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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, December 12, 1980
Page 17
studying them over and over in sequence. Every time I read one of
The PLAIN
TRUTH
magazines or booklets, I find that some of the infor
mation from the Course is mentioned. How interesting. Thank you
for letting me be a part of it.
Herbert Drisdale (Houston, TX)
Thank you very much for sending me your Ambassador College Correspon
dence Course. When
I
received it and started to read it along with
my Bible,
I
was absolutely astonished at how the word of God seemed
to be so clear. The way you have drawn attention to different
chapters made reading my Bible exciting. I had to write and tell
you this as I have sat up late at night, not able to stop thumbing
through my Bible, looking up passages, and trying my new k�owledge
at the test.
L.C. (Fife, Great Britain)
Last night I finished Lesson 3 of your Bible Correspondence Course.
I began the lesson at 10:00 yesterday morning and finished around
12:00 midnight. It is such a thrill to go through the questions
and to find the answers so plain. Why all of a sudden have I been
grabbed by the arm and made to see myself as if through a mirror?
Why was
I
plagued by so many questions and so much uncertainty for
so long? After almost 30 years of life during which I have been in
constant contact with the Bible, I finally clearly see God's purpose
for man on earth.
J.L. Martinez T. (Fa1ardo. Puerto Rico)
ON THE �ORLD SCENE
5CHM�DT IN THE DOLDRUMS: WHAT A DIFFERENCE TWO MONTHS CAN MAKE On October
5, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was returned to power by the West German
electorate. The results of the election, however, showed that the chan
cellor could be in for rough times politically. Specifically, his own
party within the coalition barely increased its power, while its junior
partner, the Free Democrat Party (FDP) significantly increased its par
liamentary representation, hence its leverage within the coalition.
Perhaps no one, however, could have foreseen just how quickly the chancel
lor was to fall from political grace. In its December 1, 1980 issue, der
Spiegel headlined Herr Schmidt's onset of problems this way: "Seven weeks
after their election victory, the coalition has gotten off to a false
start. The Social Democrats feel imposed upon by the small partner FOP.
Skepticism is growing in Bonn as to whether the Schmidt/Genscher govern
ment can save itself over the four years of this legislative period. The
chancellor himself is spreading the mood of an impending 'end time!'"
At the heart of the problems are the different points of view of the SPD
and FDP. Schmidt is caught in a political vise. On the left is the main
stream of his own socialistic "workers" party, beholden to labor interests
and the continuance of so-called "co-determination" agreements whereby the
powerful unions have a large voice in the management of major industries.
To his right, the FDP wants more free market economic conditions to pre
vail. SPD leftists maintain that the FOP is riddled with "Chicago Boys"-
advocates of Professor Milton Friedman's free market school of economics.