When Prosperity Attracts Tyranny

What’s your “Exodus” strategy?

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

How can we secede from a tyrannical, corrupt financial system?

In a prior article, Choosing Financial Oppression & Defending Our Oppressors, I wrote about how Israel came to be enslaved and their desire to return back to Egypt, as well as our tendencies today to do the same financially.

Now I wanted to go into a little more detail about simply and practically seceding from our centrally controlled financial system, using principles found in the history of Israel’s exodus from Egypt.

Prosperity

• Exodus 1:7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

Egypt already had some form of fruitfulness, otherwise they could not have become a powerful and prosperous nation. When Joseph was appointed ruler over the land to save them from the global famine, there was a very noticeable difference in the fruitfulness that came from God’s blessings and whatever Egypt was doing. Through God’s blessing of His people, Egypt became exceedingly more powerful and prosperous.

Tyranny

• Exodus 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

God blessed His people tremendously in Egypt, so much so that the Egyptians were afraid of their “might”. Fear lead to protectionism and totalitarian policies, seeking to take advantage of God’s blessings to build Egypt’s kingdom rather than God’s. However, God’s plan to bless the world cannot be thwarted by anyone, no matter how powerful they think they are.

The Exodus Strategy

God spoke to Moses from the burning bush telling him exactly how He was going to deliver His people, from their bondage, to be free to serve Him and live in prosperity.

• Exodus 3:7 And the Lord said, “I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
• Exodus 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. 20 So I will reach out with My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go. 21 I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. 22 But every woman shall ask her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house for articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”

With the instructions of God, and the assurance of His presence, Moses went back to Egypt to deliver His people from Pharaoh.

The Golden Rule

• Exodus 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Let My people go so that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.” …

Pharaoh eventually discovered who the Lord is whether he wanted to or not.

• Exodus 5:5 Again Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!” 6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying, 7 “You are no longer to give the people straw to make bricks as previously; have them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But you shall impose on them the quota of bricks which they were making before; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, for that reason they cry out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let the labor be heavier on the men, and have them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”

I wrote in my last article, Wealth Accumulation in a Crisis, how Egypt acquired all the land and possessions of its own people by confiscating the production of grain, then selling it back to the people for the rest of their wealth. A byproduct of grain production is the straw supply that was used in the massive operation of brick manufacturing. Since Pharaoh controlled the supply of certain goods, he also controlled the access to those goods.

The Golden Rule: He who has the “gold” makes the rules.

Furthermore, we see that under a protectionist totalitarian authority, “noise” must be manufactured, proclaiming to be truth, to distract people from the REAL truth.

As unfortunate as it is, many times the noise works, allowing corrupt tyrants to keep their power and causing people to ignore the voice of God.

• Exodus 6:7 Then I will take you as My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the labors of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession; I am the Lord.’” 9 So Moses said this to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage.

Just Compensation

God ALWAYS fulfills His promises. He unleashed the plagues to reveal His might to the Egyptians, as well as the Israelites, in such a way that the Egyptians begged the Israelites to leave.

• Exodus 12:33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

…the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous. — Proverbs 13:22

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. — Romans 8:28

For 430 years, God had blessed the hands of His people Israel, which attracted evil to take advantage of them, desiring to hoard it for their own self-gratification. Israel, however, did not steal from or extort the Egyptians. The “plunder” was the appropriate wages for their years of forced labor. God commanded Israel later (Deuteronomy 15:12–14) that if you have a slave, and his time of service is up, “you shall not let him go away empty handed.” He simply returned Israel's capital, that they had created but was controlled by Egypt, back to them. God is always just and therefore made sure His people were justly compensated for their labor.

It’s also interesting that God taught Israel the principles of His law prior to giving them the law in the wilderness at Mt. Sinai. Another example that God’s laws are always true and universally applicable whether people know them or not.

Israel had become slaves over time by abdicating the responsibilities of controlling their capital to the Egyptians. When the greed of the Egyptian rulers grew, they began to take advantage of their power. When the people needed access to their own capital, they were limited by the rules of the governing authorities. Israel was dependent upon Egypt and therefore did not have the ability to serve God to their full capacity.

• Exodus 13:3 And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you departed from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place.

God removed their dependence on the corrupt worldly system to be dependent ONLY on Him. God ushered in freedom and flourishing by returning the control of Israel’s capital back to the people. Our Lord is the God of freedom. Halleluiah! Amen!

Application

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. –Galatians 5:1

As it was with ancient Israel, to truly be financially free, we too must maintain control over our own capital.

• How financially dependent are we on others because we do not have control over our own capital?
• How much VOLUME in interest are we paying someone else to purchase the things of life?
• What is the VOLUME of our savings that is under someone else’s “management,” that limits our access and control?
• What is the VOLUME of money being paid to reduce our own risk of loss, that we don’t have access to our own capital to cover?
• How many people live very well, sometimes better than we do, off the flow of financial value (capital) through our hands?

If we want more freedom in our employment, our investments, the education of our children, our healthcare, debt, inflation, etc. we must take control of our capital back from those controlling us, by controlling our access to that capital.

This financial energy can be captured by us and accrue for our benefit, all on a tax-free basis. If each of us can control the financial environment in which we operate by controlling the “banking function”, as it relates to our individual needs, we can create a perpetual “tailwind” to everything we do in our financial lives. In fact, it is the most profitable thing any of us can do over a lifetime.

Everyone can do this by learning the primary features and functionality of properly designed, mutually owned, dividend-paying, whole life insurance. It’s about learning and implementing the process of banking, not about purchasing a product. Beginning to learn the process is as easy as reading the 92-page book titled Becoming Your Own Banker by R. Nelson Nash.

“Banking is the most important and most profitable business in the world. It should be controlled by you and me.” — R. Nelson Nash