[This is part 4 in a series on the temptation of Egypt. See part one, two, three, five]

Leaving Egypt Ministries, Obadiah D. Morris

We have said how men are often drawn to the statist systems of the world due to a perceived peace and prosperity of its empires. The American system in particular has the ability to inflate its currency, increase its spending, and hand out benefits to people without immediately bearing the costs. These things create an illusion that living under political regimes are preferable to following God’s way. Since Egypt has bread, albeit a loaf that must be eaten in shackles, men struggle to trust that God will feed them — that it’s possible to eat without the yoke of political rule. In their lack of God-fearing and faith, men always run back to their Egyptian captors, who they believe look after “the people” who they rule over.

Since these man-made systems are able to inflate the money supply and allow people to leverage their lives on credit, coupled with the global economy’s willingness to accept these devalued dollars, such political regimes give the appearance that people are genuinely prosperous under systems that are built on plunder.

Since things appear to be going well in Babylon, men can continue to blindly cheer on her excesses, declaring it “the best country in the world.” Anyone who warns against the judgment that comes upon these plunder systems is told they can “leave if they don’t like it.” They are like the people from the Bible who killed the prophets because they preferred comforting lies to the truth that would set them free. They want to keep believing that socialism is a legitimate means for prosperity, that we can actually get rich as a whole from robbing everyone, and so they make enemies out of anyone who tells them otherwise. This is why statists hate those who expose the follies of the schemes they buy into. As the economist Ludwig von Mises said, 

“The social function of economics consists precisely in developing sound economic theories and in exploding the fallacies of viscous reasoning. In pursuit of this task the economist incurs the deadly enmity of all mountebanks and charlatans whose shortcuts to an earthly paradise he debunks” (Mises, Economic Freedom and Interventionism, pp. 51-52). 

The fact that statism must fail is also why people subconsciously fight against God: He exposes their worldly ideology as hopelessly founded in their own erroneous thinking and wholly incapable of achieving the objectives they may have deceived themselves into thinking are possible ends to arrive at via the political means of violence. They want to believe that they are capable of doing whatever they put their mind to, that anything is possible with enough political force to support it, and that there is no divine law keeping them from going forth with their plans. As Mises had also explained, “Rulers do not like to admit that their power is restricted by any laws other than those of physics or biology. They never ascribe their failures and frustrations to the violation of economic law” (Mises, Human Action, p. 756). 

Because the empire appears prosperous, and men with their patriotic goggles on don’t want to be told otherwise, we have people who want to keep believing that the governments of man can pillage without divine retribution for their evils. And so, many people maintain their faith in the systems of man. They want to keep believing that political rule is a viable and legitimate way to maintain social order and economic progress. They want to believe they can print their way to the Promised Land, that the inflation and taxation and man-made laws are a panacea for every social ill. “We just need to pass a law.”

The temporary prosperity of our Egyptian-statist society that still persists today offers men a sort of tangible reference point at which to look to as something more worthy of seeking than an alternative, godly kingdom that doesn’t come so easy as firing up the money printers in a world that accepts your fake currency as being as good as gold. So men continue to put their faith in human institutions and government rather than in God, even though the scripture everywhere warns against putting your trust in princes, in men who cannot save. They come to believe that state policies are responsible for their wealth or causal to prosperity.

As Mises pointed out, this effort to gain public faith is partly the reason that governments engage in such policies, killing a few birds with one stone: enhancing their own revenues and ability to spend while making men believe the empire is doing great. Though agnostic himself, Mises regularly spoke of government as if he was aware of the demonic plunder scheme that it is. As he said, 

“All governments are firmly resolved not to relinquish inflation and credit expansion. They have all sold their souls to the devil of easy money. It is a great comfort to every administration to make its citizens happy by spending. For public opinion will then attribute the resulting boom to its current rulers. The inevitable slump will occur later and burden their successors” (Mises, Omnipotent Government, p. 252). 

Stockholm Syndrome 

The risks that come with pursuing the unknown and untried—this Kingdom of God—tends to keep men looking toward the things they can see, rather than having enough faith to believe that God will provide for them if they walked out of Egypt. This is why we hear all the statist slaves asking, “But who would protect us from foreign invaders without the military?” This is nothing but another way of saying, “Who would protect us if we trusted in God?”

The visible and apparent benefits of Egyptian systems—they have powerful militaries and keep the bread flowing for a while—keep men trapped in political bondage. They are tricked into believe that everything is much better under state rule than it would be without it. This is why we get such quotes as, “Bad as any government may be, it is seldom worse than anarchy” (Aesop). This is generally the thinking of the masses: Even though Pharaoh robs us and would throw us in a dungeon and beat us if we didn’t give him money, at least we don’t have to take personal responsibility as subjects of the State, like we would have to if we lived free. 

Being subject-citizens today under States, men always have the point of reference of the current statist society, and are made to believe that even if things aren’t very good under Egyptian captivity, that they would be even worse without it. They easily defend their captors as being their protectors who actually care for them.

Going into bondage for perceived prosperity 

A contributing factor to this way of thinking is the temporary success that comes to empires, despite their otherwise destructive acts. Because the Kingdom of God does not have central banks, money printers, and crony economists making “economic policy” for the land, but must build its resources up in a genuine way over time and in accordance with the commands of God, economic progress is going to look a little different than it does under Egyptian systems — just as it was in the scriptures for those who had to leave behind Pharaoh’s deceitful meat as they walked through the desert to seek God’s liberty.

Men are always looking for some way around the need to wait and trust in God to build up a foundation with which to build further. They’re always looking for some get-rich-quick scheme that allows them to circumvent the normal process of wealth creation, to start putting up the framing and the roof before they have poured the footers. In a free society, all investment projects must be necessarily supported by real savings rather than money-printing, which can only be funded by deferring consumption to the future. Looking for a way around this, men tend to seek shortcuts to prosperity via political power, a way to have their cake and eat it, too. They fall for the devilish temptation of firing up the money printer to see if they can inflate their way to prosperity. 

The gradual progress of God’s kingdom

The Kingdom of God grows differently than the kingdom of men, the latter which may well leap ahead for some time until they come crashing down and result in a weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed or bread dough, which (respectively) takes time to grow and expand. It is a gradual process and progress of the spirit of the Lord working its way through people and turning them away from the kingdoms of this world and toward building something different. The Kingdom of God at the heart of the gospel message is not full-grown overnight and doesn’t fall from the sky without us lifting a finger to advance it. It takes time to be built up, and requires great dedication and perseverance of those who work toward it. 

However, even though this seed is smaller than others and has relatively humble beginnings, when this seed is planted rather the statist seed that is sown in iniquity and bloodshed, the harvest is much greater and lasting than the one that was sought by printing paper money rather than producing real goods. 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his field. Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches” (Matt 13:31-32). 

The prosperity sought by those who adopt the political means to get rich are something akin to trying to plant full-sized, fruit-bearing trees that die when they’re transplanted. In an attempt to get fruit quickly, the whole effort ends up being a waste; it would have been better to plant seedlings and wait a few years until the trees bore fruit. 

Prosperity under God

We may well concede that Egyptian statist societies may be built up quickly and faster than those who seek to obey God’s commandments may do it, since the theft, wealth transfers, and murder of taxation, monetary inflation, and war, are not options for us. Such plunder cities can be erected fast without any concern for their ability to last. One Christian writer, James B. Jordan, spoke of this in regarded to culture. He referred to it as the “Enoch factor,” ie., the ability of tyrannical city-states to lunge ahead of everyone else for some time. He wrote, 

“For a variety of reasons, the heathen often make more rapid initial cultural gains than do the righteous. The heathen are willing to enslave other people to work for them. The heathen don’t take one day in seven to rest. The heathen expend no psychological energy in repentance and striving against sin. Thus, the wicked get there first….Because the wicked bypass the earlier stages, or foundations, of true worship and free workers, they can create an enviable, advanced city culture before the righteous do.”

The kingdoms of this world operate on plunder and are thus able to enrich some at the expense of others, particularly their countries at the expense of other people around the world who are made poorer through imperialist oppression. They give the impression that political plunder leads to prosperous societies, and they sucker men into apologizing for these systems. Even though others must be put down to raise up their own regimes, they are content being citizens of the country raised up at the expense of others.

That Egyptian statist societies may be built quickly is no argument for them, however. They also crumble as fast as they were built. The credit boom is always followed by a bust, and the vast network of laws, taxes, and regulations eventually smother the system as a whole and bring it down. All States contain the seeds of their own destruction. They are built on sin—theft, violence, idolatry, patriotism, false gods—and come falling down by their own weight, as God would have it. 

The Kingdom of God is advanced in a slow but steady progress toward prosperity that is not easily reversed by such things as a stock market or currency collapse, which may quickly unwind the phony prosperity of inflationary systems. It requires that men change their ways of thinking and methods of doing things entirely from what they have known so far — that they be born again and come out of the kingdoms of this world.  It is the result of men abandoning the ways of the world and seeking to do things ethically, economically, and in accordance with the commands of God. This may mean that the statists, for some time, are able to out-do the Christians in wealth (although the statist system is unsustainable in the long run), while God’s children are going to have to walk through the desert and trust in the Lord before they are able to build up something.

The Godly man must say, “So be it! I will walk with God even if it means giving up the temporal benefits and pleasures of worldly empires.” The Godly man must have patience and humble himself, knowing that if He does things the way God commands, despite the perceived benefits of Egyptian inflationary regimes, that he will be blessed — that “the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity” (Psalm 37:11). We should have no concern for whatever worldly gains the heathen are enjoying, but should remain focused on doing the Lord’s work, knowing that we will be protected as they are torn down. “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger” (Zephaniah 2:3). We shouldn’t have any concern for the lost people of the world who are getting rich off the Egyptian plunder system by having cushy jobs in the cities or working as banking executives who benefit from central bank inflation. “It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and rich” (Psalm 37:16). Their riches shouldn’t cause us to turn away from the Kingdom of God that we are to be seeking, for their societies are not sustainable anyway and we urgently need an alternative network for providing for our neighbors than the forced welfare of the State. We shall abide in the Lord regardless of the wins that the people of the world may be making for some time. “Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure with turmoil” (Proverbs 15:16).

Though a Godly society based on free trade, voluntary charity, and love of neighbor is ultimately more prosperous than a statist society and indefinitely more sustainable, such a righteous social order requires time, work, and faith — things that men don’t want to put in. It requires a social network built on the solid foundation of the Lord, as opposed to the sandy foundation of statism, which may be built up quickly but ultimately cannot sustain itself and must collapse. To build on a stable foundation—the Rock of the Lord—requires more time and effort than the plunder of worldly kingdoms, not to mention such an alternative hardly exists on earth today.

Once built, however, the Kingdom of God is not like the fleeting prosperity of statist societies, which may expand rapidly under a boom of credit expansion by their central banks and subsequent spending or global economic controls by their governments, only to crash into the ground decades later once the system is exposed as a house of cards. God’s Kingdom lasts from generation to generation, because it’s the hard road that leads to life. Everyone that walks on it is hardened by personal responsibility and ideological conviction. The prosperity lasts because it isn’t masking debt. It is genuine prosperity, not the bank-financed pickup truck and home that Americans are enjoying today.

The lack of patience 

That the credit-expansion of the empires of the world may be able to give an appearance of great wealth and prosperity, as well as posses the stolen property with which to hand out benefits to those who are foolish enough to feed out of Pharaoh’s hand, is one thing that tempts men to stay behind in Egypt, even when these systems fail in the end. They have an insatiable appetite for the dainties of the rulers of this world, who are merely false benefactors that provide such welfare not because they care about men, but as a means of ruling over them and training them to think that “without the government we wouldn’t have X.”

The discerning man should see that these empires have merely faked it and have tricked men into trusting in a lie. It is not actually possible to fire up the money printers and achieve true wealth generation. These are just short-term gains that come at the expense of long-term pain. As Mises said before,

“[It is true that] governments can reduce the rate of interest in the short run. They can issue additional paper money. They can open the way to credit expansion by the banks. They can thus create an artificial boom and the appearance of prosperity. But such a boom is bound to collapse soon or late and to bring about a depression” (Mises, Omnipotent Government, p. 251). 

This artificial boom and appearance of prosperity keeps men believing that things are going great under the empire and that the good times will never end — as if God had put into place no Law restricting man’s ability to plunder their neighbors and not pay a price for it. But we know the “greatness” of empires must end. Again, Mises:

“Yet such a boom, artificially engineered by monetary and credit expansion, cannot last forever. It must come to an end sooner or later. For paper money and bank deposits are not a proper substitute for nonexisting capital goods. Economic theory has demonstrated in an irrefutable way that a prosperity created by an expansionist monetary and credit policy is illusory and must end in a slump, an economic crisis. It has happened again and again in the past, and it will happen in the future, too” (Mises, “Inflation Must End in a Slump,” 1951). 

It is these illusions that keep suckering men into Egypt and looking backwards, rather than forward to the Kingdom of God. Since most men want their wealth and glory right away, they seek it through the present systems that appear to be providing it (and perhaps even are by borrowing against the future labor of our children and grandchildren), which are assumed to go on forever without crumbling by their own weight. They do not have the time or faith to seek an alternative system, which in its infancy has little to offer to men, save that it is pleasing to God and marks the first steps of escaping Egyptian captivity. They don’t want to bet on God, though the Lord has taught us “blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust” (Psalm 40:4). It is better in their mind to reason that tax-bondage isn’t so bad considering the bread and circuses that continue to flow, at the unseen cost of a withering society that is under judgment and eventually faces the day of the Lord. It is better for them to bet on Egypt and its Pharaohs, even though the Lord has taught us, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes” (Psalm 118:8-9).

Thus, when men seem to do things right by the Lord and receive heavenly blessings for doing so, it is only natural that, with prosperity being a process, many are going to cry to go back to the statist systems of old that presently appear to have something to offer them, albeit with chains attached. Those who repent and seek the Kingdom of God, thereby giving up indulging in the pleasures of the kingdoms of men, must be prepared to walk through the desert for a while — maybe hundreds of years. But they should never fear that God won’t provide for us once we abandon the Egyptian path that most men choose today. We can trust God’s word, “Commit your way to the LORD, trust in Him, and He will do it” (Psalm 37:5).