Famine in Ethiopia
World-wide attention has been drawn to the plight of the thousands of starving and dying people in Ethiopia. In different parts of the world from time to time through failure of crops or for other reasons many millions of our fellow-men have been exposed to starvation. It is something that people in our land have known little about in our present prosperous state, yet the Lord could bring this judgment, as well as other judgments upon us for our sins.
The tragedy of Ethiopia, as has been true in other instances also, is not the lack of food in the world to meet the needs of the population but the difficulty of getting the food to where it is needed. The highlighting of the need was through television programmes showing the state of the starving people. This brought an almost immediate response from the public and from governments of different countries. The fact that Ethiopia is under a Communist regime has not made matters easier and no doubt is one of the procuring causes of the present situation, as well as the strife between the communist government in the land and anti-communist forces. It is to be hoped that the food now flowing into that country will reach those most in need of it, though for some it will have arrived too late and they will have succumbed to the famine. It is good to know that the plight of the needy can bring forth such a compassionate response from men — this is one of the effects of the restraining grace of God — common grace, as it is called. May common grace be many times multiplied in this era of violence and hatred and may men be brought to experience that saving grace which delivers from the lowest hell. We trust that the eyes of men will be opened by the tragedy in Ethiopia to see in it the fruits of communistic rule.
Death of the Indian Prime Minister
Mrs Indira Gandhi, the woman who ruled India’s millions is no more. She has been called to her account at the assassin’s hand. She was acknowledged as a leader of world-wide fame and no doubt attempted to do for her country — a nation whose problems are innumerable — what she believed was for the best. The storming of the Sikh holy place — the Golden Temple of Amritsar — by the Indian Army in June, raised the anger of the Sikhs and brought about the Indian Prime Minister’s assassination.
Mrs Gandhi was a Hindu and her body was burned to ashes on the funeral pyre according to Hindu custom while Hindu priests chanted their funeral dirges. India’s main plight is the multiplicity of her religions but especially that it is heathen religion that holds sway in the minds of the people. Only a small proportion of the people is Christian after more than two centuries of missionary activity. India’s greatest need is to know the God of salvation. It is a saving knowledge of that God who is making Himself known in and through His beloved Son and by the power of His Holy Spirit that would make India’s future look bright. May the day be hastened when India will cast her idols and false religion to the moles and to the bats and serve the One Living and True God.
Sabbath Opening of Shops
Before our entry into the European Common Market warning was given that one of the effects of it would be the adoption by the people of the land of the Continental Sabbath. What was foretold has taken place. The Sabbath is fast disappearing from our cities and towns and even country places as secular influences gain power. The pressure to open shops and other businesses on the Sabbath is one of these. Sometimes opposition is expressed by bodies seeking to safeguard the Sabbath and attempts made to secure laws that would forbid Sabbath trading. How sad it is on the other hand to see the Church of Scotland magazine Life and Work suggesting that “shopping and banking on ‘Sundays’ are probably no more sinful than watching TV,” and that the Church should look again at the place of ‘Sunday’ in the life of both the individual Christian and of the community. If the blind lead the blind, surely both are going to fall into the ditch.