Basic HTML Version
WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91123
HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG
PASTOR GENERAL
December 9, 1985
Dear Brethren:
At this time I feel I must make a statement regarding my own
physical condition and also changes being made in the Work. I have
delayed a definite statement about my health hoping that my
physical condition would improve and that the statement I now make
could be alleviated.
Last August 3, I left Pasadena for Orr, Minnesota, having
planned to continue to the Summer Education Program camp in
Scotland, then to London, and from London across the North Pole to
Tokyo. A trip had been planned from Tokyo to Seoul, South Korea, to
meet with the president. I was to be accompanied by the Japanese
Minister of Labor, Toshio Yamaguchi. I had become ill and was
forced to return to Pasadena from Orr, Minnesota, early in the
morning, too ill to be fully dressed. I returned immediately to my
home. I was able to make a few trips to the office until the first
day of the Feast of Tabernacles in late September. I have not been
outside of my home since that day. From that date, my regular
physician has been making daily, and sometimes twice daily, trips
to my home.
I had hoped for a turn to the better--so that I could return
for daily work in my office--and a recovery from this illness, but
unfortunately, that has not occurred. My blood level is far below
normal and has left me in a very weak condition. I have not been
able to dress--further than bed clothes and robes since the day
before the Feast of Tabernacles.
My physician says that with blood transfusions I could go to
the office for three to four weeks. But then another blood
transfusion would be necessary. It is my judgment that such a
transfusion would be risky and of very short duration. And my
physician acquiesces in this decision. Frequently I have very
serious and painful angina attacks of the heart. I have been able
to make certain necessary decisions in brief telephone contact with
those at the office and will continue this as and when my very
limited physical strength permits.
Until the present moment I felt that God might provide a way
for complete recovery, and He still may. So I have withheld this
statement until now, but I feel it is better that you all know the
condition. I am now in my 94th year. God may grant that I continue
in this very limited manner to direct the Work for some time, but
the occasional severe heart pains that I have endured have made me
feel the necessity of letting the entire membership know of the
condition as it is.
Also, I feel God has led me in deciding that it is necessary
that we close the operations at Big Sandy, Texas, after the end of