November 23, 1953 • Herbert W Armstrong • Co-Worker Letter
Christmas is Pagan so Send us Your Gift Money

 

Nov. 23, 1953

Dear Co-Workers in God's Work:

The work God has given us to do has reached ITS MOST IMPORTANT HOUR! This is the TURNING POINT---the SUPREME CRISIS--- in this work's entire history, past and future!

From this moment God's work either falls backward and fails, or plunges on in multiplied magnitude toward its God- commissioned goal. This is a time of GRAVE DECISION on your part, as well as mine.

So listen carefully---read and re-read every word---and then PRAY as you never did before!

First of all, let me tell you YOUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED! Here's really important news!

We go back on XEG every night, at 8:30 Central time, starting Tuesday night December 1st! Yes, back on SEVEN NIGHTS A WEEK. The XEG management tells me this great super-power station is now going out stronger, in greater power, and with firmer, clearer reception, than ever before. And several reports from listeners verify this.

And here's further good news! In the past you have not been able to get good reception in the summer months. Radio waves do not travel far in daylight---they reach out many times farther after dark on super-power stations. The past two summers I have taken the program off the air, partly because of this, and partly because I have found it absolutely necessary to rest up so I could go back on every night again in the fall. But now we have made NEW PLANS for next summer. The program will stay on the air all summer, being broadcast TWICE EVERY NIGHT---the first time at the regular 8:30 P.M. period, and then the program will be repeated again at a later time, around 11:P.M. Many people are still up at 11:P.M., and at that hour it will reach out all over the United States.

Do you know what that means? THINK OF IT! With the program going out every night seven nights in the week over these giant super-power stations XEG, XELO, and XERB, and every day, seven days a week over two Los Angeles stations, KGER and KBLA, and over KPDQ in Portland, Oregon;---and with the Sunday program going out over the great XERF, and XEDM beside WAIT, Chicago, KMAC, San Antonio, KXL, Portland, and KVI, Seattle;---and then, in addition to all this THE ABC NET-WORK, COAST-TO-COAST,---and TWO broadcasts now going out over the world's most powerful station, RADIO LUXEMBOURG, to ALL EUROPE, and THE BRITISH ISLES---with all this, The World Tomorrow becomes probably THE MOST POWERFUL RADIO BROADCAST ON EARTH TODAY!

That is as it should be---for GOD'S WORK IS THE GREATEST WORK ON EARTH!

What WONDERFUL things our God is doing for us! What MIGHTY and POWERFUL DOORS The Supreme Creator-RULER of the universe is opening to His called and chosen servants for carrying HIS MESSAGE to this dying world in these very last days!

But did not God also forewarn us, thru His prophet Daniel, that in these very SAME last days when JESUS said this same GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM which HE preached should go to ALL NATIONS, ---to ALL THE WORLD AS A WITNESS---that also "Many shall be purified, and made white, and TRIED."

We are now in that time of TRIAL and TEST, which God allows to make us, His people, purified and WHITE---spiritually WHITE! We are now in that supreme TESTING TIME!

Even now, in the beginning of the second 19-year time- cycle when God has OPENED THE DOOR to broadcast His Message to all Europe---and to open a publishing office over there to PUBLISH His Message by printed Word for all Britain and Europe---and the door has opened on the great ABC Net-Work, Coast-to-Coast---even NOW, we are entering a time of economic readjustment---a MILD DEPRESSION IS ON US, and many, whose hearts are not fully aroused to the importance and need of GOD'S WORK are going to either cut down the amount they spend for God's Work, or stop sending in altogether!

MORE THAN THAT,---we are now once again into the Christmas SHOPPING SEASON, when so many forget all about CHRIST and HIS work, and CEASE giving gifts to HIM, in order to EXCHANGE GIFTS among their relatives and friends! Every year at this time MANY withhold their gifts from CHRIST, in order to TRADE gifts back and forth with fellow-humans!

THINK! Consider carefully! People buy presents lavishly at Christmas time, SUPPOSING they are following the example of the wise men in giving gifts to Christ. YET WITHOUT REALIZING IT, THEY ARE DOING JUST THE OPPOSITE! Notice this carefully:

Here is THE PLAIN TRUTH!

From the Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 12, pages 153-155, I quote: "The interchange of presents between friends ... must have been adopted by Christians from the PAGANS." The fact is, the custom of exchanging gifts at Christmas time has not a single trace of Christianity about it! Did you ever attend a birthday party, where all the guests spent lavishly for BIRTHDAY PRESENTS, and then traded all their gifts among themselves, GIVING NOTHING TO THE ONE WHOSE BIRTHDAY THEY WERE HONORING? Wouldn't that be silly? Yet that's what nearly everybody is doing! And Christmas does NOT honor Christ's birthday, because JESUS WAS NOT BORN DECEMBER 25, OR EVEN IN THAT TIME OF THE YEAR! Nowhere does the Bible tell us to celebrate Christ's birthday. Only PAGANS celebrated birthdays, and THE BIBLE CONDEMNS THE CHRISTMAS TREE WITH ITS PRESENTS ON IT---see Jeremiah 10:1-4!

Now consider carefully what the Bible says about the wise men giving gifts. It is in Mat. 2:1-11: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He that is born King of the Jews?'" Notice, these wise men knew, and exclaimed, that Jesus was BORN KING. "...and when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto HIM gifts."

Why did they present HIM with gifts? NOT BECAUSE IT WAS HIS BIRTHDAY---for Jesus was already born before they started their journey. It was now DAYS after His birthday! And they did not EXCHANGE gifts among themselves!---no, they gave their treasures and gifts TO CHRIST! But WHY?

Yes, WHY? Here's the answer, from the Clarke Commentary, Vol. 5, page 46: "The people of the east never approach the presence of kings or great personages, without a present in their hands. The custom is often noticed in the Old Testament, and still prevails in the east." There's the answer! The wise men were not instituting some new custom for Christmas time---for Christmas was never heard of until generations later. They were following an ANCIENT CUSTOM of presenting gifts to a KING whenever---no matter what day---they came into his presence. Just like the Queen of Sheba brought gifts to King Solomon!

No, dear Co-Workers, the custom of trading gifts back and forth is NOT CHRISTIAN---it has NO BIBLE AUTHORITY---it was never done by the apostles or the TRUE Church of God in apostolic days while it had the guidance of God's Spirit! Instead, IT IS A PAGAN CUSTOM, which TAKES GIFTS AWAY FROM CHRIST AND HIS WORK!

Christmas has become a COMMERCIAL SEASON, stimulated by every kind of ADVERTISING, to take money away form the WORK OF GOD, and put profits into the pockets of store owners, salesmen and manufacturers and jobbers and the commercial world. It is a custom of modern "BABYLON," and God calls His people to COME OUT of Babylon!

CO-WORKERS! In JESUS' NAME, and by HIS AUTHORITY, I now come to you and appeal to you---DON'T LET THE PRECIOUS WORK OF GOD LOSE OUT IN THIS CRISIS!

Finally, it is VITAL that you understand both The PLAIN TRUTH and the NET-WORK situation. We simply didn't have enough money to get the October number out on time---it was about three weeks late. The November number is all printed, but we lack sufficient funds to get it from the printers. We have had to cancel the December number altogether, and IF you Co-Workers respond, we hope to get the January number out on time---but there will be NO DECEMBER NUMBER, much as we hate it.

You will find in the November issue a whole page devoted to listing all the stations on the powerful ABC Net-Work. Then turn a page and you will find a large TWO PAGE MAP of the United States, showing where every station is on the map, and how far it reaches out. Now here is the all-important fact: If you'll look at a map in the atlas, showing density of population, you'll find that the heaviest population of the United States is centered in the North Atlantic states and the Middle-West states bordering the Great Lakes. Perhaps nearly two-thirds of all the people in the United States live in these regions. We have not reached into these thickly populated areas very strongly before. XEG is very STRONG in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and fairly strong in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Southern Illinois, and Southern Missouri and Kansas. XELO is fairly strong in most of these states, and strongest in western Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. Of course both these stations reach on out farther than this, but beyond these states only a small percentage of the people listen. XERF gives us a SCATTERED coverage all over the United States, but reaches only a VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE of people in these thickest-populated parts of the country.

But THE ABC NET-WORK IS STRONGEST RIGHT IN THESE HEAVY- POPULATION SECTIONS WHERE MOST OF THE PEOPLE LIVE---New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, all New England states, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, North and South Dakota, Montana, and Missouri. Because we already reach such a tremendous radio audience in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi on the super-power Mexican stations EVERY NIGHT, we did not take any net-work stations in any of these states. We use only one station in Arkansas, in Little Rock, one in Alabama, in Birmingham, one in Tennessee in Memphis (a 10,000-watt station), and one in Oklahoma is to start releasing the program in a week or two, a 50,000-watt station in Tulsa. But we have TWO 50,000-watt stations in New York state---one in New York City, WABC, and one in Buffalo, at 8:P.M., when it covers all territory EAST of Buffalo. We have a 50,000-watt station in Chicago, one in Waterloo, Iowa, and later are to have one in Kansas City.

This great radio net-work REACHES THE HEAVIEST POPULATION AREA WHICH WE HAVE NOT REACHED HERETOFORE! It took the adoption of an entire NEW POLICY by the American Broadcasting Company in New York to admit one more religious program to the net-work---and of all those clamoring to get on, THEY CHOSE "THE WORLD TOMORROW." Last Monday, in the office of the Vice President of the Net-Work in Hollywood, he leaned forward, pointed a finger at me, and said emphatically, "If you ever cancel out or go off the net-work, I'll tell you definitely right now, you'll never get back on again."

I simply have to tell you the TRUTH, dear Co-Workers! Whether we can stay on the net-work HANGS IN THE BALANCE FROM WEEK TO WEEK. A week ago yesterday, it seemed we could not stay on another week. I actually started to the telephone to CANCEL OUT THE NET-WORK, but by a miracle God stopped me, and if ever God spoke to my mind, He did then and showed me that HE opened this door, and if we TRUST HIM in faith, He will supply the need. But right now it hangs by the slenderest thread. Every week it looks like we will not have money to go on the following week. We MUST NOT CLOSE THIS MIGHTY DOOR, which is reaching MILLIONS of additional people whom we were not reaching with Christ's Gospel before! WE CAN, AND MUST, CARRY ON!

I have to tell you, now! God's work is in DESPERATE DANGER! Yes, this supreme trial and test comes AT THE VERY HOUR OF GREATEST OPPORTUNITY GOD EVER OPENED! Just when God has OPENED THE DOOR of the greatest transcontinental radio net-work which will accept religious broadcasting---just when God has opened the door to ALL EUROPE---just when God has ANSWERED YOUR PRAYERS AND MINE, and opened the door once again for EVERY NIGHT time on the greatest station in North America, XEG,---just here we come to a season and a condition when the whole work is IN GRAVE DANGER!

Now listen, CO-WORKERS! There are ENOUGH of us, to whom I am addressing this letter, that if YOU---each and every one of you---will OPEN YOUR HEARTS, as God has opened the doors for us, and each stretch just a little farther to GIVE JUST A LITTLE MORE TO CHRIST for HIS PRECIOUS WORK than ever before, we can hurdle over this supreme trial and test, and the Work of God can go on to overwhelming victory and glory, and when Jesus comes we may hear Him say to us. "WELL DONE, thou good and faithful servants!"

Oh, friends and Co-Workers, of all the blessings, rewards, accomplishments, acquisitions, or anything else my mind can possibly think of that I might WANT more than anything else, it is to hear the very voice of Jesus, Himself, say to me, when He comes, "WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT!" I am willing to give up EVERYTHING in this material world for THAT! Aren't YOU?

Five years ago this work faced, at this very season, the greatest financial crisis from its beginning until this present one. We had been off XEG that year, like this, from April on. It looked like we were going to lose the college property, our office building for the headquarters of this great work, and have to go off the air. DO YOU REMEMBER,---I asked ALL you Co-Workers to send in AT LEAST the widows' two mites---I asked for a great DOWNPOUR of two-dollar, or even one-dollar offerings---and for all those who were able, to send in one, two, or three thousand dollars each.

I shall NEVER forget how you Co-Workers let God soften your hearts, and how nobly and generously you responded! I have never stopped thanking GOD for it, and I never shall. By the THOUSANDS, letters came in containing one or two dollars each--- yes, the DOWNPOUR of widows' mites CAME, and it counted up to thousands of dollars! Without all those small amounts coming from people who could not send more, we never could have saved this work. On the other hand, there were not even then enough of them, and a small number of people who were more able sent in one thousand, and up to three thousand dollars each. And the hundreds of others who sent in $10, $50, $100, and $500, and other amounts in between, PUT US OVER---IT WAS A BLESSED M I R A C L E ---and the work of God was saved!

Co-Workers, and brethren, I have to call on God once again for a MIRACLE! I have to appeal to you---every one of you--- to PRAY WITH ME, and to PUT YOUR HEART INTO YOUR PRAYERS, and to pray earnestly and persistently, and continually without letting up, that God will lay it on the hearts of people so overwhelmingly at this desperate hour that EVERYONE will respond, each according as he is able---those who have but little, and are unable to send more, to each send in the widow's mites until there is once again a veritable DOWNPOUR of them---and those who have more ability, to PUT CHRIST AND HIS WORK FIRST, and send in the largest amount possible, whether $20, $100, or several thousand dollars.

This is the time when we need to give our largest gifts to CHRIST that His glorious work may go on! THANK YOU, dear brethren and Co-Workers for PRAYING with me---if we AGREE, and pray unitedly, God will hear and move on Co-Workers as never before, and this crisis will be met, as before! Yes, THANK YOU, and GOD BLESS YOU IN EVERY WAY!

In Jesus' name,

Herbert W. Armstrong