Basic HTML Version
otherwise. They have been
warned about the energy crisis,
the dangers of runaway inflation
as a result of untrammeled big
government spending, and the
taxing away the heritage of the
American people. They have read
of these traumas far in advance of
the events that have actually
occurred.
We have been able to predict
what will happen tomorrow, just
as we know what will happen in
the world tomorrow, because all
of it has been revealed to us in
the written inspired Word of the
Living God. It is all there for
the asking. And we, as part of
our commission, have shared
that knowledge with our readers
around the world. We think now
that more world leaders will be
more mindful in the future of
the bold but accurate forecasts
presented throughout the pages
of each issue of this magazine.
Conversely, I think it is very
significant that Mr. Nixon, a
man acknowledged by even bis
most severe critics as having a
great deal of expertise in the
area of international relations,
should be sensitive to trends
which have a bearing on Bible
prophecy and the true Gospel of
Jesus Christ.
Without saying so in so many
words, Mr. Nixon seems to have
instinctly realized our world is
not normal. Crisis in world condi–
tions is now the natural state of
affairs. In the 1968 preface to one
of bis earlier books
Six Crises,
Mr. Nixon stated: "The crises of
the Eisenhower years, and of the
Kennedy administration, were on
the whole short term moments of
tension; they were resolved one
way or another with national
leadership strengthened. But with
the Johnson-Humphrey adminis–
tration, the nature of the crisis
had changed. The remarkable
characteristic of the crises of
today is their continuity-they
have moved in, it seems, to
stay."
With this shift to an era of
perpetua) crisis, the quality of
foresight became very important
August 1980
in foreign affairs. The Bible
teaches us that "Where there is
no vision, the people perish"
(Proverbs 29:18)- which is par–
ticularly true in a world armed
to the teeth with nuclear weap–
ons. The Bible also teaches, "a
prudent man foreseeth the evil,
and hideth himself: but the sim–
ple pass on, and are punished"
(Proverbs 22:3), which it repeats
for emphasis in Proverbs
27:12.
But foresight has not exactly
been the hallmark of statesman–
ship in the latter 1970s. Mr.
'The danger facing the
West,' according to Mr.
Nixon's analysis, 'is that
the Western world could
find itself confronted
with a choice between
surrender or suicide.'
' '
Nixon believes the key mistake
was the cancellation of the B-1
bomber, which cancellation was
"one of the greatest strategy
blunders [America] has ever
made." This in turn brought
about a world in which the
United States would probably
lose the next war.
But while the early 1980s rep–
resent a more dangerous place in
which to live, there is yet further
change coming. Yet another era
after this one is coming in world
affairs-one in which world poli–
tics as we know it today will no
longer even exist.
1 found one comment Mr.
Nixon made to be particularly
interesting in this regard. He
mentions that most of the lead–
ers of the Black African nations
are interested
only in maintain–
ing themse/ves in power.
Conse–
quently, they are more naturally
inclined to become clients of the
Soviet Union, which is itself
controlled and dominated by a
very small minority that is more
expert than any other group in
the world in maintaining itself in
power. By sharing this type of
expertise along with military
hardware, the Soviets have
found leaders in nation after
nation in Africa ready to accept
their assistance; and hence, dom–
ination.
I cannot help but remember a
dinner party that Mr. Armstrong
had in January, 1969, for Franz
Josef Strauss, the former defense
minister of West Germany and
the current challenger for the
office of chancellor. Mr. Arm–
strong, realizing that Mr. Strauss
had arrived within the United
States during the inaugural pro–
ceedings for President Nixon,
asked at the dinner table of Mr.
Strauss what he thought Mr.
Nixon was thinking of when he
was taking the oath of office.
Without any hesitation whatsoev–
er, Franz Josef Strauss's reply
was only too prophetic: "Why,
how to get himself re-elected, of
course!"
The world of tomorrow, on the
other hand, will not be the prod–
uct of personal power seeking.
It
will
be the product of God Him–
self, who will send His Son Christ
back to the earth to make the
world not more unstable or dan–
gerous but peaceful, orderly and
prosperous.
I fear Mr. Nixon's book may
all too accurately describe the
world of the early l980s. It does
not give us much grounds for
hope in a better tomorrow.
But there is a book which does
point the way to a better world in
the future . We will not have to
worry about nuclear war, local
war, the need to build B-1 bom–
·bers or any other such manifesta-
tion of terror and destruction.
Tomorrow- What lt Wi/1 Be
Like,
by Herbert W. Armstrong,
commercially available in book–
stores, and published by Everest
House, reveals a far different , far
more hopeful era in world af–
_fairs.
o
37