Mideast Special - Part 2
SP-43
Telecast Date: January 15, 1982
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   Who will solve the Middle East crisis? After years of conflict, the Middle East is still an enigma of insoluble problems, a web of impossibilities. There are so many questions, especially those posed by the PLO terrorists, such as the plight of the Palestinians, the control of Jerusalem, the autonomy of the West Bank, and the military occupation of the Golan Heights. These bitter rivalries between the Jewish and Arab peoples, which go back thousands of years, now pose a threat to world peace and even the survival of civilization.

   The Middle East, too serious to be ignored and yet seemingly too complex to be solved. Who will bring peace to these troubled people?

   The World Tomorrow, the Worldwide Church of God presents the World Tomorrow with Herbert W. Armstrong.

   The following is a special presentation of the World Tomorrow with Herbert W. Armstrong.

   Of all world trouble spots. The Middle East is the one that poses the greatest threat to peace. The major powers are finding themselves increasingly helpless to resolve this long-standing conflict between the Arabs and the Jews.

   Arab nations have vowed to destroy Israel. The Jews, a people with bitter memories of the Holocaust, have declared that they will defend their territory to the end. Central to the Middle East conflict is the belief of both Arab and Jews that God is on their side. Consequently, Jerusalem is considered a Holy City to both. Arab nations demand the return of East Jerusalem to their control. Israel's answer: never. And so the crisis continues; armies face each other across disputed borders in strike and counter-strike. Both sides retaliate acts of aggression, while terrorists take a heavy toll on a helpless population. The list of injured, maimed, and killed grows with no end in sight.

   And now, for the last 10 years, another weapon has been added to this age-old conflict: oil. For the largest single concentration of the world's known crude oil reserves lies buried beneath the sands of these desert nations. Thus, the major powers around the world now hold an even more critical interest in the events of this area. Europe, Japan, the United States, and Russia all anxiously watch, for from this region flows the lifeblood of these industrial nations.

   Suspicion, hatred, terrorism, and aggression all have become a way of life in this volatile area. Four times in recent years, the world held its breath as the Middle East exploded. The conflagrations temporarily subsided, but the antagonism still seemed; no one seemed willing to take the first step toward peace.

   And in 1977, Egypt seized the initiative. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, in a historic visit to Jerusalem, spoke to the Israeli Knesset and declared peace instead of war. For the first time, the endless cycle of threats and intimidation was broken. Two of the chief antagonists chose to settle their differences by peaceful negotiation instead of armed aggression. Sadat's historic visit brought a glimmer of hope, and the world breathed a sigh of relief. Sadat's courageous effort asked for calm and reason. It was an effort that called for peace and ultimately an effort he paid for with his life. On October 6, 1981, as Sadat viewed a military parade, Muslim radicals sprang from a passing army trunk, and Sadat was cut down in a hail of machine-gun fire. Anwar Sadat died in the cause of peace.

   It was also in the cause of peace that Herbert W. Armstrong had visited Anwar Sadat. In 1980, one year later, Mr. Armstrong returned to pay his respects to the fallen leader whose courage he so greatly admired. In Cairo, Mr. Armstrong had a private meeting with Egypt's new President Hosni Mubarak, who had promised to continue the peace effort begun by his predecessor. Mr. Armstrong was also the guest of honor at a banquet hosted by Dr. Abdul Hatam, personal adviser for President Sadat and now President Mubarak. At the banquet held in Cairo's Nile Hilton, Mr. Armstrong spoke before 150 influential government leaders, including eight cabinet members and their wives, as well as educators and businessmen. He reviewed the present Middle East situation and explained what lies ahead for this troubled area.

   Mr. Armstrong, your excellency, ladies and gentlemen.

   It is a great pleasure and honor to me to exchange, on behalf of the members of the Egyptian Political Science Association and myself, our heartiest welcome to Mr. Armstrong here in our ancient city of Cairo. Mr. Armstrong has been working to promote understanding between nations and people in every nation in the world. This is the noble sentiment, a man can have, a sentiment that springs only from big hearts.

   Mr. Armstrong is visiting Egypt these days to pay respect, to call on President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak, our president, and I think the visit of Mr. Armstrong to Egypt, he made a bridge between the United States and Egypt in the social affairs and also in the cultural affairs. Mr. Armstrong is our guest of honor this evening. I salute him in your name and wish him a pleasant stay in our country, and he has kindly agreed to come and talk to us, Mr. Armstrong.

   Well, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. I spoke to many of you, I think a year ago, just about a year ago in the ballroom downstairs in the same hotel. And at that time, I told you that the world is in a very serious crisis, that I had come with a very serious message, that I had come a long way to deliver it. That crisis has continued; in fact, it's worsened, and I'm here to tell you that it's going to worsen even more before it gets better. But world peace is coming. Now, I have more to say.

   The crisis in the world is continuing. We are at the greatest crisis this world has ever known. The recent crisis in Poland, still going on. The Iraq-Iran war is not settled yet. It's had a few lulls; it picked up a little recently. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan has been building up even more. The trouble in Northern Ireland has not waned; troubles in El Salvador and other Central American countries are in the World News, disturbances in Central Africa and Southwest Africa, the Russian submarine recently discovered in the Swedish naval waters, and the world is wondering just what it signifies and what is up.

   Now, the attempted assassination of our President Reagan since I was here last year, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul the Second, and now the assassination of the man I counted as my very good friend, your President Anwar Sadat. We're facing a very serious times, and we need to pay attention, we need to realize it because there is a cause for every effect. We're seeing the effect, but we don't seem to understand the cause and what brought it on and what lies in the future and what is going to happen. So, I do ask you to pay close attention tonight because I have a very important message for you.

   A year ago, in a conference with your President, Sadat in the Giza Palace. He showed me plans for the peace project at Mount Sinai. And I told him that we would be happy through our foundation to contribute and to assist in it annually. And I have come this year and had a conference the day before yesterday with your new President, Mubarak, and delivered to him the second installment of our pledge to this peace complex. And he assures me that he's going to continue it, that he will continue the peace efforts that were made at Camp David between your country, Israel, and the United States.

   Now, this peace project that President Sadat showed me the plans of it will sort of symbolize peace by the three religions of the three countries. It will contain, as perhaps, you know already, a mosque, a synagogue, and a church representing the three religions of Egypt or the Arab world, of Israel, and of the United States and the Christian world. This peace project is not going to bring peace; the Camp David talks that are continuing and that President Mubarak assures me will continue are not going to bring immediate peace. They are a prelude to it.

   We should seek peace. President Mubarak told me just the day before yesterday, I mentioned how President Sadat had risked his life and finally had to give it, and he had no motive. He could have had no motive but the unselfish motive to promote peace. He had everything to lose. He had nothing to gain for himself, personally, he had nothing to gain for his political position or for this country, only peace.

   Now, if I may say so, that takes courage. And I want to make a salute tonight to Anwar Sadat for the greatest courage that I believe any leader has exercised in my lifetime in this world. I am glad now that I told him a year ago that I respected him very, very highly, and that I meant it from the heart. And I did. I was out to the, the memorial yesterday where President Sadat lies buried, I did give a little salute, and I just said quietly, well, goodbye, my friend. I respected him very highly. I wrote a number of articles about it in national magazines in the United States.

   He has given his life and has not brought peace as yet. But as I say, it is a prelude to it, and peace is going to come. Why do we not have peace? There are two ways of living, and one of them is causing strife and trouble and war, and the other way of living would bring peace.

   But I'd like to tell you how it all began and the origin of all of our Middle East problems here because I'm telling people in the United States, I'm telling people in Japan. I'm telling people in Europe and all over the world, keep your eyes focused on the Middle East. The Middle East here is going to be the center of all troubles until we do have world peace.

   As I said to President Mubarak the other day, the fact there is a creation means there had to be a creator, there had to be a designer of one who could design and could create what He designed. That is one that in the Western world, we call God; that in the Arab world, you call Allah. And if I understand correctly, it's the same God, the same Allah. So, I would like to tell you what He Allah is going to do for the Arab world and for the peace of all mankind. And I am speaking on His authority. I'm not saying maybe; I'm not saying perhaps; I'm telling you what is certain, what is sure.

   This Creator first created one man and one woman, and all humanity has descended from that first man and first woman. That first man had to make a choice. There are two ways, two broadly speaking, of life. As I said, one is the way of love outflowing, or I call it give; the other is the way of get. He chose the way of get. And humanity has been traveling that road ever since—people have been living that way, grasping, grasping for power, grasping for material goods, material riches. 'I love me; I don't love anybody else. I want to compete with everybody else. I want to take from others. I want to get for myself. I want to exalt myself.' Now that is what we call human nature. And human nature is really self-centeredness. And so, we have in this world, especially in the case of those who desire leadership, a lust for power that will cause coups and planned coups to overthrow a government. That's apparently what you had recently in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. And as long as there's a struggle for power and men want power to themselves instead of being unselfish and wanting to share and thinking of the good of all, we're going to have trouble and war.

   But in the course of time, there was a man who is willing to turn to the way of give and willing to obey God, whom you call Allah, the Creator. His name was Abraham or Abram. Abram had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. The entire Arab race has descended from Ishmael, not only the Jewish race, but something that even the Jewish people do not know. But I know, and you perhaps have not known, the people of Western Europe and the White English-speaking people, Britain and all the British world, the White English-speaking British people, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and so on, and the United States have also come through Isaac. But as I say this, Abram, Abram obeyed God, and God made great promises to Him.

   God made to Him the promise that the time would come, that He would send a descendant of Abram, a great prophet who would come to rule the world, would come in all the power of the creator God and the authority, and would come in great love for all mankind and is going to come and establish that worldwide government.

   The Jews have been looking for a Messiah. They don't know that that Messiah did come as a human prophet. The Islam religion recognizes Jesus Christ as one of the prophets. He did come, but He came as a human prophet, and He came with a message which is good news, the good news of this one world government that is going to come.

   The Jews rejected Him. He came to His own, Judah the Jews, and they did reject Him at that time. They were looking for Him to come as the great God to deliver the whole world. And He did not come that way. He came as a prophet, but God almighty is going to send Him in all the power and the glory of the great God. And He's going to rule over all nations.

   And I have come here to tell you that it is going to happen in our generation. Out of it, all peace is going to come, and it's going to come because He's going to establish one world government and rule all nations. All nations are going to be ruled in love, and all nations are going to be taught and are going to have to live in the way of give and the way of love, and not in the way of lust for power, not in the way of selfishness and greed and vanity, exalting the self above others. We're going to find the way to live.

   All of our troubles come because we've lived the wrong way. We brought these troubles on ourselves. Now, anything that I can say to you, anything I can say to the world today, and I do speak to the world all over the world, it is not going to change human nature, and it is not going to change the hearts of men. I'm not trying to do that. I'm just telling you, I'm not asking you to believe it. I accept it, take it or leave it. I'm only here to tell you, I'm not here to cram anything down your throat. It will happen, and when it happens, you will know that God or Allah sent a messenger here to tell you this. Yes, because I am His servant, and it is going to happen in our time. And that's the way we are going to have world peace.

   And I'll tell you, your President Sadat has not died in vain after all. And you know, as in Adam, all die. So, in Jesus Christ shall all be made alive, and everyone who ever lived and died is going to be resurrected back to life. I'm going to see President Sadat again. Now, perhaps you don't believe that, I don't ask you to unless you want to. It's up to you. We're not soliciting anything.

   I'm the leader of a worldwide church, but I'm not soliciting members. We don't invite members, we have nothing to sell. We're not trying to get anything one way or the other. I want you to understand that I'm here as a friend, and I'm here to give.

   So, thank you all, ladies and gentlemen, for listening.

   While speaking to the Egyptian leaders at the banquet in Cairo, Herbert W. Armstrong offered to send them this special February issue of The Plain Truth, a magazine of Understanding. Mr. Armstrong would also like to offer you, the viewers, this special issue which features a cover story and lead articles on the new Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Middle East crisis. In his personal mister Armstrong discusses his meeting with President Mubarak and examines the prospects for peace in the Middle East.

   Another article in this special issue, "Egypt after Sadat, How Peace Will Come To The Middle East", answers the question. Do peacemakers stand a chance in the strife-torn Middle East or did President Sadat die in vain? The personal profile, Hosni Mubarak, New man at Egypt's helm, takes a close-up look at the new leader of this ancient country which is destined to play an important role in future Middle East events.

   Another article, "The Plain Truth A Look Into The Future", shows how for 48 years this magazine predicted major world events based on Bible prophecy. This gives a dimension that no other magazine can provide. Watch France. Examine socialist President Mitterrand's reconstruction of the entire French society. Not since the days of Napoleon have such far-reaching changes been set in motion. Will "1982 be the year of violence". Herbert W. Armstrong not only answers this question but reveals a sure way for the world to have peace.

   You need to read these articles in The Plain Truth, a Magazine of Understanding. There's nothing else like it. It's priceless; money can't buy it. It's worth more than money, and yet there is no subscription price.

   The Plain Truth is a mass circulation magazine printed in five languages with 4 million subscribers worldwide. If you're not already a subscriber, request your free subscription to The Plain Truth magazine today, starting with a special February issue on the Middle East. It's free of charge with no obligation. Send your request to Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123. That's Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena California 91123 or call toll-free 800-423-4444. That's 800-423-4444 in California, Alaska and Hawaii call collect to area code 213-577-5555 that's 213-577-5555. If the lines are busy, please call again The Plain Truth A Magazine of Understanding.

   For the free literature offered on this program, write Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123 in Canada Box 44, Vancouver BC or in the continent United States. You may call this toll-free number 800-423-4444 in California, Alaska and Hawaii call collect 213-577-5555. If the lines are busy, please try again. The preceding program and all literature were produced by the Worldwide Church of God.

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.

Telecast Date: January 15, 1982
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