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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 9, 1983
PAGE 14
From where does the idea of a world of likes come? In part from a
belief in universal brotherhood:... In part from a trendy eco
logical pantheism with its misty notions of the oneness of those
sharing this lonely planet ...•
To gloss over contradictory interests, incompatible ideologies
and . o � pos�cultures � sources of conflict is more� anti
pol1.tical. It � dangerous. Those who have long held a mirror to
the world and seen only themselves are apt to be shocked and
panicked when the mirror is removed, as inevitably it must be.
Thankfully, for the very preservation (Matt. 24:22) of the hopelessly
divided and competing human race--wherein billions of human spirits clash-
a select group of individuals is being called out of this world of "incom
patible ideologies and opposing cultures." God's called-out ones are being
trained in His universally-applicable way of life, based on His law of
love, which will comprise the unifying culture of the World Tomorrow.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau
As a postscript, here is an intriguing article received over our Reuters
news wire, datelined Tel Aviv, September 7 and entitled "Jewish New Year
5744 Spells Destruction in Hebrew Letters."
For Israelis preparing to celebrate the Jewish New Year which
begins this evening, the ominous implications of 1984 are already
here.
In Hebrew, numbers are given letter equivalents, which
mystic Jewish tradition has interpreted for omens.
For the
coming Jewish year 5744, the letters spell the word "Tashina""d" or
apocalyptic destructTon. With Israeli soldiers still bogged down
in Lebanon and Prime Minister Manachem Begin announcing he in
tends to resign, even secular Israelis believe "Tashmad" will be
a difficult year.
Education and Culture Minister Zevulun Hammer earlier proposed
sw1tch1.ng the last two letters to avoid . the year's unpleasant
name, but government calendars have Eeen issued with the fearful
word. Radio commentators have been spelling out the letters to
avoid pronouncing the full word and Israeli mystical experts,
grasping for a comforting interpretation, say the year could mean
the destruction of the enemies of the Jews.
Superstitious Jews note that the Hebrew letters for the Jewish
year in 1938-39, on the eve of the Nazi holocaust of European
Jewry, spelled "Murder." Some Israeli experts say George Orwell,
who studied Jewish Kabbala mysticism, chose 1984 as the title of
his futuristic book because he knew the year's letter equivalent
according to the Jewish lunar calendar.
(Literary experts
generally say Orwell simply switched the last two numbers of the
year he wrote the book--1948.)