The Worldwide Church of God used radio and TV through out its existence as a recruitment tool, much as many cults and legitimate organizations do today.
Those who read The Plain Truth or listened to the broadcast were never subjected to the level of degradation reserved for church members. That would come later when the final phase of the recruitment process would result in their baptism.
Herbert W. Armstrong the founder of the Worldwide Church of God was heard by millions over TV and radio for almost fifty years. He proclaimed, with the special insight he felt God granted only him, the gospel through the World Tomorrow broadcast. Obsessed on the trappings of wealth and power, he reined supreme over a largely blue collar and spiritually disenfranchised group strangely attracted to this megalomaniac mission to carry out “an end-time work.”
The gospel of Herbert W. Armstrong was hard to define because it was ever-changing and never compiled into a written statement of doctrine (when it was tried in the 1970s by his son, it was considered the work of Satan). To point out all the heretical doctrines and inconsistencies would fill volumes. Essentially, it was this: extreme legalism. The Worldwide Church of God lexicon was filled with official and unofficial legalistic restraint: no jury duty, no taking of oaths, no 
voting (our allegiance was not to this world), no mixed racial dating or marriages, no college (except the church’s Ambassador College, of course – its God’s college), no makeup (it’s for whores), no dating outside the church, no divorce (the remarried had to split up for many years), no military service, almost no doctors (broken bones were OK), almost no medicine, no vaccinations, no birth control pills (they were medicine), no TV or radio on the Sabbath (news was OK-it was watching end-time events) no smoking, no pork or pork ingredients of any kind, white sugar or bread was discouraged (forbidden by some ministers), honey was the food of choice – it had healing powers, no long hair or sideburns on men, no wearing anything fashionable (fashion was dictated by “queers”) on men, and the supreme no; no questions. Alcohol, however, was encouraged as long as you could remember what you were not supposed to do and money was not diverted from three tithes and seven or more annual offerings, with special offerings for dire circumstances (which arose regularly).
The end result was broken and isolated families, needless suffering from denial of medical care, and mental anguish of a generation of youths who could never measure up in a performance based religious system. Fortunately, the tomorrow Herbert W. Armstrong promised to millions began to die the day he did.
“The INSIDE STORY of The World Tomorrow Broadcast, written in 1962, gives a snapshot of the cult established by false prophet Herbert Armstrong. None of any of this exists now and by today’s standards, the cult looks quaint and naive. The booklet never mentions the darkness residing behind the scenes.
To read the material click on The INSIDE STORY of The World Tomorrow Broadcast below:”
“Inside the World Tomorrow Broadcast”