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farmers had no fue! to run their
irrigation pumps at the most critica!
times of thc harvest. Sorne farmers
even tried to hijack diesel-carrying
trucks from the highways to get fue!
for their pumps. At the same time
there was a shortage of electricity
to run clectric pumps because the
drought cut into production of hy–
droelectric power. While allocations
for agriculture eventually were in–
creased, it carne too late to salvage
many crops.
Thus, at least part of the rec(mt
draw-down in India's food stocks
seems tragically
unnecessary.
Long Range lmportance
The 1979 drought has important
prophetic significance, namely, its
devastating etfect on the country's
painstakingly built-up food reserve.
Just when agriculture specialists
were beginning to think that India
might be able to see its way clear
from the threat of famine, its limited
food reserves have sutfered severe
depletion.
Who hasn't heard of the "four
horsemen of the Apocalypse"? One
of them, the black horse, symbolizes
famine: "And when he had opened
the third seal, 1 heard the third beast
say, Come and see. And
l
beheld, and
lo a black horse; and he that sat on
him had a pair of balances in his
hand. And
1
heard a voice in the
midst of the four beasts say, A
measure of wheat for a penny [a
day's wages circa
A.D.
90), and three
measures barley for a penny; and see
thou hurt not the oil and the wine"
(Revelation 6:5-6).
Bible prophecy warns of
world–
wide
famine in the time period lead–
ing up to the return of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 24:7 reads, "and there shall
be famines ... in diverse places."
On this basis, India appears to be
one of numerous areas which will
sutfer the ravages of famine in com–
ing years. lndeed, only lndia's bulg–
ing grain reserves prevented famine
this year. India is now, once again,
exposed to this danger. l f a 10 per–
cent crop decline in one year can
wipe out the better part 0f the hold–
over from four exceptionally good
years, what horrors will be in store if
the drought continues? o
30
1980s
(Continued from page 24)
ing Arab and Moslem unhappiness
with Western conduct. While the
Camp David Accords were supposed
to have been a harbinger of peace for
the Middle East, too few Westerners
realize that the real fundamental
conflicts in the Mideast a re still
festering, still able to precipitate
another Arab oil embargo.
The Camp David Accords did not
give the Arabs and Muslims what
they want most from any Mideast
settlement- a Palestinian homeland
and thc return of East Jerusalem!
Thus it was only a year ago that
both conservative Saudi Arabia and
radical Libya separately declared
that the oil weapon still could be used
lo prod the West into creating a
Palestinian homeland.
The Saudis in particular are very
interested in the recovery of East
Jerusalem. As custodians of Mecca,
they feel it is their special duty to
protect the lslamic holy places in
Jerusalem. Saudi Arabian Finance
Minister Mohamed Abalkhail is ex–
plicit about the kind of Middle East
settlement Saudi Arabia wants:
"The question of a comprehensive
peace treaty that recognizes Palestin–
ian rights and returns the Moslem
holy places in East Jerusalem is so
important to us, so emotionally felt
by us, that it is the
core of the
problem.
Solve that and all other
problems disappear. Obviously we
would give you more oil."
The Awful Eighties
Where does this leave us? Where are
these trends converging?
The key events of the 1970s that
will shape the 1980s are already in
motion. The clear implication is that
the places on the earth that will grab
world attention in this dccade are
Europe and the Middle East! Exactly
what Bible prophecy predicts!
Military confrontation seems inev–
itable in the 1980s. In Europe, the
Soviet's ability to overrun the conti–
nent will force a united Europe to
become a military superpower.
In the Middle East, the depen–
dence of almost everybody on the
region's oil (including, by the mid
1980s-according to sorne C IA fore–
casts-even the Soviet Union!) is also
building toa crescendo of war. Mani
Said al-Otaiba, president of OPEC,
says bluntly,
"lf
there is another
world war, it will be over petro–
lcum."
And, based on the military facts, if
there is to be a Western military
intervention, it probably won't be
started by the United States! The
man who should know, former chief
of U.S. Nava l Operations, Adm.
Elmo Zumwalt, said that the United
States could not use military force in
the Mideast because the U.S. rnili–
tary is "too weak" to do it.
Nevertheless, events are buildjng
to sorne kind of military conflagra–
tion! Peregrine Worstborne views the
state of the Middle East as a conflict
between resurgent Islam and West–
ern Christendom. Note this passage:
"Until this new threat from resur–
gent Islam is first understood in tbe
context of the implacable motives
behind it, which
transcend reason
and materialism and
encompass reli–
gious revenge and roge,
can the
proper and appropr iate answers be
found. Among those answers must be
possible use of armed force.
For to
encourage resurgent Islam to assume
it can get away with what amounts to
a new
stylejihad
[holy war] , without
its
militancy being met by ours,
this
would be to
condemn Christendom
to
an ignoble fate, as much invi ted as
deserved."
In another cerner of Europe,
Christian Democratic leader Franz
Josef Strauss has criticized severely
the present German government's
soft line toward the Arab oil na–
tions. Germany, says Mr. Strauss, is
practicing "the politics of coward–
ice."
A European military incursion
into the Middle East looms as a real
possibility in the 1980s. Bible proph–
ecy, which describes such an incur–
sion, would be confirmed.
Conflagration and war involving
Western Europe and the Middle East
are now much more likely because of
what was set in motion in the 1970s.
Such events mean that the return of
Jesus Christ to establish His govern–
ment on the whole earth and bring
world peace is that mucb nearer. o
The
PLAIN TRUTH