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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, DECEMBER 4, 1981
PAGE 9
Seminary, I had been confined within the four walls of the lecture
room. I have learned a lot of theology but not fully, since theory is
not enough to know well the actual life situation •...A friend of mine
introduced your magazine to me and I like it very much. I would like
to have a continuing education through your magazine.
F.O. (Tibiae, Antique, Philippines)
ON THE WORLD SCENE
REFLECTIONS ON ISRAEL AND EGYPT We are now back in Pasadena after our ac
tion-packed, two-and-a-half week trip to Europe and the Middle East. Be
cause of the pace of the travel last week I was unable to file a report at
that time.
Viewing the conjunction of world events, it was certainly a unique time to
be overseas with Mr. Armstrong. While Mr. Armstrong was visiting two heads
of state--and a possible future head of state (or states!)--other leaders
from the very areas we were visiting were busy meeting among themselves in
three separate summit conferences.
Arab leaders were meeting--fighting
like cats and dogs, actually--in Fez, Morocco.
West German Chancellor
Helmut Schmidt entertained a visitor from the East--Soviet President Leonid
Brezhnev. Shortly after this the leaders of the 10 Common Market countries
assembled for a two-day summit confab in London.
These three conferences ranged from inconclusive to utterly disastrous. On
the other hand, Mr. Armstrong's "summit talks" were highly successful on
all fronts. As Mr. Armstrong remarked on our flight home, "Have you noticed
how God just gives me favor in the eyes of these world leaders I meet?" I
responded with a resounding "Yes," for I have now experienced firsthand the
honor accorded Mr. Armstrong.
On Tuesday, November 17, Mr. Armstrong had the opportunity to meet, for the
first time, President Yitzhak Navon of Israel. I had the privilege of ac
companying Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Fahey on this visit. President Navon, age
60, is no stranger to the Israeli political scene. In fact, he and Jeru
salem's dynamic mayor, Teddy Kollek, were the two chief aides to the na
tion's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. After our meeting, we all
agreed that Mr. Navan has the bearing necessary to be a future prime min
ister himself, should power shift once again to the Labor Party (whose
chairman Shimon Peres is somewhat tarnished, owing to his recent election
defeat by Mr. Begin}. From all appearances, Mr. Navon is quite popular with
the Israeli people.
He has a younger, very attractive
wife who, I
understand, is a former beauty contest winner.
In discussing the broad nature of peace with Mr. Armstrong, President Navon
said, as an aside, that one must know exactly what the other side (in this
case the Arabs) mean by peace. One must know, he added, what the leaders
tell their people in their own language. He was referring, of course, to
the recent eight-point Saudi "peace plan." Western news sources were led
to believe that the Saudis' seventh point referred to "all states" in the
Middle East as having a right to live in peace. Mr. Navon, who is fluent in
Arabic, as are many Israeli officials, knows full well that the word "all"
is not in the official Arabic version of the proposal. Thus a loophole
existed not to recognize Israel's right to a peaceful future.