let us continue looking at what The Plain Truth was saying during the Kennedy Administration. Many Armstrongites tend to view the time between the founding of the unaccredited Ambassador College in 1947 and the first suspension of Garner Ted Armstrong over adultery in 1972 as a sort of golden age for Armstrongism. But when one actually looks at what was happening in that time it is clear that it was no golden age. In this time HWA's organization, which was then named the Radio Church of God, bore the seeds for Armstrongism's current splintered state. Dogmatism. False prophecies. Fear of a frightful future. Scorn for the outside world. Superstitious fear of doctors and medicines. Such terrible flaws were present within HWA's organization in 1963. In this post we look at issues of HWA's recruitment magazine, The Plain Truth, from its January 1963 issue until the January 1964 issue which was published after the assassination of President Kennedy.
(Please note: In regards to page the cover page is not included so when reading PDF files of these issues of HWA's recruitment magazine add two more pages to get the reference.)
And so we begin.
January 1963
A letter from an exchange student from Japan says his foster family describes HWA's organization as being "very fanatical."
When I was in Denver, Colorado, as an exchange student from Japan, I listened several times to The World Tomorrow and wrote for a subscription to The Plain Truth; however my foster family in Denver said it was very fanatical and wouldn't let me read it or listen to the program anymore. But I still remember the three or four messages I got to listen to were such an inspiration and blessing to me and now that I am back home in Tokyo, I am writing you for a monthly subscription to the magazine. If you have any subject you need prayer for, do let me know, too.
Now I cannot endorse forcing people to not read or listen to what they want as this person say happen. In this instance it did not work as this person wrote for a subscription after no longer living with this foster family. This person needed to be persuaded that HWA's organization was not worth listening to. I have no direct experience with this situation.
But this anecdote does illustrate how important it is to share what happened in the world of Armstrongism to encourage others not to walk on the path of Armstrongism. Back in 1963 there was little critical information about Armstrongism available to the public. This foster family would have little, if any, access to printed critical information. Nevertheless they knew enough about HWA's organization to warn this person that they were "very fanatical."
This letter shows that even in 1963 HWA's organization was gaining a bad reputation as being "very fanatical." Those words actually describe Armstrongism very well.
There is also a letter from Florida claiming a miraculous healing had occurred.
You will recall that my niece was in a terrible automobile accident. [Injuries are then described.]... On October 5th I took the anointed handkerchief and placed it on her forehead and all her injuries, asking for her full and complete recovery. She is almost completely well now!
The editors of HWA's recruitment magazine then mention this.
This was written on October 29, 1962, only 24 days after an anointed cloth was received.
This is what is known as "faith healing." For decades HWA taught that it was wrong and sinful to rely on doctors and medicine for healing. Instead he told his followers to pray to the God of Armstrongism. Many people suffered because of this fanatical rejection of medical science that HWA taught for so long. Some even died. This is a particularly awful and dreadful aspect of Armstrongism that the public deserves to be warned about.
HWA's personal article boasts that this issue celebrates the 29th anniversary of the start of his recruitment radio broadcast, The World Tomorrow. And yet at the time HWA taught his followers that were forbidden from celebrating the anniversaries of their births and that of their children, namely birthdays. Birthdays are the anniversaries of one's birth.
HWA has an article overseeing the political situation of the world and insisting that it points to the second coming of Christ happening in a very short time. From 1953 onward HWA taught that the Great Tribulation would begin in 1972 with Christ returning three and a half years later in 1975. He mentions Franz-Josef Strauss.
Gene Hogberg has an article discussing political developments in Europe.
David Jon Hill has an article about the Armstrongite hell. It is hell expect there is no consciousness of it for those sent to it. Functionally speaking these are the same.
Herman Hoeh has an article about Germany being present in his Armstrongite interpretation of the Bible. He cites some Iraqi official to claim that the Nazis did go underground and are hiding to seize power any moment now. No such conspiratorial rise to power ever happened.
L. Leroy Neff has an article condemning the ritualistic recitation of the Lord's Prayer.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article advising people how to have happy, enduring families. Garner Ted Armstrong had a prosperous life because he lived off of tithe payers for most of his adult life.
Roderick Meredith has an article telling people how to understand the Bible. How is this to be done? By accepting the interpretation of the Bible provided by HWA's organization.
HWA's autobiography discusses the early days of the unaccredited Ambassador College. Features photo of the cover of the January 1947 issue of HWA's recruitment magazine, The Plain Truth, which promoted it before it opened.
February 1963
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article discussing Japan's rapid economic development since the end of World War II in 1945. And so began Armstrongism's long history of scare mongering against Japan in the post-World War II era. It continues in some of the more authoritarian Armstrongite splinter groups to this day.
HWA has an article reciting his peculiar version of the born again doctrine. HWA taught that a Christian is only born again after Christ's return when, according to him, all true Christians, the Armstrongites, will be supernaturally transformed into God beings. The transformation into God beings was taught by HWA to be the moment one is born again.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article hysterically insisting that Indonesia, then under the rule of President Sukarno, was plotting to conquer Australia. Little did he know President Sukarno would be overthrown in a military coup just two years later and the military rulers launched a purge killed about half a million people destroying the Indonesian Communist Party as a viable political force. Indonesia thereupon allied with the United States.
HWA's autobiography discusses his tithes funded trip to Europe in 1947 under the pretext of trying to establish a second campus for his unaccredited Ambassador College in Lugano, Switzerland. This installment discusses their journey through Britain and France. Page 27 features passport photos of HWA and Loma Armstrong.
Roderick Meredith has an article saying it is important to know what a true Christian is. HWA's organization taught that only the members of HWA's organization were the only true Christians. In this way a Christian is redefined to mean a member of HWA's organization, which was then called the Radio Church of God.
Albert Portune has an article discussing the topic of the secret rapture. HWA's organization taught that there is no secret rapture, instead they taught that members of HWA's organization would flee to a "place of safety" on Earth. Among the Armstrongites this "place of safety" is often identified with Petra in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The Question and Answer insists that the word Deutsch is derived from a name the Armstrongites insisted was given to Assur, the father of the Assyrians. The author stridently said, "By their own admission they are Assyrians!" (p. 45.) This is all nonsense. Germans are not Assyrians.
March 1963
Letters. One letter scare mongers that there are "pressure groups" out there conspiring to hamper the recruitment efforts of HWA's organization.
HWA discusses President De Gaulle blocking Britain's attempt to join the European Economic Community. President De Gaulle would continue to do so as long as he was in power.
Gene Hogberg has an article about winter weather.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article insisting that true Christians, by which he means Armstrongites, are still bound by certain Jewish religious rules such as observing the seventh day Sabbath. Neither HWA nor Garner Ted Armstrong were ever professionally trained in how to understand ancient Christian history so they failed to understand that early Christianity reached a consensus that those who were not Jews did not need to become Jews to be Christian. Their identity as Christians existed independently of the Jewish religion. The Armstrongs' promotion of their misunderstanding have caused thousands of people to badly misunderstand this issue.
The Question and Answer assures readers that the early Christians were not Communists, that is it is insisted that, according to HWA's organization, they did not live as a commune. Another question says that Rahab is rightfully counted as one of the righteous even though she lied to protect spies from the ancient Israelites.
Gerhard Marx has an article discussing political developments in West Germany with the goal of reinforcing HWA's dogma that Germany would in the near future transform Europe into a mighty European Empire fated to militarily conquer the United States shortly before Christ's return.
HWA's autobiography discusses HWA and Loma Armstrong's journey into Switzerland in 1947 under the pretext of trying to establish a second campus for HWA's unaccredited Ambassador College in Lugano, Switzerland. Here their journey through Switzerland is discussed.
HWA has an article about living the abundant life. It is easy to do so when one convinces thousands of people to tithe to an organization under his complete control.
Roderick Meredith has an article telling the readers it is important for them to know who is the "true church." Of course HWA's organization, which then called itself the Radio Church of God, taught that it was the "true church" and every other church was false. In this a Christian was redefined as a member of HWA's organization.
April 1963
In the letters section there is a letter mentioning earthquakes. Within Armstrongism it is taught that earthquakes and other natural disasters are a sign of divine anger against sinners. This is a superstition. Earthquakes happen because there are a lot of tectonic activity underground usually along fault lines. But some refuse to accept what is happening and scare people by exploiting natural disasters to insist that some supernatural force did it and that this supernatural force can somehow be manipulated into not letting an earthquake occur where you are.
HWA has an article about colleges. He says most colleges will be obsolete in fifteen years. This is a reference to his prophecy of 1972-5, dates he taught to his followers since 1953.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article scare mongering about the "new Germany," continuing to promote the false prophecy that very soon Germany would lead a future European Empire into militarily conquering the United States. Franz-Josef Strauss is mentioned.
HWA has an article saying that Jesus Christ died on the cross on a Wednesday and was in a state of unconsciousness, which is known in related Adventist sects as "soul sleep," until being resurrected late Saturday afternoon. HWA taught that after death humans are in a state of unconsciousness until God resurrects later. In other related religious movements this is named as "soul sleep" but HWA always refused to use this name. This is similar to what is taught among the Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses, both of which are ultimately derived from the Millerite Adventists of the 1830s-1840s.
Roderick Meredith has an article telling readers they need to be baptized by immersion as part of the process of joining HWA's organization.
HWA's autobiography discusses HWA and Loma Armstrong returning home via Britain and a particularly stormy Atlantic Ocean in 1947.
Raymond McNair has an article bemoaning the supposed decline and fall of the British Empire. Because of their embrace of British Israelism the Armstrongites have never properly understood the disintegration and subsequent reorganization of what used to be the British Empire. It fell because no one needed it anymore. The colonized peoples realized there was nothing special about British people compared with other people. Neither the colonized or the colonizers could justify why one nation should rule over so many others. Britain no longer needed a mighty military or to rule over the seas when they were allied with the United States and western Europe. Even the British 1% did not need it anymore. But the Armstrongites, blinded by British Israelism, think the fall of the British Empire was a terrible wrong and a sign of the Armstrongite God's wrath when it was no such thing.
McNair's article features a bigoted photo caption mocking a Hindu religious ceremony on page 27.
The teeming multitudes of India are part of the British Commonwealth--in name only. In this scene are thousands of religious Hindus in the Jumna River bathing on "body cleansing day." Waters are consider holy even if sewage-ridden.
J. W. Robinson has an article saying that farming is about to go down the drain due to genetic diseases afflicting livestock and other such things. Fifty-eight years later farmers continue to farm.
May 1963
Herman Hoeh has an article scare mongering about the rise of the United Arab Republic with Iraq agreeing to join Egypt and Syria in this union. These events are also used to scare monger about Germans working in the Middle East. Little did HWA's organization know this union of Arab states would collapse just a few months later. The union between Egypt and Syria only lasted five years (1958-63).
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article vilifying colleges as producing mental illness and making people mentally unbalanced. This is done to promote his own (unaccredited) college, Ambassador College. This is an exercise in discredited the accredited competition.
Raymond McNair has an article continuing to bemoan the supposed decline and fall of the British Empire.
Page 29 features a photo of Allied soldiers moving bodies of some of the victims of Nazi crimes from Bergen-Belsen in 1945.
Roderick Meredith has an article insisting that those who tithe to HWA's organization will be blessed with financial blessings.
Herman Hoeh has an article insisting that HWA's organization have all the answers you need regardless of what any historian should happen to say based on their analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Again this is an exercise of preemptively discrediting information that could contradict the teachings of HWA's organization
J. W. Robinson has an article continue to say that farming is in big trouble.
June 1963
Garner Ted Armstrong had an article bewailing the supposed lose of power, influence and prestige for the United States in the Caribbean. Throughout the rest of the Cold War era the United States would exert much trouble to combat any perceived attempt among not only the Caribbean nations but in all of Latin America. To this day the United States maintains a dominant position within the Caribbean. In 1983 the US even invaded Grenada and deposed a leftist government there. The US blockade against Cuba remains in force to this day. The Armstrongites in 1963 completely failed to foresee such things because they cannot see the future.
David Jon Hill has an article scare mongering about volcanos. One is reminded of ancient wisdom: Do not be bewildered by the signs of the heavens. The same attitude should be taken in regards to natural seismic activity.
Roderick Meredith has an article saying the future European Empire fated to militarily conquer America is rising up and about to fulfill its Armstrongite devised destiny any moment now. Fifty-eight years the Armstrongites are still waiting for this supposed catastrophe.
Herman Hoeh has an article assuring his readers that there is a way of escape from the dire future the Armstrongites kept scaring everyone with. HWA's organization taught that their members would be supernaturally protected by the Armstrongite God and would be moved to a "place of safety," which was often identified with Petra in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
In Hoeh's article it is implied that Adolf Hitler was demon possessed. But Armstrongites seem to ignore a problem with this idea. If Adolf Hitler was demon possessed as Hoeh alleged here wouldn't that mean that Hitler was innocent of his countless crimes? If Hitler was demon possessed then that implies that he was not responsible for his crimes. Shame on the Armstrongites for minimizing the guilt of Adolf Hitler and the genocidal regime he led by claiming that Hitler was demon possessed.
Gene Hogberg has an article condemning brutality in sports.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article stating that Paul's writings are to be viewed as divinely inspired and condemning the idea that Paul was presenting his own ideas in his writings preserved in the New Testament.
July 1963
Gene Hughes has an article discussing France's plans to conduct nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article discussing the Abomination of Desolation.
Roderick Meredith has an article claiming to reveal the true identity of the False Prophet mentioned in Revelation. He taught it would be the final Pope.
Raymond McNair has an article saying society outside of HWA's organization is uncivilized and uncouth.
David Jon Hill has an article stating that the Armstrongite interpretation of the gospel is embedded within the Old Testament. Many within the Jewish community would vociferously disagree with that assertion.
L. E. Torrance has an article seeking to refute evolution by saying the idea of evolution has itself evolved.
L. E. Torrance has an article advising readers how to get prosperous employment.
August 1963
Roderick Meredith has an article about race relations. It is hard to convey the madness and fanaticism of this article. Only by reading of the article can one grasp the horror of this article. Everything about the article is written under the assumption that in just a few years (1972-5) everything will drastically change after Christ's return. It is asserted that keeping races separate is the natural way to manage race relations from the perspective of humanity and the Armstrongite God. (By the way, that is wrong.) The Armstrongite God will solve race relations after 1975 by separating the races into their respective homelands. Meredith condemns the civil rights movement as a plot to permit interracial marriage. The article is presented as forging an enlightened third way beyond segregation and equality. It is no such thing. It is clearly in favor of segregation. Shame on HWA's organization for stirring up and encouraging opposition to the civil rights movement back in this time as was done in Roderick Meredith's article above.
Herman Hoeh has an article saying President Kennedy's visit to the Federal Republic of Germany did not go very well. It is insisted that the Germans applauded President Kennedy simply because they were ordered to do so. They only showed actual enthusiasm in response to a visit by President De Gaulle. President Kennedy's visit is portrayed as a desperate and futile attempt by President Kennedy to stop West Germany from getting closer to France.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article providing a brief background of HWA's organization. In this article he denies that HWA's organization was influenced by the Jehovah's Witnesses.
[Garner Ted Armstrong quotes a letter:] "My wife is a Jehovah's Witness and I am a Catholic. My wife thinks you are now or were at one time a Jehovah's Witness. I honestly don't have any idea what your religion is...," writes a man from Missouri. His wife is wrong--neither my father nor I have ever been remotely connected to the Jehovah's Witnesses--or any of their writings. (p. 9.)
Anyone familiar with the teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses know that many things taught by Herbert Armstrong and his imitators are very similar to that of the former. Fixation on the second coming. Soul sleep. Not going to Heaven after death. Pyramidology. Jesus lacking divinity while living as a human. Denial of the Trinity. Relegating the Holy Spirit to merely an impersonal force. Condemning Christmas, Easter and birthdays. The superstitious condemnation of vaccines and medical science which the Jehovah's Witnesses also adhered to from 1921 until 1952. The God Family doctrine. Etc.
Back in the June 1953 issue of his recruitment magazine, The Plain Truth, HWA also denied a link with the Jehovah's Witnesses. But in that article he admitted he had read some of their writings but he implausibly insisted that he arrived at similar conclusions independently of what the Jehovah's Witnesses said. What nonsense. It is quite clear that Herbert Armstrong was influenced by the Jehovah's Witnesses no matter how many times this quite evident link is denied.
Also Garner Ted Armstrong assures his readers that his father's autobiography can be trusted.
Herbert W. Armstrong ... strives to give readers of [The Plain Truth] the real inside story about himself! It's TRUE--It's ACCURATE! I know because I well remember many of these personal incidents he related. (p. 23.)
Garner Ted Armstrong was born in 1930. Many things HWA described in his autobiography occurred before Garner Ted Armstrong was even born or was too young to understand what was happening. There is of course no way Garner Ted Armstrong could possibly verify much of what his father stated in his autobiography. It is shameful that Garner Ted Armstrong would pretend otherwise.
Page 22 features a photo of recruitment writings being moved onto a vehicle after being produced by Ambassador Press. Page 26 features a photo of Garner Ted Armstrong in his office. Page 27 features a photo of Herbert Armstrong in his office. It also shows what is described as being the newly designed seal of HWA's unaccredited Ambassador College.
Dibar Apartian has an article insisting that the interpretation of Bible prophecy accepted within HWA's organization explains what will happen to France. He discusses widespread tax evasion. France's nuclear weapons program. He alludes to the date 1972 which was then taught by HWA's organization to be the year the Great Tribulation would begin. He also scare mongers about a future European Empire.
Knowing that Apartian spoke French fluently it is strange to see him write of a French speaking man's talk to him as though it were written by one unfamiliar with French.
[The French customs inspector] smiled with half admiration and half sarcasm. "Americans rich," he went on, "they do big things. But then, they have much, much money." (p. 12.)
David Jon Hill has an article asking, what is the Devil's religion? In the world of Armstrongism this is largely a question that cannot be answered in a straight forward manner.
Ronald Kelly has an article scare mongering about world hunger. Little did he know scientific advances in the Green Revolution already underway would prevent such a feared famine from occurring.
September 1963
Gene Hogberg has an article insisting that the United States will very soon suffer an economic catastrophe. Fifty-eight years later the Armstrongites are still waiting for this feared catastrophe. The economic downturn in 2020 caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is most emphatically not what the Armstrongites like Gene Hogberg warned about.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article complaining that society is falling apart by glorifying the "goof-off." He moans and complains about people on social welfare. He even indulges in fat shaming. This is yet another tirade that the economically deprived will have heard over and over again.
Herman Hoeh, doctor of an unaccredited college, has an article saying that archaeological discoveries agree with HWA's organization's interpretation of the Bible. He even says that the archaeologists are lying about their discoveries to prevent the people from following rules described in the Bible.
I am finding anew in this Ashdod digging that archaeological reports do not disclose all that is found in archaeological diggings. Archaeologists dig up much more evidence than you hear about. ... Neither archaeologists nor ministers want to accept anything that supports the Bible--because they are unwilling to accept the Bible at face value. (p. 7.)
What men dig up are facts. Facts are fine. But it is the THEORY of how facts are to be understood that is in error. They go to the Philistines to understand the Bible, not to the Bible to understand the remains left by the Philistines. I am finding that out here first-hand! (p. 46.)
Hoeh's article also features this photo caption that refuses to mention that it was the State of Israel which expelled "the Arabs [meaning the Palestinians] and Egyptians" from Ashdod. Many of the descendants of those Palestinians are now refugees living in the blockaded Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The village of Ashdod as it looked before the Arabs and Egyptians were expelled in 1948. Dr. Hoeh is assisting in the excavating of this Biblical city. (p. 7.)
Gene Hogberg has an article discussing the Sino-Soviet Split. It would be nine long years before President Nixon took advantage of this split and embarked on establishing diplomatic ties with China (and thus gained the possibility of playing off China against the Soviet Union).
Leslie McCollough has an article discussing the tragic and ever present problem of people dying by suicide.
HWA's autobiography discusses about "Christian Fundamentalism" while discussing an early faculty member of the unaccredited Ambassador College. HWA condemns Christian Fundamentalists for not obeying the law, namely certain rituals and rules as HWA selectively taught them. HWA failed to understand that Christians are under no obligation to observe Jewish rituals and rules to be a Christian.
Lynn Torrance has an article saying that evolution could not possibly be true because it contradicts the stance of HWA's organization regarding early history.
October 1963
HWA has an little article insisting that they, meaning his organization, do not take any stance regarding the civil rights struggle which is idiosyncratically referred to as "the race issue."
HWA has an article about the civil rights struggle that was then so prominent in the public affair of the nation. HWA condemns "forced integration." This is one of the most important and consequential challenges facing the United States and Herbert Armstrong, pretender prophet, failed his nation and society by choosing to side with racial segregation. His hollow denials of taking sides rings empty.
Roderick Meredith has an article written from the Middle East. He denounces President Nasser and says he has a lot of influence in Lebanon. He scare mongers about German scientists aiding the development of Egypt's military. He cites the division of Jerusalem between Israel and Jordan as being in accord with Armstrongite predictions of the future. He states that he will soon cross the armed border from Jordan into Israel in Jerusalem soon. He also presents an interpretation of the Second Coming contrary to what is often taught among the Armstrongites: Meredith said that Christ would return to stop the European Empire and the Communists (Russia, China and various allies) fighting each other at Jerusalem.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article encouraging people to have more self-confidence.
HWA has an article insisting that polygamy was not practiced in the Old Testament era even though it clearly was. HWA also advances a bizarre interpretation of II Samuel 11-12 while failing to note that those chapters are a foreshadowing of Absalom's revolt. In Talmudic Judaism polygamy was allowed but it was not viewed as a mitzvot (righteous deed).
The Question and Answer discuss how to talk about intimate relationships with teenaged children.
Robert Boraker has an article scare mongering that the Europeans are plotting to change things in Ireland.
November 1963
There is a brief article discussing the retirement of Chancellor Adenauer.
Herman Hoeh has an article discussing Pope Paul VI's call for church unity. The Armstrongites teach that the Roman Catholic Church are fated to seize control of the Protestant churches and impose a forced unity submitting to the final Pope who is identified by the Armstrongites with the false prophet mentioned in Revelation. In reality no such thing is being except in the minds of marginal fanatics.
C. Wayne Cole has an article discussing the establishment of Malaysia as an independent nation state. It is implied that Malaysia would soon fall to "Communists." More specifically it is implied that Malaysia would soon be conquered by Indonesia. At the time Indonesia was ruled by a left wing government that HWA's organization viewed as being essentially Communist. Very soon war would indeed erupt between Indonesia and Malaysia but, little did the Armstrongites know, peace was soon restored, Indonesia's President Sukarno would soon be overthrown with much bloodshed and Malaysia continues to this day as an independent nation.
Roderick Meredith has an article seeking to make the reader become doubtful about his or her own religion in order to convince them to join HWA's organization.
HWA has an article complains that many people do not view Jesus Christ in ways contrary to how HWA's interpretation of Jesus Christ.
HWA's autobiography continues in this issue. Page 14 features a photo of the first four students of the unaccredited Ambassador College. One would split away from HWA's organization in 1974 after changes over Pentecost and Divorce and Remarriage, namely Cole. One would remain in WCG after the Tkach changes, namely Hoeh.
Robert Gentet has an article assuring his readers that dinosaurs existed before Adam because this aligns with what HWA's organization teaches. HWA taught that the Earth was created twice. There was a first creation in which the Earth was populated with Angels. That was when the dinosaurs lived. But then Lucifer rebelled against the Armstrongite God becoming Satan the Devil and caused the Earth to be destroyed. After that first catastrophe the Armstrongite God recreated the Earth but this time added human beings on it. This recreation, HWA and his imitators say, is what is described in Genesis 1-2.
Roderick Meredith has an article saying that women must not be placed in positions of authority over men in a church. He also states that prophets have no administrative authority over lay members. To this day many of the Armstrongites, which are mainly male dominated, do not allow women to be placed in positions of authority, such as being a minister, within their organizations.
Allen Manteufel has an article reporting from a conference of teachers in Chicago.
December 1963
Letters regarding the "race issue" published in this issue of HWA's recruitment magazine was discussed in a previous post.
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article fearfully warning Americans that West Germany is developing rapidly. The rise of Ludwig Erhard to the Chancellorship is also discussed. This is portrayed as a dire development. HWA's organization taught that Germany would lead a future European Empire fated to militarily conquer the United States in the Great Tribulation which was said to begin in 1972.
Roderick Meredith has an article presenting ten reasons why the Armstrongite Christ simply must return soon. It is insisted that many Western cities would soon be destroyed by nuclear weapons. Among other things Roderick Meredith insists that "race war" is about to occur.
Albert Portune has an article condemning Christmas just like the Jehovah's Witnesses.
The Questions and Answer responds to a person who speculates that going beyond Earth is somehow contrary to religion. That is the sort of people HWA's recruitment magazine appealed to.
L. E. Torrance has an article saying the Great Flood described in Genesis 6-9 did happen because it aligns with what HWA's organization taught about this subject.
January 1964
This was the first issue published after the assassination of President Kennedy.
HWA has a personal article describing how he heard about the shooting and death of the President while teaching a class in his unaccredited college.
HWA has an article predicting what was likely to happen in 1964 in such a way as to promote his prophesies that the end of the world as we know would occur in 1972-5. He implies that the newly installed President Johnson might be the last President of the United States. (He was not.)
Garner Ted Armstrong has an article bemoaning the problem of killing in the United States.
The Questions and Answers discusses the allegedly impending fall of the United States and Britain which is falsely compared with the fall of the Western Roman Empire. That is a false equivalence. Also another question asks if there was any prophetic significance to the murder of the President.
HWA's autobiography discusses how his unaccredited Ambassador College allowed him to get his recruitment magazine reliably published every month by adding personnel from students of his unaccredited college.
Herman Hoeh has an article calling for people to respect governmental authority. The murder of the President is blamed on a widespread contempt for political authorities.
Roderick Meredith has an article discussing how the unaccredited Ambassador College heard about the assassination. He mentions how he and Garner Ted Armstrong heard about the assassination.
There is an article detailing how members of HWA's organization reporting reactions to the assassination in West Germany, Australia, the Philippines, Britain, Canada, apartheid South Africa and Switzerland.
An article written back in the January 1956 issue of HWA's recruitment magazine by a "Wartime Naval Intelligence Officer" is reprinted to scare monger that the Soviet Union is plotting to make a more destructive nuclear weapons.
L. E. Torrance has an article continuing to promote the interpretation of the Great Flood taught by HWA's organization.
***
And so this post ends.
There was no golden age of the supposed Philadelphia era. All the ingredients for the current degraded state of Armstrongism were all well present back in the height of the "golden age" of Armstrongism in 1962-4.
There is no need to listen to false prophets.
