Mystery of the Ages
The last book Mr. Armstrong wrote was Mystery of the Ages. He described it as “the largest and most important book I have ever written.” He finished it in May 1985, eight months before his death. It is a magnificent summary of his work—the accumulated knowledge of his entire ministry!
In a September 1985 letter to Church members and co-workers, he wrote, “We want to reach the largest audience possible with this book.” From the time it arrived from the printer in September 1985 through the end of that year, an astounding 740,000 requests came in, making it the fastest-moving, most popular book the Church had ever produced.
For a while after Mr. Armstrong died, the Church continued promoting Mystery of the Ages, serializing it in the Plain Truth and distributing over 1.2 million copies. But that effort didn’t last. Doctrinal changes were swift, and by early 1988 the wcg permanently removed the book from circulation and pitched 120,000 warehoused copies in the trash!
I thought more about Mr. Armstrong’s goal of distributing Mystery of the Ages to “the largest audience possible.” That noble, God-inspired effort had lasted only two years! In 1996, I realized that we needed to revive that effort.
We printed Mystery of the Ages and, in January 1997, began distributing it freely.
Within a month, wcg leaders filed a lawsuit against us for printing the book they had destroyed. This began a legal battle between these two churches that would last six years. It was contentious and dramatic—and though legally it seemed we would lose, God had prophesied that we would win!
Finally, the day came when the wcg sent us a message agreeing to sell us all the copyrights we sought, for exactly what we offered. That afternoon, lawyers from both churches conference called the judge with the news that the terms of a settlement had been reached—effectively ending six years of litigation.
It was Jan. 16, 2003!
Gaining possession of Mystery of the Ages and 18 other works by Mr. Armstrong was the greatest victory in pcg history. And God made sure it happened 17 years to the day of Mr. Armstrong’s death! What a spectacular miracle.
