Leaving Egypt Ministries, Obadiah D. Morris

As tens of millions of people (Christians among them) will soon vote for new Pharaohs and princes once again in what seems like an endless election cycle (part of the psychological operation we live under), it is instructive to illustrate a few reasons why this effort will always be a failed one, since it apparently hasn’t been realized yet. Though many have thankfully lost faith in the Salvation State in recent years and the “wisdom” of its “experts” to “keep us safe,” this won’t keep everyone from playing the game of “lesser evils” while others still say “it’s the most important election of our lifetime.”

As the title of this article implies, we must show the foolishness in such a notion as fixing our evil, ungodly political system by participating in it: We’re dealing with Babylon, and Babylon was never great. She was born in conspiracy and plunder and has naturally done nothing but to advance that cause, hence being where we are today amidst a destructive empire. Our world today is not a deviation from some righteous course that Constitutional systems were “supposed” to put us on, but the natural effect of erecting such man-made systems as ours. It should come as no surprise that the evils are being revealed to us more today than ever before. It’s what we should expect from such social (dis)orders that go against God. That these evils are becoming more obvious today than ever before only means that more are coming to this realization, not that it has deviated over time from what it was “supposed” to be or got corrupted by “democrats” somewhere along the way, as simple-minded conservative Americans think. The ungodly U.S. Constitutional Republic was guaranteed to turn out this way.

To attempt to “fix” this statist system, then, is nothing more than an attempt to “polish a turd” or “put lipstick on a pig.” The statist system we live under is the work of men, under the influence of spiritual evil and rebellion against the law of God — not the work of the spirit of the Lord and not something that is committed to His word and statutes. Such political means of force are what is used by ungodly men, not those who seek liberty under God. 

It is amazing that so many so-called Christians cannot see this and will be participating in the lie that such a system can be “made great again.” If one were to look, it would not be hard to see that this system (which men foolishly think is “freedom”) is highly opposed to God. If we were to follow God’s word and “discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path” (Proverbs 2:9), we should see that this Babylonian system that most men venerate as “the best ever” is contrary to everything that the Lord calls us to be.

A common Christian sentiment 

But the idea that “we need to Christianize the State” or “get back to the Constitution” is a popular one. Most “Christians” think that we only went wrong in “getting away from the Constitution” and cannot even see that such systems were set up from the start against God and His order. And thus their political goals are skewed as a result. They don’t see that our goal is not to “take back the government,” which was always bound to destroy things and perpetuate evils, so much as it is to take back (self) governance itself—protecting our communities, feeding our neighbors, educating our children, etc—from the State, which monopolized these goods and services and arrogated them into their domain for purposes of control and usurping the Kingdom of God, and place these things back under the mandates of the Lord. They bought into the lies that “Constitutional governments” actually represent “the people,” which the propagandists used to make them think such plunder systems were set up for their benefit. Hence the popular (and foolish) idea that “this government works for us, not the other way around.” Or “we pay your salary…you need to listen to us.” Right…

The failure of Babylons

There is no reason for us to throw our weight behind such systems that politicians promise to “make great again,” especially given the many scriptural warnings (namely in the books of the prophets) that such systems will always fail for being based in evil. The man-made statist system we live under, notwithstanding the millions who tell us it is God’s perfect will, is an attempted subversion of the Kingdom of God that seeks to substitute its violent, monopolistic provision of goods and services, which are based on the edicts of men operating in their own “wisdom,” for private, community-based services that operate on charity, love of neighbor, and the laws of God. It is a man-made effort to act as the supreme sovereigns and lords, to take responsibility away from men and put it in the hands of false benefactors, and to take men away from trusting on God for all their provisions. This system, funded by the theft and robbery that is taxation, is built on the ungodly foundation of devising evil against our neighbors through the political means (Prov. 3:29), and must fail for that reason. Its plunders, though great for some time, will eventually prove to lead us nowhere. In the end, “treasures of wickedness profit nothing” (Proverbs 10:2).

Those who think they can change the beast system by voting or joining it to “fix it from within” are fools. Christians should not be voting and placing their faith in Babylon’s reformation, but (if they read the scriptures) should know that all such systems fall in the end. Such systems are, again, Babylonian violence, not the Christian method for changing society. And they certainly shouldn’t be joining them as its boot-wearing servants. God promises an end to these evil systems that fools such as voters hold their hopes out in. “Destruction awaits those who do evil” (Proverbs 10:29). They will not go on forever, which, I know, might dash the hopes and dreams of those who think their “best country ever” is permanent or that the next Pharaoh (though it hasn’t happened yet) will make her “great again.” Though the evil men who run these systems may appear to be on an unchecked tear at the moment, we can rest assured knowing that “the candle of the wicked will be put out” (Proverbs 24:20). Amen. God does not tolerate such evils forever, nor the people who root for them.

The futility in reforming the United States Government

But the basic fallacy here is that something so sinful and evil as statism—the idolatry, worship, and implementation of man’s political systems of power—can be “reformed.” If only, thinking just like the socialists, “we could get our guys into power.” Then this whore of a political system will (supposedly) be “great again.”

It’s easy to see why efforts at reforming an evil system are hopeless. As we learn in the scriptures, 

“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” (Matthew 7:18).

This is the folly of all statists who think they can erect political systems of their own and ignore the teachings of God, but it is a lesson that has been especially lost on conservative Americans who continue to hope for the State—a heinous, violent, and evil institution—to come around to supporting their ideas. (Evidently, it never has, and always ends up in the hands of enemies of God — big surprise!). They think our political goal is to “get Christians into office” rather than to minister our people out of this Egyptian system and get back to organizing our societies according to God’s way — in short, that we should stay behind in Egypt and try to influence Pharaoh, rather than walk with Moses and leave these system-makers to their own destruction and judgment that is coming against them.

But this is what people are doing when they vote, run for office, or expect the State to come around to serving us. “We need to vote on Pharaohs who will make Egypt godly again!” Is this what Moses did? Or did he call for his people to leave Egypt and obey God instead of these false gods?

The men who have staked their hopes in reforming the evil American political system are still not understanding the ways of the Lord. We are not to go out into the world and attempt to get Caesar on our side. (Though, I can already feel the guilty Christian wondering if they can somehow cite “render unto Caesar” as a case for us petitioning Caesar to be our servant). We were never supposed to join up with these disobedient statists in the first place. “The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9). They are in rebellion against God to craft such systems and place their faith in men to save them.

Reform through repentance

We should never be so short-sighted as to believe that politics is our only method of changing the world, or that if you don’t work through the channels of political violence that you don’t care to change your society. This is the naive thinking of men who don’t know God or trust in His promises to bring people to the Word through the Spirit.

The Kingdom of God will not be legislated, and certainly not by the U.S. Congress. The statist system of man, where men attempt to live autonomously from the Lord by making their own “laws,” was born in disobedience to God (Genesis 11) and will always be a system of robbery and murder as long as it exists. We will never heal our society through the force of the State, as it is the very reason for our brokenness. Our path to healing must come through teaching the word of God, showing men the true path to liberty, and relying on the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit to work on men and steer them away from their idolatries that brought about our captivity. Social reform must come through getting men under the jurisdiction of Christ, not by use of the police club, which is only a further advancement of the kingdom of men, i.e., political violence. True “reform” must come through repentance from the support of these evil systems, and renouncing one’s ties, affiliation, and allegiance to them. It must come from men declaring that they wish to serve the Lord again, and the Lord only — not that they want to continue trying their luck (when have they ever succeeded on this front?) reforming a system that evidently seems to never work out for them.

Insofar as we mean the State by “Make America Great Again,” we should see the error in believing that such a system can be reformed by putting new masters in charge, passing new pieces of legislation, or running for office. The root is corrupted and cannot possibly bear good fruit, not to mention that such a system was never the Christian ideal but always a system of plunder that we shouldn’t even desire to be “returned” to some formerly mythical existence as a “good government.” Those Christians, or anyone for that matter, whose god is still “the Republic” or “the Constitution” have a lot of learning to do. They think they are being radical or original by calling for men to return to “the Constitution,” but have no idea how blinded they are and no idea how much these were efforts in expanding centralized statist systems that could eventually control men and attempt to subvert God’s kingdom entirely. The idea that the “Constitution” was intended to “limit” the government we know today (which it was at the same time creating) is a myth. The economic historian Murray Rothbard concluded his 5-volume study on Colonial America up to the Constitutional Convention showing just how much this was all an expansion of power.

“The enactment of the Constitution in 1788 drastically changed the course of American history from its natural decentralized and libertarian direction to an omnipresent leviathan…The Constitution, with its inherently broad powers and elastic clauses, would increasingly support an ever larger and more powerful central government” (Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty, vol. 5, pp. 312-313).

Our true goal is to walk away from these systems, both spiritually, ideologically, and physically, and return to the ways and words of the Lord as our guide. Men of God should have nothing to do with such evils, and certainly should not be committing their hand to them. We should be calling state servants to repent, not for them to “represent” us better (why should they?). We should be telling them they’re wrong by the Lord to be associated with such systems, that they should “not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers” (Proverbs 4:14). We should not be patting them on the back in church and telling them that by strapping boots on for Pharaoh, they’re still in good-keeping with God because they profess His name. True repentance would manifest in soliders, police officers, tax collectors, etc., walking away from their jobs and their plundering of humanity, not staying around and pretending that Babylon can be made “Christian” while retaining its inherently rebellious structure as a man-made system based on the “laws” of men. As long as they are in these unrepentant positions, we should never expect that they are going to use this evil system toward ends that are righteous or favorable for the people and their liberty. 

The evil path

We are not to operate, as the State does, on returning evil for evil, which is what men have in mind when they want to gain control of the State to punish their political enemies; we win by setting a better example, refusing to join these evil systems, and being a light unto a dark world. As the apostle Paul said, which is a necessary preface to understanding Romans 13 (the statist’s favorite chapter of the Bible used to justify their support for the ungodly American political system), “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome with good” (Romans 12:21). Neither joining the State, or taking up arms against it, is the Christian method of reforming society. As Jesus Christ taught, “All they that take up the sword shall perish with the sword” (Matthew 26:52). We don’t win by becoming statists ourselves, but by returning to God and letting Him take care of the men who believe they can get away with robbing others. So long as we become statists ourselves, we get what we deserve when these systems turn out (what a surprise!) to plunder us.

Serving the Babylonian-American system by running for office or voting is not our domain. It is quite clearly one of the evil paths that men are exhorted to avoid in the scriptures. We are warned in many areas to avoid walking in the paths of these overt and unrepentant sinners, who are still so lost to believe that statism is a means of advancing Christ’s Kingdom. It’s indeed the very first words of the Psalms. 

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers” (Psalm 1:1). 

Our sights should be set on leaving Egypt and building godly communities that are centered on the word and teachings of God, not trying to reform the Babylonian state system and attempt (foolishly) to make them bend to our ideas. Surely the advice of God, when it comes to these systems, is to keep walking. Again,

“Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by” (Proverbs 4:14). 

One would think that even a mainstream Christian understanding of antichrists arising through these political systems, and God subsequently smashing them, would have been good enough to keep Christians from statism and its sacraments of voting and stumping for different Caesars. For what they are saying is this: “Why don’t we take the beast system, built by Satan for the Antichrist, and founded in error and disobedience, and make it look more Christian?” Most Christians, unfortunately, are saying “we should stay behind in Egypt and try to get a good Pharaoh,” rather than “it’s time to leave Egypt and serve the Lord.”

This is how truly powerful the false god State is in the minds of men. They hold out hope that, somehow, just maybe, it could be made to work for them. Their idea of “Make American Great Again” is that we ought to be trying to return this evil system to its (alleged) former glory, through use of the present state system, rather than be turning back to the ways of God and abandoning such evils as political rule. They have bought into all the lies that the “U.S government” is a godly system that (supposedly) once served us, albeit something having gone wrong somewhere along the way (e.g., when “the democrats” got ahold of it). But they are mistakenly trying to reform Babylon, under the assumption (“again”) that it was ever “great.”