Was Herbert Armstrong Elijah?

Was Herbert Armstrong Elijah?
By David Ben-Ariel

Geoff Neilson has written "7 quick steps proving HWA is the endtime Elijah," that Herbert W. Armstrong was the prophesied individual to come in the power and spirit of Elijah, as taught by the former Worldwide Church of God and still believed by many of the branches of the Sabbath-keeping Church of God. However, not every individual within them believe he completely fulfilled that great restoration role but that he served as an Elijah to the Church and there yet remains for the appearance and work of an Elijah to the nations:

#7--If Elijah has not already come, then (a) the endtime hasn't started; (b)everyone in the Church's doctrine is in a state of huge disrepair until he comes and restores all things, (c) and no-one in our day has ever understood endtime prophecy.

That's hysterically throwing the baby out with the bathwater and proving that too many have built their whole "house" upon a man rather than the WORD OF GOD. Mr. Rupert knew, taught and observed the biblical Sabbath, festivals, dietary laws and our Israelite identity, and prophesied of the great apostacy, long before God's apostle was sent to take these already revealed truths to the world in a BIG WAY, as prophesied, laying the foundation (like Mr. Rupert did for him) for the TWO WITNESSES who will finish the Work. Mr. Armstrong finished the Work God gave for him to do. It's time to go forward, to look ahead, and continue to let God's Word correct and improve our understanding.

I thank God for His apostle Herbert W. Armstrong and give tremendous credit to the man, but my life and beliefs are based on the WORD OF GOD that remains alive and lasts forever, and it has the last say on every subject.

Mr. Armstrong was given the gift of inspired understanding, but he was not a prophet or he wouldn't have made a single mistake! As Chanah wisely notes, if we say, against his own words, he was a prophet, then you're making him out to be a false prophet, and I certainly don't think that's your intention.

Your intention, I believe is to honor God and His servant, but we're to give credit due where credit is due - nothing more or less. Mr. Armstrong isn't anybody less because he wasn't a biblical prophet - and prophets are sent to the NATIONS with strong messages, not pretty platitudes appropriate for the times. Mr. Armstrong wrote of the time coming when the PLAIN TRUTH would drop like a BOMBSHELL about the origins of traditional Christianity.

That time has come! No more black tie dinners and diplomatic, refined and harmless speech, now it's time to tell it like it is, drop all pretense and ROAR GOD'S FINAL WARNING TO THIS WORLD! We won't merely say, as was appropriate at that time, "A Strong Unseen Hand from Someplace" will save us, we'll herald the coming of the King of the Jews, the King of Israel, who will rule with a ROD OF IRON and knock some sense into the heads of state! He will smash all opposition! He will liberate Jerusalem and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

David Ben-Ariel, a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, shares a special focus on the Middle East and great interest in Jerusalem, reflected in hard-hitting articles that help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Visit the Herbert W. Armstrong blog.