LET MY PEOPLE GO (Cont.)

by Leland Earls

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.