Herbert W Armstrong

Herbert W Armstrong - Gospel preached. Armstrong claimed with much fan fare that only he preached the true gospel. Armstrong set out his gospel doctrine in many publications - booklets such as “ What is the true gospel ”; magazine articles; and radio and television broadcasts. This is all publicly available and the message was the same throughout his 52 year preaching career.   For example the  Plain Truth magazine  1979; and chapter 6 of a book titled ‘ A Voice Cries Out Amongst Religious Confusion’  - shown in this link;  ‘What & Why the Gospel’ ; In a publication titled: ‘ A true history of the true church’  Armstrong   said  his Radio - then later Worldwide Church of God  was the “ one true church” linked all the way back to the original apostles.  (The identifying sign for such claim said to be 'sabbath keeping', along with an alleged obedience of the rest of the ten  commandments).  He claimed, on many occasions,...

Matthew chapter 5 in verse 19 we read of Jesus's words.  19 “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” In context of this verse, Jesus states in verse 20 : 20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven Pharisees were extremely strict in their interpretation and keeping of the law, enforced and extending to all kinds of rules - concerning Sabbath and other laws; food matters; wearing religious phylacteries and the like. Jesus says our righteousness must  exceed  that of the Pharisees. Was Jesus referring to a need to strictly abide by rules as did Pharisees? Is he demanding believers must keep the ten commandments of Exodus ch 20, the annual festivals o...

Does Matthew chapter 12 concerning Jesus’s resurrection and the “sign” of Jonah have to mean exactly 72 hours? Please note in a separate Post I have addressed the Wednesday crucifixion theory. This Armstrong doctrine is used to criticize the 'world's churches' for celebrating the Friday crucifixion.  I found there are no strong grounds for Wednesday and set out the reasons.  This particular blog focusses on Matthew 12,   ‘’ For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” These words are the basis of a theory which holds that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday, and resurrected exactly 72 hours later on the sabbath towards sunset. Whether it was a historical fact that Jonah did spend exactly seventy two hours inside a large fish we of course do not know. Jesus referred to this event, but He does not state explicitly that His citation affirms the historical c...