Why Debt Slavery is a Matter of Life and Death

Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me (Exodus 9:1).

Many in the modern Church, that is, 21st century Christendom, do not understand why the issue of usury is an important moral and spiritual issue. The Church is as blind as a bat to usury, debt slavery and the spirit of mammon. Many within the Church even deny that the spirit of mammon exists! He does exist, and he can only be discerned through the discerning power of the Holy Spirit. Without spiritual discernment, he cannot be seen.

The theme of slavery is one which occurs throughout the Bible, both in the Old Testament and New Testament. This is not merely owing to the culture of slavery of the ancient world and during the time of Jesus. While slavery was a part of the culture in the ancient world, slavery is not merely only a social or cultural phenomenon. It is a spiritual and moral issue at its heart. 

Slavery exists today not merely as a social phenomenon. It is a spiritual and moral issue in the 21st century as much as it was in the ancient world. Indeed, there is "nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). 

All humans are slaves, no matter how liberated one may be in the earthly sense, or how liberated one may be from sin. A person is either a slave to sin, or a slave to righteousness (Romans 6:20); a slave to mammon, or a slave to Christ (Matthew 6:24); a slave to the world, or a slave to God (Exodus 9:1). 

The narrative of Exodus centres on the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt, and their deliverance by the Almighty Hand of God. This account has a spiritual meaning behind it. The slavery in Egypt is symbolic of slavery to sin, to mammon and to the world. Egypt having much treasures  (Hebrews 11:26), symbolised the world. It was symbol of earthly comfort as the Israelites testify in Exodus 16:3: "And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Egypt was a place that the modern person would describe as one of 'high living standards'. 

Exodus 16:3 is an example of the manifestation of the spirit of mammon in the Israelites, who were seeking to satisfy their bellies first, "living by bread alone", rather than by the Word of God (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4), a commandment of God. They cared not that they were slaves, treated harshly and brutally by the Egyptians because of their rebellion against God, and their spiritual enslavement to mammon. They would rather be slaves to a place of earthly comfort, than slaves to God, because of the lack of earthly comfort. 

Exodus 9:1 which says "Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me", implies a dichotomy between slavery to the world, and slavery to God. The key phrase of "Let my people go, that they may serve me". 

It is all too easy, as many in the modern Church would like to argue, that it only applies to God telling the Israelites to take a rest each week to serve Him. No! It has a deeper meaning. It must be noticed that God was saying that the Pharaoh must let His people go, so that His people may serve Him. It implies God's people could not serve Him when they were in slavery in Egypt, which was slavery to mammon, sin and the world. It does not merely imply that the Pharaoh needed to let God's people go so that they would keep the Sabbath as many in the modern Church would like to think.

It cannot be denied that God's command to Pharaoh to "Let my people go, that they may serve me" was needed for the fulfillment of the Sabbath, so that they may obey Him. It is because of the slavery to the world, sin and mammon, that is slavery in Egypt, that God required the Israelites to leave Egypt for the wilderness, the world, so that the Israelites may obey Him. One cannot serve both mammon and God as Jesus said in Matthew 6:24.

Debt slavery in the 21st century, like the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt in no different. They are the same at the core. Both enslave people to working for earthly things, and cause people to be enslaved to mammon, whether unsaved or saved. It does not matter whether one is saved or unsaved. God commands that all people, that is absolutely all people to serve Him and Him alone. This cannot be done if one is enslaved to mammon, through the cares of the world, even if the thing through which one is enslaved to mammon is not immoral or sinful in and of itself.  This is exactly what Matthew 6:24 means. 

No one can partially devote to God, and partially devote to mammon. One needs to cut off all enslavement to mammon by all means to serve God. There can be absolutely no compromise made with mammon. Do not be deceived, no one can serve both God and mammon. You will either love God, and hate mammon, or hate God and love mammon. You fall in either category. There is no middle ground. As long as you do not fully serve God, you are serving mammon and hate God. You need to repent of this if you are.

Debt slavery is a challenge to the 21st century Church. Many Christians are anxious to pay all their debts because they are in debt, with in almost all cases, usury. Usury itself is debt slavery. It seeks to enslave all, whether unsaved or saved, to serving mammon through debt. 

The spirit of mammon is the vile beast who needs to be exposed and attacked by the Church to shine the light on his evil dark works. Usury, his tool, needs to be abolished. 

If every Christian would wake up to this, and fight usury, usury would be soon abolished.

Wake up Church! Expose and attack usury.