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spective, "the danger of U .S.
weakness is tha t Europe, out of
fear and uncertainty, could sta rt
to pull away either toward mil i–
ta ry independence or , more like–
ly, toward neutra lism. Eitber way
the Russians gain, for the only
proveo barrier to the Soviets'
drive for world hegemony is the
partnership of Europe and Amer–
ica. Repl ace that partners hip
with mutual s us picion- and
eventual/y by riva/ry-and
the
only wi nner is the U.S.S.R. a nd
the only loser is the West."
Sooner or later, continental
Europe must cut loose from its
unpredi c t able tra ns-Atl an tic
partner. When tha t happens–
when Europe bec9mes a true
rival power- the d ebacle in l ran
will paJe into insignificance. Then
will be t he time of America's
greates t peril.
NationaiPowerVan~~ng
As Editor-in-Chief Herbert W.
Armstrong thoroug hly explains
in his dramatic article beginning
on page 2, the people of the
United S ta tes (along with Brita in
and many Commonwealth coun–
tries) are descended from the
a ncient "house of Israel." We
have been the recipients of vast
nationa l power and wealth in this
end-time age. ·
Because our peoples tend to be
na ive and often act as sheep in a
world of predatory wolves, God
placed tremendous compensating
reso·urces a t our disposal. Ameri–
ca in particular has possessed in
abunda nce such factors of na–
tional power as geography, na tu–
ral resources, indust rial capacity,
popul a t ion and mi l itary
strength .
Bu t o ther factors such as
national character, national mo–
ra le and quality of diplomacy a nd
governme nt-equa lly important
but more elusive and subject to
change- a re sorely lacking to–
day.
Most important of all, our
state of nationa l moral ity- re–
flected in our shocking crime a nd
divorce st a tistics, and the intent
to condone a nd give legal rights
June
1
July
1980
to a ll manner of perversion- has
caused the God who blessed us
with a ll wealth and power to turn
His back.
This is why God no
/onger fights America's batt/es!
Loss o f Purp ose and Prest lge
America is adrift ; it doesn' t know
where it is going.
It
has lost its
sense of national purpose. This is
renec ted in its inabil ity to project
its power forcibly on the world
scene.
1
n his classic text ,
Po litics
Among Nations,
author Ha ns
J .
Morgenthau writes: " Diplomacy,
one might say, is the brains of
nationa l power , as national mo–
rale is its soul. "
And God says, in lsaiah 1:5:
~~
If an otherwise powerfu/
nation is not
respected- even f eared–
it only invites neg/ect
and eventual attack.
' '
" ... the whole head [diplomacy
or government) is sick and tbe
whole heart [nationa l mora le]
fa int." Continues Professor Mor–
genthau :
" Jf
its vision is blurred , its
judgment defective, and its deter–
mination feeble, all the advan–
tages of geographical location, of
self-sufficiency in food , raw ma–
terials, and industrial production,
of mi li tary preparedness, of s ize
and quality of population will in
the long run a va il a na tion little.
A na tion that can boast of all
these advantages, but not of a
d iplomacy commensurate with
them, may achieve temporary
successes through the s heer
weight of its natural assets. In the
long run, it is likely to squand er
the natural assets by activating
them incompletely, ha ltingly and
wastefully for the nation's inter–
nat ional objectives. Often in his-
tory the Goliath without bra ins
or soul has been smitten and slain
by the David who ha d bot h ."
Having lost much o f its actua l
power, America is rapidly losing .
its pres tige as well. Without pres–
tige, which can be defined as
"reputation for power," the ac–
tual ba la nce sheet of political,
economic a nd military power of a
nation avails little. I f an other–
wise powerful nation is not re–
spected-even feared- it only in–
vites neglect and eventua l at–
tack.
Before World War 11 , Ameri–
ca's prestige- its reputation for
power- was very low. The mood
of isola ti o n was strong . The
United States, explai ns Professor
Mo rgen thau, "seemed almost
a nxious to prove to the world its
unwillingness, if not inabi lity, to
transform those enormous poten–
tialities into actual instruments of
war." Thus the United States
invited attack from its enemies.
The result a t that time was
Pearl Ha rbar. And how much
worse is America's lack of respect
among both its allies a nd enemies
today!
Symbo llc of Coming
Nationa l Captivi t y
Most Americans don't rea lize it ,
but the entire America n nation is
symbolica lly being held hostage
in lran. And there is more s till to
the symbolism. I.t may not be
mere coi ncidence tha t there ha ve
been 50 American citizens lan–
guishing in captivity in a U.S.
Embassy in a foreign land. They
represent , as it were, one captive
for each of the 50 states in the
union.
The ongoing hostage cns1s,
therefore, is a grim forecast of
the horrendous national captivity
prophesicd in your Bible to come
on the Engl ish-spca king world
( Psalms
1
06:40-48). o
NOTICE TO READERS:
The pubhsh•ng schedules of our 1nterna·
tional editions reQuire Part Five of A
Vo•ce
Cries Out Amid Religious Confusion
by
Herberl W. Armstrong l o appear next
month. rather !han in this issue.
4 1