Herbert W Armstrong

The World Tomorrow. The Worldwide Church of God presents Herbert W. Armstrong, internationally recognized Ambassador for World Peace, visiting prominent leaders around the globe, the cause of world problems, and proclaiming the good news of the World Tomorrow. Ladies and gentlemen, Herbert W. Armstrong.

You know, it's only in Biblical prophecy that you can know where we are and what is going to happen. Biblical prophecy occupies 1/3 of the whole Bible, and about 1/3 of the Bible is history, giving a history of this world, of its civilization, this civilization as we know it, of the governments of this world. And I've been going through some of that on this program, of a system of Gentile world governments that started back after the ancient Kingdom of Israel had been driven out and has continued on from the ancient Chaldean Empire of Babylon, on through the Persian Empire and Greece or the Greco-Macedonian Empire, and then the Great Roman Empire, and then it continued on after 554 in what was called the Holy Roman Empire in Europe that had six different dynasties. And now we're waiting for the 7th, a Union of 10 nations that is going to happen according to Biblical prophecy in Europe.

Now the Bible gives us a chronology of events, of history, of nations, and everything that is leading up to our time and where we're going to go from now on. And you need to understand it. Now, where are we now? Right now in the panorama of world events as they are depicted in the prophecies of the Bible, we're at the time right now, explained in the 24th chapter of Matthew and the 14th verse (Matthew 24:14). The disciples had asked Jesus early in that chapter in the 24th chapter of Matthew about what will be the sign of His coming and the end of the world? And He had told them the things that were going to happen in their lifetime. And then coming down to verse 14, He said, "And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come."

May not realize it, but that gospel has not been preached for 19 centuries until it was breached on this program and now it is going worldwide and into every nation on the face of this Earth, either published or spoken, spoken by television and by radio, published by the Plain Truth Magazine, one of the world's great mass circulation magazines that now has a circulation approaching 8,000,000 copies, one of the largest circulated magazines on the face of this Earth. But now, what would the gospel of the Kingdom? What would that have to do with a sign that were near the? Well, what is ordinarily called Armageddon now, even the President of the United States, I think it's been about a year now since he spoke about the fact that it would seem like we're approaching Armageddon. Yes, and scientists know that we're approaching the end of the civilization as we know it. So, it's time for people to wake up and quit taking things for granted that we're just going to go on and on and on in life, as you find it now, and it's getting worse all the time in the world.

Well, Jesus came with the gospel. Now you read of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mark in the New Testament. The first four books in the New Testament are called Gospels, and this was the gospel according to Mark. And it starts out chapter one, verse one (Mark 1:1), the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then it talks about John the Baptist coming to prepare the way before Him, and then getting down to verse 14, it says (Mark 1:14), "And after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel." But what gospel? What gospel" not a gospel that you hear being preached today, except on this very program, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Now, what do you mean, the Kingdom of God? We read in the historic portions of the Bible of the ancient Kingdom of Israel. And there was the Kingdom of Judah, and they were divided into two kingdoms. The Jews were in the Kingdom of Judah. A lot of people don't know that the Kingdom of Israel were not Jews, never were. They were at war against the Jews the first time the word Jews is mentioned in the Bible and 2nd Kings Chapter 16 and verse 6 (II Kings 16:6). Then we read of the Kingdom of Babylon and then of the Persian Empire or Kingdom of Persia. And other kingdoms, the United States as a Kingdom, Germany is a Kingdom, and the Soviet Union is a Kingdom. Japan is a Kingdom. Then what is the Kingdom of God? Now we find prophesied in a very great prophecy in the Old Testament. Isaiah, and it's in Chapter 9 and verses 6 and 7, (Isaiah 9:6-7). Of how one was to be born of Israel. And He would grow up. And the government would be on his shoulder, and the one who was to be born was Jesus Christ. And the government was to be on his shoulder.

Now you find in the first chapter of Luke that an Angel appeared to his mother Mary. Before He was born. And telling her that the One who would be born of her. And she was a virgin who was, well impregnated by God himself through the Holy Spirit, and that which would be born of her was the Son of God, and that He was coming as a Messiah and He was coming to be a ruler and to rule and to govern forever. Now Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God. That is a government. That is ruled over by God, God's own government. That government is not on the face of the Earth today. Except in God's own church.

And so, Jesus gave parables, for example, the parable in the 19th chapter of Luke, the parable of the pounds, the parable of the talents in the 25th chapter of Matthew. And they both speak in parables of Jesus as the young nobleman who was going to heaven, where God Almighty, the father would bestow upon Him the Kingdom, and He would return to this earth to rule over all the nations of this earth as a King.

I was challenged back about well going on close to 60 years ago now. I thought I understood that the Bible said certain things I didn't know much about the Bible at that time. But I had been brought up in one of the Protestant churches. Until I was 18 and I lost interest in religion and I dropped out. And I remember that I said at that time. Well, the Bible says thou should observe Sunday. And the answer was, well, how do you know? Do you ever see it there? And I said no, I don't know the Bible, but I know it's there. Well, how do you know? Well, I said because all the churches observe Sunday and they get their religion out of the Bible, don't they? Well, do they? I found that they don't believe it or not. I thought I was an immortal soul until I read in the Bible, the soul that sins, it or die. The souls die. And souls are non-immortal. And that which is immortal is not a soul. The soul is only mortal, made of human flesh that can rot and decay. And cease to exist.

And when I began to study the Bible in depth for the first time about 50, let me see, 58 years ago, I think it is now. I began to have my eyes open and so would you if you'd look into the Bible. If you would open it up and believe what it says. Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God. His whole message was about the Kingdom of God and about Him as the King of that Kingdom, and He said when He was on Earth that He was going to go away. He was going to heaven to have this Kingdom conferred upon Him by God Almighty the Father. And then He was going to return and He was going to rule right here on this earth. That was his message. That was the gospel. Today they don't preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You only think you have. You have heard a gospel about Christ. You heard the gospel of Jesus Christ you only think you have. You have heard a gospel about Christ, you heard about Christ. Jesus Christ was sent to this earth over 19,050 years ago by God Almighty and He was sent as a messenger bearing a message and the message He brought was the gospel. That message was the gospel. Why don't they preach that today in the churches? I ask you, why don't they? But you haven't heard preached in the churches. And apparently, you won't.

Well, Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and that's the only gospel He preached. Jesus said, however, I will build my church and He did and He called 12 disciples and there were at least 2 alternates. Because one of them went the wrong way, Judas Iscariot, and there was one who had been in their company all the time that was appointed to take Judah's place. And Jesus came as a Savior as well as the future King. And He died. That by his shed blood. He paid the death penalty in your stead and mine. If we repent, if we want to turn to God and God's way and keep the law of God because sin is the transgression of God's law. And that law is a spiritual law.

Well, Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God. The apostles went out preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Now listen, why did they crucify Jesus? Of course, He came expecting to die for us. But those who crucified Him didn't know that. In their minds, why did they crucify Him? They didn't like his message. They didn't like the message of the Government of God and the coming Government of God. They crucified Him because of what He preached, and let me tell you, there are plenty of people, even in the churches today that don't like me because I preach the same gospel that Jesus Christ preached when He was on Earth, and if He were here today and on television, He would preach the same thing and they would hate Him. It would not be accepted by the churches. I tell you that on the authority of Jesus Christ himself. His message would not be accepted today. Because they have turned to a different message.

The church started right after Jesus ascended to heaven, Jesus gave his life for you and for me. That if we repent. If we turn to God's way of life. And God's law is merely a way to live. And if we live the way of God's law, that is the way of love, is the way of peace. And it's the way of cooperation. And the concern for the good of the other fellow, as well as yourself. It would be nothing but peace on earth if we live that way. And sin is the transgression of that way and law, sin in this world, and the whole world is paying a penalty and suffering because of it. Why can't we wake up? And why can't we have the scales of blindness torn from our eyes and begin to understand a little truth that makes sense? Yes, it makes a lot of sense. If only we could understand it. And we could understand it if we were willing. Most of you listening to me right now aren't willing. Why don't you admit it? Well, God help you to understand and to be willing to.

Well, anyway, after Jesus ascended to heaven. Very soon, persecution set in on the church. Just, within two years, persecution would set in and was growing rapidly. Most of the original apostles were also killed as Christ was. Because people didn't like the message of a government by God. They wanted government run by men under the seducing influence of Satan the devil. And so, there was a great controversy that rose up in the 1st century. Way back to over 1,900 and years ago, 19,050 years ago. Should the gospel be a message about Christ the messenger? Or about the message He brought. His gospel was the message. And they wanted to get rid of that message, that gospel, and they wanted to merely preach man's idea of a gospel about the messenger. And so today you hear a lot, they call it the Gospel of Christ. That's a misnomer. Is not the Gospel of Christ, is merely man's gospel about Christ, who was a messenger sent from God with a wonderful message. Then it seemed like the curtain was rung down on the history of the church for about 100 years. From about 50 A.D. until about 150 A.D., and when the curtain is lifted, we find the church calling itself Christian. But entirely different from the church that was founded by Jesus Christ. Entirely different, and that has continued on to today and today they're still preaching a message about Christ, but not the message of Christ. And so its come right down to our time today.

And now, after all these years, Jesus had said in Matthew 24 when they asked Him about the sign of his coming in the end of the world. He said that many would come in his name saying that He was the Christ and that's what they have done. Oh yes, they say He was the Christ. And they say just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Well, you'll find in the 8th chapter John account of Jews at the time when Jesus was on Earth. And they believed on Jesus Christ. Yes, they too believed on Jesus Christ, but they wouldn't obey Him. And they wouldn't accept his gospel. They didn't believe what He said, and He said because you don't believe me, my word has no place in you. And they said they were the children of Abraham. He said no, you're the children of your father, the devil. And He plainly said that all who have not come to repent and receive God's Holy Spirit after they believe in Christ. Are the children of Satan the devil? Believe it or not, read that in the 8th chapter of John and have your eyes opened. Why don't you know what the Bible itself does say after all?

And so, you see that He didn't preach the Gospel of Christ and He said when this gospel is preached, you know, that the end of this world is near, the end of this civilization and Christ is coming to start another world. Now, right after that. That's in the 14th verse of the 24th chapter of Matthew (Matthew 24:14), and in verses 21 and 22, (Matthew 24:21-22) you find the following is going to come a time of trouble such as never was, since there was a nation to this time. And never has been. And is going to be especially a time of trouble on the United States and Great Britain. It's going to be our time of trouble specifically, but it will be trouble on the whole Earth. But especially on our people. And I can see. The signs of that coming, it could come in one or two years now, anytime. I don't mean it will come in one or two years. I'm not setting any dates, but I say that the time is ripe for it couldn't come that soon even now. We don't know when it'll come. But is coming very, very soon. And immediately after the Great Tribulation. The sun will be dark and won't give her light and the moon will not give her light. Could that be? The atomic cloud. Because the Bible says that all of our cities are going to be laid waste and that can only be by nuclear power. And now they're saying that. A nuclear war will produce. An atomic cloud that will cover the Earth and the sun's rays can't get through. And those who are not killed will soon starve to death because there'll be no food. That's the time we're coming into and it's time to wake up. It's time to wake up, and then the next thing is they shall see the son of man Jesus Christ coming in the clouds in the sky with power and with great glory coming as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to rule the United States to rule Britain to rule France and Germany, the Soviet Union, Japan and China. To rule all nations. And we're coming to the end of this time.

Now I don't have time in just one program to go into all of this. Why is the world in the condition it is? How did we get that way? I'm going to send you a booklet, "A World Held Captive". I've mentioned that once or twice before "A World Held Captive", and that explains how this world came to be in the condition in which we find it today. You have never read anything like it. It will open your eyes as they have never been opened before. Now this is in plain language. The Bible is a coded book. You probably say you can't understand it, and you probably can't. You will understand this, "A World Held Captive".

And then I'd like to also send you a year subscription to this marvelous magazine I told you about "The Plain Truth", circulation on there, eight million, that's larger than most any magazine published in the United States, larger than Time, Newsweek, you, Cosmopolitan ladies, Home Journal and any of those magazines. The cover story, who will "Stop The Nuclear Clock? And there's a picture of a nuclear clock on it, by me. World Peace Just Around the Corner. Because the world is going to have peace, Christ is coming back to this earth and going to bring us peace after we learn a lesson, we're going to have such trouble as the world never had before. Until Mankind learns a lesson.

Listen, there are 1,000,000 of you listening to me now? Yes, people are hearing people are listening, but they're not heeding. And God is going to send trouble until people learn the lesson and begin to heed. I can warn you, and I know most of you aren't going to believe until it hits you. And then remember that you heard God's servant telling you. You will remember. See, "It All Happened So Fast" as an article of a tragedy, and afterward people said, well, it all happened so fast I couldn't remember even. Then here's one "Growing Healthy Babies". And this is about family life and things of that sort as well as World News. The Plain Truth goes into world news and explains it according to Biblical prophecy, so you can understand what's going on in the world today. Why do the churches observe Sunday? The Bible does not tell you to observe Sunday. Did you know that? Then why did they observe it? You better read that. It's handsomely illustrated in full color, The Plain Truth Magazine. All full color here is one, One Nation's Plan To Survive a Nuclear War". One nation's plan to survive nuclear war.

Yes, you do need The Plain Truth. You need these articles. It's handsomely illustrated all the way through and this booklet, and don't forget this booklet with "A World Held Captive", now there is no charge. You just simply send your request to me, Herbert W Armstrong, Pasadena, CA. the ZIP code is 91123 or you call toll free. You dial 1- 800-423-4444, now that's 800-423-4444. And so, until next time, Herbert W Armstrong. Goodbye, friends.

For the free literature offered on this program, write Herbert W Armstrong, Pasadena, CA 91123. In Canada, Box 4, Vancouver, BC. Or in the continental United States, including California, you may call this toll-free number: 1-800-423-4444. In Alaska and Hawaii, only call collect: 1-818-304-6111. If the lines are busy, please try again in 10 to 15 minutes. The preceding program and all literature were produced and sponsored by the Worldwide Church of God.