Herbert W Armstrong

   Why haven't you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? The same gospel that Jesus himself proclaimed? You've been hearing a lot about a gospel, but you've been hearing a gospel of men about Christ, not the gospel that Christ preached or the gospel of Christ, but a gospel of men. Within about 22 years after Jesus was crucified, a different gospel was being proclaimed to the world. Let me read it to you in your Bible. You'll find it there in the book of Galatians in the New Testament, Galatians, the first chapter, verses six and seven (Galatians 1:6-7), where Paul wrote to the Churches of Galatia only 22 years after Christ was crucified.

   "I marvel that you were so soon moved from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that would trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ."

   Paul also wrote to the church at Corinth in II Corinthians, the 11th chapter, verse 13 on to 15 (II Corinthians 11:13-15), "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers, the ministers of Satan, be transformed as the ministers of righteousness."

   Now for 1900 years, people have been hearing a gospel of men about the person of Christ. Jesus Christ was the messenger sent from God with a message. Now we read a little of that in Malachi, the third chapter (Malachi 3:1), a prophecy in the Old Testament. "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me. That is speaking of a human messenger to prepare the way before Christ's second coming. "Even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts". Now the messenger of the covenant was Jesus Christ, and he came as a messenger, bringing a message from God. Now a human messenger was to go before him, preparing the way for him. John the Baptist did, so there should be a messenger, not in the physical wilderness of Jordan, but in the spiritual wilderness of religious Babylon and confusion in these latter days, preparing the way for the second coming as King of kings and Lord of lords.

   Now two weeks ago, I spoke on how I have been proclaiming this gospel in Hong Kong, in Thailand, in Japan, in the Philippines, and on other programs, I've shown you how I've been proclaiming it in many other countries and other parts of the world. And now I would like to give you a portion of the message that I gave to a standing room only crowd in downtown Manila, very recently on the recent trip over to the Far East.

   Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, we are gathered here today to listen to the message of a great religious leader who, from modest beginnings in 1934, was able to establish the Worldwide Church of God, of which he is the Pastor General. It is seldom that we come across a man almost 90 years of age who exudes the vigor and dynamism of manhood. It is seldom that we come across a person who has met with world leaders, Emperors, Kings, Presidents, and Prime Ministers the world over, this person is an author, a radio and television broadcaster, editor-in-chief of several magazines, one of which is The Plain Truth.

   Ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor and the pleasure of presenting to you a great personality, a world leader, and a friend of the Filipino people, Doctor Herbert W. Armstrong.

   Well, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. It's certainly nice to be back in Manila again. And if I keep coming as many times as I've been here, pretty soon, I'll be a Filipino myself. It's a very happy place to come because you're a happy people. You're always full of smiles and handshakes. And so, I love to come here. But I wonder how many of you read the newspapers, how many of you listen to newscasts on television or radio? If you do, do you notice that the troubles in the world are increasing, and they're getting greater and greater? Today, people are discontented. People used to get along in their own homes and families then. Today they don't get along even in their own homes and families. People don't get along with their next-door neighbors. Different groups don't get along with other groups. Nation doesn't get along with nation. We're having wars all the time. New wars are coming up all the time.

   And now the weapons exist for the first time in all history. When they can snuff out every life of every man, woman, and child on this earth, they can just blast all humanity off the earth until not one of us would be left alive if some idiot, and he would be an idiot, sets off the nuclear explosion. And today, you know that several nations, several smaller nations have nuclear weapons, and they could start it, and it would go to Russia and the United States and the big nations, and finally, there wouldn't be any humanity left.

   Most of us are asleep, and we don't realize what's going on all over the world. Why do we have these problems? Why are these troubles? World leaders have said if you give us sufficient knowledge, we will solve all of our problems; we will eradicate all of our evils and our troubles. And so, we've had more knowledge now in the decade of the 1960s, not very long ago; most of you lived through that time. The world's fund of knowledge doubled, but all that increased knowledge didn't solve any problems because the world's troubles doubled in that same 10 years also, even though knowledge increased. So did the troubles increase because it wasn't the kind of knowledge that would save us from our troubles.

   There is a cause for every effect, and the origin of all of our troubles, the cause of it was back at the very beginning of civilization. If you want to know where it all started and what caused it all, you have to go clear back to the first man and the first woman that ever lived on this earth. Adam took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God said to that tree, 'You shall not take of it. If you disobey me and take of that tree, you shall surely die' because they only had a temporary existence. And he took to himself the knowledge of what is good and what is evil. In other words, to decide for himself what is right and what is wrong to decide for himself the knowledge of what is the knowledge of good and evil man began to create his own knowledge. Man said, 'Well, I can acquire knowledge.' But if Adam had taken the tree of life, he would have received the Holy Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit in Him would have opened his mind to understand spiritual knowledge. And God would have revealed spiritual knowledge to him.

   Now, then spiritual knowledge is the knowledge of how to have a relationship with God and how to get along with other people. But Adam made a choice, and he rejected the knowledge that would have shown him how to get along with other people. And he took to the knowledge of how to get along with things, how to deal with matter. Man has been able to deal with the things on the earth, but he can't deal with other people. Did you ever hear that before? Now, all of our troubles today are because we don't know how to get along with other people and because we don't have a close relationship with God. And that's why man has had awesome progress materially. But he has had appalling troubles trying to deal with other people, and he's leaving God out of the picture altogether because he has no relationship with God. That's the condition the world is in. And you're born in that kind of a world; you're living in that kind of a world today.

   But our educators refuse to consider revelation from God as a source of knowledge. They won't even look at it. Now, I have here the book that is God speaking. This is the word of God. God is speaking here, but they don't look at it in the Universities; they don't want any of it. They only want materialistic knowledge, and materialistic knowledge does not make people happy. I am a voice crying out in the wilderness, the Babylon of religious confusion, of educational chaos and materialism, of political confusion and trouble in the governments of the world all arming to have war and more war in a society that is bankrupt, in an economic system that is bankrupt, and that kind of a system. And I'm here to bring you the truth.

   So, I ask you to open your ears and to listen because you don't hear this from any other voice. No one else is telling you the things that God is telling you through me. I wonder how many of you believe what I say tonight. He's speaking through me. He has sent me here to talk to you to give you His word. You listen. But do you believe it? If Jesus Christ were here He'd say the same thing. And most of you would not believe Him. You wouldn't believe Jesus Christ if He were here. I tell you that because people did not believe Him when he was here, and you're no different than they were, now that's speaking right straight from the shoulder. I've got to tell it to you straight. I'm not going to kid you. I'm not going to deceive you. Satan has been deceiving you long enough. It's time someone opens your eyes to the truth.

   Now, Jesus came preaching His gospel. Let me go into that now. What gospel did Jesus preach? Have you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? Most of you have not. I'll tell you what you've heard. You've heard man's gospel, not Christ's gospel. You've heard man's gospel about a person, about the person of Christ, but they've even preached a different and a false Christ.

   Now, what was the gospel that Jesus preached? You find that in the book of Mark, beginning right in the first chapter, in the first verse where it says (Mark 1:1), "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Then it talks about John the Baptist coming to prepare the way before Jesus. And in verse 14 (Mark 1:14), it gets back to Jesus again in His gospel. And it says, "Now after that, John was put in prison", John the Baptist, "Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel". But what gospel did He preach? Not a gospel just about Christ but preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Kingdom is a government. Kingdom is a nation, is a nation governed with God's government. That's what a Kingdom is, and saying that time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel."

   He said, repent, but people don't want to repent. They want to go on living just like they always did. They want to go on believing what they always believe. They want to go on in this rotten, stinking world, this world of suffering, this world of anguish, this world of discontent and unhappiness. That's the kind of world you want to go on and live in, isn't it? Isn't that what you want or do you, what do you want? You better think about that tonight while you're here because I won't be here talking to you tomorrow night. I won't be here the next night, and nobody else is gonna tell you these things. I tell you that you're hearing it tonight; you won't hear it tomorrow night. You won't hear it next week, and maybe I won't be able to come back here next year.

   Now, you've heard Jesus Christ preached as a savior who came to die for you. That's true. He did. But he came for much more than that. They don't talk about Jesus coming as a future king to rule and to put up to, to rule all the kingdoms and all the governments of the world and to set up a new kind of education and to set up a new kind of religion and to set up a new kind of society. It's about time we begin to learn about what Jesus really was.

   Now you go back into the prophecy of Isaiah in the ninth chapter of Isaiah and verse six and speaking to the ancient Israelites, the prophet said this (Isaiah 9:6): "For unto us, a child is born, unto us, a son is given, the government shall be on His shoulder". He's coming as a king, and the government will be on His shoulder, "and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of the increase of His government" ruling over people governing people in the government "and upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom", which is a nation and a government "to order it to establish it with justice and with judgment from henceforth, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish it."

   And so that is what Jesus came for. There's another prophecy way back here in Daniel in the Bible, Daniel two and verse 44 (Daniel 2:44) "And in the day of these kings", that's in the day of the kings in Europe today right now. That's what it's talking about in the days of these kings. "Shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom" that's in our time now, God is going to set up a kingdom, a new nation, a new government which "shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all of these kingdoms". That's all of these governments on earth. I have told Presidents and Prime Ministers and heads of government that they're not going to rule too much longer that Jesus Christ is going to come and rule over all the nations on the earth. And you know that that is true that is going to happen and that was prophesied way back there by Daniel.

   Now, then, I want to show you what Jesus Christ Himself said in Revelation 3 and verse 21 (Revelation 3:21): "To him that overcometh," that's overcoming sin and overcoming Satan and overcoming this wrong way of life, "to him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne?" Jesus is coming as a King to rule all the nations of this earth, as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And He's going to reign in Jerusalem, Palestine.

   Turn now to Matthew 24, (Matthew 24:3). This is the longest prophecy in the Bible where Jesus Himself made a prophecy. And this is Christ speaking. And then He walked out, and they went up on top of the Mount of Olives. And then three of the disciples came up there to Him, and they came privately asking Him, well, "Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming?" of His coming as a ruler to rule and reign, "and at the end of the world." Now, they asked Him really two questions because they thought that His coming and the end of the world would happen in their lifetime. And at the same time, that temple would be destroyed. Now, actually, the temple was destroyed in their lifetime in the year of 70 A.D. But notice how Jesus answered them.

   "And Jesus answered and said, Take heed that no man deceive you," deceive who? Deceive them right then. That's 1950 years ago. "That no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, coming preaching that they're the ministers of Christ or the priests of Christ, and shall deceive the many with a false gospel". They turn to a different gospel. Then He went on and showed what they would be teaching and they would be deceiving the people.

   Jesus came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and He said in verse 14 (Matthew 24:14), "And this gospel of the Kingdom", the same gospel He preached, "shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Now, the time has come. The gospel of the Kingdom of God is being restored, and God is restoring it through me. And that means that we're near the very end, near the very end right now.

   But notice it comes right down, the next thing that is going to happen is in the 21st and 22nd verse (Matthew 24:21-22): "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since there was a world under this time known or indeed ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved alive," not a human being would be saved alive. In other words, it would come to the place where every last man, woman, and child on Earth would be wiped out and destroyed, and the weapons finally exist, and they didn't exist until just a few years ago in your lifetime and mine when the hydrogen bomb was invented. Even the atomic bomb couldn't do it. It took the hydrogen bomb that is a thousand times more powerful than the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

   But it said, "Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened". God is going to cut the time short, and He's going to save us. Now, that time of trouble is just ahead. That's going to follow the proclaiming of the true gospel that I'm doing tonight in your ears. You're hearing that prophecy fulfilled in your ears this night. You want to know about prophecy being fulfilled. You're hearing it right now.

   Now, finally, my friends, are we really in the last days? Are we near to the second coming of Christ? Do you know how many things show that we are? The weapons exist that could annihilate all human life from off the face of the Earth. And the message, the gospel of Christ, is going out, which is a sign that we're near the end. Those things are happening. But I have a special booklet that I have not offered but once before, "Are We Living in the Last Days?" You better be sure whether we're living in the last days. And I ask you to write in for this book, there's no charge and no follow-up, no request for money. We just want to give it to you. We, God's way, is love. God's way is giving. Love is outflowing from self, and it is giving and cooperating and helping and serving, and that's what we want to do on this program.

   Now, let me also offer you a year free subscription to one of the leading mass circulation magazines being circulated within the world, The Plain Truth, published in six different languages with over 4 1/2 million.

   Now, climbing up to 5 million subscribers in all parts of the world, a mass circulation magazine. Now, the front cover on the current number shows President Brezhnev of the Soviet Union. And there is an article, "Behind the Call for a Nuclear Freeze in Europe", and it has a great deal to say about the situation between the Soviet Union and the United States.

   Then there is a big article on, "The Worldwide Epidemic of Drug and Alcoholic Abuse". As a matter of fact, there are a number of articles on that subject in this particular number. It's a special number on that subject.

   There is an article here that is rather startling, "God Hates Divorce, and Yet He Divorced His Own Wife! Why?" Why did God even divorce His own wife? Although He hates divorce. I think you would like to read that.

   Now, there's no subscription price. Once again, there's no magazine like The Plain Truth. It is dealing with world conditions. It's dealing with family and social conditions in the light of Bible prophecy and showing you the meaning of what is going on in the world. It is a family magazine, and so I would like to have you have a year subscription. There is no charge, but you must request it for yourself.

   So, all you do just send your request for that booklet, "Are We In The Last Days?" and for The Plain Truth magazine to Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California, that's all the address you need. Just Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123 or go to the telephone right now, that's quicker and easier and call toll-free. This is a free call, area code 800-423-4444. That's area code 800-423-4444. Now, if the lines are busy, keep on trying because we're getting more and more people to take these calls all the time, but the number of calls is rapidly increasing. Now, if you live in California, Alaska or Hawaii, however, call collect and we pay for the call, call, collect. Area code 213-577-5555. That's area code 213-577-5555. So, until next time, Herbert W Armstrong, goodbye friends.

   For the free literature offered on this program, write Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123 in Canada Box 44, Vancouver BC or in the Continental United States. You may call this toll-free number 800-423-4444 in California, Alaska and Hawaii call collect 213-577-5555. If the lines are busy, please try again. The preceding program and all literature were produced and sponsored by the Worldwide Church of God.