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Gamer Ted Armstrong
SPIAKS OUT!
America's Two Choices
-x.
T
het'e
is
a gigantoc balllefoeld l*ng
drawn today. which
ls.
In taet.
m.
enlirety ol !he world.
oñ
ona sfde
are arrayed lhe "have" nations; on
the other slde are lhe "have-not" nalions.
The lirst group eomprlses the lndus–
trlallzed, non.Communlst, demoeratlc n•
tlons wlth only about 750 mlillon cltlzena
In Europe and Britaln, the Uniled States.
Soulh Alrica, AuS1ralia, and Canada.
These 750 miiUon citizens are eonsumlng
a disproportionate chunk of the natural
resources ollhe world. produelng a great
pereentage ol
ils
manutactured eommod–
llles and
goods.
and
enjoying, as a result,
!he
very
highest standards ollivlng In all
hlstory.
Then, on !he otile< hand, lhere are tha
hundred
or
more na.dons which a.re und•
veloped,
poor,
usually in !he throes ol
violent overlhrows, eoups d'état, guerrilla
warfare, civil war, and strife - and quila
of1en the unwltling pawns In the ldeologl–
cal struggle between the superpowera.
These "have-not" states represen! well
over two bllllon people, mlllions of whom
llve thelr entire llves al an abjecl poverty
level.
So lar, this global battle between the
rich and poor nations has been llmlled to
economic pressures, lo politlcal preo–
sures, and to
fiery
speeches lrom new
despots. lt has
been
llmlted to !he lorm–
lng ot various
bloes
and pressure groupo
- such as lhe Organlzation ot Pet101eum
Exporting Coun1ries, orOPEC.
But we have no assurance this confhct
will be limited In !he IUture to only pollt,..
cal and eeonomic pressurea. Willlt
ever..
tually emerge lnto actual
warla.re -
an
armed worldwlde slfUggle?
lronically, some Third World r\atlons
have been promlsed nuclear reactora by
the United States, which would enable
them.
11
they chose, lo go about the busl·
ness ol making themselves a low·yleld -
maybe In the klloton ranga - "dlrty"
bomb ol the type lhat obliterated about
90,000
lives in Hlroshima or Nagasakll
They co.uld lhen indulge in a liltle nuclear
" saber rattling," not only agalnst thelr
own lmmediate nelghbors-
as
mlght
oc–
cur between
India
and Bangladesh. tor
example - but against members of the
developed "FlrstWOtld" aswell l
No Time For lsolatlonlam
lt's time to take a good look at the way
lhe wortd really
i$.
And that requires
aome serlous introspectlon on the part of
!he American peoplel What are we? What
should we be?
Today one hears a great deal ol talk
about lsolatlonism. .Many people have
been saylng, In eltect: "Let's go lsolatlon–
ist and Jet othe.r people solve thelr own
14
problema." There
are
peopte In Congress
and in govemmentaJ positions who ae>
tually advocate
such
a "wortd dropout"
9QiiCy (aiWays claiming !he Vietnam de–
bacle as lheir rationale).
Al the end of World War
11.
the Unlted
States emerged holding just about
sil
the
marbles. We were lhe blggest mllltary and
lndustflal powér the world had ever sean.
We alone possessed the nuclear weap.
ons wlth whlch to intlmldate,
1t
we so
chose, the entlretyol thewortd.
From that time on the Unlted States,
like
it
or not, was shoved into a ro1e of
"playlng empire." Amerlca was lhe blg
hope for !he underdevetoped world. The
U.S. supplled not only money,
but
also
technical know-how and skilled man·
power in a massive etfort to bring lmpov–
erlshed peoples out of thelr grindlng
poverty. But today, nearfy all of these na–
tions.
it
seems, areour avowed enemles.
There's something else rather ennoy–
lng lhat we are beginnlng lo
see
happen
In this country.
1
don·t know quite how to
label
11,
but itlnvolves the vast hypocrlsy
ol attempting to wash our lllthy llnen b•
lore the rest ol the world to prove how
clean we really are. By thls l'm referrlng
to the new mood In Congress and the
press, and a good part ol the publlc as
well, to uncover all undercover opera–
tions, to lake !he cloak ott all govem–
mental secrecy. to expose CIA agento
abroad, to take everylhlng lo the people
because
" they
llave
a
right to know" and,
thus to etfectively force. our own govern–
ment to cease functioning as far as for–
eign pollcy
is
eoncemed.
The sobering lact is lhat Americana llve
in a world fllled wilh people who want us
dead. We live in a world ol othe.r states
and governments who would refolce In
lhe streets, light bonfires, go arm In arm,
drlnklng, slnglng, and cheertng
lf
they
could hear that the Unlted Statea of
Amerlca ls no more.
They would react in exactty the aame
manner spoken olln the book of Lamen·
tallons In lhe Bible, chapter 2, verse 16:
"AII your enemies raíl agalnst you; they
hiss. lhey gnash lheir teelh, lhey cry: 'We
have destroyed herl Ah. lhls
ís
!he daywa
longed tor; now we have
H;
we
see
Id' ..
(RSV.)
lt's a perverse desire to see !he blg
glant come crashing down.
The eeonomic welght and leverage of
the Unlted States of America ls lncred–
ible. The gross product ot one atata
alone, California,
ls
Jarger than the vatt
majorlty of all lhe other coontrles on the
tace ot the earlh.
Now, in the m.eantlme. we see thls ultl·
mate hypocrisy ol wantlng lo appear to
be rlghteous before all the rest ot the
world, to appear to be so totally rlghteous
that we would never dare engage In any
kind ol lurtive or clandestina acllvttles
elsewhere in the wortd.
The Soviet Union, on the otl'ter hand,
doean't reeognlze any "rules," but wlll
play the garne ot big power polltics any
way lt can. And many olher states are the
sameway.
,
But we are ñghteous,
you
sea. Wa are
holy. We play fair, and we want them to
appreclate that. We're sure they wlll.
We're sure tllat
by
the time we expose
every CIA agent In the entlrety of the
world, all olthese wondertul peopte who
want us dead, who would rejoice
In
thelr
stfeets to
see
us
go
straight. down the
drain, will laud and praise Americe (In
their government-controlled news media)
and say what a marvelous country -"•
ls:
"Look atlhat hOnesty. Look at that lnteg·
rlty. lsn't
1t
wonder1ul that Amerlca
doesn't have suc'h a thlng asan under·
eover agent? Amerlca is
so
openmlnded.
tsn't America wondertut?"
One would have lo be insane to belleve
other nations would look at Americe that
way. lt fust doesn't make sense.
Here we are. the world's wealthlest na..
!ion. We also happen lo be a demoeratlc
natlon. We happen to believe In the baslc
treedoms and !he dlgnity ol humanklnd.
We happen to believe precious are those
lounding eoncepts and precepto of our
lorebears and lounding lathers who
eoutd envrsion and produce such ebso-–
lutely mervelous doeuments
as
the Decla–
radon of lndependenee, !he Constrtutlon
of the Unlted States,
and
the Blll ol
Rights.
There are only two possible waya In
which we can maintain our wealth and
our freedoms: either
by
the force ot our
mllitary or by trusling God. Now. ll's obvl·
ous lrom our national conduct that we
are not golng to trust in God - In splte of
the slogan on our currency to that ettect.
So let's be reallstic and deal wfth the way
thlngs really are.
The only way the United States can sur·
vive In lhis giganlic globel conlllct even
now beginning to shape up with
two
bll–
llon people on the one side - who are
lusting alter !he weallh lhat we have and
wanl to
take
away the freedoms that we
have -
is
lor !he Unlted States to ma.ln–
taln the klnd of army, navy, air force, m•
rlne corps. coast guard , and other
auxiliary services which are required to
saleguard our peace and lreedom. lt's
that simple.
But take a look at what has been hap–
pening lo the U.S. mllilary ovar the last
fewyears.
1
don't -know whether lt all bagan wltl't
the mother who wanted to sue the Marine
Corps
0.1.
at Camp LeJeune or whether lt
began wlth revelatlons from turned off
"boots" who would go ovar lhe hilito tell
peopie !he
0.1.
had called hlm a dlrty
name or whelher someone lost hls lite
because of the rigors of an obstacle
course in
a
Marine Corps boot camp But
somehow, gredually, incessantly, and
pri–
marily
as
a resul1 ol ove<exposure and
constanttorturous eoverage by tl'te press
of some of these alleged "horrtbl<l treat·
ments" of young men In lhe mllltary
18<·
vices, !he whole nalional leellng about
the military began to changa.
Perhaps H began In Korea, durlng t.he
"pollee action" ol 195o-53. Untll then,
and espeelally as a result of World War 11,
Americana were baslcally given the no–
tlon of great patriotlsm, great courage,
and great bravery under tire on lhe part
ot our troops. But Amerlcans came lac•
to-face lor the
lirst
time, In Ko.rea, with
American mitltary personnet deser!Jng
not onty lheir army, but
also
desertlng
their
country
and
goiing
CNe<
ID
!he
othet-
Many,
if
not most, ollhe deserters have
come back to lhe United States. and we
have sean that they learned some rather
aevere lessons. But it
too~
tl'tem 10,
15,
or
moro years to learn thoselessons.
But
1t
was the agony of the long conlllct
In Vietnam that really changed American
attltudea toward the military. We bagan
10
sea young men reluslng to go loto battle,
dlreedy contravenlng commands ol thelr
ottlcers. And,
as
if that wasn't enough, we
heard reports ol open warfare behlnd tha
linea among our own troopo, where tha
enllsted men were actualty shootlng at
lheir
own
officersl And where oltlcera
didn't dare ventura lnto the rice pad–
dies ahead ol some ol the enllsted men
tor lear-they would be !he ones to end up
Wllh
a
b\lllet
in
their back.
Our young peopte ·ol today want allthe
pleasures of our materiallsllc soclety.
They want thelr automoblles. They want
thelr homes. They want thelr fobs. They
want thelr treedoms thal lhey take so
much lor granted.
Our people want the vañous govern–
mental programs - housing subsidies,
tood starnps. and various other wellare
programs and help lor !hepoor.
Bu1 incredlbly,
we
are determlned we
shall not maintain !he klnd of mllitary or·
ganizadon lhat can guarantee the reten·
tion of our way ol tite.
1
llave already
said
lhere
ls
anothe<
way. But.
of cours<>;')'Ou-
and
1
bolh know
we' d be crazier !han a mandrill
11
wethlnk
lhls wortd. let alone the United Statea of
America,
ls
going to depend upon God
for
119
prolection. In lsalah 40:21·22 we
read: "Have you not known? Have you
not heard? Has
11
not been told you from
the beginnlng? Have
you
not understood
lrom the foundations olthe earth? lt ls he
who slts above the circte olthe earth. and
lts lnhabltants are llke grasshopperi; who
strelches out !he heavens like a curtaln"
(RSV).
God says lurlhermore: " To whom then
Will you compare
me,
lhat
1
should be hke
him? aaya lhe Holy One.
Lifl
up your eyea
on high and
see:
who created theoe? He
who brings out
their
host
by
numbar,
cal~
lng them
all
by
name" (RSV).
And he continuas: " Have you not
known? Have
yo
u not heard? The Lord la
the evertasling God, lhe Creator of the
ends ol the earth. He does not falnt or
grow weary, his understanding ls un–
searchable. He gives power to the falnt.
and to him who has no mlght he In·
creases strength. Even youths shali lalnt
and be weary, and young man shall tall
exhausted, but they who walt for the Lord
shall renew lheir strength" (RSV).
And then comes that tamous Blble text
so many people know: "They sl'tall mount
up wllh wings like eagtes, lhey shall run
and not be weary, they shall walk and not
faint." He
says
he holds natlono In !he
hOIIow ol his hand. He says all countrleo
are as the small dust ol the balance. He
sets up and deposes kings. rulara, coun–
trie.s, and govemments.
Bu1
we
don't believe In lhe power of
lhat God. so we're nol golng to depend
upon him for our well-being. But what
doesn't make sense lo me, as a mlnlster,
an evangelist. a news commentator, and
an observar is this: Knowlng we won't
trust God, t can't understand why we
want totear down our mllltary. o
MARCH 1976