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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 20, 1982
PAGE 15
After protests from many of his followers, Begin returned the
Sinai, on the grounds that it was not part of historic "Eretz
Yisrael."
But he has made clear that, even in exchange for
peace, he has no more territory to cede.
Furthermore, by
referring constantly to Israel's current holdin <; s � "western
Eretz Yisrael," he proclaims, 1f not the revisionists vow to
expand eastward, then at least his conviction that whatever the
Arabs hold of Britain's old Palestine mandate is at the
sufferance of the Jewish State.
One cannot help but think that the Begin government would show no
hesitation whatsoever in attacking and even occupying at least
part of Jordan should Hussein lose control of his country and the
P.L.O. take over. (The P.L.O. almost did this in late 1969. When
Syrian troops were about to cross the border to help the P.L.O.
Israel warned them to stop. This enabled King Hussein to muster
enough power to crush the P.L.O. revolution and kick them out,
unfortunately to Lebanon.)
In the interview with Sharon excerpted above, the Defense Minister expres
sed the hope that the eight Arab host governments who have taken in the
P.L.O. expellees would be able to control P.L.O. activities in their lands.
"Besides, should they try to overthrow governments Israel would not stay
motionless••.•I made those murderers a gift:
the gift of life••••Woe to
them if they dare to start again with their bloody activities, even in
countries which are far from Israel. Woe to them."
�� �
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau
POSTSCRIPT With the Day of Atonement approaching, ministers will certainly
want to obtain a photocopy of the August 30, 1982 NEWSWEEK article "Giving
the Devil His Due." It is on pages 72-74 in the North American edition. It
is a very interesting survey tracing the historical views of Satan and
evil, explained by theologians down through the years. It would be too long
to excerpt here. Hopefully a photo copy can be obtained in your nearest
library. Here are just a couple of excerpts:
Over the last two centuries he [Satanl has been debunked by ra
tionalists, exorcised by psychotherapists and demythologized by
theologians. Though the problem of evil remained as mysterious
as ever, by the middle of this century the Devil has become a mere
metaphor to all but the most persistently literal-minded.
Belief in the Devil is clearly embedded in Christian tradition.
Jesus evidently believed in him:
[Hey, what about Matthew 4?
!]
so did the early church fathers, the great medieval theologians
and the Protestant reformers. But that belief has faded among
many Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants today••••Even among
otherwise orthodox Christians, his figure has become vestigal: he
exists in Scripture and tradition, but he has been trivialized by
a thousand superstitions. "Occasionally you'll find a preacher
going overboard about Satan," says Southern Baptist pastor
Kenneth Chafin of Houston, "but that's usually someone fixing to
have a nervous breakdown."
--G.H.H.