(HWA)Introduction
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He was a husband and a father of four children. He was a successful advertising executive who ran a thriving Chicago advertising and marketing business. He was known among multimillionaires and several of the nation’s top leaders of industry before reaching age 30. He was a prolific writer and speaker with a gift for explaining things in plain, easy-to-understand language.
He was the head of a multi-media empire, employing the tools of radio, magazines, books, booklets and television to proclaim a message that had been withheld from the world for almost 1,900 years. He was the editor and publisher of the largest worldwide circulation news magazine in the world, second among all magazines only to Reader’s Digest, reaching more than eight million subscribers and up to 25 million readers at any given time. His voice was heard, on both The World Tomorrowbroadcast and telecast, by ten times this many, on every continent and in almost every nation of the world. He also established and led the world’s largest annual multi-site convention of any kind.
He was the founder and chancellor of three colleges—yet never attended college himself. He was a world traveler who met with one-third of all the world’s heads of state of his time—kings, queens, emperors, presidents, prime ministers and chancellors. He was applauded and highly esteemed—yet also continually attacked, ridiculed and eventually terribly betrayed. He was widely known, yet truly understood by few.
He was Herbert W. Armstrong, an ambassador for world peace, without portfolio.
Mr. Armstrong’s detractors accuse him of every evil deed imaginable. This book cannot—and will not—answer his accusers. But it will do something much more important, and necessary.
Herbert W. Armstrong – His Life in Proper Perspective will explain the who, what, how and why regarding this man who was perhaps one of the least understood of all God’s servants: why he started three Ambassador Colleges—how and why he had to make a clean break from the fifth era of God’s Church in order to begin the next era—how he was a man of extraordinary vision, drive and perseverance, destined to fulfill an important end-time role that few today any longer acknowledge and even fewer truly understand—what motivated him, what drove his thinking—why he was so viciously attacked during his lifetime, and even more so, long after his death—how he learned from his mistakes, weaknesses and faults, and from those of others, and why he was not above admitting when he was wrong, even sometimes publicly doing this in sermons and articles to the Church—how his life embodied the seven laws of success in action—how and why he “walked by faith and not by sight” (II Cor. 5:7), while constantly surrounded by people who “didn’t get it,” who could not see what he saw—and how, like Abraham, he feared, believed and wholeheartedly obeyed the true God of the Bible.
Two Opposite Ditches
We live in the age of the Internet, a time when people from every continent and virtually every nation and territory can easily access a vast storehouse of information about almost anyone or anything. Yet, like the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, such information is usually a hodgepodge of facts mixed with rumors, innuendos, gossip, spin, half-truths and outright lies.
This is especially true when it comes to the name Herbert W. Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong was a bold and dynamic speaker, writer and leader. He lived—almost literally breathed—to do the Work of God. He was consumed by the need to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to every nation—to warn the modern-day descendants of the house of Israel, who are headed for the worst time of trouble man has ever seen—and to feed, protect and lead the flock of God. And yet, today, this man’s life, role, purpose and mission have been almost completely misunderstood and misrepresented.
Recent history has demonstrated that there are two categories—two opposite ditches—that people fall into in regard to this little understood man.
In one ditch are those who hate Mr. Armstrong—who abhor everything about him—who assault his memory with every kind of slander, outrageous accusation and personal attack imaginable. Invariably, these are people who claim to have the “inside story”—who claim to know “where the bodies are buried.” They use the perceived or reported faults and shortcomings of men as license to attack what Mr. Armstrong taught: the way of giving, helping, cooperating—of outgoing love and concern for others—the only way that brings lasting peace, prosperity and true success. Even though Mr. Armstrong has been dead since 1986, attackers feel compelled to “expose” him—largely through inventions about his character—to the widest possible audience.
Such people cannot be helped by this book. Their minds are already made up—closed. Of course, some will attack this book in their effort to continue smearing the man that it honors and explains. Our response to these is Proverbs 26 ALL, Proverbs 26:4: “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like unto him.” Mr. Armstrong deeply understood II Timothy 3:12—that “all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”—and that this would apply before (and after) the death of godly men. He did not answer his accusers and would not want us or anyone else to serve as his “apologists.”
Then there are those of the other ditch, the people who adore—who unknowingly worship—Mr. Armstrong. These could be likened to those who place a statue of “Mary” on the lawn or mantle because they require something physical to worship. Such people treat Mr. Armstrong’s writings like Scripture, and view his sermons and broadcasts as sacred. Instead of seeing Mr. Armstrong as a human instrument used by God to “restore all things” to His Church (Matt. 17:11), they speak of him in almost hushed tones of reverence, thinking they most correctly honor him. Yet, almost invariably, these generally refuse to continue his work.
In reality, Mr. Armstrong would be embarrassed by such unbalanced and unwarranted gushing over his name and person. And he would be furious! He never wanted people to confuse him with the message God used him to preach.
Some leaders immerse themselves in Mr. Armstrong’s image, using his name as a marketing tool to attract sincere yet misguided people who confuse revering Mr. Armstrong with practicing what he taught. This book can help the latter—if they are willing to see his life from the proper perspective.
And thus we come to why this book is titled Herbert W. Armstrong – His Life in Proper Perspective. More than a mere biographical sketch, this book reveals who Mr. Armstrong was: what drove his thinking—what motivated his life—why, like the apostle Paul, he felt that “necessity was laid upon” him (I Cor. 9:16) to “cry aloud, and spare not” (Isa. 58:1)—and what he would expect from those today who claim to follow what he taught.
Here is Herbert W. Armstrong’s life in proper perspective.
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