Easy Chair No. 147, May 26, 1987 - The Tree of Hate, Dr. Philip Wayne Powell

Relativism

In “Relativism,” Rushdoony argues that denying God leads inevitably to the denial of objective meaning, right and wrong, and moral limits, leaving society governed only by interest, power, and the expanding authority of the state. He critiques relativism as a self-blinding faith that mistakes subjective experience for reality, using it to erase moral distinctions and absolutes while claiming intellectual sophistication. This worldview, he contends, undercuts any principled resistance to tyranny, dissolves the foundations of education, marriage, and work, and trains people especially the young for irrelevance, anarchy, and ultimately slavery. Because politics and culture are inseparable from religious presuppositions, the spread of relativism accelerates social decay and statist control, whereas only faith in God and His unchanging truth can provide meaning, liberty, and a future grounded on the Rock rather than the shifting sands of unbelief.

Inscription at Timgad

An ancient Roman inscription declared, “To hunt, to bathe, to play, to laugh that is life,” and it perfectly captured the mindset that led Rome to collapse. When civilizations abandon faith, they stop thinking about responsibility, hope, and the future, and instead live for present pleasure alone. History shows that technology, power, and comfort cannot save a people without belief good plumbing didn’t save Crete, and pleasure didn’t save Rome. It was not the powerful Romans who ultimately endured, but the persecuted Christians who lived by faith and hope in Christ. Once again, we are surrounded by a culture strong in numbers but empty of hope so the question remains: are you standing with faith and victory, or with those repeating Rome’s last mistake?

Guerrilla Country

The future is often painted as dark, unstable, and full of hidden dangers but what if that’s not the real problem? While inflation rises and enemies seem to grow stronger, God is still on the throne, and His rule has not weakened with time. Scripture reminds us that history doesn’t spiral out of control because of external threats, but because people abandon God and His ways. When we reject His law, the world becomes hostile ground; when we walk in faith and obedience, we discover it is still our Father’s world. If God is for us, who can be against us?

He That Walketh in Darkness

Isaiah’s striking description of the man of faith as one who “walketh in darkness, and hath no light” confronts our natural desire for clarity, explanations, and visible guidance, for faith does not remove darkness but requires us to trust God within it. We cannot see beyond the present, nor can we fully understand past sorrows or unanswered prayers, and Scripture forbids us from kindling our own light seeking certainty by sight, explanation, or self-made assurance because such attempts only lead to sorrow. To walk in darkness is therefore to walk by faith alone, acknowledging that man cannot live by sight and that no torch of human reason or confidence can illumine life’s mysteries. God ordains this darkness so that we may reach for His hand rather than rely on ourselves, for if we had light of our own, we would not cling to Him. Thus, darkness is not abandonment but mercy, drawing us nearer to God, teaching us dependence, and proving that it is grace alone which brings us safely through the night and will finally lead us home.

The Trustee Family and Economics (Economics, Money, and Hope) (Remastered)

This session contends that economics rises or falls with the strength of the trustee family, not with state policy or abstract theory, exposing the Enlightenment myth that “reason” and social order exist only apart from God as ideological nonsense designed to justify hostility toward any institution not created by human fiat. Drawing on Zimmerman and Unwin, the argument shows that civilizations flourish when the family governs property, inheritance, children, welfare, and education, weaken when the state intrudes, and collapse when the atomistic family replaces covenantal continuity, sexual discipline erodes, and loyalty to past and future is severed. The trustee family is presented not merely as a household but as a corporate, covenantal entity—a living trust that outlasts individuals and serves as the primary engine of capitalization, productivity, and social energy, explaining both why totalitarian systems seek to destroy it and why disciplined Christian families consistently produce the most resilient, productive citizens. The remedy is practical and strategic: recover family-held property, strengthen community and trust structures, reclaim education and welfare from the state, and recognize that the reconquest of society through economics begins not with centralized power but with restored families exercising dominion under God. #TrusteeFamily #BiblicalEconomics #FamilyAsPowerCenter #Recapitalization #ChristianReconstruction #CovenantalOrder #AgainstStatism #PropertyAndInheritance #Dominion #KingdomEconomics