NO PEACE FOR THE FALSE MESSENGERS!

Reasons for 'Weeping Bitterly'

The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UN failed to reveal any real prospect of "peace on earth." One reason was indicated by a writer in The Toronto Star of Canada, who wrote: "The UN is a toothless lion, which roars when confronted by human savagery, but has to wait for its members to pop in its dentures before it can bite." Too often that bite has been too little too late. The messengers of peace in the present world system, and especially those in Christendom, have been echoing the words of Jeremiah 6:14: "They try to heal the breakdown of my people lightly saying, 'There is peace! There is peace!' when there is no peace."

Successive secretaries-general of the UN have worked hard, and no doubt sincerely, to make the UN succeed. But the constant wrangling between the multipurposed 185 members about how to contain warfare, frame policy and handle financing has stymied prospects of success. In his annual report for 1995,the then, Secretary-general wrote of the receding "spectre of global nuclear cataclysm" as opening the way for "nations to work together towards economic and social progress for the whole of humankind." But he added: "Sadly, the record of world affairs over the past few years has largely belied those optimistic expectations." Truely, the would-be messengers of peace are 'weeping bitterly.'

A headline in The Orange County Register of California read: The U.N. is Financially, Morally Bankrupt." The article stated that between 1945 and 1990, there were over 80 wars, claiming more than 30 million lives. It quoted a writer for the October1995 issue of Reader's Digest who "describes U.N. military operations as distinguished by 'incompetent commanders, undisciplined soldiers, alliances with aggressors, failure to prevent atrocities and at times even contributed to the horror.' Moreover, 'the level of waste, fraud and abuse is overwhelming.' "In a section entitled "The U.N. at 50," The New York Times carried the headline "Mismanagement and Waste Erode U.N.'s Best Intentions." The Times of London, England headed an article with the words "Frail at Fifty-The UN needs a fitness programme to get back into shape." Factually, it is as we read at Jeremiah chapter 8, verse 15; "There was a hoping for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing; but, look! terror!" and the threat of a nuclear holocaust still hangs over mankind. Clearly,the UN is not the messenger of peace that mankind needs.

Next time: Conclusion of Reasons for 'Weeping Bitterly'

Watchtower, 1997