[LET MY PEOPLE GO, CONT.]
[the
fifth plague]
The refusal of Pharaoh to let the
people go resulted in the coming of a fifth plague on
Egypt. This plague was not directly upon man but upon
his animals. (Ex. 9:3). In those days of a largely
agrarian society, a man's land and his animals were
the essence of his wealth. Men were dependent on animals not only for food,
but for most basic work needs and for commerce and
transportation. Thus the destruction of the Iivestock of
Egypt was a crippling blow to the economy of the land.
This is symbolic, says the Lord, of that which
shall come on the nations in the end time.
The monetary wealth of all nations will largely be
destroyed. This will come through the collapse of the
Babylonian system of finance which has a
strangle-hold on most nations. Its practice of debt and
interest money will cause prices and wages to continue
to spiral. When wages have reached the point where
further increases will be stymied, inflation will
continue to eat away buying power until it will take
most of what the average person makes to provide the
basic necessities of life. The eventual weight of
debt and interest will be so great that the entire
system will collapse. Money which most people consider
to be wealth, will be practically worthless. Accumulated
wealth through savings and investments will mean
nothing. Control and rationing will become absolutely
necessary. Freedom to buy and sell will be
virtually wiped out. Government control of
everything will become mandatory for survival. People's
lives will be regulated through tabulated work
credits and assigned consumer allotments. Money will be
replaced by a numbers system. Electronic equipment will
keep track of each family's work contribution or
credits, and the amount of goods and services needed and
provided. All businesses will be controlled by the
government, and those who refuse to comply with all
regulations will not be able to buy raw materials or
sell their products. (Rev. 13:17). No business will be
allowed to sell to customers as is now practiced. All
goods and services will be government controlled.
Distribution will be on the basis of need, and such need
will be determined by statistical factors required
from each family. Credits will be granted based on work
contribution and family need. Special requisition papers
will be necessary for purchases other than daily needs.
These extreme measures will be required because of the
critical world situation. But the basic framework
of a controlled society will be the result of years
of planning and scheming by an intellectual caste
which dominates the thinking of the higher echelons of
government personnel.
You will notice, says the Lord, that the plague
was on the animals, or wealth, of
the Egyptians, but not on the Israelites. (Ex. 9:4-6).
Now what is the symbolic meaning of this? What is
the true wealth of a born-again child of God? Is it
material or spiritual? Is it not written that you are made rich In Christ?
(II Cor. 8:9, Rev. 2:9). Can the failure of man and his
systems take away the treasures which you have laid up
in heaven? (Matt. 6:19-21). I say to you, that the reality of my
presence and power among my people in that day will be
so great that they will not be greatly affected by the
wiping out of accumulated monetary wealth. Their joy and
affection and hope will be so centered on me and my glory shall be so
great upon them that they will take little interest in
that which is strictly material. Their true wealth will
remain unaffected by the vicissitudes of man's
fluctuating economy. Whatever temporary
inconveniences they will suffer will be more than
made up for by the exceeding great spiritual wealth
which will be theirs at that time. For my people will
have begun to press into their full inheritance, even
the Kingdom blessings and powers prepared for them
from the foundation of the world.
There is a correlation between the
fact that the animals of Egypt were destroyed, and
the fact that complete economic control will deprive man
of the exercise of the basic drives of acquisition and
gain. Animals are a type of the basic propensities and
drives of the carnal human nature. Birds of the air are
a type of the thoughts of the mind; fish in the sea are
a type of emotions and feelings; and beasts are a type
of native talents, animalistic drives, and carnal
avarice. It is this inner world of human nature
which man has failed to gain dominion over that is
causing all of the chaotic conditions among peoples
and nations. The present mania of those who are working
for a controlled society is based on the false notion that man
can be reformed if he is deprived of the
opportunity to exercise and give vent to mental,
emotional and volitional tendencies which corrupt soc
iety. Since man will not control himself, he must be
controlled in every avenue of life and be gradually
immunized to his former corrupt self, so the argument
goes. This means an all-powerful government by
self-appointed guardians of the masses of people. Who is
supposed to control and immunize those in authority
is problematical. Such is the bankrupt thinking of
men who have turned from God to the delusion of their
own ways.
The macrocosm or man's outer world
can abound in goodness and peace only as the microcosm
or inner world of man's thoughts, emotions and drives
are completely subdued and channeled unto the glory of
his God. Thus the problem is spiritual, and not
economic, political or social. Only as men are
regenerated within can they gain dominion over the
‘birds of the air, the fish of the sea and the beasts of
the earth' within their own microcosm. This is man's
first and primary task, set before him at the very
beginning (Gen. 1:26-28). Think not that the Lord thy
God was concerned with man's gaining dominion over the
outer world; this was but an allegory to portray the
inner world of man's being and the necessity of gaining
dominion over every thought, emotion, desire, ability,
propensity and drive until all resources and forces
within reflect the beauty and glory of God above. The
gaining of dominion over the outer world is secondary
and is contingent on the gaining of dominion over
the inner. Those who have gained a commendable measure
of dominion over their inner being through the grace and
power of their God will be given an inheritance and
authority over the outer world of the earth and all of
its inhabitants, being commissioned to rule and reign
with Christ. But they cannot rule with Christ over that
which is outer until they have gained dominion over the
inner realm of their own mind and
heart.