Herbert W. Armstrong

Herbert W. Armstrong (July 31, 1892 – January 16, 1986) was the founder of the Radio Church of God / Worldwide Church of God; self-appointed chancellor of unaccredited Ambassador College; publisher of The Plain Truth magazine in several languages; presenter of The World Tomorrow radio and television programs; father of radio-television evangelist "Garner Ted Armstrong"; president of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation; self-styled as Ambassador for World Peace and patron of the Ambassador Auditorium concert series.

Brief biography

Birth, marriage and early career

In 1892 Herbert Wright Armstrong was born in Des Moines, Iowa, to parents of the Quaker faith. He dropped out of high school circa 1908, beginning a career in business sales and advertising. In 1917 he married Loma Dillon who died in 1966. He married Ramona Martin in 1977. That marriage ended in divorce in 1982. Most of his early life until 1926 was devoted to selling advertising services and copywriting. During this time he adopted a copy and layout style of presentation in which upper and lower case words were mixed within both headlines and text for emphasis and impact. This writing style became his own trademark which he never abandoned throughout his life.

Related Topics:
1892 - Des Moines, Iowa - Quaker - 1917 - 1966 - 1977 - 1982 - 1926 - Advertising

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Early religious beliefs

In his early life Herbert W. Armstrong abandoned the faith of his parents and professed agnosticism. At some time around 1926 or 1927 when he was living in Oregon, his wife Loma became friendly with a lady who was a member of the Church of God (Seventh Day). He is said to have been converted to her beliefs after attempting to prove them to be wrong.

Related Topics:
Agnosticism - 1926 - 1927 - Oregon - Church of God (Seventh Day)

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Background to Ordination

This church traces its history from Pentecost in the Book of Acts, through the Ephesians under the Apostle John and the Smyrnaeans under Polycarp, etc. (the seven churches listed in the Book of Revelation 2 & 3) (see Dugger AN, Dodd CO. A History of True Religion, 3rd ed. Jerusalem, 1972 (Church of God, 7th Day). 1990 reprint. And Hoeh H. A True History of the True Church. 1959 ed. Radio Church of God).

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Some American history of this church involved the work of William Miller, who between 1831 and 1844 promoted the doctrine of a pre-millennial return of Jesus. In 1842 Gilbert Cranmer became a convert to the teachings of William Miller. In approximately 1843 Rachel Oakes, a Seventh Day Baptist converted Frederick Wheeler, a Sunday observing Methodist-Adventist minister to observing Saturday instead and in so doing created a Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1844 when the prophecies of William Miller fail to occur, the entire Adventist movement began to collapse. In 1845 Gilbert Cranmer began observing the Saturday Sabbath. In 1846 Ellen G. Harmon (Ellen G. White) married James White and they also began to observe the Saturday Sabbath. In 1849 William Miller died. In 1858 the Whites denied Gilbert Cranmer a license to preach for their own new group and as a result Gilbert Cranmer independently established several congregations of his own in Michigan. In 1860 Sabbath-keeping Adventists met at Battle Creek, Michigan and the group adopted the name Seventh-day Adventists. In 1863 the Seventh-day Adventist denomination was created and Gilbert Cranmer published the first issue of The Hope of Israel paper, which in 1872 changed its name to Advent and Sabbath Advocate and Hope of Israel. Church of God (Seventh Day) officially formed after Mr. and Mrs. White took control of the Church, changed its name to 'Seventh Day Adventists', and required that members accept Ellen White as a prophet and her teachings as inspired prophecy. It is those who would not go along with those changes that formed the organization now known as the Church of God, Seventh Day) (these and other details are documented in the book History of the Seventh Day Church of God by Richard Nickels, Giving & Sharing, 1988). Though they separated in the 1850s and 1860s, groups from Michigan, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska eventually formed a new organization under the name of Church of God which in 1884 adopted Stanberry, Missouri as its headquarters with A. F. Dugger as vice-president.

Related Topics:
William Miller - 1831 - 1844 - Millennial - Jesus - 1842 - Gilbert Cranmer - 1843 - Seventh Day Baptist - Methodist - Seventh-day Adventist Church - 1845 - 1846 - Ellen G. White - 1849 - 1858 - Michigan - 1860 - Battle Creek - 1863 - 1872 - Church of God (Seventh Day) - Church of God, Seventh Day) - 1884 - Stanberry, Missouri

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In 1892 Herbert W. Armstrong was born. In 1899 The General Conference of the Church of God was officially incorporated. In 1900 Gilbert Cranmer's paper changed its name again, this time to The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom and it would undergo yet another name change to The Bible Advocate. In 1903 Gilbert Cranmer died at the Church of God Sanitarium in White Cloud, Michigan. In 1906 Andrew N. Dugger, son of Andrew F. Dugger, who died in 1910, began his ministry and in 1914 became publisher of The Bible Advocate. Ellen G. White died in 1915.

Related Topics:
1892 - 1899 - 1900 - 1903 - Sanitarium - White Cloud, Michigan - 1906 - 1910 - 1914 - 1915

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Ordination and foundation of his own belief system

In 1927 Herbert W. Armstrong was baptized as a member of the Church of God. On February 9, 1930, Garner Ted Armstrong was born. In 1931 Herbert W. Armstrong was ordained by the Oregon Conference of The Church of God and in Chapter 24 of his autobiography under the heading of Ordained to Christ's Ministry, Herbert W. Armstrong explained his own thought process that formed the backbone of everything that he came to believe and put into practice. (Note that the upper and lowercase style of writing in the following abbreviated excerpt is in the original text which was the signature style of his authorship):

Related Topics:
1927 - Baptized - 1930 - Garner Ted Armstrong - 1931 - Autobiography

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First, Jesus Christ began His earthly ministry at about age 30. God took away my business ... inducting me into His ministry, when I was 30! Second, Jesus began ... training ... His original disciples for carrying HIS GOSPEL to the world in the year A.D. 27. Precisely 100 time-cycles later, in 1927, He began my intensive study and training for carrying HIS SAME GOSPEL to all nations of today's world. ... the significance of 100 time-cycles! God set the earth, sun, and moon in their orbits to mark off divisions of time on the earth. ... the earth, the sun, and the moon come into almost exact conjunction only once in 19 years. Thus 19 years mark off one complete time-cycle! ... Exactly 100 time-cycles later, after 3½ years of intensive study and training, Christ ordained me to preach this same Gospel of the Kingdom in all the world as a witness to all nations (Matt. 24:14). This ordination took place at, or very near, the Day of Pentecost, 1931. ... Christ started out His original apostles preaching the very Gospel of the Kingdom which God had sent by Him, and which He had taught the apostles, in the year A.D. 31. For exactly one 19-year time-cycle this preaching was confined to the continent where it started -- Asia. After precisely one 19-year time-cycle, A.D. 50, Christ opened a door for the Apostle Paul to carry the same Gospel to EUROPE! This was A.D. 50. Before A.D. 70, Roman armies besieged Jerusalem. From that time the Roman government stamped out the organized mass spreading of the Gospel of Christ. Soon a different gospel was being tolerated, later endorsed and then enforced by Roman government. It was Roman paganism now being palmed off under the new name "Christianity." ... For nearly 19 centuries the world has been rendered spiritually drunk on the wine of this counterfeit gospel! As prophecy foretold, ALL nations have been deceived. But looking into our time, just before the END of this age (Matt. 24:14), Jesus foretold that His same original Gospel of the Kingdom of God was to be preached and published (Mark 13:10) in all the world as a witness to ALL NATIONS! This was to immediately precede HIS SECOND COMING! TODAY THIS IS BEING DONE! Now consider this amazing parallel! God first opened a door -- that of radio and the printing press -- for the mass proclaiming of HIS ORIGINAL TRUE GOSPEL the first week in 1934! The exact date was January 7, 1934. Exactly one time-cycle later, January 7, 1953, God opened wide the massive door of the most powerful commercial radio station on earth, and RADIO LUXEMBOURG began broadcasting Christ's Gospel to EUROPE and Britain!

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Church of God

In 1933 the Church of God group into which Armstrong had been baptized and ordained split into two factions. Herbert W. Armstrong followed the breakaway group which was led by A. N. Dugger who then formed the Church of God 7th Day with its US headquarters in Salem, West Virginia and world headquarters in Jerusalem. On October 9, 1933, Herbert W. Armstrong took to the airwaves for the first time with a religious program on radio station KORE in Eugene, Oregon where he pastored a church congregation. The broadcast over KORE gave rise to the name Radio Church of God. In 1934 he began publication of The Plain Truth magazine which was an outgrowth of earlier attempts at publication.

Related Topics:
1933 - US - Salem, West Virginia - Jerusalem - October 9 - Religious - Eugene, Oregon - 1934 - The Plain Truth

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Credentials

Herbert W. Armstrong received his ministerial credentials from the Church of God (Seventh Day). Elder John Kiesz of Denver, Colo. (who died in 1996), an associate of Herbert Armstrongs in the 1920s and '30s in the Church of God (Seventh Day) wrote: "In 1931 he was ordained to the ministry, and in 1932 he received his Ministerial License Certificate from the Oregon Conference of the Church of God, signed by O.J. Runcorn as President, and Mrs. I.E. Curtis as Secretary.

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After documenting and explaining his belief that the Bible required true Christians to observe the biblical Holy Days as set forth in Leviticus 23 (and other places), the leadership of the Church of God (Seventh Day), told him that although some of them agreed with him, that this doctrine could not be taught as many members would be offended. Herbert Armstrong then decided he had to discontinue his association with that group. A few years later (1937) the Church of God (Seventh Day) revoked his ministerial credentials for doctrinal differences. Since he was no longer part of them, Herbert Armstrong continued working as he had been. To read more of what Herbert Armstrong said about his leaving and what the Church of God (Seventh Day) said about his leaving, please see the article Church of God (Seventh Day)

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As editor and publisher of The Plain Truth Armstrong received from Alger Hiss, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, full press credentials to cover the UN Charter Conference in San Francisco in 1945. He continued to have a variety of other press credentials until his death.

Related Topics:
Alger Hiss - Secretary General - United Nations Conference on International Organization

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Move to California

On March 3, 1946 he moved his base of operations to Pasadena, California where he incorporated the Radio Church of God:

Related Topics:
1946 - Pasadena, California - Radio Church of God

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... we, HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG, BASIL WOLVERTON, DAVID T. HENION, JAMES A. GOTT, ESTHER M. OLSON, and LOMA D. ARMSTRONG, have voluntarily associated ourselves together for the purpose of incorporating a hitherto unincorporated voluntary association in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon, known as "Radio Church of God", under Title III, Article I of the General Nonprofit Corporation Law of the State of California ...

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On January 5, 1968, Herbert W. Armstrong and one associate filed a Certificate of Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation of the Radio Church of God, which stated that the two individuals were the President and Secretary of the corporation and that as a result of a meeting of the board of directors it was resolved that:

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ARTICLE I of the Articles of Incorporation of this corporation be amended to read as

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follows: "The name of this corporation shall be WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD."

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As leader of the Worldwide Church of God he began to be regarded by his followers as a modern-day Apostle.

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