This Book in PDF - Gary North

XXXIIIS THE WORLD RUNNING DOWN?continuation of the strategy outlined by William Peltz, the Midwestregional coordinator of the Peoples Bicentennial Commission. At ameeting in Ann Arbor, Peltz argued that conservative Christians canbe turned into promoters of revolutionary politics if you can showthem that the Bible teaches revolution.Interestingly, he cited Leviticus 25, the chapter that contains theJubilee land laws, which required that the ownership of the land ofIsrael be returned to the original families every 50 years. 45 This hassubsequently become a popular theme of numerous radical Christians,including Ron Sider and Sojourners magazine. It has also becomea theme in certain fundamentalist groups. They have notunderstood that the Jubilee was an aspect of military conquest, aneconomic incentive to fight that was given to each Hebrew familybefore Israel invaded Canaan. 46 They also have not recognized thatthe Jubilee was fulfilled in principle by Jesus (Luke 4) and abolishedhistorically when Israel as a nation ceased to exist. 47 But most of all,they have not bothered to tell their followers that if Leviticus 25 isstill morally and legally binding, then lifetime slavery is still morallyand legally valid, for it is only in Leviticus 25 that the Hebrews weretold that they could buy and enslave foreigners for life, and then enslavetheir heirs forever (Lev. 25:44-46). It is time to abandon Leviticus25 as the basis of social reform.The Myth of NeutralityThis book deals in great detail with the writings ofJeremy Rifkinthat are aimed specifically at a Christian audience. But it is not simplyto refute Rifkin that I write this book. It is to refute the earthlypessimism that Rifkin's thesis promotes. Unfortunately, BiblebelievingChristians have adopted a very similar view of the supposed"natural" decline of this "natural" world, and this has led to asimilar debilitating outlook- a self-conscious effort on the part ofChristians to remove "the supernatural" from scientific discussion, atleast in the "preliminary" stages of discussion. 4845. The Attempt to Steal the Bicentennial, p. 36.46. Gary North, "The Fulfilment of the Jubilee Year," Biblical Economics Today, VI(March/April 1983).47. Ibid.48. A good example of such an approach is John N. Moore's book, How to TeachORIGINS (Without ACLU Interference) (Milford, Michigan: Mott Media, 1983). Thispresumes that Christians are being employed by officially neutral but in fact Godhating,humanist-operated schools. This perpetually ineffective strategy of subversionhas yet to work, the latest defeat being the U.S. Supreme Court's decision inEdwards v. Aguillard (June 19, 1987). See Appendix B in this book.