The World Tomorrow. The Worldwide Church of God presents The World Tomorrow with Herbert W. Armstrong. Ladies and gentlemen, Herbert W. Armstrong.
On Tuesday, October 6th, 1981, in a matter of moments, the entire course of world history suddenly was changed. The assassination of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt following closely, as it did on the attempted assassinations of President Ronald Reagan of the United States and Pope John Paul the Second, ought to warn you and me, and the entire world, that we stand now in danger of the nuclear war that can blast all humanity out of existence, can assassinate every one of us. We're in a time of violence, and it's multiplying, and it's increasing.
Right now, the trouble spot of the entire world is the Middle East, and it will be from now on. Keep your eye on the Middle East. I last met privately with President Anwar Sadat in November of 1980. Now I want to show you portions of a pre-recorded televised meeting that I had with President Sadat in the Giza Palace in November of 1980. But first, I would like to give you a brief overview of events that led up to the present, the boiling cauldron of trouble in the Middle East, the trouble spot now of the entire world.
It all started nearly 4000 years ago with a controversy and a jealousy of two women over one man. The ancient Abraham of the Bible, nearly 4000 years ago, was childless. His wife, Sarah, was barren. She brought to Abraham her maid, asking Abraham to have a son by her, her maid, Hagar. Hagar bore a son, Ishmael. Ishmael became the father of 12 Dukes, and those 12 Dukes have become the did become the father of the entire Arab world of today. The Arabs are descended from those 12 Dukes.
Afterwards, Abraham, when he was 99 years old, and his wife, Sarah, was 90, by a divine miracle from God, Sarah had a son, Isaac. Isaac was the father of all of the tribes of ancient Israel and of the Jewish nation, and what we call Israelis over there today. Actually, they are the people of Judah.
But now let me give it to you to some of the recent events. Of course, there has been a struggle from the Israelite people and the Arabs ever since, down to our day. But after four wars, in November 20th, 1977, President Sadat, instead of declaring war, this time changed to declaring peace. He took everything into his hands. He risked his life. He literally risked his life, and he paid his life in this assassination. He was the leader of the Arab world. The Arab Union had its headquarters in Cairo. President Sadat had the vision and the courage as very few men in the world have had to brave the hostility of the entire Arab world, which he really headed, to go to Jerusalem on a mission of peace and speak before the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel.
The Camp David meetings resulted from that. After the Camp David meetings, Prime Minister Begin had offered to return the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt. Now in November 1980, I visited privately with both President Sadat and with the Prime Minister Begin. I spoke to a large audience in Cairo, and after that, I had a meeting with President Sadat in the Giza Palace in Cairo, and now from a pre-recorded program, I want to give you portions of that meeting and also of my private meeting with President Sadat.
Cairo, a city in a land of contrasts, steeped in tradition, yet longing for progress, tied to the past but looking to the future. It is ironic that Egypt, the land of the pyramids, physical symbols of permanence, is a land faced with an indefinite future due to the ever-present possibility that war could break out with its Israeli neighbors. Aware of the uneasiness here and the pervading tension, Herbert W. Armstrong, speaking to some 300 government officials and educators at the Nile Hilton, acknowledged the dangers facing humanity.
I'm not going to speak to you very long tonight, but I'm going to speak plainly because the time has come for very plain speaking, and I've come a long way to bring you this message. And today we stand, if you pardon my giving you the bad news, first, we stand on the very brink of human extinction. Conditions in the world are constantly growing worse, and the weapons now exist of mass destruction that can annihilate all human life from this planet.
Now, in all human history, they have never invented a new weapon of mass destruction that has not been used. There is a cause for every effect, and we're in a very bad effect today, and in this world, we've been accustomed to treating with effects and ignoring the causes. And you can never get rid of an effect until you cure the cause. And the same we learn why. What brought us to this kind of position in the world.
Knowledge doubled in the decade of the sixties, but also the world's troubles doubled. Troubles that man has been unable to solve or to cure. In the seventies, knowledge doubled again. But again, our troubles doubled. Now, the increased knowledge didn't cause the increased trouble. But on the other hand, the increased knowledge did not solve our troubles, and we still have our troubles, such things as peace, which we don't have. We work for peace. We fight for peace. Yes, and there are wars constantly going on; there's one in the Middle East right now.
But peace and happiness, contentment, joy, and abundant well-being that is universal for all of us. Those are spiritual qualities; they're not physical qualities, they're spiritual. And we don't seem to realize that there is a basic spiritual law, and it is in motion. That law could be stated as the principle of outgoing love toward others. I simplify it by calling it the way of give. Now, that is the way of cooperation instead of competition. It is the way of helping, of serving. I simplify it by calling that the way of give because people can understand that word so well. The opposite, the transgression of that way is the way of get, and that's the way this world is living. This world is living the way of get. I love me, and I don't care about you except what I can get from you or take away from you. So, the getaway is the way of vanity, trying to exalt ourselves, the way of coveting, of lust and greed, the way of envy and jealousy toward others, the way of competition and strife that leads to violence and war.
Having delivered the message of the root cause of humanity's problems to an audience of leading Egyptians, Mr. Armstrong then departed for Israel to continue his Middle East trip. When the Gulf Stream two touched down, this flight became the first since the six-day war to go directly from Cairo to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the home of virtually all holy sites of the three major faiths. The Muslim Dome of the Rock, the Jewish Western Wall, commonly known as the Wailing Wall, and the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulcher are all located within Jerusalem's wall. The city was divided prior to the six-day war, and Arab passions were inflamed when Israel took control. Since then, there has been Arab talk of a holy war to regain possession of that part of Jerusalem known as the Old City. Therefore, the present peace is an unstable one into this center of age-old animosity. Herbert W. Armstrong brought a message of peace.
Speaking to a banquet at the King David Hotel that overlooks the Western Wall of the Old City, Mr. Armstrong again contrasted the two philosophies of life. Mr. Armstrong concluded his Jerusalem visit with a private meeting with Prime Minister Menachem Begin. During their discussion, Prime Minister Begin gave Mr. Armstrong a personal message to carry to President Sadat of Egypt, with whom Mr. Armstrong was to meet, eight days later, the meeting began with a rather frank appraisal of President Sadat's unprecedented approach to peace.
Mr. President, I want to say one thing right, straight from the heart. I respect and admire you more than I can tell you because you have risked everything in an effort for peace, and your heart has to be in it, and it has to be genuine, and not many would do that. I meet heads of state all over the world, but I have not known one that would risk what you did of acquiring the enmity of the Arab world in order to have peace. Now, that takes courage, and you have it. Thank you very much.
President Sadat's spirit of self-sacrifice, already demonstrated in the peace initiative, is clearly reflected in his response to Mr. Armstrong's message.
There are two philosophies of life. There are only two ways of life. The one, everything in general, will fall into one or the other category, and they go in opposite directions. And the one I term, in simple language, give; the other is get. Now, give merely means outflowing love toward others. But I put it in just simple language of give and get.
The world is geared to get. Everything is get. It's in business, it's in athletics. And it's in politics and it's in society and it's just in every segment of life.
Well, I learned this philosophy of give and get, and I tell you what it is, just my way of saying the law of God. And I think the personage, I mean, by God is the same person as you mean by Allah, is that correct? And that is His law. And you can express it in a more religious language of love, which is out flowing. But I, I just take it in the more secular word of give, give and get. And I think that makes it plain to people in all walks of life, whether they are of whatever religion or of no religion. And it expresses the principle of a way of life. It's just a general attitude of mind, an attitude we have toward one another and to other people.
It was at this meeting that President Sadat unveiled a bold new undertaking for the cause of world peace. A proposed $70 million world peace center to be built at the base of Mount Sinai. Impressed by the significance of such a monument, Mr. Armstrong offered both moral and financial support for the venture.
Even with the vision and personal sacrifice manifested by President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin in their efforts to diffuse the many centuries of animosity, a great number of problems remain to be solved before real peace in the Middle East can be a reality.
The Palestine problem continues to be stalled in the on-again, off-again autonomy talks. The Arab world also demands that East Jerusalem be returned to Arab sovereignty. The Jewish reply, never. What about the continuing brushfire wars among the Arab nations themselves, such as the Iraq-Iran conflict? Could they not erupt into a major conflagration? And now the superpowers of Russia and the United States are looking over their shoulders as Europe makes overtures to the Middle East. Is the situation about to be more strongly complicated by a third power play? Quite possibly, Europe obtains about 80% of her oil from the Middle East. 80%. Will she stand idly by if, for some reason, the lifeblood of her economy is about to be cut off? What about Russia? Will she cool her heels in Afghanistan while European influence in the Sinai continues to develop?
Will the peoples of this troubled part of the world finally live at peace with one another, or will their centuries-old animosity ultimately engulf the rest of the world in the flames of war? Geographically, politically, and theologically, the Middle East will continue as a focal point of world events. The world peace hinges on a tranquil Middle East. Unless the world learns the lessons of the past, we face the most cataclysmic events of history. But if it doesn't, will humanity survive?
The answer is in the message proclaimed by Herbert W. Armstrong, ambassador for world peace. Every trouble, every bit of woe and unhappiness and suffering in this world has come from living the way of get. Now, we're not going to have a better world until we get off of that way of get and get on to the way of giving. We're not going to do that ourselves. Human nature is a little too strong. It isn't going to let us; it's going to have to be done to us, and then that all-powerful, unseen strong hand from someplace is going to intervene in this world's affairs and is going to save humanity from itself.
What you have just seen was from a previously recorded television program of those meetings in November 1980 in the Middle East.
Now the Camp David talks brought the United States into the Middle East controversy. We have become absolutely a part of it. The Middle East is the center of world troubles from now on and will be right up to the war and the final battle of Armageddon at the end of this present world. And at the time of the second coming of Christ to bring us peace.
Another thing that was not recorded in the program that you just saw, I was mentioning to President Sadat how world peace will come and how the God we both believe in is going to send the coming King of kings and Lord of lords to set up world peace on this earth that is going to happen.
Now, all of this is recorded in your Bible in prophecy. The number one seller among all books in the world today is the Bible. More people have Bibles than any other book, but it is the book that nobody understands, and very few read it. Almost nobody seems to understand it. About one-third of the Bible is devoted to prophecy, and about 90% of all that prophecy is centered on events right now and from now on, and much of it that will happen in the Middle East. You can't understand that unless you know the keys that unlock prophecy to understanding.
Now those keys have been lost. The world has not had them, and that's why while many speak on Bible prophecy, many radio evangelists or television evangelists, for example, speak on prophecy, but it is not understood because they do not have the keys that would unlock those prophecies to our understanding.
Now, I have a special booklet, our book, it's not a booklet. It's a book of 198 pages. As a matter of fact, a very attractive book, and I'd like to offer it to you, gratis. There is no charge, and there will be no request for money, and that is, you have to admit a most unusual thing, and you won't hear that on any other program: 'The United States and the British People in Prophecy.' It also includes a great deal about the nations of the Middle East and how this whole thing started and what has led up to it. And so that you can really understand the Bible prophecies of what is happening now. What is going to happen. About 10% of all prophecy, or I should say 90% of all prophecy, is relating to the present and the immediate future, nearly all of it in the immediate future. As a matter of fact, very little of it has already been fulfilled. The time is now to come to understand Bible prophecy. I would like to send you this book. It's in full color, fully illustrated, 198 pages. It's a full book. I don't know anyone else that is offering you that kind of literature, that character, and of that quality gratis and with no request for money. We do not beg for money over the air. I hope you have noticed that on this particular program.
Now, along with it, we will also send you, if you're not already a subscriber, a sample copy of The Plain Truth magazine. I happen to have here a copy of The Plain Truth. It's a back number at the time that was published shortly after my visit to the Middle East in November of 1980. And it has a picture of Mr. Sadat and Mr. Begin on the front cover. And beside, it was my second visit with President Sadat, incidentally, and I've had a number of visits with President with Prime Minister Begin of Israel. And we have become very good friends, as well as other leaders in Israel and also other leaders of other Arab nations that have become friends of mine, or that I've become friends of theirs. And, incidentally, the Israelis know of my friendship with the Arabs, and the Arabs know of my friendship with the Israelis because I too am working for world peace.
Now, Anwar Sadat laid down his life, actually, for world peace. When he took that trip back in 1977 to Jerusalem to speak before the Knesset, he was braving things that very few can realize or understand, and it finally did cost him his life. That's precisely what caused it. He laid down his life for peace. He didn't understand the Bible. He's more familiar with the Koran. However, he was a courageous man and he was working for world peace.
Now, I have known leaders of the world all over this world. Kings, Prime Ministers, Presidents of nations, even the two Emperors, one of whom is now dead, the only two that we've had in the world of Emperors in our time. And I find that they have problems that they are utterly unable to solve, absolutely unable to solve, clear beyond them. It is going to take that unseen strong hand from some place to intervene in world affairs and to come down and to save us from ourselves. And that is going to happen.
I think you need to understand this booklet, and you need to subscribe to The Plain Truth. We'll send you a sample copy, and you can have a full year's subscription, no subscription price. The Plain Truth is an utterly unique magazine. There's nothing else like it. It's a very high-class magazine and full of color, and it brings you the meaning behind today's world news as no other magazine in the world does. It's a magazine of now, just approximately 4 million copies of circulation in English, in French, and German, Dutch, and Spanish. It's one of the mass circulation magazines of the world, and yet it is unique in that it does bring you world news before it happens.
We have editors and we have analysts who travel all over the world, and to world capitals. In our editorial offices, we have the teletypes of at least three of the press services clicking off 24 hours a day, just the same as they have in the newspapers and in the news bureaus or news departments of the networks and of many television stations. We have analysts, we have men who are watching world conditions and analyzing them. We have men who understand biblical prophecy and are viewing these things in the light of biblical prophecy.
There's no magazine like The Plain Truth. I want to send you a sample copy if you're not already a subscriber. At least 12 million people are enjoying The Plain Truth, and I hope that you will be one of them.
Now, all you do for this special booklet, "The United States and Britain in Prophecy" and for your sample copy of The Plain Truth magazine, you just send your request to me, Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123. Now that's Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123 or you may go to the telephone and call right now. It's much quicker, much handier and you have a toll-free call, you dial 800-423-4444. Now that's 800-423-4444. And if the lines are busy, please call again because many calls are coming in. Now in California, Alaska or Hawaii, you call collect, area code 213-577-5225. That's area code 213-577-5225. So, until next time, this is Herbert W Armstrong, goodbye friends.
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