Catharsis is the belief that health personal or social comes through the uninhibited expression of inner impulses. Originating in Greek tragedy, it was later moralized by Christians but eventually reverted to its pagan meaning: purging through violence, sexuality, or emotional release rather than moral restoration.

In modern times, catharsis has justified revolutionary violence, sexual permissiveness, artistic degeneration, and Freudian psychology, all of which treat repression not sin as the problem. Evil is not restrained or redeemed but “vented,” whether through riots, psychodrama, occult rituals, or radical self-expression. The result has been cultural breakdown, mass violence, and moral chaos.

Biblical faith rejects catharsis. Healing comes not through self-expression but through repentance, discipline, and God’s regenerating grace. True renewal is God-centered, not man-centered: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). Catharsis produces death; Christ produces life.

When Ben-hadad besieged Samaria, his demand for Ahab’s gold and silver aimed to cripple Israel’s strength, and his demand for the king’s wives intended to humiliate him but his greatest weapon was the demand for Israel’s children, who would be taken, re-educated in an alien faith, and returned as servants of a foreign power. This strategy has been repeated throughout history, from ancient empires to modern Prussia, whose architects of state schooling like James G. Carter and Horace Mann’s associates openly saw state-controlled education as a means of people-control. By taking the child from the faith and the family, the state could reshape future generations and weaken parental authority, producing the now-common conflict between teenagers and parents. In response, many Christians have turned to Christian schooling, recognizing that Proverbs 22:6 gives parents not the state the God-ordained duty to train up their children in the way they should go, because our children belong to the Lord.

This session confronts the social power of the biblical family and explains why it is relentlessly targeted by the modern state: under God, the family governs the future (children), property, inheritance, education, and welfare—the very foundations of society. From Theodora’s transformation of Roman law to Marx, Engels, Dewey, and modern democrats, the pattern is clear: destroy the family and Christianity collapses. Humanism insists religion and family are “private,” stripping God’s Law from public life while expanding state control over sexuality, schooling, property, and children. The result is social breakdown, dependency, unemployment, crime, and cultural decay—problems the state only worsens while the family, when ordered under God, historically solved them. The warning is stark and hopeful at once: every society that undermines the biblical family commits cultural suicide, and Christian reconstruction must therefore begin where God begins—with the family governed by His Law-Word.

#BiblicalFamily #ChristianReconstruction #FamilyUnderGod #AgainstStatism #LawWord #FaithAndCulture #FamilyIsTheFuture #ChristianEducation #Dominion #WorldviewMatters

A century ago, John Swett the architect of California’s public school system openly denied that parents had any rights in government education, insisting that teachers were not accountable to them and that children in public schools were “the children of the State.” Later attempts were even made to prevent parents from sending their children to Christian or private schools without state approval, all based on the socialist premise that the state owns the child. Swett went so far as to say that even adult children “belong… to the State,” a notion foundational to socialism and communism, where people exist for the state rather than the state serving people under God. But Scripture teaches that children and all men belong to God alone; parents are stewards, not owners, and the state has no rightful claim of possession. Yet today, the same statist impulse resurfaces with educators proposing around-the-clock state custody to “remove children from their environment.” The cure for social problems is not a greater tyranny: when the state claims God’s prerogatives, the result is slavery. Our only safeguard is to place ourselves and our children under God’s authority, law, and blessing rather than the bondage of socialism.

When the foundations seem destroyed and evil appears entrenched, Psalm 11 answers despair with faith: the righteous are not called to flee in fear but to trust the Lord and remain righteous. David’s confidence rests in the sovereignty and justice of God, whose throne is in heaven, whose judgment cannot be corrupted, and whose hatred of violence guarantees that evil’s apparent victories will be overturned. While human courts fail and nations drift toward unrighteousness, God is present among the righteous, testing, strengthening, and defending them. Their task is therefore twofold to trust the Lord’s sure judgment and to continue faithfully in righteousness knowing that God turns defeat into victory, preserves His people in dark times, and ultimately vindicates those who stand upright before Him.

The priesthood of all believers is not a New Testament novelty but an Old Testament doctrine rooted in God’s covenant declaration that His people are a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:5–6), a royal calling conditioned on obedience to His law and directed toward the establishment of His Kingdom. This priesthood is not sacerdotal or sacrificial in the atoning sense Christ alone fulfills that but royal and practical: every believer is called to rule under God as His vicegerent, exercising dominion in family, vocation, and society according to God’s law. Worship is not confined to church services but permeates daily life, and the church exists not as an end in itself but as a training ground that equips believers for mature, responsible service. True faith therefore cannot be reduced to profession alone; it must bear fruit in obedience and works, for a royal priesthood that does not act denies its calling. Properly understood, this doctrine resists institutional tyranny, undermines false democracy, decentralizes power, and provides a program not merely for Christian survival but for covenantal victory in history under Christ the King.

#PriesthoodOfAllBelievers #RoyalPriesthood #KingdomOfGod #BiblicalTheology #CovenantFaithfulness #ChristianDominion #FaithAndWorks #ChristTheKing"

I have before me a treasured book first published in 1875, written by one of America’s great Christian educators. Recently, while lecturing at an Ivy League law school, I met his great-grandson a pleasant young man dressed like a semi-hippie who admitted that he and his brother went to great lengths to conceal their relationship to this remarkable ancestor, a former university president known for his Christian orthodoxy and strong American conservatism. Though heir to a rich spiritual and cultural legacy, he had cut himself off from it and chosen to be “poor” in spirit. This, tragically, is the condition of many today descendants of martyrs, heroes, and faithful believers who deliberately reject their heritage and then wonder why their lives lack strength, meaning, and direction. The worst poverty is spiritual poverty, especially when it is chosen. If that young man was foolish to deny his lineage, how much more foolish are any of us if we deny our Heavenly Father and deliberately impoverish ourselves?

Titanism is the glorification of human effort that seeks to do the impossible, often disguising pride as virtue. Rooted in Greek mythology and revived by Romanticism, it celebrates defying limits, fate, and even God, treating failure itself as proof of greatness.

Within the church, Titanism appears when believers ignore God’s clear commands about limits, stewardship of time, and fruitfulness. Scripture teaches that while God is omnipotent, man is not; Christians are forbidden to waste time on futile efforts, to defy God’s order, or to attempt to “play God” in prayer, ministry, or reform. Faithfulness, not heroics, is required.

At heart, Titanism is hubris the desire to seize God’s role and glory. Biblical faith rejects titanic ambition in favor of humble obedience, wise discernment, and service under Christ’s sovereign rule.

In this broadcast, R.J. Rushdoony, Otto Scott, and R.E. McMaster discuss the moral and religious collapse of the Western world and its profound impact on economics, politics, and society. McMaster emphasizes that government and economics are extensions of religious ethics, noting stark contrasts between Protestant-influenced North America and Catholic/Latin cultures, particularly in terms of productivity, decentralization, and the long-term perspective. They critique the rise of short-term financial speculation, debt-driven economies, and government interference, illustrating how these undermine individual responsibility, long-term planning, and societal prosperity.

The conversation also examines historical patterns, including the role of the Puritan work ethic in American capitalism, the global trade and industrial shifts involving Japan, Korea, and Latin America, and the use of debt as a tool of control. Rushdoony and the panel stress that declining faith and moral standards, coupled with monopolies in money, law, education, and health, erode societal stability. They warn that without a restoration of Christian ethics and a long-term outlook, economic and social collapse could intensify, potentially giving rise to radical movements if ordinary citizens are financially and socially imperiled.

The discussion concludes by noting the Christian community’s limited engagement with economics and the political-economic sphere, emphasizing that meaningful cultural and economic reform must be rooted in faith, biblical law, and long-term stewardship of resources.

Twice recently friends asked my opinion of glamorous new “charities” their women’s groups had adopted causes I’ll call the Friends of the Whoopee Indians and the Christian Mission to Ivy League Hopheads. I told them frankly I thought little of either, because real charity begins at home. In nearly every church there are elderly couples needing weekly help with housework, shopping, or caring for a bedridden spouse; there are mothers abandoned by their husbands who could use practical support, food, clothing, or assistance with children. But such charity requires personal involvement, not simply mailing off money to distant strangers. Helping Mr. Smith care for his invalid wife is a real, recurring burden far less glamorous than shipping a donation across the world, but far more Christian. People prefer sentimental charity that costs little and touches nothing; responsible charity requires hands, time, and inconvenience. The Pharisee loved charity without involvement. Are you and is your church falling into the same trap?