Herbert W Armstrong

   Well, I come from a smaller country just north of France, and that country is called Belgium. Half the people of Belgium speak French, and the other half in the North speak Dutch. I was sent to France in 1982 by Mr. Apartian, director of the French work, and he sent me to Strasbourg to pastor of the church there. And we have about 150 people in Strasbourg, and we have also a church in Saint of Old with about 60 people.

   And when I will go back to France, which I plan to do—even though I do like the sunshine in Sydney, it's a nice change from the frost, the freezing temperatures and the snow in France right now—and I tell you, it's very nice to be enjoying the heat and I shall not complain about it. We will open a church in Milhouse, France, which is south of Strasbourg. And Milhouse is located at the corner of Germany and Switzerland. There's a three-point borderline there between Germany, France, and Switzerland, and Milhouse is just right there, and we'll start a church there on the, uh, at the end of January. So we're all very excited about that."

   "I would like to mention a few things about the French work since I'm here now. We have about 10 churches in France and about six ministers. There's one—actually now two—ministers in Belgium and one in Switzerland. We have an office in Switzerland, Geneva, and we also have an office now in Paris. France is about 50 to 55 to 60 million people living there, and in the church, there are only about 700 people. So you can see that God is calling, calling only a very few number of people right now.

   But since 1981, there, there is a big door that's been open in French speaking Europe. And you, of course, remember that Mr. Armstrong had his radio program on Radio Luxembourg, and a few years later, Mr. Armstrong is now back on Luxembourg Media. He's now on Luxembourg television with the French subtitles. And we're very grateful for that because the television in France is owned by the government, and the, the religion of the government, the state religion is, of course, the Catholic church, and we are not recognized as a church, as an official church in France. Therefore, the door is shut to us.

   It's the same in Belgium. However, in the small country of Luxembourg, it's a private television, and the door was opened to us in 1981, as I said. Now Mr. Armstrong can be heard, and uh, people can read the subtitles, but you know, it's very important for the people to hear Mr. Armstrong, even though they do not understand him because there's a lot of warmth that comes through Mr. Armstrong's voice, and that warmth brings a lot to the message that people can read in the subtitles."

   "And this system of having the subtitles is a very important door for the work because we have now Mr. Armstrong's telecast in Italian with Italian subtitles. And we are hoping to have that also in German. Very important steps are being made now in the media branch of technology, as you're well aware of. And Television Luxembourg has signed a contract just two months ago with the French government so that Television Luxembourg would be able to use one of the channels, uh, in the French satellite, the media satellite. This will enable all the French people throughout France to see Mr. Armstrong on television. And it's a, it's a breakthrough that will hopefully happen and occur in 1986. Papers are signed now, and hopefully by 1986, everybody in France will be able to see, uh, radio, uh, Television Luxembourg.

   Television Luxembourg now is being broadcasted throughout Belgium and in parts of France. I live in the eastern part of France, and I take care, as was mentioned, of the pastor of the Strasbourg church and also the Saint of Old. And Saint of Old is right south of Luxembourg, and that is Lorraine. You've heard of Lorraine and Alsace, very famous area concerning the war. And uh, the whole area of Lorraine can receive the Television Luxembourg. However, in Alsace, we cannot do that because of the mountain chain. But with a satellite in 1986, everybody will be able to receive that station.

   Concerning the Italian program, it is broadcast from Monte Carlo, and Monte Carlo television has a Italian network, and you probably heard a lot of news about that. And hopefully, as I said, we will have a German program through the satellite also."

   "So this, this system of the subtitles is very, very important for the work. And hopefully all of Europe will be able to see Mr. Armstrong on television and read what he says by reading the subtitles. So I would like to ask you to pray about that, as we know Europe will play a very important role in prophecy in the events to come before the return of Jesus Christ. And we will talk about that in the sermon.

   No, I'm not planning to talk to you about France. I did not bring my cheese samples with me. There are too many flies around here and I don't want to bring discomfort in this hall. Anyway, I'll pass on the greetings to you from the, uh, brethren in the eastern part of France, from Saint Eval and Strasbourg. And I will be able to go back there and give a lot of news concerning the work and the church here in Australia. And it's, as I said, a big privilege for me to be able to be here with my family.

   Mr. Ellis asked me to explain to you how I'm related to Mr. Pye. Well, in 1973, I went to Brickwood, and I was able to spend a full year there before the campus closed, and that's where I met Susan Pye that you know very well. And I didn't get to know her very well in Brickwood. I just happened to sit next to her on the plane going to Pasadena, and it's a long flight. And so we got to talk quite a long time, and that's where things started. We were not up in cloud nine—I don't remember the exact altitude of the flight, but I'm sure it was not cloud nine at the time. Cloud nine came later on. And in 1979, '79, we got married in Belgium, and this is how Mr. Pye is my father-in-law, and I'm very pleased about that."

   "So it's kind of a family affair today with the sermonette, and now the sermon actually hearing the announcements, I almost felt like I was at home hearing about Mr. Peres, hearing about Waterloo. Waterloo is in Belgium, and it's a big tourist site. Actually, Waterloo is the place where Napoleon was defeated, as you know, and you will see one lion on top of a hill. That's the British lion. That's about all you will see about Britain. And you will see, of course, a lot of statues of Napoleon. So it's really a French tourist attraction and very little about Britain.

   Anyway, if you do happen to go there, I hope you will have the opportunity to go to Brussels. And why not to Strasbourg? Strasbourg is a very important city in France. It is on the German border, and that's where the European parliament meets. And a lot of activity is going on there on the, on the political sphere concerning Europe. And that's what I'd like to talk to you about today because we know in the church, and we can see, we are watching, we realize that more and more Europe is coming together. We know that a United Europe, a strong Europe will play a vital role in the events leading to the return of Jesus Christ.

   Today, I would like to speak to you about a certain aspect of this United Europe, certain aspect of a strong Europe to come. While, speaking of this, the Bible uses a general term for Europe. And when we see that term in the Bible, we can know that it refers to Europe in a general way. The term I'm talking about is Babylon. In the Bible, the word Babylon means many things, and among other things, it applies to Europe in a general manner. And there are, of course, different aspects to Babylon, and I really don't have much time to explain all the details. And that could be a sermon in itself."

   "But today, we shall see a very important component of Babylon. And first of all, it is important that we look at prophecy. And first of all, in Ezekiel chapter 23, Ezekiel 23 and verse 2: 'Son of man, Ezekiel 23:2, there were two women, the daughters of one mother.' Now, what is this talking about? Who is this talking about?

   In verse 4: 'And the names of them were Ahola, the elder, and Aholibah, her sister, and they were mine. They bear sons and daughters, thus were their names.' And here it is: 'Samaria is Ahola and Jerusalem is Aholibah.' So now we know who they are. And let's continue because we understand that Samaria is the capital of the northern tribes of Israel and Jerusalem being the capital of the Jews in the South.

   But let us continue, go back to, to verse three: 'And they committed whoredom in Egypt. They committed whoredom in their youth.' That's what they did. They transgressed God's law and they did their own thing. Now, you probably noticed something when we were reading this verse three, there's something very peculiar about this verse: 'They committed whoredoms in Egypt.' Now, what does this mean? We must realize, and we know of course that when they were in Egypt, they were not two, they were just one. They were not divided because the time they spent in Egypt, they spent together, and their time in Egypt is several hundred years before they're being divided into two nations. So therefore, we must understand that this is prophecy and this prophecy is for a future time. This is dual. The first accomplishment, of course, was when they were in Egypt, when they were one nation. This is literal. But the second aspect of this prophecy is that it will occur later again."

   "Now, let's continue in verse 5: 'And Ahola played the harlot when she was mine, and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians, her neighbors.' Now, Samaria, the northern tribes were taken captive to Assyria about 700 B.C. Now let's go down to verse 11: 'And when her sister, Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, in her whoredoms more than her sister, in her whoredoms.' The two tribes of Judah, of course.

   Verse 22: 'Now, therefore, O Aholibah, thus says God, behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your mind is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side.' Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians 100 years approximately after Samaria was taken captive. Now, those two captivities occurred because of their sins at that time, at that time. But you know, this prophecy is not just talking of the 7th and 6th century B.C. The sins in Egypt are also the sins in this world. Egypt is the world, and as Christians, we must come out of Egypt.

   So the sins of Ahola and Aholibah are the sins of the descendants of Israel and Judah in the world today. Therefore, Ezekiel talks of the captivity of Israel and Judah yet to occur. Let's read verse 23 and 24: 'The Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.'"

   "Verse 24: 'And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about, and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.'

   You probably noticed something very peculiar again in these verses: 'The Babylonians and all the Assyrians with them, with them.' At that time, 700-600 B.C., the captors were first the Assyrians and then 100 years later, it was the Babylonians. There were two different captivities. Yet verse 23 mentions that the Babylonians and the Assyrians as being together. This was not the case. 600-700 B.C., they came separately to take Israel and Judah away captive.

   Verse 24: 'And they'—who is they? The Babylonians and the Assyrians with them—'they shall come against thee.' Now, this is talking of a future time. We need to understand that there are two major components in Europe today. The first one being Babylon, the second one being Assyria. Now Babylon in the Bible is this religious system. Babylon the Great, Babylon is also an education system. Again, I don't have time to go into much detail right now. This is not what I intend to speak about. But the second aspect, Assyria, is the military system. When Assyria is mentioned in the Bible, it usually is in regards to military and political power."

   "Let's see now, Revelation chapter 13. Now, in this chapter of Revelation, we see that there are two different beasts. The first one being a political beast, that's the leader of the 10 nations. And the second one, the second beast is a religious beast. That's Babylon, the Catholic church. I hope this does not go too far away from here. But we do understand and we do know this very well, and both beasts work hand in hand.

   Now, Revelation 13, verse 11 (Revelation 13:11-12): 'And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.' We know who the dragon is. Verse 12: 'And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.'

   The religious beast is the power that makes the world, and mainly Europe, of course, worship the political beast. There is cooperation between those two components in Europe. There is what we shall call harmony. But that harmony that we see here in this chapter is not going to last. Something peculiar is going to happen. Something very strange is going to happen. And that's something strange we can read about that in chapter 17, Revelation 17 verse 16 (Revelation 17:16): 'And the ten horns which you saw upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, these 10 kings shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.'"

   "This is very interesting. This harmony between the two beasts of Revelation 13 is short-lived, very short-lived. It's a radical change from what we've read in chapter 13. The political beast turns against the religious beast and destroys it. Why, why does it do that? Well, that's what we're going to see today in the sermon. We shall see what is behind Assyria, we shall see what is behind modern Assyria—Germany.

   I happen to live about a mile away from the Rhine in beautiful Alsace, and being close to Germany, I enjoy paying close attention to what is going on there. But what I will explain today in the sermon, I did not discover in Germany. I will explain that a little later. In the sermon today, I would like to examine with you: What is the real thinking of Germany? What is the real philosophy of Germany? We need to realize that this philosophy is not necessarily known except by the leaders. The people don't know everything. The people are used to implement such and such ideas, such and such philosophy. But on the whole, they do not know what is going on, and we are going to see some amazing things today.

   But before going any further, let us notice that the two beasts of Revelation 13, the religious beast and the political military beast, are inspired by Satan himself. Of course, in the church, we do know Satan's influence on Babylon, the Great, the Catholic church. You probably read the book, 'The Two Babylons.' Very interesting book. If you haven't, I encourage you to do so."

   "But how well do we know Satan's influence on the political beast? We are going to see Satan's influence on the Assyrian philosophy, on the Germanic philosophy in Isaiah chapter 10. Isaiah chapter 10, very important chapter concerning Assyria. Isaiah chapter 10. This chapter explains Assyria's role against Israel. And again, we must understand that this prophecy is dual. We've seen that before in Ezekiel, and so we can expect a future fulfillment.

   Isaiah 10, chapter 10 verse 5 (Isaiah 10:5-8): 'O Assyrian, the rod of my anger,' says God, 'and the staff in their hand is my indignation,' says God. Now God is going to use Assyria to punish his people again. Verse 6: 'I will send him against an hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath. Will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.' Verse 7: 'Howbeit he means not so, he means not so, neither does his heart think so,' talking of the Assyrian.

   Now, God wants to use Assyria to punish his people. God wants to use Germany to punish modern day Israel, but this is not what the Assyrians mean. What does it mean? What is the real thinking of Assyria? What is the real philosophy of Assyria? Let us continue: 'But it is in his heart to destroy, to destroy and cut off nations not a few'—meaning many. This is German philosophy. This is real German thinking."

   "Verse 8: 'For he says, are not my princes altogether kings?' Now the word 'Prince' here in the Hebrew is 'Sar,' and 'Sar' occurs several times in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as a Greek equivalent. Now, first of all, and don't refer to this, but I would just mention those verses in Numbers 16, verse 13 (Numbers 16:13), you will remember that Korah said to Moses, 'You make yourself a prince over us.' A prince is 'Sar' again.

   In Isaiah 9 verse 5—sorry, verse 6 (Isaiah 9:6)—talking about Christ, 'The Prince of Peace'—prince is 'Sar' in Hebrew. And in Daniel 10, Daniel 10 verse 13 (Daniel 10:13), 'The Prince of the Kingdom of Persia,' talking of a demon. The prince is from the Hebrew 'Sar.' And in the New Testament, we find in Ephesians 2 verse 2 (Ephesians 2:2), the Greek equivalent to 'Sar' concerning Satan, 'the prince of the power of the air.' Satan is a prince, and prince implies power. Prince implies grandeur.

   And again in verse 8, here in Isaiah 10 (Isaiah 10:8): 'For he says, are not my princes, Sar, altogether kings?' Now, a king is someone who sits on a throne. We are beginning to understand the way of thinking of the Germans, of the Assyrians today, and why terms like 'herrenvolk' were used in the past. It's the people who thinks that they are superior princes, kings."

   "Now I recently read a book entitled 'Hitler and The Black Order' by a French historian called Andre Brissaud. It's a French book. And this author is a very well-known historian in France. He does very intensive research, and he was very interested in the era of the thirties and forties. And, you know, he doesn't really fully understand or realize the impact of what he wrote. And he says very interesting things in that book. He quotes a lot of philosophers, a lot of Hitler's words, and I would like to use that book. I did not bring it here. I translated those passages and draw a parallel between that book and what we know in the church, what the Bible says in the prophecies that we can read in it.

   We will find some very interesting things about this Assyrian philosophy. We know that in the forties came the sixth resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. And we know that today we are waiting for the last and seventh one, and we know having read those prophecies that God is going to use Assyria to punish his people. We know that God talks about Assyrian thinking—we just read this. The Assyrian thinking was evident in the thirties and forties, and that's what we are going to see now, and we can expect this Assyrian thinking to emerge once again on the world scene."

   "Now, regarding the fact that Assyrians think of themselves as princes and kings, I would like to read to you from page 113 of this book, 'Hitler and the Black Order': 'All that man possesses today in the area of culture'—this is my translation, I didn't think you would understand French, so I did translate—'is the culture of the Aryan race. It is imperative to come back to the concept of fighting and of blood purity. We come to the very heart of the Nazi doctrinal problem, the blood myth.'

   And again in page 114: 'All cross-breeding benefits lower races; from there comes the decadence of modern humanity.' Gobineau—now, who was Gobineau? Gobineau was a philosopher in the thirties. Now, Hitler had a certain philosophy of life as we know. But Hitler was not the one who invented this philosophy because he used the philosophy that already existed in Germany and used it very powerfully.

   Now, Gobineau put at the top of the racial hierarchy the Aryan race, of which the Germans. And again, also in page 114: 'At the top of the racial hierarchy, there is the northern race which dominates the Aryan race and must play the role of catalyst so that the elect race could use all of the planet's resources. The Aryan race is no doubt the author of all culture. The true representative of all of mankind,' said Hitler. 'Our entire industrial science is the work of the Nordics,' meaning the Northern people. 'All the great composers from Beethoven to Richard Wagner are Aryans even if they were born in France or Italy. Take away the German Nordics and nothing subsists but the dance of the apes.'"

   "This is the real thinking, and it is, it is very obvious when we read those passages and those quotes: 'Take away the German Nordics and nothing subsists but the dance of the apes.' So really there are first the Germans and then the apes. I went to the zoo this week, I was able to see some apes, but I do not agree with the Assyrian philosophy.

   Page 117: 'From this blood myth comes a racial hierarchy, the race of the lords being the Aryan Nordics, that of the slaves—the others.' There are two races: the Aryans, the superior race, and the others are slaves. There you have the German princes and kings.

   Now, Satan is the one that influences that philosophy, and we shall see how he counterfeits God's plan. We know he already does it through a great big church called the Catholic Church. But he also does it through the Aryan philosophy. In Psalm 82—Psalm 82, verse 6: we have a fundamental truth that God reveals to you and me the church (Psalm 82:6). 'I have said you are gods,' and we know this, we are gods in the making. This is our potential to be gods like God.

   But let's see Genesis chapter 3 and understand what Satan thinks and believes. Genesis chapter 3. Satan wants to create gods in his image too. Genesis 3 verse 5 (Genesis 3:5): 'For God knows that in the day you eat thereof'—the forbidden fruit—'then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' As gods—but really as gods like God is God, or like Satan wants to be god? It really means in the image of Satan because when you think of it, man by rejecting the true God thinks he is God himself, just like Satan rebelled against God and thinks and would like to be God."

   "Now, how does this translate in the Aryan philosophy? Page 119 of this book: 'From the heroic youth will come the second degree, that of free men, of man who is the measure and the center of the world, of man-creator, of man-God. In my brooks'—brooks in German means town or city—'in my towns of the order, the man-God will be the splendid figure or splendid shape of a being who only takes orders of himself, who only takes orders from himself.'

   Now, that is Satan's thinking. No more room for the true God. Man becomes the highest authority. He only takes orders from himself. He cuts himself from God. Mr. Armstrong has explained many, many times how this is truly Satan's way of thinking. That is, in fact, taking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

   Now, we can see clearly that those men-God, the princes of the Aryan philosophy think of themselves as being superior. Now, let's come back to Isaiah 10, please. Isaiah 10, Isaiah chapter 10. And again, it is a key chapter in understanding Aryan thinking. And this thinking is emerging again. You know what this Andre Brissaud, the author of this book, explains in his book is not known by many people. Only a small number of people know about this because he had spent, he spent years of research to find out where Hitler got his ideas from. And he got his ideas from these Aryan philosophers. See, the motives, the real motives are hidden and it's not known by the people of the street, what these motives are."

   "Isaiah 10 verse 13 (Isaiah 10:13): 'For he says, by the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom.' This is the Assyrian speaking: 'By my wisdom.'

   On page 28 we can read: 'By cultivating the racial purity'—Lanz, Lanz is a German philosopher. Again, Lanz wanted to 'awake the gods still living inside the fleshly coffin of man in order to give the Aryan heroes the divine organs of yonder, which would make them omniscient, supremely wise, supremely wise and almighty as in the beginning at the time of the gods.' Interesting, isn't it? Now, on whose wavelength is man? Satan's of course, Lanz talks about Satan. He wanted to awake Satan inside man.

   Verse 13, let's continue: 'By my wisdom for I am prudent and I have removed the bounds of the people and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.' This is the military aspect.

   Now, I would like to read to you from page 52 of this book. And while I'm reading, I would like to ask you to make in your own minds a very obvious parallel with the Holy Spirit. In his philosophical work, Louis Jacolliot, another philosopher, exalted the Vril—V-R-I-L, the vril. Now, what is this Vril? The Vril is 'this extraordinary energy that man uses only in a small part, the line of our possible divinity, the source of the superman. Anyone discovering the existence of the Vril and masters it acquires control of himself at a normally unknown level and can become ruler over others and the world.' It's very obvious, isn't it?"

   "'And I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.' This is Isaiah 10:13. The Vril is Satan's counterfeit for the Holy Spirit. Satan makes a counterfeit.

   Again, in page 121, after having explained why man needed to be surpassed, why man needed to take the place of God—for man is the God in becoming—whose idea is this? Satan teaches this not only to a church in Rome but also to a military power to take the place of God. Interesting.

   Let's turn to Daniel now, Daniel chapter 11. Daniel 11 verse 35—Daniel 11:35, this is a prophecy for our time and we shall see it and we need to be ready for it. Daniel 11:35: 'And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed.' It is yet to occur and we shall see it.

   Verse 36: 'And the king'—the king of the North—'shall do according to his will, to his will, and he shall exalt himself.' He shall exalt himself. Let's continue: 'And magnify himself above every god and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished for that that is determined shall be done.' He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god. There we have vanity, there we have arrogance.

   In page 116, I read: 'The blood myth must be the strength of the German people. A people superior to all since it is both Aryan and Nordic, then will the German people feeling strongly about themselves, both humble'—it's nice to put it there, isn't it? Very humble people?—'and Imperial be able to treat the empirical world, not as a partner, not as a partner, but as an adversary to fight with the worst violence.' Those who exalt themselves, brethren, put others down. This is the Aryan philosophy."