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Herbert W. Armstrong (July 31, 1892 – January 16, 1986) was the founder of the Worldwide Church of God.

Background

Herbert Armstrong was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 31 1892, into a Quaker family. He regularly attended the services and the Sunday school of First Friends Church in Des Moines. He attended North High School, but never graduated. At age 18, on the advice of an uncle, he decided to take a job in the want-ad department of a Des Moines newspaper, the Daily Capital. His early career in the print advertising industry which followed had a strong impact on his future ministry and would shape his communication style.

He later met Loma Dillon, a schoolteacher and distant cousin from nearby Motor, Iowa. They were married on his 25th birthday, July 31 1917 and they lived in Chicago, Illinois. His career in advertising began to take off, with his earnings in today's dollars amounting to over two hundred thousand per year. In May 9, 1918, their first child, Beverly Lucile Armstrong, was born. Due to the flu epidemic, they moved back to Des Moines. Their second child, Dorothy Jane Armstrong, was born on July 7, 1920. By this time Armstrong’s parents had moved to Oregon. In 1924, after a few business setbacks, Armstrong and family moved to join his parents. He continued to pursue his passion for the advertising business, although he had begun to suffer unforeseen setbacks.

Beginnings of Armstrong's ministry

His wife, Loma, became influenced by Ora Runcorn, a member of the Church of God (Seventh Day). This small Sabbatarian church traced it's history back to Stephen Mumford of Rhode Island, and from there back to the Lollards and Waldensians of Mid-evil European fame, and beyond them down to the early Christian "Nazarenes" and the Apostles (the Waldensians themselves did so as well). This church had no affiliation or connection with Ellen G. White, though many members had left the Church of God to join the Seventh Day Adventist church she started. Loma challenged Armstrong that the day of the celebration of the Sabbath on Sunday was not supported by the Bible. As Armstrong’s business was struggling against larger competitors, he had the time to take up the challenge and began a long study of the Bible to prove his wife wrong. His studies convinced him that his wife was right. This was the starting point where as he regularly studied the Bible, he felt God was opening his mind to “truths” that historical Christian churches had not found or accepted.

Radio ministry

In October 1933, a radio station, KORE, in Eugene, Oregon, offered free time to Mr. Armstrong for a morning devotional, a 15-minute time slot shared by other local ministers. After positive responses from listeners, the station owner let Armstrong start a new program and on the first Sunday in 1934, the Radio Church of God was born. These broadcasts eventually became the well-known, The World Tomorrow, of the future Worldwide Church of God. Radio stations in other cities (Portland, Salem, Seattle in 1940, Los Angeles in 1942) were recruited to broadcast the program. In February 1934, The Plain Truth magazine began publication. With these two media vehicles, Armstrong began to expand his ministry throughout the West Coast. From his new contacts in Los Angeles, Armstrong began to realize the potential for reaching a much larger audience. He searched for a suitable location and chose Pasadena, California, as being ideal as it was a conservative residential community. During this time, Armstrong also reflected on starting a college to train people in his growing church. Hence, in 1946 Armstrong moved his headquarters from Eugene to Pasadena and on March 3, 1946, the Radio Church of God was officially incorporated within the state of California. On October 8, 1947, his new college, Ambassador College opened its doors with four students.

Reaching out to the world

During the 1950s and 1960s, the church continued to expand and the radio program was broadcast in England, Australia, the Philippines, Latin America, and Africa.

In 1952, The World Tomorrow began to air on Radio Luxembourg, making it possible to hear the program throughout much of Europe. The beginning of the European broadcast provides the context of a booklet published in 1956 called 1975 in Prophecy! In this controversial book, Armstrong hypothetically portrayed a scenario with 1975 as the possible date, conveying vividly one prophetic possibility. He thought that World War III and Christ's return was as the doorstep, probably to occur within his lifetime. The message focused on key events that would signal the imminence of Christ's return, and taught of a specific end-time prophecy to be fulfilled, manifested in the form of European peacekeeping forces surrounding Jerusalem, at which time his church would flee to the scriptural "place of safety", possibly Petra in Jordan. World War III was predicted to be triggered by a “United States of Europe” led by Germany which would destroy both the United States of America and the United Kingdom. From the place of safety they would continue the work and prepare to help Christ establish Utopia upon His return. This booklet gives a typical example of Armstrong’s style of writing that he had learnt during his advertising business days with its straight-forwardness and liberal use of traditional copy write formatting to emphasize key points ( the use of upper case characters and exclamation points).

Becoming the Worldwide Church of God

In April 1967, Armstrong's wife, Loma, died. On January 5, 1968, Armstrong’s church was renamed the Worldwide Church of God. By this time, Garner Ted was the voice and face of the new television version of the World Tomorrow. It was speculated that with his charisma and personality, he was the logical successor to Armstrong. However, in 1972, his son had been removed from church roles over doctrinal disagreements. He was reinstated,but soon after that he again openly rejected several doctrines and the church government structure, which would lead to him being excommunicated by his father in 1978. In response Garner Ted started a new church, the Church of God International in Tyler, Texas. Armstrong basically disowned his son and his name was removed from most church publications including Armstrong’s own autobiography where only his birth is mentioned.

Final years

Throughout the rest of the 1970's, the church continued to grow, and at its zenith membership it peaked at about 100,000 worldwide. Armstrong continued to travel around the world, meeting with a long list of heads of state. In August 1985, Armstrong’s final work, Mystery of the Ages, was published. He called it a “synopsis of the Bible in the most plain and understandable language”. It was more-or-less a compendium of Armstrong’s theology. However, this work is treasured by his followers and the publishing copyright would become the source of lawsuits between the Worldwide Church of God and one of its splinter groups. In September 1985, with his failing health widely known, Armstrong disappeared from public view. Normally he would have appeared at that year’s Feast of Tabernacles, a regularly held church festival. It was the first festival he was unable to attend since the church’s founding. According to The Worldwide News, Armstrong told his advisory council of his decision to appoint Joseph W. Tkach on January 7, 1986. Only nine days after naming his successor, Armstrong died on January 16, 1986, at the age of 93.

Notes or footnotes

References

• Herbert W. Armstrong, Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Vol. 1
• Herbert W. Armstrong, Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Vol. 2
• John Trechak, Ambassador Report, June 1976 to April 1999.
• Worldwide Church of God, "About Our Founder"
• A history of the True Religion Traced From 33 A.D to Date by A. Dugger and C.O. Dodd.
• Mystery of the Ages, by Herbert W. Armstrong

External links

• Herbert W. Armstrong was ahead of his time!
• Aaron Dean Remembers Herbert W. Armstrong
• Worldwide Church of God official website
• www.coghomeschool.org A very detailed archive of his writings.
• Pabco's Homepage An archive of HWA writings.
• Armstrong Compendium Archive of much of HWA's writings and information concerning the aftermath of his death on the WWCG organization.

• 1892 births
• 1986 deaths
• Church of God (Armstrong)
• People from Des Moines, Iowa