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My first observation in readings his publications was that almost nothing he had to say was original, or new, but that it was certainly reorganized. In fact, I began to see that I had found one of the most interesting and to borrow Mr. Armstrong’s own words, “shocking, incredible,” case of organized confusion, that I had ever run across.
So it is that today, some years after my study of Herbert Armstrong began, and with my file bulging with his publications, I have set down to write an article showing the “Plain Truth” about his teaching. As I begin, I can think of no more fitting title than one that appears at the heading of this analysis: “Herbert W. (pg5) Armstrong-Mr. Confusion” Let me tell you why.
I. Herbert Armstrong’s confused about salvation.
Much can be endured in differences over Bible interpretation if a man is right in his understanding of the simple plan of salvation. Men may not agree on events of prophecy, systems of church government, to some of the so called non-essentials of the faith, but in this one important area a man must either be right to wrong. There is no middle ground or room to debate. There is but one way of salvation.
Armstrong’s contempt for the promise of salvation by receiving Christ as personal Savior is expressed by Roderick C Meredith, one of his writers, in the March, 1957 issue of the Plain Truth. He scorns the work of present-day evangelists in the following words:
“Many people contend that there are many evangelists stomping up and down the land telling their audiences about the reality of Jesus Christ and His shed blood and calling upon them to accept Christ and be saved.
(pg 6) “Come up and give your heart to the Lord tonight,’ they plead. ‘Won’t you come? Come now while the Spirit is moving you. Come up and say, Tonight I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior from sin.’
“The truth is that the inspired apostles and evangelists of the New Testament NEVER relied on this kind of empty preaching to save people from sin. That sounds SHOCKING but it is true.”
If preaching of Christ’s blood is “empty preaching,” then certainly all the apostles are guilty of “empty preaching.”
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians that they were “made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). In his Epistle to the Colossians. He wrote of the “redemption we have through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:14)
The Book of Hebrews abounds with references to the importance of Christ’s shed blood. And John wrote: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7).
Although Herbert Armstrong denies it, his way of salvation is a way of grace and law homogenized. In his article “Just What Do You Mean (pg 7) –Salvation” (Plain Truth – July 1961),he sets out to prove to the world once and for all that the “persecutors” are wrong when they accuse him of teaching salvation by works.
His method in the article is to make you (the reader) the lost person he is leading to salvation. (We dare not say salvation-for Mr. Armstrong doesn’t really believe you have that until the resurrection.), He points our that you are a sinner and guilty before God, which of course, is correct.
From this he leads you to forsake your sin and to begin to keep the law but points out that although you have done this you are still lost. He does this to prove that he does not teach salvation by keeping the law. He then leads you to what he calls “contact with God,” This state is achieved thorough Christ but must be maintained by keeping the law. He writes: “Your works-your Law keeping while certainly required…” and further, “So where are you? Even with your Commandment-keeping which-make no mistake-God requires you.”
Anyone with a knowledge of Seventh-Day Adventism will (pg 8) immediately suspect Herbert Armstrong’s source for this part of his theology. But let us not give Ellen G White undue credit for originality either, for she borrowed her pattern of teaching from certain teachers who “troubled” the church at Galatia (Gal 1:7).
How wisely Paul deals with his problem in Galatians 3:1-3: “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh?”
Salvation was not probation to the great Apostle. He wrote, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (I Cor. 1:18). Paul was so sure of heaven that he assured the Philippians that to die would be ‘gain,’ and that to “depart and to be with Christ” was far better.
Mr. Armstrong’s confusion about salvation is evident then, as he considers it “empty preaching” to urge (pg 9) others to “receive Christ as Savior.” This confusion is further evidenced by Mr. Armstrong’s belief that conversion is maintained by commandment-keepings’ mixture of law and grace.
II. Herbert Armstrong is confused about the Trinity.
Following the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Herbert Armstrong goes to great trouble to prove his belief in the Trinity is pagan. He is a bit ‘unlike’ the Witnesses in his views concerning the Father and he Son, but seems identical with them in his teachings about the Holy Spirit.
To Armstrong the Holy Spirit is not a person but simply a ‘force.’ To support this unscriptural teaching, one of Armstrong’s writes, Dr. C Paul Meredith, blasts all who do not agree with him on this point by declaring: “Note now that the pagans termed the Holy Spirit a “Being” such as the Father and Son. They wrongly made a Trinity. Satan was confusing mankind. (Plain Truth, Feb 1969, pg 26)
If everyone who speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person is pagan, them, of course, Jesus must also be labeled as “pagan,” for he referred to the Holy Spirit as “He” time and again. As (pg 10) Christ revealed the great truth of the coming Comforter to the disciples, He said: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:7-14). Notice the teaching of Jesus about this personal member of the Trinity who can hear, speak, show and guide. Certainly this can never be said of a ‘force’ as Armstrong defines the Holy Spirit.
Once the spiritual identification of the Holy Spirit is seen, the wonderful truth of the Trinity becomes evident. Let the reader turn to Matthew 28: 18-20, John 1:1-34, and other Scriptures and just believe the Bible, and he will have no problem in seeing that this plain spiritual teaching (pg 11) concerning the Holy Spirit is not pagan, but proper.
Therefore, we see Mr. Armstrong is no t only confused about himself and salvation but also the Trinity, because he believes the Holy Spirit to be a “force” rather than a “person.”
III Herbert Armstrong is confused about the nations.
Someone once said, “Show me a man who is right about Israel and I’ll show you man who is right about the rest of the Bible.” That statement may not always be correct to the letter, but one thing is always sure: “Show me a man who is wrong about Israel, and I’ll show you a man who is wrong about God’s prophetic plan.”
Herbert Armstrong is wrong about Israel, and this becomes a source of error to him in a multitude of other things.
Perhaps most exciting of Armstrong’s writings is his booklet, The United States and the British Commonwealth in Prophecy. In this he unveils his acceptance of the outworn and unscriptural British Israelism. That is, he teaches that Britain and the United States are the lost ten tribes of Israel.
(pg 12) Prefacing this booklet, he writes, “No story of fiction was ever so strange, so absorbing, so packed with suspense as this griping story of the Bible. After this interest-capturing beginning, he then presents in “Armstrong” style the usual fact-ignoring pattern of British-Israelism: “Ephraim is Great Britain, Manasseh is the United States. The throne of England is the throne of David.”
There is not space here to deal with every aspect of this teaching, but it will suffice to show the false foundation upon which it is built. Anglo-Israelism holds that at the return of Palestine after the captivity, only the House of Judah returned, leaving the rest of Israel to wander on to Great Britain and the United States in the centuries to follow, making these two nations “Israel’s New Land” (US&BC in Prophecy, p. 15).
In the above-named booklet, Armstrong writes: “Only those of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, who constituted the House of Judah, returned at that time. Consequently, those in Jerusalem in the time of Christ were only these three tribes, not the House of Israel.”
(pg 13) Now what saith the Scriptures? “And there went up some of the children of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the King” (Ezra 7:7). “So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities” (Neh. 7:73).
“And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers” (Neh. 9:2).
As to those in Palestine at the time of Christ, we quote the words of Peter on the Day of Pentecost: “therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).
Because he takes specific judgments pronounced against Israel and wrongly applies them to the Untied States, Garner Ted Armstrong, son and associate of Herbert Armstrong, writes the following: By the time (pg 14) slow moving Russia is finally ready to strike, your Bible says America will have ceased to be a nation, her citizens removed into horrible captivity, and another, totally different power will have risen – Germany” (Plain Truth – July, 1959, pg 16).
Herbert Armstrong’s confusion about the nations, then, is the result of his belief that Britain and the Untied States are the lost ten tribes of Israel.
IV. Herbert Armstrong is confused about heaven.
By teaching in the unscriptural doctrine that there is a second chance after death, Herbert Armstrong strives to give hope to those who have had loved ones die without Christ. But at the same time he tries to rob the believers of the hope that loved ones who die in Christ are immediately in heaven with the Lord.
Adding his voice to the Jehovah’s Witnesses on this false doctrines, he declares: “to continue with the question, ‘Who knoweth (whether) the spirit of man’ that is, the breath of man, ‘goeth upward, and the spirit of he beast, that is, the breath of the beast ‘goeth downward to the earth?’ Well, does any one know of it? It’s a (pg 15) question. Who knows it? The answer is. No body does” (Plain Truth, March 1957, pg 8).
To see the true teaching of this verse as the view of the natural man, the man “under the sun”, one needs but to read it in its context. (See Ecclesiastes 3:18-22). Surely God has not given his entire revelation, the Bible, only to leave us in uncertainty on such a vital matter. No, there is no doubt about it; the Bible teaches that we can be sure of heaven after death – if we are saved. Multiplied portions of the Word of God guarantee it. Do not let anyone steal from you this wonderful hope so surely promised to God’s children on the Bible.
Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you: (John 14:2).
Paul wrote with assurance: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made of hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to clothed upon with our house which is from heaven…Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home (pg 16) in the body, we are absent form the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (II Cor. 5:1, 2, 6-8). The constant desire of the Apostle was to “depart and to be with Christ: which is far better” (Phil 1:23).
Peter looked forward to an “inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not way, reserved in heaven…” (I Pet. 1:4).
John was privileged to get a view of many of the scenes of heaven while he was on the Isle of Patmos, and he wrote of them in the Book of Revelation. There saw those who had been saved while on earth and those who had gone through the great tribulation. He previewed the marriage supper of the Lamb where all the saved will one day sit with their savior. The Book abounds with the wonders of the blessed place where all the saints have their inheritance.
Therefore, when Herbert Armstrong says that no one can know what happened to the Christian at death, he reveals the he is confused about heaven, because the Scriptures are very clear on the subject.
(pg 17)
V. Herbert Armstrong is confused about himself.
Perhaps the most thorough job of deception that Satan has done with Herbert Armstrong is the deception, that he is sure that no one on earth is preaching the true gospel of the kingdom of God except him and his co-workers. An article in the Plain Truth of February, 1958, has this to say:
“There is only one work that is preaching the true gospel of the Kingdom of God-the rule and the reign of God-to the nations. This is that work. Then those who have their part in this work and are converted must constitute the Church of God!...
“every other work rejects the message of Jesus Christ or else rejects His rule through His laws. There is no exception.
“Yes, this work is the true church of God. All others are satanic counterfeits! It is time we come out from among them and become separate.”
Do you believe that every faithful pastor or missionary in the world today is a counterfeit? Probably not, but Herbert Armstrong does.
(pg 18)
If you pastor and church are true to the Bible, and people are saved by their ministry, are you to label them as ‘counterfeit’ and leave your church, and send Herbert Armstrong your tithe? Of course not! But Mr. Armstrong teaches that you should.
Not only does Herbert Armstrong think that he and his associates are the only preachers of truth today, but his error seems to be that of the Mormons in his teaching that the true gospel message was lost to the world from approximately the days of the apostles until he began his radio broadcast in 1934. Let him speak for himself:
“On the first Sunday in 1934, God’s time had come. God opened a Door! Jesus Christ himself had foretold this event! Millions have read his prophecy.
“Yet on the first Sunday in 1934, probably no on-certainly not I myself-recognized what a momentous event actually was taking place.
“…It was the fulfilling of a definite cornerstone prophecy of Jesus. More than that, it was the initial, start-off event of the fulfilling of some 90% of all the prophecies in the Bible! And approximately a third of (pg 19) the whole Bible in prophecy!” (Plain Truth, Jan. 1959, pg 3).
Now follow this closely. Mr. Armstrong teaches that although he did not even know himself, 90 percent of all the prophecies in the Bible hinged upon the beginning of his radio and literature ministry which began in 1934.
The article goes on to say that in about A.D. 69 the roman’s successfully stamped out any effective organized preaching of the gospel, and that the professing Christians turned away from Christ’s truth and embraced pagan fables. Soon the true gospel message was lost, according to Mr. Armstrong. Now notice this further quotation from the same article:
“From that time, the world has heard the name of Christ! The world has heard the Gospel of MEN ABOUT Christ. The world has called it ‘The Gospel of Christ’-but it is very far form Christ’s gospel-it is a paganized gospel of men about Christ. It is a counterfeit!”
Thus, we see Mr. Armstrong is confused about himself as he thinks he and his co-workers are the only ones (pg 20) preaching the true gospel. He is also confused about himself as the thinks that he thinks the gospel message was lost from the time of the apostles until he began his broadcast in 1934.
VI. Conclusions.
In conclusion we remind the reader of a few basic facts which will assist him in guarding himself and others against this system of error.
First, let us be reminded that almost none of Mr. Armstrong’s teachings are original. While the style of his writing and speaking seems to try to convey the idea that most of his doctrine is new, startling and sensational, it is in reality a rehashing of teaching that has been rejected through the years by those who are true to the Bible.
Secondly, Mr. Armstrong’s teachings are largely a mixture of the doctrines of Seventh-Day Adventism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and British-Israelism. While occasionally moving in some other direction, nearly all of Armstrongism falls into these three areas.
Thirdly, Mr. Armstrong regards all other Bible teachers, pastors, churches, Bible schools as satanic counterfeits. This even includes those (pg 21) groups whose teachings he has borrowed.
It is quite amusing to read from his article “Persecution” (Plain Truth Oct. 1960 pg 13), Mr. Armstrong’s defense against one who has written an article accusing him of satanic deceptions. He writes, “There is an axiom, One who accuses another is always guilty himself of the very thing of which he accuses another.” This, of course, carried through in Armstrong’s case would make him a satanic counterfeit for calling others the same. Confusing, isn’t it? But then that is the way of confusion. It multiplies.
