Current Events & Trends: Margaret Thatcher: Giant in an era of decline
One of the great leaders of modern times died on April 8, 2013.
Noted author Max Hastings summed up the legacy of Margaret Thatcher: "She was Britain's greatest peacetime prime minister of the modern era . . . It was her achievement to halt a national economic and industrial decline that had seemed irreversible."
When Thatcher be-came prime minister in 1979, Britain was sinking in socialism. She strove for privatization and free exchange and soon found an ideological soul mate in U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Together they championed liberty and strengthened the special relationship between their two countries.
Somehow this person of simple truths and humble roots, raised by her parents to believe in the traditional virtues of thrift, family values and hard work, served as Britain's prime minister for 11 consecutive years. She loved her country with patriotic fervor and warned the British people about the dangers of becoming entangled in a federal Europe.
Hastings remarked about "her impassioned hostility to the march of the European Union toward what she saw, with remarkable prescience, as a federal state rather than its proper role as a trading bloc." Baroness Thatcher actually stated, "In my lifetime Europe has been the source of our problems, not the source of our solutions." Hastings concluded, "Her fears about the dire consequences of an attempted integration appear highly vindicated by events."
Imbued with far-seeing vision, she was not afraid to speak out, however unpopular her views might have been. But how did she develop these traits? Lord Griffiths, former head of Mrs. Thatcher's Downing Street Policy Unit, stated that "it quickly became clear in private meetings that her strong personal faith was the basis for her world view and her approach to public policy." For instance, she believed that "we are all created in the image of God" (The Times, "The Iron Lady," special supplement, April 9).
Historian Paul Johnson further noted that Margaret Thatcher believed in the Ten Commandments and especially telling the truth—qualities all too rare in political leaders. (Sources: Daily Mail, Financial Times, The Times [London].)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: May - June 2013
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
