God and Our Peace
The Puritans were a remarkable people who accomplished far more than most men ever have because they knew what they believed and were totally dedicated.
- R. J. Rushdoony,
California Farmer 267:5 (Oct. 3, 1987), p. 40.
The Puritans were a remarkable people who accomplished far more than most men ever have because they knew what they believed and were totally dedicated. They numbered perhaps four percent of the English people when they took over the country; other men lacked their determination. One Puritan pastor, Richard Rogers of Wethersfield in Essex, was told by “a gentleman,” “Mr. Rogers, I like you and your company very well, only you are too precise.” Rogers replied, “Oh sir, I serve a precise God.” For this reason, God’s every Word had to be heeded and obeyed. Christopher Love stated it this way: “If you break God’s law, God will break your peace.”
Church members now number into the millions, but they lack the old-time power. They are too often content with pious gush, not an active faith with obedience. They do not want a precise God to command them, but they want God to be precise with His blessings: God is there to serve them, not to require anything of them.
Joshua’s warning to Israel is seldom heard today. He said to a people of casual faith: “Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good” (Josh. 24:19–20).
Have you given God reason to break your peace?
- 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.