Leaving Egypt Ministries, Obadiah D. Morris

Even though the word of God is a virtual anarchist manifesto that condemns statism from front to back, with whole books (e.g., Kings) pointing out the failures of human rulers and the prophets giving their scathing condemnation of these systems, it never fails that when one of us elucidates the scripture-supported evils of the State, someone responds blankly, “render unto Caesar” or “Romans 13.” It’s almost like they were trained at the Academy of Satan to say these things to anyone who should contest what they assume is the divine and perfect system of man-made governments. These are the typical responses of men whose idols have been attacked rather than men who care to seriously know God’s will or to repent of their idolatry for the State and its agents.

But even though this is probably the majority of professing Christians, this popular understanding of the State is not what the word of God has to say about this evil institution, and it’s not what all Christians in history have thought about it. One of these men was the Christian anarchist, Ammon Hennacy (1893-1970), who, emulating Jesus Christ who was up against all odds in a corrupt society, believed in the One-Man Revolution. That is, the idea that while we as individuals might not change the world, we can be positive examples that get people thinking in the right direction, or in other words, we can be witnesses of Christ. 

In one of his articles, given the title “On the Refusal to Pay Taxes,” we see just how different he was from the average Christian today, who not only gives into the system but goes one further and believes it is their patriotic duty to do so. (It is one thing to “submit” to the rulers and “obey” them to get along and live a quiet life; it is another to positively support them). His courage against such evil rulers is demonstrated straight away in that he not only refused to pay taxes, seeing it as incompatible with Christian ethics to help fund the warfare state, but he even wrote a letter to the IRS telling them why. In it, he suggests that taxpayers are serving Caesar rather than the Lord. 

“As in the time of Matthew, the tax-gatherer (aside from the hangman) has been the least honorable of the human species. However I hold no ill will against you personally. Your allegiance is to Caesar; mine is to God.”

Though no one really likes taxes, most people nevertheless find them to be a “necessary evil” to society and still believe they should pay them even if they reluctantly do so. In other words, they think they still serve some cause. “Without taxes we wouldn’t have public safety officers.” There is still a sense in the American taxpayer that they’re proud, “law-abiding citizens” who aren’t too concerned with funding the violence of the State (though, in recent years, taxpayers are upset about transferring money to immigrants or to overseas entanglements). 

Very few Christians today see the State as fundamentally at odds with Christianity. Even if they don’t really like paying taxes, they still think that these man-made systems are the source of freedom and prosperity (even though the State produces nothing and only takes). They still praise police, the military, and others who work for the Egyptian system, as being our beloved lawgivers and protectors. They don’t see that violence and plunder are intrinsic to the State, but have been led to believe States are needed to protect their property, all while it robs them year after year. 

Hennacy saw through these errors. 

“I believe that the state is immoral inasmuch as it lives by war and operates by the return of evil for evil in legislatures, courts and prisons. I believe that the church un-Christian and immoral in upholding war and this return of evil for evil by the state, thus denying the Sermon on the Mount.”

A basic Christian rejection of the State, aside from it being based on violating the commandments against theft and murder, is simply that it is founded on returning evil for evil. In his major work exposing the ungodly violence of the State, The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Leo Tolstoy hung most of his argument against such political systems on this idea that it violated what he considered to be a Christian principle or “doctrine of non-resistance to evil by force.” The State, however, is based in vengeance. If some foreign enemy should attack “us” (even allegedly), the statist response is to launch decades of war against the whole country, as we saw with Afghanistan and Iraq. If some man should assault us, the statist response is to put him in prison for years. The statist solution to everything is violence, punishment, incarceration, and things of that nature. 

For as many Christians that cite Romans 13 as proof that God approves of this statist system we live under, they seem to never care about the verses immediately preceding this chapter, which really gives us the means of understanding Romans 13. “Overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21), “Avenge not yourselves” (Romans 12:19), “Abhor that which is evil” (Romans 12:9), “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). 

But Hennacy was not one to be conformed by the world, and he saw himself as being part of a long tradition—from Jesus, to Gandhi, to the Quakers, to Thoreau—of men whose minority-stand against evil was an honorable, if marginal, way to impact the world. He knew that we’re not going to heroically change the world with a change in the very few individuals who see the evils, but that we should nevertheless stand for what is right. The statist trajectory in the twentieth century was not about to be stopped by some lone anarchist in a world full of state worshipers, but we have to be who we are regardless of the opposition or the dangers, because God made us this way. Hennacy had no false hopes in this regard.

“The refusal of myself and a few others to pay taxes will not stop World War III, the continuance of conscription, and the fraud of the Welfare State now being slipped over on the American people. The question is not ‘Can we change the world?’ but ‘Can we keep the world from changing us?'”

Most Christians have resigned in this struggle, either giving into the world entirely or thinking that there is little they can do about it as an individual, in which case they may as well partake in the world anyway (i.e., vote, get riled-up about elections, indulge in distractions like football and television, etc). Hennacy points out an important fallacy here that often causes people to resign in the struggle: the conflation of the State with social action, such that men believe the only way to change society is through the political means and that society, therefore, cannot be changed much because the State is indeed a lost cause. Of course, many people still believe in salvation through the State. They work through the political means believing that it is going to “save” the country from all its problems that have been brought on by politics in the first place. (One recent political sign I saw read, “Save America: Vote Republican”). But many who know that voting or electing certain figures won’t change anything often slip into a sort of nihilism and apathy, forsaking their own personal and individual abilities to make an impact on the world. 

Hennacy says, 

“The fallacy of seeking to change the other fellow and to get his name on the dotted line for some party, union, religion, or other pressure group has prevented people from doing the one thing which they are capable of doing which is to change themselves, to refuse to be a part of the dominant lie, to live the truth no matter what the consequences.”

But here, we see the reason why people don’t want to individually change: It often means sacrificing the treasures and pleasures of the world—their good jobs, fast cars, nice houses, boats and RVs—which they aren’t ready to give up, and so are ready to compromise with Babylon—pay their taxes, obey the rulers, get “the jab”—to keep these things. For, as Hennacy says,

“In order to do this one must not have much baggage; one must live a life of voluntary poverty, of dedication to the ideal.”

Christians are supposed to be content with very little. “If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content” (1 Timothy 6:8). We are to “learn to be content regardless of [our] circumstances” (Philippians 4:11). Here we see why wealth-seeking really can keep people away from God and trapped in the world, i.e., in the system of money-making controlled by the political elites. Thus, unwilling to accept a fate of relative poverty for not giving into the system, we see that millions of people were willing to wear masks or inject unknown substances into their arms to keep their jobs in the last few years. Others are willing to do evil, such as rob the public on the roadside in one of Pharaoh’s police cruisers, if it means a better paycheck than they can obtain otherwise in their poor, rural community. 

The treasures and pleasures of the modern Babylonian system, which will not last forever in a world of political plunder, keep people from questioning the evils of this society and focused, rather, on themselves and their own families instead of their neighbors or society at large. So long as they keep feeding themselves, they don’t care that others are starving. So long as they have a house, they don’t care that others are homeless. So long as they aren’t in prison, they can keep acting as if many innocent men aren’t thrown in cages daily. So long as the police haven’t dragged them out of their car and beaten them yet, they act as if it doesn’t happen. They can retreat to suburbia as if nothing is going wrong in the world. They can remain ignorant and forsake their duties to their neighbors, just as Pharaoh wants them to be. 

As Hennacy says, 

“The great mass of people are kept busy gaining a living and in being victims of ‘escape’ activities of their senseless world, rather than in trying to think matters through on the coming war and the Servile State.”

Most of our people aren’t ready to do what needs to be done to get out of Egypt and back to the way God wants us to live. They are stuck in Egypt and claim that even though she’s imperfect, “it’s still a lesser evil than anarchy.” They maintain a host of illusions about a “free country,” “the most powerful military in the world,” or “this a republic.” Even though they know Egypt squanders their stolen property (called “taxes”) on wars, foreigners, millions of wasteful programs and projects, and only serves to make the rich richer and keep the poor poorer, they’re still scared of liberty and still think they wouldn’t have anything without Pharaoh’s soldiers, police officers, and his judges to maintain “law and order.” They still believe that if they just work hard, shut up, and obey Pharaoh, that they will have a secure retirement in Egypt and everything will be just fine. They think that Egypt is forever and that none of her programs are inherently insolvent and debt-based.

Separating ourselves from the State

Hennacy didn’t believe in any of these lies, as no Christian should. 

“If we mean business we cannot register for the draft, pay taxes for war, accept rations, social security, pension or subsidy from the government which we consider immoral. We will then have to simplify our lives and live on the land. We must be producers, not parasites. We cannot vote or ask for police protection but must know that ‘All things work together for good to those who love God’ (Romans 8:28).”

Amen. Anyone who has truly put their faith in God could never trust in politicians, soldiers, and police officers to be their protectors, and anyone who does is demonstrating their lack of faith and trust in God to provide for them. Even worse, they’re giving into the temptations of the enemy. The State, as a false god, is precisely seeking to substitute itself for all the things God offers: protection, shelter, security, food, and life itself. Whereas we are told in the scriptures that “the Lord will fight for you” (Exodus 14:14), the State and its agents come along and say they will. Whereas we are told that God “gives food to the hungry” (Psalm 146:7), the State comes along and says that they are needed to feed people. Whereas we are told that God “makes peace in your borders” (Psalm 147:14), the State comes along and makes everyone think we couldn’t do without the “United States Border Patrol.” The list goes on. And most people idiotically (and sinfully) buy into it, saying that, “Without the State, we wouldn’t have X.” 

Every single government agency is an attempt to substitute the violent systems of men for the providence of God. So when men compromise on these things and seek them in the State, it is no minor affair: They are, by these acts, forsaking God and telling the Lord that they don’t trust Him to provide. Those who seek protection from men who call themselves “governments” simply do not know God, for they are trusting in everything we are warned against in His word. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man” (Psalm 118:8). 

Americans are perhaps more fooled than anyone on these things, conservatives no less than the “democrats” they attack for these reasons. This country is full of millions of outright state worshipers who praise the police and military—in the place of God, to be sure—for everything they have. “If it weren’t for our veterans, we wouldn’t have anything,” they tell us. Forget God, right? We see just how out of touch they are with God to trust in the State for these things. The real Christian never attributes the things he has to men. He says, rather, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). 

And then, when things go wrong, they cling to their guns and think they can just shoot their way out of their troubles without being willing to regenerate their hearts, seek Christ, and fix their problems by being born again and giving up all their old hangups with world, like their statist philosophy that led to these things in the first place. 

Hennacy saw the weakness here, too, knowing that armed revolutions are not the solution. In chapter 7 of his book, The Book of Ammon (1965), he says,  

“We made a revolution against England and are not free yet. The Russians made a revolution against the Czar and now have an even stronger dictatorship. It is not too late to make a revolution that will mean something — one that will stick; your own One-Man Revolution. It is not too late to be a man instead of a pipsqueak, who is blinded by the love of money.”

We are not called to attempt to reform Egypt by working through the political means; this is a lost cause. However, this doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do, because the political means were never the means of changing things in the first place. As Hennacy also said in his book, 

“The only revolution worthwhile was the one-man revolution within the heart. Each one could make this by himself and not need to wait on a majority.”

Being the change you want to see in the world, but not being the world

Ammon was right to look first at the individual. As he said in his book, 

“We really can’t change the world. We really can’t change other people! The best we can do is to start a few thinking here and there. The best way to do this, if we are sincere, is to change ourselves!”

This One Man Revolution has a good Biblical foundation. We aren’t to reform the world through politics; we are to start with ourselves and reform our own hearts and minds. As the Apostle Paul said, 

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

The transformation of the Christian should always be one of getting away from worldliness (e.g., seeking fame and fortune) and setting our sights on Christ instead. As Paul said, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). 

In Christ is a new life, and to walk in the ways of the Lord is to leave behind the old traps of the world that keep us tied down to tyrants. 

“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more. But this is not the way you came to know Christ. Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him—in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus— to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be renewed in the spirit of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:17-24). 

We must be willing to give up the earthly traps if we are to ever break out of Babylon, which feeds her slaves on the alleged luxuries—big houses, fast cars, cheap entertainment, sports—of her society (that don’t flow forever), so they never want to leave. The scriptures exhort us to seek something else and leave these things behind us. 

“Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:1-5).

We need to be seeking godly things, not the things that the rulers of this world have fed us to make us think we’re really being provided for, all while we live in one big prison camp. We are told to “[take] off the old self with its practices, and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:9-10). 

When we seek Christ, we are new men and can no longer buy into the lies of our (statist) world. 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What we need is for men to seek Jesus Christ as the Lord and King, and leave behind their errors of trusting in salvation-through-Babylon. We should seek to “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). We should be asking God to perfect us and get us away from the fallacious ideas of the world, like the idea that police officers are here to protect us. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). 

Conclusion

Ammon Hennacy doesn’t seem perfect by any means. And none of us are. His equation of Jesus with Buddah and Gandhi is questionable. And it isn’t clear in this article if he thinks that all private business is exploitative of others, which is true only when the State is involved and there is no longer a free market. He seems to have held the economic fallacy of overproduction as a result of his early socialist influence, which holds that recessions are a result of “capitalism” producing an excess supply of goods, rather than seeing that such economic manipulation as credit expansion by the central bank is the real cause. (He says, “Capitalism is doomed. It cannot last because its machinery produces more than the wages given to workers can buy back. Hence the depressions and wars”). 

But there is much good in his words. He had more courage and understanding than your average American today, most who are proud slaves that are happy to go along with the system, so long as they get to keep their toys (e.g., their sports cars). He saw that the proud slaves of Babylon who wave her flags and believe they’re “free” are fools and sellouts who are more interested in the world than serving the Lord. Unlike most modern-day Christians, he saw that the only consistent Christian political position was anarchism, given that the State violates all the basic principles of Christianity against theft, murder, or vengeance. 

Some quotes from his Book of Ammon have powerful statements that differ sharply from the views of your average statist American, many of whom profess Christianity but see no dilemma with supporting Egyptian systems at the same time. Though deceased for over a half-century, much of what he says is still leaps and bounds ahead of the average American today, who only seems to have degraded into even more evil statist thinking.

Here he explains the compatibility of Christianity and political anarchism, which would majorly confuse your average “God and country” American. 

“The dictionary definition of a Christian is one who follows Christ; kind, kindly, Christ-like. Anarchism is voluntary cooperation for good, with the right of secession. A Christian anarchist is therefore one who turns the other cheek, overturns the tables of the moneychangers, and does not need a cop to tell him how to behave. A Christian anarchist does not depend upon bullets or ballots to achieve his ideal; he achieves that ideal daily by the One-Man Revolution with which he faces a decadent, confused, and dying world.”

He also rebuts the idea that the State is a protector and that anti-statists are the ones who are violent, which again would majorly confuse most Americans, Christian or not. 

“Despite the popular idea of anarchists as violent men, Anarchism is the one non-violent social philosophy…The function of the Anarchist is two-fold. By daily courage in non-cooperation with the tyrannical forces of the State and the Church, he helps to tear down present society; the Anarchist by daily cooperation with his fellows in overcoming evil with good-will and solidarity builds toward the anarchistic commonwealth which is formed by voluntary action with the right of secession.”

If only people realized his efforts at the One Man Revolution, our world would look much different, and the efforts by us individual men, following the lead of Christ and the Holy Spirit, can bring about a better world.