August 1, 1952 - Herbert W Armstrong - Co-Worker Letter
East Texas Project Completes Escrow
Dick Armstrong (in French) & Herman Hoeh (in German) to Speak Over Radio Luxembourg

 

August 1, 1952

GREETINGS, Friends and Co-Workers!

This month we published another issue of The PLAIN TRUTH. Therefore, as I did two months ago, I send you The GOOD NEWS in the form of this Good News LETTER.

And it is GOOD NEWS !

In ways exceeding our wildest dreams, God is proving, more this year than any so far, that this is HIS work, sparked by HIS power, guided and used by HIM, and abundantly blessed by HIM.

Never in all world history have so many millions heard the very Gospel Jesus proclaimed as during this past winter's radio season. The true Gospel of Jesus Christ His very Message was proclaimed in power as a witness to many millions in every state, and in most of Canada and Mexico.

Never has God used us to reap such an abundant harvest as this year. No longer is it dozens or scores being converted, their lives changed, and baptized, now it is HUNDREDS! By midsummer our two baptizing teams had visited and baptized more newly converted people than in any whole summer before. Our men in Portland and in Eugene, Oregon, are also baptizing a number. One of our students baptized a number here at the college in Pasadena while I was away the first half of the summer, and I baptized several at Gladewater, Texas, who came there when they heard I was to be there.

Our men in Europe left Luxembourg two days ago for Germany. In Luxembourg they arranged for The WORLD TOMORROW program to go ON THE AIR IN EUROPEsucceeded in getting a time cleared for us on the giant-powered station at Luxembourg. This station is actually MORE POWERFUL than any of the Mexican stations now being used. Its signal comes in clear and strong over all Europe, Great Britain, North Africa, and even behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union.

My son Dick, and Herman Hoeh who is with him, report that more people in England and in France listen to this station than any of their own stations! That is due to two things: 1) the programs on British and French stations are government-controlled, and therefore government propaganda, and are not so interesting to the public, while the people over there find more interesting programs on Radio Luxembourg; and 2) This tremendous-powered super station comes in on all sets so loud and clear they can actually heat it with better reception than their own local stations in London and Paris! It will provide us with an audience of possibly fifty to one hundred millions of people, HEARING CHRIST'S TRUE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALL THEIR LIVES!

We had planned to start this European campaign next year. Now the opportunity apparently is open to start NOW! I shall proceed to negotiate with their United States representatives in New York immediately, but Dick assures me he arranged with the station to hold this precious half hour of time for us.

Because of their tremendous power and vast listening audience, they charge about twice as much as even the most powerful Mexican stations. We will get very little financial help from Europe. Their governments over there do not permit their people to send much money, and in some cases virtually none, outside their countries. It will have to be almost wholly financed BY YOU CO-WORKERS HERE IN AMERICA!

But if the government in Washington can afford to send BILLIONS of our tax dollars to Europe to provide them with munitions to be later aimed back at us, cannot we manage to send a few hundreds of dollars to Europe to preach to them THE TRUE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST?

What did Jesus say of the future? He said there would be false christs, and false prophets preaching false gospels, yet coming in HIS NAME, deceiving the whole world. BUT, down at the time after world war had started at the very end of this age, (Mat. 24:3-14), He said, "And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto ALL NATIONS; and then shall the end (of this age) come!"

Co-Workers, Jesus has not commissioned you and me to preach this Gospel merely to our own nation. It must now go for a witness "UNTO ALL NATIONS." Five years ago Mrs. Armstrong and I were in Europe making the first preliminary investigations and plans for spreading the work of proclaiming this Gospel into England and Europe. At that time it was, and always had been, impossible to obtain radio time to reach the masses of people by radio. I interviewed newspaper men, and began working out a plan to reach the people through newspapers, and by mail. But we were not yet ready.

Now, when at last we are ready. GOD HAS OPENED THE WAY. In the tiny nation of Luxembourg, in the heart of Europe, this gigantic super-powered station has been raised up. They have now actually cleared a precious half hour of time for The WORLD TOMORROW program to reach ALL EUROPE!

This is the biggest leap forward this work ever took. Our men are over there now, visiting Europeans in the homes, on the streets, in hotels, talking with them, learning their attitudes and points of view. They are learning HOW we can preach to those people SO AS TO REALLY REACH THEM. They find that the few other radio preachers or large church denominations that have already used this great radio facility over there have not known HOW to talk to Europeans. They have made blunders, said the wrong thing, offended the people in many cases so they refuse to listen. God has blessed us with the "KNOW-HOW." When we go on Radio Luxembourg it will be with a program that will, first, AROUSE TREMENDOUS WIDE- SPREAD INTEREST, and second, without offending or antagonizing the people. TELL THEM THE TRUTH which they have never heard before.

The men we have sent there have been first educated for their job. They speak several languages FLUENTLY, without foreign accent just like the people there French, German, Spanish. In many cases in France the people did not know my son Dick was an American, accepted him as a Frenchman, and opened up and gave him the information he was after. Now, in Germany, Herman Hoeh has the same advantage, for he is of German blood and ancestry, and has spoken German in his own home from a child. Our men can go where ordinary American news correspondents cannot go. They are getting news and significant facts for broadcasts and articles which ordinary news correspondents NEVER GET.

I know you've already been hearing their interest-packed, fact-full reports on the air, and you are now reading their articles in The PLAIN TRUTH, and will in coming issues of The GOOD NEWS.

These men will speak over Radio Luxembourg in French, German, and Spanish, and I will speak in English. With these four languages, we can be understood by the vast majority of all the peoples of the many nations of Europe!

Brethren! CO-WORKERS! Do you realize what this means?

Do you grasp what is happening? Do you begin to see that Ambassador College has been training men God has called to the greatest, most powerful, most far-reaching ministry of all world history? This thing is TREMENDOUS!

It is something only GOD could have brought about. We are mere instruments yielded to Him, being used of Him!

GLADEWATER, TEXAS, PROJECT: Now about the Gladewater, Texas project. I was held at Gladewater nearly three weeks. We ran into many obstacles and provoking, patience-trying difficulties. We had about given up ever being able to purchase these two adjoining tracts of land at any price that wasn't absolutely prohibitive. Then, finally at the last moment, we suddenly found we were able to purchase BOTH those tracts, without the houses we did not need up on the highway, for less than HALF of the price we had agreed to six weeks before these owners started going back on their word and raising their prices exorbitantly.

So, suddenly, the two deals were closed. We now have the deeds. I was finally able to pay cash in full on the spot for both properties thanks to a fine young couple recently converted in Kansas, who sent a special offering of $2,000 for this property. Their telegram to the Pasadena headquarters telling of their decision to give this $2,000 came the very day the owners came to their final agreement the exact day it was needed to close the deal! Before we left Gladewater, this young couple with their little daughter arrived in Gladewater and I baptized them, and they were able to see the fine properties we bought, and go thru the grounds.

Yes, GOD is surely blessing HIS work in every way! How THANKFUL how GRATEFUL we all should be! I asked Brother Roy Hammer of Gladewater to take over the supervision of the project there locally, and under his direction the beautifully wooded, sloping grounds are being rapidly cleared of the thick underbrush and growth that had sprung up, leaving just the fine, large shade trees, and such smaller trees and shrubs as should be left to beautify the grounds.

I am to meet with our architect tomorrow morning, to make preliminary plans toward the tabernacle and combination church and schoolhouse we shall build there. We now expect at least a few hundred to attend the Spring Festival there next spring. We hope to have a large temporary tabernacle, large enough to seat, and also feed, this crowd, completed by that time. WORK MUST START ON IT VERY SOON. I do not know yet what it will cost. We shall of course use the lowest-cost construction that is consistent, and the main pavilion will probably be a semi-outdoor affair, since the festival to be held there every spring comes in a season when we will need little or no heat, and neither will the weather at that season be excessively hot. However, the schoolhouse and church will have to be a little more permanent, so it can be heated in the winter and kept reasonably cool in the heat of summer. The architect thinks he can work out a plan so the church and the school can use the same building and rooms, so the building will serve both purposes, and also part of the space needed for the spring festival. My own rough calculation indicates the cost cannot be less that $20,000 or $25,000 at the very least, and it may run more, for we must accommodate several hundred every spring.

Now we have left, in our special fund for this Gladewater project, a little more than $2,500 cash. Already some $400 has been spent on clearing, and getting the grounds in shape, and I understand they are beginning to look very beautiful. I am very thankful we were able to purchase the ground without buying on time, and going into debt. I WANT TO BUILD THIS TABERNACLE THE SAME WAY. We have a little start BUT NOW WE NEED SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS MORE, as rapidly as you can keep it coming. So dear Co-Workers, DON'T SLACKEN on this special project. It is MOST IMPORTANT. What a wonderful thing it will be to have such a place of our very own for this great spring conclave where we can all meet together for eight days. 123 came this past spring from 13 states. Next year I expect to see 400 or 500 at least, and where it will grow to I have no idea, now. At least two dozen families have written about moving there, so they can have regular fellow- ship in God's own church there, and put their children in our own school, which we hope to start there September of NEXT year, 1953.

As I mentioned over the air, however, let me CAUTION all of you: Do not just plan impetuously, and without proper planning, to move there. VISIT Gladewater first, look over the situation. See whether you can locate there, whether you would start a business there, go on a farm, or find a job. BE SURE you will have a source of income, and have that all definite and SURE before you move there, and avoid the terrible predicament of finding yourself there without means of support. Brother and Sister Hammer have all they can do to support themselves and their large family, so none should impose on them, of course although they are glad to do all they can to advise with you or help you in any way they can.

The Hammers there have been just overwhelmed with so many letters they simply haven't been able to answer them. Sister Hammer said she now can understand why so many of you can't always get a personal answer from me to your letters. Don't be offended at her or Mr. Hammer, or think they have ignored your letters, if they have not yet answered they have just received more than they could handle! We all owe them a great debt of THANKS for their interest, help to us all, and cooperation. Since the Spring Festival their time has been mostly taken up with this work. Dozens and dozens have driven there to see them and this place.

Co-Workers, KEEP YOUR SPECIAL OFFERINGS COMING for this Gladewater project. Help us put this special building fund OVER THE TOP before we start actual construction. BUT and listen carefully! do not specify a single dime of what you send in to be used for this special property fund which otherwise you could and would have sent in for the regular work.

REMEMBER, the regular work of the Gospel and the college must go on. The college is not yet self-supporting but each year it is GROWING and as student enrollment increases, the tuitions from students does pay a continuously larger percentage of the operation of the institution, so that most of the money received in tithes and regular offerings goes to SPREAD THE GOSPEL AS A WITNESS TO ALL NATIONS.

Once again, the regular work is in SERIOUS NEED! This past week, for the first time in several weeks, money began to fall off. When money received drops below quota just a few days, the situation becomes alarming. WE MUST KEEP THIS GREAT WORK GOING WEEK BY WEEK. There can be no let-up!

BEAR CAREFULLY IN MIND the regular Gospel work is again running behind WE NEED MORE MONEY, and quickly! This tremendous Gospel campaign to ALL EUROPE needs money, and IMMEDIATELY! We must keep our two baptizing teams going, and our men in other places. We must now raise the BUILDING FUND for the Gladewater, Texas project. Indicate whatever you send as an EXTRA, SPECIAL offering for the building fund, over and above your tithes and regular offering. NO TITHE MONEY OUGHT TO GO TO THIS GLADEWATER PROJECT. Your tithes are to spread the Gospel. So try to send an EXTRA, and special offering over and above tithes for the Gladewater project.

For a whole year now, you've had one of the magazines EVERY MONTH, right on time. Isn't it all wonderful? THINK OF IT! The Gladewater project progressing so wonderfully the biggest harvest of souls, double any previous year, being reaped the articles and broadcasts from Europe, and, now, at last, GOING ON THE AIR TO ALL EUROPE! Read that over again. Can you BELIEVE IT? My, how God is blessing His work! Let's get ON FIRE for God, and His Work! Let's put it FIRST, before everything else. Let's make any sacrifice to KEEP IT GOING! God bless you for your part in this great work.

Most sincerely, in Jesus' name,

Herbert W. Armstrong