top of page

Because of One Man

Why does God’s Church possess the biblical knowledge it has today?


Because of one man.


Why do you understand the need to observe God’s Sabbath?


Because of one man.



Why are you able to keep God’s Holy Days?


Because of one man.


Why was the Philadelphia era such an important era of God’s Church?


Because of one man.


Who is this man?


His name is Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong


No understanding

No one in God’s Church today, would have any real biblical understanding if God had not used this man to restore biblical knowledge back into His Church prior to the return of Jesus Christ (Mal. 4:5-6, Matt. 17:11, Rev. 3:8).


This biblical understanding and knowledge is not taught or practiced in Catholic, Protestant or Jewish churches today.


On pg. 19 of his booklet, “Your Awesome Future—How Religion Deceives You,” Mr. Armstrong points to the 2-fold commission God gave him in restoring knowledge (Matt. 17:10-11) and taking the gospel to the world as a witness (Matt. 24:14).


“And in His Word the living God has opened my mind to the awesome human potential—to the missing dimension in knowledge: to the CAUSES of all humanity’s evils and to the WAY to world peace and how it finally is going to come. And the same God of all creation is now opening before me the doors to unusual favor in the eyes of heads of state all over the world as an ambassador without human portfolio for world peace and a builder of bridges for peace between nations.”


Ministers of God’s Church are advised to take careful note of these words. God is not working through any of you like this today.


Prior to God’s work through Mr. Armstrong, much biblical truth had been lost by God’s Church down through the centuries. Christ described how this loss of knowledge impacted the Church in Revelation 3:1.


“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”


Finding God’s Church

In his search for the true Church of God, Mr. Armstrong understood God’s Church was physically in existence (Matt. 16:18), but it took some time for him to find it. And when he did, he found a church exactly as Christ had described, one physically “alive,” but spiritually “dead.”


He recounts his discovery in Volume 1 of his “Autobiography,” on pgs. 352-358


“Could the original and only true Church have disintegrated and disappeared? Could it have ceased to exist? No, for I read where Jesus said the gates of the grave would never prevail against it. Also He had said to His disciples who had formed His Church, “Lo I am with you always.”


“I knew now that when I found the one and only true Church, I would find a Church obedient to God—keeping His commandments—having the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the TRUTH of the Scriptures.”


“That automatically ruled out all churches observing Sunday.”


“The true Church is the one which lives by EVERY WORD OF GOD—the words of the Bible!”


“The only Church I had found so far which “kept the commandments of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ,” and at the same time bore the NAME of the original true Church, was this almost unknown little Church of God with its small publishing house in Stanberry, Missouri.”


“Yes, and yet, small, powerless, resultless, impotent though it appeared to be, here was a church with the right name, “keeping the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ,” and closer, in its doctrines and teachings, to what God had been opening my eyes to see plainly in His Word than any other church of which I knew! Small and impotent though it appeared, it had more Bible TRUTH than any church I could find!”


“COULD such a church—imperfect, fruitless, feeble, lacking in any sizable accomplishment, be the TRUE Church of God? Could this be Christ’s INSTRUMENT through whom He worked, in carrying on GOD’S WORK on earth? Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Its fruits were not evil—it simply did not seem to be producing fruit!”


Mr. Armstrong would later come to understand this was God’s Church and that God had called him at a time when God’s Church was transitioning from the 5th era of Sardis (Rev. 3:1-6) to the 6th era of Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7-13). The era God gave him responsibility to lead.


A Church Divided

Since the death of Mr. Armstrong in January 1986, many in God’s Church have fallen away from God’s Truth (II Thes. 2:3). Those who remain have divided and separated into various groups, holding differing views as to what God’s people should be doing at this time.


Is this divided condition a condition God’s Church should be in? The apostle Paul asked this same question in I Corinthians 1:13, “Is Christ divided?”


He provides the answer in I Corinthians 12:12-13,


“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”


Paul makes it very clear the body of Christ, the Church of God (Col. 1:24), is not divided.


Below is an illustration of the division that exists within God’s Church today.


One prong of Mr. Armstrong’s 3 prong effort in taking the gospel to the world was the “The Plain Truth Magazine.” At the time of his death, “The Plain Truth” had a monthly circulation of over 8 million magazines per month.




These 5 magazines published by the Philadelphia Church of God, the Restored Church of God, the Living Church of God, the United Church of God and the Church of God, a Worldwide Association all have direct ties back to Mr. Armstrong and “The Plain Truth Magazine.”


Do these magazines represent the work of God? No, they do not!!! They represent the confused disorder of division (I Co 14:33, 40).


Why then is God’s Church in such a divided state today?


Predominately because God’s Church consists of 2 eras of people, the remnant of Philadelphia which is holding fast and continuing to grow in God’s Truth (Rev. 3:11, II Pet. 3:18) and the majority of Laodiceans who have become lukewarm, regressing in spiritual growth and development (Rev. 3:14-17).


But the one thing these 2 groups of people have in common is who they learned God’s Truth from. And that is from one man, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong.


35th anniversary

January 16, 2021 marks the 35th anniversary of Mr. Armstrong’s death. He would be saddened by the divided condition of God’s Church in 2021, but not surprised.



In his 1985 Pentecost sermon titled, “Why the Firstfruits,” he asked,


“Has my teaching been in vain, brethren? Sometimes I wonder. I get terribly discouraged. I don’t think you get it. I think so much Protestantism has rubbed off on you that you just don’t understand the truth when I give it to you. And it is really Christ giving it to you through me because I’m certainly not competent to give it to you. Of myself, I could not do it at all.”


Brethren of the Church of God, you need to understand God the Father and Jesus Christ are not happy with the condition of the Church today!!!


“So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will (about to) vomit you out of My mouth” (Rev. 3:16).


How many of you are receiving this message from your ministers?


Are your ministers exhorting and encouraging you to repent, NOW?


“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be[come] zealous and repent (Rev. 3:19).


Or will their messages cause you to repent in the soon coming “great tribulation”?


“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see (Rev. 3:18).


Brethren, the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election shows the danger the world’s only superpower is in. This election has witnessed America’s founding documents finally being thrown into the fire because all 3 branches of government at the state and federal level have failed in upholding and defending the Constitution.


When the world’s only free nation does away with its founding principles to embrace the totalitarian mindset of the Gentile world, the earth becomes a much more dangerous and hostile place to live. This now opens the door for the “Days of Vengeance” (Luke 21:22) to begin.


Brethren of the Church of God take stock of your spiritual lives, NOW!!!


Ask yourself,


“Am I being properly prepared for the tumultuous days ahead?"


"Are my ministers providing me spiritual “meat in due season”?


Don’t get caught unawares (Luke 21:34)!!!


Circumstances in this world will change in a moment’s notice. The year of 2020 should be proof enough of how quickly this can happen.


God’s Church has the understanding it has because of one man.


Remember who he is (1 Cor. 11:2) and follow his faithful example (1 Cor. 11:1).


“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

bottom of page