Studies in Eschatology – Zechariah

Ministry of Vengeance

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Religious studies

Lesson: 6-15

Genre: Lecture

Track: 144

Dictation Name: RR127C6

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

We give thanks unto thee almighty God for the blessings of the week past, and for Thy care. We thank Thee our Father that because our times are in Thy hands we can face all of our todays and our tomorrows in confidence that Thou wilt never leave us nor forsake us. We thank thee our God that we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper, I shall not fear what man can do unto me.” Confirm us in this faith, and prosper us unto victory, in Jesus name, amen.

Our scripture this afternoon is from the 5th chapter of the book of the prophet Zechariah. Zechariah 5.

“5 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.

2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.

4 I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.

6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.

7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.

9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.

10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?

11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.”

Our subject today is the ministry of justice, or more accurately, the ministry of vengeance. The Ministry of Vengeance. The word vengeance is not a popular word in our day and age. And we have extensively been told that vengeance does not belong in Christianity. That the Old Testament God was a backward evolving concept of God, who was both wrath and vengeance, but the New Testament gives us a God of love. This of course is nonsense, in that both Testaments speak very plainly of vengeance and of love. What does vengeance mean? Vengeance according to the dictionary, means retribution, or defense, the defense of justice. Retribution against evil doers.

The Hebrew word for vengeance means to vindicate, to reestablish the cause of Justice. Therefore when anyone speaks against vengeance and the ministry of vengeance, they are denying justice. And indeed it is extensive denied in our day. “Justice must be set aside in the name of love.” An anarchistic love. But the cry for vengeance is the cry for justice. Over and over again the Bible identifies God as a God of vengeance. Some verses that so speak of Him, a few among countless numbers: Jeremiah 15:15; Numbers 35:19, 21, 24, 25, 27; Nahum 1:2, 2nd Corinthians 10:6, 2nd Corinthians 7:11, and many, many more.

The ministry of Vengeance, the ministry of justice is not placed by scripture in the hands of individual peoples. In Leviticus 19:18 we are told that personal acts of vengeance are forbidden to man, and the same verse goes on to say that: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” In romans 12:19 Saint Paul declared, reading from the Berkeley version: “Do not avenge yourselves dear friends, but leave room for divine retribution. For it is written: “It is mine to punish,” or, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” I will pay them back, the Lord says. Romans 13:4 goes on to specify that the state, civil government is Gods agent for vengeance in most cases, established to punish evil doers, to bring about retribution, vengeance against those who violate justice.

Thus there is vengeance executed through the state, it is a ministry of vengeance. Vengeance is also executed by acts of God in history, by His providential dealings, by His judgments, and finally complete and total vengeance and justice is executed by means of the last judgment of God. To deny vengeance, to regard it as a lower way of life is to deny justice, and to destroy the social order.

One of the most important passages in the Bible concerning prayer is Luke 18:1-8. And in this classic teaching concerning prayer, our Lord declares that, a widow pleaded with a corrupt judge: “Avenge me of mine adversary.” And the judge had no interest in justice; but because the widow continued her plea and pestered him endlessly, and because he didn’t want the reprobation that came with overlooking such things, if too much attention were attracted to him by this widow, he finally granted her justice. And Our Lord said: “Shall not God avenge His saints who cry unto Him night and day?” And thereby he taught that we too must be in prayer for vengeance. “Avenge me of my adversary.” We have a duty to pray for vengeance upon the enemies of God. Upon evil doers. Upon those who destroy social order. And we are asked to pray for Gods vengeance upon evil.

In the 5th chapter of Zechariah, the Prophet Zechariah is given a vision concerning Gods ministry of vengeance, and in the first part of the vision he sees a flying roll. This flying roll was open, and the writing on both sides discernible. The measurement of the flying roll was 20 cubits by 10 cubits, and the dimensions immediately were recognizable by all Hebrews. These were the dimensions of the holy place in the temple and the tabernacle of God, from whence the law was read. So that this was quite obviously the law, the vengeance of God, seeking out evil doers.

“Then said he unto me: This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth.” The law is world wide curse to all evil doers and represents the vengeance of God. Then he continues: “For everyone that stealeth shall be cut off,” as on this side according to it, “And everyone that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.” In other words the two sides of this flying roll, flying as the judgement of God, as the vengeance of God upon evil, had a curse, and the vengeance of God proclaimed on either side. On the one side against all that stole, and on the other side all those who were guilty of blasphemy.

Why were these two sins singled out in particular? One from the first table of the law, and one from the second table of the law. The first one cited is from the second table of the law: “Thou shalt not steal.” Why the special significance given to this? Why preeminence at this point, over the other commandments? “Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet.” The reason is very simple. Destroy property, and you destroy social order. Property is the foundation of human society, and everything which strikes at property ultimately destroys all things else, on the human scene. Destroy property and you destroy the foundation of the home, destroy property and you have unleashed covetousness into reality. Destroy property and you find that in every social order where respect for property goes down, respect for life very quickly follows. There is a marked correlation between a high regard for property in a society, and a high regard for human life, a high regard for the sanctity of the home, so that the flying roll, the vengeance of God as it pursues men, all over the earth, singles out on the human scene for the vengeance of God every person, every society, every social order, every institution that attacks property. And Property is attacked not only by simple theft, but by inflation, inflation is an act of theft. It is attacked by socialism and communism. It is attacked by welfare legislation. It is attacked by everything, which places a tax against your property to compel you to support others. That replaces charity with compulsion, with confiscation.

And so because theft is so totally destructive of social order, the vengeance of God is particularly directed against those persons and societies and states, as well as individuals who are guilty of violating the commandment against property.

On the other side, the vengeance of God is proclaimed against all who are guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain, blasphemy. The most signal acts of blasphemy in a culture are those that whereby men proclaim every kind of false doctrine in the name of the Lord; they preach modernism and unbelief, the death of God school of theology, the social gospel, socialism, communism, welfarism, they preach a total tolerance towards all kinds of evil, they hold homosexual balls; they proclaim every kind of false doctrine and false morality in the name of the Lord. And the judgement, the vengeance of God is directed against all such.

“I will bring it forth saith the Lord, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that speaketh falsely by my name, and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.” When fire strikes any man’s house, it destroys everything that can be burned in it. But God says: “My vengeance shall seek ever social order and every family, and destroy them to the very stones thereof, to the very foundations, if they are guilty of transgression, if they violate my law.”

Thus as Scripture declares, our God is a consuming fire. But the vision continues. And he sees an ephah, the dry measure of the Hebrews, comparable to a bushel basket but much greater, and in it a woman symbolizing all wickedness, put in, sealed in with lead, and carried to the land of Shinar. The woman is openly identified as wickedness. And where do they take her? “To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.”

What is the significance of this? God declares that a part of His ministry of justice is to separate from His people Those who are ungodly, so that there is a line, a division brought about by the judgement and by the providence of God. By His ministry of vengeance. And God uses wickedness to remove wickedness from the midst of His people, and they are taken and established in Babylon. Babylon the symbol for the one world order, which intends to create a paradise on earth apart from God, to build the city of man in defiance of God; and so those who are in the midst of Gods people are going to be separated by the providence of God, and established on their foundation which is in Babylon, in Shinar. And God makes clear that this separation comes as His judgement is about to come. And we see this coming today, do we not?

Every day in spite of themselves, those false churches become more and more obviously what they are. More and more obviously professing the evil that is in their hearts. More and more obviously being separated from faith in God and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, a faith in man and a one world paradise created by man in defiance of God, and an attempt to build paradise by sin and on sinful man.

It shall be established and set upon her own base. They will be placed upon their own foundation. Their borrowed foundation shall be stripped from them. And this is what we are seeing today. There is everywhere across the face of the country, a slow but a steady move as their comes a recognition that Gods word is true. “Come out from amongst her my people, and be separate.”

The true church separates itself. The people of God separate themselves, they place their hope not in man, but in God, and they recognize the falsity of these things, and that Gods ministry of vengeance is directed against them. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. His judgement, Zechariah was told, will consume it, to the very stones thereof.

Thus as we face the world of our day, we need to rejoice that it is under Gods judgement, that the ministry of vengeance is operative today in history, and we need to be mindful of our responsibility, to be in prayer, that justice be accomplished. To cr4y out with the widow concerning whom our Lord spoke: “Oh Lord, avenge me of mine adversary.” This must be our prayer. Let us pray.

We give thanks unto thee almighty God that Thou hast summoned us to be Thy people, and given us a calling to proclaim Thy truth, to live in terms of Thy truth, to rejoice in Thee. Make us ever mindful our Father that day by day we be in prayer that Thy kingdom be established. That Thy vengeance be operative against evil doers, and that justice, Thy justice, cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Make us ever mindful our Father, of our holy calling in Jesus Christ, and make us ever joyful therein, in Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now, yes?

[Audience Member] Would you go a little more into this business of personal injury of being, well, we have a right to …?...

[Rushdoony] Right, justice is not for us to take into our hands, this the scripture makes repeatedly clear throughout the Law of Moses. This is Gods prerogative, and I shall be speaking tonight incidentally on one aspect of this as it deals with capital punishment on KBBIFM 615. Now, God has declared that justice is His prerogative, and He shares this prerogative with the state. The state therefore has the right to take life according to the word of God, and the duty to take it, but not for anything else. Then it constitutes murder. The state has the right and the duty to punish evil doers. This does not belong to individuals. The commandment to us is: “Avenge not yourselves, vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay” What is our obligation? To love our neighbor and our enemy, and as we have seen at previous meetings, love of neighbor means the fulfillment of the 2nd table of the law, it is so defined by Moses, by our Lord, in Matthew 19, and by Saint Paul in Romans 13. “Thou shalt not Kill.” Respect your neighbors right to life, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Respect the sanctity of his home. “Thou shalt not steal.” Respect his property, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Respect his reputation, “Thou shalt not covet,” respect these things in thought as well as in word and deed.

So that, for a social order to maintain Gods order upon earth, this is our duty as individuals, but the duty of the state is to seek out and to punish evil doers. Now, under certain circumstances, we as individuals have a responsibility with regard to justice. The Bible is very strict about this, and what we call citizens rights to make arrest is basically a Biblical concept. If you saw a crime commission, and you made no attempt to stop it, you were guilty, you were an accessory to the fact. If you made no attempt to arrest the man who was involved, you were guilty. In fact, the Bible carried this responsibility a step further, you not only testified in such a case if you were a witness, but if you perjured yourself you were guilty of whatever the offense was in the case, if it were a case calling for the restitution say of a hundred head of sheep, you paid the restitution, if you perjured yourself. If it were a capital offense and the man might lose his life, if you were guilty of perjury, you lost your life. And the witness had to participate in the act of execution. This was to guarantee that he stood behind his word.

So, the individual had no responsibility for vengeance, for justice, except insofar as the state and its work required it. When he witnessed a crime, he had an obligation to function as an agent of state at that point. But apart from that, no. It could not be for example, a personal act of vengeance, because then he was presuming to take Gods responsibility and the state’s responsibility into his hands. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] The Biblical statement there over and over again through the prophets is that when the state does not carry out its responsibility it is because the people have also failed to carry out their responsibility to God. Like priest, like people, and like people like priest. In other words, when there is a spiritual decline it will reflect itself in all strata of society. If the state isn’t interested in doing it it is because the people don’t want it done. And that very definitely is true today. The breakdown of law and order is a breakdown that had begun with the people, and they have put into office the kind of people they want.

Yes, we’ll go over here:

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] A good question, the answer to that is certainly the juries have requested it, but unfortunately in all too few cases. So that while there is a pile up in the death rows across country, there is also the fact that juries are handing out fewer and fewer death penalties. Only in the most flagrant cases. Second, the people across country say: “Oh yes,” In many a poll, “We are for the death penalty,” But they don’t feel strongly enough about it to do anything. It does not hurt the chances for reelection for any governor or any assemblyman or senator, that he has opposed the death penalty. It doesn’t mean that much to people. Moreover, it has been increasingly evident that most people believe that prisons are not the answer; the mental health movement is the answer. Unfortunately this is the reality, and they feel that “Well, pretty soon we will have it set whereby they go to psychiatrists, and they will come out mentally cured.” And so on and so forth. This is the kind of thing you get on sides, from pulpit and from pew, from (Ann Landers?) and everybody else. “The Psychiatrist is going to solve it all, so why have the death penalty?”

And again and again we are subjected to all kinds of attacks on the death penalty on all sides, and there is very little outcry. I would say most people are content to see it go down the drain, and only mildly say, “Oh I believe in the death penalty, but I have no strong feelings about it.”

Incidentally, the death penalty is never entirely abolished. Never, in any society. Because, it is retained for crimes against the state. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, the corporate responsibility of a Christian. The Christian has a corporate responsibility with the country at large for the evil if he has taken it without protest, if he has done nothing about it. And the Christian who sits silently in churches that are apostate share a corporate responsibility for all the evils the church has committed, and the country has committed, because they sit there without protest, without doing something about it, they have a corporate responsibility, and God will not hold them guiltless. But Christians who have made a stand in terms of the faith are guiltless. Christ has come to set them free from guilt, not to allow men to put guilt upon them, and they have separated themselves in terms of Christ from these things, they have witnessed against them, they have testified against them, and they are innocent.

And we have the classic statement of that in Ezekiel. Ezekiel knew that his generation was not going to listen to what he had to say, they were going to go into captivity in Babylon. They were going for it as the hog runs after slop. Everything in their nature demanded judgment; they were blind, totally blind. But God told him, He said: “Speak, make your stand. Then you are innocent of their blood.” So that when we make our stand against them, we are innocent of their blood. And we are not called upon, in fact I think it is wrong to nag, say, friends and relatives about the faith and what is going on in the country, it is very wrong to do that. We make our stand, we tell them what the truth is, and then we are innocent of their blood. We’ve acquitted ourselves, so that we who have made our stand today bear none of the guilt.

Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, the answer is; most of the time that you assume the training yourself. And I think one of the best ways to do it is to buy Vos’s Bible Story Book. Vos, V O S, V as in victor. Catherine Vos. Her husband was a professor at Princeton, and she wrote an excellent bible story book. You can read a chapter at night, after dinner, and this I think is excellent. For younger children this is ideal, many a parent has learned more about the Bible through reading Vos than anything else.

The older children start reading a chapter a night at the table. Each of you read a verse and you go around and then conclude with prayer. From the Bible. Start with Matthew. A chapter isn’t long, and you can read it, a verse each, around the table in a matter of minutes. This is excellent training, and children will get more out of this then they will in Sunday school, because the plain fact is the best Sunday schools today are mainly babysitting projects; and in a limited amount of time the children get a little bit of fluff, and it isn’t enough. So if you find a good church with a good Sunday school, it is still trifling. You have to assume it.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Not necessarily, but many do because this is routine today. There are all kinds of suggestions, if you are in a national council church and even if you are not, the amount of free literature that comes in the mail to you is overwhelming, just overwhelming, you could fill a filing cabinet in no time at all. You get material from all kinds of organizations, when I was in the pastorate I was getting material from communist organizations, and other groups, all designed to make things easy for me in the pulpit. You can also buy free sermons from various groups for various kinds of purposes, I just happened to put this in my brief case, I get these all the time, this happens to be one designed for Lutherans. 65 sermons for every day in the Christian year, and 78 sermons all told, some for special purposes. Now, this is only $5.95, and you see for $5.95 you have got all your preaching for 1967, in hand. And you have illustrations, so that you can toss in a bit of timely humor, you can buy these books geared to any kind of congregation, from ultra conservative to ultra liberal, just take your choice. Now a lot of them do. So this is what you get.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, they are very definitely do get direction, yes. And they take the directions because they are all interested in promotions, and this is all handled through central agencies, whether it is in the Methodist Church or the Presbyterian or the Congregational or any other, there are either ministerial relations committees, or a Bishops committee, and you don’t move without their permission, even though ostensibly the congregation is calling you. So with this kind of control, most of the men knuckle under. Very few do not. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] (Hallberks?) is good too, I prefer Vos’s, I think it is more interesting, but (Hallberks?) is good. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Most… Yes… Most of the pulpits in eh south are commanded by the liberals, there are a few areas where the conservatives are in the pulpits, but not too many. The southern Presbyterian church in Mississippi, not elsewhere, is pretty well commanded by conservatives. But you can’t say this in other areas.

I’ve mentioned a few times that I regard the King James Version as the best translation into English, and those of you who are interested in pursuing this subject I’ve promised to give you some information on this. This book by Doctor Edward F. Hills, HILLS, Edward F. Hills, The King James Version Defended is a good, popular treatment of the subject. And it is in paper back, I believe it is only a $1.50 or $1.75, but it goes into the manuscripts and why it is that the King James is the most accurate.

Those of you who are interested can purchase it either from Mrs. Harris or from the Christian Research Press, Box 2013, Des Moines Iowa.

It is an exceptionally fine book. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Mercy cannot be exercised in contempt of justice, any more than forgiveness can be. We are not given the right in scripture to forgive according to our whims and wishes. We must forgive where there is true repentance, and then we are told that our forgiveness has to be unlimited. It is conditional upon repentance however, upon true repentance. The same is true of mercy. If you are merciful to a man who is a criminal, and an unrepentant criminal, you are simply exercising a tolerance and an approval of evil. If you forgive an unrepentant sinner you are approving of his sin, so that mercy is conditional, as forgiveness is, on true repentance.

[Audience Member] How would you identify true repentance? …?...

[Rushdoony] Well, according to the scripture, true repentance is always accompanied by restitution, wherever restitution is possible. In other words, a person who is truly sorry, and has committed some crime, is ready to make restitution. I was very interested this past month to read of a case in Orange County. Two young men who some years ago when they were both 18 or 19, savagely beat up on a man, and left him crippled for life, and were sentenced I believe to life imprisonment but got out after a few years on parole, had asked for pardon, so that they could have full citizenship again, and their evidence was, “Well, we have been out of prison for 8-9 years now,” They were both in their 30’s, “Have been gainfully employed have been very law abiding family men,” And so on and so forth.

The district attorney, thank God for him, opposed it. And he said: “I’ll fight it with all my being. These men are not entitled to a pardon, because they have been living here in the same community with the man whom they savagely beat up, and in the last couple of years this man has been in and out of the hospital for expensive surgeries, which has left him penniless. And they have never offered to pay a dollar towards his medical expenses, and they are both living comfortably.” And he said: “They are not entitled to a pardon.” Thank God for that man.

Now those men are not repentant. They are not entitled to mercy, they should not be out. Because all that has happened to them is, they don’t want to be in trouble with the law again, not that they are sorry, truly repentant of their crime, because then according to scripture, they would make restitution.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] No. No. For one thing according to the Bible there is no such thing as a prison term except for temporary incarceration for purposes of awaiting trial. The Bible has two kinds of punishments. One, capital punishment, for murder, kidnapping and certain other offenses. The other is restitution. For theft, for certain kinds of damages, for most crimes, for those that are not capital offense, restitution is the answer. You’ve committed a crime, you have got to make restitution for it. If you stole $100, you had to restore the $100, plus a $100. The exact amount you hoped to profit thereby. Now, this is the only way that you can have justice. What justice is there in putting a man away and allowing him to serve a term for a limited amount of time, and then go his way? Some of them find it very profitable. Fraud Check artists make quite a living nowadays and serve a relatively small amount of time because the courts are so lenient. And what debt has he paid to society until he has paid restitution to the man against whom he has offended? It doesn’t do me any good if someone robs me of a $100 if he serves 60 days in the county jail. It will do me a lot of good if he repays me the $100 and is fined another $100 for having stolen a $100. It will give me back what I have and it will teach him a lesson that it is pretty expensive to steal.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] No, these are good questions.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] The constitution says nothing about criminal law, it has certain limitations on the state with respect to criminal law, cruel and barbarous punishments for example. Criminal law is the province primarily of the county, and to a lesser degree the state. And originally in this country, restitution was basic to our criminal law. So we have departed from our original requirement for restitution except in one area, I have mentioned this before, there is only one area today where the law still requires restitution.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] When you steal from the Federal government. They want every last penny back. Plus penalties, so they are very strict about the law of restitution. Now they are talking about the state making restitution to the victims of a crime, not the criminal but the state, which means that the rest of us make restitution for the criminal, because we are going to be taxed to make restitution to the victim of a crime. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, you are very right and that was the way it originally was, you got restitution first. This was the basic purpose of law.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, because crime today is primarily a crime against the state, not against the individual. You see, we, our law has become statist.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] It has been gradual, but especially since the Civil war we have had a legal revolution under way, and of course in the last 15 years that revolution has been in the process of being completed.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. Originally according to our legal concepts, if you were robbed you had to prosecute, because while it was crime against your person, it was also and primarily a crime against Gods order. And therefore you had no right to forgive a criminal even though the immediate object of the crime was yourself. The ultimate victim was Gods social order. His order of justice. Therefore, you were duty bound to prosecute. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, that is very true, I can cite another similar case.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. Our time is just about up, I don’t believe I read to you last week the editorial in the Santa Anna Register on Chinese style birth control, did I? I think this is very, very interesting. I will just read a portion of it, but I think it is very significant.

“It will be remembered that Karl Marx was a hated critic of the theory that human reproduction was running so far ahead of food production that the inevitable result would be worldwide hunger. Marx’s argument was that applied socialism would dispose of any such problem. About 10 years ago Mao Tse Tung tossed Marx aside and went all out for birth control. Clinics were opened all over red China, and that was the era in which women were swallowing live tadpoles to prevent pregnancy.” That was quite a popular theory for a time. I don’t know how popular it was with the women. “Well the clinics and the tadpole population failed, and the high officials in Peking who had engineered the birth control operation were denounced and demoted. But now we have in Red China a new system of control over baby production under which no mention is made of birth control. First of all, all marriages are now licensed. No woman under 25 may marry. And it is reported that men under 30 may not marry.

Another report put the age for men at 35. In any event, another measure under the Mao system separates husbands and wives by assigning them work in widely separated areas. Their brief reunions are permitted about once a year. But the most effective anti-procreation measure is the hunger check. Food in Red China is now rationed, and it now provides a maximum food allowance for 3 children per couple, and no more. Now that looks like birth control on the rough, doesn’t it? But what less than baby starvation is one to expect from Red Chinese Marxism? Applied socialism it may be, but it must be remembered that such measures are possible only where a whole population has been reduced to rigidly disciplined slavery. The writer of these lines has seen a few starving babies in his time, and if it is the purpose of the UN to put the stamp of approval on a regime which systemizes the brutality, please count us and our family out, Granddad through Grandchildren.

Well, with that we stand dismissed.