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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, December 20, 1979
Page 7
a copy of his Peking lecture to all the judges at the Los Angeles Superior
Court in hopes it may be informative, since there has seemed to be so
little working knowledge of the Constitution there.)
Mr. Rader related that the cultural exchange which is going on between
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hi· rhurch and China is already well under way! Sixteen prominent members
of the academic community of the Peoples' Republic of China are, at the
time of this writing, visiting Ambassador College as our guests from
December 16th through the 19th. Their trip was originally arranged by the
Foreign Ministry of China and the State Department in Washington D.C. They
approached us to see if they could also visit with us while they were in
the United States. We gladly replied in the affirmative and have planned
to show them places of interest and assist them in interfacing with other
major educational institutions in the area.
In the question and answer session which followed Mr. Rader's introductory
remarks, someone mentioned the dearth of media news about the China trip.
Mr. Rader noted that we had sent news releases to some of the media, but
we don't know yet whether AP or any other major source picked the story
up. Of course our hometown newspaper, the Pasadena Star-News, did report
briefly on it.
Although there may not have been much said by the media, the State
Department definitely knows about the trip. When he was in Tokyo making
final preparations before leaving with Mr. Armstrong for the mainland,
Mr. Rader received a call from the United States Embassy in Tokyo asking
if there was anything they could do to help us during this visit--that
they knew we were going to China. Mr. Rader observed, "They know who we
are and they know what we do." They know we have accomplished something
rather quickly in getting into China! Mr. Rader said we know of no other
religious leader who has been in China before us.
Mr. Rader's comments certainly whetted the appetites of the audience for
more news about the trip from Mr. Armstrong, who is presently working on
a long article for the Plain Truth magazine.
Mr. Armstrong Makes a Powerful Impression
Mr. Rader was enthused about the very powerful impression Mr. Armstrong
made on the people in China. "First of all, his age gives him a fantastic
mystique in China. Then when they hear him it is overwhelming because
there is no man in the world 87 years old who speaks like Mr. Armstrong.
No one!
"Not only content, but the power and the authority. And it is amazing to
see the kind of reaction that he gets. It is because of their reverence
for age, because with age goes wisdom and a man in his position, in their
opinion, would have to be very wise to have lived to that age and be as
vital and to be in such a position of being able to do so much good for
so many people.
"But what surprises them," continued Mr. Rader, "is the unbelievable vigor
with which he stands there and delivers his address...very strong and very
firmly and speaking out with tremendous power, tremendous authority.... "
Many Invitations In Hand
Mr. Armstrong is holding invitations from many different countries and the
state's lawsuit against the Church has not changed our manner of getting