How was it that the Church could simultaneously predict the end of the world on the authority of Jesus Christ – AND develop and build a master plan for a distinguished private college at the same time?
Here's some of the facts of how this happened:
At around same time that “1975 In Prophecy” was published, The “present dimensions” of the Ambassador site were conceived in 1956, when the former estate of Hulett Clinton Merrit became available at auction.
While the Church was developing the Master Plan for the Ambassador College Campus, it became quite apparent that intense fundraising was needed. It was in 1956 that the Church came out with the largest push of Armageddon propaganda ever to come out – called “1975 in prophecy”.
As the Church was building toward a master plan to finish their College – they were publishing end-of-the-world propaganda to push their church – the main fund-raising vehicle of Ambassador College. The Church wrote the following in 1956, at the SAME TIME they were conceiving the master plan for Ambassador College.
This is the Master Plan that was finalized in 1963 – just SEVEN YEARS after the book 1975 in Prophecy was published, warning the world of a Very Soon to Come, Imminent Great Tribulation – which it is very obvious was not their “real concern”. (picture below from Ambassador Auditorium, the making of a cultural legacy, published 1994)
“While modern science and industry strive to prepare us a push-button leisure-luxury world by 1975, United States Assistant Weather Chief... warns us unofficially to really fear the big drought of 1975. But the indications of prophecy are that this drought will be even MORE devastating than he foresees... and that it will strike sooner than 1975... probably between 1965 and 1972! This will be the very beginning, Jesus said, of the GREAT TRIBULATION!” (1975 in Prophecy, published 1956)
Notice what was going on in Ambassador College during the same time-frame and projection of “the very beginning of the GREAT TRIBULATION”. (1975 in Prophecy, published 1956)
“From 1957 to 1966, all properties within the projected Campus Boundaries were acquired.” (Ambassador Auditorium, the Making of a Cultural Legacy, published 1994)
Apparently, it was quite a fantastic, incredible and astounding coincidence that the greatest scare-mongering propaganda booklet called “1975 In Prophecy"came out just priorto the massive acquisition of all properties within the Campus boundaries – a booklet in which Herbert W. Armstrong unashamedly used the authority and the name of Jesus Christ to convince people the end of the world was near, and to join the “Work”, and save themselves from the terrors of Armageddon. It is very apparent that fear, intimidation, and the threat of destruction and war were used, with the full knowledge of the church, as a fund-raiser to complete the master plan of the Ambassador College Campus, including it's magnificent auditorium.
Notice the wording used in 1975 in prophecy in the quotes below. it's important to realize this was being penned by Herbert Armstrong ALL THE WHILE AND IN FULL KNOWLEDGE THAT THE MASTER PLAN OF AMBASSADOR COLLEGE WAS BEING FINALIZED, and a major push of properties purchase and financing was well underway: (All quotes from 1975 In Prophecy - 1956):
“GOD ALMIGHTY now reveals....that one third of all our people will soon die... that a second third of our people...of your personal friends, relatives, acquaintances – will be killed by the awesome hydrogen bomb...”
“our people will continue only a few more years in comparative economic prosperity”
“All this is now only a few years off.”
“people dying in every home, your loved ones, perhaps your children, or your parents, and scores of your close friends, perhaps even YOURSELF...”
“Only one in three of your friends, of your loved ones, will remain alive, unless they come under God's divine protection under HIS conditions!”
“YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED”
“Your immediate future is of your own choosing. You can take this lightly, let this slip from mind, allow yourself once again to be absorbed in the mechanics of today's complex society that you put this out of mind. If you do, I have now read YOUR FATE – and I say to you on authority of God Almighty that it is absolutely SURE”
The only thing that was absolutely sure was that while Herbert Armstrong was saying the above quotes on the authority of Jesus Christ, he did not believe a word of it – and was in the process of developing the master plans for the completion of his master building project – Ambassador College. Herbert Armstrong used tactics of great fear and panic of the end of the world to finance his vision of his college and his Auditorium – and the Church seems to have been the financing vehicle for his massive building projects and personal vision of “success”. (Image below from Ambassador Auditorium, the making of a cultural legacy, published 1994)
What then can we conclude?
Herbert Armstrong had absolutely no problem using the following methods to accomplish his building project: Co-Worker letters constantly touting financial emergencies, Using the name of Jesus Christ to suggest the end of the world while building a master plan for a college, using fear of war, death, and disease of friends and loved ones to entice growth in the church, the financial vehicle of funding for the project, and using God's name to grab money from any source possible to complete his project, without care or concern of the financial poverty afflicted on those who donated.
If anybody ever wondered how it was that one could summarily preach amazing prophecies of the end of the world, fully believed by the congregations of the fund-raising churches, and at the same time build up an expansive, expensive college campus - this sheds some enlightenment on the issue. We were all a part what I can only see myself - looking at the evidence - that all of this was one of the biggest doomsday-exploitation scams of the 20th century. Every prediction was a lie, and as we all know, never happened. I don't believe anyone ever expected them to occur. All eyes were on the final vision of the amazing campus of the Church and College, and Herbert Armstrong achieved his dream of becoming a successful, important person, with all of his treasures of worldly wealth at his control.
You can look at the facts yourself with the following resources:
And also, be sure to peruse the Co-worker letters to see the methods HWA used to fund his massive building project without regard or concern about the financial condition of those he was begging for money from:
You will find the undeniable evidence that strongly indicates that the Church (and it's fund-raising conventions and Holy Days) was a well-planned financial operation, and the Media was a recruiting operation for HWA's dream real estate building project – using post-war doomsday propaganda in the name of Christ to accomplish his real estate dreams under religious pretense.
If you dare, you may indeed begin to notice what appears to be much of the same use of familiar methodology in some of the splinters of Armstrongism even today. And it does not take much imagination to do so.
Contributed by SHT
