Why did the Plain Truth Magazine have to be revived?
It’s a critical part of our first commission responsibility!
Even before the original World Tomorrow program was launched in late 1933, Herbert Armstrong had already envisioned the use of a magazine as a follow-up to his radio broadcast. “My idea, from the start, had been to publish a magazine, not for church members, but for the general public—the unconverted and unchurched—an evangelistic-type publication to bring to the world God’s TRUTH — making it PLAIN!” (Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Vol. 1, HB ed. pp. 540-541).
So why did he think that way and how did he know it would work?
Simple, he studied and believed what Christ taught His first century disciples — that, “He (Christ) would build His Church.” From there, Mr. Armstrong determined to act on Christ’s spoken admonitions and to also follow His well-documented personal examples (Mt. 4:23; 9:35; 16:18; 24:14; 28:19-20; Mark 1:14-15).
The rest—as they say—is history.
From that humble yet bold start, God began opening even bigger mass media doors as Mr. Armstrong stayed ever true to the God Family’s “business model” (Luke 2:49). Deeper understanding followed. He came to see—like no other before him, or since, UNTIL NOW that is—that in order to successfully finish God’s house, the God Family’s gospel message had to be preached and published in all this world for a witness unto all nations (Mt. 24:14; Mark 13:10).
His business background fit this approach perfectly. In fact, given his background, he could see that Christ’s “good news” message was essentially the God Family’s “marketing strategy” or “calling card” — their method for attracting the attention of those who where looking for real answers to life’s big questions. So he geared his programs and magazine toward providing those answers. As God’s Kingdom message began saturating the airwaves more and more, listeners—in quickly swelling numbers—began to see God’s incredible purpose for mankind (Gen. 1:26-27).
So with Herbert Armstrong fully onboard, the God Family’s “business plan” was working. God could now draw people to His one true Church knowing they would learn HIS truth and be well cared for (John 6:44; 8:32; 10:27). And some of those people started taking their newfound potential quite seriously — they repented of their directionless past, received God’s Holy Spirit and then started investing themselves in developing holy righteous character while also throwing their full support behind God’s Work.
It was a glorious thing to behold. God’s called, converted and very capable servant—who had been previously trained in business and advertising—was dynamically preaching and publishing God’s Kingdom message through his World Tomorrow programs and the Plain Truth magazine — and thanks to his skillful and inspired wielding of those tools, God’s Church was being built (Hag. 2:9; Zech. 4:9; Mt. 16:18; Eph. 2:19-22).
Incidentally, our new book, Zechariah and The Signet, spells all of this out in much more detail and in very plain language. Nevertheless, let’s go ahead now and answer the specific question above: Again, why did the Plain Truth magazine have to be revived?
The simple answer is this: Sadly, Mr. Armstrong in no longer in God’s service. He died in 1986 before God’s house could be finished (Zech. 4:9). Sadder still, even though he had trained MANY to follow in his footsteps, not a single one of his direct trainees bothered to pick up where he left off after his death — including his appointed successor. As a result, the Church that Mr. Armstrong had raised up for the very purpose of helping him to finish God’s house, totally fumbled the baton and quickly fell into a deep sleep (Mt. 25:5; Rev. 3:15-17).
The damage caused by this outlandish dereliction of duty has been both substantial and pervasive — inside the Church for sure, but outside as well. By ignoring its first commission responsibility for the last 40 years—while also becoming increasingly lukewarm, dysfunctional and divided the same time—there has been no real message of hope put forth by God’s Church, at least not in any effective or recognizable way. Instead of speaking the same thing—as happened during Mr. Armstrong’s tenure, and as Christ requires (Mt. 16:18; I Cor. 1:10)—God’s Church split apart and started speaking, in some cases, very different things (I Cor. 12:25; Gal. 1:6-9).
And this is why God’s corrective critique of the Laodicean era is so blunt (Rev. 3:15-17).
Enter the Signet Church of God. As clearly prophesied in Zechariah 4:9, we know that God’s Church or House or Temple must now be finished and that God is going to use the proven methodology of the late Herbert Armstrong to do so (Hag. 2:23; Zech. 4:9). This same restart is also foretold in Revelation 10:11. Hence the revival of the World Tomorrow program and the Plain Truth magazine. To do otherwise, would be fighting God — and that will never be a winning strategy (Ps. 108:13; Prov. 21:30; Hag. 2:23; Mal. 4:5-6).
Again, all of this in clearly spelled out in our new book, Zechariah and The Signet.
We would also like to note that the Internet is going to provide us with a whole new platform and mechanism in which to use these proven tools. And we have no doubt that if Mr. Armstrong was still alive today, he would certainly be doing the same.
We invite you to investigate this new building effort through our new book, our World Tomorrow II program and our Plain Truth II magazine.

