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successful business was swept out
from under my feet through causes
over which
1
had no control.
But there was a reason- God was
taking away my advertising busi–
ness.
Disturbing Dual Challenges
Then, in the fall of
1926,
at age
34,
it
seemed that the roof had caved in
and
1
was crushed!
1
was assailed by
very disturbing dual challenges.
My wife, after nine years of happy
marriage, began keeping the seventh–
day Sabbath instead of Sunday!
1
was aghast!
1
was angry. To me
that was religious fanaticism! What
would business contacts think? But
she claimed to have found this teach–
ing in the Bible.
All the arguments carne instantly
to mind . They were of no avail.
" But the Bible says,"
I
protested,
"Thou shalt observe SUNDAv!"
"Can you show that to me in the
Bible?" she asked.
"Well, no," 1 replied. " 1 don't
know much about the Bible. My
interests and studies have been in the
area of business . But all these
churches can' t be wrong- they take
their beliefs from the Bible, and they
all observe Sunday."
"If,"
she smiled sincerely-but to
me exasperatingly- "you can show
me where the Bible commands Sun–
day observance, 1'11 go back to it."
There was no dodging the chal–
lenge. My marriage depended on it!
Coincidentally, a sister-in-law,
newly married and fresh out of col–
lege, hurled at me a second humiliat–
ing challenge.
"Herbert Armstrong," she ac–
cused contemptuously, "you a re just
plain
ignorant!
Everybody who has
any education
knows
human life has
come by evolution."
1 was proud. 1 had not neglected
study and education. 1 thought 1
knew the facts about evolution, and 1
didn' t believe in it. But now 1 had to
admit 1 had never pursued a thor–
ough, in-depth research of the ques–
tion.
Following on the heels of my wife's
"fanaticism," this challenge was
humiliating. This double jolt to my
pride hit me immediately after the
second time my business had been
destroyed. The effect was
devastat~
ing. lt was utterly frustrating. Nev-
March 1980
ertheless 1 was determined to prove
both my wife and sister-in-law
wrong.
The dual challenge drove me into a
determined almost night-and-day re–
search. That intensive study contin–
ued for six months before
1
found the
proved answer. Yet the study has
never ceased to this day.
Both challenges focused on a com–
mon starting point- the book of
Genesis in the Bible-although that
was only the beginning.
These challenges carne at a period
in life when
1
had ample time on my
hands.
1
plunged with íntense con–
centration into the study.
Researching the Bible and Darwin
1
did not begin the research in Gene–
sis. First
I
delved thoroughly into the
works of Darwin, Lyell, Haeckel,
Huxley, Spencer, Vogt, Chamberl in
and More, and even into the earlier
works of Lamarck and his theory of
"use and disuse," which preceded
Darwin's "survival of the fittest"
hypothesis.
lmmediately those writings ap–
peared convincing. (They necessarily
are, to have won virtual universal
acceptance in the world of higher
education.) 1 readily understood how
the field of education had been
gripped in the clutch of the evolution–
ary concept.
Evolution is the atheist's at–
tempted explanation of the presence
of a creation without the preexistence
of a Creator.
This initial stage of my research
rudely shook my faith in the exis–
tence of God. lt brought me to
realization that 1 had
assumed
the
reality of God, because from child–
hood 1 had heard, and therefore
assumed, it. For a while my head was
literally swimming. Was all 1 had
ever believed mere myth and error,
after all? Now 1 was determined to
know the TRUTH! My mind was being
cleaned out from ideas and beliefs
previously taken for granted.
Of all the writings on evolution,
Dr. More alone had culled out many
discrepancies in the theory. Yet he,
too, went along with the doctrine
overall.
But now 1 had, first of all, to prove
or disprove the existence of God.
It
was no casual or superficial study. 1
continued in this research as if my
Iife depended upon it- as, in actual
fact, it did, as well as my marriage.
1
also studied books on the other side
of the question.
Suffice it to say here that
1
did
find irrefutable PROOF of the exis–
tence of God the Creator- and
1
found proof positive of the fallacy of
the evolutionary theory. The over–
whelming array of college brain–
washed minds to the contrary not–
withstanding.
1
had the satisfaction
of winning the admission of one PhD
thoroughly steeped in evolutionary
thought-who had spent many years
in graduate work at the University of
Chicago and at Columbia-that
1
had definitely chopped down the
trunk of the evolutionary tree. Like
Dr. More though, she had been so
thoroughly brainwashed in evolution
she had to continue in what she had
acknowledged was PROOF of its falsi–
ty.
Also 1 had the enjoyment of being
able to cause my sister-in-Jaw to "eat
those words" branding me as "igno–
rant." All of which was mere vanity
on my part, which
I
had not yet
eradicated.
1 had proved the reality of THE
GREAT MAJESTICGoo! But my wife's
challenge was still tormenting my
mind. Already, in the evolutionary
research, 1 had studied Genesis.
1 knew each of the world's reli–
gions had its own sacred writings.
Once God's reality was proved, 1 had
expected to continue in the pursuit of
comparative religions to see if any
such sacred writings proved authori–
tative. Through which of these-if
any-did Goo speak to mankind?
Since
I
had to research the Sab–
bath question anyway, and a lready 1
had delved into Genesis, 1 decided to
continue my study in the Bible.
A Doctrine at a Time
1 carne across, early, the passage in
Romans
6:23:
"The wages of sin is
death ..." 1 stopped, amazed.
"Wages" is what one is paid for what
one has done. Here 1 was staring at a
statement diametrically opposite to
my Sunday school teaching (prior to
age 18).
"Why," 1 exclaimed, "how can
that be? 1 was taught in church that
the wages of sin is EVERLASTING LIFE
in an eternally burning hell."
Another shock carne on reading
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