VIII. IMPLICATIONS FOR MINISTRY: “NO MAN IS AN ISLAND”

            By the grace of God, Herbert Armstrong had evidenced by many life accomplishments and by the people he had positively influenced that, in spite of overweening sectarianism, reactionary exclusivism, and definite tendencies toward narcissistic compensation for depression, that the Holy Spirit had helped center him in the face of undoubted detours and false trails pursued. He had reached Fowler’s Stage 6 of faith. He posessed a clear, if simplistic, worldview summarized in Matthew 24:14. He consistently proclaimed a bright vision of a Wonderful World Tomorrow ushered in by the millennial rule of Jesus Christ. That above all; that to the end. He had skillfully packaged premilliennialism for a secular audience from the days of the Scopes Trial to the emergence of a “born again” President Jimmy Carter in 1976. Even this bright sustaining vision, of course, was undercut with typical Armstrong hyperbole and speculation. However, HWA’s basic core identity in the public eye had remained remarkably stable across the decades and was part of his appeal. Yet one still has to ask: How much more effective would have been his achievements if he had turned his ministry and his formidable media skills in a more orthodox direction? It is a fact that, until its closure in 1995, more than one Fuller Seminary professor appreciated the concert series at HWA’s Ambassador Auditorium. What would have happened if the Whining Schoolboy, the Chicago dandy, the Oregon pastor and the institution builder would have engaged his theological peers in open and frank doctrinal discussions? Or if he had listened—really listened—to the competent educators with whom he was being surrounded? Yet to pose the question is to appreciate its futility. Living legends do not change easily.

            The implications for ministry are easy to summarize. For a church leader making the claims Herbert Armstrong made it was imperative to make sure one really had the truth before setting out to make it plain. Identity diffusion and narcissistic compensation are potent handicaps. In spite of many positive and unprecedented achievements, the fascinating popular phenomenon known as Herbert W. Armstrong needed help to make a success out of each stage of life’s transformations. We all do.