The "Key to Unlocking Prophecy"

Did Herbert Armstrong Say God Revealed It to Him Alone?

Some have asked whether Herbert Armstrong actually stated that God revealed the “key” to unlocking prophecy to him alone. This article will show what he said in his own words. [emp. ours]

Herbert Armstrong said the following happened to him in 1927:

After exhaustive study and research, I had found it PROVED that the so-called, “Lost Ten Tribes” of Israel had migrated to western Europe, the British Isles, and later the United States–that the British were the descendants of Ephraim, younger son of Joseph, and the United States modern-day Manasseh, elder son of Joseph–and that we possessed the national wealth and resources of the Birthright which God had promised to Abraham through Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

This truth was written in a lengthy manuscript of close to 300 typed pages, and mailed to this editor and leader of this church [Andrew Dugger, Church of God, Seventh Day, Stanberry, MO]. I explained that although this new truth seemed to be proved beyond doubt, yet I was still comparatively new in Christ and Scriptural knowledge and wished the judgment of one more mature and experienced in things Biblical.

I think it was some six months before the reply came. It was written on a train late at night. This church leader stated in his letter (which I still have) that I was most certainly right–that this was a wonderful new truth revealed by God, and that God surely had a special reason for revealing this new truth to me. However, he stated he did not know what use, if any, he could make of it at that time, but was sure I would hear more of it later.

Did this Church accept and proclaim this vital new truth–the KEY that unlocks the doors to all PROPHECY? Here was the KEY to understanding of one third of the whole Bible. But this Church refused then to accept it or preach it or publish it through their leader frankly confessed it was TRUTH and a revelation from God! (Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, pp. 361-362, Vol. I, 1957) [bold emp. ours]

Herbert W. Armstrong stated:

“And so I say to you, as the Apostle Paul said to those at Galatia: I certify you, brethren, that the GOSPEL which is preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but BY THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. . . . When it pleased God, who . . . called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him to the world; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood—neither went I to any sect or denomination or human theologian, but I went directly to the WORD of GOD, on my knees, corrected, reproved, and instructed in God’s righteousness and TRUTH!” (Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-Worker letter, November 29, 1954) [emp. by ESN]

“I came to the truth in a way I know of no other church leader. I know of no other minister who ever came to it by himself through the leading of God in that way.” (Quoted from sermon by Herbert W. Armstrong on July 24, 1976) [emp. by ESN]

“But I certify to you, brethren, that the gospel preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, nor was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ…But when it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him to the world, I conferred not with flesh and blood [humans], neither went I to any theological seminary, but, as the original apostles and Paul were taught by CHRIST IN PERSON, so was I taught by the SAME CHRIST, through HIS WRITTEN WORD” (cf. Gal. 1:11, 15-17). (This Is the Worldwide Church of God, p. 17. 1979)

“My eyes were opened to the true gospel described so clearly and unmistakably in the Bible — for those willing to see and believe. And so, as I have written before, I say with the apostle Paul (paraphrasing): ‘I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which is preached by me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ … But when it pleased God, who … called me by His grace, to reveal His Son and His gospel in me, that I might preach it among the descendants of the house of Israel, and the Gentile nations, and kings [Acts 9:15], immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I to any theological seminary or source of religious teaching of this world, but I went to Christ, the living Personal Word of God, who instructed me through the written Word of God, the Holy Bible’ ” (Galatians 1:11-17). (Herbert W. Armstrong, The Plain Truth About Healing, 1979)

“Jesus Christ….in person, taught the original 12 apostles, and the apostle Paul…the same Jesus Christ who taught both the original apostles, beginning A.D. 27, and 1900 years later, beginning in 1927, myself.” (Herbert W. Armstrong, Mystery of the Ages, p. 24-25, 1985) [emp. by ESN]

Conclusion:

Herbert Armstrong proclaimed he had received this “revelation” from God many times over the years. (Notice how he even added his own words to the above Scriptures.) Did God actually reveal to him this “vital KEY to unlocking prophecy” and “understanding the Bible”? Or was what he professed merely warmed over British-Israelism? While HWA and GTA denied they were teaching British-Israelism–True or False?, it is no secret that HWA did indeed plagiarize BI from others before him (see links below). In fact, BI had been around long before1 HWA and was on the wane in the United States when Herbert Armstrong came on the scene.2

Therefore, if Herbert W. Armstrong said God revealed this truth to him alone, wouldn’t that make him a liar?

Info compiled by AJW
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NOTE: Ellen G. White (co-founder of Seventh-day Adventism and a group that HWA is known to have plagiarized / copied from) said that the things she wrote down were revealed to her in vision by God through angels and that she was the only recipient of the vision. She said that God showed her the TRUTH. In fact, she said that if she was writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit and she lacked the ability to choose the right word, God would give her the exact word she needed. She did this all the while she was copying religious fiction and claiming that it came directly to her from God and while she was teaching others that it was a sin to read fiction.