| Highlights of DAWN | October 1976 |
End of an Era Nears
“Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not … come upon the heart.” —Isaiah 65:17, margin
THE world is fast approaching the end of an era. A growing world population exerts increasing pressure on the diminishing supply of earth’s raw materials, causing political, social, and economic dislocations never before experienced in the history of mankind. The collapse of colonialism in our lifetime has brought cries from awakened peoples for a larger share of earth’s good things. At the same time, federations, cartels, and other alliances are formed to promote the selfish interests of the participants, against those whom they regard as their common antagonists. Love and concern for one’s neighbors, whether they live next door or across the ocean, seems to diminish in direct proportion as our neighbors increase in numbers and needs.
The guiding principle in the world today appears to be ruthless self-interest. When Mr. Kissinger recently urged unity among the 24 member-nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in dealing with international trade negotiations and aid to the developing world, the French government flatly stated that it intended to act independently, as it has on other international matters. In discussing the practice of apartheid, so long in effect in the nation of South Africa, Premier Vorster said bluntly, “We will act in accordance with what is to our own best interests at a given time in a given situation, as do all other countries.” A war that has thrown the Middle East and the world into turmoil since 1967 was set in motion when Egypt, in contravention of international law, closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
Who Owns the Oceans?
The operation of this doctrine of self-interest has lately become particularly apparent with regard to the vast treasures lying beneath the surface of the world’s oceans. Off her Arctic coast, Iceland’s gunboats recently exchanged shots with British trawlers plying their trade within 50 miles of the Icelandic shore. Great Britain is preparing to drill for undersea oil on the Rockall Bank in the North Atlantic, heedless of the protests of the Irish and Danish governments, who claim that the Bank is not British property. Canada has declared the Northwest Passage through the Arctic to be an internal Canadian waterway, and therefore subject to Canadian pollution-control regulations. Other nations have proclaimed jurisdiction over the water adjoining their own coasts. And so it goes.
Even the United States has recently taken unilateral steps in this direction. An article in U.S. News & World Report (April 19, 1976) states, “Whether the rest of the world likes it or not, the U.S. is staking claim to all fishing grounds within 200 miles of its shores.” A measure setting forth this claim, approved by Congress, will become law on March 1, 1977.
These actions, of course, open up the whole broad and thorny question as to who owns what parts of what seas, as The Reader’s Digest puts it in an article entitled, “The Grab for the Oceans.” On a planet whose earthly bounties are being rapidly depleted, the oceans of the world constitute the last great source of needed basic materials and foods. Indeed, it is even being suggested that as world population grows it will be necessary to build entire cities in the oceans. And in whose ocean will these be built?
The Blight of Misused Technology
Writer Ronald Schiller makes the same point. He says, “As the land surfaces of the globe grow ever more crowded, and its resources dwindle, nations must rely increasingly on the bounty of the sea to help feed their populations and sustain their industries. Toward this end, modern technology now enables us to exploit the oceans as never before.” However, the modern technology of which Schiller speaks has already enabled man to bring the world’s vast oil reserves to a foreseeable point of exhaustion; it has consumed the greater portion of our high-grade iron ore deposits; it has stripped much of our fine forest lands; and it is now depleting the oceans of much of their vital marine life, with mechanized trawlers hauling in whole schools of fish with a single huge seine, and oceangoing, computerized factories pursuing and killing defenseless whales to the point of near extinction.
Foreseeing the political, economic, and social chaos that must be the inevitable result of continued, mindless exploitation of the world’s finite resources, a few thoughtful individuals and responsible groups are raising their voices in an effort to promote reason and justice in the allocation and use of these God-given blessings. These earnest people are calling for united action by all nations, for a truly global and humanitarian approach to global problems, in the hope that thus these rising difficulties may be resolved.
Along this line, a Law of the Sea conference was convened in 1974 by the United Nations in Caracas, Venezuela, to bring about agreement governing the waters of the world that would be binding on all nations. After weeks of discussion, the conference decided upon certain yardsticks that should govern the rights of nations with regard to their offshore waters; but when it came to discussing the specific application of these yardsticks, the conference was hopelessly divided, and ended in a deadlock.
One World, One Destiny
The vital need for the peoples of the world to share equitably and to cooperate in good conscience is a lesson that the peoples of the world find hard to learn; but perhaps we are now in that phase of the world’s history when at least an inkling of that godly principle is due to begin to touch men’s hearts and consciousness to prepare them for the future. It will be an especially difficult lesson for those nations that have enjoyed a high degree of internal prosperity.
Pursuing this line of thought, Representative Al Ullman of Oregon stated in a speech at Boston University last year, “We grew up with an abiding belief in our manifest destiny—that wherever America chose to go, it conquered; that, whatever we planned, worked. Suddenly some very old truths began to sink in. We found that there is no way to separate our destiny from the rest of the planet. We found that our world is a very delicate mechanism, with a very delicate balance between man and resources.
“A few simple axioms became all too clear: that our critical energy resources can’t be retrieved, and nations that have these resources are not going to part with them cheaply. … It is a tough message to get across—that we have come to an end of an era.”
Henry Brandon, chief American correspondent of The Sunday Times of London, has also remarked on this situation. He said, “The era of American omnipresence, the willingness to exercise power alone, and the idea that the United States can control events are passing into history.” Again, the implication is clear—if the world is to get along in harmony and peace, the needs and desires of all peoples must be given just consideration; for the peoples of this world are, in fact, but one large family, living in one large house.
“The Global Imperative”
Isaac Asimov of the Gannett News Service in a recent article places the need, yea, the indispensability, of world action to meet world problems squarely before us. He calls his article, fittingly “The Global Imperative.” He writes, “All the problems that are facing us today and that are making life-and-death decisions necessary are global in nature. In addition to the population crisis, there are the growing dangers of pollution, of scarcity, of nuclear contamination in peace or war—and each one of these vital problems is not a matter that is, or can be, confined to any one nation.
“As the world has but one atmosphere and one ocean, pollution anywhere becomes pollution everywhere. … As resources grow scarce, they will be plentiful for no one. … As for radioactive fallout, we know quite well that it cannot be restricted to those particular nations that may be at war, or whose reactors may have gone out of control. Global problems can only have global solutions. … They cannot yield even to worldwide treatment, if each nation works on its own.
“If the world is to survive, there will have to be continuing movement toward international cooperation; … there must be, in connection with global problems, global decisions, global laws, and global enforcement.”
We believe that few would disagree with this assessment of the gravity of the world’s problems, and of the course that must be pursued for their solution. But what hope can we have that man will achieve the required global and equitable cooperation? Perhaps the best answer to that question can be found in recalling what has happened, and is even now happening, to two humanly constituted world organizations of the present century, both undertaken with high hopes by men and nations imbued with the lofty purpose of unitedly endeavoring to improve the lot of humankind.
Suicide by Selfishness?
The first of these, we will recall, was the League of Nations, which is described in one dictionary as “an international organization established in 1920, primarily for the preservation of world peace, and formally dissolved in 1946.” What happened to this noble but short-lived effort to achieve peaceful cooperation between the nations of the world? According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, “The League of Nations suffered a severe handicap through the refusal of the United States to become a member and through the persistence of all members in regarding national sovereignty and interests as superior to mutual concession. … It foundered because the powerful nations could not be coerced into mutual compromise or into acceptance of its decisions.”
The United Nations organization was established immediately after the Second World War to replace the defunct League of Nations. It, too, was initiated with high hopes of bringing the nations of the world together in a unity of purpose and effort. And, indeed, it can boast some small accomplishments. But in latter years in has become renowned more for its bickering and backbiting than for solid achievements. In an article entitled, “Is the U.N. Committing Suicide?” David Abshire writes, “In recent years … the U.N. General Assembly has degenerated into a cockpit of inflammatory rhetoric where its actions often exacerbate conflicts among nations and at times even thwart peace.”
Decisions are too often made, not in the light of what is best for all, but what is most advantageous to the individual nation or the ideological bloc to which that nation belongs. On the other hand, when the more powerful nations such as the United states have mutual problems, they bypass the United Nations organization completely and come to a private understanding at private conferences.
The extent to which national self-interest so often triumphs over the global good may be seen in a remark by Dr. H. Mamuzu Banda, president of the East African state of Malawi. Whereas Dr. Banda properly has been raising his voice against South Africa’s policy of apartheid, he engages meanwhile in a thriving trade with South Africa in bauxite, tea, and tobacco. Says Dr. Banda, “I would do business with the devil himself in order to help Malawian development.”
“A Plan of the Ages”—Ephesians 3:11, Diaglott
Clearly, the only solution to the world’s problems as these problems affect both nations and individuals is wholehearted, unselfish, and equitable cooperation and sharing between all peoples. And just as clearly it is evident that individual and national selfishness has defeated all efforts to achieve the needed cooperation. Does this mean, then, that mankind is forever doomed to conflict, frustration, rivalry, want, and selfish competition? Does it mean that the forces of evil, selfishness, and sin shall forever rule in the earth, to man’s everlasting sorrow and suffering?
No, indeed, it does not! True, man is amply demonstrating his inability to extricate himself from the awful results of his own selfishness and unwisdom. But the Heavenly Father has revealed through his Word that he has provided, and is even now in process of executing, a plan for man’s salvation, based on Jesus’ sacrifice on behalf of the whole world. And it is a plan that is so wise and loving and far-reaching that it will eliminate not only man’s latter day problems but also the ages-long curse of sin and death.
The Bible reveals that the present social arrangement of earth, scripturally designated “this present evil world” under the domination of Satan, will soon pass away. Indeed, the prevalence in the world today of evil, selfishness, and iniquity of every description, pervading every level of society and all aspects of government, is evidence that the end is near, for our Lord himself said that these conditions would mark the end of the world (age).—Gal. 1:4; II Cor. 4:4; II Pet. 3:7,10; Matt. 24:3,12
The Heavenly Father hates all forms of iniquity and all workers in iniquity; he loves righteousness and the righteous. But he has permitted the reign of sin for a time, and for a purpose: that “Sin [might be] exposed in its true character,” and that the blessedness and peace and joy that come with righteousness might be made manifest to all people for all time.—Rom. 7:13, NEB; Ps. 11:7; 5:4,5
A Righteous New World
With the passing away of this present evil world, or social order, Christ’s kingdom will be established in the earth. The Apostle Peter calls this new world “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Associated with Jesus in the rulership of this glorious kingdom will be his faithful, footstep followers who “shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”—II Pet. 3:13; Rev. 20:6
Then, all the billions of earth’s sleeping dead who are in their graves and for whom Christ died “shall hear his [Christ’s] voice, and shall come forth” to receive an unhindered opportunity to obey the righteous laws of the new kingdom, under the loving guidance of Christ and his faithful followers.—John 5:28,29; Rev. 22:17
The obedient in that thousand-year day will gain everlasting life here on earth, but the disobedient “shall be destroyed from among the people,” going into second death.—Acts 3:21-23; Rev. 20:15
This is the truly beneficent, worldwide government for which all mankind, unwittingly, have been longing and waiting ever since sin first appeared in the Garden of Eden, even until this very day in which we live. (Rom. 8:19-23) It will be a righteous kingdom, and it will have full authority, indeed, global authority, to enforce its righteous laws, for in that glorious new world Christ will be the King of kings, and Lord of lords. “God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11) Selfishness and sin will have no place in that kingdom. Love and peace and generosity and hospitality and cooperation will be evident on every hand.
In that blessed day and glorious kingdom all will have full opportunity to conform their hearts and lives to its righteous laws and thus gain everlasting life. God will cast out selfishness from all hearts and put his law “in their inward parts and write it in their hearts.” He says of all the willing and obedient in that day, “[I] will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”—Jer. 31:33,34
Plenty for All!
Wars shall be forever banished from the earth. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isa. 2:4) Mark the enthusiasm with which all will seek to know and to do the Heavenly Father’s will: “The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.”—Zech. 8:21,22
And there will be plenty for all! “They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.” (Isa. 49:10) “The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. … In the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.” (Isa. 35:1,2,6,7) “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.” (Isa. 65:21) Every need for joyous, happy, everlasting life will be supplied!
All will then rejoice to serve and cooperate with the Lord and with one another, for “the desire of all nations shall [truly have] come.” (Hag. 2:7) Under the just and loving rulership of Christ and his church, all mankind will joyously strive to do that which is right and just and loving, “for when Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”—Isa. 27:9
Love, joy, peace, justice, everlasting life—yes, in that glorious kingdom the desire of all nations will have come at last! “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain [kingdom] of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain [kingdom] of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isa. 2:2,3) May thy kingdom come, Lord!