Herbert W. Armstrong
Herbert W. Armstrong was recognized and respected by leaders in government,
industry and education around the world. Until the time of his death in January
1986, he was pastor general of the Worldwide Church of God and editor in chief
of The Plain Truth magazine, which he began publishing in 1934.
He was a pioneer in religious broadcasting in the twentieth century. Millions around the world
heard his voice on The World Tomorrow radio and television program for over 50
years.
In 1947 Mr. Armstrong founded Ambassador College in Pasadena, California.
He was also founder and chairman of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation,
known for its cultural, charitable and humanitarian activities. Herbert Armstrong
visited more than 70 countries proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God, and
was highly honored by heads of state in such critical areas as Japan and China,
Africa, Israel and Egypt. Even in his 90s, Mr. Armstrong continued to write, broadcast
and preach the good news that God will intervene to save mankind in this generation!
Among his many books are The United States and Britain in Prophecy and his final work,
completed in 1985 just months before his death, Mystery of the Ages.
After he died, the Worldwide Church of God, which he founded in 1934, denounced
Mr. Armstrong as a heretic and rejected his teachings. As a result, church membership
plummeted. More than 70 percent of his followers were driven out or excommunicated
from the Worldwide Church of God due to sweeping doctrinal changes. Ambassador College,
The World Tomorrow program and almost all of the Ambassador Foundation’s projects are
now no longer operational. Gone also is the world-renown concert series held in the
magnificent Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California. The Plain Truth magazine
circulation, which topped 8 million free copies per month in the late 1980s, has
shriveled to less than 150,000 paid subscriptions.
When these doctrinal changes were in their early stages, Gerald Flurry, an ordained Worldwide Church of God minister since 1973, became alarmed and plunged into a yearlong study of the Bible to find the cause of the betrayal he was witnessing. The result was a book titled Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today. In 1989, nearly four years after Mr. Armstrong’s death, Mr. Flurry was excommunicated from the WCG for continuing to believe and teach what Mr. Armstrong taught. Mr. Flurry founded the Philadelphia Church of God, headquartered in Edmond, Oklahoma. |
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