"Father Haskell" <fatherhaskell@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:1186093584.402529.278410@x40g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
Nations That Live, Nations That Die
Imagine the executive who is at the top of his career field. He lives in a
palatial home overlooking a gorgeous lake. His three children do well in
school and his wife has a successful small business. This executive
attends many business functions where he often has a drink or two with his
partners or clients. They raise sparkling crystal glasses filled with
fragrant wines or shot glasses with strong whiskey. Soon the executive's
occasional drink becomes habitual. Over a few years, his alcohol habit
undermines his ability to work and he loses his job. About the same time,
his wife gets tired of his problems and leaves him, taking his children
with her. Soon he loses his home and all of his possessions.
Eventually, he becomes a homeless recluse on the street, wearing tattered
clothing, unwashed, with a scraggly beard. Still he clutches his drink,
this time a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. People who once knew him
as the up-and-coming executive pass him on the street and mutter, "How on
earth did he get in this condition?"
Can you see similarities between our country and that executive? Are we
not right now at the pinnacle of success? But are we not wasting our good
fortune with addictions to bad habits and sinful living? Could foreigners
say of us, "How could a nation like America get into this condition?"
Pattern of Decay
Pat Robertson offers a profound description of how such a collapse
unfolds. It so clearly details what is happening right now in America that
it deserves being reprinted at length:
As the nineties unfold, nothing portrays our world crisis more clearly
than man's internal and moral condition. The unmistakable scent of what
the Bible calls the antichrist spirit is in the air. It was present at the
Tower of Babel and at Sodom and Gomorrah. It was present in the French
Revolution and in Nazi Germany. And it is present in Europe and the United
States today. The signs of this spirit are clear. They emerge in this
fashion: A significant minority, then an actual majority, of the people in
a society begin to throw off the restraints of history, then the
restraints of written law, then accepted standards of morality, then
established religion, and finally, God Himself.
As the rebellion gains momentum, the participants grow bolder. Those
practices that once were considered shameful and unlawful move into the
open. Soon the practitioners are aggressive, militant. As each societal
standard falls, another comes under attack. The pressure is relentless.
Established institutions crumble. Ultimately the struggle that began as a
cry for freedom of expression grows into an all-out war against the rights
of advocates of traditional morality. The latter are hated, reviled,
isolated, and then persecuted.
Honor, decency, honesty, self-control, sexual restraint, family values,
and sacrifice are replaced by gluttony, sensuality, bizarre sexual
practices, cruelty, profligacy, dishonesty, delinquency, drunkenness,
drug-induced euphoria, fraud, waste, debauched currency, and rampant
inflation.
The people then search for a deity that will both permit and personify
their basest desires. At Babel it was a tower-man's attempt to glorify
himself. In ancient Mediterranean cultures, like those of Sodom and
Gomorrah, it was a god or goddess of sex. In France, it was the goddess of
reason; in Germany, Hitler and the Nazi party; in Europe and especially in
the United States, the god of central government under the religion of
secular humanism.
The pattern is always the same. So is the result. No society falling under
the grip of the antichrist spirit has survived. First comes a period of
lawlessness and virtual anarchy, then an economic collapse followed by a
reign of terror. Then comes a strong dictator who plunders society for his
personal aggrandizement; he dreams of a worldwide empire and storms into
war. Eventually come defeat and collapse.1
Where is America in this pattern? How much farther do we have to go before
the end?
A Warning and a Promise
In one of the most profound warnings in all Scripture, God lays the choice
of survival before ancient Israel:
"I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity;
in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways
and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you
may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the
land where you are entering . But if your heart turns away and you will
not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I
declare to you today that you shall surely perish . I call heaven and
earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and
death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may
live" (Deuteronomy 30:15-19, NASB).
Israel did not heed the warning. Their culture became more and more
depraved, until God allowed surrounding nations to take them into
captivity. During the time of Jesus, the Jewish people were ruled by the
Roman legions. Shortly thereafter, the Jewish temple was razed and the
people scattered.
An example of a nation that repented and escaped God's judgment was the
wicked city of Nineveh. God sent Jonah to warn Nineveh of its imminent
destruction. What followed was the familiar story of Jonah fleeing in a
ship to escape God's command to go to Nineveh. After being swallowed by a
great fish and then spit out onto dry land, Jonah obeyed God and went to
Nineveh.
The book of Jonah describes what happened:
The very first day when Jonah entered the city and began to preach, the
people repented. Jonah shouted to the crowds that gathered around him,
"Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!" And they believed him and
declared a fast; from the king on down, everyone put on sackcloth-the
rough, coarse garments worn at times of mourning (Jonah 3:4, 5, TLB).
The king gave the people the following instructions:
"Let no one, not even the animals, eat anything at all, nor even drink any
water. Everyone must wear sackcloth and cry mightily to God, and let
everyone turn from his evil ways, from his violence and robbing. Who can
tell? Perhaps even yet God will decide to let us live, and will hold back
his fierce anger from destroying us" (Jonah 3:7-9, TLB).
Immediate repentance, a passionate desire for forgiveness, and honest
confession of sin, along with a sincere commitment to change their ways
saved Nineveh from the destruction that threatened them. God came through
as He always does when people repent and turn away from their corrupt
behavior. "When God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, he
abandoned his plan to destroy them, and didn't carry it through" (v. 10,
TLB).
Peter explains God's willingness to forego punishment: "The Lord is not
slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient
with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
The story of Nineveh shows what can happen when a people turn from their
wicked ways. I urge you to read the short book of Jonah in the Old
Testament. It will increase your hope and faith to believe that it is not
too late for America to repent and avoid the judgment of God.
Ten Factors of Decline
Great empires before us have been reduced to rubble by the same forces
that prevail in our country today. In his powerful study, When Nations
Die, Jim Nelson Black identifies ten factors that have appeared in great
civilizations of the past and led to their decline and fall. In some
cultures, Black observes, as few as three or four of these symptoms of
social, cultural, and moral decline would be enough to bring a society to
the point of imminent collapse. The list includes:
1. Increase in lawlessness
2. Loss of economic discipline
3. Rising bureaucracy
4. Decline in education
5. Weakening of cultural foundations
6. Loss of respect for traditions
7. Increase in materialism
8. Rise in immorality
9. Decay of religious belief
10. Devaluing of human life
Aiding the breakdown of decadent cultures was a philosophy of "change for
the sake of change." Dissatisfied with traditional authority, the cultural
elites turned their backs on values and traditions as old as the nation
itself. Tragically, according to Dr. Black, the United States is the first
nation in history where all ten symptoms are present in one society at one
time.2
Great empires before us have been REDUCED TO RUBBLE by the same forces
that prevail IN OUR COUNTRY TODAY.
In his assessment of the risks to any society that tries to live without
God, Chuck Colson states: "In a society that begins free-floating
discussion, certainty evaporates. After a while, nobody is sure of
anything. It introduces relativity, so to speak, in human affairs and also
eternal affairs. You cannot be sure-there is no such thing as the
truth-everything is equivocated-everything is subject to contradiction."3
A Greek Tragedy
Some of the greatest empires in history collapsed just as Black described.
A good question for us to consider is: What eroded the splendor of Greece?
One historian observes: "In philosophy, in warfare, in the early sciences,
in poetry, in grace of manners, in rhetoric, the Greeks excelled all
civilizations that preceded it. No other race has ever produced, within a
brief period, so many brilliant individuals as did the Greek people at the
height of their glory."4 Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, recognized the
world over as sources of wisdom, helped ancient Greece become one of the
highest civilizations ever to exist. The early Greeks held to a strict
code of purity. Homosexuality was a capital offense. Greek arts and
literature, the centerpiece of their society, extolled the virtuous man.
Loyalty to the state and neighbors was among the highest callings.
Self-sacrifice and examination were the norm. Two ancient maxims were
inscribed on the walls of the temple at Delphi: "Know Thyself" and
"Nothing in Excess."
The Greeks were noted philosophers and thinkers, yet their failure to come
to an understanding of God subverted their success. A decline in virtue
and morality swept the culture like wildfire. Absolute truth no longer
existed. Greek society began to falter and drift. Despite their knowledge
of democracy, a respect for the republican institutions of government, and
their complex understanding of the principles of constitutional
government, no stable political institutions were ever created in Greek
society. Only one city-state ever organized a constitution.
Materialism, sexual immorality, and self-absorption took over Grecian
hearts. Homosexuality was glorified. The stage and arts, once the hallmark
of the noble Greek character, became lewd and violent. Lacking focus and a
consensus of values, the once-great culture became gridlocked in a
succession of civil wars. Years later, Greece succumbed to the Roman army.
Ultimately, however, Greece was not destroyed by Rome, but by its own
moral collapse.
The Collapse of Rome
According to the Greek statesman Polybius, at the time that Rome defeated
ancient Carthage, the typical Roman citizen was virtually incorruptible.
Polybius says, "Where in other states, a man is rarely found whose hands
are pure from public robbery, so among the Romans, it is no less rare to
discover one that is tainted with this crime."5 The Romans passionately
sought great feats of engineering. They were tireless political
administrators and organizers of military success. According to Russell
Kirk, they were men of law and strong social institutions who gave the
world Pax Romana, the Roman Peace. Observers said, "All roads lead to
Rome."
The strength of Rome lay in her political structures and her strong
families. Both were governed by the concept of the "High Old Roman
Virtue." Romans believed strongly in being earnest, tenacious,
well-disciplined, frugal, and self-sacrificing. Duty, honesty, and honor
all complimented the virtue Cicero described as the foundation of all
others-piety.
"A man was pious," writes Russell Kirk, "who gave the gods their due
through worship and sacrifice, who honored his father and mother, and
indeed all his ancestors, who stood by his friends, who was ready to die
if need be for his country. A pious man submitted himself to things
sacred, and believed unflinchingly that it was better to perish than to
fail in his sacred duties . A society that is held together by such a
cementing belief would offer strong resistance to forces of
disintegration."6
The Roman Empire slowly declined as WEALTH, POWER, AND PASSION took first
place in the Roman heart.
During the rise of the Roman Empire, Polybius feared that Rome's success
would destroy the Roman character. He predicted that arrogance and luxury
would infect the Roman people, and then, "being inflamed with rage, and
following only the dictates of their passions, they will no longer submit
to any control"7-and the society would destroy itself.
The historian's fears became reality. The nation slowly declined as
wealth, power, and passion took first place in the Roman heart. Once
again, society became preoccupied with sensuality. Oppressive taxes,
combined with moral decadence involving adultery and homosexuality,
destroyed Roman families by the thousands.
Roman thinker Sallust observed, "Young men were so depraved by luxury and
avarice that no father had a son who could either preserve his own
patrimony or keep his hands off other men's."8 As the bottom fell out of
the social order, Roman citizens lost interest in piety and dignity and
focused on day-to-day survival and instant gratification.
Consequently, the Romans lost their respect for human life. Bloody
spectacles were held daily in the coliseums and amphitheaters. Citizens
worshipped the gladiators who fought in these arenas. Originally
punishable by death, abortion became common, even encouraged. Violence was
epidemic. Gang violence exploded, washing away the last vestiges of order.
Soon after, ancient Rome collapsed.
Modern Day Judgment
In my book The Coming Revival, I reported on the observations of some in
England who believe that America is undergoing a devastating spiritual
disintegration at this hour. They connect America's moral decline with
similar circumstances that have happened in their own country in recent
times. Not long ago, Great Britain was the greatest empire on the face of
the earth. England's colonies spanned the globe, and British wealth
exceeded any empire in history.
Researcher George Barna says that observers "recall when England was a
nation in which the Church was the central institution in society. Moral
values, social behavior, cultural activities, family development,
lifestyles, and even political decision-making all revolved around the
nation's religious perspective and spiritual sensitivity. Ingrained in the
nation's thinking was the belief that the highest goal in life is to
worship and serve God."9 England was once the largest missionary-sending
nation on earth.
Then secularism steamrolled in and largely destroyed the traditional
values upon which the nation had built its greatness. Materialism and
modernism replaced a desire for spiritualism, especially Christianity. God
no longer played a major role in any of the political, cultural, or
societal concerns of the day. Relegated to a Sunday visit in church every
now and then, God simply withdrew His blessing from England.
Today, England has been reduced to the status of one small nation on a
cold, wet island in the North Sea. The worldwide empire is dead. The
grandeur has faded; the power is gone. Though not yet destroyed, England's
lampstand has been removed.10
Consider also what we have watched unfold in Russia. That nation had a
tradition built on more than a thousand years of Christianity. This
culture produced rich art, literature, music, and poetry, and had vast
resources of oil and precious metals. Then the country was taken over by
brutal communists who tried to wipe every mention of God from the Russian
culture. The great and wonderful people of Russia were the victims of a
cruel system of tyrannical leaders who rejected the truth of what Jesus
taught, and led the nation astray. After 72 years of atheistic communism,
Russia is today a devastated country-morally, spiritually, economically,
and politically.
North and South Korea
In the early 1960s, South Korea was little more than an oxcart economy.
Starvation was a serious problem that claimed the lives of thousands.
There was a constant threat of invasion from North Korea. At the end of
the Korean War, South Korea was a devastated nation. Because of their
plight, people prayed, fasted, and cried out to God for help.
Today, South Korea has become a model of Christian success. In less than
30 years, that desperate country became one of the most vital, dynamic,
spiritual countries in the world. The followers of Christ grew from less
than one million in the 1950s to 11 million in the 1990s. The people of
South Korea, who chose Christ, are reaping the reward of a job well done.
North Korea is a contrasting story. Although God blessed North Korea with
a great revival at the turn of the 20th century, a self-imposed dictator
declared himself "god." The God of the Bible was denied in all circles of
society. The nation died spiritually. Consequently, the nation is also
dying economically as hundreds of thousands of people are starving from
lack of basic foods. What a contrast to South Korea which turned back to
God!
The Judgment of America
As we have seen in this section, when a society turns away from God, the
inevitable result is chaos and confusion. Society unravels. Those who
champion liberating modern society from all forms of authority weaken the
foundation of society. They invoke independence and individualism as a
means of denying all moral authority and dependence upon God.
Compassion and tolerance, the buzzwords of moral compromise, are merely
attempts to disguise society's contempt for divine authority. Tolerance,
as D. James Kennedy said, is the last trait of a totally corrupt society.
Do not be misled. We pay a high price for deceit and sin. Ask the wife who
has found out that her husband is seeing another woman. Consider the child
who is sexually abused by a relative and then threatened if he or she ever
tells. Or the adults who continue to suffer from the trauma of a parent's
alcoholism.
As America falls victim to ancient vices, we are becoming a nation adrift,
doing what is right in our own eyes and ignoring God. Without God's
standards, fear and pain occupy the places where the peace of God once
reigned. In place of reliable relationships established by God's plan of
order, we are left to fend for ourselves and invent new rules as we go.
As America falls victim to ancient vices, we are becoming A NATION ADRIFT.
Because of cultural decay, the United States is being redefined by her
sins. The signs of ruin are all around us, and we have reached the point
where we must respond passionately to Paul's admonitions to the Romans:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness
and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since
what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it
plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible
qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave
thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts
were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like
mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to
sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They
exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created
things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women
exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men
also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust
for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received
in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the
knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought
not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness,
evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit
and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant
and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know
God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they
not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who
practice them (Romans 1:18-32).
Nineteenth-century British historian Thomas Macaulay predicted that the
seeds of our demise would come, not from outside barbarians, but from
excessive devotion to liberty-personal freedom without strong moral
boundaries. Just such a moment may have finally arrived. Practically every
social institution is in chaos; moral relativism and situational ethics
pervade every arena of public life. And any attempt to invoke the
authority of Scripture or the lessons of history elicits a cry of, "Don't
try to push your view of right and wrong on me; I have my own morality!"
We have reached the point of moral deterioration about which the prophets
of Israel proclaimed, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who
substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their
own eyes, and clever in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes in
drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink; who justify the
wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of the ones who are in the
right!" (Isaiah 5:20-23, NASB).
The judgment for ungodliness is sure: "Therefore, as a tongue of fire
consumes stubble, and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root
will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have
rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy
One of Israel. On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against
His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them
down, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses lay like refuse in the
middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, but His hand
is still stretched out" (Isaiah 5:24, 25).
The lessons of history cry out to modern America: REPENT or follow us to
the grave!
We cannot afford to ignore God's impending judgment. Our Christian roots
are rotting away. Hear the deep concern expressed by a group of our
spiritual leaders:
There is not a believer in this nation with any vibrancy in their
discernment or sensitivity in their spirit who does not understand that we
are in a time of crisis in our land.11
Jack Hayford
Church on the Way
You smell the decay, you smell the rotting flesh of Western civilization
today, much like you would have smelled the decay in fourth- and
fifth-century Rome.12
Chuck Colson
Prison Fellowship
[People believe that] there is no God that is going to sit in judgment
upon the actions of man. This is why we see violence, dishonesty,
cheating, stealing, rape, and every kind of immorality imaginable. It is
astounding to me that people cannot see that, having forgotten God, we are
indeed in the process of destroying ourselves.13
D. James Kennedy
Coral Ridge Ministries
Unless there is a revival, this nation is going to get worse and worse and
worse.14
Charles Stanley
In Touch Ministries
America is history. It's over unless there is a broad, sweeping revival of
righteousness.15
John Hagee
John Hagee Ministries
The lessons of history cry out to modern America: repent or follow us to
the grave! The warning is real. The time is now. Will America live or die?
As we know from 2 Chronicles 7:14, 15, God is watching and listening to
see how we will respond to His urgent plea.
But who can lead us to repentance and a righteous culture? There is only
one group of people who have the moral arsenal to combat the forces of
evil-the people of God. In our next section, we will discover God's view
of our actions and what we can do about them.
[1]
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1 David J. Gyertson, ed., Salt and Light: A Christian Response to Current
Issues, (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1993), pp. 24,25.
2 Jim Nelson Black, When Nations Die, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1994),
p. 18.
3 Chuck Colson interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach, Virginia,
in 1996.
4 Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order, (Washington, D.C.: Regnery
Gateway, 1991), pp. 51,52.
5 Kirk, The Roots of American Order, pp. 99,100.
6 Kirk, The Roots of American Order, p. 103.
7 Kirk, The Roots of American Order, p. 102.
8 Kirk, The Roots of American Order, p. 102.
9 George Barna, The Frog in the Kettle, (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990),
pp. 22,23.
10 Excerpts from Bill Bright, The Coming Revival, (Orlando, FL: NewLife
Publications, 1995), pp. 66-75.
11 Dr. Jack Hayford interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
12 Charles Colson interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
13 Dr. D. James Kennedy interview by John N. Damoose in Ft. Lauderdale,
Florida, in 1996.
14 Dr. Charles Stanley interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
15 Dr. John Hagee interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
[1]Bright, B., & Damoose, J. N. (1998). Red sky in the morning (183).
Orlando, Fla.: New Life Publications.
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