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"The WORLD TOMORROW"
A NATION - WIDE BROADCAST
HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG
Analyses Today's News, with the
Prophecies of The WORLD TOMORROW
Publishing
The P L A I N T R U T H
Box 111, Pasadena, California
A Magazine of UNDERSTANDING
December 8, 1947
Dear Family of Co-Workers' in God's Service:
GREETINGS! in Jesus' name: TIME is running out! This
world is moving swiftly to its destruction! Yet there is still
time---and just barely enough time---to finish the work of God
for this present age. THERE IS NO TIME TO LOSE. But the work of
God is progressing on schedule---amid handicaps, thru obstacles
and trials that try our souls, our patience, and our faith to the
limit---under the divine direction of God, and as a result of
MIRACLES performed by him in our behalf.
The "Big Four" diplomats are locked in an uncompromisable
duel between East and West---between Russia and the United
States---between Communism and Democracy---between Atheism and
professed Christianity. At the London conference, the nations
merely lock horns and fight, and quarrel, and deadlock, in their
efforts to restore the peace of Europe and the world.
The United States announces the invention and production
of horrible, terrifying new atomic weapons---without giving the
public any hint as to the nature of those weapons. The Russians
give out hints that they, too, either HAVE the atomic bomb, or have
its secret and are now preparing to actually produce it.
The United Nations recommend the partitioning of
Palestine, and actual setting up, at last, of a new Jewish NATION
in the holy land. This sets off the Palestine powder-keg. The
Moslem nations, 300 million strong and solidly ORGANIZED these past
three years, have announced they will never permit it---they spring
to action---fighting and violence is intensified in the holy land,
and terror reigns.
Europe faces its hardest winter, and the United States,
with diminishing food supplies, sets out to try to feed the world
to save it from chaos and communism and starvation.
Yes, this world is being hurled rapidly TOWARD UTTER
DESTRUCTION---we approach the END OF THE WORLD!---which means the
end of this AGE!
The WORLD TOMORROW will soon dawn, bringing peace,
prosperity, happiness and joy at last;---and in the short time
that remains our calling and sole important mission in life is to
SHOUT THIS GOOD NEWS (the true Gospel of Jesus Christ) TO THE
WORLD! It must go, not only to America and Canada, as it is now
going, it must go to ALL NATIONS, in ALL LANGUAGES! To this end,
AMBASSADOR COLLEGE is now operating in sober earnest---instructing
consecrated, eager young men and women in the true Message,
training them in speaking foreign languages.
THE OUTLOOK, at the moment, is for six or seven more
years of PROSPERITY here in America---(even tho it is an
artificial, unsound and inflated "prosperity")---while meantime the
world moves relentlessly toward WORLD WAR III and final
DESTRUCTION!
YOU, dear Co-Worker, are not going to be permitted to
enjoy your home, your freedom, your present privileges and
pursuits, many more years. Just a few more years---perhaps six or
seven---perhaps twelve or fifteen---and a re-united Fascist-Nazi
Europe will STRIKE---America's great cities will be blown out of
existence in one night without warning---we shall see such
tremendous atomic destruction as the world has never even dreamed
---more than 40 MILLION Americans will perish in the horrifying
blasts! At the same time drought and famine will strike dead
another THIRD of our entire population---men, women, and children
---thru starvation and disease! And our second great commission
---our divine calling from Almighty God---is to WARN our beloved
nation, and other Israelitish nations, before it is too late!
Every individual who HEEDS this warning, turns to God, is WATCHING
and PRAYING ALWAYS, being filled with God's Spirit, living by every
Word of God, with a life consecrated to Him, will be given special
divine protection---taken beforehand to a place of SAFETY---
preserved thru the final horrifying tribulation, time of plagues
and human anguish soon to visit this earth!
But if we to whom God has revealed this terrible future
thru His divine prophecies fail to heed it---if we fail to each
play his or her full part in WARNING this nation and the world,
now, while we may---then God says we shall not escape, but He will
require the blood of this entire people at our hands!
God Almighty is causing a "prosperity"---if only a
temporary, stimulated, prosperity---to shine brightly upon our
LAND. Listen! Do you know WHY? TO ENABLE US WHO UNDERSTAND TO
HAVE ENOUGH FINANCIAL MEANS TO CARRY OUT GOD'S PURPOSE---to WARN
our nations of the soon-coming prophesied destruction---to WARN the
entire world of the fast-approaching "TRIBULATION" and true Gospel
of Jesus Christ---the Gospel Christ brought and preached, and
commissioned every true minister of His to proclaim to the world
throughout this age---THE GOOD NEWS OF THE COMING WORLD-RULING
KINGDOM OF GOD! The denominations, preachers, and evangelists are
not proclaiming THIS true Gospel!
The destruction of the United States of America is
foretold in YOUR BIBLE. It is foretold by Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Micah, and others. It was foretold by Jesus
Christ Himself! But the worldly churches and their ministers, all
divided into sects and denominations, bound by sectarian creeds and
blinded by world-wide spiritual deception, deceived, by a devil who
poses as GOD and has deceived the WHOLE WORLD---they do not under-
stand the Bible, and do not perceive what is so clearly prophesied!
Yet this catastrophe is sweeping on toward an
unsuspecting America with increasing momentum---and in a few years
it will STRIKE---suddenly, unexpectedly! "AS A SNARE," said Jesus,
will this SUDDEN DESTRUCTION come. Then it will be too late!
Listen, dear Co-Worker! To set your heart, your mind and
interest now in the pursuits of THIS WORLD, or THIS LIFE,---to
ignore this appeal, and this PRIVILEGE, to HELP TO YOUR VERY UTMOST
in the closing work of God---to figure that you can't afford to
spare anything now for God's cause because of OTHER worldly
interests---is to enjoy a fool's paradise, and find yourself
suddenly, when least expected, in just a few years, caught in the
snare of this on-coming DESTRUCTION!
I tell you, ON THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS CHRIST, IT IS
COMING! Many of you NOW, are in financial condition to DO A LOT
MORE than you are doing for GOD'S CAUSE---to help me get out this
Message over the air, and in print---to help me train and prepare
talented, able, consecrated young men and women for THEIR part in
soon carrying this vital message to THE ENTIRE WORLD---into EVERY
NATION!
One consecrated co-worker and his wife are mortgaging
their home in order to place a few more thousand dollars in this
mighty work that more millions may be warned! At first I shrank
from accepting money under such conditions---but when we remember
that in a few years NONE OF US will be living in our present
homes---EVERYTHING material we possess now will be swept away from
us, and we shall then be either in that haven of safety under God's
divine protection, or else dead or in slavery worse than death---
and when we consider further that this brother and his wife are not
deprived of their home, but merely PUTTING IT TO WORK FOR GOD'S
GREAT CAUSE, while they enjoy it and live in it, too---then it
appeared in a different light, and we could do nothing but accept
it, to use it for God's honor and glory. WHO KNOWS? perhaps this
one sacrifice on the part of this one man and wife may be the means
to bringing MANY precious souls not only under God's divine
protection in the TIME OF TROUBLE TO COME, but also into ETERNAL
LIFE in God's Kingdom FOREVER!
TIME IS SHORT! It is fast running out! Soon we shall
come to the time of the prophesied FAMINE OF HEARING THE WORD OF
THE ETERNAL---the time when world forces will no longer PERMIT the
preaching of God's Truth!
No man can know exactly how long. This much we DO KNOW
---it is now NEAR, even at the very doors, according to prophecy
---it will strike DURING THIS PRESENT GENERATION---it cannot now be
more than A FEW YEARS;---yet, on the other hand, we may KNOW that
God will not permit this time of national disaster and world
destruction to fall UNTIL our nations HAVE BEEN WARNED (and no
other voice is warning them), and UNTIL "this Gospel of the KINGDOM
shall be preached in ALL THE WORLD for a witness UNTO ALL NATIONS,
and then shall the END COME!" BE SURE THERE IS ENOUGH TIME, if we
set ourselves full pressure to the task, and do our very utmost, at
any sacrifice. But there is no more than enough---not one single
day to waste.
I know that TIME IS SO SHORT, there was not enough time
to delay the opening of AMBASSADOR COLLEGE even one more year.
That is why God moved with MIRACLES to make the IMPOSSIBLE happen
for us, so we could start, as we did, this fall!
I want to tell you of its progress---of the state of this
work. BUT DON'T LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT WE HAVE BEEN PLUNGED INTO
A GREAT CRISIS IN THIS WORK, WHICH WE HAVE NOT YET PASSED, ALTHOUGH
GOD HAS MERCIFULLY KEPT THE WORK ALIVE AND PROGRESSING WITH
INCREASING MOMENTUM AND POWER. This work needs your greatest
sacrifice---it needs all you and every other co-worker can give.
It need MORE than you can give---it still needs the LOANS from many
who are in position to put money they may need later INTO GOD'S
WORK where it can be WORKING FOR GOD until needed, when we can pay
it back. Especially do we need more LONG-TERM, and LARGE loans---
that is, of from one to ten thousand dollars---even more, over a
long period, not to be paid back for two, three, five years or
more. A few loans for a period of only a few months have helped
greatly. More of these will help---but the greater need is for
larger, and longer-term loans from those who are able.
The "BEST COLLEGE IN THE WORLD"
These past several months have kept Mrs. Armstrong and me
under such pressure, in the financial emergency of meeting this
unexpected reconstruction expense at the college, that we have
literally suffered agonies. There have been moments, when things
looked so dark and hopeless, when I have wondered if it was all
worth while---when I was sorely tempted to drop the crushing load
and flee from it all. But always God helped us over such moments
of temptation---as He always will.
But when I see the happy, smiling faces of the students
and professors at the college---hear them all exclaim how WONDERFUL
it all is,---hear them say Ambassador is the BEST college in all
the world,---and they really MEAN that from the heart---see some of
the students out on the tennis court, others on the benches
watching, or strolling over the beautiful grounds---see some of our
student "experts" engaging in long drawn-out volleys of hard drives
across the table-tennis in the recreation room;---or, when I look
into a class room during class and see the interested and sober
expressions;---when I look into the alert, enthusiastic,
anticipating eyes of students and professors alike during my own
Bible classes, so eager, so interested, so absorbed in what they
are learning---when I see these things, then I think it certainly
IS all worth while, after all.
And when Mrs. Armstrong and I sit down and read thru
hundreds and hundreds of earnest letters from radio listeners from
all parts of the United States and Canada, and read of what our
broadcast has meant in their lives---of how it has lead thousands
and thousands to CHRIST and HIS TRUTH, well, I tell you, dear
Co-Workers, these things just warm our hearts, fill us with
encouragement and determination to PRESS ON with all our might, no
matter what the cost!
I want to tell you a brief experiences. On Saturday
night Mrs. Armstrong and I were asking one of our girl students
from Oklahoma, who had not seen Hollywood or Los Angeles, if she
would like for us to drive her around on Sunday afternoon and show
her some of this beautiful Southern California community.
"Oh, no,---I'm sorry, Mr. Armstrong," she replied, "I'd
just love to, but I'll have to spend all my time studying. The
course is very stiff at Ambassador, you know," she smiled. "But
I'm glad it is, and our standards are so high. I just LOVE it!"
I invited two of the young men students, who room
together---one is from Jefferson, Oregon, the other from Santa
Rosa, California---and who are largely working their way thru
college, to come over to our house for the evening.
"That would certainly be nice," they smiled, "but we've
got to study until bedtime."
"So being a student at Ambassador College isn't proving
to be a soft snap, or a lazy man's occupation?" I inquired.
They grinned. "I should say not!" One of them
explained. "But I wouldn't take all the money in the world for
what we're learning!"
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. The WORK at
Ambassador is hard, and lots of it. Our academic standard is the
very highest, our professors all able and experienced. But our
students find time for fun, and I think every one of them will tell
you they have never enjoyed life so much before. Most of them are
taking up tennis, and during noon-hour, and following afternoon
classes the tennis court is a popular place. Personally, tennis
was one of my favorite games as a young man, and although I had not
played it for twenty years, I get great enjoyment, and some much-
needed recreational exercise in getting out on the court for a set
with some of our young people once or twice a week.
We installed table-tennis equipment in the recreational
room, and discovered we had several top-flight players at the
college. One student was champion of his county in Oregon. Mr.
Mattson, business manager, was some kind of champion among the U.S.
Marines in Australia during the war. Mr. Dillon, our college
president, can hold his own with any of them. One of my sons beats
most of them most of the time, and then---to the chagrin of the
boys and men, one of the girls usually beats them all!
I have preached, over the years, before hundreds and
thousands of audiences, but never have I had such INTERESTED
audiences as I now have in my Bible class at Ambassador College.
The entire faculty and student body attends, and several of the
office staff. Their eyes sparkle, and their faces gleam and shine.
They drink in every word hungrily, and seem to realize they are
receiving riches all the money on earth could not buy!
We serve lunches at the college, and lunch hour is a
delightful period. It is served cafeteria style, each carrying a
tray and serving himself. Everyone speaks enthusiastically of the
splendid hot lunches being served, and we find we are able to serve
them (at cost, of course) for 20› to students, and 35› to faculty
and office staff.
One noon I had a man and wife, radio listeners visiting
the college, as my guests at lunch. On being introduced to Miss
Lucille Hoover, head of our music department, the wife exclaimed
that she was a music teacher in piano, and had studied at the
Chicago School of Music. Immediately they had a great deal in
common, because both Miss Hoover, and Mrs. Lucy H. Martin, our
librarian, have degrees from the Chicago School of Music. I
explained to our visitors that Miss Hoover had come to us from
Drake University, in Des Moines, where she was head of the
departments of piano and organ. And the Drake Conservatory, I
explained, is a top ranking conservatory in the middle-west.
"Yes," said Miss Hoover quickly, "Drake is a high ranking
university, but I have come to a BETTER college, Mr. Armstrong."
She said it sincerely, and I replied that I felt that was a very
high compliment for our college.
But that is the way ALL our professors and students feel.
In no university in the United States can you find professors of
higher standing, wider experience, or superior ability. True, from
a pure academic standpoint, probably any large university has
professors of just as high academic standing, and probably many
more of them---BUT, what every student at Ambassador realizes and
appreciates is that in none of these larger universities would he
be able to have, in his own classes, four, or five, such high
ranking professors as he has at Ambassador---and, even more
important, in none of them would he find the basic IDEALS and
Christian principles that form the very FOUNDATION of Ambassador
College---and in none of them would he receive the personal
attention and individual instruction given at Ambassador.
Yes, although our professors have been members of the
faculties of some of the highest-ranking and best known
universities in the United States, I have many times heard the
conviction expressed that Ambassador, tho one of the smallest, is
the finest and best college in the whole world! Well, it ought to
be---it's GOD'S OWN college!
PRESENT STATE OF GOD'S GREAT WORK
Now I must close this BULLETIN with a report on the state
of the work, and its urgent need at the moment.
I have told you before how the final cost of the
reconstruction and fire-proofing of the main college building rose
to three times the original estimate---to more than twice what we
were prepared for. The bill for the week or ten days prior to the
opening of college, alone, was in excess of $12,000---more than the
entire original estimate. I was only prepared to meet a part of
this. It simply overwhelmed us.
All we could do was slow down the completing of the
reconstruction work to a bare stand-still. The work was far from
finished, but enough had been done so we could open the college and
keep it operating. Since that time, we have whittled down this
bill by about another $2,000 or a little more, but we still owe
several thousand dollars on work already done, and we still lack
some $3,000 of completing the job.
Now two facts are VITALLY IMPORTANT! One, least
important of the two, the part of the work still unfinished is the
part that will make MOST of the difference in the final beautiful
APPEARANCE of the college. Now we might say that we would just
leave this unfinished, and keep the college operating under the
handicap of an unfinished building, sacrificing the beautiful
appearance it will have in order to save the money except for the
more important second point: UNLESS THIS WORK IS COMPLETED IN THE
NEXT FEW WEEKS, THE COLLEGE MAY BE FORCED TO CLOSE DOWN!
Now THAT point is of VITAL importance. Here is the
reason: They have permitted us to start the college in the
unfinished building, but we cannot legally CONTINUE the college
indefinitely UNLESS THE BUILDING IS PASSED ON BY THE CITY BUILDING
INSPECTORS AS CONFORMING TO THE LOCAL BUILDING CODES FOR SCHOOLS
AND COLLEGES! The building must be COMPLETED to pass inspection.
Otherwise the city may, at any moment, tell us we are operating
illegally, and close up this wonderful college.
It is JUST THAT SERIOUS AND IMPORTANT! There is NO TIME
TO LOSE!
Brethren, Co-Workers! Shall we have gone thru all we
have had to suffer thru, at this tremendous sacrifice these past
several months, have opened and started this fine college, only to
have it all STOPPED just when it is going ahead so nicely? That's
exactly what will happen, UNLESS OUR CO-WORKERS COME TO OUR AID
WITH ENOUGH MONEY TO FINISH THE JOB IN THE NEXT TWO OR THREE
WEEKS!!
We CAN'T let that happen!
Now about the all-important radio work. This college
reconstruction forced us to get behind with our two big radio
stations.
Remember, WE HAVE THE BEST, MOST LISTENED-TO-TIME, 8:PM,
EVERY NIGHT BUT ONE IN THE WEEK, ON THE MOST POWERFUL RADIO STATION
IN THIS HEMISPHERE, beside having the programs re-broadcast early
the following morning every day. The great super-power XEG is
heard in Florida, in North Carolina, Illinois, Kansas, and as far
west as the Rocky mountains. It is heard all over Canada.
MILLIONS hear the true Message on this great station. Also, on the
Pacific Coast over XERB.
The owner of these stations suddenly demanded that we
bring our account with these two great stations up to date
IMMEDIATELY, or GO OFF THE AIR!
In the emergency, I had to sign notes that will keep me
in the vice of this tight financial squeeze for the next three
months or more.
The only way I could meet the situation was to GO OFF THE
AIR week-nights on XERB. This I had to do. At the present writing
I am trying to arrange to remain on XERB, 1090 on the dial,
covering the entire Pacific Coast and British Columbia, Sunday
nights only, and if possible to keep the morning program on the air
at 6:30 week-day mornings. I am making a desperate effort to keep
the program FULL TIME on the most powerful station of all, XEG,
8:PM every night except Saturday and 5:30 every morning except
Sunday. We simply MUST NOT lose our valuable time on XEG.
Remember, this is the most powerful station there is.
Remember, we have the BEST time there is on it! It is a miracle we
are able to have it. But we must FIGHT TO KEEP IT. Twice in the
past week we almost went off the air. Once the program was ordered
off, but before broadcast time I managed to get it ordered back on
by several long-distance calls. I have been laboring under
terrific pressure, and a terrible strain. Co-Workers, I simply
MUST be relieved from this punishing strain, so I can be free to
concentrate my mind and put my whole heart into sending you
interesting, vital, inspired broadcasts.
But I simply have to tell you, I am a human being like
yourself, and this terrible punishment I have had to live thru has
all but unfit me for my most vital work, and many, many times I
have been SIMPLY UNABLE to get before a microphone and send out a
fresh broadcast. THAT is why you have had to hear so many old
programs repeated by transcription! And that very fact, it seems,
almost crushes the heart and life out of me. Yes, I've suffered
these past months as I never knew a man could suffer. I have to
tell you, dear Co-workers, I HAVE DONE MY VERY BEST---and that's
all any man can do. I have given MY ALL, and tho the temptation
has been strong at times, to just quit and drop this crushing load,
I have remained determined, and refused to quit, and just committed
this heavy burden to God, and TRUSTED HIM. And He has mercifully
kept the entire work ALIVE---He made it possible to actually START
the college, to GET IT GOING, and it has been kept alive.
Even that is a miracle. I am thankful---more grateful
than words can express. Several of you, dear co-workers, have made
great sacrifices with me---some of you have given one or two
thousand dollars---some of you have LOANED us from $500 to $3,000,
and this, in addition to the regular tithes and offerings of
smaller amounts down to a dollar, has kept the work alive.
But we are far from out of this crisis. It seems we get
out of one phase of it, and into another. At this moment I am
struggling to keep the program on the air, and keep the college
alive.
I HAVE to ask every one of you to SACRIFICE, and to HELP
to your very LIMIT. If you cannot GIVE large sums for this all-
important cause, then I must ask more of you to LET GOD'S WORK HAVE
THE USE of some of your money you may not need until later---
especially those of you who could let us have the use of sums of
$1,000 up to $10,000 for three years or more. But even if for only
a short time, it would help now and MIGHT SAVE THE LIFE OF THIS
WORK. About four people let us have money totalling around $3,000
two or three months ago, which we must pay back in the next week or
two. So perhaps some of our other co-workers can NOW let us have
the use of this sum to pay them back, and keep holding this great
work alive.
This is, TRULY, the MOST important work on earth today!
It is the work of GOD! And that's the very reason it is meeting
every obstacle and difficulty!
TIME IS SHORT---TIME IS RUNNING OUT ON US! We have a
herculean task yet to perform. We have hardly started! I want SO
badly to start publishing The PLAIN TRUTH every month---but it now
costs a few thousand dollars every issue, and we must catch up with
these other emergencies first.
But REMEMBER! as certainly as the sun rises and sets, the
ATOMIC WORLD WAR III is ON THE WAY---it is coming SWIFTLY!
Invasion, destruction of our nation, THE GREAT TRIBULATION---the
PLAGUES of the "DAY OF THE LORD"---these horrible things are
approaching SWIFTLY! You won't be living in your home many more
years! Our homes will all be taken from us.
This AGE is closing FAST! We must WARN the nations,
before it is too late! NO ONE ELSE IS SOUNDING THIS WARNING! Can
you realize that? A NEW AGE will soon dawn, with the COMING OF
CHRIST! The GOOD NEWS of that must be proclaimed in great power to
the WHOLE WORLD! I am fighting with every ounce of strength in me
to build and prepare this work for that great COMMISSION---the
commission to which we have been called BY JESUS CHRIST!
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS today! Our nation is in an
artificial, stimulated, inflated "prosperity". Our people are
living in a fool's paradise! YOU WON'T BE LIVING IN YOUR HOME MUCH
LONGER---you won't be doing what you are now doing much LONGER!
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS TODAY! We must WARN the people, NOW. We must
preach and publish the GOOD NEWS of the coming Kingdom while there
is time. The night is coming swiftly when no man can work, for
God.
I am still fighting---doing my very utmost. I NEED YOUR
HELP---to your very utmost. Nothing else MATTERS, today!
GOD BLESS those of you who have helped so nobly, and at
such sacrifice---some of you with just the widow's mites, who have
nevertheless given as MUCH, in proportion to what you have---and
some of you with one, two, or three thousand dollars! God has USED
YOU TO preserve this, HIS WORK! He will reward you, and GREAT
shall be your reward in the Kingdom. Nothing MATTERS any more, in
this world!
By immediate return mail if possible---otherwise, at the
very earliest possible moment, please send the largest offering you
can, in addition to God's tithe. And, if you cannot give a large
amount, but can LOAN it for the use of God's work, SEND THE MONEY
by return mail or as soon as you can get it, and a letter stating
when, and in what amounts, you may need to have it returned, and I
will send you our NOTE for it. And remember, we are maintaining a
cash reserve fund to guarantee repayment of all such loans.
Once again, I leave the issue in your hands. I know you
won't fail me, or our God. THANK YOU, and GOD BLESS YOU! And
PLEASE remember above all, KEEP PRAYING EARNESTLY, and IN FAITH
for God to deliver us, and keep this great work going.
With love to all, in Jesus' name,
Herbert W. Armstrong
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