MR. ARMSTRONG REMEMBERED

(Notes from a sermon given by Mr Ron Dart shortly after Mr Armstrong died in 1986)


- Mr. Armstrong was, most of all, a man of vision.

- He was a presence on radio with a deep resonant voice.

- He was short and rotund with a white mane of hair and with a lot of charisma.

- He always tried to enthuse people with his vision of the work and regularly talked to his students about new radio stations and developments for Ambassador College and the Work.

- He took advice receptively and believed in having a multitude of counsellors. He would share his new articles and seek feedback from a number of people.

- He put a lot of effort into the appearance of Ambassador College to show radio managers the church was of substance. He strived to instill into the students that this was a QUALITY institution.

- He believed in helping people mix with quality and important people because it raises your sights and helps instill in you vision.

- Students were encouraged to prove all things, research and think for yourself. You could disagree with what was taught in class with a proper spirit.

- Dr. Meredith in an exam once said, "If you disagree with what was taught in class, put DISAGREE at the top of your paper and I will mark you not on whether your answers match mine but on how well you put forth your argument."

- With this free expression of ideas certain people brought in ideas and influenced the church leadership.

- The idea about an authoritarian church government that was the government of God originated with a German and not with Mr. Armstrong. (I presume he is referring to Dr Hoeh who first wrote on the subject in the 50's)

- In the early years of the 50's and 60's the Bible was the ultimate authority.

- "DON'T BELIEVE ME, BELIEVE YOUR BIBLE!" was his and the church's catchcry.

- All the early ministerial conferences were free and open and the decisions then were virtually all unanimous.

- Everything was oriented towards THE WORK. Everything revolved around the Work. We all wanted to be part of the Work.

- Matthew 28:19-20. Preaching the gospel to the whole world is the first commission or first part of a two-fold commission - the Work.

- John 21:15. Feeding the flock - teaching the church is the second commission or the second part of the two-fold commission.

- The first commission is more important because if we don't do the work of preaching the gospel there will be no flock to feed. Mr. Armstrong lived, breathed, slept and ate the Work. So it should be with us. If we did the Work and we got little response we weren't doing the job well and if we did it and we got plenty of responses we were doing our job better.

- Up until 1972 the church maintained a high degree of urgency. After a lot of false hopes were let down when the tribulation didn't come the urgency dropped off.

- There became more emphasis on government, apostleship and control.

- In the early days the church was NOT the government of God. The gospel was a message about the government of God. It was in the future and would come to this earth and only then would the government of God be on this earth. Over the years the message changed to where the government of God became the church. This has now begun to distort the focus of the Work.

- Mr. Armstrong's work has finished but the Work hasn't finished. The gospel shall go out to all the world and then the end shall come (Matthew 24:14). The end hasn't come yet so the Work also hasn't finished yet.