THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MONDAY, FEB 9, 1981

A Voice Cries Out:

Problem of Survival-
Will It Work Out?

Will the thread of nuclear war
and human extinction just go away
if we don’t think about it?

Will the old adage apply now? It said, “In the long run, all will work itself out.” Or will it have to be worked out by someone?
     Why do we seem afraid to think about it—or do anything about this unprecedented danger? SALT, if it ever worked, would only limit expansion of nuclear weapons. But existing weapons of mass destruction could annihilate mankind from this planet 50 times over. And once would be quite enough!
     One H-bomb would wreak as much destruction as all the bombs exploded by both sides in World War II!
     Can we feel safe by thinking the thread is so terrifying no one would dare use it? A madman in one of the smaller nuclear nations might start the war that could spread to erase humanity from the earth! And with chemical warfare thrown in!
     But two facts are real!
     One is the fact—for the first time since humans inhabited the earth—there do exist such weapons and the realistic possibility.
     War brought a fast-advancing civilization to the very brink of such unbelievable—yet real ultimate catastrophe? Why the paradox? If the thread is too awesome for most to contemplate, so is the advancement and progress in 20th-century civilization awesome almost beyond belief!    
     What would a Lincoln, a Vanderbilt or an Emerson think, if he could be brought back to life today? Such a one would stand aghast at the marvels of science and technology, the power of business and industry, the modern Concorde carrying a hundred passengers from London and arriving in New York almost two hours before they started? Or astronauts flying to the moon and back—unmanned spacecraft sending back photographs from the Martian surface? Yes, AWESOME!
     But equally awesome would appear the trouble and evils of our world today—and the reality of the Frankenstein monster of nuclear warfare that threatens to destroy the civilization that produced it!
     Human capability seems unlimited dealing with the physical and material. But our troubles and evils are spiritual in nature. Before them our best brains seem helpless!
     I repeat there are two ways of life—“GIVE” and “GET.” GIVE is the spiritual way of outflowing love—cooperating, helping, serving, sharing. It’s really an invisible spiritual LAW as inexorable and as relentless as the law of gravity! Its transgression is the motive of “GET”-- self-centeredness, vanity, covetousness, envy, competition, strife, violence      !
     Above I stated two facts are real! One is the fact of the impending CRASH of human annihilation! The other, also one most don’t want to think about  is the super-powerful unseen “Strong Hand from Someplace” that will intervene in this world’s affairs just before that final crash and save humanity from itself. A new world government will rule all nations. Humans will be compelled to be happy in peace and universal abundance with eternal salvation offered all! The new WORLD TOMORROW will start living the way of “GIVE.” And how gloriously it will pay off! Believe it or not, it’s as certain as the rising of tomorrow’s sun!

Herbert W. Armstrong
(1892-1986)