Herbert W. Armstrong (July 31, 1892 – January 16, 1986) was an American evangelist who founded the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). An early pioneer of radio and television evangelism, Armstrong preached what he claimed was the comprehensive combination of doctrines in the entire Bible, in the light of the New Covenant scriptures, which he maintained to be the restored true Gospel. These doctrines and teachings have been referred to as Armstrongism by non-adherents.
Armstrong's teachings required observance of parts of the Mosaic Law including seventh-day Sabbath, dietary prohibitions, and the covenant law "Holy Days". He also proclaimed that behind contemporary world events loomed various Biblical prophecies, interpreted in light of British Israelism. As founder and head of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, Armstrong and his advisers met with heads of governments in various nations, for which he described himself as an "ambassador without portfolio for world peace."
Early life Herbert Armstrong was born on July 31, 1892, in Des Moines, Iowa, into a Quaker family, the son of Eva (Wright) and Horace Elon Armstrong. He regularly attended the services and the Sunday school of First Friends Church in Des Moines. 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.
On a trip back home in 1917, he met Loma Dillon, a school teacher and distant cousin from nearby Motor, Iowa. They married on his 25th birthday, July 31, 1917, and returned to live in Chicago.
Within a month or two after their marriage, (the US had entered World War I on April 6) Loma had an unusual dream or vision. She was with Herbert, at a road intersection, where she saw in the sky, a banner of dazzling stars, appearing then vanishing twice-over. She was happy, but sad for others, and thought she was witnessing Christ's return. Angels then flew to them and said that Christ was not coming then, but would be "coming very soon". Saying that God was giving them an "important work" to do, preparing the way before Christ's second coming. At the time, Herbert was not at all religious and it was only in later years that he came to believe that the vision "really was a message from God."Brethren and Co-worker letter, November 28, 1956
On May 9, 1918, they had their first child, Beverly Lucile, and on July 7, 1920, a second daughter, Dorothy Jane. In 1924, after several business setbacks, Armstrong and family moved to Eugene, Oregon where his parents lived at the time. While living in Oregon, they had two sons, Richard David (born October 13, 1928) and Garner Ted (born February 9, 1930). Armstrong continued in the advertising business despite the setbacks.
Beginnings of ministry During their stay in Oregon, his wife, Loma, became acquainted with a member of the Church of God (Seventh Day), Emma Runcorn. Emma and her husband O.J. were lay leaders in the Oregon conference of the Church of God, Seventh Day, a seventh-day-keeping Adventist group that rejected the authority of Ellen G. White and her teachings.
Loma became persuaded that the Bible taught Sabbath observance on Saturday, the seventh day, one of the beliefs of that church. Her assertion of this to her husband was met with dismay and appeared to him to be "religious fanaticism. She challenged him to find biblical support for Sunday observance. As his business was struggling against larger competitors, Armstrong had the time to take up this challenge. He began what would become a lifelong habit of intensive, lengthy Bible study sessions. He soon felt God was inspiring this, opening his mind to truths that historical Christian churches had not found or accepted. Shortly after, as related in his autobiography, Armstrong would take up a similar study on the topic of evolution of the species after a conflict with his sister-in-law. His studies on Sabbath and evolution convinced him that his wife was right, and that the theory of evolution was false.
He was eventually baptized, along with his brother Dwight L. Armstrong, in the summer of 1927 by Dr. Dean, the non-Sabbatarian pastor of Hinson Memorial Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon. It is unknown, however, if he ever joined this denomination.Bruce Renehan, Daughter of Babylon, ch.15, (Interview with John Kiesz) He would later recollect over four decades later that he believed, "On being baptized I knew God then and there gave me HIS HOLY SPIRIT!" Despite his own unique teaching on baptism his own account is noteworthy for the absence of any mention of the process of laying on of hands or a special prayer in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, which were considered fundamental for membership in the Worldwide Church of God and reason for many a new convert's rebaptism.
In 1931 Armstrong became an ordained minister of the Oregon Conference of the Church of God (Seventh Day). The existence and history of this church became a significant factor in Armstrong's later beliefs.
While a member of The Church of God (Seventh Day), Armstrong became acquainted with ministers John Kiesz and Israel Hager who began to suspect that Herbert was a little too arrogant and tended to go against church doctrine. They cited Armstrong's refusal to submit to the Church of God ministers to be baptized but went out to a local Baptist minister instead as a point. After his ordination, Armstrong allied himself with two other rogue ministers by the names of Andrew N. Dugger and C. O. Dodd, both of whom had written a book called A History of the True Religion, from 33 AD to Date, in which they claimed that the New Testament Church of the first century had secretly descended through history and eventually became the Sabbath-keeping Church of God (Seventh Day). Dugger also predicted that the apocalypse would occur in 1936. Eventually, this led to Dugger and Dodd's ouster and when they promised to make Armstrong an apostle in their new church, The Church of God (Seventh Day), he joined with them.
After severing ties with the Church of God (Seventh Day) as the result of doctrinal disputes, he began to teach a form of British Israelism, which would later make up his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy. His ministerial credentials with Dugger's church were revoked in 1938. This, Armstrong believed, indicated God was now directing him in leading a revived work into the next "church era."
Radio and publishing In October 1933, a small 100-watt radio station in Eugene, Oregon, KORE, offered free time to 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 of his own. On the first Sunday in 1934, the Radio Church of God first aired. These broadcasts eventually became known as The World Tomorrow of the future Worldwide Church of God. Shortly thereafter, in February 1934, Armstrong began the publication of The Plain Truth, which started out as a church bulletin. It was at this time that Armstrong began to make prophetic claims and among them were the claims that Hitler and Mussolini were the prophesied Beast and False Prophet of the Book of Revelation who would deceive the nations for a short time just before the return of Jesus Christ. This piqued the interest of his audience. The broadcast expanded to other cities, and in 1942 began to be broadcast nationwide from WHO of Des Moines Iowa, a 50,000-watt superstation.
Critics point to statements in his early writings that proved to be inaccurate. For example, a statement from a lead article in the February 1939 edition of The Plain Truth, about a coming world war, said this:
By way of brief review of previous articles, and radio messages, notice, first, that this war will involve ALL nations. It will be the first real world war. Secondly, it will center around Jerusalem....And thirdly, this war will END with the Second Coming of Christ!
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 aid the growing church, by teaching and training young men and women. 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. He purchased a lavish mansion on Millionaires Row just off of the Rose Parade route on Orange Grove Boulevard, quickly acquired his own printing plant, and was broadcasting internationally in prime-time radio time slots. On October 8, 1947, his new college, Ambassador College opened its doors with four students.
International expansion 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 1953, 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 book Armstrong put forward a controversial vision of what the world could look like by 1975—featuring vivid illustrations by noted comics artist Basil Wolverton of mass burials and tidal waves destroying cities. Overall he thought that World War III and Christ's glorious return were at the doorstep and that world peace and utopia would follow. Armstrong believed that God had exciting plans for mankind that would see the end of such wars—though the message went far beyond an earthly utopia.
Several books and booklets focused on the 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 God's Church would be taken to a place of protection, or "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 and the United Kingdom. From the place of safety they would continue the work and prepare to help Christ establish Utopia upon His return.
In 1952, Armstrong published Does God Heal Today?, which provided the details on his doctrine on healing and his ban on doctors. Among his tenets were that only God heals and that medical science is of pagan origin and is ineffective. He believed that most illnesses were caused by faulty diet and that doctors should prescribe proper diet rather than medicine. He taught that members are not to go to doctors for healing but must trust in divine healing alone. This was his teaching despite his father's death in 1933 after "an all-night vigil of prayer." This teaching has been the cause of much controversy as individuals influenced by such teachings came to die.
The book The United States and Britain in Prophecy was published in 1954. It became the most well-known and requested church publication, with over six million copies distributed. In this book, Armstrong makes the claim that the peoples of the United States, the British Commonwealth nations, and the nations of Northwestern Europe are descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. This belief, called British Israelism, formed the central basis of the theology of the Worldwide Church of God.