Japan today is one of the most advanced and powerful nations in the world. The nation is at the forefront of technological advances. Japanese factories produce a steady stream of automobiles and consumer goods, and their electronic industry has captured the world market. Japan today is a far cry from the nation that lay in ruins at the end of the second World War. The atomic bomb ended the years of bitter fighting, and Japan surrendered in August 1945. Deeply shocked by having the experience of having been the people in history to know the horrors of a nuclear attack, the Japanese agreed to renounce war forever. Working in cooperation with her former enemy, the Japanese began to rebuild their shattered homeland. Only 40 years after suffering total defeat, they have become the world's second strongest economic power. It has been one of the most astonishing comebacks in history. Today, the United States and Japan are friends and allies. American and Japanese war veterans met and embraced on the island of Iwo Jima, on the fortieth anniversary of one of the fiercest battles of the war in the Pacific. As the wounds of the past heal, many in Japan now seek ways to use their nation's immense resources and influence, not to wage war, but to work for world peace.
The World Tomorrow — the Worldwide Church of God presents Herbert W Armstrong... Internationally recognized Ambassador for world peace... Visiting prominent leaders around the globe... discussing the cause of world problems... and proclaiming the good news of the world tomorrow... ladies and gentlemen Herbert W Armstrong.
As president of the Ambassador Foundation, we have been engaged in numerous projects in many different nations in many parts of the world. We've had projects in Japan, and I have had acquaintance with many top members in Japan for the past 16½ years, beginning 16½ years ago, when I was invited to a lunch by Prince Mikasa, the brother of Emperor Hirohito. I've had many visits with the prince since, also with the crown prince Akihito, and a personal private meeting with the emperor Hirohito, his imperial majesty himself. I have had been acquainted with, and had meetings with every prime minister of Japan since 1970, beginning with Prime Minister Sato, and continuing on with every prime minister to the man presently in office, Prime Minister Nakasone, with whom I have had meetings, both in Tokyo and in London. The Ambassador Foundation and the Japanese government have mutually cooperated in a number of projects in other countries around the world. Now, I have always stressed the fact that our efforts now are not going to bring world peace. I have been called an unofficial ambassador for world peace. Our poor human efforts are not going to bring world peace, but I have been called by the Eternal God to show, and to show the heads of nations, the way to world peace, and how it will come, and how the Eternal God will finally bring us world peace by sending Jesus Christ in power and great glory to rule all nations and to bring us world peace, living by God's way instead of the way of human nature, as people have been living on this world.
On a recent trip to Tokyo, Mr. Armstrong had a meeting with Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe, whom he had met previously in London and New York. They discussed the significance of Japan's role in providing economic aid to third world countries. A few days later, Mr. Armstrong hosted a reception and banquet where he received his guests and visited again with many of his longtime friends. Among the more than 200 guests attending, were many leaders of Japanese society, including members of the Japanese Diet and cabinet. Also present to hear Mr. Armstrong, were 18 foreign ambassadors to Japan from various countries of Asia, Africa, Europe, Central and South America. Before his address, Mr. Armstrong was introduced by several prominent Japanese leaders. The first introduction was given by Eikeijiro Murata, Cabinet Minister of International Trade and Industry.
Good evening. I am, my name is Keijiro Murata, minister of Japanese government. Since my English is limited, I will ask Mr. Fujita to translate the rest of my speech. [applause] It is a great honor and pleasure for me to be here with you this evening. I join with the many distinguished ambassadors and ministers of different countries, and various leaders of different walks of Japanese society, in welcoming Dr. Armstrong. I have long been personally associated with Dr. Armstrong and the Ambassador Foundation. I regret that I cannot stay here until the end of this distinguished gathering, but the Diet just resumed its session, and I must attend an important budget committee meeting. Therefore, with your permission, I will depart. It is my wish that Dr. Armstrong will someday enjoy the world's record for longevity, and I also wish each of you a very happy, peaceful life. Thank you very much. [applause]
Mr. Armstrong was also introduced by Tokuo Yamashita, a longtime Diet member and Cabinet Minister of Transportation.
It gives me great pleasure that our father, Dr. Armstrong, president of the Ambassador Foundation, is visiting Japan after some interval, and that we are enjoying this great banquet. It has been almost 20 years since Dr. Armstrong first visited Japan in 1967 through the kind introduction of his imperial highness Prince Mikasa. At that time, three of the members of the House were fortunate enough to meet with Dr. Armstrong, and Dr. Armstrong immediately called those three members "my Japanese sons." We are very happy to see the expansion of his circle of friends here, not only those 20 sons now in the political field, but also leaders of finance and economics, businessmen, diplomats, and those in other occupations who became acquainted with Dr. Armstrong and became his good friends. Dr. Armstrong is now 92 years old. In spite of this advanced age, he continues to visit all four corners of the world, and is still actively engaged in his campaign, to which we pay our respects and our affection. Those of us fortunate enough to be called "children of Dr. Armstrong" have formed a Japan-United States-China Friendship Federation, and this organization is going to begin an active program to promote peace and friendly relations among these three leading nations of the world. I wish Dr. Armstrong a long and successful life, and will now close my brief introduction. Thank you very much. [applause]
Ladies and gentlemen! Since I was last here, conditions in the world have worsened.
While Mr. Armstrong spoke, Professor Fujita of Tokyo's Reseda University translated in Japanese. For brevity, only portions of the translation are included.
There are no major wars just at the present time, but there are many smaller ones, and now a new type of warfare — terrorism — is breaking out in many parts of the world. Eleven years ago, I founded the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation to work for world peace. In our Ambassador Foundation, we have projects running now in many nations, and I'm very glad that in several of those nations, the Japanese government also is participating and is conducting projects toward peace. The very reason we do not have peace in the world is a mystery to many people. There is a reason why we don't have peace. I try to go back and trace the very history of mankind, to go back to the beginning to the origin — how did humanity start? How did we start to be the way that has caused a world today of awesome progress, making wonderful progress materially and technologically and scientifically? We send men to the moon and back. We transplant hearts. We invent every kind of machinery, and still we can't solve our own problems. There is naturally a cause for every effect. Now we have the effect of this paradox. We have great minds in the world that can do great things, and still we can't solve sole our problems. We can't bring world peace, it seems. We have a world full of trouble, and there has to be a reason. There had to be a cause. When we go back to the origin of humanity, we find that mankind started out on this world on the philosophy that I call the philosophy of "get." Now there are two broad philosophies of life, generally speaking. One is the way of "get," and that is the way people are living. The other is the way of "give," or of cooperation and help for one another instead of competition and strife. Because mankind started out on this Earth in the very beginning in the philosophy of "get," it finally became natural, and we call it human nature. So I can tell you in just two words the cause of all of the troubles, and the reason we don't have peace at the present time in the world. Those two words are "human nature." Until mankind can learn that the way of competition, of selfishness, of "get" instead of "give," of trying to take and get instead of wanting to share and cooperate and help one another, we are never going to have peace. The great creator who created humanity, created the first man out of the dust of the ground and put him on this Earth, remains a great mystery. That supreme mind of the great creator who created all humanity gave the very first man created the choice of which way he would live. He chose the selfish way of "get" instead of the more generous way of "give" and help and cooperation. So the great creator who created the first man and all humanity that has existed on Earth, has allotted a period of 6,000 years for humanity to write the very lesson, by human experience, that the way of competition and strife and trying to take away from others is not the way to peace. We human beings have written that lesson over the past 6,000 years in pain and suffering and sorrow and anguish. And now our great technological minds, in human beings, have finally produced the weapons that can absolutely erase all human life from the Earth in nuclear weapons. And I say to you on the authority of the creator God: he is going to let mankind go on until he would come to the very point of self-annihilation to erase the last human life from this Earth, and then just before we reach that state, when we realize we have not been able to solve our own problems by the way of selfishness, the Eternal God the creator is going to step in supernaturally and take over the rule of all nations on this Earth. But he, the creator, is not going to intervene or do that until we have punished ourselves and come to the place where we have had to confess that we cannot solve our problems, we of our own selves are unable to bring peace. Then he will have to step in and bring it to us, and force it upon us. Now in this world is good as well as evil, and so some of us are working for world peace, and we're doing what we can for world peace, and we should do everything that we can toward that end, and in the end, the great creator will come to our aid and bring it to us, if he has to force peace upon a selfish, self-centered humanity. I have often been called an unofficial ambassador for world peace. Now, I can only tell you what will bring peace. I can only tell you why we don't have peace, and what has caused our troubles, but in the meantime, we work for peace and we work in projects in different countries all over the world for peace, and we're glad that the Japanese government is also working in many ways, in many countries, for world peace. We human beings have a lesson to learn, and in the end we will learn it. And before even this present generation is out, world peace is going to come in the way that I have just explained to you. So I leave that with you, and I thank you, ladies and gentlemen. [applause]
And now, before I go off the air, I want to offer you once again a booklet I have not offered now for some little time — Never Before Understood - Why Humanity Cannot Solve Its Evils. Never Before Understood. This is something that has been a mystery to people. Here we live in a world of abject poverty (fifty percent of the people of the world are in utter ignorance), and on the other hand, a world of astounding, awesome progress, but at the same time even in the developed world, a world filled with evils, with strife, with warfare, with sabotage, and now with terrorism. What is the mystery of all this world? There is something that has not been understood. It is exposed in this booklet. Of course, it is absolutely free because there's no charge for anything we have, no follow-up requesting money. We just do not request money over the air in any way. I hope you've noticed that difference. Now also, I would like to send you, or you may have, a year's subscription to the finest magazine in the world, and now one of the largest circulated — The Plain Truth. Now going toward eight million copies of circulation, I believe it's the most handsome magazine published. It's published in seven different languages. It's full-color. Here in this recent issue is an editorial which I wrote: What is Wrong With Organized Labor? Now there had been an article: What is Wrong With Capital and Management? This particular editorial is on the subject of what is wrong with organized labor. Let me just say that The Plain Truth is unique; it's different from any other magazine published. It is at once a news magazine. It deals not with reporting news, but explaining the meaning behind the news that you're finding reported in the newspapers and on newscasts, so that you can understand the news and know what it means, where it's leading, what is going to happen next, and what is prophesied. Also, it's a family magazine. It is a human interest magazine. It is a secular magazine, rather than religious, but it covers the whole gamut of all kinds of subjects. It's the most interesting magazine, I believe, published. Here's another article in this issue: Famine on Our Doorstep? "Is famine on our doorstep?" is what that means. Another article: Turkey is about to erupt in the news. Now here's another article: The Art of Grandparenting. The Art of Grandparenting. I've been a grandfather for a good many years now, and I've three great-grandchildren by this time, so far, let me say. Here's another article: Sex Without Marriage. There is a great deal of that today, and there's something about that you need to know. You need to know the facts. Here's another article: Will Man Ever Love His Neighbor? Another article: The Best Strategy for Beating Stress. The Best Strategy for Beating Stress. That is a problem that affects more and more people, all the time. You need the kind of material that you'll find in no other magazine but The Plain Truth. Here's another article: How Would You Know a Real Christian? We hear a lot about Christianity, but what is it? And who is a real Christian, and how do you know? What is the Bible definition, for example, of a real Christian? There's no magazine like The Plain Truth, and there is no subscription price. There will be no follow-up. You're not going to be asked for contributions, and I don't think you'll find that on any other program on the air today. It's available to you on your request. Now for the booklet Never Before Understood - Why Humanity Cannot Solve Its Evils. That's been a mystery to so many people. You have never heard that explained, and you need to understand it. The mailing address in case you should mail is just Herbert W. Armstrong, Pasadena, California, and the zip code is 91123. But better, go to the telephone right now. You dial 1-800-423-4444. There's no charge, remember, no follow-up, no asking for money. When we say free, we mean free. And if you can't believe that, why don't you try it and find out? The number again: 1-800-423-4444. And jot this number down, because there are thousands of calls coming in, and if you find it's busy, because we have hundreds of people waiting to take it, but even then sometimes the line is busy, so it's a good thing to jot this number down and call again in 10 or 15 minutes. So until next time, this is Herbert W. Armstrong. Goodbye, friends.
Please Note: The FREE literature offered on this program are no longer available through the Address and Phone Number given, please visit www.hwalibrary.com for all FREE literature offered on this program.