Plain Truth 1975 (Prelim No 19) Nov 22_w

7/28/2019 Plain Truth 1975 (Prelim No 19) Nov 22_w

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THANKSGIVING DAY-WHATSHOULD IT MEAN TOYOU?THE VATICAN CALLS FOR EUROPEAN UNITY


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iI It 's t ime, once again , 10 check up onthe STATE OF THE WORLD AT THISMINUTE - as compared to 10, 25,and 50 years ago - as to what isprophesied as SURE t o come in the verynear future - and as to the STATE OFAND PLANS FOR Goo's WORK.Jus t where are we, now, in the panorama of biblical PROPHECY? Look, first,at what has happened in the past 10,20 ,

and 30 years . Look how f reedom ofspeech and freedom of action are changing the whole tempo oflife.. The new "freedoms" in speech .weregelling started 30 years ago. In themovie "Gone with the Wind 91 audienceswere shocked when Rhell Butler said toScarlett O'Hara, "F ra nkl y; my d ea r, Idon't givea damn!"Twenty -five years ago I was emotionally shocked when, in a Broadway play,.an actor on stage talked to two othermen about "a n s.o.b." (he spoke thewords) "like you" (pointing to one of themen) "and like you" (po in ting to theother man) "and like MEl" (pointingwith his thumb to himself) just as thefinal cur ta in was rung down . I wasstunned to hear such words in a play, forI had taken with me two twenty- ortwenty-one-year-old Ambassador College male students who were visiting inNew York:But when things l ike that no longershocked audiences, they dished out to

the publicstrongershocks , until we havecome to X-rated movies. Today, in mosth omes for even the c hi ldr en to see, ifparents do not p revent it, the pub li c isfed a diet of increasing violence. murder, sex, and themes undreamed of 30

ERNMENT OFGOD(Isaiah 14:13) till lawlessness - iniqu ity and r ebel li on - wasfound in him (Ezekiel 28:14-15). ThenGod . r en ewed the face of the e ar th(Psalm 104:30) and created man (Gen-esis 1:2-31).But when our first parents rejected theGOVERNMENT OFGOD in the forbiddenf ru it i nc id en t (Gene si s 3 :6), Go dadopted a "hands -o ff " policy for sixthousand years, to be followed by aI,Ooo-year per iod when the r eturningglorified CHRIST will restore the GOVERNME1{T OFGOD, rul ing in the KINGDOM OF GOD over al l nat ions. Onceagain there will be perfect PEACE, HAPPINESS, and JOY (Revelation I I:15,20:4).Scientistsand world leaders have said ,during the pas t three or four decades,that the only solut ion to today 's wor ldp ro bl ems and evils is a worl d-ruli nggovernment with supreme power 10 ruleall nations - yet they say it is IMPOSSIBLE! With man it is. But with God it isSURE to come - and soon,Meanwhile God has allowed man totry to rule h imself. And human leadershave set up every kind of government

man has been able to devise - oligarchy, monarchy, democracy, commu-nism, etc. None has brought peace ,prosperity, happiness.And now, as we approach the very

END of this 6,OOO-year age, human, man-created governments are being over-thrown AT THE RATE OF ONE AMONTH! So what i s the STATE OF THEWORLD today?You may read a headli ne in yournewspaper reporting the overthrow of agovernmen t in Africa, Asia, or Sou th

. were high by comparison. Families stucktogether.All the wor ld 's evi ls have multipliedsince then. And today whole nations arecoming apart - being overthrown - atthe rate ofONE A MONTH!I have wri tten before of how, in Juneof 1973, at a l unc he on in New Delhi ,India, the ambassador from Ethiopia invited me to visit his count ry and meetEmperor Haile Se1assie. The Afghanistan ambassador inv ited me to visit hiscount ry and have a mee ting with KingMohammed Zahir Shah . Before I couldarrange to visit Afghanistan, the government was overthrown, and the king f ledinto exile.Twice I visited Emperor HaileSelassie, but in Augus t 1974, he wastaken prisoner in a mil itary coup overthrowing his government, and about ayear later he died. .

In August 1973I went to Santiago,Chile,for a meeting with President Allende,

But what about the world TODAY?In Europe, the t roub le s in Por tuga land Spain may trigger a resurrection ofthe Holy Roman Empire in the form ofa UNITED EUROPE . Leaders in Europehave long wanted a polit ical-military. UNION in Europe. They jus t have notknown how to bringit about.In Portugal , communists virtuallytook over the government, then suffereda temporary setback, But communistsn ev er give up or quit. If they stage acomeback, gaining the government in acountry that has for centuries been Roman Catholic, Rome may take drast icaction to unite all Europe.In Spain Franco won the war againstcommunism, 1936-39, and he has keptthe government rightist. But recentlyFranco has been under sharp crit ici smfrom al lover Europe for executing guerrillas who had killed Spanish policemen.Since then he has suffered a he ar t at


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1IjIII.j;1'!liI!iIGod knows who . ' In any case they arecrazy ."The ul timate fear of governmentseverywhere is the chaos which would resutt from nuclear weapons falling into terr or is t hands as such weapons and

technology proliferate.

bYDonald D. schroeder ,'" ,;. ',"- , ." ." '-

Kidnappings, assassinations, bombings . and t hr ea ts of v io lence to public 'off icials and- innocent bystanders havebecome daily features in world news . .The recent machine.gun killklgs'of twoTurkish ambassadors in Vienna and ParisWIthin a few days of each other underscore the growing violence.Other recent attacks demonstrate the Anti-terror Laws Stymiedsudden ter rorist proliferation: the dis- What are the odds of stopping inter-appearance of two American embassy of- nationanerrorist activ ity? rt'e not a pos i-ficiats rn Beirut; the abduction of several tive picture, but not a totally hopelessoneU.S. mi li tary ad viso rs in the str ife- to rn either atth is po int.province of E ri tr ea in Ethiopia; the kid- The hundreds of ter rorist b reed ingnapping of a B ri ti sh consul in Asmara, grounds in the world are not going tocap ital of the same province; the bomb- quietly disappear. For there are too manying of downtown off ices in three Amer i- examples 'of government corruption andcan c it ies al l in one morning, supposedl y r ep ress ion - o ft en the b reed ing groundthe work of an underground organization fo r r ebe l l ious movements . Hatred ,pushing for Puerto Rican independence. whether stemming from real or imaginedIn the Irish Republic, Dutch industrialist injustices, is awfuJly difficult to controlTiede Herrema has suf fered days of beat- once permitted to blossom.ings an d threats of death from two deter- Only tough in te rna t ional laws sup-mined Irish Republican Army terrorists. ported by every nation against providingAtlhe time of this w r ~ i n g he has not yet refuge an d support for terrorists. coupled .been freed , although police an d army with quick punishment tor those caughtspeciatists have surrounded the kidnap- can ever begin to turn the tide . Terroristspers' hideout. "everywhereneed to be regarded tor whatAlmost dai ly , police , public officials, t hey are f irs t and foremost: MURDERERS!and businessmen (a. M e r c e d e ~ ~ B e n z e X - A ~ y t t l j n g e , l s t ; t " a n y ' , p t h e r attempt at justi- .---- T-ecunve-rnost rec"entJyf n a ' - a ' ; : " - ' , helr activities , iseu- "

other s tr if e- to rn areas of Latin America phemist ic fol ly .are kidnapped or killed by diverse bands The status of ant i-terrori st internationalof terrorists . law , however, is in disgraceful limbo . InIn Italy, gangland terrorism extorts mil- 1972, the U.N. General Assembly legal

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6THANKSGIVING DAY ~ WHATSHOULD IT MEAN TO YOU?Between footbal l and turkey, the name of the dayhas lost its meaning. Thanksto whom? For what?How often? And why?

LIMITS TO GROWTHOur repor ters covered the f irst of five b iennia lconferences dedicated to the predicament of

4AMERICA'S MOUNTAIN OF DEBTAs total public and pri vate debt nears threetri ll ion dol lars, each American man, woman,and child owes over $13,OOO!

VAllCAN' ISSUES: NEW: CALL .FOR E U ~ U N J T YIn an unpubiicized bufhighlyimportant speechto his bishops, PopePaolVI caned for a uni tedChristian Europe. .


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"Reawaken Europe's Christian Soul;'Paul VI Tells Bishopsin Rome Conference

came out loud and clea r: Closeranks quickly to fend off the Soviet milit arists . In theirspeeches, the Chinese wereclearly addressing Mr. Schmidtnot just as chancellor of WestGerinany but as a Europeanleader. .While the two sides could'agree on the importance of European integration, they predictably failed to see eye-to-eyeon international detente, whichPeking denounces as a dangerous Soviet trick. .But differences over detente- Mr. Schmidt referred to themas "n uances " - did not overshadow the tri p as it did thevisit of Secre ta ry of State Kiss. inger a week earlier. The chancellor received a remarkablywarm reception, espec ially in awelcoming People 's Daily editorial which lauded the Germanpeople in language usual ly reserved for Peking's Third Worldfriends . 0

PEKING , Nov . I (REUTER ): West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt left heretoday in no doubt about thes trength of Chinese hopes forEuropean uni ty in t he face ofwhat Peking sees as Soviet expansionism.At a farewell banquet last night he heard China's SeniorVice-Premier Teng Hsiao-Pingmake his st rongest call yet forWest European integration.History demanded that European countries unit e, he said."Unity is strength while separation invites bullying." Withoutmentioning them by name, Mr.Teug a ccus ed Ru s s ia n"hegemonists" of seekingto divide Europe by force of arms.The chancellor, himself a stemchampion of the EuropeanCommon Market, joined in atoast proposed byMr. Teng "toEurope's unity and growingstrength."China'simessage t o Europe

CHINESE TELLSCHMIDT:"UNITY IS STRENGTH"

Constant ThemeThe theme of European unity- and the expec ted role of the

Cathol ic church in helpingbri ng i t a bout - is not a newone for the Vatican. Pope Paulhas frequently spoken out onthe subject during the 13 yearsof his pontificate. His predecessors, popes John XXIII and PiusXII, also publicly endorsed thecreation of a European politicalcommunitywitha supranationalcharacter .P ope J ohn sa id Catholicsshoul d be "in the front ranks"of the unification effort. Anticipat ing the potential obstacleson the road . to uni ty, he al soadvised that " the progressivecreat ion of European uni ty re

quires the defea t of" i solat ionandnarrownationalism."Carrying on the theme, PopePaul - just three months afterhis elect ion in 1963 - l ikewises trongly endorsed the idea of auni ted Europe" asserting that'the Vatican "is persuaded thatthe great issue of Europeanunity' is a duty that must besolved positively." He added:."We are also persuaded that thesolution of the question . .. callsfor the creation of a unifiedmentality and for the diffusion .of a common culture. Withoutthi s European unity cannot bereached."Moreover, Pope Paul suggested that the Roman Catholicfaith "can be a coefficient of incomparable value for infusing

After reviewing Europe's tortuous pas t, its di vi sions andwars, he told those in his au-. dience thatit was their"mission

Last month, in an unusu allycritical reference 10 the ProtestantReformation, Pope Paul VI saidthe 16t!t-century revolt against

VATICAN ISSUISNIW C11 FIRIIRIPIIN UNITY


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iliaIIb y Gene H. Hogberg

WarlSTOCKHOLM : Convers ing with spokesmen in the var iousgove rnmen t agencies here in th e beautifu l Swedish cap ita l is aninteresting experience . Regardless o f whether one talk s to (he

rep resentative of th e dep artment of edu cat ion or of social welfa re.co rrection. econom ic planning or national defense. the reply isnear ly a lways the same to the qu estion of how Sweden has bee nable to achieve such a remarkably high sta ndard of living. "Well.yo u must realize: ' come s th e inevitable response. "Sweden has notbe en at war for nearl y 160 yea rs."

There are ce rt ain ly man y ot her va lid reasons for Sweden'sunique form of ega litarian prosper ity - a generous amoun t of bothfertile farmland and natural resou rces ; a highl y sophisticated indu stri a l base ; a talent ed. edu cated work force th at has tra ditionallyoperated in harmony wi th bot h indust ry and gove rnment . rath erth an in a hostile. adversary rela tionship. .But perhap s the fac tor of no warfa re since Napoleonic t imes desp ite a conti nuous and formidab le outlay for nation al defense topreserve Sweden 's neutral ity - really is as significant a reason asth e Swedes themselves contend.

In th is light . it 's significant tha t her e in Stockholm is headqu ar tered a un iqu e organ iza ti on. the S tockholm InternationalPeace Research Inst i tu te, S IPRI for short. It is a n ind ependen t.int ernationa l re search gro up delving in to the problems of peaceand conflict. with special emphasis on disarm am ent and armsreg ulation . It was founded in 1966 by the Swedi sh Parli am ent tocommemora teSweden's 150 yea rs of unbroken peace.SIPRI produces man y pu blicat ions de al ing in depth with theen tire ra nge of wa r and weapons topics f rom the problem s o fchemical and bio logical warfar e through the internati onal a rmstrade to preventing the spread of nucle ar wea pons . But its mos tprodi g iou s (a nd ex pensive: $25) effort is its annual yea rbook entitled World Armllme11lS and Disarmament. Its 1975 edition conta ins man y sobering facts. includ ing:

The total wor ld mi litar y expenditu re for 1974 was $210billion . Thi s is about equal to th e entire nati on al income of th epoo rer hal f of mankind . The trade in a rms to Th ird World countries increa sed by40 percent be twe e n 1973 a nd 1974. More than half of the to tala rms supplies in 19 74 we nt to the Middle East; 27 percent went tothe Persian G ul f sta tes alone. where a buildup of unprecedentedproportions is taking place .

SIPRI Shockers$2.8

1975964

Th e: interest on th e nationa ld eb t alo ne - $36 bill ion - ismore than the en tire feder albudge t in 1948.Th e federa l bud get deficitthi s yea r is $68 billion. moneywh ich will ei the r have to comeo ut of sav ings - and that meanshigh er inte res t r at es - or beprinted up - and th at mea nsinfla tio n. In fac t. the only reallysubsta nt ia l d if fe rence betweenNew York City and the Federalgovernment is th at Washingtoncan a lways crank up the prin ting presses in order to prevent adefault .Th e pri ce of staving off a ru nof bankruptcies. ei the r businessor gove rnmental. may well be ajarr ing dose of hyp er-inflation .To prevent th e fina ncial domin oes from fa lling. the FederalReserve wil l have no choice butto cre ate more mon ey out ofth in ai r. If X ca n't pay Y. Ymay not ha ve the money to payZ. Either everybody goes brokeor the government floods th eeconomy with pa pe r do llars.

Wro ng PhilosophyTh e ult imat e responsibilityfor the debt pyramid - and theinflati on it generated - restsupon a " have -it-now-pay-late r"syndrome that came to permeate American th ought in the1960s . Th e a tti t ude was that acountr y co uld enjo y eco nomicgrowth wit ho u t first p roducingthe wealth from whic h thosebenefits cou ld flow . And whenan expensive war was engagedin . th e decis ion was mad e tobuy the guns - but not to cutback on the but ter .Now the reali zati on that the

econ om y isn't one big rockca n dy mount a in is co minghom e. " Libe ral" governors suchas Michael Du kaki s in Massachuseus and Jerry Brown inCa lifornia have turned fiscalconservatives. Brown. in fact.

1954

TOTALU.S. DEBT:

UlZo::::;- '

ON ITS WAYTOWARDTHREETRILLIONDOLLARS

Ba llooning Gove rnment Debt

lending long. a t low rat es. T hesqueeze has a lready contributedto the m iserab le s tate of th cconstruction industry. whic h hashad a hard time pa ss ing on h ighinterest ra te s (Q pr ospecti vebuyers.

Bankruptcy fo r America 'slargest city is virtually certa in ;a ttention now turns to the mop up ope rations .But while eve ryo ne has focused his a ttention on (he financial worm s w hich h a vedevoured the Big App le. a farmore menacing problem hasgone rela t ively unnoticed : T hewhole nation is living beyon d itsmeans. The truth is th e Am erica n eco nomy sits on a mounruinous pile of debt. Pub lic andpriva te de bt now totals moretha n $2.8 trillion . about $ 13.000for eve ry man . wom a n. andchild in th e United Sta tes .

The total figures a re so largeas to be incomp rehensible. Bu twha t is comprehensible and importa nt is that the amo unt ofmon ey tha t consumers. ba nks.and co rpora t ions have on handwith wh ich to meet the ir shortterm . month -by-m onth debts isshrinking.As mor e co nsumers lose th egame of fina ncia l hrinkma nship . th ey are filing for bankrup tcy in record numb ers . Th eBan kruptcy Division of the U.S .co urts pro gn ost ic at es th at"b ankruptcy fil ings for 1975 willbr ea k ev e ry r ec or d in th ebook ," a to tal of more th an230.000.

Cor porations are doing muchth e same thing. Currently. mostco rporat ions ha ve o n hand onlyenough mooey to pay off abouthalf of their short-term de bt.Before 1964 . th e y had t hemo ney to payoff a ll the ir short ter m debts and still ha ve someleft ove r.

America'sMounlain 01 Debl


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World Lawyers(Continued from page 3)tiona I side-laking on sensitivesubjects._Julia Gibson of Liberia com. plained of continuing discrimi' n a t i o n against women inpolitics . .Patricia S. Lindh , PresidentFord 's special assis tant fo rwomen , went even further, notsparing the feelings of the pre dominan tly male members ofthe legal profess ion seated before her : "When it .comes to oursex - just ic e is indeed b lind ,"she said. She decried the higherpunishment' sometimes givenwomen than that g iven men for 's imilar crimes, the lack of concern for dependents of the convicted , and for the low priority'given crimes against women .such as rape.Mock Trial Ends in DeadlockThe conference highl ightedan even more sensitive issue ina demonstration trial designedto show what might happen if a, "hypothetical'tcase involving a

new oil embargo were to be referred to an international court.ofjustice.A distinguished panel ofseven judges, each the chiefjustice of his own nat ion. heard 'arguments from both sides ofthe case. Each side tried to useexisting treaties and legal documents such as the U.N. Charter to prove that such an em-

VATICAN(Continued from page J)ju st such a function as suggested by the pontiff.The Holy Roman Empirespanned the mil lenn ium fromthe coronation of Charlemagneas Holy Roman emp eror by

bargo was or was not jus ti fied.Even in the arguments raisedin this "mythical" case onecould see the passions and justifications of the real -life situa tion on which this trial waspatterned. So complicated werethe contradicting and emotionalclaims that the judges refused torender a decision . promisingthat some' time in" the futureopinions by each judge wouldbe written and pub lished .In the seminar deal ing withinternational te rrorism. onespeaker touched ,off a row bydenying that acts of Palest iniangroups could be termed ter rorism. "A violent act is not a terrorist act when it is for therights of man ," he declared.Ram B. J ethmalan i of Indiaprotested tone and con tentof that sta tement, saying i t wasnot in accord with WPTL prin-ciples. '

Main Prob lem: NationalSovereigntyCha rl es S. Rhyne, founderand president of the WorldPeace Through Law Cen te r in

Washington, site of the conference, . had said in his openi ngspeech : "We have presen ted inthe p rog ram all the pr oblemsfacing mankind. We ask you:How can lawhelp solve them?"In all too many sessions, theanswer came back : Without the'authority to ove rri de na tionalinterests and hostilities, notmuch.any kind of unity. Two worldwars have ravaged the Continent. and divisive national andfactional quarrels have flaredup periodically..In a reference to this , PopePau l observed in November1963: "Everyone knows the .tragic history of our century. If

.As Philip Jessup, a. formerju dge of the International Courtof Jus tice inThe Hague, admitted:

"We are looking for stepswhich can be ta ken which willnot run up against the pol it icalwill of the nations involved."Anothe r delegate elaborated:"Not much has changed in theten years I've been coming here. _Not much will change in thenext ten yea rs unless we facethe question ofpolitical will."Anticipating this sort of stalemate in the p roceeding s, U.S.Supreme Court Chief Justice,Warren E. Burger told his peersthat "i f these confe rences produce no other accomplishments.the event itself is of great importance i n this trou bledworld ."Burger went on to show theway to pote ntial accomplishments.drawing upon the expe rience of the United Stateswhose formation 200 years ago,he said , "co uld not have beendone withou t an acceptance byal lof the thirteen states of a ruleof law superior to each state : ' 'But the chances of that hap pen ing on a worldwide scale by. the efforts of man seem moreremote now than ever. This conference ins tead r evea led that-even the most -idea listic effortsof men dedica ted to the rule of

world law a re all too oftensoured by deep -seated partisanviewpoints. - Henry Sturckelight of the dominant role of theGerman nation in the medievalHoly Roman Empire , this statement c arr ie d added significance .

Ties toEECThe Vatican provided a tangibledemonstrationof irssupport of

ART BUCHWALDGun Stampsfor tbePoorWASHINGTON : JonathanSpear and Michael Pet it havebrought to my attention a state

ment f rom Harlon B. Carter ofthe National Rif te Assn . in defense of the "Sa turday nightspecia l" handgun . .Carter told a Hou se judiciary

subcommittee on crime. " Itmakes no sense to me why p o ~ -session of a f inely made $200handgun owned by a decentlaw-ab id ing man of meansshould be legal, but ownershipof a $40 handgun (Sa turdaynight specia l) by an equallylaw-abiding resident of th e inne r city, who can't afford anything better to protect hisfam ily and home, should be afelony." .

It i s a very interes ting poin tand Spear and Petit have a so-lution to the problem. .The f ed er al gov ernmentshould institu te immediately agun s tamp p ro gr am for thepoor . The program would workas follows:, A family of fourmaking less than $6,000 a yearwould ap ply for gun s tamps atthe local post office. .All the. head of the familywould have to produce is hisin come tax r et urn. and -if . hequa lifies as a "needy case," hewould be given the equivalentof $200 in gun stamps which he 'could spend at any gun store forweapo ns and ammunition . Thegun store would be reimbursedby the . government for thestamps at 100 cents on the dollar.

Some people might argue

.It is hard to believe that in acountry as rich as ours there areperhaps as many as 50 mil lionpeople who , go to bed everynight without' a gun under theirpillows . Many of the poor are toblame for this condition. Theywould rather buy food withtheir money than guns . .Bur a majority are not responsible for their plight. Manyare jobless, elderly and children.They have tried to acquire guns,but the cost, even for a Sat ur -:day night special, has beenbeyond.their means.' In the past ., the middle classhas ignored them in the be li efthat anyone who real ly want s a gun should pul l h imse lf up byhis bootstraps and earn one . Butin an urban society duri ng aperiod of cruel inflation it's notas easy to acqui re a decen t gunas it used to be. We can nolonge r stand idly by and say tothese poor people , "You can 'thave a gun unless you buy ityou rself, the way wedid ."

Gun stamps' are the obvioussolution to helping people whocan't help themselves. At fi rs t i twould be considered demeaningto some to accept gun handoutsfrom the g ove rnmen t. But astime went on I believe that poorpeop le would accept gu nstamps in the same way they accept food stamps - -a s a tem-porary way of providing their fami lies with the basi c necessities of life. They would nolonger feel themselves inferiorto the decent law-abiding manof means who cat:rafford a $200weapon. They wil l have the opportunity, that they have beendep rived of so long, of usingtheir guns to settle family argu- 'ments withou t resorting toknives and hammers.Gun stamps will bring dignityand joy to their lives.

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THANKSGIVING DAYWhat Should ItMean ToYou?

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To many Americans Thanksg ivingDay means sumptuous turkey din -ners, famlfy reunions and footba"games. Most seem to forge t that the'very name of this tradilional hofidaymeans to give thanks. But givethanks to whom'l For what? And why?

I n' 1630 the little 350-ton Arbel/a wasplowing westward through therough Atlantic to the Massachusettscoast.From its deck John Winthroppre ached a striking sermon that accurately predicted America's future."Wee shall be," prophesied Wint hrop,"as a Ciu y upon a Hill, the Eies of allpeople are upp on us; soe that if wee.shalld eale falsely with our god in thisworke .wee have unde rt ake n and soecause him to withdrawe his present help'from us, wee shall be made a story and aby-word through the world."Those are rema rkable words! They in- .dicate that at least soine of the ea rly .. colonists sensed that their endeavorswere being favored by the hand of God .These early settlers . seemed to graspthat they were being ' given very special "opportunities, special ' blessings - andspecial responsibilities. For all this, theindications are, many were grateful.

God and Thanksgiving DayThe first "Thanksgiving Day" ongl

nated with the festival held by PlymouthColony in December 1621 in grat itudefor a successful harvest. The Pilgrimsfrom .England had landed at PlymouthRock in De cembe r 1620 and had en- .dured a. hard year. On that first"Thanksgiving Day" they thanked Godthat they were still alive and had food toI

by Eugene 'Waltereat. Some of the Pilgrims recognizedGod as the sou rce of their blessings.They held that first "Thanksgiving Day"in gratitude and praise 10 God. ManyAmericans have forgotten th is. Manyprobably don' t even think of God onThanksgiving Day, much less actuallypray to him and give thanks.For too many Americans, Thanksgiv ing Day has become jus t anot he r holiday on 'which friend s and family cometogether to' glut themselves with toomuch food and drink . God is left out ofthe picture. He is not acknowledged asthesource of allblessings; yet, the Bible,God's inspired Word , says, "Every goodgi ft and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Fat her oflights, with whom is no varia bleness,ne ither shadow of turning" (JamesI ;17). Chr ist himself said , speakin g ofGod the Father, "He makes his sun to.rise on the evil and .on the good. andsends rain on the just and on the unjust"(Matt. 5:45, RSV).Even though many may not really believe i t, God is the source' of their lifearid eve ry good thing they enjoy. Godblesses even the wicked with many of the basic necessities of life.From the genuine grati tude of thefirst Thanksgiving Day, the real meaning of this festival has graduall y deteriorated throughout American history.

The Historyof Tha $g ivingRemember, in 1621 the first Americanthanksg iving was held by Plymouth colony. It was observed in gratitude for theending of a difficult year and a bountifulharvest. The native foods - fruits and vegetables, wild turkeys, pumpkins and

such - constituted the fare of that firstthanksgiving day and became the traditional food for the day.In succeeding years, thanksgiving festivals became very popular in NewEng land . T he colon ists celebratedthanksgiving days in recognition of suchhappy events as good harvests and vic-tories over Ind ians. :Du ring the 19th century, an increas ing number of stat es observed the ' dayann ually. each appointingits own date,'As America grew, therewas ever moreto be thankful for, In the years tha t hadpassed since John Winthrop 's propheticsermon. America had truly become the"Citty upon a Hi ll." As the Civil Warended , the downtrodden masses of thewor ld looked expectantly to America asthe new land of hope and oppor tuni ty.Immigrants from many lands arrived onAmerican shores to try to catch theAmerican dream.

Presidential Proc lamationsThanksgivingDay has been preserved. and ' passed on to us by Presidents whobelieved in God and theB ible' as thesource of nat ional greatness and integrity. Geo rge Washingto n in 1789 issuedthe first presidential thanksgiving proclamation in honor of the new Const itution. He said, " It is impossib le to rightlygovern the wor ld without God and theBible." .How. many Americans real ly believethis and give God thanks for the Bible?Sad ly, mos t Americans don' t even readthe Bible. They certainly don't acknowledge it as God's inspired Word by whichPresidents should rule nations.A leader of a nat ion should study the .

laws of the Bible to be able to properlyand wisely rule. Abraham Lincoln believed this. He said, "I bel ieve the Bibleis the best gift God has ever given toman. All the good from the Savior of theworld is communicated to us throughthis book."He knew that material prosperity wasbringing the problems and pitfalls thatJo hn Winthrop had so vividly foreseen .

Lincoln's SoberWarni ng"We find ourselv es," Lincoln said, "inthe peace ful possession of the fairest'por tion of the earth, as rega rds fertilityof soil, extent of terr-itory; and salubrityof climate . . . . We .. . find ourselves thelegal inhe rit ors of these fundamentalblessings. We toiled not in ' the acquirement or the establishment of them: 'On April 30, 1863,' President Lincolnproclaimed a national day of fasting andprayer. In making this proclamation hesaid : ."I t is the duty of na tions, as well as ofmen, to own thei r dependence upon theoverruling power of God . . . and to recognize the sublime truth, announced inthe Holy Scriptures and p roven by allhistory, that those nations only areblessed whose God is the Lord . . . . Wehave been the recipients of the choicestblessings of heaven . We have been preserved , these m any' years, in peace andprosperity. We have grown in numbers.

wealt h and power as no other nati onever has grown; BUT WE HAVE F.OR90T. ,TEN GOD! We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace ,a nd mult ip lied arid en rich ed a ndstrengthened us; and we have vainlyimagined, in the deceitfulness of ourhearts, that a ll these blessings were produced bysome superior wisdom and vir,tue of our own: "President Lincoln saw a nat ion drunkwith success not due to its own effort s.He saw a nation takingall the credi t andglory to itsel f. Th is great Presidentcalled upo n the nat ion for a day of fasting and prayer to confess this nationalsin before God.Later that same year, on 'October 3,Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday ofNovember as Tha nksgiving Day - aday to give tba nks to God for the multitudinous blessings he had bestowed.(Today Thanksgiving Day is observed


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is hness ra the r than equality andexcellence?" asks Tunl'(j,aIl.14, -1-9(9).O ther nat ions are no lo ,!ger as . impress ed with America and 't he w""!Americans do t l rings as they used to be ."Very few people are enamoured of theAmerican way of life," says British hisIOrian Sir Denis Brogan.Histor ian s a re now speculating OQ.whether the tenure of the U.S. as the. first power in the worldwill not also be. : one of the briefes t in -history .What hap pened - an d what iscont inuio'g to ha ppen? Why is America fastlosing its reputa tion as a "Citt y upon aHill"?

A f l lReIy'Warninj: Yes, we as a nat ion today are jn serious trou ble. Again, we have fo rgottenGod and he isbeginning to withdraw ftis

blessings from us. Notice this dire warning from God given to the ancie nt nation of Israe l: "Beware that thou forgetDOt the Lord thy God , in not keeping hiscommandments, and his judgments, aadhis sta tu tes, which I command thee thisday: .Lest when thou hast eaten and .artfull; and hast built goodly houses, ' anddwelt there in ; and when 'thy he rds andthy flocks multiply, and thy silver andthy gold is multiplied , and all that thouhast is multipl ied .. . And tbo u say inthine heart, My power and the migh t ofmine hand hat h gotte n me -this wealth.But thou .shalt remember - the Lord thy' i f < > r :is:he ,tha t' gi'IIedi thee 1'


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"What makes yo u thin ktechnology will solve moreserious problems in thefuture whe n it has no teliminated hunger, poverty,p ollution, or solved theenergy crisis?"- De nn is M ea do ws

"The debate on growthshould be broadened toinclude more input fromsociologists , politicalscientists, andtheologians."- Jay For rest er

"Fundamental changes inthe internationalinstitutions are a necessity.To master supranationalproblems, we need supra-national institutions. "- Sicco Mansholt

The ea rt h has a virtuallyinexhaustible supply ofraw materials and energythat can be exploited withexisting and developingtechnology. - Herman Kahn

by Dr. Dennis DietzOUSTON: Th e co ntroversyaroused by the publicat ion ofThe Limits to Growth in 1972by the C lub of Rom e has re-sulted in a ser ies of biennia l con ferenceso n alternatives to growth which will ex

tend over the next ten yea rs. The fi rst ofth e series was held October 19-21 at theWo odlands Conference Center nearHou ston . Te xas , sponsored by the Clubof Rome. University of Houston, andMitchell Ene rgy and Development Co rporation . Forty speakers and panelists, experts from various nations, assemb led todeba te whether physica l, economic , social, and po l it ica l l im its to growth existand what pro blems and so lutions arepossible for the future .It seemed to be the general consensusof these experts that limits of some sortexist and that they are already having anegative effe ct on our quality of life .Keynote Speakers

to achieve them. "I f our soc ieties are notcapab le of solv ing the problems, the nwhat typ e of society do we need?" Development of the European Community " isfar too slow," in his words. "Most disturbing is the abso lute lack of re al po liticalleaders with vision to develop the meansfor a policy that is answering the futureproblems."In answer to the question "Why aren 'twe acting as we should?" Mansholt explain ed , " First there is the conflic t between short-term interests and long- termnecessities. The reality is that the guidingmotive for political ac tio n is to win thene xt elect ion to stay in power. Related tothe power of short-term int er est is thedominating role of the forces of pr oduction . There has always been and therestil l is the conflic t betwee n the ind ivid ualinte rest (enterpri se) and the pub lic interest (survival) . Decisive in the useof scientific research is profit and power."In summa ry he s tat ed that " fun damenta l cha nges in the in ternatio nal in

the instruments, the will , and the po tentialto do that."In less formal discussions, Dr. Meadows , a vegetarian with a rel atively simplelife-style , expressed dismay at the manyincongruities of the Houston conference.While delegates heatedly di scussed en

ergy co nservation . fo r instance . massiveair-conditioning units gulped energy inprodigious quantities.Mo reover . the conference center inwhich they met was geared more towa rdco rporate expense accounts . of wh ichthe $325 ent rance fee (fo r only threedays) is quit e typi cal.The ultimate irony was noted by another " l imits to growth " advocate, Dr. JayForrester of the Massachusetts Insti tuteof Tech nology. As Dr. Forrester put it," Perhaps the real evidence of how far the[ limits to growth ] idea has pene trated ourculture is the fact tha t you are attending alimits to growth meeting in [America 'sboom town] Houston , Texas."

lim its are pus hed back , or are merely believed to be pushed back, the emphasiso n s tab i li zi ng popul at i on and co nsumption is reduced . Rising pop ulationdensity then causes an increase in socialstr esses. Mistrust between grou ps. personal alienation , d isrespect for gove rnment. ci v if st ri le , and in terna t ion a lconflict then become the ultimate limits togrowth : 'Forrester fee ls the debate over physica llimits to growth is shiftingth e emphasis inthe wrong direction . " In public debateover phys ical limits , the desirab i li ty oftec hnological succe ss is seldom questioned . For example, in th e pre sen t energy shortage, the fir st question sho uldnot be. 'Can techn ology provide unlim ited energy? ' Instead we sho uld ask, ' Ifun l imited ene rg y were available, wouldwe want It?' To ask for unl imited ene rgy isto favor shifting the restraint on growthfrom physical limits to socia l lim its .Unlimited energy would push po liticaland social institutions beyo nd their abi lityto manage it."


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.JUST WHAT IS"THE CLUBOF ROME"?In Apr il 1968 , a group of th irty individuals from ten countries - scientists,educators, economists, human is ts , indu strialists. and national and i nternational civi l servants - gathered inRome. They met to discuss a subject ofstaggering scope - the present and future predicament of man.Out of this meeting grew The Club ofRome, an informal organization that hasbeen aptly described by some as an " invisible college.IIIts stated purposes are to foster understandi ng of the many varied , but inter

dependent components - economic . politi cal, natural , and social - tha t makeup the global system in which we all l ive;to br ing that new understanding to theattention of pol icy makers and the pub licworldwide; and to promote new policy init i ative and act ion . S ince their or iginalmeet ing , they have held more than f if ty

GOODNEWS& .BAD NEWSIn our August 23 issue, wed igested thetwo most prevalent outlooks regardingmankind 's future surv ival on planet earth .One was the Limits to Growth theory (the" bad news" ) and the other was the Post-Industrial Socie ty (the " good news" ) . Weinvited ou r readers to respond to the scenario wh ich they believed to be morelike ly. Here is a sampleresponse.

The Good NewsIn response to the " Two Views of the .Future" art icle : I consider mysel f t o be arealist ic , yet optimistic young man whobelieves in the poten tial of man to solvehis problems.I feel , even though the present world

majorconfe rences in cities all aro und theworld .A series of early meetings of The Clubof Rome resu lted in the ln it iat icn of athree-phased study of the predicament ofmankind . The purpose of the project wasto examine the complex of p roblemstroubling men of all nations: poverty inthe midst of p lenty, degradation of theenvironment, loss of fai th in inst itu tions,uncontrolled urban spread, insecurity ofemployment, a lienation of youth , rejec- .tion of t rad itional values , and monetaryand economic disruptions. These factors,collectively called the "World Problemattqce ," were s tudied on three level s bythree teams of experts.Phase OnePhase one of the project on the predi cament of mank ind took shape at meetIngs held in the summer of 1970 in Bern ,Switzerland, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Professor Jay Forrester of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)developed a global model and suggesteda technique for analyzing the re lat ionships and t he behav ior of the mostImportan t components of World Problematique. Then , stud ies conducted byan international team under the di rec-

that by 2000 we wi ll have a 3O-year sup ply, and soon afterward, an inexhaustiblesupply!It's true that crises often cause hardship and destruct ion in limited areas, butmany times they also generate startlingnew discoveries and advancements. I forone think man has a good chance to survive and to pr ogress - if he's wil l ing toexpend the effort. E.L ,El Dorado, ARA Balanced View

In your August 23 issue under the article entitled, " Two Views of the Futu re, Ityou requested readers write in with the ircomments on these two v iews. It seemsto me thatrather than being an either/o rsituation that there is an element ofverac ity in both v iews . Both views havewidespread support because bothprem ises have substantive merit. It isreminiscent of the wheat and tares ofMatthew 13. Surely no thinking person

tion of Professor Dennis Meadows examined five basic factors that determine andtherefore ul timate ly limit growth on thisplanet: population , aqr icultural product ion, natural resources, industrialp roduction, and pollution . The findings of thestudy were published in 1972 in the boo k,Limits to Growth, which has since beentranslated into '34 lang uages with a totalsa lesof more than six mill ion .Phase TwoPhase two of the club 's activities resul ted in the publication of Mank ind atthe Turning Point , by Mihajlo Mesarovicof Case Western Rese rve Un iversity ;Cleveland , Ohio, and Eduard Peste l o fHanover University in West Germany,pub lished in 1974 by E. P. Dutton & Co.and The Reader 's Digest Press. Fifty researchers from nine countries contributed to the com puter model on which the.b oo k is .based . Un iike the .Limits toGrowth model, wh ich lumped together

data for the enti re world , the new mod elaccounted for developments in ten separate wor ld reg ions, each with its owncharacter istic set of resources. Interactions betw een var ious reg ions werealso included in the model.The results of the 1974 study warn ed of

stand the strain of the other and changewil lbe too slow. Willard Johnson,

Population Study CenterSan Diego, CAI must comment that t he c o lumn

headed "The Bad News" appea ls to measthe true outlook. It corresponds to theprophecies of the Master, and the prophets of old. In fact, it sets forth God 's Plan;which should not - in essence - becalled " bad" . .. .Man is " fouling his nest " in every way;and these many violations (both physicaland spiritual) of Natural Law have alreadyearned the punishments that will come .The penalties a re b ei ng stored like" Grapes of Wrath," and are sure. Malthus provided some helpful mathematics;but the real "cl inchers" are in the grimwords of the prophets . . . .The time comes close for tr ibu lations;and then the Kingdom .LesterS . Parker,

Topeka , KS

regional shortages th at could lead to international disaster, but th e authors atleast held out the possibility that a con cer ted uni ted effort of world leaderscou ld stave off the 'worst. A malor featureof the study called for " organic growth"in the less developed countries andsteady-state population ;' consumption ,and economic growth in the highly'developed countries.This was seen as an ef fo rt to p rov idegreater equity in the distribution of resources, food , and capital among nationsand th us to avoid heightening in ternational tensions.iohaseThreeThe third phase of the study will involve

Ci new wor ld model that incorporatesmuch more details about the interactionsbetween various sec tors of the worl deconomy, w ith a t leas t f if teen majo r industries represented. Such a model canprovide dec ision make rs in business andgovernment with the far-reaching conseque nces of theirpolicy decisions.No doubt even more phases of theWorld Problematique will be s tud ied asthe Club of Rome continues to think theunthinkable, in hopes of so lv ing the inso lubl e pred icament of mankind . ti

(2) Hoarding of commodit ies that are inshort supply reveals a bas ic lack of com passionand Wllingness to sacrifice.(3) Even when one' s own health andwell -being are involved, self-sacrifice,temperance and log ic lose ou t to impat ience, self-gratification: e.g ., cigarettesmok ing , drug abuse, premarital and extramarital sex, and apathy toward seatbelt s and harnesses in cars .In summation, we are livi ng in a societythat each day becomes more Incapableof making decisions and accepting chal lenges that could at least forestal l theforthcoming " discontinuity" of wh ichLester Brown writes .For d ec ad es n ow , we have heard

people warn us about reg imentation andsurrenderof liberties which could lead usto a future l ike Orwell's 1984. I fin d iti ronic that our unwillingess to surrendersome of ou r liberties could condemn ourchildren and our grandchildren to live ina future " civilization" which would loo kupon 1984as a pleasant alternative.


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by 0icbinost cournries Iaifed 10 Use wisely . . . .The ag


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RETHINKINGTHEUNTHINKABLEby Robert Ginskey

Total nuclear war, according to conventional wisdom, would be a suicidalexercise in international irresponsibility,In short. nuclear war isunthinkable. The'conceptof the Balance ofTerror and thepolicy of Mutually Assured Destructionare based on such unthinkability. ,But now Comes a reeva luat ion by aNational Academy of Science study thatseemingly concludes that the impact of anuclear holocaust on nations other thanthose directly hit- by the bombs wouldnot be so cata st ro ph ic as commonl ythought.The report - entitled Long. TermWorldwide Effects of Multiple NuclearWeapons Detonations - concludesrather opt imis ti ca lly that the humanspecies apparently could survive a nuclear exchange equivalent to 10 bil liontons of TNT. That explosive power isa bou t half the total nuclear megatonnage of both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.

According to Acadeniy PresidentPhilip Handler, the s tudy predicts theworldwide effec ts of such .an "unimaginable holocaust" would ."b e lesspro longed and less severe than manyhad feared."Yet the very opt imism of the repor thas caused a storm of controversy. TheFederat ion of American Scientists haspub lic ly denounced the study for encouraging the irrational use of nuclearweapon s through a "Strangelovian scenario" in which nuclear war is s een as aviable met hod of achieving nat io na lpurposes. The U.S. Arms Con trol andDisarmament Agency, which had con-. t rac ted for the $56,000 s t u ~ y was so

dismayed at th e tone of the report that i tissued a statement asserting that no aggressor nat ion cou ld launch a nuclearwar without suffering economic and ecological devastation.Actually, the report contains sufficientinformation on the effec ts of a-Iargescale nuc lear war to d et er' all but themost nihilistic of nuclear nuts. If all-outnuclear war occurred. the repor t concludes there would be many serious consequences, including: Widespread, high-level radioactivecontamination, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, A reduction of the ea rth' s ozonelayer by about50%for three years , Sunburns in 10minutes, A 10% increase in skin ' cancer forabout 40 years, A Significant reduction in agricultural production, A possible d rama ti c a lt er at io n inclimate and global temperatures.The principle new concept developedin the report is that the major predicted 'long-term effects of nuclear war wouldnot result from the dispersion of radioactive materials, but rather would be theresult of an increase in ultraviolet radiation due to a -reduction in the ear th 'sozone layer. This conclusion should 'serve as an add it ional deter rent to theuse.of nuclear weapons. .\ Indeed, the original purpose of theacademy's report was to find outwhether cer ta in catas trophic hazardsf rom nuclear war migh t have so far escaped not ice. The poten ti al dangersfrom the destruction of the ozone layerwere just the k ind of new hazards theywere looking for. . 'But the t ragedy is that in rethink ingthe unthinkable, such findings have partially b e en o b sc u re d by comforting.claims -that future generations would besubject to o n ly " m in i ma l .s tr ess " adecade orso aftera nuclearwar.The report may be correct in its assert ion that mankind would survive an allout nuclear nightmare, but the horror ofsuch a holocaust can hardly be overemphasized: 0

And then a funny thing ha p pe ne d. ancient Assyria . Th e prerequisite is the


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Orchids&_ ..,(ORlons" (Continued from page J)In the Middle East we have a temporary agreement Secretary of State Kissinger worked out between Egypt andIsrael. At best, i t will be temporary. It isunder attack by guerril la leader YassirArafa t and other Arab nations. Biblicalprophecies show that the Middle Eastaround Jerusalem will be the focal pointof war and world trouble from now until'the END of this age, And that is rapidlygrowing close. ,Violence has bee n c on ti nu ing DAILYin. Beirut Violence . has continued inNorthern Ireland. And that CatholicProtestant battle reaches into London,Recently in London I went over to Harrod 's department s tore. It was about3 :30 in the afternoon. I found all doorsclosed , and a group of people accumulating to enter..There had been a bombscare . Later, when the doors opened, Ifound the official I wanted to see , whiteand shaking."This is the second bomb scare in thisstore," he said, "and the last time thebomb exploded and ca us ed a lot of

damage ."Yes, one way or another, I personallyam made very much aware of the t ro ubled state of this world. And thetro ublous state of the world is rapidlybecoming more and more troubled. Atthis point, if you realize the true significa nce of this world t ren d, you will dowel l to notice - and heed - some of thenumerous biblical prophecies foretellingthis very time.When Christ walked on this earth, Hisdisciples asked Him when the end of thispresent age would come and what signwouldsignify it. This isreally the pivotalpoint - the center and the crux - of allNew Testament prophecy. In answer,f irst He warned-them of false gospelsbeing proclaimed, in His name, and deceiving the many - that is, the world asa whole . During the first century, thegospel message Christ proclaimed hadbeen and that

lettersSex VIReferring to "Sex VI" August 23 issue ofPlain Truth page 13 - wives, submit . . . .I 'v e t ri ed to keep my thought s qu ie t over

the years but now must protest Manywomen are stronger in. characterand morecapable leaders than many meo. Becauseour bodies car ry the b ab ie s those ninemon ths shouldn 't mean tha t we are inferior. treateddifferentlyor subject tosubmitto our husbands.I 'm supporting my family and my husband is taking good.care of OUf children.We can' t buy aUthe nice things he wants,but he do es n' t expect or desire my ; uttersubmittal-. We love each other as equals,and that's the most beautiful love husbandand wi fe can have . Af te r a ll, Jesus nevermen tioned the fac t tha t women shouldsubmit because they're women, and he wasthe last and final word from God Himself.

i know this willnever be pu_blishedMrs. Wilma Clark,Placerville,CAI 've been reading with considerable interest the book, The Missing Dimension inSex . I note that i t i s s aid , "God is a family." Th is is a !:lew thought to, me . I hadnever before read or heard that idea.More and -more I am reading how worldevents are fulfilling Bible prophecies.I really appreciate Plain Truth magazineand !hankyouverymuchforsendingit to me.Mr. Leonard P. Elliott,.Houston, TXI can't help feeling sorry forthesepeoplewho read the word sex, then puckerup like

an o ld d ried up.prune. If only they wouldread the art ic les, they'd come to f ind ou ti t' s not all "sex, sex, sex." The art icles explain how God's purpose ,o f sex i s paral -leled and marriageis involved. . 'Love issomethingyou want to fulfill andit's not just the . .thrills. v It's everything. It's"

Alsoespecially liked the article on "WhoDiscovered America. " .I also like the editorial type cartoons inPlain Truth. Mrs. A, W.,Sherrill,IAHuman PotentialThe joint theme of The Missing Dimen-sion in Sex and 'The Incredible HumanPotential" is very inspiring to me. Next toyour personal letter , it is the f irst par t ofevery Plain Truth I want toread . I honestly, approach this reading with the same feel-ing that I have just prior to lunch or dinner.It is a hard feeling todescribe except tosayI feel I must have this knowledge. I wouldno t be able toendu re to the end without itbecause the pressures to do as J \dam andEve did are so great: ,Also, the th ings you have to ld us aboutyour personal l ife in recent issues of PlainTruth have been very helpful in remindingme of and helping me- to underst and theproblemsyou face in your daily life.AnnSlowe,Pasadena. TX .Your series of articles in Plain Truth onthe Human Poten ti al has been mos t inspi ring and up li fting! Wi th a ll the ' badnews we have to livewith today, one tendsto get depressed. But , on the o ther handwhen reading such -wonderful -articles such. as the con tinu ing one on the Human Potential , one's spirit is r ekindled! KeepPlain Truth coming 'a nd the good workgoing! VirgilL.Hutson,Chattanooga,TNMr. Armstrong's article, "The Incredible

Human Potential," isexactly that - incredible knowledge allowed to us mortals . It ismarvelous. and I hope i twill come out inabooklet, sowecan have it incompactform,and not have to assemble the differentPlain Truths when wewant to remind ourselves of what God has instore for all who

of God to rule al l nat ions in 1934. THATGOSPEL had never been. proclaimed 10the 'world since the first centuryInstead a message about the MESSENGERwas p rocl aimed - but NOT HISMESSAGE- NOT His GOSPEL (Galatians 1:6-7) .Through. Plain Trurh, by rad io andtelevision, arid by personal proclama. tion , THAT gospel is now going TOTHE

WORLD : That means that the ENDof this present world is IMMINENT!Fol lowing Jesus ' a nswe r to the sign, just prior to this end and Christ's returnto earth, he foretold th e TIME OF

TROUBLE this world is now heading into ., "For then," He said,just afterthe world. wide proclamation of t he c om in gWORLD GOVERNMENT, "shall be g re attribulation, such as was no t since thebeginning of the world to this t ime, no,nor ever shall be. And exceptthose daysshould be shortened, there should noflesh be saved [alive] : but for the elect 'ssake t hose days-shall be shortened"(Matthew 24:2 I-22j. '

NEVER have world conditions been asbad as they now are . We are rapidlyheading into this "GREAT TRIBULATION. "The t prophet Jeremiah foret ol d it asthe time of the great trouble 10 come onAmerica and the Bri ti sh nations (Jer,30). The prophet Daniel described it ascoming JUST BEFORE Christ's return andthe "first resurrection: ' "And at thatt ime shall Michael stand up, the greatprince which standeth for the children ofthy people: and there sha ll be a time oftrouble, such as never was since therewas. a nat ion even to that same time ;and at that time thy peopl e sha ll bedelivered, every one that shall be foundwri tten in the book. And many of themthat s leep in the dust of the earth shallawake, some to ever last ing life . .. "(Daniel 12:1-2). .Great national PUNISHMENT is foretold for the British n at io ns an d the

United States. WHY? Let the prophetIsaiah answer. Speaking of ou r people,the Eternal God says :"Hear , 0 heavens, and give ea r, 0earth: for the E ter nal hath .s poken. Ihave nourished and brought up chil dren, and they have rebelled against me.The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass

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Building Humanitarian Bridgesr iff- sJrilb y Stanley R, Rader

Paris, October 25: Divisive issues are threatening the very demise of the UnitedNations. Anti-Israel resolutions in the Ge neral Assembly, clea rly racist incharacter , threaten the fundamental pillars of the, organ ization. The racist views ofGeneral Amin of Uganda, so rightfully de nounced by U.S. Ambassa dor Moynihan only a .few weeks ago, emphasize how painfully slow is man's progresstoward peace. - . , _ -

And yet, yesterday in New York the United .Nations celebrat ed its 30thanniversary. A special concert was presented for the delegates in the Gen eralAssembly Hall - a tradition tha t-began in 1 ~ 6 4 at the r equest of Secretary DagHammarskjold , This yea r Secretary Kurt Waldheirn commissioned our very good. friend Gottfried -Von Einem of Austria to ~ a specia l cantata for theoccasion. The city of Vienna generously ar ranged for its per formance by theVienna Symphony Orchestra and i ts renowned Maestro Carlo Maria Gi ulini. Mr.Armstrong and the Ambassador Internat ional Cultural Foundation a re veryproud to have participated in this major event by organizing the recording of theconcert and the distribution of the record for the benefit of the United Nationsand i ts affiliated agencies,The thirty- year history of the United Nation s organization has been OI'Ieduringwhich the hopes and expectations of mankind have been expressed. It hasnot been an era, however, without difficulties. The hopes and expectationsremain unchanged and are even more comprehensive today. Von Einem's cantara .ent itled To -Posterity is intended in its music and words to make us all ordinary people, statesmen , and nations ""- think of what has prevent ed us fromachieving thisgoal. t- '

Tomorrow the concert will be pe rforme d again inVienna, and we:are hopingto be present once 'more. It was one yea r ago that President Rudolph Kirchschlaeger of Austria received Mr. Armstrong and me and the idea of the AICF.came .into being . The president had a great interest in Mr. Armstrong's worldwide efforts for peace and for bet te r understanding among peoples everywhere.Vienna , a city so .much connected with the fields of music and culture in t,he .minds of people everywhere, had already established a cu ltura l bridge withAmbassador College earlier lasi year when the Vienna Symphony Orchestra andMae stro Giulini performed the inaugural concer ts at the Ambassador CollegeAuditorium in Pasadena. . 'As Mr. Armstrong has said, the worid needs grea t humanitarian efforts andthe world needs demonstrations of concern for others. The world also needs an, appreciation of culture and art and spiritual understanding of the g r e a t t r a n s c e n ~dental purpose for a ll of hum anity. Sinci: our vi,.si t to Vienn a last yea r, the AICF

-t

together to make community laws, Thus,out of necessity, evolved the idea of representation - trusted -individuals beingelected to represent the people.Inevitably, because of human inclina' tions, ambition andthe desire for power,some of the representa tives became littlemore than mob leaders and abused their,positions and power for their own selfaggrand izement, Then came threatsfrom the surrounding powerful empirestates, and little demo cracies were absorbed, defeated.However , a hardy seed had peensown, and democracy as an ide al survived. In time the idea became fact oncemore as democracies were set up inEngland, the Ne therlands, Ital y and theRhin eland: They survived until the cen- ,tra li zed European monarchies were es- .tablished,The British people ar e ,pr oud of thef act that sinc e 1295 they have beenelecting representatives to the Parli ament at Westminster. But though it mayseem strange when reminded of . it in1975, it was only in 1832 that the"middle classes" were given the vote ,while hundreds of thousands of womenhad to wait for that privilege until 1918!Ge rmany becam e a democracy afterWorld War I. That 'dem ocracy crumbled und eri the dictatorship of Hitler.Italy ha d its own dictat or in Mussolin i.There were other dictatorships, too, inEurope , Nor shou ld one forge t SovietRussia which has a system in which all- opposirion parties were abolished .andrule is by one party only. 'Democracy has been called the noblest of political ideals. Among the mostfamous and frequent ly quoted -wordsabout it were those spoken at Gettysburg by Abr aham Lincoln. He said :"We here highly resolve . , . that government of the people, by the people, for,the people, sha ll not perish from theearth ."

Since Lincol n's -tirne millions ofAmericans have died in the de fense of, democracy: So have millions of othernationalit ies. But now democracy -is oncemore under almost unendurable stress and again from the inside.There is a . growing cynicism among

The author Is B noted writer and radiocommen tator In lrtt./and.

by LiamNolan

Tum nasty on a child or anima l ofteneno ugh, and they will soon realize tha tyou are not to be truste d, They'll giveyou a wide ber th and ignore you. That, I "believe, is wha t has begun to happen ona huge scale with people relative to politicians , The ' world is currently bespattered with politicians who have betrayedthe trust placed in them by those whoelected them to office, and the soberingfact is that individuals are "switching'off" from politics.Apa rt altogether from discreditedelected representatives, there are enoughformer dictators and other heads of statewho were found to have done reprehensible things while in office to makeChina's Triads or Sicily's Mafia seem

like thoroughly honorable organizations.But since this piece came to be writtenas a result of a remark I made to theManaging Editor one hot night in DubJin-whenswe were d iscussmg pol incsa ndpoliticians, I' ll confine myself to thoseelected to of fice by the votes of thepeople, the ,politicians in countries ru ledaccording to the democratic system., I t is wor th while to go ba ck and dig alittle to unea rth how democracy firstevolved and to ask what i t is' We bandythe wo rd about blithely, but do We reall yknow wha t. i t means, what its historywas. where it came from andwhy?Democracy has been def ined by dict ionary compilers as a form of gove rnment in which sovereign power residesin the people asa whole and is exercisedeither ' directly by them or' by theirelected representatives.If you go r ight ba ck through human

Politicians-Turning Offthe People,


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= = = = = = = = = = = ~ = = = = = = ~ ~ = = = = = = = ( p . ) I I @ n l f l l ~ N l t I h l

Garner Ted ArmstrongSPIIKS OUT!

'WhatWeNeedAreLeaders-NotFollowers

sons why he ought to keep them lWhen I heard wha t a " superb job "James Schlesinger did and the won-derful th ings that Mr. Colby had aC7complished, and what g reat fel lowsthey are - it sounded to me l ike all ofthose wonderful statements were thebest reason why he ought to keepthose men " on the team, " But the n,the Pres ident, without admi tt ing the, real .reasons behind the shake-up growing concern over his own reelection chances - would only con-cede his r ight fu l privilege of p icking" hisown team," That's politics.In the 59th chap te r of the 'b ook ofIsaiah is a prophecy that talks aboutleadership , It ta lks about 'a confusedscrambling for answers, for solutions- all in vain. It says: "None calleth forjustice: nor any pl eadet h for truth ;they trust in vanity, and speak ' lies;they conce ive mischief, and br ingforth iniquity, They hatch cockatrice '[adder's] eggs , and weave the spider's web: he tha t eateth of theireggs dieth , and that which is crushedbreaketh out into a viper ."Why? The passage cont inues :"The ir webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with ' their works: their works

are works of lniqutty." I t would be asurprising thing I ,suppose to see amother hen sitting on an egg , expecting it to hatch - and when itdoes she jumps up with asquawk ofa larm to f ind that there' s a snake inside the shel l instead of a f lu ff y littleyellow chick, That would not only bea shock, but also a bi tter disappointment. And this ch apter - the 59thchapter of Isaiah - dep icts how theplans of men, the ir- schemes; theirpoliticking end up the same way,It says, further: "The ir feet run toevi l, and they make haste to shed innocent blood : their though ts arethoughts of iniquity; wast ing and destruct ion are in the ir paths." Noticeverse B. I t says: "The way of peacethey know not ; and there is no jUdgment in their goings: '

Never has society been insuch a stet of muddled .confusion. Much of theblame can be iaid at thedoorstep of ou r "leaders, "who are following,

don't see any on the ho rizon . Aleader innovates. A leader creates, Al eade r has vision . A leader solvesproblems promptly when they arise ,or, even bett er, bef or e they 'arise,whenever possible.Why don 't we see pol i ticians gathering facts, accumulating data , goingto counselors and adv isors andboards and groups of people who areintelligent and knowledgeable in' major problem areas - such as theeconomy, agriculture, energy, foreign affairs - studying, really educating themselves, coming ' to firm' convictions and conclusions fromthose studies - not from shif tingpublic op inion - and then tell ing thepublic where they stand?There may be as many diffe rentproposed solutions for a p roblem asthere are people studying the prob-lem. But the point is that those facts:those studies, that advice, should bethe 'opin ion formers , not an emotionaland vacillating public. A man ofstrong conviction , a man of purpose,of determination, would come to conclusions based upon the fac ts as heknows them and as they 're available ,to him. And he would beable to articu late those beliefs, You , the 'voter,would then know exactly where thatpolit ician stood, You could then votedepending exact ly on whe ther youliked his position on major issues. Butthat 's not how the vast majority of ourpoliticians operate these days."One year before the 1976 electionboth parties arecontused and uncer-ta in," says one news art icle . " Politi-

a fford the weapons to give away tothe Arabs so they can defend themselves against us in case we dec ideto go over ther e to take the ene rgywe need so desperately.)And ' so al l the pol i ticians that hadto leap on the bandwagon to advocate cuts in federal spend ing perk uptheir ears again. And what do theyhear? They hear screams and criesfo r more welfare, more food stamps ,more programs to combat unernptoyment ein total , more federal spend ing ,not less,So now we see th"eproblem facing. a 'politician who wants to perpetuate 'h imself in an off ice. He's got to leapback in the other direction, put on adifferent hat , and prom ise: " Okay,we'll help you out ."The tr ick,is the pub lic a lso wants atax cut. But how are you going totake away revenues from the federalgovernment and still ' leave the government with enough money for al lthese programs the people want?. You can seewhy the pol iticians arein turmoil these days. They just don 'tknow where to leap next,'Back in 1967 or early 196B the

D' you voters real ize the terribletroublesyou're causing our politicians? You 're caus ing no endof concern to the Preside nt ofthe U.S., members of his cab inet , challengers in the Republican Party , andabout ten or so Democratic hopefuls.The major news media indicate thatthe voter s can 't seem to make uptheir minds on the issues and the issue bearers. " Voters themselves,"accord ing to one poll , " don't knowwhat they want and who theyIike.', And 'that,"according to pol it ical analysts, is why we see all of the backtracking on major issues in polit icalc ircles, , the shifting of stances andpositions, and even head-ro ll ing intop governmental offices, The reason? All over the UnitedStates, politicians are t rying to ga in popu larsupport fo r the upcoming bicentennial elections. 'It 's getting increasingly difficult forthe pol iticians to sat is fy the peopleback home. 'For 'example, there's theissue o f gove rnment spending .Everybody seems to agree - in pr inciple: reduce federal spending; cutback on the giant g o v e r n m e bu


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CANADIAN STATI ONSAt lantic Tim e

HALIFAX - Cha nne lS , CJCH-TV.2:30 p.m. Sun.SAINT JOHN - Ch ann el 6, ClON .1:00 p.m. Sun .SYDNEY - Channel 4, CJCB-TV. 2:30p.m. Sun .

pacmcT lm.,fiHilllnnro ' '. - ~ ~ ~ ~ 6 ~d J ~ H . ~ 1 ~ 1 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ; ~ ~ =mmr n ~ 00" "'MT. V E ~ ' ; " " W M t X 1:00 ' p:rn.Mom-Fri., J.1: ~ s , 10:05..0 ' 1. " .. . .. " N A ~ ~ ~ .: kc.. a.so K l . l ' K LAKE - CJKL, 500 kc..D ',_ _ p.m. Mon-Sat.,8:00 p-m. Sun. 9:00 p.m. daily.'NEW ORLEANS - WWL;:81Okc. 8:30 LEAMINGTON - CHYR. 110 kc..5:30p.m-Mon-Sat. a.m.& 6:30 p.m. daily.[oo.rn OKLAHOMA ClTY-- KTOK, 1000kc.. LINDSAY - CKl Y, 9"10 kc.. 8: 45 p.m.10:30 p.m. dai ly. Mon.-Fri. '"'OMAHA - KLNG, 1490 kc., 6:00 p.m. MONTREAL - CFMB . 14t o kc. 6:30. dai ly. a.m. Mon.-Sat. 1:30p.m. Sun .PAMPA - KGRO , 1230kc.. 6 :00 p.m. MONTREAL (French) - CFMB, 1410daily. kc., 5:00 p.m. Sat. & Sun.PEORIA - WMBD, 1470 kc.. 1O3(}p.m. MONTREAL - CFOX, 1470 kc. daily. CFO M, 980 ke. 11;00 p.m. Mou.,SIOUX CITY - KSCJ, 1360 ke.. 6:15 Sat .9:30 p,m. Sun.p.m. Men-Sun, NEW LlSKEARD - CJTT, 1230 kc.ST. PAUL - KRSI, 950 kc.. 8:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. daily.

daily. NORTH BAY - CFCH, 600 kc. 9:00SAN ANTONIO - WOAI, 1200 kc.. p.m. da ily.5:00 a.m.Mon-Sat.. 10:05 p.m. Sun. RIMOUSK I - CJBR, 900 ke. .7 :00 a.m.WATERLOO - KXEl; 1540 ke.. 8:30 Sun .~ ~ 3 ~ : ~ ~ p.m. Sun .. ~ ~ I E - CKCY,920 kc.

SHERBROOKE - CH lT, 630 kc.. 8:45a.m. Sun.SMITH FALLS - CJET, 630 kc.. 8:30. : - t h ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 3 0 ' ~ ~ ~ s ~ 6:30 p.m.

STE . AGATHA (French) - CJSA,1230 kc.. 6:30 p.m. Mon . Wed.. &Fri.ST. JEAN - CKCY, 7:00 a.m. Su n.THETFO.RO MINES - CKLD, 9:30a.m. Sun.THUNDER BAY- CKPR, 580 kc.. 9:30p.m. Sun .THUNDER BAY - CKPR-FII, 94.3rac., 8:30 p.m.daily.TIMMt N S - CKGB, 680 kc.. 10:00 p.m.Sun .. 9:30 p.m. Mon-Sa t,TROIS RIVIERES - CHLH, 550 kc ..7:00a .m.S un.


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IN ROME'S FOOTSTEPS?- .-.....- --- ---

= = = = = = = = = = = = ~ E K ENJ NOVEM.ER ~ IhlTHANKSGIVING DAY;.;, WHAT SHOULD IT MEAN TOYOU?

THEVATICAN CALLS FOR EUROPEAN UNITY

Requestyourcopyt oday.It'sabsolutely free - no obligation .

I s Western civilization follow-ing in Rome 's f oo tsteps?TheRoman Empire once dominated the civilized world. Butthe mighty empire collapsedinto rubble. The parallels between ourmodern society andancient Rome are too striking~ . to be ignored.The Modern Romans explainsthese trends and where they

are l eading us.

Call 8004234444**California, Hawaii and Alaska call (213) 577-5225

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Plain Truth 1975 (Prelim No 19) Nov 22_w

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