Waking up this Saturday morning, I didn’t expect that my Bible story about financial freedom will be upvoted by the curators on Hive, LeoFinance, and other front ends, and particularly @leo.voter. Consequently, I got motivated to continue this morning with the third part of this series on The Way to Financial Freedom. I also intend to submit this present article to the Zealy campaign to complete The Writer Quest under Weekly Side Quests.

Before I proceed, let me just share with you the first two articles I published in this series to provide a sense of continuity. I consider this important to take into account the specific context I have in mind to avoid possible misconceptions:

• The Way to Financial Freedom Part 1

• The Way to Financial Freedom Part 2

After providing the links above to my previous articles, I now feel at ease to resume the second part of our content in this story taken from the Old Testament. This time, I want to share an overview of three basic principles taken from Exodus Chapter 1 about the evil of tyranny and oppression.

Three Basic Principles

Political oppression is a result of ignorance, vs. 1 -8.

To apply this insight to our time is unthinkable for our generation prides itself on living in The Information Age. But the kind of ignorance I am referring to based on our story is not the lack of technical or professional information, but the absence of historical knowledge. As the popular saying goes, “Ignorance of the past is bound to repeat its mistake.” And this is the kind of ignorance that we see here.

For your information, there is a long time gap between the closing of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and the opening of the second book, Exodus. During that interval, Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died. And at the same time, Genesis concluded with a moderate size of Israel prospering in Egypt while Exodus starts with a nation-sized Israel suffering slavery in Egypt. And the primary cause of this slavery was ignorance of the past. Particularly, it was ignorance of Joseph and how his God saved Egypt and made its name great. Such ignorance resulted in a risky decision that would endanger the future of the nation. Pharaoh committed not only an erroneous economic decision by enslaving productive people but also placed Egypt in great danger by challenging the God of Israel.

Notice here is the difference between the Pharaoh of Joseph's time and the Pharaoh of Moses' time. Both were kings, but their response to the God of Israel was different. In the case of the Pharaoh of Joseph's day, he acknowledged Joseph's access to accurate secret knowledge, and he honored him and his family, granting Joseph power and authority over Egypt. That Pharaoh bowed down to God's sovereignty and God's word. As a result, God blessed his kingdom.

In contrast, the Pharaoh of Moses' time was ignorant of Joseph and his deeds and oppressed the Israelites with forced labor. Such a mistake was both an economic disaster and a direct challenge to the God of Israel.

We see in this story that ignorance of the past is a very dangerous thing. Many people, particularly policymakers, ignore not only the lessons of the past but also the applicability of God's law in our time. As a result of this kind of ignorance, the world now is in a serious crisis. And instead of returning to God and his law and sound economic practice, civil governments continue to despise either knowingly or unknowingly the law of God in their destructive monetary and public policies.

Take for instance the zero-interest rate policy (ZIRP) and negative interest rate policy (NIRP). Such policies were not only punishing the savers but robbing the people of their savings. These policies discourage saving and promote borrowing. As King Solomon said, "The borrower is a slave to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7). And so, debt is a form of slavery and it is very popular in our time. Today, the entire global economy is operating based on debt. Nations, corporations, and families are immersed in debt. Debt is the modern version of ancient oppression and slavery.

I think not until our generation will return to the serious study of God's law and apply it to our time, we cannot escape the present crisis. I also believe that the study and application of God's law must first start with Christian families and Christian churches. Through the witness of the Christian Church, society will be changed.

Oppression is promoted through popular political speech, vs. 9-14.

Pharaoh said, "Look, the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country." Something is wrong with this political speech. The King didn't like the Israelites, particularly their growing number. The King was afraid that the Jews might join their enemies and leave the country. And so, to prevent the dangers caused by population growth, war threat, and massive exodus, Pharaoh came up with a solution: slavery.

This is wrong because the Israelites came to Egypt a generation ago as free people. Egypt has been blessed economically through the productivity of the Jews. By making them slaves, Pharaoh was depriving them of their basic human right, to live free. And not only that, Pharaoh expected the Jews to remain productive to contribute to the national economy under tyrannical rule. Pharaoh wanted economic growth despite his violation of God's law. Such public policy would certainly end in disaster.

All the human capital of the Jews was focused to serve Pharaoh's end. It was such a great waste of human capital. Like Pharaoh, many socialists in the past such as Hitler, Mao Zedong, Lenin, and Stalin committed great mistakes by wasting both the lives and the resources of their people under tyrannical rule. Many central planners these days ignore the lessons of the past and they keep repeating the mistakes of the past. These modern versions of tyranny are wasteful and ultimately self-destructive.

Again, as God's people, we must know what the law of God says about these things. Without such knowledge, we will unknowingly embrace ideas that are in reality disastrous not only to us and the society at large but also to the next generation. Only the law of God can give us the wisdom to discern whether a political speech is consistent with the teachings of the Bible or not.

Oppression is justified through unjust laws, vs. 15 – 22.

Pharaoh thought that by oppressing the Jews, their number would decrease. But the Bible said, "The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so, the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites." Realizing that his original plan failed, Pharaoh came up with another evil plan: to kill the Jewish boy infants. However, the midwives feared God and did not obey what the King told them. This is an example of civil disobedience against a tyrannical law. And so, Pharaoh made a wicked law: throw every boy that is born into the Nile. The law has been weaponized to kill infants. Yes, legislators no longer make laws with the outright intent of killing people, but they are done nevertheless in a more subtle way. A scrutiny of many laws in our time, and you will see how destructive they are to life, freedom, and property.

Here, political leaders make laws to justify their tyranny and oppression. The order of Pharaoh was legal as far as Egyptian law is concerned. Without the law of God, there is no way we can say whether such a law is just or not. Nations' laws are under God's law. If political leaders are making laws against the law of God, we as Christians should follow what the Hebrew midwives did. In the New Testament, Peter said, "We must obey God rather than men!" Many politicians these days think that the law of God has nothing to say about public policy, and so they make laws and policies, which are contrary to God's law. Popular examples of these include abortion, same-sex marriage, and the current monetary system. In the eyes of God, these are murder, immorality, and theft. By making these kinds of laws, civil governments have made sins legal.

And so, we see that Exodus chapter 1 teaches us that ignorance of the past results in oppression, popular political speech promotes oppression, and unjust laws justify oppression. This type of oppression did not stop in Moses' time. The spirit of the Pharaoh of Moses’ time still lives especially in a time of crisis where we live right now.

When governments and politicians ignore the law of God and make humanistic laws and economic decisions, nations suffer from a new kind of slavery. Yes, by knowing the truth that is in Jesus, we are now set free from the power of sin, including legal plunder. And one of its most subtle forms is the existing monetary system of fiat currency. To explain the character and nature of fiat currency would require longer elaboration, which is impossible for us to achieve in this short article. What I intend to do is to offer you a way to understand our current situation for you to find a way out of financial slavery. And there is no better way to do that than to understand what is currently happening in the world of finance and technology. And that will be the topic for the next three articles.

Grace and peace!

What is LeoFinance?

What is Hive?

The Way to Financial Freedom Part 4