PERMANENT THINGS

By Eric D. Butler
A certain type of Christian is shocked when confronted with the statement that Mankind is now living in the post-Christian era. The statement does not mean that Christianity is any less true; it means that today's society, an association of individuals, is progressively less influenced by Christianity, the result being that Mankind is being organised in a manner which treats the individual, not as a divine being capable of knowing, loving and serving God, but as raw material for centralised planning.
The barbaric plight of the world is the logical end result of this type of planning. Life has been cheapened and coarsened. The Kingdom of God within is mutilated and denied expression as external pressure crushes creativeness.
Christ said that He came that the Truth might make the individual free. Christ held up, the vision of freedom, the power of the individual to make free choices, but said that Truth was the road to freedom. Christ also spoke about the life more abundant.

The planners, economic "experts", and their political yes men, insist that the end of man is to be fitted into a nightmare called The New International Economic Order. In reality it would be an extension of the Soviet system on a global scale. Even more disturbing than the retreat from Christianity, is the general silence of the leaders of the Christian Church in the face of a triumphant Anti-Christ. The major concern of these leaders is confined to proclaiming a "social gospel" which concerns itself mainly with effects and a type of social welfare programme. "Doing good" to individuals, irrespective of whether they want it done to them or not, robs them of the God given right to make their own choices, and to accept the personal responsibility for those choices. Do-gooding programmes, even if termed "Christian Socialism", demand still more centralised power for the collective, generally described as "the State", over the individual.

Not surprisingly, large numbers of people, particularly the young, who are confronted with a future looking increasingly bleak and unstable, no longer see Christianity as of any relevance. But just as Nature abhors a vacuum and seeks to fill it, so a spiritual vacuum results in individuals seeking for some way to overcome it. Man does not live by bread alone. Numerous cults are flourishing, as they always do when a Civilisation is disintegrating. One of the fastest growing religions in the world today is called "secular humanism". This religion replaces the worship of God with the worship of Man.

"By their fruits ye shall know them". Consider the plight of the world today as man deifies man and rejects God. Even where Christian teaching in the schools is still attempted, it is made increasingly difficult by the fact that the world is largely de-Christianised. How does one teach the young to be loving to one another in a practical sense, to be honest and charitable, when they witness the behaviour of modern party politicians and those generally described as both "progressive" and "successful"?

The most insidious policy destroying stable society is inflation. Those who would be outraged if they found that the system of weights and measures was being tampered with have been conditioned to believe that a progressive debauching of the unit of measure called money, is "inevitable". Inflation is an indication of the perversion of the true purpose of the economic system, and the financial means used to sustain that perversion. It is completely immoral and bears heaviest upon those least able to protect themselves. It fosters a cynical and destructive approach to life, and an erosion of all moral standards. And, as being graphically demonstrated as these comments are being written, so far from fostering peace and goodwill, even the Christian season has not prevented one group of Australians from victimising their fellow Australians in an attempt to gain higher wages, mainly to offset inflation.
All industrial nations are now in a state of civil war while seeking to solve internal problems by growing trade war.

The silence of the Church on the great issues of the day, ranging from crushing taxation, escalating debt, usurious interest rates, does not mean that Christianity is dead. The Truth is eternal. If men keep building bridges, which collapse, this is striking confirmation that they have departed from the correct principles governing bridge building. Social disintegration is a reminder that Truth has been violated. Today's world is a testimony to God in what otherwise could be regarded as a meaningless collapse into chaos. In turning from God, the Truth, man has demonstrated his own follies.

So far from being depressed by a situation which now must get worse, those who have held fast to the Christian revelation and heritage, should now be seized with a realisation that they are being offered a tremendous opportunity to present certain salvation to their fellows in the tumultuous days which are just ahead. By their own faith and works they can demonstrate that the Kingdom is within, and that all individuals can start to search for it as they realise it will not be found in bigger and more highly centralised human organisations.

On behalf of The Australian League of Rights, whose first objective has always been to promote loyalty to the Christian concept of God, I wish all our readers and their loved ones a Holy and Joyous Christmas.

BRIEF COMMENTS

There has been an avalanche of propaganda designed to convince Australians that they are going to be much better off by having more international banks established in Australia. A sample of the wisdom of the international bankers is provided by Mr. Edward Brogan of Barclays Australia Ltd., writing in "The Australian" of December 3rd:
"While the international banks would never claim to have a monopoly in the area of structuring financial packages for projects, it is also true that they have, over the years, developed special skills in project evaluation and risk assessment which, coupled with the ability to commit large amounts of funding, give them a particular appetite for project lending." These "special skills" have been applied to financing the Soviet Union and its satellites. Consider Poland with an international debt so great that not even the interest can be met.

Also writing in "The Australian" of December 3rd, Mr. Philip Beard warns "Australia's growing reputation in the international banking community is at risk if the door that has barred foreign banks hanging their shingle in this country is not opened in the near future." Just fancy that! If the rest of the world sank beneath the sea tomorrow, submerging all international banks, Australians would have no great difficulty in providing themselves with all that is required for a highly civilised society. They would find no difficulty in doing their own financial bookkeeping. Reality would compel them to change their financial rules so that they accurately reflected economic realities.

There could be one small ray of light in the anti-depression programme of the Mitterand Government in France. While we agree with President Mitterand that the monetarist policies brought about by Washington end in serious failure", we wonder if the French Government will be successful in its declared intention of having workers retire early to make room for the employment of the unemployed young. The idea is sound, if financed realistically.

"I think there is going to be a substantial challenge over the coming year, for we have more inflationary pressures here than in many other countries because the economy is growing strongly." Prime Minister Fraser in interview with Mr. Russell Scheider, "The Weekend Australian", December 12-13th. Mr. Fraser did not explain why there should be any inflation simply because the economy was growing. Inflation would suggest that the cost of production was rising. With every technological advance, the true cost of a unit of production is falling. Mr. Fraser, like Treasurer John Howard, has now given up talking about REDUCING inflation. He is content to "contain" it. But inflation will not be "contained" next year.

In The Age (Melbourne) December 14th, appeared on Page 9 a remarkably frank article under the heading - "Poland's Future Decided In Western Bank Boardrooms". The article is datelined London, Dec. 13th; and the correspondent is one Stephen Axis. Mr. Axis mentions that dollars are so scarce in Poland that black market money hustlers can demand, and get, ten times the going rate. Comments from various bankers leave no doubt in the reader's mind that the bankers are by no means opposed to an invasion, by Russia, of Poland. In fact, many desire just this. One London bank official is quoted as saying: "Putting my own feelings aside and speaking only as a banker, it would be a good thing if Russia invaded because then she would be obliged to honour Poland's debts." Many keen observers claim that Russia wishes to avoid an outright invasion of Poland for this very reason: the Kremlin naturally wants Warsaw to pay its own way. Apart from this, there is the certain shock to the Kremlin satellites from a Russian invasion. The whole system is so brittle that it can't stand major shocks to its basic structure. At least there is some spin-off for the genuine Western opponents of the Communist system of government, the truth about Western financial support for Communism is coming out loud and clear.