It is in Oregon that the hand of God again works mightily toward the restoration
of His True Gospel.
In 1924, Herbert W. Armstrong, moved with his wife and family to the Willamette
Valley in Oregon. An advertising man by trade, young Herbert came
to Oregon seeking employment and opportunity.
One day, while visiting Mr. Armstrong's parents in Salem, Oregon, Loma
Armstrong was introduced by her in-laws' neighbor, to the Truth about the
seventh day Sabbath.
Upon hearing of his wife's "new found religious fanaticism", Mr. Armstrong
became incensed.
To prove to his wife that the neighbors' beliefs could not possibly be
Biblically based, Mr. Armstrong began his own extensive study of
scripture.
After all, he contended, how could all the traditional churches be practicing
Sunday as their day of Holy Convocation if that is not what scripture dictates
we do?
To his astonishment, Mr. Armstrong's many months of intense study revealed
that the Sabbath of both the New and Old Testaments, was in fact, clearly
the seventh day of the week.
As a result both Herbert and his wife Loma D. Armstrong began keeping the
Saturday Sabbath with this small group that called themselves "The Oregon
Conference of the 'Church of God' (Seventh Day)".
In 1931, the nation was in the throws of the Great Depression -
Yet God's plan was moving quickly forward.
Herbert Armstrong's in depth understanding of scripture, his sincerity,
zeal and strong leadership ability caused many of the brethren to start
looking toward him for spiritual guidance and church leadership.
In June of 1931 he was ordained as minister of a small congregation of
the "Church of God".
Besides the weekly observance of the Seventh Day -
Many other long lost Truths were realized by Mr. Armstrong, including the
modern day identity of Israel's ten lost tribes and the True Christian
understanding of God's commanded Holy Days, especially Passover
-
All of which, are dismissed today as Judaic practices that have been "nailed
to the cross".
Yet, Paul makes it clear in his New Testament Epistle to the Corinthians,
that True Christians are to celebrate the festival of Passover -
"For Christ our
paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, celebrate the
festival [Passover],.." 1Cor 5:7-8
Easter, which is observed today in place of Passover, is mentioned only
once in the entire Bible -
In Acts 12:4, the word Easter was incorrectly substituted for the word
Pascha (Passover), which was used in the original Greek
text.
So we see that Easter (or "Ishtar" as the Babylonian Goddess of fertility
was actually called) has absolutely no biblical substantiation or relevance
to Christ's resurrection -
But has been substituted for our Lord's Sacrifice - the Passover
- by an ancient pagan rite of fertility.
And so, ironic as it seems, the Quartodeciman Controversy of the 2nd century
that Polycarp and Polycrates carried on with Anecetus and Victor, still
raged on, and was now being rebutted in the Twentieth Century by Herbert
W. Armstrong.
Likewise, the Feast of Tabernacles, according to traditional church doctrines,
was said to be done away with.
Yet, in the book of Zechariah, speaking of a time yet future during Christ's
millennial rule, Mr. Armstrong plainly saw that contrary to popular belief,
this festival will still be in force as a commanded Holy Day of
God.
"Then every one
that survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall
go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep
the feast of tabernacles." Zech 14:16
Now why if it were "done away with", Mr. Armstrong reasoned, would Christ
upon his Second Coming demand that the nations and kings of the Earth come
to Jerusalem year after year to pay homage to Him as King of kings by observing
the Feast of Tabernacles?
Would God, who is the same today as He was yesterday, do away with the
Festivals that He commanded be kept perpetually throughout all our generations,
and substitute in their stead, pagan customs and man-made traditions that
have absolutely no Biblical foundation at all?
"No!", he concluded.
Mr. Armstrong also proved scripturally beyond any doubt, that Christ could
not have been crucified on "Good Friday" and did not rise up on "Easter
Sunday Morning".
And so, in January of 1934 from Eugene Oregon, Mr. Armstrong began broadcasting
these, and many other Truths on his first radio ministry, "The Radio Church
of God".
Just one month later the first issue of "The Plain Truth" magazine rolled
off a mimeograph machine in the Armstrong's
home.
Though of humble beginnings, both "The Plain Truth" and "The World Tomorrow",
which the radio (and later T.V.) broadcast came to be called, grew and
prospered, bringing the True Gospel to millions, world wide.
And so for the first time in almost nineteen hundred years, the same Gospel
that Jesus Christ and his Apostles after him had preached, was fully restored
and resounding through all the world.
This, in fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24:14,
concerning the end of this age, when -
"...this
Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a
testimony to all nations; and then the end will come."
And the words of Jesus in Mat 17:11 -
"Elijah
does come, and he is to restore all things"
By the time of his death in January, 1986 at the age of 93, and after more
then 53 years in service to the Lord, Herbert W. Armstrong
-
Through his publications -
His T.V. and radio broadcasts -
The Ambassador International Cultural Foundation -
Ambassador College -
And his own diligent evangelism -
Had in the "spirit of Elijah" restored and preached the "True Gospel" to
more people than perhaps all the True Christians throughout the history
of the Church. During the course of his long life, Mr. Armstrong
had met face to face with as many, if not more, Presidents, Prime Ministers,
Kings, Queens and Emperors than perhaps any prominent world figure of his
time. |
