Does your minister hear the voice of God being whispered in his ear?
Maybe its not God.
Tinfoil hat time? Seems not. The technology exists to make people hear things that they can’t triangulate. And guess who owns the patent? USAF.
Reich
Herbert Armstrong was a science fiction writer: His genre was a special kind of science fiction known as alternative history science fiction. This manifested itself in a number of ways. The first was his science fiction history of the world where there were lost tribes of Israel which migrated and became the United States and British Commonwealth. This never happened, but it makes for interesting science fiction to explore the possibilities should such an unlikely event ever happened. The second was his science fiction history where Nazi Germany under Adolph Hitler won World War II. This never happened, of course, but if a few minor events in history had happened differently, the alternative history could have been a reality. For Herbert Armstrong it was a reality, for he lived in an alternative universe where the Nazis had won World War II. He wanted this delusion so badly that he never gave up on it even though his prophecies based on his distorted perceptions, mainly derived from the writings of G. G. Rupert, were proven wrong time and again. He would have been delighted if Hitler actually had won because it would have ‘validated’ him as being a viable prophet.
For those not familiar with alternative history science fiction, here is a video which explains it using the book written by a well know science fiction writer, Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle:
This frightening and dystopian science fiction has been ‘fleshed out’ in an original Amazon Prime series, The Man in the High Castle:
It portrays the United States divided up into three parts: The West Coast, occupied by the Japanese, the East Coast, occupied by the German Nazis and the middle of the country as the Neutral Zone.
It’s difficult to say how Herbert Armstrong would have fared if this science fiction alternative history actually came to pass. It would be a world to his liking, if only he could have positive attention from the Nazis and had his own ‘8 Japanese Sons’ of the occupied west coast. Remember that Herbert Armstrong predicted during World War II that Germany would win, which gave him some difficulties for a time as The World Tomorrow was suspended by the United States Government (it was subversive for war time), but if the Germans had actually taken over, he might have been given credit (and a free pass) for predicting the downfall of the United States. Herbert Armstrong wanted it to happen really, really bad! Elements of the Third Reich would have agreed with him: Homophobia, enforcement of laws, racism, sexism — all perfect for a man like him. It’s clear from the Amazon Prime series, alcohol would have been readily available, which would be perfect for the alcoholic Herbert Armstrong. As unlikely as it might seem, Herbert Armstrong might actually have ended up a multimillionaire, friend of the Nazis and maybe a personal friend of Adolph Hitler, particularly if he used his skills to promote the Third Reich and betray the freedom of the people. He might actually have been good at it. Heaven knows that he was successful in his advertising campaigns to promote his alternative science fiction to the few who found resonance with his delusions.
Who knows what could have been with just a tweak or two in history?
It might be noted that Herbert Armstrong was in much the same path as another science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard, who wrote his own alternative science fiction history and turned it into a religion.
This science fiction alternative history would not be complete without mentioning the Third Reich of Roderick Meredith: The First Reich was the Radio / Worldwide Church of God, the Second Reich was the Global Church of God, and, of course, the Third Reich is the Living Church of God. Those who know his history would find him a credible candidate for Nazi occupation — he’d fit right in.
The truth is, Herbert Armstrong and Roderick Meredith have lived in an alternative universe unconnected to our own. Let’s be grateful for that.
We’ve had quite enough with men lusting to be in the high castle.
Here is a particularly pointed comment about The Man in the High Castle relevant to Armstrongism:
But the series’ greatest masterstroke is that the vast majority of its characters, including our heroes, don’t really seem to care about the evils being done right under their noses until they’re forcibly confronted with said evils. High Castle forces viewers to see what’s human in Nazis, right down to Adolf Hitler himself.
In so doing, it suggests that all of us live in societies where we find at least something, no matter how small, completely unacceptable. And yet we do nothing, because it is more comfortable to stay put. This is the series’ deepest, richest theme, and when the material supports it, it pushes the show into another realm entirely.
Will You Swing From a Nazi Meat Hook?
“Thus, once this EMPIRE is revived in Europe – AND BY UNITED
STATES HELP AT THAT-so gullible are we and dull of UNDERSTANDING!-
the new-born Fascist-Nazi military power will without warning
DESTROY AMERICAN CITIES AND BRITISH CITIES OVERNIGHT WITH
ATOMIC BOMBS, conquering our peoples, taking our survivors to Europe
as THEIR SLAVES! I have given you the prophecies on this time after time, and shall continue to shout this warning so long as God gives me breath and freedom !
Then it is that the MARK OF THE BEAST will be enforced. Unless OUR
people, then conquered SLAVES in Europe, will bow to the Roman religion,
THEY WILL BE TORTURED, AND PUT TO DEATH !
THUS SAYS THE WORD OF GOD !”
-Herbert W. Armstrong
December 1948 Plain Truth, page 6
“PLAIN TRUTH readers know world events, before they occur!…Bible prophecy does indicate that Hitler MUST BE THE VICTOR, in his present Russian invasion!…Hitler will emerge from his Russian campaign stronger than ever, free to turn the entire might of his forces against Britain-and AMERICA!”
– PLAIN TRUTH, September- October 1941, page 7, H. W. Armstrong
“As nearly as we can calculate from the dates of ancient history, the year 1936 will see the END of the Times of the Gentiles…. We may expect the present worldwide depression, time of trouble and fear of war to CONTINUE until the year 1936! …quickly after that time, we may expect to see the heavenly signs of the sun and moon becoming dark, the stars falling … which shall be followed by the ‘Day of the Lord'”
– PLAIN TRUTH, June-July 1934, page 5, H. W. Armstrong
“Mussolini and the Pope will hatch up an idea between them of setting up a world headquarters at JERUSALEM-and so Mussolini’s armies will enter into Palestine (Daniel 11:41), and eventually will capture just half of the city of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2).”
– PLAIN TRUTH, March 1938, page 8, H. W. Armstrong
“MUSSOLINI WILL FIGHT CHRIST!”
– PLAIN TRUTH, January 1939, Page 4, H. W. Armstrong
“Once world war is resumed, it must continue on through the Great Tribulation, the heavenly signs, the plagues of the Day of the Lord, and to the Second Coming of Christ, at the last battle, at ARMAGEDDON!…But this you MAY KNOW! This war will be ended by CHRIST’S RETURN! And war MAY start within six weeks! We are just THAT NEAR Christ’s coming!“
– PLAIN TRUTH, August 1939, page 6, H. W. Armstrong
“God Almighty has spoken through His servants the prophets that He will punish our people for their sins. He will let our own lust cause such droughts, floods, pestilences and famines that we will be totally consumed and carried away captive to other nations as SLAVES WITHIN TWENTY YEARS.”
– PLAIN TRUTH, October 1955, page 15, H. L. Hoeh
Painful to know that there are some of the old timers who will explain to me that the time line might be off a little, but that it’s all going to come true soon enough!
What Armstrong wrote above was the practice of “Undue Influence” on ignorant people who trusted him for no apparent reason other than he was a preacher. Would these folks do the same for a politician? I think not!
The questions I have for the members of the Armstrong brand religion is:
- Why do you stay when the founder/prophet of your religion has gotten so much wrong?
- Why do you ignore your bible when it speaks of the false prophets: “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:22)
- Do you REALLY fear God?
- Do you fear the Nazi punishment that HWA said is coming?
- When attending church, are you using the event as a social occasion?
- And finally, why do you hold up an evil and incestuous man as holy and honorable?
Of course I wouldn’t think about asking Meredith, or Flurry, not even that other little rodent known as the “Pack Rat.” We should know by now that the Armstrong religion has spread out to become franchises. Little churches that use fear, and heavy handed tactics to keep their blue ribbon tithe paying soldiers in line while they themselves don’t have to go out and suffer a real job!
So when we read something like this:
“Where are God’s true prophets today? … This work has been warning America of definite and tremendous events to come for many years!”
“…on THE WORLD TOMORROW broadcast and in this magazine we have dared to unlock the Bible prophecies and apply them to specific nations and events that are now being affected. Do you grasp the significance of this’?”
– PLAIN TRUTH, August 1957, pages 3, 6, R. C. Meredith
Do I grasp the significance of this? Ya, its all bullshit!
It is about money. Money in the corporate world of Armstrongism. You the member get all the debts and the leaders get all the benefits!
You see, it is called “Corporate Vampirism”
More on that in a day!