Revelation

The Inheritance of False Heirs (Poor copy)

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Prerequisite/Law

Lesson: 13-30

Genre: Talk

Track: 181

Dictation Name: RR129G13

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

Our Lord and our god we give thanks unto Thee for the blessings of the week past. We thank Thee our God that our times are in thy hands, and in this confidence we come to thee to cast our every care upon Thee, knowing thou carest for us. Bless us by thy word and by Thy Spirit, grant us Thy peace. Refresh us, strengthen us in Jesus Christ, and make us ever faithful unto thy holy calling. In Jesus name, amen.

Our scripture is the 8th chapter of Revelation, the Inheritance of the False Heirs. Revelation 8, Inheritance of the False Heirs.

“8 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!”

[Missing part from tape?] What man’s true hope is, what the true will of God is, so that we have two great sides in the world today, two concepts of what constitutes the will, the testament. On the one hand we have the word of God as the Orthodox faith has understood it, that the word of God, infallible and inspired declares unto us the sure and certain word concerning the kingdom.

On the other hand you have the other religions, you have the humanists, you have the pseudo Christians who have infiltrated and taken over most of the church, who declare unto us what the true will is, what the true word concerning the kingdom is to be understood as being. This contest is old. The first contesting of the Testament came in Eden, when Satan declared: “Yea hath God said?”

According to Satan, God was simply a fumbling and foolish old testator, who didn’t know how to make out a proper inheritance for man. And so His plan for man needed correction; and this Satan offered to do. And his version of the terms of the testament of the kingdom therefore constituted for him therefore the true light, the true righteousness, the true inheritance of man. accordingly in the temptation in the wilderness, Satan tried to point Christ to what he believed was the true kingdom, and asked Christ to be the executor of the true testament as revised by Satan. Not only false religions but all heresies are attempts to revise the nature of that testament, and correct Gods foolishness in terms of man’s wisdom.

And so, as we proceed in Revelation, we shall find that there are two testaments. Two wills concerning the kingdom which are in radical conflict; that of apostate man and that of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Now as the executor, Jesus Christ opens up the seventh seal, we are told that there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And then we are told that an angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

So that, we have a vision of the altar of incense typifying prayer and intercession; and all heaven is silent as the prayers of the saints of God ascend up into heaven. Then we are told that the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth, and there were voices and thundering’s and lightning’s, and an earthquake.

In other words, we are given a vision of heaven waiting on the prayer of the saints. But the prayers are of a particular kind. These are the prayers that are spoken of earlier in Revelation 6:10, the cry of the saints for judgement: “How long oh Lord, how long?” an important aspect of the ministry of the church is intercessory prayer for the justice, for the judgement of God upon evil. And perhaps at no other point is the church more negligent today than at this point.

Scripture requires us to pray: “Let Gods justice be executed upon evil doers.” If we do not pray for judgement upon evil doers, we are praying in effect that evil triumph. When we pray: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” To ask that the will of God be done means to ask that His justice be meted out to evil doers.

And so when the prayers of the saints ascend, their prayers with the incense is cast upon the altar, and then the fire of the altar cast upon the earth, so that the intercessory prayer for judgement results in judgement.

Four trumpets sound, sounded by four angels, and judgement begins to descend as fire upon the four corners of the earth. These four judgments echo the judgments on Egypt. The first trumpet sounds, and the vegetation is blasted. The second trumpet and the seas are judged. The third trumpet and the lands and the waters are blasted. And the fourth trumpet sounds and the sun, the moon and the stars are darkened.

The world is thus compared to Egypt hardening its heart against the Lord and refusing to release His saints from bondage. And the wrath and judgement of God therefore descend upon the world, to destroy the world and to release the saints for their Exodus to the promised land.

Joel in the second chapter of his prophecy the 30th verse, (Joel 2:30) declared that these signs would follow the day of Pentecost and proceed the second coming. That there would be great shakings, convulsions of heaven and earth, of nature and of nations, which would leave the world in continuing crisis and destruction; so that as Paul declared: “The things which are being shaken, the unshakeable alone remains.”

The destruction of the sun, the moon and the stars we have seen previously means the destruction of the powers, the human powers and sovereignties of this world. As I pointed out previously we find this first of all mentioned in Josephs dream, when he dreams that the sun, the moon and the 11 stars bow down to him, and his family immediately recognized that it meant that his superiors, his father and his mother and his brothers would bow down to him. Over and over again this is used as a symbol of human authorities.

Moreover we are told that a star falls into the waters, a star named Wormwood. And the waters become bitter, and many men died of the waters. The star Wormwood, literally Absinthos in the Greek or Absinthe, such as in the French drink. Falls into the waters in direct contrast to the Exodus incident at the waters of Marah. At the waters of Marah the waters were bitter and they could not be used. But a tree was cast into the bitter waters and sweetened them, a sign of grace. Now the waters become poisoned, a sign of judgement. The four trumpets therefore give us a picture of the progressive disintegration of the city of man as it opposes God, and it gives us a picture of the growing terror of man as his world falls apart.

Thus, we are given a very vivid and graphic picture of destruction as it is meted out by the executor Jesus Christ. But this chapter, and indeed Revelation cannot be understood unless we understand the term: “The third part” which is used over and over again in this chapter.

Twelve times destruction is pronounced upon ‘The third part’ of the earth, or one or another aspect of the earth in this chapter. In the Greek the twelve fold pronouncement is particularly clear cut. What is the third part? When we were studying some time earlier the book of Zechariah, we saw in Zechariah 13:8-9 this same term, the third part, used. And as we saw at that time, this is a common figure in the Old Testament. We meet with it for example in Deuteronomy 21:17, 2 Kings 2:9, and in other passages. This has reference to the laws of inheritance, when there were two sons the heir received a double portion, or two parts, literally two mouthfuls, two portions. And the one who was sent away as was Esau or Ishmael or whoever it may have been, received a third part as his inheritance.

The term: ‘The Third Part’ therefore came to apply to the son who was cut off and sent away, to the person who was not the heir. In this case therefore the third part refers to the false claimants to the inheritance. Those who declare they are the heirs, those who offer the false will in probate.

But instead of receiving a third part, some kind of blessing and being sent away, the third part now is judgement and death. So that the inheritance of the false heirs is judgement and death from God. The world believes that it can inherit on its own terms, and Christ indeed says: ‘You receive an inheritance. I make you an heir of damnation. I make you an heir of judgment, and in every area of your life, you shall be blasted.’

“And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe,” (or, Trouble, trouble, trouble) “to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!”

Two heirs. Those who are the elect in Christ, and those who are the elect in terms of their own imagination. Two inheritances. To the false heirs, the third part is judgement. To the true heirs, it is the kingdom. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

Let us pray. Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto Thee for the glorious inheritance which is ours in Jesus Christ. We thank Thee that we have been made heirs of all things in time and in eternity. That Jesus Christ our Kinsman Redeemer, our next of kin, is the great Executor who is dispossessing the powers that be, in order that the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. Make us strong in faith oh Lord and resolute in the face of battle; that we might be more than conquerors through Him that loved us, even Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray, amen.

Are there any questions now concerning this chapter? Yes.

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] I would prefer to postpone that question concerning the three major positions until we have gone through Revelation and consider Matthew 24. Because I think the differences will come to focus best in an analysis of Matthew 24. Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] I think very early we can begin to teach the book of Revelation in its most elementary aspects to small children, by telling them first of all, the book of Revelation emphasizes what all scripture teaches, that Jesus Christ is our Kinsman Redeemer. He made Himself by His incarnation to be our next of kin, and in the book of Revelation He tells us that His inheritance for us is his Kingdom, a glorious destiny in time and in eternity. Victory over the powers of sin and death. We can begin at that point, you see. And from there, having that key, little by little as they grow older they can learn more and more about the meaning of Revelation, but that is the key.

Well, if there are no questions immediately, I would like to go to another subject, because I think it is of some importance. I am going to go around the barn as it were, to get to this. And in a sense I am going to stack the deck before I come to considering what I shall discuss. But I think it is important to do this in order that you have a full picture of what I am going to deal with in a minute or two.

First I am going to read a few passages from a book by George Faludy, My Happy Days in Hell. This is a book by a Hungarian writer who was a minor official in the Hungarian Communist regime and was finally thrown into prison, and subjected to some very ugly treatment. I am not going to read some of the most horrifying passages.

He calls it his happy days in hell, because as long as he was free and working he felt a fearful burden of guilt for what was going on. But at least once he was a victim he no longer felt that sense of oppression.

“I spent 36 hours in that common cell. Most of the time I was sitting on one of the chairs turned to the wall; only the snoring of the sleepers and the endless babbling of the mummy broke the silence. Of the four men standing in the corner, three collapsed from time to time. The sergeant threw a bucket full of water on them, stood them on their feet and slapped their faces. The fourth did not collapse once. He must have been standing for only one or two days. The babbling of the mummy consisted of four or five sentences.” (This man he refers to as a mummy is a man who believed in law in a humanistic sense and he couldn’t understand what had happened to him.) “Sometimes he, this mummy, cried with deep conviction: ‘I am a member of Parliament. My immunity has not been suspended, and I have committed no crime.’” (He couldn’t accept what had happened to him.)

“Then a few hours later he complained that he had been kept tied up for ten days, although according to the law nobody could be detained for more than 24 hours. Or he demanded that a lawyer be sent to see him, and that his family be told of his whereabouts. Every time he began to speak the warder hurried over and began to kick his nape and his ears, but he went on talking. The second morning I was led across the yard to the main building. In a corridor close to a door they told me to stand quietly with my face against the wall. While I was waiting I pictured to myself my last three days with a painful, almost unbelievable exactitude. My discussion with (Bandy Havas and Harothasee at the Aponeum?)

Our passage on the ferry boat last Sunday when the noise of the boat divided the surface of the lake into a blue half and a green half, and I felt again the perfume of the coffee that had been put down before us at the Espresso where Susie and I had talked that last afternoon three days ago. I had been standing there for two hours or more when I heard an agreeable, ringing voice from behind the door: “Let that fascist come in.” a captain was standing behind the desk, an attractive, elegant man with bare hair and narrow waist and almost classical features. “Soon,” he said gaily, winking at me, “You will feel the weight of your behind on your neck.” He was quoting a line from a (vilion?) poem in my translation.

“Sit down,” he continued kindly, then fished out from his desk drawer a type written page and a rubber truncheon. “You know me don’t you? No? Well, I was there at your (Villion?) recital at the academy of music two months ago. I talked to you in the interval.” For a while he stared into my face with obvious pleasure. “Your name?” while he typed out my data, he looked with enchantment at his own hands, illuminated by the sunlight streaming in from the upper window. (Necrios?) silver half moons shown on his nails, but their ends were yellowish, thick and rough. “Do you know why you have been brought in here?” he asked threateningly. I shrugged my shoulders.

“It doesn’t matter,” he continued tolerantly, “It is enough if we know. Read this.” He handed me the type written page. It began by my admitting that I had committed serious crimes against the Hungarian working people, and the laws of the peoples Republic, in that, first: I was an agent of the American Secret Service. Second, I had organized an armed uprising for the overthrow of the Peoples Republic. Third, as a right-wing social democrat I had carried out various sabotage actions. Fourth, I maintained close relations with the head of the Hungarian (Trotskyites, sought justice in various Trotsky?) circles abroad. Fifth, after justices arrest I had become head of the Hungarian Trotsky’s. Sixth, I had written fascist articles in (Netzabah?). Seventh, I was friendly with people of a clerical or reactionary attitude, made imperialist propaganda in my conversations, and hated the Hungarian people above all.

Then the paper said that I was making this confession of my own free will, without compulsion, to relieve my conscience. A few lines below in another type came a (?) according to which fearing arrest I had taken a train to Czechoslovakia with the intention of going on from there to West Germany and reporting to the American Secret Service.

“Will you sign?” “There isn’t a word of truth,” I replied. The captain picked up his rubber truncheon and swung it. “We shall see,” he said. “We too have our arguments.” So finally, he signed; and then a little later on in his cell he began to try to leave some kind of record that he was innocent, and he kept trying to figure out a short brief message that he could write with his own blood on some strips of toilet paper he had hidden. However, they caught him doing this.

“I was busy on the last word of the postscript when the door of the cell flung open. The warder must have been watching me through the Judas hole, he tore the paper from my hand, slapped my face, and declared that my investigator would make sure I was punished. Five minutes later he returned with a rubber truncheon, and order me to open my trousers and put my scrotum on the iron bedhead. For a second I wavered, and cold sweat broke out on my forehead. At that moment inhuman screams broke out on the opposite side of the corridor. This is the first sound I had heard from my fellow prisoners since I was first locked in the cell, except for the spasmodic coughing of the man in the cell opposite mine.

This sound came from far away, at least five cells down the corridor, and anxiety was making my eardrums throb, and I felt as if hot water were streaming into my ears. Because of this I did not understand the words, although they were undoubtedly coherent. At the first scream the warder ran from my cell and locked the door on me, and the next second I was leaning against the door and listening to the sound outside. “Long live Stalin, Long live Stalin, I love our dear comrade (Rakovski?).” In the pauses between the thuds of the rubber truncheon, the “Long live Stalin, Long live Stalin, I love our dear comrade (Rakovski?)” rose six more times, even more strongly, even more enthusiastically. Then I heard a splitting sound as though they had broken the victims jaw along with his teeth. Then absolute silence.”

The voice he recognized as he goes on to say, it was of a young idealist who refused to believe that there could be anything wrong with Communism, and so as he faced the torture, he refused to believe that there was anything wrong with Communism, something had to be wrong with himself and his mind snapped. But to have him screaming the phrase of the communist regime in those circumstances was more than even the Communists could take, so they destroyed him.

And I could go on and give you a great deal of the horrors that this book describes, but I am going to turn now to the matter that I think is more important, a book that I read just this week in virtually one sitting, one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. It is by Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, Twenty Letters to a Friend. She is a superb writer. It is really amazingly good reading.

I don’t see why however the communists should object to this book, and I think they are either hypocrites or fools if they do, because it is the best piece of propaganda that has ever been printed for the Communist regime, nothing has ever equaled this book. First of all, she is a very, very sincere person. She believes what she writes. She writes with accuracy on the whole, and with deep conviction and feeling. To understand what this woman writes you must realize first of all that as Stalin’s daughter she was like a princess, the daughters of the Czar weren’t brought up more royally than she was with governesses and nurses, a house full of servants, and as a relatively young woman hostess to the great peoples of the earth, Churchill and others as they came to the Soviet Union.

And as she writes it, her papa was a sweet, lovable man. All the old Bolsheviks were dear, sensitive souls, and the story she tells about them do indicate very sensitive, earnest, well-meaning character on the part of all of them except Beria, who is the villain of the piece. And it is a thoroughly charming account. She goes into her family on both sides, and some of the pictures are most attractive. And at times you find yourself very much on the side of her father as he makes some comments, as for example this when she is describing her mother’s family:

“My mother was closer to (Pavell?) than to her older sister Anna, but the two sisters were also very close. Their personalities differed, but were not in conflict.” Anna (Redenns?) her aunt. “Is goodness itself, the very embodiment of the unfailing Christian spirit that forgives everything and everyone.” This for her is Christianity, it is total forgiveness, total love. And her religion of course is the one world religion, this is what she has been converted too.

“I don’t know anyone who has so unflaggingly devoted her whole life to other people. Helping them, worrying about their troubles, always thinking of them first and herself last. Her attitude of Christian forbearance never failed to exasperate my father, who called her an unprincipled fool, and remarked that: “This sort of goodness is worse than any wickedness.” My mother used to complain that Anna “spoils both her children and mine.” Because my aunt loved us all, and was kind to us and overlooked the little tricks children play. It wasn’t anything conscious or thought out on her part, but just the way she was. She couldn’t be any other way.”

And of course it is precisely this unprincipled goodness, this total love that motivates all these people. And all these characters, (Helenan, Bogainan,) Khrushchev, are such lovable people, their hearts overflow with love for humanity. And this is their wickedness. Because it is a love without God, and who is God in such a system? You are. And if somebody gets in the way of your plans to love everybody what do you do? You liquidate them. They are full of love, but who knows better than they? So if anybody gets in their way, break their jaw. Torture them. They are the enemy.

And she doesn’t understand what has happened. She knows somehow everything went sour, and how could her dear papa been a part to all these horrors? And how could these wonderful, sweet old Bolsheviks been a party to these horrors? But the only horrors she sees in the book are the horrors that befell the Communist party leaders.

There is not a moment of feeling for the old nobility and the middle class, they killed them off, herded their women into houses of prostitution, their children into slave camps and took their houses, and didn’t feel anything. They killed off the common people, ten, thirteen million at a time and didn’t feel a thing. Their one grief is, that party members killed party members. How could idealists kill idealists? And the book is so beautifully, and simply and sincerely written, that it is gripping. But it is the epitome of madness from beginning to end. It is the madness of our day. These people who are so full of love for humanity, and hatred for God end up making themselves God who can kill people off, including their own relatives, and believe that they were not only right, but they can cry as they kill these people: “Why did they betray me?”

This book will carry a lot of conviction with the humanists, because it is their personality to a T, and it is madness. It is not surprising that, by her own statement, a strong streak of insanity, schizophrenia, ran through her family. I think the book is an honest one. Some have sniffed at it because they recognize the power of the book and they feel that it isn’t honest reporting, but I believe it is one of the most honest books written, and that is the deadly part of it. But most of our generation being today humanists, full of this same sick love, are incapable of judging this book.

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, right, this is her book.

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Yes she weeps, she is so heart broken for what has happened to the revolution, and this is the way she concludes the book: “What sterling, full-blooded people they were, those early knights of the revolution, who carried such romantic idealism with them to the grave. They were the troubadours, the victims, the blind zealots, and the martyrs of the revolution.” Nothing about the millions they slaughtered. “As for those who wanted to set themselves above the revolution, who wanted to speed up its progress and make tomorrow come today, those who tried to do good by doing evil, and make the wheels of time and progress spin faster, have they accomplished what they wanted? Millions were sacrificed senselessly, thousands of talented lives extinguished prematurely. The tale of these losses could not be told in twenty books, let alone twenty letters. Wouldn’t it have been better for those people to have gone on serving mankind here on earth, rather than have their deaths be the only marks they left in the hearts of men? History is a stern judge, it is not for me but for history to decide who served the cause of goodness, and who that of vanity and vain glory. I certainly don’t have the right. All I have is my conscience, and conscience tells me that before pointing out the mote in my neighbors eye, I must first see the beam in my own. There is no one including me who does not have a beam in his own eye,” (therefore don’t judge any of these characters, you see.)

“We are all responsible for everything that happened.”(In other words, everyone is guilty, so don’t point the finger at my father or any one else.) “Let the judging be done by those who come later, by men and women who didn’t know the times and the people we knew. Let it be left to new people, to whom these years in Russia will be as remote and inexplicable, as terrible and strange as the reign of Ivan the Terrible. But I do not think that they will call our era a progressive one, or that they will say it was all for the good of Russia. But I hope they won’t forget that what is good never dies, that it lived on in the hearts of men even in the darkest times, and was hidden where no one thought to look for it, that it never died out or disappeared completely. Everything on our tormented earth, that is alive and breaths, that blossoms and bares fruit, lives on by virtue of and in the name of truth and good.”

Isn’t that sweet?

Yes.

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Oh it is quite certain that they do not. You see, the objection to the book is that: “Well, somehow she hasn’t told the truth.” But she has. She has. And her father was at that one point right. This business of total love was more evil than evil itself. And yet he was a part to the same kind of thing, this was his own nature only his sister in law went further than he did with it. Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] What was that?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, he was very concerned, and one of the things that I think is interesting, and of course she quotes a lot of letters from her father, very endearing letters, this is one when she was in hospital giving birth to a little girl: “Dearest Svetochka,” (a pet name) “I got your letter. I am very glad that you got off so lightly, kidney trouble is a serious business, to say nothing of having a child. Where did you ever get the idea that I have abandoned you?” (He hadn’t been able to call on her) “It’s the sort of thing people dream of. I advise you not to believe your dreams. Take care of yourself; take care of your daughter too. The state needs people, even those who are born prematurely. Be patient a little longer, we will see each other soon. I kiss my Svetochka, your little Papa.”

“The state needs people.” This is the way he was caught up in things, so that when a granddaughter is born, he can think of one thing: the state has another servant. Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, but this is the humanistic concept of love. You love everybody, and you feel you have the right to govern everybody. So in terms of the Biblical concept it is not true love.

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] The book is charming, this is part of the appeal of the book. As she described her father’s mother, “A simple old woman who was left a widow young, she had had a great many children but they all died in early childhood and my Father was the only one who survived. She was extremely devout and dreamed of having her son become a priest. She kept her religion to the end of her days. When my Father went to see her shortly before she died, she told him: “What a pity you never became a priest.” My Father used to recount this with relish, he was delighted by her scorn for what he’d accomplished, for the acclaim and the worldly glory.”

Then she goes on to say that her father showed the effects of the kind of upbringing he’d had. “From time to time my Father indulged in a bit of petty carping, once in (Sotchi?)” (That was at their resort house) “When I was ten he glanced at me, I was a rather big child, and remarked: “What is this, are you going around naked?” I had no idea what the matter might be, at that he went on pointing at the hem of my dress. It was above the knee, the normal length for a child of my age. “The hell with it,” He was angry by now, “What is that?” This time it was my shorts. “These girls who go in for sports, what an outrage.” He was getting angrier by the minute. “They all go around naked.” He went up to his room muttering and came back with two cotton undershirts. “Come on,” he commanded me. “Here nurse,” he said to my nurse whose face registered no surprise whatsoever. “You make her some bloomers to cover up her knees, and see that her dress is below the knees.” “Certainly, certainly,” answered my nurse who had never quarreled with an employer in her life. “But Papa,” I wailed, “nobody wears them that way now.” That was no reason as far he was concerned. They made me a pair of long, foolish looking bloomers, and a dress that came below my knees, and I only wore them when I was going to see my father. Later I shortened the dress little by little, and he never noticed because his mind was on other things. I soon went back to dressing exactly as I had before.”

But then she goes on to say, “But he often drove me to tears with his nagging over what I wore.”

Later she says: “I learned that in Georgia where he grew up, older people do not tolerate short dresses, short sleeves, short socks and so on.”

But they are total humanists. And they are no different from the people down the street who love everybody, the only difference is that these people had the power to try and ram their loving ideas down everybody’s throat, and anybody who didn’t agree they just loved them out of existence. Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] This is how they justify it. When you spank your children you do it because you love them. When they discipline people it is because of their love. This is exactly what they believe. And they have a rational for it whereby they justify it. And they believe themselves to be the most idealistic people in the earth, and we fail to understand these people until we realize this fact. And this is precisely why we are not able to deal with our problem today, because what Stalin represented, and what his daughter represents is what we have got all around us. And we can never contend with it until we see that his sentimental, humanistic love bit, is the source of all the monstrous evils of our day. Because it is an unprincipled love, and it sets itself up as the truth, and it says: “Love is everything, and we are going to have humanity established on a loving basis, none of this horrible business of God and hell.” Well, they have created more hell than God ever did.

But we have to recognize, this is honest reporting, this is how these people are. And I have gone to school with some of these communists who are now high up, and I can tell you they were ablaze with this passion of love for humanity. And the rest of us were insensitive slobs as far as they were concerned.

Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, but the essence of original sin is the temptation of Satan: ‘Ye shall be as Gods, every man his own God, knowing, that is, determining for yourself, what is good and evil.’

Now, this is exactly the humanistic idea. These men make themselves to be Gods. They are going to be wiser than God, and they are going to determine good and evil for themselves. So that these people move in terms of this delusion. And of course the telling thing in this book, and this is what most people find impossible in this book, is that Beria should be the villain. Well Beria is exactly what she says, because he was the one man who wasn’t an idealist, he was an opportunist to the core who was going to exploit these soft-headed idealists. And so he got to the top. He was manipulating Stalin against everyone around him.

He was able, now this is a staggering fact, Beria was able to put in his sister-in-law as a spy in Stalin’s own household. Now can you imagine if you were the dictator of a country, allowing your chief of secret police to put a spy in your own household? But Stalin permitted this, because the one person who was clearly unprincipled was Beria, and he could manipulate these people and destroy them readily precisely because of that. Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] After Stalin’s death Beria was liquidated by his successors. Beria was reaching after total power to become his successor, but he was the one they all feared; so they united to liquidate him.

Well, our time is up now, so we stand adjourned.