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only Gospel Jesus taught--was being suppressed. From then only a gospel of MEN
about Christ was proclaimed to the world!
Today some 20 million people in all parts of the world are reading The
PLAIN TRUTH.
Other reasons have held up and delayed the formation of a United States
of
EUROPE. The nations there are divided by different languages--German, Italian,
Spanish, French, Polish, Romanian, Greek and others. They are divided by
different nationalistic aspirations and patriotisms. They have different
governmental systems and currencies.
Bible prophecy says this European unification will be also a union of
Church and State (Rev. 17). Many European political leaders do not want
religious
domination, or even participation. But they are coming to realize they cannot be
welded together into one great European super nation without the unifying power
of the Catholic church.
And therein has been another problem that has caused long delay in
achieving unification. The Catholic church is divided between the Roman
Catholic church in the west and the Greek Orthodox church in the east. The
latter
has strenuously objected to supremacy of the Pope, and to the doctrine of papal
infallibility. But on this trip we learned in Athens that the Eastern Orthodox
church at last is willing to give in on papal leadership, though not yet in
agreement on infallibility. I feel sure some compromise or agreement will be
reached very soon.
When I was last in Jerusalem, the Patriarch of Jerusalem came to see me.
I
asked whether he felt ecumenical reunion would be achieved with the Roman
church. His reply was, "We are praying for it."
On the Pope's recent 10-day visit to Spain, he made an urgent plea for a
united Europe. He warned that Europe faces many crises in the immediate future.
The solution, he said, lies in the affirmation of Europe's Christian heritage.
He
told the audience: "Find yourself...discover your origins. Give life to your
roots," which are Roman Catholic.
So even the Pope now comes out in public advocating European restoration
of "the Holy Roman Empire." Religion, he contended, is the unifying balm for
healing the differences between divergent languages and national aspirations.
An important government official in Athens said to me that European
unification on a political and military basis is the only hope for world peace.
But this world little understands what in real fact is going to bring
world
peace at last.
WHY no peace, now?
This world started with one man, Adam. God had created him with a mind
capable of dealing in matter--material objects from the ground. Before Adam