Another Advertising Business Swept Away
Back to Herbert W. Armstrong
In 1924, the Armstrong family embarked on an adventurous road trip to Salem, Oregon, to visit Mr. Armstrong’s parents, who had moved there several years earlier.
Along the way, a Vancouver, Washington newspaper hired Mr. Armstrong to conduct an opinion survey. They also temporarily hired him to be a merchandising specialist for a six-month period.
Afterward, he moved his family to Portland, Oregon. There, Mr. Armstrong discovered a profitable niche market for his services, where there was little, if any, competition. He started a successful advertising and efficiency-management service for the leading laundries in Oregon and Washington. In only six months, Mr. Armstrong’s business had doubled. His career was about to skyrocket.
And then suddenly, everything came to an abrupt halt!
The Laundryowners National Association began a $5 million nationwide cooperative advertising campaign, which took away virtually all of Mr. Armstrong’s clients, except one. Once again, through no fault of his own, his advertising business was swept out from beneath him—and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
With his morale beaten and worn, he concentrated on leading and helping his family struggle to survive through more rough financial times.
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Religious Fanaticism?
While visiting her in-laws in Salem, Mrs. Armstrong became friends with a Mrs. Ora Runcorn, an elderly neighbor. Their frequent religious discussions led Mrs. Armstrong to see the Bible in a completely new light.
One day, Mrs. Runcorn asked Mrs. Armstrong to turn to a certain Bible passage and read it. Then to another passage, and then another, for about an hour. At no time did Mrs. Runcorn comment on the scriptures Mrs. Armstrong read. She simply let the Bible speak for itself.
Mrs. Armstrong was amazed by how often God’s Word said the opposite of what the world’s churches taught—especially when it came to the seventh-day Sabbath. The scriptures clearly revealed that God’s Sabbath is on Saturday, not Sunday! She rushed to tell her husband about the good news of her awesome discovery.
But Mr. Armstrong was far from pleased!
“Are you crazy?” he asked. The seventh-day Sabbath was only for Jews, he reasoned, while Sunday worship was for Christians.
“Now look, Loma! I simply am not going to tolerate any such religious fanaticism in our family. You have to give that up, right here and now!”
But Mrs. Armstrong refused. No matter how many arguments her husband came up with, she was determined to follow the truth.
Mr. Armstrong was desperate. He began to worry about what his former business acquaintances and peers might think. This news hit his pride and vanity harder than anything he had ever experienced before. He felt that it was more than he could take.
He said, “Loma, you can’t tell me that all these churches have been wrong all these hundreds of years! Why, aren’t these all Christ’s churches?”
Back and forth they debated—yet his wife would not budge.
Finally, she said, “If you can prove by the Bible that we are commanded to observe Sunday instead of the seventh-day Sabbath—yes, then of course I will obey what I see in the Bible.”
Mr. Armstrong knew very little about God’s Word, but his marriage and reputation were at stake. He accepted his wife’s challenge.
The Double Challenge!
Around the same time, Mr. Armstrong’s sister-in-law accused him of being ignorant about the theory of evolution. “One is uneducated and simply ignorant,” she said to him, “if he has not studied evolution. All educated people know it’s true.”
To Mr. Armstrong, this felt like a slap in the face. It stung his pride. So he took on his sister-in-law’s biting remarks as a challenge. For the next six months, he researched and studied day and night to understand and gather undeniable proof that God’s Sabbath was on Sunday and that the theory of evolution was false.
He searched through various texts on biology, paleontology and geology. He read the works of the chief authorities of science—Darwin, Haeckel, Huxley and others. He learned the facts about radioactive elements—that there was a time when physical matter did not exist. Mr. Armstrong also learned about the law of biogenesis: life can only come from life.
He also plunged into the study of history and discovered that every single Bible prophecy that was ever foretold (except for those scheduled to be fulfilled in the future) came to pass, and on schedule. This proved the Bible’s divine authority.
These six months of daily in-depth, intensive study involved Mr. Armstrong waiting for Portland’s public library to open its door early each morning, leaving the library at 9 p.m. (closing time), and working at home, many times late into the night.
Eventually, Mr. Armstrong’s studies enabled him to chop down the trunk of the tree of evolution. If evolution was true, he reasoned, then the simplest fossil records would be found at the oldest strata levels in the earth. Likewise, the more complex fossils would be found near the top.
But this was not the case!
Mr. Armstrong learned that what was considered the most recent strata sometimes lay below the most ancient levels. The age of strata was not determined by stages of depth, but by the fossils found in them! Holding fast that the evolution theory was indeed fact, scientists assumed the age of certain strata by estimating how many millions of years ago certain fossils may have been deposited. Evolution was based on assumption—blind faith! (Ironically, this is the same thing atheists accuse of those who believe God exists.)
Mr. Armstrong quickly wrote a short article summarizing his discovery, and showed it to the head of the library’s technical and science department. She was amazed by his proof—yet she confessed that she had been so steeped in the world of academia that she could not give up believing in evolution.
“What a pitiful confession,” he wrote, “from one so steeped in ‘the wisdom of this world.’”
God’s Sabbath—an Identifying Sign
Next, Mr. Armstrong turned his full attention to learning about the Sabbath. He studied every piece of literature he could find—both for and against the seventh-day Sabbath. He examined exhaustive concordances, which revealed that nowhere in the Bible does it say, “Thou shalt keep Sunday.” God’s Word revealed to Mr. Armstrong that our Creator measures days from sunset to sunset, instead of from midnight to midnight—and that there was not a single example in the Bible of God’s servants holding weekly religious services on Sunday (midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday, as men measure time).
Not only was there no command to observe Sunday as God’s Sabbath, Mr. Armstrong also discovered that Jesus kept the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week. And so did the apostle Paul, who routinely preached to the Gentiles on the Sabbath—NOT on Sunday! This was the same Paul who commanded all Christians, both Jew and Gentile, “Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (I Cor. 11:1). God’s Word also revealed to Mr. Armstrong that, as Creator, God made the Sabbath holy by resting on that day. And only God has the authority to make things holy—men cannot!
Mr. Armstrong then discovered the truth about the special Sabbath covenant, found in Exodus 31:12-18. In it, God set apart the weekly Sabbath as a sign—a special mark of identity—that identifies the one true God and His people. This Sabbath covenant was never “done away,” as so many erroneously believe. It is binding upon God’s people forever.
Unconditional Surrender
After six long months of studying day and night, Mr. Armstrong gave in. He accepted the truth that God’s Word revealed to him—that the Sabbath was indeed on the seventh day of the week (from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday), and that God expects people to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8).
In addition to accepting this truth, along with disproving the theory of evolution, Mr. Armstrong was able to prove that God exists—that the Bible is His inspired instruction book for mankind, and that it carries divine authority!
He came to learn that the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23), not eternal life “roasting” in hell fire—that eternal life is God’s gift (same verse)—that the annual holy days and festivals of the Old Testament are still in effect and must be kept by God’s people—that the United States, Britain and other nations of the West descended from the “lost” ten tribes of ancient Israel—the pre-existence of angels at the creation of earth—and several other doctrinal truths.
Mr. Armstrong also came to accept the fact that God had been calling him (John 6:44), knocking him down and sweeping away his businesses in order to get his full attention. God wanted Mr. Armstrong to redirect his life’s focus to the most important goal in the universe: being born into the kingdom of God.
Ever since Mr. Armstrong was 16 years old, he had unknowingly practiced six of the seven laws of success. When it came to this world’s version of success, he had the right goal (the first law)—in this case, to be a dynamic, innovative business leader in the advertising profession.
To accomplish this goal, he had put himself through extensive on-the-job training and gained real-world experience. He had studied marketing, advertising, psychology, business management, journalism and writing, acquiring a solid and valuable education—the second law of success.
Mr. Armstrong also had learned to keep his body and mind healthy. He discovered the benefits of physical fasting. He learned to limit the amount of eggs he ate, because they made him sluggish. He limited how much alcohol he consumed. He had also made it a point not to be obsessed with the escapism of motion pictures and fiction novels. In maintaining good health, Mr. Armstrong practiced the third law of success.
He also prodded and drove himself. He worked against his natural tendency to slow down and lay back and, instead, pushed forward and ahead—especially when most men would take it easy. In constantly pushing and driving himself, Mr. Armstrong followed the fourth law of success.
Experience taught him that things do not always go as planned. At times, opportunities will arise from seemingly nowhere. Sometimes, trials, troubles and other problems suddenly erupt. Decisions must be made—many times on the spot! Mr. Armstrong experienced such circumstances many times, and it taught him to think on his feet—to solve the problem, not just identify it—to be resourceful, the fifth law.
But even practicing these first five laws was not enough to guarantee success. Mr. Armstrong knew that in order to be successful, he had to be able to weather the storm—to never give up, never give in—to keep moving forward, despite every trial and obstacle that presented itself. This was perseverance—stick-to-it-iveness—the sixth law of success. Those who fail to practice this law usually give up at the first sign of trouble. When things get tough, when problems pile up, most people give up, and doom themselves to failure.
Mr. Armstrong obeyed these first six laws—yet, at best, he could only achieve worldly, material success. God, through His inspired Word, revealed to him that true and lasting success was eternal, something men know nothing about. This seventh and all-encompassing law of success—contact with, guidance from and continuous help of God—meant focusing one’s life on mankind’s awesome human potential: to be born into the kingdom of God!
Because of this seventh law, Mr. Armstrong changed his life’s goal (the first law) of being a prominent and successful advertising executive. He now wanted to center his life on obeying and serving the true God of the Bible.
The seventh law also changed the way he observed the second law (having the right education). Instead of concerning himself almost exclusively with advertising, psychology and other business topics, Mr. Armstrong plunged into daily Bible study with a relentless interest.
In fact, by observing the seventh law of success, his focus in practicing the other six laws changed.
With his successful businesses twice swept out from beneath him, his wife’s amazing dream, and then having proved that God does exist and that the Bible is His inspired Word, and learning that the teachings and practices of traditional “Christianity” originate from the pagan traditions of men (Mark 7:6-7, 9), Mr. Armstrong came to realize that God was dealing with him. He came to recognize that God had been knocking him down, sweeping away the idols of vanity and self-importance, and the carnal desire for material success.
Mr. Armstrong faced an important crossroads in his life. One path led to rejecting God’s revealed truths, turning his back on these precious nuggets of knowledge and deep understanding. The other path led to accepting the truth of God’s Sabbath—which meant living contrary to all of his former friends, acquaintances and business associates, who rarely (if ever) concerned themselves with religion. (Those few who were religious blindly followed after the popular pagan customs of traditional Christianity.)
Concerning this monumental decision, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “To accept this truth meant—so I supposed—to cut me off from all former friends, acquaintances and business associates. I had come to meet some of the independent ‘Sabbath-keepers’ down around Salem and the Willamette Valley. Some of them were what I then, in my pride and conceit, regarded as backwoods ‘hillbillies.’ None were of the financial and social position of those I had associated with.
“My associations and pride had led me to ‘look down upon’ this class of people. I had been ambitious to hobnob with the wealthy and the cultural.
“I saw plainly what a decision was before me. To accept this truth meant to throw in my lot for life with a class of people I had always looked on as inferior. I learned later that God looks on the heart, and these humble people were the real salt of the earth. But I was then still looking on the outward appearance. It meant being cut off completely and forever from all to which I had aspired. It meant a total crushing of vanity. It meant a total change of life!”
Mr. Armstrong’s vanity and pride gave way to humility and defeat. Beaten, worn, frustrated, abased, he came to see himself the way God saw him. And despite all his unique talents, gifts, skills, training and experience, he humbly acknowledged that he was “nothing but a burned-out old hunk of junk.” From that moment on, Mr. Armstrong humbled himself and set his mind to serve God.
It was humiliating for him to admit to his wife that she had been right about the Sabbath. However, Mr. Armstrong was overjoyed to know that Christ, the living Word (John 1:1, 14), was revealing His truth to him through His written Word, the Holy Bible (2 Timothy 17:17; II Tim. 3:16-17).
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