Herbert W Armstrong: Semanitics Is Everything
If we Google the term semantics, we learn that this word conveys “the meaning of a word, phrase, sentence, or text.” And, while we all recognize the importance of being clear about the meaning and scope of what is being communicated, most of us have also experienced those obnoxious individuals who love to split hairs so that they can be right (and, more importantly, everyone else can be shown to be wrong). Unfortunately, in the religious realm, Herbert W Armstrong was one of those individuals who obsessed over semantics.
For Armstrong, most of Christianity had completely missed the proper meaning of what constituted the “gospel” or good news message which Christ taught to his disciples. Armstrong believed that the Christ-centric message of Traditional Christianity completely ignored or suppressed the message about a future and literal world government headed by Christ. And, as has been pointed out in this forum and other places, Armstrong both ignored the Great Commission of Matthew 28 and the clear indications in Paul’s epistles that his message was focused on Jesus Christ and his salvific work. It is unfortunate that Mr. Armstrong seemed incapable of allowing that a message about Christ could accommodate a message about his kingdom. For Armstrong, it was an either/or proposition – clarity demanded one explanation or the other (making one wrong and the other right).
It seemed to be incomprehensible to Mr. Armstrong that words can have multiple meanings. Indeed, his writings suggest that he rejected the notion that words, phrases, sentences or texts might be subject to different interpretations. Armstrong had discovered “THE TRUTH.” If there were other possible meanings/interpretations, they must be disregarded because God or the Holy Spirit had revealed to him the “TRUE” meaning/interpretation.
For Herbert Armstrong, traditional understandings of terms like religion, Christian, paganism, grace and truth were said to be wrong. Indeed, in almost any area of Christian doctrine/dogma which we could name, Armstrong claimed that the traditional understanding was the diametric opposite of the truth.
However, Armstrong’s preoccupation with semantics was probably no where more apparent than in the realm of prophecy. It was how Armstrong defined terms like Israel, Babylon, Assyria, Zerubbabel, one crying out in the wilderness, place of safety and Great Whore which colored his unique interpretations of Biblical prophecy. For Herbert Armstrong, it wasn’t just the meaning of these terms either – it was the timing and chronology which he insisted were implied by those understandings. In short, Armstrong’s semantics demanded that the “end times” were upon us and insisted that his followers even more fully embrace his understandings of Biblical semantics.
There are a few scriptures that come to mind when dealing with the power of words, and how they can positively or negatively impact us. Here are a few of them: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Proverbs 18:21), “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18), “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble “ (Proverbs 21:23), “Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin” (Proverbs 13:3), “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36), “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12) and “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.” (James 1:26) One has to wonder what Mr. Armstrong thought these verses meant.
Miller Jones/Lonnie Hendrix
