Part 7

A Tale of Three Empires

Some great mind coined the popular phrase, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Perhaps he borrowed from the Bible and the 3,000-year-old book of Ecclesiastes, which says, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun" (19, NIV).

We are a proud and powerful nation. But it is disconcerting to think of the empires that have gone before us. They have been reduced to rubble by the same forces that prevail in our country today.

In his excellent 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!

In his assessment of the risks to any society that tries to live without God, former White House assistant 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."

Some of the greatest empires in history collapsed just as Black described. Greece is a good example.

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."

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.

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.

Rome did no better. 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."

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."

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"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."

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. 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.

Does this condition sound familiar? There is a frightening resemblance to modern-day America.

Must history always repeat itself? Not necessarily. God gave man a free will and free choice. We do not have to travel that same road. On the other hand, we may be so far down God's time line of history and so close to the end of the age that a shift in national direction may be irrelevant.

If wrong about where we are on God's time line, America can survive, but we desperately need moral and spiritual leadership in this nation, from Washington, D.C to every town and village. And first it must begin in the pulpits. In the 1830's, French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville toured America. When his tour had been completed, he made this observation, which may be our key

"I sought for the key to the greatness of America in her harbors…; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

(Portions of the above were taken from the book, Red Sky in the Morning" by Bill Bright and John Damoose.)