News of war, overpopulation, pollution, famine, crime and disease fills our newspapers and our minds. Educators, theologians, politicians, ecologists — all responsible men and speaking as with one voice — warn us that humanity needs help! Something must be done if humanity is to be saved. Read this article to find out what you can do to help.
Whatever happened to "involvement"? From the minutemen of Colonial times to the awesome armies of World War II and Korea, America has been a people ready to get involved when mankind needed help. From the "halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli," as sung in the Marine hymn — seemed to characterize our willingness to "jump into the fray" if someone needed assistance.
Unbelievably Uninvolved
In a not-very-distant yesterday, the weakening cries of a little girl coming from the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft tugged the heart — and muscle — of the nation to action in a concerted effort to help save her tiny life. When the strains of "God Bless America" wafted out over the airwaves, America linked arms, and with tears streaming down her cheeks and a lump of pride welling up in her throat, marched forward to give of herself. But suddenly it's all changed. The anguished, tormented cries of rape and murder victims only reverberate hollowly through the box canyons of our major cities — fading into pitiful echoes — and not stirring a human being to raise a window to see what is happening. Headlines scream out the ills of the world. Instant communication through mass-media projects "on-the-spot" reporting of everything from war, natural disaster, famine and political unrest to crime, sex and anarchy — directly into our living rooms, and all in full, living color. The hollow-cheeked emaciation of starving millions, grotesquely accentuated by bloated and distended bellies, become only subliminal reminders of an age in chaos as we glimpse them in the hurried channel changing of our television sets. Our quest for self-satiation has caused us to shut our eyes and ears to the desperate cries of humanity. We have become unbelievably UNinvolved! But humanity DOES need help — and you and I can have a part in saving it. Learned world leaders acknowledge we are rapidly running out of time in which to solve the seemingly insoluble problems which confront humanity today. Does the horrendous portent of a not-too-distant climax to man's tenure on this earth send frantic appeals for answers through your very being? Or do you — as a member of the "silent majority" — follow the established tenet of uninvolvement with the gargantuan problems of today? Does the prospect of a future overshadowed with the permanent possibility of thermonuclear holocaust cause you to be actively concerned with seeking answers?
Breaking the Problems Down
Let's look at some of the major areas: War is always a threat. Just since the end of World War II over sixty wars have been, or are being, fought. Must there be wars? Must this tragedy wrench husbands, fathers and sons from their families to be sacrificed on the altar of Mars (the god of war), robbing nations of top-quality brains and manpower? Such awesome terminology as overkill, MIRV, ICBM, biological warfare and thermonuclear destruction boggle our minds to the point of rejection. Strategic Air Command planes remain aloft twenty-four hours a day — poised to repel and retaliate against any enemy attack. The astronomical projected death figures, as a result of a nuclear war, are not palatable to our comprehension. But, they are real! It's the world you live in.
Internal Social Problems
Rising crime and violence are rampant throughout the countries of this world — whether they be the "have" or the "have-not" nations. The late Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, once said that we are experiencing lawlessness unexampled in our history. Mr. Hoover went on to say "the flames of crime" are threatening to consume the social structure, but we refuse to face the danger. "They see the flames of crime, of burglaries, murders, physical assaults, but, to all intents and purposes, they immediately close their windows, forget about the problem and return to their ordinary day-to-day business." Can you see the "flames of crime" and close your windows? Can you turn the plain truth of today's news into watered-down items of little significance; or do you ache for the way that will right these wrongs? Can you return to your "ordinary day-to-day business," ignoring the cries of a suffering humanity? Or do you have enough of the "stuff" which characterized a once-proud people to want to get involved — and find out how these problems can be solved? Why are our morals plummeting as if on a toboggan slide and threatening to destroy the very root of solid, productive societies — the strong, sound family structure? Why the increase in forcible rape, murder and crimes of theft? Why the burgeoning use of narcotics among our youth, accompanied by frantic escapism? Why the profound upswing in divorce and increasing licentiousness among our peoples? Do you begin to desire answers to these questions?
The Threat of Global Pollution
An air approach to any of our major cities starkly emphasizes another of the gruesome problems of today. Pollution! While you are still miles away from the city itself, the sprawling pall of acrid, particulate matter looms as an ominous lung-wracking blanket, steeling you for the tear-wrenching eye irritation that accompanies every enervating breath you will take once you have landed. The once-brilliant rays of a marvelous life-preserving sun are now filtered through such a toxic mass of man-made waste as to render them almost totally ineffective. The mind-cheering blue skies of a recent yesteryear have been replaced by depressing grays and browns — the result of the outpouring of industrial and automotive effluent. To add to the increasing forms of pollutants, we are constantly bombarded by mind-jangling noises — from the screeching, blaring din of countless automobiles clogging our highways to giant airliners assaulting our ears with guttural vibrations. The nerve-agitating cacophony of raucous musical compositions (or decompositions, as the case may be) rushes at us from every side. Can you discount these dire forebodings? Have you allowed yourself to become mesmerized by the "no-solution" advocates of our land? Or, are you able to view the disintegration of our society in its proper perspective and want desperately to do something about it? You can't ignore it — for it very much involves you!
The Population Bomb
Every three days a million more people are added to our already overcrowded earth. In a Time magazine article, former Food Minister Chidambaram Subramaniam told the World Food Crisis Committee in Washington that a lack of protein in our depleted food supplies is causing brain damage to 40 percent of the 20 million babies born in India each year. He stated, "We are producing millions of sub-humans annually." Can you grasp the magnitude of the disaster looming on the horizon as a result of our inability to produce foodstuffs as rapidly as our population demands them? These are facts — not dire prognostications by wild-eyed fanatics spouting sidewalk rhetoric. The cry is for world government — but the realization is that world government, under man's rule, is impossible. What a fantastic paradox! World leaders tell us that the only way (6 survive is not even realistic. Just where does that leave the citizens of this earth? A Washington, D. C., scientist, Dr. Robert M. Page, said several years ago: "Scientists cannot change human nature, and until human nature is changed we will have war." Man has demonstrated throughout history his inability to change the basic nature which has produced a chronicle of strife and war — and has now placed mankind on the brink of total and absolute destruction. But, human nature must be changed — and WILL be changed! Man was created to experience a life filled with joy, a life brimful and running over with the good gifts of a loving Creator.
How You Can Help
By subscribing to this magazine, The Good News, and by reading other literature produced by Ambassador College, you have shown that you are interested and concerned. As your eyes peruse the pages of these publications, you have access to precious information which causes you to ponder the possibility that there just might be a way out. There really are solutions to the world's ills! Yes, there IS a need for a SUPER GOVERNMENT — and there will be one! When the quote, "The dominant view (among officials) is coming to be that the problems and tensions of the world may be too deep-seated to be controlled except by a strong hand from someplace" was made in a 1965 issue of a major American newsweekly, where that strong hand might come from was probably not understood. There will be intervention in the affairs of mankind — and you may have part in that intervention! Jesus Christ of Nazareth — in the pages of your Bible — forecast in vivid detail the very precarious situation in which mankind would find itself just before the cataclysmic end of its wrong way of life. Matthew, the 24th chapter, states: "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world [age]? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows" (verses 3-8). Jesus continued: "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (verses 10-12). Then, in verse 14, Jesus prophesied the very event in which you are now participating. "And this gospel" — this good news — "of the kingdom shall be preached [and published, Mark 13:10] in as the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." That witness IS going out as a warning to all nations. If Christ could prophesy of the dead-end society in which we live, and predict an end-time warning of coming events — then He surely could prepare a group of people to deliver that message. We of Ambassador College and the Worldwide Church of God are shouting out that witness. You are hearing that warning in the pages of The Good News, The Plain Truth, and the many dozens of other booklets and reprint articles emanating from our presses. Each time you read and contemplate these articles, you become an integral part in the fulfillment of prophecy. The warnings are foreboding — and they are real. However, with the warnings come the hope of what awaits an errant mankind after suffering the results of its wrong practices. Accompanying the warning is the gospel of the Kingdom, the GOVERNMENT of God, which is to be set up on this earth. If you read — and HEED — you too can participate in the establishment of that government! Christ said that circumstances would develop to absolutely inextricable ends: "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved [alive, Moffatt]: but" — now understand this, for it involves your future — "for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matt. 24:21-22). Do you grasp it? Except for an "elect" (a group of people involved in doing a Work — that of proclaiming the very words of Jesus Christ BEFORE the final death knell), there would soon be no one left alive on earth! The same invitation which brought that "elect" together is open to you. You don't have to settle for "no solutions." You can become part of the most thrilling work extant on this earth. You can begin to exhilarate in the prospects of a world — a society — which will live the way which leads to abundant living, to rich, full productivity, which is not based upon gross national product. You can learn — and ultimately teach — the very principles of government, marriage, child rearing, and every facet of life, according to the way the very Creator of mankind designed them. You are already acquainted with the education system which guarantees happiness and well-being. You know where it is and how it got started. Now savor the satisfaction of contributing your time and talents to a lasting society — a Utopian era such as the world has never known. God is calling. Revelation 18:4 states: "... Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." The reference is to the nations — the society — which has become decadent and can no longer find its way. There must be a new world order if mankind is to be saved. How will it come about? Where will it begin? Who will be involved in its conception? You — if that calling affects you — can begin, today, to know the answers. You — if the literature you read and study is creating in you an awareness of the need for intervention by "a strong hand from someplace" — can immediately learn how that intervention is going to take place. Jesus said: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him..." (John 6:44). If you are able to understand the significance of today's world news — and equate it with the plain words from your Bible, then perhaps the Father IS drawing you. You need to find out! Become part of this group which has an "overview" and is joyfully planning, working, studying and actually putting into practice that way of life — seeing the results of right education in the many lives involved. It is one thing to give a man a fish so he may have a fish today; but the better way is to teach that man how to fish so that he may have a fish every day. Right education teaches a man not only how to earn a living, but also how to live. Imagine the satisfaction of being a "pacesetter" for the world tomorrow. Contemplate the responsibility of being a shining example to others. Christ said in Matthew 5:14-16: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." What an unparalleled opportunity awaits you if you follow through on the teachings of God's Word! You can become the "salt" of this earth — the spice that flavors society. Share the giving way with those who have been blessed to know it. No other operation on the face of this earth is able to produce so much for so little. No other peoples on this earth derive such joy as this group which daily sees profound changes in the lives of thousands around the world. This earth is tired. Wrong practices have sapped the strength of our nations. It is a world of people who do not wish to retain God in their knowledge, and therefore, "... God gave them over to a reprobate mind..." (Rom. 1:28). A reprobate mind is a mind incapable of sound judgment, and one which is resigned to the inevitability of ultimate doom. Considering the tragic testimony of our society, that description seems to label us. "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain..." (Rom. 8:22). If you can hear that groaning, if you can feel your whole being ache at the realization of what we are doing to ourselves, then you should seriously consider direct involvement in the very Work which is paving the way to future peace and joy. Remember — humanity is waiting!
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