In a ceremony at his office on Nov. 3, 1975, Mayor Tom Bradley conferred commendation on the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation. As both founder and chairman, Herbert W. Armstrong accepted the award on behalf of the foundation.

Bradley graduated from University of California–Los Angeles, served as a police office of the Los Angeles Police Department, finished law school and began practicing before serving on the L.A. City Council. In 1973 he became mayor, and then co-chair of the Democratic National Convention in 1976. He won the gubernatorial primary but lost the election to former Attorney General George Deukmejian, who presided over the state of California’s attack on Mr. Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God.

“As mayor of the city of Los Angeles, it is my pleasure to commend the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation for its laudatory efforts in culture and humanitarianism,” Bradley’s commendation read (Worldwide News, Nov. 10, 1975).

The mayor continued, “Not only is the foundation presenting many of the world’s leading artists, including Horowitz, Pavarotti, Sutherland, Menuhin, Panovs, but also 100 percent of funds raised will be donated to many of Los Angeles’ charitable, humanitarian, cultural, and educational organizations, including the United Way.

“In addition, Ambassador International Cultural Foundation is providing complimentary concert tickets to inner-city students and senior citizens who would ordinarily not be able to attend such outstanding cultural events. In this regard, the foundation is working with the Pasadena Urban League to give hundreds of minority students opportunity of hearing soprano Grace Bumbry in concert at Ambassador Auditorium.

“On behalf of the city of Los Angeles, we wish the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation well in this great community endeavor in culture and humanitarianism, and we ask the people of Los Angeles to give this program their wholehearted support.”

Over the next decade, Los Angeles, Pasadena, surrounding communities and numerous others through global humanitarian projects benefited from the benevolence of Mr. Armstrong and the endeavors of the adjuncts he founded. His friend Mayor Bradley succeeded in bringing the Olympics to the city in the mid-’80s while he as founder and chancellor of Ambassador College helped host and train world-class athletes, such as high jumper Dwight Stones, for those games under the college’s famed athletic director Harry Snieder. In 1986, the mayor again lost to Deukmejian in the general election for state governorship.

Earlier that year, on January 16, Bradley’s longtime friend died at his home on the Ambassador College campus. Thereafter, a cadre of church leaders assigned with the responsibility to continue his work, without mandate drove the Worldwide Church of God (wcg) from its founding doctrines, renamed it Grace Communion International and thrust it into the welcoming arms of mainstream Christianity, Protestantism and Pentecostalism. Their agenda continued with dismembering Ambassador College, collapsing the foundation, and rejecting friendly relations with international heads of state and royalty.

Amid this shocking betrayal, Gerald Flurry wrote Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today and stood in defense of Mr. Armstrong’s final book, Mystery of the Ages, as it was pulled from circulation, both resulting in the firing of Mr. Flurry and his assistant, John Amos, on Dec. 7, 1989, in the Hall of Administration building on the campus of Ambassador College. These events initiated the establishment of the Philadelphia Church of God (pcg), sponsor of the Trumpet.

Earlier that year, Bradley was elected to his historic fifth term as the city’s mayor, totaling a tenure of 20 years. He retired from office in 1993, with the next five years seeing him battle health crises resulting in his death in 1998.

The mayor died not knowing the outcome of a six-year court battle conducted in the city between the wcg and pcg over the preservation of the written works of Mr. Armstrong. The cadre had openly declared their “Christian duty” was to keep the works of this unofficial ambassador, friend of world leaders, “out of print.” Request your free copy of Raising the Ruins for the truth behind this mammoth betrayal and battle for religious freedom.

Citizens of Los Angeles may be familiar with a recent commercial aired nationwide by Microsoft promoting its new Surface tablet computer. The advertisement was filmed on the grounds of the former Ambassador College campus. It featured what was its administration building, with the spiraling egret sculpture crafted by England’s Sir David Wynn in front of the famed Carnegie Hall of the West, Ambassador Auditorium.

The grounds’ commercialization strikes pain into the heart and boil the blood of anyone who supported the work of Mr. Armstrong. Add to this the recent destruction of the college’s former library, one of the first buildings acquired in the early days of the college back in 1947. This building was where the World Tomorrow program was recorded and sent to its millions of viewers on hundreds of stations worldwide.

In addition, Ambassador Auditorium’s owners are currently pleading supporters for help on their website, fearful of the facility’s future as its acoustical quality comes into question amid other slated demolitions, such as the former administration building, to make way for a massive senior housing development complex which they claim “will dwarf and overwhelm its immediate neighbor—Ambassador Auditorium.”

Mayor Bradley would have been pleased at the victory, out of court, for the pcg to continue the legacy of his longtime friend and unofficial ambassador. It has taken over two decades for Mr. Flurry, with the dedicated aid of supporters worldwide, to revive the institutions formerly established by the unofficial ambassador for world peace whom the mayor honored and lent support to on behalf of Los Angeles citizens.

Our Trumpet readers in Los Angeles and around the world, along with viewers of the Key of David program, members of the Church, Herbert W. Armstrong College students, co-workers, donors, patrons of Armstrong Auditorium performing arts events, and recipients and partners of the Church’s foundation, can be assured these institutions, practicing God’s way of give, will never betray, commercialize or bulldoze their spiritual, cultural, educational and humanitarian assets and activities in the pursuit of profits and religious agenda.

Tom Bradley would have been happy to hear of an event on Dec. 30, 2012, hosted on the campus of Armstrong College. Over 1,000 eager concertgoers witnessed the world premiere of Jeremiah the Musical, performed on the stage of Armstrong Auditorium. This spectacular event was opened to the public for free, and their rousing and lengthy ovation at its conclusion confirmed the impact of this historic, exclusive musical.

Seated a few rows back from the stage was editor in chief Gerald Flurry. As the ovation to this event crescendoed, the final paragraph of the afterword of his book Malachi’s Message came to mind: “The Worldwide Church may have disfellowshipped Herbert Armstrong from their own church, postmortem, but they will never do away with his teachings. As this ongoing story unfolds and the Worldwide Church continues to self-destruct, be assured the work of Mr. Armstrong will never die. God’s end-time message from Malachi will go out. The work will continue.”