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Mexican border-in a few years'
time.
Unchecked revolution in Central
America's larger countries would
not Ieave the smaller ones
unscathed, he warned.
The present democratic govern–
ment of poor, underpopulated Hon–
duras would not last long on a
Communist-dominated isthmus.
Southward, Costa Rica would be
under sorne heavy pressures. Cen–
tral America's most peaceful (no
army for the past 33 years) and
democratic state, Costa Rica is nev–
ertheless subject to interna) dissen–
sion because of its economy. The
tiny republic, for all intents and
purposes, is now insolvent.
Central America's Communists
do not see Costa Rica ripe for pick–
ing- yet. Guerrilla leaders in El
Salvador boast that once insurgents
have seized power elsewhere in
Central America, they' ll have Cos–
ta Rica " for dessert."
The biggest Soviet target of all,
of course, is Panama. At stake is
continued Free World access to the
Panama Canal- the "jugular vein"
of world commerce- now no lon–
ger under exclusive U .S. control.
The relinquishing of U.S. sovereign
control of the Panama Canal in
1979 (with all U.S. troops to be out
by the year 2000) will ultimately
prove to be the most serious U.S.
blunder of all in the spreading
chaos in Central America!
A Communist clamp on the
canal would not only be disastrous
to the United States, but would
place severa) South American
nations such as Colombia, Peru,
Chile, even Brazil, in extremely
serious economic straits (to say
nothing of Japan, the canal's chief
user)- unless they "cooperated."
The insightful prime minister of
Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, recent–
ly warned of Soviet designs on stra–
tegic regions of the world, especial–
ly its vital waterways.
The Strait of Malacca, at the east–
ern entrance of which Singapore is
located, is one of the five strategic
"choke points" of the world, noted
Mr. Lee, "besides Gibraltar, Suez,
Panama and the Cape of Good Hope.
They must never become 'chokable'
by the Soviets."
Aprll1982
The U.S. clearly faces a bleak
future in its own backyard, Central
America and the Caribbean-the
region Soviet geopoliticians refer to
as America's "strategic rear."
Why the U.S. Decline?
Why
is this happening? Why does
the United States appear confused
before the clear challenge of its
enemies? Why did the United
States lose control over the Panama
Canal, its major "seagate"-the
biblical term for what the Soviets
call a "choke point"?
Why did Britain lose control of
the Suez Canal-and why is she on
the verge of relinquishing, not too
far ahead, Gibraltar? Why the
Soviet drive into southern Africa,
with the clear aim of controlling
the vital route around the Cape of
Good Hope?
The answer- simply put- is
that the God who blessed the
peoples of Britain and of the
United States with incredible
wealth, power and prestige, has
removed his blessing and protection
because of mounting national sins.
Very few Americans, or others in
the nominally Christian but largely
secularized Western world, have
ever known the real secret for Amer–
ica's unprecedented success and
security in the past- and why the
United States is con.fronted with
manifold challenges today. The
noted Italian author Luigi Barzini,
writing in the December, 1981, issue
of
Harper's
magazine, comes close
to the truth. He observed:
"The United States is ... a great
nation, in many ways
the greatest
nation of al/ times.
...
Very few
imitators have understood that the
secret of the United States' tre–
mendous success is not merely
technology, know-how, the work
ethic or greed. It was a
spiritua/
wind
that drove the Americans
irresistibly ahead.
"Behind their compulsion to
improve man's lot was at first an
all-pervading religiousness, later
the sense of duty,
the submission
to a God-given code of personal
behavior,
the acceptance of a God–
given task to accomplish and [the
acceptance] of all the necessary
sacrifices.
"Few foreigners understand this,
even today. The United States
looks to them like the triumph of
soulless materialism. The religious
fervor and the Protestant ethic that
were so blatantly evident in the
past are certainly less visible now.
But they are still there, even if few
Americans mention them. They are
feebler ,
discredited by intellec–
tuals,
corroded by
the doubts of
these impious times,
but without
them, or
what is /eft of them,
America would not be what it is."
(Emphasis ours.)
How many Americans any lon–
ger "submit to a God-given code of
personal behavior"-meaning the
Ten Commandments?
Because so few do, and because
America leads the world in crime,
drugs and immorality, God has
turned his back on the people who
still vainly proclaim ' 'In God We
Trust. " The Almighty is now
removing the "hedges" (Isa. 5:5)
that have kept once-secure Ameri–
cans safe in their own ocean-buf–
fered hemisphere.
Modern-day "Midianites" and
"Philistines" are attacking in the
border regions because Americans
are doing "evil in the sight of the
Lord" (compare Judges 13:1}.
The Lord, moreover, "will send
upon you curses, confusion, and
frustration ... [and] cause you to
be defeated before your enemies"
(Deut. 28:20 and 25, RSV).
The United States cannot even
stand before Nicaragua, a tiny
nation whose new national anthem
proclaims America to be "the ene–
my of mankind."
It's time for Americans to awak–
en from their sins and slumber, and
see the "Morality Connection" in
what is happening round about
them. The problems in the Western
Hemisphere deal not so much with
inequality
in Central America but
immorality
in America itselfl
In-depth understanding of where
the United States is mentioned in
Bible prophecy is found in the free
book
The United States and Brit–
ain in Prophecy.
If
you have not
yet read this gripping book, write
for it today.
It
will make sense out
of today's world news, as no other
publication does. o
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