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4, 1978: "The new European fear is
that America cannot cope-that
muddle and failure in Vietnam, the
sordid (if ill-understood) drama of
Watergate ... the profligacy of ener–
gy policy; the pettiness of repeated
refusal to contemplate international
monetary reform ... all these attest
to a sudden and, to Europeans, inex–
plicable loss of self-mastery."
But this loss of self-mastery is not
"inexplicable." America is on the
way down!- and there is• a funda–
mental reason why.
Simply put, the people and leaders of
the United States no longer enjoy the
protection oftheGod who enabled their
nation to gain unprecedented wealth,
world power and prestige (Deuterono–
my 8:17-18). Scandalous national
sins- ingratitude, divorce, crime (espe–
cia
ti
yjuvenileviolence), drug addiction,
the sanctioning of homosexuality, to
name but a few-have at last, after over
200
years of national well-being, cut
America off from the Source of her
national grea tness.
God's message to America today
is: "And as the Lord took delight in
doing you good and multiplying you,
so lhe Lord will take delight in bring–
ing ruin upon you and destroying
you" (Deuteronomy 28:63).
Trouble on Ooorstep
With growing problems overseas, the
United States can ill afford to have
The
PLAIN TRUTH October/ November 1979
Clayton-Pialn Truth
trouble on its own doorstep. Yet that
is what is happening now.
Generally friendly relations with
Latin American countries have tradi–
tionally permitted the U .S. to enjoy
considerable hemispheric security
with a mínimum use of military re–
sources.
In a very real sense, God has, up
until now, "hedged America in." The
oceans on both sides have acted as
huge protective buffers. Kept out by
the imposition of the Monroe Doc–
trine, no majar competing powers or
ideologies had, until recently, been
permitted to take root in the Western
Hemisphere.
But this is no longer the case.
"1
will tell you what
1
will doto my
vineyard," God prophesied in Isaiah
5:5. This vineyard, as verse 7 ex–
plains, is the "house of Israel." (In
hi s recent series in
The Plain Truth,
Editor-in-Chief Herbert
W.
Arm–
strong identified the United States
and the British people as being the
primary modern-day descendants of
the House of I srael.)
Notice now, continuing in verse 5:
"1 wi/1 remove its lzedge,
and it shall
be devoured; I will break down its
wall, and it shall be trampled
down."
Why will these protective ram–
parts be removed? In the latter part
of verse 7, God says He " looked for
justice, but behold, bloodshed; for
Francols Lochon - Gamma
REVOLUTIONARY SAND/NISTA FLAG
flies over war·ravaged Leon, Nicaragua
(far /eft). Tomas Borge Martinez (near
left), a Cuban·trained Marxist, is Nica·
ragua 's new Interior Minister. Trouble
could come when Panama gains sover·
eignty over American·run Canal Zone
on October 1. The hand of Cuba's Fidel
Castro (above) is found everywhere in
escalating Caribbean turmoil.
righteousness, but behold, a cry!"
The first breach in hemispheric se–
curity occurred in 1959 when Cuba
was overrun by Communist revolu–
tionaries led by Fidel Castro.
The American attempt in 1961 to
unseat Castro's government-the no–
torious " Bay of Pigs" invasion-was
an abysmal failure. A recent report
on the invasion described it as "a
disturbing story of confusion at top
levels of government and compli–
cated plans drawn up in haste,
chaRged at the last minute and exe–
cuted badly by military amateurs"
(U.S. News and World Report,
Au–
gust 13, 1979).
God was no longer fighting Amer–
ica's battles!
Ever since that time, Communist
Cuba-with a population of less than
1
O mili ion people-has been a griev–
ous thorn in America's side, especial–
!
y painful since U.S. pride in its mili–
tary power (Leviticus 26: 19) was
dealt a crushing blow in Vietnam.
5