Vietnam does not figure much in Western news these days. Back in the 1960s and ’70s it was never out of the news, being the theater for America’s last Asian war against communism. It ended, as have all such wars involving the once great superpower, in ignominy.

Yet Vietnam did receive a warning of what awaited it as a future lackey of Communist masters, together with a great message of hope of what waited beyond. Those messages were delivered by a lone ambassador of peace—Herbert W. Armstrong. The keys to the soon-coming fall of communism are found in the very messages he proclaimed to those peoples.

During 1927 and ’28, Mr. Armstrong reviewed the Home Study Course put out by the Communist Party. “I studied through that entire course,” he wrote. “Here are the central, basic crux points in the entire Communist philosophy, purpose, conspiracy and plan: They admit ‘pure communism’ cannot be practiced, or bring its people its promised benefits, until the whole world is under its sway. It is a worldwide revolution—a conspiracy to overthrow all government in all countries.

“I have been saying, since 1934, that the Communist conspiracy to conquer the world called for approaching America by way of the east and southeast …” (Plain Truth,May 1971).

In 1954 he continued to warn in writing of the approaching Communist threat to Vietnam. By 1957 his voice could be heard by Vietnamese citizens via radio five days per week. He first visited the country with his wife Loma in 1966 as U.S. troop deployments escalated. During these years he had become increasingly known to dignitaries, diplomats and ambassadors both in South Vietnam and the United States. In 1971, U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam Ellsworth Bunker invited Mr. Armstrong to a private meeting in Saigon. Mr. Armstrong had been preparing to write a special feature article on the Vietnam War in the Plain Truth magazine and Ambassador Bunker desired to meet him before the article was published in the 7.5 million-circulation magazine.

During the interview, “Ambassador Bunker explained that the Vietnam War was a completely different war from any other war experienced by the U.S. Armed Forced and the American people. He stated that it was a war of aggression, a war of subversion and infiltration, a psychological war, a political war, a social war, and the first war ever fought nightly on tv.”

By the early ’70s Herbert Armstrong was well known among educators, captains of industry and the political elite of South Vietnam in addition to catching the eye of the Communists to the north. His influence and impact in the region were reaching their peak. During this time he was a frequent visitor to the Philippines and Japan at the invitation of their leaders, where high-level testimonial dinners were being hosted in his honor.

After one of his many dinners that followed meetings with dignitaries in Japan, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “From Tokyo, I flew to Saigon, capital of South Vietnam, where a similar dinner was held in my honor, attended by an equally distinguished group, including members of the cabinet, a large portion of the senators of their congress, top university officials and others. And again I was able to give them the true gospel, this time a little stronger. Then I had a private meeting, lasting more than an hour, with President Thieu” (co-worker letter, Nov. 26, 1973).

During 1973 and ’75 Mr. Armstrong labored to establish public appearance campaigns in Saigon. These campaigns were cancelled and moved to Manila and Bangkok due to fears of bombing from the Communists to the north.

In March 1975, he wrote, “Co-workers, as I said a month ago, time is now really running out on us! Never has the world been in a time of world troubles such as we live in now. Governments are toppling like dominoes or tenpins. The government of South Vietnam and also of Cambodia may fall to Communist North Vietnam any day. I have met and come to know well President Thieu of South Vietnam, and there are many others close to him and at or near the top of the South Vietnamese government. We were all set up for a big campaign there when the war began heating up and the red forces were driving so close to Saigon that it was too dangerous to have so big a crowd—I expected up to 50,000 there in the university stadium outdoors—to be assembled in one place. It would have been too tempting a target for North Vietnamese rockets.”

Mr. Armstrong lamented the failure of successive U.S. administrations to clearly articulate the “what, why, when and how” of the Vietnam War. He saw no clear policy statements or definitive leadership from the top address the subject of winning the war and silencing the Communist suffocation of free speech.

Writing to millions of magazine readers on the subject of “Beyond Vietnam,” he noted: “The United States forces fighting in Vietnam did not have a goal of winning the war—but only of holding the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces back. U.S. withdrawal from South Vietnam does not in any sense mean real peace in Vietnam. It only means that the U.S. forces will not be there to stop the next Communist attack—whenever the North Vietnamese decide to attack again—as they will! … Now here is something that may surprise you. If you want to know what’s going to happen, after Vietnam, all you have to do is look into the prophecies of the Bible” (Plain Truth,April 1973).

It was those very biblical prophecies which were being fulfilled before our eyes at the time. That same year, U.S. military involvement ceased at the insistence of congressional amendment after America had spent over $170 billion and lost over 50,000 soldiers. By early 1975 the North Vietnamese had captured Saigon. The very Communists the U.S. had originally supported against the French in Indochina, had now gone full circle and conquered Vietnam. As ancient Jeremiah wrote, “[T]hy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life” (Jeremiah 4:30). Scores of officials and political elite from the south either died, were captured or were exiled. This unmitigated defeat of the U.S. superpower by a little country backed by an emboldened China slipped North Vietnam into the firm grasp of communism. The failure of U.S. leaders and citizens to grasp who our true friends are, and who are our enemies, is declared in Bible prophecy to be the result of the broken pride of our power (Leviticus 26:19).

It was clear from his extensive efforts that Herbert Armstrong loved the people of Vietnam and fought tenaciously to proclaim in person to their top leaders, in print and over the air to the public, the wonderful good news of the soon-coming Kingdom of God (Matthew 24:14). For over 70 years this message you are reading today at theTrumpet.com has continued, for over 50 of those years under his direct leadership, and for over two decades now, under the legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong through the leadership of our editor in chief Gerald Flurry declaring that same good news of the way to true liberty to citizens of a confused and divided world.

America’s status as the world’s lone superpower has faded. Other nations and groups of nations are angling to fill the void. Rising in the East is a Eurasian power bloc of massive manpower, economic strength and military influence. Its growth is intensifying global competitiveness for eco-rich resources and for geopolitical dominance. We ask—where will these events lead? You can and must know! Biblical prophecy provides the remarkable, penetrating preview of Asia’s future.

Herbert Armstrong knew that communism is a message that is anti-God and, knowing that, he delivered as a witness to Vietnam the very gospel of Jesus Christ of the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. For a little while longer, Vietnam will remain under Communist control, growing stronger in its alliance with the biblical kings of the east (Daniel 11:44). Freedom of speech will continue to be suppressed. Your Bible declares that an East Asian power bloc will become so powerful it will attempt on three separate occasions to fight against Jesus Christ and His family! But this is where communism’s expansionism will end—totally defeated and in ruins, to never raise its tyrannical head again (Ezekiel 39:3; Revelation 14:20; 20:7-9).

The Bible declares that God is a family into which we may be born. Herbert Armstrong declared to Vietnam that Christ came to Earth to declare the Father of the God Family and the good news that man is destined to be offered a place in that family. He didn’t come here to declare Himself, as this world believes. That deception is why this world doesn’t understand God’s plan for mankind.

Vietnam, and all nations, will soon be free to hear and to speak God’s Word. That is the message that should fill us with real hope. It is about ultimately bringing God’s family government and peace to the whole universe. It is the true gospel that mankind has never understood.