Good News 1978 (Prelim No 22) Nov 6 - Herbert W. Armstrong

Monday, Nov. 6, 1978 The GOOD NEWS 5
CHURCH
IContinued from page 41
Therefore, I began to fellowship
with their scattered and few
members in Ore gon , while at the
same time re fr aining fro m
acknowledgiog membership.
We were living in Portland,
Ore. , at the time . I knew of no
members of this church in Portland,
but there was a sprinklin g
of them through the Willamett e
Va lley betwee n Salem and
Euge ne, in Oregon - mostl y
fanners or truck gardeners. The y
welco med the fellowship of myself
and Mrs . Armstrong .
We found them to be simple,
plain and humble people, hard
working and industrio us, and
loving the Bible TRUTH - as
much as they bad - willing to
suffer persecution for it. -:"
And so it was, in this detached
fellowshi p, that Mrs. Armstrong
andI continued the first 3 ~ years
of my ceaseless night-and-day
STUD Y of the Bible - of history,
especially as connected with biblical
history and prophecy ­
and of pertinent allied subjec ts.
- These, too, were years of
much and earnest prayer. Much
. of the Bible study done at bome
was don e on my knees.
co mbining study with praye r.
Much time was spent during
these years, as it had been that
first six months, at the public library.
I delved into intensive resea
rc h in -the co mme ntaries,
Bible encyclopedias, Bible d ictio
naries , comparin g various
trans lations of theBible, examining
Greek and Hebrew texts of
doubtful or -quest ionable passages,'
chec kin g"w ~ t h ' lexicons
Conference. I learned that they
were organized as a General Conference,
with elections of officers
'. -; ... .. we didnotyet realize ourselves that
CHRIST had started, in us, the Philadelphia
era ofHis Church, committedwith the
GREAT COMMISSION."
and Robertson's Grammar of the
Greek New Testamen i. I made an
intensive study of ancient history
in co nnection with biblical his- .
tory and prophecy.
Meanwhile, 0 0 their urging. a
few of these articles bad been
mailed in to The Bible Advocat e
in Stanberry , Mo . These article s
began appearing on the front
page.
The near fight
at a meetlog
Along in Novemher of 1930
the Runeorns, neighbors of my
parents, asked me to go with
them to a business ,meeting 'of
brethren of the Church of God ,
being held in the home of Mrs.
Ira Curtis, near Jeffe rson, Ore .
Although I was a guest - I bad .
never become a member of this
church, whose headquarters were
at Stanberry, Mo . '- \bey asked
me to act as "secretary and take
down the minutes of the meeting.
I learned that the meeting was
called for the purpo se of organizing
these Oregon memhers into
an Orego n Confer ence .
, I sens ed imm edia tely the re
was a feeling of di vision "among
them. Elder A.N. Dugger was
the real leader of the church at
Stanberry . He was editor of the
church's weekly paper sent 10 '
membe rs. He either was, or had
been, president of their General '
held biannually. Most of the
Oregon memhers lived in the
Willamette Valley in the vicinity
of Jefferson . Most of them were .
in attendance at this business
meetin g.
About balf of them were opposed
to Elder Dugger. They
"wanted to organize a state conference
. Some of the other states
"had state"conferences . The pur- .
pose of this Oregon State Confer ­
ence was to bold the tithes and
churc h funds contributed by
Oregon member s in Oregon .
But actually, it was born of
opposition to and dissatisfaction .
with the Stanherry memhership
" and state conference. The other
half were ju st "as"verbal in their
loyalty and . support of Elder
Dugger and the Stanberry regime
.
Tbe dispute over Stanherry
politics and Elder Dugger ' s personal
fitness and integrity waxed
more and more heated . One tall
man who weighed considerably
over 200, and was a leader , spoke
of "dirty politics" and called
Elder Dugger a " ward-healer"
An equally vociferous man on the
other side of tbe dispute rose to
defend the honor of Mr " Dugger .
Words flamed hotter and hotter.
Each side was sincere and 1n
'roused earnest. Under the tense
pressure tempers were flaring . I
· hecame afraid it was going to be
settled (or unsettled) by fists.
- At that instant I rose , and in a
loud but calm voice asked if I
might say a word . Since I was a
guest. ithey didn 't refuse .
"Brethren.Y-Lsaid, " you' all
know how ;' as recorded in the
first chapter of Job, when the
sons of God came together, Satan
came also. You also know how,
in the 12th chapter of Revelation,
we are told tbat the people Satan
is most angry with 'are those who
keep the commandments of God .
and have the testimony 'of Jesus
Christ . That meansus. Satan "is
here . He is stirring up rage and
anger in your hearts , I am going
to drop to my knees right now and
ask God Almighty 10 cast Satan
out of this bouse ! All of you who
wish may kneel with me and pray
silently." · ,
Without another word, I
quickly'dropped 10 my knees heside
my chair and began asking
· God to rebuke Satan and this controversial
spirit that was rousing
these men to anger and to drive
Satan from our presence and to
give !Js pe a~e and love -:
When I rose there were some
wet eyes, but there were no angry
voice s. These people were sincere
. They simpl y helieved what
they believed and had allowed
· themselves to becaught off guard
and roused to ang~r. "
R.L Taylor arrives
.In early summer of that -year,
1931, a forme r Seventh -Day Adventi
st minister, a Robert L .
Taylor , came to Oreg on from
California. It was practice among
the~ Church of Gnd people to
"Jesus said we should KNOW 'by their truns.' Andnow they were
splitright down the middle.Ahouse dividedcannotstand, andtheir
two houses - Stanberry and Salem- did NOT stand!"
hold all-da y meetings about once
a month . It was at one of these
meetings that Mr. Taylor
preached . We were all quite impressed
. .
"He's a better preacher than
any of the leading minister s from
Stanherry," seemed to he the
common exclamation. Indeed we
·were all rather swept off our feet
by his preachin g.
After a few weeks, the breth ­
ren of this Oregon Conference,
which bad been formed the preceding
November, wanted to
· team Elder Tayl or with me to
hold an evangelistic campaign.
They were becoming anxious to
see a linle life in the work of the
Church.
They found Elder Taylor very
receptive to theidea . By this time
·a modest balance had accumulated
in the new conference
treasury . You will remember that
the object in forming this state
conference was to create a local
state treasury and keep their
tithes and offerings in the state
instead of heing sent to Stan '
berry , Mo . Tbe se were days of
rapidl y descending economic depression.
but several of these
brethren were vegetable gardeners
. They were doing very well
financiall y.
This made it necessary that the
Oregon Conference ordain me to
the ministry .
ORDAINED Christ's minister
~ ' B~'i :~'g o~d~~~d ::an~t: ~~~e~ i'ng
the ministry full time meant a
complete change in my life. In
former years the idea of becoming
a minister was the very last
thing I should have wanted to do.
But by June , 1931, I had heen
preach ing a great deal for 3 ~
years . By this time my whole
heart was in it.
I shall never forget that mo­
.merit of my ordination.
The meeting was being held
· outdoors . I do not remember
where - except it was in the
general rural area of Jefferson. I
do' not remember other circumstances.
But I do rememberthe ordination
itself . It was one of those
once -in-a-lifetime experiences
like heing married, and heing
baptized. Only this seemed to me
to be the most momentous event
of my entire life .
AllttW, brethren -,- as many as
could get their hands through to
my head - laid their hands on
me-on my head, my shoulders,
my chest'and my back (like Acts
13:1-3).
I am sure it was the weight of
the experience". from a spiritual
and emotional standpoint; rather
than tbe physical weight ofhands
and arms - but it seemed I was
entirely weighted down with the
heaviest load I had ever stood up
under .
To me this was symbolic of the
tremendous respons ibilit y that
now came down on my head and
shoulders.
And let it be made plain here: I
was ordained by. and under the
authority o f tbe Oregon Confer ­
ence of The Chur ch of God , separately
incorporated; nor by the
Stanherry, Mo ., headquarters. Sunday night. July 9. The Fishers
and I decided to start the meet -
The Oregon campaigns ings at the Firbutte scbool the
•The campaign was held in same night. I arrived at the Fisher
Eugene in a tiny tent seating 50 farm , leaving my wife" and chilpeople.
R.L. Taylor there turned dren at our home in Salem about
out to be Pentecostal . No results .July .5 or 6 ~ _
came from the six-weeks,"six-
.nights-a -week meeting s, except
SmaU start of
one night when it was too stormy worldwide Work
to hold a service. Thi s was the small - actually
One lone couple came that infmitesirnal-start ofwhatwas
night ~ Mr . and Mrs. Elmer destined to grow in 38 years to a
Fisher. They came with me to the major worldwide Gospel Work
room I had rented, and .that night reaching millions of people every
Mrs. Fisher accepted the Sab- week .
bath . He already.believed in it. But if 'small, it started with a
After this , employed by the burst of energ y and inspiration.
Oreg on Conference, I teamedup First.jt started with intensive and
with a youn g .minister of the ..earne st private praye r. To the
Stanberry church, Ro y Daily. . rear of the Fisher fann bome was
We held meetings at St. Helens, a fair-sized hill. Running over
Ore . • and Umapine, Ore ., neat this hilltop for exercise I discov -
Walla Walla, Wash. . . . ered a rock about 14 inches
The only results came after high . It was in a secluded spot. It
Mr . Daily left Umapine, on find -: came to mind bow Jesus had dising
the conference treasury was ~issed the mu.ttitude and gone up '
ab?ut gone , and saying, "I'm mto a mountain apart to praygolOg.
back m:;re to protect my -", alone with God . I dropped to my
own interests. ." ' _. knee s before this rock , which
I said I would serve Goo 's in- seemed just the right height to
terests in faith - and after he left . kneel hefore , and began praying
a small church was "raised ~p . . earnestly for thesuccess of .the
But. like others raised .up by my meetings. . It became son of a
preaching, there .was .no .local daily-pilgrimage , during my
minister and the church evapo- .stay at Fishe rs', to this, which
rated after a few weeks.
. beearnemy prayer rock . I'm sure
InMarch, 1933, we planned a that I drank in much energy,
six-nights-a-week campaign in a spiritual strength andinspiration
small empty store building in tbe at the prayer rock. .
Hollywood_ re si ~~~~~ .'ftia,~ ~t .- .. I'reparing for. tbe meetings, I
Salem , Ore. .. , . borrowedatypewiiier~"hhfnktIiC
Now appeared on the scene Fishers arranged "this for me
two more former Seventh -Day through one of their relat ives.
Advent ist ministers, A.J. Ray , With carbon paper, I typed out
and Sve n A. Oberg . Oherg swept some 30 notices, annou ncing the
. the brethren offtheir feet with his meetings, and the topics of me
superb preaching more than had sermons for the first week or 10
R.L. Taylor. He was a man so days .
perfect we wondered if he was
not actually an angel in disguise . The first broadcast
He was in disguise all right ! He, "The six-weeks meetings in the
too, tumed out to he Pentecostal . one-room Firbutte schoolbouse
Soon the Pentecostal people with carne to a close on Sunday night ,.
Mr. Obe rg 's help were taking Aug. 20 , 1933. A total of more
over the meetings .. tban 20 bad come with us - but
Results? 'NONE! The sbouiers . .this apparently included the ·1O
drove away others who had been. members of the Fisher and Ellis
interested. After the meetings. families , memhers of the Church
Mr . Oberg went to Harrisburg , hefore the meetings started .
where a church building was The Oc t. I, 1933 , Bulletin -
leased , to hold a campaign of his carries the report that " with the
own. ~ Fisher and Ellis familie s, more
"Here was a church, which, comparedto
the large-scale activitiesofthe Catholic and
big Protestant bodies, was ineffective. ' I
couldsee that it was imperfect. It wieldedno
great power.. Jesus hea said, '.. . ALL
POWER is given unto me in heaven and
earth . . .' "
I had heen invited to hold a
six-weeks campaign in a country "
schoolhouse, eight miles west of
Eugene, Ore . First, however,
Mrs. Arm strong and I visited privately
in their homes some of the
people who had attended the
meeting in Salem. Result? A new
church of close to 50 members
organized. I had asked A.J . Ray
to pastor it. Under his "Ieadership"
it lasted six weeks.
Mr. Oberg was start ing his
new meetings in Harrisburg on
than 20 signified their desireto
establish a new Sabbath-keepirig
Church of God in this district ."
In September, the living Christ
began opening doo rs for the
MAss-proclaiming ofHis Gospel.
It was then that someo ne brough t
to my attention the fact that the
local rad io station at -Eugene ,.
KORE , then the very smallest
minimum-power of 100 watts,
had a morning devoti onal program
scheduled, but that they
(See CHURCH , pa.. 161
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