[This is part 4 in a series on allegiance to God alone. See part one, two, three, five, six, seven, eight, nine]

Leaving Egypt Ministries, Obadiah D. Morris

In a previous article, we highlighted how God clearly instructs people to abstain from the practices and customs of the world — how essentially we are called to avoid the ungodly statist systems and political structures that subjugate humanity. Unfortunately, people have disregarded this divine instruction and have thus led us to endure an oppressive Egyptian-style system that has subjugated mankind under the bondage of despotic rulers and man-made laws. Whereas we are called to come out of Egypt, men have gone back into Egypt.

In this article, we will document man’s foolish rejection of God’s guidance alongside such calls to avoid the ways of the world. 

Hardheaded state idolaters 

Despite scriptural exhortations and our own preaching to men to renounce their statism, many people stubbornly cling to the belief that government authorities are essential for freedom and order and stubbornly refuse to repent. They are the hard-headed fools from the scriptures who “would not give up their evil practices and stubborn ways” (Judges 2:19). Despite our preaching, their faith is in the gods of these worldly systems — the presidents, legislators, bureaucrats, magistrates, and law enforcement. 

This ongoing rebellion against God’s instructions to avoid statists has persisted throughout history. Regrettably, most men reject the truth and resent the idea of submitting to divine rule over human rule. The fawn over presidents and congressmen and believe these men are their saviors and protectors. As documented in times past, 

“They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate” (2 Kings 17:15). 

Despite God’s deliverance from the oppression of government authorities as well as His destruction of them, people persistently pursue false idols that they mistakenly believe will protect them. They express gratitude and praise to the military and the police and give credit to men for their freedom, when in reality, the divine intervention we are in need of is liberation from these very institutions and their systems. They say such evil and blasphemous things as “God bless our police officers” and “thank the troops,” not even realizing their real god is the State. 

Humanity has long consisted of a bunch of statist rebels who, by whoring themselves out to the kingdoms of this world, necessarily turn their backs on God. As men have always done,  

“They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked the LORD to anger, for they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths” (Judges 2:12-13). 

Despite God’s warnings against being like the statists of the world, which Jesus had also taught His disciples, people succumbed to the temptation anyway. They fell for the statist system of government where rulers who claim to be benefactors of the public good actually exercise authority one over another, rather than to carry out daily ministration to serve the needs of the people through love and charity. They failed to attend the weightier matters that Jesus told men to focus on, instead adopting the covetous practices of all the systems of the world that plunder people through a political system. They practiced the ways of the world of Rome which were based on force, rather than to provide for the needs of their neighbors voluntarily and freely. They went back into the bondage of Egypt for failing to follow the ways of Christ.

The whole history of mankind has been more or less characterized by his political rebellion against God and His subsequent bondage to human gods, who God warned would terrorize and tyrannize those who refused to heed His warning against adopting the ways of statists and socialists. It has been man’s stubbornness to obey God in this regard that they find themselves living under political rulers. 

“They mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds. So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance. He delivered them into the hands of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them, and subdued them under their hand. Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity” (Psalm 106:35-43). 

Men have always had an undying penchant for rebelling against God, an insatiable thirst for false gods that promise to make their countries “great again.”

“You should have kept your feet from going bare and your throat from being thirsty. But you said, ‘It is hopeless! For I love foreign gods, and I must go after them’” (Jeremiah 2:25). 

Men are always saying that they want to be like the other nations (Ez 20:32). As is directionally relevant to the American people today, they are always “filled with influences from the East” (Isaiah 2:6). If the Russians and Chinese have “strong” leaders and powerful militaries, they reason, then we must have these things too. They believe that the way to counter foreign power is to have a country of their own that possess political and military might. The common argument of these government-worshipers is that “without government, who would protect us?” They’ve bought into the idea that fighting statism requires more statism — that socialism must be met with socialism. They’ve rejected the Lord’s warning that it’s not worth trying to be like other worldly powers (Ez 20:32).

“This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless” (Jeremiah 10:2-3). 

The judgment of statism

God warns His people against mingling with the world for good reason. As a jealous God, He knows the consequences when people abandon Him and His kingdom to pursue the false promises of earthly powers. History has shown that these “state-gods” invariably become evil tyrants. They bring the very disasters and destruction upon people that they were led to believe would be avoided by trusting in governments to save them rather than God.

The fact that human government means tyranny should come as no surprise to those who seek God and heed His word, which clearly warns against such misplaced trust in government over the Lord. God’s word is a freedom manual for those who pay attention and diligently seek Him. But men always choose the path of rebellion against God instead, which is characterized by their quest for political power perhaps more than anywhere else.

The problem of evil does not lie with God, but with man’s own stubbornness. Rather than heed the word of God, people reject the truth and seek out false idols to rule over them. Like the pagans around them, they believe political leaders are necessary for peace and protection. Though God always warns of the effective judgment that comes from setting up political systems, men refuse to listen to Him. 

“Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We must have a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles'” (1 Samuel 8:19-20).