OUR Co-Workers' BULLETIN =================================================================== Published every little while, to keep our Co-Workers informed of the progress, the problems and future plans for carrying on God's work in these closing days of this age;--broadcasting "The WORLD TOMORROW;" publishing The PLAIN TRUTH, and other Gospel literature. HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG, Box 111, Eugene, Oregon. ------------------------------------------------------------------- VOLUME VIII. Number 2. May 7, 1947 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PLANS FOR OPENING AMBASSADOR COLLEGE PROGRESSING, NEW PRESIDENT ASSUMES ACTIVE DUTIES GREETINGS! dear Friends and Co-Workers: A week ago, Walter Eugene Dillon, who has been selected for the post of president of the new AMBASSADOR COLLEGE in Pasadena, joined our staff and began active full-time work making preparations to open the new college next September 22nd. He is now in Pasadena at the college buildings getting everything in readiness. Scores of applications are pouring in for admission to this new-type character-training institution of higher education. In addition to President Dillon, one faculty member already has been definitely engaged--one of our good Co-Workers who not only is competent in education, but whose heart also is in God's work. Several other applications for positions on the faculty have been received. Now that Mr. Dillon has assumed full-time active duties, a preliminary catalog soon will be issued and mailed to all who have applied for entrance or requested information. If you are one who has written me about the college, please just be patient a little while longer, and you will receive all the information we have to give just as soon as we can get it out. GOSPEL NOW MUST GO TO ALL THE WORLD! MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE LISTENING TO THE TRUTH ON THE WORLD TOMORROW PROGRAM ALL THE TIME. The Gospel already is going out to five million people every week. THINK OF IT! And thru economies made possible by experience, the "know-how," and by God's guidance and blessing, TWO THOUSAND PRECIOUS SOULS ARE REACHED WITH THE TRUE GOSPEL MESSAGE AND GOD'S LAST WARNING WITH EVERY DOLLAR PLACED IN OUR HANDS! And this includes all the tons and tons of Gospel literature, the hundreds of thousands of copies of The PLAIN TRUTH mailed from our office, and now, the founding of AMBASSADOR COLLEGE! Unbelievable as it is, EVERY DOLLAR our Co-Workers put into this work of God carries the Gospel Message powerfully and effectively to TWO THOUSAND PEOPLE,--many of these receiving The PLAIN TRUTH and other literature personally requested, besides-- all on that one dollar! If you place $100 in God's work, your hundred dollars reaches two hundred thousand precious souls, by radio, and by print! IS THIS WORTH WHILE? World War III is shaping--in a way very few people realize, or even suspect! I saw the conditions which are breeding it on the recent trip to Europe. The next seven years are destined to be the most momentous in all the history of the world! TIME IS SHORT! We are nearer the END OF THIS WORLD-- that is, THIS AGE,--than people think! Soon now we shall come to that prophesied time when the forces that control the earth will NO LONGER PERMIT ANY PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL! Yes, the NIGHT is drawing on swiftly, when no man can work for God. Thank God! it's still DAY--even tho the day is FAR SPENT--and we still have a little time in which to complete Christ's Great Commission! "GO YE," said Jesus, "INTO ALL THE WORLD, and preach the Gospel." "Go ye, therefore," He commanded, "and teach ALL NATIONS." "And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM," Jesus commissioned prophetically of our time, "shall be preached IN ALL THE WORLD for a witness UNTO ALL NATIONS; and then shall the END come." The Great Almighty FATHER sent Jesus into the world with His GOSPEL MESSAGE. That true Gospel of the Kingdom of God which Jesus preached is the only true GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. And THAT true Gospel is not being preached today! It has NOT yet gone out to the world--to every nation! Instead, the organized denominations and sects of men have carried forth a DIFFERENT gospel, as foretold in II Cor. 11:4, 13-15. And so, as I wrote in the preceding BULLETIN, we have now reached the time when preparations must be made,--and quickly, to carry Christ's Gospel Message as a witness to EVERY nation, in ALL THE WORLD! God has plainly shown me during the past six months the time has come when THERE CAN BE NO MORE DELAY! God Himself has MOVED SWIFTLY, performing almost unbelievable MIRACLES in behalf of this work, making possible this vastly enlarged world-wide work much quicker than we dreamed possible. To this end, AMBASSADOR COLLEGE is necessary that trained AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST may be thoroughly and properly trained for the task. God has moved in breath-taking manner, miraculously placing in our hands the splendid buildings--the magnificent grounds--for the college in Pasadena. In Lugano, Switzerland, we found the villa we went there to see very much more adequate for our purpose than we had been led to expect. We thought it was a three-story building. It turned out to be a very new, modern, splendid FIVE-story building--just the exact proper size for our need--ample for housing, feeding, and educating forty to fifty students. Actually we were amazed to learn it is probably the finest and most modern villa in Southern Switzerland--an exact replica of the Petit Trianon of Versailles Palace, and built just shortly before the last war. And it is offered to us on terms within our means, with no down-payment--an utterly unbelievable real-estate offer! To purchase it as the European home of AMBASSADOR COLLEGE, and the European headquarters for God's work, will add just 8% to the running expenses of this work. We have not closed the deal. While in Europe we went also to Geneva, Lausanne, Berne, Basle, and Zurich. We want to be SURE our European home is in the exact proper location. I had a personal conference with an official in our American Embassy at Berne who devotes his time to a study of educational opportunities for Americans in Switzerland. He agreed definitely with the conclusion we had come to after inspecting all these cities--the two most desirable locations are Geneva and Lugano. And until we decide WHICH--and PRAY, and WAIT ON GOD until God reveals to us definitely HIS WILL, we shall make no definite commitments. We must be SURE! But, once we have thoroughly investigated, have come into possession of ALL THE FACTS, are sure of GOD'S WILL, then we shall not hesitate to act, and then we will know God will back us up and bless the undertaking with success. But I will say that, at this writing, I do feel a conviction that God has definitely opened this marvelous, most unusual place to us in Lugano, and is definitely leading us to go ahead and close the deal. But I must be SURE beyond any doubt, so will wait a little longer. It certainly seems a MIRACLE that such a place is offered us on such an unheard-of basis. It's just unbelievable. But such things are possible with God, and He has shown His hand is definitely guiding this work! But the point I want to make plain is that this European property is not being considered merely as the home of the fourth, or senior year, of the College. It is FAR MORE THAN THAT! The college is only a necessary means to an END! The END is to proclaim powerfully the GOSPEL in all nations of the world! If we do acquire this very splendid European property it will be not only the seat of our college in Europe--it will also be the HEADQUARTERS FOR THE GOSPEL WORK IN EUROPE! We even inspected a most splendid property in London. Preliminary plans were laid on our recent visit there for reaching all England, and all Europe, with the Gospel Message as soon as we are ready to expand the work to those nations. And that time must come within three years! Before leaving this subject let me make one point plain. We do NOT contemplate, as some have seemed to suppose, two colleges --one in Pasadena and one in Europe. It is all to be the one college, but with its American unit and its European unit. All students will spend the first three years of study at the college in Pasadena. Then, the forty top-qualifying seniors will go abroad for their fourth year of study. It will be a full calendar year. The first month will be spent in London, and England. Tentative plans were laid while we were there for a most unusual one-month course of study there, under guidance of a British professor. This will be followed by a nine-months term at Lugano--or at Geneva. Then the European year will be concluded by a one-month tour of the Holy Land and the Mediterranean, after which students will return to Pasadena for graduation. Our plans for AMBASSADOR COLLEGE already are attracting international attention. We were interviewed by London newspaper reporters, and a story written about AMBASSADOR COLLEGE for a chain of British newspapers. Officials at Columbia University, the University of London, and several colleges and universities on the Pacific Coast are showing marked interest and enthusiasm for these plans. The chancellor of higher education for Oregon told me we are on the right track--and the kind of college we are founding is what America needs--one that will recapture moral and spiritual values and teach students how to LIVE, instead of devoting all attention to science and materialism, neglecting the spiritual values. COMING THRU OUR WORST CRISIS The past six weeks has seen God's work having to weather the most severe crisis of it history. It has been a LIFE-AND-DEATH test. For two weeks the very life of this great work hung in the balance! I had to send out a special emergency letter, AIR-MAIL! Then Mrs. Armstrong And I got down on our knees and PRAYED! And I know hundreds and hundreds of you must have responded by getting on your knees and praying with us. Our co-workers responded immediately, and generously, and for three weeks we began rapidly to catch up. I had to tell you frankly we were behind with the largest radio stations, threatened with going off the air. We were $15,000 behind! As I explained in that letter, this has grown to a very great work, costing thousands of dollars a week. And we were in a DESPERATE condition--AND STILL ARE! Now here's what happened: For three weeks, our co-workers responded in most gratifying manner, and we began rapidly catching up--the work was temporarily saved. But now for a week money received has begun dropping off again at an ALARMING rate. Before this happened, we were about two-thirds caught up. One more such week and we would have been completely caught up on financial obligations. But, meantime, each week's current expenses must be met, and now this slump is plunging the work right back into ANOTHER DESPERATE CRISIS! Co-Workers, this great and glorious work of God MUST GO ON! It MUST not be in debt. It MUST be on its feet financially. That's another reason we have to delay any decision about this miraculous opportunity in Europe. Of course I cannot make a decision until the work is on its feet, and I can see that the necessary 8% increase is being supplied. And I AM FORCED TO DELAY THE NEXT PLAIN TRUTH until this condition is met. Already one issue has been missed. Everything is ready to place The PLAIN TRUTH on the presses just as soon as this BULLETIN can reach you, and your response can reach us. Listen, dear Co-Workers--let's all make just one more EXTRA-ORDINARY EFFORT, at any sacrifice, and if the response can be as generous as before the work of God will be out of reproach, out of danger, and back on its feet as it ought to be. Now I'M GOING TO PRAY AGAIN--BELIEVING, as before. I ask you to join me. Go to a private place, get on your knees and pray for this work! PRAY that we will be enabled to stay on the air-- that I won't have to repeat programs anymore,--that we may get completely caught up with supplies of booklets to send out--that The PLAIN TRUTH may be printed without further delay. All these things can be done if financial needs are met. STAND WITH US, and PRAY! Send the most liberal sum you possibly can by return AIR- MAIL! GOD BLESS YOU! The fate of God's great work in these closing days IS IN YOUR HANDS. This has been the most serious crisis we ever faced, and we're not out of it. I know you won't fail! SPECIAL TOKEN OF APPRECIATION I wonder if you'd like to read a lot of interesting side- lights of our recent trip to Europe? If you would like to read it, we are getting together a special little booklet, composed of excerpts from the personal, intimate letters Mrs. Armstrong and I wrote during our journey to our own children and family back home. A trip such as we took is a real EDUCATION. So many of the things we saw, and experienced, were so interesting, so thrilling, and educational, we have felt the record of them ought to be preserved and made available to all our Co-Workers who wish to read about them. You, too, are a part of our FAMILY. We just feel that all of us--all our Co-Workers--form one big, intimate, loving FAMILY. Somehow Mrs. Armstrong and I feel that we know you-- even tho we've only been privileged to meet a few of you--and we feel that we know and love all of you. So, if you'd like to read our personal letters written just to our FAMILY--of which we want to feel you are a part--we'll get together these letters in the order in which they were written, and illustrate the little special booklet with a number of pictures we took along the way--including thrilling pictures of a HURRICANE in mid-Atlantic--60-foot giant swells in a 65-mile-an-hour gale. The Associated Press grabbed these pictures in the press-room of the Queen Elizabeth as we docked in New York, and developed and printed them for us. Then, with it, we will send you a reprint of "AN EXPLANATION" as published in The BULLETIN three or four years ago, explaining how this work started and grew--the story of our life, and history of the work briefly stated. And if you'd like to have it, we have one thing more to include. We have a file of a few hundred letters, I think it must be, requesting a picture of your radio pastor, Mrs. Armstrong, or both of us. I hope none has been offended because those requests have never been filled. Somehow I've always felt I was called to send out the Gospel, not things about myself. And I never had a photograph taken since I was a boy--before I was married,--until Mrs. Armstrong and I were forced to have photographs taken in order to get Passports for our trip abroad. Many of our co-workers have been rather persistent, demanding that they have a RIGHT to see what a man looks like that they listen to every day--and arguing that when a minister preaches in church he doesn't hide his face, and shouldn't over the air. Well, the photograph studio in Washington had a good salesman who used these same arguments, and urged us to order photographs, now they were taken, in large lots which they were prepared to furnish, just as they do the president's official photograph. So we ordered a limited number--all original large-size 8 x 10 photographs, unmounted, but they will fit standard folders or frames. If you really want one, we will send it, along with these other booklets--of myself alone, or of Mrs. Armstrong too--each is a separate photograph, so if you want both, please request them. But I warn you, you'll be disappointed so far as I'm concerned, because NO radio speaker EVER looks like you imagine him to look from just hearing his voice. Anyway, I can truthfully assure you our HEARTS are in the right place--and that's the part you can't see. And we're all co-laborers in one big family working with all our might to serve God and do good to men, and you've been so loyal and faithful and generous, in standing with us, we felt we wanted to send you something personal and intimate--if you'd care to have it. May God bless you. Make special request if you wish these things. Sincerely, and with love, in Jesus' name, Herbert W. Armstrong