Easy Chair No. 152, August 5, 1987 - Gary Mose Behind the Iron Curtain

Easy Chair No. 152, August 5, 1987 - Gary Mose Behind the Iron Curtain

Gary Mose recounts his two trips behind the Iron Curtain, particularly to Romania, to support persecuted Christians and observe the reality of life under Communist rule. He describes Romania as devastated—materially, spiritually, and socially—with extreme poverty, shortages of basic goods, oppressive surveillance, and a stark divide between the ruling elite and ordinary citizens. Despite these hardships, he witnessed strong Christian communities providing mutual aid and inspiring loyalty even among some non-Christians. Mose contrasts his observations with misleading Western reports and visits by prominent figures, such as Billy Graham, who portrayed a false impression of religious freedom. He explains that Soviet and Eastern Bloc propaganda, including phrases like “spiritual needs” or “coexistence,” actually serve communist ideology, advancing Leninism and humanistic morality rather than true faith. Rushdoony and Scott emphasize that communism is fundamentally anti-Christian and Satanic, and any cooperation or flattery from Western churchmen supports that system. Mose warns that the West must recognize the deception and ideological nature of Leninism, which uses propaganda to maintain control while masquerading as openness or tolerance, and contrasts this with true Christian dominion, which submits all authority to Christ."

Easy Chair No. 151, July 17, 1987 - Laurie Eck & the Christian Conciliation Service

Laurie Eck discusses the Christian Conciliation Service, a ministry designed to resolve disputes among Christians according to biblical principles rather than secular courts. Inspired by his own marital and professional struggles, Eck emphasizes reconciliation, restoration of relationships, and applying God’s law to conflicts. The service trains local church members—often elders or spiritually mature individuals—to mediate disputes, including marital, business, and property conflicts, fostering accountability, peacemaking, and corporate responsibility within the congregation. Eck highlights the challenge of churches being consumer-oriented and avoiding conflict, stressing that real reconciliation requires submission, servanthood, and adherence to biblical standards. The ministry has spread nationwide, adapting to local contexts while aiming to restore the authority and witness of the church."

Easy Chair No. 150, July 14, 1987 Sweden: The “New Totalitarianism” of Comfort and Conformity

In Easy Chair 150 (July 14, 1987), R.J. Rushdoony and Otto Scott interview Gary and Carlinda Mose about two years in Sweden, portraying a society that looks peaceful and prosperous yet functions as a “new totalitarianism” built not on terror but on education, conformity, and cradle‑to‑grave dependency. The Moses describe a nation where the state effectively replaces God, families are weakened by high taxes (they cite roughly 55% income tax plus a 25% sales tax) and two‑income necessity, and dissent—though celebrated in theory—is punished in practice through social shaming and even official intimidation (Gary recounts being threatened with arrest and recorded by police for quietly holding alternative placards at a public “peace” demonstration). They warn that the system increasingly treats children as belonging to the state: spanking is illegal, kids are encouraged to report parents, and welfare authorities can remove children with little meaningful appeal, while the established church is politicized and moral standards are inverted (abortion widely accepted, private Bible studies labeled “subversive”). Yet they also testify to faithful Swedish believers who pray earnestly and meet in informal “house” settings because they know only God can heal what state planning cannot—making Sweden, in their view, a sobering preview of where the wider West goes when comfort replaces conviction and “non‑discrimination” is used to silence the freedom to call right and wrong. #EasyChair #Rushdoony #OttoScott #Sweden #TheNewTotalitarians #ChristianLiberty #Family #Education #SoftTotalitarianism #FreedomOfSpeech #ChristianReconstruction"

Easy Chair No. 149, July the 9th, 1987 — Money and Debt: Paper Wealth, Real Slavery

In *Easy Chair 149* (July 9, 1987), R.J. Rushdoony and Otto Scott warn that money and debt are not merely “economic” topics but **religious and moral realities**—because a culture’s view of money reveals where its faith rests. Scott argues the modern world has entered an unprecedented situation: *“money”* as true wealth has largely disappeared, replaced by **paper claims backed by nothing—worse than nothing, backed by debt**. Rushdoony presses the point: modern states *monetize debt*, so currency increasingly represents obligations rather than accumulated production, inviting inflation, instability, and eventual collapse. They highlight how bond-market fragility threatens pension funds, how real estate values are illusions dependent on willing buyers, and how inflation quietly steals purchasing power (war bonds, savings, wages) while seducing people with a false “rising tide” prosperity. Over and over they return to the biblical diagnosis: **debt enslaves** (Prov. 22:7), long-term debt violates God’s pattern (Deut. 15’s debt limits and release), and a system built on perpetual interest and expanding credit cannot endure without breaking families and nations. Both men argue that abandoning gold and silver as honest money accelerates the growth of the state, because paper money centralizes control: if the government can create and debase currency, it can regulate, ration, surveil, and ultimately **strip citizens of independence**—even “homeownership” becomes conditional when property taxes function like rent. Rushdoony adds that economic cycles and the biblical sabbatical/Jubilee structure restrain runaway debt and inflation by design, forcing thrift, periodic reset, and stability—whereas modern society, trusting the state instead of God, keeps choosing short-term gain and “larceny in the heart” over covenant faithfulness. Their conclusion is stark: **a people with no real money will not remain a free people**, and unless debt is faced as sin and bondage—not a lifestyle—despotism is the natural destination. #EasyChair #Rushdoony #OttoScott #MoneyAndDebt #Inflation #SoundMoney #DebtSlavery #BiblicalEconomics #Deuteronomy15 #Jubilee #Freedom #ChristianReconstruction

Easy Chair No. 148, June 4, 1987 — The French Revolution: The Revolution That Never Ended

In *Easy Chair 148* (June 4, 1987), R.J. Rushdoony and Otto Scott argue that the French Revolution didn’t merely “happen” in history—it **still shapes the modern world**, and its errors keep replaying wherever elites try to seize man’s destiny. They trace the revolution’s logic back to Enlightenment assumptions (especially Locke’s belief in morally “neutral” man who can be remade by education), producing the modern self-appointed class that claims to be **the voice of reason and virtue**—and therefore entitled to rule, censor, purge, and compel. Scott emphasizes that the French Revolution became the template for later leftist revolutions: step-by-step radicalization, propaganda dressed as righteousness, selective moral outrage, the suppression of Christianity (while tolerating anti-Christian cults), public confessions and “purges,” state ownership of children, rewritten calendars and history, and the mass targeting of whole classes “for the crime of birth.” They warn that rhetoric about liberty and equality can mask “**…or death**,” and that revolutionary movements advance by isolating opponents, exploiting scandals, and keeping citizens trapped in short-term thinking. Their conclusion is urgent: because the revolutionary impulse is ultimately a war against God’s order, the only durable answer is a reawakened Christian community applying the whole Word of God to every area of life—unity, clarity, and reconstruction—before the revolution finishes what it started. #EasyChair #Rushdoony #OttoScott #FrenchRevolution #Robespierre #RevolutionaryMyth #CulturalMemory #Propaganda #Totalitarianism #ChristianWorldview #ChristianReconstruction #ApplyGodsWord