The Signs of John’s Gospel

Sign of Faith

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels, & Sermons

Lesson: Sign of Faith

Genre: Speech

Track: 110

Dictation Name: RR125A2

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we thank thee that thou hast established us in so great a liberty. We thank thee for the liberty which is ours as individuals in Jesus Christ. We thank thee for our liberty as a nation, and we pray, our Father, that thou wouldst recall us from our wandering ways, and reestablish us in thy word, that again we may be a great people in thee, that we may stand in terms of thy righteousness and thy truth, and be preserved from the bondage of sin. Bless us this day and every day to the end that we might be wholly dependent on thee and independent of men and sin. In Jesus name. Amen.

Our scripture today is from the Gospel According to St. John 4:43-54. The Sign of Faith. “Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.

Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.”

Our Lord, in his first miracle, the miracle of turning the water into wine, declared by that miracle a sign, a Gospel proclamation in miniature, that the essence of our life in Christ is one of fullness, but we are not to approach God as though we were asked by God to be content with a starvation diet, but to approach God in the confidence that he delights in giving us the fullness of life. This miracle became speedily known. It set forth Jesus as the great bridegroom, the Messiah of God, and as a result, when he returned to Galilee, there were great throngs that greeted him when he went to Cana, his first stop, and this seemed the fitting place for some great new wonder to be proclaimed.

There he was met by a certain nobleman whose son was sit at Capernaum. The nobleman came to Jesus, having heard of these things, having heard of the miracle of the water into wine, confident that, in him, he would find certainly, when our Lord had proclaimed the fullness of life, certainly healing for his son who was at the point of death, and he besought him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

“Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” There is no getting around the fact that this is a harsh answer. The man came there with one thought in mind: his son was desperately sick. At the point of death. He was a great personage. It was something of an honor for Jesus to be associated with him, because the word literally, which is translated as “nobleman,” is a royal personage, meaning, someone who was associated in his office with the king, with the monarch, and here, instead of Jesus being very happy to heal the son, instead of saying, “I have proclaimed in my first miracle the fullness of life, and now in my second miracle, I reveal something of the nature of this fullness, he was rebuked. “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” This was a hard, a blunt answer to a man of the painful moment of his life, and we cannot evade the harshness of it, and we must recognize that harshness is not a sin.

Our attitude today would be, if we were in the same position or there as an adviser to our Lord, we would say, “Now, Lord, let’s be diplomatic about this. Heal this man’s son and then tell him he doesn’t have any faith and he ought to have some faith. Do something for him first and put him in a good mood to listen to you, and then perhaps you can get your message across, but to lash out at him first of all so deeply concerned about his son is to be very offensive. It certainly isn’t good public relations as far as the people standing around are concerned, and it’s hardly a good follow-up on your first sign and miracle whereby you declared that you are the Lord and giver of the fullness of life.” We’re all for sweetness and light now a days, and this is one of the things that is destroying us.

I was appalled this week in talking with a very pleasing and personable woman who does not share our faith. To be introduced in the course of the conversation to her son, eleven, twelve, or thirteen of age who came in at that time. With no response from the son and to be told by her as he passed on by that she didn’t know why, she hadn’t done anything wrong as far as she knew, but he hadn’t been speaking to her for a few days, and not so much as an unkind word out of her. A little harshness would have been a sign of far more love than that permissiveness.

But our Lord spoke bluntly to this man. He wanted a miracle, but not Christ. His attitude was pragmatic, not believing, and this is not God’s way, nor is God’s blessing on such an attitude. It is the attitude of what is known as a “Rice Christian.” In the days before the communists took over China, there were numerous Rice Christians throughout China, people who had attached themselves to the church because they knew they could get a hand-out of clothing, and in time of trouble, rice. Hence, their designation Rice Christians, and this is not godly, nor does such a method of operation have the approval of our Lord, and so Jesus said to him plainly, “Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe.”

“The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.” Significantly, the nobleman did not argue against our Lord’s charge. He recognized its truth. He did not say, “You are very insulting at a most tragic moment in my life.” Because he knew it was not an insult, it was the truth, and so his only plea is, “Sir, come down ere my child die,” because he accepted the verdict of Christ upon himself, it was also the beginning of his faith. So, “Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.” He believed and he acts on that faith. He did not stay around and say, “Make it sure. Come there. Go back with me to Capernaum. After all, you are in a matter of days going to be going north. Why not go now with me? Let’s make this sure.” He believed the word that Jesus had spoken and so he turned and began the long journey home, a two-days journey, a hard journey home. Having left Jesus with only his word, returning to a son who was dying. He did not have with him the comfort of the presence of a miracle worker who was apparently the Messiah. No presence, only his word, but he had learned the first lesson and the basic lesson of all faith. Christ’s presence is with us if we walk with him, and Christ’s word is as good as his presence, and when we have the word of Christ as we do, we have his presence and his power, if we walk in terms of that word.

The temptation today is to demand sight. A few years ago I heard, for the first time, at a church dinner, a beautiful solo sung, the title of which was “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” Magnificently rendered, but theologically defective, because this is not what our Lord does. It would be so wonderful if he would take our hand and lead us all the way through life, and every time a problem confronted us, we could say, “Come a little closer and tell me what this is all about. Explain it to me and make sure none of this touches me. Take my hand, lead me through everything so that I am completely protected at all times by thy presence,” and that his word is as good as his presence, and his word is, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” So that we may boldly say, “I will not fear what man can do unto me.” This nobleman made the two-day journey in that confidence.

“And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.” This was the second sign. The first sign was of the fullness of life and of joy in him, as the great bridegroom, so that our life in him is like a wedding feast, and a glorious, happy marriage. The fullness of life, the fulfillment of our being, but this fullness only comes to those who walk by faith.

Paul explained it in Romans 5 when he wrote, “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” In other words, faith will be tested. Every faith shall be tested, and so faith is tested with tribulation in order that it may have patience, and the patience works experience, and the experience confirms us in our hope, a “hope that maketh not ashamed,” or as the Berkeley version translates it, “A hope which does not disappoint us.” The fullness of life is there, but it must be proceeded by a faith that is ready to stand in terms of the faith and to walk in terms of faith, through tribulation, gaining patience, experience, hope, “a hope that maketh not ashamed.”

This then is a revelation, a sign. This miracle is a making known of God’s ways unto us, and fittingly, this miracle which was the sign of faith, occurred at the same place where the first had occurred, in Cana of Galilee.

When our country was first established and Christians everywhere rejoiced that we were free and independent, one of the wisest men of that day, one of the great men in Congress who but for his frail health could have been the candidate for president and been, who left it had he so desired, but he chose to retire, Fisher Ames, said that indeed this country had been signally blessed. He said that the day would come in the future and this country would be tested, because a testing time he felt was inescapable for any and all peoples, and while we had the wilderness and a place where people could move out, where there was a continual release for our problems, the testing time had not yet come, but he felt it would come, and it is coming, and as we look around us, let us realize that God’s blessing is with us, and because we are walking in terms of faith and we are beginning to undergo tribulations, we are being prepared for the fulfillment of that hope. Because the reality of the future is certainly, from the economic perspective alone, anarchy. Anarchy as the whole of our economic structure collapses, and yet, by the grace of God, this people throughout the country are being forewarned and prepared.

Looking at it from this perspective, the fearful specter of Black Nationalism and black violence, is also a blessing of God, because it has averted countless peoples, and is preparing them for the real day of anarchy in the future. It is an experience that is working for hope, and “a hope that maketh not ashamed,” because it is grounded in faith, a faith which rests upon his word, and Christ’s word is as good as his presence.

Therefore, day by day, as we walk by faith, let us walk in confidence. Let us have boldness and confidence for ours is a faith with a hope which “maketh not ashamed,” which does not disappoint us, because it rests on the word of God. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, we give thanks unto thee for thy word which is indeed as good as thy presence, and thy word assures us that thou wilt never leave us nor forsake us, that thou art before and behind us as a pillar of fire and as a cloud, our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear though the earth be removed, though the mountains be moved into the depths of the sea, for thou, the Lord of Hosts, art with us. Thou art our refuge. Establish us, therefore, in thy word, and make us bold and confident therein, that we might become more than conquerors through him that loved us, even Jesus Christ, our Lord. In his name we pray. Amen.

Are there any questions at this time? Yes?

[Audience] I’d like to get an unabridged dictionary in my home, and {?}

[Rushdoony] The Second International, if you can pick that up, is the best.

[Audience] Is that an old one{?}

[Rushdoony] It’s the one that went out of print about five years ago. It is still not everything that it should be, but it is better than the present Merriam-Webster International. If you can find an old dictionary in {?}

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] You have to go back actually before the Civil War to find them unchanged, because if you go back and take certain words like “federalism” and “Constitutionalism” from the pre-Civil War era to the present, you find how much the dictionaries have changed. They began to change then in the 1850’s and 60’s, so that our dictionaries have been steadily watered down since then. The most recent dictionary, of course, The Merriam-Webster Third International, no longer has any basic standard of what constitutes good and bad grammar, good and bad usage, because it no longer recognizes the supremacy of law. So that it is a dictionary, really, that makes itself obsolete. It denies the validity of any objective standards.

[Audience] Is this true of the {?} the eleventh edition {?}. That’s still not {?} the thirteen or whatever is was, {?} Is the ninth edition better actually than the eleventh edition?

[Rushdoony] Well, actually the encyclopedias, the older ones, were humanistic also. So that all these encyclopedias began with a humanistic bias, but in recent years, two major changes have taken place. First, your older Encyclopedia Britannica, for example, such as the eleventh and earlier, were written by scholars for scholars. So that while their bias was humanistic, they were not trying to brainwash each other because they knew they had to give something that was the best scholarship in their particular field from their perspective.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] So that it was well documented even when you might not agree with its conclusions, or points. Since then, however, the encyclopedia has been popularized, so that it has been geared not to the scholar, to the person who wants to have the best possible concise information on the subject, but, as it were, to the student. No sooner did they decide that, but then they realized what a tremendous instrument it was towards moving the mind of the student. So, the encyclopedia today is, very often, quite a useful tool for remolding the mind of the student, and its information is often very, very poor from the standpoint of the scholar.

A few years ago, one historian made a long study of a number of encyclopedias and his conclusion was that there wasn’t a one of them that was worth having, that most of them did more damage than good because they were a collection of misinformation, and I’m afraid that is true, but I would say you are better off with one of the older ones because, while they will be humanistic, the data will be correct. Then, if you are buying for the use of children, get not only an older Britannica, but some modern one-volume one, like Columbia, which will at least give you some of the modern information and bring the data up to date so that they can use the two together.

[Audience] When you say the older ones, how old do you mean?

[Rushdoony] Well, the eleventh or before. Before World War 1, the information, while humanistic, was a little more accurate or considerably more accurate. Now, in some instances, the articles are propaganda pieces. Yes?

[Audience] You mentioned a country, very Polish sounding, {?} and {?} letter to the editor {?} many people of the {?} felt that way {?} and she mentioned one of the {?}. Was it Sophonia?

[Rushdoony] Joel. Yes. Sophinia{?} in the Duay{?} and Joel in the King James.

[Audience] Well, anyway, this Sophinia{?} speaks about the retribution that would be visited upon the world and yet people, especially the Jewish people for their idolatry and the conversion of the Gentiles. {?} and I wondered, now, certainly some years after this {?} is this whole prophesy, is {?} of things past, of already happened, or is this also reference to {?}

[Rushdoony] This has reference to the prophesy of Joel, one of the so-called minor prophets and one of the earliest of the prophets, whose book is relatively short, one of three chapters. Now, Joel speaks in his prophesy of a great day of the Lord, and many have seen this as referring to the Second Coming, but it speaks of your sons having visions and so on, and this is clearly cited by St. Peter at Pentecost as having been fulfilled then and there. So that the new age to which Joel has referenced is not the new creation at the end of the world, but the coming of our Lord, and the institution of the new covenant, and so it is repeatedly quoted, not only by Peter at Pentecost but elsewhere in the New Testament as beginning at that time. So that the prophesy of Joel has reference primarily to the time when the new age of the Gospel will begin. Then, it speaks of the great shaking that is to proceed it, and this is a type of the shaking which shall follow.

For example, more than once he speaks of, for example, in 2:10, the earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be dark and the stars shall withdraw their shining, and then in the third chapter in the fifteenth verse, “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.” Now, people assume that this means the end of the world, but it doesn’t. First of all, we have to realize that the language her is not literal but it is typical language. The sun, the moon, and the stars have reference, not to the heavenly bodies, but they are ancient Hebrew symbols, or types, for the powers of this world, the nations or personages of power. Thus, when the first time you meet with this use as a type, you meet with it in Joseph’s dream. You remember in Joseph’s dream, one of his dreams, he saw the sun, the moon, and the stars bowing down before him, and immediately his father knew what this meant. He said, “You mean that I and your mother, and your brothers are going to bow down before you?” because in the family, they were the powers over him, the sun and the moon, and the stars, his brothers. So that, when this is applied to the family, this is its significance. When it is applied to the world of nations, it means that all the great powers, the nations, and the great forces within the world shall be shaken and cast down. So our Lord, through his word, speaks of this shaking, of the sun, the moon, and the stars in the days before his coming and then after his coming, the sun, the moon, and the stars, that is, his first coming, shall be shaken before the end of the world.

In other words, all the Old Testament powers, Assyrian, Babylon, Chaldea, Meto-Persia, Greeks, and so on where shaken and fell before our Lord came, and before the end of the world, before the end of history, all the great powers, the sun, the moon, and the stars of the human firmament shall again be shaken before his coming. Now, it’s failure to understand the typical use here, which is one of the most common of Hebrew types that leads some people to be confused when they read the prophesies of Matthew 24 and of Joel, and elsewhere. So our Lord is saying, very definitely, through Joel as well as elsewhere, These powers are going to be shaken, and Paul, in Hebrews 12, makes the same point very, very emphatically. And he speaks, for example, he has described how the mountain shook at Sinai when the law was given, and in Hebrews 12:21, “And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.”

Now, turning to the Christians, Paul says, “But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels.” In other words, this is what the church is. It’s the heavenly Jerusalem, and the city of our living God and we have as our company, the innumerable company of angels. In other words, this is, he says, “The general assembly and church of the firstborn (Jesus Christ), which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” This is our fellowship, you see. Those who are dead and are in heaven, the angels, Jesus Christ, we are one people, one kingdom with them now, “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.” So that we must listen to his word or what are the consequences? “Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken (or shakeable), as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

So that throughout history, there is now a second great shaking from the first coming on. This is the second great shaking of the world so that everything that is shakeable will be tumbled down. In other words, it’s like a great earthquake which is going to reduce to rubble all of man’s work, but where do we stand? “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” Now, two images given us. Earthquake and shaking, and the fire, so that the world before the Second Coming will be as a world through which earthquake and fire are gone and have consumed everything that can be burned, everything that can be shaken, and where are we in this? If we stand in terms of his word and of his grace, we are that which cannot be shaken, and we are fireproof as well. Yes?

[Audience] {?} influence the people {?} I mean, isn’t there a {?}

[Rushdoony] Possibly later. I had thought perhaps next year sometime to go into a study of the Book of Revelation. I am a long ways from that yet, but I have thought of going into Daniel and then Revelation, because both are very, very important, from the perspective of a Christian, a biblical philosophy of history.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, they have one in Orange County I know, and the one in Orange County, I met the pastor recently when he came to a meeting where I was speaking, and he is a very fine man, absolutely orthodox and conservative, but they reach quite a few people that way.

[Audience] {?} people feel that they can come casually and bring children {?}

[Rushdoony] Right, I don’t know what kind of fellowship they have, or community life, but at any rate, they do come that way. Yes?

[Audience] In {?} don’t you have to be very careful {?} sometimes, and that we do need the leading of the Holy Spirit {?} because sometimes we can through out {?} when we should be in the same {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, but you know, we can’t be too introspective and always assess our feelings and say, “Now, am I just being myself or am I doing this justly?” I think if we walk in terms of the faith, day by day, God can use even our cantankerousness sometimes to his glory, and always can, in fact, but some years ago, one of the few decent books every written by any psychiatrist had an interesting chapter, and the title of it was, “In Defense of the Screaming Mother,” and this man, who was writing from the standpoint of good old fashioned common sense said there was more damage done today by mothers who were always analyzing themselves to think, “Now, am I just being irritable, or am I just being short-tempered? I must be careful,” and the children ended up frustrated and the mother as well, but he said a good old fashioned mother who, when she was good and disgusted with the children, just cut loose and let them have it, had healthier, happier and she was a lot easier to live with in the long run. So, he wrote this “Defense of the Screaming Mother.” I think there’s a lot to be said for it.

A couple of items in the paper of late, I think I called your attention a few weeks ago, the fact that the groundwork was being laid for a universal draft of all youth, and perhaps you noticed in the Herald Examiner this morning, the headline was “Draft for Women?” In other words, all youth at a certain age, boys and girls, can be drafted into the national service. This is no different than Hitler’s youth and the Soviet Pioneers. It is the total brainwashing of all youth, and a step toward totalitarianism, and now, of course, we have public schools start urged at age four, and they are laying the groundwork for even earlier educational facilities for children. They have to do it first a grade at a time because they cause taken them all at once. So, the idea is the total control of the child from nursery days on through school, and then two years of radical brainwashing. The enemy is Christ and the family.

Then, on top of that, on June 13, there was a news item, “French Court Ruling on Death Criticized by Root Streeter Hatch{?},” and the jist of it was, well, to read the first paragraph, “The recent decision of France’s highest medical authority, the National Academy of Medicine, that a person whose heart still is beating may be ruled dead if it can be proved that his brain will never be able to control his vital functions, has stirred up a storm of controversy.” Now, this is a toe in the door, and if this is adopted you can see what this means. It is not murder if a man’s brain is rendered incompetent, because he’s still technically alive, but he is legally dead, and can then be a subject of experimental work. But this step has been taken by doctors who is more significant, but of course, this is a case of socialized medicine having taken the step.

Then, I think it is significant that we have such things as “Going to Own the City, Boston Negro Clergyman Tells Rally.” “This is our city and baby, we’re going to own it, the Negro minister shouted Friday during a street corner rally. Amen, amen, other Negros screamed approvingly,” and so on. And interestingly enough, this was a part of a long series of disorders because one of the school committee women for the city, Louise Day Hicks{?}, elected by the overwhelming majority vote of the people was on the platform, didn’t say a word, at a commencement address, and this same man created a disturbance and said, “You are the Hitler of Boston. You should be in Roxbury{?},” and yet significantly, although she never said a word during the entire thing, the paper heralded it as “Mrs. Hicks Creates Uproar at School Commencement,” but she never opened her mouth.

Then, I thought this was interesting. In this book review, a syndicated review, which has this to say, quoting the author about Negros, “Our black masses never have enough money. The possess no land and there is little chance of their even acquiring any. They have nothing to claim or reclaim. Deep in the recesses of their psyches, they are aware that the Negro revolution is not when it comes to them, really a revolution. They are totally demilitarized. Although they have fought and died in many foreign lands and jungles, in the jungles of their own country, they cannot even defend themselves when white folk are spitting on them, sicking dogs on them, throwing bricks and riding horses on them, and prodding them with cattle rods and kicking them, and calling them ‘Nigers’ and killing them,” and so on. Now, very, very few Negros have fought and died in foreign wars. Most of them have been used in behind-the-line activities, so that the number of Negro fatalities as against white fatalities in American wars has been almost non-existent, and this comes out of somebody’s sick imagination as to what has happened. They have been coddled from the beginning because slavery is a form of welfarism, and welfarism is also a form of slavery, and that’s what they’ve had and that’s what they are asking now for, at the rate of $10 billion a year, which is their request.

Then, in the face of this, I think we have to realize that total impotence of the old conservatism which thinks purely in terms of the marketplace, the libertarians, because they’re going to have everything in terms of the marketplace and they reduce things to an absurdity. I think this item is choice, from one contemporary writer who has a suggestion as to what to do with the population program, which {?}as true, in the midst of the population explosion, “I have only one positive suggestion to make, a proposal which now seems to far-fetched that I find it creates only amusement when I propose it. I think in all seriousness however, that a system of marketable licenses to have children is the only one which will combine the minimum of social control necessary to the solution of this problem with a maximum of individual liberty and ethical choice. Each girl, on approaching maturity, would be present4ed with a certificate which will entitle its own to have, say 2.2 children, or whatever number would ensure a reproductive rate of one. The unit of these certificates might be the desit{?} child, and accumulation of ten of these units by purchase, inheritance, or gift, would permit a woman in maturity to have one legal child. We would then set up a market in these units in which the rich and {?} progenative would purchase them from the poor, the nuns, the maiden aunt, and so on.” Now, isn’t that a {?} solution to the world’s problems?

This is from a book review in the Saturday Review for December 19, 1964. Yes?

[Audience] {?} and {?} could you use {?} example {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, Haiti was, in its day, one of the richest parts of the Americas. Under French rule, it had a very powerful part in supporting the French government. The plantations in Haiti were almost the mainstay of France for some time. Since the country has fallen into Negro hands, which was 150 years ago approximately, it has gone downhill steadily, and has the lowest standard of living in the Western world. What little they have in the way of any modern conveniences were built by the Marines when, for a time, they occupied the land, and the last few remaining telephones there are relics of the Marine occupation. It is a good example of a Negro-run country.

[Audience] Thank you.

[Rushdoony] Yes?

[Audience] I’m going back to reading from the Bible,{?} it’s comparable, the persons, the nobleman who accepted Jesus and believed, compared to the story of doubting Thomas, and I’m not very familiar, it’s been a long, long time, and it seems sort of a little story about conviction when I was much younger, and now I have no recollection of the stories {?} of the meaning.

[Rushdoony] Yes, there are two noblemen who came to Jesus to have their son healed. This one was Jewish. The other was a Gentile, and he believed. In fact, he told when he came to Jesus, he said, “Say only the word, for I have but to say the word and my servants go, and you as the Lord of heaven have only to say the word and he will be healed,” and Jesus said, “I have not found such faith in all Israel.” So, first there is that parallel. This Jewish nobleman who came without faith, the Gentile nobleman who came with faith, and then Thomas while, though he had the word of Christ that he would rise again from the dead, refused to believe it, had said, “Unless I see the nail prints in his hands, and the spear thrust hole in his side, I will not believe.” In other words, demanding sight, and “Jesus came and rebuked him and said, then, he pronounced a blessing on those who having not seen, yet believed.” In other words, us who accept his word as sufficient, without demanding sight such as Thomas did. So that he rebuked Thomas and at the same time blessed us. Is there another question over here? We have time just for just one more. Yes?

[Audience] {?} I think you had an article on McNamara’s{?} first {?} on about, {?} going to the Peace Corp that was {?} and the writer of the article said it was strange, not one outcry, and he said yet this could be the biggest thing that has happened yet, and this {?} knowledge of this, and with what you just mentioned, couldn’t any {?}. In other words, this will take him {?} . So he said not one outcry from any of the citizenry of the United States {?}.

[Rushdoony] Yes. The reason for that is a deep despair that has infected many people since the beginning of this year. The volume of mail that went to Congress last year and the year before was without equal in the history of the United States, and all kinds of people who never wrote before were writing letters. Congress was flooded with them. It did some good, but by and large, the Johnson steamroller moved ahead, and so the reaction has been a deep discouragement and people have just quit writing with a sense of hopelessness, and I think Taylor Caldwell{?} caught that sense of hopelessness in her letter. I think it’s wrong to feel hopeless about it. I think people should write and protest this step{?}. It is an exceedingly dangerous thing, and I suspect nothing much will be done about it until after the election, but I do believe they intend to go ahead with it.

End of tape