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~intnAh
Gamer Ted Armstrong
SPIAKS OUT!
A Revolution of the Spirit
1
1
seems
11
was only a fe"!' years ago
thal America didn't have a doubl In
the world. We wa.lked buoyantly; we
were on top of theworld;
we
were the
blggest, most powet1ul nation the world
had eve< known; we seemed lo know
exac«y where we were golng, and why.
We wanted to show otilar natlons how to
do lt as well. "Cornucopia Americe" -
the wonderful, abundan!, beaulllul Amer–
Ice alter Worfd War
11,
where everyone
was promlsed a jeep and a hellcopter In
hls
front yard. We were ridlng hlgh then;
wewere the greatest.
Butthen, no! too many
years
later, our
cltles were
filiad
with crfme, our
~mpuaes
were scenes of Ylolent con–
lronlatlon, our Presiden! was ......._
nated, Dr. Marfin Luther King and Robert
Kennedy were killed, racial confllct wor–
eened, Vietnam invol\l'ement deepened,
Watergate hit the heedllnes, innation and
the energy crisis cama along, and now -
where are we?
Most Americano today are lotally lack–
lng In Mlf-confidence, confldence In our
eountry, and confiden.ce In our baslc ser
clal lnslllu11ons. We've gol a deep, nag–
glng consclousness in the back of our
mlnds that nothlng is realty golng the way
11
ahould. We know there is something
wrong, but do we know
what?
Do we
know where lo look? Do we know
whet
oughtto be rtgbt?
Today many don't
worry
so much any–
more aboul what ls righl or what ls
wrong, but about what is proflla.ble, what
ls
expedient, what we can gel away with,
wlll we be
~ughl,
and
if
so,
what aie the
penailles. You ask millions al American•
today and they willtell you honesty is not
alwaye !he bes! policy. Honesty, faithlul–
ness,
lntag~ty,
truthlulness, abiding
by
the law - lhese attributes are no longar
held to be of the hlgh value they once
were. They are
no
longer more preclous
than material possession. No, lnstead,
there are mllllons who would tell you that
all ol thoselhings are hollow words, lalse
values of suckers who don·t know where
it'aat
Al
the
sama time, most lndlvtduala
today flnd themsel\l'es
adrift
They go
trom one accident. one chance encoun–
ter, and one moment to the next- alwaya
trylng to salve the problem after ft hao
occurred, nevar trying lo avoid il befare ft
occurs.
And so. we as a natlolf seem to De
moran~.
splrltually, mehtally, and
emo–
tlonally adrlft In lile, silting on !he dock al
the bay watchlng the
U
de go In, not know–
lng whal we are,
why
we are here, and
14
where -
are going. Today, the Unfted
States la in a
crlm ot lhesplrtt
Le!'a not kid ourselves. lf
1
had totd you
15
years ego thatlhe Unhed States would
be where we aretoday,
1
don't thlnk you
would have belleved me.
1
don'! thlnk
anybody woold have belleved me.
Be- •
cause our natlonal state of affalrs today la
juat
unbeflevable.
-
We need to realiza that any country
whlch dO&$ not know where it
ls
golng,
what h ahould be, whal is its trua natlonal
and lnternational role,
but
which bagins
to atrlve merely to hang on to what
1t
hao,
ls
doomed to fallure. Hlstory shoutd teach
us that
lt's
time for
us
to refleá on
the
need
lor
a
new
revolutlon in the Unlted Statea -
not a revolutlon
ol
guns,
bu!
a
revolution
of
the
spiril.
tt's
time
for
us,
as -
ap–
proach our
200ih
birlhday, lo wonder
whether or not the enlirety of the syetem
needs revlsion - meaning soclety. the
lnstltutlons of society, and lhe way we
vlew and approach and react to !hose
lni tllutlona.
We are faclng a global challenge that
)e
obsolutoly so mlnd-boggling that it's hard
lo get a handle on il and explaln lt. When
we bagln to really laok into the futura, we
see
a
lar dlfferent futura than we mlght
have envtsloned back alter World War
11
when we had all the marbles. There'a a
blg
)ob ahead
for
the Unlted Statea, and
apparenny
we
only envision
1t
as holding
on to whal we've gol And
if
lhat
ls
lha
sum total of our national goal, then we
truly are
alck.
We are llke the mad doctor In
the
castte
worklng away on the giant We buitd lhe
glant - "Comucopla America" - wlth
the hlghest standard of living in the hls–
tory of humanklnd. the greatest and most
powerful natlon lhe world has ever seen.
But the glant has become a Frankensteln
1110nster. The machlnery, the system, the
automoblle, and the paycheck are con–
trolllng us rather !han vice versa. We are
belng swept aboutln the grip of the glant.
rather than giving lhe giant the orders
and telllng
lt
whereto go.
ll'a too bad we as a nallon coutdn'l
heed a preyer
lhal
ópened a recen! sea–
alon of the U.S. Senate. Few
have
heard
of
11.
so
1
feel that il's going lo
be
helplul
H
1
coutd publiclze
1t
a bit
ti
was wrillen
by
SenateChaplaln Edwatd
L.
R. EISen:
"Oh God, our Creator, Redeemer and
Judge, we Deseech tllee to forg!Ve !hose
natlonal slns which
so
easlly beset us,
our wanton waste of soil and sea. 04.r
aquanderlng of energy, our desecrallon
ol natural beauty, our heedlessness ol
acars of natura lefl to !hose who come
alter ua, our lave of money, our conternpt
for
smaH
things and our worahlp ot blg
lhinga,
the
loneliness of lile in big citiee,
the dull complacency ot smaUtowna. tha
degeneracy of our culture. our
bad
man·
nen, and our indlfference lo suffering.
For
lh&88
wrongs done and l or rlght
thlngs lefl undone, Good Lord forglve
u
a:·
You iqlow what God sald In answer to
that prayer?
1
beli_!!ve he sald: "No,
1
won'tl No,
1
won't lorglve you lor !hOse
lhlngs. No,
1
wlll not forgive your wanton
waste of son and
sea.
untll you qult wast–
lng them. No,
1
will not lorgive your
squanderlng ol energy, until you qult
aquanderlng ll
No,
1
will not lergive your
d-cretlon
o1
natural beauty until you
qult desecrating
11.
And no,
1
won't forgllre
your
love
ol
money, because you've got
more than lave - you've got an ago–
tlatk:al, swelllng, grot<!$que, all-out-of–
proportlon lusl for mOAey. No,
1
won' t
lorglve your contémpt for
smaH
lhlnga
and worahip ot blg things, because you
heven't repented of
11
yet. No,
1
won't
lorglve the lonellness of lite In blg eliJes
and duU complacency ol small towna, be–
cause you people are on an absoluta
blnge just Uke Sodom and Gomorrah -
a.
blnge of natlonal crfme and degenéracy
lt's time for us, as we
8ppro8ch our 200th
blrlhd8y, to reflect on the
need for a new rev olution
In the Unlted States -
not 8 revolution
'ot
guns,
but 8 J'f!VOiution ol
the human splrlt.
that threatens to rlp your cities and your
social structure completely sparl"
In ahort - and
1
belíeve
1
have enough
background In the Bible and enough per–
sonal experlence to know exactly what
the reaclion would be - his reactlon wes:
"No,
1
won'l
1
won'l forgive you becauae,
you aee. you haven'l
repented
of
11
yet"
Butl do know that God
will
forgive ua for
lhose thlngs
11
we repenll
To ask God
to
forgive lhat enormoua
host ol natlonal crimes and sino In the
calllng to arder of lhe U.S. Senate waa,
1
thought, a fantastlc
Idea
l'm applaudlnll'
the prayer. l'm saying lt's a great prayer,
one whlch ought to be'l-epeated by every
American, but one we ought to mean and
one we ought to do somethlng
~bout.
But
l'm also saylng thatjust the formulatlon of
auch
a
meanlnglut prayer - and
1
cer–
talnly want to congretulate Chaplaln Ed–
ward Elsen for wrlting lt - will not glve us
a
response from God.
He asked that God woutd forglve us our
bad mannera. Sure he wiU
¡-
when we
repent of lhem. He asked that Gi>d for–
glve us lar our indifference
lo
suffe<lng.
Vea. he can and
wiJJ -
when we over·
coma our lndlffetence to sufterlng. But
as
long
as
we
by
the thousands continua to
drlve by the \lictims al automobile accl–
dents: slt securely lndoors llstenlng
to
the
ahrleks and screarns ot a person outslde
belng raped, stabbed, robbed, beaten
or
mugged; remaln unwllllng to appear aa a
wltnesa because ot lhe lnconvenlence or
expense involved - God will not forgive
ua.
God will not forgive our indifference lo
sufferfng unless or unlil we become much
more empathet1c and tenderly com·
paaalonate toward sufferi11Q
and
are will–
lng to go out of our
way
not only lo
preven!
11,
but to give mercltul succor
when sufferlng
1$
occurrfng.
No, as long as we conllnue to act the
way we oct and Uve !he way we llve, as
long as our ho,mes are belng rent asu.n–
der and ripped apart, as long as lllegltl·
macy ls on the risa, as long as we're In
the grlps of a glgantic crime wave lhat
reachea lnto every home
1p
the Unlted
States to a greater or lesser degree,
aa
long as - contlnue In the way ot vlo–
lencjl and mayhem In entertainment,
u
long as we continua on our national plea–
aure blnge - being vtrtually held captive
by
lhe
aoclety
we have created whlch
Frankensteln-like now
tums
upon us -
then God
wnt
not
hear
such
a
prayer.
Do you know that God actually saye,
"1
will not hear them:'? There are scripturea
In the Blble whlch show ft's usalesa to can
out to God and say "save us," "help us."
"protact us" while we continua lo wallow
In sin.
•
In lsalah lhe fin¡! chapter God declares,
"Hear the word ol !he Lord,
yo
u rulera of
Sodom" - thls ls directed toward na–
tlonal leaders - and "give hear to the
teachlng ol our God, you people of Go–
morrahl Whal to me ls the munltude ot
your oacrtflces?'' (lsalah
1:10-11.
RSV.)
Constder alt the prayera, all the church
servlces, all the church-golng in tha
United States. Forty pareen! of the U.S.
population ls in church
every
week. Rell–
gloue books represen! one of the most
raptdly growlng areas In aiTihe publiahlng
lndustry. There has recentty
been
a
grow–
lng lnterest in religion, espeplally among
collage students and young people. But
God says: "Why? What is the purpose ol
t h1s mullitude of your sacrificas In time, In
prayera, In mednations, In research lnto
rellglon; and In buylng and dlstrlbutlng
rellglous books7'
He goea on lo say, using the termlnol–
ogy of sncient religious practica. "Brlng
no more
vain
pffer1ngs; Incense [a type ol
prayer] is
an
abomlnatlon to me. New
moon and sabbalh and the canlng of ••
aernblles [worahip
servtces} -
1
caonot'
endure lnlquity and solemn assembly....
When you spread -forth your hands.
1wlll
hlde my eyea from you; even though you
make many prayera,
1
wi/1
notlisten;
your
hands are full of blood!"
Bul God also gives the solution: "Waah
yourselvea; make yoursellres clean; r&–
move the
evll
of your doings lrom befare
my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do
good; seek justlce, correct oppresslon;
dafend the fatherless, plead for the
wldow."
Thllll,
" t hough your slns are llke .
scorlet. they shall be whHe as snow;
though they are red like crimson, they
shall become as
wool.
lf
you are willing
and obedient, you shall eat lhe good ol
the land; But
if
you rétuse and rabel,
you
sha/1
be
devourad •• ."
(lsalah
1:13-20.
RSV).
l've gllren to you what
1
be!ieve
1$
God'l
anawer, under present coilditlons and
clrcumstances, lo Chaplaln Elsen'a
prayer. l'd like to betieve all those sena–
tora present that day hed lheir heade
bowed respeettully and were lhlnkln6.
" Amento that·"- and meanlng lt. l'd llke
to belleve that nalionally we wlll
act
on
that prayer. But, somehow,
1
just doubt
lt.
o
ytEEK ENDINO
OCTOB~
18.
197S