It couldn’t have started more humbly—but the name spoke volumes. The first edition of the Philadelphia Trumpet was three typed pages of announcements, followed by three pages of letters from supporters of a fledgling organization aimed at raising the ruins of an important work.
The Plain Truth was one of the highest-circulation magazines in history. For over 50 years, its Bible-based insights had helped readers understand the true significance of world events. It had attracted a huge readership: At its peak in 1985, the Plain Truth went out 8.5 million copies strong each month, in seven languages, around the globe.
But when its founder and editor in chief, Herbert W. Armstrong, died in 1986 at the age of 93, his successors quickly began to destroy all he had built. The Plain Truth lost its singular purpose, and with it, its power.
Four years later, in February of 1990, the Trumpet launched with an aim to fill the void.
The two decades since have witnessed some extraordinary, epoch-changing history. Events are fulfilling biblical prophecy at a quickening pace. The work of analyzing them and publishing the message has grown progressively more urgent and vital. The Trumpet’s blast has had to grow louder and clearer.
In this, our 205th issue, we reflect on 20 years of the Trumpet, focusing on the prophecies we’ve highlighted that have already significantly come to pass. We hope you will view this retrospective, as we do, as a powerful vindication of the biblical model of predictive analysis pioneered by Herbert W. Armstrong in the pages of the Plain Truth.
More importantly, this look at the Trumpet’s history highlights the dramatic acceleration of fulfilled prophecy. This is deeply significant, because these biblical forecasts are signs of God’s hand in world events—and of the imminent end of this age of man.
“Can you not discern the signs of the times?” Jesus Christ asked. Over the past two decades, those signs have grown ever more obvious. His Second Coming is almost here.