October 20, 1982  
October 20, 1982 - Brethren & Co-Workers Letter
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Herbert W Armstrong 

The PLAIN TRUTH
a magazine of understanding

Pasadena, California 91123

HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

October 20, l982

Dear PLAIN TRUTH Subscriber:

   A warm welcome to thousands of new subscribers to The PLAIN TRUTH since my last personal letter to all subscribers.

   The PLAIN TRUTH has now topped 5,000,000 copies per issue. It is now the fastest growing magazine in the world, and one of the widest circulated mass-circulation magazines on earth. Our circulation is now greater than Time or Newsweek. New subscribers are coming in at the rate of around 40,000 per week.

   As world news worsens, people by the MILLIONS are turning to The PLAIN TRUTH to UNDERSTAND the MEANING behind these fast-moving events bringing us swiftly to the END of this world and the dawn of a NEW world of peace, happiness and abundance!

   No other publication gives you the real MEANING of these mounting world-shaking happenings. So very much has occurred in this troubled world since my last semiannual letter. More and more, world disturbances are centering on the Middle East — as they will from now until the fast-approaching ARMAGEDDON.

   Right now, in the United States, TV commentators, newspapers and politicians are arguing back and forth, like children angrily shouting, "You did — you didn't," as to which is worse, unemployment, or inflation and high interest rates. But in this world, it's ALL bad news! And the leaders in the world do not know the CAUSE of the troubles that beset society. The PLAIN TRUTH brings you the real causes of all the bad news.

   But WHY do we know? And WHY do not the world's leaders know? Why do not scientists, the most highly trained minds, know? Let me tell you.

   All nations have their secret codes. If the U.S. government sends a very confidential message to its ambassador in Moscow, it is sent in code. Soviet officials will probably intercept and read the message — but they won't UNDERSTAND it. But God has the one absolutely unbreakable secret code of all. The Holy BIBLE is the world's best-seller. Yet the least read — and the LEAST UNDERSTOOD. Do you know WHY?

   Let me tell you WHY PLAIN TRUTH writers DO understand world happenings and biblical prophecies, even though theologians, established churches of traditional Christianity or electric evangelists CANNOT.

   ONLY GOD knows what is going to happen. Only by UNDERSTANDING Bible prophecies can you know what is now soon going to happen! Yet almost NONE does understand. The Bible tells you WHY.

   The Bible is the Word of God — it is GOD SPEAKING through his Word in writing. And in it God says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a GOOD UNDERSTANDING have all they that DO his commandments" (Ps. 111:10). We OBEY his Commandments. The preachers, clergy and churches of this world say God's Commandments are done away. They falsely say Jesus abolished them. But Jesus said he had kept his Father's Commandments (John l5:10), and he set us an example (John 13:15).

   A young man asked Jesus how to be saved — have eternal life. Jesus answered, "...if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," designating the Ten Commandments (Matt. 19:16-17). The Bible teaches that sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4). The law is a spiritual law (Rom. 7:12, 14) LOVE is the fulfilling of the law — the love of God in our hearts (minds) by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). God gives his Holy Spirit to them that OBEY him (Acts 5:32). The Bible cannot be understood except through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the instrument of God by which one deciphers God's secret code, the Bible.

   None of the great minds — the most highly educated — the leaders — even the religious leaders — can understand it (I Cor. 2:8-9), but, verse 10, God reveals spiritual truths of the Bible BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT, given only to those who DO keep his Commandments!

   I realize most of you have not come into this right and clear UNDERSTANDING of the Bible and its prophecies — but God has called us who write for The PLAIN TRUTH to comprehend what God reveals, and make those truths PLAIN, clear and understandable to you our readers.

   Let me give you an illustration. Jesus, on occasion, spoke in parables. He definitely did not use parables to illustrate his meaning more clearly, but to hide the meaning so his hearers could not understand. When his disciples asked him to explain a parable, he replied, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand..." (Mark 4:11-12).

   They then were commissioned in the Great Commission to go into all the world, "and teach all nations" (Matt. 28:19). In like manner God has revealed his TRUTH — his Gospel OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, to his ministers who DO KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, and commissioned us to teach YOU — to make clear and plain his Word — the HOLY BIBLE.

   Multiplied thousands are coming to realize that from no other source are they receiving God's TRUTH made plain and understandable! That's why God inspired me, 55 years ago, to name this publication "The PLAIN TRUTH" and call it "A MAGAZINE OF UNDERSTANDING"!

   Before closing I would like to offer you, gratis with our love, any one or all of three special booklets.

   One, especially timely at this season of the year, is The Plain Truth About Christmas. If you have not already read this booklet, it may SURPRISE YOU. Did the world get Christmas from the Bible or from paganism? What's the origin of the Christmas tree, of Santa Claus, of the holly wreath, the mistletoe, the custom of exchanging gifts? Was Jesus born on December 25? Is Christmas observance right, or wrong? The authenticated answers may surprise you!

   Another booklet, very timely, extremely important, NEVER BEFORE UNDERSTOOD — WHY Humanity Cannot Solve Its Evils. Nuclear World War III now threatens that can erase all human life from the earth. What will happen?

   A third new booklet: What Science Can't Discover About the HUMAN MIND. The answer to all human problems and the human future lies in the enigma of the makeup of the human mind. The Bible reveals what psychologists and scientists do not know about the human mind.

   Any one or all three of these eye-opening booklets will be mailed absolutely free on request.

   Be sure to notice the TV and radio logs in your copy of The PLAIN TRUTH. Tune in DAILY on radio if possible.

With love, in Jesus' name,

Herbert W. Armstrong

Publication Date: October 20, 1982
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