A Vulture Society vs. A Diaconal Society
We have either a vulture society or a diaconal one: a world of hatred, evil, and distrust, or a world of faith, grace, and ministry.
- R. J. Rushdoony
California Farmer 250:5 (Mar. 3, 1979), p. 43.
Our Lord calls attention over and over again to the lust for power which marks the ungodly, and their dog-eat-dog mentality. It is a philosophy of doing in others before they do you. Christ’s commandment here is blunt and simple: “But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:26–28).
The choice He tells us is an inescapable one: we have either a vulture society or a diaconal one, a world of hatred, evil, and distrust, or a world of faith, grace, and ministry.
The diaconal society, however, can only be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. The modern state offers a pretended ministry of service as a means to exercising a pagan dominion, and the result is a vulture society of hatred, crime, and exploitation. It has no grace and therefore no ministry.
We cannot escape this choice: the more we build our country on any other foundation than Jesus Christ, the more we become a depraved and vicious social order, a vulture society.
The change must begin with us, and then every area of life and thought must be brought into captivity to Jesus Christ. If the Lord does not govern us, the vultures will.
Take your choice. You pay the price with your life: is it Christ or the vultures?
- R. J. Rushdoony
Rev. R.J. Rushdoony (1916–2001), was a leading theologian, church/state expert, and author of numerous works on the application of Biblical law to society. He started the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965. His Institutes of Biblical Law (1973) began the contemporary theonomy movement which posits the validity of Biblical law as God’s standard of obedience for all. He therefore saw God’s law as the basis of the modern Christian response to the cultural decline, one he attributed to the church’s false view of God’s law being opposed to His grace. This broad Christian response he described as “Christian Reconstruction.” He is credited with igniting the modern Christian school and homeschooling movements in the mid to late 20th century. He also traveled extensively lecturing and serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases regarding religious liberty. Many ministry and educational efforts that continue today, took their philosophical and Biblical roots from his lectures and books.