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which we have progressed--or ret–
rogressed-in this "enlightened"
20th century!
Huge sections of sorne cities are
designated as "crime containment
zones." Poverty, unemployment,
overwhelming welfare loads, wall–
to-wall children, illegitimacy, loot–
ing, riots, racial tensions and gangs
are the trademarks of these areas.
Here crimes of every description
run so rampant that the police
hope, at best, merely to keep this
excessive crime from spilling over
into other areas.
Farther downtown there is the
bowery or skid row. l ts trademark
is cheap hotels and saloons, filled
with hopeless derelicts, dope
addicts, prostitutes and similar
types of degenerate humanity.
And out in
suburbia~in
the nice
part of town? Well, the problems
of today's society are here, too.
The bornes out here may contain
two-car garages, boats and double
ovens. But they also contain family
strife, broken bornes and divorce.
The fear of not being able to meet
next month's payments on the
house, car, boat, stereo and color
television. Envy at the neighbors
next door who just installed a back–
yard swimming pool and are plan–
ning a trip to Europe.
Bored with the blessings of life–
but coveting more-many of the
inhabitants of suburbia seek escape
in the excitement of wild, permissive
parties- replete with alcohol, drugs,
and sexual debauchery.
And the younger suburbians,
with too much free time on their
hands and with too little parental
supervision, run the usual gamut of
Jicentiousness from vandalism and
crime to promiscuity, drunkenness
and drugs. At every level of city
society and in every part of town
we see serious problems in need of
a solution.
And we have yet to mention the
matters of corrupt business prac–
tices, bribery, cheating, bitter labor
disputes, organized crime, payotfs,
weak and inetfective city govern–
ment and exorbitant taxes.
Add all these problems together
and you can begin to comprehend
what a tremendous top-to-bottom
change is necessary for our cities to
become decent places in which to
Ji
ve.
24
But thank God, such a change is
coming-and soon!
But how? Who and what will
bring it about? Where would you
start if you were responsible for
undertaking such a gigantic proj–
ect?
Biggest Problem Solved First
Today roen seek to solve the prob–
lems of our cities by money,
schools, integration, night lights to
deter criminals, new laws, more
police.
But all these rñ'ethods ignore the
basic reason that today's cities are
the way they are.
What is the biggest problem in
cities today? What makes cities so
bad?
It's
people!
It's the fellow who takes off for
work in the morning with bis eyes
filled with smog and depressing
sights, a hostile look on bis face, the
din of traffic in bis ears, bis lungs
and nostrils full of foul air and cig–
arette smoke, bis stomach full of
nutritionally raped food, bis veins
full of drugs and tranquilizers, and
bis mind filled with the violence of
the previous night's television pro–
grams or bis plans to beat the other
guy out of as much as he can when
he gets to work. He's the problem
in today's cities-along with mil–
lions of roen and women just like
him.
And what is it that makes
people
so bad? lt's their unconquered
HUMAN NATURE.
This nature is a
nature of vanity, jealousy, lust and
greed.
In tomorrow's cities, this basic
cause of human sutfering is going
to be solved first.
Human nature will be changed.
But HOW?
Through the prophet Ezekiel,
God gives us the answer: "A new
heart also will
1
give you, and a new
spirit -will I put within you: and
1
will take away the stony heart out
of your flesh, and
I
will give you an
heart of flesh. And
I
will put
my
spirit
within you, and cause you to
walk in my statutes, and ye shall
keep my judgments, and do them.
... 1
will also cause you to dwell in
the ci ties, and the wastes shall be
builded" (Ezek. 36:26-27, 33). See
also Jeremiah 31:31 and Hebrews
8:10.
Human nature will still exist in
tomorrow's cities. The inhabitants
of these cities will still be physical,
flesh-and-blood human beings. But
God is going to give these people
his ·power-his Holy Spirit to resist
and overcome the downward pull of
their human nature. They will be
able to direct, control and guide
their lives into constructive chao–
neis. They will obey God's laws.
They will live in the way that
brings peace, happiness and pros–
perity for all.
God's Holy Spirit is available
today. But mankind as a whole is
not interested in God's Spirit. He is
by nature hostile to God and thinks
he can solve his problems without
God's help. He won't submit to
God's way unless he is forced to.
And that is where tomorrow's
mayors come in.
Tomorrow's Mayors
The mayors in today's cities are lit–
tle or no ditferent from those over
whom they rule. They, too, have
human nature. They, too, are sub–
ject to vanity, jealousy, lust and
greed-all too often increased
because of their position.
Mayors often must ignore urgent
problems because to bring them
out into the open and to suggest a
concrete solution would otfend a
certain bloc of voters and wash
their whole political career down
the drain.
And when a mayor does make a
sound proposal for getting rid of
sorne evil in bis city, it often gets
bogged down or lost entirely in a
mountain of bureaucratic red tape
or in política] haggling. Meanwhile
the city sutfers on.
Many mayors are mere figure–
heads. Their office sounds impor–
tant and impressive, but often in
fact it is weak and rather power–
less.
The mayors of tomorrow's cities
will have no such problems. They
will possess the power they need.
And they will not be motivated by
greedy, selfish desires in using this
power. They really WILL have the
interest of their people at heart:
The rulers of tomorrow's cities,
as shocking as it may seem, will be
divine Spirit Beings. They will be
members of the God Family, the
Kingdom of God- immortal
SPJ RJT
The
PLAIN TRUTH