AUDIO PODCAST

When divine order is rejected, human systems decay. But those who return to God reclaim both righteousness and authority.

KEY STATEMENT

A KINGDOM PRINCIPLE IN A CORRUPTED WORLD

What happens when the land that once nurtured you now devours you? When home becomes a tax farm rather than a haven, a place that consumes but no longer blesses? In an age of managed decline, where nations once exalted in liberty are buckling under the weight of their own decadence, we are faced with a spiritual and strategic imperative: Go where you are treated best.

This is not a call to hedonism, nor an excuse for escapism. It is the recognition that when the host becomes parasitic, the guest must discern the times. Abraham left Ur. Joseph ruled in Egypt. Jesus fled to Egypt as an infant. Paul was lowered in a basket from a city wall. The saints of old were never nationalists—they were pilgrims. The Kingdom of God has always moved with the faithful, not the flags.

There comes a moment in history when the society that raised you can no longer be rescued—not because God lacks mercy, but because the people refuse to turn. In such times, you may no longer be able to save your nation, your culture, or even your family. But you can save yourself. Listen to the sobering words of the Lord:

“Even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness [alignment],” declares the Lord GOD.
(Ezekiel 14:14)

I’m not saying we’ve reached that threshold yet. But if the present trajectory continues—if corruption deepens, truth is rejected, and hearts grow colder—we will eventually arrive at that place. Even Jesus warned that a time of judgement would come and we should be prepared,

“So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36)

And when we do reach the point of no return, the only question left will be: Have you made yourself ready?

HUMAN WISDOM VS DIVINE WISDOM

Scripture warns us repeatedly: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12). Human wisdom may build cities, but it cannot sustain kingdoms. Western civilisation is not collapsing due to a lack of intelligence, infrastructure, or education. It is collapsing because it has forsaken the source of all wisdom—God.

The ECB, the IMF, the World Bank, UN, and the WEF—these institutions wield influence and data, yet cannot avert moral decay. Leadership without prayer is strategy without direction, power without protection. As 2 Chronicles 7:14 declares: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray… I will heal their land.” God does not heal through intellect alone—but through humility, intercession, and repentance.

SERPENTS AND DOVES: BALANCING SHREWDNESS WITH SUBMISSION

Jesus said, “Be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.” To be both strategic and surrendered. Shrewd, but not cynical. Loving, but not naive. In this tension lies true power—not the brute force of rebellion, but the kingdom posture of submission as strength. It is in yielding to God that we find the courage to stand against man.

This principle is echoed in Acts 23:5, where Paul, even under pressure, confesses, “You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.” And yet he also reminds us in Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men.” This is not contradiction but nuance. A call to conscience over compliance.

WHEN SUBMISSION IS POWER

Too many confuse submission with weakness. But biblically, submission is not silence—it is strength under control. Jesus submitted to Pilate, yet remained King. Paul submitted to Caesar, yet declared the Gospel unbound. Daniel submitted to Babylon, yet refused to bow.

Stefan Molyneux, in The Handbook of Human Ownership, compares the modern state to a tax farm—not unlike Pharaoh’s Egypt, where Joseph’s people were eventually enslaved by the very system that once saved them. When leadership becomes parasitic, when taxation becomes theft, and when governance becomes surveillance, it is no longer stewardship—it is exploitation.

THE DANGER OF PERSPECTIVE

The real battle is not geographic or economic—it is perceptual. As Ephesians 6 reminds us, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities…” The battlefield is the mind. Psalm 149:6-9 paints the paradox: with “high praises of God in their mouth and a double-edged sword in their hand…to enforce the written judgement.”

True saints execute justice—not in bitterness but in holiness. And holiness is measured in separation and time with the Lord. We must stop focusing on the 3D world and pretending we are victims of it.

We get the government we deserve, not the one we want. As Jacques Ellul warned, when the state demands what belongs to God, it becomes antichrist. When leaders are no longer servants of the people but tools of control, God will raise up deliverers when His people cry out—not always in political office, but often in prophetic voices, in exiles, and in outliers.

CRITICAL THINKING AS A SPIRITUAL DUTY

This is not just political critique—it is spiritual strategy. The refusal to blindly trust institutions is not rebellion—it is discernment. The world says, “Trust the experts.” Scripture says, “Test the spirits.” The world says, “Compliance is safety.” Christ says, “In this world you will have trouble, but I have overcome it” (John 16:33).

Importantly, 1 Thessalonians 5:3 warns that, “when the people say, ‘Peace and safety,’” that is when “sudden destruction comes upon them unexpectedly.” 

Are prioritizing safety over truth and spiritual positioning?

TAX FARMS AND THE SLAUGHTERING OF THE COW

In The Handbook of Human Ownership, Stefan Molyneux exposes the unspoken social contract: we are not citizens in a free society—we are increasingly being treated as livestock on tax farms.

Milking the cow may be sustainable, even tolerable, in times of mutual benefit. But when taxation, surveillance, and state control escalate beyond milking into slaughter—that’s “managed decline.”

The West is not just taxing its producers. It’s bleeding them dry, then blaming them for bleeding. The intelligent are emigrating. The wealthiest are fleeing. The collapse is not accidental—at worst it is orchestrated, or at best serious negligence.

WHEN WE TURN FROM GOD, WE ARE NOT DEFENDED

Psalm 127:1-2 reminds us: Life only works in partnership with the Lord,

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep [ or rest, fig. “renewal,” Heb. “shenah”] to His beloved.

Interestingly there is an interesting phonetic connection between shenah (sleep, rest) and shanah (year, cycle, change):

Word	Hebrew	Transliteration	Root	Meaning
Year	שָׁנָה	shanah	ש־נ־ה (to repeat/change)	Year, cycle, change
Sleep	שֵׁנָא	shenah	י־ש־ן (yashan)	Sleep, rest

Every shanah, each new year, offers us the illusion of repetition—a cycle we assume will simply roll forward as it always has like Groundhog Day—but in truth, it conceals within it the quiet danger of shenah, a spiritual sleep. We move through days, festivals, and routines not unlike dreamers drifting beneath a heavy blanket of habit, assuming change will come without our awakening. Yet just as a sleeper must rise to greet the dawn, the soul must shake off the slumber of complacency to truly enter the shanah as a vessel of renewal and transformation. The calendar may turn, but unless the heart stirs from shenah, the shanah becomes not a renewal, but a repetition of unconscious days.

The decline of nations always starts with the decline of prayer. It begins with people trusting in armies, money, and intellect (education) rather than God. Without repentance, the hedge is removed.

“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face…I will heal the land” (2 Chron. 7:14)

Trials, then, become mercy. Like a shepherd’s rod, they guide us back into God’s fold. Once restored to His covenant order, we regain the authority to govern righteously and enforce the victory Christ already won.

PUT YOURSELF IN A POSITION OF POWER

Power is not worldly dominance—it is spiritual authority.

Submission to God is not weakness—it’s alignment, it’s power for transformation and renewal. From that place, we can build nations, resist evil, legislate righteousness, and raise godly legacies. We don’t seek influence to dominate—we do it to serve. But we must first be strategic—led by the Spirit.

EXODUS ISN’T FAILURE—IT’S FAITH

Cyrus was appointed. Nebuchadnezzar was used. Pharaoh was hardened. All were instituted by God—but not all were godly. God does not need righteous leaders to execute righteous plans. But He does require His people to remain spiritually alert. Sometimes that means staying. Sometimes that means going. But always it means seeking the Kingdom first. And that means being where the King is. That means positioning ourselves spiritually which might lead to a geographic repositioning.

As Leo Tolstoy wrote, Romans 13 is not a blank cheque for tyranny. It is a snapshot of divine ordering in a fallen world—a reminder that even corrupt systems are not beyond God’s redemptive reach. But that does not mean we serve them without question.

FIND SPIRIT-FILLED CHURCHES THAT FOSTER GROWTH AND FAITH

These principles count equally for your spiritual environment. If the times are urgent, our gatherings must be potent. In an age of managed decline—both politically and spiritually—lukewarm religion is not merely unhelpful; it is dangerous. Many churches have become echo chambers of culture, not catalysts of transformation. They entertain but do not equip. They soothe but do not sanctify. They keep people comfortable in Egypt rather than training them to inherit Canaan.

The call, then, is urgent: find a church that grows your faith. A community where Christ is central, Scripture is honoured, and the Holy Spirit is welcomed. A church that preaches not only repentance but also shows the path to resurrection, not just relevance and respectability. You need to be around shepherds who fight for your soul—not CEOs managing decline. Pastors who pray, not perform. Saints who sharpen one another, not just sit beside each other.

Remember: the early church flourished under pressure because they were rooted in truth and filled with power. You cannot weather the storm if you are planted in sand. Seek fertile soil. Let iron sharpen iron. Be taught, be tested, be trained. A stronghold is only a refuge if it is also a forge.

PRAY AND POSITION

“I urge that supplications… be made for kings and all who are in high positions…so that we may live in peace and safety” (1 Timothy 2:1–2). Prayer is not passivity. It is divine diplomacy. It positions us in the heavenlies even while we walk among crumbling empires. It reminds us that our citizenship is not British, nor American, nor Chinese—but heavenly.

Pray—and go where you are treated best. That doesn’t mean where it’s easiest, but where the soil of your purpose can flourish. Where wisdom is honoured, faith is possible, and liberty still breathes.

Because where you stay determines what grows in you—and what dies in you.

CONCLUSION

Many lives, like potted plants, remain stunted—not because they lack potential, but because the environment containing them was never meant to sustain their true growth. A plant may have vibrant roots and divine design, but if confined within a container too small or a soil too depleted, it will never fulfill its divine design. So too, you were not fashioned to thrive within the limited, competitive, and artificial economy of this world—the “household” of Pharaoh, Babylon, or Mammon. You were created to flourish in the courts of the Lord, where your roots can run deep, your branches spread wide, and your fruit endure season after season.

“Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.”
(Psalm 92:13–14)

Until you uproot yourself from the world’s system and allow God to replant you in His economy—His household—you will keep hitting invisible walls. You’ll keep asking for more water, more sun, more breaks, not realising that the issue isn’t your effort; it’s your pot.

Are you staying loyal to a system that’s quietly failing you? In light of Romans 13:1-6 we explore how to recognise when it’s time to leave toxic environments and discern God’s invitation to relocate, rebuild, and realign.

In an age of managed decline, wisdom means knowing when to walk away.

You don’t need more hustle—you need a holy transplant.

So, go to where you are treated best. Go to prayer. Go to God.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. In what ways am I being treated like a tax slave rather than a son or daughter of God?
2. Have I mistaken submission to government for surrender to systems that are spiritually hostile?
3. What would it look like to “go where I am treated best” without falling into escapism or comfort worship?
4. Am I cultivating serpent-wisdom and dove-gentleness in my decisions?
5. Where is God calling me to plant my life—geographically, spiritually, relationally—in this season?

PRAYER

Father, I do not belong to Babylon. I belong to You. Give me eyes to see when it’s time to stand, and when it’s time to move. Let me discern the difference between submission and slavery. Teach me to pray for leaders without bowing to idols. Lead me where my purpose will prosper, and where I can live in peace under Your rule. Amen.

MEMORY VERSE

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” (Psalm 127:1, ESV)

“Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the LORD [the Eternal] that a man gets justice.” (Proverbs 29:26)