Herbert W. Armstrong, internationally recognized as an ambassador for world peace, developed a special friendship with a key aide to India’s president. Through this contact, testimonial dinners, personal appearances and special invitations were arranged for Mr. Armstrong to visit India’s elite, including its prime ministers and presidents, such as Indira Gandhi and V. V. Giri.

Mr. Armstrong recalled one such event hosted in his honor at the Oberi-Sheraton. “Last night, here in Bombay, India, halfway around the world from Pasadena, we had the biggest and most successful ‘testimonial dinner’ since this new phase of God’s Work began. More than 400 distinguished leaders and wives attended. This large dinner was hosted by Judge Nagendra Singh of New Delhi, judge of the World Court of International Justice at the Hague, Holland. Present were 15 justices of the High Court of Bombay, presidents of universities, chairmen or presidents of several of the largest industrial and commercial organizations, the deputy British high commissioner, several civil service officials of India’s government for the Bombay area, and others of like status” (co-worker letter, Jan. 23, 1975).

He returned a month later on February 26, and was welcomed by the Lions Clubs of India as guest speaker. The event was organized by Lion I. M. Choksi and comprised a large number of club leaders past and present. It was chronicled in the Western Lion magazine, and reprinted in the June 5 edition of the Worldwide News.

“In his welcome speech Lion C. R. Asnani, who presided at this meeting, described Dr. Armstrong as ‘the ambassador of world peace and a builder of bridges between people of the world.’”

His host went on to state: “Dr. Armstrong has steadfastly and untiringly devoted over 40 years of his life in the pursuit of world peace.” Asnani briefly recounted India’s longtime challenges with widespread sickness, poverty and illiteracy, concluding that peace can only be founded when mankind has had his “possessive instinct” removed.

Mr. Armstrong thanked his hosts for the opportunity to meet all of them at this special meeting. “He said that today we are in the intolerable paradox of a world-cataclysmic collision course. On the one hand, the human mind has proved to be superbly capable that it can produce the incredible computer and send men safely to the moon and back, among other marvels.

“But on the other hand, the same human mind has proved utterly helpless before our human problems, troubles and evils here on Earth. Human leaders for 6,000 years have striven in vain to bring about world peace, and yet science, technology and industry have produced nuclear and other weapons capable of blasting from off the Earth all life, erasing humanity from this planet.

“The world has produced modem science, the great religions, the intellectual institutions of higher learning, its great governments! And yet modem science cannot find the answers, nor solve our fatal problems. All religions have utterly failed to make this a better, happier world or show us the way to world peace. Higher education, intent on constant knowledge production, does not know, and cannot teach us, the answers!

“Governments supposed to be the benefactors of their peoples are more and more being overthrown, because dissenters conclude that they have failed. Dr. Armstrong went on to say that successful men, many of them were not happy at all, they had one goal: to make money and they made money. And as he has often said, their bank accounts were full, but their lives were empty. Dr. Armstrong simplified the problem of world peace into two ways. One was the way of get and the other the way of give. The give way is the way of outgoing concern. Human nature, he says, doesn’t like to give. Human nature wants to get and this whole world is based on the get principle.

“According to him, a good definition of the word Iove is ‘outgoing concern toward the one loved, a concern for the welfare of the other, equal to your self concern.’ And not very many have that. Dr. Armstrong said that for the last 40 years, he had been putting the ‘give’ way into practice and he found that it does succeed and it is better.”

It’s profound to read about that speaking engagement from the perspective of the Indian business elite which comprised the Lions. Over 4,000 delegates attended this meeting and received God’s gospel message delivered by His apostle. In addition, the combination of a targeted advertising and broadcast presence drew over 20,000 requests for literature (Matthew 24:14).

Herbert Armstrong, the World Tomorrow program and the Plain Truth magazine are gone. However, the message he declared to India and that which its people heard and read is “prophesied again” as a warning as these world events come to pass. Today, God’s end-time apostle, via the Key of David program and the Trumpet magazine, continues that Elijah work (Matthew 17:10-11; Revelation 10:11). Those most seriously minded Indians who remember Mr. Armstrong and the message he delivered, and recognize its Source, are loyally backing this message once again.