The mysteries of Herbert W Armstrong

The United States are notorious for spawning strange and idiosyncratic versions of Christianity. The Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Science come to mind. Some curious Christian groups of foreign origin have also established themselves firmly on US soil, thereby becoming associated with the American religious theatre. The Moonies and the entire spectrum of Rapture-believing premillenial dispensationalists are examples of those.

And then there's the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). Or rather was. During its heyday, the WCG were as well-known as the Moonies, the Witnesses and the Mormons, at least in the United States. Here in Sweden, nobody has heard of them. I therefore read Herbert W. Armstrong's "Mystery of the Ages" with considerable interest! Armstrong was the founder of this church, but after his death, it changed most of its doctrines and turned evangelical. A veritable maze of splinter groups still uphold all or part of Armstrong's original teachings.

Armstrong's message is original and innovative, and yet strangely familiar to students of new religious groups. The explanation is simple: Armstrong combined ideas from several different sources, and then marketed the new blend as his own invention. The avid reader will recognize influences from Mormonism, Adventism, British Israelism and Charles Russell. Perhaps he was also influenced by the later Jehovah's Witnesses? The gap theory is thrown in for good measure, and Armstrong also wrote another book about "the seven laws of success". I haven't read it, but here's a wild guess: Christian Science!

Armstrong believed that God, although an invisible spirit-being, nevertheless has the shape of a human. After all, how could he have created man "in his image" otherwise? And how could those who have seen the Son also have seen the Father? The Son came in the form of a man. Therefore the Father must look like a man. This crudely anthropomorphic concept of God can also be found among Mormons and Russellites. Indeed, it's probably taken from the Mormons, since Armstrong also says that Father and Son are a "God family" and that saved believers will eventually become part of this family. In other words, those who believe the WCG's message will become gods themselves, and will then populate all planets in the universe. This is vintage Mormonism.

Armstrong further taught the doctrine of soul-sleep, the idea that the soul dies with the physical body, and that both are resurrected simultaneously. Thus, he denied the automatic immortality of the soul, and hence any intermediate state in which the disembodied soul consciously awaits the final judgement. This is also the Adventist and Russellite teaching. The Church, according to Armstrong, does not attempt to save all of the world. Christianity was never supposed to become a majority religion. Its function is to organize a spiritual elite, a small group of people who will rule the future Millenium together with Christ. Eventually, this small group will become part of the "God family", as already mentioned. The rest of humanity will be resurrected after the Millenium, at the Great White Throne Judgment. They will be given a second chance (or in many cases, a first chance) to embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ and his saints. This division of humanity into a small elite group and a large majority, which will nevertheless be given another chance, is probably taken from Charles Russell, although the details differ.

Armstrong's description of the Millenium is almost ridiculously detailed. Unless I'm mistaken, the chain of command will look like this: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will rule over both Israel and the Gentiles, with Moses and Elijah as their assistants. Several times, Armstrong hints that *he* is Elijah, so presumably he will be in charge of "all organized church, religious and educational activity" during Christ's millennial reign. Next in command is David, ruling the twelve tribes of Israel. The nations descended from Ephraim and Manasseh will have a special leading role. The Gentile nations come further down in the hierarchy, being presided over by Daniel and Paul. (The Jehovah's Witnesses became notorious for similar speculations. I'm not sure whether Russell had any ideas about it.) The size of the oceans will be made smaller, and all deserts will become habitable, in order to solve the problem of overpopulation. Everyone will speak the same language, although Armstrong doesn't reveal which one, and there will be a new era of good art and literature. Also, all taxes and interest rates will be abolished, except tithes to the Church. There will also be a fixed gold standard! Armstrong waxes really eloquent when he does away with democracy, political parties and "wasteful" election campaigns. A more peculiar feature of this Christian Millenium is that Jewish feasts and festivals will be celebrated. (Like the Adventists, Armstrong was a Sabbatarian.)

Armstrong's British Israelism is one of the more controversial tenets of his teachings. However, I can't say that Armstrong sounds particularly racist. British Israelism is simply another curious twist to his message. In Armstrong's interpretation, the United States is the tribe of Mannaseh, Britain is the tribe of Ephraim and the other lost tribes of Israel are represented by the nations in northwestern Europe, including Sweden.

The WCG were, of course, accused of being a cult. An entire website devoted to exposing Armstrong and his followers exists. As already mentioned, the new leaders who took over after Armstrong's death actually steered the group into main-line evangelicalism, but many hard-line Armstrongites still remain.

"Mystery of the Ages" is an interesting read for those fascinated by new religious movements and strange forms of Christianity. Recommended, in a way.