became one of Satan’s most effective preachers!

Endnotes

1. The Preachers, James Morris, p. 322.

2. Ibid., p.322

3. Ibid., p.322

4. The Kingdom of the Cults, Walter R. Martin, p. 295

5. Encyclopedia of American Religions, J. Gordon Melton, 1978.

6. The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Vol. 1, pp. 285-295.

7. The Inside Story of the World Tomorrow Broadcast, p. 48.

8. The Preacher, James Morris, p. 323.

9. Ibid., p.331.

10. Ibid., p. 332.

11. The Armstrong Error, C. F. Deloach, p. 8.

12. The Plain Truth, August, 1969, p. 2.

13. The Plain Truth, Jan. 1959, p. 3.

14. The Plain Truth, Feb. 1983, p. 5.

15. Ibid, p. 5.

16. Christianity Today, Aug. 6, 1982.

17. The Preachers, James Morris, p. 321.

18. The Plain Truth, Jan. 1983.

19. Atlantic Magazine, March, 1980, Article: Father, Son, and Mammon, Wm. C. Martin.

20. Ibid., p. 60.

21.Newsweek, Oct. 20, 1980.

21. The Kingdom of the Cults, Walter R. Martin, pp. 296, 207.

22. Newspaper article in The Sower, July 1974.

24.Note: Endnote notation not found in original document. “Atlantic Magazine, Article, `Father, Son, and Mammon,” p. 60.

25. Note: Endnote notation not found in original document. Ibid., p. 61.

23. Ibid., p. 63.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 11, pp. 321, 341-342
June 2, 1983

By Raymond E. Harris

Jesus commanded the apostles, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mk. 16:15, 16). In Romans 1:16, the apostle Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: For it’s the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” And in 1 Corinthians 1:21, it is written, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by .the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

When we consider all the foregoing and remember that James said, “. . . Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21), it would seem that preachers would be awed and driven to fulfill their great responsibility to preach. You would think that every professed preacher would be motivated to accept the charge to “be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine (2 Tim. 4:2).

However, in our perilous times, it seems that many professed preachers have little time to preach. Many are so busy running off to “retreats,” going camping, taking the young people skating, to amusement parks and to workshops that there is little time left to prepare or deliver sermons. Some are so busy promoting boy scouts, homecoming celebrations or blood donation programs that gospel preaching is neglected: Some are so busy with marriage counseling, community services or local politics that there is precious little time left to tell anyone the grand old story about Jesus. Many are so involved in promoting schools, aggrandizing themselves as professed miracle workers or amassing money through secular endeavors, God’s word goes begging.

What a shame that the world’s masses are going off to hell while professed preachers go off to the retreat, the camp or the convention.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 10, p. 313
May 19, 1983