On the first Sunday of 1934, January 7, Herbert W. Armstrong began his ministry in the smallest of ways—a half-hour radio program on a small station in Eugene, Oregon, with a barely beaming signal of only 100 watts. Fifty-two years later, again on January 7, Mr. Armstrong appointed his successor. When Mr. Armstrong died on Jan. 16, 1986, he left behind a church with 725 congregations in 57 countries around the globe and a powerful work going out to the world. It had a weekly worldwide attendance of 120,000 people, and another 210,000 outside the church donated money regularly. The World Tomorrow could be seen on 382 television stations—far more markets than any other religious program in America—as well as 36 radio outlets around the world. The Plain Truth magazine had a worldwide circulation of more than 8 million.
Herbert W. Armstrong was the world’s leading televangelist and one of the most prominent religious leaders of the 20th century, watched, read and followed by millions worldwide. But his legacy of Bible-based humanitarianism came under attack after he died. The cabal of leaders who took control of the church he founded, after pledging to “follow in his footsteps,” methodically destroyed all he had built. The true story of this shocking betrayal is recounted in Raising the Ruins.