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involvement in the West is now a ,
serious one, and the key s take in
t he o u tcome of th e m issi les
issue."
The French, moreover, realize
their much smaller independent
nuclear force is almost worthless in
face of Soviet might, should Ger–
many and the rest of Europe be
"neut ralized" and the
Am~ricans
go home.
As internat ional relations expert
Mario Rossi wrote in the February
2
Christian Science Monitor:
" Because Moscow has reasons to
fear the U.S. and the U.S. only,
France would consider the lack of
an American commitment to the
defense of Europe an incalculable
and irreparable d isaster."
Satelllte-or Thlrd Force?
Thus, as " D-day" approaches, we
can expect an un precedented flurry
of act ivity throughout Western
Europe, and especially the Federal
Republ ic.
West Germany, because of its
pivota! position at the center of a
d ivided Europe, simply cannot exist
in a geopol it ical vacuum.
Sorne of West Germany's young–
er citizens sincerely wish it could
be otherwise. T hey would like to
see thei r country return to a pre–
industrial "green" society free of
the cares and anxieties of neighbors
all around .
Reality, however, d ictates that
th is simply cannot be. Western
Europe, wi th Germany at its core,
may eventually be confronted with
two choices: Either it will become a
new satellite region of the Soviet
Union- or unitedly, after Ameri–
ca's exit, it will be forced to create
a mul t i nat ional nuc lear "t h ird
force" of its own to protect its
"Christian civilizat ion" from the
East.
Bible prophecy, which foretells
of a final end-time resurrection of
the Roman Empi re, clearly ind i–
cates the latter alternative.
Franz Josef Strauss, who many
bel ieve is st ill a powerful voice to
be heard from in the stormy days
ahead, said ten years ago:
" We must achieve, we must
bring about and we must realize
West European unity befare the
Soviet vision of tomorrow becomes
a reality." o
40
Personal from...
(Continued from page 1)
desi rable. They just don't want to
obey that which would cause it! They
want to be right, but they don't want
to do right.
Christ carne to call people to
repent. Repent of what? Repent of
causing unhappiness, strife, war
and pain-and then to receive the
gift of the Holy S piri t.
And what kind of results wi ll the
Spirit of God produce in you?
1' 11 tell you fi rst what it won' t
produce. l t won' t produce the mor–
bid, unhappy, pain ful , g loomy li fe
that many think is the Chris tian
life. Le t the Bible tell you what
" fruit " it will produce in you. " But
the fruit of the S pirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffer ing, gen tleness,
goodness, fai th, meekness, temper–
ance: agai nst suc h there is no law"
(Gal. 5:22-23).
Look at that more closely: " the
fruit of the Spirit"-this is the Spirit
of God. This is the Holy Spirit that
God impar ts only to those who have
repented- that is, turned from that
which has caused unhappiness, mor–
bid gloom, d iscouragement , frustra–
t ion, empt iness. On the cont rary,
that fruit of the Spirit is first of all
LOVE. And the second fruit is JOY!
Joy is happiness, brimful and run–
ning over. That doesn' t sound like an
unhappy, empty. g loomy lifc, does
it? And God's Spirit is not static.
lt
flows. lt flows spontaneously from
God into and through you, and out
from you, making still others happy
and j oyful.
The very fi rst result produced in
your life by God's Spirit is love.
Love is a righteous love of and for
others. lt wi ll mean your face is
beaming. lt's an outgoing concern
for the good and welfare of others. lt
will mean that you are really giving
out-that you are radiant and happy.
And love
results in
joy- that's the
second of these frui ts. The thi rd is
PEACE. l nstead of an att itude of hos–
t ility, instead of going around quar–
reling, being resentful and bitter,
angry, and arguing, you' ll be in an
atti tude of peace- peace in your
mind and wi th your neighbor and
with your God.
Next comes
/ongsuffering.
That
means patience. How much has
impatience made you unhappy?
Probably impat ience makes more
people unhappy than almost any–
thi ng else! l f you can really cometo
have pat ience, you' ll be acquiring
one of the things that wi ll allow you
to be happy and make life worth
living.
Then next is
gentleness.
That
makes others happy and automat i–
cally adds to your happiness. And
then
goodness
and
faith!
Faith is
con fidence- not self-confidence,
but reliance on the supreme power.
lt meahs that the supreme power of
God is working for you. lt means
reassurance. l t means assured hope
insteali of doubt, fear, discourage–
ment.
Now t his is not to say that there
are never troubles in the Christ ian
li fe. Far from it. There will be perse–
c utions. J esus Christ was perse–
cuted. He said, " lf they have perse–
c uted me, they will persecute you."
That comes f rom without. Bu t
u nhappiness is somet hing that
springs from within. Happiness is a
state of mind; happiness is within .
And the person who does have this
inward peace-this joy, this patience
and love, and absence of resentment
and bitterness-isn't going to be
anywhere near as disturbed and
unhappy as when he didn't have
them. You' ll always face problems–
but you' ll have faith and God's help
in solving them. But problems and
tests of faith are good for us- the
very building blocks of perfect spir–
itual character.
1 know that the Bi ble says,
" Many are the affli ct ions of the
righteous," but the same scripture
adds, " but the [Eterna!] delivereth
him out of them all" (Ps. 34: 19).
lt 's t rue J esus was "a man of
sor r ows, a nd acq uain ted with
gr ief." lt 's true he suffered-he
knew what suffering is. But his suf–
feri ng and grief were not caused by
pain others infl icted on him- not
from resentment, or being hur t by
others- but by his love for others.
He su ffe red because they were
br inging so much su ffe r ing on
themselves. But he also was a man
of bound less joy, and he said, " My
joy 1 leave with you."
Yes, he said, " 1 am come that
they might have life, and that they
might have it more abundantly"
(John 10: 1
O) .
o
The PLAIN TRUTH