"The WORLD TOMORROW"
A NATION - WIDE BROADCAST
HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG
Analyses Today's News with the
Prophecies of THE WORLD TOMORROW
Publishing
The P L A I N T R U T H Box 111, Pasadena, California
A Magazine of UNDERSTANDING January 29, 1948
Dear Friends and Co-Workers:
GREETINGS! in Jesus' name: Here we are, already well
into 1948, a slumbering, indifferent, pleasure-loving world
plunging heedlessly to its DOOM! Yet, despite spiritual lethargy,
the sober, all-important work of God, to WARN our nations and
proclaim the TRUE Gospel to a dying world, is progressing in
greater and greater power against most trying circumstances and
obstacles.
The official United States government view now is:
"ATOMIC WAR IN FIVE YEARS!" The government foreign policy, and
military strategy is geared to that schedule. One top-flight radio
news reporter, I am told, stated to the nation that Russia had the
audacity indirectly to notify the United States she will attack
with atomic bombs in five years!
Five-star General Arnold, head of United States air
forces in World War II, states bluntly in an article that America
has won her last war--she will lose next time! Is the atomic bomb
a secret? NO! says Dr. Robert M. Hutchins, chancellor of the
University of Chicago, where the first atomic explosion was set
off, in an article in the American magazine (Dec. '47). The FACT
is, he candidly reveals, a great part of the preliminary work,
and most of the subsequent work in producing the bomb was done by
foreigners. Of the ten top scientists, half were GERMAN, one was
French, One Danish, one Italian, one American. The Germans were
far ahead of us at the outbreak of World War II. Every single
basic idea in atomic fission came from a European mind! America
merely applied these ideas and PRODUCED the bomb. ALL these
foreign scientists know how to produce the bomb! Today they are
scattered throughout the world. THERE IS NO SECRET! Can Russia
make atomic bombs? OF COURSE, answers Dr. Hutchins. IS Russia
making them? It would be foolish to assume she is not, he replies.
Two years ago it was known Russia had the secret, and an able
scientist then prophesied she would complete her first atomic bomb
in three years--one year from now! There are 27 first-class
nuclear physicists in Russia! Inside five years from now, Russia
will have enough bombs in production to blast every city in the
United States out of existence over-night! AND THERE IS NO
DEFENSE!
One medium-sized bomb could wipe out of existence
Indianapolis, Denver, Portland, Atlanta, or Jersey City! It is now
possible to make bombs 1,000 times that powerful! By taking
advantage of prevailing winds, an enemy with just TWO of these
super-power bombs could make the entire United States
uninhabitable, by contaminating our entire area as winds sweep
radio-active air over the face of the land! It is as impossible to
destroy a bomb on its way to a target carried by a high-speed
missile as to destroy an artillery shell in flight! But it is
estimated it will take five more years to perfect those bomb-
carrying missiles, plus enough bombs, by some enemy nation. We
have that much time to PREPARE--yes, to prepare--FOR WHAT? THERE
IS NO DEFENSE! If the German V-2s had carried atomic bombs,
England would have been totally destroyed! In one night, ten
atomic bombs could destroy America's steel industry. Five more
could stop our oil production. Another five our coal production.
Thirteen bombs could destroy every great metropolitan and
manufacturing center in the United States. Our nation can be wiped
out IN ONE NIGHT! AND THERE IS NO DEFENSE! And ENEMIES WILL BE
READY IN FIVE YEARS!
And we sleep on, heedless, bent on pleasures and working
for a future that WILL NEVER COME! Co-Workers, THE ONLY THING THAT
IS IMPORTANT NOW IS TO SOUND GOD'S WARNING TO THIS NATION--TO
PREACH AND PUBLISH WITH GREAT POWER THE TRUE GOSPEL TO THE ENTIRE
WORLD BEFORE THIS ATOMIC-DAY COMES! Frankly, I do not believe it
will actually come in five years--but it COULD! But I do believe
we have not more than seven or nine years to finish the work God
has commissioned us to do! Just BARELY enough time, and NO MORE!
That is why AMBASSADOR COLLEGE had to start without a year's delay.
That's why God performed MIRACLES to open the way that it might
start. Sober, serious young men and women are being thoroughly
TRAINED to carry this work now INTO EVERY NATION. Every student,
by hard application, is proving to be an ALL-A student! Final
exams for the first semester are being held this week!
The true Gospel is going to the nation nightly and every
week-day morning. XEG has INCREASED its power. Letters are
POURING in--700 to 1,000 every day! Precious souls are being
converted. Lives are being CHANGED! Oh, how I wish you could read
the letters! Many hundreds appeal to me that God will HEAL them of
sicknesses, diseases and injuries, and scores are being healed.
Often I am called on to pray for 150 to 200 at a time! One letter
just received says: "Oh how I wish I could help you more in the
great work. You have been such a help to me. I know it was your
voice that made me wake up and take notice to God and His Word.
How I thank Him that I heard you that first time! I truly believe
God was calling me, through your voice, because it was the first
time I ever heard the Bible explained in its true meaning....I have
accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and though I find it
quite hard at times, (there are so many temptation in the world
today) I also find it is the happiest and most important thing in
all the world living for God, and by god's laws and truths. Dear
Mr. Armstrong, you are called of God I know, because you preach the
Bible--what it says. God bless you. Please pray for me."
Another writes: "I've been listening to your broadcast
each evening. I enjoy it so much. My brother near--was listening
to your program one night and was reclaimed--had been backslidden
for several years, so I began to listen in. I hope you can keep on
the air till Jesus comes. Yes, we have been so blinded by
traditions till it's hard for some to understand when someone is
really preaching the truth." *** Another: "I am just so happy
that I heard and accepted this wonderful Gospel that you are
preaching over the radio, which is the only thing that will save
us. God has wonderfully blessed us (my family) through you, and we
are praising His holy name! We listen every night at 8 o'clock,
and sometimes at 5:30 in the mornings, read our Bible along with
you, and it is wonderful! We have just begun to LIVE, thank the
LORD." *** These are typical, just received, of letters coming in
every day telling us of precious souls brought to Christ and
salvation thru the broadcast. Also, in every mail are appeals for
help. Here are excerpts from just a couple in today's mail: "I've
listened to you for over a year, and you preach what I believe, but
my mind is in a whirl. I have been, in the past, one of the most
wicked women that ever breathed. I have broken every commandment
God gave to us. I'm a divorced woman, not because my husband
wanted to get one, ... he was a good man. All the fault was mine,
because I was unfaithful, spender of his hard-earned money for
liquor, and "good-time crazy." ... What I'm concerned about now, is
how can I serve my wonderful Lord. Do you think god has forgiven
my sins?" Then she asks some personal advice and help. Of course,
God has forgiven the sins of all who come to Him thru Jesus Christ,
accepting His death on the cross in payment for the penalty of our
sins, accepting Him as personal Saviour, having REPENTED of sins,
desiring to be reconciled to God and to know and live by God's
laws. *** Another typical letter, showing the dearth of spiritual
food received in this world's churches: "Thank you SO MUCH for all
the help and truths you give the world. I belong to the - - - - -
Church. But as you know, we need so much more than we get in
church. I feel that there's so much that I haven't received. I
have never received the blessings that I know the Lord gives.
Please pray for me." The reason so many do not receive more
blessings is that they do not understand fully what Jesus taught:
"It is more blessed to GIVE than to receive." The principle of
God's law is LOVE--which is selflessness, the principle of GIVING,
SERVING, rather than GETTING. The more we GIVE, the more we
RECEIVE! *** From Mississippi: "I always share with interested
persons your publications and special pamphlets. They are always
received with much appreciation, and I am called on from time to
time for these. We have a regular reading circle made up of these
and we listen to your broadcasts and discuss them among ourselves,
and this is growing each week." *** A young man high-school senior:
"I have been listening to your broadcast, and I can say from the
bottom of my heart that I certainly admire a man that will stand up
and preach the true Gospel like you do ... I spent two years in the
Navy; got discharged in 1945. Attended Junior College, in which I
am now enrolled. I was about like the rest of the boys when I got
out of the service. I didn't live a very good life. (He
surrendered to God last October). I have been thinking of going to
-----(college) next year, but I would like to receive some
information from you. Are you a Bible teacher in Ambassador
College? ... Why I write you all this is because I am seeking a way
to make preparation, not just get through school, but to have the
real thing after I get out....I think you have the true doctrine."
This lad expects to enter the ministry. We hope he comes to
Ambassador. Yes, I personally teach the Bible class at the
college. *** I was rather amused, and much pleased, at a letter
from a former zeal-filled member of a certain popular sect which
claims NOT to be a Church or Organization. He is typical of
thousands whom the broadcasts has CHANGED from error into TRUTH.
There's space for but a small part of his letter: "Dear
Representative of God only by the authority of God and by the
authority of Jesus Christ: What you are preaching is DIFFERENT
from anything I've ever heard or anyone else has ever heard today.
You certainly preach a different Jesus to what the ------Society
(which he formerly followed) or any other religious organization
preaches. There's as much difference in your, or the BIBLE
interpretations and the ------Society's interpretations as there
is between daylight and dark." *** Another in this category: "I
listen to your broadcasts and will say that you are the first man
I have ever heard that I believe tells the WHOLE TRUTH. I have
sought for many years to know the truth, as it must be written, but
I could not quite grasp it. I am not a church man, but I try to
live a straight honest life."
Dear Friends and Co-Workers, WE HAVE ONLY A FEW YEARS
LEFT! The horrible atomic war will COME! Dr. Hutchins says 65
scientists with him made a last-minute frantic effort to persuade
President Truman to prevent the dropping of the atomic bomb on
Japan--for that meant OTHER nations soon would have it to use on
US! All hope of preserving the awful secret was then lost! The
end result, now, says this authority, can be ANNIHILATION OF ALL
HUMAN LIFE UPON THIS PLANET!
But the PROPHETIC picture of the atomic future is just a
little different from that which the world expects. Prophecy does
say that our CITIES will be destroyed. A THIRD of our population
will be blasted out of existence. But it does not say the nation
which will do it will be RUSSIA. Unexpectedly, a dynamic CHANGE in
world events, especially in Europe, will hold Russia off--prevent
Russia from doing that which she undoubtedly would do otherwise.
But the atomic destruction WILL COME!--and that's the IMPORTANT
THING. God Almighty warns us OUR NATION AND ALL ITS CITIES WILL BE
DESTROYED, unless we return to our God, and QUICKLY!
Yes, THAT'S the important thing! TIME IS SHORT, and WE
MUST WARN OUR PEOPLE! If the nation won't heed, then each
individual who does may find divine PROTECTION, to escape ALL these
terrible things that SHALL QUICKLY COME TO PASS, and to STAND
before the Son of man, at Christ's coming!
Listen, dear Co-Worker! As I've said before, YOU won't
be living where you are--AS you are, enjoying what you are now,
MUCH LONGER! DOOM is hurling surely and relentlessly down UPON OUR
ENTIRE NATION! General Arnold sees it. All great scientists know
it! They tell us they are frankly FRIGHTENED! You may be sure
General Eisenhower, President Truman, Secretary Marshall all
realize it! Yes, they all know more than they dare tell! GOD
foresees it, and WARNS US!
TIME IS SHORT and swiftly running out on us! We STILL
have time, and just BARELY time, to fulfill the Great Commission,
before it's forever TOO LATE! We can't stop, falter, slacken our
efforts now!
And yet SOME FEW of our co-workers continue to write in
after every urgent appeal I'm forced to sent out! "Why is the work
always in an emergency? Why must it always need more money?"
Oh, dear Co-workers, LISTEN! Let's all realize JUST
WHERE WE STAND! We are in the very LAST DAYS! The only thing on
earth that COUNTS, now, is THIS GREAT WORK OF GOD! It isn't MY
personal work--it is YOURS as much as mine--it's GOD'S work, to
which He has called YOU and me. I can speak in front of a
microphone. But unless YOUR MONEY makes that microphone LIVE,--
carries what is spoken into it, out over many radio stations of
super-power to MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, I would be talking into a dead
piece of metal in an empty room--just talking to myself! Often,
when I speak to you, there is not another soul in the room with me.
Usually Mrs. Armstrong is there by my side, and sometimes visitors,
but not always. You see, of myself I CAN DO NOTHING. Without YOUR
part, this great work would be as dead as the proverbial door-nail.
I need--fully realize the need--and am sure I have, the help and
power of GOD. I have to plead for His help, guidance, inspiration,
and power daily--He has promised it, and He gives it. But without
YOU CO-WORKERS, this work would fold up and STOP DEAD in less than
ten days' time! I can write articles, and booklets. But unless
YOU send the money for paper, printing, and postage, not a hundred
people would probably ever see the Message God has given me. I can
teach the marvelous, amazing, precious TRUTHS God has revealed to
me to the Bible class at AMBASSADOR COLLEGE, and other professors
can teach the other things these students need to prepare them for
God's service--ONLY if YOU send in the money to keep the college
operating!
And this work has been developed and organized SO
EFFICIENTLY, under God's inspiration and guidance, that EVERY
SINGLE DOLLAR you send carries the precious vital Message to TWO
THOUSAND PRECIOUS SOULS, who will not hear it if you do not send
that dollar--or as MANY dollars as you can!
Yes, this work ONCE AGAIN is in a LIFE-AND-DEATH CRISIS!
I've explained before how we had no possible way to anticipate the
$30,000 reconstruction job unexpectedly thrust upon us. We HAD to
meet it. But it is not paid yet--and it forced us to get behind
with our large super-power radio stations, and I have had to give
notes in LARGE AMOUNTS, due monthly, which will keep this terrible
crisis on us for THREE MORE MONTHS at least. We are not yet out of
this dire emergency, and WON'T BE for another three months at
least! But I am happy to report to you that we are rapidly getting
this work out of debt--and are committed to a stiff schedule that
will rid us entirely of the reproach of debt after another three
months. Rapid, almost miraculous strides have been made--but we
must put our shoulders to the wheel until the job's finished!
Some of our co-workers are doing FAR MORE than their
share--God bless them! Some have made tremendous sacrifice--
giving one, two, three thousand dollars--some LOANING us, until
they need it, money they cannot give, that this money may at least
be USED during this present emergency in this most important work
on earth! I must ask OTHERS now to give, or loan us large sums to
meet all the heavy obligations and keep this work alive, and
GROWING. But some--as I said, only a VERY FEW--seem to take
offense, and write me criticizing letters because this emergency is
still on. Oh, dear Co-Workers, can't you realize that every bit of
it is, financially, my PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY?--that it is I, not
you, whom the building contractor, the radio stations, and others,
threaten and pressure! It is I they make feel like a dishonest
dead-beat or a criminal of some kind, when YOU fail to send in
enough money! It is I who must endure all this, often unable to
sleep nights, and still must try to keep up my morale and good
spirits so I can talk cheerfully and encouragingly over the air to
help millions of people--who must try to encourage and inspire our
office staff, our professors and students at the college, and KEEP
THE WHEELS TURNING, no matter how heavy the responsibility reposes
on my shoulders! Now of course I realize, since this is God's
work, that there is no cause for worry or fear--and I DO have
perfect FAITH, born of long experience. I do always KNOW God will
see to it that everything comes out all right, in due time--as He
always has, does, and will! But dear Co-Workers, I am a human
mortal just like you, not a great super-man--subject to all human
feelings, temptations, weaknesses and everything else just like
YOU. And being human, even tho my faith is strong and unwavering,
and there is NO QUESTION in my mind of the outcome, yet these
things are terrible ORDEALS which cause SUFFERING you can never
know unless you should be in my place, have this frightfully heavy
load of responsibility on YOUR shoulders, and know by experience!
And yet some of our dear co-workers have written me that when they
get a BULLETIN or some of my letters since this crisis has been on,
they feel it so deeply they just can't sleep--so I know many of
you feel a big share in this responsibility with me!--GOD BLESS
YOU!
Well, here's the situation of the moment! Today I have
to meet the regular heavy monthly payment on the college property.
By drawing some from our reserve fund, I have enough to meet it--
I'm sure God will never let us lose it! But a note for more than
$2,000 is a couple days PAST DUE, another one for another $2,000
will be due in three days, the heavy monthly pay-roll is also due
then, beside many first-of-the-month bills! Once again, I MUST get
in not less than SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS WITHIN A WEEK! For the
present we must keep BORROWING as many thousand dollars as some of
our good co-workers, who are not in position to give it, can let us
USE in God's work temporarily--for as long as you can spare it--
preferably two or three years, but even for two or three months if
longer time is impossible. I must send out again the urgent call
for LARGE GIFTS, of sums of $500, $1,000, and up to several
thousand dollars! Again I must ask you, and in Jesus' name, and
for His cause, for all the widow's mites--and please try to DOUBLE
even the small offerings if possible. We must have MANY offerings
in amounts of $25, $50, and $100. God does not expect any to give
what he has not got, but He does expect each one to TITHE
faithfully, ONE-TENTH OF INCOME, and to give in addition generous,
liberal offerings, ACCORDING TO ABILITY.
NOWHERE else can this money do so much good, or reach so
many people! Except ALMIGHTY GOD interferes, this world faces
certain DOOM--utter annihilation of human life on this globe by
atomic destruction at the hand of man! The glorious GOOD NEWS of
the coming KINGDOM OF GOD, and the SECOND COMING OF CHRIST to at
last straighten everything out for us and bring a blinded and
deceived humanity understanding, peace, and joyful salvation--
the true GOSPEL of Jesus Christ--must now be shouted in great
power to the entire world. Soon it will be TOO LATE. NOW is the
time! YOU have your part, just as I have mine. I'm doing my very
best--will YOU do ALL that YOU CAN? Please rush your offering, as
large as possible, as soon as possible--air-mail (now only 5›) or
even by telegraph.
God bless you--SOMEHOW I know we will be carried
through, and this great work will survive and continue on, TO THE
END!
With love, in Jesus' name,
Herbert W. Armstrong