There are some events in life that ingrain themselves indelibly in your mind: where you were, what you were doing, and who may have been there with you. Such was the case for me when I learned of the death of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong.
His death was not unexpected, but it still came as a blow. He was the one whom God had used to call me, and he had been the greatest human influence on my life over the previous 25 years. It was evident that his death would be a turning point for the Church, but we had no idea of what was ahead. January 16, 2026, marks the 40th anniversary of his death. Those who have come into the Church within the past 40 years have had no personal interaction with the man whom God used to raise up what many of us firmly believe is the Philadelphia era of the Church of God. With the passage of time, few now remain who knew him personally.
How powerfully God used Mr. Armstrong will be the subject of this year’s Behind the Work video to be shown during the Feast of Tabernacles. Therefore, in this column I will not try to trace all that God did through him but will primarily relate my own experiences with him.
An Abundant Life
I first met Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong in 1965 at the Faculty Reception at Ambassador College in Pasadena. It was a very exciting formal occasion, and it showed from the beginning that Mr. Armstrong had high standards. The vision he had for the college was remarkable—the campus was beautifully landscaped and maintained, and every student worked in some capacity for the college or the Church. I worked for two-and-a-half years on the custodial crew and came to learn excellence and the importance of details. Anyone who has seen one of the college yearbooks is struck by the beauty of the three Ambassador campuses.
Mr. Armstrong also taught us excellence in character—not that we lived up to it perfectly, as no one ever does. My freshman year was the last time that he fully taught the Principles of Living course. He wanted us to be different from worldly educational institutions, which introduced sex education in a radically different manner with radically different results. He understood that sex was God-given and not a toy to play with outside of marriage. I am eternally grateful for the values we learned about proper dating and proper relationships. Carol and I have been married for 56 years, and we know that what we learned at Ambassador College contributed to that success. The values he instilled in students served us well.
During my college years, I heard him in person giving many sermons, forums, and Bible Studies. In addition to sitting in his class for one year, we were privileged to be one of the first senior classes invited in small groups to formal dinners with him in his home. My wife was one of the young ladies given the opportunity to serve during some of these dinners and to serve in the faculty dining room. Mr. Armstrong understood that we will be kings and rulers in the Kingdom of God, and he wanted us to learn how to conduct ourselves at formal occasions.
Following college, I enjoyed the yearly visits he made to each Festival site, where he would meet with the ministry and give a grandfatherly “kick in the seat of the pants” talk to us. It was on his visit to the Wisconsin Dells in 1974 that he ordained me as a Preaching Elder. One of my most memorable occasions took place in 1983 at the Summer Education Program in Orr, Minnesota; a half-dozen of us gathered in one of the cabins, where he talked with us off-the-cuff and answered questions for about three hours.
Most people knew Mr. Armstrong from radio and from hearing him address large audiences, as at the Feast of Tabernacles. However, I found him to be most effective when speaking informally to small groups. Whether it was with ministers at the Feast, at his home for an intimate dinner, or in a rustic cabin in Minnesota, what came through was who he was. As Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34), and Mr. Armstrong came across as deeply sincere, honest, and open. He was focused on the big picture of what God is doing here on earth and on doing the Work God had called him to do. This was no doubt why he was invited to meet with—and became genuine friends with—scores of leaders around the world, including kings, presidents, prime ministers, emperors, and more.
Some criticized Mr. Armstrong for giving gifts of Steuben crystal to heads of state, but he understood proper protocol when visiting these leaders—and his gifts had nothing to do with opening the doors for invitations. But one door did open in 1968, when King Leopold III of Belgium was shown—by chance, under an unusual circumstance—the 1965 college yearbook. Upon seeing it, the King remarked, “I want to meet the man responsible for this.” It was not only the beauty of the Ambassador College campuses, but also the students, that impressed outsiders. We were very different in looks and behavior from the hippies of the ’60s and ’70s. That was the beginning of many state visits, as word of mouth about Mr. Armstrong spread from one leader to another.
Although the big picture and the Work were foremost on his mind, he did enjoy sports and playing cards. One evening, when he had to give up his ticket due to his wife’s illness (which eventually led to her death on April 15, 1967), his son grabbed the first student he ran into and took me to an indoor track meet in Los Angeles. Mr. Armstrong also loved basketball and kept up with the Los Angeles Lakers, occasionally attending a game. His favorite card game was Hearts, and he enjoyed dumping the queen of spades on Mr. Dibar Apartian or another opponent.
An Emissary of Truth
The impact Mr. Armstrong had on religion during his lifetime was immense. You might say that he put Bible prophecy “on the map,” so to speak. It is difficult to know how many professing Christian ministers read his works and listened to his radio programs, but the number must be sizeable. In the 1960s, you could not drive anywhere in North America at night and not hear his voice, or that of his son, over the radio—usually more than once.
Today, we take for granted many doctrines that God revealed through Mr. Armstrong. One is the meaning of life—that we can be born into the Family of God. This is so obvious from the Scriptures that one must wonder why it is not generally understood by all. But the answer is found in another doctrine God revealed through him. It was while Carol and I were at Ambassador College that God began to open Mr. Armstrong’s mind to a “new” doctrine. He knew that the Bible does not teach that man has an immortal soul, but he also realized that man has a capacity for intelligence shared by no other physical creature. It took him several years to come to understand the truth of the spirit in man—but today, as we read 1 Corinthians 2:11 and other passages on the subject, that truth jumps off the page.
There were some things Mr. Armstrong did not like. He did not like flattery. He deeply understood that it was God who opened doors and did the Work through him, and he said on many occasions that God could have called many men smarter and more capable than him. I can still hear him bellowing, “Herbert Armstrong has made hundreds of mistakes!” He disliked celebrity status. He wanted people to remember what he taught rather than the fact that they met him.
I cannot deny that I am immensely grateful to have known the man, but most importantly I am grateful for what God revealed through him—the true values of how to live, the meaning of life, and the way to eternity. These truths, given through this remarkable man of God, are what I remember most, 40 years later.