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the governments of this world.
Yet
replace
is a mild word! The
prophet Daniel flat ly declares
that the Covernment of Cod will
" break in pieces and consume"
the nations of this world that
resist Him (Daniel
2:44).
The Cospel of the Kingdom of
Cod proclaims that there is a
higher power than human govern–
ment , another and divine govern–
ment to whom men, whether they
know it or not, ultimately owe
allegiance. For this reason early
Christians were accused of doing
"contrary to the decrees of Cae–
sar, saying that there is another
king, one Jesus" (Acts 17:7).
No wonder the governments of
thi s world have hi s torica ll y
sought to
suppress
the publishing
irony. While many Third World
countries want to restrict Western
reporting in their own country. they
rely on Western news for accurate
information about events in neígh–
boríng countries. lf such countries
were real/y concerned about accu–
racy in the Western media. they
could always set up their own
news agencies.
Collapse of Western Will
Champions of the ideal of a free and
unfettered press were greatly out–
numbered in Belgrade. Elie Abel, a
U.S. delegate. said, " We and the
people who share our views are in a
very small minority in UNESCO. We
don't have a lot of friends and we'd
better tace it.
1
think we have to ask
ourselves why are we seeíng thís
steady, steady erosion ofAmerican
ínfluence?"
At the Foreign Office in London,
the British were indignantly outspo–
ken about the results of the Bel–
grade meeting. At one point, British
delegate Lord Gordon-Lennox was
preparing to vote against the
" world information" resolution.
Then the U.S. delegation got
instructions from the Carter admin–
istration in Washington to go along
with a consensus approval rather
than force a vote. Britain, " with the
greatest reluctance," decided it
had no alternative but to go along
too. Nevertheless, Foreign Office
Minister Peter Blaker made it clear
that Britain regards the whole exer-
of the Cospel of the Kingdom of
God- for it is ultimately the
news of their overthrow by Christ
at His return!
Sorne have tried to justify the
suppression of press freedom on
the grounds that the free circula–
tion of
fa/se ideas
would create
havoc fo r human government.
"Lying opinions, tha n which no
mental plague is greater," wrote
Pope Leo X II I, "and vices which
corrupt the heart and moral life,
should be diligently repressed by
public authority, lest they insid–
iously work the ruin of the state."
The key error is the fail ureto see
the difference between the govern–
ment of man and the government
o f Cod. God does not reveal the
whole of His spiritual truth to
cise as a growing threat to the free
flow of news and ideas. lt will
become a curb on freedom of the
press in the guise of trying to define
how journalists are supposed to
report and behave.
In general, the Western coun–
tries caved in to the pressure
exerted by the opposition. Re–
ported the Los Angeles Times:
'The British were blunt and outspo–
ken in debate and committee
work, and the Swiss refused even
to go along with a cansen–
sus . .. . France and the rest of the
European allies. and countries like
Japan, Sweden, and Austria
seemed more concerned not to
oppose the Thírd World. "
The Western countries were also
swamped by the Third World /Com–
munist bloc when UNESCO voted
itself a hefty 34 percent increase in
its operating budget, up to $725mil–
lion over the next three years. Of
course, much of this money comes
from the Western world, specifically
the United States.
lmpede the Gospe l?
UNESCO's Director-General Mah–
tar m'Bow of Senegal alleged at
the closing session that ·'this is
only the first stage in creating a
new information order in the
world ." And befare the delegates
adjourned, the Soviet Union spon–
sored a resolution-overwhelm–
ingly approved, of course-to can
a spec ial UNESCO-sponsored
society at large--only to those He
calls (see Romans 8:30).
Man, cut off from God,
cannot
be trusted to pass judgment on
whether God's truth is, in fact,
"true."
The Bible reveals that
Satan has
deceived
"the whole
world" (Revelat ion 12:9).
Christ said his true church
would be a litt le flock, not a
majority of the political commu–
nity (Luke 12:32). Thus, no
human government can ever be
really certain that it can tell a
" lying opinion" from a true one.
Because men's minds are lim–
ited, men must have the truth
revealed to them by God. When
God does n' t reveal it, as He
doesn ' t to most of society, the
(Continued on page 37)
international conference in 1983 to
assess how the international press
has been living up to the new
UNESCO standards.
The drive to curtail press free–
dom has picked up a little steam
since the Decembe r . 1980
UNESCO resolutions. In mid-Feb–
ruary, UNESCO sponsored a reso–
lution to, in effect, license and con–
trol by setting up an international
commission which would issue
journalists' press cards. The com–
mission would also "have the
means of checking" that journal–
ists "conform to generally ac–
cepted rules of professional
ethics ." The plan was vetoed by
tour Western press groups, who
were not originally invited to the
meeting of international press
groups. U.N. officials were plainly
upset at the failure of the resolu–
tion to pass.
One wonders, was the new
UNESCO move the beginning of an
international body which will
impose worldwide regulation on
the press?
lt should be obvious that if the
Western countries succumb su–
pinely to UNESCO's demands, it will
make the job of watching world
events in the light of Bible prophecy
all the harder. And one wonders,
too. if Satan is not manipulating
UNESCO affairs in an attempt to
curtail the future dissemination of
the Good News of the Kingdom of
God in many parts of the world . o