Remembering Herbert W. Armstrong

One of the best-known, most prominent religious leaders of the 20th century

By Stephen Flurry • December 26, 2015

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Just weeks after Herbert W. Armstrong’s death in 1986, Time magazine published a story on the growing popularity of televangelists in the United States: Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell.

Time ranked Swaggart’s weekly tv show at the top of its list. His show aired in 197 markets. The others had between 192 and 169 markets. However, all of them were dwarfed by Mr. Armstrong’s program. At that time, the World Tomorrow program could be seen on a total of 382 television stations—almost twice as many as any other religious program in America!

Mr. Armstrong was one of the best-known, most prominent religious leaders of the 20th century. He also had personal meetings with dozens of heads of state and other world leaders. He established a fantastic liberal arts college with three campuses—two in the United States and one in Great Britain.

Mr. Armstrong’s flagship magazine was called the Plain Truth. It focused on current events and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. It was published in seven languages. In 1985, its worldwide circulation peaked at 8.4 million. That year, Time magazine’s circulation was 5.9 million. At that time, 1 out of every 583 human beings on Earth received the Plain Truth. In the United States, it was 1 in 48. In Canada, it was 1 in 27.

Mr. Armstrong also wrote dozens of books and booklets that were sent to tens of millions of people all over the world. Six million people requested The United States and Britain in Prophecy. Another 3 million people requested his booklet The Seven Laws of Success.

Between 1980 and 1984, the church distributed about 362 million books, booklets, magazines, newspapers, lessons and letters. Then in 1985, the last year of Mr. Armstrong’s life, his church set new records in nearly every category. It answered more than a million phone calls, and it received 6.7 million pieces of mail. It also added 2.1 million new names to its database. It distributed approximately 86 million publications.

Out of all those millions of requests, people were asking for one title more than any other. It was a book that Mr. Armstrong finished just four months before he died, and it was absolutely the greatest book he wrote in his entire 50-year ministry. On today’s program, we remember Herbert W. Armstrong—and we offer you his greatest work, Mystery of the Ages.