A WEEKLY COMMENTARY
Year Twenty-Nine ... Number One ... January 1, 1982
THE NATURE OF WORLD WAR III
Toward the end of each calendar year many editors and publishers look back and catalog what they consider the most important news events of the year. The Associated Press polled its scattered editors and publishers, and asked them to help construct a consensus. AP's top ten news stories for the year 1981 were listed in this order of importance: 1) The assassination attempt on President Reagan; 2) The return of the hostages from Iran; 3) The assassination of Anwar Sadat; 4) The attempted assassination of the Pope; 5) The new conservative administration in Washington; 6) The American economy; 7) The flight of the space shuttle Columbia; 8) The air controllers' strike and their dismissal by President Reagan; 9) The appointment of Sandra Day O'Conner as first female Supreme Court Justice; and 10) Developments in Poland (it is obvious that this list was compiled before the invoking of martial law in Poland, otherwise Polish developments would have ranked much higher in this poll). Some of the other important stories that failed to make AP's top ten hit list: The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, the death of 113 people in the collapse of the walkway over a crowded dance floor at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, the strike that eliminated one-third of the baseball season, the arrest of a suspect in the two-year run of deaths and disappearances of young blacks in Atlanta, Israel's bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor, the destruction of two Libyan fighter planes by American airmen, etc.
The first four of AP's top ten stories are crimes of international importance. Attempts to rid the world of its leaders, illegal takeover of an American embassy and the holding of hostages who had diplomatic immunity, the many kidnappings of VIPs and military officers, bombings of buildings and acts of arson, sabotage and skynapping of airplanes, and wholesale terrorist activities throughout the world; these form a new definition for war. As H du B Reports in his issue for November/December 1981: "The blunt fact is, the world is already at war. (But) the days of Pearl Harbor are over. The act of formally going to war involves risks which a nation that has perfected subversion -- and is the only one pledged to impose its ideology on the world -- is not going to take. Moscow knows that Pearl Harbors bring Hiroshimas. (But) democracies do not think of war in terms of terrorism. The new form of war is through terrorism within nations, for which the aggressor can deny responsibilty. The objective of all war is to destroy the enemy's capability of continuing the war or the will of its people to wage a war. Destabilization through terrorism accompanied by subversion accomplished the same objective. The first move in the softening of a nation is to lead its press to attack any manifestation of loyalty as 'super-patriotism.' In war there is no substitute for patriotism. After that, move to the enemy's planning table..."
Crime at the international level has replaced the original concepts of war and few people in the West realize that we really are at war. But this is not a war of nations against nations. It is a war against Christian society, against civilization itself. The enemy has four universal objectives: the abolition of traditional religion in favor of atheistic humanism, the destruction of the family, the abolition of private property, and the suppression of individuality in favor of communalism. Hence, we find the enemy using crime at every level of human existence in order to achieve its four goals. Crime has reached the level at which we are turning our homes and schools, our places of business and our churches into fortresses. We see and read ads for deadbolt locks, electrical alarm systems, trained watchdogs, security guards, and, among the wise, a pistol in the dresser drawer despite efforts to disarm us. The national average is fearful: some member in one out of every three households in the land has been a victim of crime during the past year. Even worse: more than half of the crimes have been committed by children or young adults.
But, as Dr. John A. Howard, President of The Rockford Institute, has said, "The problem is much larger than crime. It isn't only the public laws that are losing their effectiveness as restraints on human conduct, all the informal rules which make it possible to live together amicably and productively are being just as widely disregarded as the public laws. Courteousness, pride in doing one's work well, faithfulness in marriage, truthfulness, patriotism and many, many other norms of behavior which make for a pleasant and workable and unified society are falling by the wayside" (from an address delivered before the Tuscon Rotary Club, December 2, 1981).
Too many of us keep thinking only in terms of an enemy that might attack from outside our borders, invade and destroy our way of life, enslave us and take away our remaining freedoms. But there also is an enemy which is among us, and within us, an enemy that is destroying our society, abolishing our civilization, using ideas and words as weapons which we fail to recognize as weapons of war. This is an enemy that is waging a third world war against us, and so few of us are fighting against this enemy.
How has this enemy brought about such a condition? Dr. Howard names three related causes: 1) The disintegration of the traditional family; 2) The system of schooling; and 3) The destruction of religion. He explains a Biblical truth in terms that even an avowed athiest should be able to understand: " ... The human being is not born with the knack of getting along with his neighbors. That kind of conduct must be learned. We can wish that everyone were born friendly and considerate, but our instincts, for the most part, incline us to look out for ourselves and trample on the folks who get in the way. Self-restraint, cooperation, helpfulness, the willingness to sacrifice in order to keep a marriage together, or a nation together -- these are attitudes and skills which must be taught to the young and continually reinforced for all generations ... And the most powerful and effective training center is the family. It is within the family that the child learns best that he can't have his own way all the time, that there are rules which everyone must obey."
So, the first line of defense against this enemy that is destroying our society and our civilization is the traditional family, a family in which all its members are related by marriage or by blood. In such a family it is the duty of the parents to feed, protect, care for and train the children during their formative years; and in later years the process is reversed. This first line of defense has been breached, is no longer holding against the enemy. The second line of defense should be the school. It has been pointed out that virtually every society in history -- until quite recently -- has recognized that a chief purpose of education is to train the young how to live responsibly and effectively in their own tribe or nation. Again quoting Dr. Howard, former president of Rockford College and now president of Rockford Institute, educating the young means "teaching them about the ideals, the things that make life worth living ... and teaching about the obligations and the taboos. The young are introduced to the heroes who are revered for the sacrifices they made and the traitors who damaged everyone by their harmful acts." But today heroes are forgotten and men who offer new "lifestyles" are extolled. Educationalists insist that each person regardless of age or knowledge, must decide for himself what is right or what is wrong, then do what he thinks is right. It's okay to smoke marijuana, even in grade school. "It doesn't hurt anyone else and it brings you pleasure." In the book "The Family, America's Hope," it is pointed out that the enemies of our society have perverted language to advance their destructive methods. As an example, "situation ethics" is one of the more popular perversions. Ethics is the study of what is either right or wrong on all occasions. Situation means sometimes; sometimes something is right, sometimes it is wrong. This denies the very meaning of ethics. So "situation ethics" is a perversion of language, but a very neat trick for promoting "the new morality." Another such popular perversion is "freedom of choice." It is used to justify abortion, any kind of sexual activity, any "life style" -- and that's another language perversion. Of all the weapon-phrases in the arsenal of the armies attacking our forms of society and our Christian civilization, the one which has probably inflicted the deepest wounds on the institution of the family is the innocent sounding "life style." Quoting "The Family - America's Hope": "This is an ingenious verbal sleight-of-hand which in one stroke abolished the standards and models for adult behavior. It proclaims that marraige is simply one option among many, no better than the others. It places a stamp of approval on temporary liasons, homosexual partnerships, recurring group sex or whatever suits the preference of the individual ... Anarchy, that is, the abscence of any rules and laws, is the underlying objective." Another popular weapon-word which has become generally accepted is "parenting." Joyce Taylor, in "Pro-Family Forum" has exposed this weapon-word for what it really is. We quote:
"The distasteful word 'parenting' is a rank example of faddist nouning when they should be verbing. After all, we don't speak of sistering, brothering, aunting, uncling and cousining. It would seem the nation's educators have spent too much time wording and not enough thoughting, leaving almost no time at all for teaching. Even more unfortunate, this distasteful word describes a program crippling to the American family and the social and moral climate of our nation. Probably the most popular Parenting programs nationwide, stem from Dr. Thomas Gordon's books "Parenting Effectiveness Training" (PET), and "Teacher Effectiveness Training" (TET) ... The author himself describes it [parenting] as 'humanistic' and calls it 'a complete system that differs dramatically from tradition' ... The program would abolish the authority of parents, instead stresses 'effective management of conflict' ... Hence, we have 3 common characteristics of all Parenting Programs: 1) Don't be the kind of parent you have (authoritarian); 2) The family is a democracy and children should have equal rights in decision-making; and 3) Children should never be subject to physical punishment ... Unfortunately, many churches are using the same Parenting programs rapidly being embraced by public education. State legislatures are funding Parenting programs without the foggiest idea of the content. National organizations, including the PTA, advocate the teaching of Parenting. The following quotes are taken from PTA publications: "The PTA's concern with parenting is part of its larger effort to introduce comprehensive programs of school health education in all public schools, kindergartens, high-school ... Teachers should be comfortable with and accepting of students who use 'street language' in conveying their knowledge, concerns, and ideas related to sexual behavior. Teachers who use 'street language' in communicating with students should not fear reprisal from school authorities."
Alongside this weapon-word "Parenting" there has been developed yet another protent weapon-word, one that is being used very effectively by our enemies. Unfortunately, the word is also being used as an action word by those people who, unthinkingly or ignorantly, accept any new fad that is being promoted by the Media and recommended by some alleged "expert." This weapon-word is "Unisex." Any Christian knows that God made women different than men both physically and psychologically, so they could become a team and supplement each other in the building of families, which form the nucleus of any and all human societies that can endure. There are those who know not God, or deny His Laws. But, as St. Paul might have written, they still must know by the universal laws of nature, and understand in their hearts, that the roles of men and women are not totally interchangeable. Current literature(?), movies and television productions continue to stress the idea that men can replace women even as mothers, and that women can replace men in any role in society. That is a lie, of course. But many are made to believe a lie. And this unisex myth has penetrated so deeply into public consciousness that the very important development of sexual identity among the youth is blurred and inhibited. The increasing frequency of homosexual activity among the nation's youth is but one manifestation of the potency of this unisex myth. Today's parents, instead of "Parenting" and "Unisexing", ought to take pride in their respective roles as fathers and mothers, and as parents who supplement each other in the God-commanded activities of the family enterprise. To do otherwise is to play into the hands of the enemy -- and reap the whirlwind.
The problems and challenges that will confront us in 1982 are likely to have a profound effect on all our lives, and on the lives of future generations. These are so many things that seem impossible to overcome; because behind all these things which we read, see, hear or experience, there is a great conspiratorial struggle for control of the earth's resources, and in the eyes of these Power Brokers, any form of human labor or endeavor is a natural resourc. It is this struggle of the Power Brokers that causes wars, food shortages, such wholesale suffering as is presently being visited upon the people of Poland, and all manner of social and civil disturbances over which we seem to have no control. Currently there is a movement in Europe called "democratic socialism", similar to the "economic democracy" which now threatens America. We will hear much of this in 1982. And again, we'll feel we have no control. But there is One Who always has control, and He has given us dominion over His earth. We should never fear, but remember that the exercise of that dominion begins at home, in the family, for there lies the future of America. Dr. Howard, whom we have quoted so profusely in this Report, reminds us:
"It is easy to become discouraged in the face of the powerful disintegrating forces loose in the land. Nevertheless, much of the folly of our time is the result of boredom. Once the basic activities of life are provided the human being seems to need a cause to espouse ... The cause of the God-centered disciplined life has been upstaged by a whole menagerie of prophets advocating silly departures from their religious norm, not because their alternatives were superior or even made sense, but because far too many of us rooted in and commmitted to our religious values, have like the campus professors of the sixties taken our heritage for granted and gone about our daily business. The ideological war is being lost by default. We must bring our affirmative message to center stage so that it becomes the cause that fills the vacuum in the hearts and lives of a confused people. It is the banner of permanent and ennobling obligations that we must raise on high and which we must joyfully and consistently commend to our children by word and deed and prayer."
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