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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 15, 1985
If Eastern Europe had a voice in choosing the new leader of its
dominant neighbor, the Soviet Union, it would most likely have
picked the man the Kremlin chose--Mikhail
s.
Gorbachev.
There are few, if any, people in Eastern Europe who harbor illu
sions that the new general secretary of the Soviet Communist
Party is a closet liberal•••• Among ordinary Poles--and almost
certainly among Czechoslovak, Hungarian, Bulgarian and other East
European workers--there is a widespread feeling that one Soviet
leader is indistinguishable from another, that this third Kremlin
succession in less than three years will make no more difference
in their lives than the last two.
However, among intellectuals and the managers of Eastern Europe's
Communist regimes, Gorbachev is widely thought to be the one
Kremlin leader most likely to understand the need for modernizing
the Soviet economy....
If Gorbachev is able to promote the
gradual decentralization of the Soviet economy that many believe
he favors, it is assumed that the six nations of Moscow's East
European empirewill also find it easier to gradually shift to
ward the kind of semi-market economy that has given Hungary the
highest standard of living and the lowest level of popular dis
content in Communist Eastern Europe.
Few people hold any hope for revolutionary change, but many be
lieve that Gorbachev is the Soviet figure most likely to look
favorably on evolution in Eastern Europe toward something more
closely resembling the freedoms Westerners enjoy, .2.Q long as it
does not threaten Moscow's concept of security.
That last phrase--"so long as it does not threaten Moscow's concept of
security"--is the key one. A changed relationship between Eastern Europe
and its big brother will likely have to await changes between Western
Europe and the U.s .--specifically the souring of relations over Central
America, as we covered last week.
The new leadership in Moscow might eventually offer the prospects of
"peace" and vastly increased trade--and, at the very least, a neutraliza
tion of Eastern Europe--providing the Americans leave the western half. It
increasingly appears that only when America's direct presence in Europe is
removed and the Soviets relax their grip on the East, will the last ten
nation revival of the Roman system in Europe arise--in the partial
political vacuum created. The passing of the baton of leadership to the new
generation of Soviet leaders at this unique time of history is thus a major
milestone along the way to fulfilling Bible prophecy.
"Christian Rock"
Finally, here are excerpts from a March 11, 1985 TIME article about a new
kind of pop-rock music. The article is entitled "New Lyrics for the Devil's
Music."
If you had to guess their name, you might think of the Devil's
Disciples or the Beelzebubs. Or perhaps the Killer Bees, which
is what the four young men on the stage look like in their tight
leather-and-spandex costumes crisscrossed with garish black and