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HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91123
Pasadena
June 22, 1983
Dear Brethren and Co-Workers with Christ:
World events are beginning to move more rapidly toward the Great
Tribulation, the END of this world, the return of Jesus Christ in SUPREME POWER
AND GLORY to set up God's WORLD TOMORROW of peace, abundance and
eternal life offered to all.
The Pope's dramatic visit to his native Poland has added greatly to
setting
the stage for the prophesied REUNION OF EUROPE--the resurrection of the
medieval "Holy Roman Empire." The prophecy of Revelation 17 shows that when
this occurs the coming of Christ will immediately follow. The reunion of Europe
will immediately presage the Great Tribulation. This will be cut short by the
divine intervention of the Day of the Lord, and the second coming of Christ to
usher in a NEW world of PEACE, joy and salvation.
The prophecy of Daniel 2, concerning the Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a stupendous image, foretold the rise of other world
empires to follow Babylon of 604 B.C. Following was to come the Persian Empire,
to be succeeded by the Greco-Macedonian Empire, and it in turn by the Roman
Empire of 31 B.C. to A.D. 476. It was restored by Justinian in A.D. 554, first
with
a Roman leadership, then a French in 800, then the German dynasty of Otto the
Great called the Holy Roman Empire. It was followed by the Hapsburg Austrian
dynasty, and by a brief "restoration" under Mussolini, when it "was, and is not,
and yet is" (Rev. 17:8), this in turn is to be followed (and is NOW FORMING) by
a
UNITED EUROPE of 10 nations, covering both East and West Europe, as pictured
by the feet and toes of Daniel 2:44.
The Pope's visit to Poland, terminating tonight, is a MOST SIGNIFICANT
event in breaking loose probably five Soviet satellite nations in Eastern
Europe, so
they may be united by the Catholic Church with five Western European nations. It
will become a colossal THIRD WORLD POWER, possibly greater than either the
Soviet Union or the United States.
On NBC News, Marvin Kalb reported, "Throughout this trip the Pope has
come through as a type of spiritual superpower."
The Pope puzzled and greatly disturbed Moscow. He appeared as a holy
religious figure, but he spoke in undisguised POLITICAL overtones, as one of
supreme AUTHORITY, swaying the MILLIONS of Poles in his audiences to a
demand for freedom from the chains and enslavement of the Communists. Since
he APPEARED as a holy man for peace, the Communists couldn't see how they
could stop him or prevent what he was putting into the minds of the Polish
people.
Czechoslovakia is ready at first opportunity to break loose from Russian
domination. Rumanians insist they are "Communist," but not "Russian
Communist," and are far from ardently loyal to the Kremlin. Yugoslavia has never