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its material well-being. Is it only a
coincidence that as American and
many other Western societies en–
gage more liberally in immorality,
sexual perversion , "libera tion"
movements of every stripe. as well
as top-level and governmen tal cor–
ruption - th ey also find themselves
affiicted with puzzling, fru strating
problems in their agricultura! sec–
tors?
There is a link. There is a God.
and the mo ral condition of a nation
can cause that God to intervene di–
rectly - fo r a blessing ora cursing –
in the forces of nature.
The Bible contains examples of
God chang ing weather patterns ei–
ther to bless a people or to punish
nations fo r their mounting national
s in s. God wa rned the si n- ladeo
Israelites that, if they continued in
their iniquities, he would wi thd raw
his blessings - such as rain - from
them:
"Therefore 1he showers have
been withheld.
and the spring rain
has not come" (Jeremiah 3:3, RSV:
see a lso J eremiah 14:22: Isa iah
5:6).
Continuously, God warned the
ancient Israelites of the reason for
protracted spells of in c lemen t
weather:
" When heaven is shut up,
and there is no rain, because they
hove sinned againsl thee ..
."
(1
K i n gs 8:35: see also Amos
4:6-9).
God promised His people: " l f ye
wa lk in my sta tutes, and
keep my
commandments,
and do them;
then
1
wi/1 give you rain in due season,
and
the land shall yield her increase,
and the trees of the field shall yield
their fruit" (Leviticus 26:3-4).
But God a lso gave a prophetic
warning. applicable in principie to
any proud nation that forsa kes God
and re fuses to turn from its national
sins:
" 1
will break the pride of your
power: and
1
wi ll make your
hea~en
as iron [endless days of scorchmg
sun]. a nd you r earth as brass
(drought-hardened ·earth] ... for
your land sha ll not yield her in–
crease" (verses 19-20).
In our resource-hungry world.
America prides itself on its agricul–
tura! power on the ínternational
scene. But how quickly that "pride"
could be broken by the one who
ultimately controls the powerful
fo rces of the wea ther.
o
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1977
INBRIEF
(Continued trom page 39)
Rhodesians to work out amongst
themselves, without interference
from the outside, a future consti tu–
tion. Mr. Smith emphasized that he
"remained dedicated to the ideal of
doing all that he could to ensure
that Rhodesia remains a country in
which all , of whatever race or
color, can live and work and pros–
per together in peace, harmony
and stability. "
He emphasized that, despite the
incessant pressure upon him, his
government and the people, the
nation's morale and confidence
was still high and, as in the past,
whatever sacrif ice would be neces–
sary would be made in order to se–
cure for all what should be the
destiny of Rhodesia.
The Prime Minister emphasized
that he and his government had al–
ways stood for evolution as con–
trasted with revolution . Earlier
1
had
been asked on a Rhodesian broad–
cast interview (and again the fol–
lowing day t or Rhodesian
television) whether we of
The Plain
Truth
were not in fact " con–
servatives.··
1
had stated that the
answer would be in the affirmative
if one meant by "conservative"
one who believes in change, but
change without chaos and change
which would produce the greatest
amount of good for the greatest
number of people.
Even as the conference contin–
ues in Geneva, the activities of the
terrorists (trained and operating
from havens outside of Rhodesia
NOTICETO
GOOD NEWS READERS
The series of articles on " Universal
Salvation" commenced in
The
Good News
magazine will not be
continuad in
The Plain Truth.
How–
ever it will be available to those in–
tere~ted
in the form of a reprint
article. The reprint will contain all
three projected articles originally
planned for
The Good News.
11 you
would like a free copy write lo the
address of our office nearest you
(see inside front cover).
and supplied with Chinese and
Russian weapons) have been in–
creasing. We were invited to visit a
guerri lla-infested · ' operational' ·
area , located within a hundred
mi les of.Salisbury. We were part of
a contingent of radio, television
and pressmen from al l parts of the
world who were briefed by Security
Forces in the presence of 18 dead
terrorists - ki lled only a few days
before - and brought to the Secu–
rity Forces command area at Ru–
sape for identification. The dead
bodies bore witness to the evils of
warfare and to the reality of bloody
guerri lla terrorist activity. Many of
the dead, pathetic though it may
be , wore black and red material
and a token root around their
necks, because the witch doctors
in Mozambique had told them, ac–
cording to the Security Forces
spokesman, that the colors would
give them protection against Secu–
rity Forces' bullets. The terrorists
were clothed in denims , rather
than in uniforms, and weapons
seized with them were of Russian
or Chinese origin. All of the bodies
were identified as being those of
black Rhodesians, rather than of
infiltrators from neighboring na–
tions.
The Prime Minister and others
are, of course, concerned about
the future of American politics and
policies in light of the recen! elec–
tion of Jimmy Carter. lt is this jour–
nalist's opinion that President-Eiect
Carter wi ll prove to be a great
presiden!, and, having been
trained as an Annapolis graduate,
he will fully understand, better than
any presiden! within recent times,
the importance of southern Africa
to the free world and the threat
that communism poses for the
area. And, being a Southerner by
birth and having lived there his en–
tire li fe, the president-elect will
know better than any other presi–
dent in recen! times how truly diffi–
cult it is to resolve all problems in a
mullí-racial society, and how nec–
essary it is that adequate time be
allowed to bring about the changes
which all enlightened people would
opt for.
o
43