Those Who Promote Slavery, Unforgivable Sins, and Socialism

All right, well we need to talk a little bit about slavery for a minute because I tweeted something that people really didn't like, they really didn't like it, imagine that. I tweeted something that someone did not like, but we need to talk about slavery because I think we need to really think about what slavery actually is, so we can identify it when we see it, because I think people have this kind of general idea of what slavery is, and they always see the evil master whipping the slave, and that's definitely slavery, but we need to be able to identify slavery that maybe isn't quite as overt as that, because I think that slavery exists all over the place that is not as easy as identifying a guy whipping someone else and things like that.

Taxation, Control, and the Definition of Slavery

So here's the tweet, and then we'll talk a little bit about this. So my tweet said this, If promoting slavery is proof that you aren't saved, those of you who promote higher taxes for social programs are in trouble.

Yikes. That's what my tweet said. So I was obviously talking about this George Whitefield thing, because people were saying that George Whitefield couldn't be saved because he promoted slavery, and I find that so preposterous, it's so anti-gospel, number one, but it's just so inconsistent as well, because George Whitefield, as far as we know, we know more about George Whitefield's salvation than we do about almost anybody.

We know more about his fruit than we do about almost anybody, and yet this one thing is like the unforgivable sin, and I find it so preposterous because the Bible again and again and again does not identify this, holding slaves, as the unforgivable sin.

In fact, every opportunity that it could have done that, it does not, and there was a video by Russell Moore where Russell Moore from the pulpit says that the Bible teaches, That's just not true. That is adding to the scripture.

The Bible never says you shall not enslave. Now let me go on record here before I continue. I've done this many times on my YouTube channel, and I'll do it again. The African slave trade to the United States from a Christian biblical perspective is a non-starter.

It was an evil thing because it was fueled by kidnapping. Kidnapping is a capital crime in God's justice. So in other words, God takes kidnapping so seriously, He calls it man-stealing in the Bible. God takes man-stealing so seriously that if you are caught kidnapping and there's evidence of two or more witnesses, the penalty for you is the death penalty.

You don't get jail time. You don't get probation. You don't get a fine. You are executed. That's how seriously God takes man-stealing. So let me just say this at the outset. I know people will still twist my words, and that's okay.

The people who do that, you have to answer to God for that. The African slave trade is a non-starter because it's done by kidnapping. If you kidnap someone, you deserve the death penalty. It's just that simple.

I don't know how much more clear I can make that. However, owning a slave is not a sin in the scriptures. It just isn't. It just isn't. Atheists talk about this kind of thing all the time where they say, well, the Bible got slavery wrong because it doesn't say that it's evil, the most evil institution ever.

Well, that's what the Bible says. Look, the Bible does not call slavery the most evil institution ever. It does not ban it. What it does is it regulates it. And so what we need to do is we need to understand what slavery is, what kinds of things in slavery should be punishable by death or fines or whatever, and what kinds of things should be allowable even if they're not ideal.

The Economics of Work Versus Slavery

So let's talk about this for a second. So what is slavery? Let's think about this. Try to take the emotions out of it for a second. Let's just talk about slavery in general. What is slavery? And how is it different from normal work?

So in other words, I have a business that I run, and I charge companies a fee for a service that I provide for them. I provide a service, and they give me money. That's a transaction that's not slavery.

So why is that different? What economically makes what I do different than slavery? And I think that when you really think about it, what it really comes down to is control, right? So in other words, a slave is paid for their labor.

They just don't have any control over that pay. You see what I'm saying? So in other words, someone who's enslaved, they get food for their labor. They get room and board often for their labor. They also get some basic level of health care and things like that.

So they do get compensated for their labor, but they don't get to control all of that production. In fact, they don't get to really control any of it. They kind of just get what the master gives them.

And so it's really kind of about controlling the fruits of your labor. A slave doesn't get to control the fruits of the labor. The master does. But in my situation, I get to control the fruits of my labor.

In other words, I charge the fee, and if I want to spend it on room and board, I can. If I want to spend it on food, I can. If I want to spend it on health care, I can. Or if I want to buy a car or a bicycle or a toy or something like that, I can control the fruits of my labor.

Well, when you're a slave, you don't get to. You still get paid, and you still get a portion of your labor back in room and board, in food, in health care. But you have no control over it, and you only get a portion of that production back.

When I do work for a company, I get it all back. I get to control the entire thing. Or do I? See, this is the thing, though, because the companies that I work for, they give me the money, and then they no longer have control over it.

They can't tell me what to do. That's why they're not my master, right? I work for them. I provide a service for them, but they're a customer. They're not my master. But do I get control over all my income?

No, I do not. No, I do not. You see, the government steps in. The government steps in and says, they look at my production. At the end of the year, every April, I give them a list of what I've produced, and they lay claim to a large portion of that.

In fact, they lay claim to a portion of that that, according to some studies, is very similar to the proportion that slave owners in the American South controlled of their slaves. 30%, 40%, maybe even 50%.

There's some countries where it's even higher. Though I don't have a master to those companies that I work for, that's not my master because once they give me the cash and I provide the service, they no longer control the cash.

I still don't control it all myself. And so, from a philosophical sort of definitional economic definition perspective, the state is my master and tells me what to do with a very large portion of my production, of my income.

There is no philosophical difference between the government saying, hey, that's your production, and I'm going to control a big portion of that, than a slave master saying the same thing over their slaves.

And the proportions, if you honestly research this, if you look at the proportion that most slave masters controlled of their slaves' production, it's very similar. It's eerily similar. And so, in a very kind of definitional sort of philosophical way, if you do not control the entirety of your production, then you have a master.

You have a slave master. And you are, at least to some degree, a slave. Now, I know some people are going to have a problem with that because they're going to say the Bible gives the government the authority to do certain things, and so the Bible says we should pay for that.

And that's very true. The Bible does do that. People who say that taxation is theft, and that's all they do, they don't qualify it, that's actually not correct. Taxation is not necessarily theft. But some taxation is, and income tax is most certainly theft.

Kingship, Taxation, and the Limits of Government

And so here's the thing. We should look at, just like we do with all things, we could look at the Bible, and the Bible defines what's oppressive. The Bible defines what's legitimate and just and what's slavery and things like that.

This is from 1 Samuel, right? So the people of Israel were asking for a king, and God interprets this. This is an authoritative interpretation. God says the people are asking for a king, which means they're rejecting me as king.

Think about what that means for a second. So God gives the people of Israel this law, and he tells them what to do, and he has a situation that is not oppressive at all. God set up a non-oppressive government in Israel, and the people say, no, no, no, we want a different king.

And so God says they're rejecting me as king. Make no mistake, God is your master. God is your master. In fact, we are called slaves of Christ, right? So God is our master. He tells us what to do. He does have claim on our production, and he can tell us what to do with our production.

And that's what the system he set up in old Israel. If you notice, there wasn't an income tax that went to the civil governing authorities, at least to do welfare distributions and to do social programs and things like that.

There wasn't something like that. There was a tax, though, and there was a tie that you gave to God, and you gave through the priests and all that kind of thing. So God did have a claim over your income, but I don't think any of us would deny that we are slaves of Christ.

God is our master, and so of course he has a claim on our production. But here's what God says about the king that Israel's asking for. This describes an oppressive government. Ready? Samuel told all the Lord's words to the people who were asking him for a king.

He says, these are the rights of the king who will reign over you. Look, these are not good things. Samuel is talking about these. These are basically curses, essentially. This is what's going to happen to the king you're asking for instead of taking God as king.

Samuel says this. He will take your sons and put them to use in his chariots on his horses or running in front of his chariots. He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties or to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, to make his weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots.

He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He can take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants.

Let me just stop right there. A tenth. Ten percent. This is describing a ten percent income tax. This is Samuel talking about how this is God's judgment. This is an oppressive system that the king that you're going to get is going to do instead of God's system.

God's system, do you think that God would say, he's going to say, you're rejecting me, so I'm going to give you a king that does all the same things I do? No. God's system was more free than this. God's system had less of a taxation than this.

God's system did not require conscription like this. God's system was not like this. Samuel is pronouncing this as this is basically your punishment for asking for a king instead of God. Ten percent income tax was oppressive according to the scripture.

What is our income tax rate? We're not talking about paying for judges and things like that because that's legitimate. Again, taxation is not necessarily theft as long as you're paying for godly things, things that God allows the government to do.

But when you start paying for social security, when you start paying for other social programs, welfare, all this nonsense, all these institutions and organizations that have nothing to do with the scripture, nothing to do with establishing justice, nothing to do with a godly government, there's no question about this.

I don't understand why this is so hard to comprehend. Again, that is a form of slavery, and that is what Samuel is describing right here. Ten percent would be oppressive. What is your tax rate? Is anything close to ten percent?

And so, yeah, absolutely. Look, if the government is laying claim to your income, saying I can tell you what you get to keep, and I can take whatever I want from you to do whatever I want to with, even if the majority of people vote for it.

See, that's the other thing. People think, well, if the majority of people vote for it, then it's okay. No, it's not. Because, okay, maybe the people who voted for it aren't slaves, but the people who voted against it are still forced to do with their income that which they don't want to do.

You see, slaves had no control over their production. They couldn't decide what they had for dinner. They couldn't decide where they lived. They couldn't decide what doctor they went to. They couldn't make any decisions.

It was about control. So they got paid, but they had no control over their pay. They had no ownership over what they made. Can you rightly say that that income tax that you put to the government every April, every quarter if you're like me, every quarter I write the check of government for multiple thousands of dollars of my production that they did not earn, and they're going to use for whatever the heck they want to use it for.

If they want to provide funding to Planned Parenthood, they're going to provide funding to Planned Parenthood, and I can't say anything about it because I have no control over it. The government is my master in that regard.

What's the difference between, economically speaking, between me and a slave at that point? You might say, well, consent. That's the difference. It's consent. I didn't consent for them to take 30 of my income to pay for Planned Parenthood and Department of Agriculture and things like that.

I didn't consent to that. And what do you think would happen if I said I'm not going to do it? You see, that's the other thing. People say, well, the government doesn't beat you. The government doesn't abuse you if you don't do what they say.

You sure about that? Look, I haven't been whipped by the government. No, I have not. And anyone hears me saying that the African slaves had it better than I do or I have it just as bad as them, I'm not saying that.

But I'm saying philosophically, if slavery is, and I think that this is basically, you really can't argue this, that slavery, the problem with the difference between slavery and work, normal work, is having control over the production, in other words.

If that's really what it is, then it doesn't matter if I'm beaten every day like a slave is. I'm still a slave. I'm a compliant slave, but I'm still a slave. What do you think would happen if I rebelled and I said, you know what, government?

I'm not going to write that check this quarter. I'm going to go ahead and keep it. Because I know you're going to waste it on all this nonsense, and I don't consent to it. I'm going to keep it. What do you think would happen if they came to the door and they said, hey, look, we want our money?

And I said, no. What do you think would happen if they attempted to force me to pay? They dragged me off to jail, and I fought back at that too. And I said, no, you're not going to take me to jail. What do you think would happen if I fought a police officer that came to my house to collect on that tax, on that tribute, on that money that they think I owe them?

What do you think would happen to me? I would be beaten. I would be beaten into compliance, just like a slave. And if you don't really think that that would happen, if I resisted enough, that I would be beaten before I gave master my money, I think you're living in la-la land.

I really do. And so despite how this might jar you when I say, if promoting slavery is proof that you aren't saved, those of you who promote higher taxes for social programs are in trouble, if you think that that, if that jars you, and you're like, oh my goodness, how could you make that comparison?

Well, I really do urge you to think about it a little bit more deeply. What is the difference between you not having control over 30 of your income and a slave not having control over 30 of their income?

There's really not much difference. The only difference is that, you know, we're probably more compliant these days, more compliant slaves, and so therefore we don't get punished as much than they were back in the day.

Paul on Slaves and Masters

Again, before we finish, hear me saying that the kidnapping aspect of slavery is a non-starter. That is the worst part of it. The Bible does not say you shall not enslave, but it does say you shall not kidnap.

Not exactly those words, but there's a difference there. There's absolutely a difference there. Let me just read to you something else. This is, I've been, you know, there's been a lot of sort of providential verses in the New Testament, and I'm doing the same page summer with a lot of you, and I was, we were reading from, we were reading from Ephesians yesterday, and listen to this.

I want you to hear this. This is Paul. Again, he had an opportunity to say, you shall not enslave, Christian. And what does he say? He says, slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ, not by the way of eye service as people pleases, but as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with goodwill as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he's slave or free.

And then listen to this. Masters do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him. He could have told Christians there, Christian masters, release your slaves.

He did not. What he said was, don't treat them with partiality. Just because they're your slave doesn't mean you get to threaten them. You wouldn't threaten a free man, so why threaten a slave? You see, the Bible, despite how awful we think it is in our culture, the Bible does not say that enslaving someone or even promoting it is the unforgivable sin.

We need to get over that because unless we're willing to just accept everything the Bible says is as true as true, we're gonna have lots of problems. We're gonna have lots of theological problems where it's offensive for me to talk about how promoting slavery is not proof that you're not saved.

And if it was, we've got a lot of Democrats that would be in very hot water right now because socialism, let's just be honest, is a form of slavery. I hope this was helpful. God bless.