Vision
People are running wild, and the social order is perishing, because there is no vision. And there can only be vision if the Word of God is faithfully preached, and faithfully heeded.
- R. J. Rushdoony,
CA Farmer 244:6 (Mar. 20, 1976), p. 39.
She was a very modern, attractive young woman in her twenties. While in bed with her lover, her husband came home unexpectedly, thrashed the adulterer soundly, and threw him out. Meanwhile, the young woman called the police, and, when they arrived, demanded that they arrest her husband. Why? Because, she said, he had violated her privacy and her “rights”! She was outraged when the police refused to do anything, and she wondered what the world was coming to.
Surprised? You should not be. Proverbs 29:18, in the Berkeley Version, reads, “Where there is no vision the people run wild; but happy is he who keeps the law.” The meaning of “vision” is prophetic ministry which faithfully preaches the Word of God, so that the people, by means of God’s law, have a lamp and a light for their way, and therefore vision. That vision is now gone with countless people, and, like this young adulteress, their ideas of “rights” are governed by sin rather than the law of God.
The young woman became very angry and bitter about what she regarded as the failure of the police. To her, something was wrong with a social order which failed to protect the “freedom” of someone like herself. The social order was “repressive” and hostile to freedom, she felt.
She is not alone. Millions agree with her. As a result, people are running wild, and the social order is perishing, because there is no vision. And there can only be vision if the Word of God is faithfully preached, and faithfully heeded.
There are many voices speaking today, and many things to listen to. Are you listening to the Word of God? Or are you, like that young woman, without vision, deliberately blinding yourself by neglecting the Word of God?
- 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.