Watchman Warning the House of Israel

By mid-May 1941, The Plain Truth reached 5,000 subscribers, and with the August-September issue, it went from being mimeographed sheets of paper to a 16-page printed magazine, published every two months.

For the last seven years, the Work had to be produced from a smoky, windowless, one-room office—and without desks or mailing equipment. Then God opened another door for the Work: an office with large windows, plus the ability to afford a desk, which Mr. Armstrong used in God’s service for many years. They were also able to buy a used, foot-operated addressing machine and Mr. Armstrong’s first filing cabinet. “If anyone doubts that this work started the very smallest, let him realize we had to wait seven years for this cardboard file cabinet—and then we could afford only the one.”

It was around this time that the significance of the Ezekiel Warning (Ezek. 33:1-19; 3:17-21) was impressed on Mr. Armstrong’s mind:

“So now I saw Ezekiel was set a watchman—to watch international conditions as well as God’s prophecies—and when this invasion is preparing, and near, shortly prior to Christ’s coming to rule the world, the watchman is to WARN the people who had migrated, in Ezekiel’s day, to northwestern Europe and the British Isles! But Ezekiel never carried that warning! It was not for his time! He was used merely to write it! It now became plain to me that God was to use a modern 20th-century ‘Ezekiel’ to shout this warning.”

America was on the verge of being pulled into World War II, which had been raging across Europe for almost two years. Mr. Armstrong wondered: Could this be the prophetic “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7), the divine punishment of military invasion, famine, pestilence and slavery that God would unleash and use to chastise the modern descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh? If so, then they had to be warned! Mr. Armstrong did not see himself as a modern-day “Ezekiel” chosen by God to cry out and boldly tell the American and British peoples of their sins—on the other hand, he saw that no other man was taking this strong warning to Israel.

“…I did see, plainly, that God said: ‘IF the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned’ that God would require the blood of the people—and nowwhole peoples—at the watchman’s hand!

“That was a stern warning to me. At least I was one of the watchmen who did see it coming! God had already placed the broadcasting facilities of three radio stations at my disposal. A quarter of a million people now heard my voice weekly. Possibly ten or fifteen thousand people read the 5,000 copies of The Plain Truth.

“Of course I had been sounding this warning all along—but only in the Pacific Northwest. Now I began to see that God intended to send it to ALL ISRAEL. And He had revealed to me that that meant, today, the United States, the British Commonwealth, and the nations of northwestern Europe. The idea of my being used, personally, in reaching Britain and these other countries did not yet take sharp focus in my mind. But I did now, for the first time, begin to think actively and definitely about this work expanding to the entire United States!”

Soon after Mr. Armstrong came to this conclusion, his sister-in-law and a friend decided to go on a road trip to Detroit. They asked Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong to go with them. The Armstrongs drove their car, their first “new” one (bought from a DeSoto dealer, whose wife had only used it for six weeks; it only had 1,700 miles on it).

But it was more than just a pleasurable road trip. Mr. Armstrong intended to get the radio program to air over WHO, in Des Moines, his hometown. This was a 50,000-watt radio station that transmitted not far from the middle of the United States, broadcasting across the nation.

As he had done decades ago, Mr. Armstrong sought the help of his uncle Frank, who used his influence to arrange a meeting with WHO’s general manager. Three Sundays a month were cleared for Mr. Armstrong for about $60 per half hour. It was definitely an incredible opportunity, but it was one the Work at that time could not afford.

On the way home to the West Coast, Mr. Armstrong headed for Los Angeles to look for potential radio stations there. Hollywood was America’s radio headquarters, producing most of the top programs. This meant that the Radio Church of God program could get quality recordings for its transcription disc. At that point in time, Mr. Armstrong had been limited to producing homemade transcriptions that lacked the tell-tale sign of professionalism. Having been in advertising for several years, Mr. Armstrong knew that the more professional a product was, the more that product would command respect and be taken seriously. The recordings he made back in Oregon would not be accepted at larger-watt stations.

Though Los Angeles had religious programs on the air, the stations there were beginning to turn away their business. Mr. Armstrong did speak with the station manager of KMTR, who seemed to be open to having his program on their airwaves. Though he was not ready to broadcast over their airwaves at that time, Mr. Armstrong would inquire about it later when the time was right.

A Memorable Plane Ride

Mr. Armstrong had worked virtually day and night nonstop for the past 7½ years—and he was in dire need of rest. So he, along with his family, rented a small cabin along the Oregon Coast, and fasted for 18 days. After being recharged, both physically and spiritually, Mr. Armstrong resumed his work back in Eugene, ready to spread the gospel further than before.

To cut down on the strain of driving all the way to Seattle and back every weekend, he decided to leave his car in Portland, and then take a train to Seattle. But the train was running late—too late to do the Seattle broadcast on time. Mr. Armstrong decided to ride the train to Tacoma, Washington, and then he caught a taxi to Seattle, arriving there on schedule. Not wanting to chance being late again, after the broadcast he caught a plane back to Portland so he would be on time for the 4 p.m. broadcast there.

For Mr. Armstrong, this plane ride was memorable for two reasons. First, it was the first time in his life that he had ever flown. Second, during the flight, the captain of the plane exited the cabin and spoke to each passenger, breaking bad news: That morning, December 7, 1941, the Japanese fleet had just attacked Pearl Harbor and other U.S. military bases and airfields in the region. Thousands of soldiers were killed, missing or wounded—hundreds of military aircraft were damaged or destroyed—eight battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers and several auxiliary vessels were either damaged or sunk. The United States Pacific Fleet was virtually destroyed.

America had been pulled into World War II!

The World Tomorrow Program

Mr. Armstrong’s 4 p.m. broadcast from Portland was driven by this devastating news. In it, he explained to his listeners the prophetic meaning behind these earth-shattering events. Mr. Armstrong’s future broadcasts came to analyze the war, combining his biblical knowledge and prophetic understanding with his business training in analyzing and processing the news. The listening audience grew. The radio station managers noticed the changes to the program and encouraged Mr. Armstrong to continue. For some time, they suggested that he drop the program’s church format altogether. Mr. Armstrong did not want to do this at first, but he had gradually reduced the live hymn singing. Finally, he changed the radio program to an all-talk format, examining world events in the light of Bible prophecy.

Another change was made: The Radio Church of God program took on a new name, becoming The World Tomorrow radio program. It still proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God, but in a way that appealed to the non-religious as well as churchgoers.

By the spring of 1942, Mr. Armstrong believed that the Work was ready to branch out in Southern California. He drove to Los Angeles and got The World Tomorrow program on the air at Hollywood’s KMTR. Though only a 1,000-watt station, its transmitter stood above an underground river—which, through a quirk of nature, produced a radio signal equivalent to 40,000 watts! Its programs could even be heard over the mountains in Bakersfield.

Two weeks after debuting on KMTR, Mr. Armstrong was offered a timeslot of 5:30 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays. Mr. Armstrong knew that Christ was opening this door, the biggest one to date. It was a tremendous opportunity to expand God’s Work even further—yet it cost six times morethan what it cost to broadcast only once a week. There was no time to send out Co-Worker letters, asking for pledges. Mr. Armstrong had 24 hours to take the timeslot or turn it down.

Back in Portland, he had learned the lesson of not walking through the doors Christ opened to him—two years of being limited to a tiny 500-watt station and 2½ years of The Plain Truth shutting down for lack of funds. Mr. Armstrong did NOT want to repeat this! He telephoned his wife back in Eugene to find out the total balance of what they had in the bank—which happened to be exactly one week’s worth of radio airtime. Mr. Armstrong took every cent he had in the bank and committed to air six times a week on KMTR. He trusted in God to provide the rest.

Mr. Armstrong was not disappointed, for not only did a huge mail response result from this, more tithes and offerings came in, too! Week after week, just enough money was sent in to Eugene headquarters to purchase a week’s worth of airtime. Mr. Armstrong recognized that God was providing for their every need. And the size, span and power of the Work were doubling.

From 1942 to 1947, Mr. Armstrong used several different men as the radio program’s announcer. But the one who was to hold the job for many decades was Art Gilmore. His voice was well-known as the announcer for popular national radio shows of the day, like Amos ‘n’ Andy, Red Ryder, Dr. Christian, Stars Over Hollywood, and Murder & Mr. Malone.

In June 1942, Mr. Armstrong invited his listeners to attend a campaign meeting he was holding at the Biltmore Theater, the largest theater in downtown Los Angeles. At the meeting, Mr. Armstrong addressed 1,750 people, and talked about events in the war, tying in biblical prophecy. At the close of the service, instead of passing collection plates and asking for donations like most preachers did, Mr. Armstrong merely mentioned that there were two offering boxes at the rear of the lobby for those who wanted to leave a contribution. And many of the attendees did leave offerings. In fact, there was exactly—to the penny—enough money to pay for the theater, the janitor, the electrician, the lobby signs and other expenses.

Mr. Armstrong’s stay in Los Angeles lasted for months. Before heading back home to Eugene, he was able to get the radio program over the air at San Diego’s KFMB, whose signal could be picked up more than 100 miles away.

Next, Mr. Armstrong traveled back to Des Moines and, now being able to afford it, bought daily airtime on WHO. He first broadcast from there at the end of August 1942. The World Tomorrowprogram had finally gone nationwide!

However, that following January, WHO gave Mr. Armstrong notice that the program would be cancelled. Mr. Armstrong moved into action. He contacted the listeners of the WHO broadcasts, who listened from every state in the continent. This led to 2,200 letters flooding the radio station. The sales manager was not pleased. However, he and Mr. Armstrong worked it out so that the radio program could stay on the air until their contract was up.

Mr. Armstrong then arranged to have The World Tomorrow air at WOAI, in San Antonio, Texas. It, too, was a 50,000-watt station. In this way, he could establish a large audience with WOAI before going off the air at WHO 6½ months later.

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