Worldwide Church of God

On January 7, 1934, the Radio Church of God radio program began broadcasting on KORE in Eugene with Armstrong as host. It was essentially a condensed church service on the air, with hymn singing featured along with Armstrong's message, and was the launching point for what would become the church. Armstrong taught British Israelism (that the British and American people were descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel and that God was not a Trinity but a family, Father and Son. This family did not include the Holy Spirit as it was believed by Armstrong to be the essence of God, not a separate person.

His message has been described by some critics[who?] as an eclectic mixture of cultic doctrine, Jewish observances and Seventh-day Adventism. The church strictly observed Saturday Sabbath, annual festivals described in Leviticus and strongly advocated the clean meats of Leviticus 11. Members were asked to give up to 10 percent of their incomes to the church as a tithe, while also being told that another 10 percent was to be saved for annual festival observances, and every third year an additional 10 percent had to be sent to the church. Dating outside the church was strongly frowned upon, there was a dress code for members while attending services, and the church believed that God did not intend certain things to be meant for human consumption. Those who refused to follow the church's guidelines were excommunicated. Members were influenced by church teachings not to wear make-up nor celebrate birthdays and were taught that the Bible warned believers not to celebrate traditionally accepted holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Halloween.

In 1947, Ambassador College was founded in Pasadena by the church, and the campus served as the church's headquarters. It was here that Armstrong met Stanley Rader in 1956. Rader stated that he was employed to sort the church's accounts, which he claimed had become disorganized. Armstrong reportedly was so impressed with Rader's work that, under his encouragement and patronage, Rader furthered his education by going to law school. Rader then graduated as valedictorian of his 1963 law school class at the University of Southern California Law School. Rader continued this relationship as special legal and financial advisor to Ambassador College and the Worldwide Church of God, working for them in a full-time capacity by 1969.

The late 1960s saw the beginnings of change within the church. The broadcast of The World Tomorrow on Radio Luxembourg on January 7, 1953, led Herbert Armstrong to view his ministry in the context of a prophetic interpretation that set the date of Christ's return at 1975, with the Great Tribulation beginning in 1972. This interpretation produced by Armstrong and Ambassador College graduate Herman L. Hoeh would be consummated with the publication of the 1956 booklet 1975 in Prophecy!. This interpretative vision of his ministry consumed Herbert Armstrong. It also apparently had an impact on many others, including Michael Dennis Rohan, who cited Armstrong's work when questioned on the attempted destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in 1967.

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