Human Nature in Its Third Estate

Men And Sheep

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Christian Reconstruction

Lesson: 20 - 20

Genre: Lecture

Track: 40

Dictation Name: RR131W41

Location/Venue: Parkview Baptist Church

Year: 1960’s - 1970’s

[Dr. Rushdoony] Psalm 23, and our subject, men and sheep. We conclude this morning our studies in man in the state of grace, and next week continue our studies of the biblical doctrine of man, of man in the state of glory. Men and sheep. Psalm 23.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Some years ago, when I was in Nevada, my pastorate not only included the Indian reservation but the surrounding mining camp and cattle country. And in one of my earliest services, I did take some time to deal with Christ as our good shepherd, and we as the sheep of his pasture. And after it was over, one of the cattlemen very kindly told me that that was not very popular imagery in cattle country. And he said, no cattleman likes being compared to sheep. Sheep are low down, dirty critters. He had a point. Indeed, sheep are among the dirtiest of animals. The average city-dweller, when he reads this Psalm gets entirely the wrong idea. The cattleman was closer to the truth, even though he objected to it.

Our idea of sheep is from pictures of little woolly lambs new born, clean and fresh. But the wool of the sheep picks up dirt, in fact, it will pick up not only dirt and bits of twigs and pebbles, but gravel. It is so tightly held together that almost any kind of dirt that is thrown up against it by the hoofs of other sheep is caught in it. On top of that, it smells. Sheep are anything but pleasant to be around. And their order is anything but fragrant. On top of that, sheep are very, very stupid. They do require around the clock care. Unless you have sheep in a pen or a fenced in pasture that you can keep an eye on, you have to have a herder and sheepdogs keeping tabs on them 24 hours a day. A sheepherders life is a difficult one. He has to live with the sheep around the clock, he has to have exceptionally good dogs so that when he gets into the sheep wagon to sleep at night, those dogs will have, of course with his help, gathered these sheep together and bedded them down for the night, and the dogs will be on the watch all night long to make sure that not only no wild animal will come after those sheep, but they don’t wander off. On top of that, there’s nothing more irritating than to have any kind of trail in sheep country, because the sheep, when they see a trail, they trail. They won’t stop to eat, they’ll just follow the leader right down the trail. And if the leader takes them off a cliff they’ll all pile up off that cliff on top of him. Sheep are stupid.

Thus, when God compares us to sheep, He does it as the omnipotent, all wise God who knows what He’s talking about. He says men are like sheep. He wasn’t trying, in other words, to be complimentary. As a result, the cattlemen knew far more about the Psalms than the average minister who thinks it’s such beautiful language, and the average parishioner who thinks isn’t it a sweet figure of speech.

What God is saying when He says that we are sheep is that, left to ourselves, we are not only dirty, we’re not only stupid, but we’re also helpless.

Now, because God sees men very much like sheep, He knows that men need a shepherd. God repeatedly in Scripture speaks of Himself as the good Shepherd of His covenant people. Some of the passages in which this is so declared are Psalm 80:1, Ezekiel 34:12, and many others. Then, when the promise of the Messiah is given, we are told that the Messiah will be the shepherd of His people. Zachariah 11:16, Isaiah 40:11, and so on. On top of that, our Lord declared himself to be the good Shepherd of the sheep, in John 10:14. And the Epistles repeatedly speak of him as the good Shepherd, Hebrews 13:20, 1st Peter 2:25, and 1st Peter 5:2 and 4.

But not only God declares Himself to be the shepherd of man. Throughout antiquity kings declared themselves to be both divine and to be shepherds. So that in the inscriptions of, for example, the Babylonian and Assyrian monarchs, as well as other rulers, they declared themselves to be the shepherd of men. They assumed total control over their people, and they required total subservience from them. They assumed that people were helpless apart from them and needed them as their shepherd. This same claim is made by the State today. It doesn’t use that language. But the whole of the ideology of the welfare state and of socialism and of communism is precisely that people are sheep and they need to be shepherded by the State. This is very definitely stated increasingly by various scholars.

In fact one English labor party member has said that most people are so stupid that they need an elite group to shepherd and lead them.

The Bible thus has had confirmation from others than the Scriptural writers that men are sheep. The question is, whose sheep are they? God’s, or the State’s? If sheep are not governed by a shepherd, they will blindly follow the leader to disaster. If men are not governed by God, they will be governed by men. To be governed by God means to be entirely subject to His government and Word. To be governed by the State means to be entirely and ultimately, the creature of the State, and governed entirely by the State. Men are sheep, but whose sheep? Men were not created by God to be the sheep of the State’s pasture.

Moreover, men are more than sheep, according to Scripture. They are created in the image of God to be His people. And the image of God in man draws man to God, even as in sin, men seek a god, although a false one. St. Augustine said our hearts are restless ‘til they rest in Thee. And men in their sin try to lull that restlessness by seeking false gods. But when men find their rest in Christ, they are then free to be men, to exercise dominion, to govern in righteousness and holiness, to gain knowledge under God. They are then not sheep, in relationship to other men, but only in relationship to Christ. This is very clearly brought out in the 23rd Psalm.

The Psalm begins, the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. The complete trust of the shepherd in his sheep, because God is our shepherd, we surrender ourselves totally to His care. And He makes us to lie down in green pastures and leads us beside the still waters.

He restores our souls and leads us safely. So that we need fear no evil. Because though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we have the Shepherd whose care is certain, who will guide us safely. Thus the first part of the 23rd Psalm gives us a picture of ourselves as the sheep of God. The perfect security, the perfect trust, the perfect confidence that is ours in following the great Shepherd of the sheep.

But then the second half of the Psalm turns and sees us in relationship to men. And there we have another picture. Not of ourselves as sheep, in relationship to men, but of able to stand alone in the presence of enemies. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. A banquet table on a battlefield. The cup running over. A picture of luxury. And the head anointed with oil. The symbol of a prophet and of a king. So that one faces men, not as a sheep, but as a king, as a prophet. Powerful, strong and independent. The Psalm therefore is a vivid contrast between ourselves as sheep in relationship to Christ, totally trusting him, totally surrendered to his guidance, totally trustful that even as we go through the valley of the shadow of death we need fear no evil. And yet, in relationship to men, kings and prophets, able to stand before them fearless, confident, and victorious.

We are freed when we follow Christ as our Shepherd from any urge to follow sheep like the dictates of men. We are the Lord’s flock.

Now this entire Psalm is very closely related to a very modern subject. Hypnotism. At first glance this seems a very strange subject to bring up. But hypnotism is a relatively modern thing. There were hints of it in ancient times, but it was not until the enlightenment, and in particular the 18th century, and especially in the last century, that hypnotism began to come to the fore. It was virtually unknown until the days of Mesmer, only a century or so ago. It was a very minor, insignificant thing. But now hypnotism is a very important subject. What is hypnotism? Well one scholar on the subject, {?}, has written, and I quote, “Hypnotism is a special form of direct or prestige suggestion. Something to which we are all exposed everyday of our lives.” Unquote. Now that’s an interesting definition. Prestige suggestion. Wherever there is snob appeal, in other words, there is hypnotism. And this is why those who are most prone to hypnotism are those who are most educated, most affluent, and most irreligious.

According to another scholar, Robert W. Marks, quote, “People can be conditioned to any kind of appeal, and will respond whole hearted and en masse if the appeal sustained long enough.” Unquote. Marks in answer to the question, what is hypnotism says, and I quote, “Hypnotism is unquestionably a form of conditioning, a triggering of predisposition.” Unquote. Moreover, as he goes on to develop the subject, Marks, says, and I quote, “Hypnotism is induced infantilism. It is a regression to the individuals early period of will-less safety. The degrees of hypnosis are co-relatives of the extent of the regression. The hypnotist bears the same relation to the subject a father or mother or bears to the child. The subject surrenders his will.

He surrenders because the hypnotist recreates a situation for which the subject has an unconscious longing. The hypnotic situation, in short, is a temporary love relation, in which the hypnotist symbolizes either the caressing understanding mother, or the all knowing, all powerful father. (Incidentally, the hypnotist makes a point of assessing just how to put a subject under, by taking a mother role or a father role in the way they ask them to obey.) Resistances to hypnosis recapitulate the subjects identifications with, or dependency on, parent symbols. {Forensi?} distinguished mother hypnosis and father hypnosis. The techniques which utilize the supposed symbols. The regressive tendencies of some subjects are associated with maternal patterns. They will respond to stroking, soothing words, assurances of well being and love. This is the technique of the lullaby, mother hypnosis. Father hypnosis the command of authority, you are going to sleep, you cannot resist, it is impossible for you to fight it. Sleep. This is a reenactment of the part of the stern father. It says in substance, I will give you love and protection, but only on one condition. You must obey. If you refuse, I will destroy you.” Unquote.

Now Marks goes on to say, people are easy to hypnotize because, he says, quote, “They have an incurable weakness for authority.” Unquote. And he goes on to compare their behavior as individuals and especially as crowds, to that of sheep. And says that therein is the reason why they are readily hypnotized. To quote further, “In the panorama of crowd behavior, we can isolate a number of generalities. The first is that the crowd vaporizes the capacity for ratiocination, which its members exhibit when in isolation. The second is that a crowd tends to cast off inhibitions. The third is what Hitler’s spiritual predecessor, Le Bon, called the thirst for obedience. The yearning to be led. The fourth is the sharp distinction between the behavior trends of led and leaderless groups.” Unquote.

Now to go a little further. There are only two kinds of people who are immune to hypnosis. Just two. The first is the extreme neurotic. Not mildly, but extreme, virtually total neurosis. Total rebellion God, against parents, against society. The radical unwillingness to submit to any authority, the withdrawal, almost, into a catatonic state, into total insanity. A solitary life. Such people cannot be hypnotized, because they are so far withdrawn that there’s no point of contact that can be made with them. There’s nothing that will get through to them.

The other kind of person who is immune to hypnosis is the truly godly person. And to the extent that anyone is truly and thoroughly a Christian, to that extent, they are immune to hypnosis. Having made the Lord their Shepherd, no man can play shepherd over them. The implications of this godly immunity are very important. Instead of infantilism in relationship to other people, which marks the hypnotic state and subject, the Christian is marked by maturity. He can be dependent on other people, but only as a mature man. Not as a child. His dependency is as a friend, as a husband, as a wife, as an associate, not as sheep, or as a child. The result is a freedom from hypnosis and subjectibility. Both a Christian and the non-Christian are sheep, but in relationship to whom? The Christian has made God his Shepherd, and therefore he cannot be shepherded by men. This is why the modern totalitarian state has only been possible in the modern world, with unbelief.

The kind of totalitarianism the modern state requires could not have existed in earlier times. This is why hypnosis has become something in the modern world, where it was virtually nothing in ancient times. The Christian is suggestible, toward God. He is open to the guidance of God.

The non-Christian is open to hypnosis, to subjectibility, to leadership from men.

We are the children of God, and we are, as our Lord said, as little children in the kingdom of Heaven. That is, we hear, we obey, we accept the Word of God, and the more we grow in faith the more trusting and unquestioning we are of the Word of God.

Whereas when men are sheep in relationship to men, the more trusting, the more unquestioning they are in relationship to the word of man. This is why it is often impossible to talk to the ungodly, who will follow their shepherd, the State. And you try to tell them what the State is doing, and the evils that are latent in the things they propose, and they cannot accept what you say, there is something blasphemous about your words. Why, the State wouldn’t let that happen.

Someone described to me trying to talk with some left-wingers who, a month or two ago, were very active promoting the Child Advocacy Act. Trying to portray to them the dangers inherent in that act, and finding it utterly impossible to communicate to them. They were ready to listen, but the words did not penetrate, because they were sheep of another pasture. They were giving to the State that absolute trust that belongs only to the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. Those who reject Christ as their Good Shepherd become sheep in relationship to men. And they follow men. They follow them with an absurdity that is appalling.

Over the years I’ve seen how the ungodly clergy have aped every kind of thing that the world has brought along. And it is amusing to see how some of them have become hippies in their garb, and their conduct of services. Long haired and dirty and stringy, because this somehow has tremendous social relevance.

I was recently turning over in my mind what foolishness would they follow, and it occurred to me, if suddenly our far out hippies went for a bare backside fad as a means of social protest, no doubt some of these clergy would follow suit. And just as they’ve written books and preached sermons about the social significance of the various hippy practices, we might have books and sermons on the social significance of exposure, or putting hypocrisy behind us. Or bared buttocks, an expose and indictment of the hypocrisy of our time. They would, one way or another, follow suit, because they’re sheep. They’ve never hesitated to do anything yet to stay in the flock of the state of the world. As sheep, they will follow. There is no limit to the folly of men of who follow men. We can expect any kind of absurdity from them. It is prestige suggestion, that’s the essence of hypnosis. And sheep follow sheep that way.

 

And the question we need to ask of ourselves continually, if we are the Lord’s sheep, as indeed we are, then cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils? The Lord is our Shepherd, and following Him we shall not want.

Let us pray. Almighty God our Heavenly Father, who in Thy grace and mercy hast called us out from following after men, and hast made us Thy people, purge us oh Lord of the remnants of the old man in us, and of the relics of the sheep-like attitude towards man, that with our whole heart, mind and being we may follow Thee, our Good Shepherd.

We thank Thee our Father that Thou as our Good Shepherd dost lead us safely and victoriously. Teach us therefore so to follow with joy and thanksgiving, that all the days of our life we may rejoice in the paths of righteousness, and in the comfort of Thy rod and Thy staff. Grant us this we beseech Thee, in Jesus name, Amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all with respect to our lesson? Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] No, Robert Marks. And I can give you the title of his book, ‘The Story of Hypnotism’, and the other one by George Estabrooks, simply ‘Hypnotism’.

You see, our weakness is that we tend to think of hypnosis only as the extreme from when somebody on a platform is put into a state where if they’re told they have fleas, they start scratching themselves, and if they are told they’re a dog, they get down and bark. But this is only an extreme manifestation of hypnosis. Hypnosis is prestige suggestion, you see. All advertising is based on hypnosis, therefore. This is the essence of styles, and of fads. It assumes the fact that men are sheep, and it’s a safe assumption. They are. And if, of course, men cease to be sheep in relationship to men, it would revolutionize advertising, would it not? Then you would have to sell quality, rather than prestige. But today the prime factor in selling is prestige, quality is secondary.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] That’s very true, various expressions and so on become faddist, and people follow them.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] I couldn’t quite hear, but it is, did you ask about the word charisma and its relationship to this? Very, very astute question, yes.

The word charisma is an old Greek word which has taken on a new, modern meaning. In essence it is related to this. The charismatic leader. It comes from anointing, chrio, anointing. The charismatic leader is the one who is the great shepherd, who can draw people to him irrespective of what he says. So that the charismatic leader can actually deny common sense, and people will applaud him. Thus, Hitler, in one famous speech, which was widely applauded, (now mind you, he gained power during the Depression) said, we promise you, not higher bread prices, not lower bread prices, but national socialist bread prices. And they went wild.

That statement made about as much sense as what we hear in our presidential campaigns. You see, the essence was the charismatic element. And of course what the parties look for today is a leader with charisma. And we are told, that {?} and Kennedy have charisma, and that’s why they’re prime contenders for the nomination. This is the kind of thing that registers. And of course it does because people are sheep. We have to recognize that fact. And as long as they’re sheep in relationship to men, rather in relationship to God, they’re going to follow a charismatic leader.

Of course they use that word, and they’ve resurrected it, rather than saying a hypnotic leader. Because that is too much a give away.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] I can’t quite hear you.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. They accuse Christianity of being the opiate of the people. Well, there’s a reason why. It was precisely so charged by Marx and other revolutionists of the last century, because the Christians were the ones they couldn’t brainwash, you see. And so, instead of admitting that the reason they could not brainwash them was because these people had character, they said well, they’re so hopped up on Christianity that they’re immune to common sense. It’s the same kind of peculiar logic that Freud indulged in, when he found that the Christians, the very few he dealt with, had no traces of neurosis. And so how did he get around that fact, since it was his theory that everybody had the kind of neurosis he was describing? He said they had no neurosis because they’d accepted the cosmic neurosis, God. Now if that isn’t doubletalk I’ve never heard it. You see. So this was their way of trying to make a Christian feel guilty because he had character. Character enough to resist the kind of brainwashing they were indulging in. This is why, for example, Mussolini, one of the first things he did when he gained power, and he was very insecure when he seized power, and his regime was very, very likely to collapse at anytime, was to introduce, as extensively as possible, universal popular education. An adult education. Brainwash the people. Give them the secular, humanistic perspective as rapidly as possible, through the press, through adult education, through the radio.

And in a few years, having given them this humanism as a new faith, what could he do? He could turn around and recognize the Catholic Church, come on in, you’re harmless now. We’ve planted the real religion in the minds of the people. So it was in ‘28 or ‘29 when peace was made with the Vatican. Because he had made them his sheep already.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Well, my hearing isn’t too good, I’ve had the flu, in fact Dorothy and I have been down most of the week, and still in my ears the cold, so I don’t hear too well, but the question as I understand it was with reference to character, what it is.

Character of course, can be good or bad. Character is the sum total of the habits and ways of a man. And it is the mind, the actions, the behavior of a man, as it reveals itself.

Now, the character can be, as I indicated, good or bad. Well. If a man’s character is that of a sheep towards men, he will inescapably be predisposed to accepting something from a human authority. He may differ with regard to which human authority he follows as a sheep, so that there can be a cynicism with regard to, say, well I don’t go for {?}, I go for Kennedy, or I go for Wallis, but he’s going to follow some human leader, or Nixon, he’s going to seek his salvation in a man. His shepherd is going to be a man, that’s going to be his hope in life. And his entire pattern will be geared to expecting something from man.

Now, if his character is formed by God, then his character will be conformed to the Word of God, rather than to humanistic standards.

If it is formed by man, there are no moral absolutes in his character. So that the habits, the patterns that are formed are habits and patterns that are formed ultimately in terms of self-gratification. And he follows that particular shepherd, which he feels will best gratify his demands for self-gratification. He may, and will be of course, blind, and it may be that the one he is following is going to lead him to more quick disaster than the other, but he is following, blinded by his sin. Because his character, having rejected moral absolutes, isn’t capable of seeing the logical consequences of his actions. Is that any help?

Our time is just about up. A couple of things that I would like to share with you.

This in particular. This comes from the December 7th bulletin of the Christian Heritage Center in Louisville Kentucky, a very fine organization. And its motto is, Christian revival is the key to American survival. And by revival it mean something similar to what we mean by reconstruction. Now, incidentally, they get and use the Chalcedon Report quite extensively. On page 2 of their bulletin, they have this. Christ, not Satan, is King of the Earth. And then, to document that thesis from older Puritan writings, they quote from a Christian classic of the Puritan Era, John Flavel, ‘The Fountain of Life’, which, as they point out, shows that the hand of Christ and not anti-god conspiracy, is the directing power of history. And I shall quote now from Flavel. “The kingly office to Christ, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things of the Church. Ephesians 1:22. Christ was raised from a low estate, even from the dead, to a high, a very high and glorious state. To be head both of the world and of the Church. The head of the world by way of dominion, the head of the Church by way of union and special influence, ruling the world for the good of his people in it. And here let these four things be seriously regarded.

One, the dignity and authority committed to Christ, he hath put all things under his feet. Which implies full, ample and absolute dominion in him, and subjection in them over whom he reigns. This power is delegated to him by the Father.

Two. The recipient of this authority is Christ, and Christ primarily and only. He is the first receptacle of all power and authority.

Three. The object of this authority is the whole creation. All things are put under his feet. He rules from sea to sea even to the utmost bounds of God’s creation. Thou hast given him power over all flesh. John 17:2.

Four. All the affairs of the kingdom of providence are ordered and determined by Jesus Christ, for the special advantage and everlasting good of his redeemed people.

That Jesus Christ providentially controls all the affairs of this world is evident from both Scripture assertion and from the observation of events. How does Christ administer his rule of the world?

One. He rules and orders the kingdom of providence by supporting, permitting, restraining, limiting, protecting, and punishing and rewarding those over whom he reigns providentially.

Two. He supports the world and all creatures in it by his power.

Three. He permits and suffers the worst of creation in his dominion {?} if they do.

Four. He restrains creatures by the bridle of his promise.

Five. The Lord Jesus protects providentially his people amidst a world of enemies and dangers.

Six. He punishes evil doers and repays by his providence the mischiefs they intend for those that fear him.” Unquote.

Now of course this was the Puritan faith that made our day possible. It was the faith without which our era could not have come into being. And we will not have a return to anything resembling a godly order without that kind of a faith, that Christ indeed is Lord of all things.

Our time is up. Before we have the benediction I’d like to ask you to remain in your seats for a few minutes afterwards, that we might have an announcement of something.

Let us bow our heads now for the benediction. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.